Blood To Blood (21 page)

With a casual flick of her
hand she lifted me off the floor and I was suddenly hurtling through the air,
on a collision course with one of the floor-to-ceiling picture windows through
which I could see the huge, orange-tinged full moon in the distance. I braced
myself and went through the glass without breaking it.

Once outside, I briefly
marveled at the beauty of the clear, inky sky and brilliant stars, before
realizing I didn't know how to stop hurtling through the air. Darn that
Cassandra, or whatever her name was. A flurry of wings suddenly surrounded me.
It was Bodiel and Knowledge. She grabbed me and brought me gently down to land
on the ground.

“You have wings!” I
exclaimed.

“We are not what you refer to
as Ancient Ones,” Bodiel said. He was still in the air, white wings fully
extended into a fluffy nine-foot span. They undulated gracefully as he floated
above our heads.

“You're such a show-off,”
Knowledge said, looking up at him with a loving expression on her glowing face.
“Angel, we are what humanity calls archangels.”

I exhaled wildly. I was
meeting my namesake. They weren't what I expected angels to look like. But then
again, nothing in my new life seemed to be what I expected, I thought giddily.
My train of thought was nothing sort of mental babbling, but hey, one didn't
meet angels everyday.

Bodiel touched down as
Knowledge continued. “Unlike your ancestors, the Ancient Ones, we always stayed
aligned with our purpose, so yes, we have wings. But wings are just a symbol of
our completeness. Your Ancient Ones lost their wings a long time ago. It simply
means a part of them is gone.”

“But some of them are trying
to make up for it,” I said. “Atone—”

“We do not judge,” Bodiel
gently interrupted. “It is not our place.”

If they were not here to
judge me, then why were they here?

“We're here to help you,
Angel,” Bodiel said.

A mental image of the frozen
Mahá popped into my mind. “We will show you how to control this,” Knowledge
said. “We will stay for the rest of your Mahá.”

“If there is room for us, of
course,” they added in unison.

I had no clue whether there
were extra rooms or not, but I wasn't about to turn them away. They were
angels, for crying out loud! “Yes, you can stay as long as you'd like to.”

Knowledge made a gesture and
Moira and Cassandra appeared.

“We will stay here at this
Mahá,” Bodiel told them. “Like we did the other one.”

“And, like the other one, I
will stay to prove you wrong,” Moira said. She looked at me expectantly. Was
this some arrogant way of asking me for a room?

Bodiel smiled. “Yes, she is
extremely arrogant. That's why she fell.”

“Bo,” Knowledge admonished in
a sweet tone, “It's kind of rude to continually read the humans' minds. Let her
speak what she wants to share.”

I wasn't about to say no to
an AO, either, no matter how obnoxious Moira was. “Yes, you may stay here.” I
turned to Cassandra and Trench Coat, hesitating for a fraction of a moment
before saying, “And you both, too.” I suddenly felt very weak.

“The baby needs rest and
food,” Bodiel said.

“I am not a baby!”

“She has a temper,” Cassandra
tattled. “It gets worse when she's hungry.”

I opened my mouth and
directed a D note at her solar plexus. She fell away from me, cringing. Good.

“Don't ever pull your
shenanigans with me again,” I said through clamped teeth. I was still angry
about the Garden incident. The air shone a slight red around us. Trench Coat
was suddenly in front of me. The shotgun was aimed at my nose this time.

I looked down the pitch-black
barrel and my stomach flip-flopped. This was no ordinary shotgun. Inside the
barrel was the red, barren landscape I had seen in my death vision during The
Change. In the few seconds I looked down the barrel, the staggering desolation
of that place burdened every part of my being. The small amount energy I
did
have vanished and I felt completely drained.

“I enforce the law,” s/he
said, unfurling wings almost as large as Bodiel's. At first, I thought the
wings were red feathers. But no, they were flames.

Bodiel shrugged as if this
was all normal. “Angel. This is Shoftiel. Please don't take it personally. He's
just doing his job.”

