Waiting for Mercy (Cambions) (42 page)

Inside the bubble, that was the clearing, the sky was somehow brighter.  Instead of a midnight blue the sky was a shade brighter.  It was the color the sky gets right before complete darkness.  Also inside the bubble, stood three figures.  Two of them I recognized, well sort of.   Jay and Kathy’s cloaks of humanity had been shed.  Still attractive, their skin appeared almost translucent.  Moonlight seemed to radiate from their very pores.  The glow was subtle but it was amazing to see.  Catching me staring, they bent their heads at me in greeting.  Not knowing what to do, I tilted my head down in reply. 

The other figure with the same radiant skin and long hair fell in waves, caught my attention.  Tucked behind one pointed ear, a lock of hair hung forward nearly to her waist.  She wasn’t tall or even built like a muscle bound warrior princess, but power emitted off of her in waves.

“Child, you bring with you all that we wish to avoid,” said the woman whose power was evident just standing in her presence.  This must be Lady Amavara that Jay and Kathy had spoke of.  Was she not going to help me?  Had I left Flynn and Sebastian to fight on their own only to be rejected?

“Kneel,” she said in such a commanding tone, I fell to my knee without thought.  It was as if she willed my compliance.

Lifting a hand stretched out in front of her with her palm out, power shuttered past me.  Looking over my shoulder, I saw the glowing red eyes of the beast that had followed me here.  If it was here, what did that mean for Sebastian and Flynn?  Panic was welling up inside me.

“Demon, you are not welcome here,” she said.  For a second I thought she was talking about me.  She stretched her other arm behind her.  A human size oval door of light appeared behind her.  “Child, it seems we will have to continue our conversation at another time. Hurry, I cannot hold this open forever.”

Looking at her from my crouched position, I turned to look at the light that beamed from the open doorway.  Could I just leave Flynn and Sebastian?  Berating myself, I wouldn’t get past that hell hound?  I had less of a chance on my own than they did.

“Conflict is written within you.  But you must go now.  Stand and hurry.”

Again, my body moved at her command.  I would have to ponder whether I decided if I submitted to her demand or if she’d somehow controlled my movement.  The decision was made.  I was going to save Luke and pray if anyone was listening, that Sebastian and Flynn would be fine.

Almost to the doorway, Lady Amavara spoke halting my steps.  Turning, I saw her body was still rigid holding the hound at bay.  Jay and Kathy were on a pier walking to the impossible ship on top of a mountain.  But her words had me looking at her again. “It is in your heart that this journey you seek is out of love and not meant to harm.  Remember, that.  Because when I call on you and I will, it will be with the same spirit in which you seek your quest.  I also expect no hesitation as I have not hesitated with you.”

Giving my head a quick shake in agreement, I moved further thinking about all the things people said about dying and walking into the light.  Lady Amavara however wasn’t done. “You are lucky you came to us and not the fae.  They would have had you bound in servitude for a lifetime for this request.”  Shuttering, I stepped past and into the light.

diaphanous
(adj.)
light, airy, transparent

Golden light surrounded me like I’d stepped on the surface of the sun.  There was nothing but light as far as I could see. No buildings, no walls, no structures of any kind.  I turned around and the doorway I’d stepped through was gone.  Behind me held more of the same.  I waited there a second for armed guards or heavenly soldiers to descend on me.  But nothing.  In my heart, I knew this wasn’t heaven.  There weren’t pearly gates, despite that, the demon inside me knew.  This was somewhere in-between. 

With no way out, I took uncertain steps forward.  One, then two and soon I was moving until a barrier stopped me dead when I walked head into it.  More interesting was that as I leaned against what I at first couldn’t see, it became solid.  Stepping back, it disappeared.  Raising a finger, I prodded what I thought was a wall in front of me.  The image of something solid rippled and obscured my view until I pulled my finger away.

Renewed, I decided that I would let this barrier guide me hopefully somewhere.  With a trailing finger out to my side, I walked in the direction I faced with no better options.  Having no sound, I longed to call out to test if there would be an echo.  But common sense told me that I might alert someone of my presence if they didn’t already know I was here.  So I kept that bubble of sounds that I so desperately wanted to send into the vacuum of silence, inside.  Nothing, not even my rubber soled chucks made a noise.  With only light surrounding me, I mused that could be walking upside down for all I knew.

Flynn’s urging me to leave and his quote to take care of our boy, fills my mind with guilt for leaving him.  Was his life worth any less than Luke’s?  How was I supposed to make the right decision?  I cared for them both.  Differently maybe, but I would see no harm to either of them.  Sebastian’s face fills my mind.  And I wonder how a hell hound had gotten past him.  Starting to feel the press of guilt for my transgressions, I flashed in my memory back to being in hell.  There the guilt and sorrow had nearly suffocated me into choking sobs.  This feeling was similar, but the weight wasn’t pressed on my chest like lead.  Instead, I wondered at all my choices recently.  What was different here is I felt the need to seek absolution which in all honesty is what I’d wanted.  What I craved was for all the mistakes that I’d made and pain I caused others to be forgiven.

Time held no meaning and without a watch, I had no idea how much time had passed.  I walked in a wilderness of light.  A dessert absent any color save the ones I wore on my body in the form of clothes.  My mind continued to name and tick off all the wrongs I thought I’d done. I conjured all the possible things that cause Maggie’s fate ending in me and was on to Paul.  His summoning demons had all been about me.  My musings stopped when I heard something.  Pausing, I waited to see if my mind had made up the noise.  But faintly it was there.

