Praefatio: A Novel (27 page)

The massive iron gate screeched open as dust clouds swirled. Coyotes howled in the distance. Michael’s unmistakable figure walked through the thick fog and dust in our direction.

Above Michael, something, as if shot from a cannon, landed on the ground with a thud, disturbing the dry earth beneath it. The ground shook with the sound of bones breaking, then resetting, as Gavin landed with his wings—now a sad-looking and mangled gray with numerous holes—mashed beneath him.

I ran to him to find he was barely breathing. Michael grabbed me and pulled me up off the ground, out of Gavin’s reach.

“Wait, Grace! It could be a trick. They can’t attack inside, so they try here. Tongue of Truth, come forth and test this Fallen!”

That creepy old guy from Kheiron with the long blue hair appeared through the fog. I stepped back into Michael, who held me steady. I was not interested in being licked again.

The man opened his mouth, accenting the many wrinkles on his face, and a white dove flew out. The bird circled Gavin, who was writhing in pain, his limbs splayed at odd angles on the ground. My heart ached for Gavin. How could Michael just stand there and trust this tongue guy?

The dove sat peacefully on Gavin’s chest. Michael lessened his grip on me, and I tried to walk toward Gavin, who raised a hand to stroke the head of the bird. But Michael had only loosened his hold. He hadn’t released me.

Old creepy guy opened his mouth once more to reveal his many tongues. Out they popped, each one exploring a part of Gavin’s mangled body. My screams echoed in the air as one of the tongues grabbed at Gavin’s hair and licked it so hard that it pulled it out in clumps. Another tongue attached itself to his eyeball, then ripped it out of the socket before recoiling back into the old guy’s mouth. He laughed. The remaining tongues lurched forward to devour Gavin’s arms, lips, ears, legs, hands. Blood, bones, saliva, and organs splattered on the ground as the tongues ripped through him.

I couldn’t watch. Gavin screamed in pain, but no one helped him. I don’t know who screamed louder, me or Gavin, as he was being ripped to shreds, food for this disgusting creature. I fell to the ground, unable to lift myself back up as The Tongue of Truth demon recoiled his tongues and disappeared into the ground where he stood.

“Grace.” Gabe, my dad, pulled me to my feet. “He would have tried to kill you.”

I resisted his help, standing on my own despite the weakness in my body. I wanted to punch and kick Gabe. How could he think Gavin would have tried to kill me? And when had he become Gabe to me? When had he stopped being just Dad?

Just then, another “Gavin” came crashing to the ground in a heap. I turned to Michael, desperate for answers.

“It’s okay. They can’t perform that particular type of trickery on the fly. They must have been planning this for a long time.”

This time, no one stopped me from running to him.

“M-M-Michael. Please. Michael.” Gavin’s voice was weak and rattled, and I stroked his face. Liquid streamed from his nose and mouth. There was little life left in him.

I wiped his mouth with my sleeve. “Michael, please he needs to tell you something.”

Michael walked slowly over. He helped me stand, then placed a hand on Gavin’s chest. Gavin’s body rose off the ground to a few inches from Michael’s face. His limbs hung limp in the air beneath him, as tired and listless as I felt. Gavin whispered into Michael’s ear, then fell back to the ground, kicking up dust. When he landed, the sound of bones breaking pierced the thick air. Just as I started to drop my body over him to comfort him, Michael pulled me back.

“Gabe.” Michael seemed to assess Gavin. “Bring him to Raphael. Tell Raphael to fit him with a vest.” Michael turned and motioned to Arcturus. “Come with me.” Michael mounted, then rode off on a majestic and immaculately dressed white Shire that I had only then noticed. Arcturus followed.

While I watched them, I heard Michael in my mind.
High Priestess Tia of the Virtues owes me a favor and has agreed to assist you. Go quickly
.

How? Where?

Tia has made arrangements. Just. Go.

I turned just as Gabe began to carry Gavin upward. I had no idea if I would see either of them again.

A Slight Hiccup

One thing I was certain of was that Remi loathed the thing he was becoming, and he was not simply going to hand over his life or his child. He would fight to the death. With Jenny gone and Remi Fallen, the poor baby would be defenseless.

