by Lan Chan
“Lex...” Sophie’s voice was drowned out by the roar of the well in my mind.
The power was still there, but my physical body was so weak. If I let it go, then I would die. I knew this.
It’s a good day to die, I thought to the voice in my head.
Not over something as trivial as this, the voice replied. Use them. You’re not alone in this.
And then in my mind the Ley lines blinked to life around me. Every person on that field became a dot of pulsating light of every colour imaginable. I reached out and touched them all with the blue well of Earth magic that was now accessible to me.
“Help me,” I urged. Every one of them, including the glowing golden light I sensed was Isla, fed me their power. I directed the stream of energy into the earth. The decaying roots of the Fae trees burst to life. They burrowed deeper and deeper until they hit the edges of the cavern. I thought of a wrenching motion. The earth beneath my feet rumbled. My eyes snapped open as a split tore the field asunder. Right below where I was sitting.
Strong arms grabbed me and pulled me aside. I let Max drag me out of the way as Sophie scrambled to pick up the swords before the ground below our feet gave way.
Jacqueline gave a sharp gasp. She slid down the open fissure, calling to the Nephilim for help.
“They’ve got him,” Max said in my ear. I sensed the tension in him releasing. I gave a little sigh. My eyes rolled into my head and the world went dark.
43
I dreamed of the field of battle. The voice that lulled me made ice burn my fingertips.
“Alessia,” Lucifer crooned. He stood atop a mass of broken bodies, his features undisturbed by the horrors of war. Feathers rained down from the sky. While he sang my name, Lucifer’s focus was riveted to the Nephilim hovering close by. Kai held his broadsword out in front of him, his eyes two shards of green stone.
“You think I’ll just let you do this?” he snarled.
Kai charged. I saw it in every hard line of his body. He was playing for keeps. So was the devil. The image shifted and a scream tried to tear out of my throat. As always, my body was locked down so that I couldn’t make a noise.
Lucifer’s sword stuck out of Kai’s chest. The white light that was the Morning Star’s namesake blazed against the crimson blood seeping from Kai’s lips.
“This is how things will end,” Lucifer said. “Unless you do as I bid, I will take his last breath.”
I awoke gasping. The cough in my chest turned into choking. A light flickered on. Doctor Thorne came into the room. I hacked and held my throat.
“Goodness.” He brought me a glass of water and stayed with me until I could take in a shuddering breath. He rubbed my back while I held the glass in my tight knuckled palms. Wiping away the tears from my eyes, I leaned my forehead against his cool chest.
“How long?” I asked.
“It’s been a week.”
“Kai?” That too was a choke. All I could see was the rage, the feral hatred in his eyes.
“They have him in Seraphina. He’ll live, but it will take him a while to heal.”
That was enough for now.
None of this was enough for the Council. As soon as I was discharged, Jacqueline came for me. She told me I had been summoned to the Council chambers. It did not escape my notice that there were two Nephilim guards hovering around her. It must be serious. Instead of heels, she wore sensible leather boots. There were sturdy gold bands around her wrists.
I didn’t know where the Council had their chambers, but I needn’t have worried. Jacqueline and I were taken there via teleportation. I balked when one of the guards grabbed me to complete the teleport.
All of my indignation fled when I glanced up to find myself the ant under the microscope. I had been teleported into a room very much like the courtroom I’d been to when Nanna was first diagnosed with her condition and I was removed from her care.
The Nephilim moved to stand by the door. Jacqueline placed her hand on my arm. I didn’t realise until then that I was shaking.
Behind the long bench were four Nephilim and five other people. All of them elders of their respective races. The missing body in the seat made me quiver. Kai was the only Council member not in attendance.
“Alessia Hastings,” a shrivelled old vampire crone said. I knew her to be Victoria Amos. We’d learned about all the Council members in Magical History. She was over three thousand years old. How was she not a corpse? I didn’t say a word. “Do you know why you’ve been summoned?”
