Stolen Redemption

by Michel Prince

  “You let Damarion die.”

  “No, his stupidity did that. He wouldn’t listen.”

  “You didn’t talk.”

  “I thought really loud around him.”

  A sudden swoosh sounded, followed by a scream, and the princess fell from the air and landed with a thump in my yard. That was unexpected. Masako ran to her side. She no longer had her wings. Instead they’d been retracted, not cut. Resigning to my lot in life I pushed up and walked toward her crumpled body. Her feet were bare and the light gown she had been wearing had become tattered and torn.

  Looking up to the Heavens I wondered who she pissed off. The little one flew a bit too high. We might just need to figure out how to recharge those protection stones her mother used to put in her hair.

  “Are you just going to stand there?” Masako snapped. “She’s dying.”

  Kneeling beside her I felt for a pulse. She had one, but it should be stronger. Scooping her slim body into my arms, I noticed she seemed frail for the first time. Her strength was an annoyance and a joy to me. It brought out a beauty that most female demons didn’t have. Their drive was from an unknown source. They followed the path set forth by the Lucifers, but never thought about what they wanted. She did.

  Her shallow breaths made me worry about her injuries as I cradled her against my chest. We tended to cut our losses, not heal them. Now I was not sure what to do besides lay her down on my bed.

  “She’s not rousing,” Masako said as she went to my bathroom and retrieved a washcloth. She wiped away the blood and dirt from LaDressa’s face before crawling on the bed and resting the princess’ head on her lap. “Do you have a brush?”

  “Because if she wakes she needs to be presentable?”

  “It will sooth her.”

  “She’s unconscious, the only thing less uncomfortable would be death.”

  “Blasphemy. Why would you say such a thing?”

  “Because we need to be realistic. We’re not sure how high she was when she was attacked, if she has broken bones or what is wrong with her.”

  “Then fetch a doctor.”

  “That understands angelic and demonic bodies, should be easy.” I waved my hand to where my phone sat. “Pass me my phone and I’ll Google it.”

  “I’m sure there’s a blonde female doctor somewhere who can heal her better than you.”

  “Huh?” I pondered the idea. “You finally said something intelligent. I didn’t think you had that capability.”

  Chapter 6

  Esther Benson

  “HE needs treatment,” I commanded.

  “Let’s drop him off at the ER,” Kiyoshi suggested as he started to back toward his vehicle.

  “Covered in bantling blood and ash, bit by something they’ve never seen before and possibly carrying pathogens they can’t deal with.”

  “This is sounding oddly familiar…you like him.”

  I balked. “I don’t want him to die.”

  “Dig in his pocket.”

  “Why?”

  “To get his keys and wallet.”

  “Now we’re mugging him?”

  Kiyoshi’s placid expression never broke. “Or bringing him home. I’ll get Ashworth and he’ll treat him there.”

  “What if somebody comes by looking for him?”

  “Fine,” Kiyoshi said. “We’ll bring him to KK’s apartment.”

  “Kiriana has an apartment?”

  “Yes, her and Nye use it for quiet time.”

  “How far away is it?”

  Kiyoshi pointed down the alley where a set of metal stairs led up to the roof.

  “The back door to their apartment and I happen to know where they hide the key.”

  “And how are we going to lug him up there?”

  Kiyoshi bowed his head and mumbled. A moment later the angel Gabriel descended in the middle of the street. His silver wings and their gold tips glistened under the street lights.

  “You called Gabriel,” I scolded under my breath. “Are you insane?”

  “No, he’s not.” Gabriel hefted Vince over his shoulder, and I gasped. “Did I do something wrong? You need a body moved, correct?”

  “I think she’s worried you could do more damage throwing him around like a bag of dirty clothes.”

  “Kiyoshi, get Dr. Ashworth. Esther, lead me to this apartment.”

  “The key is under the chair’s back leg,” Kiyoshi called before taking off in his car.

  “Are you sure he’s okay?”

  “He’s still alive,” Gabriel assured as he walked with no effort and climbed the stairs. “What I need to know is why we’re not leaving him for dead?”

  “He has a bantling bite.”

