Give Me Love

by Zoey Derrick

  There is a moment of silence while this news sinks in, and then Elizabeth stops pacing and speaks again. “Vivienne,” she says, “I’m wondering if you could help us?”

  Vivienne looks to Elizabeth, a quizzical look on her face. “I’m not sure what help I can be,” she says finally.

  Mikah leans in a little, curious as to what his mother is asking.

  “I’m wondering if you would try talking to your mother, see if she will tell you what she knows about her death.”

  “Elizabeth, I—” Vivienne looks to Mikah, confusion on her face, and then back to Elizabeth. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

  Mikah looks to Vivienne, trying to read her reaction, but he can’t. Too many emotions are playing out on her features.

  “I think it might be the best chance we have to get her to talk.”

  “I’m pretty sure that won’t work.” Vivienne’s heart is pounding, making it impossible to think straight. Nothing good can come from seeing Rebecca, at least not anything that won’t result in more heartache.

  “Vivienne, we should at least try,” Elizabeth says.

  Mikah moves to stand behind Vivienne and places his hand on the small of her back. He leans down and whispers in her ear, “You can do this.”

  It’s strange how his words have calmed her almost instantly.

  Vivienne smiles slightly, takes a deep breath and says, “Bring her here.”

  FIVE

  Two heartbeats later, the door behind Zirah and Seraphina clicks again. Zirah and Seraphina part, allowing Vivienne a full view of the woman who has just entered the room.

  Vivienne feels trepidation fly through her veins. She stands and takes a few steps toward the woman. Mikah is close behind her; she can hear the shifting and footsteps.

  The woman is modestly dressed in a white nightgown-style, sleeveless dress and has long reddish-brown hair framing her heart-shaped face. Her green eyes stare wary at the scene laid out in front of her, but she is doing her best to pretend she’s not looking. Though the woman looks lost and confused, it doesn’t take but a few moments for Vivienne to recognize her.

  “Rebecca?” Vivienne says, and the woman, who is the focus of the entire room, jerks her head in Vivienne’s direction. Vivienne knows it’s her mother, but the woman before her appears much younger, as if she is about Vivienne’s age.

  The woman looks at Vivienne, her eyes squinting for a moment before widening as she realizes who she’s looking at. “Vivienne?” She takes a few steps toward Vivienne.

  Vivienne takes a step back. She realizes now she wasn’t ready for this. Needing support and reassurance, she tears her gaze away from the her mother and turns to see Mikah right next to her. She feels oddly comforted by his look of confusion. Behind him, the same look is on the faces of her guardians and she can sense their tension.

  Mikah isn’t entirely sure what to say or how to interpret what he is looking at. He’d expected an older woman.

  “Is that...?” Mikah says aloud.

  “Rebecca, Vivienne’s mother,” Elizabeth answers.

  Mikah hears a sharp intake of breath behind him and looks over his shoulder to see Red, who is white as a ghost. Mikah follows Red’s gaze back to the woman standing in front of them. She appears dazed, obviously in shock.

  “Vivienne?” the woman says again, and Viv takes another step back toward the line of people standing behind her.

  Mikah cocks his head, trying to understand how this woman, who is no older than Vivienne, could be her mother.

  Elizabeth answers his unasked question. “When those who die on earth are brought to Elysium, they take on the appearance of their younger selves, when they were happiest and when they were their healthiest.”

  Behind Mikah, Red has started mumbling to himself. Mikah turns his head to look, and his forehead creases in confusion. Red is staring intently at Vivienne’s mother as if he knows her. Mikah strains to hear what he is saying, but it’s incomprehensible.

  “What is going on here?” Mikah says.

  Vivienne looks at him, confused, but then her gaze follows his to Red, and Red’s back to Rebecca, who is still staring at Vivienne.

  “Red?” Mikah says, watching Rebecca closely.

  She doesn’t disappoint him. She raises her eyes to Mikah, and then her gaze shifts from Mikah to the man standing to his right.

  Vivienne takes a few more steps backwards, putting distance between herself and everyone else. She can’t stop staring at Red.

