I almost opened my mouth to object, but realized I had no defense. I had joined forces with the HR for purely selfish and twisted reasons.
“In case you’re wondering why I want you to work for me, it’s simple. You have incredible potential and immense power. And over the years, you’ve become incredibly skilled in your line of work. Additionally, you have become a distraction for Alexander, and I really can’t have that. Do you understand?” Lucifer smiled pleasantly and took another sip of his ambrosia.
I nodded. I was going to keep my mouth shut as much as possible.
“Now tell me, Zyan, does it frustrate you that you and the other supernatural beings were designated to either Heaven or Hell, like kids being picked for kickball?” He waited until I nodded, slowly, unsure of where he was going with this. “I couldn’t agree more. Why pick sides for everyone? We should all be free to make our own choices, should we not? And that’s where you come in. I want you to help me change all of that. Because nothing is black and white. The realm of Heaven wants everyone to think it is. They are white, pure, all that is good. Hell is black, evil, everything unholy.”
As he spoke, the room slowly darkened as tendrils of black overtook the white. The floor turned to obsidian, the walls to midnight. Dark crept up the furniture and our glasses, and last of all the callas, starting at the base of the stem and working up to the tips of the petals.
“In reality though, things aren’t black and white. Most things are somewhere in between.”
And this time the color seemed to drain away, as if chased by something unseen. It faded to gunmetal, then granite, then sterling. The floor brushed silver, the furniture a shade lighter than moleskin, the callas dipped in moon shadow.
“Heaven wants control. I just want everyone to have their freedom. I want my demon children to walk freely in the realm of Earth, just as angels do. We should not be condemned to Hell, wouldn’t you agree?” Lucifer leaned back in his chair, his ankle resting across the opposite knee. “Wouldn’t you like to know that you’re not eternally damned anymore? That you have the choice of where you spend eternity? Although, I’m sure you can’t argue that Hell can be quite charming in certain locations.” He waved his hands around at the proof.
“Yes,” I agreed, since I could tell this time he expected a response. And as I glanced around the room, everything did seem perfect, except in my periphery. Sometimes dark shapes seemed to materialize at the edges of my vision, but as I turned to look they vanished. Incredibly unsettling to say the least.
“So, let’s come back to your need for revenge against Alexander.” Lucifer nodded towards Alexander. “Alexander has become a very important emissary for me. And Anna has special talents which are very useful. So you see, I can’t allow you to harm either of them.”
“It’s not Anna I want to harm,” I said, locking eyes with Alexander.
“Well, that’s the interesting thing.” Lucifer gave me a pitying smile and I could tell what he was about to say was not going to be good. “Anna is bonded to Alexander. If you harm him, you harm her.”
“Bonded?” My words echoed through the silver room. “Bonded how?”
I could see Alexander’s triumphant smile out of the corner of my eye, and I wanted to throttle him so badly my body ached with the need for it.
“All of my commanders are bonded to me. And in turn, some of them bond their followers to them. Alexander, why don’t you show her?” Lucifer waved a hand at Alexander.
Alexander held out his right arm and pulled up the sleeve of his shirt. The skin on his forearm began to glow, and a thin red spiral appeared, starting at the wrist and encircling his arm to the elbow. Interspersed between the lines of the spiral were runes, in the same sort of sharp-edged writing I’d seen on the obsidian door. Demonic runes.
“What exactly does that mean?” I asked, still not quite sure I understood. I had a suspicion, and hoped very much that I was wrong.
“It means part of my essence has passed to Alexander, and part of his to me.”
I turned to Alexander. “So you’re part—”
“Part demon,” he finished, a broad smile on his face.
My eyes flickered to Anna. “Which means you’re part demon, too.”
She didn’t answer verbally, but lifted her arm defiantly. The spiral and runes lit up along her pale skin like fresh blood. I was both crushed and slightly hopeful. On the one hand, my sister was part demon. On the other, maybe this whole bond thing explained why she was so cold and disengaged. Maybe there was still hope for her. If I could somehow kill Alexander or break the bond without taking her down in the process.
“So now I hope you see, Zyan, that we must all get along,” said Lucifer with an encouraging smile. “Your sister is bonded to me and Alexander, and I hope you will join us. Help me bring freedom to your supernatural brethren. Freedom from an eternity in one realm, when you should be free to travel in any realm you wish.” He paused and anchored his eyes to mine. “Will you help us, Zyan?”
I looked steadily back at him. “Everything you’ve said sounds true and just. I do want freedom for myself, and the other supernaturals.” I paused, choosing my words carefully for once. His eyes seemed to glow like a dying star. “But the feeling in my gut tells me your words are nothing but a net of deception.”
His eyes widened and were truly terrible for a moment before he laughed and his face relaxed into a smile. “Ah, Zyan. Your honesty is admirable.”
I smiled backed at him. “Well, since we’re being honest, we both know I can’t lie to you. Otherwise I most certainly would have.”
Lucifer chuckled. “I suspected you might feel this way. Which is why of course I’m leaving nothing to chance. Anna?”
