Vindicated (35 page)

Rescuing that woman from the burning SUV.

Defying the council.

My entire life was laid out for everyone to hear.
 
Cormack’s words echoed in my foggy head.
 
The deeds of your life may only be read once but no one ever forgets or lets ya forget what you’ve done.

What felt like a lifetime later, which in a way it was, they read the last of the lists.
 
Everyone was still and silent as I continued to lie there in death and agony.

I knew what came next.
 
The part that had always echoed how unjust my previous presence there had been.

Sentencing.

The exalted leader sat there for a long time, thoughts and decisions rolling behind his eyes.
 

“I think now it is time to let our second new council member place her first judgment,” he finally said.
 
Something in my chest felt like it had been quickly yanked in a different direction.
 
This was unexpected.

One of the blue-eyed men looked at the leader with hate and betrayal in his eyes.
 
“You think
now
is an appropriate time to replace me?”

“I think now is a perfect time to implement the switch,” the leader said patiently.

Not waiting to be told a second time, the man spread his wings and took his place along the staircase with the others.

“Will our new exalted council member please join us?”

From a place high above me, I caught the sight of a set of wings flapping.
 
A figure slowly made their way down, and ever so gently, settled into the empty seat, alongside the other council members.

“Sal,” I breathed.

“Hello Jessica,” she said with a smile.
 
Her face was flawless, the tiredness and fear she constantly held had washed away.
 
She looked glorious and perfect.
 
And her eyes were bluer than summer sky.

“Judgment will now be placed,” the leader said, the faintest hint of a smile crossing his face.
 
And taking one more contemplative moment, he breathed, “Up.”

Something in my chest relaxed, just a tiny fraction.
 
Meanwhile my head continued to spin.
 
I wanted to throw up.
 
My hands gripped the stone beneath me, clinging to anything I could to keep me from spinning right off the walkway.

The woman sitting next to the leader considered for a long while, watching my face.
 
“Up,” she finally said.

“Up,” Sal said without hesitation.

The next man looked at me with malice in his eyes.
 
I knew what his answer was going to be before he parted his lips.
 
“Down.”

It felt as if my entire frame sank again.
 
Any hope still left in me started to smother itself.

The last blue eyed man looked at me, his face looking torn.
 
We sat there for nearly a full minute before he spoke.
 
“Up.”

The first of the condemned sentenced.
 
“Down.”

The next woman passed her judgment.
 
“Down.”

Another “Down.”

Finally it came to Jeremiah.
 
He had been silent throughout this entire nightmare that was now reality.
 
His black eyes bored into me and if possible, I would have burst into flames.
 
“Down.”

Everyone seemed to take an intake of breath all at once and the cylinder fell still as all eyes settled on Cole.

This was it.
 
All that was needed was Cole’s vote to bring me under his rule.
 

My offer still stands.

I was going to be receiving my own brand in just a moment.

But when Cole’s eyes met mine, I felt nothing but calm inside.
 
Something else grew in my chest.
 
Something that felt like hope, or anticipation, or just plain stupidity.

“Up.”

Everything within me felt like it disappeared.

No one moved or said anything.
 

Never before had there been a tie.
 
No one’s judgment had ever been split right down the middle.
 

I had not even considered that Cole would send me above, for this fact.

What was to be done in a tie?

“What…” one of the blue-eyed’s stuttered.
 
“What do we do now?”

They all looked to the blue-eyed leader for direction.
 
And he just sat there, staring at me.

“We let them decide,” Cole broke the silence.
 
His hand indicated those along the staircase.
 
“Let those who want her take her.”

Something jumped into my throat as my insides came back to me.
 
Something tingled in my toes and fingertips.
 
Something flickered to life in the back of my mind.

The council looked between each other, each as unsure of what to do as the next.
 
Slowly, they all nodded their heads.

“It comes to all of you,” the exalted leader said, his voice so unsure.
 
“You all have watched us make tens of thousands of judgments.
 
Now it is your turn to decide this woman’s fate.”

Only silence reacted.

I gathered what little strength I had then and lifted myself up to my feet.
 
I looked around the cylinder, meeting their faces.
 
Some smiled back at me knowingly, others listened as whispers started frantically sweeping around the staircase.
 
Others looked at me darkly, but they nodded their heads as my eyes met theirs.

“Claim her!” Jeremiah screamed.

And still no one moved.
 
The cylinder was deathly quiet, the only sound coming from the rustle of feathers.

I closed my eyes as my head spun more, the ground beneath me seeming to tip and sway.
 
