Broken Wings: Genesis (16 page)

He didn’t let me have too much
space of my own, though. The immortal took a seat less than arm’s length away.
He leaned back in a comfortable position, the robe falling open to display the
solid, nuscular lines of his body. My eyes narrowed a bit. He wasn’t even
trying to play fair.

The servant who had waited with
his robe and towel was back again, holding a tray of beverages. He poured
several fingers of dark, golden liquid from a crystal decanter into matching
glasses, handing one to each of us. I close my eyes and inhaled, catching the
full-bodied, peaty aroma of scotch. Good, scotch too, from the smell of it. An
appreciative sip melted into an almost airy, smoky taste that evaporated on my
taste buds without any burn.
Very
good scotch.

“How can I help you, Ms. Star?”

I looked up to find Marduk
watching my every movement. It was a little disconcerting. Instead of setting
the glass down, I clung to it, using the solid feel of it as a focus.

“Yeshua.”

“Erishkigal mentioned a dream
stalker.”

“Yes.” I nodded and launched into
the details.

“And you have been unable to
handle him by yourself?” It was as much a statement as it was a question.
“Interesting.”

I frowned. “Why interesting?”

Marduk smiled and reached over to
run a light finger across the bruised part of my chin. A spasm of energy rolled
through me at the contact. I narrowed my eyes and jerked away.
That
had
been on purpose.

He laughed, throwing back his
head. “Sometimes, Yeshua, the longevity of being immortal brings with it power
and knowledge. Sometimes it brings joy, and sometimes sorrow, but it becomes
rarer as time goes on, for it to bring surprises. You have brought surprise to
me, and I’m trying to figure out what it all means.”

His look was intense, but I had no
clue as to what he was talking about. He reached over and set his glass on the
table. He pushed a button on the wall behind him, and immediately a servant
showed up at his side. The man leaned in to listen to his master’s whispered
instructions, looking at me with a blank expression. Then he left the room.

Marduk shook his head. “None of it
matters––
yet
. I have the answer you seek, but I have the feeling you
will not like it. The dream stalker has made a pact with a demon beyond my
control. You might even be familiar with his name. He was once an angel of the
heavens, but no more.”

My heart dropped. “Lucifer.”

“That is the name he is called by
some.”

It didn’t make sense. “Why would
Lucifer traffic in something so far beneath him? I thought he kept his eye on
much bigger things.”

Marduk shrugged. “Maybe what he is
working on has nothing to do with the dream stalker. Sometimes smaller events
are only a means to an end.”

If his look wasn’t so watchful, I
might have been led to believe he was speculating. But he wasn’t. He knew
something more. Fine. He wanted to play? I’d oblige him––to a point.

I put on a look of confusion.
“What kind of an end could a dream stalker give that he couldn’t achieve on his
own?” I took a sip from my glass, watching him over the rim.

He picked up his scotch again and
took a generous portion before replying. “I cannot say for certain. Who knows?
Perhaps he searches for someone in the dreamscape. Or maybe he is setting up a
trap for someone there––a test of abilities.”

The cold that washed through my
body was absolute. Not even a sip of scotch offered any warmth. Tossing back
the remaining contents of my glass didn’t do any better.

I set the glass down and leaned
back to look him in the eye. “You mean he might possibly be testing the
abilities of someone who, say, oh, I don’t know––messed up his plans way back
when by locking up his power player?”

Marduk laughed. “So you
do
remember who you are––or once were.”

I shook my head. “No, not really.
I have a few people hanging around that are trying hard to convince me. But how
do you know this?”

He would have spoken, but the
servant came back carrying a small bronze box on a tray. Marduk put down his
glass, took the box and held it in his lap, saying nothing until the man was
gone again. I was reminded of Erishkigal stroking the cylinder in her office.
He was caressing the box in the same way, as though touching something
precious. It was hard not to think of those hands caressing me in the same way.
I shook the thought aside.

