The Helio Trilogy: Volumes 1-3

by Valerie Roeseler

  A soft and raspy voice calls to me, “Can you hear me, Ivy?”

  Someone's holding my hand. My eyes flutter, and I witness Evelyn compressing my forehead with a cold, wet rag before they shut of their own volition again. “Evelyn?” I vaguely hear myself speak. Sound travels to my ears with mumbled undertones similar to hearing someone speak underwater.

  “We’re all here, dear.” I groan with dizziness in response. “Jack, help me get her to the tub. We need to bring her temperature down.”

  I'm lifted up again. My mind tries to comprehend what's happening. Arctic water creeps up my body at a grueling pace, and I gasp with a harsh intake of breath.

  “You’re ok, Sunshine. We just have to get your body temperature down,” Jack’s voice floats to me from a distance.

  Alice’s voice touches my ears, “I’ve never seen a transition this harsh. She’s not supposed to be this hot. Something’s wrong.”

  There’s a sadness in Trey’s soft spoken words, “It’s because the Light of her essence is fighting the Darkness inside her.” I can’t open my eyes, but I hear whispers all around me.

  “What are you talking about? What Darkness?” Jack orders.

  “Her heritage,” Trey replies.

  “She’s an Arch! There is no Darkness!” Jack shouts at Trey.

  “Yes, but not entirely.” There's a pause of silence. “She's Lilim, Jack,” Trey’s voice is despondent. No one speaks. I drift under the water and fully submerge myself.

  Red eyes come into my line of sight. I stare at ‘the darkness,' waiting for the inevitable to happen. Yet, it doesn’t. I realize I'm not frozen in fear. It’s never happened this way before. My voice is surprisingly sturdy when I speak, “Who are you? What do you want from me?” The angel steps from the shadows into the light of the moon shining in the field around us. I recognize him as the Fallen angel that abducted me. His languid, black wings are tucked behind him. He's a stunning sight to behold. Complimenting his black locks, he’s wearing a dark suit—impeccably tailored. I observe his features of intense beauty as he tilts his head to the side and gazes without speaking.

  I start to get irritated. “Well?”

  “Curious. Are you not afraid of me anymore, young Lilim?”

  “Honestly, you’re just pissing me off! What do you want?”

  His posture stiffens. “I do not want. I was sent to collect an asset.”

  “Who’s asset.”

  “The King of Sheol,” his eyes flare.

  I know exactly who he's referring to—Lucifer. “Why would I be an asset to him?”

  “You do not know?” His condescending tone reaches the rebel within me. I'm a child being reprimanded, and I refuse to reply. If I answer his question, he'll gain an emotional upper hand. I never appreciated being treated like a fool, but I won't let my countenance reveal that either. His mouth widens in devious amusement, yet his lips never part. “Your mother created you to spite him, and through Divine intervention they let you live with the strategy you would become their weapon against us. The King will not allow this. You will be his weapon against the Sons of The Creator. This is your true destiny.”

  “Who's my mother?”

  He regards me with irritation. “Your mother is the Queen of the Damned.”

  My vision begins to spin.

  Damned. Weapon. He’s telling me it's my destiny to become a weapon for the Devil, against good angels, just as Trey told me. And my mother's a queen… of the damned. Does that make her the wife of Lucifer?

  “Why are you not collecting?” I taunt.

  “Don’t worry, young Lilim. I will see you again soon enough. There is nowhere your friends can hide you that I will not find you.”

  Torn from my vision, I pull myself out of the water with ferocious violence and an audible gasp to fill my lungs. Water sprays to the ceiling high above me. It's a volcanic eruption of boiling liquid which seems to freeze at its apex before drenching everything within a fifteen-foot radius. My mind's clear now. I remember everything.

  Jack charges towards me and slides on his knees to the bathtub I've been placed in. His hands clutch the sides of my face. “Ivy!” I look in his eyes. His beautiful, glistening emeralds are brighter than I remember. “Ivy! Speak!”

