Read No Enemy But Time (A Brandywine Investigations Universe Story) Online

Authors: Angel Martinez

Tags: #Gay, #Romance, #SciFi, #Fantasy, #Angels, #Demons

No Enemy But Time (A Brandywine Investigations Universe Story) (3 page)

BOOK: No Enemy But Time (A Brandywine Investigations Universe Story)
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That's not me. It's never been me. I am fallen, but not one of the ones who changed. I'm still Michael. Zack's Michael. It was just a passing storm.

* * * * *

A storm stirred out on the bay. It reached fingers inland during the early afternoon, kicking up the wind and bringing the scent of restless waves. By the time Zack came back from the grocery store, dark clouds had obliterated the sky, shuttering the sun so midnight could visit early.

He had no fear of storms. The lightning would never dare touch him, beloved nephew of Zeus. But tonight the storm brought something with it, something dark and strange. He shivered as he got out of his Jeep and hurried to move Michael's hanging columbine planters to the door. Movement out in the garden caught his eye, furtive, clinging to the shadows.

"Michael?" Zack called, peering into the dark, squinting against the rising wind.

The shape moved, too large for Michael, misshapen somehow. Wishing he had a weapon at hand or at least one of his Arcadian hounds, Zack stepped off the porch to meet it. Whatever this was, it wasn't getting past him into the house where Michael slept.

"Who's there?" His voice cracked, not exactly the angry defiance he was going for.

A laugh floated to him across the garden, eerily familiar and oh-so-wrong. "Really? Already you don't recognize me? Zagreus… Zagreus…"

The figure stepped close enough for Zack to make out the humps at his shoulders. Wings. "Michael? But how—?"

"No stupid questions, Zack." The being took three steps closer. The voice was a chill parody of Michael's, as if some horrible soul leech had sucked out all the music and warmth. "No. You used to listen to me without question. I was the protector. The guardian. The guide. One way or another, I will be again. I'm asking you, now, to come with me willingly. Love me as I am, no matter what, as you promised."

"I… but what…"

This dark version of Michael held up a hand to cut him off. Huge wings spread out behind him, inky black, leathery wings so different from the beautiful, shining, white feathers Michael had as an angel. "I am fallen because of you. Because of your kiss, your love. I am this—" The wings shot out to their full extension, claws flashing in the single light on the back porch "—because of you! One chance, Zagreus. I am no mewling angel, now, no lickspittle lover for you to order about. Come with me willingly. Help me build my domain as a god, or by all the rivers of the Underworld, I will come back some day and take you by force."

Zack staggered back a step, icy hands around his heart. "Michael… whatever's happened, we'll fix it. We'll—"

"No! I'm not some broken toy! I've—"

"Zack!" Michael's voice, his familiar, soft voice, called from the house. "Who are you talking to out there?"

The dark Michael jerked back as if slapped. He snarled, and beat his wings as he leapt from the ground, a barely discernible blot on the tumultuous clouds as he flew away. Zack turned and dashed to the house, knowing he was wild-eyed and maybe a little crazy looking, but he had to see Michael, his Michael.

"Zack? Are you all right?" Michael's eyes searched his face and then the now-empty garden behind him. "Was that some sort of huge raptor?"

Zack cupped his angel's face in both trembling hands, uncertain of what to say, of how much to say, completely baffled by what he had seen. "Michael, I thought… it was the strangest thing. I thought it looked like you. But you were inside. Safe inside." He pulled Michael into a fierce hug, breathing him in, stroking the hollow dimples where his wings had been. "I don't know what that was."

"Did it hurt you? Are we safe?" For a moment, Michael was the guardian again, pushing Zack behind him into the house. "Zack?"

"I think it's… gone for now. It was just very strange. It felt like it shouldn't have been here. Shouldn't have existed at all. That doesn't make any sense, I know…"

"We'll lock the doors, just in case, and get your bow out of the closet. Did it say what it wanted?"

Zack shuddered once more before turning to flip on all the outdoor floodlights. "Me."

* * * * *

Over the next three days, the dark Michael didn't return. Zack would've been relieved over that fact if he had answers, but he'd talked to several of his cousins and no one could give him any useful tidbit. Worse, the real Michael's odd shifts in mood did return.

