To look at him, you would have assumed we were the same age, but something in me said that he was far older than I was.
“God, of course! He watches you grow and learn each day. He has not given up hope for your mother, either. After all, she was tempted and corrupted by a demon. He has forgiven her, but it is not her time to come home. She has far too much work to do here.”
Was this some weird twisted way of answering my prayers?
“We cannot help you, young one. We observe humanity, but never interfere with free will. Well, I shouldn’t say never: there was a time when angels walked the earth and took mortal wives and husbands. You know that we created our own breed of human.” He smiled at me. “God took that right because of wars, corruption, death, disease. I could keep going but I won’t. Somehow your mother fell through the cracks. She held on dearly to her love even after the fires of Hell had consumed him.”
“Why are you here, Ramiel?” I asked quietly.
Was this night ever going to end? I know it sounds like I was being snippy, but it was just that after everything that had happened all I wanted was for someone to be straight with me. Was that too much to ask?
I came to show you the truth. I came to show you how a boy so young could kill something so pure. This is quite a twisted web you have woven here. It is going to take a lot to get out of your sticky little predicament. You are going to have to do things that you would never otherwise do. Your mother’s mind holds quite a few disturbing images of what was done to that poor girl and it’s eating at her. I figured I would assist an old friend so, with permission, here I am. She called out to me when you left, asking me to watch over you.”
Yeah, sounded like my mother, that was for sure.
“Why are they coming for me?” I whimpered. My father’s strength must have ebbed. I felt vulnerable, scared, and lost.
“Hell stands to gain a lot by having you. So does Heaven. You are a half-blood angel. On the other hand, you are a half-blood demon. It is quite uncommon to find someone who carries the blood of both lines. You are a rare being indeed.” His expression was reassuringly composed. “Heaven could use your demon blood to its advantage against Hell, while Hell could use your angel blood against Heaven. It’s a two-way street. However, when it comes to the two beings that are haunting you, it would seem they are more in tune with your demon nature. They are trying to feed off of it to make you vulnerable, an easy target.” He said this while putting an arm around me. He was unusually warm. “I’m sure you know the story of Pandora’s box.”
“What does Greek and Roman mythology have to do with what’s going on now?” I asked, resting my head on his shoulder and letting him slowly rock me from side to side.
He laughed softly. “There’s nothing wrong with sharing a story. Do you remember what was at the bottom of Pandora’s box? After all the bad things came out into the world?”
“Hope.”
“Yes, child. Hope,” he whispered.
“Are you the hope at the bottom of the box?” I asked him suddenly.
There had to be a reason he was here. Each time an angel set foot on Earth someone wrote a long, drawn out story about how he was charged with a quest from the All-Mighty himself. It made you wonder how many angels enjoyed playing jokes in his name.
“In a way, yes.”
We fell into a comfortable silence, watching the water ripple on the banks of the lake and listening to the sounds of the night around us.
I felt so much better with Ramiel by my side, like a weight had been lifted from my chest. It felt that maybe, for once, there was hope on my side. I would finally understand what all this was about.
“Does God know what I’m supposed to do?” I asked eventually.
“God doesn’t know what you will become. He has an idea, but no solid proof. He may have created you, but he made sure to give you free will. What may be your path today could very well change tomorrow.” He stopped rocking me. “Come, it is time.”
I raised my head from his shoulder as he stood towering over me.
“Time for what?” I asked as he helped me to my feet.
“Time for a walk in the past. Maybe if you see what happened before you can prevent it from happening again.”
He took my hand and led me into the trees. When we emerged on the other side of the wood there was light all around us. Bright warm sunshine beamed down on my face, making my body tingle.
Oh, the sun how I loathe thee.
I fidgeted for a moment, feeling uneasy, then cast about for my celestial companion.
Where was Ramiel?
“Ramiel!” I called, but there was no answer.
Ahead of me I saw the figure of a brown-haired woman with her back to me. I walked up to her and reached out to touch her, but then she turned to face me and I jerked my arm back.
“You’re late,” the woman snapped at me. “Damn angel doesn’t know how to be punctual.”
She was young, maybe early twenties, with piercing green eyes and thin lips.
“I don’t understand,” I stammered.
“Of course not, child, and I don’t expect that you will after all of this. But for some reason they think you will. One measly demon escapes Hell...” She broke off and inspected me. “Oh, you look so much like your father.” She smiled this devious grin, and I shifted my stance.
“What do you mean about one demon escaping Hell?” This woman was already pushing my patience. I swallowed. I had a feeling I was about to be enlightened and she looked like she could be a talker.
“Yeah, the boy, the demon boy… you know who he is—the one with eyes as black as night, who makes your knees knock and your throat lock. He was once challenged with a quest to end the life of a half-angel by a mysterious suitor.” She sighed. “Your father sent him to the ninth level of Hell to be tortured for eternity. Only thing is, the little shit didn’t make it. Some demon stepped in and let the boy go.” She growled. “That boy has more power in his pinky than most of us that have been here for ages.”
