Taming the Darkness

by Sarah Carter

  “Do they die?” Avery asks.

  Katerina tilts her head to me. “Only her seraph blade can kill a demon, but it takes a really, really long time for a demon to put itself back together again.”

  “So, if you slice it up, Raven can cut its head off and kill it,” Avery state.

  “Well, there’s a plan,” Katerina laughs.

  I look at them. “We need to finally kill Azrael.”

  “That’s going to be hard,” Keifer rebounds. “He’s at the highest level. Like the highest position on the highest level. No one has been able to get him.”

  “Well, maybe it’s time I do,” I declare. “I have the blade. I can do it.”

  “He has always had it out for you,” Wyatt says. “Be careful.”

  Throwing out the seraph blade into a sword, I reply, “I think it’s time I take it out.”

  “Well, let’s get the human out of purgatory,” Julius says, standing up.

  “My skin is crawling,” Avery whispers. His eyes dart around.

  “Where are we going?” I ask, grabbing Avery.

  Wyatt rubs his chin. “Times Square. They’d never start anything with that many people there.”

  “Good point,” I agree. “Let’s go.” With that, we disappear.

  Chapter 8

  It’s nighttime when we appear in Times Square. There are people everywhere. I put the seraph blade away before anyone can see it. People stare at us as they walk past. The crowd starts to disperse around us. Reapers are good at dissolving crowds. “What do you want to eat?” Wyatt asks.

  “Something open in the public,” Avery says, spinning in a circle. “I’d rather not run into a demon.”

  “Hot dogs?” Katerina suggests.

  “That’s fine. Food’s food,” I say.

  She scoffs. “There’s nothing like a New York hot dog.”

  “I guess,” I laugh. “Let’s go.” We start to walk down the street.

  “So, Avery,” Wyatt says. “How do you plan to save the fallen?”

  “How the fuck should I know?” Avery scoffs. “I still say they have the wrong guy. Nothing about me sounds like I should be saving anyone.”

  Katerina turns and looks at him. “Are we sure that’s what’s going on? There isn’t some miscommunication.”

  “They told me,” I emphasize. I know it’s hard to believe. I still doubt it. Shaking my head, I state, “I have no clue. I’m supposed to keep him safe for a week. That’s my charge.”

  “Who are you to argue with God?” Wyatt asks.

  “Did I say I was arguing with God,” I retort. “No, but I don’t understand any of this. We reap souls and everyone here knows I’m the best at the job.” Wyatt snorts and rolls his eyes. I shoot him a look. “Anyway, I don’t babysit people. That’s not what any of us do. So, this must mean something because why the hell would we be doing it for nothing.”

  Wyatt shifts his weight and looks at me. “What does saving the fallen do for us anyway? Will we become full angels? Probably not.”

  “How am I supposed to know?” I scoff.

  “I know you guys know the whole history, but how did the fallen become the fallen?” Avery asks.

  We all look at each other. Wyatt waves his hand at me. “Lucifer, was god’s right-hand man. He was above all others. The highest angel. Things were great in heaven. We were created long before the humans. Then, God decided that he wanted to create a new world and occupy it with humans. And suddenly the angels weren’t his favorites anymore. Not that God has favorites, but humans were special. They were so different because they had true free will. A whole world and universe to themselves. And we were bound to protect them.”

  “That didn’t go over so well with all angels,” Katerina interjects. “There was some major…jealousy.”

  “Lucifer realized he was no longer the golden child,” I state. “He wanted to destroy the humans. He believed himself to be of the same authority as God. Adam and Eve, the first humans, were given Eden, the perfect paradise. They ruled in a way that angels couldn’t. Lucifer became more and more jealous and angry. He was determined to destroy these new children of God so he came up with his own plan. You know the story. He fell out of the grace of God.”

  “What about the war?” Avery asks.

  “The strongest, scariest, bloodiest battle ever,” Israel exhales. “None of us were alive for that.”

