by Ivy Sinclair
“That angel got him real good.” Another voice floated to my ears. I knew it, but the way that it was distorted told me the truth of the matter. My sweet, kind, gentle older sister was here with me, but she had brought along her demon. I wanted to speak the words that would draw it out of her, but there was no way that I could expel the demon without harming Gabrielle. The demon had to leave her body willingly.
“He just needs to rest,” Paige murmured.
“Rest? Shit. That boy’s going to be resting a good long time the way he’s going. Are you blind?”
The brush of hair left my cheek, and I immediately missed it. “Stop it. If you aren’t here to help, then you can go somewhere else.”
“Who says I’m not helping? I’m helping you face reality. My baby brother is about to join us here in Hell permanently. Bruno has a room picked out just for him. And don’t worry. He’ll have plenty of company. It’s just a matter of time. ”
“You’re wrong.” Paige’s voice was vehement. That should have made me feel better, and for a brief moment I thought about turning over and pulling her down to lay beside me. Then I remembered the way the light left her eyes when I asked her the most important question I had ever asked anyone in my life.
“Think what you want, but he’s a goner.”
“Stay or leave. I don’t care. But I’m not talking to you anymore,” Paige said. I felt the weight of her body on the edge of the cot behind me. “He will get better.” There was a long pause, and then I heard a short sigh escape her lips.
“He has to.” I was pretty sure I was the only one who heard those words.
CHAPTER SIX –PAIGE
There was an unsettled sensation in the pit of my stomach. I wasn’t willing to accept there was anything going on that would result in Riley’s death. Bruno wouldn’t have sent me in to retrieve information if there was a chance that Riley wasn’t going to make it. Bruno wouldn’t let Riley leave the world without it.
I just wish I knew exactly what information it was that Bruno wanted. He had been deliberately vague saying that it had something to do with Riley’s father. I sensed that he didn’t want me to know exactly what it was though, so he said I was supposed to learn everything that I could about the mysterious man. It seemed silly to me. Riley’s father left his mother when Riley was a baby. Joanna would surely know more than Riley, but Bruno seemed convinced that Riley was the key.
I thought about Gabrielle’s words that there was space reserved for Riley in Hell. I knew that Riley had done dark things in his past. I was able to look past that though because he had been able to look past my flaws too. We were suited that way. Our pasts didn’t matter. It was just the present and moving forward. But then I realized that if Riley died and took up residence in Hell, he’d come under Bruno’s control once again. Bruno would have all of eternity to get what he wanted out of Riley. So it wouldn’t matter to Bruno if Riley died now, but it mattered to me. I wouldn’t be getting any assistance from Bruno in keeping Riley alive and mortal.
My hand hovered above Riley’s head. Gabrielle had retreated to another part of the room, and I tried to ignore the fact that she was even there. I didn’t want this interaction to tarnish what I thought about Riley’s only sibling. I hoped that someday I’d have the chance to speak to her without the demon’s influence. With no siblings of my own, I looked forward to the idea of being close to Riley’s if things worked out for the best.
“I’m right here,” I whispered to him. “I’m not going to go anywhere.”
I brought my hand back to my lap as I stared at him. I felt the all too familiar sensation of helplessness bubble up inside my chest. I spent years feeling like this as I searched for the answer that would sway my fate. I hit roadblock after roadblock and landed in dead end after dead end. I’m not sure why I didn’t give up, but I never did. Despite feeling like there was no way to win, I still held out a shred of hopeful optimism that things could be different.
That was the thought that I clung to now. I stubbornly refused to believe that anything so terrible could happen to us that couldn’t be undone or fixed. I knew that by agreeing to Proctor’s deal, he’d take me to Riley. With Riley by my side, we could figure it out. I just had to find a way to warn him how interested Proctor was in his past without tipping Bruno’s hand. That was strictly forbidden according to the pact. But that was a problem for a different day. Today, I had to make sure that Riley didn’t leave me alone in the mortal realm.
