Velvet Redemption

I sat in a Motel 6 room with one king size bed. The small flat-screen television in front of me had some auto insurance commercial on. We’d been here for a couple nights now, talking about our strategy for dealing with the four horsemen.

The carpet was thin and brown, and the bed I was laying on had a solid blue bedspread. The pillow I had behind my head was a little too lumpy for my tastes, but I was too lazy to fix it.

Even my wings looked lazy spread out over the bed under me. It never failed to amaze me how clean the wings stayed. I worried about feathers falling off, but that wasn’t the case. I guess spirit wings were a little different. Either way, during my training with Lilandra, I’d grown much more accustomed and used to my wings. They were a constant part of me now, and I honestly don’t know how I ever lived without them.

“Well, won’t need car insurance anymore,” I said, smiling.

The wooden door that was painted white opened, and in walked Lilandra.

“Okay, I did some recon, and it doesn’t look like there is any suspicious activity around us,” she said.

The evening news started to come on, but I sat up, ready to continue the conversation I’d previously been having with Lilandra.

“Before I left, we were talking about. . . which horseman?”

“Death,” I said.

“Right, sorry, sometimes being alive for thousands of years slows the mind a little,” Lilandra said.

“Not a problem. You were talking about how Death wasn’t like the other horsemen,” I reminded her.

“Yes. Death, unlike Pestilence, Famine, and War, is a constant. Death has existed since original sin, and will continue to exist until the end of time. Out of the four, Death is probably the least under Lucifer’s influence. If anything, I’d guess that Lucifer has some kind of base spell put over Death so he has a little leverage over it. Still, there isn’t too much he can do with Death,” Lilandra said.

I looked over at my glass of water on the table and took a drink.

Lilandra looked puzzled and asked, “Do you still feel hunger and thirst?”

“No, I just feel . . . I like to feel that I’m still human. I’ve felt very weird not eating very much if anything at all. So, I just. . . it helps me to remain. . . or think that I’m still-”

“I understand what you’re saying. For a while after losing my angel status, I felt like I wanted to do certain things to feel like an angel again. For better or for worse though, the longer this battle lasts, you’re going to lose that awkward feeling,” Lilandra said, interrupting.

I looked down at the water and felt a little depressed, but my mind wandered back to the issue at hand.

“You want to fight these horsemen, right? That’s what it is going to boil down to?”

“Yes. We need to find and destroy all of them. Lucifer has invested quite a bit of magic and energy into these incarnations. If we destroy all of them, he’ll be in a severely weakened state,” Lilandra said.

“So our first priority needs to be locating one of them. For that, I guess we act as bait? They’re obviously out there hunting us, so if we set a trap, one will obviously show up,” I reasoned.

“No. We still have the advantage of surprise at this moment. We need to get the jump on the first horseman. Plus, if we act as bait, one may show up, or all four may show up. Our best bet in this fight is to assume the four are acting independently of each other. We’ll have better odds of fighting them two on one than we would four on two,” Lilandra said.

I sat back down on the bed, nodding and saying, “Okay, that sounds like the plan we should go with. So, which one do we move on first?”

I could see Lilandra’s lips moving, but I wasn’t hearing what she was saying. Instead, the news anchor on the screen caught my attention. She mentioned a company I once knew. . . Innovation Inc.

While Lilandra continued to talk, I looked at the TV screen. They were displaying a picture of someone I hadn’t seen in half a decade.

“. . .Benjamin Walker was the only survivor of the explosion that destroyed half of the factory, but he remains in critical condition at the Denver General Hospital,” the anchor said.

I didn’t think about anything. I just scooped up my green coat from the floor and walked to the door.

I didn’t even give Lilandra a chance to ask me where I was going. I was in the air and flying east toward Denver as fast as my wings would carry me.

Landing where nobody could see me, I rushed into the hospital, putting my coat back on to hide my wings.

Running up to the receptionist, I asked, “Where is Benjamin Walker?”

She looked started at my sudden appearance, but checked her computer at my request.

“What is your relation to him?”

Thinking quick, I lied and said, “I’m his brother.”

I suppose that was close enough to be a small lie. . . we were close enough to be brothers before Lisa died. Benjamin and Joshua. . . we were like the three amigos, nothing separated us. The thought of leaving them behind was tough, sure, but one of them dying? Not on my watch. I was sure there was something I could do.