My head whipped towards my sister, and my eyes had just reached hers when my whole body froze. I couldn’t move a muscle. I struggled with all my might, but I couldn’t so much as wiggle my nose. I tried to ask what was happening, but of course my throat and mouth were paralyzed, too. Anna’s eyes were locked on mine. She was somehow controlling me, utterly and completely.
“Interesting isn’t it?” Alexander asked. “In addition to the vampire assets I imbued her with, Anna can control other supernaturals. Both physically and mentally. It’s how we broke into HR headquarters so easily. In case you were wondering.” He winked. “Yes, she is truly one of a kind.”
I was unable to react to this shocking news in any way, though my mind churned. Had Alexander known she had these powers before he turned her? Or was he just lucky? And with powers like that, she could control him in a heartbeat. She could dominate all the supes, including the forces of Heaven. Which is why he had to bind her to him. And also extra insurance against me trying to kill him. It was all so perfectly diabolical. God, I hated him.
The subject of my hatred moved towards me now, as Anna held me still. Still and completely helpless. Lucifer stood then and shook his head at Alexander, whose eyes flickered in surprise for a moment before stepping back. The Devil took my arm and pulled something from within the folds of his tunic. It was not so much a blade as a sharp shard of cloudy black crystal about ten inches in length. He turned my arm so my palm faced upwards, then he pressed the tip of the shard into the soft flesh of my wrist and began to cut.
I screamed as unfathomable pain shot up my arm. Or at least, I screamed on the inside, which made a strange strangled noise in my throat like an animal trapped inside my body. Where the blade dragged across my skin, a glowing red line appeared, but no blood, as if the cut cauterized as it was being made. Lucifer turned my arm as he finished the first circle around my wrist.
I had nowhere to look but at my sister. And she seemed to have nowhere to look but at me; it seemed eye contact was crucial to her control. Or maybe she just wanted to see me suffer. I couldn’t be sure. Her eyes were empty and dead, like she was looking at a stranger. I had to believe this absence of emotion had to do with her demonic binding. Surely my own sister couldn’t care this little about me unless compe
lled not to?
As Lucifer began his second loop around my forearm, another wave of agony ripped through me, like he was severing my arm from my body. Maybe he was. Maybe pieces of me were breaking off and flying away, gone forever. I had never cried from physical pain, but I felt my eyes glisten with tears. If I had anything resembling a soul left in me, it would now definitely belong to the Devil.
Then I saw Anna’s eyes flicker. Just for a moment, but it was something. She felt something. Seeing this happen to me had caused some sort of reaction.
Then, with both Lucifer and Alexander fixated entirely on me, my sister closed her eyes. Just for a couple moments. An extra long blink, really. But in that split second, I could feel power over my body return to me. And in that split second, I reached into the space between spaces, the interdimensional paths, and I stepped into them.
But right as I was vanishing, holding the black paths with the white trees firmly in my mind, my sisters eyes reopened, and I remembered us as little girls together. So when my body popped across dimensions, I didn’t land on the black paths between. I landed in another dimension entirely.
CHAPTER FOUR
I lay in a bright meadow, all sun glinting off lime-colored shafts of grass and flashes of periwinkle sky. On my back, the warm earth beneath me and the hot sun above me, I stared at the sky until my vision blurred and I saw nothing but spots.
“Look.” Anna’s voice. I realized she lay in the grass next to me.
I rolled over on my elbows, my honey blonde hair spilling down around my face. A ladybug crawled over Anna’s knuckles. We giggled as it opened its wings and flitted away into the sky.
Rolling back over, I closed my eyes and let the sun dance on my eyelids. “What do you think you’ll be when you grow up?” I asked Anna.
I could hear the puzzlement in her voice. “What do you mean?”
“Well, I want to be an artist and travel to London and Paris and have big parties. So, what do you want to do?” I glanced over at her.
Anna sighed as she tried to weave together two long pieces of grass. “I just want to be a lady.”
I giggled. “Well that’s boring.”
Anna frowned. “Well, what do you think I should be?”
“A poet,” I declared. “You should be a poet, and I’ll be an artist, and we’ll travel everywhere together.”
“For always?” Anna’s blue eyes were wide open like the sky.
“For always. Two sisters on a grand adventure.” I took a deep breath, contented, and closed my eyes again.
Time passed and I kept no track of it. The afternoon sky faded from daffodil to goldenrod. I listened to the hum of the dragonflies and the weaving of the wind through the grass. Sometime later I awoke, when the sun was melting into the horizon like orange pudding. Anna was gone. I felt a moment of alarm that I quickly pushed aside. There was no reason to worry. Not about anything.
Climbing to my feet, I stretched languorously and looked across the meadow. A white church sat on the far side. A light glowed inside. I crossed the meadow and passed through a wrought iron gate into the neatly trimmed yard around the little chapel. A large wooden door led into the building, and it was open. I walked through.
