by Nick Freo
“I must preface this by stating that the properties of soul prisms are poorly understood by most, myself included. In any case, a fair amount of time ago, the Celestial Court eradicated all known soul prisms,” he continued, his attention focused on the ring, “which is why I did not inform you of my theory earlier on—it was not rational to theorize that the ring was a soul prism when none were known to exist. Your father must have forged a new soul prism, which would not have been simple or done without significant effort. A soul prism gives one the ability to create fragments of one’s soul and sell them to multiple angels or demons, contrary to the orthodox method of selling it once. With a soul prism, one’s soul is distributed amongst all of his or her consorts. The consorts’ strength and the soul prism owner’s soul will change depending on his or her closeness to Heaven and Hell.”
“Let’s say, hypothetically, I killed a fair amount of demons. That would send me closer to Heaven’s alignment?”
“I would assume so,” Mr. Gray said, his expression returning to its usual indifference. “It certainly would not send you closer to Hell’s alignment. Along with these shifts in alignment, your powers concerning healing or hellfire will shift as well, depending on your celestial alignment. Therefore, if you hypothetically executed a fair amount of demons, your ability to heal yourself or others would strengthen and if you hypothetically executed a fair number of angels, your ability to produce and control hellfire would strengthen.”
I folded the letter, tucking it into my pocket. “Others seem to notice and react to my alignment.”
“All celestial beings are capable of noticing alignment,” he said. “As do aligned humans like witches or wizards, who can serve either side.”
“What about my father?” I asked. “What side did he serve?”
Mr. Gray frowned. “Mr. Bishop, you—like your father—are an Arbiter. You are required by your oath to either serve everyone or serve no one. The Arbiter should remain neutral to fulfill his duties because it would be impossible for him or her to serve those duties without being impartial. To do anything else would be impious.”
Follow the gray.
My father’s words skimmed through my mind. This must be what he meant. He needed me to avoid choosing sides. What if that was his fatal mistake?
“But what about Belial and Michael?” I asked. “Why were they mad about my soul-marriage to Lilah and Cara if I’m meant to be neutral?”
Mr. Gray opened his mouth and closed it again. He rubbed his temple. “I need every individual in this room to swear under oath that they will not allow this next snippet of information out of this room.”
“Absolutely,” I said.
“I swear,” Cara said.
Lilah shrugged. “Sure.”
Mr. Gray did a double take at Lilah’s answer. After a second, he looked at me. “Belial and Michael were originally bound to the first Arbiter by a soul prism, in a soul-marriage similar to yours. The Arbiter used their power to maintain balance and peace. But somewhere along the line, the Arbiter, Michael, and Belial ceased being compatible. They were no longer congruous. There are several rumors concerning what transpired, but the only fact that is under current consensus is that the first Arbiter is deceased.”
“I’m sorry,” Cara said. “But if the first Arbiter is dead and Michael and Belial were in a soul-marriage with him, shouldn’t they be gone too?”
Mr. Gray nodded. “That is indeed true, Cara, but it is the only conclusion the Celestial Court could come to. Perhaps there was some flaw in the first Arbiter’s soul prism that allowed Michael and Belial to continue without their third counterpart. It may have led to the first Arbiter’s demise as well—if Michael or Belial no longer believed the first Arbiter was a necessary component of their lives, they could have taken drastic action.”
“The Celestial Court didn’t investigate that theory?” Cara asked.
“There was no evidence.”
“So, the Celestial Court destroyed the remaining soul prisms because the first Arbiter died?” I asked.
“Yes,” Mr. Gray said. “It was, of course, a mistake. The soul prisms allowed the Arbiter to tap into greater power than most individuals, and it gave the Arbiter supernatural beings who were willing to risk their lives to protect his or her life. Without the power of the soul prisms, the Celestial Court began to fall into chaos. Ordinary mortals lacked the power an Arbiter needed. This led to a congregation of wizards and witches volunteering to take up the mantle and use their own powers to fulfill the Arbiter’s responsibilities. But it is a thankless and dangerous task that few wizards or witches wanted or could survive. The line of wizards or witches that were willing to do it withered until there was only Morgan—then he had you. Now, you are the last one. Perhaps your father wanted to improve your chances of survival with the soul prism he gave you.”
