Hades Sent : Book One of the Sent Series, page 12
Greve sighs. “Same old, same old. The guy is worried. It is curious because he’s never been like this. Usually he just trusts me enough to take care of all the hybrids and deliver them when the time comes. It’s as if he knows something is different this time.” Greve smiles at me. “He knows you’re different and he doesn’t like it.”
“Perhaps,” I respond not thinking that’s the case at all. “You’ve never seen him before? Never even a picture or another person who knows what this spy looks like?”
“No picture. All the people who would know what the spy looks like are dead. So, you see it’s easier to go along with the phone conversations and not question. When people question, they come up dead in a ditch somewhere. You haven’t heard of anyone, Ireland? I mean, surely you’ve heard some rumors?”
“A friend did warn me about someone. He’s been a friend to Dad since I was brought to heaven. I don’t know really because I was never able to pry around. They kept me pretty much secluded aside from school.”
Greve walks around his bedroom in frustration. “Of course. Seclusion is a good weapon to use against the weak. Well, let’s just say the spy is a man. The voice sounds like a man even though I’ve been surprised in the past. Sometimes the voice that calls is a woman. Maybe they like to keep things spicy. At any rate, we should get going now that the call is out of the way. I have something special to teach you today.”
“You always say that and it is always more mind control,” I grumble.
“What I have to show you today will be the most important skill of them all. I do believe it will come in handy.” Greve flashes his teeth at me.
My stomach turns to knots when I see him smile. We haven’t kissed since that night after I saw my mother for the first time. Greve is being cautious of the whole situation, and I, on the other hand, am not. We’ve come close since then, but Greve always pushes me into focusing on something else. All I want is to feel him again. This might be my only time to truly feel something for someone.
Greve’s hand brushes up against my arm. “You okay?” he asks.
I shake my head, trying to clear it. “Yes. Okay. Do I need to bring anything?”
“How about the bag you brought with you the day you came? It can finally be used for something other than holding crap food,” Greve teases.
“Alright,” I say, while getting the bag off the floor.
Greve doesn’t wait on me. He walks back out of the room, leaving me with my thoughts. I hear him put another log on the fire before everything goes quiet. Since we are going out in the daytime, we can’t be going out to the bars and clubs. My heart hammers in excitement. We are going somewhere new!
I take a look in the bag and find food. Everything is ruined except the chocolate. I can’t believe I forgot about the food being here. My days have been crammed so full of new and frightening things that I just forgot it. The mind I had when I first came here is not the same mind I have now. I’m wired to be a little stronger and a lot more focused on what is important. The constant battle between my angel and demon parts exhausts me before each day is done. I have little room for remembering the past, even if it was just a few weeks prior to this. I turn the bag upside down so that the food can be tossed out. As the food falls, a small box falls along with it and hits the floor beside the bed. The box seems important, but the memory of it is distant. What was this for? Can I trust Greve to know?
Greve shouts at me in an effort to leave. For now, I won’t tell him. Deep down there’s a reason why I kept it safe in the bag. Greve says that my brain will start to process things again like it should. I try to think of it as a temporary problem compared to all the other ones I already have. Everything is still there … all the memories and knowledge. It’s just that the mind control has made my demon part stronger than my angel part. It’s all about finding a balance. And with me focusing more on mind control, it makes it very hard to focus on anything else.
Decided, I place the box back in the bag. It’s important to me. I just wish I knew what use it will serve. Greve comes around the corner again, waiting.
“Alright. I’m coming,” I say, giving him a brief eye roll. He’s so impatient.
He nods. “Good. Tie your hair up and out of the way before we leave. We don’t need any distractions. Not even from your hair.” Greve hands me a rubber band.
I take it and maneuver my hair into a bun on top of my head. “Better?”
“Not really,” Greve answers. “You look much fiercer with your hair blowing behind you.” He looks at me serious, but then can’t keep the act going. He smiles at me, teasing.
“And you look much better with that smile than when you frown,” I reply.
His frown still intimidates me. Greve can scare off a room with just one look. His face can turn cold and frightening. It’s as if he can read all your dirty little secrets and he is getting ready to call you out on every single one of them. Which in a way, I guess he could. He reads like me. However, his smile shows much more promise. When I see that smile on his face, I know it’s only meant for certain people. People who he wants to care about. It’s meant for me, who he’s trying so hard to trust.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Greve
The transition phase is underway. Ireland is changing. She’s forgetting who she is so that she can become more like her mother. It’s a scary thing to be a part of. I’m seeing a hybrid change over to become more like her absent mother than the father who raised her. It’s a sad and unfortunate thing. It’s also very necessary.
Ireland will not lose herself completely, though. The real her will be there, underneath all the unbalance. I’ve tried to tell her that what it comes down to is finding a balance in what her body needs. For her it’s more difficult because she is not part human like me. To find a balance for her, she will have to have both positive and negative influences. For me, it’s easier than that. I am part demon and part human. I live on Earth with all the other humans. That is my balance. Between teaching and mind control, it’s enough to make me feel somewhat whole. Of course, being more on the negative side of things makes it hard. I will always struggle to keep the demon part of me underneath the surface.