I cursed the Dark Wiccan outside. If they were gone, I could access my magic. Then I remembered with a start something that I was told during my brief imprisonment the last time I was in Hell. It came from the lips of Payla, a Mypar demon, who had decided to play games with me.
“Wiccan can’t control things like us, Paige.”
In the chaos of the rush to get to Riley’s side, the unexpected proposal, and the showdown with his mother, I had completely forgotten that important tidbit of intelligence I picked up. Dark Wiccan held sway over things that occurred naturally in nature. I wasn’t one of those things, and neither was Riley.
I moved down the bed closer to Riley’s head. I wasn’t sure how he was going to react to my touch if he was even conscious, but I had to try. I settled my hand on his temple. He didn’t move. Then I started to stroke his hair as I leaned over him and bent closer to his ear.
“I’m going to try to heal you,” I whispered. “If you can hear me, try not to move and give it away, okay?”
I knew that Gabrielle lurked close by, so I couldn’t to give her any indication of what I was attempting to do. I wasn’t even sure that I could do what I was attempting to do without having Riley’s help. I was tense, anxious, and scared out of my mind. Those things usually didn’t go well with trying to wrangle a hold on my magic.
I murmured the words to a random song that my mother used to sing to me when I was sick. I didn’t allow myself to think about her often. My mother had been a gentle soul, and I had no idea how she had eventually become mixed up with the Disciples of Eva. It was a story that she never told me, and I had been too young to understand that it might have had some significance. My parents always focused on the present and moving forward.
The song always calmed me and ushered me into my personal dreamland. It was comforting to me to sing it now, and I hoped that it offered the same thing to Riley. It also was something that I knew so well that I could keep up the pretense of comforting him even while delving into the pit inside my mind looking for that elusive well of magic.
I allowed myself to sink into my mind. I knew that I wasn’t the world’s best singer, but I could carry a tune. It didn’t bother me to think that anyone else was listening. I was comforting the man that I loved. That was all. I could see little blips of light inside my eyelids that I chased after knowing that the magic was there. I felt a few sweat beads break out on my forehead, but I kept singing and searching.
Just when I thought that I had it, I felt the pressure of fingers wrap around my wrist. My eyes popped open, and the connection was lost. But I saw Riley’s blanched, white face staring up at me. I was shocked at the deterioration in his condition in just the time since I had arrived. There were deep splotches of darkness in the crevices underneath his eyes. His cheeks carried a sallow color and his green eyes burned with a feverish light.
I heard his labored breathing rattling around inside of his chest. I could see that his blanket was soaked with sweat. I couldn’t deny then what Joanna and Gabrielle had said. Riley was dying.
“Don’t,” he wheezed. Then he shook his head. “Just don’t.”
Anger flared inside of me. I pulled the blanket down from his chest. I saw that there was a bandage covering his wound, but it had long ago soaked through with dark red blood. This was the target. This was the point of his distress.
“Like hell,” I said.
“What are you doing?” Gabrielle’s voice was shrill as I heard her moving closer.
“Doing what I should have done
the moment I got here,” I said. I put my hands on Riley’s side and opened myself wide to the magic that I knew was there. I didn’t try to grab it. Instead, I accepted that it would come to me. And it did.
I focused all of it at the wound. Before when I tried to heal someone, I could see their body like an x-ray in my mind. The injured areas lit up like bulbs on a Christmas tree. I could see Riley’s body in my mind, and as the injured areas lit up, I couldn’t hold in my gasp of shock. It wasn’t just in his side. Riley’s entire body lit up. Something was going on inside of him, but I didn’t understand what I was seeing. There was no way that someone could sustain those kinds of injuries and that kind of pain and survive.
“Paige!” Joanna’s voice was next to my ear. “Stop it! Paige!” I felt her hands trying to bat my hands away, but I held fast to Riley’s side. “Paige, he’s gone. Please, stop.”
I think it was hearing the tears in her voice that broke through my stupor. I opened my eyes and looked up at Riley’s face. His eyes were closed, and his skin ashen. There was a calmness about his features as if he had slipped into a much needed and restful slumber. The rest of his body was still.
