Inception (The Reaping Chronicles, 1)

by Haviland, Teal

  Gabrielle certainly wasn’t. Today had been a perfect example in that regard. When she was waiting to start her day, sitting in the school’s parking lot, she felt so frustrated from the feeling that they were losing the war and there was something … coming, that she thought she might come unglued. Though it didn’t turn out as bad as she’d started out thinking it would be.

  Come to think of it, as soon as I met Lucas, I felt better.

  And that feeling seemed to carry on throughout the day. With one exception—Mara. But the anger she had felt from being caught off-guard and the demon having her hands on Lucas left quickly, too.

  I’ve never had a mood like that just lift off of me before.

  But if she couldn’t give out more good karma than bad today, she may not be so lucky tomorrow. Her mood could be rather unpleasant.

  Gabrielle loved her job. Though it was sometimes difficult, it’d been the most important part of her life since Yahuwah appointed her to the position thousands of years ago even if it sometimes had a nasty effect on her personality. Unfortunately, being in an edgy mood had been increasingly common for her over the last one hundred and fifty years.

  She was the one that gave herself the title The Angel of Karma. The belief in karma’s cause and effect of past and present actions, and Yahuwah’s rewards and punishments, were pretty much the same. It was a lot easier than The Angel of You Reap What You Sow.

  Gabrielle made her way to the refrigerator to get some sweet tea—some very sweet tea. She looked over her shoulder at her brethren as she did. “Hate to interrupt, but anyone want something to drink?”

  All she got in response were two shaking heads, then they were back at it, causing her to smile. They were always going to argue, but she knew they respected each other. After filling her glass with iced southern sweetness, she let one cold sip slip down her throat and sat back down to continue to wait.

  Thoughts about her job consumed her own mind, and the thing she wondered about most was how she could have done it better all these years. If she had been more efficient, maybe the war being fought would be leaning more toward their side instead of Darkness gaining more of a stronghold on humanity.

  Maybe I wouldn’t have seen so many human souls lost and so very many Asarers die with them.

  She didn’t know most of the Asarers personally, but it didn’t make the cut any less deep or painful. Asarers were a huge step above a typical guardian angel—a sometimes deadly step. They could be from any of the Choirs. They were those of her brethren who chose, on top of their regular duties, to bind themselves to one human in particular. They didn’t have to be humans who were important or influential, just someone the angel was drawn to for any reason. It could be that they’d watched them grow from a child and had become attached, had seen them suffer a great loss, or any other reason. They put their own lives on the line, literally, as they try to keep that person they bound themselves to from becoming one of the Fallen’s, and thus Ramai’s, victims. If they failed to keep their human from Darkness, they would lose their own souls—their Divine lives—to Ramai, as well. Now, more than ever, performing her duties appropriately was vital to the outcome of the battle.

  To keep as few Divine lives from being lost as possible.

  Her daily task was to take the orders from Yahuwah concerning who He wanted to either reward or punish, along with the level of action He wanted taken. Then she decided in what form it would be dispensed. Once her decision was made, she gave the orders to Sheridan, her second in command, to give to the troops. At times, if it was someone she was particularly interested in seeing karma come back to, whether good or bad, she would take care of it herself.

  She wondered, again, what this day’s lot would have in store for her, how she’d feel tomorrow, and hoped to be able to cover up her crabbiness on her worst days when she was around the other teenagers.

  Especially Lucas.

  After several moments of thinking about Lucas, the debate between Amaziah and Sheridan abruptly stopped, and Gabrielle felt eyes on her. When she glanced at her brethren, Amaziah was looking at her. She hadn’t realized it, but she had slipped deep into thought about Lucas again. Maybe too deep.

  “Who is this Lucas, Gabrielle?” Amaziah inquired. “Is there reason for me to be concerned for you?” He waited for her answer.

  Amaziah was the closest thing Gabrielle had to a father. He’d been the one to recommend her to Yahuwah for the task of handling His rewards and punishments. Ever since, he made it a personal mission to make sure that Gabrielle not only did her job well but was also happy—knowing the latter could be difficult for The Angel of Karma.

  “No, Amaziah. Of course you don’t need to be concerned about me,” Gabrielle answered, trying to figure out how to explain. “I don’t know why I was thinking of him so much, really. He is someone I’ve had visions of, and I met him today. I suspect I’ll have to help in some way in the future, and that’s why he’s on my mind.” Gabrielle hoped the explanation would appease her superior. She was surprised, and uncomfortable, at her attempt at deception. That was new for her, at least verbally, since she had been keeping Lucas to herself for quite some time.

  That’s deception in its own way, I suppose.

  “I see,” Amaziah said simply. To her relief, he seemed to let it go. He immediately turned his attention back to Sheridan.

  Gabrielle was happy he didn’t push the subject further. Sheridan, on the other hand, seemed to be leery of Gabrielle’s response. Her gaze lingered on Gabrielle for several moments, and her eyes held questions. Sheridan knew her place, however, and Gabrielle was sure she’d get no inquisition from her. At least not in front of anyone.

