by G. Bailey
“Shit,” Azi replies, rubbing his face. “Cody, go find your other brother, and give us a minute alone.”
“Sure, no thanks for the advice or anything,” Cody grumbles, but walks over to the door he knocked on that no one came out of and opens it up, stepping inside and slamming it shut behind him.
“Is Roth someone we should worry about?” Connor asks exactly what I was wondering.
“I was hoping this had nothing to do with any of my brothers, but it looks like it does,” Azi admits, not looking happy about it.
“Why would your brother steal the princesses?” Nix asks.
“Roth has a thing for science, and it’s not a good thing. He likes to create creatures, mix bloods, and in general mess with nature. When I saw those green creatures that came after us, I wondered if Roth could have sent them,” Azi admits. “His sin is curiosity.”
“Didn’t your brother ever hear the human saying ‘curiosity killed the cat’? Because that would be a good lesson for him,” I remark, but they all ignore me.
“Then your brother has to die,” Trex coldly remarks.
“I can deal with one of my brothers at a time, and possibly kill him. That’s only if Roth hasn’t gotten the help of any of my other brothers.”
“We need to get to them quickly then, if your brother is going to be doing weird tests on them or something,” I say.
“Yes, we do,” Trex answers, and the door Cody left through opens at the end of his words. Cody walks out first, followed by his brother. His brother looks just like a slightly older version of Cody. He has a full red-haired beard that matches his trimmed hair, and black eyes that watch us all for a brief second.
“You want entry? You sure?” the bearded man asks in a deep voice.
“Yes,” Azi says simply, no need for messing around.
“Let’s get this out of the way, then,” Cody says, clapping his hands together and stepping up to the door. I watch as he gets the necklace his brother gave him out of his pocket and places the triangular, metal symbol in a space on the door for it. It glows red as Cody’s brother pulls a bracelet off his wrist, with a metal circle symbol in another gap and it glows red, too. Cody finally pulls a ring off his finger, and it has a square symbol on it. The moment it touches the space where Cody places it, it too glows red.
“Patentibus,” Cody almost growls out and presses his hand to the door. The glass just melts away into smoke, though the smoke still holds the shape of the door. Cody steps back, waving a hand at the door.
“Time to go,” he says and looks over at me, trailing his eyes over my body slowly. “Though, you are always welcome back.” Azi whacks Cody on the head as he passes him and walks into the smoky door.
“Ouch, dickhead! That’s not how you say thank you!” Cody shouts as Trex and Nix follow after Azi. Connor just waits, crossing his arms.
“I’m not leaving him alone with you. Go on,” Connor states. Cody laughs, “Smart man.”
“Later, boys,” I say, walking forward and stepping into the smoky door. The smoke smothers me for a few seconds, making me cough before the third layer of Hell appears.
“Watch out!” Trex shouts, just as a dagger comes flying through the air towards me.
Twenty-Four
Evie
I fall to the ground, watching the dagger fly over my head, and disappear into the smoky door behind me. I hope Connor is okay. I quickly jump up and look around, seeing Azi holding a demon in the air by his neck, and there isn’t anyone else around. The dagger distracted me for a second, but now I can’t help but look around. It is beautiful. There are fields and fields of green grass, and trees with large red apples hanging from them for as far as you can see. I spot a building in the far distance, and I can hear the sound of running water in the distance, too. This place reminds me of the Garden of Eden that I read about as a kid. Where the first humans were said to have come from. I look up at the sky, seeing thousands of stars, which is impossible because there can’t be stars down here. There are so many that it’s bright enough to look like it’s day.
“Who threw the dagger? It missed me by an inch!” Connor exclaims as he comes through the portal, holding the dagger up in his hand.
“He did,” Trex points at the man Azi is holding in the air. The man, well demon, has red skin and hair, and leather clothes. His cloak is on the floor, as are a range of weapons that Azi has clearly taken off him.
