“Don’t sound so disappointed in me,” I said. “You just said the inspector and his minions are going down the victim blaming road. Also, setting someone on fire like that looks more of an angelic than a demonic punishment. I’ve seen demon fire.”
“You think someone’s passing down divine judgement on the recruits?” Scepticism tinged her voice.
“They’ll burn the sin out of you,” I said. “That’s what the first victim said. And, all will fall was written on the walls. Someone is using the doctrine against the celestials. What if that’s what it’s all meant to be—an imitation of celestial fire? Arch-demons are fallen angels, after all.”
“There’s more proof of a demonic presence than a divine one, Devi,” she said. “If it were an arch-demon, we’d be looking at war, not murder.”
“Sounds like the inspector wants a war already.”
“Yes, it does.” She paused. “I don’t need to remind you not to intervene at the guild, do I? I can’t stop you while I’m on bed rest, Devi. Don’t do anything rash.”
“I’ll try not to.” She didn’t need to know what Nikolas and I planned to do tonight. If I’d already been kicked off the case, I might as well make my last exit from the guild a memorable one.
I heated a microwavable meal and then turned the kitchen into a miniature lab to brew up the aura vision potion again. I wouldn’t drink it until just before we left. Seeing my newly darkened aura once was bad enough. Demonglass. I can travel through demonglass. Too bad I didn’t have any to hand to practise my new ability on. As far as I knew, even the guild didn’t. It was an ingredient in summonings, so warlocks would have a small supply. Not that I should even be thinking about experimenting with a new power I hadn’t wanted in the first place. It wouldn’t help me here. No—unfortunately, to get into the guild, not to mention to get out again, I had to rely on Nikolas’s shadow power.
My demon mark didn’t fade when I scrubbed at it in the shower. It was a reflection of my angel mark, even the same arrowhead symbol, but pointing towards me rather than away. How is this possible? The Divinities chose their soldiers, but I’d never heard of the arch-demons marking humans to act as their soldiers in a similar manner. There were more than enough demons to fight on their side. Was I part of their new plan to make a move against the celestials? A weapon? As long as I didn’t know who had put the mark on me, everything was cast in doubt.
The war was changing. A war I’d never been involved in, not directly. If this world was their target, the whole of mankind might be collateral damage.
As I was towelling my hair dry, there was a knock on my door. I frowned. Nikolas couldn’t be here. He didn’t even know where I lived.
I opened the door to find a grinning Rachel on my flat doorstep.
“Hey!” she said. “I heard you need some new shoes.”
“How’d you know my address?” I asked. “Nikolas?”
“He’ll be here soon,” she said. “We figured it’d be easier than meeting at the guild. There are teams of celestials in most public places tonight.”
“Hope that means there won’t be as many of them around the guild.”
“I have these.” She held up a pair of leather boots. “They’re magical.”
“Really?” I took the boots from her, turning them over in my hands. Looked like normal black leather to me. “What, can I fly? Or turn invisible?”
“No,” she said. “But you can climb walls. Like Spider-Man.”
“You watch Marvel movies?”
“Obviously. I don’t live under a rock.” She bounded past me into the living room, examining my souvenir collection. It was probably kind of sad that I kept relics from my time as a globe-trotting Grade Three celestial soldier all over my flat, but they made for good stories. Rachel picked up each wooden animal and shook each plastic snow-globe, a grin on her face.
I perched on the sofa to change into the new shoes, which fitted surprisingly well considering I’d never given her my shoe size. My feet barely made a sound as I walked across the hardwood floor. Comfortable, practical—and damned useful, if I was going to be breaking and entering later tonight.
Rachel put down a carved wooden elephant I’d bought in Kenya. “Nice place,” she commented. “Cosy. Thought you’d have weapons everywhere.”
“The guild stores all weapons on its premises,” I said. “I don’t need to carry my sword on me, anyway.” Though if this demonic mark kept developing, would I even be able to access my celestial weapon anymore?
“So where does the sword go when you don’t use it?” asked Rachel.