  Sheridan had been assigned to Gabrielle from the beginning. They’d been through thousands of years of working together, and even though Gabrielle had no proof, she’d always felt that Sheridan didn’t approve of her. It was just an instinct, really. But angels rarely, if ever, doubt their intuition. More often than not, it was accurate—and life-saving.

  Still, Gabrielle had no cause to doubt Sheridan’s loyalty to her directly, and especially no cause to doubt her loyalty to Yahuwah. If she ever went against the orders Gabrielle gave, it would be a transgression against Him. To oppose Yahuwah or his instructions in any way, most often, would mean punishment. Depending on the betrayal, it could even mean being cast out of their home forever.

  Javan had rebelled against Yahuwah. Of course, his actions, the most unforgivable from what she had been told, resulted in him becoming one of the Fallen. Gabrielle’s chest caught as her heart was gripped by the emptiness the loss left. A rush of emotions forced themselves through her human body. For the first time, tears began to pool in her human eyes, and she shut their lids forcefully to try to keep her sorrow contained.

  “I know, Gabrielle,” Amaziah said softly. He was suddenly beside her, placing his hand on hers. “We all miss our fallen friend. You, because he was your eternal companion, most of all.”

  Amaziah had heard her thoughts again. Gabrielle raised her head and looked upon her friend’s face, releasing tears from the corners of her eyes when she did.

  She was sure she saw some in his, as well.

  Gabrielle had excused herself from Amaziah and Sheridan and asked to be left alone on Earth for a while, saying she would meet with them in Heaven when she was ready. She needed some time to let the somber moment pass and clear her mind. When she returned to them a couple of hours later, they were debating a different topic. Both stopped and looked at her with concern. She imagined they both wanted to know the same thing.

  ‘I’m fine.’ That was all Gabrielle trusted herself to tell them. She had never let her sorrow show outwardly and didn’t know if more emotions would burst forth, even now while she was in her true form. She was eager to get her job taken care of so she could return to Earth and have more time to
be alone.

  Time …

  She should feel she had a lot, considering she was created to live forever. But she didn’t. She’d learned a long time ago that time wasn’t a guarantee. Everything can be taken away, everything changes, and even angels die. Her human time would be brief. That was something she had no control over. But, at that moment, she was in ‘angel time’, so it didn’t really matter.

  When she was living as she was meant to, as an angel, time passed in a much different way than when she lived as a human. What she did in her job as The Angel of Karma would seem like minutes to mortals, but to her as an angel, it ticked quite a bit of time off the clock.

  Now, she could take care of her work without losing valuable time as a human. Then, she could step back to her Earthly life. She wouldn’t lose a second that she needed to use for figuring out what compels humans, finding out what Lucas had to do with her being here and how she was supposed to help him, and figuring out what the book was that the demon spoke of.

  The realization that she had not put near as much effort as she needed into discovering what the story was with that book hit her, and she decided it would have more importance from that point on. Amaziah didn’t seem to take it too seriously when they spoke of it initially, but something told her it was important.

  Very important.

  Once her lots’ karma was decided upon, and the appropriate orders were assigned to her troops or other ‘helpers’, she could relax. At least as much as she could while concerned about the battle between the Light and Darkness.

  All of the tactics she’d used in the past didn’t seem to have much effect anymore, and people were progressively lacking in morality. Humanity was losing its humanity. Gabrielle wasn’t going to allow Darkness to dominate Light, though. Not while she could still turn the tides and guide people’s hearts back toward Yahuwah.

  There were many who tried to get in her way—legions. But Yahuwah had bestowed her with many powers to fight them. In addition to the abilities all angels share—telepathy, moving between realms at will, interaction with humans either in angelic or human form, and of course flight—Gabrielle enjoyed a host of others. For obvious reasons, her most utilized ability while incarnated was pausing mortal time. But she also enjoyed having dominion over creatures humans consider to be fantastical—Shifters, the Gentry, and the Qalal. Gabrielle reserved using the last two for the most reprehensible humans; those who truly deserved the kind of suffering they could inflict.

  The thing she liked the least about her job was seeing people doubt Yahuwah because His justice seemed to be ill-timed or unfair. People tell each other so frequently that He does things in His own time and not theirs, or that He has a plan for all He does whether they understand it when it happens or not. The truth was, they were right. The problem was, so few truly have faith in the words they speak or hear. Gabrielle wanted desperately to remove their skepticism, to help people see there’s a reason to believe, to have hope.

  Amaziah and Sheridan were now discussing the final battle of the war. It was coming. No one was sure when. How well their side would do depended largely on Gabrielle. Sometimes she believed she could feel the heaviness of that burden so intensely that she thought it would push her down into the Underworld where Darkness would hold her forever.

  Gabrielle captured Sheridan’s attention and handed her the last of her instructions. Sheridan could now leave and give them to the appropriate troops. The task was out of Gabrielle’s hands and in the care of the thousands of angels assigned to assist her in her duties.

