Iniquity (The Ascent Book 1)

by Melody Winter

My mouth opened, and I stared in wonder at what lay ahead.

  “The light? You mean I’ll be able to see the sun?”

  “There are areas where the sun isn’t blocked. That’s where we’re heading.”

  “Really?”

  Erebus nodded before urging Samael to gallop.

  A few minutes later, he pulled Samael to a halt and quickly dismounted. “Come on, jump down.” He held his arms up to me and assisted with my dismount. “We’ll go on foot from here, and I’ll try to explain the situation with the light.”

  I reached blindly for his hand as we walked forward. I couldn’t tear my eyes away from what we were heading toward. The darkness still covered us, but ahead, like a candle glowing with an incredible beam, the sky lightened.

  “I thought it was all hidden,” I said, watching the brightness, scared it would disappear if I turned away. “Will we be able to see the sun when we get nearer?”

  “I hope so,” Erebus replied. He was as serious as I was curious.

  “How is that possible? How did you know it was here? And why didn’t you tell me?”

  Erebus chuckled and removed his hand from mine before placing his arm around my waist. “So many questions, Athena. Which one shall I answer first?”

  I shrugged, still concentrating on what lay ahead.

  “Yes, I have seen the light before, that’s how I knew it was here. I stumbled upon it one day when riding Samael.” He sighed and his arm tightened. “I decided to not say anything, even though I knew of your obsession with finding it, but I always intended on telling you . . . eventually.”

  “Eventually?”

  “When we were married properly, in all ways.”

  I turned to face him, and he stopped walking.

  “I wanted to tell you about it,” he continued, lifting his hand to my face. He pushed several loose strands of hair behind my ears, concentrating on the action. “But I wanted the moment to be special. As we walk closer, you’ll see what I mean. The sun will soon set and the sky will turn a beautiful colour.” His eyes fixed on mine. “I wanted to share this with you when the time was right.”

  “And the time’s right now?”

  “The time is perfect. I know how much this means to you. I wanted you to see it.”

  I leaned into him before reaching to kiss his cheek. “Thank you.”

  “My pleasure.” He held me close, wrapping his arms around my waist and hugging me. “Let’s get closer.”

  We strode toward the clear sky, Samael on one side of Erebus, me on the other.

  I gasped loudly when something else came into view. Not only was the sky changing colour, I could see water.

  “We’re at the coast!” I ran forward before spinning to face Erebus. “You brought me to the seaside!”

  He chuckled, watching me with an intense gaze. “The seaside? What exactly is that?”

  “You don’t know? Ice creams, donkey rides, penny arcades, sand castles, and the sun!” I spun on the spot as I listed my childhood memories. My heart lifted at the thought of those special lost moments.

  Erebus’s lips twitched as he tried unsuccessfully to hide his amusement. “Well, you’ve had a ride on a stallion, not a donkey, but I’m afraid the rest will not be possible.”

  I ran off again, desperate to see the sand on the beach and hear the waves crashing ashore. It had been so long since I’d seen or heard either. It was years, too many years since that life had been stolen from me.

  “Athena!” Erebus shouted, marching to catch up with me. “Don’t go too far ahead. Stay close.”

  I stopped running and waited for him to walk in step beside me. “Sorry. I guess I got carried away.”

  “Just a bit.” He took my hand again and held it tightly. “It’s very appealing to see you relive your childhood, your enthusiasm is contagious, but I selfishly prefer the woman. I have no interest in imagining you as a young girl.” He lifted my hand and kissed the back of it.

  “Whereas I’d love to meet the young Erebus.” I giggled, imagining him with his cherubic curls and cheeky dimples. My quiet giggle turned into a laugh as I caught myself imagining him as angelic. A cherub indeed. He was a demon. Why did I keep forgetting?

  “Look over there.” Erebus pointed to the sky to the right of us. “The sun is just beginning to set.”

  I followed the direction of his hand and nodded. I couldn’t see the sun, but it was affecting the sky. It was turning a soft yellow. The edge of the dark sky over the land framed the changes over the sea.

