The Angel Trials

by Michelle Madow

  As dark witches, Bella, Evangeline, and Doreen needed to use the blood of those they’d killed to perform their strongest spells. Those spells and potions were the most expensive ones we sold—meaning they kept us living in our accustomed style.

  Which was why we’d teamed up with the vampires of the Tower—the vampire kingdom in South America—and they helped us hunt down the most dangerous human criminals on their continent. Those criminals then got locked in our dungeon so our dark witches could kill them to perform their magic.

  We paid the vampires for their assistance in the hunts, and then we charged even more money to the clients who purchased our dark magic spells and potions.

  It was a win-win. Especially since we took dangerous criminals off the streets in the process, stopping them from killing who knows how many innocent humans.

  I grabbed a bottle of champagne, and Whitney gathered the glasses. We always made a toast whenever Bella or Doreen brought in a new criminal. They had the strongest teleportation magic, so they went out on the hunts. Whitney, Evangeline, and I weren’t skilled at teleporting, but we were exceptionally talented with difficult spells and potions.

  Together, the five of us were a kickass team.

  Once Bella had returned from the apothecary—sans the dirty murdering scumbag since he was now locked up in the dungeon—I popped the cork, holding the bottle up in victory.

  Suddenly, a demon clad in leather appeared in our foyer. His eyes glowed red, and he smiled, showing off his pointed, yellowing teeth.

  Terror rushed through me, and the bottle slid from my hand, falling to the rug. Champagne flowed all over the floor. I didn’t bother picking it up, instead just staring at the demon in fear.

  His magic reeked of smoke and fire. This was the first demon I’d ever seen, so it was also the first time I’d smelled the demonic magical signature.

  “How did you get in here?” Bella stepped up—she was always the most daring of us—and placed her hands on her hips. “We have a boundary spell around this house.”

  I focused on strengthening the spell, looking at Whitney to do the same. From the intensity shining in her eyes, I could tell she was already on it.

  Boundary spells were light magic, so we were the only two in our circle who upheld it. It didn’t take much effort, since it only had to surround our property, and the two of us were strong enough to easily maintain a spell to keep out all humans and supernaturals.

  We’d thought we were safe against demons… but apparently we were wrong.

  “Your spell is strong,” he said. “But not strong enough to keep out a greater demon like myself.”

  I swallowed and stepped back, terror going all the way into my bones.

  But he still hadn’t attacked. Which I assumed meant he didn’t want us dead.

  I could work with that. I had to work with that. Because my sisters and I had nothing on a greater demon. The only creature that could kill a demon was a Nephilim, and the only one of those in known existence had turned into an angel and was living on the mystical island of Avalon. Apparently she was trying to turn humans into Nephilim to build a demon fighting army, but no one outside of Avalon knew if she’d been successful yet.

  “Why did you come here?” I looked the demon straight in the eyes, trying to sound as cool and collected as possible.

  He reached into his pocket and pulled out a necklace with a lapis lazuli pendant. “I need a scrying spell done to determine the location of this necklace’s owner,” he said.

  I stared at him in disbelief. This greater demon had come to us… as a client?

  That was the last thing I’d expected. But since we couldn’t fight him, what else could we do but cooperate?

  “Very well,” I said, and then I quoted him the price for the spell. The price I’d quoted was double what we normally charged for a simple scrying spell, but if we were going to be forced to work with a greater demon, we’d better be paid handsomely for it.

  He teleported over to Whitney and thrust a knife into her stomach before I could blink.

  “No!” I screamed, running to my sister to help her.

  The demon pushed me away with enough force to propel me across the room. I grunted as my back and elbows collided with the marble floor, staring up at the demon with undisguised hatred in my eyes.

  Bella and Evangeline rushed to me, and they each grabbed onto one of my arms, pulling me back up to stand.

  I looked upon my fallen sister to assess the damage. The demon had removed the weapon, and Whitney had fallen to the floor. She was using her hands to apply pressure to the wound, but the blood was leaving her body fast, forming a puddle on the floor around her.

