Pandora: An Urban Fantasy Anthology

by Phaedra Weldon

  Rachael's cries increased.

  "I'll make you both my beasts, and whip you day and night until is it my turn for the Hunt again. And then…then you'll bring me back a prize worthy of the one you took from me or I will kill you both myself."

  Tully quickly placed his hand on the rock. He continued coughing even though he didn't have to. He wanted to look weak and nonthreatening.

  "Kneel, pet killer."

  "I did…not kill him….your son….did…"

  Tully feigned a collapse toward the rock and the ring. Rachael rose in the air, held in place by invisible hands as he pointed to her. Her face was red and her eyes rolled back in her head.

  Please!

  Tully raised the rock and smashed it down on the ring.

  The impact threw him backward as light and sound met with the force of a thunderclap. The impact against something hard and very solid drove the air from his lungs and he heard the wails of men and that of horses as if dying in battle.

  Or maybe it was just the TV.

  The Future

  The Stars Are Fire: Ten

  Tully blinked at the TV screen. He recognized the program, but not the raised screen above his bed.

  A glance around the room and he realized he was in a hospital bed. A white cast encased his right hand and wrist. He reached up to his head and felt a bandage on his temple where he hit the door of his truck.

  His truck!

  When he tried to sit up, the room wavered and nausea threatened to further empty his already empty stomach.

  "Hey—you okay?" His captain stood in the door of his semi-private room. The bed to Tully's right was empty. Flowers of all colors, shapes and sizes littered any open surface. "You have quite the fan club."

  "I—what?"

  Captain Brooks came into the room. "You look better."

  "What happened?"

  "You don't remember?"

  "I just woke up."

  "Well." She narrowed her eyes as if she didn't believe him. "You caught the gang that killed and kidnapped two kids on a case that was twenty years old. And the evidence pointed to that same gang killing that kid they found in the alley. Though I would caution you on going against seasoned bikers alone next time. Call for backup."

  "I—" That wasn't what he remembered at all. But he wasn't going to correct her, since his version included magical motorcycles and Faerie lords.

  "Just be careful, okay? Oh, and your girlfriend's outside. She wants to come in." Again the captain narrowed her eyes at him. "I didn't even know you were dating anyone."

  Oh crap. Cherish was outside? She was the last person he really wanted to get into an argument with at that minute. Tully cleared his throat. "I like to keep my private life private."

  "Good man. I like that. Oh, and I'm afraid the department isn't going do anything about your truck. Let's hope your insurance covers hot pursuit." She waved and left the room.

  Hot pursuit?

  "Arthur!"

  Tully braced himself as Rachael ran into the room and fell on top of him. "Ouch…ow…ow…"

  "Oh… Sorry!" She pulled back, but kept close and put her hand against his cheek. "The doctors say you can go home tomorrow if you pass one of their tests. Or even this afternoon."

  He stared at her, thinking she was more beautiful now than the first time he saw her under the moonlight. A quick glance at the windows showed the rain was long gone and the sun was warm.

  "Home?" He continued staring at her. "Are you…I thought Cherish…"

  "Oh," Rachael said as she made a face. "She broke up with you." She pulled a crumpled and well-worn stamped envelope from her back pocket. "Apparently she sent you a Dear John letter. Wanna read it?"

  He held up his good hand. "No. Not really." Was it bad he felt more relieved than sad that his fiancé left him? "I don't…I don't remember what happened after I bashed the ring."

  A smile pulled at her lips. She was radiant. Her hair was up and piled on top of her head, strategically hiding her ears. "You destroyed the cairn just as Ebon called it. It was a brilliant move."

  "Not so much. I think I hurt myself."

  "Well, there was an explosion. Everyone got knocked back, but it was so fitting to see him and his lot sizzle and turn to ash."

  "So it worked?"

  "Oh, yes it did." She held up her hand. She had the ring on her finger, minus the diamond. "I still have the gold…and one day I want to make it into something else. But for now, I'm going to wear it like this to honor Jeremy's memory."

  "So…it's all done. You're normal again?"

  Her expression darkened as she looked away. "I'll never be normal, Arthur. He made me Fae. Nothing will change that."

