Winter Sparrow (16 page)

“Quite a wonder, isn’t she?” Lucas said to Joshua.

“Leave me, you menace,” Joshua said, gazing up at the beast from his knees. He could barely inhale. “I can’t…bear to look at...her like this.”

Mary stood speechless. She could only stare at Joshua with eyes that were less than human. Lost eyes. Sad eyes. But she would stay in this moment—looking at him, him looking at her—forever, if she could.

Lucas pulled Mary’s ghost closer, possessing her. Then, kneeling down into the earth, he gathered his strength and leapt, soaring into the sky with powerful force.

JOSHUA WAS ALONE FOR A
long while. The wind stirred around him, moving the trees to his right and left. He lay on his back, studying the dark winter sky, how his breath dissipated into the black. Minutes felt like hours. His eyes drifted to the wound in his side. The opening bled out, and every time he quivered, he lost oxygen. But he couldn’t accept this terrible end. He wouldn’t.

Joshua stumbled to his feet, taking in the beauty of the mansion. In a blink, he remembered the countless hours he spent toiling and working hard to perfect the home. The mansion was complete at last.

But he had not fought so hard to keep it all intact if Mary could not be among its beauty.

He wanted her soul here. It wasn’t right that she was gone. That she had been stolen from him. He could make it right again, couldn’t he?

She’s dead
, his mind whispered.
She’s dead
.

In the far back of the property, there existed a stone house. It was small, little more than a garage. A sepulcher. He wandered to its path, which was hidden from anyone who did not know its way. The wind sifted through his hair, chilling his scalp and his bones. He shivered as he gazed upon stone. The symbols carved into the top and sides of the structure meant just as much now as they did when he had them carved three years ago. On the left was the symbol for beginning. On the far right, a symbol for end. In the center, there existed a solitary symbol unlike the other two. Eternity.

Joshua felt a burning in his lungs every time he breathed. But he would not stop. He walked toward the door and pressed his dry lips against it. Using a key from his pocket, Joshua unlocked the sepulcher. A white mist seeped out into the snow, causing a new group of flowers to spring to life.

He stepped inside. The sound of his footsteps seemed to echo, despite the fact it was such a small enclosure. Perfect and imperfect stones made up the walls and roof. A small hole existed at the top, which let a pencil-thin light inside.

He wept, thinking of all of the memories he had not yet shared with Mary. It could not end this way. It would not end this way. He uttered her name. The trees outside the stone walls seemed to cry as he spoke. He rubbed his hands together, the scars and cuts he’d endured over the years on each palm touching. “Mary,” he uttered again.

She lay so still on a metal bed with flowers and tree bark surrounding her corpse. But it did not look much like a corpse at all. Her skin maintained a milky hue, and not a day of aging had corrupted her. Hair as beautiful as a sunset cascaded down shoulders as young as the day he married her. The power running through the trees had kept her body from wilting. A white rose had been placed in her hands, which were resting softly atop her chest. The wounds from the accident remained, along with the blood stains and torn materials, but beneath it all, Joshua knew his bride was not lost.

“I love you.” Joshua wiped his tears and lifted her off the surface. He carried her out of the tomb and across his landscape. The snow did not relent. Lightning ripped across the sky and rain suddenly slipped from heaven. Fog sought to confuse the path, but he knew the way. He would risk what little air remained in his lungs. He had to keep moving.

Joshua fought the cramps adding to the pain of his wound. He inhaled the gray smoke of the world, the reality of her fall. The night was a black mask trying to choke every hope from his throat. He didn’t care. He could smell the age of the earth in his nostrils; it smelled broken.

He didn’t know how long he’d been walking, carrying his love in his arms, but finally he stopped. A bolt of lightning lit the darkened sky. Thunder grumbled in the distance soon after. His heartbeat jolted. The rain dripped into every particle of snow, melting, melting. Joshua could still see the tracks from the tires of Mary’s vehicle, where she’d lost control three years earlier. The guardrail had been replaced, but in his mind, he pictured the former one, twisted and destroyed. He could almost hear the sound of the collision, feel her panic as glass from the windshield showered over her.

“Mary,” he whispered once more, the thoughts starting to die. She didn’t move in his arms. She lay in silence. Since he had removed her from the table, her skin had begun to deteriorate. This was the spot. At last reached. He knew it perfectly. Often he would come here, experience her pain again and again. Some would call him sick, but it wasn’t a sickness. It was a love deeper than the ocean.

“Forever,” he finally whispered, falling to his knees. His bones ached upon impact with the slick pavement. Joshua started wheezing. He continued to lose breath fast. But the stinging in his ribcage could not stifle his love.

The road became quiet, except for the cooing of the haunting trees. They too wanted the chance to be human. Such tragic creations they were, left to exist in lonely unity within these woods.

“Lucas!” Joshua screamed at the top of his voice, cradling Mary against his chest.

His eyes roamed the dark. Another bolt of lightning divided the sky. He waited. The very name of that sadistic creature put vengeful thoughts in him. He wished to tear those fangs from his mouth, to shred each wing and crush that arrogant windpipe that bred curse upon curse.

“Lucas!” he howled again. Blood drained from his side every time he spoke, every time he moved. He brought Mary’s neck upward, kissing her hair. New lines spread across her cheeks as seconds turned to minutes. Black veins and new blood. “Forever,” he whispered into her.

