Liz nodded, “We came across some information. You’re familiar with right hand and left hand paths of being a witch?”
“Of course, I’m a right-hand witch. Left-hand practitioners almost always turn evil.”
Liz said, “Our informant in the supernatural world gave us information you might not be aware of. They suggested the two sides of a witch’s power are comparable to Nephilim and half-demons. That the half-demons inherited magic is all left-hand, while the Nephilim are right hand. Despite the similarity in powers, one wields holyfire and the other hellfire. In short, they said all half-demons are doomed to be corrupted by that power, and it’s only a matter of time.”
I frowned, “It sounds like more lies to me, a way to obscure the truth and muddy the waters. In fact, it doesn’t even make sense. Besides, holyfire and hellfire are just words. Our power comes from within, our power is ours. My power doesn’t come from hell, and theirs don’t come from heaven. We were born with it.”
Lis tilted her head, “Doesn’t make sense, could you elaborate?”
I nodded, “Gladly. A witch doesn’t have two sets of magics like your informant implied, that alone makes the whole argument garbage. The left-hand path corrupts because it involves blood or life sacrifice, involuntary sacrifice of others. The right-hand path are spells that only consume the witch’s power, which is exhausted until they regenerate their magic naturally. So, the power inside of us has nothing to do with it, the paths are about the purpose it’s put toward and the methods.
“Since all half-demons can do is use our own power, we couldn’t sacrifice others unwillingly for more even if we wanted to, the whole argument is preposterous.”
She said, “You seem very sure, it’s impossible that your demon parents didn’t pass on magic that was corrupted in some way?”
I smirked, “Impossible to disprove, but I can promise you that’s not the truth. It comes down to trusting me and my word. On the other hand, you have my actions to judge my words by. I would hold up the deaths of innocents as a good measure of good and evil, and it’s the Nephilim’s hunting policies that are killing innocents.”
She nodded, “The informant did tell us one more thing. Is it true you were part of the mess in Manhattan four and a half years ago, that led to us becoming aware of the supernatural world.”
I felt a surge of shock, then anger. Fucking Katrina, that worthless bitch. I also cursed my own mouth and what I’d rubbed in Serin’s face that day, because if I hadn’t said it out loud the council would’ve never learned it was me. Shit.
“I was sixteen and pursued across the country. I was a good alchemist at the time, and a beginner at witchcraft, and I hadn’t developed my fae magic very far at all back them. I couldn’t hide myself from my pursuers. The Nephilim hunting me did chase me to Manhattan, and cornered me to the point I had no choice but to fight or die.
“I still have nightmares of that day, often. The ultimate irony I suppose, I was responsible for the biggest lie told to the humans, that I was killed on the day of emergence, and the Nephilim sacrificed his life at the end to save you all from the apocalypse. When in fact, I lived, revealing that lie for what it was, and that the Nephilim was responsible for those deaths.”
Liz stared at me in shock for a moment, she’d obviously expected me to deny it.
“Irony?”
I replied, “That fight was the reason congress gave in so easily to creating those unjust and criminal laws, and why they gave the councils autonomy out of fear. It scared them into giving the Nephilim anything they wanted, when in fact they were the responsible party to begin with. What do the humans call it? The ultimate false-flag operation. I feel guilt for that day, as I said I still have nightmares to this day, but I couldn’t control my magic back then. I’m actually a little shocked the council in Chicago parted with the information, that could be so damning of them.”
“Chicago?”
I nodded, “They’re the only ones who could know, I never told anyone, except for a rogue Nephilim I put down. The earth-witch reader on the council must’ve read it from the ground. Of course, the leak could’ve been any council, I imagine they shared that information with all the councils.”
“False flag operation? But they just learned of your survival.”
