THE FIRST SIN
BY LISA BETH DARLING
2017-ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
CHAPTER SEVEN
PRODIGAL SON
Three days after Christmas, a week to the day that my powers returned, I was sitting in a downtown bar having drinks with three presidents of local unions discussing the upcoming renovations to Central Park. It promised to be a huge project for all of us with money rolling in hand over fist. Drinking the last of a double shot of Johnny Walker Blue I raised my head and my finger to signal the waitress to bring me another when my fells fell upon the TV behind her.
There was Cain in his uniform standing at a podium filled with microphones. The words over his shoulder told me this was a live broadcast from The Pentagon. The ticker running under his soundless voice informed me that a meteorite had hit a small town in Arizona and wiped it off the map. It informed me that Grey Village had a population of roughly 200 souls all of whom were believed to have been vaporized upon impact. Without thinking about it all, I used my mind to turn up the volume on the TV so loud it drowned out every voice in the bar. Everyone turned to look at it.
“Yes, that’s right, the Military and the United States Government are confirming this was not a terrorist attack,” Cain informed a gaggle of reporters. “There’s no reason to believe that this unfortunate incident is anything more than an unforeseeable act of God.”
As the last words slipped out of his lips he turned to stare straight into the camera and I swear he knew he was staring at me when our eyes connected. He knew I was watching and he’d chosen those specific three words to capture my undivided attention. He got it. As our locked I had the distinct feeling he was all-at-once lying and telling the truth. I tried to grasp the underlying message he might be sending or trying to hide.
“Lou, you look like ya seen a ghost, man.”
“Something like that,” I managed to say and caught the others turning to the TV and then back to me.
“Damn shame, it happened yesterday. You got family there?”
I forced my eyes to shift to Michael O’Malley, president of the Laborers Union, “Yes and a very old friend.” Just then the waitress appeared with my third double shot of Johnny Blue, I swallowed it down in one gulp as I fought to retain my composure as a sudden burst of anger threatened to overtake me. “Yesterday, you say?”
“Yeah, man, it was all over the news, where were you? Buried deep between the thighs of some Hamptons beauty?”
“Beauties is more like it, knowing our silver tongued friend here,” Jimmy Defresne cracked trying to lighten the mood.
Jimmy was right, I’d spent the entire Christmas weekend humping away with a bevy of young beauties panting and moaning in my bed. With my heart dropping to my feet I got up from my chair without answering them. “Excuse me, gentlemen, I have to go home and make some phone calls.”
“Yeah, sure, Lou,” was echoed around the table along with the customary sentiments that they hoped everything would be alright and that I should call any of them if I needed them.
With my head reeling and my lungs hardly able to catch their breath, I walked out of the bar, got into my car, and gripped the steering wheel so tightly my knuckled turned white as the wheel let out a loud crack. The noise pulled me back and I let go before it shattered. Sitting there I forced a few deep breaths into my lungs with my head refusing to believe that Eve and Raphael were dead. They couldn’t possibly be dead they were Immortal. Still, I imagined that a meteor crashing into your house was probably enough to kill anyone Immortal or not.
Instinctively I reached into my pocket I placed my very first phone call to Eve only to get her voicemail. “Eve, it’s me, it’s Lucifer, I saw the news call me as soon as you get this message.” Before I could stop myself I added, “I’m my way out there now.” Pulling away from the curb the City traffic was maddening everyone running bumper-to-bumper and honking their horns as they yelled for people to get out of their way. But I didn’t have to suffer through it. Turning down a side street to avoid as many eyes as possible I teleported myself and the car from New York City to my driveway in the Hamptons. Glad for the heavy scent of salt in the air and the sound of rushing waves I took a few breaths trying to keep panic at bay. The phone in my pocket rang, fishing it out with long nervous fingers I looked at the screen to see that Eve was calling clutching it to my heaving chest for a moment I whispered. “Oh, thank you, Dad.” Before raising it to my ear, “Eve, are you alright?”
