Betrayed

by Carly Fall

  Chapter 35

  Out of the corner of Adela’s eye, she saw that Sara would be expiring in twenty seconds, according to Gunnar’s device. What were they going to do? How were they going to complete their assignment and save Jeff from his darkness?

  “We have to do something,” she cried. She looked up at Liam, who was standing next to her gazing over the whole scene as if he’d just watched aliens land on Earth.

  “Like what?” he yelled, kicking the cement barrier. “What are we supposed to do? You can’t fuck around with the Creator’s plans, Adela! You know that!”

  “What’s going on?” Gunnar asked.

  “This is who we were looking for,” Adela said, hearing the panic in her voice. “This is who Jeff is supposed to be with.”

  “Who’s Jeff?”

  “The man this woman is supposed to be with.”

  They all stared at the woman. “That Angels of Affection thing?” Gunnar asked.

  Adela nodded.

  “Well, I’m sorry, but this one’s got to come with me. You both know that.”

  Adela nodded again. This assignment was more difficult than any death she had ever delivered. How was this considered easy? Sara was going to die. How were they to unite a dead soul with Jeff?

  Suddenly, Sara’s spirit rose in the form of a healthy woman in her late twenties. She looked exactly as she did in the picture in Jeff’s apartment.

  “Hello, Sara,” Adela said.

  Sara looked around at tangled metal, then met Adela’s gaze. “What’s going on?”

  “You’ve died,” Gunnar answered, his voice quiet. “You were in a car crash.”

  Sara turned back and looked at her body. After a moment she nodded. “Where am I going?”

  “Heaven,” Gunnar said, waving his hand and producing the brightly lit portal.

  Adela felt she had to let Sara know that Jeff still loved her. “Sara, we’ve . . . we’ve been in touch with Jeff.”

  Sara’s eyes grew wide. “Is he okay?”

  Adela nodded. “Yes. But he still loves you, Sara.”

  Sara walked to the portal. “I know. I wish I could say the same.”

  “What happened between you two?” Liam asked.

  Sara stepped into the portal. “I guess we just grew apart,” she said. “I wanted more than he could give me. He is simple and I . . . I wasn’t.” Then she looked at Gunnar. “I’m ready.”

  She disappeared, and the three angels stared at the body left behind. Sara had gone quickly and without question, something they didn’t see very often.

  Adela sighed. Something wasn’t right, yet she couldn’t place what the problem was. Perhaps Sara and Jeff were to be together in the afterlife? Maybe he would join her in Heaven? Obviously, they weren’t going to be together on Earth.

  After a moment, Gunnar announced, “I’ve got to run. I’m busy.”

  “See you around, Gunnar,” Liam said.

  “Hopefully not. I don’t want to do that Angel of Affection crap. From what you’ve told me, it sounds like an awful job.” He walked toward the portal and stopped. “What will happen to you now that you’ve failed?”

  Liam looked at Adela and she shrugged. “We weren’t really told. They just said that failure wasn’t an option. I know that if enough of us fail as a whole and the humans destroy themselves, as angels we’ll all end up burning in Hell for eternity.”

  Gunnar nodded. “Honestly, I don’t think you guys have a chance.”

  “Why is that?” Adela asked.

  “It’s nothing personal against you two. It’s the humans. I believe they will self-destruct. It’s just their nature.”

  “Why do you say that?” Liam asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

  Gunnar shrugged. “Look at history. Even going back as far as my life—about seven hundred years ago, people have always killed other people. We’re savages. Our so-called evolution was supposed to elevate us, but honestly, humans are no better than the predator animals on Earth. In fact, we may be worse.”

  “I don’t understand,” Adela said, intrigued by Gunnar’s little speech.

  “Animals kill each other for food, territory, whatever. Humans usually don’t eat each other, but they do kill each other, and they always put a purpose behind it. They need to go to war for that reason or this reason, and most of the time those reasons are bullshit. How many humans have been killed in the name of religion? Hell, in my day as a Viking, we killed at random. The only difference between humans and animals is that we wear clothes, and animals don’t feel the need to fabricate reasons when they kill. They just do it.”

  Adela listened, fascinated by Gunnar’s thoughts. She thought of all the deaths she had witnessed where the cause was another human. She thought of her own death, a death brought on by severe religious beliefs. Perhaps he was right. Perhaps the human race didn’t stand a chance against itself, and they were fighting an uphill battle, a losing battle.

  “We’re still going to try,” Liam said. “We can’t give up so easily.”

  Gunnar nodded. “I would expect nothing less. Get moving. Sounds like you’ve got a lot more riding on your shoulders than just a couple of humans falling in love. Namely, my ass. If I end up going to Hell, I’m hunting both of you down with my pitchfork.”

  He gave them a wink and took off into the night sky.

  Adela and Liam stared at Sara’s body for a moment, the sirens blaring in the distance. They would arrive and there would be no help to give—at least not in this vehicle.

  Adela sighed. What would happen to her and Liam? Would they be sent to burn in Hell? God, she hoped not.

  “Once the police find out, it will get back to Jeff,” Adela said.

  “Yeah, agreed. And we need to be there to stop him from doing something stupid—from letting the darkness totally take him over.”

  Adela nodded. “Let’s go.”