Page 13 of Ruled By Fate

He hesitated, then decided to allow it. “Not exactly. I come from a place that is neither Heaven nor Hell but somewhere between the two. But your human conception of an ‘angel of mercy’ is perhaps the best description of what I am and what I do.”

Her chewing slowed. “What does that mean?”

“It means…” He gathered his breath. “Have you ever had a relative die?”

She looked at him, expressionless.

“I’m sorry,” he amended quickly. “Have you ever had a relative die of natural causes?”

She remembered her grandmother. Her whole family had visited to say their goodbyes when she was nearing the end.

“Yes,” she answered. “Grandma Mary. She had cancer.”

“Were you there at the end?”

“I was too little. My mother was.”

“What did your mother say about Grandma Mary’s passing?”

“She said that it was peaceful,” Brie remembered. “She said Grandma’s pain was gone, and she kept seeing her sister Ann, even though she’d died years ago.”

Cameron nodded. “That was one of us.”

“What does that mean?”

He sighed again, trying to condense a massive amount of information into a digestible story. “I come from a place called Elysium. The beings there, such as myself, exist within a field of energy — the same energy that powers a human life. When humans die, we come to be with them and ease their suffering. We offer them… I suppose you would call it natural morphine. It takes away their pain and sometimes causes hallucinations. Positive hallucinations,” he clarified swiftly. “Usually we’re mistaken for a family member or loved one who has already passed on.”

Brie sat frozen with her sandwich halfway to her mouth.

“When they die, we take their essence to Elysium. Their soul passes to Heaven or Hell, depending on the life they’ve led and the choices they’ve made. But their energy stays in Elysium and becomes part of our continuum. The barrier between Heaven and Hell.”

She was still frozen. He gave her a wry look. “Any questions?”

“Oh, only about five million.” She gave up on the sandwich and pushed the plate away, twisting a gummy worm around her finger as she searched for an innocuous way to start. “You don’t… you don’t eat the energy, do you?”

There was a beat of silence.

“Really?”

It was impossible to tell whether he was exasperated or deeply offended. Quite possibly, it was a little of both. But at the same time, he seemed on the very edge of laughter.

“I tell you that I’m an angel of mercy from a mystical realm between Heaven and Hell, sustained by the life force of everyone on this planet, and you want to know if I eat the energy?”

A deflection if ever I saw.

“No, Brianna.” He was definitely laughing now, shaking in silence, struggling to maintain a straight face. “I don’t eat the energy any more than a plant eats sunlight.”

“Okay, okay, just making sure.” She laughed nervously, hesitant to continue. They were quickly leaving “innocuous” behind, but there were questions she needed answered. “So, you’re an angel. Sort of an angel. Does that mean there are demons as well?”

He sucked in a tight breath, sensing the rather pointed change in direction. “Demons are what attacked you today. Where I come from, we call them wraiths. I’m not entirely sure why—” He caught himself, lowering his gaze to the pendant. He stared a moment, then lifted his eyes to meet hers, gesturing at the lovely golden teardrop. “Do you remember what I told you about this?”

A shiver swept across her shoulders. She certainly did remember. There wasn’t a single detail of that horrible day that she could begin to forget. Her mother had placed the necklace around her neck, had pulled the glass from her chest, and had…

Brie shook her head, refusing to go deeper.

She looked back at Cameron. “You told me never to take it off,” she said. She trailed a finger along the chain, trying to remember what had happened in the car. The pendant had glowed, just as it had glowed before the accident with her mother. And it was burning her. Burning her so badly, she needed to rip it off her skin.

But the moment she did—

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