Echoes in Eternity (The Pella Series Book 1) (55 page)

He looks at me grimly, then nods at me and looks at Ant
hony.

“
We’ll take care of the business, sir. Melissa and the business managers will handle the auction. The clients seeking to meet you will be rescheduled once you return. You just take care of Miss Ellie.
Omni vincit amor. Cum scuto
...” Anthony pauses. “..
et non in scuto
.”

“Well, lovely! While you’re giving your boss your sentiments of how love conquers all, and asking him to come back with his shield and not on it, the girl
I
love is dying!” hisses Duke. His remark about
his girl
rubs me the wrong way. As I swiftly lift my fisted hand up, Doc’s palm covers my hand lightning speed.

“
Not now! Good luck to you both!” says Doc holding his finger forbiddingly to all of us. Then walks a few steps back with Anthony.

“Let’s
do this!” I hiss at the Duke reluctantly.

THE FALL

Elissa Cassandra Duncan

I lose sense of time. I immediately know that this is what the angels who have fallen felt like. This isn’t like skydiving
for adrenaline junkies. They know that at a predetermined altitude, they can open their chute and land. That knowledge gives them the confidence to step out the plane’s door, or jump off a cliff. The experience helps them learn to understand their surroundings, develop a confidence in themselves and respond quickly to everything that’s happening around them. As a result they feel an incredible sense of accomplishment, because they have learned to take control of their fears, and push themselves to their limits. I on the other hand don’t even know whether I’m descending head first or foot down. I forbid my mind from wondering what the noises could be by thinking of my orientation to no avail. How could I hear the sounds if there’s no ground beneath my feet and no light above, and I’m traveling at lightning speed? What if I never get out of this place? I keep falling with nothing to catch me, nothing to hold onto. Time stretches. Unable to find my bearing, I’m pulled rapidly towards an unknown destination. I’ve no sense of up or down; it’s simply nothingness. Three folds of pitch dark… Not even my sharpened Nephilim sense registers a single ray of light. The only place I can exist is in my mind. It’s lonely. Even the voices in my head aren’t speaking to me. I let the darkness swallow me as I close my eyes. In my dreadful loneliness, I am not ashamed of trying to find that ominous sound again just to remind myself I exist, because I can feel something, hear a sound however horrendous.

Time eludes me. How long has it been? Hours? Days? Weeks? I have no idea. I’m buried in the corner of my mind
with my eyes closed. A barely perceptible ray of light gently nudges my eyelids, coaxing me to open them. It’s the most welcome feeling, like a baby waking up to her first sunrise even if it is the dimmest light I have felt in all my existence. The first vision I get is the wall of bronze and the gloomy bottomless chasm I’m descending into. I morbidly remember Dante’s words as my body speeds towards the abyss:

‘
Lasciate ogne spenranza, voi ch’intrate
’ or “Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.” The thought rattles my soul. Is this Hades? Maybe Tartarus, the deepest part of hell! But why would I be sent into this hell if everyone thinks I’m sinless? Or am I being lured here? Fear grips me for the first time. Maybe Alex was right all along. The
Fallen
would stop at nothing to get to me, to sacrifice me. When the exchange value of my life is entry to Eden, anything’s possible. I make my first conscious attempt to get back up, flailing my arms, looking feverishly, trying to sense something to hold onto. I have no way or hope of getting back to Alex. Above me are three folds of night with not a shred of light and below is a horrid pit, promising of unspeakable horrors.
Don’t dwell on it! Your mind is playing tricks on you!
I remind myself and even though my conscience is hiding in some tiny lit corner of my mind.

