Chapter 19
Tina rubbed her temples like it would hush the first hints of the dull pain that had started to pulse in her head. The rolling of the wheels beneath her feet and the soft hum of the truck’s engine usually had a soporific effect on her. She leaned her head on the back of the couch. But now, she yearned for an aspirin, even though it might not have worked on her, since human pills usually didn’t have any effect on the Bloodeaters. She looked sideways at the table, at Macele, who sat on the bench. The girl was still bound by beams of electricity to prevent her from using her ability on the Beliya who towered over her protectively from behind the bench.
“No, a place beside Lord Blackdart.” Macele crossed her arms and with her chin slightly lifted she glared down her nose at Uriel.
“You are in no position to negotiate.” Uriel leaned his elbows on the table.
Uriel’s voice was low and calm and despite Tina being able to see only his back, she imagined he wore his usual cold and stoic expression. She could remember that expression’s influence on her at the beginning, when she hadn’t known Uriel too well; it had intimidated her and she wondered how Macele could look down on him. The girl probably thought that Uriel was on the same level as her Beliya, but still, she should have been more cautious and restrained her temper, especially when she was dealing with somebody as powerful as the Dumes and the Numuns.
Tina murmured, “She’s brave.” In her own stupid and selfish way.
Thick-headed and stubborn, more likely, Muriel's voice said inside Tina's head. She hasn’t comprehended the gravity of her situation. He shifted closer until his arm touched Tina’s. She still doesn’t understand that the only reason she is unharmed is because Nat and Uriel want to use her ability, and if she doesn’t start to cooperate soon, Uriel might decide she isn’t worth the bother and ask Anael to take over.
They both glanced at Anael, who sitting on counter opposite to the table, amused herself with her favourite pastime, playing with her knife.
I wouldn’t want to be in Macele’s shoes if that happens, Tina said to Muriel.
Neither would I.
“No! You listen to me.” The shrillness of Macele's raised voice pierced through Tina's skull.
Tina closed her eyes for a moment. How could anybody be so annoying?
“Are you okay?” Muriel's hand descended on her shoulder.
“Yes, I'm okay.” Or she soon would be. She fixed her gaze on Macele. “Could you please lower your voice? You are giving me headache. And stop behaving like a spoiled brat.”
“How dare you speak to me like that?” Macele’s voice was as loud as ever. “I’m a lady, noble, and you are all treating me --”
“If you haven't noticed, you are among enemies and yet you still behave like you own the place.” Tina stood up, went around the bench and stopped before the table, glaring at Macele. They were too nice to the girl, handling her with kid gloves. “Listen to what people are telling you and stop demanding things that you can't have.”
Macele's ensuing rant made the pain beating inside Tina’s skull worse. The burst of words coming from Macele's mouth didn't stop even after her Beliya tried to calm her down.
Tina slammed her palms against the table's surface. She had had enough of this girl's stupidity. Macele was a hostage here, not a guest; it was time she started to behave like one. “If you don't close your mouth this instant, I'm going to ask Anael to close it for you.”
“Oh, I would love to do that,” Anael said.
“She... She wouldn’t...” Macele's eyes widened and she closed her mouth while her Beliya, who stepped even closer to his charge, narrowed his eyes, but not at Tina.
Tina looked over her shoulder and the sight of the wicked smile on Anael's face sent a shiver up her spine. That white-haired girl, despite her fragile and doll-like appearance, looked scary. It made Tina glad that Anael was on their side. She turned forward. She couldn't say the same for Macele. She understood the benefits of having copies of the Dumes and Numuns at their disposal, but she believed that they could do without them. She sighed. But Uriel thought that they needed Macele, and Uriel was always right.
“Listen.” Tina wrinkled her forehead. She disliked the idea of compromising with the girl or dealing with her in the long-term, but... “We can let you be at Damon's side if we --” no, she wouldn’t use ‘if’ -- “after we rescue him. If he agrees and you behave, that is.”
“Are you mocking me?” Macele's lips curled into a grimace. “Do you really think I would sell my blood and my services so cheaply?”
Sell her blood? Tina glanced at Muriel.
Her ability only works on people with their family mark or the ones that have her blood in their system, Muriel said. Haven't you been listening?
No, not the whole time. Tina scratched the back of her forearm, her focus back on Macele. “And here I was thinking that you were with us in wanting to save Damon.” Not that she had really believed that. Macele just wanted to be Damon's Beloved and that was the only reason she had trailed behind them. “My mistake.” Her eyes slid to Uriel, who with slightly upturned lips seemed amused. Why was he smirking? “She is not going to be of any use it seems; we should just throw her out.”
“Of course I want to save Lord Blackdart,” Macele argued.
Uriel laced his fingers. “The way you are refusing us help, one would believe otherwise.”
“Because you are the one who should help me, not the other way around,” Macele said.
Tina shook her head. This was hopeless.
Not bad.
What? Uriel? Tina’s gaze zoomed onto Uriel, who still wore that amused expression on his face. Stop smirking.
