Chapter 34

Under the stars and the most brilliant aurora he could recall, Haldir called out to the old gods he used to bow to. "Please take me now. I beg you."

The only thing that answered him was a blast of cold, and Daniel's voice. "Come home."

The burn of the bullets that passed through him made him brace his hand against his abdomen, and his face got ugly as he shoved himself upward.

There was only ten feet between them, but it could have been a hundred the way Haldir struggled to crawl across the space. And when he got to Mitchell, he ripped the knife from him and wiped it on his jacket.

A pack of Marlboros still sat in his chest pocket, and Haldir shook until one popped out, and shoved it in his mouth. The zippo Tessa gave him flicked out and after a few orange flickers, smoke came from the side of his mouth. "I should have knocked on your door that first night. I wish I could take it back and do everything all over again. I would have loved you better. After I come to see you tomorrow, I'm leaving this place forever. You're not here."

But as he blew another puff of smoke from his mouth, a wind blew across his face and swirled it before him. When his fingers rose to swat it away, he heard her voice. "Where are you?"

He tried to grab it in his hand to trap the last of her, but he was left with nothing again, and he brought the memory of her words to his lips. "I'm going home."

The wounds were gone now, and only a twinge of pain remained, and he pressed his hands into the ground to lift himself. He spat on the body at his feet and tossed his cigarette into the frozen blood around him.

He knew he'd never see his Motherland again, and as he walked away, he closed his eyes and breathed her deeply. Although he'd lived under it most of his existence, he feared he'd forget the beauty of the colors above him. And when he opened them again, he was in the warmth of his living room.

His eyes narrowed for just a moment as he looked to his bed. He was certain he let the fire die, but those moments were a blur now. A row of vodka bottles lined his refrigerator, and when he yanked the first one out, his eyes met the bed again.

The red cap squeaked as he twisted it off, and he tossed it in the sink. There was barely a drop left of it when he kicked his boot off on the bathroom floor.

After he turned on the taps, Haldir plopped down onto the edge of the tub and worked off his other boot. The tip of his nose was frozen, and he rubbed at it to bring it back to life. But the more his face warmed, and the steam of the shower kicked up the air in the little room, the scent of pancakes surrounded him.

There were at least a dozen holes in his shirt, and when he held it up to his face, he wished at least one of them had done its job.

While he stood there with his forehead against the slick tiles under the hot water as it flowed over him, Haldir sucked back the last swallow of his alcohol and let it crash to the floor.

The world was cold and ugly again when he stepped out of the shower and scrubbed at himself with his towel.

The flannel-lined couch was itchy on the back of his legs, but he was spent and couldn't drag his body another foot further. In only a towel and nothing more, he pulled the blanket from the couch and wrapped it around him.

His heavy eyes bobbed up and down as he smirked at the old comedy on television, and when they finally closed, his cigarette dropped to the floor.

Along the forest path North to the Darke kingdom, the pebbles and branches under his feet popped and snapped. But in the distance beyond the smoke and twisted bodies, he saw dark mahogany hair bouncing side to side as she walked. Each strike of her foot against the forest floor thumped in his ears like a knock at the door.

No matter how hard he ran or how loudly he called for her, she kept moving until an arrow sank into her from out of nowhere. Even in his sleep, Haldir reached down to rub the pain from his calf and mumbled out for his mate. "No."

As he observed helplessly from afar, another arrow landed in Mory's stomach and Haldir ran toward her as the thump in his head grew louder. Before he could reach her, a man on horseback grabbed her up and carried her away.

When his brain pulled itself out from the celestial plane, at last, it recognized the beating on the door as Haldir's eyes popped open while the sunlight filtered through his windows. Other than the towel around his waist, he was as naked as the day he was born, and he wrapped his blanket around him like a toga. "Just a minute."

When the cold blew in with the two men who stood outside his door as he opened it, Haldir squinted at it being light already. "What's going on children?"

