Redemption (Stand-Alone Spin-Off to Reaper Series) Read online

  Eve would initially keep her distance, allowing people to settle in and become comfortable, before she would eventually join them, but she would always watch from a distance as the party grew louder with every passing minute. She sat now on the branch of a tree, letting her feet hang over the edge, watching the human souls enjoying themselves. As happy as she felt when she saw the party, she also felt sad. Because she knew that even when the human souls were comfortable with her presence, they wouldn’t fully accept her. As kind and friendly and fun as she was with them, they would always see her as an Angel, not as a friend. She was glad to help them all find their path again, but still… she wished she could be a part of them. Part of the group. If they would only stop seeing her as some other… being. As the Devil. As anything other than a friend.

  Eve had to remind herself that she chose this. This wasn’t some errand that had been imposed upon her. Well, not anymore. When Eve had first broken Angel law and defied her father, he had looked almost heartbroken. He never yelled or got at all angry. Elohim had only seemed saddened by Eve’s thoughtlessness. As Angel law demanded, though, she had to be punished. There were many Angels who thought, and suggested loudly, that Eve should be banished from Heaven forever. Elohim, however, had a better idea. He decreed that Eve was to serve a thousand years in the Garden, guiding the human souls who had lost their way back to an understanding of how to live good lives and be good people. Eve accepted this punishment humbly, determined to do a good job and make her father proud. By the time she had served her thousand years, Eve had come to understand all too well the damage that her actions had caused. The seed that she had planted in humanity survived and grew, resulting in so many souls finding their way to the Garden instead of Heaven. For this reason, Eve knew that she had to stay. The Garden needed her, just as much as she needed to help the human souls. Elohim had been distressed at the idea of Eve not returning to Heaven, but was nevertheless proud of Eve’s decision.

  Ruhiel sat beside Eve, happily tapping her hands on her thighs to the beat of the music, oblivious to Eve’s despondence. Eve liked Ruhiel, but she knew that in just a few days, Ruhiel would have to go back to Heaven to finish her education. Eve thought it unlikely that Ruhiel would visit again, or if she did, it wouldn’t be often. No one visited often.

  Except Darius. Darius had visited her a lot, especially when he had first become a Reaper, a guide for human souls to find their way to the afterlife. He’d had a thousand new questions every visit, all of which Eve was more than happy to answer. The same could have been said for Peyton, the mortal woman who Darius had saved from a monstrous fate, despite all the rules of his order forbidding him to do so. Eve smiled when she thought of their wedding. Now that had been a fun party. She felt sad again at the thought of Darius and Peyton. Because Darius was human now, he wasn’t able to just stop by whenever he wanted. Just like Eve couldn’t visit him and Peyton and their children whenever she liked. The Garden always needed someone to care for it. Not to mention the fact that too many visits could be seen as interfering in human affairs. Something the Angels had all sworn not to do.

  Frowning, Eve silently admonished herself for being so morose. She never used to think like this. It used to be that every day in the Garden was her own personal paradise. She supposed it was only after getting accustomed to spending time with Darius and Peyton that she started to wish for more. After she’d become used to having some real friends again. She had gone so many centuries just keeping to herself in the Garden that she had forgotten what it was like to have friends. To be trusted. After her mistakes, many, many years ago, Eve couldn’t call many Angels friends. For what she had done, they shunned her. Even though she had served her punishment and continued her work in the Garden, they still thought of her as the Devil. The only comfort Eve took was her work, the importance of helping souls make the most of their second chances. Guiding them all towards leading a good life.

  No regrets, Eve thought sadly.

  “Are you okay, Eve?” Ruhiel suddenly asked.

  Eve realized that her bitterness must have been showing on her face. Ruhiel was looking at her with concern. Eve quickly pushed aside her sadness and forced a smile onto her face.

  “Of course!” she said, sounding like she meant it.