“It’s stored in a sort of pocket dimension I can access anywhere. Using this.” I tapped the mark on my left wrist. “We’re allowed to carry weapons, technically, but it gives us the element of surprise.”
“Neat,” she said. “Invisible swords are cool. But I’m jealous of your demonglass hopping power.”
“Nikolas told you?”
“I’ll keep quiet,” she said. “Wouldn’t want any of the others finding out. That dimension’s a nasty place.”
“No shit.” And to think I’d once thought kleptomaniac lizard demons were the worst it had to offer. I doubted Dienes would be pleased if I told him—not that I planned to. He was a self-confessed blabbermouth, and besides, I wasn’t quite sure I believed it myself. For all the wild theories I’d thrown at Clover, I didn’t believe it was a coincidence that I’d developed the ability to cross dimensions right as someone with a similar ability was murdering people.
Another knock heralded Nikolas’s arrival.
“Who told you my address?” I asked, upon opening the door to allow him inside the flat.
“Javos.”
“Great. Even the celestials don’t know where I live.”
“I take it you haven’t spoken to them.” He joined Rachel in the living room. I was glad I’d cleaned it fairly recently.
“I spoke to a friend of mine who retired years ago,” I said. “They suddenly rehired her, and she managed to get injured chasing a demon. Not related to the case, but they’ve officially lost their minds. Dragging every retired soldier back means more people will get hurt needlessly.”
“As I suspected, they’re panicking,” said Nikolas, eying a painting on the wall of the Northern Lights.
“Hopefully enough not to notice us sneaking in and out of their guild,” said Rachel. “I’m excited. I’ve never been there before.”
“You can’t come in,” I said. “You know both of you would set the anti-demon alarms off, right?”
“Relax,” said Rachel. “I’m just coming to watch your backs in the shadow realm.”
Let’s hope Nikolas’s brother stays far away. “All right, but be careful.”
“I’m the one who should be telling you that. Niko told me about the arch-demon.” She bounded off the sofa. “I can’t believe you stabbed Azurial, too. Are you trying to set a record for the number of warlocks you can piss off in a short space of time?”
“Only the ones who try to kill me,” I said. “Is there anything Nikolas didn’t tell you?”
“I only told Rachel and Javos,” Nikolas said. “Specifically, about the arch-demon and your mark. But others will recognise it now it’s manifested.”
“Honestly, I don’t have room in my head to worry about that tonight,” I said. “Just how does this castle of yours overlap with the guild?”
“More or less exactly, but the inhabitants of the castle are mostly warlocks or demon kin. So we’ll have to avoid those areas if you don’t want to invite unwelcome questions.” He placed a tablet on the table, and switched it on. A map of the guild filled the screen. He tapped the screen and a second image replaced the first—an unfamiliar outline of a large building. The castle. “I can send you the images, but I think you’d be best to memorise what you can before going in there.”
“I only need to know part of it.” I tapped the screen. The guild was familiar enough that I knew every entrance and shortcut, but the cast
le was an unknown. “The bodies will likely be in the morgue by now. That’s underground.”
“You’ll have to cross over upstairs,” he said. “The castle’s catacombs aren’t the sort of place you want to go into at night.”
“Got it.” I nodded. “I cross over, walk downstairs into the morgue, look around, come back up…” I flicked the screen onto the second image, trying to memorise the sections I needed. If I crossed at the upper left corridor, I’d materialise in the middle of a wall. I didn’t want to find out the hard way what would happen to my body in the process.
“I’ll wait in the castle,” he said. “Then I’ll come over when we meet at our designated spot. I can create a small opening to keep an eye on you at any time without being seen.”
“Nice knowing you’re spying on me,” I said, my nerves spiking. “Right. First stop, the morgue. After that, I need to get inside a locked room in the west wing.” I traced the path on the screen, on the castle image. “There’s also the inspector’s office, but I sneaked into there once already when I borrowed his props.”
“A locked room?” asked Rachel.