“Was he killed because he had a soul prism?” I asked
“I don’t have enough information to make any conclusions.”
“Wow,” Lilah said. “Your father was a rebel against the Celestial Court.”
“It likely got him killed, Lilah,” Cara retorted.
“And if Michael killed you for taking part in the creation of a soul prism, don’t you think it’d be worth it?”
Cara frowned. “I try to not think about it that way.”
“Well, it’s a possibility, so you should consider it.” Lilah turned to me, grinning. “It’d be worth it for me.”
It was easy to forget everything was hanging in balance when I looked at Lilah and Cara. Lilah’s dark sultriness burned off her, embellishing the intensity in her eyes and making her curves a forbidden temptation. Cara’s shining beauty emanated from the delicacy of her features and created a new dawn under her skin, reminding me that I could bite from the forbidden fruit and still be welcomed back.
But they were still a distraction and no matter how good they were at that, my father’s killer was still wandering around, unpunished and unrepentant.
“I’m going to meet the Dead Man,” I told the three of them.
“That’s suicide,” Cara said, grabbing my hand.
I carefully pried her fingers off me. “The Dead Man might have the answers I need to know about my father’s death. It’s the only choice.”
“It’s not just the Dead Man you’d have to worry about. It’s a business owned by demons. It’s practically a den of demons. If you don’t remember clearly from ten minutes ago, Belial said he wouldn’t intervene if some demons tried to kill you.”
I looked over at Lilah. “Can you convince her that I’ll be fine?”
Lilah ran her fingers through her hair, combing out a tangled knot. “I hate to say it, but she’s right. The risk is way too high for a possible reward. For all you know, the Dead Man is bluffing. Maybe he’s toying with you.”
“How do you two always end up agreeing when I want to do something?” I asked.
“When the decision is based on your safety, we’d prefer you stay alive,” Lilah said. “Sorry if that’s upsetting to you.”
“I have to meet him,” I said, stuffing the tattered cloth into my pocket. “It’s the only lead I have.”
Cara opened her mouth, but I turned my back toward her, facing Mr. Gray. I indicated my ring “This soul prism—it shows my alignment, but I haven’t figured out exactly how my alignment changes.”
“Your alignment changes depending on your interactions and decisions,” he said.
“But I don’t understand which interactions or decisions count for the angel side or the demon side. I would have thought that murder would have brought me closer to the demon side. It doesn’t seem like a very angelic decision but my ring turned completely white.”
“Demons are rivals with angels,” Mr. Gray said. “It turned completely white because the fact that you killed such a large number of them made it impossible for you to be aligned with them. You’re confusing your human ideas of angels and demons with your alignment. It is not good versus e
vil.”
“Thank you,” Lilah interjected.
“It’s angel versus demon,” Mr. Gray finished.
I ran my finger over the ring. “But I could become aligned with the demons again, right?”
He nodded. “Your alignment is largely dependent on your most recent actions or decisions. You’d simply need to exhibit actions or decisions that would show some allegiance to the demon side.”
“Would it be better for me to be aligned with Heaven or Hell right now?”
“I can heal you better and protect you if you’re aligned with angels,” Cara said, her hand over her heart.
“And you can fight better if you’re on the demon side,” Lilah countered. “And, let’s be honest, everyone is going scorched earth right now, so you’ll need to be prepared to fight.”
“He’s proven he can fight with his hands. I need to be able to heal him if he gets injured badly.”
“It’s not just healing and fighting,” I said. “It’s more complicated than that. The demons are going to be gunning for me, especially once I enter the Second Circle. It will be better if I’m aligned with the demons, so they don’t see me as much as an enemy. Besides, it will also make me resistant to hellfire.”
