by Kelly Oram
“Angelic love will help Russ fight the evil you invited into him,” Michael continued to explain. “He accepted the gift willingly, and was fully aware of the consequences.”
“But he’s just a boy! He couldn’t possibly understand what you’ve done to him!”
“He knows,” Michael promised. His voice was low and dangerous again. The dude was biting back a lot of anger. “He has been living with an angel-blessed mortal for the last five months. He probably knows better than anyone the repercussions that will follow his choice.”
“Then why would he do it?”
A noise came from Michael that I swear I’ve only heard werewolves make. “He made the choice today after I refused to grant his request to kill him.” Michael paused to let that information sink in. Or maybe just to take a breath and get his anger under control. “He said he’d rather die than become the devil’s true Scion.”
“A Scion!” Gabe gasped. “No! He can’t be!” He seemed to be the only person in the room besides Dad and Clara who knew what that was.
“He shouldn’t be,” Michael said. “But Alexander took that choice from him, condemning him to a difficult and painful life.”
There were definitely more eye daggers being thrown at my father. I didn’t need to see Michael’s face to feel his glare.
“But…but…,” my dad stammered. “It’s only power. He has his agency, and he’s a good kid. He doesn’t have to become a true Scion. I told him that.”
“What you do not understand, Alexander Devereaux, is that through their formed connection, you have given Beelzebub access to Russell’s mind.”
“What? No! That was not mentioned as part of our deal! Beelzebub can’t lie when he’s making a bargain!”
“But he can withhold the truth. You did not specifically ask, and so he did not tell you. You should have known better than to make a deal with the devil.”
Michael sounded as if he wanted to put my dad’s head through a brick wall.
“Alex, what did you do?” Dani shouted.
“He has condemned him,” Gabe whispered. Poor guy sounded sick to his stomach. “If Russ is a true Scion, it means he has inherited all of Beelzebub’s power. His destiny is to become the Dark Angel’s advocate on Earth. They are linked, mind and soul.”
Dani let out a strangled cry and drooped herself over me, pushing her fingers through my hair. “Russ, no. We’ll fix this somehow. He can’t have you. Alex, how could you!”
Warm tears splashed on my face, but stopped when Gabe pulled Dani away from me, whispering whatever reassurances he could think of.
“What does it all mean?” Grace asked. I hadn’t realized she was there until that point, but her voice was every bit as broken as Dani’s had been.
When my dad spoke again, regret clouded his voice, making him sound a million years old. “What kind of connection is it?”
Michael sighed. “Beelzebub can plant thoughts in Russ’s head and manipulate his feelings. If Russ can’t fight it, they will eventually become one in heart and mind. It has been so with every Scion since the beginning of time.”
“No!” Dad sounded scared. Guess he should have done his research before he handed over my soul.
Michael cleared his throat. “There have been over a dozen Scions since the world began, and I have had to put down every one of them eventually. If Russ loses himself to his master, I will be forced to step in as the Destroying Angel. I would not want to, but I would do my duty to protect this world.”
“No! Dad! What are you talking about? You can’t hurt Russ!”
“I have faith, Ethan,” Michael said quietly. “Russ is the strongest, most purehearted Scion there has ever been. He is the only one who has been innocent in earning his title, and worthy of the Creator’s help. That is the reason I was allowed to try and help him.”
“Thank you,” my father murmured. “I didn’t know. If I had, I never would have…”
My dad’s voice cut off when he became choked up from emotion.
I expected a curt reply from Michael, but was surprised when he sounded compassionate. “No,” he said. “Had you truly known what you were doing, you wouldn’t have made any of your wrong choices. That is the only reason I have not turned you to dust. Stupidity alone is not enough to condemn a man’s soul.”
Dude. Michael basically just called my dad an idiot. Nice! Once again, the angel proved his awesomeness is off the charts.
“You’re too generous, Michael.”