  “How could he get a bant—” Gabriel halted his train of thought when he reached the top of the roof. “What time is it here?”

  “A little after ten.”

  “And a bantling emerged?”

  My heart pounded. Gabriel acted as if Vince’s life was a secondary thought. Did he not realize every moment was precious? Vincent could pass away at any moment or wake up and panic only to hurt himself more. I ran to the two chairs and flipped them over to find the key taped to the bottom of the blue one. Rushing to the solid back door of the apartment I fumbled as if I’d forgotten how to use the simple instrument. When the door finally opened I reached inside the dark hallway. At the end I could see light streaming in from the uncovered windows at the front of the apartment, but I needed to find a real light. With a flick of a switch an electric hum sounded above me and after a few stunted attempts the light filled the narrow hallway.

  Kiriana lived here? She still visited? Why? There was nothing inside but a cracked wall and vast emptiness. This would never do for Vince. He needed a place to rest and recover.

  I explored further and found a room with a small bed and little more. The sheets at least seemed clean and I pulled back the comforter. It was then I noticed how cold the whole place was. Gabriel placed Vince in the bed and I headed to locate a thermostat.

  With the heater wheezing to get the apartment at a livable temperature I searched the bathroom for some type of cleanser. With a warm washcloth and towel I entered the bedroom to find Gabriel standing with his arms crossed.

  “Who is he?”

  “His name is Vince, my Lord.” I approached Vince and began washing the now dried blood from his face.

  “Why were you away from the compound prior to the set hunting time?”

  “Are we not allowed to venture into the town?”

  “Allowed, yes, but you aren’t one to wander.”

  “Can you not heal him?”

  “His concussion, yes, but not the bite. Dr. Ashworth will need to handle that part of his injury.”

  “Then fix him.”

  “If I remove the damage from his concussion he’ll wake up soon after. How about we let Dr. Ashworth handle the bite first?”

  “What about long-term damage? Could he…” My hand absently stroked back Vince’s hair and I searched for some hope he’d be okay.

  His head lolled to the side and I cringed at the sight of his form. I hadn’t even gotten a chance to know him and here he lay dying before me. Never would I taste his lips or know if he could have brought me the safety he promised.

  No man, save Gabriel, had ever brought or even offered me safe harbor. My father, deep in the Lord’s blessing, kept me at bay once I became a woman. My possession by the devil itself, a bastard demon that saw my body as its holy temple for which it could make men worship.

  Never had I questioned my place among the Frozen before this moment. At this time my salvation was secondary to the salvation of Vincent. He needed to survive, even at the cost of my own soul.

  Slowly I removed his coat, only to discover the damage was worse than I’d imagined. Muscle was torn and dangled from his shoulder. A shudder ravaged my body as I braced my hand on the wall. When I turned to Gabriel he gave me a
concerned look.

  “Tell me he’ll be fine,” I said.

  “How long?”

  “What?”

  “How long have you been in love with him?”

  “I barely know the man.”

  “This will go faster if you just allow yourself to admit it.”

  “I have spoken a total of three—”

  “I don’t care if it’s three words or three thousand times. This damn compound has been infested.”

  “Infested?”

  “It is not like we’ve never had Others taken, but the rate here is astronomical.”

  Stroking back Vince’s hair, I cleaned the ash and blood mixture from his forehead. His normally tensed face was relaxed and I wished it hadn’t been because he lost consciousness. Swiping by his chin I felt the roughness of his slight beard. Did he grow it out on purpose or was it because he simply did not have the time to shave?

  “Gabriel, my Lord, I have never witnessed a bantling attacking a human. Or even had a human cross my path while hunting. I believed when I swore an oath to you I was also swearing one to protect the humans.” I turned and looked in Gabriel’s steel eyes and spoke past the lump in my throat that scratched as I spoke. “If that was not the case please tell me now and I’ll leave him here to rot.”

  Gabriel eyed me as if unsure of what to believe. I know I had never challenged him or any in authority that he knew about, but surely he couldn’t want me to kill an innocent.

