Airs & Graces (10 page)

“You made me lose my knife,” he hissed by my ear, and he reared back, mouth opening wide.

I wanted to live damn it, I really did, and I did the last thing I could think of, not really expecting anything but pointy teeth tearing into my flesh. I screamed “Tab! Tab, please! Please help me!” and threw my arms up between me and the Fallen.

“He can’t hear you, Girl!” Rahab snapped and began his descent, fully intending on ripping out my throat. I closed my eyes and accepted that this was how I was going to die, and was filled with a strange sense of peace… I opened my eyes when nothing happened to a glare of red light.

Rahab was staring down at me, his eyes wide. A good five inches of steel was sticking out of the front of his chest – and past that, almost a foot of red light.

“I heard her,” I heard Tab say, though he was hidden behind the psychopathic Fallen Angel’s body.

I looked Rahab in the eye, his mouth opening and closing like a landed fish, and mouthed the words “Fuck you,” before he was yanked off of me and tossed to the side. Tab’s blade made a wet sucking sound as it withdrew from the Fallen Angel’s flesh. There was something different this time, as the body slowly turned to smoke.

Tab stood over me, staring down at me dispassionately. I closed my eyes, lay my head back onto the ground, and intoned, “You want the good news or the bad news?” I was met with silence that stretched so long, I thought he’d left me again, like in the car, but when I opened my eyes, he was still there, and I felt the hot trace of tears slide down my temples and into my hair. I guess we were both guilty of abandoning each other in a way.

“Both,” he said, head tilted as he took me in. His voice still held the warm thread of anger, like it did outside the diner.

“The good news is I think I’m closer to understanding the Grace, and I had another vision. This time it was about whatever the fuck it is you’re looking for though. I’m sure of it,” I said, still laying prostrate… everything hurt. “The bad news is, we have to have a talk, and you need to answer more questions.” He nodded carefully after several moments of consideration.

“Are you injured?” he asked. I thought about it.

“I don’t know.” I answered. The adrenaline was wearing off, and my hands were starting to shake – I mean really shake – and my chest was on fire. I told him everything that hurt, and he finally came around and knelt down at my head. I looked up at him, the shaking getting worse, sobs starting to happen, and I tried to push it down, you know, just shut up and be brave. He put a hand on either side of my head and smoothed some stray hair out of my eyes. I was afraid of him, not for the first time. I had been afraid of him when I first met him over Piorre’s body. This time, however, was the first time I was afraid he was really going to put me down like some sort of lame animal. He didn’t, though. There was a red flash, and some of the crushing pain in my chest eased, and I could breathe better.

“You are not permanently injured,” he said letting me go. “I’ve done what I can, but you’ll take time to heal.” He looked almost apologetic – almost – but then I was rolling onto all fours heaving my guts up on a dirt roadway, but the only thing in my stomach to come up was bile. I rolled back onto my back, careful to keep my hair out of the fresh puddle of vomit I’d made, and stared at a steel gray, cloudy sky.

“I hate you,” I said, gasping for breath, “But I deserved that.” He did not disagree.

Chapter Four

Tabbris

There was shock on her face as we arrived in the morning air of Tibet. Adelaide clutched at her mouth and stomach simultaneously. After a moment, she released her mouth. “I think it’s getting easier, but it still sucks.”

“You’d prefer flying?”

“You can fly?”

“Sure, I just buy a ticket.” I started walking toward the Temple.

“Wait, did you just…? Was that a joke?” Receiving no answer, she crawled to her feet and asked instead. “Is that where we’re going?”

The Temple was surrounded by monks who lived in a state of balance between Heaven and Hell. They were untouchable by either side, in ways, and vulnerable to both in ways. It was not a given that our request for asylum would be granted, especially since we were both bathed in the blood of Demons and Fallen and reeked of trouble.

The tiny girl that walked down the path toward us suggested to me that they would reject our request. If they were to honor us, they’d have sent one of the elders.

