by Diem, J. C.
Leo sighed and shook his head at Sophia when she opened her mouth to protest. “There is no use arguing with her. You know that Violet does not like being told what to do.”
Taking a deep breath, Sophia changed her tactic. “Your time is very limited now. You require being purged with holy fire every few days just to keep you on your feet. The longer you procrastinate, the faster the toxin will spread through you. What use will you be to Nathan if you die before we can free him?”
“This is what my instincts are telling me to do,” I said firmly.
“Are you sure it is not your hormones that are talking?” Leo said with a smirk.
I glowered at him, but I couldn’t work up any real anger. I had to conserve my energy for more important things, like not falling asleep on my feet. My slumber had been restless last night. I’d woken up countless times in an effort not to return to the shadowlands in my mind. “Reynolds is meeting with his team tonight,” I said in what I hoped was a reasonable tone rather than a snarky one. “Let’s wait and hear their plan before you start dragging me all over town to search for the next portal.”
Neither of them were happy about it, but they agreed. I knew they were just worried about me, but I was worried about my guardian. We had to break Nathan free from Hag’s clutches before irreparable damage could be done to him.
₪₪₪
Chapter Seven
I trained with Leo in the front room while Sophia busied herself in the kitchen baking. The heavenly scent of chocolate chip cookies permeated the downstairs and brought a pang of sorrow to my heart. Chocolate chip had been Sam’s favorite flavor.
Before I could descend into a depression, a knock sounded at the front door. Leo went on full alert and called on his sword. Sophia hurried in from the kitchen and crossed to the door. I bent down and retrieved my dagger from the sheath inside my right boot.
Pulling the purple curtain aside, the clairvoyant glanced outside and relaxed. She opened the door and Elijah entered. In his sixties, the reverend had white hair and kindly blue eyes. He was average height and had a bit of a paunch. Sniffing deeply, he grinned. “Is that freshly baked cookies I can smell?”
“It is and you are welcome to join us for morning tea,” Sophia replied. Elijah popped in from time to time just to visit. He’d become part of our team now. He’d blended in so well that it almost seemed like he’d always been one of us.
Leo and I put our real weapons away and returned to our training. It was hard to concentrate and avoid his blows and stabs. My body ran on autopilot while my mind was occupied with worrying about Nathan. I’d had enough combat experience by now to at least hold my own against my opponent. Then Leo stepped up his game and I was forced to focus.
Wearing a look of fierce concentration, he moved far faster than normal as he struck at my face. My arm was a blur of motion as I deflected his stick with my own. “You are paying attention after all,” he said with a challenging grin. “I thought you were moping about Nathan.”
“I can mope and fight at the same time,” I replied as I circled him. Despite knowing that I’d taken down six princes of hell, he still thought of me as a clumsy novice. I might not be as strong as him when I was in my human form, but I was far from helpless. Maybe it was time he learned that once and for all.
Seeing my determination, Leo’s grin widened. He was an ancient and holy warrior and I was just an infant compared to him. He was confident that I wouldn’t be able to win one of our training sessions. I feinted at his chest with my wooden stick and he blocked the strike then countered with a score on my arm. Moving with the same speed, I sidestepped and came back at him.
Leo’s smug smirk disappeared and a frown took its place. He didn’t like it that I was able to keep up with him. For the first time, I saw the arrogance that was inherent in all angels. He believed he was better than me and I was determined to show him that he wasn’t.
Sophia entered the room and took a seat at the table across from Elijah. Then everything faded and my entire focus was on beating my opponent. Shorter than me by a couple of inches, Leo’s reach was also slightly shorter. I’d fought foes that towered over me. The angel was nothing compared to the much worthier princes of the realms.
Dark pleasure began to spread through me as I knocked Leo’s weapon away and scored a hit on his ribs. He staggered back against the wall and became cornered. My killer instincts took over and I released a barrage of stabs and slices at him. He went down to one knee and I moved in for a blow that would remove his smug head from his shoulders.
