"Why do you insist on telling that story to everyone and lie about it?" Karix asked, obviously not approving of it.
"I'm not lyin'! You'd know if I was lyin'. Karix, you can read my thoughts. I'm not lyin'."
Jaycob cleared his throat to stop them from arguing. "Liam, why do you think you died? You are obviously alive, aren't you?"
"Not the same. I'm different now. The book saved me. It was inside me."
Jaycob raised an eyebrow curiously then glanced over at Karix who seemed to be just as confused. "Liam, what do you mean it was inside of you?"
"I ate two pages so I could have it later and sell the pages. They looked valuable."
That was a version of the story even Karix had not heard before. "Hold on. You ripped pages out of the Draconia Lexicanum and ate them?"
"Yep."
"Then the paladins caught you and drowned you."
"Yep."
Jaycob played with the pearls on his belt. "Okay . . . "
"Then I came back to life when Sulstair the necromancer raised me like one of his zombies."
"This is ridiculous. I can't-"
Jaycob interrupted Karix. "No. It makes perfect sense. Liam, look at me. Not to be insulting, but can you read?"
"Not really. Ovi tried to teach me, but it didn't work real well."
"Then I'm guessing it's safe to say that you didn't know the name of the book you stole, right?"
"It was pretty and looked expensive, so I took it."
"Karix, can I speak to you outside?" Jaycob asked as he stood up.
"Liam, please do not read my mind at this time. Okay? I can't stop you, but I would prefer you not." Karix followed Jaycob outside of the tent. "What is it?"
"We have a problem. Depending on what two pages Liam ate, we could be looking at a catastrophic situation."
"What are you talking about?" Karix asked. "It's just a book."
"The Draconia Lexicanum is anything but just a book. I wrote the stupid thing with Xair and Dayxi's help. I know exactly what's in it. It is full of ways to destroy, control, and ward off dragons. The different between the actual copy and the forged copies are a few select pages that had active spells on the pages written in Nephilim blood."
"Nephilim blood?"
"Yes. If you know anything about dark warlock magic, you know that Nephilim blood is the ultimate catalyst and preservative for spells. Once written in Nephilim blood, the spell becomes unbreakable and eternal. The longer the spell sits there unused, the more powerful it becomes. I used one of them once, then we sealed the book so no one could open it."
Karix pushed his long white hair behind his shoulders. "But Liam opened it."
"I know. I had placed a lock on it that could only be opened with my blood. I never thought that I would have children and much less grandchildren. I had devoted my life to my dragon and my research. Things . . . happened one night and I . . . that doesn't matter. What matters now is finding the book and finding what pages Liam ate."
"What's the worst case scenario here? What are we looking at?"
Jaycob looked to the golem on his shoulder as if expecting some sort of support from it. "If Liam was to eat the immortality spell and the imminent destruction spell, he could be an apocalyptic weapon that would continually destroy the world only to be reborn and used over and over for eternity."
"And whose bright idea was it to put those things in the same book?"
"Mine, okay? Like I said, I didn't think it would ever matter. I was dumb."
"What other spells were in there?" Karix asked.
"A very intense dragon ward that kills any dragons who come in direct contact with it."
"Liam is turning into a dragon!"
Jaycob's shoulders slumped as he realized the danger. "I know, okay?"
"Wait. But he ate those pages before he was mated with me, so he should be fine."
"Not true. The spells themselves stay in his blood. That's why the runes for the spells are now appearing on his scales. He is being marked by the Draconia Lexicanum."
"Another spell of yours?" Karix asked.
"Not mine. Dayxi's. It marks dragons for death. If you want to stop it, you need to speak with Dayxi."
"Dayxi is dead." Karix said plainly.
"Oh. Well, the only other person who would know is Xair. And he's in the same boat. I can try to negate the spell with Trevor's help if we can get that book. But there is payment that it will demand."
"The book?" Karix asked. "The book will demand payment?"
"More like a sacrifice. A cherub sacrifice."
"What the hell kind of magic were you into? Sacrificing cherubs?"
