CHAPTER 25 - The Deal
Jari looked at me. We were alone in his office.
“I wanted to tell you so many times but I couldn’t risk it. Some things are more important than the truth.” He gave a small half shrug as he moved to the sofa and sat next to me, “If I had told you everything would have changed – your attitude to me and your priorities. Your future is too important.”
“My future? What about Mum, did she recognise you for who you are?”
“Ahh, that’s the next thing.” He wrapped an arm around me and gently kissed me on the forehead. “This is going to be difficult to hear. Eveline isn’t your Mother. Eveline was a guardian angel but she has gone off the rails, a little.”
“Off the rails? A little? You think?” He cringed at me apologetically as I shook my head to clear the anger away. I didn’t want to start a shouting match with him over the inadequacies of Mum, I mean Eveline. No there were more important things.
“Where is my Mother then?” I looked around the office almost like I was half expecting her to be hiding behind some random piece of furniture.
"That is a long story and not one for today,” Jari closed his eyes and turned from me. “But I can tell you this much. I had three months with your Mother and I loved her more than I ever thought possible. It was love at first sight and we were inseparable. I broke all the rules for her. That’s why Adam isn’t fond of me. I made a real mess of everything when I tried to stay with her.”
“I really loved her and I fought for her Natalie. I trusted her with all of me and I gave her everything I had to give. I told her the full ugly truth and she still loved me. Her love was so absolute it melted my heart. It was the happiest time of my long existence. But it was too short.”
“I think that she must have found out that she was pregnant just before I was discovered and dragged away. She knew that it was likely that I couldn’t, that I wouldn’t be able to be there, so she didn’t tell me about you. I was so wound up in my love for her and my schemes to stay with her that I didn’t see it. I think that she knew it would cause me even more pain, when I was eventually found, if she told me about the pregnancy. She knew, just as I did, that I wouldn’t be successful in avoiding my fate.”
“But Natalie there was... it just all went wrong. They managed to save you but Grace died.” A single tear slid down his cheek and he turned away.
“What went wrong? I don’t understand.”
“It is not for you to know, I can’t ... I can’t tell you. Maybe one day,” he smiled but his eyes showed his deep pain. “I had to collect her and take her soul away. We clung to you for as long as we could before we were both forced away, me to do my duty and Grace, well I made sure that she is in a good place. I visit her when I can and I take her news of you.” He paused, handed me a box of tissues and pulled me into his embrace, kissing my forehead as he did.
“Grace had no relatives that were suitable to raise you so we placed Eveline. At the time she was happy with the assignment but the limitations she is placed under, to prevent our fate, have made her bitter. She will not be there when you return. She allowed two of the brood access to you. She will be punished for her failure.”
“But what will happen to me?”
“You can stay where you are if you want. The house is ours and we would continue to support you, of course.”
“What do you mean ‘we’? Who are you Jari? The receptionist called you an Archangel?”
“Yeah. Strangely enough some of us are still Archangels. Archangels were each created to fill a role and since we have fallen our positions have become even more pertinent. Ironic really, as a direct consequence of falling we have become more necessary.” He laughed a bitter laugh.
“So they kept us on with certain limitations. Naturally we aren’t considered to be in the same class as the feathered Archangels, the white ones, and we are made well aware of that. We might be arrogant at a personal level, but the white ones well to them it is all about status and position. You might say that we are the black sheep.”
“What do you do?”
“Samy might be called our CEO, among other things she keeps the place running, Aze department is in destruction, you know – war, weaponry, violence, corruption and fraud.,” Jari smiled as he took in my expression.
“And me, well I am look after the Towers and I am an Angel of Death.”
“Death? You?”
“Yeah, there a couple of us, I am all about wrongful death.”
“Wrongful death?”
He just shrugged in a nonplussed way, “I don’t do old age. No, I don’t hang out at retirement villages. Instead Aze and I work together a lot.”
Jari looked at me like he had just told something insignificant like ‘I work in a bank as an accountant’, rather than ‘I’m the grim reaper of untimely death.’
I sat there stunned, half of me wanted to ask if he made the decision of who lived and who died but the part of me that really didn’t want to know, won out. I was starting to understand why he didn’t want to tell me. I was starting to wish he hadn’t told me.
“So although he took our feathers he couldn’t really get rid of us that easily. So here we are.” He waved his hand around at the office.
