The she-devil’s eyes seared into me. They trembled with an emotion I’ve never quite been able to place.
“No. This isn’t an attempt,” I carried on. “It’s an apology. If I had to guess, I’d say it’s because you weren’t there to fight the Angel in the depths of Xibalba. Because you couldn’t save Itabimori, and because you knew I’d be miserable, you decided to take her place for a little while. To make up for what you perceive as your failing.”
“Goodness, that’s quite the outrageous hypothesis you have there Charlie. Don’t you think I have better things to do than to formulate hilariously elaborate ways to apologize without in any way shape or form seeming genuinely sorry?” Lis asked.
“Maybe,” I said.
A long spell of silence overtook us before Lis finally spoke up again.
“He’s a cheater.”
I turned to face her. “The Angel.”
The she-devil nodded. “You were right. At least technically. He looks like an Angel and he certainly carries himself like one. However, I don’t know any Angels called ‘Saphariel’. And I know lots and lots of people with wings, harps and halos. That confirms that he’s fighting on someone else’s team. He’s a counterfeit Angel. A fake.”
A False Angel. And yet it easily outplayed and nearly killed even Lis? I never stood a chance against a monster like that. However, something still wasn’t clear.
“What do you mean by cheater?” I asked.
The she-devil sighed, lying down on the bed, “Ever wonder why there isn’t constant all annihilating war between Angels and Devils? It’s because of this little thing we all agreed upon way back in the day called The Pact. The rules are simple: ‘As a lamb; as a man’.”
“As a lamb?” I asked.
“Harmlessness. No Angel or Devil is allowed to willingly bring about harm to Mortals or Supernaturals unless their life is personally threatened by someone they have not deceived. Behave ‘as a lamb’. Period.”
“You mean to say that--”
A diabolical grin split Lis’ face in half. “That’s right Charlie. I literally cannot harm you. Not once in the ten long years you’ve known me could I have actually hurt you unless you specifically let me. The worst I can usually do is just give you really sketchy advice.”
Once upon a time, I had Cho use his powers to try and detect Lis’ weaknesses. Is this what he meant when he said that all Lis had was weaknesses?
“That second part, ‘as a man’. What does that mean then?”
“Power restriction. No Angel or Devil is allowed to use magical powers in the Mundane world, even to defend themselves, beyond what can feasibly be expected of another Human being. Saphariel is breaking both rules. That’s why he’s a cheater.”
“Bullshit,” I said. “How many times have I seen you break that second rule right in front of me? Taking on all sorts of guises? Producing Infernal knowledge from long forgotten--”
The chuckle that escaped Lis’ throat was both deep and baleful. “I can’t use magic to make someone my obedient servant. I can’t gain the strength of a thousand men or grow dragon scales to stop anything from hurting me. But knowledge? Knowing just about anything regarding pretty much everything? That’s always been His little loophole.”
His?
“If the rules get broken, Charlie, then so does The Pact. If that were to happen then all bets are off and Angel and Devils resume all out war. The world gets split right down the middle and lots and lots of pretty much everybody will die horribly in the ensuing conflict. Believe it or not, this is actually something that neither side wants. However, your False Angel isn’t with Heaven or Hell, so the rules don’t apply to him.”
Jesus Christ. Just whose team could he be fighting on then? I felt as though I was standing on the edge of a great abyss. And the only way forward was to jump head first into it.
“But that’s all useless trivia to you at the moment,” Lis said. “What matters right now is action, and maybe a well thought out and executed plan. There’s a very scary critter out there who doesn’t like you very much. What are you gonna do about it?”
She was right. I could spiral into despair later. Right now there was still work to be done. “First thing’s first. We need to go to Nine Towers. I might be the only one left to give a report on what the hell went down here. I need healing, I need a breather, and I need a new wand too. We’ll play it by ear from there.”
Lis clapped her hands together. “Great thinking, I’ll book the plane tickets. I’ve been aching to give your new credit card a whirl for forty days and forty nights. You can stop massaging my tail any time now, by the way.”
“Ah,” I said, releasing her ridiculously soft tail. “All yours.”
“That’s my Charlie for you,” Lis gushed. “Gentle with my tail. Cool and heroic in the face of overwhelming odds. And you even brought together a huge army to give that fake of an Angel the old college try.”
Smolders of anger and uncertainty flowed at the edges of my consciousness. Deep down inside a fire had been lit within of me. A burning hatred for Saphariel, the False Angel. Hot enough now to burn both myself and that monster to cinders.
“I promise you Lis, I’ll getting to the bottom of this,” I murmured, straightening my collar. “Or die trying.”
###
About the Author
For the latest news and updates regarding the Secret Magent series, not to mention freebies, sneak peeks and cover reveals, check out my writing blog at…
Indignantfigmentfantasy.blogspot.ca
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All throughout my formative years I’ve been inspired by great authors like Tolkien, Lewis or even Le Guin. The fact that my work doesn’t very much resemble their heavy handed epic fantasy in any way shape or form is one hundred percent my fault.
Like a teenager in the throes of rebellion, I’ve gone to the shiny and smooth, hard and fast world of action-y urban fantasy without a single regret. Of course, that doesn’t mean I can’t add a dash of old school fantasy into things.
Take our be-shadowed protagonist for example. Charles Locke might seem like a fairly stock character at first glance, but he’s a far cry from the soulless suaveness or sheer gratuitous violence that usually passes for a main character in stories like these. He is a character in desperate search of redemption, unable to forgive himself, let alone imagine others might accept him for his past failings. It’s precisely this feeling of inability, or perhaps even incapability to redeem oneself that I’ve always loved in stories.
Tragedy. Pathos! Being the big hero with a cool gun and neat gadgets is all that’s really needed in action books, but there’s a lot of wasted potential in just churning them out like an explosions factory. Perhaps because of my fantasy genre roots, I feel compelled to put in hints and references for the careful reader so that they might better understand a character they’re curious about.
It just doesn’t feel right making a pool without a deep end. And if Lis has her way, Charles will be forced to go off that deep end often and in varied ways.
-Flor
Other Books in the Secret Magent series:
Giantfall
Two to Tengu
Blood Hunt
Drown Another Day Page 17