He would find a way to get her out of the clutches of the Tribunal. And he would bring Banner to Treachery, then he would remain here. She would remain on the mortal plane. He couldn’t corrupt her, it was just that simple.
Chapter 6
Lailah was getting irritated. Hunter had been gone for almost twenty-four hours. Elle had come to stay with her, saying time passed differently between here and the Infernos. Something about it going a lot faster in the Infernos. It could be ten minutes there and a day here, or even an hour there and a day here? It just depended. Lailah wondered who and what it depended on? Either way, it was starting to piss her off.
Lailah tried to wrap her head around it and frankly it just made her head spin. Most of the men were out looking for Banner just to kill time, they knew it was a trap but they wanted to know what was going on anyway. And it gave them something to do. Which was fine with Lailah, because the more time they spent in her little apartment the more arguments broke out. Lailah never knew such an overabundance of testosterone could be such an awful thing.
Victor came back often just to look in on Elle. Lailah thought the way the Reaper acted with Elle was one of the sweetest things she had ever seen. Victor was gruff and hard, but when people weren’t looking he did such sweet things like making sure Elle had anything she wanted. Or just checking in on her. Lailah had to give it to the demi-god Elle had gotten a great man when she fell in love with the Reaper.
Lailah, wondered if Hunter would be as sweet when he fell in love with someone? Then she pushed the thought out of her mind. Thinking that way only made her miss him more. And she didn’t want to miss him. Lailah honestly didn’t think it was possible to miss Hunter more. She had come to depend on the Reaper way more than she wanted to. Technically she had just met him, and she was berating herself for missing someone she barely knew.
“He’s coming back.” Elle told her the afternoon after he had left. Lailah looked up at the demi-god.
“Excuse me?” Lailah asked. She was down on the floor stretching. Her body ached like she had been stuffed inside a washing machine and turned on the spin cycle. Uriel said it was because her body was changing, Lailah didn’t care why she hurt so badly, but Uriel mentioned stretching might help. So here she was doing yoga.
“You look as if you’ve lost your best friend. I thought maybe you were thinking about Hunter.” Elle said plopping down on the floor next to her. Elle was eating a bagel breaking off pieces and popping them into her mouth.
“I’m just doing yoga.” Lailah said, taking a deep breath and letting it out as she went into downward dog.
Elle stuck her head into Lailah’s space and gave her a glowy smile, “You’re kinda of projecting your feelings and your thoughts. And right now your body may be doing downward dog, but your mind is on wayyy other things.”
Lailah huffed a breath, and went down on her knees, “I can’t think about anything else. And I just met him. Shouldn’t I be thinking about how much danger I’m in? Or the fact I’m transitioning into a different species?”
“Not really a different species. You’ve always been an Angel, you're just transitioning into your true self.” Elle said popping another piece of her bagel into her mouth. “But as to the Hunter situation, he is a lot of male to think about. I don’t blame you for obsessing.”
“I feel like I’ve known him forever.” Lailah admitted. “But I also feel like he is only here because he feels obligated.”
Elle laughed, “Trust me on this one Lailah. Hunter does absolutely nothing unless he wants to. He is not like the other Reapers.”
“In what way?” Lailah asked.
Elle was thoughtful for a moment and just as she opened her mouth to answer, Victor Flashed in. Elle winked at Lailah, “We’ll talk later.”
Lailah nodded, but she wondered what Elle had been about to say.
Uriel came down the hall as well, he had been teaching Lailah the history of the Angels, history not written in the mythology of the world. And Lailah had to admit she was enthralled by what she had learned.
“So where did I leave off?” Uriel asked making himself comfortable on the couch he gave Victor and Elle a cautious look.
“Why don’t you like the Reapers, Uriel?” Lailah asked instead. “They have done nothing to the Angels. From the history you have given me, there is no reason the Angels should hate the Reapers. They seem to have a combined history.”
