Horns and Halos, page 7
“You are. Otherwise, we’d be here longer than necessary.”
He rolled his eyes. “We wouldn’t need to be here in the first place if you would let me handle everything.”
It was my turn to roll my eyes. I snapped a few ears of corn off the stalk and tossed them into the waiting basket at my feet. “Your help comes with a price,” I reminded him heatedly.
He grinned wildly. “I’m sure that we can come up with a reasonable payment arrangement.”
I wiped the sweat off of my brow and said, “No.” My reply was short and clipped and heavy with my distaste for his suggestion.
The cornstalk in front of him was snapped in half. When I turned in his direction, I was met with an angry stare that sapped me of any defiance. “Remember what I said ...” he warned with a slight growl. “Your life is no longer just yours. We have an agreement. I have every intention of upholding my end of the bargain. Be warned, Sia, I won’t give you rest even in death. Do you understand me?”
I turned away from him to continue with my work. “I do,” I mumbled before tossing two more ears of corn into the basket.
Red mist formed around me and quickly dissipated as Draki manifested in front of me. His hand snapped out and grabbed me by the jaw. He tilted my head up to look at him as his baritone voice rolled over me like thunder. “Do you?”
I went still in that grip. Instinct wanted me to reach for a weapon. Logic told me slapping a devil with a vegetable wasn’t going to be very effective. I didn’t want to, but I locked eyes with him. “Are you afraid that I will work myself to death to escape our pact?”
His grip said it all as it tightened around my lower jaw. I winced in pain but managed to not whimper. “I’m letting you know that if you’re dumb enough to have such a thought, I won’t give your soul a moment’s rest in the afterlife.”
“The last thing I want is that. I assure you ... I’m only trying to earn my keep. These people suffer enough. They don’t need me leeching off of them,” I stated firmly.
For a long moment, we stared at each other in a quiet, heated battle. He was weighing my words, and I was letting him know (silently) that when I made a promise, I kept it. Even if I didn’t like it. After several seconds that felt like hours, he released me aggressively and swiped his hand through the air. At first, I thought that he was aiming to slap me. I closed my eyes and turned my head, waiting for the stinging blow, but it never came to pass.
When I opened my eyes, I saw the remaining baskets full and the stalks bare of ripe corn. I turned to face him, but his form was already fading, but his voice was clear as a bell. “Consider this a favor, human.” There was a pause. “Tend to your new wounds ... before you go off to do more work.”
There were blisters on my palms and a few minor scratches on the backs of my knuckles. He had noticed something so trivial. Did that mean that he cared? Or was it just that he cared about whether or not I could carry out my end of the deal? I balled my hands into fists and sucked in air sharply as the pain swiftly followed after.
“Are you crazy?” Elijah’s voice called out from behind me.
Turning to face him, I tried to hide the fact that I was making sure that Draki wasn’t around me. Recently, I was finding that you never knew when and where that devil was going to pop up. After realizing that I was in the clear, I groaned and rubbed my lower back. “I couldn’t sleep well last night,” I stated honestly. I wasn’t sure if he was listening to me or not because his eyes were walking the rows of corn and noting the full baskets at the end of each one.
“This ... this is too much, Sia.”
“What?”
“How many hours did this take you?”
I scratched the back of my neck and thought about how only half of the baskets were from my work, the rest were from Draki. I really needed to come up with a reliable answer for how I got all that work done in the time frame I had actually been outside. Even if Draki had tried to ease my burden, I couldn’t help but feel like he was joyfully watching me flounder for a reply. I wasn’t left with an honest answer, that was for sure. “You’ll be surprised how much work you can get done before sunup if you just opt to get as little sleep as possible.”
Elijah frowned at that. “You’re injured. You should have been resting.”
I went to wave the thought away, and he caught a glimpse of my blisters. Instantly, that hand was hidden from sight as quickly as I could manage to. But the damage was done. I still tried to pretend like I hadn’t noticed him realizing that I was only adding to my list of wounds. “I’m sure I’ll rest better tonight.”
