Bitter Sweet (32 page)

              "I don’t know..."

              "She's right, you know?" said June sitting next to us. "Although it’s misplaced, Alik couldn’t love anyone like he loves you."

              "But he could still love someone else."

              "He won’t love someone else," Sam said.

              "Then why isn’t he here with me now?" I asked, wrapping my arms around my knees.

              "Well, with how you described it, it sounds like he’s protecting you."

              "How do you figure that one out?"

             
"Well, Aaliyah, Lucifer, and Eden’s powers are things that he doesn’t understand. It’s ancient powerful magic that he can’t control and can also kill. How can he be around you and not know how to control that power? I don’t want to see him if he lost you that way," said June.

              "I was thinking the same thing, Nessa,” Sam agreed.

              Sam tried to keep my spirits up for the rest of the day, but her mood wasn’t that great thanks to my impending doom. She insisted on planning out fall classes and playing with my hair, which also was a mess. I didn’t really see the point anymore. We ended the day with a Shirley Temple movie and a few pints of ice cream that we found in the freezer. By the end of the movie, Sam and I were crying and it felt good to be sad about something other than my problems. We fell asleep on the sofa, leaning against each other and woke up with the sun high in the sky. I slowly opened my eyes and heard someone behind us.

              “You’re finally awake,” Eden said as he had lunch with Lucifer, which I found odd that they ate.

              “What time is it?” I asked, yawning.

              “A little after noon,” Lucifer informed.

              “Who are you talking to, Nessa?” Sam asked, rubbing her eyes and looking over to see Lucifer and Eden. “Who are they?”

              “Lucifer, formally known as the Devil,” Lucifer said, raising his hand while sipping noodles.

              “Eden, formally known as God,” mimicked Eden.

              “Wait,” said Sam, seeming much more alert. “I thought God’s name was Yahweh.”

             
“Wow, you’re the first to actually listen to the Jewish in a long while. Well, outside of tax season anyway. It’s The Garden of Eden, not The Garden of Yahweh. There is no flow in that at all.”

              “Flow?”

              “You have just met God and the Devil, and you question me about the human interpretation of my name?”

              “Oh well… Nice to meet you,” Sam said, slightly embarrassed, but she seemed to want to know more.

              “Why don’t humans react the way they used to when they hear our names?” Lucifer questioned, looking at Eden.

              “You never intended for them to fear us.” Said Lucifer.

              “I know, but I did enjoy it.”

              The formal introductions were marred with the grim realization that I had to leave soon and never come back. The atmosphere in the room changed to one of business with Sam questioning Lucifer and Eden about what we were about to do. Like me, Eden and Lucifer seemed to agree that we were not coming back, but they had not given up.

              “Sam, look, we will most likely die. Aaliyah is unbelievably strong, but not infallible. Neither of us want to die, but what’s wrong with understanding that fact?” Eden pointed out.

              “It’s time we go. The garden will be in bloom soon, followed by the tree,” Lucifer stated.

              Sam turned to me, not a tear in her eye. “I will give you a call tomorrow.”

              “Sam…”             

              “If you don’t answer, I won’t forgive you.”

             
“That’s understandable.” I tried to smile.

              “Give me a hug,” Sam tried to say calmly, but her voice cracked.

              “Wish me luck.”

              “Good luck.” Eden, Lucifer, and June were standing together already and I walked over to join them.

              “How are you getting to The Garden of Eden?”

              “Like this,” Eden said, placing a hand on my shoulder and that cool feeling filled me again and everything went black.

Vanessa Stanton

Chapter 45.0

             
The same sensation of being slowly covered in cool water washed over me as Eden moved us; I felt my legs moving, but all I knew was a pure white light that covered everything. It felt like an eternity passed before I blinked. I was plunged into darkness and dropped from wherever I was. I fell for what felt like hours, unable to open my eyes until I landed on a hard surface. Light burned through my closed eyelids and I instantly felt a burning heat. My feet shifted under me and I opened my eyes onto a sea of sand. For miles and miles, there was nothing else around. Waves of heat rolled off the massive dunes. I breathed in the hot air and my mouth felt extremely dry and I coughed.

              “Here,” June offered, handing me a bottle of water. For the first time, I noticed she was carrying a different sword. Its sheath was flat textured, white with a small black glossy rose embossed in the handle where the finger guard should have been.

              “Thank you.” I drank sparingly; I knew it wouldn’t last long and had no idea how long we would be here. “I thought you used a different sword.”

