Damarion
“Hey, KK, I know it’s late,” I said as I leaned on the doorjamb waiting for her to open up. “I’m sorry I just lost—”
Even in the dark hallway, when KK opened the door I could see her swollen eyes and red nose.
“If your leg is in that much pain I should take you to the hospital,” I said as I brought her into my arms.
“My leg is fine, DJ,” she said as she pulled away and tightened her arms around her chest. “It’s been a hard few days. I don’t have time to explain it to you.”
“You look like you need to talk.”
“I’m good,” she said though her voice was scratchy. She stepped back and I thought she was going to close the door on me when she turned her head and looked over her shoulder then back to me. “Did you lose something? Tell me what it is and I’ll see if I can find it in the morning.”
“I didn’t lose something. I lost someone. A close friend.”
“Oh, DJ, I’m so sorry. Give me a few minutes and—”
“Kiri, run.”
The Dark One came from behind KK, shoving her back into the apartment and me into the hallway. The unexpected attack had me gasping for air as my back crashed into the wall and his thick forearm crushed against my throat. His free hand reached behind his back and I saw a moment of panic cross his eyes.
“Nye, no!” KK screamed. “He’s my friend!”
“Get my knife. I must have dropped it.”
“Unarmed,” I growled through gritted teeth. “You’re too good to me, Dark One.”
Regaining my composure, I swung my arm up and clocked the side of his face and his arm released my throat. Squaring off against him I noticed I was in a precarious place at the top of the stairs. I dove into the apartment and slammed the door before he could react. Locking the door, I came face to face to a stunned KK.
“Met some new friends, did you?”
“Well, you know, new girl in town and all…Why was he attacking you?” KK’s voice trembled as she back peddled toward the kitchen. The Dark One smashed into the door but its lock held.
“Must not be a fan of Bowling Green.” No reason to keep up appearances any longer. I removed my hat.
KK sucked in a hard breath. I stalked her as she continued to walk backward into the kitchen and her hand dug in the drawer with the knives.
“That’ll barely give me a paper cut, sweetheart.” For the first time in months I could smell and the air was thick with winter and fear. “So tell me, have you become a soulless member of the Frozen? Or can I still save it…your soul that is. I have so much I’d like to do with you.”
With another loud smash I could tell it wouldn’t be long before the door would be gone.
“You’re a demon?”
“What was the first clue? Was it the horns?”
I rushed KK. She took off down her hall and slammed the door to her room. With a hard kick from my boot the door flew open and I found her with her hands on either side of her bureau. Her eyes were wide with horror.
“Not fast enough. I thought you were a runner.”
“I go the distance. I can outlast anything you bring.” A loud crack of destroyed wood told me the Dark One had made it through the front door. “Something tells me he won’t let you last long.”
Springing at her, I grabbed her around her waist and dragged her out the back door as she screamed.
“Kiri,” he called, meeting her cries for him.
“Now, now, my pet.” I held her close to me as she scratched and clawed to get away.
“Let her go,” the Dark One called right as I was at the edge of her roof.
“I don’t think you want to give me that option,” I warned as I adjusted my grip and clutched the back of her neck and extended her body out over the alley. “It’s not a long drop, but the right angle could prove fatal.”
Hatred emanated off the Frozen. Guess he’d been too distracted to find his knife.
“I lost someone important to me. I heard you were involved, Nye was it?”
“That had nothing to do with Kiri.”
“Didn’t it? I heard your mate took the life of my Deumos.” I looked over KK’s body and sighed at the loss. My perfect, sweet, untarnished woman had no doubt been sullied by Nye. “Are you his mate?”
“He has no mate so there is no one for you to kill. Not me and definitely not him. DJ, you know me.”
“You thought you knew me. Who and what I was. Now what do you think?”
“You’re still my friend,” KK croaked and clawed at my fingers.
“I don’t think you want to do that. I let go…” I looked over the edge of the roof to the concrete below. “That will leave a mark.”
“I know you’re in there somewhere. Please, DJ—”
“It’s Damarion. DJ has been dead for centuries. He was alive once, but that has been taken from me too.”
My shoulder burned as I tried to not drop KK. Feelings were more a weakness to me than any muscle in my body. Nemesio, KK, the Princess…Somehow I had let them all slip away, one by one. Looking in KK’s dark eyes pleading for me to release her, and Nye with hatred plastered on his face, there was no way I was getting out alive. Less than a year from reuniting with the woman I had done all this for. Maybe Pivane was right.
