Rise of the Fallen 1 - My Soul to Keep (13 page)

Her hand shot across the table and covered my mouth. Her eyes started
glowing and she leaned closer very slowly. “I told you, it never happened. Forget
about it. If you ever draw them again I will kill you myself. Do you understand
me?”

I shook my head.

“You don’t understand or you don’t agree. Tell me now, because one
way or another, this discussion is over.”

I reached up and grabbed her wrist, squeezed as hard as I could, and
pulled it slowly from my mouth. The look of surprise on her face made me feel a
little better about the whole situation. “Clarisse, you told me to do something
and I did it. Now you say it was completely wrong and won’t tell me why. If you
give me a reason, I might consider it, but until then my answer is no.”

She sighed and sat back in her chair. She brought her fingers up to
her face and covered her mouth with them. “Connor, I can’t. I really need you to
trust me with this one, okay? We are forbidden to talk about it. Just don’t ever
bring them back.”

It was her use of my name that made me believe her. I nodded and she
smiled. “By the way, if anybody asks, you bought me a scooter.”

“Huh?”

Chapter 14

“You need to start practicing calling another weapon. Think of something
deadly. Just don’t call the twins anymore,” she said as we exited the mall. I expected
her to go back to work, but she didn’t.

“Now?”

“Well, not at the mall. Let’s go to the clearing.”

“Clarisse, it’s dark!”

“Schmuck, you can see in the dark.” Her bug was parked in the handicapped
spot right outside the mall. Talk about shallow. I gave her a dirty look as she
popped the door with the little key fob in her pocket and started the engine.

“What do you mean I can see in the dark?”

“Come on, I’ll show you,” she said and motioned for me to get in.

We drove the whole way in silence. She turned on the radio to break
the awkwardness filling the car. When we turned off the main road, she killed the
headlights. For a second, I sat there, completely blind. Moment by moment,
everything
came into focus. The coolest part of the whole experience was that it wasn’t
like looking through night vision goggles. Everything looked almost normal, but
had a silvery sheen to it. I stared at Clarisse and she looked over at me and smiled.

“Cool.”

“It is. Welcome to not being human anymore,” she said and killed the
engine. She opened her door and stepped out into the chilly night.

I did the same and by the time I caught up to her, her wings were visible
and she wore some sort of leather outfit. I looked down at my jeans and T-shirt
and figured they were good enough. “What are we doing?”

“We’re going to practice calling a different weapon. I need you to
always reach for it, instead of the twin blades.”

“I wish you would tell me what the big deal is,” I said one last time.

“I can’t, Connor. I wish I could, but I can’t. Maybe someday, but not
until I get permission. I don’t even want to tell anybody you called them. It would
make things difficult.”

“Okay, so what do you want me to call?”

“Call just a normal sword, just one?”

“I’ll try.” I held out my hand, pictured a long, gleaming silver sword,
and called it into being. It sat in my hand, just like I imagined. “That was easier
than I thought it would be.”

“Good! Now banish it and let’s try it again.”

I tossed the sword into the air and it disappeared with a little pop.
I went to call it back again when Clarisse’s hefty sword swung in an arc toward
my face. I panicked and called the blade back…and blocked her sword with two of
mine.

Two matte black curved blades.
Crap.
“Clarisse…”

“It’s okay, I kind of expected it. Get rid of them. We need to teach
you to call the other one when you’re in danger.”

I nodded and tossed the blades away. Clarisse attacked and they came
back. I banished them again and tried calling the silver blade to my hand. Every
time I tried, the twin blades made an appearance.

“Concentrate, worm.”

“Let me try something different,” I said and pictured a small hunting
knife with a thick blade and a horn handle. I actually
owned
one just like
it. It used to be my dad’s and he gave it to me during my brief stint in the boy-scouts.

Closing my eyes, I pulled.
Pop.
I opened my eyes and a single
one of the twin blades sat firmly in my hand. Shaking my head, I looked up at Clarisse
in defeat. I opened my other hand in surrender and
pop
the other blade appeared.
“I don’t know what to do.”

“I do.
Darius!”
She barely whispered his name, but it echoed
around us like thunder.

I looked up and saw the clouds start to swirl with a thick green color
reminiscent of soup. They formed a hole in the sky and swirled faster and faster
until it looked like a small tornado would form and suck us up into the sky.

“Banish them, worm.”

I quickly tossed them away and heard them vanish into nothingness as
the Reaper, Darius, plummeted from the sky and landed on the dirt in front of us
on one knee.

He lifted his head and stared at Clarisse quizzically. “No. It cannot
be.”

“I’m afraid so, Darius. He bears the blades and cannot call anything
else. What do you want to do?”

“Um, excuse me. What’s going on?” They both turned to stare at me.

“Call your weapon, brother. Please,” Darius added.

Just for shiggles I called a Swiss Army knife. It didn’t work, the
twin black blades popped into my hands.

Darius bowed his head and I saw his chest swell as he inhaled deeply.
He took the few steps separating us and reached out his open palm. I took it he
wanted to see one of my blades, so I gently set the handle in his hand. Immediately
the skin around the handle started to sizzle and burn. Darius ignored it and brought
the blade to his face.

"What is it?" I looked to Clarisse, even though I'd asked
Darius the question. She brought her finger to her lips, telling me to be quiet.

"They are different, but the same as well. The Script on the blades
isn't the same," Darius whispered, but I doubted he was talking to me.

"What does it say?" I really wanted to know.

"I wish I knew. It is in the language of Creation. I only know
the difference because I saw the usurper's blades. The runes are longer."

