Falling for Heaven (Four Winds)

by Anne Conley

  Damien was the devil.

  She knew this, as sure as she knew that her sister was addicted to meth. She knew it as sure as she knew her mother would never be the same again. She knew it as sure as she knew she would never see her dad or her brother alive again.

  She knew it as sure as she knew Uri was an angel.

  Chapter 13

  Uri was pacing his apartment, restlessly waiting, again trying to figure out his mission, when his phone buzzed on the end table. Uri was surprised to receive a text message from Heather so soon. He didn’t think she’d contact him today. When he saw the message, he couldn’t understand the flutter of panic in his gut.

  Can you meet me and Taco at the park in an hour? Please? I need to see you.

  He wasn’t sure why it caused the flutter, it seemed innocuous enough, but something about the pleading quality of the text didn’t seem like Heather. It didn’t seem right to him. He texted back.

  Sure. See you then.

  True to his word, an hour later he was sitting in the same place they had met last time. This time he wasn’t meditating. He was waiting, and he was on alert.

  He felt her first. The burning sensation in his stomach calmed the fluttering, and when Taco came running around the bushes, he bent to stroke the chihuahua’s belly. He rose when Heather came into view.

  “Hello, Heather. What’s wrong?”

  She didn’t speak ; , she walked up to him and gave him a fierce hug around his waist, knocking the breath from him. He could hear her sniffing deeply, inhaling his scent. Then he knew. The Deceiver had touched her. And Uri was furious.

  “So, the Deceiver has contacted you?” Bile rose in the back of his throat at the possibilities. He had seen the Deceiver's work, and it was disgusting. Uri's head spun , knowing what with what he could ha ve been d done to the woman he Uri was quickly starting to think of associate with as his own.

  She nodded, not looking at him.

  “Are you okay?” Uriel had seen the others that the Deceiver had touched. Some of them never came back from the experience. He felt a pang in his gut and realized it was worry.

  She didn’t respond immediately, just continued holding him. He brought his arms around and held her tightly, trying to impart some comfort, not knowing why, or if it was even working.

  Finally, she released him, and took a step back. “I thought he was you.”

  The fury that Uri was trying to suppress kept him from responding verbally, so he merely nodded. He had never been so angry. He realized that he was becoming attached to this assignment, and he still didn't understand what it was…

  Heather sat on the grass, motioning for Uri to join her. He sat next to her, wondering at the sudden urge to pull her into his arms again. He suddenly felt so empty without her there.

  “He’s been at the club, but I didn’t realize who he was. I mean, I knew he was trouble, but I deal with trouble there all the time.” Uri clenched his jaw. “He sent me roses, to my apartment, and I was scared because he knew where I lived. That’s never happened before.”

  He had to interrupt her. “You realize who he is, don’t you?”

  Her eyes, as they looked at him, tore a hole in his heart. They were so full of fear. “He’s the devil, isn’t he?”

  Uri nodded. “Yes, Heather.”

  She nodded, “I saw him.”

  Disbelief coursed through him. The Deceiver hadn't done that in a long time. “He showed his true form to you?”

  “When he changed from you to Damien, yeah. He was this red and black scaly thing, with huge wings.” She started crying, and Uri couldn’t help himself, he pulled her into his lap, and held her head to his chest. “I’ve never been so scared in my whole life, Uri.” Deep, wracking sobs shook her entire body, and Uri had never felt so helpless in his long, weary life.

  He didn’t know what to do, and he couldn’t understand that. He always knew what to do, but something about this girl's tears undid his insides, and Uri didn't have a clue what to do to put them back together. So he just held her, and let her cry.

  When it seemed that she was calmer, he started explaining. “There used to be eight of us. His job was to go to the humans and see who was not serving the Boss’s will, tempting them and such. But he enjoyed tricking people too much, and he got carried away. The Boss made an example out of him, and he’s been trying to mess up our work ever since.” He stroked her hair, feeling its silkiness. “I’m sorry that he came to you. I'd seen him at the club, but I still don't know what all of this is about. I'm so sorry I didn't say anything. I feel so useless.”

