Atonement (Heaven Sent Book 1)

by JL Rothstein

  “Yesterday, I would have told you a conversation with Death, inside the Vatican library, was just plain silly,” Kelly flippantly retorted.

  Death’s laugh reverberated through the halls. Kelly realized for the first time it might have been Gerry’s form, but it was not his voice. She wondered if she’d remember it.

  “For the few I come to meet directly, those that I respect, I allow them to call me by my real name.” Death paused. “My name is Abaddon.”

  “I wish I could say it was a pleasure meeting you, Abaddon.” Kelly locked eyes with Death. “Perhaps next time it will be.”

  Looking back to the table Kelly took a deep breath, reached out, and flipped open the book. A thunderclap of pain vibrated through her body, while images flashed before her in rapid succession. Family, friends, Heavenly colleagues, and of course Jared, all swirled in front of her. Her mind reeled as it caught up to the present and with each passing depiction, she lost a little bit of her conversation with Abaddon.

  Kelly gasped for air as her eyes burst open. Her heart roared to life beneath her chest as pain muted her hearing. The cold water felt like a slap in the face, as she was raised up out of the frigid waters of the purity pool, she saw a familiar face staring down at her.

  “Hold on Kelly, just hold on,” Marcus kept repeating the command nearly breathless himself.

  Kelly heard wings flapping and somewhere in her mind she knew it was the Gargoyle though she never saw him. She felt faint as Marcus used his powers to teleport them out of the park. Her eyes were heavy, begging her to disappear into the fog of oblivion. She felt compelled to give in and fell into unconsciousness.

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  Heading to the kitchen for yet another cup of tea, Deb stopped to stare at the ornate handrail that ran the length of the hallway from the library to the kitchen. She remembered Gen had spent months restoring it, now in the glow of antique lamps the protective coating her sister had shellacked it with made it sparkle. Bending down she peered at the detailed carving that bulged from its surface.

  “Ivy,” Deb said out loud. I should have known, she thought. I wonder if Gen and Gabriel installed it all those years ago when they lived here?

  Her sisters had been gone for more than fourteen hours, though she tried several times she was unsuccessful at hearing or sensing them. The quiet was unnerving, the sensation of waiting around for something to happen was like the calm before a storm. The rattled nerves and restlessness were eerily like what she experienced after Michael was kidnapped from the churchyard. Pushing through the door she found Dan sitting at the island typing something into a laptop. Xavier and Frankie were standing reviewing paperwork from several case files Tom left strewn about. The table was dotted with crumb-filled plates and coffee-stained mugs.

  “Where are Tom and Greg?” Deb asked.

  Dan answered without looking up from his computer. “They went to get food. You realize you guys have literally nothing in this house to eat?”

  “I’m not surprised, we mostly eat out,” Deb told him. “Even if we had snacks, they wouldn’t last. Kelly can devour a quart of ice cream in less than ten minutes.”

  Normally, her brothers would have laughed at her comment, but Deb knew no joke would break the tension that had been building since Gen and Kelly projected out of the house. A steady dose of anxiety now accompanied Deb’s impatience.

  There is nothing worse than waiting, Deb thought.

  As she watched for the water to boil, she thought about Marcus. She needed to find him, she needed his help. I wonder if he can find Gen and Kelly? The question hit her like a flash, before she could dismiss it, she flipped the gas stove off and turned back to her brothers.

  “I need to do something. I need to find Marcus,” she blurted out.

  “Why?” Dan asked. Deb saw the concerned looks on all their faces.

  “Maybe he can help. Maybe he knows this place they’ve run off to,” she said.

  “Fine. Who’s going with you?” Xavier asked.

  “No one,” Deb replied.

  “I’ll go,” Frankie answered.

  The soft glow of Tom and Greg returning to the house momentarily distracted Deb. Tom walked grocery bags over to the fridge and began to unload them. Greg handed out fast food bags from the local bakery while sliding a pastry box onto the counter next to Dan.

  “You think leaving the house right now is a good idea, Deb?” Frankie asked her.

  “Where are you going?” Tom asked.