The nurse hesitated for a second, but eventually, she bought my lie and said, “He is on the fifth floor in room 512. If there are doctors in his room, don’t go in. Wait for them to come out, and then ask if you can go see him.”

Thanking the nurse, I took off running for the stairs. I didn’t want to wait for an elevator. The life of my best friend was on the line, and I wasn’t going to lose him. I couldn’t lose him. I couldn’t take that feeling again. The sight of Benjamin stopped my thoughts cold.

He had bruises and burns on his face and neck. There was a breathing mask over his mouth and nose. I could hear him breathing slowly.

“Oh God. . . Benjamin, what happened to you?”

Walking closer, I stopped. I didn’t feel guilty. . . not yet anyway. I felt horrible for Benjamin, but I wasn’t the kind of person to beat myself up for something I clearly had no control over. When Lisa died because of me checking my emails, I beat myself up pretty bad. That was clearly my fault, and that’s why I’m involved in this crazy mess, to make up for my mistake and get her back.

I knew that I had nothing to do with Benjamin’s accident, but I would definitely be involved in his recovery, even if that meant putting the war efforts on hold.

Thinking back to the last time I saw Benjamin, I remembered he and his wife Sarah had invited me to dinner for the fourteenth time. They were trying to cheer me up after Lisa’s death, but I didn’t want to go because eating meals with the Walkers was something I did with Lisa. I didn’t feel right doing it by myself. Naturally, I blew them off and made some up some excuse about work.

They knew what I was doing, but they didn’t call me out on the issue. They knew I felt horrible, and I wanted to be by myself.

Sighing, I wondered where Sarah was. I had no idea how long Ben had been here.

I guess it’s been a day since the explosion. . . or maybe two, I thought.

If Sarah or Josh came by and saw me. . . well Josh couldn’t come by if only family could visit him. Still, if Sarah came in and saw me, I’d have a lot of explaining to do. Despite that, I pulled up a chair and sat down next to Benjamin. I sat backwards and rested my chin on the back of the chair.

Sighing, I watched Benjamin and thought of what I could do. I mean, this wasn’t exactly demon activity, so how was I supposed to help? That was when I felt a hand on my shoulder and a light whisper behind me.

“I’m sorry about your friend,” Lilandra said, quietly.

Shaking my head, I started to say something, and then an idea came to me! I jumped from the chair and turned to Lilandra, grabbing her by both arms.

“You’re the key to this!”

She looked like she was waiting on me to say that, but I didn’t see any kind of expression on her face that indicated she was hopeful about the situation.

Walking over, she looked at his chart on the edge of the bed. Sighing and meeting my gaze, she said nothing. Her expressions were beginning to worry me, so I asked, “You can heal him, right? Like you did with me in the battle with the wolf demons?”

Her silence only made me angrier.

“What’s wrong, Lilandra? You’re the person who has wandered the globe for hundreds of years studying all types of magic, both defensive and healing, right? If there is one person in the world who can save Benjamin, it’s you. Please. Just heal him so we can get on our way,” I begged, my eyes were searching for some sign she was just feeling unconfident instead of her being reasonably sure that she couldn’t do anything.

When she finally spoke, she had a gentleness to her voice that I didn’t like. She said, “Justin, listen to me. I have my limits. Your friend has some massive internal damage, and he is even beyond my ability to heal. It’s a wonder he hasn’t died yet.”

I wasn’t much for tears, but I could feel a couple forming. I’d been predicting Lilandra was going to say these words for the past couple minutes, but they still hurt when she said them. And I wasn’t going to accept what she had to say.

“Try,” I muttered, my eyes were blurry from the tears forming.

“That’s not how healing magic works, Justin. Look, I’m really sorry this happened, but if the damage is too great for the healing magic, the energy will actually just hurt him more and cause him more pain,” Lilandra said.

I raised my voice, “That’s not good enough!”

“Why the Hell did I get Velvet if I couldn’t use the blade to save the people I loved? What did I waste all that time training for if I still have to watch my friends die? Lisa’s death was by my hand, and I may not have had anything to do with Benjamin’s death, but losing two people I love is too much!”

A weak voice behind me made me shut up for a second, “Hey. . . keep it down. . . I’m trying to sleep.”

