Blood To Blood (23 page)

Mom turned to me. “We have
other new guests who came while you were getting dressed. They sit on the
Council with me. Apparently, some think that my judgment of your abilities may
be compromised because you are my child.”

“The Abilities showcase could
be problematic for you,” Dad added. “The time-freeze ability may be seen as
unredeemable because you cannot control it.”

“The Council members may
suggest your destruction today,” Mom said, looking at my hand. She held it in
her own the way she used to do when I was little, comparing the length of my
fingers to hers and slowly tracing the shape of my fingernails. For her sake, I
concentrated on my breathing and refused to let anxiety get the best of me.

“We can’t let this happen,”
Cici cried. She was more agitated than I’d ever seen in my whole life.

 “If the vote for
destruction prevails, I cannot stop it,” Mom’s voice remained even despite the
blood tears streaking her cheeks. Numbly, I realized I was crying, too, when
her thumb swabbed a tear from my face. “There is no repeal process. The
execution would be immediate.”

Despite the news and the pain
it caused, my feet stayed on the ground. I thought of Sawyer and promised
myself that if I did live to see him again, I’d find out why I was even
thinking about him at a time like this.

“I can make us disappear.”
Dad’s voice was steely. “Right now.”

Mom’s face was grave. “We’d
run for eternity. We’d have to take everyone we love with us, or they’d use
them to draw us out.”

This could very well be the
last time we would be together. Whatever I said now was vital because it could
constitute the last memory they had of me forever. I marshaled my thoughts and
found my words. “I will not run,” I said steadily. “No one will suffer because
of me.”

I wasn't afraid to die. In
light of the destruction I could possibly wreak, it might be in the best
interests of the family. Cici burst into tears. We lingered within the Aeonion
Loop as long as we could, but eventually, Dad led us out to the outer room and
we dissipated one by one back into the rest of the house. As I made my way back
to Justin, I resigned myself to my fate.

“You're gonna die.”

I turned around to see Moira
leaning casually against the banister of one of the minor staircases. Her hair
looked as if she never combed it, and she wore the same thing as yesterday,
just more wrinkled.

“You have no say in whether I
do or not,” I answered.

“Not yet,” she hissed. “But I
have dibs for your head when the word’s handed down.”

I held her gaze and proceeded
to pointedly brush my left shoulder off with my right hand as if flicking dirt
in her direction. “Good luck with that,” I spat before turning on my heel and
walking away.

As I moved up the stairs, my
stomach growled. I felt a sense of peace at the thought of Justin’s familiar
scent and taste and the post-feeding comfort I could find in his arms. When I
got to my room, however, he was with Bodiel and Knowledge. “Is there a way to
help him so that he's not a slave to my hunger?” I asked them.

“We've adjusted that,”
Knowledge answered.

“I'll still know when you're
hungry, there's no way to stop that.”

“But now he will have a
choice and will no longer be compelled,” Bodiel added. “We have also tweaked
him so that he will not read as an immortal. Now we need to help you control
your ability.”

It was just like an angel
one-stop repair shop. I quickly informed them of the appearance of the Council
elders. Justin, whose angel-induced immortality and blood-tie bond of secrecy,
allowed him to be in on everything that had happened, turned pale. The angels
stared alternately at the floor and the wall for a few wordless moments.

“We cannot intervene in the
decisions of the Council,” they finally said. “To do so would disrupt the flow
of free will. However, we will do all in our power to help you right now. You
must work with us. If you put all your energy into this effort, we will be
successful.”

“Let's begin,” Knowledge
said.

“Wait,” Justin interjected.
“She still needs to eat.”

“Of course,” said Bodiel as
he gently took Knowledge by the elbow and evaporated.

It occurred to me that Justin
would suffer from the same blood-tie distress if I were to die. As he offered
his neck I fervently hoped Bodiel and Knowledge could fix that for him, too, if
it came to that.

Mealtime was different now
that there was no limit to how long Justin could go. I couldn’t believe he was
still alive, although he grew lethargic the longer I fed. A few minutes later,
I had my fill. “You still eat food?” I asked.

“Kidding? I could eat a
horse.”

Bodiel and Knowledge
reappeared. After a communicative glance from them, Justin turned around to
leave the room. “I’m going to find some grub,” he said, before closing the door
behind him. Fortunately, it was normal for a newborn to have a donor at their
Mahá, so no one would think twice when they saw him in the house. I was ready
for what was coming but felt very nervous, too. I took a deep breath.

“You are anxious,” said
Knowledge, “but not enough to trigger the time freeze.” She grabbed me and
started tickling me. I screamed in shock, and fought against her without
thinking. “Give it all your effort. Control your anger.”

I heard her clearly, but it
was so hard. Ever since I was small, I absolutely hated being tickled. It made
me angry and uncomfortable and icky-feeling and—

“There it is,” Bodiel said.
He went to the window and beckoned me over. Knowledge released me and I looked
outside. Sure enough all guests and living things were frozen in time.

“Apologies, Angel,” she said,
“but that was the fastest way to get you to that point organically.”

It was impossible to remain
upset in the face of such courtesy. “No problem. Now what?”

“I see a brief moment, the
equivalent of one sixteenth of a second where you may be able to use your will
to stop the freeze before it is initiated,” Bodiel said.

“So how do I do that?”

“Locate that brief moment of
time. It may be something you see, hear, or feel. Concentrate. Will it to stop
at that time and you will save yourself and your family.”

I nodded, although what he
said made no sense whatsoever.

“Let's get things back to
normal,” Knowledge said.