“Stop!” Elijah roared. The raw power that emanated from him was enough to freeze me in place. Leo’s expression was terrified as he cowered away from me. Sophia darted forward and sheltered Leo with her defenseless body. “Put away your dagger,” Elijah ordered me.
Looking at my hand in surprise, I saw that the stick was gone and my dagger had taken its place. I dropped it, but it disappeared before it could hit the carpet, no doubt returning to its sheath in my boot. Staggering back, I lost my balance and fell down. “What’s happening to me?” I gasped.
“The evil from the demonic toxin is beginning to overwhelm your system,” the priest said as he crouched beside me. “Your aura turned black while you were fighting your young friend.”
Sophia sent us both a sharp look as she helped Leo to his feet. I’d cut him a few times, but he was already healing. “Violet has an aura like angels and demons?” she queried.
Elijah nodded and grabbed my arm to help me to stand. “Yes, but it’s gray rather than black or white.” Sophia knew why this was the case and the look she sent me was pitying. Everyone else would assume it was because I had both demonic and angelic essence inside me. The truth was that I was a blend of both beings.
Leo flinched away when I took a step towards him. “I’m sorry, Leo,” I said wretchedly. “I didn’t mean to hurt you. I don’t know what came over me.”
Skirting around me warily, he took his seat at the table. “I think that is enough training for one day,” he said in reply. From his guarded expression, I was pretty sure that was the end of our training sessions forever.
“I’m going upstairs to wash up,” I said dully and trudged into the kitchen. The whispers started even before I made it to the stairs.
On my way past the living room, I glanced through the door and something caught my eye. An object sat on the coffee table next to the couch where Sam used to sit. Entering the room, I sat down and picked it up. It was a small wooden carving of Sam. He was hideous and twisted and was kneeling down with an arm raised over his head to protect himself. It was nearly the same pose Leo had been in moments ago when I’d almost decapitated him.
A shudder went through me at how close I’d come to hurting Leo. Being decapitated wouldn’t have killed him. It would have been far worse than that. If he’d managed to reattach his head, he would have become a shambling zombie. I’d lost control and the evil inside me had taken advantage of my lapse. It had pushed aside my ability to think and all I’d wanted to do was to destroy my enemy.
Putting the carving back down, I forced myself to my feet and headed to the bathroom. Washing my hands, I looked at my reflection. I wasn’t surprised to see a faint crimson glow emanating from my eyes.
Sam was the only person I could have talked to about my anguish. He’d lived in hell for four centuries and he understood demons. Now I didn’t have anyone to confide in. None of my friends knew what it was like to have darkness inside them. Sam had redeemed himself, but his soul had been as black as his skin until he’d escaped from his captivity and he’d turned his life around.
Feeling alone and miserable, I lingered in the bathroom until the glow faded from my eyes. Maybe my friends were right. Perhaps I should leave Nathan’s rescue up to them and just focus on finding the next portal. The toxin was growing stronger and it was now changing me in this dimension as well. I couldn’t allow the darkness to take me over again. I’d already hurt one of my friends. Who knew what
I would be capable of if the evil rose again?
₪₪₪
Chapter Eight
I hid in my room for the rest of the day, leaving only long enough to grab a quick meal for lunch and dinner. Staring at my ereader without actually reading the words, I jumped when my phone rang. I’d taken it out of my pocket and it was sitting on the bed beside me. Seeing Reynolds’ name on display, I answered it. “Tell me you have good news,” I said bleakly. I needed something to cheer me up. It was nearly midnight and I was tired, but I’d been determined to stay awake so I wouldn’t miss this call.
“Are Sophia and Leo there?” he replied. “They need to hear this.”
