End of the Beginning – Chapter Two from Nevermore, Book Three of the Tether Saga
Chapter Two – End of the Beginning
The Shade stepped around the chair making an eerie creaking noise rubbing his neck; he was dressed in a black suit buttoned high across his chest with a high collar gray shirt that must have been white at one point and a black neck tie. His skin was gray in color and pulled gaunt all over his face, his hair still black and mustache was still as thick as day he died sat just above his top lip.
“Edgar Allan Poe at your service.” said Edgar bowing awkwardly. “Please excuse the mes, it so much harder getting help these days… Now I am complete may I ask why do you insist in keeping you’re Demon loose in here?”
“My Demon?” said Sarah confused.
“Yes you’re Guardian,” said Edgar.
“Oh, he’s not a Demon, I think he is more like an Angel,” said Sarah looking at Paul standing silently next to her.
“You would be surprised how fine the line is between Angel and Demon Sarah,” said Edgar. “Did he ever tell you he was one of the fallen?”
“What do you mean he is one of the fallen?” said Sarah completely baffled by Poe’s remark. “Actually what do you mean fallen?”
“Well, to be fair to your Guardian he is only a Nephlim,” said Edgar playing with his neck tie as he tutted. “Dearie me, where did I put that mirror… Are these ties even in style anymore?”
“Huh, no… I don’t know,” said Sarah annoyed. “Neph… What? What are these fallen?”
“Ahh here it is,” said Edgar pulling a cloth off an old upright mirror and looking at himself in it. “Hrmm… Not looking too bad, of course it helps that I only use this body when I have company, which means less wear and tear. What do you think?”
Sarah look over at Edgar catching a reflection of herself in the mirror, she had completely forgotten she was still wearing her monster hunting outfit and the leather jacket she was wearing over the top of it looked very tattered, still showing signs of her fight with Solomon earlier on that evening. Almost unconsciously she found herself straightening her dark hair, brushing it out of her blue eyes and tying it back into a pony tail before glimpsing the Tether on her wrist made her stop, “Look you… Look great someone who’s been dead for over a hundred and fifty years. Could you please tell me what you mean by the fallen and what that has to do with Paul?”
“Oh… I am sorry Sarah it is most impolite to show impatience when you’re a guest in someone’s home. Have times changed so much?” said Edgar testily as he finished straightening his tie. “I have let you bring your Demon in here so a moment of your indulgence is to be expected.”
“I keep telling you Paul is not a Demon,” said Sarah looking over at Paul who was standing passively by the room’s fireplace. Even in the flickering light of the fire illuminating the room she could still see the wounds knot together across Paul’s body and once again she found herself thinking he really was quite nice to look at.
“Sarah, I can tell from your appearance that you’ve used the Tether and discovered that there are creatures in shadows around us that do more than just go bump. So you must have commanded him and his cohort to act on your behalf… Say where is the other one? Not that I miss him as he always chilled me to the bone…. Like he was death personified.
Edgar paused and walked over to Paul looking the guardian up and down, in turn Paul took a step back his hand on his sword, “See even now he is only restrained because you’ve told him too. Every instinct in his body is telling him to kill me. That I am unnatural and should not be of this earth, but he won’t act unless you tell him too. He has no moral compass, no independent thought left in him. A puppet for whomever can claim that infernal Tether for themselves, the poor bastard… A deadly unrelenting force, it is a miracle itself that so many good people have found the device. Where is the other one?”
“Long story,” said Sarah quickly not wanting to relive the painful memories of the possessed Zachari, “So you’re telling me I could get Paul to do anything?”
“Yes, I am sure you’ve noticed this fact for yourself and don’t need me to tell you this.” said Edgar brush dust off the sleeves of his jacket, “Dearie me I gather so much dust sitting still.”
“I have, but I think there is lot more going on in Paul’s head than he lets me know.”
“You’re quite right Sarah, these… These Guardians are quite unnerving… There that is better.” Edgar smiled straightening his jacket in the mirror.
“How do you know about them? I mean you mentioned being a Tether Keeper yourself, do you know how to remove it?” said Sarah picking at the dark beads. Could Edgar help her to finally get rid of this device?
