Wings of Darkness: Book 1 of The Immortal Sorrows Series (21 page)

     She leaned back in her seat and
tapped her pointy nails against the wooden table.  It grated on my nerves
as much as if she’d just raked them down a chalk board. “Touché. We have no
witnesses.  Only a body.”  She narrowed her eyes on Asher. 
“There is also the matter of recompense to poor Halo for the loss of her
mate.”  Hold the phone… Halo, and Mairya? They were a couple?  Were
angels allowed to hook up? That explained why Halo was such a hateful bitch.

     “Alas, I am truly sorry for Halo’s
loss, but I know of nothing that can make up for the hurt she has
sustained.”  He actually sounded sincere.

     “An eye for an eye, and a tooth for
a tooth, tooth, tooth,” Cronus muttered softly to himself as he rocked back and
forth in his seat.  Fate latched onto it with all of her claws.  He
really needed to go find himself a nice, quiet room somewhere to rest in…
before he gave her any more ideas and got me into some serious trouble.

     “An excellent idea, my dear.” 
She patted his hand, in an almost motherly way.  “An eye for an eye,
indeed!”  Whatever she had up her sleeve wasn’t good.  Asher took a
step back so that I was on his left side.  His right hand fell to the
pommel of his sword, resting, but ready; an unspoken promise hung in the
air.  He hadn’t said a word, but even I knew better than to mess with
him.  Maybe everyone needed reminded of that neutral zone thing he’d been
talking about, earlier.  No fighting; no killing the human, that sort of
thing.

     Suriel cleared his throat before
speaking. “As Halo has lost her mate, so shall you, Ashrael.” Asher stiffened,
just the tiniest bit.

     “I have no mate, Suriel.  You
speak nonsense.”  His eyes were as cold as ice.

     Poisonous green eyes narrowed on
me. Clotho’s smile froze the blood in my veins. “Oh, don’t you?  That
little hybrid you’re protecting means more to you than you’re telling us. 
You have shown affection for this human.  Even now, you stand ready to
protect her.”

     Asher shrugged.  “One may show
affection for one’s pet, but it means little. This girl means nothing to me,
Clotho.”  I didn’t know if he was lying, or not, but it kind of hurt my
feelings hearing him blurt out in front of everybody that I meant nothing to
him.  Jerk.

     “No?  Then why is she
here?”  She was playing some kind of game, and she was enjoying it, but
damned if I could follow it.

     “Because she is stubborn.  It
was not her time, and I interfered to prevent another wandering Sorrow. 
Now, if you will call off your Reapers, I will take her home, and that will be
an end to it.  I grow bored with babysitting her, anyway.”  I was
wrong; he wasn’t a jerk, he was a total a-hole.

     “The girl has been changed too
much, already. She is no longer human.” Fate leaned over and whispered
something in Suriel’s ear, then did the same with Cronus.  For all I knew
she was making a date for later, with both of them.  It wouldn’t have
surprised me, if she did.

     Asher remained quietly watchful as
he waited for them to decide what to do with me.  I couldn’t look at him,
now.  He sure didn’t sound like he was lying. I blinked quickly when I
felt that nasty little stinging behind my eyes.  Not one of these a-holes
would get the satisfaction of seeing me cry; not them, and sure as hell, not
him.

     This mess had gone from bad to
worse, fast.  Finally, Fate looked up and smiled at me.  An evil,
terrible smile, like the Grinch right before he stole Christmas.  “We will
not be rushed into a decision.  This girl will be watched and tested to
determine how far the changes have gone.  If she is found to be a threat,
you, Ashrael, will destroy her.”

     Asher inclined his head. 
“Fair enough.  And if no threat is found in her?”

    “Then she is free to go, but you will
have to wipe her memory, of course, and you will have nothing more to do with
her.  Ever.” My heart dropped into my stomach.

     “Of course,” he quickly
agreed.  Well, he took that pretty damned well.

***

     I paced the spacious length of the
room I'd been locked in, anxiously waiting for the other shoe to drop. With the
way my luck was running, it was bound to drop on the back of my
head.   I had been left in these rooms hours ago. It looked like the
penthouse suite in some fancy hotel I would never be able to afford, but for
all that, it was still just a prison cell. A fluffy, white prison cell, with
too many pillows scattered about. 

     If Asher had any kind of plan, I
was pretty sure that this wasn't it.  Asher...just thinking about him hurt
me. He’d done nothing to stop the guards who took me.  I still had bruises
on my upper arms in the form of fingerprints, and I hadn’t tried to
fight.  No, Asher had left me hanging.

