Color of Angels' Souls

by Sophie Audouin-Mamikonian

  Spurred on by a sense of urgency and danger, he threw her over his shoulder and sped off while Flint howled with rage, making all the Angels in the vicinity shudder.

  Jeremy had prepared his plan well in advance. He soon reached the place where he had hidden the Mist chair (luckily for him, Lili never went into her kitchen, or she might have wondered where it was), and had also stashed the bonds he would use to tie down Allison. He needed to make sure she didn’t disappear before he could explain everything to her.

  When she finally came to her senses, the young woman found herself tied in a chair. With bonds of Mist. Strong bonds. Furious now, she glared at Jeremy in his ridiculous loincloth. Because of the little fool’s stupid plan, she had lost her cool new shoes, ripped her super Mist dress, and somehow threw out her back, even despite her new powers.

  He would soon regret it.

  Allison looked around the dark space where he had imprisoned her. A small, barred window near the ceiling lit the gloomy room, and no living humans or Angels were anywhere to be seen. They must have been in a cellar, and it was probably Jeremy who had brought the Mist chair she was sitting on.

  He stared at her longingly.

  “Allison, I missed you so much!”

  She only stared at him with contempt; he was careful not to get too close, even if she could tell he was dying to put his arms around her.

  “Yeah, I could tell, Jeremy, after what I just saw in the bedroom!” she jeered.

  “Oh, that?” he smiled. “I did it on purpose, of course! It was the only way I could get you to come back. If I hadn’t, Flint never would have let you go.”

  OK. He was right about that. She raised an eyebrow.

  “You slept with Lili, and your excuse is that you only did it to see me again? You’ve got a lot of nerve, pal!”

  Despite her jealousy, Allison couldn’t help but admire Jeremy. He told her the truth, so simply, without the slightest hint of regret.

  “Allison, they’ve been toying with us right from the start,” he said, carefully choosing his words. “When Flint carried you in his arms because you were afraid of heights, he clouded your mind. And I’ll bet you all the Mist in the world that the idea of running away in the middle of the night without telling me wasn’t yours, was it?”

  Allison didn’t answer, her mind going a mile a minute. She suddenly realized that, every time Lili or Flint had touched her, she had been filled with rage—a thirst for vengeance that was so foreign to her nature. Ah, the clever old fox! Flint had really pulled the wool over her eyes. That said, she didn’t regret it. She would take the new Allison, so strong and determined, any day over the puny and frightened little idiot she’d been her whole life.

  “… and so,” continued Jeremy, whom she hadn’t been listening to, “I realized that two could play at that game, and that it was time I started doing the manipulating. And it worked. I spent the night with Lili and you arrived the next morning at the crack of dawn. Like magic. Flint fell into my trap—I knew that he was still in contact with Lili!”

  Jeremy looked very satisfied with himself. Allison started to test her bonds. She didn’t feel like talking anymore. Especially not with a little twerp like him.

  “You realize these bonds won’t hold me for long, don’t you?” she growled like a caged animal.

  “But long enough for you to listen to me. Allison, they were leading us on! Flint is—”

  “Madly in love with me!” Allison cut in brutally. “So crazy about me that he took me to see Caligula, who has been force-feeding me his power for the last three months. Which is why I can do … this!”

  She shredded the bonds of Mist as if they didn’t exist and immediately clutched Jeremy by the throat and slammed him against the stone wall. Now he was the one who couldn’t move.

  Looked like those bonds he’d been so proud of weren’t so strong after all.

  Jeremy didn’t try to resist, knowing that Allison was much too strong for him. It took a moment for what she’d said to sink in, since he had been stunned for a moment (and a little peeved about how easily she’d ripped off his bonds).

  “Caligula?” he finally answered. “Allison, are you kidding me? The bloodthirsty tyrant? But what did he do to you?”

  Jeremy seemed calm, even if he did look horrified. He was taking all the fun out of it. She eased her stranglehold regretfully and pulled back a little.

  “What did he do to me?” she purred. “Oh, he hurt me. Hurt me so bad I screamed in agony for days.”