“The west wing,” I said. “The section nobody below Grade Four is allowed into. It’s where they keep anything they don’t want the rest of us to see. Info on the arch-demons, and the Divinities themselves.”
“Sounds exciting,” said Rachel. “So you think someone at the guild’s involved in the murders?”
“I don’t. He does.” I jerked my head at Nikolas.
“The west wing overlaps with one of the castle towers,” he said. “We should be okay in there, but I’ll be with you for that part anyway.”
“Right.” I tapped the screen a few more times, to memorise the details. “The guild should be closing up soon.”
I checked the time on my phone, and looked up to see Rachel pretending not to look at my wrist. I tugged my sleeve down.
“Did it hurt?” she asked. “I think you’re the first marked human I’ve met.”
“Probably the first celestial.” As little as I wanted to discuss the subject, it might make the difference between life and death in the demon realm.
“First of a kind,” she said. “Weird. But the cool sort of weird. Maybe you’ll be the first angel-demon hybrid.”
“Bloody hope not,” I said.
“That’s not possible,” said Nikolas. “Celestials aren’t actually angels. They’re chosen and imbued with celestial magic, and the selection seems to be entirely random. You were ordinary before, correct?”
“Yep. Boring, even. Now look at me talking to warlocks in my own house. I suppose you’ve always been super special and extraordinary.”
“There’s no such thing,” he said. “Every one of us is unique. I’ll say that much for the demon dimensions—they don’t encourage conformity.”
“Probably because you can’t keep more than one of them in the same room without them trying to kill one another,” I said. “Also, the guild will be closed for the night by now. I think we should go.”
I drank down the aura vision potion, put the anti-warlock trap around my neck, and put on two wristbands to cover the marks. I mostly wore the trap in case Nikolas’s brother showed up, but he’d still be recovering from the last time. I was kind of counting on it, really. We had enough enemies, and this trip was risky enough without considering the other inhabitants of the shadow realm.
“Don’t worry,” Rachel said. “We’ll be watching for enemies on the other side. You just concentrate on the break-in.”
“We’re going to head to the street outside the guild,” Nikolas said. “If my geography is accurate, it overlaps with the inside of the castle grounds, so we’ll be inside the gates without being detected. I’d rather nobody else in the shadow realm knows about your presence there.”
“If they’re all like your brother, the feeling’s mutual,” I said. “So we’re walking it?”
“I’m driving.” Nikolas led the way to an unremarkable black car parked up against the pavement. A pair of devil horns sat in the window. “Those are Rachel’s,” he added, when he saw me looking. “We tend to avoid drawing unwanted attention.”
“Because you and Javos are boring rule-followers.” Rachel bounded into the front seat, leaving me to sit in the back, behind Nikolas. We drove through the darkening streets in near-silence, parking a short distance from the celestial guild. My boots trod lightly on the pavement, like they were almost weightless. I wished I’d had time for a trial run before pelting headlong into danger.
Finally, the familiar shape of the guild appeared. There were guards outside. That’s new.
Nikolas halted. The shadows closed in around us, and when they receded, it was to reveal a forbidding stone castle blotting out the night sky. Its obsidian slabs were disturbingly similar to the arch-demon’s palace, but while his had been built on a rise over a city, this castle stood alone surrounded by wasteland. A tall black wall behind us told me we’d landed inside the castle’s first layer of defence. Beyond that, stars studded a night sky of deep blue, like an ocean reflecting constellations bigger and brighter than any I’d seen on Earth. Beautiful, really. Pity I couldn’t stop and admire the view.
Nikolas led the way to a small wooden door in the stone exterior. “Whereabouts did you need to go?” he asked in a low voice. “The nearest entrance to the morgue aboveground will be in the left-hand corridor, correct?”
I thought back to the map. “Yeah. Just keep walking this way. If I can’t actually cross over downstairs, then the same corridor will do.”
I never thought I’d be glad a warlock knew his way around the celestial guild, but his knowledge came in handy now. The dark stone corridor looked nothing like the modern day building that overlapped it, but if I screwed up my eyes, I could envision the corridors of the guild. I counted steps, while Nikolas consulted his map. Though we moved quietly, the eerie atmosphere in the castle brought shivers out on my arms. I wouldn’t like to be alone here.
