Forgive Me

The angel turns her head to watch my brother break through the bushes to jog out into the clearing, her eyes narrow and a look of confusion shows through her stoic expression. She coughs more blood out onto her chest. “What…is this…abomination?” She gurgles through wet **** breaths.

I crane my head around to look back at Lucian who is skittering to a frantic stop. Horns on his head, tail behind him, that emerald green glimmer of his eyes, the angel needed no superhuman senses to see him for he what he is. His eyes dart around, taking in the situation and quickly realizing how much danger he is in.

“Jacob!”

“Get out here Lucian!” I shout. “Get as far away as you can!”

“J-Jacob…” He stutters, scared out of his mind yet not wanting to leave me.

“Don’t worry about me. RUN!” As I hear him scrambling back I turn back toward the grievously wounded angel. “His name is Lucian. He is not what you think he is. He is a good man.”

“Human…with…demon? A mongrel!?” She rasps as she watches my brother flee. If she could have gotten up she would have. “Impossible! What…foul…design is this? What…scheme…are they planning now?”

“He is not a mongrel!” I pull against the beast holding me. “Let me go you shaggy brute.” I plead with the angel. “Let me talk with you. Let me help you with your injuries.”

Even through her pain she looks at me with deep pity and empathy. “You poor child. He has…cor-corrupted you.” She coughs violently, spitting up more blood in the process. In a strange language that sounded akin to the resonating notes of a sitar she says something to the creature clamped onto my arm. With a flick of its head it hurls me forward toward the angel. I land roughly in the stream right beside her, my knees being bruised by the smooth rocks along the bed. The cold water flows around me from my waist down.

“Fuck!” I grunt in pain.

She takes my wrist in her hand and speaks another command to her servant. It turns and bounds after my brother. Swift and wily as Lucian was I had no doubt the beast could catch him before he reached the car.

“NO!” I attempt to get to my feet to turn and give chase but the angel reaches out with her other hand and touches my forehead. A strange feeling of peace sweeps over me. My muscles relax and my mind calms despite what was happening and I settle back down to kneel at her side. I look at her transcendently beautiful face and feel a wonderful tranquility sooth all the troubles of my mind and heart.

She smiles then cringes in pain. Gently she strokes my temple. “Perhaps…one final…good act…before I go. One final…soul saved.” She whispers, the light of her eyes flicker and with that flicker I feel the false serenity she had instilled in me weaken for just a moment. “Tell…my companion…they served me well. Be with them as they pass.” She coughs. “Don’t…let them…die alone.”

“M-my…brother…” I don’t want to, yet some part of me struggles against the peculiar calm to form words. “… he is…a good man.”

“Shhhh.” She says. “Be still child. He has…” She grimaces with another bout of suffering. “…he has enslaved your mind. You know not what you say. It will be over…soon. Then…you can…seek salvation.” Her power wanes and swells again, weaker than before. She was dying. I could see now she was just holding on through sheer determination to see this final act through to its conclusion.

“Lucian…you don’t know…”

“Shhhh. Be calm.”

To her I was just another ignorant human. Like a fly caught up in a web that I could neither see nor understand. Just as with father with Vespera this angel believed she knew what was best and nothing a mere mortal could say to her would change her mind. I was getting damn tired of not being listened to and that anger gives me another foothold to resist her. My love and concern for my brother does the rest. Pushing out from my deepest soul I resist the peace with urgent fear. I hadn’t the will yet to stand and run but I was coming back into my own.

Her eyes flash brighter and I see her strain to maintain her power on me. “Do not fight me…human. You will see…you will understand…pray with me child. Pray. The Lord will…forgive you…for your sins.”

“I hope you’re right.” I whisper. My protective instincts to save my little brother rage back through me once more and with not a second to spare I do the only thing I could think of. Grabbing the shattered sword just beside her limp hand I bring it up and sink what remained of the sharp jagged heaven made blade into her neck. The angel’s eyes go wide, her mouth opens though no sound escapes it, and she stares at me in horror and shock. As her yellow eyes dim to orange then red then pink I plead in hopes her fading presence might understand. “I’m sorry. I have ****. He is my brother.”

Staring into my eyes her mouth moves to speak but cannot. The power she had exerted on me disappears and my adrenaline response kicks my body back into a heightened state once more. I gaze back into her, begging forgiveness even as I did the deed. I hold the blade deep, her hot blood gushing over my hand as her light dims…then extinguishes completely. All at once her body goes limp beneath me. Had she not already been dying, had I not been simply hastening the inevitable, I am not sure I would have had the will to do it. But I had done it. I had killed. The terrible reality of my act only now hitting me. I let go of the sword as if it were white hot and stare at the dead body before me. All of her divine power and beauty and presence just…gone.

I look up to the starry heavens above. “Forgive me.”