  “God cast Lucifer out of heaven and into hell. Some of the angels fell with him. They fell for all sorts of things. Some wanted human women and everything that came with it. At first, God didn’t stop it. That’s where the Nephilim came to be, but it got out of hand. So, the great flood happened and angels could no longer mate with humans. Despite all of God’s effort, some angels couldn’t give that up. So, they fell.”

  Wyatt chimes in. “Angels fell when they went against God’s laws. They wanted what the humans had. Greed, wealth, lust. They wanted it because they were jealous.”

  “So, what do they do now?” Avery asks.

  “Well,” I say. “My dad is fallen and he described it to me once. You are in constant darkness because, when you fall, you lose God. Humans never lose that. They have no idea. But, I guess it’s like a darkness eating at you. You can have whatever you want on Earth. Women. Money. Things. But there’s a constant void. Plus, you have to do whatever Lucifer wants you to do. You must do his bidding. You lose yourself. Everything you were is gone. Like he’s my dad, but if Lucifer told him to kill me, he would do it in a heartbeat. He would mourn, but he has no control. It’s a darkness that you can’t describe.”

  “We feel it somewhat,” Katerina says. “The dark side of us. It’s why none of us want to face Lucifer, we are afraid of getting swallowed up by that evil. We sense it every day but, we still have the light.”

  I look down. “Or some of us do.”

  Israel shakes his head. “No one understands but a reaper. We are half and half, but man, that darkness will eat you whole.”

  “It’s why we swear,” I laugh.

  “Fuck yeah,” Israel responds.

  “So, how am I supposed to save the fallen?” Avery asks. “That makes no sense. I’m human.”

  Shrugging, I say, “I have no idea.”

  “Love that I don’t feel is supposed to shoot out my ass and save an entire race of beings,” Avery laughs. “Trust me, this whole thing is wrong. I think you have the wrong person.”

  “You’re human,” Keifer says. “You can love. All humans are capable.”

  Avery rolls his eyes. “I’m not.”

  Keifer stops and puts his hand to his chest. “I can tell you if your soul is as dark as you think it is. Do you really want me to stick my hand in your chest?”

  “No,” Avery snaps, jerking back.

  I shake my head and laugh. “I already told him that. I just don’t think he knew I’d have to put my hand in his chest.”

  “We slide our hand inside of your soul and feel it,” Keifer states. “If you are truly dark, it will be ice cold. Souls are warm and pleasurable.”

  “Mine is probably like a freezer,” Avery mumbles.

  Keifer laughs. “Are you secretly a serial killer? Do you rape women on the side? Do you torture children?”

  Avery glares at him. “No, definitely not.”

  “Then I doubt you are that dark,” he laughs. He stops and smells up Avery’s chest. Avery looks at him like he’s nuts. Keifer says, “You don’t smell like death.”

  “She said something like that when I first met her,” Avery says, nudging his head towards me. “Why would I smell like death?”

  I laugh. “It’s like a festering sore. Your soul is slowly dying.” Suddenly, it hits me. “Oh God. What the hell.”

  All five of the other reapers jerk back. “What?” Avery snaps, looking around.

  “Speaking of death,” Katerina stutters.

  We look around. A priest walks by with a bunch of kids. They must be visiting. “Oh, hell no,” I exhale. “Is that him?”r />
  “I suspect so,” Katerina replies.

  “What?” Avery says.

  Nudging my head toward the priest, I say, “That’s a bad one.”

  “Is he like my father?” Avery growls.

  “Not sure,” I say. It doesn’t work that way. “They have to confess to us.”

  “He’s with children,” Avery hisses.

  Wyatt spins to face him. “Do you want us to reap while we protect you?”

  “If he’s doing something to those children, YES!” Avery yells.

  We all look at each other. “What do you think?” I ask.

  Katerina shrugs her shoulders. “He does smell something fierce.”

  “None of us could deliver it to hell,” Wyatt declares.

  “You can just drop it into hell,” Avery snaps.

  He raises an eyebrow. “How would you know that?” Avery quickly shuts up. Wyatt turns to me. “Are you telling me you took him to a reaping?”

  “It was his father and that’s my business,” I state. They don’t need to know his fucking life story. “But, yes, he delivered the soul to hell…sort of.”

