by JK Ensley
Merodach released his hold upon me. Not a breath could be heard in the whole room, for there wasn’t one taken. Not until my sapphire-haired Angel’s black wings closed behind his terrifying form once more.
“Apol-apologies,” Merodach stuttered. “I meant no harm. I was rude and careless. The blame is mine alone.”
“Very well, then. Do what she brought you here to do and make all haste to leave,” he spat. “I do not trust my wrath once kindled.”
Vindicus took both my trembling hands in his and kissed them. He placed his forehead to mine and whispered. His voice was that of my loving husband once more.
“Apologies, Anicee, my Princess. I am sorry you had to feel such fury. Forgive me.”
“You don’t even have to ask it of me.” I smiled and nuzzled our noses together.
He knelt down upon his knees, wrapping his perfect arms around my waist, then kissed my stomach. I ran my hands through his vibrant blue hair. Oh God, I do love this gorgeous Angel.
“Will you stay like this?” I asked.
“You don’t even have to ask it of me,” he whispered.
Merodach jumped when Vareilious burst out laughing, cutting through the suffocatingly thick tension still hanging in the air.
“Apollyon, dark brother, you even scared the hell of out me.”
Calm settled within the great hall once again as muffled laughs filled the room. Merodach wasted no time as he began patiently whispering the syllables from my locket into my ear. I concentrated especially hard, trying to remember everything he said this time. I wished never to put this dear man in an uncontrollable situation like this one… ever again.
When I was confident I could recite the phrase perfectly, I looked at my broken brother and spoke it aloud to him. The melodic words seemed to swirl in the air around us. I kept my hands within my husband’s hair and he held on to me as if he were afraid I would disappear.
Only when my chant was finished did I realize Vindicus was shaking all over. Then Vittorio’s screams of pain made me jump. I looked to find him inside a tornado of water. I turned my terrified gaze to Merodach who stood with his mouth agape.
“What did I do wrong?” I cried.
“Nothing, Milady. Every word was perfect,” he said.
“Something is far from perfect. My brother’s being torn apart and my husband trembles as a child. Jezreel felt pain, yes, but it was nothing like this.”
A brilliant light rose from the pool and exploded, filling the room. I saw it play out in slow motion. Afterwards, there was nothing but eerie silence, liken unto deafness. I looked around from one precious friend to the next. Everyone was frozen in time, only I moved.
“What have I done?”
“You have done well, My child. I am pleased with you. Since you have found pleasure in the sight of God, I have blessed you. Lose not your faith. Always trust in Me.”
The brilliant light dissipated, fluttering away like thousands of fireflies. Time returned. Vittorio hovered above us with wings so white, so glorious; he was hard to look upon. Relief swept over me and I kissed my dark Angel atop his head.
Cheers reverberated through the great hall. My winged family hugged one another and flew about my head. Vindicus moved not. I noticed Vareen the moment the elegant seer glided into the room. All the happy faces turned toward her, but she looked at me alone.
“You have done well, my child.” She smiled. “God is pleased with you… you have been blessed.”
“Did you say almost that same thing to me only a moment ago?”
“No, my love.” Vindicus answered my question. “That was my Father.”
I looked down at him. My husband’s face was still buried in my stomach. It was only then that I noticed… his ebony wings had disappeared.
Upon his chiseled back were spread pinions as vibrant and blue as the beautiful tear-filled eyes now looking up at me.
Chapter 49
Jenevier
(ZHEN-ah-veer)
“Kill or heal?”
“What?”
“My summons. Am I to kill or heal?”
“Umm, I’m not sure. Vareen only asked me to give this to you.”
I snatched the folded parchment from the messenger’s hand and slammed the door.
“Aye, Lass, what shortens yer temper so?”
“I know not, Vittorio. I’ve not been feeling myself lately,” I admitted.
“You’ve not been feeling yourself since that gorgeous, doting husband of yours left.” Vinika smiled and winked at me. I only sighed.
“What’s wrong with me? I knew he had to leave. I was grateful for just being given that one glorious day. Why do I whine and mope for something that will never, ever be?”
I collapsed onto the sofa. Vareilious handed me some rose tea and took the summons I had balled up in my fist.
“You need time to heal, my love,” Varick said.
Vareilious laughed. “Yes, listen to the man. His wings drug the ground for years after you left.”
“Aye, as did yers, Brother. As did all our wings. We thought we’d lost her forever,” Vittorio said.
“Well, I don’t just think he’s gone. I know for certain he’s gone… forever.”
“You will mourn as long as your heart needs to mourn. He was your beloved husband. It’s understandable,” Vinika said softly.
“Aye, baby sis, look tae Varick for advice. He once lost his lovely wife in almost the same way. He’s the only one who truly understands how ye feel an’ what ye must be going through.”
“Gratitude, Vittorio,” Varick said. “I can always count on you to point out the most obvious things at the most inappropriate times.”
“I’m not trying to be a big baby here,” I said. “I know we’ve all experienced loss and we have all had our moments of doubt. But this is different. Something else is messing me up. I can’t explain it. Something inside me is just… different.”