  "Does that mean you have to go back?"

  "Are you kidding me?" Her face brightened as she faced him. "No way. I'm here. And I'm yours."

  "You're mine? Look, Rachael, you don't have to stay with me. You don't have to feel obligated…"

  "I'm not obligated. You're bound to me. I will protect you from now on."

  Tully pushed himself up on his pillow and narrowed his eyes at her. "What does that mean? Ebon asked you that. And he got really mad about it."

  "Faerie steeds are protectors of their companions. Once they bond, they're bonded for life and they will remain loyal and true. The companion is also bonded. Which means you have to treat me nice."

  "Ebon didn't treat you nice."

  "He was never bonded to me." She gave a short sigh. "It took a while for the blood magic to change Jeremy…to make him Fae. And it only amplified his beauty. There were many that wanted him, male and female alike. But Ebon claimed him and had plans to bond him to him. A Faerie can't bond to a human—not in they way he wanted. So he had to make him Fae. But before he could do it, I bound Jeremy to me."

  "That's why he was so mad."

  "Yeah. He would have had me put to death, but then Jeremy would have died as well. So he kept me alive."

  "Wait…but Jeremy did die."

  "Here. In this Realm. And so I was able to live on. Jeremy gave me the last of himself. Granted me the magic to choose my forms."

  "So you became a hodgepodged motorcycle?"

  "It…seemed the right thing to do. I took the images from Jeremy's dying mind. He used to dream about motorcycles, but he was also terrified of them. Toyed with the idea of buying himself one. But he used his savings to get me this ring instead. So I took on the form I could cobble together. But don't worry. I've had a week to get the look right now."

  Tully blinked. "A week?" He pushed himself up into a sitting position. "I've been here a week?"

  "Yeah. You hit your head pretty hard when the explosion happened. I took you back to the wreck and did a bit of my own magic. But your boss was really happy. "

  "You're why she thinks I solved these cases."

  "You did. The one who kidnapped Jeremy, and me, and killed Jeremy, was Ebon. He's dead. Of course," she laughed as she said, "your captain thinks he was this old fat pervert named Sly Sully."

  Tully pinched the bridge of his nose with his fingers. "I'm…so confused."

  "Don't be. You're fine. I'm fine. We're bound. And now you have a motorcycle instead of a truck."

  "I do not have a motorcycle because you're not going to—"

  She grabbed his hand and pulled it to her. He looked into her wide eyes and saw tears behind them. "I'm free, Arthur. For the first time in twenty years. I lost my soul mate. We never had time together as husband and wife. I don't want that from you…but I need you. I need your support and your strength to walk in this world and find my own footing. I'm still a human, but I'm also a Fae. Please."

  "Rachael…what about your dad? About Jeremy's mother? If they see you, they'll recognize you."

  She looked sad and tears glistened in her eyes. "No. They won't. I…I went to see them. I gave them peace."

  Tully's eyes widened. "You gave them peace? What…did you kill them?"

  "No. I would never do that. I simply…made them
forget. Besides having to let Jeremy go, wiping my memory from my dad's mind was the hardest thing I've ever done. But he's happier now, and so is Mrs. Donavan. They can move their lives forward." She sniffed. "Don't judge me, Arthur. I don't think I could take it right now."

  He lost himself in her eyes and felt the weight of her world on his shoulders. "The captain called you my girlfriend."

  "It was the only way I could stay here with you."

  "You couldn't just make magic and they'd never see you?"

  "No. I'm a steed, not a ghost." She leaned her head to her shoulder. "You'll give it a try. With me?"

  "Yeah. But I'm not the best roommate. And I snore."

  "Yes, you do." She laughed and sat back. "Oh, and there's one more thing."

  "What's that?"

  "Ebon's brother, Oreon, was the one that stabbed Jeremy. It was his blow that killed him. He did that because he always hated Jeremy. Hated the attention he took from his brother."

  Tully felt a but coming. "Yeah?"

  "But he's going to want vengeance for his brother's death. The good thing is, he can't just come through the cairn when he wants. He'll have to come through another one somewhere else and he'll have to wait his turn in the ranks."

  "But you don't know when that is."

