Arianna Rose: The Gates of Hell (Part 5) (19 page)

“I don’t know.  If the intention is clear-cut, then yes.  I’ll try to prolong it as much as I can and get as much information as I can,” she said with a small frown. 

Arianna wished she could project confidence to Dafeenah the way Briathos projected calm her way moments ago.  The petite woman looked as if she could use a shot of self-assurance.  Instead of attempting a supernatural feat, Arianna decided to try it the old-fashioned way.  She placed a hand on Dafeenah’s shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze.  “You can do this,” she said with quiet sureness.  “You took my hand and saw humanity brought to its knees.  Just one touch and you saw it.”

“But you projected,” she shook her head, her silver eyes filled with self-doubt.  “You showed me what I needed to see.”

“I did.  That’s true,” Arianna admitted.  “But without the gift you have, you wouldn’t have seen it, felt it.  And what about the ambush as we were leaving?  That was your vision.  Not mine.  You saw not one, not two, but six demons waiting for me.”

Dafeenah rolled her shoulders and straightened her posture.  Standing a bit taller, she said, “Yes, I did.”

“Yes you did,” Arianna echoed.  “You can do this.  We found you for a reason.  You are the key to weeding out the traitors and finding Darius.  You, your ability, will tip the scales in favor of humankind.”

Dafeenah’s chest swelled, her confidence restored.  Still, she smiled humbly.  “Thank you, Sola.  I will do all that I can.”

“I know you will,” Arianna replied and patted her arm softly.

From the corner of her eye, she could see the elders, particularly Briathos, watching the interaction. 

“Let us begin making our way out to the courtyard,” Briathos said.

“Aren’t we sifting?” Arianna asked.

“I find that sifting too often leaves the body weak.  Sometimes we need to walk, take in our surroundings.”

“Kind of like the expression
stop and smell the roses
, right?” Arianna asked. 

“Indeed, yes.  Beings on this earthy plane—both mortal and immortal—have so many luxuries at their disposal, so many tools at their fingertips.  While these things are essential, sometimes we need to set them aside, ignore them in favor of our divine tools, o
ur senses.”

Arianna was left to ponder his words while he
fairly floated rather than walked as he crossed the room and made his way to the door, lengths of fluttering fabric flowing on an unseen breeze.  Leo and Sorath followed, and Arianna and Dafeenah trailed behind.  They strode down a long hallway painted a soothing sand color and adorned with pristine white crown molding and wall sconces.  Occasionally, an oil painting hung, and scenes of a struggle between heaven and hell were depicted.  Arianna unconsciously slowed her pace to a near-halt when she found herself before one.  Celestial beings with outstretched arms and bathed in golden light so aptly rendered she could practically feel its welcoming warmth reached from the heavens for men, women and children whose faces were contorted in expressions of abject fear and misery.  Inhuman fingers with deadly talons and barbed tentacles stretched from below where fire churned like an angry sea, the brushstrokes of the artist so precise, so purposeful, she swore she could feel the sickening roil of its tide. 

But the painting, while masterful and stunning, was not what grip
ped her and held her frozen in place.  It was one of the beatific beings descending from the buttery light, flaming daggers clutched in either hand.  She blinked several times, her mouth going dry, but the resemblance was unmistakable. 

Fair hair and skin, eyes
that were matching pools of tropical water, and a physique that included dips and swells she’d committed to memory.  His face was twisted, his mouth open and his brow low, a war cry she’d heard before silently screaming from his lips.

Her heart began to drum against her ribcage.  Could it be her Desmond represented
in the painting?  A voice deep within her said yes. 

From further down the hallway, Briathos’ voice echoed, “Arianna.”  He called to her.  She turned and looked in the direction of the sound.  His keen pale-blue eyes seemed to glow, slicing through the shadows.  “
I see you are smelling the roses,” he said, a meaningful tone coloring his words. 

“Yes, I am.  And one of them looks awfully familiar.”

“Yes, yes it does, doesn’t it?”

