by Hanna Peach
Monique, Adere’s grandmother had lost her husband during the last Great War leaving her to raise Adere’s mother alone. When Adere’s mother took her own life after Adere was born, Monique then raised Adere. Adere never knew her father. Monique would only ever refer to him as ‘that bastard’.
During their happier times Israel and Adere would often come here to Remembrance Park. Adere felt it kept her close to a grandfather she had never known.
Israel can see the bench where he first kissed Adere. But he can’t enjoy the memory of it anymore. It is tainted.
Adere isn’t here yet. He stays in the bushes and waits.
There is a rustling above causing him to jolt. But it’s only a hawk landing on a branch. This bird seems to stare at him. It gives him the creeps. He wants to shoo at it but he dares not make a sound. Thankfully the hawk leaps off into the air and disappears back into the night.
He waits.
Soon he can hear the Saint Joseph clock tower chiming half past midnight. The clanging fades.
Minutes later Israel sees a figure wrapped in a long black jacket moving through the large iron gates at the park entrance. The figure walks along the main path that winds through the large park.
It’s too late for park visitors. Is this Adere?
The figure passes under a lamp post and Israel sees her two faces, Adere’s and the demon’s.
Adere stops near the bench, just out of the circle of light.
Israel moves as quietly as he can, pulling the coil of fibrous rope he has brought with him through his hands. He creeps up behind her, keeping his feet light, swift. He throws the rope over her slight frame, coiling it round and round her head so that she isn’t able to move her arms. She doesn’t put up a fight.
“I knew you’d come,” she says, sounding smug.
Israel winces at hearing Adere’s sweet voice entwined with a deep growling. He knots the ropes and pulls Adere towards him, pulling a dagger from his belt and holding it to her neck.
“I’m sorry to treat you this way, Adere. I just have to make sure the demon in you won’t try anything.”
Israel starts to push her towards the park entrance when her words sink in. I knew you’d come.
The demon wasn’t supposed to know he was here.
Two more Darkened step from the shadows flanking the left and right of the park entrance.
“You tricked me,” Israel says, pulling Adere backwards with him.
She laughs. “What did you expect mortal? I control Adere now.”
Israel’s eyes dart around him as the two Darkened advance towards him.
Bluff, run, fight?
“Stop there or I’ll slit her throat,” he calls out. The two Darkened pause, looking at Adere as if to get instructions.
“He’s bluffing. He won’t hurt me,” she says. “Get him.”
“Yes I will. I’ll kill her.”
Israel shuffles back, step by step, and the two Darkened step forward keeping the same distance between them.
Israel presses his blade harder at Adere’s neck. “You tricked me. Tell me why I shouldn’t slit your throat right here.”
“I didn’t lie when I said that there’s a way to get her back. If you slit my throat you kill her. She’s is still in here.”
“Liar. Why would I even listen to you?”
“Because you and I both know that if there is even a slightest chance that you can save her then you won’t risk killing her.”
“Damn you to hell,” he hisses in her ear.
“Why thank you,” she purrs.
Run, fight?
Israel throws Adere into the path of the two Darkened and runs. He aims for the other side of the park. There is a blown-out gap in the tall metal fence somewhere along there, he is sure of it.
His feet stumble across the even ground but he doesn’t slow down, spurred on by the heavy footsteps behind him.
If he can just get out of the park and amongst the alleys of Saint Joseph perhaps he can lose them. Or underground, perhaps he can lose them underground.
There. There is the gap. He is almost to it.
A fourth Darkened steps in front of Israel, blocking his way out. He skids to a halt. This demon has red reptilian skin and the yellow slit-crocodile eyes that blink at him with two eyelids. A greater demon.
Red speaks, “You’re lucky that he needs you alive.”
Fight.
“No,” Israel holds his dagger in front of him, “you’re unlucky that you need me alive.”
He charges.
