[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
had Charon's eyes. "Is she your daughter?"
"Yes." He smiled as we passed through the hall.
At the alcove beside his bedchamber, he tugged me behind
a column. There, shrouded in the dim light away from our
companions, Charon placed his arms around my waist. We
stared at each other in tense silence. I pushed my hands
around him and laid my head on his chest. His heart beat in a
tedious rhythm. He rested his chin atop my head. "What is
this I feel for you?"
"I don't know." He hissed. "You're asking the wrong soul.
Feelings evade me."
Time fled. We clung to each other and the warmth of our
bodies' closeness made me believe this moment was meant
to be. Maybe Charon was right all along that Fate wanted me
to play this part. Could it be that I was exactly who and what
I was supposed to be?
We stepped away from each other, our hands meeting and
clasping in a now familiar hold. "I trust you now."
He nodded. "Trust is a start to many paths." His thumb
drew small circles on the side of my hand. "I trust you,
Angela."
120
Blood Angel Book Two
by Anastasia Rabiyah
We left the alcove for the bedchamber. Marianne slept
sprawled across his bed, her blonde hair spread around her
face. Bypassing her, Charon took me to a side room lined
with bookshelves and a single door. He let go of my hand and
turned the handle.
Silver light painted the room, draining all color from the
books. "This is the gateway," he explained. "The one you saw
in my memories that I found as a youth." Hand in hand, we
walked through. The cold was exquisite, the ethereal rush of
motion and change crackling in electric pulses across my skin.
Voices told me secrets. Souls touched me in icy brushings
over my exposed skin.
We emerged on the other side of the portal to a dark
expanse of stones and water. Dripping, rushing, splashing
water. My shoulders felt heavy because somehow in that
passage, my wings had appeared. Beside me, Charon had
become the skeleton again, a black robe billowing about his
fleshless shape. But beneath his façade, I felt the true shape
of his fingers against mine.
In time, we walked to the water's edge. A boat appeared
from the very air, another illusion. To the right, I saw another
boat with another boatman. Mist followed him on his journey.
"Those are souls."
"Yes," Charon answered. "As you can see, there are others
who lead them across, many others."
We stepped into the ferry. Across the water it floated
toward a shimmering light in the distance. I had seen this
part in our shared visions, the impossible silver light. I peered
over the side of the boat to see reflections across the surface.
121
Blood Angel Book Two
by Anastasia Rabiyah
Each slice of mist that drifted in the air above us was an echo
of the human it had been in life. Nude, they glided, arms
outstretched, faces serene, eyes fixed on the light. More and
more gathered above Charon's ferry until the air was thick
with them, and each intake of breath I drew gave me a taste
of the spirits surrounding us. Some swirled about me. Others
passed through my body offering cold sharings of their past.
We reached the water's edge where the light met the river
and spanned as high as I could see. Souls that had followed
us dove into the vibrant beacon, becoming a part of its
brilliance. I, too, felt the pull to enter the light. Here, I had
come to the end of all the things, and to the beginning.
Energy permeated the air. I wanted to understand this light. I
needed to touch it. I reached out.
His fingers closed over my hand and stopped me. "Stay
here," Charon said. His wings appeared, bony and skinless
frames of what they were in the flesh. Curving horns grew
from his temples. He let go of me to unfasten his robe, which
fell at his feet.
Within the ribcage of his chest, Karada's soul circled
frantically.
"She doesn't want to pass on," he said. "So I must carry
her through."
He leaped off the boat into the light.
Rainbow colors swallowed up his shape and sucked him
into the brilliance. I squinted, trying to witness what
happened next. A scream pierced the in-between place. My
connection to Charon allowed me to experience the pain he
suffered. But the scream was not his. It was feminine, and
122
Blood Angel Book Two
by Anastasia Rabiyah
the familiar tone resonated in my memory. Karada, shrieking
her fury for all to hear, had gone through the light to the
other side.
I sank to my knees to reach for Charon's robe. Bringing it
to my face, I wondered if I was now trapped in this place
alone. The fabric smelled like him, like leather and incense
and the alluring musk of his manly scent. I breathed in his
memory. I breathed out my fear.
The boat drifted back the way it had come. It hurt to look
into the light, but I tried to see him beyond its veil. "Charon?"
Water sloshed at the boat's sides and drew me farther
away. Souls skittered in curious arcs around me before flitting
off to find another ferry. The boat skidded onto the bank. I
climbed out, holding Charon's clothing against my chest in
fisted hands. The way back was clear, the portal we had
passed through glimmering not far from where I was.
I sat down on the moist sand to wait, unable go back
without him.
"He will return." It was Marianne's voice behind me. She
settled in at my side with a look of expectancy. "He told me
about the other side. It's not what everyone thinks. Not a
Heaven and Hell. Even this place, it's not what I imagined,
not the Purgatory of Catholicism I was raised to believe in."
She edged closer to me until our shoulders touched. "I'm
sorry for what I did to Tom."
I turned from the light to see her face. Drawn with
sadness, she waited for me to forgive her.
"It wasn't your fault." She didn't look like her sister at all.
Marianne was rounder with fair features, not the dark haired
123
Blood Angel Book Two
by Anastasia Rabiyah
beauty Genevieve had been. The paleness of her skin only
added to the vampiric allure.
"What's going to happen to us, Angela?"
"I don't know. I've never known." If he didn't come back I
supposed we could all return to the states as much as I was
growing to like the wilds of Greece. Secluded in his home by
fences and the ancient folklore and fears in the village, we
were sweetly closed off from civilization.
The light pulsed. We both turned to watch Charon emerge.
Hideous, he flew through the gathering of souls, a demon
incarnate with blue-black skin stretched taught over his lanky
frame. Olive green wings flapped to hold him above the
water's surface. He circled the river, his tail thrashing, his
horns glistening, and then he caught sight of us on the shore
and changed his course.
"I am like him now," Marianne whispered. "But you're not.
You and Tom are different than us. It's why Charon favors
you over me." The misery in her voice saddened me.
"Do you care for him?"
She hissed out a drawn breath. "I don't know him. Not
really. I'm not sure anyone can. At times, I think he doesn't
even know himself." Marianne stood up and held out her arms
to receive him when he landed on the bank. Charon
approached, his grotesque shape shifting into the handsome
body he favored. He clutched Marianne against him in an
embrace unlike the ones we shared.
I wondered how long it would take for him to recognize
that the love he so needed waited in his arms to be known.
[Back to Table of Contents]
124
Blood Angel Book Two
by Anastasia Rabiyah
About the Author
Anastasia Rabiyah writes erotic romance, paranormal
erotic romance, and fantasy. She often crosses genres in
order to follow her muses into the darkness where they seek
out destiny in all its forms. She believes in fairies, demons,
angels, magic, passion, chocolate, supportive friends, e-
books, and writing critique groups. Her deepest desire is to
pursue her creative dreams and realize them. Every spare
moment she devotes to writing for her haunting muses.
125
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]