I shook my head, “Yes, they just learned it was me, but don’t you think they sent a reader to check out Manhattan after that mess? They’d have read from the earth itself that I killed the bastard and escaped, all they learned recently was that’s it’s me they’ve been looking for so desperately the last four years. I was able to hide after that, and I developed my fae magic in a desperation to hide my scent and disguise my power, but the councils would’ve known I’d lived that day. Maybe that’s why they want us all dead that fast, so we don’t have time to talk. After all, they probably feared this information would come out one day and expose them. Which, makes me wonder if your informant isn’t really on their side at all.
“Do you think? Maybe that’s why they have no problem seeing human children die, because they feared this information getting out and starting a war. Human fear of dark lies, and Nephilim desperation to hide the truth, led to the cost of even more innocent human lives on that day.”
The more I thought about it, the more I realized leaking this information would be more devastating to the enemy than it was to me. On the other hand, a lot of people would be angry at me, thousands had died in Manhattan, burned to death in my poorly controlled hellfire. Six buildings had been set on fire on accident, in the course of that battle, and the fire had spread wildly. Those innocent souls haunted my dreams.
Maybe I’d be seen as monster now, I wasn’t sure. I’d have to wait and see.
Liz said, “This is Liz Barnette, you heard it here first.”
Carol said, “The scope of that is horrifying, do you really believe that?”
I nodded, “If you think about it, the hunting of my kind before that had to be a lot more subtle. Otherwise we’d have been exposed to humans long before then. Imagine trying to cover up the half-demon hunts over the last four years so no humans found out about it. I don’t think that’s possible, though it’s not something I’ve thought through before.”
Carol replied, “We need to get back, and get this ready to play tonight.”
I opened a gateway right there in the kitchen, and they went back to Carol’s office.
Chapter Thirteen
A few more days passed, and the fallout was one step forward and two back. I should’ve seen the response to the interview coming, but I didn’t. The ones who believed and supported me were even angrier, but so was the opposing point of view. The naysayers called me an evil liar and pathetic for trying to leverage the huge tragedy that happened in Manhattan to get my way. They even speculated that I’d used my fae powers to disguise myself, and that I was in fact most likely the leaker and informant Liz talked about, so I could set it all up to go down the way it did.
There was a big difference between telling the raw and ugly truth, and actually being believed.
Apparently, I was a master of lies and the devil herself, or a victim depending on their point of view. Which made it devolve into a morass of twisted truths that no one could possibly work out or be sure of. In the end, the people were still split down the middle, and as far as I could tell the government and the councils were still just letting it play out in the press without declaring sides.
Things a little closer to home hadn’t changed much either, though more than a few of my guests had looked at me askance when they’d learned the truth of my past. The ones who knew me better, the ones closest to me, took it in stride, but Joseph and Terrance didn’t know me very well and were shocked by it. Even a little freaked out.
It kind of made me infamous.
It was what it was, but if I’d expected the government to jump up and demand answers, I’d have been sorely disappointed. Regardless, it had done what I’d set out to do, heated the story up and covera
ge had been peaked again.
Personally, it had brought the nightmares back with a vengeance, and only William knew about that. He held me and comforted me when I woke up in a cold sweat, with my heart pounding and my senses reeling.
It was early afternoon, and I was in my alchemy lab cleaning up after my latest attempt to adapt a rejuvenation potion to my magic. It’d been a failure, they only ever seemed to work for shifters.
Regardless, there was a knock on the door.
“Come in.”
Maria came in with a concerned look on her face. We didn’t talk much, not nearly as much as Cindy and I did, but we got along. Maria mothered all the kids, but I got the sense she wasn’t all that sure what to do with me at times.
“What brings you by?”
She said, “My son. I’m worried. He spends far too much time with Linda and Joseph, and he’s started to hide things from me. I worry that he’s falling in with the wrong crowd, and I think he had good intentions in the beginning but I fear they’re influencing him instead. Especially with this latest round in the press.”
I frowned, “What are you asking me? I know he’s been trying to talk Linda around. The problem is they’re not completely wrong, it’s only their solution that is greatly flawed.”
