Praefatio: A Novel

by Georgia McBride

  Gavin looked in my direction and gave me the smile that makes me weak in the knees. I stood staring at him in complete and utter fool’s love and wondered how in the world he could see me right then, in that vision of something that must have happened eight years earlier.

  “You’re watching a vision of something that took place here when you were nine. You don’t need to have been there in order to see what happened. You are like a fly on the wall, so to speak. You can interject yourself into the historical event as a participant if you want to; otherwise, the people in it will just feel your presence as you continue to watch what happened.” Arcturus’s explanation made perfect sense, sort of. I was embarrassed that he had been watching through my mind’s eye, privy to my thoughts.

  “But, can I change what happened if I participate? You know, if I interject myself into an event from when I was nine, though I’m seventeen now. How would that work?” I asked for future reference.

  “You would be nine, as you were then, but with all the knowledge and experience you’ve amassed since. Since you’re human and you age, your memories or anyone else’s, should you choose to actively participate in them, will reflect your human age at the time the event occurred, not your true age.”

  “So, it would be like I was a seventeen-year-old in a nine-year-old’s body?”

  Gavin’s voice interrupted my musings. My mind’s eye carried me back to the vision. “I have quite a bit of patience, Gabe, and quite frankly, I don’t care for this situation as it is. A human girl.” Gavin’s tone surprised me. He was talking about me, about my being human as if it disgusted him. He crossed his legs and added with disdain, “As if I haven’t been cursed enough.” I stepped backward and covered my mouth so the gasp couldn’t be heard.

  Mom stepped out from between Dad and Tyler. She offered her hand to Gavin for him to kiss. Leave it to Mom to get Gavin to kiss her somehow.

  Gavin seemed all too pleased to oblige. He stood up in front of her, slowly took her hand, savoring Dad’s grimace, and smiled slightly as he bent down and let his mouth linger on the skin of her hand longer than was necessary.

  “Vivienne, as always, you look divine.”

  Mom beamed.

  “I’ll keep my distance until she ascends. My only intent is to know her as a human, her desires and interests. I can’t just assume she hasn’t changed since becoming human. I wish to be all she desires. There’ll be no way for her to resist me—well, Gavin Vault, the rock star.”

  Then Tyler was there, only not in the vision. He was real, and right beside me.

  “Grace, you need to come with me now.” I wanted to ask if he was the angel from Praefatio, but there wasn’t time for chitchat. Tyler grabbed my arm and pulled me up over the ground with him and into a side entrance to the mansion. We rushed down flights of stairs in pitch blackness. The descent and the air blowing past my face ended abruptly at the foot of a large double door. Tyler placed me on the ground, and for a moment, I felt like I’d just gotten off a rollercoaster.

  Upon entering the doors I heard breathing coming from multiple sources. I figured there had to be at least twenty people in the room, but I could see no one. Still holding me by the arm, Tyler greeted the sudden appearance of a strange and unexpected old and very creepy face: framed by long blue hair. The ancient-looking man said nothing, only stood about six inches in front of me, stone-faced.

  “She came willingly, but with two cherubs. They seem harmless, if you are unwise enough to consider cherubim harmless. I doubt she understands the true nature of her actions. She probably has no idea how to actually use any of her talents.” I had not heard anyone ask any questions, but Tyler blew through the answers like he only had precious minutes.

  Old, creepy stone-faced, long-blue-haired guy nodded slowly and closed his eyes—well, more like rolled them to the back of his head. When he opened his mouth, a freaking giant raven flew out. It looked right into my eyes as it flew past me, flapping its enormous, shiny black wings.

  The raven landed on Tyler’s shoulder and appeared to whisper into Tyler’s ear. Tyler nodded, and then the raven flew into the brick wall. I will never forget the sound of its bones cracking as it hit the wall and screeched in pain. It slid slowly down the wall, leaving a trail of raven blood before dying on the floor. Tyler stared straight ahead.

  Creepy old guy opened his mouth again, and out came about twelve tongues, each stretching out at the same time—twisting, turning, drooling. He opened his eyes, and several of the tongues reached to where the dead crow lay, scooped it up, and brought it back to the other tongues to feed off of. I couldn’t look away.

