Palazzo Contarini’s tower rises in the distance.
I reach the gate within minutes. There is light in the courtyard. The flickering gleam of torchlight licks the stone walls.
Summoning the stealth of a thief, I push the gate open and slip inside.
A pair of silhouettes appear on the wall. I step back into the garden’s trees to conceal my presence. Low murmurs slowly grow into impassioned threads of conversation. The voices draw near.
Samyaza appears in the courtyard. He walks alongside another man who’s dressed in a fashionable grey silk suit embroidered in silver brocade. The man’s blond hair is tied into a low coil which he adjusts as they stroll into the garden. Their voices twine with the entrancing chirp of crickets.
“Must I remind you? We have an agreement,” Samyaza says in a low murmur. “You cannot meddle in my affairs.”
“I only serve the Almighty’s will, Samyaza. You know that.” The man furrows his brow. “I would never take action to satisfy my interest.”
“You do not fool me…” Samyaza purses his lips. “You are capable of that and more—you, who wields Justice as the flag for your selfish pursuits.”
The blond man stops abruptly. Clenching his jaw, he turns to face Samyaza. “Our Lord banished you from His Glory because of your poor judgment… I had no say in the matter.” He detains, fascinated by a glistening silver button in Samyaza’s jacket. He cocks his head with an inhuman quality, like a bird.
At last, he snaps from the trance. “Time and time again, I have given you several opportunities to mend your ways, and you have rejected them all… Your lust for the Daughters of Eve has always been your doom—and forever more, it will be.”
Samyaza straightens his back. He slips his hands into his pants pockets and faces him with eyes full of defiance. “I have no patience for your games… What do you want?”
“I want you to repent, old friend.” The man smooths his pale hand over Samyaza’s shoulder. “I want you to change your ways and choose the Almighty over His Creation… Is there no contrivance in your accursed heart? Would you not return to Him after millennia of exile?”
“Why must you torture me so?” Samyaza muses, avoiding his stare. “Don’t you think I would return if it were in my power? I know very well I am not welcomed there.”
“Look at you, beloved Samyaza.” The man sniggers. “Centuries of living amongst mortals have fixed their mark upon you.”
“How so?” Samyaza’s voice is low and hurting.
“You lie to yourself as humans do,” he adds, shrugging his shoulders. “And you believe your lies… How your heart betrays you!”
“What would you know about betrayal? Stop pestering me, leave me at peace.” Samyaza turns and heads towards the palazzo.
“That woman,” the blond man adds. “The opera singer.”
His words cast an immediate reaction upon Samyaza. He stops near the steps that lead inside the palazzo, but he remains silent.
“You could have proven your loyalty and obedience to the Almighty, Samyaza. But you chose a woman over Him once more… Sad that she did not hesitate—not once—when I offered her the chance to be rid of you.” He sneers. “Will you ever learn, my Fallen brother?”
With unnatural speed, Samyaza runs to the man, appearing before him within seconds. He snatches his jacket’s lapels and pulls him close. “What lies did you feed her?” he hisses in the man’s ear.
“About the butterflies, you mean?” The man curls the corner of his lips in a mischievous smile. “We both know they are not mere insects.”
“I keep them safe!” Samyaza growls, releasing him from his hold.
“You keep them imprisoned!” A fiery gleam shines in the man’s eyes as for the first time he loses his self-control. It is the same unnatural quality I once glimpsed in Samyaza’s eyes.
“I need them!” Samyaza’s voice fills with despair.
The man’s shoulders jitter as he snickers. “Really, old friend… How can you be so naive? Do you truly believe such an offering would even tempt the Lord to forgive you?” He pats Samyaza’s back. “Not a thousand of the purest souls would persuade Him to erase your sin. What you did was the highest of treasons to His merciful heart… There is but one way back to Him, and that is through me.”
“Then it is all lost…” Samyaza whispers. “For I very well know your unforgiving nature.”
“I gave you a chance at redemption, and you refused it yet again…” the man says, raising his brow. He slips his hands into his pockets.
“Killing her?” Samyaza mutters.