  “Jack,” I whisper. Jack pulls me into a tight embrace, my face clutched to his chest. A torrent of emotions flood over me—Relief, love, hope, worry, need. He releases me from his embrace to examine me again. I can see everyone in the room now. Jack, Evelyn, Alice, Eric…and Trey. “Trey!” I pull away from Jack. “You’re alive! I thought you were dead!”

  “I’m a demon. A sword through the chest hurts like a bitch, but it won’t kill me.” He shrugs his shoulders and plasters fake amusement on his face.

  Evelyn shrouds me with a towel. “Come on, dear. Let’s get you cleaned up.” I step out of the tub, dripping on the pristine tile floor. “Everybody, get out so Ivy can change.” Everyone obeys with reluctance. Jack kisses me on the cheek—Relief, love, worry—and shuts the door behind him as he leaves.

  Alice brings clothes into the bathroom and sets them on the counter. “Are you ok, honey?”

  “Yeah. I think so.”

  Evelyn dries my hair with another towel. I catch her reflection in the mirror. Her face is ashen, and her hair has lost its normal shine. She looks iller than the last time I’d seen her. I spin around and hug her tight. She's stunned at first but holds me with her weak arms. A rush of emotions tears through me again. Sadness, weakness, worry, fatigue. I realize these feelings are not my own—they’re Evelyn’s. My heart swells with intense love for her. I don’t want her to die. I wish I could help her. My eyes shoot open, and my vision is blinded by pure white light. I can’t pull away from her. My body is magnetized with hers. There's a jolt of electricity between us, and I'm fused to her body like metal being welded together.

  Evelyn cries out in pain, and Alice’s screams are muffled from the constant humming in my head. I can’t break the tether between us. All at once, Jack, Eric, and Trey burst into the bathroom. My vision clears, and Evelyn collapses in my arms. I'm shaken with fear and lower her to the ground, surprised I can control her weight in my arms. She feels so light and fragile. Jack rushes to her body on the floor, and I step back in horror.

  What did I do? What happened? Is she dead?

  “Mother! Mother!” Jack cries out. Evelyn’s eyes quiver open wide. She appears stunned to still be alive. Jack helps her to her feet. “What happened?” he yells at me.

  “I don’t know!”

  Evelyn touches his arm to get his attention, “Jack, I’m fine.” Tears run down my face. “Truly. I’m more than fine.” The color in her face has returned, and her hair appears to soften before my eyes, shining with its angelic splendor. Jack inspects his mother, trying to figure out what's going on. “She healed me, Jack. The Qeres is out of my body! I felt her pull it out of me. I don’t know how, but she did it, Jack! She did it!” she cries with blissful joy.

  Jack twists to face me, his eyebrows raised high in surprise, “How?”

  “I don’t know! I don’t even know what Qeres is!”

  “It’s a poison that eats a Divine angel’s essence,” Eric provides.

  “From a spider?” I look to Jack for an answer.

  “No. It’s a perfume. There was an attack a few months ago. One of the Fallen had dipped his knife into it before he sliced her back.”

  “I don’t understand how I healed her. Does it have something to do with what Trey called me? Lilim? What's that? I had a vision before I came out of the water. A Fallen… The one who kidnapped me on the cliffs… He called me the same thing. At first, I thought he was confusing my name and calling me ‘Lilly’ instead of ‘Ivy.’ But then, I remembered Trey’s words before I went under the water. What is that? What am I?” I regard each of them and notice the fall of their faces.

  Trey speaks up first, “Lilim… is the name given to the direct offspring of the Queen.”

  “The Q
ueen of the Damned. He said that too. In my vision. Who is she?”

  “She goes by many names and many titles, but the name she most goes by is Lilith.”

  Lilith. I remember mythical stories of her from high school Literature.

  “I don’t understand. I thought Lilith was a demon. My mother's supposed to be an Archangel.”

  Eric speaks next, “Lilith was an Archangel. She was given to the first man, Adam, with the understanding she would be his wife. But she refused to submit to Adam. She didn’t love him. She felt being an angel made her superior to man because we were created first. She ran away from Adam. The Creator sent three angels to retrieve her. When she refused to return, she was cursed as punishment. Her heart turned wicked, and she became a demon.”