  When the tongues had finished the bird, the old man recoiled them into his decrepit mouth. He kneeled in front of me, then placed his head all the way on the floor with his hands on either side of it, as if in pain.

  Tyler quickly led me out of the room. “Lucky for you, The Tongues of Truth ate the bird and not you. Forgive us, Grace. We had to make sure it was you and not some angel trickery.” Tyler ushered me through another set of doors that closed quickly behind us with a loud thud. In front of me stood about forty angels, standing with their dark wings tucked behind them, forming heart shapes about their shoulders.

  The angels stared blankly at me. I couldn’t read their minds. They weren’t blocking me; there just weren’t any thoughts coming from them.

  I realized my fear had taken over and I was shaking. The hair on my neck stood straight up. My wings expanded slowly and without my permission. I scanned the crowd, searching for the familiar faces of Gavin, Caius and Arcturus, even Emeria.

  Suddenly, there was movement from the back of the room. When I turned to see what it was, Emeria was by my side. I hadn’t heard her approach. The look on her face as she took my hand in hers was disturbing. Tyler stepped behind her, as if to give her the sole spotlight. Emeria smiled and raised our hands into the air in a gesture of victory, and the crowd howled and clapped enthusiastically.

  Emeria held out her other hand and gestured to the crowd to quiet. “Tonight, we welcome our sister, Grace, home.”

  The crowd erupted into whistles, cheers, and clapping … and a few boos. The energy in the room was suddenly startling, alive. The noise level was deafening. Despite my apprehension, I smiled as Emeria stepped forward, pulling me closer to the crowd. Some reached out to touch me; others looked on in awe, as if they’d never seen a human before.

  Music swelled, dull lighting sprang up from various places in the room, and beings scattered. It was a party. I stared in complete disbelief as the beings I thought were going to kill me only a minute before began dancing. Deep bass thumped and pulsed with my heartbeat. I bopped and swayed to the beat involuntarily.

  “I’ll take it from here, Emeria,” Tyler said as he took my hand to kiss it, his lips surprisingly warm. The stomach flutters that followed caught me off guard.

  “I hope you don’t find us too objectionable.” Tyler nodded toward the different species in the room. He watched me scan the room, acknowledging the presence of humans and some not so human looking otherworldly types. One guy laughed loudly, exposing sharp fangs.

  “I—I don't know what to say.”

  “I speak for all of us when I say we are truly happy you’ve come to stay with us.” Tyler smiled, but his eyes held their sadness. He turned me away from a group of vampires at the corner table all drinking off one human. Two gargoyles walked past and shook their heads in disgust. “And yes, I’m that Tyler.” He bowed slightly.

  I became instantly filled with excitement, hope, and fear, forgetting all about the strange goings-on. I wanted to hug him, to ask about his wife—the one who he’d … the one who died. I wanted to know if he’d ever found love again. “Thank you for welcoming me. This is not at all what I expected.” He didn’t need to know that I’d thought that old creepy guy and his tongues were going to eat me alive.

  Tyler’s eyes brightened slightly. “I’ll do my best to see to your comfort and safety. Enjoy your even
ing.” Tyler nodded once more and walked away. Mid-step, a buoyant girl with vibrant orange, blue, and yellow butterfly wings grabbed him into a passionate hug. Where his hand grazed her wings, the delicate material fell to the ground like ash. Almost instantly after, a new and equally stunning wing materialized, like rice paper, in its place.

  Toward the back of the room was an expansive DJ booth with four DJs spinning and a bar complete with tiny flying bartenders who flitted back and forth serving whatever was in those frosted glasses. One DJ had super pointy ears and eerily thin lips framed by mutton chops. He held his short arms in the air and waved to the crowd who eagerly waved back. After a minute, a girl DJ, who had to be like twelve feet tall, took over. She removed her jacket and flung it into the crowd. Everyone cheered as she turned the music up even louder. My whole body reverberated with the bass.

  Shirtless dark-winged angels, male and female, danced so seductively, I wasn’t sure if I should look away or gawk. Their fluid movements were made even more seductive by the reflection of the disco balls onto their dark wings.