  At that moment, it seemed a few people from the party had found a few sets of bongo drums and a fast-paced, high-tempo, beat began to echo across the field, resulting in numerous cheers from the crowd and throngs of people jumping together to dance in a large circle. Someone jumped into the center of the ring and began to show off some elaborate dance moves, before someone else jumped into the center and responded with their own moves, the first person laughing and whooping as they backed away into the ring once more. Eve looked over at the dancing, then grinned back at Ruhiel.

  “You ready to have some fun?” she asked cheekily.

  “Yeah!” Ruhiel replied eagerly.

  Together they flew down to the field, landing just beyond the light of the small fires as the dance-circle broke down and became a mass of bouncing and swaying bodies, everyone dancing at once as the beat rang out through the night. So as to be able to move freely amongst the dancers, Eve and Ruhiel both pressed their wings tightly against their backs, where they seemed to fade and disappear. Without their wings being immediately apparent, they both looked like they were regular human teenage girls, both grinning widely as they wandered into the crowd, already starting to dance as they walked.

  As Eve began to dance to the beat, she was glad she had hidden her wings. No one was staring at her with curiosity or suspicion. It was like they had forgotten she was an Angel. Relaxing and allowing the music to move her, Eve swayed and danced among the crowd. Ruhiel was swept up into what appeared to be a miniature mosh pit, looking alarmed at first, but then grinning as she jumped and threw her body against the others, all of them laughing together. Eve grinned at her, momentarily forgetting her earlier troubles.

  Until dark clouds drifted across the sky and blocked out the moon. As everyone noticed the sudden darkness, Eve felt something cold and wet land on her cheek. Looking up, she saw that the dark clouds had begun to break apart and rain was now beginning to fall down upon the party.

  “It rains here?” she heard someone ask with amazement and a hint of annoyance.

  “Of course it rains, plants need water!” someone fired at them.

  As the rain began to pour, sounds of obvious disappointment began to replace the music. Eve was disappointed as well, because the fun of the party was the only thing that seemed to have been able to distract her from her sad thoughts of loneliness. Determined to let the party go on, Eve let her wings out and raised her hands.

  An instant later, small trees began to grow at seemingly random spots around the party, shooting out of the ground all around and between people’s feet, causing them to shout in alarm and jump away. The narrow tree trunks quickly grew tall, reaching several feet over the heads of everyone. As they grew, they sprouted branches, which stretched out from the trunk and reached toward each other. The branches wrapped around branches from the nearest trees, winding themselves tightly together like braided hair. As they came together and formed a kind of mesh ceiling, they then began to grow leaves. The leaves grew large and thick, quickly filling all the gaps between the branches, creating a green ceiling and stopping even a drop of rain from getting through.

  Between the clouds blinding the light of the moon and the leafy ceiling blocking whatever light successfully made it through, the party had become much darker, the only light being the eerie, flickering, flames of the small bonfires, casting shadows across the grass. A moment later, however, people whispered to each other in hushed tones and pointed at something that was steadily flowing beneath the tree-branch canvas and filling the area above.

  Fireflies. Thousands upon thousands of fireflies. All merrily floating in the air, shining brighter than any firefly should. They lit up the area all around, looking like tiny stars drifting ov
erhead. All of the people were staring up at them in wonder, oblivious to the sound of the rain falling on the canvas overhead, completely captivated by the sight of the luminous fireflies.

  “WOOOO!” Ruhiel cried in excitement.

  A laugh went up among the crowd and the music suddenly continued. People began to dance again, now dry and well-lit. Eve grinned at them all as some of the souls who had been there longer yelled out their gratitude to her.

  “Thanks, Eve!”

  “That was awesome!”

  “Nice one, Eve!”

  Eve was feeling rather pleased with herself, smiling wide and ready to keep dancing, but then she felt the eyes of the others on her. The newer souls.

  Looking around, Eve saw them staring at her. They didn’t stare in fear, nor anger, nor distrust. It was something more akin to curiosity, but not one that she liked. They were looking at her like she was an interesting creature they had happened across in the wild. Eve followed their eyes and saw they were looking at her large red and white wings. Eve felt like she was under examination, like a frog in a science class, prime for dissection. Feeling suddenly uncomfortable, Eve turned to leave.