Once he’d found the right point, Nikolas summoned the shadows. The next second, I stood in the dark corridor of the guild. I’d been accurate with my planning, and the stairs to the morgue lay not ten metres away. Perfect.
“I’ll be back in five minutes,” he whispered in my ear, then the shadows took him away again.
I listened out. No sound came from inside the morgue. Hoping nobody had anticipated that I’d do something this reckless, I crept downstairs, tugging on a pair of gloves. Silence followed, and the smell of brimstone clung to my nostrils. I didn’t dare switch on the light, but instead used my celestial mark as a torch, shining it around until I tracked down the third body. Lightly covered with cloth, it moved at my gloved touch.
Like the others, her eyes were burned out, mouth stretched in an expression of utter torment. My palm hovered above her bare arm. Warmth poured from her skin, not searing heat like before. It should be icy cold. She was pretty clearly dead, but apparently demon fire took a while to die down. Had they tried cutting open one of the other victims yet? It seemed the next logical step, but the other bodies didn’t appear to be here. And nor did any notes or indication that anyone had come to a conclusion about the deaths.
Flipping her hand over, I looked for a mark like mine, but found nothing. Of course, mine hadn’t been activated until I’d touched that pillar. Maybe there wasn’t a connection, not one I could prove now they were dead. Squinting in the dark, I focused on my aura vision. Her bright celestial aura was marked with scattered fragments of shadow. Demon magic had pervaded her body. But what sort?
I screwed up my eyes. The swirling pattern in her aura wasn’t random. It’d started somewhere. My gaze followed the path of the shadow, which covered her right wrist. My heart lurched. I bent to examine it, and a knocking sound made me jump violently. Tugging down my sleeve to turn off the light, I backed into the shadows. Footsteps passed by above, but nobody came downstairs. I counted seconds, then backed up the stairs, pausing at every step. The guild’s corridors w
ere downright sinister at this time of night, and I silently thanked whoever had installed crappy fluorescent lighting rather than those automatic lights a lot of modern buildings had, the type that reacted to movement.
Nearby was a window looking out over the quadrangle. As I watched, a familiar figure passed by. The inspector. Out of everyone here, he was the one I trusted here the least, yet for all his unpleasantness, I didn’t see him murdering novices. Or offering them to a demon. He lived for this job. But for some reason, here he was prowling around alone while everyone else was running dangers.
“Need a hand?” Nikolas’s voice whispered. “We can tail him.”
“How’d you know where I was?” I turned around, not seeing him at first. Then I spotted the shadows move. He’d opened a slither of light above me to look down on the corridor. “Yeah, why not.”
He pulled me back into shadow. Total darkness covered us, but we only moved a few steps before the shadows opened a little—revealing the inspector hunched over a computer. I stared at the numbers on the screen.
Well, well. Looked like someone had a little gambling problem. I wonder what the Divinities would say about that.
I hovered behind him. Apparently he wasn’t going to indicate any proof of working with the demons, so I’d need to look elsewhere. I mean, if stealing our money wasn’t bad enough by itself. Prick. But that didn’t make him in league with netherworlders.
Shadows flowed over my vision, leaving nothing behind but us.
“Nothing,” I whispered. “Except Mr Inspector has a gambling addiction, but the Divinities alone can have him for that.”
I stopped as I realised Nikolas had drawn to a halt, staring at the ceiling. “There’s someone moving above us,” he muttered. “Nobody should be in this part of—”
The darkness shifted above our heads.
“Back so soon, brother?” whispered a voice, and the shadows clamped over Nikolas, swallowing him up.
Chapter 16
“Nikolas!” I called his name, but the corridor was too dark to see even the shadows. I pulled down my armband, shining celestial light into the rounded eyes of a demon with three rows of teeth.
Celestial Magic (Celestial Marked Book 1) Page 15