I cannot breathe. My lips part, astonished as I step back, deeper in the courtyard’s shadows.
“Sacrifice is the door to our Lord’s Kingdom—” says the blond man.
“I will never hurt Letizia!” Samyaza runs his fingers through his hair. His eyes glisten with looming tears. “Giovanni, Syneca, Carlo… I took their lives as you instructed!”
“That is not enough!” The man clenches his jaw.
“You twist all things with your wretched tongue. You feed lies to mortals and compel them to do your bidding!” Samyaza’s face flares up. “You have planted a seed of doubt into Letizia’s heart, and thus, you have snatched her away from me forever… I will never forgive you for this!”
“Whereas I do forgive you,” the man replies. “I forgive your hatred and your vengeful spirit… Your sin of lust has cost you eternal damnation.”
A bolt of lightning strikes the heavens. The wind shifts in our midst, stirring tree leaves in a sudden whirlwind. An incandescent beam of light fills the courtyard, enveloping the man who now stands in the middle of the garden.
With baffled eyes, I see him rise in midair. The light shreds his clothes apart. Beneath the fabric, a pristine silver armor is revealed, engraved with mysterious symbols.
Thunder rumbles in the evening sky. Lightning flashes once again. I turn away, covering my eyes with the back of my hand. A loud thud echoes in the courtyard, and as my eyes open, I see a pair of majestic wings spread on each side of the creature. He pulls a flaming sword from his back and lifts it high in the air.
Each time his wings flap the air shifts around us as a powerful hurricane, and I am frightened to the core. My heart shudders as much as my hands tremble. I sneak further back, falling on my knees, unable to part my eyes from this imposing vision.
“Accept your loss,” he says, and his voice echoes as loud as thunder. “I have won this battle. And now… you have lost her forever, Samyaza.”
Samyaza growls. He clenches his fists on his sides and runs to the middle of the courtyard. The earth trembles. I lose my balance. I crawl quickly to a tree and hug it tight.
Red flames shot up from the ground, surrounding Samyaza within seconds. “Michael!” he screams. His clothes burn into cinders that scatter in the warm wind. A shining black armor hugs his chest and arms. The earth trembles once more, and a pair of black wings burst from Samyaza’s back. The feathers gleam an ethereal blue shade as he rises in the air, spreading his wings over six feet wide.
“Michael…?” I whisper.
Laughter echoes in the heavens. It is his laughter—Michael’s.
“I will bring you down with me if it’s the last thing I do!” Samyaza grins, revealing his sharpened teeth. His wings flap twice before he reaches Michael and sinks his keen claws in his armor.
“I banished you once, Samyaza. I will not hesitate to do it again!” With a quick swing of his sword, Michael frees from Samyaza’s grip, impulsing himself back with his powerful wings.
Tears fill my eyes. The terrible cruelty of their game sinks fast in my heart. And I discover myself an instrument in an ancient battle between two angels. Samyaza used me to gain redemption, and Michael did so as well out of his own righteousness.
“I have nothing to lose!” Samyaza hisses. “I’ve already lost everything!”
“Not everything…” His sword points straight at me. I cannot move. It is as if I am pinned to th
e ground. Michael descends at a high speed heading towards me, driven by his flaming sword.
“Nooooooooo!” Somewhere in the sky, Samyaza screams. But my stare cannot stray from Michael’s vengeful determination.
This is how it ends for me. I will pay for my sin of pride, and the gravest sin of all—loving a demon.
As Michael draws closer, the light is blinding. I close my eyes and turn away as if that could somehow prevent his imminent strike.
A deafening silence envelops me. Not a leaf moves, the air remains still. I am engulfed by a blinding light.
“Forgive me,” Michael whispers in my ear. “Oh, Lord Most High… Forgive me.”
I open my eyes and a flash of lightning strikes before me. A sudden vacuum threatens to sweep me from the ground. My fingernails dig deep into the tree’s bark, deep enough that they bleed. Burying the pain, I huddle against the trunk and I pray to see the end of this day.