After he shared a look with Neville, Percy pulled his hat from his head and motioned inside. "May we come in and talk to you about something?"

Between the vodka bottles and splotches of blood around his house, he was hardly in the mood for company, but he pulled the door open with a sigh and backed away. "What is it?"

Though everyone knew who left the trail of dead bodies at the mine, no one came for him until now. And as Percy wiped his hand with his mouth, his heart pounded with fear. "I don't know how to say this, so I'll just get straight to the point. Mory's body is missing."

His mouth hung agape, and Haldir struggled to find words as he tried to understand. "What the fuck do you mean she's missing? A dead body is hardly the kind of thing you lose and I'm quite certain she didn't fly away."

Neville's hand rose between them. "We went in this morning to prepare her for you, and she was gone. There's nothing on the logbooks. No one came from the mainland to collect her or Bose or James. "

A tear fell from Haldir's face, but his skin was red with temper, and Percy backed away just a little. "We checked the security cameras and there's nothing since we put her there yesterday. It's like she just disappeared out of thin air." He glanced at Neville for just a moment. "We have to ask, is she one of you? I mean…"

"No." He yanked a pack of cigarettes from the coffee table, and before he lit the one in his fingers, he shook his head. "She wasn't."

The pulse in his neck made his headache, and he waved them off with the back of his fingers. "Go on. I'll be down there in a bit to look for her."

There were at least a dozen vodka bottles on his table, and Percy closed the door behind him as he watched Haldir throw one across the room. "Fuck."

"Those fucking idiots." The slaps of his bare heels digging into the floor shook the walls, and he tossed his towel to the floor as he came to his armoire. He still cursed the world through his clenched jaw as he pulled his shirt over his head and spun around to face the bed.

But something was different.

Placed perfectly on the white square of his flannel checkered pillow was a scrap of paper, and for just a moment, his heart that had beat for a thousand years, stopped for a moment. His palms were sweaty already, and it felt as if he were a hundred pounds heavier the way he could barely make his feet move.

And when he saw her terrible handwriting scribbled across it, he read each word out loud. "I'm alive. Find me, please. I love you. Morana Osulf."

"Michael." Haldir's eyes moved back and forth as he tried to make sense of what was happening, and he shoved the note into his pocket. "You came for her, didn't you?"

He'd never moved so quickly as he tossed clothes from his armoire to the bed and pulled his bag of holding from his drawer. He stuffed all he owned inside it, and he spun around to search for anything else that just couldn't be replaced. But when he realized that none of it really meant anything, he pulled the strap through the buckle and rushed through the room to claim his weapons in the bathroom.

And once he'd packed them away, his quick steps made their way to the kitchen and a blackness swept over him inch by inch. "I'm coming, my love."

The old church built up around him, and the gentlemanly angel waited for him at the sanctuary doors. And as soon as it was solid beneath his feet, Haldir lunged at him and wrapped his hands around his arms. "Where is she?"

His pointy chin moved back and forth, and Michael shifted himself until he was free of the hold on him. "I could not cross over with her. It isn't my domain."

"She's in the Realm?" His hand braced against the column to steady him. "How did this happen?"

Michael smiled at his old friend and tossed up his shoulders. "The same way it happened for you." A finger pointed to the ceiling and his dark eyes rose to the mural above them. "I got my orders. The gods decided that the two of you had done enough."

There were no words that could even begin to describe his gratefulness, and Haldir collapsed into his old friend's chest. Michael patted his back and pushed him back. "Go home, Haldir. She's waiting."

His rough laughter echoed against the wall as he backed away, and his mist spread out under his feet. "Thank you for everything, Michael."

A hand came to his heart, and he licked the tear from his lip as his head shook. "For everything you've done for us. All of us. Thank you."

A palm rose before Michael, and beginning in his outstretched hands, a gold light consumed him, and his ivory wings spread out from his back as he unveiled his true self. "Goodbye, my old friend."