Trembling under the strain, my arm curled in until KK was pressed flush against my body. I stumbled to the stairs with my forearm pressed against her throat. Her eyes bulged as she looked at me out of the corners.
“D-Damar…” her voice caught between gulps of air.
My mind swirled. I couldn’t grasp on to any concept besides taking her with me.
Nye leapt and blocked my exit.
“You want me to jump?” I threatened. “Or vanish? I’m not sure KK’s body will make it, her soul on the other hand…”
My head exploded. A loud crack echoed through my skull and I instantly dropped to the ground as if every bone had been removed from my body. Looking up I saw KK gasping for air with her hands on her knees. Attempting to move my head I found nothing in my sights but the stars above me. Ironic…Cassiopeia. I could hear the shuffling of feet against the gravel pebbled roof. This was new.
“He’s still alive,” KK panted. “How is he still alive?”
“He’s a demon,” Nye replied. “Only a claustranima can kill him and mine is down by my bike.”
“Is he suffering?”
“I don’t know, I’ve never had one go down like that…and I’ve never killed a leader.”
Nye knelt by my ear and our eyes met.
“You suffering?”
My eyes cut to KK who was pressing her hand hard against her own ear.
I couldn’t respond because a gun had blown the back of my head off. KK blew off my fucking head! When did she get a gun? From where? I suppose these will be the questions I have for eternity. There was no way Nye would be foolish enough to let my ashes kiss the wind.
Sirens called from the street below.
Nye took off down the stairs, leaving KK alone to deal with a partially dead demon on her roof. And I thought I was an asshole.
Fire tore through my body and the world went black.
* * * *
Kiriana
My head was pounding as I reached for a pillow and found way more pillows than I had ever owned. The sheets weren’t right, either. They were sensual. They were…I shot up and looked around the room. Nye had brought me home. To his home.
The roof? Was it all a nightmare? No, DJ had tried to kill me. My throat felt as if razor blades had been poured down it.
“Good morning.”
The voice sounded annoyed and it wasn’t Nye’s. In the corner Gabriel stood in all his glory.
“We have a problem, Kiriana. You have proposed a deal that has far reaching implications. But now you are not honoring it.”
“I don’t remember you approving my idea.”
“Still…” He sighed. “I gave it and you more leeway than I’ve ever given anyone before.”
“Maybe you should’ve told me I’d be killing him.”
“Courtesy is not your strong suit. You might want to work on that with your other.”
Gabriel started to trace a trinket with his finger.
“I won’t marry him. I won’t. You can’t make me.” I wanted to get out of there, but I felt as if someone was pressing me down on the mattress. Gabriel smiled. He was holding me down with his mind, I assumed, because he was still across the room.
“Why do you want him to die? You don’t want them to go to heaven. To be reborn.”
“Yes, I do. Your plan might actually work. But it can only work if we have a leader. A coach. Kiriana, have you heard of Solomon? The story about cutting a baby in half so each woman could have a piece of the child?”
“Yes,” I said, still irritated.
No way would I seal with Nye, no matter what Gabriel said. He couldn’t hold me here against my will…well, not indefinitely.
“If you don’t fucking release me now…!”
Gabriel continued his lesson as if he was at a pulpit and I was a member of his flock.
“That parable is so important. You had a chance for true love, unending devotion from a man who adores you. But moments before you were going to get it, you are told that you could have it, but only for a short time. Now you still could’ve taken it. Both of you could’ve lived and died at the same time, so there was no chance of you ever being alone. You, you dear child, recognized you would be depriving him of something greater. The chance to live and fulfill his sentence. Have eternal glory.” Gabriel’s voice had an echo to it like he was in the middle of a large stadium.
His eyes got wide and his hands extended. Looking at me, he must have seen my disdain.
“This is a first. No other ever had to face this situation. You dehydrated yourself from crying at the thought of the loss of him. In your heart, he came first, not you.
“Zarmina is sweet, caring, and intelligent, but she is not all knowing. Lars was helping her fight the last of a cold she had. The virus was active and attacking her system. Yours my dear, is a different one. In sealing with Nye will you give him your virus? Yes. You will. In its current state.”
“I don’t understand.”
The pressure was off my body and I could move freely. I tucked my legs under me and sat up on my knees.
“Your HIV, which is currently dormant, will freeze at that level. Nye will have to be careful, if he comes in contact with a human, to not infect them, but it will not mutate into AIDS. It will not start attacking your immune system. You will not have to continue your medication regiment. It will just be. Sleeping in your body as it is now. As are the cancer cells all humans have.”
