Divinity (22 page)

“He’s had opportunities to do the same,” Gabriel answered. “Perhaps that he feels the failure of Otho de Lagery is why you didn’t choose him again.”

Michael pondered this. Otho became the pope that led the first Crusade in a holy war that cost millions of lives and more than two centuries of battle and suffering.

“His view is skewed,” Michael scoffed. “I have never held one of us accountable for the actions of any of the Children. Perhaps he thinks that the fathering of the Children would give him more sway.”

“The desire to be a Creator is what drove Lucifer to disobey. Perhaps he feels the same pull.” Gabriel shrugged. “Regardless, Uriel’s ambition is not an immediate problem.”

Michael shook his head, turning back to Gabriel, who had shifted his focus back to Julia and her mother.

“That scene was not meant for her eyes,” Gabriel said, “but…”

“He deserved all that he received from you,” Michael said, clenching his teeth. “And all that he received afterward.”

Gabriel turned to face Michael, surprised by the fury of his voice. Neither spoke for several moments. Michael faded away, the sound of his voice lingering.

“I suppose allowing the girl to witness that did no harm. It probably even gave her strength.”

Gabriel returned his attention to Julia, just in time to see her climbing into her car.

“Be safe, Child,” he whispered into the wind.

XXI

C
OOKIES
? Really? She couldn’t have meant anything by that
, Julia pondered, stepping into her suite at the hotel. She tipped the bellhop and shut the door behind him when he left.

Julia leaned her suitcase against the wall and set her purse on the mahogany double dresser in front of the beveled mirror. The room Isabel had booked for her was nothing like the motels she was used to staying in. The room was furnished with Victorian-era antiques, including the lamps on either side of the bed. She suppressed the urge to move one, just to make sure it wasn’t nailed down.

The burgundy velvet drapes pulled back easily, and Julia gazed out at the city through the sheers. She wasn’t familiar with Dallas, and all the buildings looked just like every other cityscape she’d seen on television. She took off her heels and walked over to the bed, flopping unceremoniously onto the white down duvet.

“Ahhhh!”

After lying there for a few minutes with her arms stretched out to the side, she sat back up and began massaging her feet. Out of habit, she closed her eyes and envisioned herself perched on the boulder in the middle of her pond. Instead of sitting cross-legged and facing out to the water as she always had, though, she looked to the shore, hoping to see Alex there as he had been only a few days ago.

She was alone. And she felt more alone than she had for a long time. She wished he were here to share her meeting with her mother, to confide in him all the confusing emotions she felt. Her heart ached for him. Julia forced her eyes open and brushed a stray tear from her cheek.

“I guess I won’t be going there for peace anytime soon,” she said. She reached for the remote and turned the television on, flicking through until she found a news station. The date was on the lower left-hand corner of the screen, and it made her wince. One year ago, to the day, she had tried to take her own life. She smiled wryly at the irony of spending the anniversary of that day with the woman who had given her life.

“And how does that make you feel?” Michael’s voice split her reverie.

Julia snapped her head around to face the towering Archangel who had suddenly appeared by the window.

“Michael,” she said, catching her breath. If he had been anyone else, she would have admonished him for not knocking. “How does what make me feel? Are you my therapist now?”

“Meeting your mother after all this time. Witnessing. How does it make you feel?” He glanced out the window and then back to Julia.

“Witnessing?” Julia countered. She wasn’t sure what Michael was talking about—Gabriel murdering her grandfather, or the angel visiting the man across the hall from Maria. “I haven’t really had time to process it.”

Michael nodded, moved to one of the armchairs, and sat, draping his wings over the back. His dark eyes held Julia’s, and she knew he was waiting for her to answer. He might as well have said, “So? Process it, then.”

Julia had closed off the confusing mixture of feelings surrounding her birth mother. Deep inside her was a feeling of loss, of incompletion. She suspected every adoptee felt that on some level. She wanted to hate Gabriel for having been there for Maria, but never for her. But she also wanted to love him for saving Maria. Julia wanted to love Maria, too, but found the most she could muster was a quiet gratitude for giving her life. And pity.

She met Michael’s dark eyes, expecting to see the usual mirth, but only saw a heavy sadness. All thoughts of Maria and Gabriel fell away.

“Why are you sad, Michael?”

Though his face cleared of any discernible emotion, his wings raised and settled as though he were startled by her question.

“We do our best, girl,” Michael said, his voice uncharacteristically quiet. “That is all we have ever done.”

Julia tipped her head to one side. Was that an apology? It didn’t matter; it wasn’t Michael from whom she wanted the apology. For that matter, she figured it wouldn’t do any good coming from Gabriel. He likely didn’t think he had anything for which to apologize.

“I need to get some air,” Julia said, shutting down her budding anger.

Sliding off the edge of the bed, she slipped her shoes back on, slung her purse over her shoulder, and headed out the door.

Julia walked along, trying to focus on the windows of the boutiques she passed in Dallas’s downtown shopping district. She was suddenly having a difficult time looking at people. Before, her ability to see the essence of people had come and gone—and rarely. However, she was steadily seeing more energy than physical forms, and she wondered if meeting Maria was the cause. The dizzyingly bright moving light of people’s cores swirled around them. It was overwhelming.

