by Laury Falter
I stared at him, waiting for him to finish. Already my awareness level had been piqued, drawing in my surroundings through each of my senses. A mosquito buzzed from somewhere inside the house, the scent of rotting wood along the shore enflamed my nose, and, most interesting of all, Fernando Vega’s hand was twitching nervously against his mouth. This one was unlike other Fallen Ones, powerful still, but scared.
“Maggie…” he said smiling through his giggles. “Such an honor…”
“Thank you,” I replied almost curtly. I didn’t feel nearly as impressed by him as he did with me and it didn’t bother me to show it.
His giggling settled and then snuffed out all together. Still, he held on to his wide smile. “We crossed paths once…up in Montana.”
I bristled. “Montana was where I was born.”
His grating giggle returned. “And where you died.”
“What do you know about that?” I asked firmly.
His giggling calmed until it was coming strictly out of his nose, quick and short wisps of air filling the silence.
“Me?” He slid around the tree and strolled to the next one, never narrowing or widening the distance between us. My appendages stiffened, preparing, although he didn’t seem to notice. “I know all about it…all about it because I was there.”
The hair at the back of my neck suddenly felt as if someone had taken them by the ends and were yanking them out. I ignored them. “What were you doing there?”
“Watching…” His head tilted up so that he peered at me from under his lashes, that hideous smile lurking beneath the surface of his expression. “Abaddon’s plan was executed perfectly…and Gershom’s timing of that vehicle collision was a work of beauty. Really, it was. In the middle of the night, between Helena and Billings…no one around to assist. It was just that no one accounted for your mother.” He must have caught my look of confusion because he went on to explain. “No one knew before you two were separated, and she was sent to medical care in Helena and you to Billings, that she had set your death in motion, protecting you from us and from eternal death. Her one final hail mary…”
Anger roared through me then and I had to actively subdue it. He had no right to bring up such a personal matter and far less right to talk about it with such casual indifference.
“Careful, messenger…” he taunted, excitedly sniggering now. “Your guardian will sense you if you keep it up…” At the very sound of Eran’s name, I froze. Fernando, who was watching me closely, made a quizzical face. “And you don’t want your guardian here, do you?” He didn’t wait for my answer. “Is it the same one? The same guardian? When you died before as a baby, little Maggie, he was there too…watching…unable to help, having arrived after the accident had happened when your fate was already sealed.” Fernando sniggered again and then continued. “He was so…wrought with pain…Interesting guardian, he is. Cares for you more than other guardians care for their wards. Maybe not more, just…different. It’s…intriguing…” When I didn’t respond, he continued, eyeing me curiously. “He was so distraught when you died and you…you were so thoughtful. It was almost as if you were expecting it.”
I was still calming my rage through clenched teeth, unable to speak yet.
“And then you returned…” he said through his sniggering. “Fooling us all because you had returned as a human.” His giggles deepened briefly. “A human…” he said in amazement, shaking his head, continuing to giggle. “A human with no power to protect yourself…You are amazing, messenger, to have lived as long as you did. It is an honor to finally meet you, however brief it may be.” His smile, unwavering, began to irritate me. Then he spoke again and I forgot about it completely. “Such a treasure…and then to die by your own kind…” He seemed almost wistful about it.
I froze, realizing instantly that in all the centuries I had ever encountered a Fallen One I’d never heard that particular threat.
“I can assure you,” I replied stiffly, “that will not happen.”
He ignored me, shaking his head, his smile having sunk back in to his gaunt face. “You’ve caused more upset than you know, Maggie. This hunting excursion you’ve been on…killing off my kind…It has drawn attention to yourself. And they are not pleased…” He caught sight of my expression and must have found it to be apprehensive based on his following statement. “If you’re thinking about running, I assure you that no one would blame you.”
“I don’t run.”
“Stay…run…it doesn’t matter,” he said wearily with a shrug, his voice so low I doubted Eran could distinguish his words. This was a good thing because I didn’t want him to know what Fernando relayed next. “If you continue your killings, they’ll hand you over to us.”
I began shaking my head in response, unable to comprehend that could happen.
“They’ll hand you over to stop our kind from killing them. You’ve started a war, Maggie, one of retaliation from both sides…a war that can end only one way…with your death.”
“That will not be the case.”
Although those words ran through my mind, it was a voice behind me that spoke then and it was one that I could never in this lifetime or any other ever mistaken.
Eran stepped from the darkness stealthily, displaying his unique ability to sneak up on his enemies. His body was poised, even as he moved quickly across the ground, like a lion evaluating its prey.
“Magdalene…” he said, without looking in my direction. “Get behind me.”
I opened my mouth to protest. This was my fight. He had no right to be here. And worse, his presence endangered him.
“We’ll discuss it later,” he said, having noticed my struggle. “Get behind me.”
When I didn’t move, he opened his mouth to speak again but halted when Fernando began giggling again. Apparently, he was excited to watch a messenger and her guardian bickering and it made Eran pause. Then, very slowly, his head tilted, a look of absolute disgust in his expression.
“It is incredible how annoying that is!” he said in astonishment. “Has anyone ever told you how annoying that is?”