  “Eve, where are you going?” Ruhiel called out from her mosh pit.

  Eve turned back to face her, forcing a smile, but still walking backwards as she felt the strong urge to get away from the staring eyes.

  “I just have some other things to take care of,” Eve replied. “You stay, though. Have fun. I’ll see you later.”

  Eve then turned and hurried away as quickly as she could without looking like she was hurrying. Once she was at the edge of the canvas ceiling she had created, she walked straight out into the wall of rain, ignoring the cold drip down her back, not caring that her bright red hair was instantly flattened and drenched. She walked off into the night and kept walking until she knew no one could see her. She found a tree at the edge of the field and sat under it, letting its branches offer her some shelter from the rain. Pulling her knees up to her chest and hugging them tightly, Eve ignored the music and laughing and stared into the night.

  Did they always used to stare like that? Eve wondered. Am I only just noticing? Or am I imagining it all?

  Eve wished Peyton was there. Once no one was trying to kill her, Peyton was always up for a good time, and never once stared at Eve like she was anything other than a person. Peyton had always seen her as an equal. An Angel, yes, but a friend, as well.

  So distracted by her thoughts, Eve didn’t even notice the man approach her until her was already speaking.

  “Eve?”

  Looking up, Eve saw a young man, probably no older than thirty, with dirty-blonde hair and bright blue eyes. He was smiling, but looked nervous, tapping his thumb against his leg in what was clearly an unconscious act. Eve immediately smiled at the man, pretending she hadn’t just been sitting in the rain and staring at nothing.

  “Hi!” she said cheerfully. “Is everything okay?”

  “Oh, yeah, it’s great!” the young man said, still tapping his thumb on his leg. “It’s just… You’re Eve, right?”

  Eve grinned. “That’s right.”

  The man looked at her like she was a rock-star, his eyes lighting up and a grin breaking out on his face.

  “Wow,” the man said in hushed reverence. “Wow! Oh, sorry, I’m Jack, Jack Rice. Died in a car accident.”

  “Nice to meet you, Jack,” Eve said, rising to her feet to be on the same level as Jack. “Sorry about your death.”

  Jack waved his hand as if to say it was nothing. “Don’t worry about it. I just… Wow, it’s so cool to meet you! I never thought I ever would!”

  Eve smiled. “You can always talk to me whenever you want to. That’s what I’m here for. To help you all get back on your paths.”

  Jack grinned. “I wanted to meet you long before I ever came here.”

  Eve arched an eyebrow in confusion. “You knew about me before you died?” she asked.

  Jack nodded eagerly. “Yeah! Knew all about you. How you’re the daughter of God, sorry, Elohim. Your brother, Gabriel. How you gave knowledge to humanity and everything! You, like, made humanity what it is!”

  Eve stared at Jack in shock and confusion. “How do you know all that?”

  “Oh, the guy I used to work for, when I was alive,” Jack replied, oblivious to Eve’s distress. “He, like, knows all about you. Says he knew you, a long time ago.”

  “Knew me?” Eve repeated, more and more confused by the second. “How? What’s his name?”

  “He talked about you a lot,” Jack said. “He said you were friends, once. His name’s Darwin.”

  Eve frowned. “Darwin? I don’t think I was ever friends with anyone named Darwin.”

  “Really?” Jack pressed, sounding disappointed. “A big, solid, guy? Black? Dreadlocks?”

  Eve shook her head. “Don’t think so. Sorry.”

  “But, he must know you!” Jack insisted, sounding like he was genuinely upset. “He told me all this stuff about you. Darwin! Darwin Javan!”

  At this, Eve momentarily forgot how to breathe. Her eyes widened in combined shock and confusion at the name.

  “J-Javan!?” Eve cried, so caught off guard that she lost control of the volume of her voice, all but shouting the name back at Jack. “Your old boss’ name is Javan!?”

  “Yeah,” Jack nodded enthusiastically, pleased that Eve actually did know the man he spoke of. “Yeah, that’s right.”