You did well, you managed to soften her a little, but you better leave her to me, Uriel said. And to Anael.
It was not my intention to soften her. I just wanted to shut her up. Not that it had worked. Tina sighed. She debated between slumping down on the couch and joining Nathanael, Michael and Haniel in the truck's cabin, but in the end she withdrew into the back of the truck.
She climbed up the large crate Uriel used to store their car and, using the blankets and pillows taken from Sarniikzis, she made a comfortable nest. She lay down and closed her eyes, the vibration of the ride urging her to relax, and let the drowsiness overtake her.
She heard soft footsteps; she peeked under her lashes and at the sight of Muriel nearing she rolled on her side and rose up onto her elbow. She winced when the edge of one of the plates sewn into the sleeve of her jacket chafed her skin and she adjusted the position of her forearm. She would have taken off the jacket, part of the suit which Gillian had made for her, but Uriel insisted they all wear the suits since they were nearing the area populated with Shadows.
“Uriel sent me to give you this.” Muriel put on the box beside her a glass of water and a small bag with pills.
“I’m not going to sleep yet.” Tina moved backwards and patted the spot before her.
Muriel climbed up, slipped under the blanket and nuzzled against her like a small kitty.
Her lips curled in a small smile as she tousled his black bangs. “You must have had it tough these last couple of days.”
“No, not really.” Muriel leaned into her caress. “I wasn’t alone, I had company.”
“Your animal friends?”
Muriel nodded. “And I also kept in touch with Uriel and Haniel.”
“You did?” Then why hadn't he contacted her, too? She felt a prickle of annoyance but she quickly discarded it. Muriel never treated her as an outsider, none of the Dumes did. If he hadn’t taken time to say hello to her, he had a reason for it.
“I would have contacted you too, but I heard that you were diligently practicing and I didn't want to disturb you.”
“You could never disturb me.” She combed through his hair. “And it's not like you believe that the practice would help me.”
Muriel furrowed his brows.
“Don't play innocent with me.” Tina flicked his nose. She couldn't be angry with them, not when she had their support even though they didn't believe in her success. But that was what was important, wasn't it? The support, the love that they were giving her. And besides, she would prove them wrong. Actually she already had, they just didn't know it yet. “I know none of you believe I can pull it off.”
“Haniel?”
“No, Uriel.” Tina lay down on her back. “And I did pull it off.” She stared at the truck’s ceiling.
“You did?”
She turned sideways and faced him. “You don’t believe me?”
“No, it’s not that.”
“I can show you.” Her hand found Muriel’s and she wrapped her fingers around it. For now she had only successfully transported objects, but she didn’t doubt that it would work on living beings.
“I do believe you. It’s just... Does Uriel know?”
“No, I haven’t told him yet.” Tina rolled on her side. “He sounded so against it.”
“That’s because he’s worried about you.”
“Yes, I understand that.” She bit her lips. But with Uriel it somehow felt like it was more than just worry. Her eyes found Muriel’s. She’d had her suspicions for some time now and she hadn’t addressed them. And she should. She should ask Muriel. He might know. “Hey, Muriel. Is Uriel...? Could Uriel...?”
Muriel raised his brows.
“Could Uriel be in love with me?”
“So you finally noticed.”
“It’s true?” But she didn’t want it to be true. Tina frowned. “Why?” Why did he have to fall in love with her?
“I don’t know. Because you are a nice girl?”
“Huh?”
“Oh, I see,” Muriel said. “This bothers you.”
“Of course, it does.” Tina sat up. “I love Uriel very much, but not in that way.” She gave Muriel a troubled gaze. “What should I do?” How do you force somebody to fall out of love?
“Just tell him how you feel.”
“But I don’t want to hurt him.”
“It’s better to hurt him now, when he has a small crush on you, than later when he might be head over heels in love.”
“So it’s just a small crush? That’s good. He can fall out of that on his own; I’ll just avoid him a little and be rude to him.”
“Like that would work on Uriel,” Muriel chuckled.
#
Tina yawned and absently tried to wipe off the coldness that stuck to her cheek, but no matter how much she rubbed it, the thing didn’t come off. It actually spread. Now she could feel it over her whole face, neck, her arms, her legs
She opened her eyes and endless greyness greeted her. She blinked. Once. Twice. When had she fallen asleep?
With a swing of her arm she pushed herself upright; an arch of silver bubbles marked the path of her body. What should she do now? Call Muriel to wake her up? Yeah, right. “Damon! Damon!”
In the next moment she found herself stumbling forward and almost dove headfirst into one of the piles scattered before her. Her hand touched the half-transparent mass and a moist and dust-like substance clung to her skin.
In the weak light of the crescent moon she took a closer look and then jumped backwards, violently shaking her arm to get rid of the near transparent -- almost ghostly -- bloody fluids and guts that stuck to her hand. Body parts, all those piles -- there must have been hundreds of them -- were full of body parts. Shivers ran up her spine and she felt the need to throw up. She swallowed, thankful that the air, though oppressive, didn’t carry any of the smells that accompanied death.