“Have you ever picked corn before?”
“A few times, when I was younger.”
He looked at me and motioned to my hands. “I should wrap those for you.”
“Don’t worry about it.”
He wasn’t taking no for an answer because before I could change the subject, he had managed to storm up to me, grab my hand, and inspect the blisters. “Sia, you don’t need to push yourself like this. What you’ve done today alone is enough to pay for your medical supplies and room.”
“It’s just a couple of blisters. I’ll be fine,” I said, pulling my hand away from his grasp.
He looked at me with worry, and I felt my stomach knot. “Your injuries keep stacking up and you’re not focusing on trying to heal at all. You need to be more careful.”
I knew that look in his eyes. I knew those words. He was concerned for me, that much was clear. And anyone caring for me on any level was dangerous. I jerked out of his grip and pointed over to the barns. “I still have work to do,” I muttered and took a few steps back. “If you carry the baskets back to your home, it doesn’t ...”
He sighed and shook his head. “It won’t count toward my work.”
I nodded feeling relieved and started to walk away. “Good.”
“You’re not going to let me look at those?”
“I’m fine,” I reiterated.
“Sia!”
I didn’t want to stop. I didn’t want to turn around. I didn’t want him to convince me to take a break. I just wanted to speed-walk away and drown in work, earn my keep, and leave as soon as possible. I didn’t need to get tangled up in anything else ... I couldn’t afford to.
I could hear him call out to me again, and I didn’t give any indication that I heard him. “At least take a break before you do more work!”
Even though I didn’t want to say anything back to him, I mentally agreed. So—when I got over to the barns—I rushed for the hay bales in the back and threw myself onto them, panting lightly. White hair spilled over a hay bale stacked next to where I was resting. Rolling my eyes, I groaned.
“What, Draki?”
“Such a nice young lad.”
“Don’t start. I’m not interested.”
There was a dark chuckle and the sound of movement as he peered over the edge at me. “Oh? You really haven’t given him enough time to see if you would be.”
My heated glare pierced through him. Devil or not, I wasn’t going to be manipulated into feeling anything for someone else. “I have to leave here. There isn’t a point in getting close to people that are tied to their village.” He knew that. I knew that. Even if I wanted to try and get romantically involved with someone, why would I put effort into someone that was bound to their village, to their own devil?
“You could take him with you.” Most would think he was being kind. I, on the other hand, knew better.
“There isn’t a devil out there that will let go of something or someone that they’ve claimed.”
“Not without a price.”
“That is exactly my point.”
“But it is still doable,” he sighed.
“You’re brave to assume everyone is willing to pay for someone else’s freedom.”
“I’m wise, my dear. I know people are willing to pay steep prices for things that are hard to come by. An unimaginable amount of lived years has taught me that.”
I turned over and plucked a few pieces of straw out of the bale. “I’m tired,” I admitted meekly.
There was no sound implying that he had moved, but I suddenly felt him at my feet. Moving enough to view where he sat, I looked at his back as he watched the horses and goats graze lazily. I watched his white hair sparkle like diamonds under the early morning rays of light and his clean, white robes sway in the gentle breeze. He looked regal, even if he was sitting on square bundles of straw.
He didn’t face me when he said, “Rest. I’ll keep watch.” He must have read my mind because he stomped out my worries by saying, “Even when you can see me, they cannot. Sleep, Sia. Nothing would dare harm you while I’m here.”
There was nothing in me that believed he was doing it because he cared for me. But when you are being watched by something as powerful as Draki was, it was hard not to find unwavering comfort in his words, close my eyes, and drift off to sleep.
About an hour later, I heard Draki whisper to me, “Someone’s coming.”
