Requital

“This is wrong, Taige.”

The girl’s eyes flashed with fear as the moonlight fell upon her face. It was dark in the forest, darker than anywhere you could dream up; darker even than the Perdition-like abyss she would soon preside over. The woods possessed an unnatural quality; unnervingly silent and not quite real, as if behind each tree lurked a storybook creature. She felt watched.

“Let’s just go. I’m not getting caught here with you. You know what the repercussions would be…my life would be over.”

The green eyed boy repressed a sigh; instead turning his features to what he hoped was a reassuring smile.

“Raven, really. Who even knows we’re here? The danger of being found is the least of my concerns right now. All I care about is you.”

His words clearly had the desired effect because suddenly their mouths had connected again. The girl let out a small cry as Taige’s cool lower lip brushed against her own; full and hard and desperate, kissing her as if his life depended on it. His breath was like frost and it chilled her to the very core. A strong angular hand traced along the line of her cheekbone and down towards her neck as the kiss deepened. His touch was different to any she had experienced before and it excited her, taking her far away from everything she had ever known. In that moment she knew that it was all she needed– all she wanted - to be satisfied.

Their actions were breaking all of the rules but neither cared. Staying apart had proved impossible, hopeless longing for each other burning their hearts with its valentine colored flames. They had to be together.

And besides, a rule wasn’t a rule if no one ever broke it.

“Raven?”

Something pulled at her heartstrings deep within when she heard him call her name. As much as she didn’t want to stop, she knew she had to. The kiss shifted and Taige sighed as the blonde broke away from him, grey eyes glittering with unfulfilled lust. She ran a hand through her hair and dragged a wrist across her smudged lipstick.

“Get out of here already! The longer you stay, the more trouble you’re asking for!”

The vampire didn’t move an inch, smirking defiantly as adrenaline surged through his veins like a drug. He lived for the thrill moments like these provided and seeing Raven’s panic made it even sweeter. Her eyes widened with alarm as she pulled at his shirt sleeve.

“Please Taige…just leave. I don’t want to hurt him.”

The sky bore down on the boy as he shifted uncomfortably beneath the heat of the sultry evening air. It was thick and warm with the consistency of congealed blood. If it had been his decision alone he would have asked for nothing but eternal winter. Winter was good; fresh and icy and quietly beautiful. There was something permanent and unchanging about the season, as if the snowfall would remain there forever. Summer on the other hand just made everything awkward.

“Where are you, Raven?”

The girl closed her eyes and winced; her pretty features twisting into an expression of anguish. She couldn’t bear to imagine River’s face as the realization struck. She’d heard his heart break once before and it was a sound she knew could bring tears to the eyes of even saints, let alone sinners such as herself. Fortunately she wouldn’t have to hear it again – at least, not anytime soon - for Taige had chosen that exact moment to disappear. Raven suddenly found she was able to breathe again. The relief drenched her body in waves.

“There you are. I’ve been searching everywhere for you. Are you alright? You look a little…faint.”

The girl stared at her betrothed and felt her heart skip a beat. It was true that River was striking to look at; beautiful even. His eyes were the exact same shade as an autumn sky, cobalt blue jewels mixed with drops of ice so light they were almost grey. It was ironic that somebody who held a position such as his own, somebody who had the ability to inflict so much pain and suffering on so many, possessed such angelic looking eyes. Unlike Taige, whose eyes were the darkest imaginable shade of jade and nearly always impossible to read. He liked to tell her they were tainted.
And she could well believe it, for Taige was everything River was not. River was fair and golden like herself, with light eyes and a wholesome heart. Despite his ivory skin, Taige was dark through and through; from his dusky locks all the way down to the very center of his soul. He didn’t seem to have ever acquired a conscience –at least, not one that she had ever found. Guilt appeared to evade him, much like the mortals who tried so valiantly to deny his existence.

“I’m just too hot. You know how the weather affects me.”

A half smile played upon River’s lips as he gazed down at her beneath the starlight. Every ruler needed a bride and he was beyond satisfied with his choice, for she was faultless in every way. If someone had asked him to describe even just one of her flaws, he knew he wouldn’t have been able to. In his eyes she had none. What he sadly didn’t know was that he had selected the most dangerous kind of love to partake in. To believe your partner is perfect is to lay your heart open to a blade. Someday, hurt will come for you just as it comes for everyone, and you shall bleed along with the rest. The scythe was already hanging over River’s heart.

He just didn’t know it yet.