Reluctantly, she tore her eyes from the painting and caught up with the others.  The painting would have to remain a mystery she’d solve another time.  Right now, potential traitors needed to be weeded out. 

After leaving the main house and following the dirt and stone path, Arianna, Dafeenah, Briathos, Leo and Sorath found themselves in the open space just beyond the row of bungalows that skirted the forest.  The surviving trainees, along with Jason, Dane and Desmond, milled about. When she and Dafeenah stepped out into the clearing, several furtive glances were exchanged, along with murmurs and whispers.  Curiosity abounded, so palpable she believed she could touch it if she tried. 

Moonlight cast an otherworldly glow on everything it touched.  A silvery haze draped across the area making
Briathos, who led the way flanked by Leo and Sorath, appear as if he were walking on clouds. 

“Friends, both new and old, we’d like to introd
uce you to a new friend of ours,” Briathos began, and his liquid eyes turned somber as he looked among them then to Dafeenah.

A surge of collective interest rolled through the group.  They undoubtedly sen
sed the warm pulsation emanating from her, the small glow that, while powerful, remained within the human spectrum.  They wondered why a human being joined them. 

Ignoring their interest and confusion, Desmond quickly began organizing them and
formed a receiving line with Dane at the start. 

“What’s this all about?” Dan
e asked huffily.  “Who is this lady?”

“She’s here to help us,”
Desmond said in a quiet voice.  “Please, keep your voice down.”  His gaze flickered between Dafeenah and Dane as if to remind Dane that he didn’t exist in a vacuum. 

S
ilver eyes rimmed in charcoal liner glanced toward Desmond and Dane fleetingly. 

“
That’s all well and good, but what is she?  And what’s with the getup?  She looks like a gypsy, or one of those freak show fortunetellers you see at a carnival,” he said and raised his voice defiantly. 

“
That’s enough—” Desmond began, but Dane cut him off. 

“The scarf and black dress, and the long black hair, the woman is a walking cliché.  What is she
, a psychic?”

Arianna felt her mouth fall open for a split second before her gaze hardened and narrowed on him.  While she was thankful none of the trainees or new guests was paying him any mind
, she knew Dafeenah was.  His behavior was rude at best.  “Dane,” she growled through her teeth in warning.  But he remained undaunted.

“Oh no, you’ve got to be kidding me.  She’s a p
sychic?  That’s what you left for?  You, the Sola, personally left to get a charlatan?  What a joke!”

“Dane, stop being an asshole and shut the hell up!” Arianna scolded. 

Dane was doubled over and laughing meanly.  “This is ridiculous!  Our kind is being hunted by Darius and his minions, you’re public enemy number one and might as well be traveling with a giant neon bull’s eye on your back, but you ran off with a war for the collective soul of humanity just about to happen to find a psychic!  Shit, man, why didn’t you just call one of those eight-hundred numbers like Miss Cleo or something?” he mocked. 

Arianna took a step forward and was about to grab Dane’s wrist and give him a jolt of her energy, not potent enough to kill him but
strong enough to shut him up, when Dafeenah spun to face him, her long braid swinging like a pendulum, and raised both hands. 

“Don’t,” was all she said
, and Arianna stopped dead in her tracks.  Dafeenah’s silver irises disappeared, a snow-white palette left in their wake.  “His anger is not for me.  I am just an easy target.”  A sad smile dragged the corners of her mouth upward.  “His anger is caused by a broken heart, by unrequited love, to be more specific,” her husky voice hypnotic as she spoke.

Dane’s smug smirk twitched and his eyes narrowed, the small muscles by his jaw bunching and working. 
The color drained from his complexion.  He looked as uncomfortable as Arianna felt. 

“Dane is in love with someone who is not in love with him,” Dafeenah added and pinned her colorless gaze on Arianna.  “She loves another.”  Her head swivel
ed until it settled on Desmond.  She sighed and drew a breath, parting her lips and about to speak, but Dane halted the words before they left her mouth. 