The whirlwind disappears. Silence settles in the evening once more. And little by little, the chirp of crickets drifts into the night.
Warm tears trickle down my cheeks. As I open my eyes, a view like no other lies before me.
An ethereal luminescence beams off his skin, concern fills his iridescent green eyes. Samyaza’s unspoiled beauty moves my heart, and I recognize myself weak enough to fall into his arms again.
He drops to his knees. “Are you hurt?” he whispers in a soothing voice, cupping the sides of my face.
“Samyaza…” In this nearness, I would hold him close, even when I know it would mean my soul’s ruin. Silently, I long for days past, when the shadow of his name meant no threat to me or my loved ones.
“Michael… He wanted to kill me!” Astonishment and disbelief take over me. How can an Angel of God play such a vindictive scheme? “What happened?”
“He was summoned back to the Almighty’s presence,” Samyaza mumbles, but his mind wanders far away as he searches every inch of my face for the slightest wound.
“Summoned by God? But why?” I ask.
“I suspect He disapproved of Michael’s overzealous deeds,” heaving a sigh. “Perhaps there is hope for me still,” he adds with a bitter smile.
Samyaza takes my hand and helps me on my feet. We now face each other, a few inches stand between us. How easy it would be to give that single step and take down the distance that divides us…
A quick glance at his back reveals no trace of the majestic wings I saw minutes ago. No feather remains, no signs of his black armor. The suit he wears is exactly as it was before, in impeccable condition.
“Come inside,” he whispers with a hint of longing.
“No.” My voice is harsher than I wanted. “I heard everything,” I add with a smoother tone. “Now I know I am no more to you than the means to your redemption.”
“Letizia, I can explain—” His hurting voice is alluring like the chime of a silver bell.
As we stand in the middle of the courtyard, my gaze drifts upwards, to the room in the palazzo’s tower where the flutter of butterflies is locked in an eternal prison.
“Giovanni, Syneca, Carlo… Michael ordered you to kill them,” I say.
“Forced my hand into doing it,” he corrects, looking away.
“And so you did his bidding,” I muse.
“I am no killer, Letizia.” A hint of rebellion stains his voice.
“Aren’t you?” I reply, cynical without a care.
“Angels and demons, we have the power to exert influence over Men…” He bites his lower lip. “I merely infiltrated their minds with the suggestion that—”
“They died because of you.” I finalize, but then, a sudden realization hits me. “He ordered you to kill me too…”
“And yet, I did not.” His gaze is clear and earnest, like someone who has nothing to hide. But being the Father of All Lies, I doubt he can be trusted.
“It would have meant your chance for salvation,” I whisper, struggling not to draw any closer to him. “Why would you pass such an opportunity?”
“Because…” Samyaza takes a deep breath, “I love you.”
“What do you know about love?” I frown. “What do you know about anything other than your own damnation? I have been a fool, a damned fool who stepped into an evil game between hell and heaven!”
“You don’t understand… Letizia—” reaching for my hand.
“Don’t touch me.” I take a step back. A fear so great takes hold of me, that if his fingers even so much as graze my skin, I might stay with him forever.
A gust of cool wind rushes through the courtyard and plays with my hair. Thunder rumbles nearby. The air turns humid and impregnated with the scent of moist earth.
“You are bemused by what you’ve seen…” he says with a velvety voice. “I will come to you, tomorrow.”
“I will be gone by then.” I grip one of the gate’s iron bars. The first drops of rain fall on my hands and cheeks. “I leave tomorrow on tour.”
“Distance means nothing to me, tesoro mio…” he whispers in a pleading tone. “I will find you, and then we may—”
“What?” I ask, defiant. “Start anew? Will you play one of your mind tricks on me and snatch away the memories of what happened this evening?”
“I wouldn’t dare,” he says, furrowing his brow.
“I want no part in your game, Samyaza. I will leave now.” I pause. “It’s over.”
“Don’t say that,” he whispers. His eyes glisten with withheld tears.
“If you ever cared for me at all… release them.” I take one more look at the butterflies’ sanctuary.