“I have cancer now?”
Gabriel rolled his eyes at me and pushed off the dresser he’d been leaning against.
“I’m just trying to make a comparison for you. Many awful viruses and diseases live in the human body, waiting to be stimulated by something so they can grow and attack. All humans have cancer cells in their body. They are dormant. When they are stimulated and start to grow excessively, then you get cancer. When you are Frozen during your sealing ceremony, then they too will freeze. How they are. Today.”
“So I can seal with Nye and not kill him?”
“Yes. Unless your plan fails and a demon takes you out.”
“Where is he? Please. I need him.”
“He is outside the door.”
I leapt from the bed, rushed to the door, and pulled it open. Nye fell on his back and hit his head on the floor. I dropped to my knees and kissed him upside down.
“I love you. I love you. I love you. Now and forever. I love you. I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry.”
Nye reached for my hips and flipped me on top of him. I straddled him and cradled his face in my hands.
“I love you. Please. Please, forgive me. I’ll never leave you again. Never. I promise.”
“There is nothing to forgive. Nothin’ at all. Get dressed. I don’t want to wait another minute. I want you to be mine forever.”
“You still want me.”
“I love you. You were looking out for me. I couldn’t ask for a better other. Ever. We shall always be safe because if I’d have heard the same thing, I would have done the same thing. Run. Given you up so you could live a better life. Zarmina wishes to come in and help you dress. May she?”
“Yes. Of course.”
Nye and Gabriel left. I went to the bathroom to splash some water on my face. Hung on the back of the door was my stola and palla. My fingers tingled feeling the satin palla.
“Kiriana,” Zarmina said. Her voice was light and sounded frightened.
I peered out of the bathroom and smiled at her. She ran toward me and wrapped her arms around me. She was freezing.
“Hey. Hey, there, Zarmina. It is fine. Please don’t.”
She was giving me a chill.
“I apologize for speaking out of turn. I’m a dumb, flighty idiot.”
“No, you’re not.”
I pulled back from her but she just held tighter.
“Okay. You’re feeling guilty. Freezing. I don’t want a cold.”
“Oh…oh…”
Her hands slid down my arms, warming as they went.
“Again…”
“Don’t…it was wrong of me to assume and not ask for clarification. I need you to guide me through this crazy world I’m entering. Especially since I think Gabriel is putting Nye and me in charge. I need a good assistant. And those weapons you’ve created…are amazing. Almost as amazing as you.”
“You are too kind to me.”
“Zarmina, I have never had a girlfriend and I just killed the closest thing I’ve ever had to a best friend. I’ve never felt more comfortable with someone besides Nye in my life. Your warmth and kindness is something I need in my life. As much as I need Nye, I’m going to need you.”
She hugged me and her skin was warmer than anyone I had ever felt before.
“I have missed that. I was raised in a village with women who always were together. I love that you are bringing this house together.” She glanced at my hair. “Oh my. Let’s get that fixed.”
I laughed as she started to help me dress.
* * * *
Nye
I had never been so ecstatic. Louise couldn’t hold a candle to Kiri. She was beauty personified. Here standing beside me as my bride. My other. The flowers were exquisite, but what did I expect from Zarmina. She’d make everything perfect.
Kiri’s eyes seemed focused on our intertwined fingers. Gabriel had tried three times to make her put her hand on top of mine until she glared at him and said, I will hold his hand the way I want to. A growl had come from Gabriel’s chest, but Kiri wouldn’t back down.
My smile was so big it hurt and set Gabriel off. But I just raised my eyebrow, kissed my bride on her cheek, and whispered in her ear, “Never wonder why I love you.”
Her soft giggle was what started the ceremony.
“In sealing you are more than married,” Gabriel began. “When God created man, he took him from the dirt. When God created his helpmate, he took from his chest. Humans have said he took from his rib to create Eve. Those who were there know he took from his chest. His heart was too large. His strong heartbeat was duplicated, to be the same in her chest. He made her to complete him. Before she arrived, his breathing was labored because he did not have room for his lungs. His mind wandered with no purpose for he had nothing to focus on. When she took on a part of his heart it was no longer cramped and it pumped nourishment through his veins to help him grow as a human.
