Savior (19 page)

              “He was very scary Marcus….” She choked weakly. “I felt the evil radiating from him, yet I do feel bad for him. You kept Slypher down here, all alone in this darkness, chained up like an animal. No being deserves such treatment.”

              “Alyssa, there is much about Slypher you do not understand; though there is one thing I can show you now. I noticed you used to word kept when describing him, Slypher is not gone, his vile form is reborn, look.”

              She slowly turned her head to the archway, seeing a slumping shadow in the middle of the room.

              Marcus gently turned her body to again face him, “Alyssa, I need to know what he told you.”

              “He…I…he…” She swallowed hard and took a deep breath to calm herself. After a few moments she started again, “He…talked about Jasmine, he said you killed her Marcus but I know it isn’t true, it just can’t be.”

              Marcus sighed heavily, “Well, I am not the one that took her life, but I made a mistake that allowed it to happen. But for now, let’s get out of here. I could really use some natural light.” She nodded weakly against his chest.

              They returned to the cozy bedroom and Marcus locked away the dark shrine behind them.

              “Alyssa, I am not sure if you are ready to know this, but you really deserve to know more about me.” Marcus waved his hand in front of the angel’s eyes and a rush of memories returned to her. She now knew of his dark past, the pain and suffering he had once caused on so many people. It took her some time to sort out all of the memories, but when she had a few tears ran down her face, and for the first time she looked at him with utter terror in her eyes. Marcus sighed heavily, “Now perhaps you can understand why I’ve been so cold. If they ever knew I had such love for any person they would destroy her to get to me…again.” He got up to leave the room and, for the first time in as long as he could remember, a tear touched his cheek.

              Her eyes followed him as he slowly walked into the living room. She was frozen in place, leaning against the bedroom wall. The memories were still confusing and hard to make sense of, but she had managed to get the basics down. Marcus had once been evil, truly evil. But among those memories she had also been able to feel some of what he felt. He took no pleasure in the slaughter he had taken part of. There were thousands that he had murdered, but he hadn’t enjoyed any of it. She saw him go to the window. His back was still toward her as he gazed out and his shoulders were slightly slumped. He looks so beautiful, she thought. Even now, with everything she knew, there was still one fact that was stronger than all the others; she loved him. Admitting it wasn’t as hard as she might have thought.

              Alyssa walked toward him cautiously, not because she was afraid but because she didn’t want to startle him. She wrapped tentative arms around his waist and rested her cheek against his shoulder. He was warm under her fingertips and she lifted his shirt up slightly, just enough to slide her hands under it.

              They stood like that for a long while, both of them unwilling to move.

              “Marcus,” she whispered finally. “Please don’t worry about losing me, I will never leave you.”

              Her voice had more confidence behind it than she would have thought possible. Pressing herself tightly against his back, she moved her hands up his stomach. She unfurled her wings and enveloped them around his body, crossing them over his broad chest. “I love you Marcus Lakyle,” she murmured against his ear.

              “Alyssa, there has been nothing and no one I have loved as much as you. I have never felt such peace in my entire life, but I always fear that the peace cannot last forever. This is, of course why I always feared becoming close to you. You too, have you own path to walk, you must someday rejoin your kin and learn those things that I cannot teach you. But we do have time, for now there is no evil in the world, all I see today is you. Today, all I want to do is to be wrapped in your silken embrace and let the sun and moon pass by above us.”

              Marcus took Alyssa into his arms and kissed her soft lips deeply, his hands glided over the silky feathers that adorned her wings. By her he felt safe, he did not need to think about how one day the sacred wars would come to this mortal world. His mind could only ponder her deep, sparkling eyes, not the darkness that would surely come. Could he let her go when the time came for him to battle the shadows?

              He did not know but he knew he must. Marcus loved Alyssa with all his heart, and that love is all the existed today.

              Alyssa gazed down at him, her eyes still half closed from sleep. The sun was just beginning to raise, its iridescent rays gently illuminating his features. “Good morning darling,” she whispered to him as she brushed the blonde hair off his forehead. Marcus groaned in his sleep, slowly coming awake.

              They had spent the night together, tightly wrapped in each other’s arms. Gentle aromas drifted to her from the open window. She could distinguish a few of the herbs. There were flowers too, all of them sweet and fragrant. Their scents covered her in a delicate blanket. Alyssa curled against Marcus as the sun rose higher. Her fingers wound into his short hair and she breathed his scent in deeply. It was wonderful to be in his arms, but she had things that she needed to do and he was still asleep.

              Hurriedly she bathed and dressed, choosing a short white silk dress to wear for the day. She found a ribbon in the dresser and quickly wrapped it in her hair, pulling it up off her neck. It was already becoming warm outside and she had no intentions of staying inside the cabin today. She grabbed a small bag from the kitchen before heading out the door.

              The cool air whirled around her legs as she walked through the fields. Alyssa kept to the outside edges of the field, away from the tall grasses. There was seclusion in their height, but she could also easily get lost among them. It was much easier for her to walk along the fringes where the lush blanket of plants rarely came up past her ankles. Flowers dotted her path as she walked. Behind her the cabin disappeared slowly from view, though she was sure that she could find it again if she needed to. Just barely visible ahead of her was her horse.

              “Hello Blackberry,” she called to the big black stallion. He raised his head and nickered in greeting.

              “I wish to ride you,” she said as she ran a hand over his black silken hide.