He draped a toned arm across Raven’s shoulder, pulling her closer to him before they started the short walk back to the palace. Fir trees decorated the edges of the trail, each one ten or eleven feet high with sharp green shards that threatened to bite if you wandered too close. Eyes seemed to stare out from beyond them; the feeling of being completely alone somehow escaping whoever walked alongside. They always came out to play after dusk. Raven shivered as she wondered just who – or what –exactly had been watching the evenings illicit activities.

River glanced at her.

“You just said you were too hot. Its ninety five degrees out here…surely you aren’t cold?”

“I’m fine.”

The words sounded a little sharper than Raven had wished for. She bit her lip, feeling the familiar tingling sensation within her tongue that only ever came when lying to an angel.
“I’m sorry…I just want to go home. It’s so eerie here, don’t you think?”

It wasn’t only the watchful presence that made the woods appear sinister. The Forest of Purgatory was the final journey each and every spirit had to make in order to learn what their final fate held. The atmosphere had absorbed a lot of malevolent energy over the last several eternities and it now hung in the air like an omnipresent gloom, both dangerous and melancholic at once. It invoked the kind of feeling that made a person want to run without ever looking back.

“I thought you’d be used to this place by now. You seem to spend a lot of time here.”

Raven’s heart slammed against her ribcage hard, warning her mind to remain composed. She was careful to keep her tone light and airy this time.

“Do I? I hadn’t noticed. I just feel sorrow for the spirits, I suppose. I don’t understand why so many are still trapped here.”

River couldn’t help but let out a sigh of contempt. They’d had this conversation a thousand times and he had grown tired of explaining the intricate rules behind his job to his bride. The people who walked through the Forest of Purgatory were murderers, criminals; an assembly of life’s unjust. They were bad to the very core of their being, souls so black they could never be cleansed. He foresaw no chance of redemption for any mortal – or immortal - who had sinned with such careless regard for others.

“They’re bad, Raven. Quit caring about everyone so much. You don’t have to concern yourself over what’s going to happen to them. They deserve everything they get.”
He stopped suddenly.

“What’s that?”

Laying a hand on Raven’s shoulder, he turned her around to face him; fingertips tracing gently along the contours of her pretty alabaster neck. The moonlight exposed a series of faint red imprints leading all the way down to her collarbone, ending abruptly before they reached her shoulder. She silently cursed Taige in her mind and decided to feign innocence, though she knew her tongue wouldn’t reward her for it. Her grey eyes gazed up at him.

“What? Is something wrong?”

River paused, letting his touch linger on her skin.

“You have indentations on your neck. Haven’t been colluding with vampires, have you?”

His tone was light and mocking and she knew he wasn’t seriously asking. But it sent a chill down her spine regardless as she fought to give him an answer that wouldn’t burn her lips.

“Not that I know of.”

She had warned Taige not to leave a mark. He couldn’t consume her blood anyway – an undeniable sign that their love was sinful – but he always came closer to doing so that he should have. Despite her lack of honesty; the scarlet cascading through Raven’s veins was still pure and innocent, and Taige wanted it badly. Resistance took him beyond the limits of self control and had no effect other than to make the desire he felt evermore fierce.

“Well, you’d better not. Because you know what would happen if you did, right?”

The edge to his voice was harder now and for a second the blonde froze beneath his fingers. She laughed nervously, brushing a strand of hair from her face.

“River, I’ve never even talked to a vampire. Can we please just go back now?”

He stared into her eyes one more time, the clarity of the azure blue burning through her thoughts like electricity. It made her feel stripped somehow; as if she had forgotten an item of clothing when dressing that morning. She shifted awkwardly and tried hard not to meet his gaze.
“Sure.”

The forest smelled of pine cones and despair; the leaves of old autumns past crunching beneath their feet. The path before them was long and seemingly endless. Each new turn appeared darker than the last. Raven didn’t feel safe even with her hand held by the only man with the ability to punish those who could harm. The voices called out to the pair in ethereal whispers as they passed; tendrils of soft haze wrapping around their statures like vipers.

“They can’t hurt you.”

The girl slid her hand further into River’s own.

“I know.”

To her it felt like the walk of shame. Each shadowy figure silently tarnished her with disgrace in despite of who was beside her. She felt her cheeks blush so fiercely she was certain they could be seen even in the midst of darkness.

“They just want somebody to help them. Too bad they didn’t think about that before they gave in to vice and immorality.”

