Blood Heavy: Ascension

by S. L. J. Shortt

  “Honey, your biggest problem right now is that you forgot about Jerry's talent with handcuffs,” Aria smirked.

  Wick spun around but it was too late. Jerry already had the sawn-off in his freed hands and was pointing it right at his head. His left had was clutching his stomach that was still bleeding slightly.

  “Jerry, think about this!” Wick said dropping the journal and raising his hands. “I can get rid of her, I can kill all the things that are hunting you! You'll be safe! Your friends will be safe!”

  “Yeah, except when you come knocking!” he hissed and cocked the gun. Everything inside him was screaming for him to pull the trigger but something else was there as well. Sophies face flashed before his eyes. Her voice echoed through his head.

  You'll become what you hate the most.

  Jerry faltered and Wick saw it. He lowered his arms.

  “You're not going to kill me Jerry,” he stated.

  “No?”

  “No. I'm human and you don't kill humans,” he reminded.

  Jerry breathed hard, the gun shook in his hand. Sophinia's beautiful smiling face flashed through his mind. Then it turned to ash.

  “You're right, I don't,” he whispered. His rage overpowered everything else. His blood felt like it had turned to fire. “But she does!”

  Jerry turned the weapon and fired. The Nitro round ripped through the chains that were holding Aria, breaking the circle. Her wings burst out of the metal bindings causing busted links to fly everywhere. Within a heartbeat, she was free and standing right in front of Wick. She grabbed him by the throat and lifted him off the ground.

  “Ahh, Wick, say hi to your boss for me,” she smiled sweetly before it turned deadly. “Sorry, I meant my boss.”

  Jerry looked away as Aria's wings went straight through his chest before spreading out again ripping Wick completely in half. She flung the two pieces of his body off in opposite directions like half-eaten chicken bones before turning around to face Jerry. She was covered in blood which suddenly jumped off her skin and fell to the ground like red rain drops. Wick was dead meaning that she could easily control what was left of him and she didn't want any part of him touching her.

  Jerry felt sick. He felt guilt. He felt like he had betrayed him friends. An empty cold feeling gripped his body as he realized what he'd just done. Wick deserved to die for what he'd done, but Jerry shouldn't have been the one to make it happen. His anger had taken control of him and now a human was dead. He hadn’t pulled the trigger, but he had sealed his fate.

  It might as well have been murder. It was murder.

  Aria walked towards him acting like she didn't have a care in the world.

  “Well, that was dramatic. You know, a smart boy would have let him kill me, then killed him. But I think that you just didn't want to let me go,” she teased.

  “Yeah, well, I guess I'm not that smart.”

  “Oh, I beg to differ. I think you're very smart, smarter than you let on,” she smiled savagely. “So, what do we do now?”

  “I guess we go back to trying to kill each other,” Jerry said, looking into her eyes.

  There was disappointment there. Her smile disappeared and she just shrugged her wings. “Okay...you're wounded, it's not very sporting. I'll give you some time to heal up.”

  She turned abruptly keeping her gigantic wings locked to her back and started walking towards the entrance of the church.

  “Or...” Jerry called out causing her to stop in her tracks, “we can make a deal.”

  A small triumphant grin crept onto her face. Excitement filled her. She was so happy. This was what she'd been hiding from him the whole time. He'd finally gotten there.

  “That is what it's all been about right? That's what you wanted from the start?” he felt cold all over but this was the only thing left. The truth of it all. The only chance he had to protect his family. He glanced at the stained glass window again. At the depiction of Michael the archangel. Some divine intervention would really come in handy right about now.

  She turned, looking like she wanted to rush forward and hug him but instead just gave him a lop sided smile. “What makes you say that?”

  “Ever heard of the fight or flight response?” Jerry asked.

  “Otherwise known as hyper arousal?” she said with a seductive wink. “I'm very familiar with it.”

  “Involuntary pupil dilation, blushing or paling of the skin, increase in heart-rate, adrenal reaction,” he listed remembering the anatomy text books he'd been reading. “It happens when people get scared or excited...or hurt.”

  She stepped closer, loving every second of this.

  “When you kissed me, you're pupils dilated, but you didn't blush because you were in pain. You did a very good job of hiding it and my blood didn't have quite the kick that it does now, but it still hurt you...” he couldn't help the torrid memories of that kiss flood through him. “It didn't melt your tongue off but it must have stung like a bitch. You knew my blood was toxic the whole time. That's why you let me blast your arm off in that cabin. You could have stopped that round in midair but you wanted me to find out.”

  “Just making things a little more interesting,” she shrugged with a smirk. “The pleasure was well worth the pain.”

  Jerry had figured it out. The big secret. Now all that was left to do was prove it to her.