When I finally get a sense of bearing, I notice the darkness folding onto each other in one, two, three, four folds above me, moving about, covering, guarding, suffocating as if it’s got a mind of its own and the pit below looks ferocious. Silence is replaced by a ravenous symphony of deep growls and roars from a chorus of beasts. The cacophony
of feral snarls gets louder by the second, scraping my sensitive hearing and my mind tries to picture the size of the beasts of Hades that can be heard from such a distance in a thunderous pitch. I try, really try to get my mind off the sounds, telling my conscience, ‘
you asked for it! Put your big girl panties on!
’ and try to distract myself by looking at the towering jagged granite walls. When I finally get a sense of the terminal velocity I am traveling, it is as if someone just shot me out like a missile towards the depths of this abyss. I can hear my heart drumming in the vicinity of my ears. My throat is already dry, and my speed should be whipping my hair off or setting me on fire. None of that happens. It’s as if I’m wrapped in a protective layer; I only feel the cool caress of the rushing air. If this is Hades, shouldn’t I be feeling hot here or see the lake of fire below? But, the first sense of temperature I register is immense cold. Even my breath gives out a light blue aura. I feel the thin shimmer of pale blue covering me slowly. Even though the feral snarls get closer, louder, and scarier, I allow myself to forget what is about to happen to me and let the overwhelming grief wash over me, constricting my heart with an unbearable feeling of loss. Loss of Alex… It’s not just the feeling of the loss of a lover, but what I feel is perdition as if I left half of my soul behind. The thought of never seeing Alex again is shredding me inside, making my soul burn in the inferno. How can my heart bereave and incinerate in agony while my body is going into cold, piercing, numbing shock? Hot, beads of tears brim my eyes and dissipate as soon as they make an appearance.

“If you are going to kill me, why don’t you just get
it the fuck over with already?” I scream.

Words are cruelly ripped out of me and they are gone before I can even hear them. The speed in which I’m traveling scares me further. Despair sets in. No one can get me back from here. All of Alex’s efforts to guard me were for nothing after all these years. What did I do to fall into this pit? Think! I force myself to have some cognizance. Suddenly I remember! It was that woman… At the Centurion Command Center… What was her name? She was the Trojan horse sent into Alex’s tight circle. That bitch opened the trap door for me to fall into!

My thoughts of trying to remember the Psyche’s name are interrupted when my descent immediately slows down as if I’m caught in a butterfly net and someone is halting my speed with a decided force. I’m being lassoed in.

CHAPTER XV
II

RIP TIDES

Alexander Aurelius Pella

“
Doc, Anthony! I need you both to get out of the room and give her some privacy! Keep Hedone restrained! Because once I get Elissa back, I will question the hell out of that bitch!” Both Anthony and Doc leave the Command Room slipping into the large room where Hedone is but not before Doc gives me a warning gaze. I hear the heavy door closing behind. My proximity to Elissa almost strengthens our bond like opposite ends of a magnet pulling each other. What I didn’t expect was the Duke’s presence amplifying that pull.

I hold Elissa up and get her close to me, my arms snaking around her torso, my fingertips finding the base of her spine, locating her
Hieron Osteon
and pressing it with all my power. Elissa’s body first jackknifes, arching her back so deep that her head nearly touches the ground. But the awakening of her
Sacred Bone
is not enough. I have to be able to let go of it so I can enter into her mind to pull her back to the here and now.

“I’ll do that!” says Duke without a preamble. “Do what
ever you have to do to get her back,” he mutters.

“I’m not doing this
for you!”

“I’m aware of that! Just get her back! Please!”
Duke pleads. Without another word, I hold Elissa’s face in my palms as Duke Courcillion sits behind Elissa carefully kneading her sacred bone, and applying pressure, transferring his own force to get her psyche to wake up just enough so I can reach her.

“Elissa,” I whisper as my lips touch hers. All I get is her shallow breathing, and no response. I suck her lower lip into my mouth and
gently bite down to pull her into awareness or to get me into her level of consciousness. My right hand goes up to her carefully made chignon and pulls it. She doesn’t react.

“Elissa, please let me in,” I whisper into her lip
s. The only response I get this time is the cold shiver running through her body.

“Oh, shit!”
I mutter and hold her to me closer. Duke swiftly removes his cuff links to roll up his dress shirt sleeves and repositions himself behind her.

“Her
Sacred Bone
is at the base of her…”

“Spine… I know!”

“How?” I ask, but shaking my head I change my mind. “Never mind!”

Kneeling,
I pull Elissa onto my lap. Holding her face, I whisper the breath of life into her lips, trying to merge our souls. I can see the faint blue light of her soul surrounding her crown. She’s still here. Barely. I swallow. My heart is ready to jump out of my body. I take a deep breath and give out a shaky exhale. Fear is armed and waiting to invade me to my core, yet I keep it at bay.