  “Wow. Everything I know about the world is a lie. Eve wasn’t Adam’s first wife, my mother's a demon, and I’m a direct descendant of the Angel of Death himself!”

  “Not just a descendant, Ivy. Azrael is your father,” Trey emphasizes.

  I whirl on Trey, “Excuse me?”

  “I’m sorry Ivy. I was trying to tell you before.”

  “So what the Fallen angel in my vision told me is true? Just as you said? I’m destined to be evil? Some kind of weapon against the Angels of Light?”

  “No. As long as your essence stays uncorrupted, you'll be given a choice. And from what I can tell, that choice is to align with Light.”

  “Wait, wait, wait, wait. A weapon?” Jack echoes.

  “I don’t know how I would be a weapon. My only abilities have been the visions, and now we can add healer, I guess.”

  “I’m not sure exactly what, but I’m positive you'll develop more abilities as you evolve into a full angel,” Trey grins with his words.

  Great. Just. Great.

  A stillness settles in the air around us. “Can you guys give me a minute? I want to get out of these wet clothes.”

  Everyone obliges my request and leaves me to my own devices. I support myself with my hands over the sink, leaning into the mirror to look at myself. With the new clarity of my thoughts, I begin to see subtle differences in my appearance. My eyes are brighter, my skin's smoother, and my physique is leaner. I feel stronger, mentally as well as physically. The revelation of who I'm becoming, who I am, is sinking in.

  I won’t let myself be used for the Darkness. I have to do everything possible to defend myself, and I can’t go on trying to ignore my fate. A sense of determination comes over me.

  I peel my damp clothes off, put on the dry garments Alice brought me, and plait my long black hair into a high tress. I grip the knob of the bathroom door, taking a moment to center myself and walk into my bedroom. It's empty. I have an epiphany, Trey confided in me the truth about why he was sent to me and how he didn’t want to. If he had the missing angel in his grasp, he would have let him go… If he was telling the truth. But I believed his sincerity. I don’t think he has the missing warrior. Maybe he knows who does, though.

  Voices drift into my room, and I walk into the hall to find where they’re coming from. I hear Jack. He's angry and threatening Trey. I have to make Jack understand Trey isn’t a threat. I run down the stairs taking two steps at a time. I'm standing in the foyer before I know it.

  Whoa. When Jack told me I would be faster, I didn’t think it would be that fast! And my hearing is a lot better too! There’s no way I could have heard them from my bedroom on the third floor! I thought my transition was supposed to come in stages, and the fever was only my metabolism changing? I think this is happening faster than they expected.

  I round the corner into the kitchen to see Jack at the most ferocious I've ever seen him. He has Trey by his shirt, pushed up against the far wall. Trey’s feet dangle off of the floor, but there's no fear in his eyes. Jack’s magnificent wings arc behind him, and his jaw is set tight as he growls at Trey with a deep and menacing reverberation.

  “Jack!” I bellow in the sternest voice I can muster. Everyone turns to me in surprise at my tone. Jack keeps Trey in the air despite my interruption. I speak low and deliberate, “Put. Him. Down.” There's a connotative growl beneath my words which surprises me, but I keep my intense gaze upon Jack without falter.

  “After what this demon’s put you through! You’re defending him?” Jack seethes with anger.

  “He didn’t have a choice, Jack. And even though he knew there would be consequences, he defied his orders to help me. They’re after him now as well. I watched the Fallen who kidnapped me impale him from behind his back! And you can’t deny that without his help I would still be stuck in that cave and probably dead. He has information that can help us. We need him, and he needs us. Now. Put. Him. Down.”

  Jack lets go, and Trey drops to his feet, smoothing the wrinkles out of his shirt, “Thank you, Ivy.”

  “Don’t thank me yet. I need to know something.”

  “I can’t promise you I have an answer, but I won’t lie to you.”

  “Where's the angel that was sent to protect me?”

  “I promise you, I didn’t have anything to do with that. It was all Beleth—the Fallen who kidnapped you. He’s Lucifer’s right-hand man and a Duke of Sheol. Rumors have been spreading that it's been difficult to capture you, and Beleth has finally taken things into his own hands. If Beleth still has the warrior, he’s probably within the dungeons of his Keep.”

