by Ember Rain
My spell will hold Gunner in place until another demon can undo it and that will be awhile. It took me months to learn how to unfreeze someone on my own, but I eventually mastered it as my main defense mechanism. This may be the only gift that awful doctor ever gave to me, flashes of being strapped to his table for days at a time playing in my head.
****
I welcome the dizziness of traveling through the portal and position myself just in time to reach the other side. I have always loved traveling to the human realm, even if my visits were only allowed once per human year. It’s a relief to finally follow through with something that was once an unachievable goal.
The feeling is joyful and terrifying all at once as I see the entrance coming up quickly above me and brace myself for the forceful shove that comes upon exiting in an upwards motion.
I cross through the slosh of the spring in the rift of the valley at the exit from the underworld and fall back down, aiming myself for the green grass beside the portal. I used to stare at it every time I would visit as there is no such beauty or life in the underworld like grass, trees, or flowers.
My clothes dry quickly as the wind carries away the moisture left behind by the spring I exited below.
Looking up at the Alp mountains, I admire their magnificent beauty all around me while sucking in a breath of the fresh air unable to help myself.
With no time to waste, I fly high above the cloud cover in patches over the mountain range heading East. I can fly as fast as a vampire can move from place to place but when I am on the ground my speed is much slower.
It's been a year since I have made the trip to this realm and I remember it as if it was just yesterday. The life of the trees and plants that cover the large valley below are breathtaking. Being here is like shining a bright light in a very dark room and far different then the lifeless landscape of the underworld.
A feeling of freedom and excitement pumps my wings to push harder moving me forward faster until the world is passing me in a blur. I don’t have a plan of where I should land but having studied the way my father runs a capture mission; I know what moves they will make.
First, they will track me with the dark witch in the underworld and plenty of my personal items from my room, meaning I cannot stay in any one place for longer than a few minutes. I was able to get one vile of a cloaking mixture but that will only hold for so long. No witch will be able to track me until it’s worn off completely and it should be decreasingly harder to break in the hours before it is fully worn off so I must always keep my guard up.
Second, he will then send out demons in high numbers and offer an obscene reward for my capture. I plan to be one step ahead and hope I can keep it that way.
I never underestimate the lengths of which my father will go to ensure his family line continues to rule the underworld. High demons are great trackers along with the dark witch and her gift of location spells. I paid attention during all my lessons with my trainers over the years and was given a treasure trove of valuable information about the angel, fae, and human worlds.
My chances are good either way, if I am caught, I will fight every one of them. I will fight to survive until my last breath and live as the real me for the rest of whatever time I have left.
I bring my thoughts back to the present looking down as human cities pass below me rapidly. Spotting what looks to be a temporary safe place I nosedive towards the ground.
On the way down, a water tower catches my eye. I am in what the humans call Iron Mountain. I have flown over it before; it’s found in the upper part of the state of Michigan. The large ski hill they have always fascinated me making me want to see a human make the jumps there some day. There is a lot of tall pine trees for endless stretches of land and smaller sized towns between them. Although I have never been able to land there, I have thought many times it would be the perfect place to hide if I needed to. It comes to no surprise that I ended up here, however.
It’s dark with no houses at the top of this hilltop I have landed on. I am in a parking lot of sorts. I spin around and notice a large opening at the bottom of an even larger hill. That looks like a good place to regroup out of plain sight. Even in the dark my father’s trackers will have their best soldiers with and will be able to follow my trail of energy no matter how far I go. I step into the shadows of the opening and brace myself up against the wall. The chilly air isn't horrible but a little uncomfortable compared to the temperatures I am used to. The cave is dark, wet, and colder in temperature.
A flapping sound buzzes above my head and my entire body goes rigid, fear pumping in my veins.
Did they find me? I wonder panicked.
Whoosh, something flies by my face causing my muscles to tense. In the moonlight shining on the edge of the cavern I spot A small black winged creature as it flies out of the opening into the darkening of the world outside of the cave. My body relaxes, realizing I am only being paranoid.
The human realm is getting darker and darker, the sun gone from the horizon. I pull the small vile of the cloaking mixture I tricked Raven into making for me the week before claiming it to be for my father. I pop the top and let the foul liquid slip down my throat in one quick motion.
My magic has always been much stronger and for me to not stand out like a walking target I need to cloak myself until I can find a more permanent solution. Since I don't have any connections here right now, I will have to think of something in a hurry. The one vile should not wear off completely until closer to morning in the human realm.
I begin to pace around the cave nervously, trying to think of my next move.
Where can I go that can’t be tracked? I ask aloud, my voice echoing off the walls around me.
I know I can't stay in an unprotected place for longer than a few more minutes with how fast the witch will be fighting my shield against her tracking spell. Likely, she’s brought her entire coven to increase her power and ability to break the enchantment of the blocker. If I move around from place to place, I can confuse them, and it will take even longer to find me.
