A blast of magic, hot with the ugly smell of brimstone, suddenly radiated out from him toward us. We were picked up off our feet and flung back against the outer rim of the tower along with several others that had been close to us.
A sharp pain in my head and arm that I knew was Jade’s and not mine kept me from springing back to my feet. She was lying next to me, bleeding from her head where it struck the concrete and it looked as if her right arm had broken from the impact. Our new bond was almost disabling me and I struggled to block it, managing my feet just in time for Clive to grab me around the neck in one of those now huge hands of his, his sharp talons breaking the skin and digging in to my flesh.
This time the bond worked in the opposite direction as my pain hit Jade and her eyes flicked open. I saw her trying to regain her feet as I hit Clive as hard as I could with my fist to his side. It was like hitting a brick wall, and a couple of my fingers broke from the strike. Clive backhanded Jade across the face as she attempted to tear him away from me, breaking her jaw and sending her reeling away to fall back to the ground a few yards away.
Clive grabbed the wire mesh with his free hand, all the while holding me up off the ground with his other hand around my neck and ripped it loose. He flung me out into the night air away from the top of the tower.
I briefly remembered hearing the attendant say the tower was some forty-six floors high. I knew I wouldn’t survive the fall. I was so connected to Jade at this point I heard her scream both with my ears and my mind. With our marriage bond, my death would be her end as well.
I was not going to give up easily and tried my vamp trick of slowing my fall. The higher a jump like this the earlier you have to try and slow it down because the speed of your descent builds up so quickly it becomes impossible to slow down as you accelerate towards the ground. I poured everything I had into it and felt myself slow down for just a moment or two and then my power failed me. Trying again, as I knew Jade’s life now depended on me, I managed another momentary burst of power. My bond was so close to Jade I heard in my mind Clive telling her he would enjoy watching her die when I hit the ground.
Then Jade sent me her power via our bond. I had not realized that was even possible, but I lapped it up, converting it into what I needed it to do. I was still thirty stories high and my speed had picked up considerably. Her power was deep but she was injured and hurting. A few moments later, just as my descent had begun to slow down again, I felt her start to lose consciousness. Her power feed to me cut off, then picked up for a second or two longer, as in a panic she managed to somehow send another burst down the line of our connection. She’s empty now, I thought in a brief flash, realizing I was still only halfway through my fall, with more than twenty stories still to go.
All I could do was send her my love and I poured that feeling up our bond, knowing it was all I had time for. Through our bond, I heard Clive say he felt the Angel of Death beside her and it was a shame she would not be heading his way. Sirens were sounding and people were still screaming.
“Time to go,” I heard Clive say through the bond.
I was falling fast. Just a few more seconds and we would be dead.
Then I felt Death’s hand on Jade’s shoulder and felt his power flooding through her to me. Jade had a lot of power but she was only formerly an angel. Death was the real deal. One last effort, I thought, and used that power to slow my fall, covering my head with my arms to protect my skull from cracking open as I hit the top of the tower restaurant where we had coffee just a little while ago. It felt as though I broke every bone in my body as I started to die, surprised I was not dead already.
“Not dead yet, Jane,” said the manifested Angel of Death, and he parted my arms and lifted my head gingerly to his neck as he leaned over me, my vision blurred with tears. I sank my fangs into his neck and drank of the blood of an angel. It was similar to drinking Jade’s blood, only stronger and more powerful than even hers, and a feeling of wonder spread out through my body. Drinking his blood was like drinking heaven itself as I felt the healing power start to spread down my broken body.
“I have a plan and I need you to pretend to be dead now,” Death told me gently. That isn’t going to be too difficult, I thought with a silent snicker as I fainted.
My eyes were blurry but it looked like Oracle Joe leaning over me. He was dressed like a paramedic with a tinfoil hat. “Blarghh,” I said.
“Quiet now,” he whispered. “You are supposed to pretend to be dead and you are not doing a great job of it so far. Turning into a pile of ash would be helpful, you know.”
“Yeah, there is that,” I managed.
“No worries,” he said. “We’ll explain it by the whole day-walker thing.” Standing back up, he shouted back over his shoulder, “Dead as a doornail, she is!”
I faded back out for a moment, waking up again this time seeing John, the pack leader we had met the night before, also dressed as a paramedic. He had a stretcher with him.
“Blargh, urghle,” I said.
“Jade is doing much better at this pretending to be dead thing,” Joe whispered as he leaned in towards me. “Your good detective is handling that end of things for us up top. Turning to John he said, “Don’t bother with that. We’re running out of time. The real folks will be here in just a few minutes. Just pick her up and carry her back down.”
He put the stretcher down and lifted me up, my bloody clothes on my back wanting to stick to the roof, parting with a sickening sound.
“You put a big dent in the roof, Jane,” he said as he flung me over his shoulder like a sack of flour.
That brought me closer to the surface as the pain hit me. “Owie, ouch, oof,” I said. “Next time I get thrown off the Eiffel Tower, you’re going with me.”
“Quiet now,” he said as we reached the roof access door. “Be dead.”