Turning slowly, I saw Benjamin was awake. He looked even worse than when he was asleep, if that was possible.

“H-hey,” I stuttered.

“Am I already dead? Is that why you’re here?”

Benjamin and Sarah went to church with Lisa. If anything, they were kind of the moral compasses in our life before Lisa died. They were even more avid about their faith in God than Lisa was.

I didn’t know what to say to Benjamin. . . did I tell him my tale? How much time did he have left?”

“I asked you a question,” he said, weakly.

“I’m not dead Benjamin. . . neither are you. I won’t let that happen,” I said, wiping a few tears from my face.

There was no way he was going to die. The hero of the story always finds a way to save their friends. Through thick and thin, Batman NEVER let Commissioner Gordon or Alfred die. I may not be some amazing hero, but I was fighting for this planet, and I wasn’t going to let Benjamin die.

So, for the next hour, I talked with Benjamin and explained where I’d been and what I was doing. I let him see my wings and Velvet. I didn’t give every detail, but I gave him enough to have basic parameters of the story.

When I finished, he looked behind me, and I couldn’t tell what he was looking at. Lilandra was invisible to everyone without spiritual awareness. She hadn’t done any visibility spells on herself in at least 24 hours. Was there someone at the door?

I turned and looked, but there was nobody there. And then, my worst fears were confirmed. The entire time I had been talking to Benjamin and explaining answers to any questions he had, I couldn’t help but smile. It felt good to talk to my old friend again. Even though I was talking about the war. . . I wasn’t scared of it when I was talking to him. There was something refreshing about seeing him again. I really missed Benjamin and Joshua.

I became rattled when he said, “Who is the good looking girl behind you with the wings?”

Turning around, I saw Lilandra didn’t look surprised like I did. Rather, she just had that same sad expression she had when she told me she couldn’t heal him.

“You can see her?”

“Yeah. I’m a little shocked, too. You didn’t have to fake your death just to hook up with some other girl,” Benjamin said, smiling.

I could tell he wanted to laugh, but it would have hurt too much. Still, to me, his joke fell on deaf ears. If he could see Lilandra, then I knew that only meant one thing. . . he was close to death. Lilandra explained that to me when we first met. Only someone close to death can see demons and angels without the aid of a visibility spell on their part.

“Look, Justin, I’m happy you’re not dead, and I don’t envy the position you’re in, but I’m not stupid. I remember the explosion, and I can see the expression on your face as clear as day. I’m about to meet my maker, aren’t I?”

Lilandra stepped forward and put her hand on his.

“Yeah. . . you are, and there’s nothing we can do to stop it. . . . You were asking who I was; my name is Lilandra. I’m the one who sort of saved Justin and trained him for the past five years.”

“That’s pretty cool. You get to save the world, and you found a good-looking lady to be your sidekick. . . or are you hers?” Benjamin said, smiling.

Tears started to form again, so, I grabbed the cold white metal bed rail and squeezed until it crumbled in my hand.

“I’m going to get Joshua,” I said, turning to leave.

I couldn’t face Benjamin like this. It was too cruel to him, and it was too cruel to me.

“Keep an eye on him,” I told Lilandra.

When I walked out of the door, I saw some doctors heading toward a room down the hall. I ignored them, but I could not ignore the tall and petite woman with long silky black hair leaning against the wall. I sensed a powerful aura behind her as well.

Her skin wasn’t actually as pale as Lilandra’s, but she wore some kind of long flowing garment that appeared to be a combination of a robe and a kimono. I made eye contact with her and noticed her ice-blue eyes.

She spoke first, “You know what I am?”

“I’m guessing you’re one of the horsemen. . . or in this case. . . horsewomen?”

“Correct. I am Death. I didn’t figure I’d be meeting the wielder of Michael’s old sword so soon. It’s kind of a coincidence really,” she said.

Her voice contained no malice or tenderness. She spoke as a person who clearly stated the facts as they were.

“Coincidence? Aren’t you here to kill me?”

“No. I am just here for the man in the room you just came out of,” she said.

Scowling and instantly angered, I clenched my fists and growled, “Over my dead body, bitch.”

“Your body is a few miles away and six feet under, so that really shouldn’t be a problem at all,” she said, finally showing some emotion and being a little coy.