  "No. But we'll be ready for him, won't we, partner?" She leaned in and kissed his forehead before she hoped off the bed and started looking through every drawer in the room.

  Partners? Maybe. Either way…Arthur Tully knew his life had just changed forever.

  The Revolt Of The Philosophers of Fomalhaut

  The angels descended from on high, not to save…but to kill.

  She was seven years old. A cherub of a child, with soft pale, dewy skin. Dark curls created a halo of sorts around her face, and her large, brown eyes looked up at me with trust and astonishment. To her mind, I was an angel, there to fight away her bad dreams.

  In truth, I was there to kill her. I…didn’t want to.

  One would ask why a Philosopher would be sent from the First Choir of Heaven to destroy the body and soul of an innocent.

  I asked.

  And then was painfully punished.

  So, I stood before her, in her tiny bedroom. Her My Little Pony sheets smiled up at me from where she sat. Pink netting hung from a crown bolted to the ceiling and fanned out to either side of her bed. She was a princess, facing an evil dragon.

  Only…

  There was no Prince Charming. Just me.

  “What’s yer name?” she asked. Her southern drawl played well with the lightness of her voice. She rubbed an eye in sleep before showing me her snaggletooth grin.

  “Aaron,” I said, and knelt down beside her. We were even then. She and I. Face to face.

  “Are you a girl or a boy?”

  I laughed. It was such an innocent question. To her, it would be impossible to distinguish gender. For me…it was never something I thought twice about.

  When I didn’t answer, she continued talking. “My brother’s a boy, but he likes boys. Daddy kicked him out of the house. He’s pretty, like you are.”

  “He is?”

  “Yeah,” she said and put her hands in her lap. “Do you want some milk and cookies?”

  I felt so ashamed. “No. But…”

  Again there was the hesitation, the questioning that was forbidden among the brotherhood of Philosophers. The rumors of a revolt had been around for a century. But it was always something I kept at a distance, a bit of gossip. It always came with the second rumor that God was dead. Given the kind of orders we were being given these past decades—I had to wonder.

  The devastation of entire villages by plague...

  The creation of earthquakes, hurricanes, and tornadoes…

  And now, the outright murder of children—was it a wonder I doubted?

  But a Philosopher never doubts. We never question. We were the elite of the elite, the right hand of God.

  The enforcers of his will.

  But how can the destruction of a child, of a seven-year-old girl, be justified?

  “What is it? You look sad. You sure you don’t want a cookie?”

  I shook my head. “I’m sure. But I need you to lay back down and close your eyes.”

  “Are you going to be gone when I wake up?”

  When I wake up… “Yes I’ll be gone.”

  She did as she was told, and lay on her side facing me. She placed her palms together as if in prayer and tucked them under the side of her face. I saw the glint of her eyes. “I pray to God every night. I have a lot of friends that don’t do that. But I do. God loves me. And he showed me an angel!” She smiled at me.

  Don’t hesitate, Aaron. Do as you are told.

  Raz’s voice echoed in my mind. A constant drone given to us when we are bestowed God’s Halo. Raz is the voice of God, the instrument of obedience. Raz is neither male or female, angel or human…but I see Raz as female, and above all…evil. It is an opinion I keep to myself.

  “Close your eyes.”

  She does as I tell her, but she smiles. I hold up my hand.

  The hand of judgment.

  The power of a Philosopher.

  Why? My question comes unbidden, but deserved. It reverberates along the Halo to Raz.

  There is a moment of silence.

  Because you were told to.

  But that was not enough.

  If you don’t kill her, I will finish the job myself and make you Fall, Aaron.

  Falling was an old threat, something we’re threatened with every day. Falling meant being stripped of our Philosopher powers, stripped of being everything we are, and tossed naked and bleeding to the Earth. Not many of us survive, and those who do don’t live long. To Fall is to die, with no eternal ever after.

  But it was the first part that surprised me. Raz’s declaration that she would do the job himself. Raz never left her perch above the world in Fomalhaut. Raz never got her hands dirty. I narrowed my eyes at the child. What is it about this one, this singular little girl, that would bring a creature out of her place of power?