  “I thought he was you, Uri…” It was as if she hadn't heard him, she was so lost in her own thoughts. Heather looked extremely uncomfortable, and Uri had an idea of what he’d tried to do. A sudden panicky thought occurred to him.

  “Did he try to…have sex with you?” He could hardly utter the words through the rage he felt, gritting his teeth to tamp it down.

  “No, but he kissed me. That’s how I realized it wasn’t you. He was so…cold.” She shuddered. “And he stinks.”

  Uri managed a relieved chuckle, although the thought of the other one's lips touching hers was surprisingly disappointing. “That he does. Brimstone," he answered her, distracted by the thought that she had kissed the Deceiver, thinking he was Uri. Had she done it willingly?

  “Ahh…I thought it was sulfur, but I’ve never smelled brimstone…” He watched her as she lost herself to her thoughts. He noticed her lips for the first time, rosy pink, untouched by lipstick today. They were plump, and supple-looking, especially when she bit them like she was right now…

  “Uri?”

  His gaze snapped up to her eyes, curious at the turn his thought had been taking.

  “What…do you look like?”

  “I’m not allowed to show you, Heather. I would if I could…” And he would. He would have last night, just to make her believe, but the Boss had put a stop to that centuries ago.

  “Can you heal my mother?” She asked him hopefully.

  His heart sank. He had seen this too. Once people believed he was an archangel, they believed he could make the blind see, the crippled walk, the sick well again.

  Shaking his head, he clasped her hand in his, rubbing the knuckles gently. “I’m sorry, Heather.”

  Looking dejected, her chin sank to her chest.

  Lifting it with his fingertip, he looked soulfully into her eyes. “I would if I could, Heather.”

  “Can you help me with my sister?” She must have seen the look on his face, because she went on quickly, her eyes pleading. “I don’t want you to do anything superhuman with her. I just need help taking her to rehab. I’ve got a space reserved for her, I just can’t make her go by myself. I need some muscle. And he's been to see her, I need to get her out of there, as soon as possible.”

  Relief coursed through his veins. Relief, and joy that he could do something to help her. “Yes. I can do that.”

  Chapter 14

  After borrowing a car from one of Heather’s co-workers, Uri followed Heather’s directions to her sister’s apartment.

  “I’m surprised you can drive.”

  “Well, um…Mr. Ford was one of my targets. And it’s been a necessity since then, to blend in on occasion.” He tried to be modest, but the truth of the matter was that he loved driving. In his opinion, automobiles were the most fun human invention by far. "I had a car of my own, but I had a difficult time maintaining it between assignments."

  "What kind of car did you have?" She looked at him with doubt in her eyes, which made him chuckle softly. He supposed it was odd to imagine an angel with a car, but humans didn't understand the pull of their toys in the immortal world. Some of them were just fascinating. The ability of humans, simple creatures really, to come up with some of the items they'd managed to create, was beyond Uri's imagination. Granted, most of the inventions were born of greed, or laziness, but some of them were pretty cool.

  "A Dodge Charger. I liked the sp
eed; it was nice."

  She shuddered. “I hate driving. I’ll do it, if I have to. But I hate it.”

  Uri chuckled. “I’m surprised, Heather. You seem fearless.”

  “Yeah, well…I have a hard time with driving. That’s all.” She didn’t say much else, besides give directions, the rest of the drive. Chastened, Uri realized the accident that had taken half her family was the cause for her reticence. As well as she seemed to cope with her loss, signs of grief were still there.

  When they pulled up to the apartment complex that Heather’s sister lived in, Uri suppressed his disdain. He did not like the idea of Heather visiting this place regularly. There were beggars on the street outside of the complex, and inside the complex, odors of urine, vomit, and refuse permeated his suddenly over-stimulated olfactory senses.

  He watched as she used a key to enter a first floor dwelling and call out, “Hey Tiffany! I brought a visitor!” She entered the apartment confidently; he followed warily.

