Broken Wings: Genesis (17 page)

“No, really, Yesh––”

“Really, kid. There’s not a whole
lot you can do. And I certainly won’t risk starting you out on this one.”

“I want to be there to help.” It
was Ke who spoke.

I nodded. “I’m not turning the
offer away.”

Sariel stood up and smoothed the
wrinkles out of her clothes. It didn’t help. They had been setting in for hours
until my return.

“I have a few things to attend
to.” She announced. Another look passed between her and Ke. “I’ll be back
later, if not, then in the morning.”

Father David got up and came over
to me with open arms. I unwrapped myself from the chair and stood up so the
older priest wouldn’t have to bend to reach me. He hugged me close, whispering
a prayer of safety in my ear. It made me smile.

“Thanks, Father.”

He nodded. “I’ll be back in the
morning. Be safe, Yeshua.”

Gabriel remained seated. His
expression was unreadable. “I will remain here.”

I rolled my eyes. “I’m not going
anywhere, Gabe. I’ll let you have my decision in the morning.”
If I survive
,
I added the last part to myself.

He frowned, shaking his head. “No.
I will stand watch over you from here––in case the Morning Star decides to try
a different approach for attack.”

That made my stomach churn. Damn.
I wasn’t just tackling a dream stalker. I was dealing with a being that could
take solid form––a bad angel––and the worst of the lot. It never dawned on me
to think in terms of an attack on the physical. Dream stalkers were too
cowardly to act that way. I’d have to readjust my thinking if I was going to be
working on this level.

“Thank you, Gabriel. I hadn’t
considered that.” The honesty went over well. There was no arrogance from him,
no attitude at all. He simply accepted it with a nod. It was so much better
when we could all play nice.

“So what’s the plan?” Chaz asked
while Sariel and Father David headed toward the door.

I pulled out the bronze box from
the inside of my jacket and stared at it with a smile. “I’m bringing in
reinforcements.”

*
  
*
  
*

Black Wolf was waiting for me this
time when I entered the dreamscape. It was a simple matter for me to head
straight to his web-laden lair. He even had the women of the coven bound in
place. He had gotten an early start tonight.

I’d taken a little extra time
before slipping into the dreamscape. Marduk had given me a specific set of
instructions in order to pre-activate the amulet in the box. The amulet would
come with me into the dreamscape. I had to be precise in the timing of its use.

Ke had my back. I could feel his
energy tapped into mine. I had to admit, as much as I preferred to work alone,
it gave me a strange sense of comfort to know he was there. I waited a few
seconds and then stepped up to the edge of the chasm.

“You’re late.” Black Wolf smiled.
“We had to get started without you tonight. Why don’t you come in and join us?”

I shook my head slowly. “I don’t
think so.”

He vanished from the center of the
web. I tensed with readiness, expanding my secondary awareness. Even knowing
that he would pop in behind me, I was still caught off guard. I hadn’t even
felt him. He was definitely hooked into some powerful mojo.

The warmth of his breath on the
back of my neck gave him away. Too bad he had never gotten the hang of the fact
that you don’t need to breathe in the dreamscape. Most people never got the
hang of little things like that. You can do anything, be anyone. People went
with what was familiar with them in the physical. It worked to my advantage.

I was able to dodge the push Black
Wolf intended for me, to try and force me into the web. That put him off
balance, and I carried through by turning and sending him to his knees. Before
he could react, I grabbed the bronze medallion in my hand and yanked the chain
from my neck, breaking the delicate links.

“
Malah
!”

The medallion started burning in
the palm of my hand as I invoked the name of the spirit bound by the engraved
seal. I grabbed a fistful of Black Wolf’s hair and shoved him down to bare the
back of his neck. He finally regained his senses enough to struggle, but I
wasn’t taking any chances. I slapped the seal to the base of his neck and
activated it.

“
Bach
Acha Dugga
!”

Black Wolf twisted, trying to get
away, but I wasn’t about to let that happen. The seal was burning me as much as
it was him. Wisps of smoke started to escape from the point of contact.