The idea is desperate, but it’s all I have for the moment.
Then, as if someone were guiding my thoughts to a resolution, a memory plays in my head of a place that I had visited once on my earlier trips with Ashland, one of my former trainers.
The house on the outskirts of Los Angeles belongs to my father's greatest enemy, Deus, and his Earth Angels.
Deus is known by many names and in our world, we use Deus, but in the human realm he is often referred to as God and many other names in various parts of their world. My trainer had explained all of this to me the day she had brought me to the boundary of their wards and glamour long ago.
I remember how mesmerizing the glamour looked from just above it and the pull I felt inside of me to pass through it.
I moved downward quickly catching Ashland off guard, but just as I was about to reach the shimmering light, she had grabbed the muscle of my arm and pulled me back with a violent force. The memory plays so vividly in my mind, it feels like just yesterday.
“You must never try to pass through the glamour, it is forbidden to demons and the Angels will then bind you to the underworld forever if you attempt to enter their lands.” She had warned in a no-nonsense tone. The fear of my coming so close stayed with me since then. I don’t know if this is a great idea after her warnings that day as well as the EA team having been the angels who bound my parent’s to their current fates in the underworld, but my heart is telling me to give the angels a chance; Give myself a chance. The banishments of my parent’s means neither can use the portal or enter the human realm for the rest of eternity along with many other demon’s that occupy the realm. Those of us who haven’t been marked can still use the portal to go to and from the realm into the human world, having freedoms that the damned do not have. Most of us are younger, and or have been able to evade capture or were never proven to have broken the laws that we are all bound to abide by.
Belie
ve it or not, being condemned to the underworld may be one of the more severe punishments for some, but there are others who are sent to a territory called The land of Illusions where they are shielded on all sides from crossing an invisible barrier. This place holds some of the greatest demons of all time along with dark Fae and many other evil supernatural creatures who were sent there by the Fae King and Queen over the years. The underworld might be a fit for demons who’ve broken the laws but cannot occupy dark fae as well as all the demons who already live here. What boggles my mind are those that choose the darkness and to live in this place of their own desire. Sure, we have seedy demon bars where many spend their time drinking down all sorts of things a demon would find entertaining, such as special liquors that can do powerful things for only small burst of time before fading much like alcohol to a human would be. There is also shops that sell all kinds of deadly concoctions to help in missions to kill angels and or play humans like puppets. I do not enjoy going down to the demon markets like everyone else, nor would I ever buy any of their shady shit sold there.
I believe the angels would have bound my parent’s and many of these greater demons to hell where they cannot physically cause harm to anyone of their own kind or any other supernatural even if they wanted to.
Ashland had explained to me the night we hovered above the angel lands that only a certain kind of angel is able to bind any demon to eternal hell, that and as far as I am aware they have not located such an angel. My parent’s fought for years to get their hands on the information about which kind of angel would be able to do such a thing to eradicate the threat. From what I understand an ancient scroll held this information and since then, the angels that held this power have been slaughtered upon their birth or shortly thereafter. If any were to have survived, they would be hidden until they ascended and could complete the job the angels started and have many of the condemned demon’s in the underworld bound to hell with Lucifer.
He is another subject all together, but widely known down here as my grandfather. I fear him from the books I have studied about his reign among the human world and while he ruled the underworld. The true history is that my father was not the first angel that Deus cast out of heaven and that my grandfather was, indeed the first to ever rule the underworld before he was cast to eternal hell, locked there for the rest of his eternal life.
I overheard father’s meeting a few months ago about there being a new angel team in place and most are made up of the original angel’s kin to take over the team and it’s duty to protect the human realm from any and all demons who seek to do any harm or steal souls.
It is important that neither the demons or the angels ever show their true nature to a mortal or risk having their wings taken and sentenced to walk among the humans without their wings and earn their place in the light back by overriding whatever deed they had done in order to be cast out. It is said that Deus stopped adding to the numbers in the underworld and instead cast out and removed the wings of any of his angels who defied him. These angel’s then pro-created with humans and created what we like to call the halflings, or Nephilim race. The children are born with no wings but do ascend and receive powers when they come of age. However, some didn’t want to return to heaven and have never made any effort to complete any good deeds to earn their wings back, but instead they indulge in manipulating the humans and find joy in the freedom they have to walk among the living still
If I could convince the newer EA team that I am not there to cause trouble, would they help me?
I would bet mother and father would never find me there and even if they did no demon would brave crossing the glamour and being bound to hell for eternity all to see if that’s where I went.
I quickly run down the lists of pros and cons of my half-cocked plan.
Con, Angels do not trust demons.
Pro, I have always heard of them to be fair with punishments.
Con, Angels have the power to send me back to the underworld forever.
Damn, that's a big con, I think shaking my head in frustration.