"Listen, I'm not proud of it. It was a dark time in my life, okay?" Jaycob kicked a clump of mud with the toe of his boot.
"Why would you even write a book like this?"
"To help a friend who hated his Elder Dragon father."
Karix looked down at the ground. "My son."
"Aye. Xair paid me to help him write the book so he could have an emergency way to get his revenge on you if his purple dagger didn't work."
Karix tapped his long fingernails on his chin. "I know where we can get a cherub."
"You're willing to kill a baby angel for Liam?"
"Of course."
"Where are you going to get a baby angel?" Jaycob asked.
Karix looked across the camp to where Brinx was feeding the tiny green-winged ishim in her arms. "Cael."
"What? You're serious? Jeremiah will slaughter you if you touch his son. Not to mention Trevor as well."
"You just focus on finding the Draconia Lexicanum and I will take care of the cherub."
Chapter 12
Zeriel pulled Jaylen along behind him as they ran down the long polished hallway towards the doors at the far end. "Run!"
Jaylen had barely had enough time to pull his pants on before the crazy angel had forced him out of his bedroom in the middle of the night. He tripped on the hem of his baggy blue silk pants that were too big without a belt, but he was quickly dragged along. "What's going on?"
"Shut up and run."
The paintings on the walls swayed and some were knocked free from their hooks as a tremor shook the palace. A thick crack spread across the ceiling, letting a shower of dust and wood splinters shower down on top of them. The black iron candelabras were quickly extinguished, leaving everything in pitch blackness. Jaylen squealed in panic as he clung to his angel, still attempting to run alongside him.
Zeriel summoned a shadowy ball of mage-glow to illuminate their way. "Shut up. You caused all this."
"Me? How did I cause all this? I've been asleep!" Jaylen listened to the cries and shrieks from outside that were accented by growling. "What is going on anyway?"
"Demons. You opened a rift."
"I did not . . . wait, what? A rift?"
"Yes. Now demons and otherworld creatures are pouring through at alarming rates. You've got to fix this mess now!"
"How am I going to fix this?" Jaylen asked. "I didn't open it."
"You did. I watched you do it. The you walked back inside and crawled into bed like nothing had happened."
Jaylen growled as he clenched his fist. "Finalis."
"Don't go blaming this on Finalis. You are Finalis, so you are the one doing all this." Zeriel skidded to a stop then kicked the double doors open. "Look what you did! How could you go and open a rift? You've lost your damned mind!"
Jaylen's mouth fell open as he stared out from the doorway at the courtyard where hoards of demons were ripping everything apart. The pear trees, stables, and wooden archways were being set on fire, the thick smoke billowing across the courtyard and blocking out the stars.
"Now go kill some demons."
"Like this?" Jaylen motioned to his silk pants and bare chest. "I'm not in my armor."
"Don't care. You weren't in your armor when you came out here to start this, so you're not going to be in your armor to finish it."
Jaylen stomped his feet
in frustration. "I don't have my sword!"
Zeriel yanked a long wooden stick from a nearby pile of rubble. "Here. Use this."
"What is this?" Jaylen asked, taking it in his hand and swinging it. "It's completely unbalanced."
"Looks like a chair leg. Get to work."
"A chair leg? You want me to fight rift demons with a cracked chair leg? What is wrong with you?"
"Nothing. Be resourceful." Zeriel held his hand into the air where the ethereal Heavenly shotgun appeared. "Get to work."
Jaylen silently cursed him under his breath as he held up the chair leg to block a tall demon's razor-sharp claws.
"Get down!" Zeriel fired twice into the hoard, sending six demons to the ground. He leapt into the air and sent a wave of air out with the forceful sweep of his ebony wings. The cracking sound of the shotgun echoed against the walls of the palace and sent some demons scattering back into the rift just as others came clambering and spilling out into the courtyard.
Jaylen dove below the demons and swung his makeshift sword, knocking them down to the ground. He leapt up and bashed their heads with the wooden chair leg. "This would be easier with a sword!"
"Use what you can. Stop complaining."
