“Is it really that hard for you to find another demon?” the small and yet incredibly loud angel continues whining.
“We don’t like each other much,” I say with an annoyed growl. “And you traveling with me isn’t making it any easier, angel. Demons aren’t exactly lining up to come investigate you and your damn light.”
“So do better.” She bares her razor sharp teeth at me. “If you don’t, you’ll never get to speak with Tasia.”
I don’t know if this alcove full of bones is agitating her so much that she’s gotten that much more obnoxious, or if I’m the one wearing down. What I wouldn’t give to rip out and consume her heart right now.
“Don’t have anything to say?” she demands.
I’m about to tell her she can shove all her fucking angst up her ass, but something else grabs my attention. Finally, a dark presence has arrived. They’re on the beach behind the alcove. A demon has returned to their hunting ground.
“Say something!” she whines.
“Shut the hell up,” I whisper, though I feel like shouting. “Can’t you feel that, angel?”
She purses her pink lips, but she doesn’t say another word. She must feel it now. I stand up from the cold ground, focusing only on the other natural demon’s presence. I’m waiting for them to come to the alcove, but they seem hesitant. I sniff the air, trying to find any other clues about them. I’m fairly certain this demon is male, but they’re too far away for me to know anything for certain—and now their presence is fading.
Hell no. He’s not getting away after all I suffered through waiting for him with this damn angel.
I jump onto one of the tall jagged rocks protecting the alcove and spot a figure running across the beach in the opposite direction. It looks like he’s heading for the water. I’ll want to catch him before he does that. The ocean isn’t my preferred playing field.
Throwing my shirt off into the alcove, I call my beast. I only have it assume about 50% of my physical appearance, focusing on its wings mostly. With a powerful stroke of my draconic wings, I shoot off like a bullet. The demon trying to flee only manages to turn his head in my direction before I smash into him. I dig my beast’s claws into his shoulders as we roll in the sand. I control the movement so that when we stop, I’m the one on top. I expect I’ll have to put him in his place, but he doesn’t fight back. He’s holding his hands to his chest. He’s acting oddly submissive.
“Please,” he says, tree bark eyes beseeching, “I don’t want to fight. You can keep the alcove. You want it to hunt right? Great! I’ll go somewhere else. I know the East Coast is a popular place for hunting. Uden did it first, right? I just thought it was a good ide—”
“Stop talking,” I command.
He shuts his mouth. He’s a good sized demon, at least in the form of his logician, though he’s not as strong as I am. He has short blond hair in a buzz cut and what looks like sun kissed skin, though that’s an ironic statement, considering our kinds’ disdain for the sun. It doesn’t stop us from going out in its blistering rays though, like right now. The sun is just rising and bathing this part of the world in its golden gleam.
I don’t know why I’ve paused what I’m doing. My claws are buried into his flesh, and he’s staring up at me, watching me carefully, waiting to see what I’m going to do. He said he doesn’t want to fight, and I don’t feel any aggression from him. It’s really put me off—or maybe I’m off my game and it has nothing to do with him at all.
My vision goes blank as I feel something pierce my chest. I gasp and grip the spiraling object that drills deeper into my chest as it skewers me all the way through. Shit. What’s wrong with me? Why didn’t I dig into him right away? Why did I even allow him to talk?
I cry out in pain as I use all the strength in my arms and hands to tear myself off of him. I manage to generate enough force to escape him and the spiraling object without tearing too much more of my flesh than what he already tore. Luckily for me, he didn’t manage to pierce or steal my heart. I stagger on the beach, clutching my chest as blood pours out of the wound from my front and back as it begins to heal.
“Why the hell did you bring an angel here? A fetish? An angel lover? Or are you working for her?” the demon asks as he circles around me, shifting his gaze between me and Imae, who is farther down on the beach.
I glance at Imae to see her watching us with her arms folded. The look on her face tells me she is unimpressed. Damn angel.
I shed the rest of my clothes in record time and allow my beast to take over the entirety of my physical appearance. The demon before me has his sights trained on the angel, but I can’t let him harm her. It’ll cause me more problems.