Pulses of pain pushed their way through my brain.

“What do we do now?” a blue-eyed woman half whispered to the leader.
 
He just shook his head, his eyes wider than normal, at a total loss as to what to do with me.

Again the beat in my chest stalled and painfully restarted.

Cole coiled his wings once more, launching himself across the space to me.
 
He landed just a foot away, his nose so close to mine.

“I told you to use their mistake against them,” he whispered so only I could hear.

“You knew this would happen?” I breathed, my brow furrowing.

“Not exactly,” a smile cracked in the corner of his lips as he studied my eyes.
 
“But I knew you would find the answer.”

And making me jump a little, Cole placed his hot hand on my chest.
 
His grin spread all the more on his face.
 
His eyes danced as he looked at me.
 
Turning back to the council, he didn’t take his hand from my chest.

“Her heart still beats,” he said loudly and clear.
 
“This woman is not dead.”

Again there was a cylinder-wide gasp, followed by loud chatter.

“Of course she’s dead,” one of the black-eyed council members shouted.
 
“We’ve just judged her!”

Cole shook his head, the grin spreading on one side of his mouth.
 
“I can feel it beating inside of her.
 
It’s not strong,” he said as he looked back at me.
 
“And it wants to stop.
 
It’s just like it was before he made the trade.”

It should have been obvious, but I hadn’t pieced it all together until then.
 
With Alex’s life given back to him I was back to the same state I’d been in before the trade.
 
I was sick.
 
Sick and on the edge of death.
 
Again.

But I wasn’t dead
yet
.

“Send her back,” Cole said, turning back to the council, dropping his hand from my chest.
 
“She cannot be here if she isn’t dead.
 
Let her live out the rest of her human life.
 
In her condition it won’t be long.
 
We can figure out what to do with her when she can join us for real.”

“No!” three of the council screamed.
 
Jeremiah leapt from his seat, his hands already outstretched, ready to choke the remaining life out of me.

Cole’s fist connected with Jeremiah’s face with a crack that echoed off the walls.
 
Jeremiah collapsed to the catwalk.
 
Cole stood above him, and grabbing him by the very flesh of his chest, Cole picked him up and threw him across the cylinder back toward his seat.
 
With a demonic cry, Jeremiah caught himself in the air with a powerful beat of his wings.

“You will not touch her!” Cole bellowed.
 
An emotion beyond hate in his eyes, Jeremiah perched like a rabid bird on the edge of his seat.

“It’s an abomination!” another black-eyed council member cried, ignoring Cole and Jeremiah’s scuffle.
 
“A judged human?!
 
Walking about in the world of the living?
 
Still
living!”

“What else do you suggest we do with her?!” Cole bellowed, loud enough it seemed a tangible thing that filled the entire cylinder.
 
“They will not claim her and we cannot try her again!
 
She has no place here, at least not yet.
 
Send her back!”

The council argued with themselves for several moments.
 
Finally, Sal spread her arms before her, as if she were trying to keep two fighting children apart.

“Enough,” she hissed.
 
Her eyes settled on me.
 
It was strange how different she seemed.
 
She was so normal without being normal, and yet there was still the Sal I knew and loved in there.
 
I could see it in her eyes.
 
“This girl has been through enough.
 
And we must see logic during this time.
 
What our brother has said is true.
 
She doesn’t belong here yet.
 
She can’t exist here.
 
Let her run her course.”

“It won’t be long,” Cole said again, though I felt it was more for me than for anyone else.

The council was finally still again, thinking to themselves.
 
My strength seemed to drain out of me and my knees suddenly wouldn’t hold me anymore.
 
I sank to the stones below me.
 

“Fine,” the leader of the exalted said, his jaw set.
 
“We can all see she doesn’t have long.
 
What is it going to matter anyway, if she’s given another day?”
 
He looked to his neighbors, and slowly they each nodded their heads.
 
Jeremiah just continued to stare at me with blood and ice in his eyes.

“Thank you,” I managed to mutter, relief somehow fluttering in my stomach through the storm that raged there.

Cole turned to me and knelt in front of me.
 
His eyes burned with intensity as he looked at me.
 
He took one of my hands in his.

“I mean it when I say you don’t have long.
 
Just like before, you are
at
death.
 
Get help the moment you return.
 
I want this to be good-bye for what I hope will be a good long time,” he said in a low, rushed voice.
 
“I’m afraid to say that I don’t think I’ll be able to keep my offer on the table any longer though.
 
After this, I am fairly sure I will lose my position.”