Redemption (Stand-Alone, Spin-Off to Reaper Series), page 13
“He has a heart,” Eve argued, turning her head to look sideways at her brother. “I’ve seen it. When we first met, he cared about what might happen to me. Even before he actually understood anything, he wanted to protect me.”
“Maybe,” Gabriel said. “But he’s not like that now. And he’s causing a lot of trouble.”
“He is?” Eve asked. “What’s he doing?”
Gabriel looked at Eve in surprise. “You don’t know? You’ve been here for weeks.”
“Hiding in a cave,” Eve pointed out. “I haven’t seen Javan or anyone ever since… What’s Javan doing?”
Gabriel sighed. “It’s a matter of great debate in Heaven right now. His actions are having a direct influence on the entire world, and everything our father has planned for Javan’s kind. There’s going to be a vote.”
“A vote on what?”
Gabriel seemed hesitant to reply. He scratched at the cave floor absently with his thumb, before finally looking up into Eve’s eyes and answering.
“A vote on if we should kill Javan.”
Eve reacted as though shocked. “What? You can’t!”
“It’s not up to me, Eve,” Gabriel said, somewhat defensively. “I’m still in training. It’s a decision to be made by the Archangel Commander and his Captains. And our father.”
“But they can’t just decide to kill Javan,” Eve argued. “They’re going to kill him because he killed others? What sense does that make?”
“Eve, I’m afraid it’s more complicated than that,” Gabriel said.
“How?”
Gabriel sighed and rose to his feet to move about the cave. Eve remained on the floor, watching her brother with trepidation as she awaited his response.
“He hasn’t just killed those of his own tribe,” Gabriel began. “He seems to have concluded that any and all of his species who are not willing to learn from him are not worth leaving alive. He’s… he’s invented weapons. The tools he and his people used to hunt and to gather and to survive the environment, he has turned against his own kind. He and those who follow him are marching across the world, attacking and killing every other tribe they find. Those they do not kill, they either force to fight with them, or make them slaves. Javan is attempting to impart his knowledge on them all. Those who do not respond well to his lessons… he strikes them down.”
Eve listened in horror as her brother explained what Javan had been doing. The thought of her friend doing all the horrible things Gabriel was saying, it was almost unbearable.
“He…” Eve struggled to speak. “He can’t be doing those things. He can’t.”
“I’m afraid he is, Eve,” Gabriel said sadly, clearly feeling sorry for his sister. “And his species does not have the numbers to survive if he continues. He will hunt his own kind into extinction.”
Eve looked down at the ground, her chest rising and falling rapidly as she felt anxiety grip her. “So Javan’s invented war.”
Gabriel shook his head. “War would be better. It would imply his victims stood a chance. But with his superior intellect and talent for creating newer and deadlier weapons, this is more of an extermination.”
Eve suddenly leaped to her feet, startling Gabriel. She had a look of determined fury in her eyes as she stared at her brother.
“Take me to him,” Eve said bluntly. “I need to speak to him.”
“Eve, that’s not at all a good idea,” Gabriel frowned. “There are some Angels in Heaven who are saying you planned this. That you wanted Javan to wipe out his own race. If you go and speak to him, they might get the wrong idea.”
“I don’t care what they think,” Eve snapped.
“Eve, they’re calling you Sa’Atana!” Gabriel blurted out.
This made Eve hesitate. Sa’Atana was a word from their language that no one ever used. It was a cruel and disgusting term to refer to someone by, and was reserved for those of horrible misdeeds. When translated into English, it essentially meant “idiot who brings death.”
“They can call me whatever they want,” she said, pretending that she wasn’t as hurt as she was. “I just need a chance to talk to Javan. If I can talk to him, I can make him understand. He always understood me, even when I was teaching him really complicated things. I can make him understand that what he’s doing is wrong. That if he continues, he’s going to make his species extinct. He has to see it. He’ll have to stop, then. Please, Gabriel, take me to him. Please.”