Varick sat down beside me and put my feet in his lap as he handed back the summons he’d retrieved from Vareilious.
He started massaging my soles. “Check out your summons,” he said. “Looks like you’re headed back to Spadroon.”
“What?” Vittorio yelled.
He flew across the room and tore the parchment from my hands, mumbling as he read.
“Alone? Yer going back there all by yerself? Nae bloody likely. I’m going with ye.”
“Don’t you have your own summons to attend to?” Vareilious asked.
“Aye, that can wait, Brother.”
“No, it can’t, Vittorio,” I said. “That lesson we have all learned. I have been summonsed to the west side, no worries. Besides, the demons we didn’t kill, Vindicus drug to the pits. There’s nothing on Spadroon left to fear.”
“Yes, I even heard the light has returned to the eastern part as well,” Varick added.
“See there, Brother?” I snorted out a laugh. “Even Varick thinks I’ll be just fine on my own. No one worries like Varick. If he’s good, then the rest of us should be great.”
“I never said you would be fine on your own.” A smirk was painted across his regal face.
“But you just said—”
“I just said the light now shone upon the whole of that layer. Nothing more.”
“So… you’re worried?”
“I have no right to be worrying over you,” he quipped.
“By all that’s holy…” Vareilious sighed and rolled his eyes. “Here we go again.”
“I do not have to give my family permission to care about me, Varick. And I don’t ask them if I can love them or not. I just do. Why is everything so damn hard for you? Just a few short weeks ago, you and I both pledged to stand side by side for all time. Shoulder to shoulder, blade in hand. Remember that? We also vowed to be truthful, now and forever. I never took you for an oath breaker, Brother.”
“And I never took you for a woman who could so easily slide from one bed to another,” he snapped.
The collective gas
ps were heart-stopping.
“Wait, no, I didn’t mean that,” he said, his eyes wide with regret and fear.
“Yes… yes you did. You of all people know the whole truth. You know how my marriage to Vindicus came to be. And you also know it was honored by God through our manacles, until He alone dissolved the tie that bound us.” I looked down at the empty place where Vindicus’s manacle had once tattooed my finger. “Nothing about it was easy.” I couldn’t hold in my tears, they spilled down my face, burning as they went. “Never did I think words could hurt worse than a demon’s fangs,” I whispered absently. “I had not thought it possible.”
“Jenevier, forgive me,” Varick said.
“Aye, Brother, that was wrong,” Vittorio said. “On every layer of this universe, that was wrong.”
I ignored all their words and numbly made my way outside my crowded home. The instant the door closed, I disappeared.
*****
Curled up on my side on the lush green grass of my own private paradise, I pulled up individual blades as my mind torturously walked me back through the saddest day of my existence thus far.
The day I lost the other half of my soul…
“Do you still have to leave me?”
“Yes, Princess. My day of joy has come to its end. I shall never know paradise again.”
“But something happened to you back there. I could sense it. Then, I felt it. And now… now I can see it. Everyone can see it. Your wings mark you a new creature. Just as my hair does me.”
“I had hoped so as well, my love. But as the day waxes old, I am drawn back to this place and the portal now opens.”
“I can’t do this, Vindicus. I thought I could be strong. I even told myself the love you have shown me today was enough to last me for all eternity. Now that the time has come, I feel myself dying inside.”
“I know. I feel it, too,” he whispered. “I tremble as a little babe.”
“Is there somewhere we can go? Somewhere we can hide?”
He laughed softly and ran his fingertips down my cheek. “You know the answer to that, dear wife.”
“I will miss you every day for the rest of my torturously long existence.”
“I know. I cannot even bear the thought.”
“There will never be another Vindicus.”
“And there can never be another Jenevier. Thank you for loving me. I don’t believe I ever told you that. These pictures are the greatest treasure any being could possess. My only regret… is not having one of our son.”
He looked into my questioning, terrified eyes. Vindicus wrapped my blue curl around his trembling finger and smiled at me.
“I forget how young you are.” He softly laughed. “In the waters—the feeling in your tummy? That was him. Actually, that was God blessing him. I was terrified He wouldn’t condone our mating. Then when Merodach squeezed you so hard… I wanted to kill him. For you and for our baby. Jenevier, I knelt before you and held you during your healing miracle because I love you and wanted to support you, yes, but also because… if anything were to go wrong, I could protect our child with my body.”
“How can you know this in one day, in only hours?”
He smiled. “I’m an Angel.”
“But… but… now I know… I know I can’t do this… not alone.” I tried to choke out my words through my sobs. “How… how will… Vindicus, how will I ever survive without you? How will our child grow without his father’s loving arms to lift him up when he falls? How can I be father and mother and Angel all… when I am broken and shattered inside?”
“I know, my sweet love. I know.”
“I’m so scared,” I cried.
“Do you wish it wasn’t so?”
“Never.” I was immediately consumed with a feeling of fierce protectiveness.
He smiled softly. “I thought you’d say that. I must leave now. I can feel the time has ended.”
“No. I won’t let you go.”
I threw my arms around him, but he easily pulled me loose and lifted me up to meet him eye to eye.