I did. So quickly that I
impressed myself. Before I could finish patting myself on the back, however,
Knowledge sucker-punched me square in the nose. The bridge cracked and red rage
flooded my vision.

“There,” said Bodiel.
“Concentrate, Angel. There it is!”

Instead of screaming in rage,
I took a quick breath through my mouth and willed myself to find what he was
referring to. And then I saw it. It was a barely noticeable impression before
my eyes; almost like a small button. I'd seen it before but didn't think it had
anything to do with freezing time.

“Too late,” Bodiel said.
“Everything's frozen again.”

“Saw it this time,” I
muttered while wiping blood from my face. “It's been there in front of me all
along. Just didn't make the connection.”

Knowledge smiled sweetly.
“Unfreeze, Angel.”

I did. And then I held up my
hands in a “time out” gesture. I wanted to see if I could do it on my own,
without the abuse.
Sorry
, Bodiel said distinctly in my head. My throat started
to constrict as if someone were strangling me. But neither angel had moved to
touch me. I couldn't breathe, couldn't do the one thing that calmed me down
enough in order to function. I felt myself lift off the ground. Where was it?
Where was the button? I spluttered and coughed as the pressure on my windpipe
increased. My voice will be ruined! I thought wildly. I saw the button and
willed it to be pressed. Sure enough, the convex part of it clicked into
concave as if I had pressed it with my finger.

The strangulation ceased. I
drew in a long ragged breath before falling onto the floor. Knowledge came to
my side. Afraid of what she might do next, I cowered away from her.

“Relax,” she said. “You did
it. You stopped the freeze before it initiated.” She helped me up and, leading
me to the bed, made me lie down. Bodiel came with a cool cloth and held it
against my face. It felt soothing. My broken nose had already mended itself.

“The time freeze kicks in
when you lose yourself in emotions, Angel,” she continued. “It's important for
you to step outside of panic, pain, and confusion in order to control this
ability without exception.”

I nodded in understanding,
and used the now-warm cloth to wipe away the remaining blood. My throat still
felt a little raw.

“Do you forgive us, Angel?”

“Yes,” I said without delay.
“After all, this is what will save my life eventually…isn't it?” Bodiel and
Knowledge smiled at each other.

Instantly, we were standing
on a landscape, but it was nowhere I could identify. We were surrounded by fire
as far as the eye could see. There was a deafening roar of flames, and beneath
that was constant howling. Even the sky seemed to be on fire. But the fire had
a life of its own because there were no objects to burn. The ground was the
color of blood and the heat was unbearable.

I turned back to Bodiel and
Knowledge, but before I could ask them where we were, they shoved me to the
ground and flew away. I was too scared to scream, too scared to cry and what
was worse, there was nowhere to run. I stayed on the ground where I fell,
cringing from heat so hot it made me burn.

I was wrong about Bodiel and
Knowledge. They
didn't
have my best interests at heart. I’d been fooled,
and would pay for my stupidity by dying here in this hellish place, alone. I
attempted to take in a long breath, but the air was so hot it burned my throat.
The smell of my burning flesh filled my nostrils and I vowed that if I got a
chance, angels, or not, I’d hunt them down and kill them.

Then I heard the click. It
was so familiar, I would have continued to ignore it if it hadn’t just occurred
to me. Suddenly, I made the connection. The clicking sound started the process
of the time freeze. If I stopped the click, the freeze could not commence.
Concentrating, I reversed the click so I wouldn't even get to the part of
having to press the button. I controlled the time freeze completely by deciding
when and where the click would or wouldn't take place.

I was immediately surrounded
by a flurry of wings, and found myself once again back in my room. I was still
on my knees in the same position I had been cringing in. Knowledge picked me up
and gently placed me on my bed.

“That was all part of the
test?” I managed to ask. My throat was scorched to the point where it hurt to
talk.

“There's no need to talk, but
only if it's okay with you,” Bodiel said.

It's fine to talk this
way,
I transmitted.
Will
my voice be okay?

Knowledge stroked my hair
while I watched light particles drift with their own awareness from the pores
of her skin.
Rest and rejuvenate and all will be well.

Would you really have
hunted us down?
The
question caused a wrinkle to appear in Bodiel’s inhumanely smooth face.

I was pretty mad, but I
guess that was part of the test, too, huh?

No, Angel,
he said.
The anger was all you.

We laughed out loud, even
though my laugh was weak and pathetic.

Did I make it?

Yes,
I heard them both simultaneously.
We
are confident you will be able to control the time freeze, and more
importantly, control yourself.

Rest. We will send Justin.
Knowledge smiled.
We
will not call for the ceremony until you've had enough time to rest.

And then they were gone.
Still on my back, I painstakingly pivoted my head to the left and ended up
face-to-face with Justin laying next to me on the bed. “We really have to stop
meeting like this,” he joked. His laughing came to a halt as he took a closer
look at me and his mouth turned into a grim line. “My god, Angel, what did they
do to you?” He bit his wrist so that it bled and held it to my mouth. It was
all I could do to open my lips and allow the blood to trickle between them. I
drank this way for a few minutes until I fell asleep.

I awoke to a darkened room
and growling stomach. Justin was still there at my side. “I told your folks you
were exhausted,” he explained. His voice sounded deep and soothing in the
darkness. “They think it’s from the news of the Council. And the Council thinks
it’s a reaction to the presence of the AOs.” He placed his wrist to my lips
again. “Don’t worry, I’ve eaten a ton of food.”

I drank more in stages. I was
eventually able to hold up my head, then sit up, then push him back on the
pillows and take my fill. It really was a good thing he was immortal now because
I surely would have killed him a hundred times over with my insatiable need.