  “I’m going alone, to find Marcus,” Deb told him.

  She sensed everyone stop and stare over at her. She spoke before objections could be raised. “He won’t talk to me as freely if one of you is hovering around us.”

  “I won’t hover then,” Frankie told her. “Promise.”

  “Fine, I’m going to the river, stay out of sight,” Deb told Frankie.

  “How do you know he’ll be there or that he’ll come?” Greg asked.

  “He’ll come,” Deb answered, then used her powers to take off before any more debate could take place.

  The early morning sun cascaded ribbons of light across the river. The embankment’s rocky barrier remained shrouded in darkness. Deb closed her eyes and thought about Marcus, about their last conversation the night he took her from the house. She focused on the sound of his voice, his smell, his touch. She opened her eyes sensing something was coming, confident it was him when she heard footsteps rustling the leaves behind her. Turning she caught sight of Marcus walking toward her.

  “What is it?” he asked as his eyes roamed the immediate area for others.

  “Frankie is here with me,” she told him as he neared her. “We aren’t going anywhere alone these days, but I made him keep his distance because I wanted a private conversation with you.”

  “Ok.” His eyes softened as he processed her words. “What’s wrong?”

  “A lot actually. But, first, I’m sorry.”

  Deb watched his head tilt, clearly, he wasn’t expecting an apology.

  “You’re sorry, for what?”

  “I was wrong, I didn’t know, but it doesn’t matter. I was wrong, and you were right. Genevieve killed Schlosser, he is back for revenge, quite possibly against all of us.”

  Deb could see his head nod slightly in her direction, a gesture of understanding.

  “Is that all?” he asked, once again looking behind him.

  “Why are you looking around so much? I already told you Frankie is here.”

  “I’m not looking for friendly faces,” he answered cryptically.

  “Oh, I didn’t think of that.” Deb found her eyes wandering across the landscape now too but, she couldn’t see or hear anything. Only her brother could be felt, who, much to her chagrin, was not nearly as far away as she would have liked.

  “I was referring to Sophia when I asked if that was all,” he told her. “It’s you watching over her, isn’t it?”

  Deb’s eyes fell on his and she felt an immediate pull, an urge to be with him. Why does this keep happening? she thought.

  “Yes, it is me,” she confessed. “I was in the room when you chased off Schlosser, though to be fair I didn’t know anything at that moment. Just what I saw, you seemingly running a demon out of my charge’s house.”

  “I felt you there,” Marcus told her. “I kept looking around but never caught sight of you. I think Schlosser felt something too, but he probably didn’t know what or who it was.” He paused and shook his head in surprise. “That was a huge risk. To stay that close to us, not to mention the power it must have taken to stay cloaked from both a demon and a Sentinel.”

  “I was cloaking myself from him, not you.”

  “I see, well either way I appreciate you watching over Sophia. I just don’t understand why you would. I don’t know how the whole Guardian thing works, but she has two brothers who are Angels, one would think that’s enough.”

  “We don’t question why we’re called to the people we are.” She felt her h
eart race a bit as he stepped closer to her. “It’s not for us to question, they need us, we go. Besides, who decides when you have enough Heavenly protection?”

  Deb instinctively crossed her arms and wrapped them tightly around herself.

  “What is it?” Marcus asked as he leaned in. “What are you afraid of?”

  “You,” she told him. Watching him pull back slightly at the sting of her words, she clarified. “I’m afraid of how I feel when I’m around you.”

  The corners of his mouth ticked slightly upward and he moved his arm around behind her and pulled her in against him. “I feel it too Deb.”

  “I need your help,” she whispered. “Please, I can’t lose another sibling.”

  Deb felt his hand on her chin angling her face up toward him. “What do you mean?”

  “My sisters.” Deb didn’t know if it was the proximity to Marcus, fatigue, or anxiety, but she felt her eyes fill with tears and pulled herself back away from him. “They projected to another plane looking for answers, they’ve been gone too long. I’m worried. Can you help us?”