I was in a bad mood. I’d been in a bad mood since I’d woken up. All I could think about was that one day Lucifer would come for me and Kai would be collateral. It made me bold. It made everything else feel inconsequential.
I shrugged. “Somebody forgot to unbunch their panties?”
Not a single person on that bench cracked a smile. I found myself watching the beautiful Fae man with the distinctive indigo wings. There was no mistaking his lineage. This was Brigid’s father, Orin Harcourt. Physically, he didn’t look old enough to have a daughter. Chronologically he was probably older than most on the bench. He returned my interest with a sharp-eyed kind of inspection. He wouldn’t look out of place with a magnifying glass in his hand.
“Very droll, dear,” Victoria said. She glanced down at my hands. “We need to speak to you about these claims you’ve made.”
“They’re not claims. I saw Lucifer with my own eyes.”
The collective inhale was unexpected. It was like I’d spoken a curse by saying his name aloud. “Demons have many ungodly powers,” one of the Nephilim said. The hilt of his broadsword was visible behind his back. He was Artemis Gilbert. No guesses which bloodline he came from. “They could make you see anything. Malachi said he didn’t witness the presence of the Morning Star.”
I caught Jacqueline’s eye. She remained steadfast beside me but didn’t interject. Were they kidding right now? I’d just been mutilated by a demon, and they were going to deny it happened?
My jaw was clenched when I answered. “I know what I saw.”
“You were suffering from blood loss and hypothermia.” Victoria rested her head on one fist. Everything about her was wrinkled. “The Morning Star was banished by Michael himself. The Nephilim who watch over him have confirmed his containment. It’s not possible that you saw him.”
I didn’t want to get into what was possible with these people. They wouldn’t know irony if it teleported in and kicked them in the behind. I crossed my arms over my chest and stood there staring them down. There was no way I was going to admit I’d been wrong. Not about this.
“Rumour is a dangerous thing,” Victoria continued when I snapped my mouth shut. “The last thing we need right now is for conjecture to filter into the populace. You are not to continue spreading your ideas about being abducted by the devil.”
The only person I’d mentioned it to was Jacqueline. They were acting like I’d gone onto the MirrorNet and screamed it at the top of my lungs.
“Whatever.”
Her eye twitched at my response. In another time and place, I had a feeling she would smack me upside the head for insolence.
“I see you haven’t seen fit to bring the weapon with you.”
“What weapon?”
A slow blink. Some of the Nephilim leaned forward.
“The demon blade.”
I didn’t even know where it was. Jacqueline stepped forward. “We’re keeping the blade for Alessia at the moment,” she said. “Somewhere safe until it is decided what should be done with the blade.”
“Be that as it may,” Orin said, “it is a weapon of equal power to that of the angel blades. You do not know how to wield it.”
“So?”
More than one person choked. “So,” he drew the word out like I was an imbecile. “It is dangerous.”
“Everything I’ve come across since I’ve been here has been dangerous.”
“That’s true,” one of the Nephilim said. She was blonde with wave
s of voluminous hair. She didn’t look like one of the strapping angels of Michael’s bloodline. There was something gentle about her. She must be Megan Clarke of Uriel’s bloodline. “We can’t disallow her to use the weapon she so rightly gained because we’re concerned. After all, our own kin have blades.”
“Yes, but your kin are angel-blooded.”
I felt Jacqueline’s hand on my shoulder tense. “I believe the origin of Alessia’s heritage has been put to rest.”
Orin grimaced. “It has been agreed that she’s not demonic,” he said. “That hardly means that she isn’t of some other untoward heritage.”
A man to the left of Brigid’s father shifted his considerable weight. If I didn’t know better, I’d say he had bear blood in him. The beard he wore obscured most of his face, but it didn’t soften the hard stare he gave me.
“What are you afraid of, Orin?” he said. “That’s she’s got evil intentions or that she’ll end up stronger than your kin will ever be?”
