Halton Cray (Shadows of the World Book 1)

by N. B. Roberts

  ‘Do you want our company?’ I asked, twisting round, my squidgy clothes making me shiver with cold.

  ‘No offence, but I’m looking forward to seeing the back of you both for a while.’ He laughed, but there was a glint of sincerity in his eyes.

  Thom chuckled.

  Seth left us at the hotel, insisting he could drive himself.

  Thom walked me to my room where I planned to get a much-needed rest.

  ‘It’s been a long night,’ he said, kissing me at my door. ‘Get some sleep, Cassandra. But, do you want me to stay again while you rest?’

  I shook my head. ‘Well, of course I want you to stay. But what I really need is to just fall into bed and conk out.’

  He leaned forward, placing an arm around my waist and planting a lingering kiss on my forehead.

  ‘Let me know when you’re up.’ He backed off, pulling my door shut.

  I took a quick shower before drawing the blackout curtains for the remainder of the day.

  I knocked on Thom’s door later. He let me in and remained quiet.

  ‘What’s wrong?’ I asked, sitting on the bed to face him. ‘Did you hear from Seth?’

  ‘Seth’s marvellous. He’s been stitched and drugged, and is now in his room sleeping it off.’

  ‘Well that’s great. But I can’t imagine how you must feel. Perhaps it’s still too soon for Death to show up. Don’t lament just yet.’

  ‘I don’t, Alex.’ His hand eagerly sought mine across the bed linen. ‘I’m relieved. I’m righted at last. And knowing we’ve prevented so much suffering and bloodshed at his hands. I’m just telling myself not to get my hopes up.’

  I hardly knew what to say, at first.

  ‘Perhaps you should locate him? It’s best you eat again anyway before we board a plane home. Perhaps Death will sense you there and restore your soul.’

  ‘Perhaps,’ he muttered, unconvinced.

  ‘On that score, I’m coming with you.’

  He shook his head. ‘Not this again.’

  ‘I didn’t mention it earlier, but I’ve seen him.’

  ‘Death?’

  I nodded. ‘At the scene of the accident. I saw him in the periphery.’

  He looked shocked. ‘Perhaps it’s a sign. It is your bargain after all.’

  ‘Which is why I need to be there.’

  He followed me to the door. Again, we headed for the streets that counted upwards.

  This time Death had caused a stray bullet in a drive-by shooting to enter the chest of a passing pedestrian. People ran to the young man’s aid, too many in fact for Thom to even risk drinking by shadow. Thom left me for a moment at the back of the encircling crowd, while he went for a closer look. In that moment something told me that Death couldn’t be trusted.

  ‘If you don’t keep your end,’ I whispered impulsively, ‘I’ll never consent. Never!’

  A woman in front of me turned with a frown to see if I spoke to her. I twitched my eye and pretended to be unstable. She moved away.

  As she moved, a line of sight opened to me. To one side of a shop, leading down an alley, Death stood guised as my dad once more. He backed away and I moved after him, knowing Thom would soon follow.

  ‘Lexi,’ he spoke in my father’s voice, ‘you’re a long way from home.’

  I wasn’t sure which home he meant, so I didn’t respond to it, always uncertain he might try to trick me using word games.

  ‘I don’t know what to call you,’ I said. ‘Dad seems wrong somehow.’

  ‘It makes no difference to me.’

  ‘Well, are you ready to uphold your end of the deal?’

  Thom appeared at my side, but as yet Death didn’t look at him.

  ‘It’s too soon,’ Death asserted in my father’s accent.

  ‘But we stopped him; he can’t rise! Don’t make Thom wait any longer, please!’

  ‘That doesn’t mean anything to me, Lexi. I state again, it is too soon.’

  ‘And just how long will you make him wait?’

  ‘Do you want the answer put in hours, or days, or–?’

  I threw my hands up. ‘You’re as sarcastic as him.’ I pointed to Thom. ‘So, what can I say then?’ I moved towards him. ‘How about, that day I’ve promised to give my consent, maybe we’ll add a year for every day you prolong this.’

  Death took a step back.

  I followed his eyes as they moved to where Thom stood at my side. He looked straight at him.

  ‘Then, it is done.’

  It was that quick.

