Share

Redemption

last update Last Updated: 2021-11-05 21:37:31

I surfaced from his memories, finding his head in my lap.  He clutched at my back like Jacob's wrestling angel. 

“You were so- so young.” I said.  He hadn't been more than eighteen in his memories.

“Yes,” he said quietly.  “I stole you.  I thought you were mine.  It is how I understood things, as toy soldiers and spoils of war.  It was not until I saw my brothers die for me that I realized the gravity of what I had done.  I thought I was liberating us, that I would challenge our Father and demand our freedom.”

“He would not let us step a foot past the Abyss, told us that it was the end.  But I hungered for knowledge, and I sought more, made a pact with it.  The void showed me what was Beyond, for a price.  Now, in a sense, I am it.  It drove me mad, or perhaps made me insane.  Just like our Father was.  He thought Himself the only one.  He could not bear to know there were oth

Locked Chapter
Continue to read this book on the APP

Related chapters

  • Grim Reaper's Bride   Something Wicked This Way Comes

    This is what I remember:He stands by the howling void. Chalk white cliffs plummet downwards to the raging sea. The blue-blackness froths beneath him. Wind screams. It is absolute zero.Shadows fall like dolls into the abyss. There are no cries of pain. Merely silence.The Legion stands before him. Michael brandishes his flaming sword. His face is raw with suffering.“Don’t do this, brother,” he pleas.His cry falls on deaf ears. It is a corpse that stands before him. Razor thin. Pale as winter snow. He towers over the archangel, still as the grip of death.He opens his hollow eyes. All Heaven holds its breath. The void yawns, grating its jowls. Its master smiles wretchedly. His flesh cracks like ice as he speaks:“Either way, I win.” His voice is like bitter wind.The pull of the Pit wraps around the Host like a vise. The weakest crumple like smashed mica. Their shards plummet into the ab

    Last Updated : 2021-11-01
  • Grim Reaper's Bride   A Stranger at the Door

    My body strained as I ran mad-dash down a twilit path, imagining hounds on my heels. The darkness of the forest transported me to a primal time. Trees whispered ragged like ghosts in the wind. Muscles honed from years of training propelled me onwards as crisp autumn air filled my lungs, spiced with woodsmoke and loam. Instincts awoke and the desperate need to escape propelled me onwards, into the bosom of the woods, away from the impending threat- though it was only a waking dream.“How do you run so damn fast, Callie!” coach had asked once in disbelief after I'd finished a 5K in 16:30.“Rabid dogs,” I'd replied,He'd raised his brow a mile high and plastered me with a pitiful stare. It was no use explaining my unconventional techniques to the unimaginative, just like it was impossible to convey the sweetness of danger to the tamed. That beautiful feeling: heart pounding, adre

    Last Updated : 2021-11-01
  • Grim Reaper's Bride   Samael, Angel of Death

    Something brushed my face. I groaned, eyes fluttering open. My back ached and I felt bruises blossoming along my arms and ribs.It was dark- so dark, I couldn't see a thing. I groped through the blackness. Something covered my body, velvet-soft, shielding me from the wind. The air smelled like musty books and heavy wine, and the ground beneath me rose and fell to the steady whirring of some hidden thing.Finally cognizant, the nightmarish memories came flooding back to me- the horse and its phantom rider, those gleaming red eyes...The hearse.“Oh, God,” I choked. I reached out, finding the wooden frame of the vehicle and the heavy curtains drawn over its sides.I was inside the deathly carriage.“Actually, God has nothing to do with this. More like: 'Oh devil! I've been abducted by a fiend!' At least that's what I assume you think me, unless you

    Last Updated : 2021-11-01
  • Grim Reaper's Bride   Winter Winds That Shake the Soul

    “But- but you don't exist! You shouldn't- it's impossible. Oh my god, help me,” I panicked, scurrying into the farthest corner of the carriage, putting as much space between him and me as possible. I closed my eyes and pulled my knees to my chest. “You don't exist, death isn't alive. It's a thoughtless force of nature- it isn't sentient!”He scoffed. “Oh, pity, so I'm not real? And here I was all this time, laboring under the delusion that I existed, when it was all just a lie. Hand me a handkerchief, I'm sniffling.”“Stop mocking me. You're supposed to be silent. Death doesn't have a sense of humor.”“Says who? My job would be depressing if I wasn't. Now open your eyes, little mortal- you have nothing to fear. I'm not here to collect your soul. Not yet, anyways.” His voice was soothing

    Last Updated : 2021-11-01
  • Grim Reaper's Bride   A Barrow Man Does What He Can

    “Who am I? I have a thousand names; your kind has feared and worshiped me from the moment of your conception. I am the wolf and the raven, the silence of the night so thick you could slice it with a knife. I have witnessed the history of creation and will bring about its end. I am within and without everything, shepherding them ever closer to their terminal ends.” He paused, petting the crow idly. “But my friends call me Sam,” he added as an afterthought.“Melodramatic much?” I murmured, struggling to tame my amazement. I stumbled to my feet, brushing twigs and leaves from my dew-damp jeans.“Well, at least I don't swoon.”“I didn't swoon! It's just that this,” I said, motioning to his face, “was not what I expected.”“So what did you expect? A mouldering cadaver?” he laughed, blue-black hair cascading do