Red darts out of his way and pulls his own weapon. “Alive, but it only needs to be barely.”
The air rings with metal as they clash in close quarters. The demon growls as Israel slashes him across the ribs.
Footsteps of the other Darkened are getting closer. This distracts Israel enough. Red kicks at Israel and he flies backwards falling into another body.
Israel feels a sharp pain at the back of his head. He falls first to his knees then to the ground, everything fading around him. There is a series of swooping noises, a Darkened cries out, metal on metal.
Then nothing.
Chapter 57
Nothing.
Why is there is only nothing?
Alyx has been flitting back and forth across the warehouse for over an hour trying to contact Israel through their bond. But she can’t reach him.
Nothing. Like he is asleep. Or dead. No he can’t be dead. If he dies, she dies.
Please Israel, where are you?
Her shoulder still hurts from where the Darkened sliced her. She turns to the three demonswords that she collected after the ambush. She has never seen blades like this before. Black and shiny like glass but hard like metal.
Alyx picks a demonsword up and pricks her finger on the end of one. A small bead of blood forms. Then another drop. If she was healing properly a pin prick would have closed up instantly. A third blood droplet comes from her finger. It’s clear. These weapons are disrupting her healing abilities. But how? And where did these weapons come from?
Something flickers, catching her eye.
“Israel,” Alyx cries as his face, then his body, appears as a mist. He looks groggy and he stumbles forward as if he is being pushed, his hands tied behind his back. He glances at her for a moment then drops his eyes.
Without looking at her he speaks, “Does it really take four of you to escort me when I’m already tied up? I must be very important to your Elders.”
Alyx feels the blood drain from her face. The Elders. The Seraphim have Israel. But how?
She moves to the side of Israel’s image and slips an arm around him.
“Where are they taking you?” she says into his ear.
“A cave at the base of a mountain? That’s an unusual place to keep your captives.”
Alyx heart sinks even further. The Hollows. They are taking him to the Hollows. This means that Elder Michael has him.
Israel lets out a cry and doubles over, folding in half at his stomach. He falls to his knees groaning, his arms still held awkwardly behind his back. Alyx’s stomach clenches at the sound of his moans. They’re hurting him. And she can do nothing to stop it.
A force yanks Israel up until he dangles in the air, his chin thrust to the sky, feet wriggling helplessly above the ground.
“Stop it,” Alyx pleads to an empty warehouse. “Stop hurting him.”
“Yes, I’ll be quiet,” Israel croaks.
Israel is dropped to his feet then falls forward as if pushed. He starts to stumble and trip as he is dragged faster than he can walk. There is nothing Alyx can do except to keep her hand on him, to let him know she is still there beside him.
Finally they stop dragging him. He is kicked forward and stumbles to his feet. Israel turns, reaching his hands out to grip invisible bars.
“Are you just going to leave me locked in here?”
It hurts to see Israel like this. But Alyx forces herself to remain calm. She has to be strong for him.<
br />
Alyx steps in front of Israel, rests a hand on his translucent cheek, holds his gaze in hers. For a moment it is just them.
“I will find you and I will free you. I promise you, on my life.”
Despite the pain etched on his face, she catches a slight smile to his lips and a barely perceivable nod. I believe you.
Chapter 58
Uriel is the last of the three to arrive here, a flat circular grass clearing about fifty meters wide, timid yellow buds peeking through thick grass, but nothing growing taller than them. The permanent ward that domes over the circle ensures that no trees will ever grow within it and neither animal nor mortal will dare enter. Giant trees stand shoulder to shoulder in a ring around the ward. Silent guardians to a place that none of the three Elders have returned to in centuries. Until now.
“Is calling a meeting here your idea of a joke, Michael?” Uriel’s voice is curt and clipped, his face half hidden under his hood.
Uriel stops before Michael and Gabriel, clock swirling around his booted feet suspended several feet above the ground.
Michael wants to slash at Uriel for speaking to him like that. How dare he.