Orin sputtered. “You forget yourself, Durin.”
“This isn’t some trivial contest for you to win,” Durin barked back. “We need strength in our ranks, and if the little lass has proved anything, it’s that she’s strong. Give her the damn sword and get someone to train her with it.”
A black-haired male at the very left of the table leaned forward. Unlike the goblin by his side, he looked perfectly human. High mage, I decided. “It is puzzling that she is able to wield a demon blade,” he said. “Only the Nephilim or a demon should be able to do that.”
“There is much we don’t know about the abilities of the low witches,” Megan said.
“We’re going around in circles,” Victoria snapped. “We need to assess what will be viable for us. Especially given her current living arrangements. A demon blade will attract demons. There is no question of that. All those in favour of allowing Alessia to keep the sword, raise your hands.”
I shouldn’t have been surprised. Durin, Megan, and the goblin were the only ones who were on my side. “It is settled then,” Victoria said. “The blade will be requisitioned into the possession of the Council.”
“Over my dead body.” The words were out of my mouth before I knew it.
“Beg your pardon?” Ooh, I could now see the sharp points of her teeth when she spoke. I’d poked the shrivelled carcass.
“I’m not giving you anything.”
“That’s not your choice to make,” a white-blonde Nephilim said. His skin was so smooth he looked computer generated. This was Walter Bellamy of Ariel’s blood.
“It wasn’t my choice to be dragged into an existence with beings from another dimension either,” I said. I glanced along the table. “Why isn’t there a human representative on the Council?”
“Why would there be?” Orin spat.
“You’re making decisions that affect us. Some of us at the Academy are human. Who is representing our interests?”
Victoria turned her disapproving gaze on Jacqueline. Like it was Jacqueline’s fault that I didn’t know when to shut my mouth.
“She has a point,” Jacqueline said.
“That’s not how things are done here, young lady,” the mage said. His name finally popped up in my head. Jonah Rhee. “You should try to remember that.”
“What I remember is getting my ass kicked by a demon that your Dominion allowed to run wild. I earned that blade. I’m keeping it.”
Now there was nostril flaring and teeth baring. After facing off with a cavern full of demons, their disapproval didn’t seem all that intimidating.
“Let’s not forget the knowing my daughter saw,” Orin said. There was a rumble of assent.
“You don’t seem to understand how lucky you are to be here,” Jonah said. Right. So he wasn’t going to acknowledge the prison breakout at all. “Most low witches of your kind are usually dead by your age.”
I couldn’t tell if that was a threat. The way Durin growled made me think it was.
“Do not speak of death so lightly,” a deep voice spoke from behind me. Everything in the room went deadly quiet. Dead being the operative word. I turned slowly, my heart in my throat. I knew that voice.
Outside of my head it took on an echoing quality. I sank down to my knees. The seraphim before me was cloaked in darkness. His robes were of a black so deep I could hardly look at them without feeling like I’d been sucked into a void. The top of his hooded head almost touched the ceiling. It was his eyes that held me captivated. They were of the most crystal-clear blue. They reminded me a little of my own.
Around me there was scraping of chairs as the others knelt. The seraphim held up his hand to forestall them.
“There is no need for that,” he said. I shook my head. That’s when his attention landed on me.
“You never were one to take a direction quietly, Alessia.”
“Sir.” It was all I could manage. He smiled at me. It shot straight through my chest and burned away some of the fear that had gotten its tenterhooks into me.
“She keeps the sword,” he said.
“My lord, Azrael,” Victoria said. “We’re not sure what the origin of her power is. She could be dangerous.”
Azrael. The seraphim who ferried the souls of humans towards their final resting place. I’d been having fun little chats with the angel of death. Good grief.
“Then let me make you sure. Come to me, Alessia.”
