I clench my jaw, desperate to avoid the flood of thoughts. My brothers don’t expect me to tell them about their deaths, and I have no intention of ever mentioning it. Those are the secrets I keep buried deep. The ones I will carry until the day my own heart stops beating and my soul is carried into the afterlife.
Being cast down to live on mortal earth was punishment enough.
Little did I know; the worst was yet to come. Tayah, the harpie who had cursed me with death and desire, was eager to get to know me. She wanted a front row seat to my reaction to the curse. She thrived on my misery and relished in the pain I felt, and the tears I shed for the humans I touched. Each one was sent to their death by my hand.
I was born into purity, blessed with everlasting life and the ability to bestow hope upon those I touched. One mistake sent me spiralling out of control and turned me into a killer. But the desire for good never faded. An internal war would always rage.
Five years after my first kill, Tayah upped the ante. She craved death the way I once craved life. Everywhere I went, Tayah followed close behind. Taunting me, testing me, forcing my hand until I was surrounded by lifeless bodies. There were children, mothers, fathers, brothers. Everyone Tayah forced me to touch, succumbed to their fate.
Their lives played out in my mind. Their hopes and dreams, gone in the blink of an eye.
I destroyed families.
I tore worlds apart.
I ruined lives.
A trail of grief and heartache shadowed me. My path was clear, leaving my brothers was the only option. I was terrified of what I had become, and paranoia was eating away at me. Would I kill my brothers? Could I?
In the middle of the night, I made the decision to leave Ambrosia Valley.
Erinlea was a small town hours away from home. There, Tayah didn’t waste any time finding my next kill. She led me along a winding dirt road flanked by tall pine trees and long, dry grass until we came to a stop at an old farmhouse where a drunken teenage party was in full swing.
Music blared from the open windows as the warm summer air hung over the empty paddocks surrounding the house. No invitation was required. We walked right in without anyone batting an eye. Of course, they couldn’t see Tayah, so assumed I was another random guest.
When a bottle of warm beer was shoved into my chest, I took it and had a mouthful as Tayah urged me on toward the rear of the house and out the back door.
A group of teens were sitting around a bonfire talking and drinking. Tayah pointed to a young girl with long blonde hair and a huge smile. In that moment, as I gazed upon her, she was carefree, beautiful... alive.
“That one,” she said.
I swallowed the lump in my throat and let my feet carry me forward. Desire coursed through my veins. The same desire I’d been trying in vain to ignore.
When I reached the girl, the air was unusually still, and a deadly silence lingered. A shiver ran down my spine, sending my body into shock. It was something I’d never felt before and I instantly stepped back.
Tayah gasped, and when I followed her gaze, I saw him.
At first, I was unaware of who or what he was, but I was certain he wasn’t human. His skin was flawless, but pale, and his eyes were deep, dark sapphire. Haunting, yet so mesmerising I couldn’t avert my gaze.
I took one step forward—he did the same.
Tayah grabbed my arm, her hand shaking. “We should go.” There was an urgency in her tone.
The laughter and talking disappeared, there was no sound, no movement. Nothing but me and Tayah, and the strange immortal before us.
He stepped forward again, into the glowing flames of the bonfire. He didn’t burn.
When I scanned the area, every human surrounding us was still. Frozen in time like marble statues.
“What are you?” I asked.
He shot forward and stopped mere inches from me. We stood toe to toe while Tayah whimpered, and I became acutely aware of her one and only fear.
This immortal, whoever he was, terrified her.
“My name...” The globe spinning above his sceptre was surrounded by a swirling black cloud. “Is Azrael. You’ll call me Death.”
“As in the Angel of Death?” I had heard about him many years before from my father.
He shifted his gaze to Tayah, ignoring my question. “I warned you I would return, my sweet Tayah Mortuum.”
Her voice shook with fear. “I’ve not broken your rules...” She hesitated, then continued with her hands raised in defence. “Okay, it was one time...”
Eyes narrowed, I asked, “What rules?”
She didn’t reply, but Azrael—Death—did. “The balance is fragile. Each death must serve a purpose.”
I scrubbed my hands down my face, glaring at Tayah. “There are goddamn rules you didn’t tell me about?”
She stepped back behind me. But when Death extended a hand, she was pulled toward him as though a magnet was drawing her closer.
He let out a low growl that fanned the flames of the bonfire, bringing with them contorted, devilish faces that howled with laughter. “You were warned, Tayah the Cursed.”
“I’m sorry, give me another chance.” Her pleas went unheard.
Death lifted his sceptre then plunged it into the dry ground. It stood, the globe on top spinning faster by the second. “It is too late for apologies; your fate has been sealed.”
Tayah cried and dropped to her knees. “Please... anything but that.”
Death focused on me. “Give me your hands.”
My palms facing upwards, I extended my hands.
Long, talon like claws punctured his fingertips, and when he took my hands, bolts of electricity coursed through my veins. The pain was unbearable, and no amount of shouting or cursing lessened it. I couldn’t pull away—I had to endure.
I watched in horror as thin tributaries of light spread through my hands, up my arms, and into my heart where I was shocked into submission and I fell to my knees at his feet.
He didn’t let go as he spoke, his voice filled with rage. “For one to live, one must die. I punish you for the deaths you have rendered, and for those which are to come. From this moment, you will choose.”
He pulled his hands away as his black talons retracted. “You may think of this as a gift.” He paced back and forth while I knelt with Tayah. She remained silent, her head bowed as Death continued, “I assure you; this curse will haunt you for as long as I choose to allow you to exist. Mortal and immortal will fall. DO NOT attempt to take what is mine.” He waved a hand and stepped backwards into the dancing orange flames. Plumes of thick black smoke surrounded him before he disappeared without a trace.
Seconds later, I was back home, standing in my bedroom with Tayah beside me, whimpering like a frightened child.
“What did you do?”
“I’m sorry... I didn’t think he’d come here.”
“Tayah, I swear if you don’t start talking right now, I’ll end my life to destroy you.”
She dropped down onto the side of the bed and wrapped her arms around herself.
“I didn’t want this curse, Clay. I didn’t want to be born an outcast. A harpie. A half blood. I had no idea Azrael existed until the first time I cursed an angel.”
I sighed and sat beside her. “Go on.”
“The angel I cursed... I made him kill. I couldn’t help myself. It’s in my blood. Death literally flows through my veins. The angel... he killed so many humans, then he began to change. His desire to kill grew stronger. He wanted to kill immortals as well... until—”