Hello everyone, and welcome back to another installment of Defiant Destiny. I wanted to express a huge thank you to LiterKnight for helping me edit my work. Her keen eye and grammatical knowledge has been a blessing <3
Enjoy the chapter!
***Dante***
I was thoroughly pissed off. With another deep sigh I again rummaged through my wardrobe. Where on Earth did I leave that fucking tie... I owned just one, and I absolutely hated it. Every time I needed to wear it, it was for some occasion I really didn't want to attend. Like today - I had an important meeting with the people from my trust fund who required an update on the proceedings with the factory.
In the comfort of my bedroom I didn't bother to suppress my angry growls. I loathed having to go to this meeting and, despite the fact that they were always friendly and cordial, I hated the people from the trust fund with a soul-consuming passion.
After some more growling and sighing I finally located a small black box in the back of my wardrobe. Suddenly I remembered I had stowed the tie in there after...
I stared hard at the box in my hands. It was a little dusty from not having opened it in nine years.
Almost ten years now actually.
My heart rate shot up and part of me didn't want to open the box. With a shaky hand I slowly opened the cover. Inside the box I saw the elusive black tie, neatly folded, but seeing the item next to it entombed my racing heart in ice and sent a heavy shiver down my back.
It was a tiny, dried flower. A daisy - my mother's favorite.
For their funeral I had asked the florist to fill the bouquet on my mother's coffin with those dainty white flowers. He politely objected, claiming it was a weed, and suggested something else instead, but I didn't care. My mother had loved that flower for its simplicity and abundance.
The day before the funeral I had spent hours combing meadows to gather enough of them for the florist to create a beautiful bouquet. A sad smile crept upon my face as I swallowed the lump in my throat - she would have loved it.
Tenderly, I grasped the small flower with trembling fingers. I took this one from the bouquet just before they lowered my parents into the ground.
My vision became blurry with unshed tears and I closed my eyes, needing a few deep breaths to clear my mind and bury my grief deep down inside. I didn't know how other people did it, but I sucked at mourning - I didn't know how to deal with the death of my parents. Even today, nearly ten years after their passing, I still found myself emotionally paralyzed at the mere memory of their funeral.
Reverently, I placed the flower back next to the tie into the box and clumsily closed the lid with shaking hands. Rummaging around again in my wardrobe I looked for the deepest, darkest corner I could find and almost threw the box there, swallowing away my tears. I still wasn't ready to face my grief. I knew it was wrong of me, but I didn't know how to handle it, so I tucked it away. Again.
A soft touch on my shoulder made me jump. I turned around and saw a teary eyed Cyrea gaze into my eyes. She wore a classy business suit and looked as beautiful as ever. My wonderful soulmate had insisted on coming with me to the meeting today, and for the life of me I couldn't understand why, but when I gazed into her compassionate eyes, I understood - she knew I was
not
looking forward to this meeting, and it seemed my clever mate had a keener perception of why than I did.
"Oh, Dante..." Cyrea whispered and gathered me in her arms.
I fought to keep the tears at bay, panting hard, while her sweet caresses broke down the wall around me I so anxiously tried to rebuild.
I tightly wrapped my arms around my mate, almost crushing her in my desperation to have her close to me, to let her proximity and scent soothe me as it always did.
Slowly, breath by shaking breath, and caress after soothing caress, my labored breathing returned to normal and my death grip on her hair softened. I buried my face in her neck, letting the last of my tears wet her curls.
"Death is an important part of nature's cycle, as grief is an important part of living. Do not hide from this pain, my love," she spoke softly.
I took one last deep breath of her neck, letting her scent reach the deepest corners of my lungs and released her from my embrace with steady hands, my wall rebuilt. I briefly glanced at her deep blue eyes and blinked away the final remnants of tears from mine. My hands found their way into her soft curls, fidgeting with them as I thought of words to prolong my procrastination.
"Thank you for coming with me this morning," I finally said, my voice sounding more balanced than I felt. "Are you ready to go?" I asked, occupying my eyes with the way her curls twirled around my fingers, not ready to face her gaze.