There weren't any quicksilver rages like that first one over his little frog's demise, but he was surly and irritable. Zack found himself walking on eggshells. Any little slip or attempt to tease caused offense. More than once, he found Michael curled into a ball on the floor, sobbing, choking on garbled words. The little Zack could make out sounded as if he couldn't remember how he had entered the room, hints of dislocation and missed time that sounded like the beginnings of dementia.

Hermes had no helpful advice other than to say most fallen angels weren't like Michael.

"Really, Herm?" Zack had snorted at him. "Thanks for the newsflash."

"Sorry I can't help. But, Zack, if he doesn't get better, call your dad. I don't think this is a medical thing. It sounds metaphysical to me. Hades is better with that end than the rest of us put together."

Zack had let out an exasperated sigh. "Yeah, I'll call him and his new boyfriend'll answer."

"You, my darling cousin, are going to have to get over that."

He didn't have time for the bizarre turn in his father's love life, though.
Mom divorces him and he takes up with a homeless, alcoholic human.
Sure, the rest of the family seemed to like the guy, but it was still… Damn it, Zack had his own problems. Right now, his Michael-problem was singing They Might Be Giants songs in the kitchen, so he felt reasonably sure that he could go to his study and get some paperwork done. He'd make chili for dinner, Michael's favorite, and they would talk about getting him some help.

After an hour, Michael slipped through the study door and sat in the chair by Zack's desk. "Hey." Zack offered a smile, which faltered when Michael didn't respond to it. "What's up?"

"The dark. It's back." Michael swallowed hard, but his face remained disturbingly stoic. "The way it was at first. When I fell. I have visions of destruction and horror…"

"Sweetheart, we got through this before." Zack reached out to take his hands, blinking in shock when Michael jerked back. "We'll get through it again."

"It's not going away. We've just delayed it. I'm fallen, Zack. I can't help what I'm becoming. You need to leave me. Now."

"You think I'm leaving you now, when you need me? You're out of your mind. No. Not before, not now."

"Before, the visions, the need for violence, they were nightmares." Michael leaned forward, his bright blue eyes earnest and haunted. "Now, they're daydreams." He stood and stalked out.

"Michael!" Zack's chair fell backward with a clatter as he scrambled after his lover. "Michael! Damn it!"

Michael poked his head around the corner of the kitchen, dishtowel and plate in hand. "What? Zack, I'm right here. What's wrong?"

Zack stopped in the doorway, taking in Michael's concerned expression. "The
fuck
, Michael? You come into my study to tell me that your daydreams are violent horror shows and then ask me what's
wrong
?"

Michael shook his head, his confusion all too real. "You're not making sense. I wasn't in your study. I've been in the kitchen this whole time."

"Then what… oh." Zack gathered Michael into his arms. "I'm sorry. I… something really bad is happening here. There's you, and then there's… other you. Damn it. I hate this."

"How does this other person get in here? How did he leave without me seeing him?" A note of panic wormed its way into Michael's voice. "Who is he?"

"I don't know, hon. I don't know anything. But I think we should pack a couple of bags and go upstate to see my dad. We have to get out of this house. Now."

"All right. I think… that makes sense."

"And I'm not letting you out of my sight again." Zack kissed Michael's forehead, trying to comfort him, trying to lay claim, trying to reassure himself of something real and solid.

They packed in haste, a single duffle with a few changes of clothes. Zack swept the contents of the bathroom counter into the duffle, not wanting to take the time to sort necessary from not.
Good thing we never got around to the dogs and cats we wanted. No one but us to worry about.

Michael stayed close, his worried frown not budging an inch, but his hands moved with steady purpose, his eyes hard and determined. They locked up the house, something they rarely did on a normal day, and climbed into the Jeep.

"I'm going up Route 1," Zack began, as he backed down the gravel drive.

"No. I hate that road."

"Hell of a lot faster."

"I know, but it's not like the back way is that much longer. Route 9, please? So I can see the marshes. It's… it'll just feel better."

"Okay. For you." Zack patted Michael's knee. Long car rides made his angel nauseous enough, and the long stretch of boring toll road did tend to make it worse.

It was still too early in the season for all but the most dedicated beach migrants, so the roads were clear, and the back roads Zack took nearly deserted. The marshes they drove past slowly shifted from tidal to freshwater, green and rutting with life. He opened his window to hear the birds and frogs singing, pulling in a deep breath full of damp earth and relief.

