by Ivy Sinclair
There were far too many things that could go wrong. I had lived too long to not understand that as a fundamental truth. And I could see that although my story resonated with Paige, she still hadn’t reconciled that with her decision to accept Eva into her body and soul.
If anything, Riley’s expression was even stormier than it was before I started my tale. But he would fall into line with Eva once Eva was returned. That was his fate. He was the Protector. Eva’s Protector. The bond that was growing between the two of them now had to be stopped. As it grew stronger, it gave each of them an individual reason to repel their destinies, and that was unacceptable.
“Our time grows short,” I replied. “I hope you are right.”
CHAPTER NINE – PAIGE
It never occurred to me that the dreams of blood and death that had plagued me for as long as I could remember could be the death of someone that I was bound to from another life. The dreams were vividly intense and horrible. I felt the sharp rips of pain and tasted the blood in my mouth. The rage in those dreams was directed at external sources, and now I understood that it was Eva’s rage against those who betrayed her.
Listening to Fernando’s descriptions of how angels and demons alike tore Eva apart while God sat and watched sounded fantastical, to say the least, but I could feel it in my bones that it was true. Whether these things in my head were memories or simply a byproduct of my vivid imagination of her horrible end, it didn’t matter. I was linked to Eva. It seemed pointless to deny it.
I clutched the pendant in my fist and stared at the half-eaten food on my plate. I wasn’t hungry any longer. There were too many things that I had learned in the last hour that once again threatened to turn my fragile existence on its head. I had no choice but to question everything now.
“You okay?” Riley’s low voice caressed my ear as he leaned into me. I felt his arm circle around me, and he rested his hand on the bench on the other side of me.
“No,” I replied. My heart beat rapidly in my chest, and I felt jittery. I swung my legs around and out from beneath the picnic table. Riley pulled back in surprise as I stood up. He started to stand as well, but I gestured for him to stay put. “Please. I just need a few minutes to myself. I won’t go far. I want to stretch my legs, and I could use the fresh air.”
I could see that he didn’t want to let me go. I thought that I had achieved a medium of clarity about our relationship, but all of this talk of Eva’s Protector made me cautious. Riley had been vehemently against me accepting the Goddess into my body and soul since the first moment he learned of my fate. But what if the other Protector was lying in wait to possess Riley too? It seemed as if the stars had aligned to ensure that Riley and I crossed paths, and that was the catalyst for everything that had happened since then.
“Don’t go far. Stay within shouting distance,” he finally said.
“You’ll find a path just on the other side of the house that goes down into the apple orchard,” Abigail said. “It’s just a few minute walk, and there’s a bench under the trees that looks out over the whole property. It’s quite relaxing.”
“Thanks,” I said bowing my head.
I knew it was rude to leave in the middle of dinner, but I felt like I was suffocating. I needed space to think. I moved as quickly as my feet would take me around the house, and it didn’t take me long to find the path that Abigail mentioned. I could see the apple trees from the lawn, so I just needed to head in their direction. Just as Abigail said, it was a brief walk and then I was underneath the canopy of their branches. I flopped onto the bench and let my head drop into my hands.
How did I get here?
It was a question that I asked myself often. I usually didn’t dwell on it because it was a nonsense question that didn’t have a good answer. Plus, there was nothing I could do about it anyway. I was here and here I was. It was as simple as that.
It would be easier to give in. I knew that. All of the chaos of the last twenty-two years of my life would be over. I would finally have a chance at peace. I felt as if I had spent the majority of my life running, and in a way I had. I could just give in, accept my fate, and let my consciousness fade away.
“Are you really the Goddess’s vessel?”
I brought my head up and found Eleanor standing there staring at me with open curiosity on her face. I wanted to tell her to go away, but I didn’t have it in me to be snappish. It wasn’t her fault that her mother had decided to expose her to this world.
“That’s what everyone keeps telling me,” I said with a weak smile. “Shouldn’t you be eating with everyone else?”
