Page 14

OUR FEET HAD BARELY CROSSED the threshold when we stopped to gawk at the creatures standing in my bleak little yard hitched to a stunning short carriage, open to the elements, and painted darkest red. Red the color of dried blood. The buggy was beautifully crafted. The twin nightmares that pulled it were not so beautiful.

“Sweet hymnals,” Hamiel whispered, aghast, as the demonic beasts shifted side to side. I’d seen many kinds of horses, witnessed foals born with disfigurement, and defects that would turn the stomach of most people, but I had never laid eyes upon such abominations. I’d read books about centaurs, half man and half horse, from the ancient Greek mythos. These monstrosities were reminiscent of those handsome creatures, but only in form. They were gaunt, flesh pulled tight over their skeletons, white eyes much like Abyss but lacking my horse’s girth and beauty. A human torso from the waist up was attached to the back of a horse. The human part of these nightmarish things was the most distressing. Their mouths hung open and their skulls were visible through their paper-thin skin. A screech broiled out of them that made the hair on the back of my neck stand up.

Even the souls of those trapped here avoided them.

“Impressive creations, are they not?” Lucifer asked from across the room. So spellbound—and horrified—had I been, I’d briefly forgotten the dark lord was here. Foolish of me, really, since the white light flowing from Michael planted in the far corner by the kitchen table lit the room like a small sun. “I am particularly fond of my nuckelavees. They required a good deal of creativity on my part, and just the right souls. Those two are men who abused little children. Fitting for such a man, would you not agree, Livingstone?”

I ripped my sight from the damned beasts attached to my master’s carriage. Lucifer stood by the fire, stirring the soup, as if this were a social visit of some kind.

“Yes, my Lord,” I coughed out. Hamiel clung to me like wisteria. I wasn’t sure if we should kneel or stand our ground. The archangel’s glower felt hot on my cheek. “A very fitting end for such a vile sort. What brings you here, if I may be so bold?”

It was hard to recall that there were others in my cabin. Lucifer’s countenance was so breathtakingly beautiful I felt as if I could simply stand here for eternity and bask in his exquisiteness. When he glanced at me from the hearth, I felt almost enchanted, so strong was his presence, but then he smiled at me, and I saw the flash of the tempter in his gaze.

“Boldness is a quality that I admire. This soup, on the other hand, is not worthy of your station as my coachman.” He pushed the cauldron back over the low flames with distaste marring his face. “Would you not be better served to dine on quality fare? I have given you the powers to walk between the realms. A servant of your station in my army should feast on the best cuts of meat, the finest fowl, and the strongest cheeses. You should sip on the best wines. Smoke the heartiest cigars.”

Yes. Yes. I should do all of that. So why was I tossing coins into root cellars for old potatoes and dried pork loins when I could be taking what I wished and saving my wages for myself? What kind of fool was I to deny myself when I was the coachman?! I was entitled to take what I wished. Food, drink, and the man at my side. Why had I been so stupidly virtuous?

“Livingstone,” Hamiel whispered as he dug his fingers into my side. “You are a good man. Do not listen to the tempter’s whispers.”

“Stop toying with your servant,” Michael grumbled, his mighty wings twitching. “I did not come here to watch you play. I came here to understand why one of our realm is spending his time in purgatory sinning with one of your dark creations. I find it distasteful for angels and demons to be cavorting together.”

Lucifer sighed, bored already it seemed, and walked over to sit regally on the needlepoint settee he had laid me on after digging me out of my funeral pyre. His bare feet peeked out from under the hem of his robes. His toes were blackened.

“Fine, right to it then.” He arranged his robes around him with precision. “First off, my brother, they are neither angel nor demon. They are moribund and so are not constrained by the laws that govern the dark and the light. They seem to be quite smitten. Tell me, my coachman, does your heart beat true for this small beacon of light so tight to your side?”

“If you are asking me if I love him, then yes, I do,” I announced it proudly. Michael made a sound of displeasure that rattled the glass windowpanes.

“And I love him,” Hamiel stated, quaking still, but jerking his chin up just the same.

If ever there was a time for a smote, it was now. We could go together if the archangel drew his sword and ran us through. Maybe my second demise would see me taken to the pearly gates…

“This is appalling,” Michael spat while the air filled with the sounds of Abyss talking to the nuckelavees. Those wails of the monsters attached to the dark one’s carriage would surely find their way into my own flaming nightmares. The angel slammed his fist onto my table, shattering it into splinters. Hamiel jerked but did not move. If anything, his hold tightened. If we were going down, we would do so while holding each other. I could think of no finer way to meet the maker. If I would meet him. It is quite possible I would just be brought back to fulfill that damn contract. “We cannot have a walker leading those judged to be good to the gates if they reek of your unholy hackman on his flesh.”

“Michael, my beloved brother—” Lucifer began.