"Ah!" Jaylen fell to his knees as a sharp pain radiated from his right leg up to his hip. Three bloody claw marks were sliced into his skin, sending the bright red blood smearing through the blue silk. "Zeriel, I'm injured!"
That apparently was enough for the angel to take action. Zeriel flew down and sheltered Jaylen with his outstretched wings as he fired into the demons. "Are you all right?"
Jaylen clutched the wound in his hand as he hid behind his angel. "Now you care?"
Three more shots rang out, causing the demons to howl louder. "I've always cared. Why aren't you using your magic? Get those glowing wings out and lay down some spells."
"I don't know how to do it on command."
"But I do." Finalis snickered at Jaylen in his mind. "Isn't this fun?"
"What are you doing?" Jaylen asked, trying his best to focus on the voice in his head at the same time he was fighting for his life. "Are you the one who opened this rift? Now I'm being blamed for it."
"Do you really have the luxury of standing around while your weakened angel fights off demons all alone? You have a tiny scratch on your leg. Poor Jaylen. Get over it. Show Carvael that you're not completely useless. Now, get angry and fight!"
Jaylen cried out as the magic instantly surged through his body with a feeling of both intense pleasure and the itching pain of pinpricks. Every vein came to life with a frantic pulsing right before the white translucent wings spread from his back and his left hand shimmered where his real one used to be. He saw a bright orange and yellow light in his right hand. The brightly-burning flames spread up the length of the wooden stick, creating a hot inferno in his hands. The flames did not hurt him, but they did make him feel uncomfortable. "Why is this on fire?"
Finalis entered his mind again. "Because you wield Hell's flames. Duh. You are the Angel of Darkness, after all."
"I've never seen them before."
"You're welcome. I opened your mind to see it all. I thought it would help psych you up to see how awesome we are, Jaylen."
A familiar neighing sound caught Jaylen's attention as he swung his flaming chair leg into the stomach of an incubus. He looked up to see the white winged horse breaking through the thick smoke. "Pegasa!"
"Good. Get on and get up there to that rift. Or you could use your wings like an intelligent person!"
Jaylen ran and leapt onto the back of the winged horse. He took the golden reigns in his hand and raised his blazing weapon into the air. "Go, Pegasa!"
The horse reared back on her hind legs with wings outspread as she whinnied in excitement. With a powerful jump, she took off into the air, leaving the demons reaching up for her haunches. But Pegasa was faster. Even though Jaylen had his own wings, he was not yet fully comfortable with them yet. So, he relied on Pegasa to get him to the rift. What kind of Angel of Darkness had a fear of flying? That would be an obstacle to overcome at a later date.
The jagged portal swirled with black shadows, glittering balls of light, and purple waves of energy. A foreign cold electricity sparked around the edges where the normally blue sky had been ripped apart. A charred black arm reached out from the rift, covered in spines and bulbous cysts. Jaylen wasted no time in whacking it back into the portal with the flaming chair leg.
Zeriel flew up beside him, raining down a volley of lead into the hoards. "You're there! Close the rift."
"I don't know how to do that."
"Stab it or something. I don't know. Just close it!"
Without any clue as to what to do, Jaylen swung the makeshift weapon into the portal as his magic flowed powerfully from him, channeled into the portal itself. There was a furious shrieking and howling from the remaining demons on the ground. The air itself shook and pulsed with an influx of energy. A clear wave spread over the sky like a heat wave before the rift emitted a high-pitched humming sound. Pegasa suddenly flew down out of the sky without command and landed just as the force from the explosion sent Jaylen flying off of her back and into the mud.
Jaylen looked up from where he had landed to see the demons drop over dead with small glowing wounds from the Heavenly shotgun. His magic and wings faded into nothing as he caught his breath. But then his heart momentarily stopped. Black angel feathers slowly drifted down out of the smoke-filled sky and came to rest in front of him.
Finalis sighed. "He's dead. You killed him."
"No! No!"
"I'm joking. You're too fun to mess with. Look over there by the stables."