“You will be the best mother our child could ever have been blessed with. I’m already the proudest father imaginable.” He kissed me over and over while he spoke.
“But God said He was pleased with me and blessed me,” I said. “This doesn’t feel like a blessing. I don’t understand.”
Vindicus tucked my blue curl behind my ear. “Listen closely to my words, beautiful Anicee. I know how He blessed you. Yet you will discover it in time. It was the greatest of blessings, my love. All other Angels will envy you. It is a blessing that breaks my heart… and heals it at the same time. I have forsaken Father many times; no wonder His heart now stands empty in my regard. Yet you, littlest of Angels… He loves you too much. Glorious things await you. And that heals my heart as well. Keep your faith and all will be well with you and our beautiful babe. Your Blessing will love and protect you always. God will never remove it from you. If you remember nothing else, remember these words.”
I could only stare into his glorious eyes. “You are the kindest, most gentle, loving man He has ever created. How can He toss such an Angel as you back into hell?”
“The Angel you know, sweetest Jenevier, is not the Angel I am. You alone, in all creation, know Vindicus. I should say, he never even existed until your lovely feet touched down in hell.”
“My love, why do you say such things?”
“I speak only the truth. I am Apollyon, Prince of Hell. Every creature upon every layer and within every realm can see this… save you, my love. This is why you are the most precious thing in all creation to me. Listen to me, little one. You met Shabriri. You now know what a greater demon is like. A dark Angel is more vicious still.
“You’re nothing like Shabriri.”
“You say it true. I am a thousand times worse. Shabriri isn’t even strong enough or worthy enough to stand with my legions. When he named me King of them all, he spoke true to you.”
“Perhaps that’s who you were, once upon a time, but no longer. A demon would never have rescued me, healed me, loved me, comforted me, kissed me sweetly, cared for my heart, or cried for me… for the loss of me. Don’t belittle your massive heart, dear husband. Your words can never diminish you in my eyes.”
“I should never have licked you,” he whispered.
“What?”
“I should never have licked you when first we met. I don’t know why I did. I never have before. It’s not who I am. I was stricken by the very sight of you. I do not guard hell’s gate, my love. I was only passing by. I caught but a glimpse of golden curls from the corner of my eye. Thus began my greatest blessing and my greatest curse.”
“Vindicus, my heart, I don’t understand.”
“There you stood… glowing inside from a soul so pure I knew it had to be brand new. Hair, radiant as the very sun… I used to love the sun. You cast a spell on me and I didn’t even know it. Were you any other maid, I would have dragged you to the pits by those lovely golden locks and reveled in your tears. Instead, I tasted you. I couldn’t help it. It was done without thought… and it was my undoing. I gave myself a new name for you. It was the first time I’d ever been ashamed of mine own. I feared you would run screaming from my touch. But you just stuttered and smiled at me. I was as lost in your eyes as I knew you were in mine. Jenevier, Vindicus never existed before you, before that very moment. And he will cease to exist at our parting. When I say I have never loved anyone but you, truer words cannot be spoken. I have never loved, period. You got it all. And I wouldn’t trade a single moment. I was unduly blessed with the pure love of a true Angel.” He huffed out a soft laugh. “You were the one prophesied about. I know that now—the Angel who would best me. And best me you did, my love.”
He kissed me one last time and gently placed his fingertips around the intricate tattoo encircling my finger.
“It’s time,” he whispered.
“No. Not that. Anything but that.” My voice was almost lost in
my torrent of tears. “This is more than I can bear, Vindicus. I cannot do this. I’m not strong enough. Please, can you not still sense me? Can you no longer tell what’s happening inside me?”
“Yes, my love, I can. You are crumbling. As am I. We shatter together.”
Then my finger glowed as his manacle was taken and an invisible force sucked him into the portal. He was gone, forever.
I roamed around in those forsaken woods for hours. Numb, but feeling. Sighted, but blind. Flesh and blood, but completely and irrevocably lost. Forever lost to the one I loved. I was eternally separated from Apollyon, the dark Angel Prince of Hell, from Vindicus, the azure blue son of God, the loving father of our unborn child and husband of my heart.
Vinika found me and led me home. She had winged Merodach back to his castle. I believe he was smitten with her, and she with him. Even if she would never admit it.
The summonses began coming three days later and seemed endless. I go through the motions, because… what else can I do? I live one more day. I see one more sunrise and I watch one more sunset. What else can I do? I am lost.
“Reliving such painful memories cannae be good for the wee babe,” Vittorio said.
“How’d you know about the baby?” I spoke without even turning to look at my brother.
“Aye, the same way I knew ye’d be laying right here an’ nae on Spadroon attending yer summons. We think alike, wee lamb. Are ye well?”
“I’m fine.”
“Aye, lying Princess. Do ye believe me the fool those other two friends of yers are?”
“No, you’re nothing like them. You are unique, Vittorio. Even among your kind.”
“Aye, as are ye, wee Angel.”
He sat down beside me on the grass and started pulling up blades, weaving them through my curls. It seemed his most favorite thing to do. I let him. Actually, I enjoyed it when he did thus. I always had.
“Did Vinika tell you?”