But Michael remains silent and channels his anger back inside. He needs to keep them on side if this is to work.
It’s unfortunate that he has to trick them but they would never understand what he’s doing. At least not at first. Gabriel and Uriel were never the visionaries. Not like he is.
“It was the one place I could think of where we would not be overheard,” Michael says. “Our chambers in our respective cities are too easy for eavesdroppers, intentional or otherwise. And this... this is too important to leave this circle. Not even our entwined nor our second-in-command can know. Elders, I must have your word on this.”
Gabriel and Uriel look at each other then back at Michael.
“What is it Brother?” says Gabriel.
“We have captured a mortal. A mortal working with the traitor Alyxandria.”
Uriel draws a loud breath in. “Exposing us to the mortals.”
Michael continues, his speech rehearsed, “The mortal has confessed. Alyxandria has crossed over to the Rogue’s side taking with her the stolen amulet piece. They plan to gather the rest of the pieces and use the Amulet to raise an army against us.”
“The balance of power is shifting,” Gabriel says. “We must step up our search for the missing piece. We must get to it first.”
Michael nods. “Yes. But it gets worse.” Turning to Gabriel he places his hand on Gabriel’s shoulder, pausing to allow the silence to build the tension. “The mortal has admitted to a plot to steal the second amulet piece from you.”
Gabriel draws back, his face growing pale. “No. It can’t be done.”
Michael shakes his head. “She was able to get the first amulet piece from out of my chambers. Now that she has secured her alliance with the Rogues she will have more resources. Your piece is now unsafe anywhere in Gabriela, let alone on your person.”
Gabriel draws back from Michael. Fear. Good.
“I know you wear it on you,” he continues, “and so does Alyxandria, which makes it even more dangerous for you.”
Gabriel looks at Michael then Uriel. “What do we do?”
“Give it to me to keep safe,” Michael says. “Michaelea will be the last place they expect it to be.”
Gabriel looks at Uriel.
“Michael makes sense,” Uriel says. “It’s not safe with you anymore if the Rogues are planning to steal it.”
Gabriel pulls the long chain out from under his collar until the charm on the end pulls free. It is simple, beautiful, but incomplete without its other two connecting pieces.
“I have been wearing it for over two thousand years. I can’t bear to think about it leaving me.”
Michael tears his eyes away from the amulet piece to look at Gabriel. Almost mine. “For the safety of our people, Gabriel.”
Gabriel nods. “You are right brother. It is safer with you.” He removes the chain it from around his neck and pools it in his palm.
Almost mine.
Gabriel holds out the amulet. Michael’s fingers close around it.
Chapter 59
The bell hanging in the Saint Paul’s Cathedral bell tower is a large bronze monster. If it were cut from the yoke that it hangs from it could capture and hold an adult mortal standing up, like an insect under a cup.
The bell hasn’t rung in over sixty years since it rang to sound the end of the last Great Mortal War. After which the clapper, the striking implement that hangs like tongue under the skirt of the bell, was removed so it wouldn’t ring again.
Tonight it clangs three times.
Jordan appears out of the night and lands softly on the tower next to Alyx. Before he can speak she unsheathes one of the demonswords from her belt. “Know what this is?”
Jordan draws back from the blade. “Black Stone. I feared as much.”
Alyx sheaths the sword. “Talk. And don’t leave anything out.”
“Black Stone is an otherworld metal brought to earth several centuries ago by other-realm invaders, Celestial Fairies. The Seraphim banished the fairies from this world during the last Inter-realm War. After they were cast out, all of their leftover Black Stone weapons were collected and melted into large rocks. The rocks were flung out into space. The knowledge of Black Stone was lost over the centuries.”
“So how did the Darkened get a hold of it?”
“What the Elders didn’t count on happening is that some of those Black Stone rocks have returned back to earth as meteorites.”