"The Usurper?" I saw Clarisse's eyes widen as I asked the
question.

"Yes. The Usurper. You know the tale, brother. There isn't a mortal
in this realm who hasn't heard it. He led us against our cousins and bears the brunt
of mortal sin. He is blamed for all, even though he is gone."

"He died?"

"No. He merely washed his hands of everything and fled. None of
us was willing to search for him either. It is better this way. Clarisse, you feared
for naught. While the blades appear to be the same, they aren't," he said and
handed me the blade.

I felt a little better with it back in my hand. They belonged there.

"Thank you, Darius." she said and bowed. I did the same.

He nodded and launched himself back in the air, vanishing with a swirl
of clouds and a clap of thunder. "So is everything good now?"

"I hope so, worm. I hope so."

"Good. Because we need to talk…"

"More?" She sighed and sat down in the grass. "What
now?"

"The Halloween dance."

"Oh, come on. We'll have fun."

"I'm sure we would, but…you see…Clarisse…"

"You want to go with the mortal girl," she finished.

"How did you know?"

"Because I've been alive for a very long time. There's something
we need to talk about first…"

I braced myself for "the talk". My parents had tried to give
it to me several times in the past year alone. It never went well. "Clarisse,
I know all about that stuff. I don't need to hear it from you, too."

She stopped talking and laughed. Hysterically. "You think I'm
going to tell you about the birds and the bees? You moron!" The laughter continued
for several more minutes. When she finally finished, she wiped her eyes on her sleeve
and gave out a final bark of laughter. "No, you dolt. I need to talk to you
about humans. Don't forget. You're not one anymore."

I panicked. I did the first thing any young man would do in this situation.
I cupped myself.
There.
My eyes must have gone completely white and terror
must have shown on my face because it set Clarisse off on another long laughter
train. I felt stupid and embarrassed. "What?"

"Relax for a minute, Connor. Everything still works. Even as a
Fallen, we still um…yeah…you know. I've just got to warn you about becoming too
involved with a human."

I raised my eyebrow skeptically. "Why?"

"Because we live forever, they don't. They’ll grow old and die.
We won't. All we can do is watch it happen. There's one other thing. Should we ever
um, have offspring with a human, the results are bad."

"Like not healthy?"

"Like doomed to suffer until their mortal life is extinguished
and they take their true form as a Chosen or Fallen. History is littered with examples.
None of them good."

"Like?"

"Goliath. Most of the Greek Heroes. Merlin. Most have considerable
power, but never have a happy ending. Humans call them Nephalim. We call them screwed."

"Really?"

"Basically. Their true name is The Cursed, but screwed fits the
bill. I can't tell you what to do, but mating with humans is selfish."

"Clarisse! I have no intentions of mating with her. At the dance."

"Just be careful, and fine. Our date is cancelled. But I want
my scooter back."

Chapter 15

"Connor! Wake up," my father's voice cut through my dreams.
"You promised to help me clean the garage today. Let's get it done."

I moaned, rolled over, and planted my face firmly into my pillow. "I'm
still sleeping!"

"No you're not. Get up. Don't make me send your sister in here
to wake you up."

I bolted out of bed. Having ice water dumped on me would be preferable.
"Come on, let's get this done," I said and walked past my dad. I slept
in my jeans and T-shirt, so I ran to brush my teeth and met him in the garage.

He was staring at my shiny red scooter with a peculiar look on his
face. "Where the hell did this come from?"

"It was a gift. From a girl."

He spun with a goofy smile on his face. Then he tried to look all parental
and failed miserably. "Which girl?"

"Claire. Mom met her yesterday."

"Connor, I just don't…"

"It's cool, Dad. I tried to give it back and I tried to say no.
She bought it and her parents told her no way in hell was she keeping it. She has
tons of money."

"It's still not right, Connor. You don't take that kind of gift
from someone. Especially a girlfriend…"

"She's not my girlfriend!"

"But your mother…" Dad looked really confused. She must have
told him about meeting Claire. I felt sick.

"We're just friends, Dad. I promise."

"Friends with whom?" I spun and saw Jessie standing outside
the open garage door. She tilted her head to the side and looked like she'd caught
most, if not all, of the conversation.

"Hi, Jessie! I thought you weren't coming until noon?"

"Check your watch. It's five after. Who were you talking about?"

"Just Claire. She gave me a scooter. Dad assumed we were going
out. Dad, this is Jessie. Jessie, my dad."

"Hi, Mr. Sullivan," she said and stepped into the garage.
I reached out to take her hand, but somehow she knew it and stepped around me. My
father gave me a look over her head. It spoke volumes.

I sighed and stood next to Jessie while she shook my dad's hand. "Nice
to meet you too, Jessie. Go ahead, Connor. I'll finish the garage. Thanks for your
help."

"My pleasure," I said and winked, thanking him for letting
me go. "Want to go upstairs, Jessie?"

"Sure," she said. "Right after I meet your mom. Don't
you have a sister, too?"

I groaned and opened the screen door leading into the laundry room.
Mom kept it pretty clean, so I didn't have to worry about Jessie tripping over anything.
We found Mom in the kitchen making sandwiches. I had a very bad feeling. I prayed
to God, mom wouldn't bring up Claire.
Please, please, please, please, God, no.

"Mom, this is my um…friend, Jessie." I panicked. I froze.
I choked. I felt about a foot tall, but I didn't know what else to call her. Our
second date and I screwed it up in the first few moments. It had to be a new record.