“It is easier to freeze the heart off from those who could do us harm by not returning our affections. The bravery of a man or woman who allows love to flow to another not only melts their heart, but that of another. The frozen state of the hearts is like a field in winter. Cold. Barren, with no purpose, but with the potential for greatness. We ask you take this love you have found for one another and allow it to grow, so you can pick from the bounty in times of turmoil or strife. For your other is to be your strength and foundation. To be the home you never knew existed in the world. To be the one you draw upon in your joys and sorrows.
“Kiri, you have lightened Nye’s heart in a way we who’ve watched over him never thought possible. By taking this piece of his heart, you will feel what he feels. As he will feel the same for you. Nye.”
My stomach flipped. God, I hoped Kiri could not feel me yet. She must never feel I had a second of doubt in my decision.
“Kiri. I take you as my other. To be by my side for all eternity. To breathe the air I breathe, touch the softness in the world, and to feel the fullness of my love.”
I knelt down so my face was just below Kiri’s.
“Kiriana Kladshon, do you accept my body, my heart, and my soul for now until the end of time?”
“I do.”
I kissed the back of her hand and slid on the platinum ring, which had a groove in the center.
“I give you this ring to symbolize our present and our future. The past is no more for we were not one before this time.”
I stood up and Kiri’s smile warmed my whole body.
“Nye, I take you as my other. To be by my side for all eternity. To breathe the air I breathe, touch the softness in the world, and to feel the fullness of my love.”
Kiri took both my hands in hers.
“Nye, my love, do you accept my body, my heart, and my soul for now until the end of time?”
“I do,” I replied, and Kiri kissed the inside of my palm.
Her lips were soft and wet and my hand tingled. She took out the matching ring.
“I give you this ring to symbolize our present and our future. The past is no more for we were not one before this time.”
We extended our left arms. Gabriel drew my claustranima from its sheath. The blades glistened, reflecting the soft candlelight in the room. Gabriel used the point of the blade to draw a line from my wrist to elbow. The coldness of the silver evoked the hair on my arm to rise. The sharpness scratched, but didn’t break the skin.
With the knife Gabriel then punctured my skin at the bend of my elbow. The blade stung as it sliced through my flesh to my wrist. As my breathing became labored, I held back a scream from the pain in my arm and the warm feeling of my blood escaping the safety of my veins. My temperature must have dropped because I could see frost on the blade. Gabriel turned to Kiri, who had tears in her eyes.
“It will be quick. I promise my love,” I whispered, trying to set her at ease.
“It’s not that. You’re hurt.”
I had to smile.
“Not for long. You will heal me as I heal you.”
The blade now sliced Kiri’s forearm.
The veins leaked their bright red blood. Gabriel took Kiri’s sun-kissed peach skin and my obsidian and bound our arms together with the white linen cloth that’d been wrapped around Kiri’s flowers.
Zarmina had scattered the flowers around us in a circle. I cupped my hand under Kiri’s elbow to become the base to hold her up until the eventual fall. I did all I could to focus on her. Our eyes locked and I could see her holding back tears of pain. Her long, blond lashes batting rapidly. Her jaw clenched, her lips drawn in.
* * * *
Kiriana
The cold started to overtake my body, which felt strange since my feet were warm from being covered in the blood. I started to get dizzy and I tried to focus on Nye, but the light in the room seemed to fade as blackness encircled me. Nye seemed to slip away from me and I felt as if I was floating. The room was gone and I was surrounded by gray.
“Kiriana,” I heard Gabriel say my name in the distance. “You have chosen to end your life. I now offer you the chance to absolve yourself of your sin.”
“This wasn’t a sin, though. This was a choice to be with Nye.”
“It was always a choice. You chose to make yourself immortal. That cannot come without a cost.”
Gabriel appeared before me.
“This part of the ceremony is never to be discussed. It is never to be a warning for future loves that come into the lives of the Frozen. When Nye took his life, he had but two options. Heaven or Hell. One required no sacrifice, one did.
“You chose to end your time in the earthly world, not your life. You were not forsaking the gift that was given to you, but instead trying to enhance it by allowing love into your heart. Not everyone that has started to seal finished. You’ve even run away once to prevent it. I give you this option. Return to the world you knew with no memory of Nye or your time here. You can continue in the world you knew and be oblivious to the one that lies beneath the surface.”
“No,” I said without hesitation.
“You haven’t heard the other option.”
“If it doesn’t include Nye, it’s not an option.”
“You’ll never enter Heaven. You’ll never be reborn and worst of all, you’ll never be saved.”
“Nye’s love is my salvation.”
Gabriel shook his head, sighed, and paced in the gray void.
“I have never had someone not want to know all their opportunities.”
