Book Five
Volume 15
Ch. 207 Warmth
Pov.
-Paris-
…
"It's okay, baby. You'll be fine." Cana rubs my back
"I'm sorry, Cana." I sniff
"Why are you apologizing, silly?" She smiles innocently
"Y-youre going th-through a lot- y-you should be with Kara and Lia, but you're here with me instead." I spit into the toilet after feeling sick all night.
"You and Eri might not be mine, but you may as well be. I love you two with all my heart." She hugs me tight.
"Is it true, Cana. That you had Lia when you were like me?"
…
"Sorry… Eri told me."
"Yes… baby…"
"And how was that? Were you scared?"
"It was very… challenging… Kara you see. He was much more… well how do I put it…" She giggles.
"Well, he wasn't very nice. He never had any regard for how he made anyone feel. He would go out with his girlfriends and come back a mess if he ever came back at all."
"He wasn't loyal to you?"
She sighs.
"Never. And to be honest, I never expected him to be. And I still don't, because I know how much he struggles with Lust."
…
"He was alone for so long before we met. I can't bring myself to hold anything against him." She smiles
Her smile always warmed my heart.
"Your Faith is beautiful, Cana." I sniff
She reels my head into her chest as I begin sobbing quietly.
I wish I could have the same Faith she had.
That everything will be alright no matter what happens.
To be able to forgive no matter what…
I'm betraying her trust by not confessing to her.
But I'm too ashamed of making her do something she doesn't want to do…
Forgive me.
…
Pov.
-Kara-
"It's been a while since you've contemplated me, Kara." Lust crawls out of my back and hugs my neck.
I dig my claws into the back of my head as Paris quivers in front of me.
"After an eternity someone finally managed to suppress your appetite. You don't crave the flesh your father holds dear."
"Shut up."
"But your desires were so great. They birthed temptations, like us. They inspired legions of angels. So why contemplate now? What has changed?" She crawls on all fours with the gracefulness of a cat.
She caresses my chin with her tail seducing my gaze to the seductive snap of her hips.
"Youre spiraling. Using Cana to justify what you're doing to the poor girl."
…
"I don't blame you, after all those terrible things she did to you. You finally get to repay her in another life. "
"You can finally make things right… give her the hell she deserved."
…
"You heard what he said, after all."
Who has given to Me that I should repay Him? Everything beneath the Heavens is Mine.
"All your pain. All your suffering, means nothing. He stood by, and watched because in his eyes you were always just another failure. The one creature he regrets he ever breathed to life."
…
She disappears behind Paris who was rubbing an ice cube against her folds.
Paris squeezes her knees together as she continues to rub herself.
…
Just looking at her pisses me off.
I just want to twist her head off.
Feed her to Odin.
…
But I know just how much she means to Cana.
And Cana is the world to me.
I throw my bottle of whiskey by her face as I stood up
She ducks her head as it shatters beside her.
My tail swings around, as I try finding my balance.
…
Time to eat…
….
"Sixty eight victims and not a single lead…" the commissioner says as I listen from the rooftop
"Not only that, we've only been able to identify 16 of those victims and we're safe to assume we don't know the whereabouts of over 30 more possible victims"
"The case is going cold, Gordon. If your buddy can't find any leads soon this'll drag on for 12 more years"
"Yeah, I-I know. He hasn't been making any mistakes ever since he let one of his victims get away," Gordon says
Bingo
I open my eyes
I carefully descend through the ceiling like a ghost
After snatching the controller to the projector that was in Gordon's hand I crouch down on top of one of the empty chairs
"Yes and the poor child hasn't been able to recover since." Another said with a hint of disgust
"That was almost a year ago, you said he'd get cocky and that he'd make even more mistakes, but from the looks of it he's been even more weary since" they add
"I know, I know" Gordon sighs "there's nothing I can do about…" he stops after realizing the controller was gone
I shut the projector off
"Why'd you do that Gordon?"
"I didn't. Wait where's the controller, open the blinds" Gordon says
"Of course at a time like this" one of his officers sighs before doing as he's told
He opens the blinds letting the moonlight shine through the window
Everyone froze as they finally notice my presence
…
No one uttered a word as I pound the rest of my bottle of whiskey.
…
And before I could say a word they all draw their weapons
The guy that opened the blinds pats his clothes for his weapon before hurrying behind his buddies and grabbing a 12 gauge from a locker
"Put that down, my woman won't be too pleased if I show up with a hole in my chest." I grumble
"How did you get in here?" Gordon asks
"Doesn't matter."
"What do you want?" Gordon asks nervously
"I just want the name and whereabouts of this child so I can find the asshole."
"What are you talking about?" The guy cocks the 12 gauge
"If you think it's really that easy to find this guy, why haven't you done so already?"
"Because… if you're good at something, never do it for free" I smile. "the bounty on his head just shot up to three hundred thousand."
We could use that money to get around whatever is left of the Roman Empire.
"How do we know we can trust you?" He asks
"I'd say that fact that you're all still breathing is reason enough" I slowly stand up
They all step back after seeing just how tall I was
"All I need is the name and address of the survivor, with that I'll guarantee you I'll have this dog on a leash by the end of the night" I smile
"By the end of the night?" Gordon asks doubtfully
"Y-you're joking, right?"