  “Gabrielle.” Amaziah broke through her thoughts after they left Sheridan and returned to Gabrielle’s Earthly home. “Are you okay? Is there something you want to talk with me about?”

  Gabrielle didn’t know where she could even start. She couldn’t tell him about her worries or the human feelings she felt about Lucas. He worried over her so much already, and she didn’t want to add to his concerns.

  “No, Amaziah. Thank you for asking, but I’m really fine. Just a little worn out from my first day of school.” Gabrielle gave the most convincing smile she felt she had in her and reached for his hand. It was very warm, warmer than any human’s would be. His seemed to be warmer than any incarnated angel she’d touched—considerably so. And his light, when in his true form, was brighter than any angels’ she’d ever seen. It was almost blinding. He looked at her for a moment, then smiled and gave her hand a firm, loving squeeze.

  “You know, Gabrielle, Yahuwah doesn’t expect this of you, and I’m sure He would be happy to have you solely in Heaven once again. If you ever decide this isn’t still in the best interest of His Divine purpose, it would not be looked upon by Him, or any of your brethren, as a failure. No other before you has ever taken on such a heavy responsibility without being commanded to do so. You have earned a great deal of respect with your actions.”

  Gabrielle said a quick prayer of thanks to Yahuwah for giving her such a supportive and loving ally. “This isn’t about earning the respect of my peers. You know that.” He nodded in acknowledgement. “It’s the need to understand why the tactics I’ve always used are no longer making an impact. If I don’t figure out new ways of creating the desire in the hearts of people to do, and be, good … Darkness will take over their minds—this world. I can’t allow that to happen. I can’t continue to just watch the battle for human souls being lost while our Asarers fall along with them.”

  Gabrielle felt the need for rest begin to take over her human form. Her mind hurt, eyes burned, and the little perk her afternoon shower seemed to give her had waned. She needed to sleep. As an angel, she had no need for rest, but she had been trying to remain in her human body as much as she could to get in touch with what people deal with on a daily basis.

  Amaziah, as usual, knew exactly what she needed.

  “Gabrielle,” He stood up and lovingly cupped her face with his hands, “I didn’t mean for you to feel you had to convince me all over again. I just wanted you to know that there is still another choice, and that you aren’t stuck with this decision. It doesn’t need to be discussed further. I can see you need sleep. Give your human body a little extra time to rest this evening. I would like to know how your day went and what you may have learned, but it can wait.”

  With that, he smiled and disappeared like fog being shooed away by a stiff breeze.

  Gabrielle went upstairs to her bedroom and climbed into bed. The last image she saw in her mind before she fell into a deep, but restless sleep was Lucas.

  Chapter Eight

  Javan ~ An Angel

  Javan had just finished pouring a shot of whiskey when Mara walked into his loft. Liquor was the only thing he had to numb the emotions the human body inundated him with. Human emotions were a nuisance he hadn’t bargained for. He downed the shot and grabbed a second glass as Mara made her way to him, filling them almost to overflowing.

  “Mara. I wasn’t expecting you. Why are you bothering me?”

  A smile barely showed as she grabbed her glass, downing its contents.

  “I can leave,” she said and turned to make her way back to the door. “I just thought you’d want to know there’s a pretty little angel posing as a student at school. But I can see now it wouldn’t concern you, so I’ll see you later.”

  “Wait.”

  Mara continued to the door. He hated when she tried to be flippant. It irritated him. He was in front of her so fast that it startled her, and the indifferent expression rearranged back to the one of servitude he wanted. He grabbed her face with one hand and moved close enough that their noses touched.

  “Don’t play with me, Mara,” he said through clenched teeth. “You know I don’t have the patience for it.”

  She nodded as much as she could in his grip, and he let her go.

  “Come have another drink. Tell me about this angel.”
r />   She sat on the stool across the counter from him. He slid her a glass and waited.

  Mara took several sips.

  “I don’t know that much. She was with that guy that I was messing with a couple of months ago. I decided to see if I could mess with him some more. I’m bored. That’s the only reason I go to that place … to screw with humans.”

  The look he gave her didn’t inspire more needless information.

  “I didn’t notice she was an angel at first,” Mara continued, “because … well, at first, I didn’t give a damn. But when Lucas gave me the cold shoulder and I finally looked at her, there was no mistaking she was a Yahuwah lover.”

  “Why couldn’t you tell right away?”

  “I don’t know. Some kind of veil. I bet if she didn’t have it, though, she’d be glowing like a Christmas tree. That human body of hers might hide the Divine light from a human, but I could see its shimmer. It wasn’t constant, more like a faint pulse under her skin and in her eyes.”

  “That would be a pretty powerful veil, and a very powerful angel. Why would an angel pose as a high school student?”

  “You got me, but that’s all I know. I thought it was odd, too. So … here I am.”

  “Hmm …”

  “I do know one more thing.”

  “I’m waiting.”

  “Where she lives. I followed her.”

  “You’re telling me this angel actually has a place she stays in on Earth?”