His lips twisted with visible disgust and he pulled his fiancée a little closer. River was just too perfect sometimes, always so quick to judge others. Raven knew it was his job but that didn’t stop her resenting it. Though she could never admit it, she often felt pity and compassion for the lives he condemned to Perdition; the hopelessness in their eyes wrenching at some forgotten feeling deep inside. While it was true that they had sinned, the retribution River bestowed upon them was not always justifiable. He was often heartless when evaluating the misdemeanours of others and yet so fast to dismiss his own.

“We can’t all be flawless, now can we?”

Raven watched as the angel rolled his eyes at her question and pouted. A slice of moonlight lit up his face, highlighting the angular features that made him so beautiful.

“And that attitude proves exactly why I'm in charge, and not you. If you’re going to sin then you deserve all you receive in your next life.”

The sharp edge of his jaw set hard and Raven knew that arguing would be a lost cause. The deity’s opinion was immovable and he never changed his mind about anything once he was convinced. Some would look upon that as a flaw but River saw it as a quality, for it had seen him elevate to his present status. There was an air of self-righteousness to the ruler of the abyss and sometimes Raven questioned what she had ever seen in him; good looks aside. She often paralleled him against Taige, although as two entirely different entities they weren’t really comparable.

The palace started to emerge from beyond the mist of nothing, jagged blue turrets menacing on the horizon. The building was akin to a church, with an impossibly high ceiling reaching all the way up to the stars and beyond. Blossom trees bordered windows like guards. The petals had once been in full bloom but most were now scattered across the ground like ashes; devotion stained dust beneath fingertips that would never again know beauty.

“Okay...we're back. Satisfied now?”

Raven smiled wanly as they crossed the threshold of the fortress, the atmosphere changing the moment they entered. The taste of desolation became heightened as her gaze fell upon the lone form knelt before the others who reigned over the court. He looked pitiful and sad from a faraway distance and she felt the familiar twitch of empathy entrenched inside begging for her to say something; to leap to his defence and proclaim the indictments to be lies. The anticipation had started to build within the room and the silence was at an almost unbearable level. River kept his eyes fixed firmly upon the floor as he let himself fall onto the bench. When he spoke, his tone was expressionless.

“For which sin does the accused stand?”

One of the other men stepped forward. He was blonder than both River and Raven put together and possessed eyes lighter than aventurine. His face was grim and unsmiling as he read from the small piece of paper placed between his fingers.

“Adultery, three counts. Lust, six counts. Envy, twelve counts.”

River still didn’t let his gaze touch the man but a small smirk befell his lips and it was obvious to those who knew him in whose favor he would rule. Adultery was one of the charges he despised most; in his eyes worse even than murder or violence. He reflected on the words the blonde man had spoken before lifting his eyes.

“How does the accused plead?”

The man kneeling before the prosecution finally looked up, dark eyes wide with what appeared to be fright. He seemed timid and shy and Raven wanted nothing more than to reach out and embrace him. She seemed to identify more with the criminals than she did with the angels; an observation that served to intrigue her more than it did trouble her. But she knew River wouldn’t ever understand and thus, could never know her secret.

She soon had a change of heart this time, however, when the man caught sight of her standing there in the corner. His eyes took on a glassy quality as they raked over the figure in the midnight colored dress, her exposed porcelain skin glowing beneath the early light of dawn. It made her feel dirty and she instantly regretted offering him her sympathy, no matter the words had never actually passed beyond her lips. River noticed the moment and felt a flicker of fury flare up inside him. He chose that exact second to unleash the full power of his stare upon the man, raising his voice several decibels.

“What is your plea? Speak now or I shall not give you another chance.”

Sensing that his time was fast fading, the perpetrator let his disguise fall. It would do him no good now for the rulers mind was clearly set. He sneered as he spoke and continued to leer perversely at Raven.

“Guilty.”

The words rang out in front of him and there was a heightened pause as River held his gaze, dragging out the moment for a little longer than was really necessary. Incidences like this were delicious and whilst he knew it was wrong, he couldn’t help but get a kick out of the wrath they afforded him to display.

The platinum haired angel turned to his superior.

“So, which is it? Utopia or Perdition?”

River still didn’t tear his eyes away. He knew exactly what he was searching for and so far he had not yet hit upon it. An ember of fortitude, a glint of moral fibre. Something to tell him that the accused really did possess an actual soul…or a heart at the very least. But he found neither. The man stared back at him; onyx eyes now blazing with unconcealed malice. He already knew the answer.

“Perdition.”

As soon as the words had been spoken the sinner started to fade away; charcoal colored flames devouring his body before the stares of the judgemental. The insolent smile never left his face as the fire kissed his form and he had soon been reduced to nothing but a tarn of ash. River stared at where he had been knelt and uttered something in Latin. His eyes were bright and his pulse fast; almost as if he were on some kind of high. He turned to the men surrounding him.