“I’m sorry, what?”
“Then there was the redheaded girl. A demon hybrid is what she was. A demon goes to Earth, has a little fling with a vampire girl, then wham-bam, four months later, a little one comes out. She’s up top right now, leeched on to some boy and sucking him dry, she is.”
Does this woman ever stop to breathe?
“Poor kid gets closer and closer to death’s door each day. Of course, she’s doing it on purpose. The little bitch is going to change him, make him immortal, just like she’s tried so many times before. Wants another one of her earthbound lap dogs to add to the small army she’s created over time. I often lie awake at night trying to figure out what she needs with so many, but I think she’s young, so it has to be natural. Her father is with another woman, a human of all things, and her mother was killed about a century ago.” She looked around her.
“The boy has a name,” I said softly. “It’s Wesley.”
“Oh. I totally forgot you got yourself all entangled in that mess, too. Dearie, my suggestion to you is this: go home, take a bottle of sleeping pills, and just end the whole thing.” This woman was nuts, absolutely mad. “Okay, so, the redhead… what was her name all those years ago? Vanessa? No, no, that isn’t it.” She was talking to herself, checking names off with her fingers.
I stood there, tapping my foot. If I saw Ramiel again I would have to give him a piece of my mind for leaving me with this lunatic.
“Lilliana!” she squealed. “That was the girl’s name.”
“She goes by Miranda now,” I said through clenched teeth.
“Wonder why she chose that? Doesn’t sound all that scary to me.” She looked thoughtfully at the ground. “They used to call her the Black Lily. She could invade anyone’s dreams and portray herself as the victim. She used it to scare off anyone who was trying to come between her and her prey. This was usually some poor lost soul, a heart-struck boy usually suff
ering from a loss or with a special something to him. When she invaded the person’s dream she left her calling card. Her signature touch was the black lily. Each drop of blood that hit the ground caused a black flower to grow.”
My head started swimming.
“So she was warding me off… giving me her warning,” I said slowly. “She let him go just so she could get to me. But she never expected him to love me.”
“Yes, yes, child, whatever you say. However, that is why you are here. The two pursuing you are both connected to your intertwining little world. Jonathan is chasing you and this, Miranda you called her, is attached to him. The two will stop at nothing to tear you apart. He wants you as revenge for your father taking his life before he could be completely turned.”
“Why are you helping me?” I asked her.
“Everyone thinks that Lucifer and God are in this constant war, but they are not. Think of it as a silent partnership. They have the ability to end time itself, if they were to join together, and sooner or later that is where this whole place is headed. Who do you think told Jonathan where you were that night he attacked you? Who do you think told Miranda to attack you in your dreams?” She looked around, then at her watch. “It’s time for you to go. Your quest is not yet ended. Down the road you will find a house. Go in and take a seat on the couch. I will be along shortly.” The woman touched my shoulder. “Don’t take too long. The boss tends to get testy if I’m not home at a reasonable hour.”
“I never caught your name,” I said as she let me go.
“Mara. Now please hurry along. I have an angel to speak to. Remember—down the road, house, sit down and I will be there shortly.”
What the Hell was going on here? Was I never going to get away from this night? Well, might as well face the worst. I looked up at the sky and frowned.
This was all going to leave some hellacious scars.
Chapter Twenty-Five: Visions
When Mara said it would be a house I was expecting just that. Instead I found a huge and elaborate black-stoned castle situated at the top of a large hill. It felt like I was standing outside Vlad the Impaler’s home in Romania. I could just imagine how Jonathan Harker must have felt walking up to the legendary Dracula’s door.
I shrugged and went through the iron gates, then walked up the long driveway. Finally I arrived at the huge front door. The damn thing must have weighed a hundred pounds as I pushed it noisily open. The place was obviously deserted and could have used a good clean but at least it was warm. I padded my way to the sitting room and took a seat on a red velvet couch that was probably older than my mother and father put together, but was still amazingly comfortable.
“What did you do, take the long way?” Mara emerged from an adjoining room. Her hair was up and she was wearing a long flowing black dress. “I figured five minutes and you would make it. I wasn’t expecting five hours. Goodness, child.”
The room had darkened. I could have sworn the sun was still up when I came in.
“Sorry, I suppose I got turned around along the way,” I said, extremely confused. Any excuse would work for me right now.
Seriously, I could have sworn the sun was still up when I arrived!
“Do you know what I am?” she asked, placing candles around the room.
“No.”
How was I supposed to know who she was?
“Then let me give you a crash course.” She gave me a warm smile. “I am the demon of nightmares.” She bowed gracefully and started to giggle to herself like a schoolgirl. Then she clasped her hands together and looked out the window.
I watched her suspiciously. Being with this woman sent chills up and down my spine.
“Very well,” she said after a long moment. “Here is what I am going to do. I am going to sit here with you as you go back in time. Nobody else will be able to penetrate your mind while I am here. Lilliana is strong, but I am much stronger when it comes to mind games.” She giggled again then selected a seat next to me.