“They’re downstairs with Elijah. Give me a minute to join them.” Leaving my bedroom, I headed for the stairs. The others were still gathered in the front room. They were watching the door expectantly when I walked through. Elijah had decided to stick around. He wanted to hear the plan that Reynolds and his mysterious team would come up with. I set the phone to speaker mode then sat it on the table. “We’re all here now,” I told Reynolds.
“I just met with the rescue team,” he reported. “They scouted out the warehouse and I gave them a copy of the blueprints that Leo drew. They’re confident that they’ll be able to extract Nathan. They want to go in tomorrow night at two in the morning.”
A mixture of excitement and dread flooded through me. The rescue mission was going to happen much sooner than I’d expected. “That’s great news!” I said.
“How exactly are they going to accomplish this?” Sophia asked.
“I didn’t ask and they didn’t offer any details,” the cop told her. “They don’t trust me enough to divulge their methods to me.” He was a lawman and they were criminals. We were lucky they were willing to help us at all.
“What information did you give them about our situation?” Leo queried.
“I couldn’t exactly say the base is filled with angels,” Reynolds said dryly. “I told them that they’re a group of religious fanatics and that they’ve kidnapped a non-believer and have been torturing him.”
It was close enough to the truth that even Elijah wasn’t bothered by it. “Where will they take Nathanael after they extract him?” the priest asked.
Reynolds and Elijah knew each other well. The detective had been a member of the reverend’s church for over a decade. He’d suggested we use the church as a refuge for a short while. Nathan and I had already met the priest by then, which was an indication that he’d been set in our path by Fate. “I gave them the address of a vacant building where we’ll meet them,” Reynolds replied. “It’s only a couple of blocks away from Sophia’s store.”
He named one of the decoy buildings where I’d set traps for Vepar and her death squad. The lord had deactivated the runes in her quest to find us, so it would be safe to use now. Reynolds had been kept up to date with what we’d been doing. He’d also noted which buildings we’d used to try to draw her away from our base. He’d wisely chosen one for the team to take Nathan to rather than sending them to our secret hideaway. Nathan wouldn’t be in any shape to teleport until after he’d recovered from being tortured. Leo would zap us to the building so we could grab my guardian and bring him back here.
“I will watch the rescue mission from our lair across the street from the warehouse,” Leo said. “That way I can step in if anything goes wrong.”
“I’m going with you,” I said. He sent me a mistrustful look that speared me through the heart. “Please, Leo,” I entreated. “I’ll leave my dagger behind so you won’t be in any danger from me.”
“I have a feeling I’ve missed something,” Reynolds said as our stares locked. He couldn’t see us, but he could hear the tension in my voice.
“It is nothing,” Leo said. “Just a misunderstanding.” He gave me a tiny nod and I slumped in relief. He hadn’t forgiven me for turning on him, but he wasn’t going to leave me behind while Nathan was being freed.
“I’m going to start cruising the streets near the warehouse an hour before the team goes in,” the detective informed us. “I’ll park somewhere nearby and set off the car alarm to signal Dom that it’s time for him to begin his distraction. With luck, he’ll be able to draw all of the angels out with his illusions of demons.”
“What if the guards stay to watch over Nathan?” I asked.
Reynolds hesitated before responding. “I’ve told the team that this is a possibility. I also warned them the guards might be preternaturally strong and hard to take down. I hinted that drugs might be involved.”
“You have given them as much warning as you can,” Elijah said. “They wouldn’t believe you if you told them the truth of who and what they will be facing.”
“Now it’s just a waiting game,” the detective said. I heard the tension in his voice and saw it reflected on my friends’ faces. They were all as worried and nervous as I was.
“Be careful, Calvin,” Sophia said. It was strange to hear her use his first name.
“You know I will,” he replied then hung up.
I put my phone away then we all sat in silence for a few moments. “I should be heading home,” Elijah said at last. “I’ll probably just be in the way if I attempted to help you tomorrow night.”
“Send us your thoughts and prayers,” Sophia said and they both stood up and headed for the door. “I will call you when Nathan is safely home.”