  Eve felt lost as to what to do. She thought for a moment of just laughing at Jack, like he was joking, and walking away. She had taken half a step away when she paused and turned back, suddenly completely believing what Jack had told her. Jack watched her, somewhat awkwardly, as Eve ran her hand through her bright red hair, her eyes darting left and right as she thought hard about what she had just learned, as ridiculous and unbelievable as it was. She looked back at Jack, a look of disbelief still etched on her face.

  “Javan?” she repeated doubtfully. It wasn’t true. It couldn’t be true. “With dreadlocks?”

  “Yeah,” Jack replied, though he was looking like he would have preferred to not be talking at all anymore.

  “Jack, the Javan I knew is dead,” Eve explained insistently. “I saw him die.”

  “Did you?” Jack asked, smirking strangely. “Javan told me what happened. He said you never actually saw him dead. Just that you saw him fall. Trust me, he’s alive and well.”

  Eve looked more confused than ever. She struggled to find the words to argue, opening and closing her mouth while no words found their way out.

  “How long ago did you die, Jack?” Eve suddenly asked.

  Jack frowned. “I dunno. There’s not exactly a calendar in the pit. But the year I died was 2012.”

  Only a few years ago, Eve thought. Impossible.

  “But…” she struggled to argue. “But-but it can’t be! Even if that’s true, that the Javan I knew didn’t die when I thought he did, there’s still no way that you could have known him!”

  “Why not?” Jack asked, still smiling as though he was keeping a big secret from Eve.

  “Because!” Eve cried. “Javan was the first sentient human! He lived more than a million years ago!”

  3

  DARWIN JAVAN

  “J

  a-van! Ja-van! Ja-van! Ja-van!”

  The crowd was chanting his name. The excitement and anticipation of seeing him was building by the second, resulting in the audience of several hundred to begin clapping their hands together as they chanted, stamping their feet, and pumping their fists in the air.

  They had all gathered to see one man, the man whose name they were chanting so passionately. All of them, all from widely different backgrounds, had come to the Aria Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, the Bristlecone Ballroom, just to see Javan. The hotel had arranged the room for his seminar, making sure there were enough seats for the several hundred in attendance. Enormous one-hundred-and-fifty inch television screens had been placed around
the room, ensuring that no matter where anyone sat, they were going to be able to see the images on display. Bright lights had been installed in the ceiling to keep the podium well-lit at all times. The podium itself had been built in the center of the room, suggesting that whoever was to come out and stand on that podium was to be the sole focus of attention. The entire ballroom was so well lit and bright, it looked like it could have been the set for a game show.

  Eve was sitting among the audience, still in her white dress and her wings rendered invisible to those around her. She looked around at the screaming throngs of fans, feeling nervous, though she didn’t see why she should be nervous. It wasn’t him. It couldn’t be him. Frowning, Eve wished she had pressed Jack Rice for more information, but she had been so flustered and caught off guard, she had only managed to find out where to find this Darwin Javan before hurrying away, leaving Jack alone in the rain. Las Vegas, that was what Jack had said. Javan worked regularly in Las Vegas. When Eve arrived on the Strip, it didn’t take her long to find out where to look next. There had been men and women on every other corner handing out pamphlets and invitations to Javan’s seminar. Eve had merely glanced at it for the address and then hurried over.

  Looking around, Eve noticed that the large screens around the room were displaying an image of a book, the title of which was “The Practice of Evolution.” The author’s name was printed larger than the title.

  Darwin Javan.

  Suddenly, the speakers all around the room began to blast a high-tempo beat with a melody of excitement, making the crowd stop chanting and begin screaming, making Eve jump as she looked around for sign of an attack or some other threat. Instead, she saw nothing but the backs of people’s heads as they all leaped to their feet and threw their hands in the air in apparent celebration of the man who had just walked into sight and onto the podium. Eve tried to see past the people in front of her, but they were jumping up and down in excitement and waving their hands over their heads, making it impossible for Eve to see more than just a brief glimpse of the man.