  “Alaska's a big place,” Jerry stated, hating the smug look on her face. “So what are the odds of Wick running into the one surviving member of Black Forest out in the middle of nowhere who just happens to be carrying a message from you about me.”

  “Slim to none”

  “Unless you led him right into her path. The same way you set her off in the first place,” Jerry spat angrily. “Wick had been hunting you for eight years and yet you looked all surprised when he showed up at my place.”

  “Did you like my shocked face?” she said causally before doing an overly dramatic O-face. “I think I could be a method actress.”

  “And when he banished you with the stone, it didn't send you to the other side of the galaxy, hell, it didn't even send you to the other side of the country! You got back almost instantly but you didn't show yourself, you waited and you watched. That's how you broke through all the protection around the mansion so fast. You knew exactly which counter-spells to use because you saw Wick putting up the goddamn wards!”

  “I do love making a big entrance,” she admitted and started strolling around him in a circle.

  “You set this whole thing up, right from the start!” Jerry said trying to keep control of his voice. “You could have killed Wick or told me about him anytime you wanted but you wanted me to find out on my own!”

  “How could you forget about Pope?” she grinned.

  He couldn't believe it. She had even arranged his kidnapping just so that she could come and 'rescue' him! She had planned everything to the finest detail because she knew exactly how everyone would react.

  “One little anonymous phone call to Dimitri was all it took. Told him all about your aversion to killing humans which I'm glad to see you've become a little more lax about,” Jerry's gut clenched up and not because of his injury. “Even recommended a specialist for the job.”

  “That's how you knew the arming codes for the bomb he put on me,” Jerry clenched his eyes shut, hating himself for not putting the pieces together sooner.

  “I told him all about you but you didn't need me to figure him out, did you? I knew you wouldn't miss the thumb twitch.”

  “All this, just to prove how smart you are?! To show me that your some super-demon genius?!”

  “You'd be surprised how difficult it is to get appreciation for a little thing like that,” she shrugged. “After all, Sherlock was the only one that really appreciated Moriarty.”

  That was the secret. They never stood a chance against her. Not really. She was stronger, smarter and immortal. She could have killed them all anytime she wanted. Everything she'd done had been a big act. Prete
nding to get angry at his rejection, playing wounded during the fight, letting them think that they might be able to stop her.

  It was all one big lie. She had been been in control of the whole thing.

  “Why? Why do all this?! I don't understand! You wipe out anything you think is gonna hurt me but then you sit back and let all this happen, why?!”

  “Why?” she said simply walking towards him, her arms behind her back and her wings folded up as if she was taking a leisurely walk through the park. She moved right in front of him and lent forward until their lips were almost touching. Those perfect breasts of hers pushed up against him and sent a spike of heat through his body. She was staring straight at him and he could see all the shades of green in her eyes when she whispered; “I'm bored.”

  Jerry blinked and looked like he'd been hit on the head. “What?”

  “You heard me. I'm bored,” she stepped back, scratching some of the feathers on her left wing while looking completely indifferent. “I'm sorry if you were expecting some epic evil machinations but the truth is...I'm bored.”

  Honestly, he had been expecting some kind of horrible plan to take control of the world or wipe out mankind or something along those lines. “You have got to be kidding me!”

  “I wish I were,” she sighed with disappointment before seeing that he needed an explanation. “I've been here for eight thousand years Jerry. I've seen it all, done it all. I can't die and when the fear of death goes out the window, life loses a lot of its excitement. There's no threats, no challenges, no equals! I can't imagine what it must be like for God. It's no wonder he packed his bags and left. So, I do what most people do when they get bored...I play games.”

  “This ain't freakin' Xbox! You screw with peoples lives!” Jerry yelled.

  “Those are the only things they care about enough to try and protect!” Aria said back like it was elementary school stuff. “If you threaten their money or their happiness or their family, they'll actually get off their asses and do something about it and that's where the fun is. Why do you think I let your friends live? I didn't need to kill them, I just needed you to believe that I would...and I could, and I will if you even think about trying to ditch me.”

  “You're sick!”

  “Hello! I was built by the Devil!”

  “I can see that!”

  “Well, maybe if I had something to do, things would be different, I would be different. I've searched for the key to my ascension since I got topside, it's not here! Don't you think that if there was some angel miracle grow up here I would have found it by now? I studied you for weeks, hoping that you were the one but you're not. Lucifer was wrong. You were right...demons can't become angels. So now I'm stuck here with nothing to do!” she moaned.

  That's why she hadn't siphoned the power from his soul. It's why she hadn't killed his friends. He couldn't help her ascend, he was just her new toy.

  “And what? The usual demonic crap just not doing it for ya?” he still couldn't believe she went through all of this just to get her kicks.