“Why did you wait for Evie?” Azi demands, shaking the demon as we all walk over.
“Sent. Kill,” the demon coughs out. Azi grabs his head, snapping his neck, and lets the demon’s body drop to the ground before anyone can ask anything else.
“I don’t get why he waited for you,” Azi growls.
“If you hadn’t killed him straight away, we might have been able to find out,” Connor replies sarcastically.
“He wouldn’t have talked. I could tell,” Azi shrugs.
“The demon clearly knew to take out the deadliest opponent first,” I say, and each one of them turns to glare at me.
“That is not the reason,” Nix states firmly, and the others nod.
“It is, and you all know it,” I say with a wide smile, leaning down and taking off my bag. “We might as well have a food break. It looks safe enough here, and you’ve already killed the obvious danger.” I don’t wait for the guys to agree or not before putting my bag down, and grinning at Star, who is still sleeping in the bag.
“You like to sleep a lot, huh?” I ask, and she yawns as I pick her up and take her out of the bag. I pull my last water bottle out, drinking half and then pouring the other half in the small box I kept my food in. She happily drinks away as Azi comes over, kneeling down next to us. Star watches him, almost narrowing her eyes at him, until I stroke her back, and she goes back to drinking her water.
“You like her, so I like her,” he tells me as he places a small box full of broken up jerky and what looks like bacon rasher crisps. “It’s all we have that she might eat, but we can get real food when we are out of Hell.” I look over to see the others watching, but they all quickly look away when I see them, making me smile.
“Thanks,” I tell Azi, and he smiles at me before going back over to his bag.
“Spoilt already,” I say to Star, stroking her head, and sitting down next to her. I pull out what is left of my food and start to eat, watching the Protectors and Azi. They all sit near me, occasionally looking in my direction. I have the feeling they are protecting me, when I don’t need it. I finish off my food, waiting for Star to finish hers before putting everything back in the bag as Star goes off for the toilet. I copy her idea, walking to a nearby tree and relieving myself. I walk back to the guys to see Star on Connor’s lap, and he is doing something to her collar.
“What are you doing?” I ask, stroking Star’s head when she nudges my hand. Fussy tiger.
“I found rope in the demon’s stuff, so I made a lead. It will be good for her to stretch her legs,” Connor says, lifting the thin rope he has tied to her collar and handing me the handle loop he has tied.
“Thanks, I’m sure Star will appreciate it,” I say, walking away a little and encouraging Star to follow by gently pulling the rope. She jumps off Connor’s lap, after licking his face first, and wanders over to my side.
“How are there stars here?” I ask Azi as he tightens the straps on his bag and walks next to my side. Trex walks with Nix just behind us, and Connor catches up, coming straight to my side with Star between us.
“They aren’t stars,” he says.
“I’ve heard a rumour that the lights down here are the souls of angels,” Connor says, his words seeming to echo around us.
“Everyone knows angels don’t exist anymore,” I say, remembering the story Hali’s mum told me once. Humans didn’t always know demons or any supernaturals existed until an angel fell from Heaven. Not just one angel, but five. The angels were evil and started killing everything they could find, so the supernaturals and demons stood in front of the h
umans and defended them. Working together, they killed the angels, but thousands lost their lives. Angels were more powerful than anything. The laws for supernaturals and demons were introduced, and the Protectors were the ones made to enforce those laws.
“My oldest brother told me something once about the stars, and he is so old that it could possibly be true,” Azi says.
“Tell us then, Az,” I nudge his shoulder, and he looks up at the stars for a second.
“He said that once this place and heaven were so very close together, that angels would come and spend many of their days living with demons. It all changed one day when an angel killed a demon, and a war erupted between them. Thousands of angels and demons were killed right where we stand. The stars were said to appear when an angel died here, and the darkness was the demons who were lost. My brother swore the sky was nothing other than blue before the war,” he says, almost sadly.
