Creatures (7 page)

“
Did I?” Angelique’s voice was sweet syrupy with sarcasm. “Oh, Father, did I?” She turned to wink at him.

Nisroc’s lips tightened in disapproval. “You needn’t have done that.”

“
You’re mean,” Daisy said, backing away.

“
Come here and let me show you magic,” Angelique said sweetly.

Daisy hesitated, unsure of the situation. Maybe she had misjudged the girl, maybe it was just a game.

“
Come on, look here.” Angelique gestured her over. “You’ll really like it. It’s something quite amazing.”

Daisy came back slowly, chin to chest, obviously on the defense.

“
Let me see your rock again,”

Daisy shook her head. “You’ll throw it away.”

“
I won’t, I promise. I want to show you something special.”

Daisy reluctantly gave her the rock.

Angelique closed her little hand over it and immediately opened it to reveal a tiny baby bird. A featherless thing, blind, beak opening pitifully, little ribbed chest heaving.

Daisy’s eyes widened and her mouth opened.

Even Nisroc was stunned. It was obvious Angelique had learned a few tricks during her incarnation.

“
Now watch again,” Angelique said, closing her fingers over the baby bird. She opened her hand quickly and there sat the rock on her palm.

“
How’d you do that?” Daisy came forward quickly, reaching for the rock.

Angelique closed her fist and Daisy halted, looking up.

Angelique’s face hardened and her eyes narrowed. “I can do that to you, too, if you don’t go away, little girl. I can turn you into a tiny baby bird or a horny old frog or a long-tailed rat running for cover in the holds of this ship. Your parents will never see you again. You’ll die a grisly death of starvation as a tiny bird, or be thrown overboard as a slimy frog or be crushed by a boot as a marauding rat. NOW GO AWAY AND LEAVE ME ALONE.”

Daisy stood frozen. She had heard the threat and now seemed to be processing it. Turn her into a bird, a frog, a rat? Looking into Angelique’s eyes convinced her. She stepped back. Her lips trembled. “You can have it. You can have my rock.”

Then she spun around and ran as hard as she could on the shifting deck to the stairs leading down into the passenger cabins. As the top of her head disappeared below decks, Nisroc turned to Angelique. “Was that necessary? What if she tells her parents and they come complaining about your behavior?”

Angelique shrugged.

Nisroc sighed and shifted in his deck chair. He stared out to sea, that endless road of turbulent water and the distant lonely horizon. Puffy clouds drifted over the light blue sky, and the sun stood at its zenith.

Yes, he was human. He had been granted, by this child, by this Queen of the Fallen, another chance at life. Yes, he was banished from God, cast out into the regions that was nothing and nowhere. But how much was he going to have to pay for the privilege of life on Earth? And how much sorrow and despair was his queen going to bestow on her fellow humans before all was said and done? She was not so much evil as dispassionate. Not so much child as old intelligence. And not so much angel as devil.

Was he, too, made of the same stuff, since he was one of the Fallen, one of the Seperated? Was he, too, capable of cruelty, avarice, deceit, and corruption? Or more? Murder? Perhaps even murder.

He did not know. But he suspected he was not the same as Angelique. He was not a Destroyer, that much he knew beyond doubt. He was a sinner, a lost soul, and a condemned being, but he was no Angelique. There was no one in any age, in any realm, like Angelique.

It was the first time since drawing breath that he questioned his existence in the world. Now he knew it was not always going to be a series of exciting sensations, appreciation of the physical body, and joy of living in the world at large. No, it was going to be…

He knew now it would be…

It was going to be…his worst fear. The future felt dark now, full of storm and lightning and destruction. He was going to be a part of it. He was Angelique’s pawn. Would she have really turned the other child into a small, helpless, threatened bird or animal? He knew the answer to that question was yes, absolutely yes. She had cared no more for that child than she would have cared for a spider or an ant. She would have squashed the life from it without hesitation.

This new life with Angelique was going to be bad.

It was going to be…bloody, bloody…

Hell.

THE END

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This is a short story based on the characters in the novel, BANISHED. Please look for this new novel on Kindle.com. Find out how Angelique comes into the world and how she lives and prospers through hundreds of years before bringing down Nisroc to help her. Read about their lives together and Nisroc’s eventual abandonment of his angel queen. BANISHED, an original e-book, for just $3.99!