“You said you’ve waited for someone like me. Bring me back to him now.”
“I’ve also never known an other that understood why a member of the Frozen could never be offered salvation after sealing. It would pale in comparison to the love they’d found here on Earth.”
“What can I say, I’m ahead of the curve.”
“I do need but one item from you.”
“Name it.”
Gabriel held Nye’s claustranima in his hand. Squeezing the hilt, Gabriel crushed the diamond that surrounded Nye’s soul and smaller crystals fell to his feet.
“I thought that was encased in a diamond?”
“You think I’m not strong enough to crush a diamond?”
Good warning for me.
Nye’s soul flew around the room, landed on the tip of my nose and glowed, turning me into the blue-nosed Rudolph.
“Your soul, my dear,” Gabriel ordered as metal flowed from his fingertips to create another handle for Nye’s claustranima. “Titanium. I like things strong.”
“Won’t that be too heavy to wield?”
“I guess you’ll have to give him the strength. Now…”
Gabriel pointed to the opening at the end of the knife.
“You want me to jump in it?” I asked.
“Not you,” Gabriel said and touched his finger to my nose like a child would reach for a caterpillar. “You know the drill, little one, but you will not be alone now.”
Nye’s soul attached to Gabriel’s finger and he placed him inside the hilt. Gabriel placed his palm on my forehead as he closed his eyes. Suddenly, I felt the warmth of my blood on my left arm and saw the blood had started to flow again. A burning was deep in my chest and I felt as if my spine was being ripped out. When the pain hit its crescendo, I blacked out.
* * * *
Nye
“Kiri…Kiri, my love,” I continued whispering in Kiri’s ear.
Oh, I hoped she’d make it through. I couldn’t tell her some don’t survive. It was forbidden and Gabriel would never allow us to be sealed if he thought she knew there was a chance she could die. Those who disappeared into nothingness were heartbreaking to watch. I could only imagine what it felt like to watch the one you loved wither in front of you and leave only a thin skin like a snake’s.
Her eyes fluttered and in relief, I finally released the air from my lungs. I knew she was strong enough to handle what would happen on the other side.
“Nye,” she said, her voice scratchy.
I nodded, letting her know it would be over soon. I could tell. I had been a party to enough of these. Gabriel was reaching for the gold pitcher. Leaning in, I placed my forehead on hers to try to take on the pain she was feeling.
Gabriel poured the mixture of warmed herbs I had prepared. The ancient mixture of witch hazel, calendula, chamomile, comfrey, and horse chestnut seeped in between our arms and I could feel my arm sealing.
My right hand cupped her jaw to hold her head up as my thumb stroked her cheek. Kiri’s face turned into my hand, and she kissed my palm. She was shaking against my hand. Her eyes closed as her lips were more drawn in than before.
Oh, what I wouldn’t give to take away her pain. But we both knew it was temporary, a mere blip in our life together.
“Breathe in the life of your other and you shall forever be one.”
I turned Kiri’s chin up and kissed her sweet lips with a slow sensual kiss that had her licking my lips wanting more. Being a Southern gentleman, I obliged the lady and opened my lips to allow her tongue to caress mine. If these are the sacrifices of being an other, I knew I would sacrifice myself for her as often as she wanted.
Lars let out a loud, “Oh yeah. Hoy, hoy, hoy!”
Kiri laughed then softly spoke.
“I love you.”
“I reckon, I love you too.”
“You better know.”
“I know. I’ve always known. From the moment your eyes met mine, I was yours.”
Kiri’s lips returned and my heart skipped again.
Lars and Zarmina unwrapped our binding. They folded the now bloodstained linen and placed it in a small cedar chest, which had our names carved into the top. Gabriel sprinkled the diamond that had held my soul alone over the top of the fabric. Finally Zarmina placed one tulip and one orchid inside.
“For your most important items,” Zarmina said as she placed the small box by Kiri’s hip. “This will be the base.”
“Thank you,” Kiri said, still holding back tears.
“My love,” I said helping Kiri to her feet and walking her to a chair.
On bended knee I opened a jar that contained a mixture of aloe and plantain I’d made. We spread the paste on each other’s wounds. I knew we’d heal fast, but this was amazing. Our arms seemed to reseal with each stroke up or down the arm.
Her hands rested on my chest and her lips were on mine before I could protest. Open and full, her kiss warmed me to my core. Gabriel was right. She had melted my heart. The cold rushed from my heart through my whole body, like snow from a mountain in the spring, finding crevices I never knew existed. I was living now.