  “How do we get there?”

  “You don’t,” Jack barks.

  “Why?” I challenge.

  Jack’s body is rigged with tension. “You’re not strong enough yet, and we don’t know where it is. We'll have to start hunting.”

  “Maybe Trey can help?” I suggest and face the demon among us.

  “I've never been to The Keep. I don't know where it is. Let me see what I can find out. I’m just going to have to stay low and try not to draw attention.”

  “Thank you.”

  “I don’t know how long it’s going to take. I’ll keep you updated.” With that, Trey walks through the back door of the kitchen, shedding his shirt as he sprouts black wings with yellow stripes through the center. They remind me of a Goldfinch. Without looking back at us, he shoots into the air and flies away.

  “Do you really think we can trust him?” Alice criticizes.

  I look around the room at the curious faces of the angels around me, “Yes. I don’t know how, but when we touched, I could feel his pain. I could feel his emotions as if they were my own. It happened when Jack grabbed my hand as well, and again before I healed Evelyn. I feel as I can trust him.”

  “You’re empathic?” Eric inquires.

  “What’s that?” I ask.

  “You can feel emotions others feel when you touch them,” he explains.

  “Um, I guess. I think that’s what happened. I know I’m right about Trey. I just need you all to trust me.”

  They accept my declaration with hesitance, and I realize it's going to take some time to convince them. Alice and Eric leave to retrieve my car from the hiking trail where I’d left it, and Evelyn goes to her study for more research. Apparently, my transformation is happening faster than anyone expected, and they come to the conclusion I have the ability to heal because Azrael possesses the same trait. Jack threads his fingers through mine. I pull him to me and hold him tight around his waist. I need the comfort only he seems to provide. “I don’t want to sit here and do nothing.”

  Jack kisses the top of my head and looks down at me, “I think I know what you can do.” He leads me through a narrow doorway off the side of the kitchen I haven’t noticed before. He flicks on a light switch and reveals polished wooden steps leading down into what I imagine is a cellar. Every step we take exposes more and more light. With the last step, we move into a vast open room with vaulted ceilings and blue mats lining floors. There are heavy bags hanging in a corner next to a few speed bags, and the walls are lined with more equipment you normally see in a boxing gym.

  “What’s this?”

  “It’s a traini
ng room. It’s rare if it gets used anymore, but I’m hoping to change that.”

  “You want all of us to train?” I arch my eyebrow in question.

  “I want you to feel safe here. We have to prepare for every contingency. I want to do everything in my power to protect you. I would lay my life down for you, but you need to be able to defend yourself if something happens and I can’t be there. We have to be smart. I know you can defend yourself, but you need to be prepared for the type of beings that will be after you. They’re stronger, faster, and have had millennia to strategize.”

  “I used to be able to defend myself without many problems, but after Beleth had attacked me, I realized I was useless against a being with that much power. But since my fever’s broken, I feel stronger. I think I would be ok with the self-defense tactics I already know.”

  “You are stronger, yes. I don’t understand why. That change wasn’t supposed to advance so suddenly. It must have something to do with the genes from your mother. And it brings up the question if your transformation is progressively faster than we expected, when will the final alteration happen? We have no way to tell now. Either way, I know you can defend yourself, I've seen that first hand. But I need to know how well you're prepared for beings who are fiercer than you’ve encountered before.”

  “Ok.”

  “For now, I want you to rest up. We’ll begin in the morning. Wear something you can move comfortably in. I’m going to check in with the others later and see where we stand.”

  Back in my room, I open the doors to the terrace for some fresh air. I sit at the table and chain smoke while I contemplate my new position. My whole life, I’ve been sleepwalking. Not anymore. It’s time to become the warrior I was meant to be. I won’t let them take me. And I’ll be damned if I’ll let any of those evil parasites harm my friends. Time to rest up, baby girl. Tomorrow's a new beginning.

  Chapter 12

  Jack starts my training by making me show him what self-defense tactics I already know. He counters each one with more power and quickness than I'm ready for. I end up on my back a few times. While my reflexes are faster than they used to be, I'm still not quick enough.