After a few tense seconds of silence, I finally said, “Okay, what do you want? Do I have to kill you? Do you want Velvet?”

“I couldn’t care less about your blade, Justin. I know it’s going to be impossible to convince you of this, but I’m not here for you. I’m not here to take your friend to get back at you for doing anything against Lucifer and Michael. I’m simply here because it is his time,” she said.

It was her tone that was convincing. She wasn’t mean about what she was saying; she was matter-of-fact. Still, I wasn’t going to allow her to take Benjamin.

“I don’t care why you’re here. Go find something else to reap. I’m sure you won’t miss one measly soul,” I said.

“You’d be surprised how impossible it is in my profession to let even one slip by. Your soul deal was annoying enough. I was waiting for you at the bottom of that cliff. Imagine the expression on my face when I found your body but no soul,” Death said.

“That’s a moot point seeing the position I’m in now. If I kill you, you can’t take Benjamin into the afterlife,” I said, reaching into the back of my coat to grab the hilt of Velvet.

“Here? In public? First, killing me won’t solve his mortality. Second, I’m not here to hurt you. It simply is his time,” Death said.

“Even if you didn’t personally have anything to do with this, you can still stop it. You can stop him from dying,” I said, hoping I could reason with her.

“How many men and women have tried to bargain with Death through the years? How many were successful? Well, I can assure you in a decade of being Death, I have not made one such deal, nor do I intend to,” Death said.

I pulled my hand off of Velvet and put my other hand up against the wall to the left of Death’s head.

“I am not trying to bargain with you. I am trying to get you to realize- . . . wait did you say decade? Death is older than that isn’t it?”

“I’m a new Death. Since you asked, I’ll give you the run down on ‘Death’. Adam and Eve had two children before Seth, Cain and Abel. Abel was the first human to die. At that point, Death was brought into the world. Death exists as a force of nature to end life, and around every 1,000 years, a new Death is chosen. I inherited to the role of Death a decade ago,” she said.

Caught off balance by this new information, my anger decreased a little, and my curiosity increased. So, I asked, “You were chosen to be death?”

“Yes. I used to be a professor of art at a small college in Arkansas, right up until ten years ago. I was also a chain smoker. Well, sometimes, people with a cigarette addiction get sick, and sometimes those people die. On my deathbed from lung cancer, I saw a man appear. I could feel there was something different about him. He had short black hair, similar in color to mine. His eyes had gone black from years of being Death. He offered me a choice. . . . I could die, or because of my supposedly ancient bloodline, I could become Death. I took the easy way out, and here I stand before you,” she said.

I wasn’t sure what to make of all this new information. I would say that I didn’t care because of the circumstances I was in, but in all honestly, I was intrigued by her tale. That was when I remembered Benjamin was in the room dying right behind me.

“So Lucifer made you Death, and you-”

“Lucifer had nothing to do with it. The person who made me the offer was the previous Death. Didn’t you hear me tell you that?”

“But. . . aren’t you a horseman? One of Lucifer’s?”

She frowned and took a step toward me, causing me to step back.

“Not that it’s any of your business, but I’m not like those other three creations of his. Pestilence, Famine, and War are all arrogant assholes. They’re his creations. The only reason I’m roped in with them is because of this fucking binding spell,” Death said, raising up the sleeve on her right arm to reveal a sleeve tattoo.

It was done in the blackest ink I’d ever seen, and upon closer examination, I noticed it was moving slowly. The design was a dragon, but it was moving all over her arm.

She caught my raised eyebrow and began a rather pissy explanation. Death was finally starting to show some personality and characteristics, and to be honest, it wasn’t at all what I expected for Death.

“Damn Lucifer. . . I’m not his creation, so he just bound me to make sure that I wouldn’t be an aide to Michael or yourself,” Death said, crossing her arms.

“What does the spell do?”

“Every time I don’t follow one of Lucifer’s direct commands, it snakes over more of my body. It was initially on just my hand. The more body space it takes over, the more pain it causes. For the past couple years, this damn thing has been throbbing and driving me insane. You know how hard it is to reap every dead soul in the world? Try doing one of the hardest jobs on the planet with a constant throbbing arm,” Death said.

Now that Death had a face, I wasn’t sure what to make of the situation. Lilandra had just been describing four horseman. . . now I’d met one, and she was even human at one point. A distinct beeping brought me back to my senses.