Jaylen scrambled to his feet, grabbing onto Pegasa's reins for support. He coughed a couple of times from how much smoke he had been breathing in. His eyes stung, but he he blinked away the blurriness to see Zeriel on his hands and knees. The angel was breathing heavily and his wings were slumped low to the ground with a few feathers missing, but he was alive.
Zeriel's white eyes met his. "Jaylen . . . you did it. You closed the rift."
Jaylen ran to him, hobbling from the bloody wound on his right hip. "Are you okay?"
"I think so. I was too close to the explosion, but I'm all right." Zeriel stood and stretched out his wings as he groaned. "I'm more concerned about how we are going to explain this to Carvael."
"My, my. What a display." The golden-winged angel in long white robes landed on top of the pile of demon corpses then slowly began clapping his hands in applause. "Well done, both of you. I am very pleased at how far you've come in being able to deal with threats like this. Look at all this carnage. Such severe destruction and blatant disregard for safety and security."
Jaylen dropped his scorched wooden chair leg into the blood-slicked mud then knelt before the archangel. "Forgive me for whatever I have done, Archangel Carvael. I don't know what happened, but I can assure you I didn't do this."
"Oh, but you did. And I am so proud of you." Carvael paced around the scorched ground and piles of demon corpses. "This was a test, and you both passed with flying colors. Congratulations. You have made me very proud. It was a little rough on the finishing and some of the fighting was crude, but that's nothing some proper armor and weaponry won't even out. Zeriel, next time, you need to protect Jaylen more. Look at his leg. He took a swipe from an angry demon. We cannot have that. Understood? And Jaylen, you need to get over whatever fear you have about using your own wings to fly. You are Finalis. Finalis must fly on his own. Aside from these issues, you were able to think quickly and find a way to accomplish the goal. I knew paladins were trained for combat and battlefield operations, but I feared you were too young to have gotten much out of your training. Well done, Jaylen Corrifus. You've proven that you can control these rifts. You know what that means, don't you?"
"Wait a minute. You're glad that the rift opened?" Zeriel asked, wiping mud from his arms.
"Of course I'm glad about it. That's the pl
an after all. We are going to ignore the little ones for now. Instead, you are going to rip open the boundary between the human world and the otherworld. We are merging them, you see? Finalis, you will take command of the demons and creatures inside that realm. They will be our military force."
"But that-"
Carvael grinned darkly and interrupted Jaylen. "No, no, no. Save your undying admiration for my intellect until the battle. Go get some rest, dear Finalis. We march at dawn."
Chapter 13
"We march at dawn? At dawn!" Jaylen sent the glass vase from his dresser across the room, followed by everything in the drawers. The floor was blanketed with glass, splintered wood, and torn fabric as he tore the room apart.
Zeriel sat on the edge of the bed with is legs crossed and a cup of lavender tea in his hands. He watched the fit his Master was throwing with a grin of amusement on his lips. "You're so violent."
"Shut up!"
"Why are you upset? This is what you wanted, after all. You wanted to join the side you felt was the best and help fight against the people you believe have wronged you in some way. You volunteered to come here. What did you think Carvael was going to do with you once you joined Eternal Eclipse? Give you all this luxury then let you sit back and paint pictures all day? Don't play stupid, Jay. You are a soldier whether you want to be or not. Remember your training and focus on the goal at hand."
Jaylen punched the wall, cracking the plaster all the way to the ceiling. "You don't understand. No one understands. I didn't want to fight against my friends."
"Who did you think you'd be fighting against? You betrayed them. You became a traitor to the country that viewed you as their king. Everyone trusted you to be their leader. Now what has that leader done?" Zeriel leaned forward and his voice got quieter as he whispered. "I even had Liaxa come here to see if she could convince you to go back. But you wouldn't have that. You have picked your allegiance and now I have to go along with it even though I hate it."
"Why? Why do you have to be here if you hate it so much? We're not bonded anymore. Liaxa told me what you did. I know I'm dying, okay? Why don't you let me die away from everyone so they don't have to hurt anymore?"
Angel of Darkness Books 6-10 Page 48