“Kyle,” Cara said. “You’ve seen how much good healing can do. Your face would look like a Picasso painting. You could have had a brain bleed.”
I pushed against my healed face. I felt the cool breeze of my healing powers seep in and dissipate when there was nothing to heal.
“I know. But I have a better chance of avoiding a fight if the demons see that I’m aligned with them. That means I need to change my alignment.” I let my hand drop to my side. “There has to be some way to switch my alignment other than slaughtering a group of angels.”
Mr. Gray shrugged. “Yes, there is. There is an old traditional way that works to a moderate degree, but it’s a lot of exertion.”
Lilah perked up, tugging on the bottom of my jacket that she was wearing. “Oh, goody.”
“There was a purpose to all those old pagan rituals,” Mr. Gray said. “Certainly, some of them were false and attributed to human stupidity, but the one you participated in was legitimate. It should at least push your alignment toward the center.”
“I haven’t participated in any pagan rituals,” I said. Lilah twisted her arm around mine. She kissed my cheek, her lips lingering near my ear.
“Of course you did,” she said. With her lips touching my ear, she let out a small hum, sending vibrations under my skin. “And it was glorious.”
“Yes, you’ve done it twice now,” Mr. Gray said. “If you are involved in sexual intercourse with an angel or demon, it will shift your alignment. It takes a fair amount of physical labor and it won’t push you to the extremes of alignment, but it will be sufficient.”
I looked down at my ring. It was still a stark white. There was no way the demons wouldn’t want to murder me if they saw my current alignment.
“I’ll take what I can get,” I said. Lilah pressed herself against me, her hands sliding across my abdomen and down toward my thighs.
“I’ll make you much more enthusiastic real soon,” she said.
“I can’t believe this,” Cara muttered, walking back toward the kitchen. Mr. Gray bowed his head.
“I have to return to the Celestial Court. Have a good night.”
A tremor shook the floor. An aurora borealis flooded the room. A wave of the iridescence crashed over Mr. Gray. In a blink, the colors and Mr. Gray vanished.
Lilah grabbed my hand, unimpressed by the vanishing act. She yanked me toward the stairs. I let her guide me up the stairs, the demon side of me already filling up with excitement.
Chapter 20
Down the hallway, Lilah led me to the last door. The door was made out of triangle-shaped glass. When she pushed it open, a wave of heat sunk around me. I tensed, preparing myself to see demons, but there wasn’t anybody in the room. Heat lamps cast a faint glow, showing the reflective nature of glass walls and exhibiting plants. As I breathed in, the humidity felt too heavy in my lungs.
The exotic plants sprawled along the edges of the room, many of them stretching toward the glass wall on the other side of the room. When Lilah and I went further inside, she became interested in a seedpod with a thick, spiky skin that peeled apart to reveal its innards.
“I’ll assume that’s another poisonous plant,” I said, moving past her to get to the far window.
“It’s devil’s trumpets. Or hell’s bells. Or devil’s weed. Or devil’s cucumber. We kept trying to convince people to change the name to confuse them, but they were pretty adamant that the plants were evil. It’s incredibly rude for people to insist on referring to something as evil when it simply looks nasty.”
“So, it’s poisonous?”
“Oh, yeah. Very toxic. But that’s irrelevant.”
As I crossed over to the center of the room, away from the plants, my foot slid an inch forward. I looked down, expecting a puddle of water. Instead, by the glow of the exterior lights below us, I could see that the floor had switched from wood to glass. Through the thick glass, I could see the sidewalk that ran the length of the front of the house. I tested my weight on the glass. It felt strong. I kept moving forward until I reached the opposite wall and I could see out into the front yard. Beyond that, we were high enough that I could see the glow of the city in the distance.
“I don’t think this room will be good enough for our ritual,” Lilah said. I listened to the click of her knee-high boots as she approached me. She slid her hand up my arm, grabbing my upper arm. “Let’s go.”
