“Come on, we best not be late for those early risers.” Thane hurries me forward as we move silently through the gargantuan steel gates, which look like thorny vines that climb from the earth in metal. Dead trees hang, their limbs stiff with rigor mortis as the breeze finds them immovable and barren. Not a leaf rustles, nor a soul sounds as we tread across the soil, closing the enormous gates behind us and smiling to the two wrath sinners who are on guard duty on the opposing side.
“Morning, Nigel.” I nod to one of them, but he doesn’t smile, merely continuing to stare forward across the fields of headstones.
They span hundreds of miles, some crooked or cracked, some pristine and some blackened or charred. They’re squashed together in a messy and disorganised spattering, any semblance of order lost to the casual observer. This is my domain, my place of work, and yet I still find myself uncomfortable at the thought of so much rot, even in the face of resurrection and rebirth.
I stride across the dark, spongy, and fertile earth, turning right and travelling the length of the graveyard as quickly as I’m able. Soon, we reach the main office at the front of the place, a cosy mausoleum from which Thane and I conduct our business.
Unlocking the stone front door of the miniature alabaster marble house, we both step inside, finding Juanita already bustling around the misleadingly large space and organising everything for our arrival.
“Morning, Nita. Is the coffee on yet?” I ask, and she nods. Of course, it is. She’s the best assistant I’ve ever had. Her mocha coloured skin is paler than it would be if she was alive, but her Mexican heritage remains unmistakable as a frizz of dark hair is pulled up messily into a bun atop her head. She’s wearing simple black slacks and a matching blouse, a sinstone pendant of jade hanging heavy around her neck, signalling her sentence here is for the sin of Envy.
“How bad is it? I heard about the cruise ship disappearance…” I ask her, and she looks grim.
“Yes, The Zenith, bloody Poseidon’s fault of course. Not that I’m cursing him or anything… but, there’s a lot of paperwork to go through here. That cruise was full of wealthy moguls, and you know how that usually goes,” she sighs, and I give her a sly smile.
“Between you and me, I find Poseidon and Atargatis utterly irresponsible. I mean, splitting souls? Imbuing your Kindred with darkness? They’re utterly reckless… and you know who has to deal with the freaking paperwork? Me. That’s who. Bloody muggings over here.” I vent my frustration as I point to myself, and Nita giggles.
“Soulmates are great in theory, right?” She cocks her head, looking between me and Thane.
“Yes, because you can’t possibly fall in love without being destined... Thane and I do just fine…. Don’t we honey?” I spin, looking over my shoulder to where she’s examining an enormous paperwork mountain on her desk.
“Oh… uh, yes.” She’s not listening, so I turn back to Nita, rolling my eyes.
“Women,” I mutter, smirking again before I turn, letting my skirt fall behind me, and move over to my own desk.
The paperwork is an enormous mountain, files stacked upon files, stacked upon registers, stacked upon more files. I sigh out.
It’s going to be a long day.
“Pass the coffee,” I command, and Nita goes to grab me a cup as I take a seat in my red leather office chair. Looking over at Thane, who is clearly just as irritated as I am about the lack of help we have down here, I smile at her, trying to catch her eye. She doesn’t notice, and so as Nita hands me my coffee, which is black to match my soul, I look ahead to the insane amount of work in front of me.
I take a sip from my favourite mug, which reads ‘I’d tell you to go to hell but I work there and I don’t want to see you every day’ on one side. Inhaling the sweet yet bitter fragrance as the hot liquid rolls down the back of my throat, I ready myself to begin yet another day in the afterlife of the damned.
“Here’s another one!” Thane calls out. I stride, sweeping through the rows of headstones, to stand beside her. Nita hurries in my wake, a pile of black jumpsuits stacked neatly in her arms.
We stand, surrounding the grave, or rather re-birthing site as some would call it. The soil begins to stir, heaving like chocolate muddy ocean waves. Dark flesh bursts from the earth, a hand, then an arm, then a head and finally, a torso. I watch on, semi-amused as the rising doppel struggles to climb from his own grave. There’s no freaking mistake as to what this sinner is here for.