A strange masculine voice replied. “What do you want me to call you?”
My blood ran cold even as the white hot anger began returning, “Who’s this? Where’s Eve?”
“I mean do you want me to call you ‘Dad’ or ‘Father’ or ‘Lord and Master’?”
My heart sank again, “Cain. You little bastard, you did this, didn’t you?”
“What the hell would give you that idea?”
“Eve!” Oh, why hadn’t I kept my promise to find Cain? Why hadn’t I stayed in touch with Eve? “You know, your mother. Is she alive?”
“What’s it to you?”
“What’s it to….you listen to me you little shit, you tell me about Eve right now!”
“Why would I tell you anything? You were supposed to save them this time, weren’t you?”
“Me? This time? What the bloody fuck!” Trying to wrap my head around the situation and finding it a very difficult task the phone became a hindrance. “Where are you?” Before he could answer I barked, “Never mind.” I teleported from the car to a place unknown to me when I arrived, “Here you are. Where’s Eve?”
Cain whipped around as he shouted out, “Jesus Christ! How the fuck did you get in here?”
He wasn’t alone and I wasn’t completely surprised when I found myself deep inside a military bunker. From the corners of my flaming eyes, I watched as four guards with four very large guns also turned in my direction to point their weapons at me. “Oh, please,” I snarled waving my hands at them. They flew across the room with its heavy stone walls landing against them with sickening thuds only to fall unconscious to the cold cement floor. Cheekily I extended my hand to Cain with a smile, “Hello, I’m Lucifer, nice to meet you. Finally.”
Being a chip off this old block, Cain rose to meet the challenge I offered him. “Wish I could say the same,” he sneered before whipping his hands in my direction throwing a heavy wave of energy in my direction.
It was easy enough to deflect, holding up a single hand I formed a small barrier and walked forward to bridge the short distance between us pushing the energy back into him. “Where’s Eve?”
Cain dug in and tried harder, “Fuck you.”
“Oh come now, is that anyway to talk to your Father?” I chided as I went into full Lucifer Mode, my wings springing from my back, my lips pulled far back from my sharp teeth in a menacing snarl my very flesh began to glow as red as my eyes. I continued backing him up with his own energy until he was firmly planted against the nearest wall I raised his body up the wall until his feet dangled in midair. I gazed at him with cold wonder as he started to sweat and turn white. “The advantage to being the Son of a God rather than a Nephilim like you is that I can keep this up all day, can you?” When I saw him lower one hand to reach for the sidearm strapped to his hip I couldn’t help but laugh. “Go ahead, shoot me, you ungrateful little moron.” I eased up a bit to allow him enough control to raise the gun at me and fire. His eyes widened as he watched it pass right through me as though I were nothing more than air. “Eve! Where?”
“She’s alive now put me down!” Cain growled as he dropped the gun to the floor.
“Alive?”
“Yes! Ahh, Jesus, this hurts!”
“That’s the intent,” I mocked him as I swiftly pulled back the barrier of energy keeping my Son pinned to the wall, Cain crashed to the ground with a heavy thud. “Don’t ever say that word around me again,” I warned then tried to regain a bit of self-control. “Nice bunker you’ve got here.”
“Yeah, so much for it being Top Secret or having High Security,” he spat as he struggled to his feet, “They’ll let anyone in this place.”
Though I thought his comeback witty, I ignored it, even as I took him for the very first time in person. Cain was taller than I had imagined, he had my olive skin tone and black eyes but Eve’s red hair and high cheekbones. Under the military dress shirt his muscles rippled as his broad chest made the perfect backdrop for all of the metals upon it. His aura exuded a cockiness that I could only credit to myself. “Do I have to ask again?”