Fernando had his hand arched over his mouth again, shyly, quietly sniggering. “Yesss,” he stuttered, his answer trembling between his hissing laughter. “Yesss.”
Eran rolled his eyes and then turned to address me. “Magdalene, get back…please.”
Just then, during that moment of distraction between Eran and me, Fernando changed and I saw for the first time why he had been hired as a hit man by wealthy executives. In an instant, he stood to his full height and dropped his hand from his mouth to his hip where he’d stowed a handmade weapon, a gun, rutted by daggers for close combat. His sniggers were gone now, replaced with rigid and determined attention. In fact, I was still processing my surprise at his complete metamorphosis when he lunged.
I stepped aside just as Eran came forward, directing his own weapon at Fernando. Simultaneously, Eran’s hand reached out to move me backwards and behind him, designed to protect me. That motion gave Fernando just enough leverage to take advantage of Eran’s open torso and his gun exploded, the bullet racing from its chamber and towards Eran’s waist. Evidently, Fernando wasn’t aware of Eran’s ability to control metal because he was stumped when the bullet stopped in midair and fell to the ground, never piercing his skin.
That shock became my opportunity and, immediately, I attacked Fernando, our bodies becoming entangled as I swept him off the ground and through the air. Suspended, we both sought for an opening. He found one and sliced a dagger from the side of his gun into my flesh just above my hip. It was shallow but I felt the sting nonetheless. Then Eran was on top of him, spinning through the air, slamming against the crumbling rooftop of Fernando’s dwelling. Boards flew aside, lanterns crashed to the floor, neither Eran nor Fernando noticing.
They had taken the fight out over the water by then and I sprang off the ground, intending to join. They moved fast, ramming through the wall closest to them and into the one room house
.
With the broken lanterns releasing kerosene across the floor I entered the house following Eran and Fernando through the gap they had created and found myself surrounded by flames. Fire licked the kerosene, across the floorboards and up the walls, against one of which Eran had pinned Fernando.
Fernando was putting up a good fight, preventing Eran’s blade from getting any closer to his heart. Then I reached them, took the handle and shoved it deep inside Fernando’s torso. Its handle quivered as it sunk with Fernando’s body to the burning floor below.
Eran, for the first time noticing we were hovering inside an inferno, retrieved his sword, grabbed my hand, and pulled us to safety.
“What were you thinking?” I demanded once we’d reached the middle of the river. My senses were still heightened and, despite his efforts a moment ago, I smelled the sweet fragrance of his body. It diverted my attention but only for a moment.
My appendages were making short, abrupt movements to help me stay aloft while his were flapping lightly every once in a while. Eran, clearly, felt he was in the right about having intervened.
“You said you’d stay back,” I stated angrily, knowing it wasn’t the response he was hoping for.
“I didn’t say a word, Magdalene. You didn’t give me a chance,” he reminded delicately, but his tone didn’t save him from my wrath.
“I didn’t believe I needed to. This was my battle, Eran. Mine! You were supposed to remain at a safe distance.”
“Safe distance,” he scoffed. “You have no idea what you are asking your guardian to do. Do you know that Fernando Vega, that very man you attempted to kill solely on your own, has personally killed three messengers? Without any assistance from his own kind? There is a reason he took jobs as a hit man, Magdalene.”
I understood what he was implying and yet it didn’t register with me. I could handle myself. My only reaction was a tight pinch of my lips.
His shoulders slumped forward then, tired of trying to convince me to act with self-preservation. “Let’s get back. If Ezra finds us gone again it’ll hurt her beyond words.” He started towards the clouds, slowly, ensuring I was following.
I wasn’t.
He slowed his pace upward and then stopped all together. “Your desire…no…your obsession in killing our enemies…alone…takes precedence over any other thoughts or concerns. It dominates you, Magdalene, and anything that dominates you can hurt you.” He paused then, closing the gap between us to place his hands on each side of my face. Peering at me through the night, shadows from the flaming remnants of Fernando’s house dancing across his cheeks. “I’m-I’m frightened for you, Magdalene.”
The understanding of his message was suddenly a palpable presence in my stomach, twisting my insides until they ached.
He was right. Every waking moment, every second I spent in the afterlife each night, thoughts cycled through my consciousness on how to exterminate them. I hated them because through cold calculations they had hurt…killed the ones I love. Now ever fiber in my body ached for vengeance. It was me acting with cold calculation to destroy them and I understood exactly what Eran was warning me against. If I didn’t watch it, I would become one of them.
“I worry myself sometimes,” I muttered, causing the creases in his brow to deepen. “I’m trying to control it. I-I just think that sometimes it controls me.”
“It’s all right,” he whispered soothingly. “We’ll work on it together.”
I wasn’t entirely in agreement with that suggestion. Working on it together implied he would need to be present as I hunted - something I wholly disagreed with. Yet, I knew, staring back at him that I would not win this argument tonight.
He kissed my lips deeply for a brief moment and then his wings flapped, carrying us higher. We separated but it was a struggle, our hands slipping from each other only at the very last second.
