The Binding

Chapter Fourteen

I floated effortlessly as cold water lapped gently against me. Low mournful sounds echoed in the distance as my head bobbed under the surface. I couldn't open my eyes, nor could I move. I was drifting idly with a soft current. I was at the mercy of the water as it carried me. For a moment, I felt as if I should panic, but mostly I felt exhausted and decided I couldn't be bothered.

   Something bumped underneath me, jarring me back to consciousness just as my mind was beginning to drift to darkness. I listened to the sounds growing and then slowly fading around me as the gentle rocking of the current pulled me into unconsciousness once more. Exhaustion demanded all of my attention.

   The room was dark, but I knew I was in Ezra's room. A window had been left open, allowing the deep scent of pine to permeate the room. I could feel, not just hear or smell the heavily wooded forest teeming with life in the darkness around me.

   I had been sleeping curled in a fetal position. Every part of my body felt bruised and heavy. I didn't try to move. Ezra was also curled, mirroring my position on the other side of the bed, watching me. I felt no rush to speak as Ezra's eyes drifted across my face. I watched his breathing, slow and calm. Time passed, unnoticed and insignificant. It was a long time before I finally spoke.

    "Did you have to kill Curtis Pope?"

    "Yes."

   Every line of his face appeared perfect to me. His skin, a golden bronze framed across fine chiseled bone, spread to his full mouth and thick eyelashes. It was the face of a man who had murdered, unrepentantly. There was no denying it— I loved him. Whether it was Ezra or Azrael didn't change anything.

    "He was hunting you. He had to die."

    "The women he killed... was that any different than what you did?"

    "No," he said calmly. "I was much worse. I will do anything, kill anyone to keep you safe. And I won't regret any of it."

   I wondered how many years of immortal life we have to live before death is all that matters.

   "You were Azrael."

   He nodded. "Ezraeil, Azrin, Izrael, Azryel, Ozryel." He pronounced each name differently. "I think, at first, they called me by that name because it was the worst name they could give me... naming me after an angel of evil and destruction. It was appropriate. Over the years it wasn't just a comparison, I was Azrael."

   Ezra closed his eyes for a moment. "For all I know maybe I created the legend of Azrael, or maybe it was already known, and I simply picked up the mask."

   I felt weak. "When did it start?"

   He shook his head. "I don't know, not exactly. At first, it was just slavers. I could never stay in any single place more than a few years, so I was always wandering, alone. I was a man without people or property, so it was acceptable to capture me as a slave. I was easy prey." He shrugged. "As long as there has been plenty of food and cities, there has been slavery. With cities came ruthlessness and brutality that never existed." 

   I didn't understand. What did sustenance have to do with it? When I asked he frowned before he answered, "When you have more food than you can eat, you have leisure time. With hunters and gatherers, before we had agriculture, everyone needed to spend all their time working together to survive. Agriculture created an overabundance of food which led to the creation of towns and cities. Suddenly much larger populations could live in a small area."

   This made sense.

    "Cities and leisure time helped create class systems. Fewer and fewer people, who either couldn't or didn't want to do the labor, held most of power and money. I didn't know what a slave was until the first time I saw a city. It was the next logical step." He thought quietly for a moment. "That was also the first time I tasted bread. Bland, tasteless stuff. Bread changed the world."