I must have sighed when I noticed the young girl, because Adelaide leaned onto my shoulder and whispered, “What’s wrong? Is that…”

“Yes,” I said, and she tensed. “That’s a no.” Once again I felt the quizzical look.

As the young girl arrived directly in front of us, she handed me a blossom. I’d seen it before, used as a test to see if I was truly whom I appeared to be. I took the flower and it opened up, sizzling on the edge where it touched the Demon’s blood on my hands. She took the flower back from me and turned to go back up to the Temple. She never stopped smiling, and I couldn’t help but feel that the use of a young girl as a test to see if something horrible was at your door was somehow wrong. But then, I also supposed that sometimes maintaining a balance between Heaven and Hell required leaning Hell-ward, now and then.

She passed one of the elders as she made her way back up, and soon he was standing in front of me. “Tabbris. It must be very bad.”

I nodded. “Not the end of the world, yet, but yes, very bad.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Oh, so not like last time.” He turned toward Adelaide. “I assume you feel like you are out of your element, confused, frustrated, maybe even scared?”

“Good to know I look how I feel.”

“No, dear, you look lovely, but a bath and some clean clothes could not worsen your day. Perhaps some food?” He put his hand under Adelaide’s and led her up the path while I followed behind.

She softly wrapped her fingers around his frail hand and smiled. “I think I might be in love with you, sir. You could learn a lot from this gentleman, Tab.”

“My name is Yin, and I am one of the elders of this Temple. We are aware of some of the elements of your struggle and would gladly offer you hospitality. The forces of Heaven and Hell will not find you here for a long time.” We walked up the path, seeing monks toiling in the garden, and carrying water from a nearby stream.

“A few days,” I said.

“I like his version better.” Adelaide shot me a glance. I guessed from her expression that she thought my response was a bit rude.

Master Yin was amused by our interaction, not annoyed. “You will have to forgive Tabbris. He’s been through a lot for humanity. He seldom sees any gratitude or warm feelings from us, and I think that makes him a little grumpy.”

Adelaide didn’t speak for a moment, staring at me until I looked back at her. Then she turned her gaze away. Master Yin led her into the Temple, then guided her hand to the hand of one of the four women who stood in the entryway.

The Temple itself was entirely gray stone on the outside, except for the giant red wooden columns arranged out front on the walkway that went around it. Inside it was wood, with red cloth hanging from the ceiling and red glass around each torch, candle, or lantern. The wood of the furniture was polished with a reddish stain, to somewhat match the general color scheme of the place. Even with the doors open to the Tibetan chill, the place was surprisingly warm. There was a hint of a chilled breeze through the open doors and huge, glassless windows, but the worst seemed as if it might possibly be deflected by the cloth hanging outside them, or the engineers who built the place just studied how the wind behaved atop this mountain. As soon as we were far enough inside that the smell of mountaintop snow faded, the smell of wood smoke and tanned leather, with a hint of incense, took over.

“You should go have a bath; we have some clothes that might fit you.” Master Yin looked like he’d suddenly remembered something. “Are you hungry, dear?”

“Yes.” She seemed distracted. “Thank you.” It looked like it was almost an afterthought. The girl led Adelaide away, and Master Yin and I stood there and watched them go. When they were definitely out of earshot, he spoke, not looking at me. “You don’t have any idea what you’re going to do, do you?”

“No.” My answer was simple and honest. Honesty was the least I could trade for asylum right now. Adelaide had been right, back in Chile: I needed time to think.

“Well,” he said, putting his hand on my shoulder. “It is still good to see you, Tabbris.” Master Yin began walking with the gait of a younger man toward the Temple’s planning room. “Come,” he called back to me. “Let us think up a plan, like the old days.”

“Like the old days,” I mumbled, following him.

Yin waited until we’d had tea and a chance to settle in before speaking again. “So, that’s her?” he asked.

I shook my head. “That’s her Grace inside her, making itself at home. But Adelaide is definitely her own person. At least I hope so.”

He paused for a very long time, possibly sorting out how vessels and hosts and the rest worked within the best of his knowledge. Finally, “You hope? I thought you and Iaoel were friends?”

