Chapter Nine
Zed turned on Manny. Betrayal was an ugly thing. John was the last person who deserved it. "How dare you? How could you?"
It all made sense now. Manny had warned John from the beginning, but he'd played his cards and bided his time. The warnings, the guidence, the by-play that had set him on John's side. He'd pushed through John's barriers until there was nothing left, nothing but the trust that could only come with an angel.
That trust had been nothing but treachery and lies, not only for John, but her as well. He'd given her guidence when she'd needed it, a false sense of calm. That guidence had led her to what?
There'd been that moment when John had been ripped from her. She'd clung to his hand but he was gone, lifted bodily off his feet and hurtled backwards through the Corridor.
"He trusted you." Zed bit out and threw herself at Manny. It didn't matter that he was an Angel, a heavenly being. She just did it. He'd betrayed John, everything they'd stood for. How could he?
Her hand lashed out and while she made contact, she stood there, frozen to the spot. She'd never touched him before and the moment she did, memories filled her mind. Memories so vivid she swore she was living them herself. Memories of a battle taking place before her eyes. The world so bright and the clouds parting to reveal a place so beautiful it made her want to cry. Memories of something so bitter that it shook her to the core.
She stood frozen in time, her palm flat against his cheek. His emotions poured into her. Thousands of years. Life. Death. She saw other angels and one hand reaching out, offering his scarred palm.
Her throat worked as she struggled to breath, her mind struggling to take in what she was seeing.
His emotions poured into her. Annoyance with the human race. But he couldn't bring himself to smite them. They were God's creation. Something so imperfect but beautiful. They made the same mistakes over and over. They could change that. There was hope, something that could give the sinner the retribution they deserved.
She could see what he wanted. Feel what he wanted. She saw the lower half of her body protruding and her hands moved over her abdomen and the swelling there. There was life there. A high and mighty glory.
Zed gasped and stumbled back. She paled and cradled her palm against her chest when she came up against the wall. She slid down the wall until she was sitting. She couldn't do anything. She was on sensory overload and she hadn't even prepared herself for the backlash. She drew her knees up and wrapped her arms around them.
Dropping her forehead against her knees, she heard the sound of footsteps before they stopped.
"Leave her alone. She just lived through five thousand years in the space of a second."
Her chest moved. Manny's voice. Five thousand years. No, he was underestimating that for her fathers sake. She'd witnessed the beginning of time. She'd experienced sensory overload before, but there was nothing to compare to what she was feeling now.
"She's a power to behold."
"That she is."
Nausua rose at the sound of her father and she swallowed the bile rising up. The dam had opened and she couldn't close it. It made her sick, feeling what her father wanted and his twisted fanatics. He really believed what he was doing was right. Forcing her here, forcing her to follow the prophecy that he believed with every fiber of his being.
Oh God, she couldn't close the hole in her mind. The wound was fresh, allowing every emotion inside. Before she'd met John, there'd been a reason why she didn't enture into the public. She was an open book. She could read the impressions of people, pick up on their likes and dislikes. She touched them and saw into the deepest parts of their souls.
That discipline had crumbled when she'd touched Manny.
She had the impression that he hadn't meant for that to happen, but it was too late.
When she'd touched him, she'd seen through his eyes. She'd watched as he'd used her and Chas as vessels, much to Chas' annoyance. She felt his loss in humanity, that the human race couldn't perfect themselves on their own.
But she also felt guilt for John. He liked John. The human had made an impression on him.
He just didn't like John enough to not betray him.
A sob tore in her throat and she shook.
She'd seen the gates of heaven.
She'd seen the hand of Jesus.
Manny thought she was destined for greatness. Her father had rectified that the moment she'd been born.
"I had no idea her ability had grown to such extents."
Zed closed her eyes at her fathers admission. Pride. Boastful. She was a miracle from God. The Virgin Mary. His daughter. The feelings weren't full emotions. They were bits and pieces tearing at her, beating at the edges of her mind.
"She's more powerful than you think. You should have seen her."
