Gabriel led me to a white bench in the middle of the great expanse of the room.
“Only Others learn of this option. I can give you back your life without memories of James. You can go on living your life as if you’d never met James Schmitt.”
The idea of not having the regret of choosing Jimmy over Colin made me consider this option. As I reflected on my time with Jimmy I realized I didn’t choose him over Colin. KK was right: Jimmy helped me get through the times when I was ready to give up.
“Trish…” Jimmy’s crooked smile and blue eyes trapped me behind the bar as he leaned over my foot and a half of safety. “How about I help you clean up and then I’ll show you how mature I am?”
I’d gotten a call from Colin’s nurse two hours before telling me he’d be able to come home tomorrow. I hadn’t spent as much time at the hospital as I usually had because I couldn’t take the beeping machines and smell of citrus bleach cleaner. When Colin came home I’d have to come home to him and monitor his vitals every two hours. I’d need to feed him through a tube because of his last procedure. I wasn’t ready to be a grown up and this cute soldier was exactly what I needed at the moment.
“Last call,” I called out, and Jimmy slid back to his stool with a knowing smirk on his face. “One time.”
“Please, you think I want more?”
“Nope, and I’m telling you now to not even consider it.”
He’d shown me he not only knew how to please a woman, but he energized me to face the world. I wanted that energy. I wanted Jimmy.
“I think even if you took away the memories I would still remember. He’s become part of me. Deeper than a lover. I’ve never felt more whole than I am with him.”
“Give me your arm.”
I extended my arm and Gabriel pulled out a strange knife with a glowing green orb in the center of its hilt. The knife had six blades all coming together in the center. The hilt was made of some type of clear crystal or glass. I couldn’t help reaching to feel the intricate etching along the clear edge. The green orb pressed against the glass and made it warm.
“Calm down, boy,” Gabriel said and pulled the knife from my touch and crushed the glass in his hand. The orb swirled around my body starting at my feet and traveling around my waist, finally landing on my breast. “We’re going to hope James wants to be close to your heart and not your breasts.”
“What do you mean?”
“That’s James’ soul. I need to pull yours out and meld the two.”
“His soul?” I looked at the small green orb and then brushed my fingers up to cradle him in my hand. “It’s so small.”
“You might not want to make that comment to him. I’ve found males take offense.”
“His heart is so big,” I said, looking up from the orb. “I couldn’t imagine being able to hold him in my hand.”
“I believe the term that best describes the two of you involves a little finger.”
“It goes both ways. I’ll do anything for him.”
Verbalizing the fact didn’t make it less true; instead, it solidified the thing I was scared to say.
“Are we married now?” I asked.
“No, not yet. Usually he would do this, but with you on the verge of death I will have to stand in.”
Gabriel held my wrist and extended my arm. With quick precision he sliced open the skin, even with no hilt on the knife. Blood drained onto the floor and he pressed on my forehead.
“Come out now.”
My head reared back and my mouth jolted open. Heat burned through my veins and shot out of my mouth. Before I could make out the color it slammed into the green orb and they created a blinding white light. My energy was drained as I watched Gabriel create a new hilt that was solid metal, and the new orb fell into it and Gabriel sealed the top.
“Now, dear Trisha, I must go and instruct your Other so he breathes the life back into you.”
Gabriel disappeared and my exhaustion caused me to fall into a new state of being. My lips tingled and my eyes fluttered. With each batting of my eyes the room became darker and darker until I only saw a set of ice-blue eyes filled with tears.
“I was so scared you were too hurt,” Jimmy cried and pulled me closer to him. Cradling my head in his hand, he trembled against me. “I didn’t know if you’d be strong enough to push through.”
“The offer of life with you is a pretty big carrot.”
Leaning back, I saw his leg was contorted in such a way that I tried to move off him, but he just pulled me closer. On my left arm was a bandage that matched Jimmy’s. What had happened?
“I’ve never seen a ceremony like that before,” Zarmina said as she used a towel to clean up the floor. “Still as much love as any I’ve witnessed and sadly very short.”
“Short?” I asked.
“You need your wounds healed and James needs to go. I received a call from Lars and there is a problem.”
“There’s always a problem,” Jimmy said, then scooped up the glass from his knife.
“Wait, baby.” I caught his hand. “That’s glass, use a broom.”
“It’s diamond. It’s for our wedding box.”
“Diamond? It couldn’t be. Gabriel crushed it with his bare hand?”
I looked between Jimmy and Zarmina who both looked at me like I was a fool.
“He’s really strong, isn’t he?” I asked.
“Most archangels are.” Zarmina helped Jimmy scoop up the diamonds and placed them inside a cedar box.
Jimmy helped me to my feet and examined my cuts from the demon. We walked into the room with the large granite slab and he lifted me at my hips. Landing on the cold granite, I smiled at him.
“Zarmina will clean you up and I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
“Um…you forget something?” I asked when he turned.
“What?”
“Someone needs to kiss the bride.”