“I wasn’t that hungry,” Eleanor said. She moved closer to me and then sat down on the ground facing me. “I’ve never met a Goddess before. Have you?”
“Nope,” I said. “I was kind of hoping to avoid that kind of thing altogether to tell you the truth.”
Eleanor pulled her knees up to her chest and crossed her arms around them. “Why?”
“Well, if I meet Eva, then there’s a good chance that I will become Eva. And I don’t want that.”
Eleanor’s face screwed up as if she were deep in thought. “I think it would be pretty cool to be a Goddess. I’d have all these magical powers, and people wouldn’t be able to bully me around anymore. Plus, I’d go back in time and make it so the bad demons didn’t kill my dad. We’d be able to be a family again.”
I felt my heart break for the little girl. She was too young to know these kinds of things. It wasn’t fair, but there were a lot of things in life that weren’t fair. “I don’t think it works quite like that, Eleanor.”
Her face brightened. “Call me Ellie. I like you.”
It was such a simple thing, but knowing that somebody liked me just for me was sweet. “Okay, Ellie. I like you too. But I think when you become a Goddess like Eva; Eva is the one who is in charge. The part that is you doesn’t exist anymore.”
Eleanor looked confused again. “Where do you go then?”
“I don’t know. I just know that if I were to say yes to being Eva’s vessel, then I won’t be able to be here anymore. And that would make me very sad.”
There was a long pause. Eleanor rocked back and forth on her heels and seemed to be processing what I said. She cocked her head at me. “I guess I’d have to trust that Eva would want me there too. Because I’d be able to tell her things she didn’t know, and I could help her. I’ve heard lots of stories about Eva. She wouldn’t like it if someone who helped her just wasn’t there anymore. I think she’d do something about it.”
“That’s certainly a nice thought,” I said. “But I think Eva would want to be completely in control. There’s only room for one person in here.” I pointed at my temple. “Right now, I want that to be me.”
Eleanor looked as though she were about to start crying. “If Eva doesn’t return, then Abigail said that the bad demons will kill all the humans and take over this realm. She said that bad demons hate humans, and have for a long time. It’ll be just like when they killed my dad. Eva is supposed to save us.”
Shit, the kid was going to kill me. I expected the hard sell from Abigail or Fernando, but the guilt trip from this little girl was ten times worse. That’s when it finally occurred to me that Eleanor’s visit to me in the orchard might not be so coincidental. I felt the pendant on my neck. Every which way I turned, there was someone trying to manipulate and control me.
Benjamin branded me with his symbol, which effectively wed me to him despite the fact that I had no idea who or what he was at the time.
Bruno Proctor coerced me into a blood pact with him and would use that to try to make me do his bidding.
Abigail and Fernando were trying their best to make me see that accepting Eva was not only my destiny, but something that would be the best thing for all of the species.
Even Riley, as pure as he believed his intentions to be, was trying to turn me in the direction that he thought I should go.
Eva reached out to me from the ethe
r and invaded my dreams. She wanted me to feel her rage and help her exact her revenge.
And somewhere out there was a relic that brought doom to everyone that came into contact with it.
I was exhausted. I wanted to be left alone, but despite how strong that desire was that welled inside of me, I knew it was a bad decision. I was surrounded by people who wanted nothing more than for me to acquiesce to being their Goddess. I was safest with Riley. I was always safest with Riley.
“I’m going to go find my friends, Ellie. I’m sure everyone is done eating now,” I said.
“Can I walk with you?” The girl stood when I did.
“Sure,” I said wearily.
Eleanor slipped her hand into mine as I started to move, and I couldn’t take it away without hurting her feelings. It wasn’t her fault that Abigail had decided to use her childish innocence to get under my skin.
“If you do become Eva, will you help Abigail get better?” Eleanor asked as we approached the house.
My thoughts interrupted; I stopped and looked down at her. “What?”
