Wednesday Brief. In The Arms of an Angel - Help

The prompt this week was to use a trope I haven’t used before. Well, no stranger to cheating I have again bent the prompt a little and used a trope I very rarely use but one I love. I have to admit that the thing I love most is the name. I mean oxymoron! Yeah baby.

Pasha was furious with himself that he’d allowed this to happen. He should have thought of it before he stepped over the threshold. Had Gabri’el thought about it? Was he aware of what he’d done? More and more Pasha was becoming convinced they’d walked into a trap after all. Together, he and Uzzy were unstoppable but now…. He stood at the side of the bed and looked down.

If he allowed himself to be honest, Uzzy looked dead. His skin was cold and had a blue-ish tinge, especially around the mouth. Nothing Pasha could do warmed him. Even the hot pillows Gabri’el had brought made no difference and turned cold quickly. He’d tried lying next to him under the covers and warming him with his own body but that had only made Pasha cold and not warmed Uzzy at all. It almost seemed as if he was sucking warmth out of his surroundings and Pasha wouldn’t have been surprised to see ice forming on him.

Trailing his finger over Uzzy’s cheek, Pasha shuddered. He was cold as marble. A hideously beautiful statue.

“Dammit.”

Striding across the room, Pasha threw himself into the computer chair and booted up. There was no way he could sit for any length of time just watching Uzzy and the clock or he would go insane. Whether or not he found anything useful on the computer, at least it would keep his mind occupied for a time.

When prompted for a password Pasha frowned. Gabri’el had said he wouldn’t have any trouble guessing it, but that was all well and good when you weren’t sitting in front of the screen with a mind blank of everything but fear. All he could thing about was Uzzy.

On an impulse, Pasha typed in ‘Uzziel’ and the password was accepted. Of course. Just great.

Once into the computer, Pasha had no idea where to go next. He typed a few random key words and phrases but nothing came up.

“Pasha.”

Pasha spun at the sound of his name, but there was no one there.

“Who’s there?” He was met with nothing but silence. Shivering, he turned back to the computer and carried on randomly searching.

“Pasha.”

This time the voice was so close and so loud he leaped from his chair and spun, ready to fight. But still there was no one. The room seemed to have gone very cold and he rubbed his arms. Suddenly, he was frightened. Was the man who had taken Uzzy coming for him now? Why? Had he finished with Uzzy? Was he…?

Pasha ran to the bed and bent over Uzzy. As much as he hated to touch his cold skin, Pasha pressed his ear to Uzzy’s chest and almost fainted when he heard the faint but steady thump of his heart. He stood and laid his hand on Uzzy’s chest.

“I’m going insane,” he said softly. “This is driving me mad.”

“Pasha.”

Suddenly, with shocking awareness, Pasha realised the voice was coming, not from the room behind him, but inside his head.

“Uzzy? Is that you?”

“Pasha.”

Pasha looked down at his mate. Uzzy’s eyes were closed, the lids still and blue. There were no signs of life and when Pasha tried to find their connection there was nothing.

“Pasha.”

“Alright,” he snapped. “I’m listening. What am I supposed to do?”

Looking around a room that suddenly seemed sinister, Pasha shivered. “Uzzy, we’re in trouble here. We’re prisoners in Gabri’el’s house and I don’t think he’s our mate, and I don’t think he’s innocent in this. We did walk into a trap. That’s right isn’t it?”

“Yes.”

This time the voice was definitely not inside his head and he spun with a snarl. “What do you know?”

Gabri’el looked dreadful. He was almost as pale as Uzzy and his hair was dishevelled as if he’d been running his hands through it repeatedly.

“I didn’t want to be involved, Pasha, I swear. If I’d known they were going to hurt him I’d never have—.”

Pasha flew across the room, grabbed Gabri’el by the front of his shirt and slammed him against the wall. 

“What do you know?”

“Nothing. Not much. I… When I…. When I came back they were waiting for me. I don’t know who they are. Not the Council. I don’t even know if they’re angels.”

“Human?”

“Hell no.”

“Then what?”

“I don’t know. I’ve been trying to find out but I can’t…. I….”

“And you led us into a trap?”

“No. Yes. I didn’t know it was a trap. They’ve crushed the Council and have all the civil unrest under control. They seemed…genuine. They said…they said they know about you – you and him – that you’re special and they wanted to talk to you. I agreed to get you here, but I swear I thought it was only to talk.”

“Then why all that bullshit about handing Eden over to Uzzy.”

“It’s what they told me to say. I didn’t know they were going to do this. I swear I didn’t know.”

“Who was that man?”

“One of them.”

“And all that bullshit about being our own gods and about Uzzy…coming into his destiny…?”

“I don’t know. I’d never heard any of it before. I swear Pasha, I thought they were going to talk to you. Just talk to you.”

“And where are they now?”

“I don’t know. I’ve been to Council Chamber but there’s no one there. I tried every method they gave me to contact me but they’re all offline.”

“I bet. They’ve got what they want.”

“Pasha.”

“Did you hear that?”

“Hear what?”

“Someone calling my name.”

“No.”

Turning his back on Gabri’el, Pasha walked back to the bed and took Uzzy’s hand. “Baby, please. Show me how to get to you. Give me some kind of opening. Something.”

“Pasha.”

“Is that you? Is it? What do you want? What do you want me to do?”

Uzzy’s eyes opened and Pasha recoiled. They were completely white. “Help.”

Now mosey on over to the other flashers for more treats

Lily Sawyer

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