  Jeremy felt like throwing up. Allison was really enjoying herself now.

  “But it felt so good too, so good! All that power! You have no idea how intoxicating it is. It’s like diving into the core of a supernova. It scorches you down to the bone, but leaves you purified, magnified. The fire courses through your veins.”

  He licked his lips, which suddenly felt all dry. Allison had become maddeningly sexy. But this wasn’t the Allison that he longed for. Not this cynical, purple imitation of Lili. He wanted the old Allison back. The real one. The one he loved. He decided to be completely honest with her, and if she didn’t like it, well then too bad.

  “You say that Flint did all this for you? Because he’s in love with you? An Angel thousands of years old? Who’s probably met hundreds of girls like you? You’re not serious, are you?”

  She frowned, vexed by his words.

  “Why?” she asked. “What’s so unbelievable about that?”

  “Dammit, Allison, open your eyes! This isn’t a romance novel; this is real life! You’re not going to wake up and think: ‘Gee, I had this weird dream where everybody fell in love with me and satisfied my every whim! You don’t get anything for nothing, Allison. Flint used you. He used me. Just like he used Lili. Face it, you and I just aren’t in their league. These Angels are way older and stronger than we are. They know all the rules of this world, and now you’re giving Flint all the weapons he needs!”

  “To do what?” Allison said in a cold voice. “The weapons to do what? You say he wants something from you, too, Jeremy, but he didn’t take you to see Caligula, did he? He took me!”

  Jeremy opened his mouth to reply … then closed it again, out of arguments now. He stroked his temples tiredly.

  “I don’t know,” he finally said. “I know that Flint’s been up to something ever since he met me, but I have no idea what it is.”

  Allison crossed her arms. “All I know is that he did what I asked. Ventousi will soon be behind bars and we’ll have gotten our vengeance! Flint helped me, Jeremy. While you were in the sack with Lili, I was taking action!”

  In the sack with Lili? Hm. Jeremy started to realize that his plan might not have been as brilliant as he’d thought. But it was the only way he could think of to find Allison. What if he swore to her that he had gotten no pleasure at all from the experience? That the whole thing had actually been a chore for him, even if Lili was a goddess? That he had been imaging it was Allison in his arms the whole time?

  But one glance at the hard look on her face was enough: He decided it might be best not to go that route. He had a sinking feeling that she wouldn’t believe him anyway.

  “And what if I proved it to you?”

  “What?” she snapped, beside herself. “Proved what to me?”

  “That this isn’t about you. That it’s me they’re after? That they want to get two birds with one stone, and they’re using you to get me, to get the both of us?”

  “My God, Jeremy, you’re so paranoid! We’re going to have to try and find Freud or Jung and get you some psychoanalysis. Believe me, the only person that Flint wants—in his bed for the next fifty years, and not a day longer—is me!”

  Jeremy stared at her, struck by the precise figure she’d mentioned.

  “Why for the next fifty years and not a day longer?”

  Allison smiled at him, pleased with herself. She knew she was going to hurt him.

  “Because,” she said, relishing every word, “I promised him that
I would be his slave for fifty years if he helped me get revenge. I actually got a good deal, because he wanted me for a lot longer!”

  Jeremy took a step back, completely crushed by what he’d heard. He couldn’t speak. A heavy silence fell over the room as they looked at each other. Jeremy could see no sign of remorse, fear, or worry on Allison’s face. Only complete confidence. Caligula’s power had corrupted her and she didn’t even realize it. But, even worse, she had filled him with newfound doubt. What if he was wrong? What if all of this was just the whim of an old blue Angel who had fallen in love, and who was just trying to make a pretty young girl happy?

  Allison’s face lit up when she saw him hesitating. How easy it was to see right through him! And to torment him. How delicious it was!

  “I … I love you, Allison. I love you so much. … You have to get rid of this power; it’s making you lose your mind!”

  In a flash, he realized that declaring his love for Allison and then telling her she was losing her mind probably wasn’t the best tactic. He bit his tongue. Hard. She made it so hard for him to think straight!