  He could hear something as soon as he walked in the door. His surroundings revealed a level of filth he hadn’t seen since the Middle Ages.

  Heather disappeared around a corner, and exclaimed, “Tiffany! What are you doing?”

  He followed, and found an emaciated version of Heather, standing on the countertops in the kitchen, clinging to cupboard doors, trying to reach the ceiling with what looked like a wet sweat shirt.

  She looked at Heather indignantly. “What does it look like I’m doing? I’m cleaning my ceiling.” She reached up again, and scrubbed the ceiling, raining down wet popcorn particles on her head.

  Uri saw they were twins, even though Tiffany looked nothing like Heather. She was skeletal, and her skin was covered in plague-like pustules. Many of her teeth were missing, or rotten, and he could see pieces of her scalp. Shuddering, he thought again of the plague-like conditions of the Middle Ages, here in this twenty-first century apartment.

  Shaking his head, he went out to the car, and returned with the oversized blanket that Heather had thought to bring. This wouldn’t be hard. She couldn't weigh more than a hundred pounds, even though she was as tall as Heather.

  As he approached Tiffany with the blanket, she noticed him for the first time.

  “What’s he think he’s doing?”

  “Tiffany, this is my friend Uri. He’s going to help us.”

  Uri threw the blanket over Tiffany, trapping her arms in the folds and wrapping his arms around her. He lifted her over his shoulder, as she kicked and screamed obscenities. He turned, threw a wink at Heather, and walked out the front of the apartment.

  He opened the door to the back seat and tossed her in.

  Heather came out, locking the door behind her.

  “That was easy,” she remarked, as she got into the passenger side of the car.

  “Nope, you get in the back with her. I’m a good driver but not if someone’s trying to strangle me.”

  She rolled her eyes and got in with her sister.

  Uri got into the driver’s seat and turned to watch as Heather perched on top of Tiffany so she couldn’t move, although she was still screaming. Satisfied that she wouldn’t try to claw his eyes out on the freeway, he turned and started the car.

  Heather gave directions to get to the rehab facility, in between reassurances to her sister.

  “Tiffany, you want to get clean. Remember the tattoo parlor? You can’t do the tattoo parlor, if you’re spending all of your money on drugs.”

  “Fuck you, Heather! Take me back home!” She let out a litany of curses that made Uri blush.

  “I love you, Tiffany. Please remember that. I’m doing this because you asked me to.”

  More curses streamed from under the blanket.

  “Uri, take this next exit. Tiff, remember when we were kids and we would go to Barton Springs in Austin? The water was so cold, we would dare each other to just jump in. Do you remember?”

  Words Uri had never heard were coming from under Heather in the backseat, and Uri was convinced that some sort of demonic possession had taken place. Heather was unfazed.

  “When we jumped in, the first submersion was a shock, right? But eventually, we would get used to it, and then we had a great time. Remember?”

  Finally, the blanket had gotten a little subdued. It simply uttered, “Fuck you, Bitch.”

  “That’s what this will be like, only not so bad. They hook you up to an IV, full of sedatives, and you sleep through the detox stage. It’s not so bad. You’re the one who told me about this place, remember?” The soothing tone of Heather's voice carried to the front seat, and as Tiffany slowly calmed down, Uri felt himself soothed as well.

  Seeing Tiffany's living conditions had upset him, and the sound of Heather's placating voice calmed his thoughts. His thoughts of the Middle Ages were replaced with memories of the twins' childhood, frolicking in some spring water as children. As the blanket grew silent, so did Uri's subconscious, taken over by images of a carefree childhood. When they'd finally arrived, Uri found himself centered again, having surrendered to a feeling of tranquility matched only by deep meditation.

  Pulling into the parking lot of the rehab facility, which looked an awful lot like an old school building, Uri said quietly, “Is she okay, now?”

  “I’m not sure. Tiff?” Heather called softly to the blanket. “Can I get up now? Are you going to run?” There was no answer and no movement.

  Heather looked at Uri with panic in her eyes. He reached for her hand, squeezing it. “It’s okay. Hang on, I’ll come open the door.”