“Alright,” I said slowly, watching every move she made.
“You will be her.” She grabbed my face. “You will see through her eyes and feel what she feels. However, when you come back you will know what you saw and how she felt and it will in no way be tied to you. There is no coming out early if it gets too scary, and you will not have your powers to help you. So just remember: you cannot turn anyone to ashes.” She kissed me on the lips. A very awkward kiss it was, too.
“Will you be there?” I asked.
The room was starting to spin. Had there been something on her lips to cause everything to reel about like this?
“No. I will be here, silly. You are on your own with this one. I have faith you will come out just fine.”
She kissed me again and the whole world went black.
***
Images flashed in front of me like I was watching a sped up movie. As soon as the outside world went dark I found myself nestled in the warm body of someone else, an eighteen-year-old girl. I could feel her emotions, hear her thoughts. She was a happy girl with nothing but wonderful memories in her head. The face of the boy she loved was vivid in her mind and I could feel the love she had for him all around me. How I recognized this feeling I’m not really one hundred percent sure since my experience with being in love felt more like heartburn and dread.
We were sitting at her desk doodling hearts on a piece of paper when he came into the room. My own feelings seemed to separate from hers for a moment as excitement filled her body. Her heart began to pound and euphoria took over. The sentimental way she thought of him made me want to throw up. Had I been anything like this when I was with Wesley?
The girl flung herself into his arms as she giggled with glee. He wrapped himself around her and held her close, kissing her forehead and whispering how much he had missed her. The conversation was muffled for the most part. All I could make out was that they hadn’t been together in quite a while. In fact she hadn’t seen him in a week, and his appearing from nowhere filled her with a happiness that I had no clue how to understand.
He didn’t look like the boy who haunted me. He looked alive and carefree, very happy. His eyes were brown and soft. If I didn’t already know the outcome of this relationship I would have assumed that he would never willingly cause her harm. His touch was warm and comforting and his kisses were sweet and innocent. She loved this boy with all her being and he loved her.
I could feel that his love fueled every fiber in her body. She longed for him when he wasn’t there, and only when he was did she feel complete. I knew that feeling. I felt it so much with Wesley, that feeling I got when I was alone and wishing he was near. I was nothing without him, but with him I was everything. This girl was so madly in love with her boy that the thought of what was going to happen to her in the end sent a shock of pain through my soul.
Suddenly we flashed forward and were standing in a field picking flowers while he watched from a blanket. His eyes were darker, but he still seemed just as loving toward her. It had been several weeks since she had seen him last. He had made plans to go on a vacation to Germany with some of his college friends and had just returned. He looked different somehow. That darkness in his eyes hadn’t been there before he left. He seemed distracted at times and quite jumpy. She brushed it off as nothing, deciding it was just the fact that he was tired.
She ran toward him and dropped herself into his arms. He kissed her sweetly and told her that he loved her. She seemed concerned about him for some reason. She noticed how he had been acting strangely since he had returned from his trip, talking to himself when he thought she wasn’t looking, for instance. He was always tired, it seemed, and his complexion had paled. He had gone missing a few times in the days since his return. His parents had been frantic, pulling her from her bed in the middle of the night and demanding to know where he was.
Things had been happening to her, too. She kept having dreams of herself standing in a field looking up
at the Heavens when suddenly wings erupted from her back so she could take to the skies and fly. The freedom she felt scared her. Everyone dreams of flying, but not everyone dreams of being an angel. She didn’t tell him that she had woken up with feathers in her bed, or that she often found herself levitating. She didn’t want to scare him; he was so sick. That was why it had taken so long for him to get to her after he come home. He complained of headaches and jetlag. She let it go, believing that he had returned to her arms as soon as he felt well enough.
Another flash forward and we were standing in a parking lot. His hands were gripping her arms painfully and he was screaming at her. His eyes were full of rage and loathing. She was scared. He had disappeared the night before and when she asked him where he had gone he exploded. She had found him drawing pictures of another woman and she was concerned he was disappearing at night to be with her. The images he drew were so detailed and careful that the girl on the page looked almost real. The image in her head was foggy. I couldn’t make out the drawing clearly, but the thought that there was a connection there was nagging me.
In his rage he threw insults at her, and then he assaulted her right there in the parking lot. He tried to stop himself, like he was having some internal battle that she didn’t understand, but then his fist drew back and, with tears in his eyes, he slammed it hard into her face. Her world went dark.
I was confused. Nothing happened at first, but then she slowly opened her eyes to a horrifying new scene.
We were in an alley way, and her hands were tied above her head. Panic overtook me. I knew what was going to happen and I didn’t want to be there for it. I wanted to be back in the castle with Mara. I would rather be lying on that aged soft red couch discussing anything but what had happened to this poor girl.
Instead I remained there with her, with her clothes torn and her wrists bleeding, an enraged boy standing over with his teeth bared. He didn’t look at all like the sweet boy that I saw in the first vision. He looked more like the monster that haunted me. He was pale and angry, and his eyes were black as night.
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