God's Eye (42 page)

Her head shook back and forth a little as she tried to make sense of it. Though she didn’t speak and neither did he, Zachary answered her question.

In her mind, she simply knew. These were the people who had not accepted. They had not sided with Zachary and his brethren, and so they did not live the gifted life he showed her.

At last she opened her eyes. “What is it?”

“It is the Kingdom.”

Without another word she left, wandering back to her own apartment, still in awe of what she had seen. When she opened her door, she found that nothing was out of place. Though she had only straightened a little of the mess, her home now looked as if this morning had never happened.

After getting ready to go to sleep, she lay down in her perfectly made bed and let her eyes drift shut.

When she dreamed, she dreamed of the Kingdom.

•  •  •

Once again, Katharine found herself rushing to find Margot. She knew her friend would help her sort these things out. Her friend would keep her sane. Her friend was … her friend, and that was enough.

She pulled Margot from the library on yet another impromptu break. Katharine was glad she had a trust fund, as both women were likely to lose their earthly jobs over this one. She startled Margot by telling her right off that she had sent a document to her lawyer saying that a large amount would go to Margot should she die. She laughed a little when she related how she had started the missive with
I, Katharine Geryon, being of sound mind and body.
“You’re the only one who can contradict that, Margot. So if anything happens to me, you have to keep your mouth shut so I can make up for the fact that you lost your job because of all this.”

Margot finally opened her mouth in amazement and laughed. “You really shouldn’t do that Katharine, I’m not going to lose my job. They love me.”

“Well, of course they do, and thank God for that.” Katharine leaned back in the chair. They were at the coffee shop closest to the library, and her drink wasn’t very good, but she couldn’t tell if that was because it was actually bad or because she was still shaking from her conversation with Allistair that morning.

Margot knew enough not to ask while they were inside and surrounded by other patrons, but now that they were outside at the patio table, she leaned in. “What has you so shaken up that you’re changing your will?”

She blurted everything she could about what Zachary had shown her, about the Kingdom and all that came with it. “I told Allistair, and he said he couldn’t show me anything other than earth.”

Margot looked thoughtful at that, but Katharine barreled on with the rest of it.

“He then asked me what I knew of myself. If I knew what it meant to be a Geryon.” She was flustered just in the retelling. “I don’t know what he means.”

“That
is
an odd thing to say.” She frowned and started rooting in her purse. “I want to go back to the branch and all my great access, but I worry what everyone will say if I bring you in yet again.” She pulled out her phone. “This is a little slow, but I’ve done a bit of research with it before. We’ll just see what it gives us.”

Katharine nodded while Margot pushed a few buttons, presumably typing in something about her name. “What about their names? Does it mean anything that Zachary is ‘Zachary’? Isn’t Zachary biblical? Zachariah? God, I wish I’d paid more attention in church.”

She took a sip of her drink to calm herself, but didn’t remember until she tasted it that she didn’t like it. At least the bitterness distracted her.

Margot was looking at the little screen on her phone and shaking her head. “I don’t think your Zachary is the biblical Zachary. That wouldn’t make any sense. Not that
any
of this makes a lot of sense.”

“Yeah, I don’t really think so either. I don’t know where the name Allistair comes from, but … I probably shouldn’t rely on that. I didn’t even think of it until he asked about my name.” She shrugged.

Margot looked up. “’Katharine’ was easy. It popped right up. But ‘Geryon’ … well, you should look.”

Warily, she took the phone her friend was offering. On the tiny screen was a standard picture of a devil. She looked back up at Margot. “The demon Geryon? Is he saying I’m part demon?”

“Who knows? But that’s kind of interesting that you’ve had this last name all your life and never knew it was a demon name.” Margot tucked the phone back in her purse. “And it’s the first thing that pops up on the search engines.”

“What did ‘Katharine’ mean? I never looked it up myself. I guess I was never curious.” She mistakenly sipped the drink again before leaning over and throwing the almost-full cup into a nearby trash can.

“It means ‘pure.’”

