Page 24 of Into the Abyss
“The jinn are interwoven with the Abyss,” Istated.
“And feeding on it.” She shuddered inrevulsion.
“Is the reason you’re different from theother jinn because you’ve never been here before and thereforenever fed on the life force of others?”
Because if that was the case, I had to gether out of here. I wouldn’t let Amalia’s goodness be eaten away bythe malevolent nature of the Abyss and her fellow jinn.
“No,” she said. “I’m different because I’mFaulted.”
“What do you mean you’reFaulted?”
“While jinn always empathize and care foreach other, most don’t care about anything outside of the jinnrace, but some jinn are born with the Fault of empathy for thoseoutside the jinn and are also empaths. Before the jinn were lockedbehind the seal and they still numbered over a hundred, there werefifteen Faulted. Only forty-six jinn survived the battle waged toseal the jinn away, and six of them are Faulted. Neither of myparents is Faulted, but I was born with the curse some of the jinnbear.”
I absorbed her words as I studied her.“You’re an empath.” Her reaction to Mara and her need to help usmade more sense now. She couldn’t tolerate another in pain becauseshe felt that pain as if it were hers.
“Yes.”
“Do you really believe it’s a curse?”
“Maybe, if things were different, I wouldn’tbelieve so, but I do now.”
“Different how?”
“Adapting to Earth and all the changes hasbeen tougher for the Faulted. The jinn all care for each other, andthey’ve been together for over eighteen thousand years. I camealong much later, but behind the seals, we were all equal, and thenon-Faulted jinn were unable to unleash their cruelty as they donow. Though we all love each other, the Faulted have troublestanding by and watching what the other jinn do. Three months afterwe were freed, the Faulted broke off to live on their own. Iremained with my parents, but….”
Her voice trailed off, and her eyes took onthat ochre color again while she gazed forlornly at the spot whereMara’s body had lain. Without thinking, I closed the distancebetween us and drew her into my arms again. I still didn’t entirelytrust her, I wasn’t an idiot, but I couldn’t stay away from hereither.
“But staying with them has been challengingfor you,” I said.
“Yes. And the things they do… this isawful.” Her voice broke.
Many demons weren’t as callous and ruthlessas the jinn, but Amalia acted more caring than the tree nymphs,which many considered the most compassionate of demons.
“If the lightning signals a death, thenthree have died since we entered the Abyss,” she said. “We have togo.”
“Yes,” I agreed, and reluctantly releasingher, I led her back to the central pathway.
CHAPTER 11
Corson
Raphael’s wings extended as he rested a hand onMara’s forehead. A few minutes ago, she’d started convulsing. Whenher feet kicked against the ground, Raphael knelt at her side andtried to soothe her.
Then Mara stopped convulsing, she collapsedonto the ground and blood trickled from her mouth. My gaze boredinto her chest as I waited to see if she would take another breath;she did, but two other humans had already died. One of them simplystopped breathing, and the other screamed like the hellhounds wereon her ass before silencing abruptly.
Raphael hadn’t approached either of them,but he’d gone to Mara.
“Can you heal her?” I demanded.
If sudden death could happen to the humans,then it could happen to Wren. Panic constricted my chest; my talonsextended and retracted before doing it again. I was unraveling, butthere was nothing I could do to stop it. Wren’s life was on theline, and I was helpless to save her.
“I am not the Being. It is not my place toalter the course of someone’s fate,” Raphael replied.
There were times when I’d like to kill boththe angels, and this was one of them. “I understand, but this isnotthe natural course of Mara’s fate.”
“Who am I to judge that?”
I stepped toward Raphael.