We let him struggle against the weight of his own burial for about ten minutes, but eventually, as Nita coughs, I roll my eyes, and Thane sighs out, bored. Grabbing him under the arms, I haul him up like a new-born baby, only a lot uglier and far larger to boot.
“You’re… you’re…” he stutters, finally realising what he’s seeing.
“Yes, yes, I’m the devil, blah blah… can we get on with it? I don’t really want to have to stare at you naked. Nita give him a suit.” I drop him onto his feet, brushing dirt from his shoulders and turning from him to look over my shoulder.
“Mr…” I gaze at Thane, who is holding a clipboard in her tense fingers.
“Bogarty,” she finishes, and I nod.
“Mr Bogarty. Please make your way all the way to the end of the row once you are dressed. There you will be sent for sentencing via gondola. Do you understand?” I ask him impatiently. His dark eyes are bewildered, like an animal caught in a trap, as he hastily looks down at himself and then grabs the jumpsuit being handed to him by my assistant. He struggles into it, looking between us three.
“Sign here please…” Thane passes him her clipboard and then a raven feather quill, which he takes in a shaking hand before making a brief squiggle on the paper.
Thane snatches the clipboard back from him, and he continues to look around at us, then at the sky. We all stand there, continually bored.
“What… what is this place?” he asks, and I move toward him, placing my hands on his shoulders and then turning him in the correct direction.
“No time for dawdling. It’ll all in explained by your orientation packet. You’ll receive it on the boat. Now please proceed to the end of the row.” I give him a small shove, and he begins to walk, almost like he’s a zombie, toward his inevitable fate.
We watch him go, calling, “Farewell, Mr. Bogarty,” in unison and giving a small wave with fake smiles, before smirking and trying not to laugh.
He doesn’t look back; instead, he merely continues to stumble forward, one foot in front of the other, over graves and through mud, toward the river which runs directly through Golgotha, delivering souls to their waiting doppelgangers where he will meet a ferryman or woman and be well on his way to repentance by noon.
“Why do sloth sinners always manage to get themselves stuck? I mean come on; climbing out of a grave isn’t THAT hard,” Thane tuts, and I smirk.
“How would you know?” I demand, and she shrugs.
“Remember that time Haedes took me out drinking a few months back? Yeah well waking up from that night is something I don’t ever want to re-live… EVER.” She smirks at the memory, and I laugh again, imagining Haedes locking her in a coffin, drunk.
This also explains why she’s been turning him down for drinks ever since.
“That’s the last plus size jumpsuit. I better go back to the office and get some more,” Nita announces, and I nod, visibly dismissing her. Thane and I take a moment to stand amongst the headstones in silence.
“You feel bad for her, don’t you?” Thane asks me, and I cock one eyebrow.
“Who?”
“This Sephy Sinclair girl.” She leans back against a headstone, crossing her ankles and examining her nails in the dim light.
“Of course I do,” I reply, and she frowns.
“Look, I just… I’m concerned about you getting involved in all this. Please, don’t try to force things between Haedes and her. If it’s supposed to be a relationship that will work, they’ll both make it happen on their own. I don’t want the Demon Lords
putting out a hit on you too.” I feel my gut turn icy and blink a few times.
“I’m only trying to help. Besides, I think it’s entirely unfair she’s being put through all this because of who her parent is. And, I can look after myself; you shouldn’t worry so much.” I brush her off, feeling irritated that she’s treating me like a child. Her eyes narrow.
“Look, Haedes isn’t exactly father material, Luce. I’m serious; I don’t want any trouble for us. We’ve been through enough. I just want us to be together, without pissing off anyone else with serious power. It’s nothing to do with us.” She’s cool in her tone, and I scowl.
“It’s everything to do with us. She’s being hunted because Haedes is her father. I was banished and you had to give up your goddess form because of who my father is. It’s not justified, and I won’t stand for it. People need to see that you shouldn’t launch a war on some poor unsuspecting child just because of their lineage,” I snap, and her eyes turn angry.