Samyaza’s warm hands hold mine, pressing them gently. “I will do what you ask,” he whispers. Whether his words are sincere, I cannot say.
One more step distances me from him and delivers me into the shimmering street. When I face forward, I cannot stop myself from weeping.
A hurried pace takes me away from Duke Contarini’s palazzo, away from Il Diavolo, my one and only love, Samyaza.
Paris.
Months have passed slowly in La Ville Lumiére. And although I endeavor to engulf myself in the banalities of life and the beauty that surrounds me, my thoughts always lead me to the man I loved and the demon I left behind in Venice—for surely, both cannot be the same.
The carriage takes a left turn rather rashly, and I am violently swept to the edge of the seat. I should readjust my bonnet, but the sounds of the crowded street compel me to pull the drapes.
A jostling horde moves sluggishly down the street that leads to the theater. The beat of life in Paris is fast-paced and strong, unlike the quietness of La Serenissima.
Twilight spreads quickly. A full day of shopping the finest clothes and visiting the theater has given me enough exhaustion to sleep through the evening.
The carriage stops. I pull the drapes once more, peering through the window at my lodgings—a house most conveniently situated in the fashionable Saint Germain des Prés.
When I step out of the carriage, the lamps’ first amber gleam appears in the street. I have been to Rome, Florence, and Madrid, but Paris has given me more solace than I ever expected. And I need that comfort, the peace that only comes when I’ve successfully numbed my mind (and thus, silenced my heart).
“Bonsoir, mademoiselle.” Dressed in black and gold livery, the footman stands before me. With a flick of his white-gloved hand, he signals the coachman to bring forth my shopping boxes.
“Bonsoir, Clement.” Heaving a heavy sigh, I cross the manor’s threshold. The summer’s warmth is stifling. I unpin my crooked hat and fan my face with it. I lean against a table, seconds away from fainting. Oh, how I wish I could unpin my dress too, and loosen the strings of my stays…
“Ahem…”
Startled, I turn. My eyes widen as they capture the most wonderful sight.
“Fabrizio!” I wrap him in my arms. “You’re here!”
Months of touring through Europe have distanced me from my beloved brother. “You never told
me you were coming! Your last letter—!”
“We wanted to surprise you, dear sister.” Fabrizio sniggers. “One does not spoil a surprise by announcing it beforehand.”
“We?” I frown. My heart is full and content, more than that—brimming with joy. “Do you mean to say…?”
“I am here as well, dearest sister.”
I turn to find my dear friend, Carina, standing in the middle of the stairway. She descends quickly the last steps and runs to embrace me.
“We’ve missed you, Letizia.” She giggles, staring into my eyes.
“I sorely regret missing the wedding…” I muse, stepping back. I lie. For months, I have avoided La Serenissima for fear of wakening Samyaza’s ghost which still lingers in my heart. “My engagements have been of such a nature that I have found it impossible to—”
“Dearest sister, you have done so much for us…” Fabrizio holds my hands. “Please, do not give the matter another moment’s thought.”
I’m pleased with Fabrizio’s words of reassurance because unlike me, honesty is one of the pillars of his personality.
We enter the parlor. Carina sits beside me, Fabrizio before us.
“How long will you stay?” I say unable to suppress a smile.
“We have come prepared to stay with you for a fortnight…” Fabrizio says.
“So that when the tour ends we can all return home together!” Carina is quick to add.
“I am more happy to hear that than you will ever know,” I muse, tears loom my eyes. “Oh, what would become of me without you—my dearest brother and my beloved sister? But come, you must tell me of the wedding… Was it everything you hoped it would be?”
“Indeed!” Carina smiles. “I must show you the dress upon our arrival at home. It was a lovely gathering. The flowers, the food, the music—it was all I ever dreamed, Letizia.”
“And on that note, we must thank you for taking care of the preparations and even lending us your new home to host the dinner for our friends and family,” Fabrizio adds.
“I am glad to hear everything was to your liking.” I bite my lower lip. My hand glides over Carina’s and presses it with fondness.
The Devil's Song Page 15