  Looking at me like I’m nuts, Wyatt gasps, “Are you crazy?”

  “No lightening yet,” I scoff, walking past him.

  “You truly are the craziest reaper ever,” Wyatt exhales.

  I throw him a smile over my shoulder. “There’s a reason I’m notorious.”

  “Fucking nuts, that’s what you are,” Israel snorts.

  “Come on, we have a reaping to do,” I state. “Let’s follow him.”

  Everyone turns and heads back the way we came. The crowd watches as we pass. Every. Single. Person. The priest and kids suddenly come alongside another priest. I turn. “We need to get him alone.”

  “Boy or girl,” Wyatt says. “What do you think?”

  “It’s so hard to tell,” I whisper. “I say we send Avery.”

  “What?” Avery gasps.

  Turning to him, I say, “I’m only joking.”

  “He is delicious,” Katerina laughs. She walks past him. “If you weren’t already claimed.”

  Avery shakes his head. “Claimed?”

  Katerina looks at me. “Oh yeah, you’re claimed.”

  Fury builds inside of me. “It’s not like that!”

  She laughs. “You tell yourself that.” Katerina looks back at the priest. “I say Wyatt. I have a feeling it’s boys.”

  “Yeah, but if it’s children, how are you going to entice him?” Avery asks.

  Katerina looks at me. “You do it.”

  Oh great. I walk up to Avery. “We have an aura.”

  “Okay,” he laughs, shrugging his shoulders.

  Putting my hand on his chest, I press out my aura. Avery visibly gasps and backs up. “Yeah, that’s what it’s like.”

  “Dear lord,” Avery stutters. “I want to rip your clothes off, more than normal. Holy shit.”

  “Yup,” I exhale. “That’s a gift. We can use it to make people tell the truth, to lure them, to do a lot of things. We can also make them think things. Like Wyatt can go up and make that priest feel how he feels around children. And that tells us if it’s is truly the reason he smells like death.”

  “Do it,” Avery hisses.

  “That man sure reeks of death,” Katerina exhales. “Get him down that alley, Wyatt.” Wyatt nods and disappears into the crowd, heading toward the mark. The rest of us head down the alley to our right.

  Avery is looking around. “What about demons?” He whispers.

  “I think they will think twice with six reapers,” Katerina says.

  I still take out my seraph blade and start to put runes on the walls around us. Israel shakes his head. “It still boggles my mind that they gave you a seraph blade. No reaper has ever had a seraph blade.”

  “I still don’t know why,” I barely say. “It does give me advantages. I can carve stronger angelic runes.”

  “Could it kill Lucifer?” Avery asks.

  “No angel is powerful enough for that. It is said that only the son of God can do that, and that he will. We just don’t know when.”

  Looking at me, Avery says, “So, we need to save the fallen before that happens?”

  Never thought about it that way. “I guess. I like how you are saying you’re going to save the fallen now.”

  “I still don’t understand how I could,” Avery scoffs. “I didn’t even believe in God until I met you.”

  “Really?” Israel gasps. “And you are the chosen one of the prophecy. That doesn’t seem to make much sense.”

  Julius finally chimes in. “Maybe that’s part of the point.”

  We turn to him. “What do you mean?” I ask, curiously.

  “Someone who is part of the darkness, saving others who are in the darkness. That makes more sense. He didn’t believe in God. The fallen are out of the grace of God. They don’t hear him anymore either.”

  “They don’t hear God?” Avery says, looking shocked.

  “No, when you are cast out of heaven, you no longer feel God. I can’t actually tell you what that feels like, but it’s like the warmth of life is sucked out of you. You never feel peace. You only feel sad and hollow.”

  Avery grimaces, “That sounds horrible.”

  “It’s hell, literally,” Keifer says, walking past us and looking down the alley. “I think they are coming down the alley. Shhhh.”

  We all hide amongst the boxes and dumpsters. The priest is talking to Wyatt. They come right in front of us. Wyatt points to me. I jump out and Wyatt shoves the priest against the wall. Swinging, I pull out my seraph blade. I make it into two strides. Wyatt puts out his hand and the priest slaps his hands over his head. I slam a blade through each of his hands.

