by Tamsin Baker
“Here and here,” Tabitha said, pointing to flesh wounds in Kadie’s neck and arms.
I placed the poultice on each area and Tabitha began rubbing the mixture over Kadie’s skin. Into every little wound, bruise or injury.
Within minutes she looked like a blacked earth wrestler.
Tabitha let out a strange sigh.
I dropped to my knees and cupped her cheeks to draw her head up. When she was looking at me with pained eyes I asked, “Are you okay?”
She gave me a wobbly smile. “You owe me for this, you know that, right?”
I nodded fervently. “Yes.”
And I’d do another millennium of service and not complain once, if it meant they both survived this.
“Good. Now, keep going. I can feel a change in her already.”
Simone seemed to be throwing everything she’d brought into her concoction. It was bubbling and churning as though alive.
“What are you making?” I asked, and Margaret shook her head, drawing me away.
Simone’s eyes were glowing with a white power and as she began to chant, I could feel the change in the air.
Thank the Gods. I’d brought the right people into this house.
Simone grabbed for two cups, dipped them into the swirling mess of purple and orange.
“Quickly. They must drink.”
Margaret took the cup to Tabitha, who downed it instantly.
She gasped and groaned and shook like she’d been poisoned herself.
I stared down at the still moving mixture. Was this really the right thing to do? To Kadie? The mother of my child.
“Angel! Now!”
There was no mistaking the authority in Simone’s words and I gathered Kadie into my arms and tipped the drink down her throat.
Her lips were loose and half of it spilled down her chest, but I kept pouring, hoping some of it made it into her stomach.
When it was all gone, and Kadie’s beautiful body was covered in even more of the Witch’s magic than before, I lay her down again against the pillows.
Tabitha groaned and pushed herself to her feet, gagging on the liquid still moving through her system. As she stood up, she withdrew her hand from Kadie’s arm and panic flashed through me.
“What are you doing? Are you letting go of her?” I yelled at my Angel Agent.
Tabitha waved a hand at me as she reeled back and sat on the opposite bed . She coughed and spluttered some more, then wiped at her mouth with her thin hand.
“Of course not. Don’t worry, Gabriel. She’s on her way back to us. I can feel her. She’s gaining strength, and will soon be back with you. Woah…” Tabitha swayed a little and gripped the blankets either side of her.
“Thank you, Tabitha,” I whispered as I turned my attention to my woman. I sat on the bed and stroked Kadie’s forehead.
“Come back to me, beautiful girl. Our son needs you.”
Kadie didn’t wake up, but I could see the changes beginning in her body. Her muscles began to repair. The streaks of red that indicated blood poisoning across her skin regressed and retreated.
“How long?” I asked Simone, who was now standing and checking on Kadie’s vitals.
“I don’t know,” she said, running a hand over Kadie’s throat, checking her pulse.
I lifted my gaze and met the young Witches.
“You’ve saved her. I don’t know how I can repay such a debt.”
She met my look head on.
“You can find out those hunting us, and kill them all.”
I stood up and shook the last of my weakness from my bones. There would be no mercy in my quest for vengeance.
“It would be my honour.”
Chapter 3.
Despite my need to kill more Demons, I stayed at Tabitha’s house until sunrise.
Through the night, Margaret and Simone slept on and off, coming into the room often to check on Kadie’s progress.
And indeed, she did progress.
Her skin had a new glow to it. Her heartbeat was strong, and her body was healing all over.
“How much longer do you think?” I asked Tabitha sometime around sunrise.
I wanted to fly back to Earth and find who had done this. And then wipe them from the face of the planet.
But I didn’t want to miss the moment Kadie woke.
“I don’t know, Gabriel. She’d almost healed up physically, but that doesn’t mean she’s just going to wake up.”
“I know,” but I wanted her to.
Now.
“Where’s the baby?” She asked.
“With Jasmine. He’s safe.”
Tabitha’s shoulders visibly relaxed. “Good.”
“What baby?” Margaret’s voice sounded behind me.
I hadn’t told her of Kadie birthing my child before as I wasn’t sure I could trust her. But now, as Tabitha stood before me healed from her fight with the poison, and Kadie was finding her way back to me, it seemed I could trust the Witch.
“Kadie conceived my child less than two months ago, and then, yesterday, birthed him.”
Margaret’s eyes grew wide. “You must get him. If he is taken by the Demons, then we are all done for.”
I turned to face the Witch. “What are you talking about?
Simone and Margaret shared one of their speaking looks and I slammed my fist into the table.
“If you have been keeping something from me…”
Simone waved her hands. “It wasn’t like that. We didn’t realise that she had your child. You didn’t tell us.”
I help onto my temper by the barest of margins.
“Talk,” was all I could manage.
Simone stepped forward. “There have been tales of half angel babies since the dawn of time.”
“Yes…” I said, curling my fingers tightly into a fist.
“But within our covens, there has also been a legend. Of a man who will save all of humanity. A half Witch, half Angel child, who will be stronger than both.”