Time ceased.

He groaned.

And then the sound of wings disturbed the air.

The beast descended from the sky. “Well, well. I thought I smelled your weak blood. Long time, no see. What do you want, Joshua?”

Drops of rain clung to the ends of Joshua’s hair. He turned to face his enemy. “You deceived her.”

“I gave Mary what she wanted.”

“What she
thought
she wanted,” Joshua corrected.

“She was lost long before she ran to me.”

“You put her inside of a nightmare. Your world…is…a disguise, a frail replica. You could never love her…like I did. Like I still do.”

“Suddenly a change of heart. This is quite a different song than what I heard earlier.”

Joshua’s stare drilled the beast.

“You know, I still get excited over human meat. Do you know why?” A pause. “Because of choice. It’s their choices that make ’em vulnerable.”

“And beautiful.”

“That’s what you still see?” Lucas growled. “Are you blind? That’s her corpse in your arms, yet still you pathetically believe in a love that no longer exists.”

Joshua struggled for breath. “You are a liar! All you know…is ruin.”

The beast showed his fangs; they dripped red. “Spare me the dramatics, architect! My strengths are growing, as you’ve seen. Your father has left these woods behind. He has departed, and in doing so, left their future to me. I’ve been busy since you’ve been away. Do you really think you can just return and all will be as it once was?”

“My family’s power is still strong in this place. You’re…just a passing shadow here.”

Lucas seethed, exposing his wings again. “Do not waste my time! Why did you call me here?”

Joshua pressed his temple against Mary’s chest then raised his head once more. “Give her soul back.”

Lucas roared with amusement. “Sorry, but precious belongs to me now. Fair is fair.”

Joshua retrieved the utility blade from his pocket and cut his wrist. Blood leaked from the incision. The thick, crimson stream seduced the creature.

“You tempt me with your blood?”

“I came here to make a deal.”

“Really?” A long plume of smoke escaped the creature’s extended snout. “Pray tell the details.”

Joshua blinked then said, “Return Mary. You can have me in her place.”

“Do you take me for a fool? No one has ever tasted your blood.”

“You will. I mean…what…I say. Let her go, and take me instead.”

Lucas folded his wings and became a man again. “Ah, so there’s the catch. Return your bride and get the mere corpse of her savior.”

“My blood runs through these veins. My family’s blood. You’ve lusted after it…since we built the mansion here.”

Lucas’s tongue slithered out.

“Taste it, if you doubt me.”

Lucas sank his fangs into Joshua’s wrist and drank for a long moment. Power escaped.

“Enough,” the tired husband heaved. “You have tasted…and seen my commitment to her. Let her go!”

“If you do this, she will live. But you will never see her again,” Lucas said, wiping his jaw with his sleeve.

“Not with these eyes.”

Lucas salivated. He twitched his neck, impatient and aggravated. “What if I refuse? What if I kill you now and devour your corpse right here just for sport?”

“You can try.”

A growl stirred the air around Lucas’s nostrils. “If I had my way, I’d watch you ruin, here, where she died. I would make you watch it again and again and again.”

A wind sifted through the trees, and Joshua’s eyes read frustration. “Release my bride now, or the deal is off.”

Lucas scratched at his throat and hesitated before speaking. “So be it, architect. I’ll give you what you want.” He knelt down beside Joshua and sniffed a strand of Mary’s hair. “But know that your torment is coming. It will not be swift. It will not be easy. Every breath will be a new chance for you to suffer. And for you, dear friend, it won’t be a dream. It will be a real, living hell. I will take pleasure in seeing you cast down, like a plague. You will humble yourself before me and beg for this world before the end.”

Joshua held out his hand, and Lucas dragged his fangs through his wrist once more to finalize the contract. A jolt of energy tore out of Joshua’s veins. “It is done, then,” he gasped.

With a blink, Lucas shifted into his true form, and Mary’s eyes suddenly opened.

“Joshua?” she said, coming to with a soft breath. Her bones shifted into place, adjusting to her body once more. The spots of ruin and hideous wire veins vanished immediately. The healing process had begun.

He kissed her mouth.

“How?” she asked, wide-eyed with amazement.

“They all have a price they’re willing to pay,” Lucas whispered.

“Him?” Mary said, just noticing the bat’s presence. She clung to her lover. “What is he doing here?”

“Your husband and I have an arrangement, darling. Isn’t that right, Joshua?”

Joshua nodded.

“No, tell me it’s not true.”

“You are alive again, Mary. That’s all that matters.”

“What have you done?”

“I love you. I couldn’t…abandon you. I couldn’t.”

Mary leaned up, breathless. “What will happen now?”

He became weaker by the minute. “Don’t be afraid. Just remember. Remember my love for you.”

“What will become of you?” she asked, stroking his cheek with her palm.

“I have to go away. It’s the way it has to be.” Joshua moved closer and whispered into her ear. “But this is not the end. I will see you again…when winter is no more.”

She kissed him passionately, and he embraced her lips, her body. Never before had he tasted so much desire.

“It’s time for me to go.”

“Yes, I’m afraid so,” Lucas seethed. “I plan to get creative with you.”