I pounce and catch the demon’s right leg in my teeth right as he’s about to charge Imae. I bite hard, and snap his leg right off, just below his knee. After tossing the limb aside so he won’t be able to reattach it, I go for him again, but that long horn-like thing coming out of his head fends me off. He’s grinding his teeth together in pain, but his leg is already starting to regenerate.
“All this time I never had any trouble,” he says between gasps. “I never drew any attention, so why now?”
I almost catch his twisted horn in my teeth, my intention to bite it off, but he sweeps it at me, dodging my teeth and cutting me instead. He flings himself toward the ocean. I know when he reaches the water this is going to become much harder for me, based on how he’s acting. As his beast manifests, I see his skin texture change into something slimy and the color turns a deep blue.
I’m faster than he is, so I’m about to snatch up his foot in my jaws when the sand around me shifts and pulls me in, trapping me in a sinkhole. He grabbed the damn element! I growl and paw at the edges of sinking earth, trying to use my wings to take off, but the sand has a tight hold on me. The demon watches me intensely, his whole body shaking as he staggers toward the ocean.
“He’s getting away,” Imae remarks, disinterested.
The sand around me weakens enough for a powerful flap of my wings to finally free me and send me into the air.
I growl at the angel, and take off for the demon. I’m too late, however. He’s already made it into the ocean. His beast has taken control, and it is indeed suited for the water. He’s a giant whale, like a narwhal, but he’s even larger and much sturdier. If he doesn’t want to fight, he’ll get away from me easily. If he does want to fight, I might still have a chance. I fly over the waters, keeping track of his dark shadow. His tooth, the thing coming out of his head that looks like a spiraling horn, is almost the same length as his body. It looks cumbersome.
He skims the surface of the water, inviting me to strike him as his tooth peeks out slightly. It seems he doesn’t plan on running away after all. I don’t take the bait. I decide to wait this out for a moment longer. When I don’t change my position above him in the sky, he dives deeper into the waters. He goes so deep that I can’t see his shadow anymore. Maybe he’s running away after all. I don’t want to track down another demon. This is already taking too much time. I have to see Tasia.
Though it may be futile, I gather my thoughts and call to the sky above. It’s already an overcast day with storm clouds coating the sky. That means I shouldn’t have too much trouble coaxing the lightning element to come to my assistance. I continue focusing on the storm clouds just as the water below starts rippling and rumbling into a torrent. I can see the demon’s shadow again and the spray of water as he leaps out of the ocean right for me.
I pick a direction to dart away. I’m not going to have time to dodge completely. I have to focus on calling this element. I hold on to the storm clouds as I fly away from him as fast as I am able. I miss his large body, but one of his flippers makes contact, sending me spiraling through the air and down to the ocean—but I haven’t let go of the element.
The storm clouds are now spiraling above this part of the ocean in a foreboding mass of black and gray, sparks of lightning jumping between clouds. I somehow manage to catc
h myself before my beast can get grounded in the ocean.
With a mighty flap of my wings, I skim the water’s surface and lift back up high into the sky, keeping my focus trained on those storm clouds. The humongous narwhal is still in the process of falling completely back into the water. This is the best chance I’m going to get.
I call forth the lightning I summoned, training every bit of the element on the large target in front of me. Electricity rains down mercilessly, connecting to multiple parts of the target as he hits the water. A cry like a siren erupts from the demon as his flesh burns and bubbles. He convulses with every strike.
I’m doing major damage, but I’m sure it isn’t enough. Due to all the blubber making up the beast’s body, the dazed demon floats above the water, rendering him vulnerable. I locate where his large heart is by listening. It’s still beating. I call off the lightning and I tear into his flesh. I rip away piece after piece until I’ve found his heart. I’ve never tried to consume a heart this large, but I need to kill this demon, and I may as well take what is left of his life essence for what he did to me.