“So did I.”

“What happened?”

“She had another vision. This time, she trusted that more than she trusted me, or mortals.”

“She is the Angel of Visions. Maybe she just couldn’t fight her nature any more than you can. You haven’t exactly gotten a lot out of being the so-called Angel of Free Will.”

I bristled at that, but quickly calmed down. Faced with an Angel, Yin was just playing devil’s advocate. “I have purpose. That’s all I’ve ever wanted. It’s what I was made for, to safeguard mortal’s right to choose their own destiny. Free will was the greatest gift God gave you. It shouldn’t be squandered.”

“That’s a heavy statement, my friend. Gave to us, but not to you? I’ll get to the rest later, but some of your kind sort of resented that, didn’t they? You deal with us more than most. Don’t you?”

“If that was one of my problems, I’d have fallen a long time ago.”

He glanced at my wings. “You’re sure you haven’t?”

“I have plenty of things to account for, but jealousy of mortals isn’t one of my sins.”

“I heard you accounted for some of them. Not that I’m particularly well connected, but we get occasional news here, even when you’re away.”

“I spent some time in Hell, yes.”

“Over Iaoel?”

“And the whole situation, yes. But I hid her Grace away, as soon as I was extracted. Piorre volunteered. I wanted to know what she’d seen that led to… a lot of things. But so, it seems, did Michael. Piorre was a young man, but already a dedicated scholar, too curious for his own good. He was only too happy to make it his life’s work to unfold Iaoel’s Grace.”

“Michael, right. So, if he wanted to know what she’d seen, why did you take it to him in the first place, exactly? It seems like you’d be in a lot less trouble if you’d kept her hidden.”

“It had taken Piorre a lifetime, with limited progress. She never much comprehended mortals. I didn’t think there was any chance she’d bond with Adelaide, at least not so
quickly
.” I could not be certain Iaoel hadn’t done it out of spite, to be honest, but I kept the idle thought to myself. It was better to think of the Grace as clinically as possible. It was already difficult enough to not let this get personal.

“I understand that, but taking something to Michael is something of the opposite of keeping it hidden.

“Yes, but now there was a human at stake who hadn’t volunteered. Moreover…” It was difficult, for a moment, to say it, but I had to explain what he’d brought into his home. “I didn’t realize the vision Iaoel had betrayed me over was about the keys to the Gates and a way to possibly bring about the Judgment.”

“I thought you said this visit wasn’t the end of the world this time.” He was smiling as he said it, at least.

“Just the opposite. It’s about preventing it.”

“Nice sophistry. All right, go on.”

“Giving Iaoel to Michael meant keeping her out of reach of Rahab, Lucifer, and plenty of others curious about whatever information she might have. If something turned out problematic as Michael worked Iaoel’s Grace through the celestial bureaucracy, I figured I’d have time to make it disappear again.”

“But she had bonded, and you figured Michael might care more about the Grace than one life.”

“Yes. I had to get her out.”

“And since then, you’ve discovered just how much more he wants it than any lives.”

“Yes. A visit with Hadad was rather informative.”

“Lovely.” Yin paused. “The entire world is at stake. You could have just killed her yourself and pulled Iaoel’s Grace out, found somewhere else to hide it. It would have solved the problem. Not like you have any shortage of blood on your hands.”

“Their choices. Adelaide didn’t know what she was being dragged into. She should have had a right to choose for herself before becoming a part of this.”

“And for that, she’s probably going to die anyway. You certainly don’t ever make things easy on yourself. Are you sure she’s worth it? Are you sure
we
are worth it?”

“The principle is worth it. That’s part of the point. It’s not for me to decide who’s worthwhile and who isn’t.”

“Michael seems to think differently, if he’s that eager for Judgment Day.”

“Michael doesn’t think much of anything about humans, one way or another. He’s focused on a bigger picture. Doing his job. That’s why he wants to know what Iaoel saw. He’s hoping she saw a time when Heaven would win, when he’d win.”