  “Actually, I’m going to do the exact opposite, Jeremy,” Allison replied nonchalantly. “I’m going to see Caligula again for another session, so he can finish my ‘treatment.’ Why don’t you come with me? So much power, so much dominance. You should give it a try. It’ll blow you away.”

  Jeremy finally found his voice.

  “Allison! I’m begging you! Come back over to my side! You’re doing exactly what Flint wants. You’re going to be his slave for fifty years? Really? Is that the deal? He gives you the power to make Ventousi reveal his secret formula, and to send him to prison, and in exchange you belong to him? It won’t happen. No, it won’t.”

  Allison looked at him warily.

  “And why is that?”

  “Because I’ll do whatever it takes to make Ventousi put that drug on the market without you getting involved. Your agreement with Flint will be null and void, because it’ll be me who gets revenge for us, and not you!”

  Allison tilted her head sideways.

  “But you don’t have the power, Jeremy!” she said caustically. “To do what you say, you’d have to become as red as I am! And it took me three months, my dear. You don’t have that much time. Flint would never allow it!”

  Her annoying smile was back.

  “But it will be a lot of fun watching you try.”

  Before Jeremy had a chance to reply, she gave him a curtsey, performed a graceful pirouette, and passed through the wall. She was gone.

  Jeremy dropped to the floor, his heart shattered.

  He had lost her.

  When Jeremy returned to Lili’s apartment, the three of them were waiting for him: an anxious Lili, a furious Flint, and a disgusted Allison.

  “Well, if it isn’t my savior!” she mocked. “Who, since he can’t fly, took forever to get back here. Really, Jeremy, you’re so ridiculous! Can we get this over with? I’ve got an appointment with a psychopathic emperor!”

  “Jeremy!” Lili ran over and gave him a burning hot embrace. “Are you OK? Allison refused to tell us what happened!”

  The red-haired Angel suddenly looked totally vulnerable. Jeremy bit his lip, while Allison gave him a derisive look, curious to see how he talked himself out of this one.

  “Please forgive me,” he said sincerely to Lili. “I wanted to talk to Allison, somewhere where no one else could try to influence her.”

  He gently slipped out of her arms, ignoring her pained face, and glowered at the old blue Angel, not even trying to hide his boiling rage. But he said nothing more. So Allison hadn’t talked. She didn’t tell Flint that Jeremy would try to free her from their deal. Did that mean there was a slight glimmer of hope that she would come back to him?

  Flint gave him a benevolent look, dripping with hypocrisy.

  “I tried to do what I thought was best for everyone. Allison was so set on seeking vengeance! She was so mad at your murderer, which I fully understand … and I learned that your father had become a Poltergeist, Jeremy. That he’s gone crazy. So you know full well what I wanted to avoid. Allison needed to be freed of her obsession as quickly as possible. Now that she’s gotten what she wants, she’ll be able to rid herself of the harmful influence of Caligula and turn blue again.”

  “No way!” Allison shouted. “I like the way I am now. And I want to see the emperor again for phase two.”

  “Out of the question.”

  Flint turned so quickly that even Allison jumped. His face had transformed into a mask of rage and jealousy.

  “You’ll never go near that filthy swine again! You’re mine now, Allison. Do you hear me? All mine!”

  Allison didn’t even flinch. She wasn’t afraid of him. She wasn’t afraid of anybody, and never would be again. It was such a wonderful feeling.

  “I’m nobody’s yet. Ventousi still isn’t behind bars, and the deal we made—when you clouded my mind with your damned Blue powers—was that he pay for what he did and the drug gets placed on the market. So if you want me, you’d better get me back over to Caligula this instant, so we can get this all over with. With so much power, we’ll be able to manipulate the living and get what I want. And then …”

  She paused for a moment, put all her weight on one hip suggestively and ran her hands down her gorgeous body.

  “… and only then, all this will be yours.”

  “She learns fast for a little Blue,” Lili whispered in admiration.