Katharine jerked back. “Like I’m pure demon? That just can’t be right.”

“No, it means pure as in good. Taken together as your name, it’s contradictory, that’s for sure.” Margot stood and hiked her purse up on her shoulder. “I’m sorry, I have to get back to work, but we’ll talk tonight.”

“No, we won’t!” Katharine stood and stretched her legs, grateful for the feeling of muscle and tissue. She didn’t know how much longer she would have it. She had to make a deal with someone, and probably soon. Just look what happened to Mary Wayne when she made the wrong deal. Katharine turned her thoughts back to Margot. “You have a date tonight with Liam; you will
not
be talking to me.”

There was a hint of a grin on her friend’s face as they hugged good-bye. The hug was new. It meant both of them knew they were getting closer to the end. Closer to Katharine having to make a choice.

Within a few moments, she was in her car and headed back to work. Back to her office. Back to the space she shared with a creature that she knew wasn’t really of this world. But what was he?

The problem was, he wasn’t saying, and neither was Zachary. It seemed they couldn’t. They were bound from telling her what they really were by these mysterious deals they had made. But did it matter? A demon would probably lie about what he was anyway. And she would still have to choose by her own wits. But how did she choose something knowing that it would kill her if she chose wrong?

That was the problem. She couldn’t tell what was what.

She turned the car smoothly into the parking garage. The car seemed to move of its own accord; her thoughts were elsewhere. But she still noticed the Coffee Bean she passed just before the garage entrance. Avoiding the elevator, Katharine took the garage stairs to ground level and went into the small wood-paneled shop. She wanted to enjoy something. She wanted a nice taste, a nice texture, the feeling of a cold, iced cup on her hands. She would sit on the patio and enjoy the breeze. She would watch the people pass by and listen to snippets of their conversation.

For a moment, she would just be.

•  •  •

Zachary watched as the two of them sat in the sand.

He had been keeping a closer eye on Katharine of late. Too many things had been escaping his notice, and that needed to be remedied. The endgame was coming up on all of them, and quickly. So he had followed her most of the day, leaving her side only when he was called away or when she was asleep. Though even then he could move her forward if he chose. But she’d been out with Margot, talking about him–and about Allistair.

For a moment, things had turned mundane, and he had left, intending to be back soon. When he returned, he found her sitting at the coffee shop outside the Light & Geryon building, simply relaxing and enjoying her drink. He was worried about her, sitting there. She needed drive, ambition. Instead, she relaxed there, showing the exact opposite, and he was afraid that was due to Allistair’s influence. How would she accomplish all that she could in this life if she sat still and watched it go by? But there was nothing he could do on the crowded street that wouldn’t call attention to him or to her.

Though he could appear to her in any form, right there on the sidewalk, it wouldn’t be wise. She might jump up and yell at him–a creature no one else could see. Though he could do damage control and erase the memories of those around, there were so many that it would be a horrendous cleanup job. He simply couldn’t afford for Katharine to see him right now.

He didn’t need Katharine to get any more attention than she had. The people at her job had already started to take notice. The neighbors had called about her screaming once, and they would more readily do so if they were bothered or concerned again. She already had enlisted her friend. No, she needed no more attention than she already had.

But in the end, Katharine would need to make her own choice, and it would be better if she could do it on her own.

So he stood back and waited, then followed her up to her office.

She had tried to confront Allistair again. She asked pressing questions, Zachary knew, because he was starting to get some of them from her, too. His rival balked at a few, and he waited for Allistair to slip up, break the rules, get yanked. His opponent had messed up too many times. But maybe he had learned something from it. Zachary hoped that wasn’t the case.

Then again, maybe he simply felt Zachary watching over them.

When Katharine had finally gone into the office, Allistair had taken her hand and pulled her out the door and back down the elevator. “They’ll never miss us.” He showed her how Lisa didn’t see them as they walked right past.

Katharine protested. “The cameras will see us!”

Zachary tensed as Katharine got closer to a truth. Allistair shook his head. “Yes, but cameras can be erased–edited–very easily.”

