Available Darkness Season 1

the bottle a bit too long.
    Finally, she spoke, through a snort, “Nothing—it’s silly.”
    “No, tell me,” John said, his hand stroking her hair and down her back.
    “It’s the painting,” she said.
    “What?”
    She pointed towards the window, where her two in-progress paintings stood on easels. He couldn’t see the canvases, however, as both paintings faced the wide window which overlooked a scenic lake. For all its beauty, the shimmering pool had never served as inspiration for one of Hope’s paintings.
    “I don’t know,” Hope shook her head, “it’s not like anything I’ve ever painted before. For some reason, as I was painting it tonight, I just became overwhelmed with sadness.”
    “A painting made you sad?” John asked, wanting to laugh, but not wanting to offend her in a moment of genuine pain.
    He stood up and approached the window. One painting was an apple orchard at midnight, which she’d started seven months before, but had yet to finish.
    The other, the inspiration for her tears, was unlike anything he’d ever seen her paint. It was surreal; a nude man with long dark hair who looked a bit like John. He seemed to hover against a dark violet background of churning storm clouds, hands outstretched with red rings of light swirling around them.
    He was suspended by two incredibly large white angel’s wings.

    * * * *

CHAPTER 2 — Jacob

    One month prior…
    September 4, 1999
    Los Angeles, California

    Jacob stood on the building’s ledge, wind whipping the loose charcoal suit against his wiry frame. The city view from 50 stories in the sky personified his feelings about humanity—almost beautiful—from a distance.
    He’d been on their soil, mingling among the insects for far too long. His body was starting to show signs of human frailty. His face was sunken and pale. His hair had fallen out years ago. His pain was constant.
    Of course, Jacob could regenerate at any time and look and feel years younger, but his desire to feed had faded. A few months earlier, he’d started to widen the time between feedings. Now he was trying to see how far he could stretch the rubber band before it finally snapped. Though he’d not given it much thought, he supposed he was trying to see how close he could drift to death before she finally circled her talons around him.
    Death was an inviting mistress, offering sweet release from breathing the stench of a world in which he didn’t belong.
    When he first crossed over, thirsty for vengeance against his mother and brothers, the idea of a new world harbored eternal wonder. It was the world’s initial beauty and seemingly endless possibilities which had caused him to spare his young brothers’ lives so many years ago. He had planned to kill them all, planned to make them pay for their treachery, for leaving him alone with his brutal father. There was something about this world, though—a chance to reinvent himself and create a new life away from his father—which was liberating.
    His singular act of mercy stood as a splinter that had continued to haunt him for years. Ironically enough, his brothers were the only ones on this planet who knew of the one portal which could take him home.
    Of course, he hadn’t known of the portal back then. He thought he was taking a one way trip, and was consumed with enough hate not to mind. Now that he knew of the portal, however, his brothers were beyond his reach, hidden by the conspirators, the so-called Guardians, who sought to rid the world of all his kind.
    So here he was, imprisoned in eternal purgatory, longing for the pain to end.
    He knew better than to believe in such human constructs as Hell, but Jacob still felt as if he were stuck in his own version. He was tired of this world and its people; narrow-minded, petty creatures with limited intellect. The creatures did serve their purposes, though. They were wonderfully fun to torment, and the pleasure of a good hunt was universal, regardless of the animal.
    Frankly, Jacob was amazed humans had gotten as far as they had as a species—not that they hadn’t had some help along the way from his kind.
    Jacob allowed himself a bittersweet smile as his memories drifted back to his first home, the true one. The spiraling snow capped mountains, the lush green and blue forests, and the sky at night—a dizzying array of colors and shapes. He also longed for Otherworld’s denizens, a rich diversity of species which made Earth seem like a small fish tank in