by Ember Rain
“May you all succeed in your endeavors.” She says in a short toast. I toss back the rusty colored liquid in my glass with everyone else to get the shit over with. Some sacrifices must be made to keep Bellamy happy.
The angel liquor burns my throat on the way down and tastes like ground cinnamon. I know the taste well as it has been customary for centuries for it to be served in droves at the big events in our world.
A lanky human man appears from the kitchen with a tall chef’s hat and white smock outfit. He gives us a wide grin as he approaches.
“Dinner shall be served in the dining room now, if you would all please take a seat.” The man says with a slight bow of his head.
“Thanks Adam.” Bellamy says with a wave of her hand. She claps her hands and ushers us towards her dining hall in the large mansion.
“I had Steak and potato on the menu for dinner this evening and Adam has whipped up enough for an army.” She continues as we stroll into the large room with a table set for the lot of us. The smell of the delicious food wafts in the air making my stomach growl. Although eating isn’t a necessity, being an earth angel has allowed us to indulge in the wonders of human foods from all parts of the country. Steak has been a favorite of mine although I hate to admit it at this moment.
I take my seat wishing that we could skip all this formality and get onto what we came here for, but Bells would never stand for it. She doesn’t ask a high price for her work if all she ever wants is someone to talk to for a bit and share stories with, from us angels anyway.
I take a seat beside Leah who rolls her eyes at Bellamy when she turns to sit at the head of the table.
I return her look with one of warning. Leah tends to get in the way when other women are around us. For an Angel I am surprised by her jealous behavior over me and it’s been one of our biggest issues in our relationship. Either way, she must get my meaning because she lowers her face looking at her lap until everyone is seated at the long elegant table.
****
The dinner is uneventful and goes by quickly. Before long, the staff is taking away all our empty dishes on the table.
“Alright Bellamy, I hate to rush but this is an urgent matter and we really must get moving.” I say while setting my napkin on the plate in front of me before Adam snatches it up and adds it to his cart.
“Ah, yes the location spell Kennedy mentioned to me.” Bellamy says taking a sip of her wine.
“Can you do one without an object or blood belonging to the demon?” I ask never having done one before without one or the other with any witch.
“I am the most powerful witch in existence, if I cannot do a location spell, I am sure there is work around we can find. Who are you looking for?” She asks leaning back in her chair.
I sigh, “We need to find Amariana.” I say cautiously. “Word is that she is in the human world and is on the run from her parents. Now, whether that’s true or not isn’t clear to me yet.” I add.
“Either way I’m sure you can understand why it’s urgent we find her before she does any damage here.” I blurt out quickly.
Bellamy’s eyes grow wide at my revelation, “Amariana, as in the Princess and daughter of Diablo, Amariana?” She asks nearly spitting out a sip of wine she had put into her mouth. Her cheeks redden as she gulps down the liquid as to not spray us with her wine. She sits up straight in her chair on high alert suddenly.
“Yes, that would be the one. Can you still help us?” I ask concerned by her reaction to our request.
She sits silent for several minutes, leaving me on the edge of my seat with worry. I stare at her while I await her eventual answer and begin to question whether the high witch will be able to pull off such a tall order. Just as I am about to apologize for having asked her to do this for us and gather my team and leave, she shifts her gaze to mine.
“Are you absolutely sure you want to find her, I-I mean what if this is above your pay grade type of shit. Why are your parents not sending in extra angels to help you with this?” She asks curiously.
“It seems the fae are dealing with Kane and his bullshit again. He’s destroyed two of their main portals to and from the Fae realm and asking help from them would not be possible, and our own angels have been busy around the clock with a sudden increase in human deaths in the realm.” I answer, giving her the cut version, I had received from my mental link with Kennedy. I silently thank her for watching what’s going on with all the main players when it comes to protecting the realms. I should have known the answer to her question myself, but with all the chaos that’s happened today I haven’t been brought up to speed on all the guardian teams placed in the human realm. The fae can usually be counted on to take care of the lower-ranking demon activity, but in their unexpected absence our own angels have had no choice but to step in and help eradicate the problem.
What if she can’t do the spell and we have gone through the last two hours of this charade for nothing, I wonder to myself.
“I will try to help in any way I can.” She finally announces with resolve in her expression.
“Thank you so much Bells, you’re the best.” Kennedy cuts in with a smile.
“Of course, a spell of such magnitude will require a lot of my power and all of my strength.” Bellamy says pushing her chair back and climbing to her feet. “If you will all excuse me a few moments, I am going to change into something more comfortable and meet you in my den. Adam will be happy to show you the way.” She whispers directions into Adams ear before retreating quickly from the room.
I get up from the chair and grab Leah by the elbow, so she hangs back for a minute as the others follow Adam to the den.
“We need to talk, now.” I say in a whisper.
“What? I didn’t do anything.” She whines.
“Yes, you did, and you know it.” I counter.