“The Angels believe any creature, not of the light is not worthy,” Victor said sitting on the couch and pulling Elle down on his lap.
Uriel huffed and moved as far away as the coach would allow. “That is not the case.”
“Really?” Victor asked. “Then explain why the Angels sit up in the Fields holding court not allowing any help to come to anyone but those they deem worthy?”
“The light is very selective,” Uriel said thoughtfully. “It is a necessary evil, of evolution.”
“That’s ridiculous,” Lailah said. “Don’t you think the light should be allowed to shine on anyone who deserves it, or who believes?”
“You would think so wouldn’t you?” Victor said. “But the Angels have withheld it.”
“The Element of Light was lost several millennia ago,” Uriel said. “It’s an undisputable truth,” Uriel said looking down his nose at everyone in the room.
“What does that even mean?” Lailah asked. “There is light all around us, the soul is light. What are you talking about?”
Victor laughed, “You better have this discussion before Eric comes back. It’s not a discussion you want to have around him,” Victor said looking around the room like Eric was about to jump out from around a corner.
“Why?” Lailah asked confused.
“Because it was his family who lost the Element of Light. It was because of him the Element of Darkness has taken such a stranglehold on the mortal plane,” Uriel said sadly. “It is why the Angels have chosen to hide as Victor says.”
“You hide because you are chicken shit. You don’t need the Element of Light to share your knowledge and power. It is an excuse, and nothing more. Stop using it as such,” Victor spat.
“What do you know of the Elements, Lailah?” Elle asked ignoring the growing fight between Victor and Uriel.
“Like Earth, Wind, and Fire?” Lailah asked.
“Ah yes, the great elements. In the old days, long before the mortal plane was created there were actually six elements. Earth, Wind, Fire, Water, Light and Dark. You cannot have one without the other. They balanced each other out. It was a great wheel and on each spoke of this wheel was a powerful seat that insured that Elements continued power and growth. It was a perfect balance, a beautiful harmony. Each house had both Elemental Enforcer’s those who fought for the right to protect the Elements and the Elementals themselves.” Elle explained. “This made the Druids the most powerful force in the Other race.”
“The most powerful, and therefore, the most dangerous,” Uriel said sadly.
“This doesn’t end well does it?” Lailah asked breathless to know what was coming but also scared to hear what happened.
“What story about great power ever ends well?” Victor asked.
Lailah felt herself shiver, Elle took Victors' arms and wrapped them around herself before she continued. “This was during the great reign of Atlantis. It was said to be a time of beauty and wealth. A time when the great house’s ruled and life was boundless. You could have anything you wanted. You could create anything you wanted.”
Lailah held up her hand, “Wait. Atlantis was real?”
Everyone in the room nodded, “Yes, and so much was lost when Atlantis fell. The mortal plane would have been so much further advanced if it could have benefited from what Atlantis had,” Elle said sadly. “But when power is corrupted it fails absolutely.” Elle fell silent, and Victor pulled her close.
“Were any of you alive when Atlantis fell?” Lailah asked.
Uriel nodded, “I was a young Angel then. And I really
don’t understand what happened. I was kept in the dark, back then the Angels, even the Arch Angels roamed freely between Atlantis and the Elysian Fields. So when the Others turned on the Druids, the Arch’s immediately gathered all the Angels and we were herded into the Fields for our safety.”
“The story goes, the Others, not of Druid. The descendants coveted what the Druids had. And turned on the six houses of power, it was the reason for the fall of Atlantis,” Elle said her voice quiet. “It is said the fighting spilled out onto the streets, and they ran with blood.”
“How awful.” Lailah couldn’t even imagine what that type of fighting would be like.
“That is when the Druids became so secretive, they were decimated almost to extinction,” Elle explained.
“It is also when Vampires were created,” Victor said.
“Seriously?” Lailah felt her mouth drop open.