I kept still and quiet with my eyes barely slit open as we made our way through a crowd of people and back down to street level. There, an ambulance that had to be at least forty years old waited for us. Adam and Leo were loading a stretcher carrying Jade into the back of the open ambulance. The ambulance looked like a junk yard reject with peeling paint and sort of leaning to one side.
John just jumped up into the ambulance with me over his shoulder and plopped me down on the small stretcher with Jade who also looked a mess but not half as bad as me, I was willing to bet. Our connection was still there as I felt along our bond. She was sleeping but healing. John arranged us side by side as Joe headed back out the door.
“Taking you to a small airstrip outside of town,” he said. “Rose has arranged a charter for us and we’ll meet her plane at a small airport in Winston. Rest now.”
John strapped us in, shoulder to shoulder, the straps barely long enough to hold us, and I was about a third off the stretcher anyway. The ambulance started up with a cough and sputter and we were on our way, swaying and tilting dangerously at every curve and bouncing like crazy with every small pothole in the road.
“Try the siren,” John said through the small opening to the front.
I heard the sound of shorting wires as the siren came on with a brief groan then stopped, the radio blaring instead. The sound of Elvis singing Viva Las Vegas was the last thing I remembered until Jade woke me up several hours later.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE: AND A FUNERAL
“WAKE UP JANE,” SHE said. She was bent down over me, holding one of my hands in two of hers. I couldn’t bring my other arm up to cup her face. It just caused pain up my entire arm into my shoulder. The pain shot along our bond, causing Jade to wince.
Cradling my head, she brought my lips up to her neck. “You are still broken up a bit. Drink, this will help you.”
I managed to drink a little. I felt myself healing but I had never been so damaged everywhere.
I felt the plane descending. “We’re about to land,” Jade said. “We’re meeting your mom’s plane then we are off to London. We’ve got some friends waiting for us who will be
going with us. Rolfe, Emily, Hans and Markus. They are all coming.”
I managed to grin without too much pain. “Jill?” I croaked.
“Yes of course, silly,” she said. “Jill is coming as well.” Then I faded back out, only vaguely aware of when they transferred me to Mom’s plane.
“My poor baby,” Mom said. This time it was her holding my hand and I did manage to lift my other arm to her face without much pain. Smiling, I told her, “Piece of cake.” My voice almost sounded normal this time. I was healing quickly.
“Where are we going?” I asked her.
“You know that monastery Tuck rebuilt about twenty years ago?
“Yes, a beautiful place,” I responded. Tuck had been real proud of it. Even though he had been a vampire for many centuries, he still thought of himself first as a man of God.
“It should be perfect for what we have planned,” Mom said, sounding excited.
“Perfect for what?” I asked, curiously.
“The funeral,” she replied, somehow sounding happy about it.
“Whose funeral?” I said, worried that someone I knew had died.
“Why, yours and Jade’s,” she replied. “I forgot you haven’t heard the plan.”
I remembered Death had said he had a plan. Our funeral. No wonder Mom was happy. She missed out on planning the wedding but now she got to plan the funeral. I managed a little chuckle before I fell asleep again. How many people get to see their own funeral? This promised to be fun.
We watched from the bell tower above the main chapel in Tuck’s Forest Monastery. We were dressed as monks complete with hoods to hide our identities. Our casket clothes were underneath our robes. It was a midnight funeral, only family, friends, and invited guests. There had been a bit of an uproar over the taking of our bodies, but the Summer Queen had done a televised interview in which she reminded everyone that Jade was a member of her Royal Court and, per treaty, the bodies belonged to them, including mine as the wife of Jade. She had strongly hinted that they were concerned that due to our unusual natures the government might be tempted to do some experimenting on our bodies. There would be Press allowed and she had explained the procedure to apply for a Press pass. That would be the opening we provided for Clive to get in. It would be up to him to take advantage of it. If we made it too easy he might suspect a trap.
I saw the flashes of cameras going off down the cobblestone road leading straight to the chapel. It was too dark for decent video but the Press was having a field day with the cameras. Two wagons drawn by two beautiful horses slowly made their way down towards us. Each wagon carried a casket.
“The weapons are in the caskets,” Jade said.
For me, that would be my solid steel baseball bat and for Jade, the scythe of life, called down from heaven once again.
“Do you see him yet?” Jade asked. Being full vamp, my vision was a little better in the dark than hers.
“Not yet,” I replied, still looking. “He better be here. He shouldn’t be too hard to spot as big as he is now. Probably wearing heavy makeup to hide the red skin and a hat to hide the horns.”
“Jill says it’s a solid bet he’ll be here,” Jade said. “I don’t think he will be able to resist sticking it in the emotional wounds and twisting it a bit in front of your mom and Jill. I agree with Jill’s assessment. He will show up at the end, after the rest have viewed the bodies and given their condolences. Besides, I sense him around, just that feeling you get when a great source of evil lurks close by.”