Pro, angels are known to be compassionate to those in need. I can't be sure if that will include a demon like me but what other choice do, I have? I struggle back and forth with myself.
I'm surely in need of help and since It seems like the only choice, I have its finally decided that I will go and ask them for help at the end of my internal debate.
My decision having been made, I step out of the cave into the black of night, the moon only a sliver in the sky the stars shine so brightly here compared to some of the bigger cities I have seen on a few of my visits. There were little to no stars in the skies around the heavily populated areas, but here is so clean and beautiful. This is what allows the stars to come out at night.
I stalk across the parking lot of the tourist attraction to survey the perimeter before taking off. I notice a large sign at the entrance that says, 'Welcome to the bat caves'
That's an interesting thing to have for tourists to visit, I think amused. The little winged creature must have been a bat then. The great princess, scared of a bat, now that was funny. I let a small giggle bubble out at the thought.
I reach out with my magic focusing on my surroundings and cannot feel any significant amount of power in the immediate area. Moments later I am sure I am good to go. I expand my dark wings out to my sides, lifting off into the night sky.
The lack of clouds makes it harder to hide while flying over Michigan, but I get lucky and there are plenty over North Dakota. The downside is the storms brewing inside the big gray stretches of them. I dodge and duck around them as I whisk by.
My hair gets dampened by the falling rain but dries quickly as I cross over into Montana within minutes. There is enough cloud cover to help conceal me as I fly but the air is much warmer over this state and I'm grateful for the lack of storms here as well.
I land in Sweet Home, Idaho to pick up a few of my favorite treats from a truck stop at the beginning of the state. I have been here a few times as well. Ashland has a family that lives here in hiding. She was such a wonderful trainer, by far my favorite of them all. I trusted her, and she trusted me. We had a friendship unlike anyone else in the underworld and often she told me her secrets. The biggest secret of them all was her child that no one had ever known about aside from me.
She mated with a human when she was first transitioning into a full demon. She was already pregnant with the human's child who would be half demon and half human putting both the father and child at significant risk if ever they were discovered by my parents.
Half-breeds were abominations and are usually ended the moment they are revealed or found by my parents who considered them too weak to survive our world and way of life. These half demons were different and that is something I related to easily growing up. I believe that is why Ashland told me about her family. Even though her son is a demon and has inherited his gifts when he came of age, he never did get wings.
He lives among the humans and doesn't bother anyone, instead Ashland raised him from afar and taught him how to live among the humans and the angels peacefully. He now works for an underground operation to help half demons and an occasional full demon to find the light inside of themselves, reforming them to live in harmony among the Angels, humans, and other demons. Many of those who go through the program end up perfecting any gifts they are born with and using them to aid the Earth Angels on many of their missions.
Tears linger in my eyes streaking into the air behind me as I fly. Ashland was caught teaching me things my parents didn't want me to know about and she was killed because of me.
I thrust my wings harder and faster towards my destination and revert my thoughts back to where I am going to avoid re-living the pain of her loss all over again. The guilt has eaten me alive for so long.
I got a new trainer who was awful and have never been back to visit Rogue, Ashland's son since sending him an encoded message of her passing.
Letting the wind t
ake away my saddened thoughts I rally my emotions back down and continue to fly towards what I hope will be a much happier place, or at the very least somewhere safe.
Chapter Two
Storm
“Wait up,” I yell to my brother over the sound of the wind whipping past me as we race across the sky.
Logan whizzes past me and I can't let him get the upper hand. My brother is younger than me by only nine minutes, but I still feel I am the older one and should be faster. He spreads his white and gold wings and thrusts himself forward, gaining an even bigger lead on me despite my pleas for him to slow down.
“Not a chance,” He retorts with a laugh before diving down towards the ground. I know he'll beat me to our house on the outskirts of LA, he's always been faster. He spins and swirls in the air before he's gone from my sight and lands at the house. For several minutes I allow my wings to levitate me far above the yard to our house and enjoy the warmth from the sunbathing my skin before following my brother down to the ground.
The flowers are so beautiful around the house as if they had all just bloomed on sight. I can tell that Kennedy has been working hard on the gardens. There are five of us that live here and protect the Earth realm with only one other team placed on the East coast for backup. We have never had to call upon them for anything, however it's nice to know they are at our disposal if needed. I open the door to our house and step inside.
“Storm, get in here.” Kennedy screeches from the Livingroom.
I cross the foyer in two strides sensing her panic. Something's going on from the commotion in the room as I walk in. The look on my friend’s faces is a little jarring.
“What's wrong?” I ask looking at them all one by one. The room stills. I am even more worried when my gaze lands on my brother's face that is usually lit up with a smile. His eyes are wide and his face pale as he stares back at me. My fearless brother looks horrified by something and that is not like him at all. Usually, Logan is the first to volunteer for some of the world’s most dangerous missions we have been tasked with.