“Mom, I know, where’s Mom, I got it. She’s not here, what do you think I am? Stupid?” Cain waved his hand in the air to gesture at his surroundings. “No one needs the government, never mind the military, knowing about people like us. There are enough of us hunting each other without Uncle Sam getting in on the action.”
At first I didn’t believe him, I teleported to the exact spot where I knew her to be. Then I realized that wasn’t true. I’d teleported to the exact spot where her cellphone was located. Begrudgingly I had to admit that he had a keen point about keeping the military in the dark and heard Eve’s words of warning whisper in the back of my mind; The world is dangerous even for an Angel, even for the Devil.
“Take me to her. Now!”
“Take you—” Cain’s lips pulled back in an evil grin, “You can’t feel her, can you? She’s too weak for you to hone in on.”
When I took an angry step forward he held up his hands either in surrender or just to ward me off.
“She’s safe. I’ll take you to her.” Then Cain sighed and ran a hand through his short chestnut hair, the smile faded, and he uttered a single curse, “Shit.”
Not liking the sudden look of surprise in his eyes I stepped back, “What?”
“You have to teleport out to the parking lot. Look, I can’t just walk you out the front door.”
Again, I knew he was right a man who never walked in through the front door could hardly walk out through the same especially not in a place like this. Still, I didn’t like it and I didn’t trust him, I had no reason to. He was a Nephilim that meant he had the power to disguise his whereabouts from me. If I lost sight of him I might never find Eve. “Right,” I muttered and used my powers to call Eve’s cellphone from the floor where it had fallen upon my grand entrance. Making sure that it hadn’t broken in the fall I sealed it to his skin beneath his shirt. Cain let out a heavy groan of pain. “Just so don’t give me the slip. Parking lot. Ten minutes.”
Clutching his chest and the newly implanted object within he grunted, “Thanks for the vote of confidence, Pop. Ten minutes. Go.”
Fifteen minutes later I sat in the passenger seat of Cain’s Government Issued black SUV as we ambled down the road to my protesting that driving was stupid when I could teleport both of us right to her side if he just told me where she was. Cain insisted the drive would give us a chance to catch up.
“Eve said she hadn’t seen you in a very long time, you wouldn’t even talk to her anymore, so why are you here now? Did you destroy the village?”
“Me? No, just because Mom and I had a falling out doesn’t mean I’d want her dead, Pop. You can understand, right? After all I hear you don’t get along so well with your Father.”
“That’s the understatement of eternity,” I snarled. “Just a falling out? A simple little tiff? That’s what you had with Eve?”
Cain groaned and rolled his eyes, “We can catch up on Family History later, we got bigger fish to fry.” He turned to look at me with stoic eyes. “It was Michael, it’s always Michael, it wasn’t a meteor that blew Grey Village off the map. That’s the just to the cover story I provided.”
To me, Cain seemed in the perfect position to be make up such a story for the masses if need be but it didn’t make any sense. “Michael? My Brother, Michael? What do you mean ‘always’?”
Cain shot me a cross look, “I mean always. A couple of times a millennia Michael shows up to fuck up Mom’s life. He’s never done it on this grand of a scale before.” Cain fished a cigarette from his pocket and lit it as he opened the window. “Want one?”
“Don’t mind if I do,” I plucked a Newport 100 from the pack, stuck it in my mouth, and lit it with the heat of my lips. “Not my brand, I prefer a good cigar but this will do.” The nicotine was a good start I needed something stronger. Sitting there I opened my hand and a bottle of Johnny Gold appeared in it. Whipping the cap off with my mind it flung itself into the back seat as I raised the heavy rectangular bottle to my lips and took a long swig before returning the favor. “Want some?”
Behind the wheel Cain snorted as he drew off the cigarette. “Drinking and driving is illegal but give it here.” He took the bottle and an equally long swig before passing it back. “Got expensive taste, don’cha, Pop? What’s that bottle cost? Five hundred bucks?”
“Twelve hundred but I have connections so I get it for six-fifty.”