  The circular room was highly styled and decorated all in white, with ice-blue accents and pink fluorescent lighting under the booths. Floor-to-ceiling cages held humans wearing nothing more than fish net stockings and obscenely high heels—even the men. In the far left corner of the dance floor was a group of people with horse bodies from the waist down looking like they were deep in conversation.

  One of the DJs put on that song by those guys who are always apologizing for party rocking. Before I could blink, the dance floor filled with various species of beings doing the electric slide, forcing the answer to the age-old question as to whether the need to perform the dance transcends worlds. Led by Caius, of all angels, about twenty otherworldlies ran, flew, or galloped to the dance floor to embarrass themselves as much as possible.

  The Fallen angels I’d met were far different from what I had expected. I wondered why Mom had gotten so worked up over them. When I was hungry, someone found me something to eat; if I needed a drink, one was placed quickly in my hand. The sprites and elves were especially attentive.

  A few songs later, I found Caius and Arcturus making the rounds.

  “Everything OK?” I asked Arcturus, who was sure to give me a straight answer.

  “Grace, we’re having a good time. It’s a fun party and everyone is asking about you, what you’re like. I think we’re gonna like it here.”

  Caius seemed more interested in chatting up garden sprites than talking to me.

  I decided not to worry about it for the moment. I felt at home for the time listening to all my favorite music with these creepy, happy, Fallen, angelic, damned souls and all of their friends. They were beautiful in a cursed and sad way. I found myself drawn to one in particular. Big, brown, wavy, thick hair hung like heavy bricks around her oval head. “Oh I love this song; let’s dance!” she whined to another Fallen, who looked like he had stepped out of the pages of a L’uomo Vogue. He seemed enchanted by the beauty standing before him in a light blue gown, and he obliged. He spun her around to the middle of the dance floor. Then he dipped and spun and tossed and caught her, to the delight of the crowd. It garnered a smile from Gavin, who’d just entered the room.

  Then the girl did something that took my breath away. She dropped his hand, hiked up her dress, pulled a short knife from a sheath on her right thigh, and rushed me. My legs became lead pipes, heavy and still.

  The room fell silent, music stopped.

  Tyler landed between us in the nick of time with wings outstretched. He had his back to her, so certain she wouldn’t use the knife on him.

  “Grace, this is not part of the deal.” Tyler’s expression was hard to read. His mind seemed open, but blank.

  Everything was jumbled. I tried, but couldn’t get a read on anyone. Something was wrong. Gavin—didn’t even react.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I swear.” As my emphatic statement left my mouth, I felt a presence.

  Crashing the party was not Remi’s brightest idea. Yet, standing right in front of me, no more than two seconds later, was my baby brother, determined to get us both killed. The disturbed look on his face and the way he was dressed indicated he was not there to dance.

  “Welcome, Remiel, though I do not recall inviting you.” Tyler barely moved his lips as he spoke. “Would you like a drink?” he added with a chuckle and pointed to the humans in cages.

  Gavin’s lack of attempt to intervene was troubling. I kept expecting him to step in. Distracted, I hadn’t realized until then that the room was now empty except for the four of us, or so it seemed. I heard the breathing of many other beings I could no longer see. Fear became a scarf around my neck, pulling tighter with each passing minute.

  “Tyler,” I called, and I turned to him.

  Gavin remained at the far end of the room, with a stoic expression, the smile gone from his lips. The loud flutter of many wings could be heard above, like birds of prey passing from one side to another. As I looked to see what caused it, I saw the Fallen Ones. They were perched on the arched ceilings above, wings fully outstretched in a beautifully horrifying display. Their eyes were like stars in the night sky as they covered the ceiling with their dark wings.

  Tyler took a protective position in front of Gavin, who was now standing with Remi, and me. The Fallen above made a collective clicking sound. Fangs. My heart beat out of control. I thought of the passage in Praefatio where Tyler bit into the neck of his wife. He’d loved her. What then would he do to me? Someone he … had no feelings for at all?