I looked at Tabitha and she nodded slowly.
She’d mentioned something like that to me yesterday and I had struggled to comprehend it then.
“So, you’re telling me that you think this is why the Demons wanted her? For our baby? But they were chasing her well before I met her.”
Margaret nodded. “Yes, but if a good person is terrorised, are you not called in to help? Which happens first I wonder? Were they trying to find the baby, or were they trying to destroy all the women who may conceive such a child?”
Nothing was certain in this topsy turvy world, quite the opposite. But I could see how a person so strong could bring havoc to all those who inhabited the Hell dimension.
Losing this war was not on their agenda, and my child may be the key to stopping them all. It was a centering thought.
“So, how can we stop them? Why are they still finding women like Simone if they know that my child has been conceived?”
“I don’t know. Perhaps they believed the baby to be poisoned also? Could he be dying and you not know?” Margaret asked, looking at me like I should know the answer.
Fear slithered through my heart like a rattle snake.
“I have to go. Will you both stay here until Kadie wakes?”
“Of course,” Margaret said.
“Thank you. All of you,” I said, reaching out to squeeze Tabitha’s hand as I moved past.
As soon as I walked outside, I took to the sky, flying back through the portal.
The sun had risen and its warmth on my skin reminded me that there was still an Earth to fight for.
It was a new day.
I flew straight to Jasmine’s home, where my child should be.
When I landed, the heat on my spine was like a blow torch. Demons had been here through the night. Some still lurked in the shadows.
I banged on the front door with my fist and Jasmine’s balding husband peeked through the hole.
The door swung open and his angry expression was one I expecte
d.
“About time you came back.”
I pushed past him and moved into the lounge. “Is he still here? Is he alive?”
“Of course, he is,” Jasmine answered calmly as she walked into the room, holding a tightly wrapped bundle in a blue blanket.
She handed him straight to me and I stared down at his sleeping face.
Jasmine’s aura was so calm that it began to relax my fears, but I asked my questions anyway.
“You haven’t seen any signs of discolouration, or poison?” I asked her as I unwrapped him and stared down at his perfect hands and little blue outfit.
“No of course not, why?”
“What did you bring into our house, devil?” Her husband shouted at me and I turned to glare at him.
He’d always been an asshole. I had no idea why Jasmine had married him.
“Jasmine, I suggest you ask you husband to leave before I do something we will all regret.”
I was already serving an eternity. What was a few more years for permanently maiming her husband?
Jasmine went straight over to her purple-faced husband. “James, please. Can you take Zhara to her room and change her? I won’t be long.”
Her husband glared at me with all the venom in his tiny heart and stomped from the room.
Jasmine came back to me, unzipped the baby’s outfit, and checked his pale skin.
“He looks fine, Gabriel. Why? What’s happened?”
“His mother was poisoned before she gave birth, and I was afraid it might have gotten into him.”
I should have thought of it earlier, but I’d had so many things to focus on when he’d been born. Feeding him seemed like the main priority.
I stared down at his round tummy and assessed him again.
“Has he grown a lot since yesterday?”
Jasmine laughed softly. “Definitely. I don’t know how, but he’s grown dramatically in only one night. I’d like to think it was my milk, but my daughter is under sized for her age.”
With his gestation being less than a few months, I wasn’t surprised he was continuing to grow at such a rapid rate.
“How is his mother now?” Jasmine asked.
“Doing much better, although still unconscious.” So therefore still unable to feed him and he needed human milk to grow strong…
“Are you able to keep him safe for another day Jasmine? I know it’s asking a lot…”
She nodded and began re-dressing the sleeping baby.
“Of course, I can. It was hard last night, though. I have to tell you. They’re everywhere. In our back yard. At our windows. We’re lucky we live in a house like this one. We all slept in the nanny’s quarters last night. There’s no windows in the cellar.”
“Oh Jasmine, I’m so sorry.”
The fear and panic they must have gone through. All for me.
I should never have asked this of Jasmine and her family…
“No.” She shook her head. “No, its fine. It reminded me just how lucky I am to have survived what I did. And that’s all because of you. Don’t worry, I won’t let them have him. I won’t leave the house. None of us will. Until you come to take him back.”
“That’s definitely the smartest move.”
They were all vulnerable to attack. My son the most.
“Hopefully I will be able to get him later today, or early tomorrow. As soon as Kadie is well enough to look after him. I’ll be back. I promise.”
I lifted my son up to my face and pressed a kiss to his soft forehead. He smelled of good health and happiness. Everything I wanted in this world for him.
I handed the baby back to Jasmine, who promptly swaddled him back up again and tucked him into her arms.
“What is he, exactly Gabriel? I can’t help feeling that he is someone very special.” Jasmine looked down at the baby in her arms with a look of pure love and my heart tugged at me to stay with him.
“He will be someone very special. I just have to keep him alive long enough for him to grow into the man he’s meant to be.”
Jasmine held the baby tighter within the cradle of her arms. Her face set with determination.
“I’ll see you tomorrow then, Gabriel.”