Inside, the lighting was very dim and the air still and quiet. A peaceful quiet though, not a scary one. Something stirred in my mind, like it’d been a very long time since I’d been here. But of course that wasn’t right. I’d been here just last week with mother and father and Anna. I looked down the aisle of the church. Someone sat on the very front row. I began to walk towards the figure, the stone floor cold beneath my bare feet. It wasn’t until I stood parallel to the person that he turned his golden-haired head towards me.
“Hello, Kaitlyn.” His voice was deep and kind.
“Who are you?”
“My name’s Elijah. I’m here to take you home.”
“Are you one of my father’s friends?” My brow wrinkled, trying to figure out who this stranger was. “You seem familiar.”
“No, I’m not your father’s friend. I’m your friend. Don’t you remember?” His eyes were a funny color. Like lavender buds.
“I’m not sure,” I said after a moment’s hesitation.
“Do you trust me?” He asked.
“To do what?”
“To walk you home.” He smiled reassuringly.
“I suppose. If you think it would be okay with mother and father.”
“I don’t think they’d mind.” He stood, reaching out a hand to take mine. His skin was very warm. “It’s this way.”
We walked past the altar and underneath the stained glass windows at the back of the church. Elijah opened another wooden door. The night sky met us on the other side. It had gotten dark very quickly. We stepped out into the evening air.
Which melted away into a simple room with polished wood floors, a bed, and an overflowing bookshelf.
I spun away from the person standing next to me. Then I saw who it was. “Eli!” And a moment later, “What’s happening?”
He lifted his arms slowly in a calming gesture. “We’re at HR headquarters. You got lost in another dimension.”
I sucked in several deep breaths. As memory flooded back to me, my hands trembled a bit. And one arm stung like shit. I didn’t want to look down at it, because I knew what I would see. “How did you know where to find me? Or even that I was gone?”
“You’ve been missing for four days.” He met my wild eyes with a steady gaze.
“Four days? No, I was down in Hell for like an hour, and then—”
“Wait, what?”
I swallowed hard. “Hell. You know, brimstone, lava, evil, etc. And a rather amazing beach.” I tried for my usual humor, but my voice came out strained.
“How did you get there?” Eli’s expression was so startled I almost laughed. Except none of this was funny.
“Anna called me and said she wanted to meet—”
“So you agreed? What the heck, Zyan!” Now he just looked pissed.
“Save your lecture, okay? There’s some important shit going down. Intel on Hell invading.” I narrowed my eyes at him.
He opened his mouth, then closed it again, then said, “Fine. Go on.”
“I met Anna. Alexander was there, too. They tricked me—” Eli gave me a “big surprise” roll of his eyes. “And took me to Hell. Apparently they’re both working for Lucifer. So we went to his personal corner of Hell, which is lovely by the way. He offered me a job. I declined. And then…”
“Then what?” Eli asked impatiently.
“He tried to bond me to him.” I lifted my right arm. A faint red line still wrapped around my wrist, curving about an inch or so up my forearm.
Eli just stared at it. “Did he complete the bond?”
“I don’t think so. Alexander and Anna each have a spiral going all the way to their elbow, and demonic runes in between the lines.” I took another deep breath and closed my eyes for a second. “They’re both part demon now. My sister’s part demon, Eli.”
He hesitated a moment before reaching out and squeezing my hand. “I’m sorry, Zy.”
“She has power over supes. Mind control and stuff. That’s why Alexander’s been using her, how they broke in to HQ. And I’m sure this whole demon thing is what’s gotten her to hate me so much. He can control her with this bond.” I paused to catch my breath. I felt light-headed. “But she let me escape. When they weren’t looking, she released her hold on me. I know she did it on purpose. And I tried to step onto the between paths, but I lost concentration, and ended up… well, I don’t know where.”
Eli’s eyes were soft. “There’s a dimension where people can recreate events from their past. You summoned a memory of time spent with your sister in the meadow by your house.” He paused. “Time passes differently there, though. People can wither away in their own dreams of days gone by.”
“There are worse ways to die,” I said quietly, wistfully.
He ignored my last comment. “Qui
nn called me when you didn’t come back the other night. We looked all around the city, and on the second day of looking I decided to visit the interdimensional paths to see if I could pick up your track. I felt you instantly, but it took me a couple more days to pinpoint you exactly. The realm of the past shifts constantly. It isn’t an easy place to find.”
I felt very tired all of the sudden and went to sit down on the bed. “Is this your room?”
“Yeah,” Eli said, looking around almost self-consciously. “Okay, so got more details about a Hell invasion?”
“Lucifer’s been behind everything. The assassination attempts, the riot, the portal breaches. He says he doesn’t like the terms of The Agreement, and wants his children to be able to roam freely in any dimension. He tried to make it sound like he was fighting for equality or something, so all us eternally damned immortals don’t have to stay in Hell when we die, but I could tell he was full of it.” I went back and relayed the entire chain of events, trying to remember everything he and Alexander had said.
Martinis with the Devil, Part Two Page 4