All at once, Dane’s face went from ashen to beet-red, his eyes as round as saucers.  Quickly, however, he collected himself, outwardly, at least. 
“I’m not going to stand here and listen to this crap,” he huffed, his voice cracking slightly before he stomped off.  “All smoke and mirrors bullshit,” he continued to grumble as he left. 

When Dane passed the elders, Briathos followed him with his eyes and shook his head slowly, his worry and displeasure plain. 

“Trouble brews within him,” Dafeenah’s exotic accent floated through the air. 

Arianna twisted toward the sound and saw that Dafeenah’s eyes had resumed their silvery coloring.  Their color matched the glow of the moon overhead. 

“Nah, he’s just pissed because of what you said.  It was true, and you struck a nerve,” Arianna admitted, her eyes still tracking Dane’s disappearing form.  “He’ll be okay.  I hope.”

Dafeenah did not reply verbally.  She merely hummed a single monotone note, clearly unconvinced. 

“Are we ready for our meet-and-greet?” Briathos broke the tension by asking.

The men were lined in neat rows. 
They were all introduced to Dafeenah and Arianna before the two of them began making their way down the line, Dafeenah attempting to read them subtly and without their knowledge.  Arianna was careful to stand next whomever Dafeenah spoke with and watched the seer’s face for reactions.  Small nods signified approval, and Arianna, joined by Desmond, felt relief saturate her cells as person after person received Dafeenah’s endorsement. 

She was about to do a cartwheel out of sheer joy when they arrived at the
last person, a neat-looking man wearing a button front shirt and slacks and a long ponytail that fell past his shoulders. 

“Hello, it’s nice to meet you,” he said to Dafeenah before she extended her hand to him.  “I’m so glad to be here, to help with the cause and put an end to Darius once and for all.  He killed my parents and sister while I watched.  My wish to see him fall is personal, I admit,” he lowered his chin to his chest, his embarrassment evident.  “But I will fight, to the death if need be, to see him never return to this earthly realm.”

Arianna listened, spellbound by his candor, by the pain that drove it.  She knew a thing or two about deep-seated pain born of losing loved ones.  She reached out a hand and patted his shoulder soothingly, right before Dafeenah reached out and took his hand in both of hers.  But rather than say what she’d been saying, that her name is Dafeenah and she is honored to meet him, a look of horror clouded her features.  “Traitor!” she spat and pointed a slender finger at him.  “You are one of Darius’ minions!”

Arianna stepped backward, surprised and perplexed simultaneously. 

“He’s here to murder the Sola,” Dafeenah hissed.

The man in front of her, the one who’d claimed his parents and sister had been killed by Darius, held his hands at chest height.  “I am here to do no such thing,” he said in a trembling voice. 
But even Arianna could hear the deception in his tone.  And the trainees surrounding him perceived it too.  They changed their stances, readying themselves to act in her defense. 

Without warning, the man’s hands began to blaze,
small flaming orbs appearing in each.  Faster than the speed of thought Desmond was behind him with his daggers in his hands, their flaming blades carving gleaming arcs in the night as they sliced at the back of the man’s neck, cutting straight through until his head tumbled from his body, and stopping his assassination attempt. 

“Oh my gosh!” Dafeenah cried out and fell to her knees as the head landed at her feet. 

Voices erupted all around Arianna.  One was clear: Desmond’s voice. 

“Get her out of here.  Get her inside.  I’ll get things under control out here and join you in a minute.”

Arianna nodded then knelt and gripped both of Dafeenah’s hands.  She envisioned the interior of the luxury log home, the hallway with the painting hanging on the wall, and felt the night slip away from her.  A rush of colors raced at her as she traveled through time and space.  Seconds later, she stood in the hallway outside of Briathos’ chamber.

“Are you okay?” she asked Dafeenah, who shivered uncontrollably. 
“I can imagine how hard that was for you to see.  I’m so sorry,” Arianna began, but Dafeenah interrupted. 

“No, no, it wasn’t that,” she said, her voice quivering in time with her body.  “It’s Darius,” she said as Desmond, Briathos, Sorath and Leo appeared near them.