Edgar laughed, “My dear young lady I awoke from a drunken stupor to find the damned thing attached to me.”
“But you have used it?”
“Yes, it opened a number of horrors to me that I felt compelled to fight for the greater good. Quite, quite haunting as I am sure you’ve found for yourself, even with the help of the bottle I could not drown some of my memories of those dark days,” said Edgar looking a little rattled. “Are you sure you don’t have anything to drink I would even settle for one of those vodka mixes that passes for drinks to you children.”
“I don’t have anything Edgar, so how did you lose the Tether?”
“Ahh… A young southern gentleman sort me out and became a great friend after the death of dear Virginia… He was the epitome of a scholar and a gentlemen. He had a huge knowledge of the creatures we faced, always making notes in a book. He claimed to have learned how to separate me from that infernal device without me having to die first. After one distressing episode facing those nightmarish creatures I begged him to remove it and to my eternal damnation he did.”
“Do you remember the words he used?” said Sarah feeling a burst of hope.
“I am sorry child I do not, I am afraid I was hopelessly drunk by the time he removed it, in actually fact I do not remember much of those last few days,” said Edgar sitting back down on one of the leather chairs and looking into the roaring fireplace. “Had I known I would walk in the undeath I would have never of left the Tether voluntarily.”
Sarah sat down a horrific thought ran through her head, “You mean the only reason you still live is because of the Tether?”
“It appears young lady that the Tether’s hold on you goes beyond death itself,” said Edgar. “And for that reason alone I am very sorry that blasted device has fallen to you.”
“Yes…” said Sarah looking into the fire. “I am sorry too, but I cannot keep feeling sorry for myself. Too many people have been hurt because me. Please Edgar… Lamaria told me you can help me. If you don’t know how to remove the Tether can you at least tell me what you mean by calling Paul a fallen?”
Edgar sighed, his teeth clucked against each other and skin flaked off the back of his neck as he scratched. “This body is starting to stiffen up again, you will have to excuse me first I have to change again, could you please avert your gaze? It most rude that your stare like that when a gentleman is changing.”
Sarah looked the other way and felt a sucking sensation around the room, when she looked back at the Edgar she saw his body, gray and empty sitting in the leather back chair. Standing by him was the black humanoid shape of the Shade fussing over his body, “There… My… My I keep forgetting how confining that can be.”
“Edgar?”
“Yes?”
“You were going to tell me why you keep calling Paul a fallen, what does that mean?”
Edgar floated around the chair and the room before settling back by his body at the fireplace, “To be fair to Paul and that other bastard they aren’t really one of the fallen in the biblical sense. They were born of a mortal woman and a celestial being or whatever nonsense you wish to call it. Banished from the light and doomed to walk the earth until the end of times, to be nevermore.”
“You’re telling me that Paul really is an Angel?”
“Yes… No… He is complicated and I don’t know what he really is or how he came to be,” said the Shade hovering around Paul, who was looking increasingly annoyed at the Shade’s close presence.
“Tether?” said Paul glaring at Edgar’s Shade in front of him.
“It’s okay Paul,” said Sarah. “You are kidding me, right Edgar?”
“No Sarah,” said the Shade seriously. “He is a proof that there is something else out there beyond our world. Proof of something that is greater than us and you cannot tell me you doubt that too.”
“No, you’re right, I’ve seen too much with my own eyes to doubt that there is something out there, but Paul an actually Angel?” said Sarah.
“Why not?” said Edgar.
“I guess it would make some sense,” said Sarah chewing her lip. “But how do I find out what he really is?”
“Well you could ask him, but I found these Guardians are really complete blanks for any sort of conversation. I know from experience they are here for a purpose and that Paul and the other one were linked to that Tether for good or ill.”
“Salvation?” said Sarah staring at Paul.
“I’m sorry Sarah, what was that?”
“Salvation, it was something Paul said before,” said Sarah looking at the Tether, pulling at the dark beads. “Maybe it’s a quest for redemption for there are none good.”
To be continued…