Cassandra gave me that
bone-chilling smile. “We're all just fulfilling our roles. Aren't we?” AO or
not, she was truly annoying. But there was nothing I could do about her now
besides ignore her as much as possible and try to wrap my head around this
bizarre situation.

I surveyed them carefully.
Knowledge glanced at Bodiel in a way that reminded me of my secret telepathic
conversations with Cici. I almost slapped my forehead. Duh, of course they were
telepathic, and were probably communicating right now. Meanwhile, Moira and
Cassandra watched me like pit bulls. And then there was Shoftiel. Through the
entire ordeal, he remained unmoving unless there was some threat of violence.
Like a sentinel.

“Are you here with
Cassandra?” I asked him while fighting to keep a quiver of fear out of my
voice.

“I am here with no one,” he
answered without turning his gaze to me. “I am here to enforce the Law.”

Then I understood. He was
like the AO police. He just showed up with Cassandra, but he wasn't her
companion like I had previously thought. He was an angel, too; an angel of
justice. I remembered Mom's account of her Mahá, and how she’d said young Jesus
was accompanied by AOs and others. Now I was sure those “others” were angels.

“We have come to help you,
Angelika, but you will not tell anyone about us,” said Knowledge. “No one in your
family must know, or there will be consequences.” She glanced significantly at
Shoftiel.

“We will continue to work
with you as long as you keep our identities to yourself,” Bodiel added. “Your
family will not be able to access your awareness of us, and, like other humans,
will see only what we allow them to. Do you agree to this?”

“I don't like keeping secrets
from my family,” I answered. “It feels uncomfortable, as if I'm doing something
wrong.” I turned to Bodiel. “How do I know you’re good? You may be evil and
mean my family harm.”

Moira caught me off-guard by
breaking out in a gut-busting laugh. She laughed so hard she fell onto the
ground and started hitting it with her balled up fists, leaving small holes in
the grassy lawn.

“What’re you laughing at?” I
asked, ticked off. “You pointed a sword at me. And you,” I gestured at
Cassandra, “you masqueraded as my reflection. How do I know you have my best
interests at heart?”

I looked at Shoftiel and
shivered at the memory of what was in his gun. I then turned to Bodiel and
Knowledge. “And you ask me to lie to my family. How can any of this be good?”

“She is right,” Knowledge
said. “There is good and bad amongst our ranks. This question is fair.” She
turned to me and soft white light cascaded from her skin, illuminating the area
around her like a band of microscopic fireflies. “It's our job to help
mankind,” she stated. “But we also root out the bad stuff, so to speak. To
reveal us would put many in danger. If we cannot count on your confidence,
beings of all sorts—human, angelic and others—will suffer. This is
all I can say about this matter. We ask you again. Do you agree to this?”

Bodiel moved closer to me.
“What does your heart tell you, Angel?” His wings were tucked away, and his
white hair glowed like a florescent halo. “Do you feel that we are bad?”

“No,” I answered with a sigh.
“I don't feel that way about you and Knowledge.” I withheld my statements about
the others. “But, if this is what you request, I will agree to it under one
condition.” Cassandra and Moira looked at me with surprise. Even Shoftiel
started to look directly at me before catching himself. “As long as we have
this agreement, you must promise not to listen to my thoughts unless I ask you
to.”

“We have a deal,” Bodiel
said.

“Now,” Knowledge brushed the
dirt off of her long white and gold dress, “let's get your Mahá back on track.
First, you will need nourishment.” She snapped her fingers and Justin appeared
before me, laid out on the grass. He wore black flannel pajama bottoms, no top,
and looked as if he'd been literally lifted out of his bed. They may have been
archangels, but they didn't seem to get the knack of the social graces.

“Angel? Where am I?”
Confused, he stared around at the others, and I could only imagine what his
mortal eyes perceived before they rested on me. “You okay?” he asked.