“Nice. Why spend so much money on booze when you can’t get drunk? Appearances, ya gotta keep up with those rich Jones, is that it?” He crooned, grabbed the bottle back, took another swallow and then pushed it into my lap. “That suit, what’s that go for? Three thousand? I mean just for the jacket and pants I bet that pretty white shirt cost another two hundred.”
“Are we going to spend the entire drive critiquing my wardrobe and taste in Scotch when you should be filling me in regarding Michael?” I snapped not liking the tone of his voice. Drawing off the cigarette I took down another swallow of the smooth amber liquid before blowing out the smoke. “I might not be able to get falling down drunk but if I drink enough I can, what the Mortals call, lightly lit a very enjoyable feeling.” Running my fingers across the lapel of my black dinner jacket I added, “This tailor made little beauty cost more than what you make in half a year.”
“Yeah, I bet it does. Would you mind taking this thing out of my fuckin’ chest now? It kinda hurts.”
I’d forgotten about that and was almost loath to comply with his request but as I show of good faith I called the cellphone from his body to my hand. “Even Michael can’t kill her. Why would he come after her?”
Drawing deeply from the Newport, Cain smiled and nodded as he blew the smoke out through his nose, “Yeah, but there’s a lot of fun in trying. In torture.” His knowing eyes shifted from the road to meet mine, “You’d know all about that, wouldn’t you?”
Taking the last drag off the cigarette and flicking the butt out the open window, I cocked my head to one side, smiled, and crooned, “I would. Michael, however, that’s not his gig. He’s more of a slaughter ’em now and maybe ask a question later type of an Angel.”
Cain laughed and shook his head, “Not even if Dear Old Grandad is the one putting him to it?”
That was an unpleasant but perfectly rational thought. Raphael had been very worried that my presence in Grey Village meant Dad knew where they were. They thought I was there to kill them maybe even join Michael in the fray. Why Raphael didn’t mention Michael was beyond my comprehension and seemed a question for another time. “How many of them are dead?”
“Better question is; how many are alive? Just Mom and,” he paused for a second, reached for the bottle, took another swig and finished his sentence, “Ares. He saved her life but he’s not in great shape at the moment.”
As he handed the bottle back I caught his gaze and looked deep within him, “You were there before it happened, weren’t you? You went home to see her. She told you that Ares was jealous of me.”
Cain cackled, “Actually she put in the reverse. You were jealous of Ares.”
“Jealous? Me?”
“Don’t bother, Pop, it’s all over your face. You hate the idea of her being with him, you can’t fucking stand it. But what you don’t get is that he’s good for her, he keeps her strong.”
Ambling down the dark road Cain told me how the older she grew the more Eve suffered from physical ailments. That explained the plethora of pain killers in her medicine cabinet. Eve was born Mortal her body was never meant to last so long and since it couldn’t die it just kept breaking down bit by bit. Ares was able to transfer some of his Grace to her to keep her mind and soul bolstered while Raphael, to my surprise and according to Cain, kept her body in the healthiest condition he could with his healing powers. Ares’ method of transference was a bit more intimate and delightful than Raphael’s simple Laying of Hands. Between the two of them, over the last few hundred years, Eve had been able to live a much more fulfilling life than previously. Then Cain said something odd it barely registered in my mind. Something so odd I had to ask to have him repeat it. “Excuse me? Raphael? What ‘eating thing’?”
“What eating thing? How long did you stay in the house with her and you never noticed she wouldn’t eat in front of you or be anywhere near you when you were eating?”
Thinking back on it, “Yes, I did.”
“Didn’t you ever wonder why?”
“Are going to play Twenty Questions or are you just going to tell me?”
“Fine, when Grandpa cursed mom, He didn’t just curse to walk the Earth for all Eternity He hated that whole apple thing, you remember that, right, Pop? It really stuck in His craw so He made it so that if she tries to eat with anyone they kinda go ballistic and doubled-down on the curse with the added touch of her constantly trying to feed people and hoarding food. She only eats when she’s alone.”