I could see the horses better now, they were almost halfway to us. The caskets were covered in beautiful varieties of black flowers. Surrounding my casket were my pallbearers. Ann Le, from Seattle and Hannah from Germany walked on one side. Hans and Markus completed my foursome on the other side. Jade had Kaosium and Diocletus, her friends from Faerie, on one side and Rolfe and Emily on the other. These eight would bring the caskets into the chapel while Mom, Jill and the Summer Queen said a few words to the crowd from the steps in front. They were in on the fact that we were not dead and would open the caskets so we could be in them when the crowd was let in for the viewing of the bodies. They were also a key component of the plan. It would mark the first time that the Summer and Winter Queens of Faerie had attended an event together in many decades.
We had made a few calls to let a few others that we could trust know that we were not really dead. Jade had insisted on that. Jewel, who had been our first call, had been a big help to us and was pleased to hear we were still among the living. She was coming anyway, with her mother. “Wouldn’t miss it for the world she said.”
Catherine, the witch in Germany as well as Sister Tess, already had been told by Oracle Joe.
“The big blabbermouth,” Jade said. Still, we felt that everyone we told would be able to keep our little secret for the two days it took to arrange things.
“It’s time,” Jade said, squeezing my hand.
We went back down the stairs to await the arrival of the caskets.
The chapel was plain, humble yet functional, suitable for monks. It was still beautiful. Only two stained glass windows adorned each wall, both up front where our caskets were being placed. There were plain wooden bench pews, nothing fancy but again typical of monks. On the right side of the chapel as you walked to the front, was a small confessional, covered with curtains. On the left was an old pipe organ.
Jill and Mom would enter the church first, taking up a position on the side with the pipe organ. Along with the Summer Queen, they would accept condolences from those who had viewed the bodies.
Rolfe, Emily, Hans and Markus would manage the doors in front, helping those who needed assistance and directing people back out down the aisle on the pipe organ side after the viewing. The monastery had a small cemetery and the announced plan was that our caskets would be interred in the graves an hour later in a quiet ceremony with only a few close friends and family in attendance. That would be our contingency plan if Clive didn’t show up at the end of the viewing. It was possible he would crash the funeral at the grave site.
Ann Le, Hannah and the Queen’s Sword would place themselves behind the caskets at the altar of the church, preventing escape through the door at the back of the chapel.
Jill had approved Death’s plan. Death said Clive was full of power and confidence. He had the advantage of the strength of an angel while not being fully manifested. When angels manifest they become mortal as Death had been when he had fought with Jade and as seen with a few of Hell’s Fallen recently, manifested angels could be killed. Jade would call him out using his true name as she had done with the angel of Death before.
We entered our caskets, placing our weapons out of sight underneath our bodies. I was just hoping not to break out laughing as I pretended to be dead one more time.
“So many freckles,” Jewel said as she and her mom stood over my casket. “You’d think a little makeup would be in order.”
I wanted to reach up and strangle her but thought better of it. Those who were in the know had been having a bit of fun with Jade and me for the last hour. I heard both Jill and Mom stifle a few chuckles as the night progressed.
As the last few passed by and offered Jill and Mom their condolences I sensed some heartbeats picking up. The steps of a heavy set man approached, only pausing momentarily at our caskets before strolling over to the left where Mom and Jill and the Summer Queen stood.
“So sad,” I heard Clive say. “I look forward to seeing you both in the same situation. I have plans for you Rose, my dear. For you, Winter Queen, something is already in the works.”
As Jade and I rose silently from our caskets, we saw him remove his hat and both Mom and Jill pulled back their veils. Both were livid with rage, even knowing it was coming.
“Take a good look around you,” Mom said. “Look at the front doors to the church.”
Hans, Markus, Rolfe, and Emily had closed the doors preventing anyone entering or leaving. As we watched, Rolfe and Emily shifted, cl
othes ripping, and a huge eight hundred pound Kodiak bear and a great wolf, easily four hundred pounds, guarded the doors. Hans and Markus drew their guns.
Clive eyed them warily, still not noticing us behind him. “Although the idea of a trap is appreciated,” he said, “even if you are able to kill this vessel I am in I can return at my convenience, possessing some other poor unfortunate soul. Maybe I’ll melt the ice queen here before I leave.”
“I’ll meet your heat with mine,” said the Summer Queen, removing her veil as well. “Look to your right!” she said, pointing toward the area where the altar and podium sat near the back of the church. I had joined Hannah, Ann Le, and the Queen’s Sword up there to prevent Clive going out the back door. We were all armed, me with my bat and the others with various blades.
“Jane,” he said in a hoarse voice, sounding surprised. I saw him stiffen as he realized what that meant and continuing his turn saw Jade, standing just a few feet away holding the Scythe of Life. I saw the recognition in his red eyes as he saw the scythe.
“You can die a mortal death if you are manifested,” Jade said, and called out in a commanding voice his one true name, a name not known by many even among the angels, but one known to Death who has all true names at his beck and call.
Clive changed as the name was called, growing larger, splitting his clothes into tatters, growing to a height of six and a half feet and as wide as a pro football lineman. His horns grew long, curved and pointy. The talons under the gloves he wore split through. His red skin glowed, showing the fire of Hell beneath the surface. Nude, his manhood was huge, and he had a belt with a sword strapped to each side. What had been the human Clive collapsed in a puddle behind him. What looked to be a thin layer of skin, some blood, and a puddle of grease and lard was all that remained of him.
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