“You’re right, I did give up my goddess form to be with you. I’d really prefer it if you didn’t get yourself captured or killed by Gorgon over some girl who isn’t even our problem. She’s Haedes’ mess; let him deal with it.” She shrugs responsibility off as if it’s nothing, infuriating me further.
“Thane! How can you say that? After everything Haedes has done for me! He took me in; he put me back on my feet after I fell. After my own family disowned me. I don’t understand where this is coming from!” I exclaim, furious.
“What about everything I’ve done for you, Luce? Screw Haedes… what about me? You think I want to be stuck here alone without you?” she demands, and suddenly I’m confused.
“Where is all this coming from? You were all for me going to the courts before? Who’s been changing your mind about this?” I question her, suspicious.
“Anubis and Osiris…” she begins, and I cut her off.
“Of course! I should’ve known,” I whisper in a harsh tone, and she scowls even deeper.
“Look, they make a really good point. They’re concerned about her and what her existence means; they think she could be a threat. That girl might be being hunted, but she’s also connected to a prophecy that is talking about bringing a Chimera forth. You’re encouraging her to spend time and be rescued by a man who’s half demon. How do you think this is going to end?” she demands me as I cross my arms across the low square neck of my corset.
“So, what? Now they shouldn’t be allowed to be friends because he’s got demon lineage? That’s fucking rich coming from you!” I yell, losing my temper. Her anger turns from explosive to reserved and cool within only seconds.
“You and I can’t biologically make a child. That’s different,” she mutters, and I roll my eyes, flipping my hair over one shoulder.
“The fact is, Thanatos, you still haven’t forgiven me for being half him… half dark. You still can’t get over the fact you had to leave The Higher Plains to be with me. You don’t want me to put anyone else through what you’ve been through, right? Because why would anyone willingly live in a place like this, even for someone they love, if they’re half ancient dark god? Right?” I feel tears coming to my eyes now, my heart hammering in my chest, and Thane’s gaze fades from intensity to superiority.
“I can’t talk to you when you’re like this, Luce. It’s not about you. It’s about her. It’s about not getting involved. But clearly, you have some unresolved personal issues.”
She turns from me, and within moments, I’m hearing the familiar crunching of bone and ripping of muscle. She cries out, but as the pain of her cursed transformation takes over her, and she vanishes inside her clothes, I feel my fury dwindle. From within the folds of indigo velvet and soft white cotton, a raven appears, crowing once, then twice, before taking off into the crimson dawn.
Nita returns a few moments later with more jumpsuits.
“Where did Thanatos go?” she asks, and I shrug.
“None of your concern.” I feel my eyes continue to sting with tears but wipe them away, straightening my horns. I can’t appear weak in front of rising sinners; it’s my job to give them the first taste of The Nexus’ authority in this place.
“Right, well, where to next?” she queries, and I pick up the clipboard from the ground where Thane has dropped it.
“There’s a lust sinner due to rise over there, any second. Come on.” I beckon her, realising that my day will be twice as busy now Thane isn’t here to help. I’m angry at her, it’s true, but I’m more hurt. Hurt that she doesn’t understand why I care so deeply about Haedes’ and, by default, also about his daughter.
I hear something, something I’m always subconsciously listening for, and stop on the spot. It’s a slithering, the motion of scales moving through the earth in slick and fluid motion. I listen deeper for the hiss, wondering if it’s just my imagination, as silence falls and the wind stirs the dead yew trees around the outside of the graveyard.
Maybe I just need more coffee… I muse.
Brushing it off as me being hopeful that Thane has returned from the skies to apologise, I continue to trek through the gargantuan graveyard under the violet sun, Nita in tow.
SEPHY
The flame extends out from my palm, climbing out from me in organic and fluid motion, I slash it against the floor like a whip, exactly as I had seen Haedes do only last night. I’m sweating, though the perspiration dripping down my temple is not from the heat of the fire, which I barely feel. Instead, it’s from the amount of effort it’s taking me, even still, to muster this kind of flame and control it.