His words played in my head as my mind fought to wrap around them. Food was a huge part of Mortal Culture, how could she possibly avoid doing such a thing for so long and, “What do you mean ‘go ballistic’?”
“Just keep food out of the equation and you’ll be alright.” Cain looked me up and down as his brows furrowed. “I can’t imagine what happens when that part of the curse strikes you and I don’t want to so…no food.”
“I wouldn’t hurt her,” I protested solidly.
“You wouldn’t have a choice,” he shot back. “Anyway, Raphael tried and tried but he could never cure her of that part of the curse.”
“Dear Old Dad, just a little twist of the knife,” I muttered thinking that really was right up His alley. Poor Eve, as much as I hated Hell I couldn’t imagine having to live her life. “Alright, no food, got it, and it explains a few things.”
Cain turned the SUV off the dusty single lane road and down a dirt path, “We’re almost there. Look, she’s not in great shape, you got it? Ares got her out of there just as the whole town blew up she caught a good part of the blast. So did he.”
Silently I tried to ready myself for whatever I might see when we arrived at our destination. A few moments later we were pulling up to a rundown house that looked completely abandoned. “Is this a joke?”
The SUV slowly pulled around to the back of the house where it was hidden from prying eyes. Turning off the lights and killing the engine, Cain faced me with a smirk as he gestured at the fine suit, “C’mon, Pop, you know appearances can be very deceiving.” Opening the door he got out and started walking toward the structure.
Grabbing my half-empty bottle, I followed him up the rickety steps to the bowed back porch littered with gaping holes in the old wood. Watching him open the door I saw three heavy locks that he turned and realized that while the door looked old and decrepit like the rest of the place it was actually a very heavy steel that had been aged to match the exterior. The windows on the bottom floor had bars that had been equally aged for effect. Inside, Cain light a flashlight and in its beam I saw nothing but the old kitchen in a dusty empty house. To the immediate left was another door with more heavy locks through it we went down a set of sturdy stairs after he locked the door behind us.
“Lights,” Cain called out as we reached the bottom and to his command lights overhead flickered on. “Welcome to my humble safe house. Make yourself at home.” He tucked the keys into the pocket of his slacks as he took off the dress shirt and hung it on a nearby rack.
I looked around to see a much more comfortable version of the bunker we’d come from a half hour ago. Deep in the basement of the old house there were no windows to advertise the presence of people and so it was very well lit. The old cement floor had received a new paint job and the old cement walls were covered with plaster painted a nice shade of blue. One wall of which was covered with computer equipment and screens that Cain undoubtedly used to keep a keen eye on the outside world when necessary. Another wall was covered with weapons hanging on a metal rack; guns, knives, swords, and even a few things that made a big boom when set off stood at the ready. However, the place wasn’t all End of the World Business. There was an area set aside for living and relaxation complete with a full bar it had plush chairs upholstered in a darker blue and matching overstuffed couch, a TV, stereo, candles sitting on glass tables, and even a running waterfall with coy swimming around in it. The artwork hanging on the walls with its peaceful depictions of snowcapped mountains, serene lakes, and bountiful gardens stood in stark contrast to the Wall of Weapons. Next to this leisure center was a corner reserved for the kitchen area with cabinets, counter, sink, full sized refrigerator, small microwave, coffee pot, and stove.
“Interesting place you’ve got here,” I said as I continued taking it all in and adding it all up in hopes of gaining a better perspective on my only Son.
“Bathroom’s through there,” Cain tossed his head in the direction of the left. “Mom and Ares are in there.” He pointed to a curtained off room. He seemed to sense my hesitation and so he goaded me a bit, “Go on, say hello. It’s what you came here for, isn’t it?”
