Even In Darkness (Between) (2 page)

Chapter 3

The buxom beauty straddling my hips smiled down at me, her shining blonde hair framing my face as we l
ay together in the open field. My fingers played through those strands of sunshine, so different from my own. The heavenly transporter regarded me with such tenderness that I almost wanted to be the man she thought I was. I let myself indulge in the fantasy, drawing from the memories of the souls I’d taken over the years. Every joy, every sorrow, every recollection from a soul’s life became known to me at the moment we touched.

Celeste’s warm vanilla scent wrapped around me as I allowed myself to get sucked into her dream of the life she never had: a crackling fire heating the cherry wood study, our babe on her hip, a Labrador at my feet as I read the newspaper. It was so cliché that I couldn’t suffer it for long
. I let out a laugh.

“What’s so funny?” she asked.

“You. This. How it always ends this way.” Confusion turned to hurt in her eyes and I almost felt bad.

Almost.

But like a lion that’s finally got the gazelle in his jaws, I was finished with the hunt. Celeste had acquiesced to my pursuit, actually considered herself in love with me, and it was time for the kill.

Gripping her golden locks in my fist, I yanked her neck to one side, exposing a rapid pulse. I ran my tongue over that pulse, feeling her body shiver in response. Bloodlust claimed me and I longed to see her flushed breasts covered in crimson. Drawing upon the darkness that dwelled within me, I transformed into
the demonic figure I inherited from my mother. My fingers lengthened into razor tipped talons; my incisors became fangs that ached to pierce her satin skin.

I’d never restricted her ability to cast before. She’d become accustomed to the freedom to change the environment at will and I could feel her attempting to do so again.

Not this time.

The Between Realm and everything in it belonged to me, the
Prince.

Her screams lit my blood on fire. Fingernails clawed my face as she strained to free
herself from my grasp. The hellfire inside me broke loose from its chains, smashing her lovely picket fence dream to dust.

Her eyes searched mine, wild with fear and pain. It was all an illusion, of course. I had no power to actually destroy her, but she didn’t know that.

“I thought you loved me,” she gurgled as the fight drained out of her.

“They all do, precious.” My voice came out in a hiss. I was nearing the height of ecstasy when I heard my mother’s voice in my head.

Eagan. I need you.

Roaring an oath, I took out my anger on Celeste until she
became still, her eyes glassy and unseeing. Panting, I straightened and took deep breaths until the red haze cleared and my vision was restored. I glanced at Celeste’s body, so beautiful and broken, and as always, remorse pressed down on me until I could hardly breathe. I had a mad urge to cradle her in my arms and weep over her mindless suffering.

Maybe I d
o love her. Maybe I am more than just a monster.

I resumed my human form and dropped to the ground, stricken with grief. The never-ending war raged within me until I felt torn in two.

Eagan. Now!
my mother called again.

With a mental snap of my fingers, I dispelled the illusion and cleared Celeste’s memory of me, releasing her like a fish
in the sea to be caught again another day. The shimmer that signified a change of setting passed over me, as familiar to me as drawing breath.

My mother had beckoned me to a palatial suite on the top floor of a New York City skyscraper. The opulent grandeur of the rooms was not the only reason she preferred this setting. She envisioned others beneath her, as though she were the queen on a throne and everyone else merely peasants groveling at her feet.
My pain and self-loathing coalesced into hatred toward the woman who gave me life.

“What is so important that you dare to interrupt me in the middle of a hunt?”

Reclining on a chaise lounge, the arresting woman whose raven hair matched my own tossed me a derisive glance. “You hunt constantly. I thought your hormones would settle down once you passed out of your teenage years.” She resumed her survey of the city skyline, facing the bank of windows at the front of the suite.

“What’s the matter?
Jealous?”

Her head whipped
around and she narrowed suspicious eyes at me. “What exactly are you insinuating?”

My mind flickered back to my first hunt, the day I learned the pleasures of a woman’s body. The empty, shattered eyes that regarded me then were glaring at me now from across the room. She was no more immune to my charms than the others who followed. And like them, she doesn’t remember.

I do.

“Nothing,” I muttered and walked to the expansive bar to pour myself a drink.
Rich caramel tones of the world’s finest scotch floated up from my glass, but I didn’t sip it to savor the flavor as I normally would. Instead, I pounded it back in one gulp. The firewater burned my throat, providing a momentary distraction from the memories I’d just as soon forget. “What did you want?”

Her long, red dress swished around her ankles as she crossed the room toward me. “It’s your father.”

At first, I thought she was referring to the heaven transporter whose seed she stole. I’d never met him and had no desire to. He was nothing more than a pawn in a game far beyond his understanding. Then I recognized the tremor of fear in her words and realized she meant my other father—the Master, the King. My pulse spiked.

“What does he want? What did he say?” Panic and longing twisted inside me at the idea of an audience with the
Master. It had been so long.

“He is coming to see you. You should prepare yourself.”

Her words forced a bark of nervous laughter from my throat. “Prepare myself? And how do you propose I do that?” I strode over to the floor-to-ceiling aquarium on the west wall, which was swimming with petite sharks, eels, and stingrays. The gentle movement of the creatures through the water normally calmed my spirit, but at that moment, I felt as though they were free and I was the one trapped in the tank. My hand rubbed up and down my throat, trying to dispel the sense of suffocation that had come over me.

“Don’t be afraid, lamb. You were born for this. It is your destiny,” she said, coming up behind me.