She tried to tug me toward the door, but I grasped her arm and yanked her toward me. Her back hit against the glass wall. Her eyes widened and her mouth formed a soft oh, but before she could speak, I crushed the word between us, my mouth reigning over hers. My hand slid around her hip, pressing her body against mine. She melted against me, the tension leaving her body and enclosed in the pressure of her lips as she kissed me back. It felt like we were trying to take ownership of each other’s bodies, and with the way my body raged for control, I knew she was fighting a battle she would never win.
The jacket I had given her to wear pressed up against me, the zipper cutting into my chest. I grabbed onto the zipper, yanking it down. I ripped it off her so quickly that her shoulder jerked back. I wrapped my arms around her, kissing her shoulder in a partial apology while untying the knot of her apron. As the strings fell down, I ran my hands over her ass, the sound of her soft sigh lingering in my ear.
I pulled away from her, my hands pausing on the string of the apron looped around her neck. I pulled her closer to me before lifting the apron off of her. Her nipples were erect, even in the humidity. I crushed my body against hers. I kissed her, victorious in my conquest, my hand massaging her breasts.
Her hands moved to my shoulders, and she shoved me back. I held back a growl, the aggression in me desperate to conquer her.
“It’s only fair if I get to see you naked too,” she said.
“Maybe I haven’t had the right enticement yet.” I circled around her. “Maybe I need to know that this will be worth getting naked for. I recall you mentioning your various talents with your mouth earlier. You should put your money where your mouth is. Or my cock.”
She smirked at me before falling to her knees in front of me. She unbuttoned my jeans with proficiency. She hooked her thumbs under my jeans and boxer briefs, yanking them both down to my ankles. She licked her lips as my cock bobbed near her cheek.
She rubbed her cheek against my erection, her eyes focused on my face. Her lips pressed against the side of my cock as her hand rose up to my balls, cupping them in her palm. She massaged them as her kisses teased my cock. Sometimes she planted a quick succession of kisses, sometimes her mouth lingered, leaving a perfect, wet reminder of where it had just been. After her kisses had covered my full length, she tilted her head, taking my balls into her mouth as her hand slid up and down
my cock. She could have told me to submit to Satan in that moment and I would have agreed. I would serve Satan, Belial, Michael, and every other asshole in this universe to keep her mouth on me.
When she stopped, she looked up at me, smiling. I caressed her hair, fully enamored by her. She held my cock in her hand, her mouth encompassing my cock so quickly, I sucked in a breath. Her mouth was the perfect mixture of soft, warm, and wet and she applied a benevolent amount of pressure. She was on her knees, but I was the one that had been blessed.
I watched her lips slide up and down my length. I slipped my hands in her hair, tightening my grip every time she rolled my balls in her hand. Her tongue slid along my piss hole as she moaned, sending vibrations through me. I began swaying my hips forward. It must have been enough to encourage her because she took more of me inside her until I felt my cock hit the back of her throat. She pushed herself a little farther in, her throat muscles tickling against my tip. She kept her mouth tight as she deepthroated me, sliding her mouth from the crown of my cock to the point where I witnessed deep, deep miracles.
Sweat clung to my skin from the humidity in the room. As my hands were tangled in her hair, I could see the faintest bit of my ring. It wasn’t stark white anymore, but it hadn’t darkened by much. I tried to concentrate on the implication, but all my thoughts were consumed in how fucking perfect her tongue was.
Lilah kissed the head of my cock, her fingers untying my shoes. I lifted my feet, and she pulled them off. She quickly took off my jeans and boxer briefs, discarding them near a spindly plant. She kissed my cock again, her mouth as inviting as ever. But I came here for a reason, and it didn’t look like receiving head was the same as intercourse.
“Face the lawn,” I ordered, pulling off my shirt. “Have your hands raised up and pressed against the glass. I want anyone who comes by to see you.”
Exhibitionism wasn’t my thing, but it gave me a surge of pleasure to see her obey without question. Here was a supernatural being, willing to give up control for me. She’d demonstrated complete control over me while her mouth massaged my cock, but I could overpower her. Her control over me only existed because I allowed it to.