     Gwen had been right all along; the
fairy tales we'd been fed as little kids were pure bullshit. Half the time,
Prince Charming was probably trying to get lucky with the ugly stepsister, and
the princess might as well go ahead and save her own ass. Although how I was
supposed to pull that off, was beyond me.  I was trapped inside a castle
in the clouds with a bunch of crazy, bloodthirsty immortals. 
Un-freaking-believable.

     I glanced glumly at the fancy
curtains hanging along the far wall. They were all for show. No windows lay
beyond them, just a blank wall of stone. I had already tried the door a dozen
times, even going so far as trying the trick of using my Will to move the
lock.  Apparently, my Will wasn’t that strong, at least not unless I was
under immediate threat.  It remained locked, and I remained a prisoner. I
glared at the door as I continued to pace back and forth across the fancy,
marbled floor.

     I hesitated when I heard a key turn
in the lock. If this were a movie I could jump whomever came through the door
and make my big escape.  Who was I kidding?  Even if I managed to
escape my room, there was no escaping the Aerie.    

The door swung open and Fate glided through my door on a
cloud of expensive perfume that almost made me gag, and my eyes water.  A
guard followed, hard at her heels, but she shooed him away with an imperious
hand.  "I want to speak with the girl alone.  Thank you, but you
are dismissed. I will call for you if I need your services.”  He glared at
me with suspicious eyes, but simply nodded towards his mistress as he closed
the door carefully behind himself.

     I watched her warily, she was up to
no good, I could tell.  She smiled at me as she sat daintily on the edge
of the over-stuffed cream sofa. Her skirts belled out around her like a rare
and exotic flower.  She had changed her clothes again, since the last time
I had seen her. This dress had a similar cut to the nude one, but it was a
strange material that shifted colors between blue and green every time she
moved.  Enormous sapphires, blazing with blue fire at their heart, dripped
from her throat and earlobes. Blue and green ribbons were braided throughout
her hair. Sitting there so pleased with herself, she reminded me of an exotic
bird.  0h, she was everything that was beautiful, but there was something
rotten at her core.  Like a shiny, red apple with a worm in its heart.
Whatever she had in mind would be bad for me, I was sure.

     She regarded me with curiously
bright eyes.  "Well, first, just let me say how delighted I am that we
can finally meet in the flesh.  I’ve waited an eternity for this moment,
and I must say that I am not disappointed." Well, that was cryptic. Had I
missed something? I just stared at her. "What's the matter girl, has the
cat got your tongue?"

     I shook my head. "No, I'm just
not sure what you expect me to say.”

     Clotho shook her head sadly.
"It's just so terribly sad that the social niceties are no longer
observed, these days.  This new generation is always in such a rush.
Hurry, hurry, hurry.  You rush your lives away." I arched an eyebrow,
wishing she'd get to the point or go away and leave me alone.  

     "Would you like something to
eat? I can have something brought up.  You must be starving by now. 
Some fruit and cheese, perhaps?"

     "No, thank you.  I'm not
hungry." I wasn't about to eat anything she wanted to serve me, even if my
stomach weren't tied into knots, which it was.  I probably should have
been hungry; I hadn’t eaten all day.  I chalked it up to yet another
freakish side effect of what Asher had done to me.

     Clotho smoothed the silken skirt of
her royal blue gown over her knees, and wet her lips delicately. "Fine, if
I must be blunt, then I will. There is something that you are going to do for
me."  I certainly didn’t see that coming.  I just stared at her
for a moment in disbelief.

    "What can I possibly do for you that
you can’t do for yourself?”

    Her voice hardened, and her eyes cut into
me like razor wire. “You hold Ashrael’s heart in your miserable, mortal
hands.  I want it crushed.”  

   I stood still, not entirely sure I’d heard her
right. “Seriously? That’s what this is really all about, isn't it? Asher? What
did he ever do to you?”  She gave me a long, heavy-lidded stare. Clearly,
she wasn’t about to explain herself to a mere human.

     Understanding clicked into place. I
had that “aha” moment; it was a wonder a light bulb didn’t turn on above my
head. “He turned you down, didn’t he?”  I sat down across from her on the
over-stuffed sofa, too stunned to keep standing; my knees felt funny, like they
just wouldn’t hold me up for a minute longer.  “Wow that must suck. 
I bet nobody’s ever turned you down before.”

     Her eyes sparkle with barely
controlled venom.  The kind, almost motherly look she’d walked into my room
with was completely gone, now. That carefully controlled mask she wore
slipped.  This was Fate; and she was a woman scorned. Hell hath no fury…
“My reasons are my own, and no concern of yours.  You just have to do as
you’re told, girl.”