Michael scoffed. “I may be an angel, but I’m a vengeful one. You owe your salvation to the Creator alone. She insists you still have a part to play in this life. But you walk a fine line, Devereaux. Your soul is in grave peril. If you want redemption, you must change. You will not have many more chances.”
“I understand.”
“Dad, what do we do about Russ?”
“Is there any way to break the connection?” Grace asked.
“I’m sorry. There isn’t.” I had a feeling he was glaring at my dad again. “I have done all I can. My gift will do much to strengthen him, but not if he has no one in his life to love. He has been hurt too many times by too many people. He is bitter and untrusting now. He struggles with his own self-worth. Love and loyalty are what he needs, but he will not accept or give either easily.”
“He has me, Dad,” Ethan said fiercely. “And Grace. We won’t desert him.”
“Me, either,” Dani whispered. “Not again, anyway.”
“I, too, pledge my devotion. If it be the will of the Creator, I shall do all I can to help him with this burden.”
Seriously. Geek. Not that I didn’t appreciate the sentiment, but Dani really needed to teach the freak how to use a dumb contraction. This wasn’t the Dark Ages.
After a long pause, Michael sighed. “I am so proud of all of you for your faith and loyalty. I am sure Russ appreciates it as well. But I’m afraid you may not have a choice with that. Russell may decide to leave you. If that happens, you need to let him go.”
The “What?” that followed was a collective shout from everyone present.
“The Dark Angel has given him a connection to both Danielle and Grace that will cause the six of you children all a great amount of suffering. I’m not sure what the best thing to do in this case is. I have never seen such a connection before. It is something that Russ will have to figure out on his own.”
“And if he leaves, what am I supposed to do?” Ethan asked. “Just let him go?”
“Follow your heart, son. You all have a difficult road ahead, but you will figure it out. Grace is your priority, but Russ is one of mine now, same as you and your mother. He is truly your brother in spirit. Take care of him, if you can.”
“I will,” Ethan promised.
“And trust in him, Ethan. He has been through much, but he is strong. He is going to need your faith now more than ever.”
Ethan didn’t respond—at least not vocally—and the room fell into silence. I tried again to open my eyes. I couldn’t, but at least this time I managed to move my head. I tried my voice and was able to get out one word. “Michael?”
“Shh.” Michael pushed my shaggy hair off my forehead. “Rest, Russ. Give your body time to adjust. All will be well with you soon.”
I didn’t understand this connection I felt to him. It’s not like me to want to throw myself into someone’s arms, but if I could have done so right then, I would have. I was just so grateful to Michael, and so glad he was there.
Michael must have known what I was feeling, because he picked up my hand and squeezed it. All of my anxiety melted away with his touch. “I’m afraid I must go now,” he whispered, “but Ethan is here with you.”
My heart twisted in my chest. Tears fell down my face and I got frustrated that I still couldn’t open my eyes. I didn’t want him to leave, but I knew he couldn’t stay, so I tried to be strong for him. Instead of begging him to take me with him like I wanted to, I simply said, “Thank you, Michael.”
“It is I who should be thanking you for your willingness to carry this burden. It will be difficult, but remember that you will see me again some day. You have my word on that.”
I wanted to cry, but I forced myself to laugh. “Let’s just pray that when I do, it’s not because you’re there to kill me.”
Michael let out a strangled laugh. I felt the warm splash of a tear on my hand. “It won’t be. You will resist Beelzebub’s influence.”
I managed to pull my eyes open finally and found Michael smiling down at me with tear-stained cheeks. I hated to see him so sad. “Speaking of your brother,” I said in an attempt to lighten the mood, “he wanted me to thank you for training his Scion as a lethal warrior. Did you want me to give him a message back the next time I see him?”
Michael chuckled and then made a set of daggers materialize out of thin air. The blades glowed with white fire. Ethan and I exchanged awed glances, and Gabe gasped in shock. The knives were true seraph blades—weapons infused with angel glory—the only thing on Earth that can kill a demon. Such a blade couldn’t kill an immortal like Beelzebub, but I guarantee it’d slow him down and hurt a lot if I stabbed him with it.