Seen her when she'd faced up against demons. Including a possessed John. Zed focused on that familiar thread. John. Guilt. Loss. Pain. So much guilt. How could such things drive a man?
Her father was eager, but patiently waiting. They had much to do in so little time. Her visions would lead them in the right direction. To great victory. Over and over. He was looking for something.
Zed knew she wouldn't be able to take it if anyone touched her. Her mind wouldn't. She was on a spiritual meltdown that not even John had witnessed before. He'd never witnessed tens of thousands of years, had he?
Oh God, she wanted to forget. There was so much life, but also so much death. Too many secrets.
So much betrayal from Manny.
Zed lifted her hands, her fingers tangling in her hair and pressed her arms against the sides of her face as she buried her face against her knees. "Get out." She whispered hoarsly.
They were too close and her mind was too fresh opened.
She could feel Manny, the heavenly presence he provided when he knelt down in front of her. There was the sensation of falling pennies again, but only because she wasn't looking at him.
"I didn't mean for you to witness such an event, Zed. You shouldn't have."
A shudder raced down her spine. "Don't touch me."
He lowered his hand and knew she was correct on those words. "You've opened a whole new fissure, Zed. You need to close it."
Zed wanted to laugh histerically at the words. She'd opened a new one, huh? No shit. The barriers in her mind were in shreds. No, she hadn't noticed that at all. But she couldn't close it.
He was closing himself off from her. Mentally guarding everything he was on the inside.
Zed lifted her head and shrank back. "Don't—"
It didn't matter how much of a block he put up. The moment he touched her and lifted her in his arms, her eyes rolled in the back of her head.
He was sorry. Guilt. But she would pull through just like she always had. That was Zed. That was why she'd been chosen the moment of her birth.
The emotions tore through her like a vocal torrent. Manny positioned her on the bed and she rolled away, curling on her side and closed her eyes again. She hadn't felt this vulnerable since she was a child.
If they'd used this as a means to keep her under their control, it would have been perfection on their part. But the guilt in Manny said otherwise. Whatever control he was going to use over her, this wasn't it.
John's image came to mind and she concentrated, memorizing the lines of his face and his jawline, the stubble there. But it didn't matter how much she concentrated on him, the memories from Manny's past tore through her, one scene after another. She saw herself through his eyes, frozen in time with a genuine smile on her face, her hands lifted as she stared at her hands.
Constantine was there, watching her with a synical look on his face before he looked up. He was saying something but she couldn't hear him, and in the reflection of his sunglasses she could see Manny.
The sensation dulled suddenly, as if pushed behind a curtain. It was still there, but dulled. Barely. Manny was trying to ease her pain.
The bastard had betrayed them.
"Don't let anyone in this room. Her mind needs to heal."
"Can't you do that?"
"I can't heal what's not broken."
"Then what's wrong with her?"
Zed flinched at the snap in her fathers voice. His annoyance ate at her. Impatience.
"Control your emotions, Martin. You're human, but you can do what most can't. You've seen true power."
Zed knew from experience that if Manny had been a human, her father would have already shot him dead. He didn't like orders if he wasn't the one giving them. The voices in her head died down, though they didn't go away completely. The control her father was practicing was nothing compared to Manny's.
She gripped her head in her hands.
"They'll want to see her..."
Of course they would. She was the Virgin Mary. The one who was going to give birth to the Messiah.
"I didn't ask, Martin."
She didn't need to see her father to know that he was nodding. The impression was in her mind.
Their footsteps were fading and with that, relief.
"Her mind will heal. But for that, she needs time."
Her father nodded, as if finally understanding the importance of that sentence. Time. Time was on their side. She'd run for too long, but he'd been there. Always one step behind her. She'd made things difficult, but now every problem was in the past.
Zed moaned, squeezing her head as if the move would keep the thoughts out.
They were leaving. Dim relief filled her. She could hear their footsteps echo in her mind and as Manny pulled the door shut behind him, she heard him speak.
"I want you to do something for me, Martin..."
-Your reviews mean the world to me-
