Free Vindicated by Keary Taylor Page B

cold.
    But I knew what would happen if we stayed in the same bed before the wedding.
    On a morning when Alex was at the house finishing up the rest of his remodels and showing it to a potential renter, I sat on the floor of the master bedroom, my folder of drawings spread out before me.   Next to them lay the leather bound book of names.  
    The names of the dead I had stood trial for.
    My eyes trailed over the images, taking in the details I had captured with pencil.   The council’s chairs, my holding cell, Cole’s shadowed brand.   I picked up one of the drawings, looking at it more closely.
    It was rougher than most of the other ones, as if I had drawn it in a hurry.   It was a picture of me, about to fall off the catwalk, a pair of beautiful wings sprouting from my back.   One set of angels was trying to pull me up into never ending bliss, another set were trying to drag me down to the fiery depths with them.
    It may have been the council who sentenced a person to heaven or hell but it was their minions that took them there.  
    I opened my leather book, my eyes trailing over the names.
    Lisa Donovan.
    Ted Meyer.
    Gabriel Sanchez.
    Kimberly Seely.
    So many names.   I had experienced trial for hundreds and hundreds of people.  
    Why had they gotten out of it?
    I felt like there should have been an answer here.   There was something I was missing.
    What are you willing to do to save him?
    What could I do?   How could I fight against beings that weren’t even in my world?
    If they can’t claim you…
    I’d seen the proof that I couldn’t die at this point.   As Cole had said, four times now I should have died, and yet I had not stood before the council.   But the thought that the council could not claim me seemed too impossible.
    I wasn’t sure how this was supposed to help me.
    My phone vibrated on the floor next to me and I opened it to a text from Emily.
    Where are you?
    “Crap,” I said under my breath as I scooped the pages back into their folder and stashed it and my name book back in the darkest part of my closet.
    It felt like it took me forever to get to the restaurant.   Emily seemed pretty annoyed that I had completely forgotten about her.   I gave her an apologetic smile as we sat in our booth.  
    “I’m so sorry,” I started after we ordered.   I tried to ignore the way the waiter stared open-mouthed.   “I got… distracted.”
    “It’s fine,” she said with a sigh as she twisted her napkin between her hands.   “I just… I’m having kind of a crappy day.”
    “Want to talk about it?” I asked, watching as the napkin shredded between her hands.
    “It’s just hard, you know?   I meet this totally amazing guy.   He’s perfect.   And then he’s gone.   I mean, I know I didn’t really know him, and he was dead, but still.”
    “It doesn’t seem fair.”
    “No, it isn’t,” Emily said as she leaned back in her seat, rubbing her eyes.   “It royally sucks.”
    Our drinks were brought with our salads at the same time.   I tried not to meet the waiter’s eyes.   He was borderline creepy.
    “I’m really sorry,” I said, unsure of what to say when he finally left.   It seemed that when angels were involved there were no happy endings.  
    “You know, I look at you and Alex and there’s not a doubt in my mind that its love between the two of you.   Anyone can see it.   But I don’t… I don’t really think that’s what me and Cormack had.”
    “What do you think you had?” I asked cautiously.   Emily had blown up at me once about her jealousy before.   And then run straight to Cole to console herself.
    “I don’t know,” she said quietly, shaking her head as her eyes stared at the blank space passed my left shoulder.   “A connection, I guess?   As simple as it sounds I guess that’s what it was.”
    I leaned forward, resting my forearms on the table.   “I think… maybe you just needed someone.   Do you think anyone else could have given