Chapter 15
PFC James Schmitt
WHEN I pulled back up at the cul-de-sac I saw a few bantlings lying in pain with injuries. Dust littered the air and ground, I assume from those who passed. Berlin was sitting sideways in her car with the door open. Her hands were covered in dust and blood. She was staring at them in between her long legs that for once weren’t wearing heels. Instead she had a pair of combat boots on.
“Thank you,” I said as I approached.
She looked up at me as if dazed.
“I killed them.” Her head turned from side to side. “So many. I ran some over, I stabbed some…”
At her side was her claustranima with five new etchings on the diamond surface. I picked it up and slid it into the sheath she had across her chest.
“It’s going to get worse before it gets better. We have a large battle coming and there’s no way to avoid it.”
“Is she alive?” she asked, with her green eyes distant from the shock. “The woman we came to save?”
“Yes, we’re married now.”
“You got married while we were fighting?”
“If I hadn’t, she would have died.”
“You don’t love her?”
“If I didn’t love her I would have let her die.” I took off my shirt and cleaned Berlin’s hands with it. “You need to go to Kiriana’s therapy sessions and participate. Or try to get her to see you one-on-one. I wish someone had done that for me when I was new. It’s hard, this life. I wish I could say it wasn’t, but Gabriel wouldn’t have offered you salvation if he didn’t see something inside you worth saving.”
“Schmitty, they need you inside,” Dilana called from behind me.
“Thank you,” Berlin mouthed the words to me as she continued to clean herself with my shirt.
“What are we looking at?” I asked D as we walked into the home.
“KK and her fucking deals.”
“Shit.”
“It will not happen,” the princess said as I walked in the door. “T
here is no way I would allow it.”
“Oh, well, in that case,” KK said nonchalantly. “Take the ashes from me.”
A scream tore through the house that had all but KK covering their ears.
“I’m sure there are dogs howling all across the city,” Dilana grumbled when the screeching ended. “She keeps doing that.”
“What does KK want?”
“To house Damarion after we bring him back from being a dust bunny.”
“Is Gabriel okay with us holding a demon?”
“I don’t think Kiriana asked him. She’s kinda on a power trip.”
“Hey, partner,” I called across the room, and the princess sent me flying. “I’m really getting tired of being part of a wall.”
“You hurt my partner one more time, Ressey, and it’s gonna be a cold day in Hell before you see Damarion. We have lots of compounds and I’d love to divee up his ashes for burial.”
“It is not worth it,” the princess’ mother hissed. “You’re giving up our whole life and family for one man.”
“You did that,” she snarled and pinned her mother against the wall with her bare hand. “You destroyed our angelic family for the love of my father. If I bring down Hell for my love so be it.”
“What do you really know of Damarion? He was so weak—”
The princess cut off her mother’s airway completely. Her eyes bulged in their sockets as she clawed at her neck. Blood began to drip from where her claws were digging in.
“He will be mine.”
“Your Holiness,” an Asian woman said. “She is your mother.”
“And…has she ever protected me? Given me what I needed?”
“It is the blood lust, calm yourself.”
The princess trembled as her arm released and her mother crumpled to the floor. LaDressa grabbed her hair and pulled in frustration.
“Why is it so difficult? I want him. I’ll do anything for him.”
“Then let me keep him until the Hell's Mouth is closed,” KK said calmly.
“Why? Why do I have…have to be without him for so long?”
“It’s only as long as you make it,” the Asian woman said. “Remember what your mother said about time.”
The princess glared at her mother, then knelt at her side.
“How is it my powers are so great and yet I seem to have none? Can you tell me that, dear sweet Mother? How is my cousin more powerful?”
“She is not, she can just control her emotions better,” she snarled. “You let your love…your need for a man overtake you.”
“I read The Book of the Known, Mother. The part about resurrecting a demon. It said I needed something I don’t have.” I saw the princess retrieve a knife from a sheath on her hip.
“What is that?”
“The blood of an angel, and I only know one true-blooded one.”
* * * *
Her Royal Holiness, Princess LaDressa, Daughter of Lucifer the IV
Angel blood was not like the blood of the others I had killed. The texture was smooth and fluid as it dripped off the knife that had gutted my mother, but the coloring was different. A silvery purple, I determined. It reflected the lights in the room and the surface was a perfect mirror when it pooled on the floor at my mother’s feet.
There was a sound of small rocks falling to the floor and I noticed my diamonds were muddying up the pool of blood. They had all dropped from where my mother had placed them earlier in the day as if my hair, which always wrapped around them in protection, had just let go.
“You have no idea what you’ve done, child,” my mother gasped as the light purple liquid dripped down her lips. “He’ll kill you now.”
“Who’ll kill me?” I asked.
“Your brother, Gabriel, or even she will.” She indicated my cousin who sat calmly on my couch. “You are no longer protected.”
“I’m strong enough to protect myself now.”
“I pray you are.” She coughed roughly and the life faded from her eyes.
“Gather the blood in a cup,” I ordered Masako.