  Witches didn’t have the accelerated healing of vampires and shifters. We relied on potions for healing, but the potions weren’t perfect. They couldn’t heal fatal wounds.

  I prayed her wound wasn’t fatal.

  “You’ll perform the spell for free.” The demon snarled. “Or one of you will be next.” He looked at Bella and Evangeline when he said the final part, and I didn’t doubt his words. This creature was evil incarnate, and he’d do whatever it took to get what he wanted.

  Scrying spells were light magic, which meant with Whitney indisposed, I was the only one able to perform the requested spell.

  I needed to get my act together. If I didn’t, Bella and Evangeline would face the demon’s wrath because of it.

  “Come with me into the apothecary.” My voice was devoid of emotion, and I spoke to the demon like he were any other client. “I can easily perform a scrying spell to find the location of the necklace’s owner. For free, of course.”

  “That’s more like it.” He smirked and swung the necklace around like it was some kind of weapon. “Please, lead the way.”

  Amber

  I performed the scrying spell using the same method as I had with Noah and Sage earlier. It was difficult to focus with the demon’s red eyes watching me, but I managed.

  My sisters’ lives depended on it.

  Once I zeroed in on the location, I wrote down the address—a new age store in Venice Beach called Tarotology—and handed the slip of paper to the demon.

  “I don’t think I need to tell you what will happen if I find out that this is the incorrect address?” he asked.

  “It’s the correct address,” I said. “I promise.”

  He studied me, and apparently he believed me, because he teleported out without so much as a thank you.

  He left the necklace behind.

  I rushed to the shelves, pulled out every healing potion I could carry, and hurried out of the apothecary.

  Bella and Evangeline sat next to Whitney, holding her hands. Her eyes were closed—she’d fallen asleep. But while I could smell Bella and Evangeline’s syrupy dark magic signatures, Whitney’s magical scent of flowers no longer lingered in the room.

  I cradled the potions in my arms, staring at my sisters hopelessly.

  Witches had spells and potions for nearly everything, but we couldn’t bring back the dead.

  “She’s gone,” Bella said, even though I knew already. “But it wasn’t in vain.”

  “What do you mean?” My voice cracked when I spoke. “She was murdered by that…” I paused, searching my mind for an adequate term for the greater demon. “That monster. How is that not in vain?”

  “The greater demon mortally injured her,” Evangeline said. “Whitney knew you wouldn’t be able to return with the potions in time, and that even if you did, it wouldn’t work. So she used her Final Spell to strengthen the boundary around the property—to make it strong enough to keep out greater demons.”

  Tears rolled down my cheeks at the realization of my sister’s sacrifice. The Final Spell was the strongest spell a witch could cast—but it involved he or she using their life force to cast it.

  Whitney had used her Final Spell to protect us.

  “She didn’t need to do that.” I sniffed. “I might have gotten back in time with the healin
g potions…”

  Bella walked toward me and wrapped her arms around me in a hug. It was a bit difficult since I was still holding the vials of potions, but she managed. “They wouldn’t have worked,” she said, and when she pulled away, she stared at me with eyes as fierce as a warrior. “But now we’re safe in this house. Which means we have to do everything we can from here to help stop the demons.”

  “We will.” I looked at my fallen sister’s pale corpse, and fury, determination, and most importantly, purpose flowed through my veins as I thought about what was coming next. “I won’t rest until the last of the demons are dead.”

  Raven

  I pushed past all the tables and chairs, causing a scene as I hurried to the table where my friends waited for me. My entire body shook with terror—I wasn’t sure how I was managing to walk—but somehow, I made it back to them.

  “Raven?” Kaitlin stood up, her eyes flashing with worry as she reached for my arms to steady me. “What happened?”

  Just at that moment, a line of waiters paraded out of the kitchen with a cake lit up with a candle, grinning and singing “Happy Birthday.”

