Good Side of Sin (2 page)

Luckily, Rhyan had been clever enough to beat the Devil at his own game. I still wasn’t sure of his reasoning behind helping the demons go free. They’d all gone to Hell for a reason, and most of them were royalty; they were at Lucifer’s right hand,
his
ultimate followers, for Pete’s sake! Why would they betray him to live out eternity on Earth? That’s right, they wouldn’t. Thoros and his friends may have tricked Rhyan and the Archangels, but they hadn’t fooled me.

I looked back to Isaiah without wiping the moisture from my eyes. “It’s a trick. Can’t you see? Whatever destruction they are doing on Earth, it’s for Lucifer. You have given him more freedom by allowing his royalty the best of both worlds. The demons haven’t changed; they still work for him, you idiot!”

Isaiah pressed his lips together and his brow lifted as if he were actually considering my theory, or maybe he was considering the best way to pull my Heaven pass. My eyes darted quickly around the crowded room, and then nervously fell back on the expressionless face of the archangel. I had caught the attention of every angel in the room with my outburst and now they were all silent and staring at me. Great. I hadn’t really meant to call an archangel an idiot, but it was done now and there was no way to take it back.

“I apologize for my insubordination,” I bowed my head in shame and continued in a much lower and obedient tone of voice. “I just feel that you all have been fooled, that you are blind to what Lucifer is doing right under your noses.”

“We knew this could possibly turn out bad—setting the demons free from Hell—but I believe there is still hope. However, I do not think we have been tricked by the…
special cases
. I expect Lucifer is behind it all, as he is always found lurking behind any mischief and mayhem, but I’ve strongly considered the
special cases
are just as blind to what is happening to Thoros as we are.”

The mention of his name aloud was like a straight punch to the gut. I inhaled sharply and my hands quickly found my knees at the impact of it. Why did it have to be him? There were eight others down there that could have screwed this up. Of course it would be him, and of course they would need me to fix it. I felt a gentle hand on my shoulder. At first I thought Troy was offering comfort, but as my fingers grazed his in acceptance I realized it wasn’t the massive hand of my friend.

I shot upright and backed away from Isaiah, panic-ridden.

“Please, child,” Isaiah began, but I shook my head. He continued anyway. Stubborn angel! “I know you’re frightened. I’ve been where you are—”

Crossing my arms over my chest, I lifted an eyebrow in question. “You’ve been seduced and humiliated, and then expected to just forgive and help the individual that desecrated you?”

I watched his Adam’s apple move up and down as he swallowed hard. After a second he raised his chin and opened his mouth. “Yes.”

My arms fell to my sides as I stared at him in disbelief. I didn’t see Isaiah as a normal person. He was an archangel, not a man with feelings and emotions, to me. But, standing there and really seeing him for the first time since I’d known him, I realized he wasn’t really all that different from me.

Holding out a trembling hand, he took a nervous step toward me. I looked down at his reaching fingers with widening eyes. What was he doing? I didn’t want to see any of his memories. I couldn’t see Isaiah vulnerable and broken. He was a head guardian. Their lives had always been flawless. He
did not
have problems. I refused to believe it and, taking another guarded step backward, refused to touch him.

I squared my shoulders and looked him in the eyes. “No.”

A soft gasp escaped my throat as Isaiah rushed to me and, placing his palms at my temples, forced me into his mind.

***

My bare feet rushed through soft green blades of grass, but I wasn’t running from anything; I was chasing after someone. Black curls bounced halfway down the back of the laughing girl twenty feet in front of me and, feeling a sly smile tug at the corners of my lips, I picked up my pace so I could catch up to her.

The bright, warm rays of the sun cast a long shadow to the right of me as the wind blew through my hair. I focused on the girl’s shadow as we raced over a hill, and then down into a valley with a clear lake at the bottom. I took only a moment to admire the beautiful scene laid out before me. It was a magnificent painting, and the brush had to have been in God’s hand; it was perfect.

I knew I’d never personally been here, but I felt as though I had several times before. It couldn’t have been Heaven; Heaven didn’t require a sun for light and temperature, like Earth did. Was I on Earth? I pondered, and then my thoughts came to a screeching halt as I noticed the young woman I’d been chasing had stopped before the water and was now stripped of everything except her beautiful black mane of hair.