“Tell him it was my pleasure,” Michael said, laughter in his tone. “And be sure to give him a proper demonstration of your training.”
Michael handed the blades over to me and grinned deviously. I was almost afraid to touch the daggers, but once my hands curled around them, I knew I would never let them go. They were instantly my most treasured possessions. “Thank you, Michael. I’ll do my best.”
“I have no doubt you will.”
Michael laughed and then sobered up as he placed something else in my palm. “A crest, to match Ethan’s,” he said as he closed my fingers over the medallion in my hand. “You are one of mine now, just as Ethan’s mother is. Go to her every now and then. You will find solace in one another that you will get nowhere else.”
I nodded, and then suddenly I was scooped up into Michael’s arms. He hugged me fiercely. I didn’t have the strength to hug him back, but I soaked up his affection as best I could and cursed myself when I started to cry again. Damn these crazy emotions! Michael didn’t mention that angelic love would turn me into a freaking girl.
“Good-bye, Russ.”
I couldn’t say the word back. It was too painful. I just nodded as Michael laid me back down on the couch. “Rest, now,” he said. He touched his fingers to the side of my head, and that was the last thing I remember before the lights went out again.
The light coming in through the window when I woke up was harsh meaning the sun was starting to sink. I glanced at the clock on the night table—nearly 5 p.m. Another day I’d slept away. But at least this time I felt more rested than I had in I don’t know how many months.
I looked around and realized that I was in my dad’s room. I was disoriented, and trying to piece together what had happened. It only took me a second to remember Michael’s visit. The conversation after he’d brought me home was a bit hazy, but I remembered enough. Michael was gone. I’d never see him again. At least, not in this life.
I felt an ache in my chest and reached up to grab the crest Michael had given me. It was hanging around my neck, with Beelzebub’s talisman. I knew I’d always wear both for the rest of my life. They were a nice reminder of the two different sides to me—good and evil. Interesting that they were both gifts from the two most powerful angels ever to exist—warring brothers who each now had a piece of me. Just like Dani and Grace both had a piece of me.
Yesterday, before I’d met Beelzebub, I’d had a plan. Now I was lost and confused. I felt broken in pieces, as if I belonged to everyone except myself. I felt like I didn’t know who I was anymore, and I had no idea what I wanted now. I had no idea what to do or where to go from here.
My father came into the room to check on me, and startled when he noticed me sitting up. He cast me a tentative smile. “I thought you’d sleep a lot longer,” he said as he slowly came over to the bed and sat down. “How…how do you feel?”
How was I supposed to answer that? I decided to assume he meant physically and said, “Good. Rested.”
“Do you feel any different?”
Now I knew he was talking about what happened with Michael. I paused a moment to take an internal inventory, and shrugged. Physically, I felt normal, and I was still epically pissed at my dad, so that hadn’t changed. The only difference I could feel so far was the sense of contentment mixed with longing that I got when I thought of Michael. It was the strangest sensation and something I wasn’t used to feeling. It was a little overwhelming, but I wasn’t going to admit that to my father. I was grasping my medallion again, though, so I don’t think I fooled him all that much when I said, “Not really.”
“And what about with…your other bond? Are you having any trouble with Beelzebub?”
Rage flared through me so strong that I wondered if all the angelic love in the world would even help me. I had my doubts. I worked hard to keep my voice down. “So far I only feel it when I tap into my demon magic. I’m fine right now. Unless you start to piss me off any more than you already are.”
Dad’s face crumpled. “I had no idea, Russ.”
“Save it!” I snapped. “Rationalizing it isn’t going to change anything. I’d rather not hear your excuses.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Or your apologies.”
Dad let out a long breath and rubbed his face. Then he shook his head, as if trying to focus. “All right. We’ll deal with that after you’ve had time to get used to all of this. Right now, we have more important things to discuss. We need to make a plan.”