  Erebus squeezed my hand. “Let’s go onto the beach and watch it.”

  A small ridge of sand dunes separated us from the beach, and as we ploughed through them I caught my first smell of the salt water. The rumble of the sea, the quiet crash of the waves, and the squawk of a bird disturbed the silent, eerie background of my normal life. And the one thing I was taking for granted suddenly became very apparent. I could see properly. There was no grainy vision of subdued and artificial light from candles, lanterns, or fires. This was the light we’d had before; this was the light I longed to return to our world.

  As we strode onto the sand, I pulled my boots and socks off and carried them. The gritty texture rubbed between my toes, and I shrieked with excitement at such a simple but pleasant feeling. Erebus watched me with fascination.

  “Take your boots off!” I shouted at him as I made my way to the water’s edge.

  The wind was stronger here than over the land, but it wasn’t like the wind that rushed through the village, or like the one we’d battled against whilst travelling; here it was invigorating and fresh. It brought with it a sense of freedom, one I hadn’t experienced since the demon’s ascent. The urge to run and not stop until I was exhausted flooded through me, but as I caught sight of Erebus removing his boots, I realised I didn’t want to run—it would only take me further away from the man I was beginning to love. I spun on the spot instead, taking in the views around me. There was no one around apart from us. No sound apart from the roar of the sea and the boisterous buffer of the wind.

  Odin swooped over the swirling ocean before rising high in the sky. He dipped and turned, playing in the currents of the wind that blew over the water. He was silent, enjoying himself.

  “Don’t go in the water,” Erebus said as he came to my side. He took my hand and indicated with a sweep of his arm for us to walk along the beach.

  “You now know that the darkness isn’t everywhere,” he said. “Where the land meets the sea you can see into the brightness that once existed. The Master only created the shield of darkness over the land.”

  “So did the Master put the shield of darkness over the whole world or just England?”

  Erebus looked to the ground before answering. “It covers every landmass around the world.”

  I inhaled, shock and disbelief crashing through me. This was worse than I feared, or was it? When Erebus told me about the cloak of darkness I assumed it covered the whole world. I’d just found out it only covered the land.

  I unwillingly turned away from the vision of the sun and looked at Erebus. “We should all go and live on boats, and then we’d have the beauty of the sun above us.”

  He shook his head. “The sea is not safe. It’s why I warned you to keep out of the water, however tempting it may be. When nighttime comes and the light disappears over the oceans, the vampires can enter the water and feed freely if they so wish.”

  I shivered and cast my gaze toward the beach behind us. “I know demons walked amongst humans before the world literally split open. Paymon did, but did vampires?”

  Erebus nodded. “Of course. But, like demons, they had to keep a low profile.”

  “Were you around?”

  Erebus chuckled. “Around?”

  “Yes, were you on earth . . . or in Muspalta?”

  His humour disappeared and was replaced by what I could only describe as a death stare as he narrowed his eyes and held me in his gaze. “I was in Muspalta. And I would prefer not to r
eturn. Living on earth is far better. Even with the darkness, it offers a beauty that cannot be found in Muspalta.” He smiled, his fleeting earlier anger disappearing. “And also . . . you are not in Muspalta.”

  I smiled at his tender words before glancing over the water into the distance. I breathed deeply. If I saw this every day, I’d never want to leave. The sun was peeking out from behind the darkness as it slipped toward the horizon. The yellow tinge of the sky had been replaced by a bright orange and deep red edged the darkness. It was an angry looking sky that promised nothing but goodness to me.

  I stopped walking, and Erebus wrapped his arms around me from behind.

  “It’s beautiful,” I said, devouring the sight. “I don’t suppose we can stay here. Is there a village nearby you can look after?”

  He rested his head against mine, looking at the same vision as me. “I wish there was. I’d love to continually see the brightness of your face and feel the happiness that this visit has awoken in you. I knew the light was something you craved.”

  “It’s the one thing I’d change if I could.”