I whirled on her, my eyes heating with a flash to their blood red state. “Who said I was afraid? Did you tell him I was afraid?” The idea that she had exposed some weakness of mine to the Master filled me with uncontrollable rage. Gripping her shoulders, I shook her until her neck was about to snap.

“No! Of course not!” she sputtered.

I squeezed harder, eliciting a whimper from her lips. I read her memories and could see she was concealing nothing. She knew no more than she’d told me. She was useless. Satisfied, I shoved her away and she stumbled to the floor. A seed of regret at my mistreatment of her tried to surface within me, but I squashed it.

I am not afraid. Let the
Master come to me. I am ready.

The shimmer of change passed over me and my mother disappeared. I turned, filled with anticipation, expecting to see the glorious face of my father, but found myself alone. Disappointment landed with a thud in my gut. Blowing out a pent up breath, I moved to pour myself another drink and pondered what it could mean. The decan
ter rattled against the glass, raking my nerves like fingernails on a chalkboard. I cursed my inability to hide how shaken the meeting with my mother had left me.

“Careful, you don’t want to spill on this carpet. I just had it installed.” The
smooth, deep voice came from behind me. An unguarded note of surprise slipped past my lips before I could stifle it, instantly filling me with shame. Worse still, my hand was unsteady as I turned and the liquor sloshed onto the beige carpet, leaving a damning stain as though I’d wet myself in his presence. I felt like a child. As I set down the glass, his velvet laughter poured over me, sounding warm and comforting, but leaving me feeling naked and exposed.

I dropped to my knees and bowed my head. “Master,” I breathed in reverence. He didn’t move from his place near the wall of sharks, but I felt my body compelled to stand
as though I were nothing more than a puppet. When my eyes met his, I saw his outstretched hand. He had lifted me from my position of subservience without touching me—never touching me—aware of my ability to draw memories upon contact. I longed to run into his arms, to feel him hold me, to draw comfort from him. My fantasy was no more realistic than Celeste’s vision of domestic bliss.

As though he could read my thoughts, he smiled. His face was so
unutterably beautiful, it hurt to look upon it, but I could not tear my gaze away. My entire being ached to do his will.

“My son,” he began. Emotion welled in me at the endearment and
tears pricked the back of my eyes. I hastened to pull myself together, knowing he abhorred any sign of weakness.

“Yes,
Father.” It wasn’t a question. I wasn’t asking what he wanted, but agreeing before he’d even made the demand.

“The time for playing games has passed. You are a man now and ready to fulfill the purpose I have set out for you.”

Unease bit at me, but I pushed it aside.
If the Master wills it, so shall it be.

“The…Other…” He swallowed
and twisted his head to one side as if the very mention of his counterpart left a bitter taste in his mouth. I’d never heard him refer to the Lord, but my mother had mentioned the name he sometimes used. I dared not breathe, afraid he might take the slightest movement as an indication that I recognized the authority of the creator of heaven. “He is far too generous in offering second chances to those who come into this realm. Until now, we have turned a blind eye to his practice of sending back to Earth those whose time has not yet come.”

I nodded as though I understood his intentions, even though I did not.

“There have even been those who would have joined our ranks but for the sentimental pardon they received to try again. And more often than not, upon their return to Earth, they decide to turn from their
wicked ways
,” the corner of his mouth curled in a sneer, “and receive eternal forgiveness of their sins. Well, no more.” His smile became brighter than before, commanding in its intent. “The time has come for you to retrieve those who have already had their chance and to block the exit so that none who come into the Between Realm may leave.”

An unexpected sense of injustice rose within me and the words were out of my mouth before I realized how they might sound. “
You want me to end the lives of people on Earth who’ve been given a second chance by the…” My brain caught up with my tongue just in time, keeping me from referring to the Lord in my Master’s presence.

His resplendent features darkened and suddenly, my airflow was cut off. My hands flew to my throat as I struggled to draw breath.

“Have you sworn allegiance to the Other? Do you dare to disobey my command?” His human form melted away as I watched, gripped by terror. His grotesque body rose to towering proportions, higher and higher, like flames swirling around the trunk of a redwood tree. I shook my head vehemently, my lungs burning with unspent breath.

I would never betray you, I swear!
I pleaded with him in my mind.

Never?
He countered, his voice like shards of glass in my ears. His presence overpowered me, drenching me in darkness until the glowing ember of good that lay within my soul was all but extinguished.

Never! I am your servant. I love you!

All at once, the vice around my throat released its hold. Flopping on the ground like a fish out of water, I sucked in huge gulps of air, tears streaming over my face. I turned eyes filled with confusion and fear to my Master, only to find him human once again. His face shone with unearthly beauty.

“They all do, precious,” he said. My own words slapped me in the face. His sinister laughter ricocheted in my skull.

“We are more alike than you know,” he said. “As I have a holy thorn in my side, so do you. The Other once tricked me...” He shook his head in remembrance as though spiritual warfare were nothing more than child sport. “‘Consider my servant Job’,” he said in a mocking sing-song voice. “But I won’t be made a fool of again.” His gaze snapped to mine. My knees nearly buckled under the intensity of his stare. “The transporter who begat you loves a human woman whose soul has touched this realm. You’ll destroy his precious faith by turning her heart against him. She will choose you, my son, and when she does...” A horrifying smile crept across his face like an oil slick streaming over a beautiful lake. “When she does, all transporters past and present will belong to me.”

I
dared not ask what would happen if I failed. I could not fail.
Whatever the Master wills
, I reminded myself.