“Thank you, Jasmine.”
I left her brownstone building, my heart lighter than it had been only moments before.
My son is healthy and growing. I cast to Tabitha.
Thank the Lord for that. Was her reply.
Kadie? Any change.
No. I’ll let you know when there is.
Tabitha’s tone sounded ominous and despair began to fill me. Before I could feel the pain such a loss would cause me, I switched off our conversation and took to the skies once again.
It was daylight.
Time to search out the Demons who’d kidnapped and tortured Kadie.
I flew over the city of New York and headed in the direction my instincts had taken me last time. To the overgrown hedges and barren earth of the Demon castle.
I landed where I had last time I was here, the stilted air cold, despite the warmth of the sun on my back.
I slipped beneath my invisibility. Although it wouldn’t work on any Demons in the area, it would at least protect me from their daytime human watchers.
I walked slowly up to the castle this time, not rushing as I had when I was here to rescue Kadie. I needed to take it all in. See what I had missed last time.
I searched the exterior building and saw nothing of real note.
Crumbling blue stone and rock kept the huge building afloat. Each tower was peaked with a flag of black. There was no modern security I could see.
I walked around to the huge double door entry.
I extended to my full height and pulled my sword from my back scabbard.
I hated killing humans. It was part of our code that we never harmed a mortal. There would be points deducted in Heaven for such a crime, and it weighed heavily on my soul. But those that were working for the Demons, here in this evil place, would not be innocent. I need not bear the burden of guilt.
I reached for the large metal doorhandle and pulled hard, expecting resistance. It gave way easily and swung open. Odd.. Why wasn’t this place locked up?
I stepped back and held up my weapon, waiting for the attack to come. Silence filled the air. Gripping the hilt of my sword, I stepped inside and swung the blade in a wide arc.
Nothing.
Nobody was here except the ancient armour of the knights who served their king. Decorating the halls as though it were 1155 BC.
This is creepy.
A chill vibrated along my arms, making the hairs stand on end. There was pure evil in this castle, and I couldn’t believe that my beautiful Kadie had made it in and out in one piece.
I took a cautious step forward, expecting a trap to fall from the ceiling. I looked up, then around me. Nothing happened.
So I continued to move forward, through the huge double height entrance and around the ground floor. I searched every room, always mindful of where the windows were in case I needed a hasty escape.
I saw nothing of consequence. Not even the tingle of the heat that should be here if a Demon was nearby.
Disappointing to say the least. Not to mention confusing as hell.
As I moved back into the foyer and took my first steps up the large winding staircase, I began to re-think my conclusions about this place.
Perhaps the Demons had abandoned it now that they’d found Kadie? Had they retrieved what they’d needed from her when they’d brought her here?
And if they had, why were they still attacking young Witches like Simone? None of it was making any sense.
I crept up the stairs, holding my sword erect and ready to use. I strained to sense anything that looked out of place or foreign.
My boots finished their climb of the stairs and I finally reached the first floor, where the stained carpets caught my attention. Were they stained and splattered with blood as the patterns indicated?
And was it fresh or ancient?
Or simply a horrible choice in décor? I couldn’t be sure.
I crept along the hallway, spotting the familiar doors I’d witnessed last time I was here. Kadie had been held on this floor.
I glanced down a hallway to my right to where the human guards had been last time. There was nothing there now. Nobody to be seen at all.
Anger was beginning to swirl in my gut like the beginnings of a storm. I did not like this. Nor this puzzle I’d been presented with.
I wanted an enemy to fight. A resolution to be found.
I walked faster along the hallway and opened the first heavy door. It was dark and I could barely see a thing in the gloom.
But there was a smell I could not deny. The reek of fear. A woman’s blood, sweat and tears ran in this room.
I took a breath and surged into the inky blackness, looking for a sliver of light.
When it called to me, I raced forward, grabbed hold of the old curtains and wrenched them open.
I twisted back around and vomit rose in my mouth at the sight of the girl on the table. I was nearly brought to my knees at the sight.
Oh God.
Please let this girl be in Heaven where she is meant to be.
Barely sixteen, she was held in chains, and cut up like a piece of meat on a butchers table.
What were they looking for within this beautiful girl?
I walked forward and tried to assess her for information to take back. Anything I could use to help my Kadie.
The scene from Kadie’s torture tore through my mind. The poison had been her main instrument of death, and yet this room was very different. There were no drips, no needles nearby. Had they simply tortured her to death by the normal instruments of pain? Or had they taken something more useful from her?
I looked closer and saw that her belly had been almost entirely removed.
Had they been looking for the babe? Or perhaps a power that could not be found in mere flesh?
My stomach churned once again, my gaze drawn to the twisted look of pain upon her face. I didn’t want to leave her here, but I needed to find answers. There was no choice.
I picked up a blanket from the old bed in the room and draped it over her. To keep her warm in this evil place seemed a moot point now, but it felt wrong to leave her exposed to the room.
She had to be a Witch, but from where? And why hadn’t Tabitha known about all these disappearances?