  It was like a scene from a nightmare. All these people smiling at me, and all I could do was replay the last few horrifying moments in that alley in my mind.

  The song ended, and Kaitlin leaned down to blow out the candle. “Raven’s not feeling well,” she told the waiters. “Can you give us some space, please?”

  “Is there anything we can get you?” Our main waiter looked at me in concern. “Some water, perhaps?”

  “I need to get out of here,” I mumbled, glad when Kaitlin led me by the elbows out of the restaurant. Tiffany followed close behind, and I heard Amy call out to the waiters about getting a check.

  Once we were outside, I leaned against the front wall of the building and took a deep breath to steady myself. Tiffany handed me a glass of water—she must have taken it from our table—and I chugged it down gratefully.

  By some miracle, I was safe. I was alive.

  “Raven?” Kaitlin repeated my name. Her voice wavered—I could tell she was scared, too. “What happened back there?”

  Amy joined us, and the three of them watched me in concern.

  “I think he drugged me,” I somehow managed to say.

  “He?” Amy’s eyebrows knitted in confusion. “Who?”

  “Eli,” I said. “The guy who bought me a drink. The one I talked to at the bar. When I was coming out of the bathroom, he grabbed me and held a knife to my throat and pulled me back behind the restaurant where this other man was waiting…” I sniffed, wiping away the tears that I only now realized were rolling down my cheeks.

  “Oh my God.” Amy’s mouth rounded in horror. “How’d you get away?”

  “We need to call the police.” Tiffany whipped out her phone, ready to dial.

  “Wait,” I said. “I just want to go home.”

  “But this needs to be reported,” she said. “Those men need to be caught.”

  “They’re not there anymore.” I swallowed, unsure how to tell them the rest of what had happened. “Two other people came and saved me.”

  “Where are they?” Amy looked around at the people milling about the Pier. “Why aren’t they with you?”

  “I don’t know,” I said. “I ran back inside the first moment I could.”

  “Smart,” Kaitlin said. “You did the right thing getting out of there.” Suddenly her arms were around me in a huge hug. “I’m so glad you’re okay,” she said. “I can’t imagine how terrifying that must have been.”

  I nodded, although I felt like the true horror of my experience hadn’t even had a chance to sink in yet.

  “Are you sure you don’t want me to call the police?” Tiffany asked. “They need to know what happened…”

  “Can we do that tomorrow?” I asked. “If we call the police now, we’ll have to stay here for who knows how long, and I don’t think I can handle that right now. I just want to go home.” My lower lip trembled—I felt on the verge of a breakdown if we stayed any longer.

  “All right.” Kaitlin gave a warning look to Tiffany and linked her arm in mine, leading me down the Pier. “Let’s get out of here.”

  We were passing Rosella’s booth when the teen who’d offered me the free palm reading earlier saw me.

  “Raven Danvers!” she screamed my name.

  I walked faster, ignoring her. Kaitlin kept my pace, her arm still linked in mine. After what had just happened, I was in no mood to be heckled again.

  But the girl ran up to us, blocking our path and staring at us through her dark sunglasses. I started to walk around her, but she reached for my arm that wasn’t linked with Kaitlin’s, stopping me.

  “Don’t touch me!” I tried to pull my arm away, but her grip was strong. And there was something strange about her hand—there was no heat coming off her skin. It was like she was a robot or something.

  She removed her sunglasses, revealing her milky, unseeing eyes. “The turning point has just been reached.” She stared at me, despite being clearly blind. “Be ready for a shock when you get home. But remember that I—Rosella—have the answers. My door is always open. When you’re ready, I’ll be waiting here to guide you.”

  She slid her sunglasses back on, let go of my arm, and scurried back to her booth.

  I stared at where she’d stood, anger and confusion swirling in my veins. After what I’d just been through, the last thing I needed was a crazy boardwalk psychic trying to reel me into her store. That was the icing on the seriously awful cake that had been my twenty-first birthday.