  “I always thought there was something strangely familiar about you,” Vivienne says, “but I could never place it. The picture. The one I carry in my purse.” Vivienne looks from Red to her mother and back again. “It’s you in that picture, isn’t it?”

  “Vivienne, what are you talking about?” Mikah says.

  He takes a step toward her, and she steps away from him. He reaches out for her, but she doesn’t see it. She’s still staring at Red.

  “You—” She squints and cocks her head to the side. Red squints back at her and there is no doubt in her mind. “You’re my father.”

  SIX

  Red can only stare at Vivienne, looking confused. Something is passing between them when someone breaks the silence within the room.

  “Impossible,” Seraphina says. Her voice isn’t angry, but rather sweet and breathless.

  “Vivienne, I—” Red stops. Something in his voice and the way he is looking at Vivienne suggest that he had no idea.

  Suddenly Vivienne understands. “Mother, is there something you’d like to tell us all?” she says sternly.

  “Yes, please do.” This time it’s Mikah.

  Vivienne finally pulls her eyes away from Red to look at Mikah. The concern is clear on his features, but his eyes are alight with curiosity, too, as this twenty-two year old mystery unfolds.

  “I...I don’t know,” Rebecca says, but Vivienne isn’t fooled. Her mother is notorious for avoiding the truth.

  Vivienne turns toward her mother, who is still staring at Red. “For the love of Christ, Mother, now is not the time for games or jokes.” The wings on Vivienne’s back flare in frustration. “This is it, isn’t it? Despite the fact that you’re here, you’re still going to continue to play games. Stop it. I’ve had enough. Is he or is he not my father?”

  Rebecca starts to sob, and she crumples, as if in pain, to the floor.

  Andrew and Connor rush to help her, but Vivienne puts her hand up. “Stop, leave her be. She’s still up to her same old tricks. Resorting to tears to get her way or avoid dealing with something she knows she needs to explain. She doesn’t want to discuss this, so she is going to play the blubbering fool on the floor.” Vivienne notices Mikah out of the corner of her eye. He is gaping at her, slack-jawed, and she realizes he’s never seen her like this.

  Vivienne is also surprised by her tone. Growing up, she could never be cross with her mother. But now, after all this time, the anger and frustration have reached a boiling point, and she resolves to be done with her mother’s games.

  “Red?” Mikah says.

  “I honestly don’t know. I met Rebecca some years ago, and—” He stops again.

  Vivienne looks toward him. He seems to be doing some math in his head.

  “It would’ve been about twenty-three years ago. I was pulled away, brought back to Elysium by—” He looks toward Elizabeth. “—Alexandria. About the time Mikah’s wings were discovered.”

  “Wait, what do my wings have to do with— I’ve only known you for a few years.” Mikah looks to his mother for an explanation.

  But it’s Red who answers. “No, I’ve known you since you were a lad, since shortly after your family came to Boston. Though neither you nor your mother ever saw me, I was sent to keep watch over you. To protect you.” As Red talks he is trying desperately to understand and put all the pieces of this together. “As I said, I was pulled away from Rebecca by Alexandria, who was dethroned to make way for you, Elizabeth. She told me that I was to stay away
from Rebecca, that I could never return. I questioned her, but she wouldn’t explain it to me. Then I met Kelly. Though I never truly forgot Rebecca, I was — and am — so taken with Kelly that I never regretted the way things turned out.”

  Vivienne’s eyes scan the room, unseeing, as she tries to understand everything that Red is saying. There is a connection here, something between Elizabeth, Red, Alexandria, and herself that she doesn’t understand.

  “I was pulled away in late February. That would have been twenty-two years ago.” Red looks to Rebecca. “Were you pregnant when I left? Were you pregnant with Vivienne?” he asks, his voice low.

  “Yes.” Rebecca sobs, still kneeling on the tile with her head in her hands.

  An eerie silence follows, finally broken by Mikah addressing Elizabeth. “Mother, did you know about all of this?”