              “You wish to try,” he snorted.

              Alyssa smiled and pulled a small item from the bag around her waist. She opened her hand to reveal the top half of a very fat carrot. His ears perked forward and he sniffed it. Blackberry opened his mouth to take it from her but she pulled it quickly behind her back. “Let me ride you just through this field and only for a short while. Every time that you do I will give you another tasty treat,” she told him.

              “Food before you ride and I decide when you have to get off,” Blackberry replied curtly.

              Alyssa nodded and gave him the carrot. “Deal,” she said as she kissed his soft neck.

              She placed an unsteady hand on his jet-black shoulder. Blackberry stood quietly, patiently waiting for her. He nudged her with his nose, urging her to forget her fears and mount. She grabbed a handful of his silken mane and eased herself onto his back. The tree stump she had been standing on made it easier for her to climb up on him. She was bareback; the only way she knew how to ride. Blackberry turned his head to make sure she was comfortable before walking. He started off slow, sensing her nervousness through her shaking fingers. Alyssa had never ridden a horse before, so she was glad that he was being patient with her. She was surprised that he didn’t feel much different than Tiernan. As a unicorn, Tiernan was of course slimmer and more graceful than the hulking horse, but Blackberry was more subdued. Rarely was Tiernan placid or ever content to slowly amble through the woods like she was now doing with Blackberry.

              The big stallion expertly stepped over tree roots and around rocks. He was at ease in the forest.  Once in a while he turned his head to check on her, but other than that he was content to just let her ride him. She didn’t tell him where to go. Alyssa didn’t know how to. Tiernan had asked her where she wanted to go and then had taken her there. She supposed it would be the same way with Blackberry. He took a large bite out of a bush along the trail and kept walking. His head was low; another sign that he was relaxed. Alyssa listened to the sound of his heavy hooves hitting the dirt trail as she swayed with his rhythm.

              A few horses called to them from the river, but Blackberry didn’t acknowledge them. He had become an outcast since his arrival. Luca wasn’t purposefully mean, she kept reminding herself, he was just being a stallion. And so was Blackberry. It was the way things were. At least they hadn’t killed each other, Alyssa thought gratefully. She suddenly realized how very little she actually knew about her horse. “Blackberry?” she called to him.

              His ears twitched back toward her, “Yes?”

              “How old are you?”

              “Eight years, miss Alyssa,” he replied.

              “Is that old for a horse?” she asked. Alyssa really didn’t know much about horses, other than what

              Marcus or Luca had taught her.

              Blackberry turned his head to look at her. “Why? Am I going to slow for you? Would you like me to gallop?”

              She giggled nervously. Whenever his eyes were on her she felt like she was being sized-up. “Not right now, maybe later. I was just wondering.”

              He nodded and walked around a large oak tree. “I am in my prime.”

              “Did you know your mother?”

              Blackberry stopped walking and looked at her. She instantly regretted asking the question; she could tell that it was a painful subject for him. “Yes, I knew my mother. Her name was Daisy Mae, she was a cart horse like me. She died many years ago,” he said quietly.

              Alyssa rested a comforting hand on his muscular neck and stroked him. “I’m sorry Blackberry,” she whispered. The light breeze pulled strands of her blonde hair across her face as she rode.

              The stallion nodded and kept walking. “It was years ago really, nothing to cry about now. It is just odd that you would bring it up.”

              “I was curious about your life.”

              He nodded and bit a fly of his knee. “Very well then, how old are you?”

              “Nineteen.”

              “And did you know your mother?” he asked as he kept a watchful eye on her.

              Alyssa shook her head no. “I was given up before I could really get to know her. I was an infant when we said goodbye.”

              Blackberry sadly nodded. “I am sorry then too.”

              She bent down and planted a kiss on his velvety-soft neck. “It’s nothing, I didn’t know her so I can’t really miss her. You knew your mother.”

              “Yes, I did know her. But it is not the same as when two people, or two angels for that matter, know each other. Our master could not talk to us the way you and I can talk. Did your father love your mother, to go to bed with her?”

              Alyssa shrugged, “I believe he did, yes. But I have heard it both ways. Those stories though are from people that had never met them, so I really don’t know.”

              “Maybe he did or maybe he was a breeding human like my father was a breeding stallion. Are humans put out to stud?”

              She giggled and shook her head. “It doesn’t work quite that way with humans Blackberry, at least, not from what I know of them. I haven’t spent that much time with humans, not really anyway. I don’t know that many humans well. Marcus is the only one I’ve ever spent this much time with for the most part.” She had spent more time with Ruben, but they were hardly ever talking. He had usually been ordering her around or yelling when they were together.

              “Do you love this Marcus of yours?” Blackberry asked.

              Alyssa’s hands froze on his shoulders. She wasn’t sure of how to answer that question. “I…I think so…” she stammered.

              Blackberry snorted and shook his mane. “Silly little angel. You love him, you may be able to deny it or try to make sense of it in other ways. But you do love him.”

              “How do you know?”

              “Little angel doesn’t understand that horses can feel things that you may not want them to know.

              You think all I can tell from you is that you are nervous right now?” he said with an annoyed swish of his tail.

              Alyssa bit her lip. She hadn’t realized how transparent her emotions were. And she loved

              Marcus. She couldn’t understand why she couldn’t just tell Blackberry that she did. It wasn’t a secret; almost everyone knew how she felt about him.