Forgiven
Authors: Jana Oliver
To Jean Marie Ward, who knows that high heels and Armageddon have much in common
‘Hell begins on the day when God grants us a clear vision of all that we might have achieved, of all the gifts which we have wasted, of all that we might have done which we did not do.’
– Gian Carlo Menotti
2018
Atlanta, Georgia
Riley Blackthorne’s tears were no more. She’d cried herself dry, yet she still lingered in the arms of a dead man. If given the chance, she would remain in her father’s arms for the rest of her life.
When she looked up, sad brown eyes gazed back. Master Trapper Paul Blackthorne was a reanimated corpse now, summoned from his grave by none other than the Prince of Hell. Like the day he’d been buried, he wore his best suit and favourite red tie, the one she’d given him as a present.
On the run from the Vatican’s team of Demon Hunters, Riley had taken refuge in the home of Mortimer Alexander, a summoner of the dead. She had not expected to find her father waiting for her. Now, as they huddled together, she laid her head on his chest, seeking solace in his embrace.
‘I’ve missed you,’ she whispered.
‘I’ve missed you too, Pumpkin.’
This isn’t right. We’re just borrowing time.
Her dad should be in his grave. Then he would never know that Riley wasn’t his innocent little girl any longer, that she’d given up her virginity the night before.
I was a fool. Why did I let Ori do that?
She’d spent that night in the arms of someone who said he would protect her. Who said she was special and that he cherished her because she reminded him of Heaven. Morning brought the bitter truth – Ori’s protection came with a big price tag. Her lover, the fallen angel, would watch over her only if she consigned her soul to Hell. Then Lucifer, the Prince, had arrived and turned Ori into a statue for failing to follow his orders.
Riley wiped a bead of sweat off her forehead. Her body felt like a war zone, some unknown fire burning inside her now.
What if I’m pregnant?
She shuddered at the thought. Ori had said that wasn’t possible, but that could have been a clever lie. Is that why the demon hunters wanted her? What would the child of a Fallen and mortal be like? Normal? Evil? Somewhere in between?
What would the Church do to me and the baby?
When she shivered, her father broke the embrace.
‘Come with me,’ he said, taking her hand and slowly rising to his feet. ‘I need to feel the sunlight again.’ He stopped in the kitchen and poured her a tall glass of apple juice, then they entered a walled garden where cardinals and raucous blue jays fitted around a well-stocked birdfeeder. Water cascaded from the fingers of a nude stone nymph perched in the centre of a broad fountain. They settled on a stone bench still covered with frost, and Riley’s behind immediately reacted to the cold. Her father didn’t seem to notice it.
He handed her the juice. ‘Drink. You look awful.’
It wasn’t a good sign when a dead guy said you looked bad.
Riley took a long sip. It was cold and it tasted good. Clutching the glass in her hands, she gave in to the questions that careened around inside her.
‘What’s it like to be . . . dead?’ she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.
‘Very peculiar.’
‘You can’t tell me, can you?’
‘No. Not like I thought,’ he murmured.
The next question was harder. ‘Did you see Mom?’
He shook his head as his eyes clouded with sadness. ‘No.’
Riley’s heart fractured into smaller pieces. ‘Lucifer told me what you did. How you gave up your soul for me.’
Her dad’s eyes widened. ‘You spoke with the Prince?’
‘He was in the graveyard this morning after . . .’ Riley paused, biting down on her lip.
No, can’t go there.
Maybe someday she’d have the courage to admit what she’d done, but not now. ‘Lucifer said you pledged your soul to him so that Archfiend wouldn’t kill you. So you could take care of me.’
Her dad issued a resigned nod. ‘Your mother understood why I did it.’
‘Mom knew?’ she blurted. ‘Why didn’t you guys tell me?’
‘You were too young.’
‘That’s crap and you know it,’ she retorted. ‘I was old enough. What else haven’t you told me, Dad? What else is going to fall on my head when I’m not looking?’
