Gods of Death

16 : Crossing the Half-Way Mark

"Get moving, Victor," Emma almost spat his name, accompanied with a swift sting from her tail across the top part of his left shoulder and flew ahead. It was raining.

Victor followed her up the winding path through the trees. The wood was ancient and untouched, brittle twigs crunched under every step as he passed oak, elm and cherry trees. Blackberry brambles, nettles and ivy twisted and turned, trying to catch his legs as he walked.

"That hurt," he called forward. "What the f**k is wrong with you?"

Emma ignored him, he wings beating a steady but slow pace through the forest.

"Emma, we need to talk. I don't even know where we are going."

She stopped, spun and hovered in the air. "We're going to when and where Zadkiel is. That's what we do. We kill Archangels, we report in, then we kill more Archangels. Well, we're crossing the half-way mark now, aren't we? Three down, four to go. Once Zadkiel is dealt with, the end will be in sight and you can go back to your life."

"Emma -" Victor began.

"I'm not in the mood, Victor. Let's just get this done, shall we?"

She sped up then, putting enough distance between them to mean he'd have to shout to be heard. Victor grunted, adjusted his clothing and sword, and traipsed after her.

They walked for fifteen minutes without speaking before Emma stopped in her flight. Victor closed the distance between them as she remained hovering in the air, the familiar thoomp, thoomp of her wings pulsing in the air.

"Simon," Emma hissed, "and his psycho girlfriend."

Victor stopped and looked down from the hill they had climbed. The trees had thinned out somewhat, giving way to grasses and rocky terrain. The rain made it hard to see clearly, but the two black figures that were Simon and Marzena were not hard to miss. The male imp was holding a position in front of the woman's face, and they were obviously deep in conversation. Neither Emma nor Victor had been seen.

"Great. f*****g great," Victor said.

"What's your problem, Victor? We have a job to do; why not let them help us?"

"What the f**k is wrong with you Emma? What happened between us leaving Greece and now?"

"What? You mean the three weeks of t*****e? Or the week or so before that where I spent my time freaking out, alone in a f*****g blackness that had no end and no exit, while you did what? Cozied up to f*****g Three?"

"What? Weeks? It was like half-an-hour. An hour at the most."

Emma snorted. "For you maybe; time has no meaning, remember."

"f**k," Victor held out his hand to touch her but she flinched away. "I'm sorry, Em, I didn't know. I wouldn't have -"

"Em? You don't have the f*****g right to start giving me a nickname now, Vic." She spat the last syllable.

"I'm sorry, Emma. I am."

"Not good enough, Victor, I thought we were a team."

"We are!"

"Well, it didn't f*****g feel like it."

"I..." Victor didn't know what to say.

"Forget it. We have a job to do. We have to kill Simon and Marzena."

Victor looked at her, eyes wide. "What the f**k?"

"Let's not d**k around. If they kill Zadkiel, then you didn't, and if you don't then the wrinkled-man club are going to say you didn't hold up your end of the bargain. Haven't you thought of that? s**t, they might have already taken out one of the others and we're f****d anyway, but let's not tread that path."

"Umm," Victor was stunned.

"Yeah, you hadn't thought of it. f**k. Anyway, we can't let them kill Zadkiel, we can't let them even help. It's bad enough that Marzena's blow nearly took out Chamuel, but I think the credit has definitely gone to you for that one."

"We can't kill them," Victor said. "They'll just come back a little Tainted."

"Yes, I know. I've been pondering that. We actually have to trap them here."

"Where is here, anyway?"

"South Wales. The Brecon Beacons. It's actually a really stunning landscape if you take the time to enjoy it and are not worried that another pair of t***s are going to kill your Archangel before you get the time to do the deed yourself."

"It's very wet."

"If you can't handle a bit of rain by this point, Victor, then I f*****g despair."

"I wasn't complaining."

"Good. Anyway, we have a secret weapon. And I think we can use it to trap them. Come on; down the hill a bit. We need to not be seen."

Victor followed her as Emma retraced their steps.

"Here, good," she said at last. "Stand the other side of that puddle."

Victor did as she bade him and watched as Emma reached into a pocket he'd never noticed she had. Her clothes, such as they were, had never really registered with him, but now he saw that the black leather coverings she had were actually a small dress with two neat pockets. Emma extracted something and sprinkled it over the puddle.

Pink petals.

Rydia climbed out of the water a few seconds later. Victor reached down to help her stand.

"Thank you, Victor," the angel said.

"What the f**k is going on?" Victor asked.

"Rydia was able to find me," Emma said quietly, "we reached an agreement, and she was the one who rescued me from the blackness. She's been hiding with me ever since."

"I want to help," added Rydia.

"You want to help us in our quest to kill Archangels?" Victor said, his eyes wide.

"No," Rydia was firm, "but then I don't believe that is your quest; not really. I want to help you against the Gods of Death."

Victor sank onto the ground and put his head in his hands. "Against them? For them? I have no idea what I am doing!" he moaned. "I thought we were here to kill Zadkiel!"

"And we are," said Emma.

"For the Gods of Death?"

"That's right," said Emma.

"And in doing so, we're working against them?"

"I hope so," said Rydia, smiling.

Victor shook his head. "You know that makes no sense, right? You know they know about everything we f*****g think and are playing us, right? You know that we're just doing exactly what they want, right?"

"I know they think that," said Rydia.

"They think it, because it is," said Victor. "And Emma, what's going on? You just said you were tortured. You thought I'd abandoned you. Until a few minutes ago, you were intent that we do what we were told to and take out the next f*****g Archangel in the queue. What changed with you?"

"Nothing," said Emma, "everything." She looking right into Victor's eyes. "Sometimes you just have to go with the flow."

"So that's what we are doing now? Going with the flow?"

"Trust," she said.

"This is f****d up."

Emma flicked her tail towards the crest of the hill. "Whatever we are doing, one thing is certain - we have to stop those two from killing Zadkiel. We have to trap them here, and Rydia is the only one that can."

Victor looked at Rydia. With a smile, the angel with rose-petal wings winked.