Gabriel sighed in defeat. “Fine. But I do not believe this is at all clever.”
A moment later, in a flash of gold light, Eve and Gabriel stood under the open sky, the day barely still light as the sun was setting beyond the horizon. Ordinarily, Eve would have taken a moment to enjoy the sensation of the grass beneath her bare feet, and the feel of the wind in her hair. These little pleasures, though, were not afforded to her. The wind was tainted with the odor of smoke and a sickening scent of burned meat. Looking down, Eve saw that the grass she stood upon was not the wild green that she loved so much, but rather the red of blood. The entire area, once green, now a blood-soaked field.
“What happened here?” Eve whispered in horror.
“Javan,” Gabriel said simply.
“He killed everyone here?” Eve asked.
“Yes. He and his followers chased those who fled from the last tribe and slaughtered them on this very spot.”
Eve looked around once more, this time just as confused as she was mortified.
“Where are the bodies?” she asked, afraid of the answer.
Gabriel didn’t say anything in response. Instead, he half-turned and looked into the distance, in the direction that had just been to their backs. Eve turned and followed his gaze. That’s when she saw where the scent of smoke was coming from, as well as the smell of burning meat.
A tall bonfire had been built not far away, just at the top of a cliff that overlooked a deep canyon. Eve could see several men lifting large objects from the ground, objects that must have been heavy, as they took two people to lift. The objects would then be swung into the fire, where they would catch the blaze and become just another part of the flames.
“Javan decided to burn the bodies,” Gabriel said somberly. “To leave no remnants of the old world.”
Eve watched in horror as she saw Javan, standing tall among his followers, directing them to throw more bodies to the flames. He held in his hand a long tool that looked like it had been fashioned for clubbing and smashing. A rudimentary version of a war-hammer, made of wood and stone.
Which was stained with blood.
“JAVAN!” Eve roared, suddenly overcome with fury.
Javan and his followers all stopped at once, turning to look in the direction of the loud and angry voice. The followers all began to chatter noisily amongst themselves, but Javan was looking at Eve as though she was a long-lost sister who had found her way home. His eyes lit up and a grin broke out on his face as he stood watching her, his back to the cliff upon which he stood.
“Eve!” he said in greeting as she and Gabriel approached. “You return!”
“I need to speak to you,” Eve growled as she drew close enough to smell the sweat and blood. Now that she was up close, she could easily make out the faces of the corpses on the ground around the fire. She could also see those who had already been tossed into the flames. Their charred grins leering out at her, judging her, blaming her. She could feel the guilt of their murders weighing down upon her. Amidst the flames, Eve could see a skeleton that was far smaller than the others. The skeleton of a child. The sight nearly brought her to her knees. Only her determination to make Javan see the error of his ways kept her standing.
“You have to stop this,” Eve said forcefully to Javan.
Javan seemed to not be listening, though. He was distracted by the sight of Gabriel beside Eve.
“Who are you?” Javan asked Gabriel, perhaps a little disgruntled.
“I am Gabriel. Eve’s brother.”
“Brother?” Javan repeated, grinning. “Eve’s brother is brother to Javan! You are welcome!”
“Welcome to what, exactly?” Eve demanded.
“We are evolving,” Javan grinned. “We do away with old and become new.”
“This isn’t how evolution works!” Eve cried. “This is just murder!”
“Evolution too slow,” Javan shrugged. “Javan help. Javan can help. I know this, because Eve say Javan is special.”
“I never meant for you to do this,” Eve said, shaking her head. “Javan, please, don’t you see what you’re doing? You’re going to destroy your entire species if you keep doing this.”
“Not possible,” Javan replied flatly. “We find females in every tribe. Those who want to be like us and evolve are spared. They will be the child givers of the new world. For every one who will not evolve, they will be born again.”