A few doctors went running past the two of us and into Benjamin’s room. I was about to go running in behind them, but Death’s voice stopped me.

“Not yet. If you were going to get someone, I’d go now.”

I stopped and looked over at her, filled with anger and desperation again. Death’s situation was regrettable, but if Benjamin died, I would make sure that dragon tattoo was the least of her worries. Besides, she could have been lying about everything she just told me.

“You listen to me, and you listen close. If Benjamin dies, and not just in the next couple minutes, I’m going to slice you into pieces,” I said, pointing a finger at her.

Rushing to the roof of the building, I took off my long coat and went leaping off the hospital. Flying up into the air, I headed for Joshua’s house. He’d been in his parent’s old house since before I left to go train with Lilandra.

Rushing through the sky, I moved as fast as my wings would allow, so much so, that my wings were actually starting to hurt from how much strain I was putting on them.

Landing on his front porch, I put my jacket back on, making sure no one saw me come down.

Knocking on the door, I waited. After what seemed like forever, footsteps approached the door, and it opened.

There he stood, one of my best friends in the world. . . or at least, he had been before I left. The expression on his face started out in surprise, then moved to anger before I could explain anything.

At first, there was a silence between us. Even I couldn’t predict what kind of reaction he was going to have. I had, after all, been dead to society for the last five years.

“You cold bastard. . . you were alive this entire time,” Joshua said, grabbing my coat with both fists.

Unlike Benjamin who took a much more “happy go lucky” view of life, Joshua was always a little darker, a little more cynical, and sometimes even, a little more hateful.

“As curious as I am as to how you did it; I’m going to make you regret putting us through all the pain you did! I understand that you loved Lisa, but what you did was stupid!”

“Joshua, that’s fine, and you have a right to be angry, but if you’ll let me take off my coat, I’ll explain everything. Just give me five seconds before you start swinging fists,” I said, cautiously.

He was not a wimp by any means. Though a little shorter than Benjamin and I, Joshua had some muscle to him. If he said he was going to wipe the sidewalk with me out of anger, he fully intended to do so.

Letting go of me, he said, “Five seconds, Justin. Then, I’m going to kick your ass.”

Slowly, I took off my coat.

When Joshua got a good look at my wings, he was speechless. He had me turn around, just to make sure they were real.

“Well. . . . I’m not sure what that explains, but I’m certainly intrigued,” Joshua said.

“I don’t have a lot of time to explain. Just know, that I’m not. . . what I used to be. I’ve got a lot on my plate, and we need to get to Benjamin as quickly as possible. Why haven’t you gone to see him?”

“The doctors said family only,” Joshua said.

Sighing, I looked at his car in the driveway and said, “Come on, we need to go.”

He ran inside for a second and then came out of the house with his keys. He put something else in his pocket. I didn’t see what it was.

Within twenty minutes we were back at the hospital and on Benjamin’s floor. A nurse tried to stop us from going in, but Lilandra appeared behind the nurse and put her hand on the nurse’s skull. Within seconds, the nurse was out cold and in a hall closet.

Joshua and I walked into Benjamin’s room. I don’t know how it was possible, but he looked even weaker than he did when I first saw him, and a grim feeling filled my gut.

Walking over to his bed, I heard Joshua start to talk with Benjamin, asking how he felt, if he was in pain, etc. Then, he got to a question I didn’t want to hear answered.

“So how long until you get to go home?”

There it was, out in the open. We were all thinking it, and now, Joshua had asked it.

Benjamin looked at me, and then said, “If you’re here, I guess there is something you can do about it?”

I kept my mouth tight as I uttered the words, “I’m powerless to help.”

Joshua looked at the window, and the three of us shared a silence so deep, it made the ocean look like a puddle someone could step in and only get their heel wet.

Lilandra was leaning in a back corner out of the way. She said nothing and wouldn’t make eye contact with me. I didn’t see Death anywhere nearby. I meant to keep my word if anything happened to Benjamin. She was one of the four horsemen, so I had to kill her regardless. Still, some part of me was hoping that, against the odds, Benjamin would pull through.

What was the point of having all of this power if I couldn’t save one friend? Joshua stopped my thoughts from going any further by pulling something out of his pocket. Looking closer, I saw it was a deck of cards.