The look that he gave me was a bit
unsettling, but it held a strong impression of sadness. “We knew each other
well, once before. It was literally a lifetime ago for you, but it feels as
though it were yesterday to me––no matter how much time has passed in between.”

“How did we know each other?”

“It does not matter for now. I
have given you your answer, which absolves me of my debt to Erishkigal. To
defeat Lucifer is a task that is beyond my abilities. And from what I can tell,
it is a task beyond yours––for now.”

He was right in his earlier
assumption. I didn’t like what I was hearing. So how did I get past all of
this?

“However,” he added, looking down
at the box, “I may be able to help you break the bond between your dream
stalker and the Morning Star for long enough that you can at least deal with
shutting him down.”

I looked up with hope. He had my
full attention.

“But it doesn’t come without a
price.”

I wanted to laugh, but settled for
a cynical smile. “Nothing ever does, especially when dealing the immortals.
What is it that you want?”

He let his energy reach out and
touch me again, sliding over me like a caress. “You.”

My eyes felt like they were
popping out of my head. I swallowed, hard, before I spoke.

“In what way?” I whispered.

His energy pulled back again,
leaving me feeling its loss. He chuckled, brushing the back of his hand gently
across my cheek.

“There was a time––” He shook his head
to clear away the thought, but held his smile. “I know what is to come. There
may be a time in the future that I will need you, no questions asked. No matter
what my need, I would have your promise to be there.”

Warning bells went off in my head
and I stiffened. “Not a chance. That’s too vague. I can’t agree to those
terms.”

He shrugged, still holding his
smile, his eyes dancing with laughter. “You cannot blame me for trying. If you
have retained any part of your old self, you would never have agreed to that
either.
I
would not have agreed to it. How about this?”

Marduk leaned in close to me, his
finger coming up under my chin to lift my face to his. I could feel the warmth
of his breath on my lips as he spoke, his eyes staring with purpose into mine.

“You will hold yourself to this
promise for the future, as long as I ask for you to do nothing that goes
against who you are or what you believe to be right. I will not ask for
anything you would not willingly give to me, without reservation.”

He was making it hard for me to
think, but I could find nothing wrong with his words. “Agreed.

His lips brushed mine, leaving
warmth tingling through my body when he pulled back. Damn. I knew what I was
hoping he asked for at this moment, but I had a feeling that’s not what he had
in mind. Sometimes I resented the feeling of helplessness I felt when touched
by the power of the immortals, at other times I craved it. Hey, I was only
human.

A short time later I left the
house of Lord Marduk with the box he gave me, a mind full of confusion,
specific instructions, and some very conflicting thoughts. It was time for me
to go back and deal with a houseful of arguing angels. I supposed it was too
much to hope they had decided to leave me alone. This was only the beginning,
and I knew it.

It was late afternoon by the time
I got back to my apartment. There’s nothing like walking into your own place
and having a group of uninvited people stop talking and stare at you as though
you didn’t belong. It was
my
apartment––
they
were the ones who
didn’t belong. That’s not how they were making me feel.

Father David was trying to give me
his best priestly disappointed look, but he wasn’t quite pulling it off. Chaz
grinned and rolled his eyes to the ceiling when he thought no one else was
looking. Sariel and Gabriel were both glaring at me, but neither said a word.
Ke watched me with the same kind of emotionless mask I liked to wear.

“So, have you all come to a
decision yet as to what the plans are for
my
life?” Attack was the best
choice for breaking the ice. They’d had all day to work through their details.
I still had to work through my feelings on the matter.

Father David coughed, hiding his
mouth behind a cupped hand. The old devil was laughing. I didn’t give him away.
It must have been exactly what the angels were trying to do, and the good Padre
was fighting for me. He’d obviously had enough of the pompous righteousness of
these
higher beings
. As long as he was on my side, I’d be okay.