“Javan,” Eve said pleadingly, stepping forward and taking one of Javan’s large, strong, hands in both of her own. She looked up at him and he looked down at her face, staring hard at the sad disappointment in her bright green eyes. “Please, Javan. This isn’t you. Do you remember when we first met? How you tried to scare me away because you were afraid your hunting party would kill me? That’s the Javan I befriended. That’s the Javan I saved from the storm. Not this. Not who you’ve become. You need to stop this. You’re creating more change than you know, and it’s not good! Your actions here are affecting me and my kind. If you keep going, there will be nothing left. Not even you. Please, Javan. Please, stop.”
Javan stared down at her, seemingly lost in the despair in her eyes. Then he suddenly frowned and snatched his hand away from Eve’s.
“You are frightened,” Javan said bluntly. “You are frightened of change. Of progress. My people need to grow. To learn. Only in knowledge can they survive. I was once too stupid to know I would die. I would have walked through that storm until I was dead, but Eve saved me. Why would Eve save Javan if not for Javan to save the others? We will be like you, Eve. Like the Angels. We will live! We will fly! We will change the world around us!”
“Javan, no, you can’t do those things!” Eve cried.
“Do not tell me I cannot!” Javan roared, suddenly furious, pointing his stone war-hammer at Eve.
“Don’t point that at her!” Gabriel growled, stepping closer.
“Brother of Eve, why are you here?” Javan snapped. “Why do you tell Eve that I do wrong? I only do what I learned to do. The strong survive, but one must also be smart. And I make others smart, so that they, too, survive! I help! I am special!”
“You’re destroying your own kind!” Eve shouted in despair. “Why can’t you see that?”
“Eve, please,” Javan said softly, as though he was suddenly begging. “I want you with me. I want you to help me. We begin together. Let us take the journey together. Forward into change. Into the future.”
Eve was shaking her head. “No. No, I can’t. Not this future. You can’t keep doing this. If you do, the other Angels will have to stop you.”
Javan suddenly frowned. “Stop me? How they stop me?”
“They’ll kill you, Javan!” Eve shouted. “You’re threatening not just the lives of your own species, but all the lives of the Angels, too. And they won’t hesitate in killing you if it means preserving our universe.”
Javan was looking from Eve to Gabriel in blatant surprise. However, as Eve watched him, hoping that he would finally see reason, his face began to twist into fury.
“Kill Javan?” he snapped. “KILL Javan!? I am the future! I make the change! I save everyone! And they want to kill me!?”
“You can stop it, Javan,” Eve pleaded. “Just stop this quest to wipe out everyone you think is unworthy of a new world. Just throw down your weapons and go home. Then there will be no need for the Angels to kill you.”
“No!” Javan barked, stamping his weapon on the ground in anger. “No! No! Javan worked too hard! Made too many plans! Angels will not kill Javan. Not if Javan has their Eve!”
At this, Javan reached out and roughly grabbed hold of Eve’s wing, yanking her closer, making her cry out as he tugged on her feathers.
“RELEASE HER!” Gabriel roared, louder and angrier than Eve had ever heard him before. The fury in his booming voice even scared her, but Javan suddenly lifted his giant hammer and swung it at Gabriel’s head.
Gabriel swung a fist up to meet the hammer, his knuckles connecting with the hard stone and shattering it into a thousand fragments. With Javan distracted by the destruction of his weapon, Gabriel then grabbed Eve in his arms and spun away from Javan with her, flaring his white and gold wings as he did so. Eve cried out once in pain as she felt several of her feathers ripped from her wing, still held tight in Javan’s fist. At the sudden flaring of Gabriel’s wings, Javan’s followers, who had been watching in silence, suddenly began shrieking and then fled, running as fast as they could into the distance.
Watching over Gabriel’s shoulder, Eve saw one of his wings accidentally strike Javan under the chin. The force of the blow sent Javan flying backwards, still clutching Eve’s feathers. Even as he flew over the edge of the cliff.
“NO!” Eve shrieked, reaching out to him, even as Gabriel held her firm.
The last she saw of Javan was him vanishing out of sight, his eyes wide with surprise and fear, his newfound understanding of the world bringing him a far greater understanding of his impending death.