  The priest screams. “Put out your auras,” I snap at the others. We need to block what people see.

  Julius says, “Got this.”

  “Show us how it’s done,” Wyatt says. “Never saw you in action.”

  “Make sure Avery is protected,” I instruct.

  They usher Avery towards me and make a circle around him. I turn to the priest. He looks terrified. “What’s going on?” He stutters. “Are you demons?”

  “No, we are reapers,” I state. “We reap evil souls and deliver them to hell.”

  The priest shakes his head. “I am a man of God. I won’t go to hell.”

  “That’s not your judgement to make,” I say. “I can tell you where you belong. So, father, tell me your secrets. You need to repent for your sins or even you, a “man of God,” will be delivered to hell.”

  He starts praying under his breath. Wyatt laughs. “That’s not going to help you right now. Do you think your God is going to save you after all that you’ve done?”

  “God will forgive me of my sins,” the priest states. “I have dedicated my life to him.”

  Bending over, I inhale his putrid scent. “No, you absolutely reek of death.”

  “What does that mean?” The priest cries. The seraph blades burning into his hands.

  “Your soul is dying. Now, tell me, what are your sins, because you can truly repent, that’s what we are here for. We give you the chance to repent before God. If you do so, we will leave you alone and you can change who you are, but it has to be true repentance. You must truly be sorry for your crimes against humanity. So now, tell us, what are your sins?”

  “I do not sin,” the priest says. “I am a man of God.”

  I shake my head. This is my first time dealing with a man of the cloth. “Trust me,” I finally say. “We can tell you’re lying. Like I said, your soul is dying.” I press out my aura. “Well, that might have something to do with it.” I take one of the seraph blades from his hand and strike him near his chest. A demon falls off and screams. It writhes on the floor and then burns and dissolves.

  “What was that?” The priest yells.

  “A level one demon,” I reply. “Barely a life form. They attach to humans. But, it doesn’t make you do something
you weren’t already thinking about or possibly already doing. So now, confess your sins before it’s too late.”

  The priest looks at us. “I…I can’t.”

  “You will be delivered to hell,” I whisper, stepping up to him. My aura presses against him. The priest cries. “Confess to us your sins and it will save your soul. You need to repent.” I press my aura out even farther, enveloping him.

  He starts to cry even harder. “I can’t…”

  “Confess or we can do this the hard way,” I say. “I reach into your brain and make you relive what you did and you will feel every ounce of terror your victims experienced.”

  His eyes widen and he yells, “No.”

  “Tell me, what are your secrets?” I ask.

  “I can’t help myself,” he cries. “They are so beautiful.”

  “It’s children,” Avery seethes.

  Stepping up right against the priest, I ask, “What do you do to the children?”

  “I can’t…” the priest barely cries, starting to slide down the wall. I pull out the other seraph blade and he crumbles to the ground.

  “What do you do to the children?” I whisper. “Tell us.” He shakes his head. “Your soul is up for grabs. Tell us the truth.”

  The priest cries on the ground. Come on, man. Repent. You’re supposed to be a man of God. “I…they…” he starts. “I make them do things.”

  “What do you make them do?” I ask quietly, pressing out my aura even harder. I’ve never had to try this hard before.

  “I can’t do anything to them,” the priest sniffles. “I keep my oath to God, but I make them do things to each other.”

  Avery screams, “You sick bastard!” The other reapers look at him.

  “Avery, you must stay quiet,” I hiss. Looking back at the priest, I say, “You can repent.”

  “I’m sorry. I truly am,” the priest sniffles. “I don’t want to. Every time it happens…I feel sick afterwards. I just can’t stop.”

  “You can get help for that,” I say, touching my hand to him. “Ask God for forgiveness. Repent. Decide to change.”

  The priest shakes his head. “This he can’t forgive. I’ve always known that.”

  “God will forgive,” I say. “You have to truly repent. Repent to God. You, of all people, should know what that takes.”