Ireland’s genetics are more complicated. Her body is like a scale. One side is weighed down with acts of kindness, honesty, and love. All the things that are pure and good. The other side is weighed down by pain, dishonesty, and addiction. She gets all those things from the people she reads. And all the things that are negative float inside the scale, weighing the bad against the good. Without being in heaven, Ireland has to find that balance here with me. And let’s just say, using humans for positive is a lot more difficult than she anticipated.
I can’t say I’m not worried. Ireland has gotten through things faster than any other student I’ve ever worked with. She’s tough and quick. Her mind soaks up the information with no problem. All this would be great if I wasn’t so concerned that all of it will come crashing down on her. There will come a time when she will break. They all do. I just hope it happens when I’m around to fix her.
“Greve, we’re here,” Irelands says from the other side of the cab car.
I look around to see we have indeed stopped. The ride over should have taken longer. At least an hour should have gone by. Surely I wasn’t zoned out that long.
“How long have we been riding?” I ask her while opening the door.
Ireland looks at me confused. “Maybe forty-five minutes or so. Is this the right place?” She opens the door and swings her legs out. As she stands up, the sun hits her face and she quickly places her hand around her eyes. Ireland always has a shield around herself. Even if it is just used to keep the brightness away from her face.
I stop looking at her to glance around the area. A tall brick wall looms in front of us. Behind the wall, two rundown buildings stand. They are used to house weapons and various machinery and supplies. We are in the dry plains of the region. Hopefully, we are far away from prying eyes and even nosier demon parents.
“This is the place,” I confirm. “Let’s get going.” I shut the cab door and wait for her to come around the side of the car.
“Aren’t you going to pay the driver?”
“Wasn’t planning on it. He’s been told to forget about the money.”
Ireland shakes her head at me while folding her arms around her chest. “Pay him,” she says, more or less as a command. “You say I need to maintain a balance of good and bad things. Well, I need some good things to occur around me. Let’s start with you actually paying this man for his work.”
I blow out a sigh. “Fine. Whatever.” Ireland holds out her hand to take the cash. I give her the money and wait while she pays the man. If this will keep her sane while we go through this process, then I’ll deal with it. She won’t need to know when I go out and steal some more to make up the difference.
The cab driver thanks us and drives off, leaving us in a circle of dust and smoke. When the air clears, Ireland steps my way and takes my hand. I pull her close, although I immediately regret it. It’s not like I don’t want more. I do so badly. It’s just that … I can’t let it happen again. She’s so close to being ready. Thinking about me will do nothing but make her backtrack.
We walk hand and hand toward the brick wall. The space around us is vacant. There’s nothing here aside from the wall and the two buildings behind it. A blue sky looms above us. A hot breeze flows past us, burning our faces. “Wait here for a second,” I whisper.
Ireland lets go of my hand and waits patiently without saying a word.
I walk over to the wall and place my hand in the secret compartment that’s located a few inches off the ground. The scanner within the brick wall checks my identity. When it matches my fingerprints to the ones on file, it dings in approval.
The door slides open to allow our entrance. I motion for Ireland to come through before the door locks again with us now on the other side.
“Why are we here?” Ireland asks, looking around. “Why is this place so secretive?”
“Ireland, go to the first building and then we will talk. It’s the one with the black door and no windows.”
“Alright,” she says. “After we get in, I want to know what we are doing.”
Ireland follows me to the entrance and I repeat the same process of the scanner checking my prints. After a few seconds, we walk through the threshold. I hear Ireland suck in her breath and I can’t help but smile. Today will be used to turn our luck around.
“As you can see, this building is home to many different defense equipment.” I turn to watch Ireland take it all in. “The building is one big massive space, designed for learning shooting techniques and battle defenses. A shooting range takes up the whole middle space with booths of various guns and equipment taking up the rest.”
Ireland raises her eyebrows. “It’s … impressive and nothing like what the outside looks like.”
“Yes, I’m glad you think so. We have the building to ourselves today. I made sure no one will disturb us. Ireland, you are going to learn to shoot and most importantly you are going to learn how to defend yourself. Depending on how well you do, we might get into the other building which is used mainly for defensive fighting.”
“No, I … I don’t think so,” Ireland stutters. She looks at me frightened.
This is out of her comfort zone. It makes sense for her to be scared. Unfortunately, her mother won’t give a damn about her feelings.
I take her hand to force her to focus on me. “Look at me,” I say, hoping she will calm down.
Ireland tries to jerk her hand away. “I said no. I’m not looking at you either. You will try to use that mind control again.”
Our hands stay locked together and I use that to my advantage. I pull her close to me so she has to look into my face. “Never again will I use mind control on you. You are more than that to me now. No more are you my project or someone for me to use. Ireland, you can trust me.”