“We should not worry,” Leo said as Sophia closed the door behind Elijah. “I am sure nothing will go wrong with the rescue.” It would have been more reassuring if it hadn’t sounded like he was trying to convince himself of that as well as us.
“About what happened this morning,” I said and the cautious look returned to his eyes. “I really am sorry. I didn’t mean to attack you like that.”
“What happened?” he asked. “One minute you were normal, then your eyes started glowing red and you were trying to kill me.”
“I think Elijah was right about the toxin. The evil is spreading and it overwhelmed me.” I wasn’t about to confess the thoughts that had been going through my mind at the time. Leo was the least arrogant angel I’d ever met. He would be wounded if I told him that was what I’d thought about him when we’d been fighting.
“You should try to sleep,” Sophia told me. “It is going to be a long night tomorrow.”
I knew she was right and I dragged myself up to my room. Before climbing into bed, I reached into the nightstand and took out the sapphire rune stone. It was my only anchor to Nathan and I fell asleep with it clutched in my hand.
₪₪₪
Chapter Nine
I slept fitfully and only fell into a deeper sleep around the time when I’d usually be getting up. A nightmare grabbed hold of me and it wouldn’t let go. The Hellmaster was chasing me across the wastelands in his ornate carriage. There were four nightmares in the traces and I was on foot. My nemesis hadn’t come alone and had brought his servants with him. Creatures were herding me along. I saw leviathans, crab beetles, arachnoids, hellcats and other things that I couldn’t identify.
Sprinting for all I was worth, my wings were tightly folded against my back so they wouldn’t slow me down. I knew without looking that they’d reached their full size. My breath was rasping in my throat and exhaustion was beginning to creep up on me. I wasn’t sure how much longer I could keep running. Glancing down, I saw my feet were now cloven. Just as my image on the doors of my carriage hinted, I’d become a Demon Princess.
Sending a panicked look over my shoulder, I saw the huge scarlet eyes of the new overlord of hell staring at me through the curtains of the carriage. The coach towered over the nightmares that were straining to reach me. Their eyes rolled wildly and I knew they were being driven by terror rather than loyalty. I knew how they felt. Evil emanated from the monster that was hunched inside the coach.
Turning away from the carriage, I crested a small rise and saw a wide stream of lava right in front of me. I leaped into the air and my wings flared
open. I was too heavy to fly like a bird or a wyvern, but I glided over the creek and landed safely on the other side. The second my hooves hit the ground, I started sprinting again.
Neighs of frustration came from the nightmares. They veered away before they could plunge into the deadly creek. A gigantic clawed hand came out of a window and gestured. Volcanic rocks rose from the ground and flew over to form a bridge across the stream. Instead of being black like other demons, the hand was red. Terror at the small glimpse of my foe fueled me and I ran even harder.
My cloven feet left prints that even a blind tracker could have followed. I needed to find a way to lose the nightmares. Seeing a forest of petrified trees on the horizon, I headed towards them.
Pounding across the arid ground, I reached the forest and darted into the shadows. Instead of the spindly trees I was used to, these had wide trunks and reached high into the sky. It was easy enough to avoid the damp patches on the ground where hellsnakes lurked.
Wending my way through the trees, I heard the wheels of the carriage rumbling around the outer edge of the forest. The Hellmaster wasn’t going to give up. He had me in his sights and he would pursue me to the far reaches of the first realm to capture me.
Stopping at the edge of the forest, I saw an expanse of rocky ground ahead that led to the base of a volcano. The top had blown off the mountain eons ago. Orange rivulets of lava trickled down the sides. Ash puffed from the top almost as though the volcano was breathing. It could explode again at any time.
Hoping to find a cave in the volcano where I could hide, I sprinted across the ground. Shrill neighs of triumph came from the nightmares when they spotted me. Their feet were soundless, but the wheels of the carriage thundered in pursuit.
