Wings of Darkness: Book 1 of The Immortal Sorrows Series (15 page)

     “It has to be delivered alive. 
Just shut up and hang on.  This will be over before you know it.”

     Oh, my God, the thing was having an
argument with itself, about me, presumably.  My coat dug painfully into my
armpits as it pulled me higher into the night sky.

     Tree tops rushed up and branches
scratched at my face and caught at my hair.  My heart beat hard enough to
explode, and the whole time I could think of no way to escape.  Whacking
the damned thing with my elbow wouldn’t do any good.  I couldn’t even
reach its face…either of them.  One thing was certain, if I didn’t get
away soon, it wouldn’t matter.  We were above the tree line and gaining
height, although it seemed to be struggling.  Apparently, it wasn’t used
to flying with a passenger. Either that, or its wings were weak.  From
what little I could make out, they looked scraggly and misshapen.

     There had to be a way to stop
this.  If I let it take me, I was dead; there was no question about
that.  If I got it to drop me, I was probably dead, but at least I
wouldn’t get tortured first, and God only knew what it would do to me.  I
didn’t want my bones to end up lining the nest of a demon buzzard. 

     I forced myself to remain calm, and
not to look down.  If I looked down I would freeze up, and then it was
over.  I went through Asher’s lessons in my head, and none of them would
help me.  Then I thought of Gwen.  What would Gwen do in a situation
like this? 

     I felt around in my pocket for my
keys.  My hands shook so hard, it took a few minutes to get them just
right.  I still had my car key on the ring, even though I no longer had the
car after the wreck, and my house keys, and a couple of others, though I
couldn’t remember what they unlocked.  I threaded them all through my
fingers so that they spiked out of my clenched fist.  I took a deep
breath, forced myself to calm down.

     “Hey!”  I twisted around,
tried to get its attention.  No effect.  And we were getting farther
and farther away from home, not to mention, solid ground.  Fine.  I’d
tried to be nice about it.  I prayed I wouldn’t puke as I reached up and
grabbed a handful of greasy feathers, then ripped them out of its ass like I
was trying to pull-start a cold lawn mower.  It let out something between
a squawk and a scream and wheeled in mid-air, shaking me like it wanted to drop
me.  Really, I wouldn’t have blamed it, if it had.  That was the
whole point.

     “What the bloody hell did you do
that for?” 

     “I tried to get your attention, and
you ignored me.”

     “Well, what do you want?”  One
of its heads lowered, got within reach of me, and I jammed that handful of keys
I held right into its blood-shot eye.  Something squished and popped as
hot fluid ran down my hand and towards my elbow. Oh, gag.  The thing
screamed, long and loud; a blistering sound against my eardrums. 

     It dropped me, then, and it was my
turn to scream, because I was in free fall, with no idea how long I had before
the ground would meet me. For all I knew, the thing would recover from having
its eye poked out and come back for me.  I was dead, either way.
“Asher.”  I whispered his name.  It was inevitable, I thought, that
he would be the last thing I ever saw.  I closed my eyes and waited for it
to be over.

     Wind whistled past my ears, and it
literally took my breath away when he caught me.  I was almost afraid to
look; maybe it was only wishful thinking that made me think it was Asher. But
the arms holding me were familiar, and that spiced leather scent was all
Asher.  Relief rushed through me so intense it was impossible to speak for
a moment.

     “Are you alright?”  His voice
was quiet, but tense. “Isabel?”  I nodded, still afraid to open my
eyes.  I just wanted to savor the moment since I hadn’t just died from my
own stupidity.

     I caught a breath, cracked an eye.
“I’m ok.  Thanks.  You have incredible timing.”  We hovered in
mid-air, the beat of his wings, steady and strong.  We were only a breath
apart, and his look of concern did funny things to me.

     A roar from above distracted me
from my warm, fuzzy feelings.  The damned buzzard hadn’t just left like I
thought it would. Of course it hadn’t.  It still wanted to kill me for
blinding it.  “Hang on.”  Asher twisted in mid-air, and shot out
ahead of the thing.  I clung to him like my life depended on it, which it
really did.  “Can you swim?”

     “Hunh?  Yeah, a little. 
Why?”

     “Good.  Take a deep breath,
and hold it.”