“Abigail is sick,” Eleanor said. “She said that a lot of people like her are sick. That’s why Eva’s return is so important. She’s been so good to all of us. Would Eva be able to heal her?”
Shocked, my mind tried to process what she said. I furiously worked over everything that Bruno told me while I was with him. He had been keenly interested in my healing abilities, which I could access through the bond to Eva given the right motivation. When he took me to see the demons who possessed Joanna and Gabrielle, Riley’s mother and sister, he said that a demon plague had been unleashed on the demon species.
Did it all tie together? Who was targeting the demons?
“I don’t know, Ellie,” I said truthfully. “I have never spoken to Eva.”
“If you could put in the good word for Abigail, that would be really nice,” Eleanor said solemnly. “I like her a lot. She says funny things that make me laugh, and she’s always been so nice to me and my mom.”
I brushed a stray strand of hair away from her forehead. “I can appreciate wanting to protect the people we care about. If I do ever speak to Eva, I will ask her for you.”
Eleanor’s face broke out in a brilliant smile. “Thank you, Paige! You are the best.” She threw her arms around my waist and squeezed tightly.
Overcome by the sudden burst of emotion, I allowed myself to enjoy the innocent touch of the child and hugged her back. I heard the squeak of a hinge and looked up to find Riley standing on the porch watching me. He dug his hands into his pockets but didn’t say anything.
Gently, I disentangled Eleanor’s arms from my waist. “Ellie, I need to go with Riley and talk some more. You should probably go find your mom. I’ll talk to you again later, okay?”
“Okay,” she said. “Bye, Paige.” She waved at me and took off skipping around the other side of the house.
I waited until she was out of sight, and then I climbed the porch steps. As I reached the top step, I couldn’t help myself. I wasn’t sure if it was the enormity of what I faced, or the fact that Eleanor had reminded me how much I craved human attention and affection. I wrapped my arms around Riley’s neck and hugged him as tightly as I could.
Immediately, his hands encircled my waist, and he squeezed me back. “I don’t know what to do,” I admitted.
“We’ll figure it out together. I promise,” he whispered back. “C’mon. I want to show you something.”
He took my hand and led me back inside. This time, he turned to the right as soon as we entered the house, and I found myself inside a room I hadn’t seen before. With heavy, mahogany shelves lined with books on the walls surrounding a massive fireplace, this was clearly a kind of sitting room. Klein sat on a plush sofa with a large map spread out on the coffee table in front of him.
“Fernando seemed more than happy to share with us details about his search for the Protector over the years. I’ve got Klein taking a look to see if there are any obvious misses.”
Klein held up a thick file folder, then pointed to stack of them at his feet that I missed the first time surveying the room. “This is the last hundred years or so of his notes. Let’s just hope he doesn’t drag out tablets of stone or anything like that. The guy has been around forever.”
I let Riley tuck me into a chaise lounger across from them. Riley sat down next to Klein and took the file out of his hands. “Skim. I said we skim.”
“Even skimming this could take days,” Klein said. “I’m good, Riley, but I’m not that good. As a side note, I also can’t create clues out of thin air.”
“Fernando and Abigail have been searching for him for the last thousand years. The guy didn’t just fall off the face of the earth,” Riley said. He looked over at me. “You look tired, babe.”
“I am tired,” I admitted. I wanted to tell him about what Eleanor had said about the demon plague, but something held me back. I needed to be sure I had all the facts straight first, and my brain felt like mush. “Do you mind if I close my eyes for a second?”
“It’s not like we’re going anywhere,” Klein said as he gathered up another file and dramatically blew the dust off the top of it. “Somebody might as well get some sleep.”
Riley rolled his eyes. “We’ve got this.”
“Great,” I said. I closed my eyes intending to simply let my mind quiet, and promptly fell asleep.
CHAPTER TEN – RILEY
I wasn’t surprised when Paige fell asleep. Her head dipped down toward her chest, and a few moments later she shifted so that her face turned into the side of the tall, pillowed back of the lounger.