She folds her arms across her chest and looks up at me with anger flashing in her brown eyes. “What did I do now?” She asks crossing her arms bitterly.
“Tread lightly girl, you are pushing your luck here. I care about you, but my priority will always and has to always be this team and what we are here to do. Have you forgotten I took an oath? I pull down my shirt to show the only flaw on my skin a marking given to me from Deus who’s marked me as part of the eternal vine of leaders. She looks away as I let go of my shirt having made my point clear.
Many factions of guardians have the same traditional markings to prove who they are and gain the trust of diverse kinds of supernatural creatures if ever needed to come together and fight against any great evil or darkness we cannot defeat on our own. So far, I am the only marked one I have ever met. Once my job is fulfilled then the mark fades from black to white. Until I have served Deus as he’s chosen for me to do, I will bear the mark of the chosen guardian leader. I do wonder if the fae know of the mark or get them in the same place over their hearts like angels do or if they receive a different mark altogether. I would love to meet another leader who has a mark like my own someday. My brain is getting off topic as I shake my curiosity away and look back at Leah who’s watching me closely.
“I need you to stop with the jealous glances and drama.” I say seriously.
“I know, I’m sorry.” She says turning her head towards the window on the far side of the room and avoiding eye contact with me.
“It seems you don’t because you’re acting like a spoiled brat right now. You know Bellamy likes a little bit of ALL our attention when we need favors from her, and I was only being polite. It’s not like I took her to bed or something.” I reply feeling my anger flaring up.
I inhale a deep breath of air to calm down before I continue. “You have to stop getting jealous any time another girl looks my way; it’s getting way to extra.” I explain irritated with her. I don’t know how much longer we can keep this going. It’s becoming noticeably clear that she and I are not on the same page with anything anymore. We aren’t little kids no more, it’s time to get our priorities in order.
Leah looks up at me with tears in her eyes and I can tell she’s been thinking the same thing as me.
“How about we just take a much-needed break from ‘us’ for a while then.” She suggests stepping towards me.
The aroma of lilacs wafts up my nose the closer she gets to me kicking in my instinct to pull her in and hold her close. I shake away the feeling realizing she is using her power on me and at this point it’s brave of her to try this shit on me after her earlier warnings about it.
“Leah, stop using your power on me or I swear you can leave and go back to the house right now.” I warn between clenched teeth.
In an instant my feelings of anger return and I can think clearly looking at her in an unmagical induced light.
“Why do you do that shit to me?” I ask her furiously.
She drops her gaze to the floor in embarrassment. “So, you wouldn’t yell at me like you are doing now.” She replies softly.
“How’d that work out for you?” I ask bitterly going to move around her and follow the others.
I have always been fond of everything about Leah. The way she always smells of fresh flowers and can smile through the hardest of situations, and of course her beauty is a plus too. All of that aside, I can’t deny the disconnect I’m feeling and have been for a while. We used to be the ‘it’ couple of the angel realm. Both of our parents had us married off before we even came down to work on the team. It wasn’t until the last year that we began training more together and now living in the same house has shown another side to Leah, one I am not that crazy about. Her jealousy, and impulsive decision making has played a significant role developing these feelings towards her. I once couldn’t picture myself with anyone else and now I am having a tough time picturing myself putting up with staying with her for another second. That will have to wait, here and now just isn’t the right time or place.
Fate is funny that way. Maybe taking a ‘break’ is just what we need to continue to work successfully together as well as remaining friends looking at the bigger picture.
“Agreed, let’s get in the den and back to work.” I say continuing my path around her, leaving a stunned Leah in the dining hall. She had to see my answer coming because she doesn’t stay pondering what just happened for long as I vaguely hear her footsteps coming behind me towards the den.
“For a den, this is sure a fancy room.” Brantley says admiring all the oversized furniture and paintings up on the walls. There is a grand piano to one side and an entire sitting area to our right.
“I put much work into this one.” Bellamy says from behind me causing me to jump, startled. I hadn’t heard her approach and realize why looking down to the slippers on her feet. She wasn’t kidding when she said ‘comfortable’ I think amused.
“I have reached out to some of the covens in the area and found that to do a locator spell on Amariana would require some clever skills in modern technology and computer hacking.” She says turning to face Kennedy. She must have an amazing memory to know that she is fascinated with the human’s world of technology and studied harder than any of us did.
“Now, Kennedy I’ll need your ability to hack computers to get into the main branch of Angel security where an array of samples of the princess’ blood should be on file for this purpose. It was the only thing the angel council required of Diablo and Lilith when the girl was born. Do you think you can you do that?” She asks raising a brow at Kennedy.
Ken’s cheeks turn red for a minute before she bobs her head up and down yes to the question. Her hesitation is noticeable to me when she says yes to Bellamy’s request. I can only hope she’ll be okay with performing the task for us despite agreeing to do so.