“That’s a beautiful story,” I say, looking up at the stars or lights. Or angels’ souls. Whatever they are, they are stunning.
“My brother died shortly after telling me that because he lost his mind. He pretty much brought me up, and these stars remind me of him when he wasn’t evil,” he tells us, and I look over, getting lost in his eyes for a second. You would think the redness of his eyes, the unnatural glow they always have, and the depth of them would be scary, but I can’t look away. His eyes are so different, and they suit him. They are him.
“Where are we heading, then?” Connor asks, snapping me out of it. Azi lifts his hand, pointing at the white building in the far distance, right in the middle of a big open grass field.
“There. My old home.”
Twenty-Five
Evie
We trek across the empty field, anxious and alert. Star is back in my bag, and both of my daggers are in my hands. I don’t trust the quiet and stillness of this place, or the lack of guards surrounding the lands. There should have been someone here to stop us. I glance at Trex, who has both of his axes in his hands, and his eyes roam around us every few seconds. He doesn’t trust this, either. The house gradually comes into view, and it’s less of a house and more of a stadium you’d expect to find in Greece. It’s completely white, with dozens of pillars on the walls outside, and only one large door as an entrance.
“This is too easy,” I say quietly. “Nothing should be this simple here.”
“I know.” That’s all Azi replies to me, and the others are silent. Connor looks over at me, pulling his sword out, and stepping closer. I look to my right to see Nix has done the same thing as Connor; all of us are on high alert now. We walk faster up to the door, and Azi walks in first, with us all following him inside the dusty room.
“What is that smell?” I ask, holding my hand over my nose at the overwhelming smell of rot that fills the room.
“I have a torch, one sec,” I hear Connor say, and hear him rifling around in his bag.
“I’m sorry,” I hear Azi say, the regret and compassion clear in his voice. Connor flashes the light on, and the sight of two bodies on the floor greet us. Connor’s flashlight falls to the floor, and I hear him stagger back, but I don’t take my eyes off the dead women.
“No,” Nix rasps out, his voice full of grief and horror. Azi throws a ball of fire up to the ceiling, lighting up the entire room after a brief silence. The women both have black hair, pretty faces, and long black cloaks on that cover all of their body except their faces and arms. Their arms are spread wide and burnt, but you can still see where their runes used to be. They stare up at the ceiling with dead, empty eyes. I know straight away that they are the princesses from the reactions I see on the Protectors’ faces when I finally turn to look at them. I stand still as Connor walks to the side of one of the women, kneeling down, and closing her eyes with his fingers. Trex walks to the other woman’s side, doing the same, and unclipping his cloak. He covers her face and bows his head, whispering some words. Connor covers the other woman as I look around at the wall, seeing the writing in blood on the wall.
“Come to me. The last one is where the sun touches Hell,” I read out loud. I feel Azi come to my side, looking at the message with me.
“I know where that is, it’s not far from here. We should go if we are to have a chance of saving the last princess,” he says, and Trex looks at us as we turn around.
“No. We bury Emily and Esther. We can’t take their bodies with us, but I will not leave them here in Hell like this. We will have a fire built,” Trex demands, his angry eyes trained on me. I don’t think he is angry at me, but he will direct his ire at us if we refuse. I can tell he needs to bury them before doing anything else.
“That could take all day and well into the night, and the last–” Azi starts off.
“He will keep her alive. Roth is playing a game and wants us to come to him. He won’t kill the last of his bait,” I interrupt Azi, who looks at the Protectors and then back to me with a long sigh.
“I will go and get wood,” Azi finally concedes, walking out of the room without looking back.
“I’m going as well,” Nix says and steps close to Connor. “You should come, too. We must bury our royals because they deserve that much.” Connor stands up silently and follows Nix and Azi out of the room. Trex and I are silent for a long time, and I only move to put my bag down near the corner of the room, looking in to see Star fast asleep inside. I don’t want to wake her as she walked for at least two hours today, and she must be tired. I turn when I hear Trex speak.
