Dark Time Read Free Page A

my face…then snaked a tube down my throat.  
    "It's your heart."  
    I turned to look into the eyes of Azrael. He wasn't TC at that moment, nor was he the Archer. He was larger than life and had my soul folded into his arms. Into his wings.  
    Because…that's what Azrael was.  
    The Angel of Death.  

3

    The dreams came again. I saw Dags in front of me. His beautiful face was twisted in hate. And heard his voice echo everywhere in the dark.  
    "I think you're a monster."  
    What if I didn't want to be a monster? Did anyone ever ask me what I wanted? Did anyone even care? Was this what it was like to be something other than human? To be shunned and eventually hated by the ones you loved?  
    Would my mom hate me one day?  
    "No. I would never hate you. Though I want to bend you over my knee and give you a good spanking most of the time."  
    Wait a minute. That wasn't in my dream. That was mom's voice. I waved the image of Dags away and stood up from my lonely pity party in the dark. "Mommy?"  
    "You haven't called me that in a very…very long time, Zoëtrope."  
    I really hated that name.  
    When I finally let a bit of light into my nightmare, I realized I'd opened my eyes. The room was dim, even thought I saw florescent panels on the ceiling. They flickered and hummed like fluorescent panels do. There were clicks and whistles, a soft ticking noise. But no beeps. Not this time. When I focused on the shadow in front of me, I saw mom's face in it. She looked…old.  
    I'd always known my mom was in her fifties…rapidly heading into her sixties. But her face had never really shown it. She had good skin. And I'd always hoped I never showed wrinkles either.  
    But at that moment…it looked like the weight of life was pressing on her shoulders. "Ah there's my daughter. You had me worried."  
    Worried about…
    "Are you in pain?"  
    I shook my head. I heard a whump-woosh I'd never heard before so I looked around. I had one of those cannulas in my nose and reached up to pull it out. Mom took my wrist and stopped me. "No. That has to stay in. They had a face mask on you, but we need to talk."  
    Talk? I looked at her and it felt like centuries since I'd last seen her. She sounded…worried. Her voice was soft and sweet, like it had been when I was a kid.  
    "Hi mom." My voice was its usual scratchy self. After having lost it for nearly a year…I liked hearing it.  
    "Don't you hi mom me." And there was present-day mom with a bit of saccharin. "What the hell were you thinking? Running off like that? Ripping part of your heart out to make a new arm—"  
    "But it was easy."  
    "By hell it was. Zoë," she sighed as she ran a hand through her hair. It stuck up from her head. "You do realize you're missing a chunk of your heart?"
    I frowned at her. "For real?"
    "Christ…yes for real . We did x-rays and you're missing a quarter piece of your left ventricle. It's a miracle you're still living."  
    That was alarming. Yeah…I'd told Inanna I wanted to get rid of my heart. That it hurt. And if it wasn't going to do anything but hurt me, then someone else could have it. I thought… "I thought it was metaphorical."  
    "What was?"
    I stared at her. "Using my heart for that guy's arm. I mean…Inanna said the Creation Eidolon was a part of me now so I could use anything I wanted to create anything I wanted. And I wanted to make up for what I'd done."  
    She sat back and looked down at me. I felt like I was six again and said or done something I shouldn't have. Was she going to spank me? I was a grown woman. Could she?  
    Mom reached out and brushed my hair from my face. "It took me nearly a day to get the tangles out of your hair. I had to dry wash it. But it's smooth again. And soft and shiny. Your white streak is bigger now."
    "Yeah…I'm not surprised. It's like a damn o'meter. The bigger it gets, the more damned I am."
    "You're not damned." Mom brushed at my cheek. "But you are in a massive amount of trouble."