He didn’t reply, his eyes not meeting hers now. Which meant there
was
more.
It was so unfair. Her father was supposed to remain alive until she became a master trapper.
‘Lucifer didn’t keep his bargain,’ she complained. ‘Your soul should be yours.’
‘He said he wouldn’t release it, that I owed him a debt, but he wouldn’t say what.’
‘So you’re stuck in Hell until he decides you’re not?’
Her father winced. ‘Don’t be angry. I did what was best. My soul isn’t important.’
It was so important that Lucifer wasn’t willing to give it up even when her dad had died before his time.
‘Does Mort know who summoned you?’ There was a faint nod. ‘And he’s OK with that?’ she asked, surprised.
‘He was shocked, but he hasn’t thrown me to the wolves yet.’
‘What about Beck?’
Her father shook his head. ‘I don’t look forward to the day he learns the truth. It’s going to tear him apart.’
Denver Beck, her dad’s trapping partner, had considered Paul Blackthorne a mentor. To learn he was aligned with Hell would be as devastating as when Beck had found out she’d slept with a Fallen.
Her father touched her arm. ‘I’ll see if our host has some place for you to sleep. You need rest.’
Riley blinked to hold back the tears. ‘In a little bit,’ she said, not wanting to be separated from him. Closing her eyes, she leaned against him, inhaling the confusing scents of oranges and cedar chips. Desperate to find some good in all this disaster, she took his hand and squeezed it, remembering what it had been like before he died. When his hands were warm and his heart beating. When there had been all the time in the world.
The spare bedroom in Mort’s house was bright, decorated with cream walls and peach accents. It felt like a girl’s room, which made Riley wonder if he had a sister or a niece. She yawned, then pulled the curtains to reduce the light. As she pulled off her shirt, her long brown hair fell over her face. With it came the unmistakable scent of crisp night air.
Ori’s scent.
‘Damn you,’ she swore, flinging her clothes in all directions as if that might reverse the dark echoes of the angel’s touch. She fled into the shower stall, adjusting the temperature as cold as she could stand to combat the inferno inside her veins. As the water cascaded, she scrubbed her skin until it turned red. The memories refused to be washed away.
When Riley finally climbed into the bed, she curled into a foetal position, sleep tugging at her. She wasn’t the first to give up her virginity to a guy who said he’d always care for her. Riley had heard other girls admit the same mistake during whispered confessions in school restrooms. From this point on, she would always divide her life into
Before
and
After the Angel.
Statue or not, Ori would be inside her heart, affecting every chance at love for the rest of her days.
Just like Beck.
To Denver Beck, there were many ways to welcome a new day – spread-eagled on his own lawn, wrists secured by flex-cuffs wasn’t the best of them.
‘What the hell is goin’ on?’ he bellowed into the dirt.
The response was the sound of combat boots tromping around inside his house as their owners’ voices called out to each other in Italian. When there was a sharp shatter of glass, he swore. Beck closed his eyes to keep the dirt out of them and forced himself to relax. If he fought back, the demon hunter behind him might feel the need to make this his last day on earth.
I’ll be damned if I die like this.
His only choice was to remain here until the Vatican’s elite team finished their search. Which, from all the commotion, involved tearing his house apart.
When he heard a name in the midst of the voices flowing around him, he sighed into the dirt. They were searching for Riley Blackthorne, the seventeen-year-old daughter of Beck’s dead trapper buddy, Paul.
The day had sucked even before this paramilitary-style raid, one Beck was sure his neighbours were enjoying with their morning coffee. Right after dawn Riley had arrived on his doorstep, weeping and shell-shocked. Through tears and sobs she’d admitted her blackest sin: she’d spent the night with a Fallen, one of Lucifer’s own.
Beck had known this Ori guy was bad news from the first moment he’d seen him with Riley, but he’d never expected the bastard to be a fallen angel.