Pomegranate Parfait

Chapter 4: Part 2

Jax returned moments later with Aides at his heels. Korey startled at the weariness in his expression, though Aides quickly replaced it with detached interest. "Welcome back," he drawled, brushing off an invisible speck of dust from his immaculate suit. "Some were worried you would not wake up."

Korey finally managed to heave her body into an up-right position, a curtain of dark hair falling into her face. "Sorry to disappoint."

The man's jaw twitched almost imperceptibly. Aides strode over and situated himself in the recently vacated chair. "Tell me, Korey Rodi," he said softly, brushing a tendril of hair behind her ear. "How did you do it?"

She stared for a few seconds too long. There was something familiar about him, though she could not distinguish what. He intrigued her more than he should have.

Jax stalked over from the doorway, choosing to brood from the foot of her bed. His lips curled back to reveal sharp white teeth. "What are you, really?"

Korey snapped away from Aides' stare at the question. It tickled something at the base of her mind, like a memory so old, all that remained was a feeling. Fear. "I'm... me? What kind of question is that?"

"Are you a Darkling? Guardian? Demon?"

She snorted before realizing he was, in fact, serious. Korey narrowed her eyes, suddenly very aware that she was in an unfamiliar place with two dangerous, apparently insane, strangers. "I don't know what joke this is, but it's not funny."

Jax stared at her blandly. "Do I look like I'm laughing?"

Korey pulled the blanket higher, eyes flickering between the two men. "I'm just me," she began slowly. "I'm a bookseller at the Merry Little Bookshop, on the corner of 25th and Park." Judging from their dark expressions, it was not what they wanted to hear. "Look," she quickly added, tongue feeling too big for her throat. "Whoever you think I am – whatever­ ­– you think I am, you've got the wrong person. I'm just a normal girl, nothing more."

Whereas Jax growled, Aides' lips quirked at the sides. "Darling, you are so much more than that." He leaned in, close enough for his scent to tickle her nose: sweet and fresh, like the morning after a night of rain. "You are the opposite of ordinary – you are impossible. No human survives the passage to the Afterworld, and yet, here you are: tell me, Korey, how did you do it?"

She stared at them blankly. "So... I'm not dead?"

"Unfortunately," hissed Jax, "no." His shoulders rippled with tension, as if it was painful to stand there, listening to her.

Korey twirled the ends of her hair absentmindedly. "This is really happening, isn't it," she murmured, mostly to herself.

Aides watched her intently, mouth pulled tight. "You do not seem very upset," he said carefully. "Most humans, even as souls, do not easily come to grips with the knowledge of the Afterworld. Are you very religious?"

"No." Korey had only been in a church a few times, and even then, she had never subscribed to the idea of gods and salvation. It had never seemed relevant for her. "I guess it's just not the strangest thing I've seen."

The two men blinked at her, both faces arched in surprise. Korey laughed, melting the tension blanketing the room. It was as if she brought the living world back with her, embodying light and warmth, radiating sunshine. Both men's expressions faltered. She might have been more dangerous than they thought.

"Besides, it seems about right." Korey rolled her eyes. "I've always had rotten luck."

"Are you saying it was all just a... mistake?" Jax snarled, though uncertainty flickered in his eyes. "How did you even open a rift?"

"I didn't." Memories of that night were unreliable at best; alcohol has a way of doing that. Korey did try, though, to remember. She remembered bitterness, and regret, and a pink polar bear. Sabrina! Korey focused on that memory: pouting Sabrina, wining in her death-trap platforms. There was an altercation, between a bouncer and a kid. Then... her head snapped upwards. "The man did."

"A man?" repeated Aides, sitting up, his body on full alert. Fire burned in his charcoal eyes.

Korey licked her painfully chapped lips. "There was this man... I saw him leave the alley and enter the club, but no one seemed to notice him; I thought I was just hallucinating, but then I saw him again, hours later, watching me. I could've – I could've sworn his eyes were white—"

"White?" Aides and Jax exclaimed in unison, passing a dark look.

"I mean, maybe it was just the booze," she said, heat crawling up her cheeks. "Anyway, he started running, and, I guess, I just started following him." Korey shrunk under the intensity in their stares. "I chased him down the alley, all the way to the end. That's when he just... disappeared into the wall. And then I was here, when you two found me"

Their faces were grave. It was as if Aides' skin paled even whiter, though that hardly seemed possible. "Suppose you're telling the truth... is that why you ran into the rift the second time? You were trying to go home?"

It was Korey's turn to blink. She did not remember entering the Rift at all. "What?"

"When Aides was closing the Rift," said Jax, the slight tremor in his voice the only indication of just how shaken he was. "You ran right into it, screaming bloody murder. I-we- thought you would be incinerated the moment you touched it, but it just zapped you across the landing. You shouldn't have survived that."

"Why not?" she grumbled, now understanding where the soreness enveloping her body had come from. "You did."

"Yes, but you're human," he countered, eyeing her like a piece of fragile glass.

Korey growled. "So are you." Jax stared at her, condescension frothing from his smirk. "You-you're human, right?"

Aides sighed, glaring at his companion. He then turned to Korey, his expression softening. "Do not fear, Darling. There are infinite other beings besides humans."

"I told you not to call me that," she said, though it was half-hearted. Korey could not help herself from searching his eyes. "What are you?" she whispered, surprise replaced with unbridled curiosity.

Jax eyed her warily, but Aides just smiled. "Things are not always so simple, Korey Rodi. Do not ask the question unless you are prepared to learn the answer."

Before Korey could reply, Jax cut her off, saying, "What I still don't understand is why she approached the Rift in the first place." He studied her, distrust written across his face.

She clenched her fist. She knew better than to start a fight with someone who wasn't even human. "You know why," she hissed through gritted teeth.

"If I knew why," he purred, gripping the end of the bed until his knuckles went white, "I wouldn't be wasting my time asking questions, now would I?"

"Bite me, Deathboy."

Jax's expression transformed into something purely predatory. Darkness radiated from him like a black cloud, suffocating the suddenly very small room. "You may not be dead yet, Rodi, but this is my domain. There is a reason why mortals fear Death." His grin was that of nightmares, his words haunting. Korey's heart dropped in her chest as pure, primal terror took its place.

In a movement faster than humanly possible, Aides leapt to his feet. One moment, he relaxed in his chair, the next, his tattooed hand struck Jax's chest, halting the larger man in his tracks. "I believe," Aides murmured, drawing his mouth to Jax's ear. "That this is my domain. Now get out."

For a second, it seemed like Jax would protest. He must have seen something in Aides' eyes, however, that convinced him otherwise. He slipped away silently, without looking behind.

Aides turned back to Korey, but all softness in his face had been replaced with icy determination. "I suggest you learn to tame that mouth of yours, Korey Rodi. As brash as Jax is, he is not wrong. You are not in the mortal world anymore." He leaned in close, his scent wrapping around her. "There are worse things than Death."

His magic poured through her with a single touch. She sunk down, embraced once more by restless sleep.