I yawned and stretched. Slothfully, I rubbed the sleep from my eyes before sliding off of the hay bale and sluggishly walking into the barn. Along the way, I didn’t happen to come across anyone. Not until I reached the entrance of the building. It was Elijah that was marching toward me. Internally groaning, I dipped into the barn and located the barrels of dried milled corn, corn husks, corn stalks, corn leaves, and ... well, it was just a lot of the corn plant that would normally be thrown away. We don’t exactly live in a world where we can let anything go to waste. I was told that I would need to mix it with a bit of water and feed it to the cattle.
As soon as I cracked open the barrel, Elijah came strolling through saying, “Are you going to avoid me every chance you get, or can you slow down for a tick?”
“I’m not avoiding you. I’m just trying to get my work done.”
“Sure feels like you are.”
“Well, I’m not,” I lied.
“Could have fooled me. I can’t get a clear read on you for the life of me. You’re hot one minute, cold the next.”
I threw the lid back down onto the barrel. “Maybe I have my reasons.”
He stuck his hands in the air and bowed his head in surrender. “Fine. You have your reasons. But could you just take a pause for a minute? I brought you something to help you with your work.”
“What?” I asked grumpily while slightly feeling bad for snapping at him.
He walked forward and placed a set of gloves on the lid.
Looking from the gloves to him, I pinched my brow in confusion and looked them over. They looked like they were just my size, and ... new. “Where did you find these?” I asked, reaching for them.
“In a trunk back at the house,” he said with a smile.
But I saw it. There was another link on his tattoo and my heart sank. “What did you do?” I breathed the question. He didn’t answer me, he just looked away. “What did you do?” I barked.
Squinting as my loud voice bellowed through the barn, he looked off to the side and shrugged. “I don’t know what you are talking ab—”
“Don’t treat me like I’m stupid. What did you do for those gloves?” I yelled as I stormed over and shoved him.
It was his turn to bend his brow in confusion, and he turned red as he snapped back to me, “I didn’t do anything for them!”
“Oh, and you thought I wouldn’t notice the extra link?” I growled, pointing to the tattoo.
His whole attitude changed so swiftly that if I hadn’t seen it happen, I wouldn’t have known that it had transpired. Elijah straightened himself up and washed his face clean of emotion as his gaze fixed on me with an unwavering stare. “I made them.”
“Why?” I asked, at a loss for words.
It was his turn to be mad. “Oh, I’m sorry ... you can be concerned for my well-being but I can’t be concerned for yours?”
“I—” I didn’t know what to say. For a moment, I floundered for a response. “I would have been fine without them,” I grumbled, but the anger was sapped from my words.
He rolled his eyes. “Yeah, because your hands were looking so great already. Why would you need something to protect your hands with? Hmmm? I’m so cruel to have thought about trying to keep you from being injured further.”
“My hands aren’t going to fall off, Elijah. But I highly doubt that tattoo of yours has a good outcome once it reaches a certain point.”
“Let’s not talk about that, okay?”
“Why not?”
“Because it doesn’t concern you.”
“Oh, but it does. The moment you made those and it gained you an extra link on that attractive arm, it concerned me!”
“It’s not something that ... wait ...” He stopped, shook his head, and started to smile faintly. “You think it’s attractive?” He raised his eyebrows in interest.
My face flared with heat, and I turned around to swipe the gloves off the lid and slipped them on. Turning around, I wiggled my gloved fingers at him and said, “They fit. You can leave, now.”
He chuckled then, and it only made me blush harder. “Back to avoiding me, are you?”
“I have to work now,” I practically yelled in a sing-song voice as I started scooping out the feed.
“Right,” he replied with laughter woven into the single word. “Want me to bring you some water later?”
“Busy!” I shouted and walked away.
“I’ll take that as a yes, and see you in a little while.”
With that, Elijah left, and I felt my heart slam against my chest like a caged animal. I took off one of the gloves and fanned myself with it while pressing the back of my bare hand against the side of my face. I felt heat kissing my skin, and I knew I was in trouble.