The members of the Frozen sat stunned in my room as they stared at me. I steeled myself for fear that I couldn’t protect myself. In our home I no longer knew what was happening. No one prepared me for the world. I’ve only known seclusion.
My mother, sure, she’d been weakened, but my cousin was quite powerful. Even if I had to acquiesce to her demands of Damarion staying locked in their compound until the Hell’s Mouth was sealed. It was a trifle, for I would have a minute with Damarion at least. That would be enough time to instruct him, love him, and make sure their compound would burn to the ground.
“Shall we take our leave?” I asked.
“How many of you are needed for the ceremony?” Kiriana asked.
“Masako is my servant. I will need Nemesio and yourself.”
“Is Masako necessary?”
“For my well-being, yes.”
“She stays.”
Masako reached for a weapon, but I held my hand out to stop her.
“Gather my diamonds, they must have some use on this plane,” I spoke softly to only her. “Discover it and read the text you found to see if they truly were a protection for my body.”
“And your mother?”
Looking at the pale figure sprawled out on the floor I wondered if she’d even turn to dust. What happened to angels?
I turned to Kiriana. “Your mother passed. Did she travel upon the wind?”
“My mother…I don’t know.”
“One of you, stab my mother with your knife,” I ordered. “The one that turns us to dust.”
“No,” the Dark One growled. “We’re not having this occur twice.”
I looked at the soldier with his bare chest and tawny muscles. More importantly on his hip was a knife that had to be his demon destroyer. I flew to his hip, obtained the knife, and stabbed my dead mother through the chest. Her eyes opened for a moment as her body arched into the knife, then crashed back to the floor. Pops and sizzles sounded as light exploded from within her. The whole room became blindingly bright. When the light disappeared, all that remained of my mother was a dark outline. No ashes, just a shadow of where she’d once been.
“I’m ready to go.” I surrendered to Kiriana and she placed a binding over my eyes.
* * * *
Trisha O’Driscoll
“Hey, Doc, can you tell me why my back suddenly felt as if it was hit by a sledgehammer?” I asked while he tended to my wounds. It was strange; almost the minute he placed the salve on them I watched them close and my skin become smooth.
“I’d assume your Other might have been hit by a sledgehammer. Ask him when he returns.”
“Schmitty got hurt?”
“Yes, if you felt pain, but didn’t fall, it more than likely was from him being injured.”
“But he’s okay, right?”
“You seem to be.”
“Good point…I guess. Will all this make sense to me at some time?”
“It’s possible. I’m still finding out new things, like Kiriana’s pregnancy and the way she and Nye are connected.”
“Are herbals better than manmade drugs?” I asked looking around the room with all its jars filled with powders and leaves.
“Yes and no. It depends on what I’m treating.”
“How long have you been a doctor?”
“About three hundred years. I never really liked the hunt and killing is part of the job. Gabriel never pushes a person to kill, but they at least need to contribute. It’s been interesting watching all the changes. Although I haven’t delivered a child for centuries.”
“Not many Frozen getting pregnant?”
“Frozen don’t get pregnant.”
“Never?”
“No,” Jimmy returned. “That’s the only thing I regret. You have to be pregnant before you get sealed. I hope you’re not mad that’s not an option.”
“You didn’t?”
“I gave Colin the gene that killed him.” My breath caught and steadied myself. “I couldn’t go through that again.”
“Is she all patched up, Doc?” Jimmy asked as he moved between my legs and stroked my arms.
“He said you got hurt.”
“A little stumble, did it hurt you bad?”
“Not too bad.”
“Good.” His hand cupped my jaw and he stroked his thumb across my bottom lip. “We have a bridal bed to consummate. I’d hate to put that off.”
“Do we now?” I grinned before he kissed me lightly on the lips.
“According to Kiriana, the orgasms are much better when really shared.”
A heat rushed over my body at the idea. It was one thing to come at the same time as your lover, but with twice the intensity…this whole sealing thing had some perks I didn’t expect.
“I believe it is traditional to offer a present to the bridal couple,” Gabriel said. I’m not sure if I’ll ever be able to get used to the popping in of random people that happens here.
“Since when do you give gifts?” Jimmy asked while lifting me off the table at my hips.
“What can I say…I’ve softened.”
“How powerful is Kiriana?” Jimmy asked.
“I wouldn’t cross her; then again, I never crossed my sisters either.”
“I’m sorry for your loss.”
“It happens when one chooses to lie with the Devil.” Gabriel’s face changed for just a moment from his stone-hard demeanor. “Your gift is in the greenhouse.”
Jimmy and I walked hand in hand toward the greenhouse. Its high glass roof held in all the smells of fresh dirt and Zarmina’s flowers. Above us was a large full moon that spanned three panes of glass. I placed my hand on Jimmy’s bicep and pulled closer to feel his warmth.
When we rounded a corner I saw Zarmina kneeling in front of a bench. When she saw us she smiled and stood to reveal Colin sitting on the bench. No tubes, no IVs. His face was round and smiling as he ran toward me and I went to one knee to embrace him. My fingers rustled his soft brown hair as I held him to my chest.
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