Julia averted her eyes and found herself looking into a store window. She was thrilled to discover that, by looking at reflections, she could see physical beings only. So she made her way down the sidewalk, watching the reflection of life instead of the real thing. The problem, however, was that her depth perception was skewed through the windows. Seeing two-dimensionally caused many near misses as she wove down the crowded sidewalk. She felt like she was being jostled from one person to the next—like a kid on the first day at a new school.

Between buildings there were no windows, so she looked at her feet. She was only able to see her physical self, so it was easier on her eyes. It was a question she had intended to ask Michael, why she could only see her physical self. The wind was knocked out of her as she plowed into a man.

“Sorry!”

“Watch where you’re going, lady!” the man called after her, shaking his fist in the air.

There must be some way to control this and shut it off!

She looked through a shop window at a sales clerk inside, and again found herself squinting against the brightness of his inner being. Only the reflection, then, could protect her vision, not looking through the window.

Well
, she thought.
It will have to do
.

Ahead she saw three more ladies’ fashion shops, a magazine shop, and a handbag and accessory store, and carefully picked her way through the people. She looked back over her shoulder at her hotel and decided to forge ahead. If this was something she needed to learn, she wanted to learn it. She spied a small café just up the street.

If nothing else
, Julia thought,
I can sit and read and enjoy some coffee. Forget the gift. And I just won’t look at anyone
.

She continued on toward the café, narrowly avoiding running into a couple of kids. They were laughing as they ran past her.

Children are so much brighter than adults
, she noticed.

Julia caught the reflection of a young woman pushing a carriage and she felt a sharp pang in her chest. Alex had wanted children.

She couldn’t resist the natural urge to turn and see the baby, and her thoughts of Alex stopped cold when she caught her first glimpse of it. In the reflection, it had appeared to be a normal child, watching her step past. When she looked straight at him, she could see his brilliant light, and the wings extending from his shoulder blade area. And he was staring straight at her.

“So beautiful,” she gasped, frozen mid-step. “Incredible!”

“Thank you,” the young mother beamed, pausing.

“How many are there here?” Julia was surprised to hear her thought spoken aloud.

“How many?” the young woman asked. “There’s only one.”

“Oh, sorry, I…” Julia’s mind raced, reaching for an explanation. “I meant his teeth, I see one coming in. I guess I was just talking out loud. He is extraordinarily beautiful, really.”

“Oh.” The young mother took an awkward step away. “Thank you. Bye now.”

Julia tried to smile as the carriage slowly worked its way through the crowd. The toddler stayed focused on Julia. She shivered and rubbed her arms as she stared back.

The moment the foul odor pounded into her nostrils, Julia’s sense of awe switched to alarm and she tried to weave her shield. When it didn’t work, she reached for the stone she had, thankfully, carried with her in her front pocket. In her haste, the stone slipped from her fingertips and dropped to the ground. Even as she bent to pick it up, she searched for the source of the smell. Her eyes darted from person to person, seeing various forms of light energy she knew to be human. Then she caught sight of the form moving toward her. It was more the absence of light that caught her attention.

She could see its limbs, like sticks, as it stepped toward her with a stilted gait. She cringed, thinking of the damage those limbs had done to Alex’s body. Its mouth stretched open like torn fabric. It appeared flat in contrast to everything else. She grabbed for her stone, but it rolled just inches from her reach.

One of its arms, if you could call it that, brushed the mother of the baby as it went past. Immediately a black, festering sore opened on the woman’s arm and she cried out, losing her grip on the carriage. As she fell to her knees, the monster took another step toward the child.

Julia didn’t have time even to breathe. Her fumbling fingers finally made contact with the stone and through it she cast her energy out to form a shield. It worked, but instead of weaving it around herself, she threw it around the baby.

The monster’s scream drowned out the sobbing of the mother, whose arm was now spotted with vile black blisters. It sidestepped the baby and lunged toward Julia.

When it was less than a foot from her face, the gaping hole that was its mouth was larger than her head. She knew she should be terrified, but her fear evaporated when her gut reaction took over, and she doubled up her shield around the cherub child. Julia stood facing the hideous creature without blinking. She felt cold. Focused and strong. Something else, too, but she couldn’t quite put her finger on it. Maybe righteous.

It was within an inch of her, and she was certain its intent was to swallow her whole. Running on pure instinct, she snapped the shield off the baby, moving it to cover herself. The threads unraveled, recoiling toward her. They passed the thing, slicing through its surface with a hiss of black steam, stopping it cold.

One after the other, the threads slashed through it, each doing obvious damage. The creature let out a screeching howl and evaporated, leaving behind two thick globs of sizzling ooze. Julia re-formed the barrier around herself and held it there as she watched the remnants of the creature disappear. When the smell had gone and she was sure the danger had passed, she let the rock drop back into her pocket, and the threads simply vanished when she stopped feeding them energy.

Less than ten seconds had passed since the monster appeared, and the rest of the people continued to move, oblivious to the battle Julia had just fought.

-
You caused it damage, girl,
- Michael’s voice entered her head. She thought she heard a hint of pride. Maybe it was disbelief. -
You must stay away from those that are like you. The combined life-force is too bright. I fear that is how he tracks you. Your light is a beacon. I have told you this before
.-

-
Michael? I feel so weak. I…
- Julia’s legs quivered, her knees buckled, and she started to fall toward the pavement, darkness swirling in around her.