People will let you down. You can’t trust anyone. He is just interested in what you can do for him, nothing more, I thought.
It’s easier to push people away when you demonize them. It’s easier to not get attached if you make them out to be the bad guy. I couldn’t afford to care for anyone. My mind couldn’t handle the consequences otherwise.
“Such a nice lad,” Draki stated from somewhere behind me.
I didn’t care to look at him as I said, “Don’t start with me. I’m not in the mood.”
“You are in a mood, though,” he stated.
To that, I hastily turned to look at him. He was grinning wildly as he leaned against the barn wall next to the ladder that went up to the loft. He looked so out of place standing there. This regal creature draped in varying shades of white while surrounded by dirty stalls, urine-drenched hay, and weathered walls with peeling paint. I narrowed my eyes at him and asked, “Are you going to help me do this?”
“I’m content with watching you struggle.”
“Ugh. Then do it quietly, at least?” I growled. At that point, I didn’t care what he did. As long as he didn’t try to bring Elijah up in a conversation, I would be golden.
“Are you mad at me?”
I didn’t reply. I focused on my work to drown out his question. But without warning, he was behind me and snatched my wrist in his grasp, and he spun me around to face him. The flaming touch of his fingers graced the skin of my jaw as he tilted my face up. Eyes of molten gold tore through my soul. A breadth of a moment passed before his voice asked in a growling whisper, “Or are you mad with yourself?”
His words shattered me. I didn’t want to self-reflect. There were too many thoughts that I was running from. Letting down my guard to contemplate over one of them would open a floodgate of ideas that I wasn’t prepared to endure. “Is there really a difference?”
“So, you’re mad at both of us.”
I wasn’t going to cry! “Maybe,” I whispered, fearing that my voice would betray my false confidence.
“Perhaps you need to remember that honesty is worth its weight in gold.”
“Funny for a devil to say that.”
His grip tightened as his eyes narrowed at me, and his voice dropped to a frightful pitch. “There are many things that I will accept in our ... relationship, Sia. Know that disrespect is not among them.”
I raised my chin higher, proudly displaying that I chose to be held in place without fighting him. “Know that I have the same warning for you. Don’t manipulate my emotions or thoughts.”
His lips twitched into a one-sided smirk before it quickly disappeared. “As you wish, Sia.” Letting his hold of my chin slip from his hand, he gave a quiet laugh. “It’s quite delightful having someone boldly stand toe-to-toe with me.”
“I’ll gladly fulfill that role for you.”
“I’m sure you will,” he said with a grin. “I’m sure you will.”
Chapter 6:
All That We Stand To Lose
After feeding the livestock, brushing the horses, cleaning the stalls, and laying down a layer of fresh hay, I went back to my previous resting spot and watched the animals graze in the early afternoon sun. I was physically there, but in my mind I was a million miles away, lost in a sea of memories and fighting off the tide of emotions that it brought in.
I could remember it all so clearly. Momma would be rubbing daddy’s shoulders as he washed the dinner dishes while meemaw and I would sit by the fireside. The flames would eat away at the crackling logs as she braided my hair, and I would read a passage from one of my favorite books. How I missed the feeling of her fingers running through my hair. How I miss hearing their voices as we went through the mundane moments of our day.
Thinking back on it made me fear the deal I had made. I feared the outcome. I didn’t want to be the maker of chaos and destroy someone’s life, feelings, memories ...
Groaning, I stood up and dusted myself off to carry on to my next task. Much to my disappointment, Draki was standing in my path. In a moment of weakness that was coated in curiosity, I asked, “What would happen if I didn’t uphold my end of the bar—”
“I would destroy anything you hold dear, starting with your parents, and I would eat my way through the land, dragging you along with me to see the destruction that a broken promise would bring.” He didn’t move or blink in a way that insinuated that he felt bad for what he said. In fact, his voice alone made it very clear that he meant every word of it. Part of me was sure that he’d even enjoy watching me suffer through it all.