  He turned me in his hold so I was facing him. “Athena, the light will never return as you wish it to.” He pulled his cloak around me, wrapping us in its warmth. “But I promise we will come back here, maybe once a month, so you can see the light and catch a glimpse of the sun.”

  “I’d like that,” I said, grabbing a fistful of his cloak in my hand. I rested my head sideways on his chest so I could continue to look over the sea. The sun was already dipping below the horizon, festooned in a ribbon of colours as it disappeared. I held on tightly to Erebus, fearing the loss of the light more than normal. I’d been given a glimmer of what it used to be like, and I didn’t want the moment to end.

  When I’d originally found out that the Master controlled the shield and his children held the power to destroy it, I’d given up on ever discovering more. But a renewed hope surged though me as I watched the sun sink below the horizon. This was too important to just forget. I couldn’t just give up—I wouldn’t give up.

  If there was no darkness over the sea, maybe the Master wasn’t the all-powerful demon that everyone believed. I clung on to that hope. I imagined life in the village with the light returned and the sun heating the ground. We’d have proper seasons. We’d have a summer. The light had always been important to me, an obsession even, but now it became important for other reasons. If I found a way to destroy the shield, then I’d also reduce the number of vampires that dared to walk amongst us.

  And I knew just the man who’d want to help with that.

  Erebus.

  Together, we’d find a way to destroy it.

  SINCE OUR TRIP TO SEE the sun setting over the ocean, and with all the books in the library at my disposal, I’d tried to discover even more about the darkness. Erebus continued to trace the unregulated vampire covens. We worked together, sitting at the same desk, him on one side, me on the other as we investigated our different obsessions. His foot often rubbed my leg under my skirts, and I’d catch him staring at me when he thought I wasn’t looking. Whenever I caught his gaze, he’d smile before continuing with what he was doing. I often studied him as well, but usually on the few times he fell asleep at the desk.

  He was nothing like the demon I’d first met; he was more concerned about my happiness and well-being than anything else. His face had softened slightly, and he wasn’t as wild looking as he used to be, although his hair was still an unruly mop, but his jaw wasn’t as angular, not as tight—as if he’d eventually found a way to relax and keep calm. The most significant change about him, though, was his eyes. He fed from me constantly, completely unwillingly. When there were emotions flooding from humans, a demon couldn’t shut them down—the only thing he could do was sit back and feed or leave the company of the person feeding him. Hence, Erebus was a very full demon. My growing love for him left him with either solid black eyes or bright amber irises with an outer black rim. Although, recently, they’d made another development, and I was often left staring into fully fed eyes with an additional outer red rim. The central amber colour was like looking into a kaleidoscope of multiple shades that swam and merged over the surface. I much preferred it to the black.

  Odin had accepted Erebus. There’d been no sneaky pecks, and he didn’t squawk at him or leave the room if he was in it. He was like a family pet, albeit a mischievous one.

  A loud knock at the door of the house had both of us looking up. No one ever called at the front door.

  Erebus sprang from his chair, his head cocked to the side as he strode into the hall.

  “Who is it?” I asked, remembering that the last visitor, Sebastian, had caused nothing but trouble for us. I closed the book I was reading and ignored the unease in my stomach. I was determined that whoever it was wouldn’t spoil the life that Erebus and I had created.

  “Unexpected visitors,” he called back. “Go into the lounge, Athena. Let’s see what they want.” Erebus waited at the unopened door. “Go on. I’ll not open it until you’re in the room.”

  I ambled into the lounge, stood next to the desk, and listened for the lock being turned. I smoothed my shaking hands across my dress, waiting for an introduction that I was sure wouldn’t end well. My fingers and toes tingled as I recalled my last meeting with unknown demons. I took several deep breaths and tried to convince myself that everything would be fine.

  “Unbelievable!”

  I jumped at the deep booming voice coming from the hall.

  “When were you going to let us know?” A female, her voice accusatory. She didn’t sound happy at all.

  I placed one hand in my other and wrung them together, trying to control my need to run from the room and lock myself in my bedroom. Surely Erebus could deal with the man and the woman, send them away with threats about what he would do if they didn’t listen to him.