13
JOHN 11:26
“I
ncredible. Just incredible.”
Eve’s eyelids began to flutter open when she heard voices around her. She still felt weak, and her eyelids were heavier than she had ever known them to be, but she fought to escape the web of sleep that entangled her.
“And her DNA is still viable?” the murky voice asked.
“Yes,” came the seemingly distant reply of a vaguely familiar voice. “She’s essentially human, but her Angel DNA is still present. We can extract it and study it. And produce the product.”
“Incredible.”
Eve finally managed to force her eyes open enough to see, her head swaying slightly from side to side as she felt a rush of dizziness. She felt sick in her stomach, overcome by a churning sensation she had never felt before. As she awoke, she realized that she was lying on her back, her head resting on a pillow. As she moved her head, she felt a pounding ache in her skull, as though a Joro-Gumo had laid eggs in her brain. She moved to lift her hand to her head to rub the ache, but her hand suddenly stopped as something around her wrist prevented her from lifting it any higher.
Confused, Eve looked down at her hand, which lay by her side on the bed, and saw that there was a leather strap around her wrist, which was keeping her tied to the narrow bed. Eve was suddenly much more alert as she remembered what had happened. She yanked on the leather strap, the bed banging loudly as the strap pulled tightly against the metal bars that were raised on either side of her. Eve tried to move her other hand, but found that one was also tied down. She tried to kick, but both of her ankles were also restricted. Looking down in a panic, Eve saw that her limbs had been strapped down to a bed that looked like it belonged in a hospital. She also noticed that her beautiful white dress was gone, and she now wore a horribly uncomfortable gown that felt like paper. Eve continued to struggle, fighting hard against the straps, fighting with all of her strength, but finding that she was far too weak to break free. She began to hyperventilate as she tried to spread her wings, screaming with frustration and concentration, but found that nothing happened. Her wings were gone. Still, she tried, screaming and yelling, kicking and fighting against the straps that held her down, rocking the bed from side to side, wanting nothing more than to simply spread her wings and escape the small room she was in, to fly away back to Garden.
Just as Eve was beginning to panic, the only door in the room opened and two people walked in. Eve recognized them both, but her furious gaze locked on the first to enter. She wished he would burst into flames, she willed it, she desperately wanted it, but nothing happened. He simply stood at the end of the bed, watching Eve with concern.
“Eve, please calm down,” Javan said.
“YOU SON OF A BITCH!” Eve screamed, her struggle against the bed suddenly reinvigorated. She sat upright in the bed, straining to reach out and strangle Javan, but the leather straps kept her hands firmly in place. Still determined to break free, though, Eve paid no attention to the painful chafing on her wrists and continued struggling. “WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME!? LET ME GO! LET ME GO!”
“Spirited, isn’t she?” the man with Javan laughed.
Eve looked at him for the first time and saw that it was Brett Davies, the man from the benefit. He was smiling this time, though, but it was not a smile that was at all pleasant to look at. He was looking at Eve like she was a big stack of cash. Eve could almost see the tiny little dollar signs in his eyes.
“WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME, YOU SON OF A BITCH!?” Eve continued to scream at Javan, still fighting against the restraints. “GIVE ME BACK MY WINGS!”
“Eve, please, calm down,” Javan said, trying to sound soothing, but his voice only infuriated Eve further. She began yelling numerous profanities at Javan, calling him all manner of horrible things.
“She’s got a pretty foul mouth for an Angel,” Davies leered.
Eve finally seemed to burn out, having used all of her energy in struggling with the restraints and yelling at Javan. She collapsed back into the bed, panting, her wrists and ankles throbbing from the pain of having been rubbed raw from the straps holding her down. She turned her face away, furious at herself as she felt tears begin to well up in her eyes, blinking hard as she fought to keep them at bay, though she felt a few escape and run down her cheek. She longed for her wings, longed to stretch them out and take in their width and wonder, but they were gone. Just thinking of them made her choke on her despair.