She wrapped her arms around her middle. Where was she? She examined her surroundings, flat land covered with scorched greenery and heaps of dead bodies with mist hovering above them, and the sky was dark with the moon peeking over the clouds. Her heart hammered in her chest, but time hadn’t slowed down. Her abilities didn’t work in Damon’s head.
Where was Damon? She turned around, searching for a familiar sight. “Damon! Damon!”
The echo of her call answered her and then silence.
Every time she appeared in his world he was close by; he had to be here now, too. She finally detected a movement and she ran to it, only to find a large, furry mass of flesh among white bones.
Damon? With her heart wedged in her throat she tiptoed around it.
The beast before her munched on the dead bodies like a starved person would have on chicken wings, throwing the bones over its shoulders.
“Damon,” she whispered. It had to be Damon. Was this what Uriel was afraid of? She covered her mouth and her shoulders slumped. What was she going to do now? She stepped backwards.
“...take the path unknown, don’t turn me down, just take my hand now...” a low murmur reached Tina’s ear.
She twisted around, trying to determine where the voice was coming from. She finally spotted him, Damon, sitting on what appeared to be a pile of bodies, but when she cautiously came closer she saw it was actually a half-burnt tree-stump.
Her eyes slid over him, as he swayed, biting his nails and softly singing. She had anticipated seeing dark circles and hollow cheeks, but his skin bore no hint of greyness and there were no wrinkles in his clothes. “Damon?”
“...let me show you the joy...”
This was even worse than him being a beast. She fell on her knees before him. “Damon, look at me.” She cupped his cheek, forcing him to lift his head. “Look at me!”
The dull grey eyes found hers. He tilted his head. “Trinity?”
She swallowed. Tina, she was Tina, not Trinity, but she nodded anyway. “Yes, it’s me. It’s Trinity.”
“Will you sing to me? Your lullaby?”
She frowned.
“Sing it.” He started to murmur the words.
“Stop it, please.”
But he didn’t stop, he sang, repeating the words, repeating the song, over and over again.
“Will you stop it?” Tina shook him. “Stop it. Stop it. Stop it!”
The song died. Damon’s eyes glowered at her, an almost sullen expression on his lips like he couldn’t understand why she didn’t like his singing.
How had it come to this? If she had mastered the space distortion earlier... “I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and dragged him down with her as she sat on her heels.
She pulled him closer until he slid from the stump and she buried her head in the niche between his neck and shoulder. “I’m so sorry. So sorry. I should have come earlier.” But she had been practising, and even now, she might still not be ready to help him. Especially not with the way he was. What was she going to do?
“Shhhh.” He cradled her against his chest.
“I’m so sorry.” She held onto him. She was not ready to lose him. She couldn’t. She... She... she loved him.
He started to sing again, rocking her in his arms as if she were a small baby.
Who was consoling whom? She pressed her cheek against his jaw, felt the warmth that seeped from him, then his touch disappeared and Damon’s body for a second shimmered like hologram with a bad connection.
The warmth returned and the arms around her solidified. “I called you and you didn’t answer.”
She slipped from his embrace. “Damon?”
“I wanted to see you before I lose it. To say goodbye.” He gave her a soft curve of lips. His body shimmered again and it made Tina feel like he was fighting against it.
“I’m not ready to say goodbye.” Her fingers dug into his shoulders.
The weight and the warmth under her hand disappeared and instead of Damon she saw dark fur, glowing red eyes and the whiteness of long, sharp fangs. She blinked and there was Damon before her. He started to sing again.
“No, no. Don’t sing. Come back. Come back.” She shook him again. “Please, come back.”
“...close your eyes, grab it and hold it --”
A bolt zigzagged through the sky.
Damon arched his neck, his eyes on the sky. “It’s coming.”
Good, he had stopped singing. “What’s coming?”
“There’s nowhere left to hide.”
Could it be Petsha? “What can I do?” she said more to herself.
“You have to go.”
She was not going to leave him here. She frowned, but what was there to do? She couldn’t help him, could she?
Damon pushed her away. “You have to --” His body shimmered again and a large beast surged toward her, its fanged muzzle opened.
She fell down on her backside and raised her arms over her head as four wings and a big body towered over her. She expected the pain to explode as the serrated teeth touched her shoulder, but the beast’s body cracked like an egg. The shells of it fell onto the barren ground and Damon stepped out from it.
Another yellow zigzag lit the sky.
“You have to go. Now!” He put his hand on her collarbone and shoved her backward.
She could feel the wetness at her back and her leg. “No!” She grabbed Damon’s arms. She was not going back, not without him.
The pull on her body became stronger, but so did her grip on Damon. “I’m not leaving, I’m not.”
“I don’t have any strength left. You saw it yourself.”
“I don’t care. I’m not leaving you.”