Anwen holds up her hands and chuckles, cutting me off. “Whoa. Calm down. First of all, I won’t answer all of your questions, but yes, your father is alive. Still, all will be revealed in due time.” My eyes light up, and I’m about to badger her again when she gives me a look, silencing me.
“You know the Fates normally don’t allow any questions, let alone anyone to see our faces. The students who go through school don’t even see our forms,” she states and gives me a stern look.
Okay then. “So why me?” I ask.
She pulls her hands apart, drawing my attention, and a scene unfolds between them. I watch as a battle takes place in an area that seems familiar.
“I allow it because you, Nerezza, are special. Not everyone is happy with how Purgatory runs. So, there was an uprising, and the rebels tried to force their way through to Earth. That massive door in the background with shining red eyes is Diablo. The strongest and most ancient door on all the planes.”
I watch in fascination as giants, elves, shifters, and magic-users fight at the entrance of Diablo.
“I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but most of our world is sentient. The buildings you walk in aren’t just buildings, and the doors aren’t always what they seem. Though, I think you already know Knots quite well,” Anwen smiles. I can’t help but chuckle, thinking of my Door Knight.
The scene changes and I watch as the Four Horsemen make the creatures that now roam worldwide. Death, bringing forth a Vampire from a corpse and its ravenous appetite. War, physically splitting in multiple animals, and they immediately start fighting. Famine, pulling green energy out of the land, causing it to blacken. I watch in horror as his soul leaves his body and tears into a man and woman with luminous hands. And Pestilence, laughing as he watches his plagues spread from one person to another. I feel sick to my stomach as I witness his black inky concoction jumping from man to man. Red smoke wafts from women laden with diseases, spreading them to the men that visited them. His laughter turns into a scream though, as his creations turn on him. Tearing him apart and out of his remains, beings with long ears emerge. Light chains or delicate bracelets appear around their wrist—pretty faces hiding their intentions.
“The beings that call Purgatory home all started with the Four Horsemen,” she chuckles. “I have no idea where humans came up with the idea of them destroying the world. Maybe they thought of the forming of Purgatory as the Apocalypse. Who knows, but once their creations were born, they were tasked to protect them. Think of it as the ultimate punishment for their sins. They took what gifts they were given and abused them. So—”
The next scene shows the essence of the Four Horsemen spread across the world, and I watch as a piece of each of them went into Diablo, his eyes coming alive and shining red.
The image between her hands flickers back to the war between the rebels. Diablo's massive size starts shaking in the background. Red streaks begin swirling along his surface, getting brighter the more extended the fighting goes. Glowing white cracks appear along the door, and suddenly it bursts open, showing nothing but white.
“The only way to stop the battle and the resistance was to sacrifice himself. Purgatory runs on a fine line of checks and balances. Energy, or magic, flows freely between both worlds, but lately that balance has been thrown off. Purgatory has been losing a great deal of it. We must regulate that. When energy falls here, the supernaturals on Earth get pulled back to maintain the balance. Those who are granted access to travel to Earth know of this and receive a time frame on which we set for them to stay. If they miss their window, they are pulled. The doors are the guardians between worlds. They keep the balance between good and evil and help right the wrongs.”
The scene cuts to the same spot, but Diablo is in ruins, and there in the middle of the rubble is ME! Sprawled out on the ground with the wind whipping around my hair.
“I don’t remember any of this. And you speak of Diablo as if he’s just one person, but obviously, he’s not,” I say, looking at her for answers.
“The four, together, call themselves Diablo, but this is why you were pulled. Nerezza, you’re here to restore the balance of Purgatory,” she tells me.
Aww, hell no. Did Fate just bitchslap me with anal beads?
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Hair goes nothing
Lynx
It’s amazing what a little bonding will do for a ‘Familiar’. My heart feels lighter and I have more bounce in my step.Who am I kidding, I’m a complete wreck after that fiasco.Part of me is ecstatic that the truth is finally out there, but I hate the idea that she found out that way. I wonder how things would have been if I could have told her from the very beginning.
Making another pass down the hallway, I glance at Knots, my jailor, as my mind wanders. I can’t wait to talk to Rez and see how she feels about us being ‘Mates’. I’m a little nervous about the fact, what if she doesn’t want me?What if she just wants me as a friend and denies the bond? What would I do then? Would she really do that?I pause in my pacing for a moment as that thought tries to plant itself in my head.Nope!Continuing my pacing, lead slowly sinks into my belly as all the ideas race through my head.
My Rezzi-Bear would never turn me down outright. She has too big of a heart to do something like that, even if she didn’t see me as a ‘Mate’. I would be in her life no matter what. A dark thought crosses my mind.But how do you know?I know this for a fact because she was crying at my memory. I know she could feel what I felt because I could feel her. Granted I have no idea why that memory was the one that she popped into, but it worked out for the best, I guess. That was the night I lost my pseudo mother and the ability to shift at will, denying me the ability to be what she needs. I guess that memory has always been at the front of my mind, running on repeat on how things could have been different.
I make another pass by Knots and my temper flares. I don’t want to be stuck here with my memories and thoughts. Fuck this! I need out of this prison. Give me a match. I’m going to burn this fucker to the ground.
‘Give it up, furball.’
‘I swear, I will find a way out of here, you glorified doorknob.’
I have been stuck in this jailhouse ever since I ran up here with Rez’s books. Thinking this is where she would have come to, I walked in and heard the door close and the lock click. The fucker. He said she was in good hands and she would be back shortly after everything worked out. I think we need new firewood for the fireplace. We haven’t used it yet, but I’m all for starting that tradition.
‘I heard that fur bag.’
‘Good. You’re just about to become my new kitty litter.’I move up to the door and go to raise my leg when I hear Rez on the other side.
Trying to jump to the side, right when the door slams back, it catches me in the leg.
‘Fucker.’