“Let that serve as an example to anyone else who believes that sin will take you far. It won’t.”

Raven stared at him wide eyed. For a moment she was certain that the sound of her heart could actually be heard as it beat within her body. The whole time River had been speaking, all she could think of was herself standing up there to be denounced as nothing but a common harlot in front of everybody; the man she was betrothed to acting as the adjudicator of her sins. It was as she was imagining this horror that an arm wrapped around her waist. River stared down at her intensely. His features were hard and unforgiving and she willed the rhythm inside her chest to slow down, lest he see and question it.

“I’m done here. Are you coming or not?”

The room Raven found herself in was immense; endless amethyst colored walls meeting a dark maple floor. A small crystal lightshade threw shadows across the furniture, painting eerie shapes across the wood. She walked over to the window and allowed the cool night air to dance across her face. The humidity had dispersed now and the atmosphere was finally clear. She watched as a silhouette emerged from behind her. River leant against the window ledge; a pretty smile alighting his features with beauty.

“What are you thinking about?”

Raven wasn’t quite sure how to answer this question. It sounded innocent enough but she knew he liked to test her sometimes. If she gave him the wrong reply his mood could change within an instant. What were really running through her mind were thoughts of Taige… the only thoughts that ever ran through her mind. But it was probably better she kept that to herself.

“Nothing really…I was thinking how pretty the blossom looks tonight.”

The boy paused for a moment; drinking in her words before snapping his fingers with recollection.
“You just reminded me - my sister wants you to spend the day with her tomorrow.”

Scarlett was a similar age to River but that was where the similarities ended, both mentally and physically. Her appearance befit her namesake, with cherry painted lips and long mahogany hair cascading across her shoulders in waves. She made no secret of the disapproval she felt toward her brother’s choice of bride; the very reason Raven’s breath had caught in her throat at the news of the summons.

“Why so? I’m sure you’re aware that Scarlett and I aren’t exactly the best of friends. I can’t imagine why she’d want to associate with a girl like me. Or for that matter, why you would either.”

Her words hung in the air like a cymbal. River stared, his smile faltering into something unreadable. He knew what she was alluding to and it resurfaced a thousand well buried feelings. She’d hurt him badly once; albeit it long ago, and the injury had never quite healed…maybe because his sister – and everybody else, now that he thought about it - liked to bring it back up at every possible opportunity. But she was the love of his life, and so he had forgiven the blonde for her misdeed without as much as a second thought. Deep within his heart he was sure she would never do anything like it again, now that she had witnessed his pain.

“What’s that supposed to mean? I’m with you because I love you, Raven. Don’t you want to marry me?”

The girl left his grasp and walked over to the bed, her lithe figure sinking into the perfect white satin. She chose not to look at the angel as he sat down beside her.

“Why did you do it?”

His voice was barely above a whisper and it made her flinch inside. She didn’t know how to reply - not without hurting him anyway - and so braced her tongue for another blaze.

“I don’t know.”

That wasn’t a complete lie…Raven still hadn’t figured out what exactly had made run away on her own wedding day. There was just something about River that made her feel trapped; as if he once he had her he would never let her go. He could be overwhelmingly possessive at times and that wasn’t a trait that she was altogether sure she could deal with. Sometimes she just needed to feel free, to run beneath the light of the stars without any idea of where she would end up. He would never be able to comprehend that.

The only person who really understood was Taige. He was the only person who ever understood the kind of thoughts that ran through Raven’s mind. He’d propositioned her on the eve of the wedding as they’d lain together under the dusky sky.

“Would you run away with me? Leave behind everything you’ve ever known? Give up your whole life for me?”

She’d laughed playfully and hit him in the arm; not thinking for even a moment that he could have been serious. But now she thought about it, there had been something in his eyes that told her he maybe hadn’t been joking. But it was too late to take him up on his offer now anyway. Her heart belonged to another…even if his didn’t belong to her.

She guessed River had decided to let the matter die as he suddenly stood up.

“You should get some rest. I’ll see you in the morning.”

Raven wasn’t ready to sleep yet. Her heart was wide awake as epinephrine coursed through her arms and legs, making her want to take off running without ever looking back. But that clearly wasn’t an option…not if she didn’t want to awaken suspicion. She decided to let sleeping snakes lie.

“Sweet dreams.”

With a touch lighter than air he kissed her cheek and turned out the light, leaving her alone in the darkness.