Garder mon Ame

Chapter Seventeen: The Clipping of Wings

I have fallen from sky,
Fallen to the ground,
I am the angel of sadness,
Angel of lost hopes,
Angel of lost dreams,
I am the fallen angel,

~Jennifer Rondeau

Grim did not admit his pleasure, but he still did not take her wings. Instead, he said, "Do you know who Didier was?"

"Why should I bother to learn anything about God's gullible pawns?"

Grim clicked his tongue against his teeth and shook his head slowly at her. "Poor, uneducated Ardin."

"I am not stupid, Grim," Ardin hissed. "If anything, it's quite the opposite."

"Keep your enemies close," Grim mused. He smiled. "Didier was one of the greatest Warriors to have ever fought against us. He has taken more of our angels than any other Guardian. He was one hell of a nuisance, honestly. But you . . . you killed him."

"I did not kill him," Ardin said with a tad bit of boredom. "We cannot go to Heaven nor Hell, can we?" When Grim just smiled, Ardin continued, "Well, I hope he's miserable wherever he is at now."

"And what about your mother, Ardin? Does her torment not crush you?"

"It's easy to shoot a gun," Ardin said. "It's even easier when hate steadies your aim."

Grim was sitting at his desk. His chair creaked as he leaned forward. "That is why I have a proposition for you."

"I am hardly interested in your babblings, Grim," Ardin spat, but Grim just smiled wider.

"Maybe I should word it this way: I have a task that you will complete."

"Oh, please, do go on." The sarcasm dripped from her tongue, and Grim clasped his hands under his chin with interest.

"You are a predator. I can see it in those pretty green eyes of yours. Your desire to rise controls your every action. Your rage at your savior pumps your blood through your veins."

"Get on with it, Grim."

He ignored her rudeness and said, "We . . . you can throw the angels into chaos. You can secure the ending to this war. And, in return, you will get your vengeance and I shall name you Wrath."

"The title does not concern me," Ardin said. "But I will continue to seek revenge. What do you have in mind?"

Grim smirked. "You love death, do you not, Ardin? The taking of a life? Watching the last breaths shudder out of your victim?"

"It has nothing to do with that," Ardin said. "I am forced into sin by anger."

"But is it not just exhilarating? The stopping of the heart. The crimson paint. The glass eyes."

"It is merely that death makes the Devil stronger," Ardin said. "I seek it to punish God. Nothing more."

Grim smiled knowingly. "Suuure, Ardin. But how would you feel if you were to take the soul of the most powerful of Guardians? The one that holds them together under shoddy leadership? An angel that has seen the rise and fall of humanity more than he could count on his spindly fingers?"

"And who would that be?" She would play his game. If he wanted to skirt around an answer, then Ardin would draw him back in. Cat and mouse. She wondered which one she was, although with his comment about her vulturine nature, she assumed the best.