My only hope of getting to Remi before the Fallen did was High Priestess Tia, ruler of the Virtues, in charge of nature, science, and geography.

Back at the stables, Cerin had gathered up my supplies as instructed. Arcturus and Caius gathered their gear and readied their horses quietly.

I closed my mind to everyone when something occurred to me. I’d finally read
Praefatio
, and it did not mention a Great Battle. This occurred only in the humans’ book: the Bible. It said the battle would be fought between Michael’s and Lucifer’s armies, and there was something about a woman and a baby—

I dropped my katana. Panic settled into the middle of my chest, making it hard to breathe.

“You didn’t think we were going to let you face peril by yourself, did you?” LJ glided through the doors as if on those sneakers with wheels, landing beside me with a huge, overly satisfied grin on her face.

Still standing in the doorway, Emeria, in an unusually great mood, added, “Well? I couldn’t let my very own sister go off to battle with a few kids and some servants as her army. What kind of sister would I be? Besides, since it is I who will comfort Gavin when you die, I don’t want him blaming me for your death.” She entered the stables and circled me like a shark, her “I know a secret” expression pissing me off.

I should’ve put the Archangel smack down on her. Should have put her in her place. I wasn’t afraid to, just unsure of how best to handle her.

Who asked for her help, anyway
? I picked up and sheathed my sword.

“I’d let LJ break the news of your death … no, maybe Cerin. She’s so humble. Gavin will appreciate the news coming from someone bowing and crying. Cerin’ll have enough sense to leave Gavin alone with his grief. After her last dutiful bow, she’ll leave the door open just enough for me to slip in and offer Gavin my considerable comforts. I’ll convince him, this time for good, that he doesn’t have to lose you. He has me.”

For some stupid reason, I didn’t punch her in the face. There was something about the way she was so confident in handling the follow-up to my death that made me think I should consider it a real possibility; my death, that is. No one knew what would happen to me if I were to be killed, my human body, bonded to my spirit because of the circumstances of my birth.

Unlike my dad, whose spirit remained intact when his human body was killed in the car crash, it was widely assumed that with no way for a permanently bonded spirit to escape a dead human body, my spirit would eventually die as well.

This exacting revenge thing was new to me. Other angels seemed to do it at will. Stepping on the foot of someone who was higher than you in rank seemed to warrant a banishing, lowering of rank, removal of feathers, servitude, or some other form of punishment. If you were really bad, you had to go and see the Thrones and be stripped of your powers and be relegated to no more than human. Ironic.

Tyler wore a smirk as he sauntered through the stable doors, seemingly imitating Gavin. But he was nothing compared to Gavin, and completely lacking in style, confidence, and appeal. Emeria slithered up next to him like the snake that she was. I placed the sword on my belt, grabbed a black hand wrap, and began wrapping.

“Welcome back, Grace, fresh from nearly getting Gavin killed. We have much to discuss. The union of a Fallen and a
human
is of much interest to our family. Your brother may have done the impossible without even realizing it. He may have given us the Fallen version of you!”

“Wait. No.” I spoke incoherent words. Tyler had rendered me speechless. Rather than try to rebut, I figured I’d see what information lay in Tyler’s mind.

Jumbled thoughts flew from his scattered brain. He blocked me, but I managed to get into places in his mind without him knowing. Just then, Tyler remembered an argument he’d had with Cupid, then quickly shoved it aside.

“Gavin is just fine. As for you, you’re delusional.”

“Do you deny that Remi has fathered a child with a human girl? Are you trying to convince me that there is no truth to this? The addition of a new little one would bring so much joy to our home. We’d welcome Remi with open arms. He could have whatever he wanted. My father would see to his advancement in the ranks.” The way Tyler talked, I could almost imagine a family trip to Target for diapers, formula, and wipes.

“I’ve just come from seeing Michael, and it appears that Remi and Jenny are on the run after being attacked. As for the unborn child, it would be better not to make assumptions. It could just as easily not be Fallen. I will not sit idly by while my brother’s attackers are out there.” I was surprisingly confident, not at all sure where that last bit had come from. I hadn’t even been thinking it.

Tyler’s eyes hardened. “I will look into it, Grace. I’m certain it was a simple mishap with Remi traveling with the human pregnant girl and all. Their scents are probably exaggerated with her being with child. Not everything is personal. Some things just
are
.”