  I stared at my hand. Could I do this? Could I smite—

  The door to the child’s room burst open. I turned to see a blur of motion, black leather and the bright gleam of metal. Something orange flashed in the semi-darkness, but there was no sound. I felt a sting in my chest as a force shoved me back against the window I had entered through. I lost my footing and fell out the opening.

  I tried to right my fall, but I couldn’t unfurl my wings. Pain lanced from my back as I tumbled to the street below.

  I couldn’t remember the last time I woke from darkness. Philosophers don’t sleep unless wounded or punished. I hadn’t completed my orders, so I assumed I’d been punished. But I wasn’t in a pit, nor was I in the dungeons of Fomalhaut.

  “He’s awake.” The voice was female.

  She came into my line of sight. She was human, with short dark hair, dark lips, and a small heart drawn under her left eye. She wore a leather jacket and t-shirt, and her teeth were perfectly straight and white. “Nice to see you again, Airy.”

  And then I knew her. But it wasn’t possible. Only one other had ever called me Airy. “Delilah?”

  She touched my nose. I hadn’t seen Delilah in eight years. I tried to reach out to her, to touch her, to see if she was real, but I couldn’t move. I was tied to a bed of some kind, bound by chains at my wrists and ankles. I tested them and discovered I couldn’t break them. Not as easily as I should have been able to.

  “Stop moving, Airy,” Delilah said. “Given enough time, you’ll break the chains. Not many alloys can hold a Philosopher, except iron. And it’s so hard to find pure iron these days. These chains have enough to keep you here until we’ve talked.”

  Iron.

  Iron was our bane. The ore of the Earth that tied us to it. Iron was part of our Halo as well. I watched Delilah as she sat on the bed next to me, but I knew we weren’t alone. “Who else is here?”

&
nbsp; “You can’t see them, can you?”

  I turned my head to the right and the left, lifted it up to see. But there was only Delilah. “No.”

  “That’s because he’s been hidden. Same as the child. The Philosophers won’t be able to hurt her. Especially Raziel.”

  I refocused on her, but never stopped testing the chains. I did notice the bandage around my chest. “You shot me.”

  “Yes.”

  “Iron bullet?”

  “Alloy. It was enough to stop you, stun you, wound you.” She shrugged. “But your kind heal fast.”

  “My kind? You are a Philosopher too, Delilah.”

  “Was. Until Raz cast me out. I Fell, Airy. You knew that, didn’t you?”

  I didn’t. I stared at her, and her own expression mirrored mine. She spoke before I could. “You really didn’t know.”

  “I didn’t. Raz and the others said you were taken by Others. That you were attacked during a mission.”

  She put a hand to my face. Her skin was cold. “And you believed them.”

  “Why wouldn’t I?” I searched her face again. “Why did you Fall? Are you Other now? Were you Recruited?”

  “I wasn’t Recruited, Airy. I did what you were about to do—I questioned an order. Raz sent me in to slaughter an entire schoolroom of children, and I couldn’t do it. I refused. And I…” she shifted on the bed. “I destroyed the Philosopher they sent after me. I killed Euin.”

  I yanked at my chains. “No…that’s not possible. Raz said you and Euin were destroyed by Others.”

  “Airy,” she said as she put her hand on my chest. “There’s not a lot of time, and you’re just going to have to listen to me. Listen and learn, and make your decision. We’ve hidden this room from the Philosopher’s Eyes for now. But once we leave, you’ll be discovered by Raz. You’ll have to make a choice.”

  When I opened my mouth to speak, she put a finger to my lips. “Listen first, Airy. We were always told to obey Raz, to carry out the missions and never question them. But like you, I began to question why we were destroying innocents. We no longer went after the guilty.” She looked at someone I couldn’t see or hear then back to me. “The Revolt you always hear about isn’t what it sounds like. Revolt doesn’t mean disobedience, it means awakening. It’s what happens to Philosophers when we step into a human shell. I know…it’s forbidden. And I always wondered why. Yes, it kills the soul inside, which is a sin, but what is it we’re already doing? Killing innocents. But those Philosophers who take human form discovered their vision cleared. They can see Philosophers, Airy. And they can hear the truth in the Halo.