I let out one hard laugh. “Whatever plan I come up with is not going to involve you.”
“You need me now, Russ, more than ever. Michael said you can’t be alone, or your angelic love won’t do you any good. It’s vital that you keep people you love and trust in your life.”
I scoffed. “And you think that’s still you? Are you crazy?”
“Fine. You’re mad at me. I get it. I deserve it. But I’m still your father. You know I love you, and I know somewhere under all that hurt and anger, you still love me, too.”
He was right. Maybe it was my new supercharged heart, but deep down—really, really deep down—I did still love my dad. I was angry enough that I hated knowing that. I buried all my feelings as deep as I could. Now was not the time to worry about them.
“And you still love Dani,” Dad whispered.
I clenched my jaw. “What does Dani have to do with anything?”
Dad hit me with a grave stare. “You have loved Dani your whole life. You guys know each other inside and out. If there is anyone in the world who would be able to help you fight Beelzebub’s influence, it would be her.”
I shook my head, but before I could argue my dad continued on. “You need her. We have to do what we talked about yesterday. We have to return her to the Dani we love. You have the artifact that can do it. We can turn her human, break her bonds with the Seer, and make her forget. She’ll be ours again, Russ, and she’ll love you as much as she always has.”
“No,” I said automatically.
“Russ, think about it.”
“No. Your plan wouldn’t work anyway. Dani would see it coming.”
Dad shifted uneasily. “Well, now, not necessarily. There is a way to get around the visions.”
“What do you mean? No, there isn’t.” Not that I was considering going through with this insane plan, but I wanted to know what my dad was up to. I could tell from his discomfort it was something extreme—and that I was going to hate it.
“I spoke with your friend Ethan after you passed out.”
I didn’t know where he was going with this, and I didn’t know what he knew about Ethan, so I raised an eyebrow and waited for him to continue. I wasn’t going to accidentally give him any information.
“He told me about himself and Grace.”
“No way,” I argued. “Ethan w
ouldn’t have—”
“I already knew who his father was,” Dad interrupted. “I’d pieced together what he was, and it was obvious he was bonded to Grace. I also knew that Grace was connected to Dani. Ethan just cleared up the details.”
I crossed my arms over my chest, still not buying it. “I call BS. Ethan would never give up that info. Especially not to you. And I know you couldn’t have spelled him to talk. His dad taught him how to resist mortal magic, like the angels do.”
“I didn’t spell him. I exchanged information with him. He wanted to know about you, so he answered my questions.”
“No way.”
Dad shrugged. “I guess he wanted to know pretty badly, and I already had most of his secret figured out anyway.”
I blew out a long breath. My father was a piece of work. “What does that have to do with Dani’s and Gabe’s visions, anyway?”
“Well.” Dad swallowed. “It sounds like Dani and Gabriel can’t see Grace. At least, Gabriel can’t. And it sounds like Dani only saw Grace the once, because she wasn’t looking at Grace’s future. If we were to include Grace in our plans—make our future her future—then they won’t be able to see what we’re doing, just like they never saw you and Ethan go after those vampires.”
Was that why they hadn’t seen us wipe out the De La Cotes? It made sense. They couldn’t see Grace’s fate. I was glad to have a piece of the puzzle solved, until I realized exactly what my father was suggesting. “Are you kidding? You want to use Grace? Like she’s some kind of freaking tool?”
“It wouldn’t hurt her,” Dad said quickly. “If we just made the decision in her presence. If we had her help us use the artifact on Dani, Dani wouldn’t know what we were up to. She’s already here. She’s right out in the living room. She has no idea what the artifact does. She’d never know. None of them would know until it was too late to stop us.”
“No! No way am I going to do that to Dani, or use Grace like that. Besides, Ethan would never let you. He’d kill you if you tried it.”
My dad cringed. “Well, that’s the thing. We’d have to use the talisman on him first.”