17. Chapter Seventeen A Moment in Forever
Chapter Seventeen: A Moment in Forever
Maverick 1562
The pub was alive with the sounds of laughter and clinking goblets, a refuge from the dark and tumultuous world outside. I sat at a corner table, nursing a pint of ale, lost in thought. The light of the fireplace wove shadows across the walls, adding to the warm atmosphere.
Across the table sat Evelyn, a charming woman I’d met a couple hours ago. She told a story of when her sister fell into the mud when they were sneaking out at night to visit boys they were forbidden to see. Her eyes sparkled with mirth when, suddenly, she froze. Her eyes rolled back and then returned with a milky white sheen. Her spine straightened, and the lively conversation faded into an eerie silence.
“Evelyn?” Leaving my glass on the table, I reached out to touch her hand, but it was as cold as ice. She stared through me, rigid as a cadaver. No one seemed to notice. They were all embroiled in their own conversations.
When her lips moved, the voice was not her own. It was a voice I hadn’t heard in years, but recognized instantly.
Susannah’s voice.
“Maverick,” she declared, her tone filled with desperation and pain. “They found me, Maverick. The hunters. They found me, and they bound me up, blindfolded me. Stuck a dirty rag in my mouth. Then they took me away to some dark and disgusting room. It was so cold, and they stripped all my clothes off. My skin burned and blistered, even without fire. They swore they’d stop if I told them where you were, but I don’t know. They didn’t believe me. No matter what I said, they didn’t believe me. Please, Maverick, I’m all alone now. Help me.”
My heart pounded, a mixture of shock and dread washing over me. I knew it couldn’t be Susannah—not truly. She’d surely forgotten all about me and was living a life with a loving husband and children. This was a cruel trick by the hunters. Still, I couldn’t ignore the little voice inside that I didn’t know for sure.
“Susannah…” I wrestled with the emotion welling up inside, the need to fix her, the agony of guilt. I didn’t believe it, but I still asked the question. “Where are you? Tell me where to find you.”
Evelyn’s lips moved again, her voice urgent and pained. “The old forest, near the abandoned mill. Hurry, Maverick. It hurts.”
I clenched my fists, struggling to maintain composure. This was exactly the kind of trap the hunters would set. Lure me out with a plea for help, using the memory of the woman I loved. But if there was a chance, however slim. No, impossible.
“Evelyn, can you hear me? ”
The woman’s eyes flickered, a momentary return to consciousness before they rolled back again. “Please,” Susannah’s voice continued, softer now, fading. “I need you.”
My mind raced. If I ignored the message and it was real, I couldn’t live with myself. But I’d be surely walking straight into a trap, endangering myself and my associates.
“Evelyn,” I said again, more forcefully. “Fight it. Come back to me.”
Her body convulsed, and she let out a gasp, her eyes returning to their normal brown. She surveyed the room, bewildered, and then at me, bemusement etched on her face. “What happened?”
“Nothing.” My voice was tight even to my own ears. “But you might want to make that your last drink.”
She shivered, rubbing her arms as if to ward off a lingering chill. “I felt like I was losing myself. It was terrifying, like being pulled away.”
I nodded, my mind already made up. “Like I said, you’ve had enough now. You should get some sleep.”
Evelyn smiled, her eyes darkened into a seductive hooded invitation. “You look like you could use some time to relax as well. Want to join me upstairs?”
“Not this time.” I stood up and threw a few coins on the table for the waitress when she came back. “Something’s come up, and I have to move on now.”
She snatched my hand, squeezing it tightly. “Be careful, Maverick. Don’t do anything reckless.”
I gave her a grim grin as best I could, leaning down to kiss her cheek. “I always do, but thank you.”
As I stepped out into the night, the chill wind biting at my skin, I steeled myself for what lay ahead. Whatever I found would be a trial requiring craftiness and strength. It would break my heart one way or another, and though I didn’t have a heart left to break, that is exactly what terrified me the most.
No, it had to be a trap.
Whether it was also a genuine cry for help or not is what would haunt me forever. If I’d left her only for her to meet the danger I’d tried to save her from. Because I couldn’t go after her. Not only would I be dragged back to Hell and held captive, but I would be their gateway to an entire network of fallen seraphim on the human plane, too, and I couldn’t carry that shame.
“Aw fuck, what am I doing?”
I turned around and crossed back through the threshold, finding Evelyn and holding up a finger. She beamed at me and finished her drink as I paid the bartender for the room above our heads. Winking at her, I grasped her hand as I passed and led her upstairs for a night of forgetting all our troubles.
Evelyn proved to be an effective remedy I’d return to occasionally over the next decade or so. A submissive firecracker, always glad to see me, never demanding, never expecting more than the moment we were in. But I knew to make myself sparse so as not to make her a target. I couldn’t live with myself if I ever did that again.