  Thom’s hand left mine instantly. He dropped to his knees. His eyes closed, but under the lashes I saw them bleed. Soon a crescent smile formed on his blood-streaked face. He clutched his chest in some agony, giving a deep groan to evince it. Bizarrely, he was still smiling. He sank farther down and exhaled the deepest, longest breath I’d ever heard exit someone. I couldn’t get to him fast enough. I knelt on the concrete with him and watched as colour painted his ashen skin. When he opened his eyes, they were sky-blue and glistening with tears. He looked straight to his hands in astonishment, palms up, and turning them over he traced his veins over the backs. He clutched at his heart again and looked at me in disbelief. I gazed up to find that the fog had cleared completely, and the Black Angel stood there no more. He was gone, for now anyway.

  ‘Human!’ Thom whispered. ‘I thought it was impossible!’

  I grabbed his hands. Warm and clammy!

  ‘I felt my heart restart,’ he said, stunned. ‘And it was the most painful and yet wonderful feeling! I’d forgotten this physical pain! Not sure I’m going to get used to it. What have you done to me?’ He half-smiled and eagerly held me.

  I saw him, really saw him for the first time. His fine eyes, his warm complexion. He was thirty-one again. Leaning forward he nestled his head in the bay of my neck where he took a deep breath and whispered, but a whisper more penetrating than the loudest cry, ‘Thank you!’

  I likewise buried my face where his neck met his shoulder. I inhaled. His scent, thankfully the same, still made me tingle all over, but seemed concentrated, fixed to him. It didn’t echo through me or my surroundings as it once had.

  We sat there in the alleyway next to a discarded shopping trolley, cuddled up, like a couple of hobos with nothing else in the world but each other. If anyone had seen us, they may have thrown down some loose change. But it was eleven at night and the alley was deserted. Unmotivated to move, we talked for ages, filling this time too with intervals of vigorous kissing.

  ‘Alex, I can’t stop!’ he groaned, tracing my jawline fervently with his lips. ‘You taste so good. My senses are different – better! Still vibrant, but now so alive, so human. Before, they were animalistic – concentrated on the hunt; on instinct; not thought.’

  I smiled at him with moist eyes. ‘It’s going to be a while before I can really believe this has happened.’

  ‘You thought you were rid of me, eh?’

  ‘All the things you can do now!’ I said, stroking his glorious face.

  ‘We’ll do them together, Alex.’

  ‘But before we do, I have a few more questions I want answered.’

  ‘Ever heard of the phrase there’s a time and a place, incorrigible one? You may cross-examine me to your heart’s content later, Cassandra. But I doubt this alley is the best place to remain any longer.’

  We got to our feet and made our way towards the hotel. He gripped my hand and chatted away as the new man he was, occasionally interrupting himself to whisper something in amazement, like –

  ‘I feel the cold in the wind; it breathes on my skin.’

  I watched him closely, examining the way his lips moved and his jaw muscles flexed as he spoke. The way his hair rippled in the breeze. Things I had seen before, but seemed somehow different now.

  ‘What sort of human things would you like to do first?’ I asked, since he was on this subject.

  ‘Something energetic!’ He smiled. ‘Something that will get my heart pumpin
g so I can really feel it. Then, food! – food for humans, of course. Human! My God. I may even start to like driving.’ He threw his arm round me and opened the hotel door.

  ‘Are you happy to fly home tomorrow, Alex?’ he asked, following me up the stairs. ‘We do have open tickets, but I’m due back at work and truthfully I can’t wait to go home with you.’

  ‘Sounds good to me. Besides, I need to start looking for a new job.’

  ‘Then we’ll say our goodbyes to Seth in the morning,’ he said, eagerly pulling me towards his room. ‘Because right now–’

  ‘–We’d better get some sleep?’ My voice elevated on that last word where Thom scooped me up in his arms, and proceeded to open his door.

  ‘Sleep?’ He shook his head, entering his room and closing the door with his foot. ‘I’ll sleep when I’m dead!’ He carried me to the bed. ‘Do you think you can defer sleep?’

  ‘Possibly,’ I teased, as he laid me down and positioned himself at my side on the duvet.