I couldn't see her reaction. I didn't want to. I knew she would be disappointed at me for hiding from my grief. I turned around to grab an official looking jacket from my wardrobe and closed the wardrobe door.
Fuck the tie.
"Yes, I'm ready," Cyrea's voice came from behind me, and she silently took my hand.
"I'm here for you, my love, don't forget that..."
she whispered.
My heart swelled with love for her.
"I know... Thank you..."
I replied, and together we headed outside in silence.
The meeting went fine. It always did. The people were friendly and enthusiastic about the proceedings. There was a slight issue with the funding, but that was solved easily enough. Cyrea's presence helped more than I could have anticipated. Both for my emotional support, and for unintentionally distracting some of the men and women at the meeting. Talking business became so much easier when members of the other party were gawking at your succubus' cleavage.
***Isabel***
My thundering heartbeat was so loud I could barely hear the soft whisperings of the angel whose breath was tickling my ear. Oh, this was marvelous, absolutely marvelous! My eyes glided along the interior of my lavish office as my mind diligently processed every word that the baritone voice mumbled in my ears as he droned on with his report.
Mated... Alexis was mated! And not just to anyone, but to the Valkyrie! She had taken more than a few angels' lives and was a high value target for every God fearing angel. But, how did they meet? Why was she on Earth?
Each and every whispered word seemed to add another electric tingle of excitement in my belly and I found it increasingly harder not to bounce up and down like a juvenile human.
The voice had fallen silent, the report was finished. I leaned back in my desk chair and rested my hands on the cool leather arm rests, letting my fingertips caress the soft texture as my mind quickly processed all I had been told. A slow, venomous grin spread on my face - Samuel would be livid, his power would be a marvelous sight to behold, and his justice... oh, his justice would be brutal. Brutal and just.
With the corresponding poise of an immortal of my stature I managed to wipe the grin from my face before turning to the angel at my side. He was patiently waiting, his confident eyes expecting a well earned compliment.
"Well done, Andrew. Excellent work, as always," I commended him, and watched him try to hide his pride at his exemplary performance.
'Oh, Andrew... Sweet Andrew... I know very well you cannot resist the temptation of pride, but it's alright - you are too useful to me to report you to Samuel,' I thought, knowing I could never utter those words aloud.
"I need more details on why the Valkyrie is here on Earth. Uncover that for me, and I will ensure you are duly rewarded for your effort," I dismissed him, and traced his departing form with my eyes, noting the slight bounce in his step as he exited my office into the chapel hall.
I turned to my computer monitors and entered my password to reveal a map of the city on which several glowing dots lit up. My angelic spies. Some were moving, most were stationary. I watched the dot labeled "Andrew" move around in the chapel that housed my office, along with three other dots. Despite humanity's fickle and tiring existence, their invention of GPS-tracking was heaven sent.
My eyes glided along the other dots posted across the city. I quickly located another dot that I had been keenly following - the one labeled "Paula". She and Andrew were my best and their information had caused more than a few glorious reactions from Samuel when I relayed their findings.
This time I had sent her to gather all the information she could about a demon called "Dante". He was a rather peculiar demon, some sort of never seen before anomaly. From what we had uncovered, this Dante was mated to two succubi and was a good friend of Alexis. He was also putting tremendous effort in remodeling the old factory he resided in, and my instincts told me he was up to no good.
After Andrew returns to me and I have gathered enough information, I could go and inform Samuel about the recent occurrences. I felt my heart rate pick up again at the thought. With a deep sigh I once again lost myself in vivid fantasies of how he would react upon hearing the news I would bring him.
Samuel's power and his drive for justice would be glorious to behold. His flaming sword would light up the sky in all its righteous fury and Samuel would impose long overdue justice on that farce that once was his fellow Gatekeeper. He would swoop down with unparalleled grace, his celestial sword splitting the clouds during his descent and his divine retribution would rain down on...
...the dot moved. I clenched my fists in barely contained excitement and trembled in delight. Paula was coming back.
***Dante***