“No!” I said. I refused to believe it. “No!” I put my hands on his chest over his heart and opened myself up to the magic once again. I didn’t expect what happened next. Hands hooked under my shoulder blades to drag me backward. I tried to keep hold of Riley’s body. Every second that passed was a second that he escaped further away from me, and I couldn’t stand it. I struggled against the iron grip of those hands. I sensed an output of energy coming toward me, and I knew that the Dark Wiccan who held me fast were attempting to thwart my efforts to revive Riley. They were putting out everything they had to block my magic.
I didn’t expect their strength or persistence in trying to pull me backward. I watched in horror as their abrupt yank on my torso caused a chain reaction that caused Riley’s body to tumble toward me and off the cot onto the floor. I heard Joanna’s cry, and for a moment I stilled as I saw something I had never seen before.
Riley and I had been intimate twice, and so I had the benefit of seeing the unique tattoo that carried across his shoulder blades and down his spine toward his waist. It looked like a stingray until closer inspection revealed a different symbol. Riley told me that it was the mark of the Protector and that it had appeared on his back just after our confrontation with Proctor in the church. It seemed like a lifetime ago, but it had been less than a week.
But that wasn’t what gave me pause in my struggle or what I’m sure caused Joanna’s verbal surprise. The tattoo on his back was gone, but something else had taken its place. I couldn’t see whatever it was clearly, but the fact that the Wiccan released told me that they were just as surprised as the rest of us.
“What did you do to my son?” Joanna’s voice was strained.
I didn’t even look at her, but I realized that she was directing the question to me. “He had a tattoo,” I said. Now that I had been released, I dropped to my knees beside him. The tears were rolling unbidden down my cheeks. “I didn’t do anything to him. I was trying to save him. Just a few more minutes, and it would have been done. I was too late. He was everything to me.”
“He was fine until you came along,” Joanna hissed. “You with your pretty face and innocent story about not knowing demons even existed. You caused this. You killed my son as surely as if you had wounded him yourself.”
I tuned out the rest of her diatribe. She ceased to exist in my realm of consciousness. I only saw Riley. I couldn’t help myself. I moved closer to Riley’s shoulder blades. I could see the faint marks of where the tattoo had once been, but I was fairly certain that it was fading away before my eyes. There were two bright red splotches that circled his shoulder blades as if marking them. The splotches almost appeared to be burned there. I couldn’t be sure, but it also appeared as if the skin was swollen there causing two abnormal ridges.
My fingertips reached out toward the ridges, but then I heard something that seemed impossible. It was a deep inhalation of breath. Then, Riley rolled onto his back with a long groan.
“Riley?” I couldn’t believe it. I scooted closer to him and placed my hands on either side of his face. “Riley? Can you hear me?” A crazy desire to start laughing bubbled up inside of me. Everything was going to be okay. He was still alive.
Joanna had moved to his other side. I looked up at her expecting to see the same joyful expression that I knew was on my face. Instead, Joanna looked stunned. She wrapped her arms around her stomach. Her face was ashen.
“He’s okay!” I explained to her. “He’s not dead.”
She didn’t say anything.
Riley groaned again, and when his eyes opened and focused on mine, I smiled gently at him. “Hey. You gave us quite a scare. I thought I lost you.”
“You did,” he said. His voice was hoarse as if he had been screaming for hours.
My smile fell. “You’re awake. You’re here. That’s all that matters.” I wasn’t sure if he was still hallucinating, or if it was a symptom of something else, but I didn’t care. I wanted to hug him and kiss him silly. Then I’d tell him that I would marry him if he’d still have me. I’d find a way to tell him about my deal with Proctor, and we’d fix it. Together. I had been stupid to think that I could stay away from him. I loved Riley Stone with all my heart. We belonged together.
Riley’s hand came up and settled on the bandage on his side.
“Don’t touch that,” I said. “We’ll get a new one and get that cleaned up right away.” I looked up at Joanna again. The woman seemed to be in some kind of daze. “Do you have more bandages somewhere?”