A bright light flared from the
seal, blinding me. It took a moment for the spots to clear from my eyes. When
they did, I was again caught off guard. Around the web, hovering just above the
edges was a circle of angels.

I had no idea that would happen.
Marduk hadn’t mentioned anything about angels. A secondary glance gave me my
answer. I saw Sariel in the circle, at a position close to me. The seal of
Marduk didn’t release these angels. They were the Grigori.

Black Wolf must have sensed my
hesitation, because he used my distraction to twist away and scramble to the
center of the web. It didn’t matter. The connection was broken. I only had a
few minutes time to do what I needed to do.

Calling on the energy, I pulled it
in. Ke already had it waiting, holding it ready in reserve. I felt him at my
back, heart center to heart center. We fit to each other like a single being.
His arms wrapped around and held to mine. As one entity, we sent the lines out
to strike Black Wolf, to envelope him in a solid glow of violet and blue
energy.

From the dreamscape, we drew on
the webbing that held the women of the coven in place. It fell away from them
and snaked its way to the light. The strands of the web began to glow with the
infused power that we controlled. It wrapped around him like a cocoon,
tightening to fit him like a second skin.

The women began standing up one by
one. The web no longer had its sticking ability to hold them. Black Wolf
noticed and struck out at them. Nothing happened. He tried again, with the same
result. There was no more power in the dreamscape for this dream stalker. He
was done. The ladies caught on pretty quick. Emboldened by his inability to
harm them, they inched closer to the man who had tormented them for all this
time.

I raised a hand to stop them, but
the words stuck in my throat. With a shrug, I let it drop. It was their turn.
They needed this. I turned my back as Pietra delivered the first kick and Jane
and Joan were taking their swings, and I walked away to leave them to their
task. Black Wolf couldn’t stop them. Heck, he couldn’t even leave the
dreamscape until he woke up on his own. As far as the dream world was
concerned, he had been neutered like the dog he was.

When I turned, I found the Grigori
in front of me again. It was that disconcerting surreality of the dreamscape.
At the center of the circle of angels was a huge chalice. I took a step forward
and found myself sitting within the curved cup.

It began to spin, but the rotation
was gentle. The Grigori surrounded me, and the chalice rose to lift me to the
stars. Or were the stars coming down to meet me? It was both and neither at the
same time.

When I would come close to a star,
one of the Grigori would break away from the circle, fly to the star and grab
it out of the sky to drop it into the chalice with me. It was like some bizarre
game of celestial basketball. The essence of the stars turned to liquid power
at my feet. My body absorbed it, and began to glow with the light of the stars.
The magic of it created a charge in me the likes of which I have never
experienced. Every part of my body––my skin––my hair––
everything
glowed
with the power.

Eventually, the sky was empty.
Only blackness remained, except for the light of a single star, one that began
to glow to blinding proportions––like the light of the sun directly in front of
me. Sariel went to the star and brought it to me, as the Grigori had brought
the others. Her eyes met mine and she let the star fall into the cup, causing
it to spill over with the excess energy. A trumpet sounded through the darkness
and I closed my eyes to the sound, letting it carry me away from the
dreamscape.

Sariel’s voice echoed in my head
with a single word. “Baktun.”

It was a few minutes before I came
back to my body. The power of the celestial bodies still soared through my
body, energizing me as I rode the wave to stillness. When I finally opened my
eyes, it was to the darkness of my bedroom. I looked down at my body, half
expecting it to still be glowing with the energy. It didn’t, but I could feel
its power inside of me. I could also feel Ke’s arms wrapped around me, as they
had been in the dreamscape. Our bodies were molded together, his front to my
back.

It felt good to be held that way.
I didn’t want to move, but knew I had to. Pulling away, but gently, I felt him
loosen his hold. Instead of moving the rest of the way out of his arms, I
turned over so he still held me, but now we were lying with our faces inches
apart.

“We did it.” He whispered with an
uncertain smile.