“That’s exactly how Mary Wayne got past me!” Katharine stopped dead and yanked her hand back, but Allistair grabbed her by the wrist this time and pulled her along. “Who walked Mary Wayne out of here? Who made her … invisible?”

Allistair stopped and looked her in the eyes.

Zachary waited. What would he say? And how would Katharine take it?

“Those are two different questions, Katharine. The first answer is ‘no one,’ and the second I can’t tell you.”

She got frustrated then, yanking her arm away from Allistair again and making Zachary happy. Every inch of distance she put between herself and that reject was another step in the right direction.

Though she didn’t touch him, she followed Allistair along the sidewalk and three blocks over to the marina. She checked out the faces of people as they passed, marveling at how they seemed to somehow step out of the way without knowing she was there. Her face showed traces of both awe and confusion; she seemed to want to wave her hand in front of someone’s face, to try to get someone’s attention. But Allistair kept the pace just a shade too fast for her to do that. And he kept it up all the way until they reached their destination.

The edge of the water here was rocky, and there were only a few places where the coastline wasn’t privately owned. But since no one saw them, Allistair seemed unconcerned about this. He settled them both on a dry patch of smooth pebbles and told her to ask what she would, and that he would answer what he could.

Zachary sat behind them, seeing the breeze in their human hair, seeing their words carried on the wind. He knew there was salt and pollution in the air. But none of it filtered through the veil.

Allistair sighed, and something about it told Zachary that his rival knew he was there, that he watched and heard everything. He waited to be snitched on, for Katharine to look around and try to see him after her officemate told her he was just behind them. But Allistair did no such thing, and Katharine didn’t seem to sense him.

She simply started in with her questions, asking about her name and its meaning. She asked if the meaning had any real purpose in her life. So Zachary waited.

“Your names don’t make you who you are; they just give you potential. Options.”

She asked if there was demon blood in her.

“Somewhere back in the line, yes. That’s how a human gets that last name.” Allistair sifted his fingers through the rocks on the shore. He clearly loved the feel of it. It was pathetically human and Zachary started to feel the pinch of pity.

But he started at Allistair’s next words.

“That’s funny, Katharine. Look at your hands … you’re rolling the rocks around, like me.”

Her eyes widened. “Is that a good or a bad thing?”

This could be it. Allistair could ruin himself if he answered this. Any higher being with even a small amount of skill would not, but Zachary clung to his belief that Allistair would shoot himself in the foot.

He didn’t take the opportunity.

“You have to decide that, Katharine. I can lead you, and I can ask you, and so can Zachary, but neither of us can make you do anything. As much as we would each like to, we can’t make the choice for you.”

They talked longer, and Zachary grew bored. Allistair told her a little about the veil, only confirming what she had already surmised with the help of her friend. He told her about the earth and how it really only existed on this level, as did the animals and people who lived there.

“But why do we have drawings of angels that look like people, if people are the only things that look like people?”

“Because you cannot see beyond yourselves, cannot imagine a creature so different from yourselves. Most cultures still have trouble recognizing plants as creatures. You cannot come to terms with us yet.”

Zachary tried to wait while Allistair philosophized, but he was suffering the same inaction that he had accused Katharine of earlier. He gave Allistair one more chance to impress him.

Though Zachary was mad when Allistair leaned close to Katharine, the words were innocuous enough.

“If you want to know where a being is from, look into its eyes.”

She nearly laughed at that. Good girl. “Windows to the soul and all that?”

“No.” Allistair smiled, and Zachary watched as Katharine smiled back.

Damn him! He was charming her in entirely human terms. Zachary found himself angry with her; he had thought she’d gone beyond the usual frail human susceptibilities.

Rocks tumbling absentmindedly through his fingers, Allistair continued. The smile still played around his lips. “Eyes are the windows to your origins. Just think of the things you’ve seen. And think of people. Human eyes come in blues and greens and browns–sky and water and land.” He waved his hand at the scene before them. “Earth colors. People are of the earth.”