“This is against my nature,” she sputters. “I don’t have it in me.”
“This was against your nature,” I correct her. “You are no longer up there. You are down here on Earth. Say what you will, but I know you can learn how to use them. Policies and rules don’t apply to you anymore. Their policies have no bearing on you now.”
“Why are you making me learn to shoot?” Tears start to flow down her face. All her life, Ireland has been told to never hold or use a gun. The angels are taught to fear them. Never could they use a weapon against another. Never could they rightfully hurt a human. This has always been the hardest part of teaching them. If they know how to use a weapon, it will shred and change everything they’ve ever known about the world above. They will no longer have the fear to keep them conformed.
“Why am I making you?” Because of your mother, I think. “Because you have to learn to defend yourself against anybody who threatens you. Humans are not all kind. Demons, obviously, are more sinister.” I run my fingers through my hair. “Let’s just say if your mother wants you to fight someone … could you do it? She will test you somehow. What if it isn’t mind control that she wants? What if it has to do with weapons? The day you go to her, it can work in many different ways. You’ve got to be prepared for anything.”
Ireland bites her lip. “No! This is too much. You are asking too much of me. If the higher authority found out about me learning to use weapons like these, they would never let me back in. And regardless of what you say, I will be going back somehow!”
I back away from her to put more space between us. “Yes, you say will go back home. How may I ask will you manage such a task?” I turn my back to Ireland, without waiting for a response, and then walk through the first door to my right. Once in the room, I snatch the nearest gun off the shelves and load it with ammunition. The gun is nothing to speak of. It’s simple and small with a short narrow barrel. However, it does pack a surprising punch. For now, this will be enough to get started.
Ireland’s footsteps echo off the walls before I see her. She comes through the door as I start to walk out with the gun. “Don’t just walk away from me, Greve.”
“I didn’t walk away from you. I walked away to get the gun we are practicing with.”
“Whatever,” she says while crossing her arms. “Look, when I’m up in heaven, I won’t need weapons. Angels are immortal for the most part. No one has weapons either. We were taught at a young age to avoid force when on missions. The higher authority drilled it into us to be scared of such things as guns. If we kill someone, it calls for immediate departure and loss of status.”
I roll my eyes. “And please tell me how your status isn’t already like that? Here we are once again at the same old problem. You are too naïve. Honestly, I might not know who the spy is up there, but I can promise you one thing. The spy has a weapon! It might not be a type of gun the humans use. It might be something only harmful to hybrids or plain angels. He or she isn’t just sitting up there with nothing as a backup. That is one thing I promise you is true.”
“This isn’t going to happen! I’m not the person you think I am.” Ireland starts waving her hands around to get her point across. “You ask me to read people and in the process you make me get closer to the demon part of myself. All my life I have fought to remain in the background. All I’ve ever wanted was to bring happiness to my father. To help … to sacrifice … those are the things imbedded in me. You want me to destroy the only sane part I have left!”
“That’s not true, Ireland!” I walk back into the main room in hopes Ireland will follow me. She does. In fact, she practically stomps on my feet all the way back. I put the gun on the ground, away from us both, so that maybe she will listen to me.
“You’re right. You are becoming more like your demon counterpart. Things will never be the same for you. You’ve spent too much time on Earth with me to be fully immortal. The longer you stay here, the less immortal you will become. And yet still … you honestly think someone won’t hurt you?”
“Oh please! Like you care. People will hurt me. They’ve been hurting me since I was a child. Maybe not physically, but emotionally is another story,” Ireland lashes out at me. “You know nothing about me! All you do is play on emotions. You think you have it all figured out. You think all hybrids are the same. Well, I’m not! I’m tired, Greve. I’m tired of being used. If my mother doesn’t want me for who I am, then she can just kill me!”
I walk up to her with arms out wide. “Damn it, Ireland! If you are giving up, they might as well come kill me too. And while they are at it, the spy can take care of your dad and whoever else you are close to. If you don’t do this … you will kill us all!”
Ireland shrugs away from me. I can see her mind working underneath her frightened appearance. She drops to the floor and begins to cry. “I’m feeling too much. My body is overworked and confused. It’s battling itself on the inside. You may think I’m okay. And I may even think I’m alright, but I’m really on the edge, Greve. Do you hear me?!”
I bend down to touch her. “Yes, I hear you and understand. I’ve been right where you are. My human mother was almost killed by my father. I had to agree to go through the training too in order to save her. I get it and I wish I could say to you that you won’t cross over the edge. I want to say to you that everything will be okay. That you will be okay and you will rebalance. But I can’t do that right now. What I can say to you is the truth, however hard it may be. Ireland, you are capable of so many things. Don’t let fear overcome your ability to hang on to what matters.”
“I don’t want to lose him,” she sniffles. “Dad is all I have left.”
“Then, fight for him. Every day think about him and why you are here. You are not good to anybody dead. Not to your father, the other hybrids, and not to me.”
Ireland shakes her head. “You don’t care about who I really am.”