She said, “Joseph is changing that I think. Those two feed off of each other, and are drawing my son in. I try to get him to spend time with the others, but he insists they’re good people. I think Linda is a user, and has both of them chasing after her, but he won’t see it.”
“Your son has a fixer personality and sees the best in others.”
She blew out a breath, “He is and does, and is a good kid, but I fear for him. I brought him here because you said you could keep him safe.”
I held up a hand to stop her there, and I said firmly “I can keep him safe from our enemy, the Nephilim. I can keep him safe through training to control his magic, so he never feels the weight of innocent lives on his soul like myself, Karl, and Celeste have. I can keep him safely hidden behind glamour enchantments that hide his nature if he also controls his power. That is what I promised. I never said I could keep him safe from his own judgement and decisions, from who he chooses to befriend and let in, that’s where personal responsibility enters the picture.
“I can speak to him if you want, but I get the idea that will just make him dig his heels in.”
Maria looked angry for a moment, then let out a sigh, “You’re right, and I did not come here to blame you for his lack of judgment. I’m actually proud of him, but I fear he is too naïve and his feelings for Linda is clouding his decisions. The stakes are too high to let him learn this lesson the hard way. Those two are up to something, but I couldn’t tell you what, and they’re angry at being confined but too afraid to confront you directly. I fear my Carlos will be drawn into it.”
I replied, “It’s our job to set expectations, and a teen’s job to resent it. I can’t punish them for having hard feelings toward me, only if they break the rules. So far, they haven’t done so again. I can talk to Carlos, but my instincts say that will just make it worse and make me look controlling, like the other two are no doubt saying about me. One of the other kids might do better, if you can convince them to try.”
I felt the same concern, but ultimately it was up to him to figure it out on his own. Hopefully he wouldn’t do anything stupid or irretrievable. I hoped none of them did that, but my pessimistic side said it was only a matter of time for the other two. They were too angry, and they wallowed in the injustice of it instead of divorcing themselves from it and leading their own lives.
Maria nodded, “Maybe.”
She looked as worried and distressed leaving as she had coming in, which made me feel like a failure, but the only person I could control was myself. Justice was elusive, and life wasn’t fair.
I finished cleaning up, then went to meet the others for magic practice.
My earth witch side was enjoying the sense of trees and nature around me as I walked toward the glade we practiced in every afternoon, when Muriel brought me Linda’s angry and persuasive voice on the breeze.
“You need to hear this, Kyra,” Muriel said in a grim tone.
I paused to listen, concealed in the trees.
Linda said, “…isn’t working. The human government will never help us gain freedom from persecution and the hunts, and hiding isn’t good enough. Not by half. She may be content to lurk in the shadows on the edge of society, but she’s not even half-human like we are. She’d be content to be alone, but can any of you say the same thing?
“The only thing that will change things is violence. Not on humans, the foolish and worthless dupes of our enemy, but the supernatural world needs to pay for their crimes. We have to force them to admit their duplicitous lies, and only fear and surrender will accomplish that. You all researched the reaction to our leader’s latest interview, she told them the most horrible truth of all, and those fucking morons refuse to see it.
“The current plan isn’t working. But… raid a council, force a Nephilim to drink a truth potion, and we could blow the whole thing open wide. Ambush tactics, make them fear us, and pay for their lies. We have the right to fight back, to defend ourselves, and that gives us the moral high ground. If we want to see justice, we need to claim it for ourselves.”
Sabine replied, “A pretty speech, but we’re barely trained, even if you were right, and you’re not, they’d slaughter us. Self-defense is one thing, she saved us because they were hunting us and not prepared for her, but us attacking them in their bastions would be suicide. It might work once, but they’d all lay traps for us the next time. It’s also wrong, and I won’t have anything to do with it.”
Linda hissed, “How is it wrong, they want us all dead, we’re at war with them, and their policy is to kill children before they grow up so they never have to face a warrior. They are evil, and they need to die to pay for their sins.”