  Gavin looked ashamed, hanging his head slightly before something seemed to occur to him. He shoved Tyler gently aside and stepped in my direction. The Fallen grew restless, inching closer down the sides of the walls as their wings ruffled in protest. Where are Caius and Arcturus?

  “Grace, Remi, please accept my sincere apology for our rudeness. We would never dream of treating our guests so poorly, even those without an invitation.” His diplomatic gestures and the intonation of his voice made him a far better peacemaker than Tyler.

  Gavin continued forward. He smiled to himself, then turned so quickly that if you blinked you’d have missed it. He whispered in Tyler’s ear, and Tyler left for seconds, then returned with the cherubs before I had time to process it all.

  “You see, Grace,” Gavin said as he circled me. He motioned to the cherubs to sit. “Many of my family consider you public enemy number one, come to destroy us, our way of life, our very existence. Most believe your being here is a ruse to get us to trust you so you can learn our ways, assess our weak points, and plan an attack.” He stopped, looked at me, no emotion, stoic.

  “I don’t want any trouble. I was asked to come here. I came, willingly. If you want me to go, I will.” I hadn’t realized I was shaking until then. Had Remi been right? Had I been brought to Kheiron to die?

  Gavin grabbed me, and surprise colored Remi’s face. Tyler grabbed Remi by the arms, held them behind his back, and Emeria grabbed the cherubs. Where had she come from? Gavin’s hold on me only accentuated my heaving chest. His breath on my skin, his fingers on my neck caused me to shiver. I’m certain the others mistook it for fear.

  “If I kill you now, we lose everything, and start a war with Michael,” Gavin said while running a finger from my neck to my chin. “But the war is coming anyway.” He turned my head from side to side, paying special attention to either side of my neck. “If we keep you alive, let you live with us, kind of like … a pet … ” Gavin slowly pulled my head by my hair, and lowered his head as if he wasn’t sure whether to slit my throat or kill me. “ … we learn everything we can from you and your little cherubs, learn how to defeat you. After all, you are half angel, and we’d do well to learn from you … alive. Worst case scenario, we feed off you, making you weak, then kill you, and Michael gets nothing.”

  The mood in the room shifted, swung right by Gavin’s impassioned words. The rumbling grew quieter as acceptance of those s
eemingly plausible words was at hand.

  Writhing and twisting, Remi struggled to free himself from Tyler’s grasp. Gavin turned me to face him, placed his hands around my neck, and looked right into my eyes, then down at my mouth. “Either way, don’t get too comfortable, Grace. This will not end the way you think.” Then something in his eyes changed from angry to sad to desperate. He whispered, “Sorry.” Gavin let go abruptly, and I fell forward, reeling. He lunged toward me from behind and yanked a large feather from my wings.

  “Ahhhhhhhhh!” It felt like someone had stabbed me with an ice pick in the back.

  Remi’s eyes burned with anger as he wriggled under Tyler’s hold. He looked as if he would kill Gavin if only he could break free.

  Gavin shoved me aside and I fell to the floor. Wincing, I looked up just in time to see Gavin move to Remi and grab his throat. Then Gavin pushed the feather into Remi’s open mouth. I’d never seen Remi so red.

  Gavin turned to Emeria, who had been silent. “Take them to their quarters until I can decide what to do with them.” Gavin looked at me. “Make sure she’s fed, given human comforts.”

  By then I was sobbing uncontrollably. Kheiron was turning out to be a really bad idea. The cherubs couldn’t protect me. They seemed powerless in Emeria’s grip. We’d walked right into their trap, had come willingly. Here, we’d be powerless to defend ourselves. And Gavin? All of it had been a lie. He didn’t love me or want to keep me safe. He was the most duplicitous of all. The only good thing to come of that night was the knowledge that I hadn’t lost Remi. He’d risked his life to prove it.

  As I passed him, Gavin spoke. “Remiel, don’t come here again unless you’re invited. If you do, you’ll end up with much more than a feather in your mouth.”

  Someflippinghomecoming

  My “quarters,” as Gavin called them, were, for lack of a better term, unexpected. But I guess there were worse places I could have been sent after having a feather yanked from my wing.