  When Deb’s eyes fell back to his, she saw that pulling away from him again had hurt him. She wanted to take that away. Before she could squash down her desire, she took two steps forward, leaned in, and kissed him. She felt his lips respond first, then his arms wrapped around her. His hands clutched her sweater and he pulled against the small of her back sending her body crashing into his. After a brief moment and nearly gasping at her own foolish actions, she stepped back from him and attempted to pull herself together.

  What am I doing? Gen and Kelly are off putting their lives in danger, and I’m here kissing Marcus! What is wrong with me? she scolded herself.

  As she tried to regain composure, her mind reeled from a flurry of scattered images racing through her thoughts, almost all of them of Dmitri. None of them made any sense. What the heck was that? she wondered.

  More disorienting than the burst of incomplete pictures was what her gut was telling her. The kiss she just shared with Marcus, though their first, felt more like their thousandth. How can that be? She struggled to make sense of her jumbled thoughts.

  “I’m sorry,” he apologized. “It’s just I’ve wanted that to happen for a long time.”

  “No,” she said shaking her head back and forth. “Don’t apologize, I obviously wanted that too, it’s just, it’s not the right time, Marcus.”

  “Of course,” he answered. “You asked for help. You said your sisters went somewhere, where did they go?”

  “I don’t know exactly, otherwise I would go get them myself.” She huffed the answer and then began pacing back and forth in front of him. “Gen described it as some sort of park between night and day. She talked about lots of flowers, trees, and a fountain I think.”

  Marcus reached out to stop her pacing “That can’t be right?”

  “Why?” Deb asked him.

  “She wouldn’t be able to just go there.” Marcus’ tone was dismissive.

  “How do you know? Are you saying we can’t go there, but you can?” Deb heard the flippant nature of her tone and cringed.

  “Deb, I’m allowed almost anywhere, I’m a Sentinel, remember? I’m supposed to investigate both sides, so yes, I can go there, although …” he paused.

  “Although what? Come on, I don’t have time for games, either you’re helping or you’re not.”

  “I will help you. I never said I wouldn’t. Although I’m not sure how she could even get there.”

  “She was brought there by Gabriel,” Deb answered.

  “Gabriel, her husband missing for forty years, that Gabriel? He’s back?” He looked shocked.

  “Why does that matter?” Deb snapped.

  “Deb, if you are asking for my help, I need all the information.”

  “I don’t know if he’s really back, Gen said he pulled her there.” Deb waved her hands in exasperation. “I don’t know a lot.”

  “How long have Gen and Kelly been gone?” he asked.

  “More than fourteen hours.” Deb sighed and used her hand to massage her neck, the fatigue was beginning to ache.

  “Listen, go home. Tell your brothers I’m going to go there and see if I can find them.” She felt him staring at her. “But, if they are where you say, it’s a huge place. It’s not exactly a needle in a haystack, but there’s no guarantee I can find them. Now, go home, get some rest.”

  “Rest, as if I could,” she retorted.

  “Try, you’re no good to anyone if you’re rundown,” he advised.

  Deb nodded her head as Marcus walked over, leaned down, and kissed her forehead. “When this is over, we need to talk, alone next time.” Deb saw the image of him blur and then fade away as he used his powers to vanish from sight.

  Oh crap, Frankie saw me kiss him, she agonized.

  When Deb returned to the house, she went to her room without a word to any of her brothers. Deb never gave Frankie a chance to comment on what he had witnessed. She knew while she was upstairs, they were probably in the kitchen recapping the events between her and Marcus.

  Judging, Deb thought, not recapping, but judging.

  She laid down on her bed and fell into fitful slumber for the next forty-five minutes. When she woke, she lay in bed tossing and turning for another half hour before forcing herself to get up. She had given up on any real possibility of sleep.

  Returning to the kitchen she busied herself with making hot cocoa. Her brothers were in much the same position they were a few hours prior. Plates now filled the sink in addition to the random ones dotting the table.

  As she poured hot water in her mug, she felt something of a tug, a physical sensation of distress. Deb’s hand jerked, the kettle sprayed a steaming mist through the air as water splashed down the side of the counter. She yelped as the hot liquid burned her hand. The pain startled her, and she dropped the kettle turning back to her brothers.