Carlos said, “She’s not wrong.”
Karl replied, “Maybe, but it’s not that simple. The entire supernatural world is under their heels. The witches, vampires, shifters, and even the fae have no choice but to follow their orders, they’d be executed if they don’t for treason. We may be targeted for death, but they’re little better than slaves. It’s not like America, or the society we grew up in, where we can choose our own actions and disagree with the government. Supernaturals obey the council or they die, and they’ve all been brainwashed about us from birth besides, to keep the Nephilim in power.
“I won’t be part of a war where we’re forced to slaughter innocents. I’m willing to hide for that reason alone. Eventually, the humans will wake up, and the Nephilim will be dethroned. It’s also bullshit besides, the seven of us can’t face supernatural society and win. I don’t like it either, but the facts don’t care about your emotions.”
Celeste scoffed, “What was your plan anyway, leave here and start killing? Without this place and Kyra’s enchantments to hide us you wouldn’t last a week.”
Joseph growled, “You’re wrong. We can fight and win, because we can hide and strike from the shadows, and we can use more than just our magic. Human weapons would give us an edge, and they’d be easy to acquire. I already have some stashed away in fact.”
Oh, shit. Was that what they were really doing in New Haven when they left my mound last week? Getting weapons? Damn, now I wished I’d have pushed the point and made them confess the truth.
Linda said, “Exactly.”
Sabine interjected, “Except you wouldn’t, Kyra would kick you out. It also doesn’t matter what the truth is. Like you said, no one believed the truth of the interview when it’s right in their face. What makes you think the humans won’t turn on us and will believe the truth just because you killed people, you’d turn them all against us. They’d explain away a truth potion as a lie as well.”
Joseph said in that smirking voice, “Can she kick us out?”
A shiver went down my spine at
the tone of it, and at the stupidity of it.
Celeste asked, “What’s that supposed to mean?”
Linda said, “We’re seven, she’s only one. We can overpower her, keep her contained, and do what we want. Use this place as a base. Think about it, it’s not like she can stop us from coming here with a gateway, or leaving, whenever we want.”
Sabine laughed disbelievingly, I really liked her.
“You’re deluded, you’re also on your own. No one is buying your bullshit. It sounds good, I’d love to slap the Nephilim down, for their evil and what they tried to do to us, but it isn’t worth the cost and it wouldn’t work. Even with Kyra’s voluntary help it wouldn’t work.”
Joseph said, “You’re wrong. We’re ready, and we have a good plan. We’re doing it with or without the rest of you, but you better not get in our way. Carlos, are you with us or not? She’ll be here any minute.”
I held my breath for the answer, as the silence stretched out.
Carlos said, “I want them all to pay, but I can’t betray Kyra. All she’s done is try to help us. Would it kill you to wait for two more years, they’ve been hunting us forever, and we’ll have a better grasp of our magic and abilities then.”
Linda replied, “We don’t need a better grasp. We can already shield ourselves from danger reliably, and our magic will last a whole lot longer than the enemies when we spray them down with assault rifles, and grenades. They won’t have a chance against us. As for our magic’s random sprays, well we intend to burn down the council buildings anyway.”
Grenades, where the hell did sixteen-year-old kids get grenades?
Carlos sighed, “I like you Linda, and I can relate, but no. I’m out.”
I let out a deep breath, and I walked into the clearing. My mind was in turmoil, I hadn’t wanted it to come to this, for more than one reason. Even if I hadn’t heard it all, the looks of worry on Sabine’s, Celeste’s, and Karl’s faces, as well as the guilt on Carlos’s, would’ve tipped me off that there was a serious problem. Terrence didn’t show his emotions, but the fact he was standing directly between Celeste and the idiotic duo told me all I needed to know about his intentions and where his loyalties and interests lied.
Demon Underground: Kyra Bell Book Three Page 12