He pulled a chair up as close to Benjamin’s bed as he could get it. Without thinking, I did the same on the opposite side.

“Five card draw,” Joshua said.

After shuffling the deck and then dealing our hands, I took two. Benjamin took one, and Joshua kept all of his cards.

Benjamin took that hand with three jacks.

The three of us played poker for a good half hour. Benjamin told a quick story or two about silly things his son Elijah had done while I was gone. I couldn’t believe his son was in elementary school now. I really had been gone half a decade.

Joshua told me about this girl he’d been seeing for roughly a year now. Apparently, things were pretty serious between the two of them.

I smiled. For the first time in a long time. . . I was back home. I was with friends, and I was happy. Some people want lots of money, others want fame. It never took a lot to make me happy. Being with my friends and playing cards made me ecstatic. It’s one of the reasons we did it every week before Lisa died.

We’d been playing cards for between twenty to thirty minutes when Benjamin started having trouble focusing. His death was sudden. Even with my abilities I didn’t see it coming before it happened.

One moment I was looking at my pair of fives, and the next, his heart monitor wasn’t beeping anymore. Joshua looked at me and then ran out of the room to get a doctor. I looked out in the hall for Death. Maybe if I could kill her quick enough, Lilandra could reinsert Benjamin’s soul back into his body.

Going to the window, I saw her on the ground below. Rushing out of the room and up to the roof, I dove from the top of the building to the ground below, landing and grabbing Velvet’s hilt.

There she stood, the wind blowing her silky black hair. Benjamin was standing next to her.

“Draw that blade, Justin, and I’ll just take him straight to the afterlife. You won’t get a chance to say goodbye. We’ll vanish before you get Velvet out of its hilt,” Death said.

Shaking my head, I muttered, “You can’t take him. I can’t let you. I’ve already lost one person I loved. I’m not losing another.”

“It’s his time to go, Justin. I’m sorry. I didn’t cause his death. I’m just-”

“You can fix this! Put his soul back and heal him!”

“I don’t make deals, Justin.”

Getting on my knees and folding my hands, I looked at her, begging.

“Please. Don’t take him. I’m begging you to please spare him,” I said as some tears began to form.

“He’s my best friend,” I muttered.

“I know he is. I’m not taking him to be spiteful. It’s just his time to go, Justin,” Death said.

“Bullshit! Was it Lisa’s time to go? Mine when I jumped off the mountain? This ‘time to go’ crap is about the biggest load I can imagine. You don’t have a good explanation so you just make this stuff up and-” I was interrupted by Benjamin stepping forward.

“Okay, that’s enough, Justin,” he said.

“But. . .,”

“I know this isn’t easy, but it’s the cards we’ve been dealt. If this truly is the last time you’re going to see me, then don’t you think you should send me off with a smile or something?”

I knew he was right, but again, I didn’t want to acknowledge it. It was just like Benjamin to accept things that were beyond his control. He was always like that. Whenever something bad happened in his life, he was so good about accepting what he had to and moving on.

Even in the face of death, that factor remained unchanged.

I walked over and gave Benjamin a hug, trying to hide my tears. He wanted to be sent off with a smile, after all.

“I’m going to miss you so much,” I said.

“Hey, who knows? Maybe we’ll see each other again on the other side. Can I ask one favor of you?”

“Anything.”

“You and Joshua, check in on my wife and son for me once in a while, will you?”

“You got it,” I said.

“Good. Well, I guess we’re off. Justin, remember that this wasn’t your fault. Don’t beat yourself up over it. This was just a freak accident, and I was in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Benjamin said, throwing his hands up in the air.

Death put a hand on his shoulder, and then they faded from my view.

When Death appeared again a few minutes later, I’d passed from sorrow to anger pretty quick.

“I’m going to kill you for taking him. You realize that, right?”

“Fine. There’s going to be an oddly-timed tornado tomorrow 60 miles west of Oklahoma City at 7:15 p.m. Be there, and you can try to get even with me. The tornado and storm should cover any damage we do to the surrounding area so our fight won’t be too obvious,” Death said.

“I’ll be there,” I said. Killing her wouldn’t bring Benjamin back, but it’d be a start on the road to feeling a little better about it. I was going to carve her a new one with Velvet Redemption.