No dark shape pursued them in the sky. No strange figure appeared along the road to stop them.

"We'll be all right," Zack said, as much to shore up his own courage as to reassure Michael. "Dad will know what this is all about, or he'll point us to someone who does."

"Of course." Michael managed a weary smile. "We're not alone and we should have done this earlier."

Yes. Damn it.
I'm so sorry
. "Yeah, the family's always telling me I'm too stubborn to accept help."

"You're not. It just takes you longer."

Zack reached across and took Michael's hand, their fingers entwined on Michael's denim-clad thigh as they rode for several miles in silence. The delicate whites and yellows of bloodroot and pale flashes of purple wild geraniums peppered the road's edges, peeking between the dancing green of marsh grasses. Peaceful, beautiful, all as it should be…

"Zack."

He turned to see Michael had paled, his free hand gripping white-knuckled on the door handle. "Don't feel so good?"

"A little off. Could we stop for a minute?"

Zack drove until he found a gravel pull-off and got out of the car with Michael. He'd hoped Michael would've held out a little longer, but this was the normal pattern. More than half an hour in a car and Michael needed to "stretch his legs," his euphemism for "stop the car before I puke on the upholstery."

A red-winged blackbird trilled close by, a short flash of wings betraying his position to the left. Zack came around the hood and took Michael in his arms, grateful when Michael leaned into him instead of pulling away. "Better?"

"Hmm. A little odd. But not like I'm going to be sick."

The sunlight caressed Michael's hair, creating a halo illusion as the wind toyed with white-blond strands. Water reflections danced along his throat, and Zack's chest expanded with fierce love and exasperated sorrow. He leaned in to kiss those shadow-dance motes, encouraged as Michael tipped his head back and gave a pleased little moan. Shoving the neck of Michael's T-shirt aside with his nose, he continued kissing along his collarbone as he kept an eye on where solid ground ended, and backed Michael behind a screen of waist-high grass.

"Zack, someone might see," Michael said with a little laugh, but it wouldn't be the first time in semi-public. They'd both agreed that the thrill of possible discovery added to the excitement.

"Too bad. You smell so damn good."
And I miss you. We haven't made love for days.
Zack sank to his knees, nuzzling the growing bulge behind Michael's zipper, smiling when Michael clutched his head with a gasp.

He popped the button and slid the pull down carefully since most days Michael went commando. Today was no exception, and that beautiful, pale cock practically leaped out to greet him. Zack hummed as he wrapped his lips around the foreskin, pushing back so he could lick the tip.

Michael cried out and dug his fingers hard into Zack's hair. His thighs already trembled, and he growled as Zack kept up his teasing licks. Suddenly the grip on Zack's hair became painful, and Michael's next cry wasn't a pleasured one.

Startled, Zack tore his head from Michael's grip while Michael doubled over in agony.

"Michael!" Zack caught him before he fell to his knees. "What is it?"

Even as his panicked words tumbled into the suddenly too-quiet air, a terrible ripping sound came from Michael's back, two strange bulges threatening to tear through his T-shirt.

"No… oh, mother of us all, no." Zack held tight to Michael's shuddering frame, his horror mounting as black protrusions ripped through the cotton, growing outward and expanding.

Michael keened and sobbed, beating against Zack's chest with one fist until he finally had to yank away, retching on his hands and knees, the black bone-like structures at his shoulder blades twisting and reaching upward. All Zack could do was stay near, trying to help Michael through the terrible pain. He didn't ask what was happening. He knew. He knew, and had no way to stop it. Helplessness only made the gut-wrenching panic worse.

"I'm here, sweetheart," he murmured, as he took Michael's twitching body back in his arms. "No matter what. I'm here. I don't care what's happening. I do care, but it doesn't matter to me what you become. I love you. It's just another change. I'll always love you."

"Zack." Michael lifted his head, his eyes glistening with tears. "Run. Go. Please."

"No. Fuck, no. I don't care if you're changing. Not running."

Michael tangled his fists in the front of Zack's T-shirt, panting. He seemed to have a moment where the pain let up and he rested his head on Zack's shoulder, shivering hard. "I love you, too. Just… remember that."

BOOK: No Enemy But Time (A Brandywine Investigations Universe Story)
4.92Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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