“I don’t have time to debate it. Find the beings that attacked my brother before I do.”

I turned my back to him and addressed Cerin. Emeria huffed, and the two of them left. LJ burst into a fit of laughter. Cerin allowed herself one giggle as Caius and Arcturus joined in.

“Thanks for everything, Cerin. From now on, you will be free. No more serving me or anyone else. You are free now. You should only do what you want to from here on out.” Hugging Cerin was like hugging a cloud. Next, I turned to the boys.

“Arcturus, meet us at Nod. Find the safest route and leave us a trail. Caius, go with him, but keep your mind open and report on any intelligence you pick up. I give you permission to jailbreak minds and eavesdrop on the wind, trees, and wild animals.

Cerin, Caius, and Arcturus left me alone with LJ. We prepared our weapons in silence. “Before we go, can we talk?” LJ looked straight ahead at a pretend target, closed one eye, then shot an arrow straight across the room. It landed with a
boing
in the middle of a wall board.

“Sure.”

“Don’t take this the wrong way, but Emeria isn’t all that bad.” LJ flew to retrieve the arrow and was back next to me before I could respond. When I didn’t speak, she rolled her eyes and continued. “She’s meanspirited, extremely jealous of you, and rude at times. But, Grace—” Her voice begged me to look at her as she shot another arrow, this one hitting a field mouse between the eyes as he tried scurrying out of the barn. The shrieking of the mouse made me shiver. “She wants to be you. To her, you have everything she wants, for no good reason. She doesn’t want to take what you have; she just wants for the two of you to be equals, for her to have an equal shot. In her mind, she could just have easily been you. Isn’t that what being a twin is all about?”

“What?” I turned sharply in disbelief.

“What, what?” LJ looked at me like I was unnatural and bizarre.

I had heard the “who is Emeria” story from Emeria, Vivienne, and LJ. Until then, everyone had pretty much told the same tale. It made me wonder just how much of Emeria’s story was just someone else’s version of
her
story.

Emeria and I were given as gifts to my mother. We were equal expressions of love from The Divine One, and it was my mother who chose me over Emeria. That is the exact moment we ceased to be equals.

I grabbed LJ just as she was about to shoot another arrow and declared, “You’re a flipping genius!” This caused her to shoot the arrow into a ceiling beam.

And just like that, I knew exactly what I had to do to make things right for Emeria. The excitement threatened to bowl me over, but the plan wasn’t foolproof. If I screwed up even a little, well, I didn’t even want to think about what could happen.

I decided I would try one last time to convince Tyler to call off the Seekers and leave Jenny and her baby alone. A glutton for punishment, perhaps, but I had to try. From the stables, I made my way into the house, to his office, and knocked. He knew it was me.

“Come in, Grace.” Tyler greeted me with a smile and held my hand as he escorted me to his private sitting area.

One oversized black velvet couch faced a cobblestone fireplace with a roaring fire inside that seemed to grow fiercer upon our arrival. An enormous fish tank lined the entire alcove, providing additional light and color. The whimsical fish seemed to gravitate toward Tyler as they would when someone opened the tank to feed them, but he offered no food. He slowly made his way around the room, quietly greeting his beloved fish and I nearly bumped into him, meaning to plead my case.

As I opened my mouth to apologize for how I’d handled things earlier in the barn, Tyler silenced me with a sudden and deep kiss. Up against the one solid surface in the alcove, a door, he kissed me with an open mouth and aggressive hands, moving over my stomach, arms, shoulders, and then to my face in a coordinated effort.

My head reeled. He pulled away to look at me and fought me from entering his mind. But I was able to grab fragments. He was thinking of Cupid again, then Gavin. They’d argued. Then Lucifer.
What?

“Grace, I’m not a monster, you know. I’m capable of great love. But you know that, of course.” His voice was low, soft, and for a moment, he sounded so much like Gavin.

I closed my eyes, and I could almost hear Gavin’s voice as Tyler pulled me in again closer this time, gentler. Tyler from
Praefatio
, the one who started all of this. What he could possibly want from me, I had no idea. I struggled beneath him, a little afraid. “I don’t understand,” I said.