  Flint, who had refused to react when she had accused him of manipulating her, hid his cunning smile. She was dreaming if she thought it would be so easy. He was a sly old Angel with more than one trick up his sleeve. If plan A didn’t work, then there would always be plan B. Or even a plan C. Or something else … after all, he had all of eternity to get what he wanted.

  “Very well then,” he said. “Even though Ventousi is about to go to jail, I concede that the job still hasn’t been finished. Let’s go then. Lili will come with us, since she’s Jeremy’s new companion; won’t you, Lili?”

  Jeremy bit down hard on his tongue so that the pain would keep him from answering Flint. For a second, he thought that Lili might be piqued by all his heavy-handed maneuvering and would refuse. She looked at Flint, and something passed between them.

  “Absolutely,” Lili said with a nod. “I’m so curious to find out how this all turns out. My dear, you’re absolutely exuding power. I don’t doubt for a moment that you’ll get what you want.”

  Jeremy closed his eyes. And decided to take a huge risk: “I’ll meet you at Ventousi’s, in New York. I have to see some people first.”

  Flint looked at him suspiciously, while Lili was apprehensive. Allison just gave him a questioning look. But Jeremy said nothing more.

  They all left, but it was only six hours later that a pale and exhausted Jeremy finally met up with them. He refused adamantly to tell them who he had seen, and why. Lili was beaming and gave him a big kiss. She was absolutely thrilled: She had added a new trophy to her case. But she could tell it was going to take some work to keep the little Blue … how delightful and amusing it would all be! Like Flint, it was terribly easy for her to subjugate the young Angels, and to meet one who put up such a fight was a wonderful novelty. She would make him lose his head. She vowed to have him crawling at her feet by the end of the year. He would have eyes only for her, thoughts only of her, would breathe only for her.

  Just like all the others.

  Although the charges brought against him were serious, Ventousi still hadn’t been put behind bars. The authorities had taken away his passport and forbidden him to leave the country.

  Clark had understood that Tachini had nothing to do with Allison’s murder. He had gone straight to Inspector Bonham to tell him everything that Allison had revealed to him. Including the conversation that she had overheard. The connection between the researcher, Jeremy, Allison, and the killer was now obvious. The press hadn’t been informed yet, and th
e district attorney still hadn’t issued any statements about the case.

  And yet when Jeremy arrived at Ventousi’s house, the man was jubilant.

  He’d hardly been expecting that!

  He quickly learned why: While the investment fund had been dragging its feet about whether or not to sell its share of the pharmaceutical company, the stock price had plummeted due to the bad publicity surrounding Ventousi’s suspected crimes. Ventousi had offered to buy the shares to prove to the world that he had nothing to hide and to clear his name. When you’re guilty, the best defense is a good offense, as everybody knew.

  Allison spoke quickly into Ventousi’s ear, using all her power to make him obey, but it was no use. It had been so easy to influence the diver and the store clerk, but Ventousi seemed completely oblivious to her suggestions. His elation formed a barrier that Allison couldn’t breach. She was furious. Despite her and because of her, Ventousi had finally managed to gain control over his father’s company. And he had gotten it for a song, judging by what they could read over his shoulder. He immediately called his lawyers to have them approve the contract. It looked like he’d already been negotiating for several hours, because they were ready to finalize the deal. Both sides had agreed on the terms, and all that was left to do was announce the deal and make a wire transfer. In just a couple weeks, the company would be his. Ventousi opened a bottle of champagne that night with his son, who had no idea what was going on but could clearly see how happy his father was. Like all kids, Peter had a lot of resilience, and even if he was still upset about the death of his teacher, he forgot all his troubles and laughed gleefully along with his father.

  “There’s no use trying to get him to reveal his new drug now,” Flint sighed grumpily. “He’s going to buy the company, and about a year down the road he’ll announce that he’s discovered a miracle drug. Even if he’s in prison when he makes the announcement it won’t change anything. He’ll have reached his goal. He’ll have more money than he ever dreamed of. Nobody can stop him now, Allison. I’m terribly sorry.”