Chaz got up to make some coffee,
but I asked for water instead. I couldn’t hit the dreamscape with a caffeine
buzz trying to pull me out of it. What I wanted to do before dealing with this
mess was to go and put away the box Marduk had given me. Judging by the tension
in the air, I think if I made a move to leave the room again, I’d probably end
up on the bottom of a tackle pile. So I chose my comfy chair off to the side,
slipped off my boots and curled my feet up under me.

“Where have you been?” Gabriel
asked, his voice tight and demanding.

I raised an eyebrow at that. Poor
Gabe, he’d obviously never learned about the top dog rule. I guess when you’ve
been a top dog for as long as the earth had existed, you don’t think it applies
to you. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Sariel smirk.

“Why, Gabriel,” I tilted my head
and gave him a charming smile, “I don’t believe it’s any of your business.”

Do angels swallow toads? Gabriel
looked as though he had. I accepted the glass of water from Chaz. He gave me a
look that said I’d missed a bit of fun while I was gone. That’s fine by me. The
kid could fill me in later.

Gabriel tried again for aloof
arrogance. “The Thrones are expecting your arrival.”

“No.”

He looked shocked. “No?”

“No. I haven’t said I’d go yet.”

“Yeshua,” Father David interjected
with quiet patience, “you
are
considering it aren’t you?”

I laughed. “The chance to play
Ezekiel and head on up to heaven to get a look around without having to die
first? Sure, Father, I’m considering it. But I have a job to do first.”

He nodded.

Gabriel wasn’t happy. He tried yet
another approach. “I have been told that what you are doing here is helping
people against the dark side of existence. What the Thrones wish to discuss
with you is something that will help the entire world––it is much more than
just a handful of humans.”

I might have even bought a touch
of sincerity in there somewhere. But maybe it was the way he seemed to relegate
a handful of humans to a place of non-importance. It was the same way that he
had dismissed Chaz’s presence earlier. It pissed me off.

I pretended to think about it. I
took a sip of water and set it down. I folded my hands in my lap. What I was
really doing was tamping down on my anger, but he didn’t have to know that. I
did go for semi-insulting, because it was beyond my ability to resist.

“You know,
Gabe
, I am not a
religious person. Would you like to take a stab at a possible reason for that?”

The Archangel
looked at me with his cold haughtiness, but there was suspicion in his eyes. It
was good to know he wasn’t that inept when dealing with humans.

“Because religion requires
faith
,
Gabe. Faith is something I don’t have outside of myself.” I shrugged. “To be
fair, I don’t have to have faith that there is truth to religious stories or
supernatural beings, or even in the ultimate manifestations of good and evil. I
live
them each and every day. So the only thing I have to have faith in
is knowing I will always try to do the right thing, and that I
can
make
a difference when it is needed the most.”

Father David was smiling with
pride. Even though I screwed up from time to time, the good Father had faith in
me. There were times that he had more faith in me than I did.

“Then you
will
come with me
to the Crystal City.” He made it a statement, rather
than a question.

“That is what
you
believe
to be the right thing to do, Gabriel.” I held up my hand to stop him when it
looked as though he would argue. “And you’re probably right. But for the
moment, the trumpets have only sounded three times. That means your situation
has time. The
handful of humans
I have been working to save do not have
the luxury of time. And it may be my fault they are in the trouble that they
are.”

I told the group what Marduk had
clued me into about Lucifer. Father David and Chaz were both shocked and
immediately concerned for my safety. It was good to know that someone was. Ke
and Sariel exchanged glances. I’d give anything to know what was going on
inside the heads of the Grigori. Gabriel was quiet. He had gone into brooding
mode. I didn’t know if that was good or bad, but at least I wasn’t fighting off
his persistent nagging to drop everything and go hang with even
more
angels.

“Yesh, what can I do to help?”
Chaz was the first to break the silence.

I looked down at the bruises on my
wrists with a cynical smile. “Stand by with a first aid kit? It could get a bit
bumpy tonight.”