I closed my eyes, I didn’t want to ask but I couldn’t stop myself, “Where exactly are we and what is this place?”
“I can’t tell you that but let just say - you know how Father Christmas has a naughty and nice list? Well, we get the naughty list.” He laughed at his own analogy.
I just looked around in a daze. Not real. So not real. Scott was my anchor on reality and he wasn’t here. I felt the tears start again. Jari pulled me to his chest.
"I know this is a lot to take in but things are going to start moving very quickly. As much as I hate to say this, you are going to have to learn to work with Scott. Whether I like him or not it seems that he is your Irin. There is nothing I can do about that. I think you love him too. And there is nothing I can do about that either. So you two are going to have to start trusting each other.”
He stopped and lifted my head so I could see his eyes before he continued.
“I am going to trade places with Scott, Natalie. I will become Harold’s hostage and once that happens only Scott and you will be able to save me. You are both directly descendant from Archangels so you will be an immensely powerful Irin and Qaddis. If you can learn to work together you will be able to beat the brood. And Natalie you don’t have to sleep with him, if you can love each other unquestionably and be willing to trust each other and give everything to the other then that will be a far more powerful bond than sex. But you won’t have much time to achieve that link.”
“But, but...?” I stuttered as my brain, already spinning, went into overload.
“I know that this is a lot to take in and that it will take you a while to accept it as the truth. Just know that I have always loved you. You will have questions, but not now. We don’t have much time.” Jari looked up and helped me up off the sofa as I swayed on my feet. “I have to finalise some details. Can you wait outside? You shouldn’t see some of this stuff.” He grimaced as he lead me out of his office.
I sat on the sofa outside his office. My head spun and the sickness only felt worse out here. The office area was frightening. The whole room clicked like it was alive with small insects. I glanced at the endless rows of workers, they didn’t look back, their expressions blank and in silence they just typed on their computers. Was this Hell?
The ding of the lift caused me to yelp in fright. It was such a bright sound in this desolate environment. After calming myself I looked up and found Aze smiling at me. He slumped onto the sofa wrapping himself around me. Without invitation he pulled me very close to his hard body.
“How are you going? Did he tell you?” He murmured against my skin.
I just nodded. For some reason I couldn’t be mad at Aze and his constant need to hold me. I didn’t know why? But for some reason it felt alright to have him in my personal space. Maybe it was because he quelled some of the queasiness.
I turned my head to the workers, “What are they doing?”
“Death lists. They compile the schedules.” He kissed my neck. I moaned softly causing him to chuckle. Guilt washed over me, adding to the tsunami of emotions and nausea.
“So they decide?” I needed to distract myself from his lips which were grazing the side of my neck.
He laughed again, such a beautiful laugh in such a dismal place, “No they just compile.”
The lift dinged again. This time I didn’t react but Aze did. His lips left my skin as he turned towards the sound. He laughed again and turned smiling to me.
“As much as I would like to stay and see you shot down our not-so-divine leader again I have to get read the riot act, like I didn’t write it myself, by your father.” Aze winked at me, “Don’t worry I will promise to be a good boy, a very good boy.” His smile broadened and he moved his face so that his lips brushed against mine. He kissed me softly.
“Our fearless leader wants a word with you, then I will take you away from all of this and I will show you exactly why I fell, in graphic detail,” he chuckled softy. Then he pulled himself off the sofa and walked in Jari’s office without knocking.
“And I thought Jari was arrogant!” I muttered.
Samy laughed. She helped me stand and supported me as she took me to a small meeting room.
“Adam likes you. I must say you have strength, intelligence and courage. But, you are going to need that and more in the coming weeks.” She frowned and looked at me like she was searching for some sort of reaction.
“I am coming down for the exchange with the brood. I won’t be able to be seen during it, because they know me, but I want to be there if they decided to renege on their side of the deal.”
“What deal?”
“The deal with the brood. Did Jari tell you what they wanted him for?” I just shook my head, “Yes I suspected that he wouldn’t. He would have wanted to spare you but, you need to know what you will be dealing with, you need to be prepared.”
Another wave of nausea broke over me. This didn’t sound good. Samy put a hand over mine on the table which instantly softened the sensations.
“I know what this place is doing to you. But I have to tell you this here. Will you be OK?”
“Yes, I think so.”
“Good. You will make a good Qaddis. Now the brood are one of the councils of vampires. They are holding Scott but they want Jari. The agreement has Jari taking Scott’s place. They will only free Scott once they have Jari.”