I wanted to turn and run back the way I’d come, at least hide my eyes from her immodesty, but I couldn’t figure out how to stop or look away; I wasn’t in control of my body. Just before I reached her and the glistening water, she turned to look back at me. Lameria smiled, and my inner voice gasped in horror as she dove into the sparkling water.

No! Stop! I have to get out of here! She kidnapped me and took me to Lucifer! I can’t go swimming with her!
I shrieked to the host, but he only stopped and began to undress by the water’s edge.

The host looked down at two large male feet when he bent to remove his trousers. I was just about to panic again until our gaze moved from his toes to the reflection in the water: Isaiah.

Oh crap! This is his memory.
I could only guess what would happen after he jumped into the lake with the very naked Princess of Greed, so I fought with everything I had and shoved my way out of his mind.

“You didn’t stay for the good part,” I heard Isaiah say, and then my eyes flew open to stare at the toes of my shiny black boots.

I knew the archangel was to my front, and that Troy gently had a hold of my arms, in an effort to steady me, at my back. I could feel hundreds of eyes on me. All the angels that had been present for the graduation had stayed for the show between me and Isaiah.
Wonderful.

I didn’t want to look up and face any of them. Running from the room and never looking back was what I wanted to do, but I knew I couldn’t. Isaiah had been right, I had sworn to serve and protect, but what I had meant was that I swore to find Malcolm and bring him home safely. That was it. No more. The end.

I didn’t know what Lameria had done to betray Isaiah, nor did I want to know. If this was his attempt at proving to me that we were the same, damaged, broken-hearted souls, he had a few things to learn about me. I was nothing like him.

All I knew was that I had to get out of here before he decided to force me inside his head again. I shuddered to think what the side effects would be like. Lameria’s nude body was already branded on my brain. I just knew I was going to see her naked tush every time I closed my eyes from now on. Eeek!

Who says angels don’t live a Hell of their own?

Isaiah had tricked me. The only reason he wanted me to go through the academy was so he could order me to follow a different mission as soon as I graduated: helping scum demons stay on the right path.
Whatever!

I squeezed my eyes tightly shut and cursed myself for not seeing how obvious his plan had been from the beginning.
I’m so stupid!

Isaiah’s plan wasn’t going to work, but I couldn’t see a way to make him understand that, nor could I avoid doing the mission.

I groaned as I made up my mind. I would go to Earth and assess the situation—like I was trained to do—then come back with my poor evaluation of how the demons were handling Earth life and what a huge mistake it was to let them go free in the first place. I knew before I even left Heaven what my suggestion would be: to send them all back to Hell.

“We can’t send them back to Hell, Josselyn,” Isaiah replied, after picking the thought from my head. “Your job is to help them adapt and—”

“Why can’t someone else go? Why does it have to be me? I am not—”

“Be quiet, child. You are allowing your emotions to control you. Recite rule number three.”

I swallowed hard and drew in a deep breath, silently regretting the stinging tears before they even fell. “Isaiah—”

“I am very disappointed that you would not put away your own selfish wants and realize how important this mission is to all of Heaven, as well as every innocent soul on Earth. Recite it now or I will ensure you never get to join in the search for Malcolm.”

“Stay in control of your emotions,” I whispered.

Isaiah took a step closer to me, keeping eye contact the whole time. I wanted to look away, but Isaiah was through arguing. He had asked nicely. I had refused. Now he was putting his big archangel foot down, and I had no choice but to obey. I didn’t dare look away from him.

He nodded. “That’s right; always stay in control of your emotions. Now, what is rule number one, Josselyn?”

My gaze immediately fell to look at his shoes. I would take chastising, but I could not look at him and hold myself together at the same time.
Crap!
I let the breath in me release through my nostrils and forced my spine straight. I was defeated, but at least he’d allowed me to speak my mind before crushing my dreams. “Protect Heaven and Earth before anything else, sir.”

He tilted my chin up with one of his fingers, taking away my choice to avoid eye contact. His face was full of knowing and understanding as he stared down at me, and I wanted to weep for us both. “This is your destiny, child. You will only find yourself in more misery if you try and deny it. Go prepare for departure with Troop C. And remember,” he said as a smile slowly crept across his handsome face, “I’ll be watching you.”