Elle waved a hand, “The story of the Vampires is definitely a story for another time. So the Druids barely held themselves together. For the next several hundred years they practiced their arts behind closed doors and didn’t write anything down. It was to their own detriment. And then another war was waged against them, this time, the Elements were scattered to the different ends of the mortal plane. The six houses of power lost their seats. In a last ditch effort to not lose their seat of power the male heir to the House of Diamond, and the female Element of Light knew if she lost her power because of the war it would be catastrophic to the world, with the help of her lover from the House of Diamond they cast her light into the world to be found when the time was right by the next perfect Element of Light and an heir of the House of Diamond.”
Lailah sat there for several seconds, “So the Element of Light is out there waiting to be retrieved?”
“When the time is right, yes,” Elle said.
“And what about the rest of the Elements, and their houses? Were they ever found?” Lailah asked. “Did the Druids find them?”
Elle nodded, “Yes in time they have been located and there is a school here in Chicago actually were the Druid council sits to protect the different Elements and seats of power. But the houses don’t have the power they used to, not like in the old days.”
“But what does this have to do with Eric?” Lailah asked.
Victor snorted, “Oh don’t ever ask him because he hates to talk about it. But Eric is the last living heir to the House of Diamond, they call him the Diamond Prince. But never to his face of course.”
“Oh my god, this is the coolest thing ever. So is he looking for the Element of Light?” Lailah couldn’t help but think it was romantic.
“Hell no,” Victor snapped. “According to Eric, he wants nothing to do with the Element of Light nor the fanfare that goes with the story.”
“That’s just sad,” Lailah said sitting back, she hadn’t realized she had leaned forward as the others had told the story. “So the mortal plane is without the Element of Light? What does it mean for us?”
Uriel perked up here, “We have light, we all have light within us. It is unfortunate the Element of Light was lost but it doesn’t mean we cannot as a race of people survive without it. Darkness is more present and has a stronger foothold. But we can still survive without the Element of Light. We just have to work a little harder at it,” he explained.
“It’s all very complicated this world you live in,” Lailah caught herself saying. “And when did the Reapers come into play in all this?”
“Ah—” Victor said. “We came into play just after the fall of Atlantis. But those Reapers are long gone.”
Lailah sat forward, “Those Reapers? There have been other Reapers?”
Uriel sniffed, “The first Reapers didn’t work out.”
Victor winked at her, “If you think the Angels hate us now. Think how much they hated those original set of Reapers who were everything your nightmares could conjure up..” Victor shuddered.
“And what happened to those first Reapers?” Lailah asked, a little scared to hear the answer.
“Dante had them destroyed.” Victor said.
“Did he?” Uriel asked.
Victor turned a cold stare to Uriel, “If you would like to question Dante you may request an audience with him at any time Uriel of the Betweens. I am sure Dante would love to have you visit the Infernos.”
Lailah could have cut the sudden tension in the room with a knife, “So then you were created?” Lailah asked trying to redirect them all.
“We were actually born, not created like some kind of science project. My mother was actually an Angel.” Victor said with a smile. Victors words shocked her to her core, and nothing else he could have said would have shocked her more.
Lailah felt her mouth sag open, “The Reapers are descended from Angels?” She all but shouted.
“Shocking I know, Dante says he can see the flaw in us. But I can’t see it,” Victor said with such cockiness it left a smile tugging at Lailah’s lips.
Lailah turned to Uriel, “They are cousins, why do you find such disgust in them?” coming back to her original question. “Don’t you all deal in the same type of work? You get the light souls, and they the dark?”
“Angels do not give into their baser needs. The Reapers thrive on them. The blood, the destruction, everything that is darkness,” It was Uriel’s turn to shudder.
Lailah laughed, “So you hate them because they have what you cannot, because they live, they thrive in what you perceive as dark? Isn’t this the point of the mortal plane? That’s just petty of you, of all the Angels.