  “Who was that?” Kaitlin glanced at the booth, looking seriously spooked.

  “I don’t know.” I marched toward the exit, pulling her with me. “And I don’t care. I just want to go home.”

  Noah

  It took longer than usual for Amber to buzz us through the gate.

  Once inside the house, I was assaulted with the strong, flowery smell of witch blood.

  “What happened here?” I looked to where the scent was coming from—a puddle of blood off to the side of the room. There was also a broken bottle of champagne on the rug.

  Whatever had happened, it didn’t look good.

  Amber quickly filled us in on everything the demon had done. “Bella and Evangeline are with Whitney in the apothecary right now,” she said, her eyes brimming with tears. “They’re preparing her body for burial.”

  “I’m so sorry for your loss.” Sage walked up to Amber and gave her a hug.

  Amber collapsed into the embrace. Sage wasn’t usually the touchy-feely type, but I was glad she was with me, because I would have had no idea what to say to Amber if I’d come alone.

  I’d suffered so much loss recently that I suspected I was becoming numb to it.

  “Thank you.” Amber sniffed and pulled away.

  “That demon is why we’re here now.” I was quick to get to the point, continuing on to tell her about what had happened in the alley.

  “He’s a monster.” Rage burned in her eyes as she stared at the bloodstained floor where he’d murdered her sister.

  “He can also teleport,” I said. “I’ve been hunting demons for a few weeks now, and I’ve never come across one who could do that.”

  “That’s because he’s not a regular demon—he’s a greater demon,” she said. “You’re lucky he teleported away. If he hadn’t…” She let the sentence hang, allowing us to draw our own conclusions.

  “Since only Nephilim can kill greater demons, we wouldn’t have been able to kill him if we’d tried,” I said. “He could have destroyed us. So why did he leave?”

  “Maybe he thought we were Nephilim.” Sage held her hand up, pointing to the black ring around her finger.

  I had a matching ring—it had been one of the first spells Amber and her circle had done for us when they’d learned of our hunt. The rings cloaked our scent, which allowed us to sneak up on demons unaware.

  The greater demon had s
een our speed, so he knew we were supernatural. But the rings stopped him from knowing what kind of supernatural. He must not have wanted to take the chance that we were Nephilim there to slay him, so he’d flashed out.

  “That must be it,” I said. “But if we run into a greater demon again, we can’t count on being lucky twice. We need a way to defend against them.”

  “I’ll look into possible spells or potions tonight,” Amber said. “But whatever I come up with, I won’t have it ready until tomorrow. And it’ll likely be dark magic, so it won’t be cheap.”

  “We can come back tomorrow,” Sage said. “And the cost is no matter.”

  “I figured as much,” Amber said. “I hope we can find something that can help you. That demon…” Her eyes went blank, and she shuddered, as if replaying what had happened with him in her mind. “I don’t know what the Earth Angel is doing on Avalon, but she has to figure out a way to create new Nephilim. It’s the only way to stop these monsters. If she can’t do it…”

  “Annika’s a force to be reckoned with,” I said. “If anyone can build an army of Nephilim, it’s her.”

  “I hope so.” From the darkness in Amber’s tone, I could tell she was doubtful.

  “I’m sorry again about Whitney,” Sage said to Amber, reaching for my arm and nudging me toward the door. “We’ll leave you with your sisters now to grieve.”

  “Wait.” I pulled away from Sage, focusing on Amber. “You did a scrying spell for the demon. Where did you send him?”

  “We can’t go after him.” Sage looked at me like I’d gone crazy.

  “Why not?” I asked. “You were the one who was curious about what the demons were hunting.”

  “Because we can’t defend ourselves against greater demons,” she said slowly. “You know that. We’d be walking to our deaths.”

  “Greater demons can teleport,” I reminded her. “I’m sure he’s already gotten what he needed and left by now. If he hasn’t, we can hide out and check it out once he’s gone. Our rings will hide our scent. He won’t even know we’re there.”