  Erebus entered the room followed by a man and a woman. Both of them wore riding clothes and knee-high boots; gloves covered both of their hands, and neither of them removed them. The woman had striking features; midnight-black, short and spikey hair, alluring almond shaped eyes, and bee-stung, heart shaped lips. The man had a pointed face, one that didn’t show any emotion other than that of annoyance. His rat-like, narrow eyes surveyed me and his barely existent lips tightened. I clung to the edge of the desk behind me, trapped by his constant glare.

  Erebus moved next to me and placed his arm around my waist. “Athena, allow me to introduce my brother and sister, Olisha and Narabus.” He squeezed my waist, a reassuring gesture that I more than needed. “And, Olisha, Narabus, this is Athena. My wife.”

  Olisha shrieked, her hands flying to her mouth.

  Narabus huffed and looked away before slumping into the single chair. His long hair was neatly tied back, although I could still see the curls that were so familiar to me on Erebus.

  Erebus kissed my cheek, and it was only then that I released my grip on the desk.

  “Let me see,” Olisha said, directing her words at Erebus. He lifted my right hand, turning the back of it upward before presenting his in the same way. Olisha’s gloved hands held both mine and Erebus’s as she inspected the identical marriage marks. Wordlessly, she looked at Erebus’s eyes, her own widening as she focused on him. “Oh my, Erebus. Look what she does to you.”

  Narabus growled from across the room and crossed one leg over the other. “It’s more than that though, isn’t it?”

  I slipped my hand away from Olisha and hid it behind my back, out of sight from Narabus. He was brimming with hostility I had no understanding of.

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” Erebus shot him an angry stare, and moved toward him.

  Narabus stared at me, his gaze burning. I looked away, not comfortable under his scrutiny. It wasn’t easy to tell that Narabus and Erebus were related. Narabus was tall, thin, smartly dressed, whereas Erebus always looked crumpled, as if he’d just crawled out of bed. Erebus had stubble, whereas Narabus was clean-shav
en, in fact he was too perfect, too pristine. He didn’t have one thing about him that looked soiled or used. His long riding jacket wasn’t mud splattered, neither were his boots, but the handle of his sword caught my attention more than anything else. In the centre of the cross guard, between the handle and the blade, was a mercury-red stone or gem. It caught the light from the candles in the room and glistened vibrantly whenever Narabus moved. My attention was quickly diverted as Olisha took my hand again.

  “So, where did he find you?”

  “In the village,” I said, surprised by her forwardness.

  “And you’ve just married? How did he win your affections?”

  “He married me the day he arrived.” I said, sidetracked by the raised voices of the two brothers.

  Olisha sighed as Narabus lowered his tone.

  “I didn’t come to discuss your marriage.” He ran his hand down the buttons on his coat, and dusted imaginary dust from the fabric. “I came because of the death of two demons. They were killed by a violent surge of power. One very like the one that we all have. Seeing as you live nearby, I wondered if you had anything to do with their deaths.”

  I held my breath, knowing that he meant Verin and the other demon who followed us into the forest a few weeks ago.

  Erebus’s forehead creased into a deep frown line. “You know it was me. We are the only three who have such a power. Why come all this way to check?”

  “I have to ask why, although now I am here, I can guess at the reason.” He tapped his chin and leaned forward as he glanced at me. I froze. I’d seen that look before, the night Erebus killed the very demons his brother had mentioned. It was the same look they’d given me. My hand rose to my chest, and I fought the new panic building within me. Narabus was older than Erebus—did that mean he was stronger?

  “Did they show too much interest in Athena?”

  “They showed more than interest in her.”

  Narabus nodded. “I understand. I only hope Valafar does.”

  “Valafar?” I’d never heard the name before.

  “The Master,” Erebus said. He seemed unaffected by the mention of this name and beckoned me forward with a wave of his hand. “Sit down, Athena. This is your home. You have more right to be relaxed in it than my brother does.”