Well, wasn’t that comforting to know?

***

“Whaur are ye going, Jossel? Isaiah thocht it a good idea fur me tae accompany Troop C and gan wi’ ye,” Troy said as he caught up to my fast stride, and then casually pointed back down the hall to the closed doors of the LOD room. He fell easily into step beside me. “Troop C is waiting fur ye back there.”

I held my head up and spoke in a firm voice. “Isaiah thought it was a good idea because he knows you will keep a close eye on me.” I said it as a statement. There was no sense in skirting around the obvious, and I had always kept it real with Troy, as had he with me. “Well, I hate to disappoint you both, but I don’t need a babysitter. I’m not going.”

“Ye… but A heard… ye cannae…” He stopped in the hall and took my arm with a gentle, but firm, hand. There was no wiggling myself out of the seven foot tall angel’s grasp, so I didn’t fight him on my immediate release. “Whit the bloody hell dae ye mean yer no’ goin’?”

“Why should I go? So they can all laugh at me for falling for their tricks? I honestly don’t see how anything good can come of me going to Earth to help the
“special cases,”
“ I said, doing the whole air quotes with my fingers for more dramatic appeal.

The sour look on Troy’s face let me know real quick that he was siding with Isaiah.
Wasn’t that just fan-freaking-tastic?
Whatever. They couldn’t make me go, whether it was
my destiny
or not. What had Isaiah meant by that anyway?
My destiny.
Maybe I would be more apt to go along with the preposterous plan if someone would only fill me in on what
my destiny
was instead of expecting me to just fleet to Earth and make a big fool of myself—again!

“Ye ha’e tae go—”

“No, I do not! I can resign from the LOD and drop my soul on my way past Heaven’s gate. If Isaiah wants to push me, that’s fine, let him push, but I can promise he won’t get the reaction he is hoping for!”

Instead of scolding me, Troy grabbed me in a big bear hug. His huge body was trembling. I had scared him, and I was sorry for that, but I wasn’t going to be bullied into doing something I knew for a fact would ruin me for all eternity. I was not strong enough to face Thoros.

“A ken yer scared, ma wee lassie, but we need ye…A need ye. Believe it or no’, asides me, ye ranked higher than anyone that has gone through the academy, ever. I ha’e need o’ those mad skills backing me up doon there.”

“I tried so hard because I was afraid I would fail and not get to help look for Malcolm.” He loosened his grip so I could take a step back and look up at him. “Now, I’m being punished for doing so well?” My voice broke on a sob.

“Shh-shh-shh,” Troy said, and welcomed me back in the comfort of his arms so I could fall apart. “Yer no’ being punished. This is something that has tae be taken care o’ afore it gets oot o’ hand, and then I swear tae ye that we’ll look for Malcolm the’gither. We’ll both leave against orders if necessary, but A need ye now, Jossel. Thoros is killing humans. Their souls are no’ coming here. They’re no’ coming tae Heaven, Jossel.”

I couldn’t stop the gasp before my hand covered my mouth. What was going on? Thoros may have been a lot of things, but he was no murderer. Where were the souls going? Hell? That wasn’t possible. I knew I had no choice but to find out what the problem was and solve it. I couldn’t turn my back on what I knew to be right.

I looked up as I heard the doors of the Line of Defense whisper open. Isaiah was standing in all his magnificent beauty, his face removed of all expression. I wanted to punch him in the nose for not bothering to tell me the details of the assignment, but I knew he wouldn’t feel the pain. It would just make me look immature and stupid, so I only narrowed my eyes to thin slits and glared at him instead.

“Is there a problem out here?” Isaiah asked calmly, as if he didn’t already know every detail about the show that had just gone on between me and Troy.

“No,” I said, and shook my head. “Troy was just walking me to my room. I forgot my lucky ring.”

He eyed me for a brief moment. The guardians still hadn’t been able to fix the damage that had been done from the minion entering into Heaven. The angels being able to lie was only one of the issues that had them all in a fizzy as of late, and I took advantage of that each and every time I got a chance, at least when Isaiah was around. It irritated him something fierce.