“I'm fine, Justin, just
really weak. You're in California. These are my… friends.” I waved in their
general direction. “They brought you here, because I'm extremely hungry.” I
touched his shoulder. “I need you.”

“I'm here for you, Angel,” he
said, pulling me down onto the grass.

“Privacy,” Bodiel said, and
everyone was zapped away, leaving Justin and me alone. I was hungrier than I
thought and eagerly began. After a short while, I felt like my old new self.

But something was wrong.
Justin usually held me close after we were done, but tonight he didn't. In
fact, he didn't do anything. And his heart wasn't beating anymore. I had
drained him so quickly, he was already dead.

“Justin!” I shook him, trying
in vain to reverse the damage I'd done. “Justin! No!”

Bodiel and Knowledge appeared
at my side. “Do something, Bo,” she told him. “This is our fault. She’s only
fed in a controlled environment. We allowed her to get too hungry to safely
feed from one mortal.”

“Bloodthirsty wretch,” Moira
muttered from hundreds of feet away.

Besides the anguish I felt
for having caused it, Justin’s death hit me as if a part of my solar plexus had
been gouged out. It was actual physical pain. I floated in mindless despair as
my hands reached out to him in vain.

“Your blood tie was very
strong,” Bodiel explained. “That is the distress you feel.” He breathed into
Justin's mouth.

“There is still a spark of
life in him,” said Knowledge. “He will live, Angel. But he will not...be the
same.”

Feeling a sense of relief, I
was able to calm myself enough to touch down before her words sunk in. “What do
you mean, he won't be the same…?”

Bodiel finished his angelic
CPR and Justin sat up languidly, as if he were waking up from a nap. He
stretched and rolled the muscles in his back as a faint glow emanated from his
skin. He regarded me as if he was seeing me for the first time. He said only
one word, “Angel,” before folding me into his arms and kissing me.

The kiss was cool and slow.
And safe. His breath was sweet, and held his dominant scent of jasmine. I
couldn’t stop my body from responding. Justin’s lips grew hotter as he stroked
my hair, eyebrows, cheeks, my chin... I finally pulled away in an attempt to
come to my senses.

“Is this what you meant by
him not being the same?” I asked, referring to the kiss.

“No, we had nothing to do
with that,” Knowledge answered as she watched him closely. “He's no longer
mortal.”

“What? No! He won't have a
normal life anymore.”

“Would you rather he were
dead?”

Despite the shame I felt at
being the reason why Justin's life was taking a complete one-eighty, I had to
admit I needed him alive. The tie was too strong and the pain was too real. But
was it right?

“It's okay, Angel,” Justin
said. He turned me to face him. “I want this. And I know you want it, too.” His
tone was intimate. Sensual. He nibbled my neck.

“I don’t know what you’re
talking about,” I said, liking the sensations but feeling confused.

“You don’t have a boyfriend,”
he stated.

“Excuse me? That’s none of
your business,” I retorted. I pushed him away. “I’m not getting emotionally
involved. And I suggest you don't either.”

I started to turn away from
him, but he took my hand and kissed it almost reverently. It was just too much
to take. First he was dead and now he was proclaiming his love for me. Even
worst than the guilt of killing him in the first place was the guilt of not
feeling the same way he felt.

“You can't tell me how to
feel, Angelika. You can't dictate to me what's in my heart. I will always love
you.”

“Justin, please don’t.”

“Angel, don’t you see? It’s
only right that now I can have something in common with you. For you to see me
as an equal. If I can continue to feed you, I will gladly do it for eternity.”

Knowledge and Bodiel looked
at each other with raised eyebrows.

“Thank you,” Justin said to
Bodiel. “You've given me something priceless. I can never repay you.”

“You're welcome,” they said
in unison.

Between the still-frozen Mahá
and my love-struck, immortal donor, I was completely overwhelmed. “I'll deal
with you later,” I said to Justin. “Go home now.” He didn't move. “Please?”