      “I’m sorry about your luck,
but I can't help you with that.” I shook my head, trying to make her see
reason, if she wasn’t too far past it. “He has no interest in me like that.
Didn’t you hear him, earlier?  I’m just a pain in his ass that he’s tired
of babysitting.  Besides isn't that against the rules?  Angels mixing
with humans? What will the neighbors think?”

     “Technically, you’re no longer
human, are you?  Contrary to whatever Ashrael may claim, you and I both
know what really happened to poor Mairya, do we not?”  She shook her head,
as if she were really sorry about what had happened.  I knew it was just
an act; Fate cared only for herself.  “No, you are definitely not human:
not anymore.  There really is no name for what you have become, but what
you are, my dear, is my perfect revenge.” 

     “With all due respect, you’re crazy
as hell.”  I said it softly, hoping not to provoke her, but it was already
too late. The wheels were already in motion.

     “Am I? I could not ask for a better
weapon than the one I have in you.” She scared the hell out of me.  My
mouth was so dry, I felt that I could choke.  I clamped my trembling hands
together and placed them carefully on my lap. Showing this woman weakness would
be like throwing raw meat into a pool of sharks.

     She laughed, a tinkling sort of
laugh; it rang pure as church bells on Sunday morning.  She leaned
forward, “I will let you in on a little secret.  Humans were given free
will, but as a species they are violent and lazy.  They do far more harm
than good.  They are the greatest pestilence the world has ever known.”
She sighed, sorrowfully.  “While they may have free will to make good
choices, they often do not make them.  They invariably take the easiest,
most gratifying way, but they make no progress like that. In order for them to
progress towards the Divine, they need a little push.  This is where I
come in.  I place obstacles into a soul’s path.  Souls go through
each life because they have a lesson to learn. Lessons are learned best through
hardship.   A life lived in misery may be a lesson in humility. 
A life of riches or fame may be a lesson in compassion.  Some souls are
greedy or heartless and do terrible things, ignoring the lesson laid before
them, time and time, again.  They must repeat their lesson until they have
accepted it.  Do you understand, Izzy?”

     I nodded. She liked to hear herself
talk, and it might help me understand the mess I’d fallen into.  “Uh huh,
go on.”

     “After so many incarnations, when
all lessons have been learned, and the soul is refined enough, then there is
nothing left, except Judgment.  At that point, the soul is usually very
old, and often tired, and ready to move on, anyway. Whether the soul is mostly
evil, or mostly good, determines its place in the greater scheme of things.”

     “So what has that got to do with
me?”

     She smiled.  “I’m so glad you
asked.  You, my darling, should have moved on long ago.  I did that.
Ages upon ages, I saved you for just the perfect, golden moment, and when I
finally placed you in Ashrael’s path, he did not disappoint me. You are
perfection: beautiful…deadly… and the soul inside the flesh? Aged to
perfection. Oh, my darling, you are going to break his heart, whether you want
to or not.”

     I sat stunned, and speechless. 
She was insane: completely and utterly insane, and controlled every living
thing on the planet, including me.  She terrified me.

     “Why me?”  I cleared my
throat.  “I mean, why would you pick me?”

     She simply shrugged.  “Why
not, you?”  It was random?  She’d just grabbed a soul at random, and
twisted it till she could use it as a weapon.  Use me.  I thought I
might be sick.

     From a tiny, embroidered pouch
hanging at her waist, Clotho drew out a tangle of silken threads.  “I hold
in my hands the fate of everyone you have ever loved.”  She drew the
threads lazily through her long, slender fingers.  “Your father, your
friends, everyone.”  She held the threads up in front of me; taunting me
with them.  I wanted to throw up.
 
Clotho picked among the threads in
her lap and separated a golden thread. "Now, this one...this one is your
thread." She touched it lovingly before laying it across her lap, and
smoothing it down.  Next, she pulled a royal purple thread from the bunch,
and lay it next to the golden one. "And this one is your father’s."
Fear uncoiled and snaked through my gut. Tied to his thread was a short, frayed
thread that was a buttery, yellow color.  I knew without being told whose
thread it was. Fate gave a little tug on the frayed one, displaying it for me.
"And this one was your mother’s. Shame about her, but sometimes it's like
pruning a rose bush; a snip here, a snip there.  All to create one perfect
bloom. And you are perfect, my dear."  I pulled away as she reached
to stroke my cheek, fondly.  It was almost a motherly gesture.