  ‘You don’t seem as nervous as before.’ He narrowed his eyes on me and propped his head up on his hand. He twined my waist with his arm and pulled me in closer to his body.

  ‘No. Not so much now you’re human.’

  ‘Ah. I see.’ He shifted awkwardly. ‘That’s what it was. It makes sense. I had thought…’

  ‘What?’

  ‘Well, I wondered if it would be your first time.’

  I elevated my eyebrows before shaking my head. ‘I’m not a virgin. Are you?’

  He feigned an innocent smile before laughing. ‘No, Alex, I’m not. – We’re not going to exchange stories, I hope?’

  ‘God, no! But I’ll say this: I never felt anything like what I feel for you. That makes my first time with you so much more nerve-wracking.’

  ‘Alex, that’s the cheesiest, but loveliest thing I ever heard.’

  ‘Well, it’s the truth.’

  He toyed with the top button of my blouse.

  ‘I’ve been reborn today, Alex. This is my second birthday!’ He shut his eyes tight, as if someone had rubbed shampoo into them.

  ‘Are you… making a wish?’

  ‘Yes.’ He laughed. ‘Another thing I’m looking forward to–’

  ‘–Making wishes?’

  ‘No! Birthdays. Ageing. All that. Cake. Candles. Being careful I don’t burn myself.’

  He began unfastening my top button one-handed while watching for my reaction. ‘Stay with me, Alex, all nigh–’

  Knock – Knock

  ‘Yo! It’s me!’ cried Seth. ‘I heard you guys return.’

  ‘Go away!’ Thom yelled.

  ‘But I need to show you something.’

  ‘Absolutely not!’

  I whispered, ‘I think you forget the Do Not Disturb card.’ I began buttoning up my blouse. ‘Besides, looks like it’s our last night here.’

  ‘Damn him!’ Thom uttered. ‘And the injury he sustained!’ He rolled his eyes and, huffing, got to his feet. ‘What kind of drugs are these doctors handing out nowadays? The sedatives are far too weak.’

  He opened the door and Seth bounced in, part of a bandage visible at his collarbone.

  ‘Check it out–’ Seth paused, looking Thom up and down. ‘Whoa! What the hell? You’re not a… I mean, you’re not–’

  ‘Not any longer.’ Thom couldn’t help a grin.

  ‘Look at you, man!’ Seth closed the door. ‘You’re so… so… normal! You actually look like a sweet kinda guy.’

  I laughed. ‘Almost human.’

  ‘Yes, thank you, both.’

  ‘So, Death did his thing, huh? We really need to celebrate!’

  ‘Well, Seth, that is what I was trying to–’

  ‘Thom,’ I cut in. ‘If you’re serious about leaving tomorrow then we could at least spend some time with Seth before we go.’

  ‘You’re leaving tomorrow? I know I said I couldn’t wait to see the back of you, but I didn’t really mean it.’

  ‘Thank you,’ said Thom. ‘But we have to get back. That doesn’t mean we won’t visit you someday, if that’s okay?’

  ‘Of course! You have not experienced NYC at its best. But hey, shall we just grab some drinks at the bar downstairs? It’s a really cool place. We can shoot some pool in the back.’

  ‘Sounds good,’ I said, heading for the door.

  It was not that I didn’t want some alone time with Thom – far from it. But we owed Seth more than that, and Thom would agree if he were presently thinking with his head.

  We took turns in playing pool while drinking beer and quietly celebrating Thom’s return to mortality.

  ‘Seth, what were you going to show us when you knocked?’ I asked.

  ‘Oh, yeah! I was just gonna show you some pictures of my new place.’ He pulled out his phone. ‘My buddy, Rhys, is fixing it up.’

  He was so excited to be home to stay.

  After another round I gave my apologies. ‘I hope you don’t mind, Seth, but I really need to sleep. I’ll say goodbye in the morning. Thank you for pulling me back in the cemetery.’ I hugged him. ‘Please don’t let Thom drink too much. He hasn’t tasted beer in a long time.’

  I teasingly winked at Thom, who winced back.

  ‘Seth, I could murder you!’ I heard him say as I headed for the stairs.

  Thirty-six

  EPILOGUE: HALTON CRAY

  ‘Love is love’s reward.’