     “What?”  He dove straight for
the ground and I screamed till my throat was raw.  He was insane.

     The ground came up at a terrifying
speed.  Almost too late, I saw the pond he was headed for.  Its surface
was still and dark, so it was little wonder I’d missed it, at first
glance.  Surely he wouldn’t do what I thought he was about to do?  He
did.  He threw me into a freezing cold pond, in the middle of nowhere, in
freaking October.

     Smacking into water from thirty or
forty feet up is a lot like hitting concrete, I imagine; it freaking
hurts.  Bitterly cold water rushed up my nose and into my mouth, nearly
drowning me as I sank toward the bottom.  I flailed my arms, panicked,
before I finally remembered how to dog paddle.  The water was black and
disgusting; a shock to my system, in more ways than one.  I could barely
see through the murk, but I made out the shimmering circle of moonlight above
me, and made my way towards it.

     I bobbed to the top of the water,
and drew beautiful, clean air into my burning lungs in great, ragged
gulps.  Asher may be Death, but if I could’ve gotten my hands on him at
that moment, I would’ve killed him.  I treaded water and tried not to
think about what might be in the pond with me.  My clothes soaked up water
and tried to drag me back down to the bottom.  The jacket weighed a ton,
so I wrestled it off and let it sink.  If I lived long enough, I’d go
shopping and buy another one. 

     The shoreline wasn’t very far away,
and I was stronger now, thanks to Asher’s blood.  I could make it, but if
I lived through the night, he was going to get an earful.  His rescue left
something to be desired.  You just don’t go throwing someone into freezing
water like that.  It’s damned rude.

      I crawled out of the pond,
half-frozen, and slogged through the mud, totally exhausted.  Overhead,
screams and curses rained down freely.  I’d almost forgotten about the
demon.  I flipped over on my back and propped myself up with shaking arms. 
I looked up, but couldn’t make out much, even with the improved night
vision.  They fought too closely, too furiously, and they headed for the
water at an alarming speed.  I crab-walked up the bank, backing away as
fast as I could.  This wasn’t going to end well for one of them.  I
just hoped it wasn’t Asher.  I might want to strangle him, but I wanted to
do it, not some demon buzzard from Hell.

     They hit the water hard and fast,
with a roar like thunder.  Pond water fountained up and sprayed over the
bank, soaking me yet again.  I could only watch, open-mouthed, as they
disappeared beneath the surface. 

     The water seemed to boil, out in
the middle of the pond.  It frothed and foamed and churned like a kettle
ready to explode under too much pressure.  Finally, after what seemed like
too long a time, from the center of that raging water flew Asher, straight up
into the air, just like the avenging angel that he was.  He’d battled a
demon and saved my life, and stupidly, all I could think was that he looked
really good wet.  I collapsed back into the mud in a fit of hysterical
giggles. 

     Asher landed next to me.  His
shirt was missing, and I did my level best to look him in the eye.  I really
did.  I didn’t manage it very well, but I did try.  “Are you
hurt?”  He knelt next to me, almost touched me, but pulled his hand away
at the last moment.

     “You threw me into a pond.  A
really cold one.” I wiped a hand down my face; it came away covered in brown
and green gunk.  So attractive.  My giggles turned to hiccups. 
I couldn’t seem to get a grip.  Oh, well, it was a rough night.

     At least he had the good sense to
look sorry.  “I needed both of my hands free to fight.  I apologize.”

     I waved his apology away, finally
managed to sober up a little bit.  “I was a little upset at first, you
know, since I nearly drowned, but I’m over it.”  I nodded towards the
still, black water of the pond.  “Is it dead?”

     “As dead as something like that can
get. It will not bother you, again.”  He stood up, held out a hand to
me.  I let him pull me up out of the mud.  My clothes were
ruined.  I really needed to go shopping.

     “What was it?  The buzzard
thing, I mean.” 

     “It was a Lesser Demon. 
They’re scavengers, usually, but this one was more determined than most.” 

     “Yeah, I noticed.”  The wind
picked up and bit at me till I shivered.  It might have been a latent
reaction to all the drama, or it might have just been because my jacket was at
the bottom of the pond.  “Are you cold?”

     “A little bit.”

     He opened his arms to me. 
“Let me take you home.”