  “Kill him,” he stated plainly, and my chest lurched. “I’ll have to smooth out the etching you earned by dispatching of the bantling earlier, but I trust you’ll be able to make that up in no time.”

  “You…want me…” My voice trembled and I couldn’t take my eyes from Gabriel. Could he be challenging me? Testing me? Angels were supposed to protect the meek. What could be more meek than an unconscious human?

  Devotion is shown in many forms. Abraham proved his and tonight, Esther, you shall prove yours.

  “If you want him dead kill him yourself.”

  Dr. Ashworth walked into the small room and looked between Gabriel and I.

  “Should I wait a few minutes and come back?” he asked.

  “No,” Gabriel stated. “Do you have sedatives for him?”

  “Yes.”

  “Administer them. Then I shall do the healing I am able to while you work on the wound and any other damage from the bite.”

  Dr. Ashworth looked over his half-rim glasses at the tear on Vince’s shoulder. With a snap he pulled on a pair of latex-free gloves. The middle-aged surgeon lifted the muscle and examined the depth of the damage. Could a muscle be reattached and still function? He might be maimed forever.

  “Save him,” I begged through a swollen throat. “I was caught off guard. He shouldn’t suffer for my failures. Those are mine and mine alone to bare.”

  Dr. Ashworth looked over his shoulder at me then placed his stethoscope in his ears and began his physical exam. Heart, then belly, followed by flashing a pen light in Vince’s eyes. They showed no visible reaction.

  Opening the old black doctor’s bag, Dr. Ashworth removed very modern equipment. Most things were vacusealed and unrecognizable from a distance. Removing a small glass vial, Dr. Ashworth flipped off the gray plastic seal, then swabbed the top with an alcohol prep pad. When he unsheathed a needle my head spun and I needed to catch myself on the end of the bed.

  “I’m going to need a hand here.”

  “What?” I gasped as a sour taste hit the back of my throat.

  “The light in here is subpar to say the least and although I can stitch his shoulder back on I’ll still need you to be cleaning it to keep an open visual field.”

  He passed me two bottles of alcohol and a large bottle of sterile water.

  “Go rinse out that rag and get more clean towels if you can.”

  I rushed from the room, my head spinning as I braced myself on the doorjamb of the bathroom. Breathing in I let the air enter my lungs and fill me to the point of relaxation. At this time I needed the demons to be silent and the girl I was before the possession to emerge. I had a purpose on the Earth then.

  “Today, Esther, if you want him to live,” Dr. Ashworth called, and I scavenged though the limited supplies in the bathroom.

  Fresh towels in hand, I returned to the cramped bedroom where Gabriel stood at the top of the bed with his hands on Vince’s head. Gabriel’s eyes were closed and his palms emanated a faint glow. Dr. Ashworth had a needle inserted into a vein at Vince’s elbow and was pressing down on the syringe. The healing and knocking out process in unison.

  It was then I noticed that Vince’s shirt had been cut off his body and he was naked from the chest up. A trail of hair began at his belly button and widened as it disappeared under his pants. His chest had matching dark curls covering his pecs. My stomach twitched and a warming between my legs had me tightening my thighs together.

  Gabriel stepped back, then slid to the floor in the corner. “He’s stable. Once you’ve completed your surgery I’ll attempt to help with his shoulder, but the demonic bite carries with it venom I’m not expected to heal.”

  “They are stronger than you?”

  “No,” Gabriel gasped. “Demons are the offspring of fallen angels. We all have our strengths and weaknesses. What type of demon it was determines if I can fight its venom.”

  They all seemed the same to me, but I suppose there was a hierarchy like with any world. Those who could kill with just a flick of their finger compared to those who needed to fight to exhaustion.

  “Use the sterile water to clean out his wound so I can fully assess his damage. Then I’ll need you to mix this exactly so we can coat the muscular structure before I stitch.”

  Dr. Ashworth handed me a poorly written slip of paper with a recipe involving drugs and herbal healing plants. In his bag were the supplies along with a mortar and pestle. He held the flap of muscle and skin as I let the cold water rush into the opening. Vince moaned, but did not rouse. Gabriel lifted his palm and the room flooded with light. I could no longer avoid the sight of the muscular meat of the exposed wound and had to swallow back my nausea.

