Eutopia - Apocalypse

Chapter 2

‘You never talk to me anymore,’ the light, airy tone lifted petulantly across the vast expanse of the marble hall. ‘You never tell me where you’re going, I wish you would.’

‘As you wish,’ Jinn inclined his head slightly in a mock bow as the statuesque woman closed the distance between them. Petra was as fair and as golden as Jinn was dark. Her hair spilled out in a long flaxen rope from a thick pearl band fixed to the crown of her head, the shining locks studded with tiny little flowers crafted from lapis lazuli. The braid hung heavily over one shoulder that was laid bare by her strapless ivory silk tunic, overlaid by a sheer length of pale blue organza that shimmered with an ethereal gleam as she moved. Her eyes were a deep gold colour, flecked with hazel. They twinkled with warmth as she smiled, eye to eye with Jinn as her willowy arms slipped around his neck. Her lips practically brushed his when she spoke.

‘Don’t. Don’t do that, you know I hate it.’

‘Do what?’ Jinn asked with a quizzical brow cocked above his innocent indigo eyes.

‘Feign subservience to me. You remind me of them.’ Petra turned away in disgust, her heavily braided hair swinging to fall over the other shoulder and her arms dropped to her sides. ‘I can’t stand this place any longer. I thought it was going to be different.’

‘We knew it was going to be hard at first. But once we inherit completely it will be different. Things will change.’

Petra turned back to face Jinn.

‘The meek will inherit the earth,’ she said with eyes that glittered like cold gold. ‘We will own it.’

‘As you wish,’ Jinn grinned mischievously, his handsome features bright with some internal radiance. Petra narrowed her gaze, her usually full lips were drawn in a thin line.

‘Where have you been anyway?’ she asked suspiciously. The tall, elegant woman had turned in a bright swoosh of silk and organza to press her long frame against Jinn’s heavily muscled side. ‘You’re still in uniform.’ Petra studied his dark eyes which she found to be preoccupied, troubled even, as her long fingers drifted over the loose fabric of his finely woven shirt. Her beautiful face was creased with a frown.

‘I was in the Wolds,’ Jinn replied and his answer drew a derisive snort of amusement from Petra.

‘What in the name of all that’s angelic could you want in the Wolds?’ she asked, thinking of the empty little village that lay to the west of the palace.

‘It’s the only place I ever get any peace.’ Petra snatched the book from Jinn’s hand that he clasped loosely at his side. Though books had long been made contraband for humans, They had Their own rules.

‘Utopia. Tut tut, dear Jinn. Don’t you ever get bored of this? Doesn’t it bore you, constantly searching for your paradise after all these centuries?’

‘Utopia is no place, Petra. Paradise, now paradise is a good place worth searching for.’ Petra flicked her long flaxen braid, irritably, half ready to turn from him and his bizarre sayings. But she caught something. A look in Jinn’s eyes that she had seen too many times before. It was a look she dreaded, one that could only lead to heartbreak for her.

‘Oh, Jinn. No. Please tell me it’s not another one of, of,’ her pretty lips twisted as she finally spat the words out, ‘of them? Michael will never let it come to pass. You can be sure on that. Whatever stupid little thoughts you’ve got brewing in that emotionally stunted mind of yours I would suggest you put them to one side and concentrate on your purpose.’

‘I am a guardian,’ Jinn growled in annoyance at Petra’s childish tone, speaking in a low, dangerous voice. ‘Guarding is my purpose. How dare you be so impertinent to suggest that for a moment I might forget that? It is my life. I would not demean myself.’

‘Again,’ Petra muttered.

The book Petra had taken so easily from his hand moments earlier fell to the highly polished marble floor with a dull thump that was lost in the sudden surge of an electrical hum that began almost as a tickle on the edge of the aural sense, pulsing quickly to a steady and quite audible buzz. It echoed, crackling softly against the smooth surface of the walls and floor and a cool blue glow emanated from Jinn that seemed to turn his icy eyes to an angry red. One of his hands had wrapped firmly around Petra’s neck and the other clasped the huge silver sword usually sheathed at his side.

The sword was the source of light and the strange buzz, Petra knew. Her yellow eyes were wide, suddenly glassy with terror. Although Jinn’s fingers were tight around her throat it was the sword, humming excitedly as Jinn held it aloft, that was the cause of her concern.

‘Jinn!’

The dark, vainglorious head snapped to face the arched doorway, the snarl of anger still etched upon his face.

‘Gabriel.’ Jinn acknowledged the man stood framed by the arch of the open door. The white wing embroidered on the shoulder of his uniform, which skimmed his slight frame, marked him as a messenger but he spoke with a curt tone that was meant to be obeyed.

‘Sheath Alastor at once. We’re waiting for a full report on the Wolds.’ Without pausing to ensure his instructions were carried out Gabriel turned and left.

Jinn looked back at Petra, his sword, Alastor still buzzing with a gentle current, held up for a moment with its wickedly sharp edge gleaming, as though he didn’t intend to carry out Gabriel’s orders. But his anger had abated somewhat and the red had seeped from his eyes to leave an icy blue in its wake.

‘There’s trouble in the Wolds?’ Petra asked in concern, her long fingers resting lightly on his hand still gripping her neck.

The dull throb that had besieged Petra’s ears was cut off suddenly as Jinn replaced his sword in its sheath at his side, the marble room brightening as the curious blue glow was put out as instantly as if a candle had been snuffed.

‘We believe they are plotting something.’

Petra laced her fingers with his, guiding his heavy hand away from her throat.

‘You’ve been scouting them out?’ Jinn nodded.

‘Michael thinks this could be the beginning. I need to find out what the end is intended to be.’ His eyes darkened as a curious sapphire gaze flickered in his mind’s eye, bright and defiant in the face of what should have been imminent death. ‘We need to contain whatever notion they have before it spreads too far to control.’

Petra brushed her warm lips over his, trying to smooth away the last of the anger she had woken in him. Jinn had been awfully quick to temper over the last few hundred years. Perhaps this plot had something to do with it.

‘Let me know if I can help,’ she offered, wrinkling her nose at the thought of stepping foot in the Wolds. Nestled in the back of beyond, the countryside had never appealed to her. Jinn smirked as he turned away from her.

‘Yeah, when I need the dirt digging out from under my nails I’ll give you a shout.’