  “Only a child gets enjoyment from stomping on ants. It's much more of a challenge getting them to march where you want them to. Like trying to stop lemmings from walking off a cliff. I mean sure, I could walk into the UN and have worlds leaders kneeling before me in about twenty seconds flat and I wouldn't even have to tell them to do it! Wow, look at the beautiful angel! Quick, kiss the carpet! Not one of them would try and stand up to me. It would be so easy,” she was actually annoyed about that, making it sound like it was just a chore like cleaning a toilet or something. “But you, your not easy. You didn't trust me, you didn't bend over backwards trying to please me. You fought me at every turn no matter how many times I batted my eyelashes at you. Why would I want you dead? I could destroy all fifty states in alphabetical order if I wanted to but where's the fun in that? Why get all your dominoes in line only to smash them all down instead of letting them fall in a pretty little pattern?”

  It all meant nothing to her. She could commit mass genocide if she wanted but it would be so easy that there wouldn't be any fun in it. It wasn't even worth her time. The sheer contempt she had for life was unlike anything he'd ever seen.

  “And that's it? That's all you want? To play games?”

  “Of course, what else is there for something like me? You make things fun!” she nodded happily.

  “Then why did you let me win?”

  “I didn't. That checkmate was a thing of beauty,” she almost swooned.

  “I was taking about the fight.”

  “Oh, that, well, I didn't want to hurt your feelings. I mean, you would have been all depressed if you knew that you couldn't stop me,” she made a fake show of sorrow. “Besides, now you know what I can do to you if you don't do your best to keep me entertained. I'll start by putting Goose in a kiln. Then I'll make his bones into crockery and draw nasty pictures on the wall using his ashes. Just in case you were thinking about backing out on me.”

  “Well, if I'm so easy to beat, why do you want me as an opponent?” Jerry asked.

  “Because you adapt and change and you're a hybrid and your blood is a game changer. There are mysteries around you than even I don't know and best of all...you fight! You know you can't beat me but you'll never stop trying!” she said looking overjoyed again. “That and the small fact that I'm intensely attracted to you. I'm very picky when it comes to men, it's so hard to find one that's actually interesting and worth the skin they're wrapped in but hooray for me because here you are. You're the only one that's ever played hard to get.”

  “That sure as hell ain't part of the deal so forget it!” he scathed.

  “It doesn't have to be part of the deal. It's part of the game. I think it's going to happen no matter what. I never believed in any of that soul mates crap but I really think you and I are made for each other. You're one of a kind and so I am.”

  “It's never gonna happen!”

  “Keep telling yourself that handsome. Nobodies ever ripped one of my wings off before. That makes me all fangirl inside and let's face it, even now you get a little twitch in your pants every time you think about me. But you're not gonna be all easy and give into that are you?” Jerry glared. “See, defiance, I love it! Don't worry, I already know the rest of the fine print. A hands off order for your friends and innocent people, blah, blah. You'll be nice and play my little game and we'll work on your blood together...I don't suppose I can convince you to stop hunting?”

  “Not a chance!”

  “Meh, well, it might add to the flavor,” she shrugged as if she were ticking off boxes on a contract. “Done and done, hmm...I think this could be the start of a beautifully unhealthy friendship.”

  “No shit,” Jerry scowled.

  What had happened to him? He'd been so frightened of becoming one of the things he hunted now he'd killed a human and made a deal with a demon. He'd reached an all time low and even though his family would be safe from her, he couldn't help thinking that he'd let them down.

  “Don't knock it until you've tried it,” she sang as she walked towards the exit. “You can't tell me that you don't have some new found respect for me.”

  The bracing truth was that he did. Behind the mountains of hatred he had for her, he still had to respect her power and her genius. He never thought anyone could be that manipulating, that scheming, that beautiful and sadistic at the same time. She took it to a whole new level.

  “Aria,” he suddenly called out stopping her.

  “Sweetness?”

  “Who is she?” he dared to ask. “The woman in white?”

  “Jerry, we've been over this,” she said shaking her head.

  “Please...” he breathed. “I need to know.”

  “Aww, that's adorable,” she smiled with mock compassion. “You think she's your mommy.”

  That was the theory he'd arrived at. Or maybe it's just what he was hoping. Aria laughed at his idea and he needed to know why. “Is she?”

  “It's a
nice outfit she wears, don't ya think?” she said out of the blue causing Jerry to look very confused.

  “Huh?”

  “Not really white, it's got sort of a pale tint,” she said absently.

  “Err, I guess,” Jerry really had no idea where she was going with this.

  “Well, I suppose it would be a little too obvious if she actually did ride a horse and carried a big scythe.”

  Jerry felt like he was about collapse. He went even paler than before and felt a wave of fear wash over him. She had to be lying.

  “She...she's...”