  Getting out and opening the back door, he helped Heather out of the car. When he pulled the blanket off Tiffany, she was asleep.

  “Well, that makes this unbelievably easy.” Uri scooped her up in his arms, wondering if she even weighed a hundred pounds. She was the same height as Heather, around five foot nine or so, but she was so skinny…

  Once inside, Uri deposited Tiffany in a waiting wheelchair, and they spent the next thirty minutes or so filling out paperwork. Eventually, a young, friendly looking woman, dressed in khaki pants and a polo shirt with the facility's insignia came out to talk to Heather.

  “I’m Tracy, you must be the sister.” She extended her hand to shake with Heather.

  “Yes, I’m Heather, and this is my friend, Uri.” Uri felt a sense of something foreign when she introduced him as her friend. Many of his targets had regarded him as a friend, but with Heather, it was different. It pleased him immensely that she would consider him a friend, and the pleasure confounded him. Why should he care? But he did.

  “Well, since she’s asleep, she can’t sign the necessary processing paperwork, so we’ll have to wait until she wakes up to begin the detoxing process. Until then, we will keep her in a secure room, so she isn’t hurt. Are you alright with that?”

  “Yes. I’m just glad to finally have her here.”

  “Does she have someplace to go when she leaves?”

  “She can stay with me as long as she stays clean. That’s always been the deal.”

  “Okay, then. We’ll be in touch. It was a pleasure to meet you, Heather. And Uri.” She shook each one of their hands before turning and wheeling an unconscious Tiffany down a hallway and into a room out of sight.

  Turning with Heather to go, Uri reached out a hand, and placed it on the small of her back, rubbing slightly.

  He watched as Heather brushed a tear from her eye, and realized that he felt sorry for Tiffany, who had been locked up to detoxify from the drugs that she herself had put into her system.

  He wondered if he’d spent too much time around the humans. They seemed to be rubbing off on him.

  Chapter 15

  Heather let Uri into her apartment after dropping off the car at the club. Without a word, she went into the kitchen and retrieved the bottle of wine that she had opened earlier in the day -- before her bath and before the visit from Damien. Heaving a dramatic sigh, she threw herself onto the couch and drank a long draught straight from the bo
ttle of wine.

  Today had been hard. After seeing Damien and the shock that Uri was really a supernatural being, which Heather was still trying to process, she'd stuck her twin into a rehab facility, possibly incurring her sister's wrath for a long time to come. It was worse than putting her mother in the home for some reason. Probably because she knew that things could feasibly continue on the way they had been. But to continue to enable her sister would have made her miserable, Tiffany was killing herself slowly.

  “It’s been a long day for you, hasn’t it, Heather?” Uri asked her softly, sinking down next to her on the sofa.

  “You have no idea.” She swigged from the bottle again.

  “Why don’t you let me tuck you into bed?” Questioning his motives, she looked at him suspiciously, but his expression was open, guileless.

  She nodded at him, and he took the bottle from her hands, set it on the table next to the sofa, and led her into her bedroom.

  Heather took off her jeans and bra, and lay down on her bed. Uri pulled the covers up to her chin and sat down next to her. She inhaled his scent in her bedroom. She knew he didn't see her as anybody romantic, she wasn't even sure he could see her that way. But something about the way his eyes softened when he looked at her, his hand resting on her hip, reassured her. He made her feel safe.

  “You did a good thing today, Heather,” he said, supportively. His knuckle rubbed her cheek, and Heather found the gesture endearing. She nuzzled him with her face, and he opened his hand. She rested her face on his palm, relishing in his warmth on her cheek. She could feel a current in his skin, making the ever-present white-hot heat crackle beneath the surface of her skin.

  “You truly are a light in the darkness.” His gaze softened as he looked at her.

  She took a deep breath, recognizing she would never know unless she just asked. “Uri?”

  “Hmm?” Her insides melted a little bit when he made that noise. It reminded her of the night he hummed Swan Lake to her while she danced. She smiled at the memory.