  “Yes and no. I knew that Vivienne’s father was of angelic descent, I just didn’t have the details. Our archives are incomplete or missing,” Elizabeth says, and she doesn’t elaborate further.

  SEVEN

  “Rebecca,” Vivienne says, her voice strong and determined. She’s finally recalled the reason Elizabeth brought Rebecca here, and she’s going to get answers.

  Her mother looks up at her, tears still streaming down her cheeks.

  “We need to ask you a few questions.” Despite the fact that every muscle in her body is tight and her hands are shaking, Vivienne’s voice sounds confident. She feels Mikah’s hand on her back and she relaxes just a little bit more.

  “I need to ask you about what happened tonight.”

  Everyone in the room takes an added interest in Rebecca and what she has to say, but Rebecca’s face only shows confusion.

  “Uh...” Rebecca’s features goes through a series of different emotions: confusion, concern, thoughtfulness. Finally she says, “The last thing I remember is hearing a girl scream.”

  “Girl scream?” Vivienne repeats. Now the same puzzled look on Rebecca’s features is displayed on Vivienne’s.

  “Yes, and there was a lot of noise – fighting or arguing – then a loud crack and a door slamming shut.” She pauses, thinking harder about what she remembers. “There was a man. He was pushing her around, but I couldn’t see him. I was sitting on a couch. After the door slammed shut, I heard scraping noises and then pounding.”

  Vivienne begins to shake uncontrollably. As her knees give out, Mikah is quick to catch her. Her heart is beating harder and faster than anything she’s felt in a long time. Her breathing becomes quick and shallow.

  “The man comes to me. He’s dressed in blue jeans. He’s taking off—”

  “Enough,” Mikah snaps, and Rebecca falls silent. “Vivienne, look at me. You’re safe, no one can hurt you.” He brushes a few stray strands of hair out of her face. She’s clearly petrified, scared out of her mind, but Mikah can’t even begin to understand where this is coming from.

  Vivienne’s heart rate is slowing, little by little. With each passing beat the memory begins to fade away and she can feel her strength returning.

  “Vivienne,” says a sweet, soft voice a little distance away. Vivienne recognizes it as Zirah’s, but she can’t turn away from Mikah to look at her. The sadness in his heart can be seen through his eyes.

  “That wasn’t a memory of what happened to her tonight,” Vivienne whispers to Mikah.

  “What is she talking about then?” he says back to her, wishing he knew how to comfort Vivienne in this moment.

  Vivienne moves to sit up, stand up, and Mikah doesn’t hold her back. She gets back to her feet, wobbling a bit, but Mikah is there to support her.

  “She’s talking about a night that happened nearly seven years ago.”

  Rebecca is trying to understand what Vivienne is saying, but she can’t seem to remember anything.

  “She’s talking,” Vivienne says, “about what happened the night she had her stroke. When I was locked in the closet for three days.” She turns to her mother, eyes flashing. “Three days until the police showed up,” Vivienne says, glaring at Rebecca. “The last night that you stood by while your pimp—” The word drips with anger and pain. “—beat me and locked me away so that he could do whatever it was he wanted to do.”

  No one in the room says a word, unsure of what to say, including Mikah. He knows that she needs to say what she needs to say and he can’t stop her.

  “Vivienne, I—” Rebecca says. The look on her face says more than her words can; she is scared and unsure.

  “Don’t,” Vivienne snaps. “You have no idea what you’ve put me through, nothing you say now will change that.” Everyone can see how her words cut into Rebecca, but Vivienne doesn’t want to hear her apologies. “I need to know if you remember anything at all from last night.”

  Rebecca tries to think, tries to remember, but she’s so confused. She comes up empty. “I don’t remember.”

  EIGHT

  “What are we supposed to do now?” Mikah says after Seraphina and Zirah have escorted Rebecca out and come back to stand with the group once again.

  Surprisingly, it is Red who steps forward. “You were about to receive a call from the rehab center. We believe the phone call was meant to be a trap to lure Vivienne to whoever killed her mother.”