Uriel’s mouth opened and closed several times, then it snapped closed with such force it made Lailah cringe in pain. And he made a huffing noise, “I am part of a collective. A collective, that is the Choir of Angels, we are of one mind,” Uriel said it like if he said it enough times it would be true.
“Well good for you, but that doesn’t change anything.” When her words looked like they actually hurt the Angle she felt a tickly of remorse for hurting him. Lailah reached over and patted him on the shoulder, “It’s okay Uriel, not thinking like the Collective won’t kill you.”
Uriel looked like he might have swallowed something foul then he stood up and walked out of the room. Lailah felt bad for him, maybe thinking other than the Collective would kill him.
“Don’t push him too hard, Uriel is on shaky ground with the Choir as it is, it’s why he is on the mortal plane instead of in the Fields with his brethren. He has been trying to get back to the Fields for as long as I can remember,” Elle said sadly.
“So he is earthbound as a punishment?” Lailah asked.
Elle nodded, “Being earthbound for any Angel is considered a punishment. Except for you, you are an enigma. You are an earthbound Arch Angel, you, Lailah, are the exception to the rule. And you my dear are breaking all the rules.”
Lailah wasn’t sure she wanted to break all the rules or be an enigma. She just wanted to be Lailah.
Victor stood with Elle in his arms, “Let’s get some dinner. All this talk is depressing. Do you think you have enough information for the day?”
Lailah nodded. She had enough information for a life time, but she knew it was coming in droves and would continue for some time to come.
“Good because I am craving a burger and fries,” Victor said with a big smile.
Lailah didn’t think the Reaper ate anything but burgers and fries since the moment she had met him. “But let’s go out, I know this little diner.” Victor said with a gleam in his dark eyes.
* * *
Hunter should have been surprised when he found them in a diner in the shadier side of Chicago, but Victor was sitting at a table with two large burgers and a heaping plate of cheese fries in front of him. And Hunter wasn’t surprised at all. Typical Victor, he would brave hell itself for a good burger and fries.
Hunter pushed the door open and walked over to the table, “Do you really think this is a good idea?” he asked the group.
Lailah look
ed up at him, a huge smile spreading across her angelic face. And Hunter wanted nothing more than to pick her up and place a kiss on her full lips. He had missed her. He had only been gone for five hours, but according to his phone it had been over twenty-four hours on the mortal plane. And Lailah looked so damn good, he thanked whatever gods were listening Banner hadn’t snatched her up while he had been in the Infernos questioning Jimmy, and reporting to Dante everything he had learned.
“Eating a burger and fries is a sacred thing, so yes it’s a good idea. Sit down or go the fuck away,” Victor said kicking the empty chair toward him as he picked up his burger.
“Haven’t you learned to never get between your brother and his burger and fries?” Elle asked laughing.
“I really should know better.” Hunter said pulling the chair out and sitting down. Hunter tried to avoid staring at Lailah.
The waitress came over, she was a little mouse of a thing and looked like a strong wind would blow her over, Hunter looked at her nametag, “Ashlynn, I’ll just have whatever my brother is having but for one.”
“How did you know…” Ashlynn looked down at her name tag. “Oh, I’ve only been working here a couple of weeks,” she said by way of apology, then shook her mouse brown hair and walked away without asking him if he wanted anything to drink.
Hunter watched as Lailah watched the girl closely, “What?” Hunter leaned over and whispered the word in Lailah’s ear. Making Lailah jump. Hunter breathed in her scent. Gods he had missed her.
Lailah turned her green eyes on him, “There is something strange about that young woman. Can’t you see it?”
Hunter turned back to the waitress but he didn’t see anything, not even an aura. “I can’t see her aura. What do you see?”
Lailah turned to Hunter, “She looks like she has been dipped in glitter. It’s so weird.”
Hunter looked around the restaurant, “Do you see anything else?”
Reaper Dreaming: A Reaper Novel Page 15