Meteorites? Something about this bothered Alyx but she couldn’t grasp the significance of it.
Jordan continues, “Black Stone is the only substance we know of that can delay a Seraphim’s healing abilities. Get cut by it and you heal like a mortal.”
A puzzle piece falls into place. “Wait,” she says, “meteorites. I remember seeing something in a newspaper recently about a robbery in a museum. A meteorite was stolen.”
“That was probably a Black Stone. How big was it?”
“Big enough to make a lot more weapons. Dammit. But how did the demons get a hold of this knowledge. Why only now?”
Jordan’s look is grim. “Someone has betrayed the Seraphim.”
Something occurs to Alyx. “Something was stolen from Michael’s chambers. An piece of some amulet. The Elders have accused me of stealing it. I bet the thief and the betrayer are one and the same.”
“The Trinity Amulet?” Jordan’s eyes widen then he curses.
“What’s the Trinity Amulet?”
“It’s part of an old demon legend.”
“A demon legend?”
“The legend says that God gave the Trinity Amulet to the three Seraphim Brothers for safe keeping. The Trinity Amulet has the power to control Lucifer and his army.”
Alyx feels faint under the gravity of this information. Some connections begin to arise in her mind. “I came across a communication thread in Michael’s chambers. It spoke of a secret army, darkwarriors.”
He curses again. “A secret army. I’ve suspected something like this may be happening but I never had any proof.”
“Could Michael be controlling Lucifer’s army? Could this be his secret army?”
Jordan shakes his head. “The legend says that the amulet is so powerful that it is too dangerous to keep it intact. So the Brothers broke it up into three pieces and kept one each. You need all three pieces of the amulet to do use the power. What was stolen would have just been one piece.”
“Where are the other pieces?”
“I suspect that Gabriel has the second. The third piece is said to have been lost thousands of years ago. I believe that Raphael hid it before he died. We have to find this third piece before anyone else does.”
“We have something more urgent to do first. My friend Israel has been captured by the Seraphim of Michaelea. Israel killed that Darkened in Remembrance Park. And… I�
�ve been Guardian-bonded to him.”
“The bond… the Blood Prophecies…” Jordan presses his lips in a firm line. “I take it you have a plan to get him out?”
Alyx nods and begins to speak.
When Alyx finishes outlining her plan Jordan shakes his head. “If this is going to work we’re going to need more help.”
Jordan gives out a short sharp whistle. A swallow flutters down from the roof of the cathedral. It appears Jordan hadn’t come alone.
“Find Lukas,” he says to the swallow. “Tell him to meet us at Tara.”
The swallow coos before taking off.
“Who’s Lukas?”
“A friend of mine and an Animale.”
“Another Rogue?”
Jordan nods.
“Are you sure about getting this Lukas involved?”
“We need him. For your plan to have a chance at working we need his Animale gift. And except for the stuff sold on the dark market we can’t get bloodink out here.”
Alyx is unconvinced and it shows on her face. “Are you sure you can trust him?
“Do you trust me?”
“No.”
Jordan rolls his eyes. “Well, I trust Lukas. I trust him with my life. You should too.”
“This is ridiculous. We should be headed to Michaelea now.”
Alyx makes an exasperated noise as she sits up, throwing her hands in the air. The lion head ring Jordan gave her, twinkles on her thumb.
They are waiting for Lukas at Tara, a Rogue safehouse, an abandoned farmhouse in the remote country around Saint Joseph.
For the last hour Alyx has been lying across a rug spread out across the living room floorboards, Jordan sitting beside her trying to teach her about DreamCalling.
DreamCalling is new to Alyx. There is no mention of it in The Lightwarrior’s Protocol. But as Alyx learns more and more, there is much about the Seraphim abilities and magics that the Elders have kept from them.
“It’s like this,” Jordan had explained. “When you focus on someone and push this energy into the DreamPlain it sends out a tiny vibration towards that person. This is DreamCalling.”