    Last Updated : 2021-11-01
  • Grim Reaper's Bride   Tea Time with Satan

    “If you value your life, then yes,” he said, helping me into the carriage and whistling to the horse. It snorted and he mounted its back, guiding it to the border of trees. The roan grunted, braying as it nosed the brambles. Peeking through the window, I watched in awe as the branches peeled back and the trunks bent to let the hearse pass through.A path appeared out of nowhere, its worn dirt lined by toadstools that glowed a faint blue. I could swear one was a fish belly-white gnome with an upturned cap, but once I blinked, he was gone. Corpseboy gazed about with reserved interest, watching as shadows crept by. Monstrous forms were hinted at by the shifting dark. His eyes were like lasers penetrating the night, casting red pools upon whatever they saw.Something growled and I jumped, startled. Not wanting to see what it was, I drew the curtains closed, huddling at the center of the carriage. The l

    Last Updated : 2021-11-01
  • Grim Reaper's Bride   Death Takes the Lead(ing Lady)

    “Idiot,” he hissed, and the net of flame disappeared. The candles had melted to pools of wax on the graves. I sat there, quivering in horror and staring at the singed spot on the pavement that could have been me. Sighing heavily, he opened his palm and my cup came flying to him. He set it down with a harsh thud and sneered. “There, are you warm now?” he mocked.“Yes,” I mumbled, frightened by his burning eyes. “The candles...”“What about them?”“They- I wanted to see if they were reacting to your mood, or if I was imagining it...” I said, speaking to my lap. No way was I going to confront his poisonous gaze.“Look at me,” he said harshly. Biting my lips, I obliged and immediately flinched. He bared his fangs in a vicious sneer and, with mocking eyes, leaned closer over the table until he was

    Last Updated : 2021-11-01
  • Grim Reaper's Bride   An Eighteen Irish Rose

    “Adieu, Pallor. Don't eat all the grass in the field, now,” he said to his steed, stroking its mane as Death's feet hit the ground running. The horse set about consuming the field like a lawn mower. Corpseboy gained velocity. The lead grew taut. He fanned his wings and suddenly, we were airborne.Wind rushed past me as he pumped his pinions. I sat back, mortified, and watched the world pass like a dream. The field rolled into forest, forest into stream, to fern-riddled glens and meadow ringed by trees. It was beautiful beyond compare, with the multi-hued stars and Milky Way like a river. Corpseboy himself looked like an angel of the night. His hair snaked behind him in a dusky halo and his skin, pale as starlight, glowed like polished stone.“You'll freeze, little fool, and then I really will have a body to put in the hearse,” he said.I refused to answer, longing for

    Last Updated : 2021-11-01

Latest chapter

  • Grim Reaper's Bride   Redemption

    I surfaced from his memories, finding his head in my lap. He clutched at my back like Jacob's wrestling angel. “You were so- so young.” I said. He hadn't been more than eighteen in his memories. “Yes,” he said quietly. “I stole you. I thought you were mine. It is how I understood things, as toy soldiers and spoils of war. It was not until I saw my brothers die for me that I realized the gravity of what I had done. I thought I was liberating us, that I would challenge our Father and demand our freedom.” “He would not let us step a foot past the Abyss, told us that it was the end. But I hungered for knowledge, and I sought more, made a pact with it. The void showed me what was Beyond, for a price. Now, in a sense, I am it. It drove me mad, or perhaps made me insane. Just like our Father was. He thought Himself the only one. He could not bear to know there were oth

  • Grim Reaper's Bride   Heart(less)

    I have loved you since conception, through the banks of time and across the waters of life.When I first saw you, Eve, you were golden. Father shepherded the twins proudly in to the court room, first-formed of humankind, made in the image of God. My brothers and I sang, welcoming you into the world. Adam gazed vacantly up at the Father, empty-headed and waiting to be crowned with His glorious Light. You were created to be his vessel as well, but your eyes stayed closed, refusing to open, and you drew soft, cool breaths, as if waiting for the moon to rise. It was not until I held you that you opened them. I still can not fathom that moment: their blue waters met my depths.My heart stopped, and I refused to part from you. God laughed and said I had the makings of a man in me. I did not know what I felt. I just stared into the question of your lips and waited, knowing in time, we would be.I held you at your christening and lowered y

  • Grim Reaper's Bride   Blue Eyes Cryin'

    “You look like a rabbit when you sleep. Your nostrils flare out and you sniff things. Occasionally, you squeak.” The Angel of Death sat next to me, peering at me curiously. I shook in trepidation, draped in his robe at the corner of his bed.I hadn't managed to string a word together for over an hour. He'd hand-fed me toast and counseled me through hell and high water. One moment I raged, the next I wept like a banshee. Now, I was silent, manically pulling down from the pillow case.“I watched you all night, you know. When you cried out, I sang to you, and you drifted back to sleep. What is it, to ride dreams, I wonder? Your little body, so warm. That it could contain such wonders.” He ran his fingers through my hair, braiding it meticulously. He drew a red ribbon from the air and fixed it at the end. Sam slid his arms over my shoulders, resting his h