“Very good, then we will need to work fast.” She says flashing Adam a knowing look. As if he knows exactly what she wants Adam leaves the room and returns with a top of the line laptop computer handing it to Kennedy. She takes the device from him, but her hands tremble as she reaches out for it.
She stares lovingly at the laptop as if seeing one for the very first time. She looks up at Bellamy, “Is there somewhere quiet I can do this?” She asks looking determined and pushing aside her hesitation.
She is incredible with the devices. She loves any missions involving technology, especially when it comes to all thing’s computer related.
The team and me all know she can hack the security system as she’s already done it once before by mistake.
I’m sure her momentary hesitation is because of the week she spent in confinement for stumbling into it the last time she had been fooling around on the new devices we were delivered in the angel realm as part of our training for living among humans. The last experience has her and on edge, but with my permission and the situation at hand she will not get into any trouble for repeating the process. I watch as her shoulders relax realizing that it is okay for her to do this for us as a formal request from her leader. I am relieved to see her calming down a bit.
We were only learning back then, and she didn’t even know what she was doing was a serious crime in our world. Now that she does, I can understand why she wouldn’t want to do it again.
“Adam, please bring Kennedy into the office off the kitchen, she can work quietly there while I set up the rest of the locator spell in here.” Adam nods in agreement to Bellamy’s request and beckons Kennedy to follow him with a wave of his hand in the direction of the other room. She turns back to me with a question in her eyes.
“It’s okay Ken, I promise you will not be punished if you do this.” I say quickly to reassure her as she glances back at me once more.
“You better hope so.” She warns playfully following Adam out of the den.
I turn back to Bellamy who is rushing around the room placing white and black candles all around the room.
“What can we do to help?” I ask feeling useless just standing here waiting for her to give us directions on what to do next. I use the spare time to set my weapons off to the side up against the wall, still close by, but out of the way. I don’t like to let my bow out of my sights unless they are at the house safely in my room. The others follow suit and line their weapons beside mine to allow for no discomfort when we sit to help Bell’s perform her spell.
“Almost done, if all of you would just take your seats in a circle here, I will take care of the rest.” She says lighting one candle after another while pointing at the outside of the candles she is lighting around inside the circle. The flames glow in distinct colors. The first is red, then green, followed by purple, orange, and finally the last flame burns blue.
That’s a first, I think admiring the colors. I have seen many locater spells done over the years and never have I seen colored flamed candles as part of the ceremony.
We do as she asks and take seats on the soft beige plush carpeting in a circle. Brantley sits to one side of me and Logan is on the other. Leah takes a seat wisely in the furthest spot away from me on the other side of Brantley.
There’s a shuffle of feet coming from the other room as Kennedy rushes towards the den.
“I got it!” she shouts while heading towards Bellamy.
It’s amusing to watch the love she has gained from learning the innovative technology and finally having an opportunity to use it to help others. I can only imagine how fascinated she is with being allowed to have access to the coveted angel security system as well.
She approaches Bell’s with the laptop closed in one hand and the paper with the drop of blood we needed in the other. She reaches out handing the paper to Bellamy and t
hen her other to hand Adam the computer and is surprised when he shakes his head ‘no’ at her.
“A gift, from Bellamy.” He says confusing her.
She looks surprised and hesitant all at once. Her brows knit together as her eyes bounce between Bellamy and me waiting for one of us to disapprove of the offer.
“It’s yours, I have many.” Bellamy explains briefly with a wave of her hand as if it were nothing to give away such an expensive electronic.
“You can accept the gift Ken, but only if you take your seat and we can get this moving along.” I say with a mischievous grin. We as angels are trained not to accept any kind of rewards or compensation for honorable deeds which is why Kennedy was confused. However, the computer could be a useful tool for the team and is coming from the high witch and would be rude not to accept. Therefore, no oaths are broken by her accepting the gift from Bell’s.
Kennedy nods beaming with happiness. “Thank you, I will take loving care of it and make beneficial use of it as well.” She promises with stars in her beautiful hazel eyes.
“This appeared in my hands when I requested access to her sample in the file.” Kennedy says handing the paper to Bellamy.
“Yes, I was worried you wouldn’t be able to gain access to the feature, but it seems I have underestimated your ability with modern technology.” Bellamy says smiling at Kennedy. “If you would take a seat in the circle we will get started.” She adds ushering her towards where Brantley is sitting with his usual silly grin on his face. He seems enthralled with the assorted colors of the flames on the candles.
He truly is like an angel child; I think amused momentarily.
Kennedy takes a seat between Brantley and Leah wearing a proud look of determination on her face. Leah catches my eye and raises a brow at me. I don’t even care why this time; We broke up or are on a ‘break’ as she put it. I am overjoyed she made the first move and feel relieved I won’t have to walk on eggshells when she is around anymore. Well for the time being anyway. Eventually the break will turn into a full on break-up and either she will learn to work on this team without any romance with me any longer and let the team and this mission be her only focus or I will have to order her to stay out of this one for her own safety.