  – John Dryden, Palamon and Acrite

  Our plane touched down in darkness. Never had I missed daytime so much. Thom drove us back to Halton Cray, now and again examining his hands as he flexed them against the steering wheel.

  ‘Do you know, Alex, I fell asleep on the plane and woke up convinced this was a dream. You were unconscious and drooling on my chest, like a rabid nutter with her energy spent. That should’ve propelled me instantly to reality. But I only realised this was all real when I saw the ocean below and felt nothing but– you’re not even listening.’

  ‘I wasn’t drooling,’ I said. ‘And I am listening. I was just thinking–’

  ‘That’s a dangerous activity.’ He chuckled, before I tweaked his ear. ‘So what were you thinking about?’

  ‘Well, worrying actually, about… I thought Death would refuse, but then he agreed so suddenly.’ I dropped my voice to a whisper. ‘But I suppose he might come back and try again to take me.’

  ‘He – as you put it – will do no such thing! Death, that is, only needs to be certain he’ll get what he needs before the end. He’s not evil, though he seems to share some common traits with serial killers: he values his work and will never stop of his own accord. He’s not out to be bad, just as he cannot understand goodness either. He’s neutral. Azrael, or Death personified, is destined to be the very last on Earth to die. It’s his purpose to collect every soul before then. That’s why he’s here. He can’t go taking risks of disappointing someone like you, with your resoluteness! Your demanding ways! Deciding never to die, because then you really would muck up his plans. His time will come but not for a long, long while yet. Death certainly can’t die until the last human is dead.

  ‘When it tried to argue with you, when he originally hesitated, it was because he didn’t want to have to bring me back from the dead. Now he has an extra life to collect later, and worse, another one who knows his secret. However, he balanced that it was worth going one-step back to go two-step’s forward. And he believed you.’

  ‘You seem to know an awful lot about him, about Death I mean.’

  ‘I should do. I’ve been shadowing it for over a century. Studying it at every opportunity. Reading everything ever written about it to define or add to my knowledge. I would then see if I could confirm or contradict what I’d read by watching it. I know it makes errors. I know it has weaknesses. I know many things.’

  ‘Like you knew he could perform re-embodiment?’

  ‘Ah, well.’ He glanced over to me, smiling. ‘I’ve always been unsure about that one. But you believed me, and
that’s all that was necessary to bluff him and find out.’

  I sighed and shook my head.

  ‘So give me an example of Death’s ability that you read about and then witnessed him do?’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘Because it’s interesting. I want to know if it was confirmed or contradicted.’

  He sighed and raised his eyebrows. ‘Fine; let me see. Ah, you may have read of this one. According to many cultures, Death keeps a record of all the births so that he can bring the deaths. I’m not talking about a piece of paper folded up in his black-robe pocket. But a supreme Truth constantly at work updating invisible files with an inkless pen. The names of everyone, keyed by a date and place of birth, and other such details too, I suppose. As I said before, Death can stalk the dying for short or long periods of time, and I remember one of the longest. It went on for over three months. Of course while he stalked this one, he was doing his other work elsewhere, and I followed him back and forth to this particular man. I became very curious about him, about why Death was taking so long over it.

  ‘The man was sixty-five and Death seemed to be hesitating. I couldn’t figure out why. Finally, it took him. A few days after that it took another man of sixty-five. Nothing extraordinary about that, and besides, they lived and died in different counties. While Death stalked, I happened to learn the first man’s name, and the second. They were the same. I found that they had the same date of birth, to the exact day. They were even born in the same town, and were probably cousins, because similarities existed between them. I knew then, at that moment, that Death – despite its omnipotence – was capable of making mistakes. He had mistakenly taken the first man. Death went to rectify the error only by taking the second man, the right man. I thought at this point I might witness whether it could bring someone back from the dead. The fact it didn’t proved nothing. It would hardly be ethical to bring back someone who’s been dead a week. So there you are.’

  ‘But now we know he can, and we know he makes errors too. It’s strange that it takes him so long just to verify who they are.’

  ‘I’m not convinced that that’s all it’s doing, Alex. I’m sure it decides how they die, but it’s only in that time of stalking that it decides how. My suspicion is that Death doesn’t give a man cancer, for example; Death decides whether or not the cancer will kill him.’