Riley didn’t seem to be listening to me though. His fingers picked at the corner of the tape holding the bandage to his skin. As I tried to bat them away, his fingers gained purchase, and he ripped the bandage off in one swipe. I winced as I looked down expecting to see the worst. Instead, what I saw was bare unbroken skin. There was a circle of blood all around it, but the skin itself was whole.
My mouth fell open. “It worked. I healed you. I didn’t think that it worked, but it did.”
Riley scooted up onto his elbows and then backward across the floor away from me. His expression twisted as his gaze traveled between the bandage in his hand and where the wound had once been. Then he let out a roar that was so loud and filled with rage that I had to put my hands up to cover my ears. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Joanna begin to back away.
I didn’t understand what was happening, but the joy I had just felt a few minutes ago was quickly being replaced by trepidation. The sound that had emerged from his lips sounded unnatural.
Putting my hands up, I started to move toward him but he backed up again. “Riley, it is okay. It’s just me. You’re confused. You’ve been through a lot in the last few hours. Let’s get you back on the cot so you can lie down and rest. You need your strength.”
He looked at me as if he had never seen me before. Then he scrambled to his feet. He stared down at me. He was so tall he seemed to tower above me. I had never felt fear toward him in the entire time I’d know him, but as I watched his expression seeming to shift between anger and confusion, I wondered if I was safe.
The idea brought the magic to me immediately. That had never happened like that before where I was consciously able to pull that thread. Riley’s eyes lit up as if he could actually see the invisible energy pulsating through me now.
“Are you threatening me?” A cruel smile twisted his lips, and then something else happened that I never expected.
Two pitch black wings unfurled behind him and stood erect in the air. All thoughts flew from my mind save one. It was so clear now that I couldn’t deny it even though I didn’t understand it. My necromancer had become an angel.
CHAPTER SEVEN – RILEY
When I was younger, I thought about death a lot. Maybe that was a precursor for the destiny that awaited me. I don’t know. Either way, I felt like my whole life, s
ince I started to see dead people when I was thirteen, was nothing but riding down the highway of life with death as the passenger in the sidecar of my motorcycle. It was always there with me. Ever present.
So I thought that I’d have a lot more to stay about it when I actually experienced death for myself. I had no idea how long I had been gone. It could have been seconds, or it could have been hours or days. It didn’t matter. Wherever I went, I knew one thing for certain. To be brought abruptly back to this plane of existence from it felt harsh and unreal. There was an anger that sprung up out of nowhere I could understand. It railed at the idea that I had found some kind of peace and then had it ripped away from me.
I felt the click of the return of rationality inside of my mind when I saw Paige’s face. It was beautiful and lovely. Somewhere in that dream space after death I felt certain that Paige had been with me. When I thought about my happiest place for eternity, I found that she had created a spot inside of that bubble just for her. It just looked different than what I had imagined. I had been somewhere safe and happy without a care in the world. So while there was a big part of me that felt comforted by the fact she looked so relieved and joyous to see me, there was another part that was pissed off as all get out at her.
Death had taken me away. I put up a fight, but in the end death won like it frequently seemed to. I’d seen enough death in my life to know that betting against it usually meant you’d lose. I had tried. It had won. When I slipped out of this world, I had accepted that.
Now I was back, and for some reason, I believed that Paige had a hand in doing that. Could I really blame her? Maybe. I would have done the same for her. On that point, I had no doubt. But our situations were different because I was the one that had been willing to go whole hog into it. Paige had put up the caution flag. Somehow we had gone down two separate paths when it came to our relationship when I wasn’t looking.
Jesus Christ. My head felt as if it was clearer than it had been in days, and I saw something with stark clarity. I was the fucking chick in our relationship. I was the one who clung to her and kept coming back for her. How many times had she tried to push me away? More than once. Even though she told me that she loved me, I sensed that she still was holding back on me. If I was in something, I was in it. I needed Paige to be the same way. Otherwise the whole thing didn’t sit right with me at all.