"Just give me the name and address" I repeat
…
"23259 Kingsley Rd" Gordon says
"W-wait Gordon, you can't just put that child in danger like that"
"With how things are now we might have to resort to selling our souls to the devil in order to catch this guy" Gordon says
"No need for that, I'm already here" I step back towards the window
"We'll be right behind you. You hurt that child and the entire city will be out looking for you" he adds
"Gordon! You can't be serious!" His buddies growl as he lowers his weapon
"I am fine with that" I stretch
"No!" His buddies shout but I vanish just as they began firing their weapons
"Kingsley road" I fly around for a couple of minutes before finding the house
It was no wonder she got abducted
These streets are filled with crackheads and prostitutes
I spot the little girl knelt on her bed
I slip inside and watch as she sobbed into a little rosary.
She was Lias age.
…
I tilt my head as she slowly opened her eyes
We look into each other's eyes for a few seconds before she began rubbing them as if debating whether or not I was real
"W-w-w-ow, she sets her small cold hands on my face "y-y-your s-s-s-so b-b-beautiful"
"Really? You think so?"
She smiles
"W-w-wait y-y-you're a-a-a b-b-boy…" she wipes her tears aside and sniffs a little booger back into her nose.
"Yeah?" I tilt my head the other way
"I-I-I'm u-u-usually v-v-very s-sc-scared o-o-of-of b-b-bo-boy-boy-boys-s"
"Oh yeah?"
"Wh-wh-why I-I-I'm n-no-not s-sc-sc-scar-scared o-of y-y-you?" She asks before her eyes widen
"A-ar-are y-you a-an an angel, Mister?"
…
Her words strike my heart like a knife
…
I gulp the lump in my throat down.
…
"Think of me as God. In the flesh, kid" I play off with a smirk
"What?! N-nn-no way, y-you're n-n-not God! God d-d-d-doesn't h-Hmh-have a m-m-mean face!"
"Mean face?"
"Plus-s, I know w-wh-what God looks like, a-a-a-and his n-n-name!"
"Oh yeah?"
She nods enthusiastically, grabbing her small toes and rocking back and forth on her butt.
"Hhh-h-his name is Hey-Zeus!" She squeals "and h-h-h-h-he is also very pretty a-a-a-and handsome!"
"Hey Zeus?"
She nods innocently with the same amount of enthusiasm.
"You mean Jesus?"
"My m-m-mm-mom c-c-c-calls h-h-h-him Hey-Zeus! Hey-Zeus is Ssss-spanish f-f-d-for Jesus!"
"Thats still wrong." I roll my eyes
"Whatever, y-y-y-you're n-n-n-not God, Mister." She giggles hysterically as she turns around.
"I saw M-Mister Jesus, y-y-you know." She plops onto my lap
"Ngk*" I grit my teeth, grabbing her shoulders before finding her innocent, curious gaze looking up at me
"I'm sure you did." I grumble, holding her head still as I set my thumbs over her eyelids.
"He w-w-was really w-w-warm, and n-n-nice. I w-w-wanted to stay w-w-with him f-fr-fr-forever…" She sighs, falling deep into my trance as I slip into her mind.
There I found her sobbing in a pig-pen, bathed in mud
The inside of her thighs were covered in blood. She was trembling from the cold as she laid against a pink swine.
The pigs squeal and snort, but rather than devouring her, they huddled with her through the night.
Keeping her warm despite the mud, freezing rain, and their appetite
Her lips were turning purple from frostbite and her eyes were beat red from exhaustion from crying her eyes out.
"Why is God so cruel?" She whimpers
…
"Why does he let bad people do what they want? And let good people die?" She hugs a little bone against her chest.
It was a small femur bone. That of another child.
Maybe a friend she made during her captivity…
"I… I just want to die." she sobs
I look around, trying to get a hint of where this guy dumps his victims, when I suddenly felt a warm presence
The girl sits up, rubbing her eyes. Before the rain stopped and the pigs scatter
"Hi…" she sniffs, looking at the figure of light "Hey, I know you…"
I step back, the light illuminating from his presence blinds me so that I cannot see.
But the girl. She was able to look him in the eye
"You are not alone in your pain, my darling. My Grace is sufficient for you, for my Love is made perfect in weakness."
"But why does it still hurt? My legs and my eyes. My nose and my back."
"Because you are not made for this world."
She sniffs, pouting as he sits across from her.
"Youve heard it has been said. Everything Beneath the Heavens is Mine. So surrender your Pain and Your Sorrow to Me and let me give you rest. Allow Me to show you the glory My Father has given Me before the foundation of the world."
She sniffles and nods, wiping the tears off her face with her forearms as the figure embraces her small form.
"I don't want it to hurt anymore." She sobs "please help me, Mister."
"Those who endure will see the gates of Heaven in all their glory. You my child will bring millions into my kingdom."
"I will?" She sniffs, a glint of hope in her eyes "now, find my lost sheep, and strike the serpent in his heart."
A small piglet squeals and squeezes through the bottom of the fencing, making an opening large enough for her.
The girl finds her courage and squeezes through the opening. She runs until the soles of her feet bled and she ran into the nearest interstate, giving me a hint of where I could find this dumping ground.
I open my eyes to her wide beady eyes looking into my soul.
"Youre the sheep mister" she whispers "are you lost?"
…
"No… I know where I am heading."
"Is that true? Then why is it that you cling on to Him?"
…
The warmth I feel from holding Cana envelopes my chest
"I don't." I tug the girl back but she grips my sleeves.
"Why not? Isn't it warm, mister?"
"What?"
"The love he has given us." She giggles innocently
"I-I can't feel it."
"Sure you do…" she tilts her head.
…
"When she looks at you, you feel it… when she holds you… when she smiles…"
…
"That's His Love. The Love He shares with us. Even when we do not know Him. Even when we deny Him. We Love because He Loved us first."
…
-to be continued