Not wanting to appear the coward yet feeling every inch the same, I drew a deep breath and walked through the hanging curtain. The room was dark except for the lights on the medical monitors tossing an eerie uneven glow into the bristling atmosphere brought on by impending death. I wasn’t present at very many Mortals deaths but the smell was unmistakable when it approached; a mixture of burning sage and old sweat socks. Unsure if I could bear what I was about to see in full light rather than reach for a switch I held up my hand calling upon my powers to ignite a small ball of energy in my palm.
If it hadn’t been for their great difference in size I might have had a hard time telling Ares from Eve both of their faces were charred beyond recognition. I looked to Ares lying in his bed of pain even as I rushed to Eve’s side. The God of War took the brunt of the explosion that was obvious; he’d lost his left arm and part of the leg, even in the dimness I could see his broad back was burnt to a crisp. Settling at Eve’s side, seeing her pretty her face was equally burnt, I noticed her hands were also charred but the rest of her seemed unharmed. The wounds told the story. It was obvious Ares had grabbed her, turned her away, and used his body to shield her as best he could while he teleported them away from the blast. “Thank you,” I muttered not knowing if he could hear me or not. I wanted to take her hand but, of course, that would only cause her more pain. Instead I bent over her and whispered her name, “Eve? Can you hear me? Eve?”
She didn’t move or make a single sound. The only noise in the room other than my own voice was the blipping and beeping of the monitors that now called my attention. I didn’t know what any of them meant but it seemed to me that the numbers on Eve’s set of monitors looked better than those on Ares’. Resting my hand lightly on her upper arm so she could feel my presence I whispered to her, “I’m going to make Michael pay for this, you’ll see, and Dad too. They’re not going to get away with this. I promise.”
Still nothing from her.
“You’re going to be alright, I’m going to take care of you.”
Inherently I have no power to heal not within my body. My wings, however, are a different story. They have the power to envelop and heal the Innocent of wounds unjustly laid upon them. I wasn’t sure that if in Dad’s eyes she qualified but in mine she did and she always would. With as much gentleness as I could muster, I used my mind to levitate her high off the bed while I slid in under her letting my wings spring out from either side. I called her down to my arms and wrapped them tightly around her battered body using the softness of the feathers to caress her blackened cheek. “You’re going to be alright,” I whispered again and gratefully let go of myself to give over to the warm energy rising from my toes to the tips of my wings that began glowing a faint red in the darkness.
More than anything, though he made no sound or any attempt to move, I felt Ares’ eyes open. I looked over at him, his handsome face now nothing but charred bone and muscle. I swear he gave the slightest nod almost as though he were approving of my actions. Almost as though he were glad to see me. His dark eyes shifted to Eve , I swear he tried to smile even though he had no lips. A single tear emerged from a lidless eye. In a final act of Love, I felt it when he used the last magick he could muster to push few remaining drops of his energy toward her. It made my body tingle as it mixed with my own and then settled into her. It carried with it something wonderfully unexpected. In a single instant I lived the life he had lived with her, I saw every single moment from their first to their last and I knew that he had loved her with all of his big warring heart. Cain was right; they were good for each other. Ares with his bold energy kept Eve on her toes while he took her on new adventures and Eve with her tenderness kept Ares’ feet planted on the ground as she filled that empty heart with joy.
While I was grateful for it, I was very jealous indeed. It should have been the life I lived with her instead of being eternally parted by a vengeful Father.
The piercing sound of the monitors pulsing in alarm brought me out of my daze.
Cain burst into the room, “What are you doing?” He shouted but quickly realized it was not Eve’s monitors but Ares’. The God of War was slipping into Hades.
Jealous as I was, I found myself hoping this one good deed—this nearly blissful time he’d spent with Eve– was enough to clear his soul of the wickedness he had once wrought and send him to his Elysian Fields but knew it was not. Then he was gone. The monitors stopped flashing and their alarm turned into one long flat tone rather than the pulses they had been screeching. I watched Cain turn them off and raise the sheet to cover Ares’ scorched face.
