Between Heaven and Hell

Chapter 5

 

Between Heaven and Hell

Copyright © 2012 by Carla Meyer

All Rights Reserved

 

 

 

CHAPTER 5

Meredith’s deep black eyes, which had changed to an extraordinary shade of blue, a hue, which made Joey think of the heavens, were now staring fixedly, with a purpose at him. He could feel her eyes bore into his soul. He felt naked and exposed, and he knew he was vulnerable to the creature that was immune to his touch, his death touch. She was no ordinary human being, no; Meredith must have power over some sort of ability, some kind of heavenly gift which would annihilate Joey for good.

Kill me, he thought to himself.

But he was still human, even with the curse of his burning palms, even if he had spent seven years in Hell, he was still human, and human beings possessed the inexplicable instinct of survival.

“You have to die, Joey Olsen,” she said again, though Meredith made no effort to move in on him, she made no attempt to assail. She merely stood before him, staring at him with her heavenly coloured eyes and lingered. He had no idea what she was waiting for, but Joey knew he was afraid. As he watched her, Meredith’s features became more alien, more unrecognizable.

He closed his eyes instead and listened to her strange heartbeat and realized for the first time that their hearts beat in harmonization. There was no rhythm to it, no pattern whatsoever, but hers was profoundly loud, as though her heart was beating in his ears, while his heart made no sound, not even a slight thumping in his ears. But he could feel his heart beat, if only somewhat. He counted the seconds that went by and awaited her attack, but nothing happened.

A loud thump caused Joey to open his eyes.

Meredith lay sprawled out on the floor, her body jerking frantically and her eyes were rolled to the back of her head. Intuitively, he rushed to her side, the death threats elapsed, and the fear of dying again now something he shoved to the back of his mind, because something was wrong with Meredith and she needed his help. But he had no idea what he was supposed to do, and as his mind raced through various things, through ways to impede her fit. Meredith slowly settled down until the jerking came to a complete halt. She opened her eyes and they were once again the unfathomable black Joey had become accustomed to.

“Meredith, are you alright?”

She rubbed furiously at her eyes, as though she had just awoken from a deep slumber. Joey watched her cautiously, given that only seconds prior she had threatened to kill him. He was afraid of her, for some unknown reason, but he had taken a liking to Meredith in the past two days, and had thought about kissing her, thought about kissing an Angel.

“I—I was possessed,” she said, stumbling over her words. Joey watched her vigilantly, not letting his guard down.

“Possessed?”

“Yes,” she said and stumbled to her feet. She was faint, and Joey had to hold her by the elbows and guide her to the coach. He watched as her eyes droop closed, but he wasn’t going to allow her to sleep.