“Good!” Haedes praises me, clapping his hands together, which are now missing his seemingly usual whisky glass. I let the flame extinguish at his compliment, letting my hands fall down to my knees as I bend over, spent for energy.
“You ready to try convecting?” he asks me, causing my eyebrows to rise on my damp forehead.
“You think I’m ready for that?” I’m surprised and he grins.
“Sure. I mean, it might be a while before you can do it on command. You’re still bonding with your powers, as I understand it. It’ll take a while, months even, before they’re fully a part of you and you can control them at will. It’ll be tiring, and you’ll have to get used to it. I think we should try though.” He rubs his hands together, almost like he’s actually enjoying himself, and I see a twinkle behind his eye.
“What are you planning?” I smirk, still out of breath as he makes a tiny side step, dancing toward me.
“I know exactly how I’m going to train you for this,”
“Oh really?” I feel my mouth quirk at the edges, stopping my lips from twisting into an excited smile.
“Ever heard of The Bee Gees?” he asks me, and I snort.
“Ever heard of The Bee Gees!? How is that even a question?!” I retort, exasperated.
“Good, because I own the voices that you’ve come to know and love. Got quite the sweet deal for them too.” He clicks his fingers and a fog appears a few metres above our heads.
“You… created their voices?” I ask him, and he smirks.
“You can’t honestly think there are that many people born with musical talent who just so happen to fall into fame and fortune. I love music, so I’m quite often giving those with great voices a leg up. For a price of course…” he explains, and I blink a few times, trying to take in the information.
“That’s insane,” I mutter.
“I’d have thought you’d have realised I am utterly insane by now. Now, come on… dance with me,” he beckons to me, clicking his fingers again as a familiar tune begins to ring out around the room, as sweet and pure as if it were live.
“Now, you gotta find that fire inside of you, then picture where you want to be, and close your eyes. Visualise yourself trying to move to it.” His hips begin to swing to the rhythm of the song, and I find myself taking his hand, spinning under one of his arms and smiling without being able to help it. He’s a mean old bastard; that’s for sure, a hard ta
skmaster, cruel and beyond insufferable, and yet there’s something about him… that’s so utterly… well, me.
“Come on… that’s it… feel the rhythm. Shake it.” He urges me to loosen up and I feel odd. He dims the candles around us and clicks his fingers again. This time, sparks begin to glow within the overhead cloud of magic, causing a disco ball effect to bound from the multifaceted walls and ceiling. I grin.
This is too cool.
He pulls me to him and then pushes me out from his body again. As he does, he lets go of my hand and is gone in a wisp of blue flames, in perfect time to the song. He calls to me from the other side of the room, and I let my feet continue to move and my hips continue to swing as the rhythm runs through my veins, and my heart begins to beat in funky time. Closing my eyes, I picture being in his arms, arriving there for the start of the next chorus so the dance can continue.
I ball up my fists and let the music take me back to my mother, to my father and how they used to dance with me to this song. I feel an overwhelming guilt, but this is soon overshadowed as I feel the air around me heat and compress.
Haedes arms come around my waist, and I open my eyes.
He smiles at me, his expression enough to break a million hearts. Glorious white teeth and eyes that explode in an azure glow from his face are overwhelming.
“I did it,” I breathe, and he nods.
“That you did… now, keep in time. Can’t be doing Boogie Shoes dishonour, now can we?” He spins me out from his body, again, and disappears, this time in red flames so he’s at the other end of the room. He beckons me again. I smirk; this time I know I can do it.
Convecting to him, I don’t even lose step as the song reaches the height of its glorious vintage funk, and I laugh out loud.
I feel powerful.
As Haedes dances a few steps in front of me, I convect, this time moving around the room seamlessly. The only thing I leave behind me is wild and loud laughter as I dance in and out of the flames which allow me to teleport anywhere in the room.
The Opal Blade (The Ashen Touch Trilogy Book 1) Page 28