  • Grim Reaper's Bride   Dreams

    It was then I remembered my nightmares. What drove me from my bed and sleep. I sunk into the night with him, to the depths of Samael's mind.Long ago, it happened. A reflection in the hourglass, the lip where sand siphons into the void.He gave me the heart from his breast. His ribs grew into the Tree. It throbbed in his hand like a secret. I took it, terrified.“It is yours,” he whispered. Tears softened his stony eyes. “It always has been. Take it. It will set you free.”“But I don’t want it! All I want is to be with you-”“Eve!” he cried, clasping his hands around mine. They trembled, and that scared me more than the gaping wound on his chest. He had never been afraid. “Please. If you do not, you will die.”“But this is our home-”“You do not belong here.” He p

  • Grim Reaper's Bride   A Coffin of a Lover

    “Different?” he asked, voice strained.I closed my eyes, running my tongue up his thumb, sucking. I nipped the top. He groaned.“Pyrrhic, you said?” I asked ruefully, dragging my lips up his index finger.“You're teasing me.”“Genius. Your turn-ons are weird.”“Damn your feminine wiles.”“You really like damning things, don't you?”He pulled me down into the snow with him, wrapping his wings around us so I might as well have been on a feather bed in a parka.Schubert's quartet peaked. He spooned me against his chest, arms wrapped round me like a mummy. Samael lay like a corpse for a moment, apparently getting in the zone. I grimaced as he stiffened. He laughed roughly at my unease.“That's just wrong,” I informed him.“Angel lust-”“Don

  • Grim Reaper's Bride   Fangs Fright

    I crept onwards to the mansion, amazed I hadn't been caught. Then I remembered this was probably like a lobster trap. It looked like a house on the outside, but inside was a cage fitted just for me. And it wasn't like Sam- Sauron needed guards. Only Pallor would have been idiot enough to cross him, provided he was bribed by literature.Yards from the mansion, I questioned why I was here. Skeletons held a ball in the attic. The mansion's stone face was mortared with graves. I stood a yard from the entrance, an intimidating sweeping thing with a portico that bested the White House. Devils and fantastical beasts were carved into its wooden pillars. Wolves swallowed the crenelate. It was like a pipe dream from Hell.The door knocker yawned. It was a brass lion. Lionheart. Again.“Ah, a midnight snack. My master must have had surplus-”I whip

  • Grim Reaper's Bride   Of Dragons in Your Arms

    I thought I'd woke from a fever dream. I was back in my room alone, with the sun just creeping past the sill. I nearly danced out of bed, praising the morning for saving me.“What the hell kind of dream was that?” I shuddered. One in which I'd been the reincarnation of Eve, marched like a happy idiot into Hell, and, oh yeah, hooked up with the Reaper.“What the...?” A white scar shone on my breast, under the dark lace of my nightgown. I fell to my knees and gagged.“No,” I whispered. My eyes were catacombs. “No way in hell did I do that!”I frantically scanned my room. There was a rose at the head of my bed, stem charred as if it'd been roasted. It sat like a wicked promise.Revulsion seized me and I ran for the bathroom. I hurled til there was nothing but bile.I didn't leave my room for days. I slept until I c

  • Grim Reaper's Bride   I Love You Eternally

    I slept for a very long time.By the time I awoke, he was bones. They were strewn across the bed. The sunlight had eaten everything. I held his skull in my hands. It looked forlornly at me.“Samael?” I whispered.I'm here.He smiled. Just like he always had.Tears stung my eyes. I could barely form thoughts past my panic. I was angry at him. Sad. “What kind of game are you playing?”It will be alright. Just hold me.“Samael. What- What do I do?”Bring my remains to the river. Anoint me with the waters of life.I gathered his bones in the black sheets, now a shroud. I carried his remains like Ezekiel, knowing the marrow hid life. His room was vast, endless. I would call it a tower if it had any humanity in it. Instead, it was a living thing. At its cente

  • Grim Reaper's Bride   The Only Wayward Son

    I witnessed his daily torture. Each morning, Samael fell. His shrieks heralded the rising sun. His plea echoed through the centuries: “Don't make me face this alone.” His beloved brother crushed him. Samael bit his heel like a beast. Michael ripped his glory from him: “Burn,” Michael cursed his twin. Stripped of his thorny crown, Samael fell to the howling sea. The blackness crushed him to it. The dark mother swallowed all, trying to erase his abortion from existence. But he held fast to his hideousness, made weapons from his pain. They sprouted from his rage, pinning the abyss to his bones. He roared “I AM.” The first claim of being. The blackness bowed before him. It recognized its master, the Lightbringer whose shadow it sprang from. He moved inside me like the Holy Ghost. “Do you remember how we fell?” Samael took Go

DMCA.com Protection Status