Picking up my pace, I move boldly forward with more urgency.  Still, I saw nothing but light.  The sound was getting closer.  Almost to a light run, my heart beat hard in my chest.  I was beginning to think I wasn’t lost forever.

“With the charges read against you, how say you,” the voice boomed although it was still faint in my ears.  Stuttering steps slowed my stride.  The words led me to believe I’d come across Luke’s council meeting.

“I plead guilty.”  The voice that spoke was unmistakable.  Luke. A gasp escaped me.  To hear it reminded me that I had sought to keep my presence cloaked.  Covering my mouth, I looked around and saw nothing.  Hearing him but not seeing him was so cruel.  Moving, I hoped I would find a way to see.  My index finger still trailing the “wall” I pressed forward.

“Guardian, say you not defend yourself?” the voice of the man in charge, I suspected.

With no visual, all I had to go on were the sounds of the voices.  Luke’s didn’t sound distressed.  So I hoped he was well. “Tobias,” he said.

With words that cut Luke’s off, the man said, “You will call me magistrate here.”

“Yes, magistrate,” Luke answered.  His voice seemed resigned and quickening my pace, I didn’t want him to give up hope.

A tapping sound preceded the magistrate’s voice, “So like that, you will give up everything you worked for.”

“Yes.” The single word Luke said had me opening my mouth.  But I closed it not yet ready with a plan as to what I could do. I couldn’t afford to be stopped before I had at least saw him.  Nothing more but vast diaphanous empty space enveloped my vision except for my finger trailing on the wall.

“I would think with a father such as yours, a power not bestowed on any other, that you would have more care in your actions.” I heard no response from Luke. “You used to consume alcohol in large quantities and smoke those vile things human call cigarettes.  You were able to kick those habits.” Still no response. “Yet, you crossed the line by carrying on with one of your charges.  That cannot be forgiven.”

“I know,” Luke said with conviction.

“Like father like son,” the magistrate spouted.

Luke’s voice brimmed with more feeling than I’d heard up to this point lashed out. “I’m nothing like him.”

The harsh laugh seemed out of place, but words soon followed. “Your father fell from grace for your mother.  And here his son sits in the same position.  Not only does he fall in love with someone in his charge, she is a demon no less.”

“Being a demon doesn’t make her evil.  Isn’t what we are taught that it’s not the circumstances that a person is born in that makes them evil.  It is their actions.”  Luke’s words are sharp and I fear for him. At the same time I was proud and happy he defended me.  I had no idea what was happening, other than the words that floated in the dead space with me.

“What if I told you that shortly after you left that world, she ran to save your incubus friend?”

Stopping, my heart raced in my chest.  After all that he heard that night, I was certain that this news would crush him.  “So, I would expect no less of her,” he said, surprising me.

“Would you still give up your position and not defend yourself if I told you they were together?”

A long silence.  I didn’t breathe for waiting to hear what he was going to say.  “Nothing would change.  If I can’t be with her, he is the one I would trust her being with the most.”

Grabbing my chest, I wondered if I’d heard him correctly. “Despite what you learned that night you would still wait for her,” the magistrate said in what sounded like disgust.

“Yes,” Luke breathed.

Shuffling of paper occurred. “Waiting for Mercy.  That’s so odd because you kneel before me, waiting for my mercy.”  Another pause.  “How can you still trust them?”

“Is this really necessary, Tobias?” Luke asked.

“Magistrate,” the voice boomed.  Luke didn’t voice a response.  A tapping sound preceded the magistrates’ next words. “I just don’t understand.”

Luke spoke, “You’ve never loved before.”

Moving my feet again, something told me things were coming to a head.  I needed to get in there before Luke made the biggest mistake of his life.

“Guardian, I am curious.  If you were a pure angel, I could understand your acceptance.  But you are human too.  Your anger was apparent that evening, yet now you seem fine with everything.”

Luke cleared his throat. “With nothing but time, I’ve been able to reflect.” A pause, then he said, “I saw the truth in their eyes.”

“Like apologies for being caught,” the magistrate said cutting in.  Now I was angry.  Who was this angel to suggest that we weren’t worthy of Luke’s forgiveness?

“No, regret for their actions,” Luke said.   My finger trailed behind me as my body moved faster now.  I needed to get to him.

More tapping, more shuffling. “What would you do if you knew she was here?” the magistrate said.  Suddenly, I could see.  I could see beyond the wall that my finger touched.  I dropped my hand so that my view wouldn’t be obstructed.

 Luke was on one bent knee dressed in all white.  His wings were radiant behind him.  Wings.  No, Luke said they didn’t have wings.  Sluggishly, I remembered again what Luke said.  This is how my mind interpreted what I was seeing.  He was looking up at the guy on the small round podium. The magistrate stood in a white sheaf of fabric that fell all the way to the floor.  “How could she be here?” Luke asked clearly confused. 

I put a hand out to the wall trying to find a way in, when the magistrate turned his gaze to me.  He knew I was here. “Yes, how could she be here indeed?”

Anxiously, I moved with haste, but not quite running.  I could see everything to the left of me except the wall unless I touched it.  I hadn’t found a doorway yet. 

“Well, as entertaining as this was, you offer no defense. I must rule against you.”  There was a gasp, and for a second I saw stadium seating behind Luke.  That quickly faded away as the magistrate raised his hand.  The view dissolved so quickly, I didn’t see who was sitting watching the proceedings.  “Luke Bishop, son of Jonah, your services as a guardian are no longer required.”

A man in white robe and pants appeared carrying what looked like a sword on steroids.  The wide arced blade was scary.  Now I began to run still seeking a hole in the wall.  The executioner took position to the side of Luke facing me.