The flight back to New Orleans was silent, as I considered the best way to convince him to allow me to hunt alone. By the time we reached our roof I had considered countless reasons, each one making less sense than the last. I knew his reasoning, he’d used it before and it, unfortunately, was entirely logical.
He was a guardian. I was a ward. He would protect me at all costs…including my own desires to hunt alone.
As we landed on the balcony outside my room and my wings sunk back inside my skin, his hand found mine. It was warm, pulsating, and irresistible.
He didn’t look at me when he began to speak, his head dropped, gazing at the balcony’s wooden floorboards instead.
"Magdalene…when you died as a child, those Fallen Ones who attempted your murder were thought to have been the last of our enemies. We thought..." Shaking his head, he muttered, fury hidden just beneath his words, "I had thought we’d succeeded in their extermination. I was wrong." He pulled away and began pacing the balcony.
"You don't need to do this," I told him.
"Yes...I do. I need you to understand why I need to accompany you." Agony coursed through him then, an emotion so strong and swift it seemed to flow from him directly into my veins. His body seemed to cave against it for a fleeting moment before he recovered and continued on. “There, in Montana, after you were revived from the accident that had taken your infant life, I was assured you were safe and those Fallen Ones who took your life could no longer hurt you. Believing those were the last of our enemies, I stepped back...allowing you the chance to experience life on earth as you had always wanted, as a reborn, a human. And…knowing you have never wanted a guardian, I set my destiny aside and acted on your desires. I disappeared." His eyes met mine, filled with an anger that confirmed he would never forgive himself for making that decision. "I disappeared and unknowingly left you alone in a world littered with our enemies."
I placed my hand on his arm and he stopped his pacing. It was then I noticed the tremble that had taken over his body. I stepped closer, pressing my head against his chest, taking his hands in mine, hoping that physical touch would help heal him. Yet, it was my words that seemed to deliver some measure of solace. "I forgive you..." I whispered softly. "I forgive you..."
At that moment, a pained sigh escaped him, one that had been pent up for over a century. His hands came to my chin, pulling me away from him so that our eyes could meet.
"When I felt your radar, your fear again just a few months ago, I appeared just below that streetlight," he pointed to the yellow globe a few yards away. "And I knew you still needed my protection. But it wasn’t until later, when I realized the Fallen Ones still existed - that they hadn’t been completely decimated – when I knew just how much. At that point, I recognized the reality that we faced, that we were still in danger, and suddenly very little made sense. Everything I was certain of was gone. Your safety, my beliefs. So, you see, I get it. I understand your need to execute them. I face that overwhelming desire every day we are on this earth. The anger that is conjured at knowing my loved ones…that you…are in harm’s way is irrefutable, undeniable to me. It drives me, just as it now drives you. But it’s not as strong as you think, Magdalene. It will not own us. We will own it by choosing when, where, and how to destroy our enemies.”
At the end, his speech conjured in me an awareness that had been hidden. When it surfaced, I couldn’t ignore it. The intensity was too severe. We are in this together, together we are stronger, and together we will succeed.
“Together…” I murmured.
“Yes, together,” he replied emphatic.
“And all this time…I never knew how it made you feel to guard me. I always thought you saw it as a job, a responsibility. But it is more…”
“So much more,” he whispered, tensely.
“I understand that now.”
Then, gradually, life began flickering again in his eyes. “Promise me, Magdalene, that you will not under any circumstances leave me and search out to destroy your enemies without my presence?” As if afraid I would decline, he added, “You may continue your hunting and I will stay aside but
I reserve the right to intervene if I consider the risks too great.”
“Well,” I sniffed laughter, “Who could argue with that bargain?”
“Promise me, Magdalene.”
I stood on my toes then and ran my lips along the curve of his neck, along his jawbone, coming to rest them just over his lips. I could hear his heartbeat, strong and sound, quicken as I intentionally brushed against him. “I promise,” I whispered.
“Tease,” he murmured deeply. I breathed in his woodsy scent, becoming intoxicated simply by the smell of him.
He slid his arms along my back and then picked me up swiftly, carrying me to the bed.
Laying me on top of the billowing mattress, he pressed his lips resolutely against mine.
“Get some rest,” he said huskily after pulling away. “Tomorrow we hunt Fallen Ones.”
He left my room then with a more relaxed stroll, one I was thankful to see. Only after he’d turned off my light and the sounds of him preparing to sleep drifted across the hall did I realize he hadn’t heard…
He hadn’t heard Fernando’s warning…that our own kind would come after me if I continued my killings. The sane part of me realized that was a problem. The insane part of me refused to care. That part won.
As I rolled over to stare across my room towards the balcony doors, I was certain of one thing: I would continue killing Fallen Ones regardless of the obstacles, even if they came from the side I was defending.
CHAPTER FIVE: François Gerard
The following morning was a challenge.
After reviewing the next Fallen One’s summary in the book of dossiers, I realized all I’d done is tease myself. I had to sit through breakfast and then through the ride to school with a nagging irritation. It felt as if very muscle in my body remained taut, impatiently waiting for tonight and the opportunity to hunt the next Fallen One.
After Eran pulled the bike into the parking lot, found a spot, and shut off the engine, I begrudgingly slid to the ground and headed for our first class.