              “I do. This is Alik’s.” She spun it around and with her thumb, flicked the blade practically out of the sheath. There was no reflection of the sun. The blade was a smooth black with thin diamond shaped lines crisscrossed in the surface of the blade. It was hard to look at as my vision started to blur everything around it, becoming more focused as if it drew in any light reflected off of it. “It’s a very strong carbon steel, nearly impossible to break. The edge is thinner than a strand of human hair; in Alik’s hands, it would cut through anything.”

              “Wow, it’s beautiful.”

              “Would you like me to give it to him?” Aaliyah’s voice rang from behind us. I turned quickly and saw her wrapped around Lucifer like a lover. My heart skipped a beat and I took a step back involuntarily. “Are you not happy to see me?” she asked, pouting sadly.

              “Where is Alik?” I demanded, trying to keep the fear in my voice to a minimum and the anger at its max.

              “He does not need to be here for this, I merely wished to greet you at the gates.” I felt the rush of air and the sand shift as June moved. I had grown used to vampire fighting like this, but I lost track of her for an instant. She appeared at Lucifer’s side, the blade came down millimeters from Lucifer’s back. “Too slow, little girl,” Aaliyah taunted, with a smile plastered on her face. June moved again ,even faster his time, twisting the blade and slicing toward Aaliyah’s head. Aaliyah disappeared in a back flip. This time, Eden joined the fight by attacking Aaliyah with a kick that she easily ducked around. They were nothing compared to Aaliyah. June’s sword left long sweeping shadows in the air, never making contact. Eden’s wrists and ankles seemed to be glowing white, his punches and kicks missing by the smallest margin, but with every missed attack came light that shimmered in the air. The airborne sand melted into glass. Aaliyah danced around them, not bothering to attack back, and just merely dodged them. June and Eden had gained positions on either side of Aaliyah when she moved. June’s sword stopped just at Eden’s neck and Eden’s punch the same distance from June’s nose. Aaliyah reappeared back around Lucifer, who hadn’t moved. “Why are you attacking me? The only ones here who have any right to be angry at me are these two,” she said, her arms around me now. “I stole this

one’s love and I tried to steal his kingdom,” she said as she pointed to Lucifer. “Eden, if you have any problem with me, that is your own fault

for being a prideful old fool.”

             
“Lucifer, what are you doing?” shouted Eden.

              “He’s being the coward he is.”

              “She doesn’t love you; she has never loved anyone!”

              “Lies!” hissed Aaliyah. “You should know, but betrayal as we all know can sever any bond. Isn’t that right, Nessa?” Aaliyah sneered.

              A shadow of an emotion flashed through both Eden and Lucifer’s faces for the briefest of moments. “I will admit that, Lucifer, I don’t love you anymore. There was, however, a time when I did with every fiber of my being, but I was a fool for ever loving you. You ruined my life and then prolonged that miserable life in that horrible box. I would have rather you killed me!” Hate flashed in Aaliyah’s eyes.

              “Fine,” said Lucifer through clenched teeth, his fist balling.

              I hadn’t seen Eden move, but he was at my side and time stopped, my existence grew bright and then deepest black again as I was thrown. When I was able to see again, Aaliyah was tumbling in the sand at an unbelievable speed for an instant until she recovered.

              “I will kill you this time; you stopped being the woman I loved a long time ago.”

              “Liar,” she hissed, the smile disappeared from Aaliyah’s face and she moved, kicking up a large cloud of sand. Lucifer dodged where Eden attacked and vice versa. They had been fighting for so long that they could read each other’s movements perfectly. There was no waste in their movements and the same went for Aaliyah. This time, the fight was much closer to even, I thought. Aaliyah attacked and it sent a wave of sand that missed Eden and headed straight for me; it barely missed me as June got me out of the way.

              “Thank you,” I sighed in relief.

             
“No problem,” she said, her attention still on their battle.              

             
“Can you follow them?”

             
“Not completely, but it’s not their speed. Somehow it feels like they are fighting with their emotions. I don't know any of them well enough to read those.”

              For a moment, I thought Lucifer and Eden had gotten her. Lucifer landed another kick and Eden got behind her, pinning her arms to her sides.