My legs moved of their own accord. When I was within reaching distance, a great scythe appeared in his hands. The edge of the curved blade glowed black. It tugged at the core of darkness within the depth of the pool of my power. He reached out and cupped my face. My lower lip trembled. I heard gasps. When I glanced down at my hands, they were ringed in an aura of black.
Two other figures teleported into the room. Michael and Raphael were frowning. “You blooded a human, brother?” Michael asked. “What of the river?”
Azrael shook his head. “Unlike you, I don’t have that luxury. The dead must be watched.” He looked down at me and smiled. “I made a bargain with a witch instead.”
“So she is not yours?” Raphael asked.
“Not in the same way Malachi is yours,” Azrael confirmed. “But I have watched over her. She is not a demon. Nor is her power anything demonic. The sword is hers. And she is done here.”
He clapped his hands and everything disappeared. Jacqueline and I were back in her office. She turned her head around. The confused expression on her face mirrored exactly how I felt. She recovered faster than I did.
“Well,” she said. “That’s the Council told off.” I sank into the chair in front of me. “Are you alright?”
My eyes must have been wider than an ocean. I swallowed, unable to process what had just happened. Azrael. I couldn’t get over it. “Any chance I can have another Arcana fruit?”
She laughed. “Nice try. You’ve had more in the last six months than most people have in their lifetime.”
Moving to the painting of a female warrior on a white winged horse to my left, she swung the painting aside. Behind it was a golden safe door. She placed her hand on the door. It emitted a green glow. There was a sound of locks unclicking and then the door swung open. Inside, there were a plethora of random knickknacks. My eyes went immediately to the sword resting atop the thick grimoire.
She didn’t touch it. “I think it’s best that you retrieve it,” she said. I hopped off the seat and went to grab my sword. Outside of the hell cavern, it looked like any other sword that I’d trained with. It was only when my hand touched the hilt that a jolt of lightning zapped through me. The sword seemed to readjust itself in my right hand.
“We will definitely need to find someone to train you in how to use it,” Jacqueline said.
“How is it any different to an angel blade?”
“Demon blades are attuned to their wielders,” she said. “From what little we know, they’re less of a weapon and more of a companion. It’s likely that a mage would give you more insight into
the blade than a fighter. I’ll make some inquiries over the mid-semester break. In the meantime, you might want to keep it on you at all times. Professor Eldridge should be able to find a scabbard that will fit it for you.”
She came to stand in front of me. Her hands rested on my shoulders. “You’ve been through a lot,” she said. “The semester is finished. You’ve earned a break.”
I left her office in a complete daze. Azrael had said I wasn’t a demon. So then how did they account for the vision I’d seen? One day, I would ride into battle against them. If I didn’t do what he wanted, Lucifer would kill Kai. My only consolation was that that day wasn’t today. So I pushed it all out of my mind and tried not to think about death.
44
I reached my dorm room to find the door wide open. Sophie and Basil’s raised voices came from inside. I rushed in to cop a sock in the head.
“Hey!” I screamed. “Which one of you did that?”
Sophie squealed and threw her arms around me. “You’re back!” She latched on to me and jumped around the room. “Yay! This means the trip isn’t cancelled.”
Oh, right. I’d forgotten that she’d invited me to spend the break with her family in Zambia. She must have sensed my hesitation.
“What’s wrong?”
I told them.
Basil’s woollen mouth gaped open. Sophie sank down onto my bed, their argument forgotten. “Azrael?” she said. “The Azrael. The angel of death?” She bit the inside of her cheek. “Well, I guess that explains some of your behaviour.”
I threw a sweater at her. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
She pointed to the sweater as evidence. “This unprovoked violence for one thing.”
“Ha. Ha.”
She jumped up and clapped her hands. “Let’s get you packed.”
“About this trip....” Basil hedged.
Sophie placed her hands on her hips. “You’re not coming!”
“I most certainly am! I’m not going to be stuck in here all break while you’re both off gallivanting on safari.”