“I grew up with Emily and Esther. They used to make me come to their tea parties in their treehouse, when all I wanted was to be fighting. When my parents were gone, Nix and I were sent to live with the royals. Erica didn’t want us there, but Emily and Esther did. They were like sisters to me and Nix,” he stops, his voice turning into a growl. “And I failed to protect them.”
“You didn’t fail. This isn’t on you, Trex,” I argue.
“Does it take two of my friends being murdered to get you to be nice to me?” he asks, and I know he is changing the subject. He doesn’t look at me as he speaks, but I imagine I could see the guilt in his eyes. I can certainly hear the guilt in his voice.
“I may not like you, but I know what it’s like to blame yourself for your friend’s death. I might as well have killed my guardian, my best friend,” I admit, my voice echoing around the dusty room.
“What happened?” he asks quietly. I only tell him because I think he needs the distraction. Because even if he is an asshole, he shouldn’t live with this guilt.
“When Hali was born, everyone wanted her dead straight away. She is a death-marked witch, after all. My friend, well, she wouldn’t let her daughter die, so she ran away, and I helped her. It was eight years later that my friend came to see me, like she did every year, and that was her fatal mistake. I told her not to come, but she wouldn’t listen. The witches found her, and I had to watch, holding Hali, as they drained her magic. They killed her slowly and painfully, and I couldn't stop it. I couldn’t help her without risking Hali’s life,” I say, rushing the last of the words out. The only one that knows this is Hali, because she watched, too. I couldn’t make her look away, and she knew we couldn’t move to help her mother. We were lucky to be outside, walking back from the pizza place with food, when they attacked.
“I am sorry,” he says, and I know he means it from the sincere tone of his voice.
“When they thought she was dead, they left, and I ran to her, holding her as she died. She begged me to help her, to finish her off because of the pain. It killed me to do as she asked, but I told Hali to turn around, and I did it. I couldn’t let her suffer, but that has haunted me for as long as I can remember. Don’t let this destroy you. Get revenge instead,” I tell him. I look at the women, seeing how pretty they are, and how innocent they look. They didn’t deserve this.
“Did you ever get revenge for your friend?” he asks, finally pulling his eyes away from the princesses and over to me. I pause for a second
, trying to decide if I should tell him, but something in his green eyes makes me want to.
“I get revenge every day that Hali lives. She is destined to kill a royal witch, and there is only one queen of the witches left. The woman who killed my friend. That is Hali’s destiny, and I will help her achieve it. That will be my revenge, even if it will take time, now figure out yours,” I tell him, and walk out the building to get some wood for the fire. I turn back once and see haunted dark-green eyes watching me until I round the corner.
Twenty-Six
Evie
“That won’t burn, it’s too damp. The ones over here are better,” Connor tells me, stepping out of the shadows with three big logs in his arms. I drop the branch in my hand and follow him over to some branches that are hidden under the trees instead. He is right, they look drier than the ones I was picking up. Connor watches me silently, though he seems to be thinking about something.
“I used to date Esther, when we were young,” Connor suddenly tells me, putting his logs down and sitting with his back against the tree as he pulls his bottle of water out. I go to the tree opposite him, sitting down after putting my branches down next to me. I could do with a rest, anyway. We have been building the pyre for the last five hours, and I’m shattered. Star has enjoyed the rest. She has been running around after Azi and Nix most of the time as they built the main parts of the pyre.
“How long did you date for?” I ask.
“Not long, we were only sixteen, and when Erica found out, she told everyone. It wasn’t worth risking us being together after that,” he tells me.
“Why wasn’t it worth it?” I ask.
“The royals aren’t allowed to date until they are married. I would never have been able to marry a royal because, in the Protectors, I’m considered low-class,” he says, laughing. “Esther and I were never that serious, just kids messing about, really.”