              “Now, I will do what I should have done in the beginning,” Lucifer said, holding what looked like a black sphere that hissed angrily. He positioned himself in front of her and like lighting, forced the ball toward her. There was a massive explosion and a cloud of sand and dust rose into the air. June pulled me back and we stood there not knowing what had happened. The next moment, two figures flew from the dust cloud in opposite directions; they struggled to get back up. The cloud suddenly seemed to be forced to the ground and there was Aaliyah with Alik, at the center of a jagged glass circle. Aaliyah’s arms were wrapped around his waist and she kissed his cheek.

              “Did you two seriously think it would be that easy?” she laughed.

             
“We shouldn’t be here, Aaliyah,” Alik said coldly.

              “Yes I know, but I couldn’t resist greeting our guest.”

              “Let’s go.”

              “Alik!” yelled June and I heard a whistle and saw white fly through the air, Alik caught it. “That is yours!” He looked at June and turned to leave, never giving me a glance. Then, he was gone, taking Aaliyah with him.

              “Why don’t you follow them?” I yelled to Lucifer and Eden.

              “We do not know where to go, Vanessa,” Eden explained, popping his arm back into place next to me and dusting a strange black dust off of himself. As it hit the sand, it shimmered and vanished.

             
“Even if we did, we are no match for them together,” Lucifer pointed out, setting his nose that was broken back and shaking the

same dust out his hair. “We have to get into the garden.”

              “What is that on you?”

              “Alik nearly killed me a moment ago; that’s the traces that his attack left. It’s sort of death in a physical sense. However, that’s not the point. We need to get into the garden,” Lucifer repeated.

              “Why can’t you do that teleporting thing and take us there?”

              “There are rules within the garden,” Eden stated.

              “What rules?”

              “I will explain once we are there.”

              “How do we get in?”

              “The garden is lost, do you know where you are?”

              “No,” I said as if he should have known that.

              “Well then, close your eyes and find it.”

              I simply blinked and because I was angry that I received such an incomplete answer, I cursed in my mind ‘The Garden of Eden’. The red glow from the sun softened and the air felt moist against my skin. Birds and other wildlife replaced the soundtrack of wind. Was that the roar of a tiger? I opened my eyes and the sand was gone; a thin layer of moss covered the ground in patches and scattered trees blocked my vision. I heard paws, very large paws, timidly approaching from a dark spot in the trees. A pair of yellow eyes appeared. I took a single step back and looked around, no one else was here. A low rumble came from its direction and then it jumped; a streak of orange flew at me, knocking me to the ground and pinning me there. The tiger’s bared teeth were inches from my face. Three sets of footsteps sounded around me, and then there was a deep laugh

              “A little help, please!” I yelled.

              “What for?” asked Lucifer.

              “There’s a giant tiger that wants to eat me? Do you not see this as a problem?”

              “If she wanted to kill you, you would not be yelling. She will not harm you,” Eden said.

              When they spoke, the tiger’s attention moved for a moment and I slipped out from under her, but she jumped again, this time stopping me from moving. She leaned in, teeth still bared, and then proceeded to licking me. A purr came from her throat. She took a step back and then sat down, her head tilted and looking at me.

              “Okay, what was that?” I asked, lost and wiping my face. “That is a massive tiger, not a house cat; why was I not eaten?”

              “I told you, there are rules within the garden, rules to maintain order. The tiger is one of few animals that survived our battles; they carry a great power that we harnessed for protection. In our time, animals weren’t what you would call savage. Savagery is a human creation that spread over the entire planet, even to the animals after they left the garden. Here the deadliest of beast pose no threat to any form of life here.”

              “I’m guessing an enemy popping into your house at night would be bad so we will be walking to wherever we are going?” I asked as I stood up.

              “Yes, any, for a lack of better terms, magical movement is nullified within the garden as well.”

              “Then how did we get in here?” I asked.

              “Why not just let some things stay a mystery?” he said.

              The tiger sat there with what looked like a smile with her tail swaying left and right. Cautiously, I reached out to scratch her ears and she purred again

              “We need to get going. They will be here since we are,” Lucifer stated matter of factly.

              “How far is it?” asked June.

              “A few miles; there is no hurry,” said Eden, starting to walk. I started to follow and the tiger followed.

              “You can’t come with me,” I said and she just stared. I

continued to follow Eden and again, the tiger followed. “You have to stay, now stay.”

              “She obviously likes you; she can come,” said Eden. “She’s offering you powerful protection.”

              “Okay.” She trotted alongside me and I fell slightly back to talk to June. “Why did you give Alik that sword?”

              “Lilith told me that Alik should be given that if Aaliyah came for her or him.”