  With a set of tweezers, Dr. Ashworth picked a few pieces of dirt from the wound. A broken claw had been buried deep in the thick muscle. Dr. Ashworth set it to the side in a basin. He continued to dig as I measured out the powders, plants, and pills. I mashed them in the pestle until a paste formed.

  “Done,” Dr. Ashworth informed me as I turned and he examined the consistency of the paste before tearing a paper wrapper from a tongue depressor. He pointed for me to lift the flap of muscle once more. After applying the paste like he was spreading mayo on a sandwich, he sighed. “I’m going to be stitching him up now. You will need to bathe him afterward to clear out the rest of the debris and ash.”

  * * * *

  Detective Vincent DeTello

  Violet eyes, pink bow-like lips, and the smell of warmth and love enveloped me. Esther’s lips fell against mine and for a second I could taste a sweet fruit when I felt my arm tugged. Fire burned from my shoulder to my neck, eating away at my flesh as easily as a pile of leaves in the fall. I tried to raise my arm to catch Esther’s cheek, but she was fading back into the darkness surrounding me.

  A beast snarled in my ear. It circled as I reached for my gun, only to come to the sudden realization my arm no longer controlled my hand. With a snap the animal once again latched onto my neck. Fluid filled my throat as the metallic taste of blood coated my tongue. My left arm was still in my control and I tried to unlatch the jaw of the animal. One-handed, I might as well be riding a bike with a broken leg. Swatting at the beast just had him biting down harder. The crushing pain surged down my spine and set off every pain receptor in my body. My brain felt like an air hockey puck as the beast shook its head, smashing my brain against my skull in a way that had me discovering every inch of the hard outer casing.

  With lungs filling with blood
I opened my eyes just long enough to see Esther’s violet eyes filled with tears. No longer vibrant and sparkling, they were full of pain and seemed to be searching for someone to make it go away. I reached for her and she cupped my hand in hers. Her heart pounded as she clutched our joined hands to her chest and the snarling in my ear was replaced with a different sound.

  “Esther, we need to move him again,” a man said.

  “He can’t come to the compound,” she gasped, and I knew the dream was gone. My hand really was in hers. “Gabriel—”

  “Fine, let me get Kiyoshi to bring me what I need.”

  “Dr. Ashworth, I think they are all on patrol. We don’t know when the next attack will be.”

  Turning to my right I saw a man with half-rimmed glasses and a receding hairline. He wasn’t wearing scrubs. Instead he wore a plain white, button-up shirt stained with blood. Turning my head further, I saw my right shoulder was bandaged, but the source of the blood was evident as mine leaked through the padding.

  “What…” I spoke, but even I could barely hear the words.

  “Don’t talk,” Esther ordered as she kneeled by my side and stroked back my hair. The touch was slight, but it sent the same reaction through my body as the dream of her kiss had. “You’re too weak. We’ll find a way to take care of you, I promise.”

  “Where…” Had they tossed cut glass down my throat? The pain was as intense. Maybe they could squirt pure lemon juice down there and the pain could make me pass out. Silver lining and all.

  “If he stops breathing again I’m not sure we can bring him back,” the doctor said. “I need the full pharmacy at the healing station.”

  “Gabriel is—”

  “Distracted by the change of events. Everyone is.”

  “I can’t drive or lift him.”

  “Kiriana and Nye are both on reserve duty. Nye can handle all that.”

  “But it’s the middle of the day. How exactly are we supposed to sneak him out?”

  “Call Nye or go back out on patrol because Vince will be dead in a few hours.”

  That made my eyes snap open for a whole second and a half before the weight had them falling forward again. Who knew my eyelids were so heavy? All the lifting I did and I never worked them out. Half-closed I scanned the room to try to get a bearing on my surroundings. Impending death does that to a person. I knew the place, but couldn’t put my finger on it. An apartment with a lumpy bed…a needle pierced my skin and coldness ran up my arm. My brain swam and those damn eyelids gained seventy-five pounds. Esther became hazy until the world fell apart and the room spun.