“Do not use that term with me. You are no longer my brethren, and this walker is no longer serving our Lord in this position anymore. If you wish to roll in the filth with swine, then so shall you be bound to do so. Hamiel, you are no longer worthy of guiding the pure to the afterlife. You are to remain here to carry the prayers of those who linger in here to the saints who intercede on God’s behalf. You will no longer be welcome past the gates.”

Hamiel shook softly at my side. I looked down to see him weeping and guilt overtook me. I had done this to him. If I had not been so weak, he would not have been cast aside to linger in this gray, miserable place with me.

“I understand. I shall do my job with reverence, for these forgotten souls only wish to have their prayers heard,” Hamiel, brave and good, said loudly even though his cheeks were wet.

“So be it.” Michael spun on his heel and strode out the door, leaving in a flash of light so bright I could not see clearly for several moments. Hamiel turned into my arms. I embraced him, holding him to me as I looked over his golden curls to see Lucifer’s lips curled into a smile of satisfaction.

“Well, that seems to be settled. Do not weep too hard, little prayer runner, for Michael cannot see that love cannot ever be wrong.” He rose, dusted off his robes, and stared at me.

“May I ask a question of you before you go?” I enquired as Hamiel used the sleeves of my shirt to dab at his eyes. Lucifer gave me a nod. I looked down at Hamiel. His lashes were damp, yet I saw a shimmer of constitution in his amber eyes. “Will you stay here at my side as we speak?” I asked of my beloved.

“Always. I shall always be at your side.”

I placed a kiss on his brow and turned my attention to Lucifer. “Malphus has mentioned that I was given to you for this position by a pact signed by my father many years ago. I would like the truth of that story if you would, my Lord.” Being polite seemed the way to approach the king of the hells. Hester was known to say that one caught more flies with honey than with vinegar.

Lucifer seemed at ease here. Was it due to the whisper of souls that flitted about and were stuck here for hundreds of years? Or mayhap it was the dreary nature of this realm. I could not say with certainty, but he moved with grace on charred feet around the small cabin as he spoke.

“Your father was a learned man, a medical man, who wed a charming woman who would become his nurse. They were deeply in love. Much like you and your little Hamiel.” I felt the man at my side stiffen at the slur to his height. I adored the fact that he fit under my chin. “He loved her more than anything, and that, poor Livingstone, included you.”

A jab of remorse slid between my ribs like a shive. “I am sure he loved me.”

He glanced over his wide shoulder. “Oh, he did, but when his lady wife was shot by a stray musket ball at the battle of Concord, his skills could not save her.” He strayed to the window. My sight traveled down his strong back to where two short stubs, which had been wings, I assumed, were under his robing. “He was desperate. Desperate men do desperate things, as you well know, for you have dealt with hopeless souls who have tried to barter their way out of their rides with you. When those above did not reply to his prayers, he turned to another. He offered up his firstborn son on the proviso that the child would only come into my hands when he had passed away. I could only assume he envisioned a long life for you. So, once the pact was signed, I held up my end of the contract. His lady wife survived being shot only to join him in death not two years later due to contracting the yellow fever. Ironic is it not? He handed over his only son to lose her despite his conniving.”

The fallen one looked far too smug for my liking.

“So you tricked my father! You knew both he and she would die a few years later,” I barked, a slow fury beginning to swell in my breast. Lucifer merely shrugged.

“Such are the odds when you bargain with a power outside of your meager understanding. O fortune, fortune. All men call thee fickle.” He brushed his hair off his shoulder theatrically.

“You quote Shakespeare when he is pained?!” Hamiel shouted.

Lucifer shot him an amused look. “Little prayer carrier, we are all pained. I have swum in the lake of fire and sulfur for eternity. Pain is inescapable, it is joyous, it is alive. It is ever present. Now, I have my flocks to tend to and you two have souls to collect and prayers to carry to whichever saint is playing at benevolence on this day. Enjoy each other while you can. This respite will not last long. There are many wars to come, many plagues to sweep the lands, and much hatred in the hearts of men. Your services will be required for many years to come.”

“How long?” I shouted as Lucifer padded to the front door. “How long do I serve you?”

“Consider this, Coachman. When your tenure is over, your soul will leave this realm of purgatory and you shall be weighed. The fact that you have been murdered will not sway he who sits in judgment. Your golden-haired partner will remain here, for I doubt that the gates of heaven will swing open for one who chose to fornicate with my coachman. So, how long you serve shall be your decision to make. Ride well and true to me with those who are mine, and you shall be at his side for ages. Ride poorly and you shall kneel before me in the pits, and I will not be as kind as you have known me to be.”

I glanced at Hamiel and knew my answer as surely as I knew my own name.

“Then I shall ferry souls for eternity,” I whispered as the shrieks of the nuckelavees shattered the stillness of the in-between. When I looked back at the door it stood open, the hell lord’s carriage gone. Several small balls of human essence floated into the cabin.

“I did not wish to condemn you to this realm forever,” Hamiel croaked. I turned to him and cradled his face. Tears were forming once more in his eyes. “My expulsion from the heavens has done naught but bring us—”

“A perpetuity to love each other.”