“Damn,” he muttered and exhaled heavily. “Damn, damn, damn!” Wheeling around to face me he screamed, “Did you kill him? Did you—did you—holy shit! Mom.”
I looked down at Eve nestled in the softness of my wings to see her face healing. The blackness of dead skin faded giving way to fresh pink flesh.
“I didn’t know you could do that, I mean, like, aren’t you Satan or something?”
Letting his words slide off me I simply gave him a sly smile and reminded him, “There’s a lot you don’t know about me. For instance, I didn’t kill Ares.” I felt a bit of satisfaction when Cain’s face fell into confusion. The last of the needed energy was soaking into her my wings ceased their glow. “There, all better, just as I promised.” I laid a kiss on her forehead before doing the last thing I wanted to do in that moment; slide from her bed.
“That’s it?”
“Isn’t that enough?” I countered buttoning my jacket. “She’s going to sleep a long while to finish the process but she’s fine now. Aren’t you glad you brought me here now?”
Cain’s upper lip curled, “Hmmm…don’t push it.” He looked over at Ares’ corpse. “Give me a hand.”
“Why? What are we going to do with him?”
“Burn him, what else would we do with him? He is Ares God of War a pyre is in order.”
“A big one, I should think, but that’s not going to happen around here.” I rubbed my hands together, “How far out back do you want him?”
“You don’t have to look so happy about it, Pop, it’s bad form it causes me to think maybe you did kill him.”
“I’m the Devil and I never lie,” I asserted, “Surely you know that much about me. Now, where do you want him?”
Cain and I built a fire in a scrub of woods about a mile and a half from the crumbling old house. We heaved Ares’ body upon it and watched him burn the rest of the way through before making sure the flames were out. Cain gathered up the larger chunks of cold ash, bits of bone and teeth. With a few hours before sunrise we walked back to the house where Eve was still sleeping. Over the last of the Johnny Gold and to my pleasant surprise a few joints of primo pot that my son kept hidden below his guns, Cain and I hashed out a few more details as we waited for Eve to wake.
Casually I asked him, “So what now?”
“What do you mean?”
“Is Michael done for a few centuries or do you think he’s going to make a second run at her in the near future?” I chirped as I drank. “You know, try to finish the job?”
“I don’t know, I told you, it’s never been this bad before.”
“Yes, so you said. My Brother’s never obliterated an entire town of ethereal beings in his little campaign against Eve. So what changed?”
Cain sat back in the kitchen chair, folded his arms across his chest and looked dead at me, “Seriously?”
“Oh right, me,” I agreed easily even as that piece of the puzzle fell into place in my head, “Yes, of course. You think Michael believed he’d find me in Grey Village?”
“Seems reasonable, you’re like me, you can hide your Grace so no one like us can find you. When he found out that you escaped Hell and then he found mom again and this time he also found Grey Village, why wouldn’t he think you were there? One would need something really big like, you know like colossal, to kill you for good, right?”
Whatever weapon Michael used it had killed all of my First Cousins—Gods in their own rights–and my Brother Raphael. That didn’t mean his strike was meant for me because the place was full of Celestial beings, maybe he was after Ares or Apollo or maybe one of those scrawny elves pissed him off. “You know, it’s a colossal no-no for an Angel to kill another Angel or a God to kill another God. It’s punishable solely by instant death and utter obliviation. There’s no love lost between me and Michael but I don’t think he’d risk that just to get to me.”
“What about the others he killed? Don’t they count in your world?”
He had a good counterpoint but it fell short of the mark. Casting my eyes upward for a moment I admitted, “They’re not apt to look upon that with fondness but it’s a gray area. It may be enough of a loophole for him to squirm through.”
“So, in your opinion, Michael risked that along with plunging the planet into utter chaos causing us to have to fend off the widespread reports of interplanetary and large-scale terrorist attack, just for shits and giggles? Just to mess with mom?”