“But why?”
“For his blood, they are vampires after all,” she shrugged, “When they get a hold of Jari they will feast on him. It will be very painful for him, but more than that they will drink the blood of not only an Archangel but an Archangel of Death. This will make them very powerful because they will absorb his life energy from his blood. And many will drink from him and take on that power. Being who he is, he cannot die at their hands so he will be a veritable fountain of fuel for them.”
“But...?” I stuttered again
“I won’t lie to you Qaddis, this is very dangerous.”
“Why then? And how do we...” I seemed unable to finish my sentence as the gravity of what Jari was doing hit me.
“You and Scott are the Watchers of the Third Tower. You must be together and so this is worth the risks. You see, the Watchers are the only ones who can pass judgement on Fremd. Together and properly aligned you should be stronger than the vampires even with Jariel blood in them. You should be able to beat Jariel and all those who impersonate him. But it will not be easy. There is much risk and if you cannot succeed you will have to judge Jariel before the Brood overpower you. There is a good chance you will all die. But if we do nothing Scott will die.”
“Why is Jari doing this? They are going to hurt him and ...” I didn’t want to think about the prospect of having to kill him.
“Because he loves you child and he is an insufferably proud father. I can’t tell you the number of times I have had to haul his arse over the coals because he has gone AWOL to go watch you get some prize, or sit in some hospital room while they ran tests on you, just so that he was there. I think he knows better than you how much you love Scott. And that is why he is doing this. He hasn’t been able to do much else for you and he see this as making up for what happened to your mother, which by the way wasn’t his fault either, no matter how hard he tries to blame himself!”
She paused and looked into my eyes. “You need Scott. You need your Irin. Jari is risking himself for your destiny. He believes in you child. He believes that you and Scott will save him.”
“But Scott and I...” I started to say but she held up a finger to stop me.
“You will be fine. I am sorry about Scott. He gets his pride from me. You will have to learn to channel it. I will speak to him but I doubt that it will do much good either. He has to come to this himself. I think he will but there are no guarantees with anything in life.” She put on the table a tiny shiny black phone. “Use this anytime you need to talk to me. This will get me directly. Don’t lose it. Ohh and Aze will be a pain. Just shot him down every now and then and make sure that Scott knows that you love him. Aze will train you properly and I trust him.”
I sat looking at her in confusion. Jari was handing himself over to be sucked dry but some vampire hoard and Scott and I had to somehow save him, and she looked apologetic. She smiled nervously at me. I felt like pulling my hair out and screaming in some display of insanity and she was biting her lip. What the hell?
“One last thing, sorry about what Adam did. He feels awful about it but he had no choice. He needed to get you here. It was the only way.”
“I don’t understand?”
She grimaced, “A link, when done by someone experienced, gives them access to all of your memories. So it is not done lightly and never with strangers. He had to trick you into doing it with him so that he could pull you here with him. Jari and Adam don’t get on so he would never have made it that far without you. Also you had a right to be here.”
“But Jari said he was going to link with me?”
“Yes, Jari is going to link with you. However because he is your father your minds know each other which will allow more control. He will only have access to what you let him see and vice versa.”
“So linking is like opening up my head to someone else?”
“Yes it has been called ‘mind rape’ when it is forced. Adam didn’t go into your memories. As I said, he feels terrible about it. Please forgive him.”
Just then there was a knock at the door. I looked up as Jari’s stuck his head into the room. He just nodded at Samy and smiled with soft sparking eyes at me.
“We are out of time. Are you alright?” Samy asked as Jari’s arms wrapped around me.
“No. Not really.” I mumbled. The sea-sick like feeling was getting worse and I was feeling a little dehydrated.
Jari lifted me easily into his arms and hugged me to his chest, which was bare. He nodded to Samy as he carried me out of the room. Adam stood still shirtless as he held the lift doors open for us. Aze stood waiting in the lift with his chest on display too. I had my arms wrapped around Jari who scoffed a ‘not likely’ when Aze held out his arms to accept me.
The lift was still waiting as Jari and Aze bickered over who would do the better job of carrying me when Samy stepped through the doors. She wore an almost backless halter neck top.
She smiled at me. “Let’s go get Scott shall we?”
The lift the doors closed and she eagerly accepted Adam’s attention.
I closed my eyes and let the darkness take me.