     I eyed the outspread wings and
shook my head.  “I think I’ll walk.”

     “You’re a very stubborn girl.”

     “So you’ve told me.  Still, I
think I’d rather walk home.”

***

     “You were very brave.”

     “Thank you.”  It was a three
mile walk back home.  The cold wind dried my muddy clothes till they were
just about stiff enough to stand up on their own, and patches of gray mud
flaked off as I moved.  Asher was right, I was just being stubborn, but
I’d had enough of the bippity-boppity-boo shit.  I didn’t want him to bend
time or space or whatever the hell he did to move things around like he
did.  I sure as hell didn’t want to fly again.  Ever.  So I
walked home in my water-logged sneakers, and he stayed by my side the whole
time.  It was sort of sweet of him; I might even forgive him for nearly
drowning me, someday.

     I limped up the back step to my
house and felt around for the hidden key.  Lord only knew where my house
keys were; I’d dropped them in all the excitement. They might have been at the
bottom of the pond or in some farmer’s field.  I just added that to the
list of things I needed to replace, along with my car, my sanity, and my
dignity.  And Asher’s shirt.

     Dad’s car wasn’t in the drive-way,
so I’d gotten lucky and he was still at work.  There was just no good way
to explain my ruined clothes, much less the new scratches and bruises I
carried, or the mud in my hair.

     I kicked off my shoes and peeled
out of my socks on the porch, since I didn’t want to track mud and muck all
over my kitchen.  Asher’s brows shot up.  Like he had any room to
judge; he was still walking around shirtless.  And he looked perfectly
comfortable doing it.  “I’m not dripping nasty stuff all over the
floor.  It’s not like I’m stripping in front of the neighbors,” I said,
testily.  I swear he turned a little pink, but maybe it was my
imagination.

     I opened the kitchen door and
dumped my shoes and socks in the trash can, then headed for the laundry
room.  “Wait here a minute, ok?”

     “Of course.” 

     I stripped out of my disgusting
clothes in the laundry room and emerged wearing my dad’s bathrobe.  It
swallowed me whole, but I couldn’t track that stuff through the house. 
I’d never get it all vacuumed up.  The clothes went in the trash along
with my shoes.  I tied the bag up and set it on the back step; I’d worry
about it tomorrow.  The important thing was not to get caught by my dad.

     Asher’s hand caught me by the wrist
as I past him, and hauled me back.  My heart kicked up a notch. 
Obviously, the stupid thing didn’t know that we were still annoyed with
him.  “What is it?”  I tried not to stare at him, but there was a lot
to look at.  I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and silently counted to
ten.  It didn’t work. 

     His finger traced down my cheek,
and across my chin.  “You have scratches.”  He touched lightly above
my right eye.  “And a nasty bruise, just here.”  I had a hard time
swallowing.  He was too close. 

     “I, um…” Wow, it got hot, all of a
sudden.  “I need a shower.  I’ll be right back.” 

     “Alright.  I will wait for
you.”  His eyes were soft when he looked at me.  I was in serious
trouble.

     I stayed in the shower till the
water was cold.  If my dad got home anytime soon, I would hear all about
that.  There was just too much filth to wash off.  Mud and leaves,
and even a few feathers washed out of my hair.  Ewww.  And also, I
might have been avoiding a certain Angel of Death.  It was chicken shit of
me, but I really had no idea of what to do about him.  I had a few ideas
of what to do
with
him, however.  Maybe I should’ve stayed under the cold shower longer.

     Asher was as good as his promise;
he waited for me to clean up.  He was propped up in the chair next to my
bed when I came out of the steaming bathroom wearing my frumpiest
pajamas. They were fuzzy and pink with turtles all over them. Very sexy.

     He held the picture of my mother in his hands, studying
it.  He looked up and smiled at me. “You have her eyes,” he said. 
Most people never noticed that.  They only saw that I had my dad’s hair,
or his dimples.  Of course, there weren’t that many people around who
still remembered my mom.

     “Thank you.  She died when I
was born.”

     “I am sorry.  It must have
been hard, growing up without her.”

     I really looked at him then. 
He meant that.  “It’s ok.  It happens.  It’s kind of nice to
know she went onto something else, and that it wasn’t the end for her.”  I
took the picture from him and placed it back on the table where it belonged.