“I can’t believe it,” Klein said.
“What?” I looked back at him expecting to be bowled over by some great revelation.
“You are totally in love with her.” Klein looked amused and chagrined at the same time. “I didn’t think you had it in you, old man.”
“I’m only five years older than you,” I grumbled, attempting to deflect his comments altogether. “And twenty-eight is hardly old.”
“I can’t believe I didn’t get it until just this minute,” Klein said. Then his smirk dropped. “Oh, do you think it’s just because of this Eva and Protector myth?”
“Shut up, Klein,” I warned. I pointed at the map. “Focus. We need to find some ancient, supernatural being who has been missing for a thousand years. We don’t have a lot of time to do it. Let’s get cracking.”
Klein rolled his eyes. He knew what I was doing, but seemed to be okay giving me a pass. I wasn’t the type to share my feelings on this kind of topic anyway. “So near as I can tell, the last place the Protector was seen was on the North American continent, which is good news for us. Apparently, Eva had been in contact with several of the indigenous tribes who lived in what would later be known as the Pacific Northwest.
“We’re probably going to be headed in that direction,” I said, pointing at the tiny island on the map that represented Calamata Island. “All the intel we have says that the relic is on that island. But it sure in hell would be nice to know what the fuck that relic is. It might look like a compass, but I have a feeling it’s not going to point due north.”
“And you think the Protector would know.”
“I’m just trying to think the way that he would think,” I said. I flipped open the file folder that I had taken from Klein earlier. Fernando had leveraged the invention of the camera well. The file was a kaleidoscope of pictures of bits of paper with hieroglyphs and foreign language written on them, paintings, pottery, and jewelry that all seemed to depict the same scenes. In them, a woman with midnight black hair was followed by a stern looking man with a wicked looking sword.
“If I’m interpreting this correctly, these are various stories and legends about Eva while she was here on earth.” I flipped through the pictures looking for one that I had seen during my first review of the file. I found it near the bottom of the stack. The picture was of a vase, and there were two s
cenes depicted on both sides. The problem with the picture was that I could only see half of each side. “See? Here, you have the Protector facing something that we can’t see on that side of the vase, and he obviously looks pissed. On the other side, Eva has an expression of grief, and she’s holding the Protector’s sword. I think she knew what happened to him.”
Klein took the picture away from me. “If that’s the case, why wouldn’t Fernando have said so? He said she didn’t know.”
“Supposedly, she created a bond between them that was so strong that part of her life force and power was tied to him. It seems highly unlikely that she had no idea what happened to him. My guess is, she thought it was more prudent to say he disappeared than actually admit that she had been weakened by his death.”
“So you think he died all those years ago,” Klein said, studying the picture.
“It’s the only explanation that makes sense. Nobody disappears for a thousand years without any trace,” I said.
“You know that if he did die, that seems to sway a lot of things toward the idea that you are that guy reincarnated. Or about to be possessed. Either way, you become him,” Klein said.
I glared at him, but he hadn’t looked up from the photograph. “There’s a lot of speculation swirling around as fact in my opinion. Everyone around here thinks it’s a foregone conclusion that Paige will invite Eva in. I can’t see that happening. I might have a tattoo that mysteriously appeared on my back, but that doesn’t mean that I’m going to become anybody else either. Can you see any difference in me?”
Klein finally looked up at me. He frowned. “Well, think about where this conversation started. I’ve known you for three years, Riley. And I can honestly say that everything you’ve told me so far about what’s happened since you went to Calamata Island and met Paige sounds like the exact opposite of how you’d react in any other situation.”
I scowled. “That is different. I’m not a complete prick. I was doing my job interrogating a demon, and then I heard a woman yelling. She was being attacked by a Typhon demon. I kicked its ass. No matter what day of the week you’d have checked with me then or now, I wouldn’t have done anything different in that situation.”