“Maybe, who knows how his twisted sense of valor works?”
“Or do you think it’s more likely he was aiming for you?”
“I don’t think you understand, you’re stuck here in the Mortal World far away from your Celestial kin raised by a Mortal woman under a curse….listen to me, Cain.” I leaned across the table so that I was nearly nose-to-nose with him. “An Angel does not kill another Angel. Ever. The. End. It is one of the most heinous Acts Against the Divine one can commit so no one does it. When I say the perpetrator will be obliviated I mean it; poof. Nothing. No Heaven. No Hell. Not even Purgatory. Just gone.” I snapped my fingers loudly in front of his face to be sure I had his attention.
Across from me Cain snorted, “Must be nice to come from a world where some laws are still obeyed. People around here break even the most sacred ones all the time no matter the cost. No one’s safe.” Getting up from the table he drank down the last of the fine Scotch in his glass before reaching across to plant his hand on my shoulder. “Just for edification, Pop, what happens to the Angel or God that gets killed?”
His eyes gleamed with the answer to his own question but I felt a bit captured and followed where he led. “They’d go to their reward. Like Ares, he’s in Dis now.”
“So in your case what would happen if you were the one that got killed?”
Feeling like a rat suddenly caught in a steel trap, I swallowed hard but kept his stare, “I’d go back to Hell.”
“Who knows what a wreck that place is these days, huh?” Cain patted my shoulder a few times as he sighed and finally said, “Couch reclines to make a full bed, there’s a pillow and extra blanket in the entertainment center, get some sleep, Pop. It’s a Brave New World, I’m sure in the morning you’ll see it.”
I watched him walk off with the distinct feeling that he was too smart for his own good. I lived in that world for several years now and knew it intimately. People killed each other all the time. Not a day went by that several murders, rapes, armed robberies and even full out acts of terror that wiped out hundreds in a single blow were committed. That was the World of Mortals. Such things were not only forbidden to Angels but far outside our nature. Weren’t they?
What if Dear Old Dad turned Michael into His personal hit man? After all, killing me was the only way to get me back on the Dark Throne. That was the last place I ever intended to go. Maybe Dad salivated over the idea of getting such a massive clean sweep; all those Celestial beings, Raphael a Son who defied Him, Eve and me. That would be a fine feather in His crown wouldn’t it?
If that was true then I was a danger to Eve and to Cain just by being anywhere near them. If Michael had gone off the deep end he wouldn’t hesitate to use them against me should he find out Eve was alive. That latter was a moot point. Of course Michael and Dad knew that she escaped their wrath. Even if Dad wasn’t omnipotent the Celestial energy I used to heal her body sent a signal throughout the entire cosmos. It told them not only was she alive but exactly where I was.
Had I promised to keep her safe? Yes, I did. I just didn’t realize it meant safe from me.
That didn’t seem right or fair. Was I really to be expected to leave her just when she may need me the most? This was a chance at a small sliver of redemption at worst and a chance to save her life at best. I couldn’t keep her from being cast of Eden or Cursed by Dad but I could stop Michael.
Not knowing what to do, I gathered the extra blanket and pillow and walked into the room where Eve was sleeping peacefully. I pushed the bed in which Ares had recently died next to the one where she was locked in slumber to make one big bed. Gently taking her up in my arms I covered both of us with the blanket and held her close for the rest of the night as I pondered my next move.
Reveling in the warm weight of her body and the soft sound of her even breathing, the only thing I was absolutely sure of was that I was not leaving her. Whatever happened I was in it to the end this time as I should have been all along. Grey Village was a test, leaving it was a mistake and this was the price.
It was a mistake I vowed not to repeat at any cost.
THE END OF CHAPTER SEVEN OF THE FIRST SIN BY LISA BETH DARLING COPYRIGHT 2017-ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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