From Despair Comes Hope (The Strange Case of Devin Sola Book 1)

Sick From the Melt

Devin returns to the room and gives Tia and I questioning glances, as if he's heard part of our conversation, then shrugs and sits on Charli's bed. He carefully pulls her shirt all the way up and begins dressing the wounds on her back. While he works, she finally wakes up all the way.

*** Charli's POV ***

I wake up and groan a bit. I look around carefully, realizing that I am back in that Pepto-Bismol colored hell they've given me for a bedroom. Then I realize that I am on my stomach with my t-shirt shoved up around my neck. I can feel someone carefully cleaning the whip wounds on my back. Damn it, they aren't healing. Which means one thing – they aren't from the dream, they are real. Which means Ares has been here in the guise of a dream. Fuck.

"Lay still Charli." Devin murmurs. "I'm almost finished."

***Flashback***

"Lay still Hope." Life whispers to me. "I'm almost finished." I lay as still as I can. It isn't easy, it hurts so bad. This whipping is the worst I've ever gotten. "There, all finished. They'll be healed soon. Lucky you're an angel so you'll heal quickly."

I turn and look at Life's face. Sniffling I finally speak, my voice so soft he can barely hear it. "Why does he do this to me? Why doesn't he love me?"

"I don't know sweetheart." He says, looking into my eyes. He smiles ruefully. "I wish I did. I wish my mother could force him to love you. But... the Gods and Goddesses' powers don't work on each other. And our powers don't work on them."

"It's ok." I say, my tears finally drying. "I miss Death."

"I know sweetheart." He strokes my hair. "I wish Uncle Hades could have taken you to the Underworld as well. But your powers would fade there. Only Death, Darkness, Despair, Hate, War, and oddly enough, I, can be in the Underworld."

"But why can you be there? Life is the opposite of Death. You shouldn't be able to be there." I ask. I'm 13 and full of sass these days. That's what got me whipped – that's always been what gets me whipped, but today's was particularly brutal.

He laughed. "Because I'm Death's mate. When we're old enough, we'll be married literally for eternity."

***End Flashback***

"Devin?" I whisper.

"Hmmm?" He pats one final bandage into place. "There, all finished."

"Never mind. It's silly. Just a case of déjà vu." I say, rolling over, taking care to keep my shirt down. I glance over and groan as I see Tia. "Devin, Chris – meet Cryptia, the Angel of Death."

"Please, call me Tia." She says. "Normally you wouldn't get to see me until it was your time to die, but Hades made an exception because Charli needed me." She steps to me and sits down. "Lay still sister." Tia puts her hands on my back. I feel her icy touch and the tingle that tells me my wounds are healing. All angels can heal – even Death. Death's touch is just icy where the rest are warm. Of course, Death, Despair, Darkness, War, and Hate rarely use their healing powers. Tia only uses hers on me. And I guess on Devin once. "Better?"

I nod. "Yes, thank you." I sit up, pulling my shirt fully down. I look at her as a tear slides down my face. "He was here Tia. He made me think I was dreaming. But..."

"I know sister, I know." Tia holds me while I cry. Devin and Chris leave the room, I assume to give us space and give me time to just let it all out.

***Chris' POV***

I am angry. Very angry. So angry in fact, that I am positive that my wings will burst from my back. I haven't seen my wings in 3000 years – not since I left the Underworld, shunning my birthright. But now... how can I shun what I was born for when my mate is here? When the only way to get her powers – and Devin's soul – back, is to become Despair again?

"Chris? Are you OK?" Devin asks me. I nod.

"I'm just seething with rage. How could anyone do that to someone else? And how the fuck did they get in?" I pace, irritated.

"How do any of them get in Chris?" I hear Ryan ask as he walks in. "There's a girl in Charli's room, one who looks just like her, and I know she didn't come in through the front door. So you tell me."

"You know how Ryan." I seethe. He chuckled. Ryan is my younger brother, the Angel of Darkness. He'd left the Underworld with me. We'd all left our respective places in Olympus – except Tia who couldn't. We are scattered to the ends of the Earth, all because we despise the Gods for what they've done to our Angel of Hope. Well, some of us are scattered. There are four of the five male angels here, plus one of the females, plus we know were Tia is... so four of the angels are missing – three females and one male.

Devin excuses himself and I stare at my little brother. No one knows we are brothers – we'd taken separate last names when we started to live with the humans. Actually, we've all taken human names. On Olympus and in the Underworld we are literally called by what we are. Life, Death, Peace, War, Love, Hate, Light, Darkness, Hope, and Despair. Ryan smirks at me. "How long do you think it will take for Charli to realize that Darkness, Despair, War, and Love are living in this mansion?"

"Charli's never met you and I before. She never came to the Underworld. Love is her brother, but I think they've either blocked each other from memory or Ares did it for them." I think for a few moments. "But War she should remember. Besides Life, he was her best friend."

"Funny how we don't embody what we stand for. Otherwise War wouldn't have been her best friend – she'd have feared him as much as she does her father." Ryan muses. "And War doesn't remember her either."

"We weren't meant to embody what we stood for. We were meant to simply bring those things to the world. That's it. You know that. And what Ares did to her was inexcusable." I say. "We can't have Ares popping in and out of here at will, especially if he's going to hurt Charli, so how do we fix this?"

"You know how Chris." Ryan says. "You have to allow yourself to be Despair again."