  “Okay, so we don’t go to the funeral home. Got it. Now what?” The irritation in Mikah’s voice is heard by all. The secrets and the vague descriptions and explanations are really starting to piss him off.

  “Do not take that tone.”

  “What do you expect me to do, Mother? You’ve thrown all of this at us at lightning speed. I will not sit here idly as everything Vivienne’s ever known begins to crumble.” His statement would’ve been more effectively delivered if he’d been standing, but the second he started speaking, Vivienne’s arms had wrapped harder and tighter around him, reminding him that she was there with him. “I need to know what I need to do to stop that madman from—”

  The look on Elizabeth’s face forces him to stop talking.

  “If it was that madman, as you call him, then you need to know that he has become the left hand of the devil himself. He was brought out of whatever circle of hell he was in to come after her. Though it is not truly Vivienne that he is after. It is her child.”

  Mikah’s heart pounds hard against his ribs, and Vivienne’s head jerks off his chest. They both stare at Elizabeth.

  “What does he want with my baby?” Her voice cracks with a strength of emotion unlike anything Mikah’s ever heard from her before. It’s that deep-seated level of emotion only a mother could express. Mikah has heard it many times from his own mother.

  “Riley’s initial attack on you, when you told him you were pregnant, was driven by vengeance. But when he did that, the devil saw in him something he could use: a weapon of hatred that could be used to destroy that which could destroy the devil himself.” Elizabeth looks at both of them with worry and sadness in her eyes, but lying underneath is something else, something that Mikah doesn’t quite understand.

  “Go ahead, explain all of this,” Mikah says sternly.

  “Vivienne is the sole remaining descendant of Dia.”

  “What? How?” he whispers.

  Vivienne looks to him in confusion.

  “Those stories are long and better told by a scéalaí,” Elizabeth says, “though they are very hard to find. Alexandria, the matron who preceded me, was dethroned because she refused to relinquish the location of Dia’s heir. She believed that if no one knew of Vivienne’s existence then Vivienne would always remain safe. But Dia knew that in order to protect his heir, we all needed to know where she was.”

  Mikah and Vivienne’s eyes meet. But Elizabeth doesn’t pause for questions.

  “For thousands of years we’ve believed that a full-blooded angel could only be male, as there were no records of females of full-blooded ancestry.”

  “What about you?” Mikah asks. “Given your position within Elysium.”

  “One would assume, bu
t no. I am only half angel. Your father, on the other hand, is full-blooded.” She pauses momentarily, but Mikah doesn’t feel it’s appropriate to take the opportunity to ask about his birth father. Elizabeth continues, “Vivienne’s mother is the closest thing to a full-blooded female that Alexandria knew of. When Rebecca met Vivienne’s father—” A strange look crosses Elizabeth’s face and there is some uncomfortable shifting around the room. Vivienne shifts in her seat and starts to play with her fingers. “—Red, who is also full-blooded, and they conceived Vivienne, she became the next closest pureblood. Even so, Vivienne is only about fifteen-sixteenths angel.”

  Vivienne’s hand gently caresses the swell of her stomach, finally understanding the importance of her baby.

  “Yes, my child. Your daughter is of the purest angelic blood that we know of, and possibly the closest we will ever come to a full-blooded female.”

  Vivienne opens her mouth to say something, but words fail her, and Elizabeth drives home what Vivienne already knows.

  “Riley too is a full-blood. He, however, is of the demonic bloodline.”

  “SHIT!” Mikah exclaims.

  NINE

  Seraphina is quick to speak. “Calm down, Mikah, this doesn’t mean anything is wrong. We have several angels here in Elysium that have more demonic blood than angelic. Just because demon blood runs in their veins does not make them a demon.”

  Mikah looks to Vivienne, who has a wary look in her eyes.

  Though Vivienne’s heart rate spikes at the confirmation that Riley is of demonic descent, it is also something she’s suspected since all of this angel stuff was brought into her life.

  “Vivienne.” Zirah is vying for her attention. Vivienne pulls her eyes away from Mikah to look at her. “Your daughter will be full-blooded angel. There is nothing in this world that could pull her away from that path.”