There was a flash of longing in
his eyes. I knew it matched my own. I lifted my hand up to touch his cheek. My
eyes searched his for––something––but I wasn’t sure what.

Ke moved forward and captured my
lips in his. The kiss was tender at first. His taste was rich, intoxicating. I
could still feel our energy entwined, and now our bodies were entwined to match
it. The kiss deepened, became more demanding. I gave into it freely, full of
demands of my own.

Then he stopped. He turned his
head away, groaning into the pillow while he tried to push back to create space
between us.

I was confused. “Is something
wrong?”

“
This
is wrong.” He pushed
himself up to sit at the edge of the bed. He wouldn’t even look at me. “We
can’t do this.”

“Why not?”

“Don’t do this, Yeshua.” He shook
his head. “I would not be able to hold out against your desires, and my own,
for long.”

I shrugged. “So don’t.”

“You don’t understand.”

“Then make me understand.” The
irritation came into my voice with my rising frustration levels.

He shook his head again and left
the room. I lay there for a while, still feeling the celestial power from the
dream, still feeling his energy intertwined inside of me, and worse, still
feeling the way his lips felt against mine.

I heard the shower start up on the
other side of the bedroom wall.
Good job, Yesh
, I chided myself as I
curled up and tried to relax enough to sleep. Having turned down blatant
invitations from two separate immortals in as many days and here I was, trying
to entice a Grigori into my bed––angels known for their sexual liaisons with
humans––and he preferred a cold shower. For me, the energy singing through my
body combined with the thrill of victory was a powerful aphrodisiac. I drifted
off to sleep, reconsidering the possibility of paying Marduk another visit
tomorrow to thank him for his help tonight.

While drifting somewhere between
the state of waking and sleeping, I started to become aware of my surroundings.
The burnt orange color inside my eyelids told me it had to be mid to late
morning at the very least. That surprised me on two fronts, the first being
that I was an early riser. Sleeping late was not my style. The second was that
I was pretty certain my living room was full again with my ‘guests’. As much as
everyone seemed to want a piece of me, I hadn’t expected they’d give me the
courtesy of sleeping in.

That made me grimace. Okay, so
maybe not
everyone
wanted a piece of me. Ke had turned down a big piece
of me––one I hadn’t offered to anybody in a very long time. I guess it was his
loss. My mind wandered to Marduk and the thought of going over to thank him
today. It was a pleasant thought, but one that was going to have to remain a
juicy diversion in my mind for the time being. I would never get past the angelic
militia camped in my apartment without giving them an answer.

I didn’t want to think about it,
but I had finally reached the point of decision. More time might have been
bought if that fourth trumpet hadn’t sounded. What was it Sariel had said? Oh
yeah––Baktun. The thirteenth vessel in the Mayan prophesies that heralded the
end of the world. I had no idea when the fifth trumpet would sound, which meant
I had run out of time.

With a low moan, I rolled over and
opened my eyes. I think a small part of me hoped the Grigori had changed his
mind. There was a small dash of disappointment at seeing the empty space in the
bed next to me. I had to scold myself for that bit of wishful thinking. He’d
already made it clear he didn’t want me in that way.

That wasn’t true, either. I
continued the roll that took me to the edge of the bed. Ke seemed to want me as
much as I wanted him––or at least as much as I had wanted him last night. So
what was the deal then? I had no clue and a morning haze over my thought
processes. It didn’t make for a good combination to puzzle my way through to
answers.

The smell of coffee filled the
conscious part of my brain when I finally got around to leaving my room. But
that’s not where I was headed yet. I needed to take a page from Ke’s book and
hop into a cold shower.

After brushing my teeth, I stared
for a long time in the bathroom mirror. It was a vanity thing, one of my
morning rituals. Look for wrinkles, check for grey hair––I wasn’t any different
than any other woman out there in that regard. In some ways, maybe I was worse.
I hung out with beings that were thousands of years old and didn’t show their
age. How fair was that? Whenever I had to deal with these things, the thought
of what immortality would mean always slipped into the recesses of the mind,
whether consciously or sub-consciously.