  Dan was on his feet and Deb felt all her brothers’ attention fall on her.

  “What is it Deb?” Frankie asked.

  Deb couldn’t respond, she felt anxiety and sorrow but wasn’t sure where it was coming from.

  She heard Frankie tell Tom something was wrong, but her brothers seemed to be far away, as if Deb were seeing them through a telescope. Nausea rolled through her and sweat began to bead along her forehead. Deb watched the kitchen floor fade in and out replaced periodically by lush green grass.

  Quiet lines of prayer whispered on the wind in between crying. Then she saw her sisters. Gen was backed up against a tree, Kelly lay lifeless in her arms. The two were surrounded by a field of sprawling gardens.

  “NO!” Deb screamed.

  As Deb’s mind cleared, she saw the shocked look on her brothers’ faces back in the kitchen. She took off running down the hall, their stampeding footsteps close behind her. The echo of their repeated calls for Deb to tell them what was happening chased her through the house.

  Deb reached out grasping the doorway to help her maneuver the turn into the living room. She skidded to a halt upon entry nearly falling with the sharp angled turn. There was thick red fluid oozing out from underneath one of the sleeping bags, before Deb could speak, she heard Gen screaming, but her sister wasn’t physically in the room with them.

  The wailing sounds of Gen’s sobbing resonated throughout the house. Deb looked behind her and saw her brother’s grave faces. They hear it too, it’s not just me, Deb’s scattered mind told her.

  “Where is she?” Xavier asked.

  “She’s coming,” Deb answered. “I feel her now.”

  The room grew dark, wind rushed through the house and blew out the few candles Deb had ignited before heading upstairs to rest. The floor shook and there was a thunderous roar in Deb’s ears. She clasped a hand over each ear, but it did nothing to muffle the hideous sound. Gen’s yellow aura floated around one of the sleeping bags on the floor.

  As the light faded, Deb could make out the silhouette of Gen’s body taking shape as s
he came barreling back to the house. There was a second of relief until Deb saw her sister’s flailing arms as if she were trying to fight something off. Her blonde hair swung messily in a loose ponytail. Her blue eyes wide with shock and fear. Her clothes stained red across her legs, arms, and chest.

  Gen was screaming, tears rolled down her cheeks “No! No, don’t you take her! No, send us together!”

  Deb rushed forward, bending down she grabbed Gen’s thrashing arms.

  “Gen! It’s us!” Deb yelled “You’re alright! You’re home now!”

  Gen stopped yelling and looked at Deb. “Kelly, where’s Kelly?”

  “Gen, you’re alone. Kelly’s not here,” Deb told her.

  “No!” Gen trembled in Deb’s grasp. “No, it can’t be, he said he would bring her back. Right after sending me back, he said he would bring her home.”

  “Who told you that Gen, Gabriel?” Tom asked the question from the doorway.

  Gen’s head shook frantically. “No,” she whispered. “Marcus, it was Marcus.”

  “What?” Deb shook Gen slightly forcing her sister to look at her. “Whose blood is this? Is it yours Gen, are you hurt?”

  Deb watched Gen’s face crumble and knew the answer before her sister gave it.

  “No,” Gen closed her eyes, tears continued to stream down her face. Deb felt Gen pull away, her sister curled her knees up, wrapping both arms around them defensively.

  “Gen, tell us what happened?” Tom urgently pleaded “Whose blood is it?”

  Deb placed both hands on top of Gen’s. “You need to talk to us, please!”

  “This female demon, I don’t know who she was …” Gen paused. “She…” Gen looked up at Deb. “She killed her, she killed Kelly. Kelly’s dead!”

  Deb couldn’t understand, she had to have misunderstood. Her sister couldn’t be dead, she couldn’t.

  Gen’s voice cracked, hoarse from yelling, she shuddered. “I never should have taken her there, we shouldn’t have gone! It’s my fault, it’s all my fault!” Gen cried, Deb pulled her into an embrace.