I chew through the muscle as large as my head, covering myself in sticky blood as I devour the heart. I ignore the demon’s cries of pain and force myself to swallow over and over until there is nothing left. I know I’ve actually managed to do it when his carcass begins to fade into twinkling particles, brighter than the snow that begins to fall from the storm clouds overhead.
I should feel energized, perhaps. I just devoured a good amount of life essence. However, it takes every bit of strength in my body to fly myself away from the disintegrating carcass and back onto the beach, but even then I barely make it to the beach’s edge before my wings give out on me. I collapse into the wet sand and cold ocean waves lap up against my body as I melt into the earth. I’m shuddering from head to foot, and my vision is fading. What’s happening to me?
“I could kill you right now,” Imae informs.
I hear every step she takes as her feet crunch lightly in the sand. The closer she gets to me, the louder the sound becomes, almost like a banging in my ears.
“It’s too bad your death isn’t what this world needs. At least not yet,” she says.
So they really do have other plans in store for me. I’m completely defenseless right now. It would be a simple task for her to kill me, and yet she isn’t going to.
My large pink tongue falls out of my mouth as I pant. I don’t think I’ve ever felt this exhausted in my life. Was my fight with that demon really so rigorous an ordeal that it should leave me like this? I don’t think so. I’ve been through worse fights. No, it’s something else. My heart doesn’t want to continue. My body is fine, but my soul is spent.
I just want it to end.
I fought for Tasia, a girl I don’t know. By killing this demon I’ve served angels. I attacked this demon and protected an angel. I don’t know what I am anymore, and I wonder if it’s worth it. Even my beast wonders if it’s worth it. And then I see Tasia when I close my eyes. It’ll be worth it for her. It has to be.
“SO HOW DO FAMILIES work?” I ask. “I always thought angels were some sort of spiritual beings. I never thought you’d be actual flesh and blood. You said you’re born a lot the same way humans are, right? Even though you’re immortal…”
Cassius smiles at me as we walk through the Citadel. I came back to Ilenima with him yesterday, and apparently I’m spending today with him as well. Valor and Cassius have been on my mind since yesterday, so it’s about time I ask the question.
“Yes, we are immortal, but not in the sense that we cannot die, as I told you before,” he reminds. “Instead of aging toward our deaths, like humans do, since you were born with a set amount of life essence and years, we grow our life as we live. Each moment we live is life essence added. Each moment mortals live is life essence taken away.”
“That’s really weird,” I say.
“It is different.”
Cassius continues leading me through the Citadel, to parts I’ve never seen before. The color scheme stays the same though. It’s mostly a soft blue from the frosted glass-like material, the frost crystals, that makes up the Citadel. At least I’m learning a little more about this place beyond angel and demon trivia. I wouldn’t mind seeing outside of the Citadel though.
“In answer to your question about families and how they work, it’s much the same as it is with you mortals,” he says.
“So a boy and a girl like each other and…,” I say, hoping he catches my meaning.
“Sex,” Cassius says candidly. “Sex is the act of procreation. It is the same for mortals and immortals.”
“So Valor being pregnant is like a human being pregnant?”
“Yes, though angels and demons are pregnant for twelve months, unlike humans.”
“How far along is Valor? She doesn’t show at all.”
“Three months.”
I look up at the crystal ceiling. The light of the sun eases through frost crystals so easily. It’s almost as bright as if we were outside.
“Where are we going?” I ask.
Cassius glances over his shoulder at me. “I thought you might like to see more of the immortal world, rather than staying in the Citadel the entire time we’re together.”
“I definitely would,” I say, maybe a little too eagerly.
Yesterday Cassius and I spent most of our time talking about that mission I went on with the hunters, and the feelings I experienced. He took my white diamond again, saying that he was tuning it to me even more. We didn’t have time for my questions yesterday. However, today he has agreed to answer a bunch of my questions and apparently that includes showing me more of the immortal world.
We reach a set of large doors. They’re made of frost crystals just like the rest of the building, and silver clad soldier’s stand at either side.
“Going out, Oracle?” one of the soldiers asks.
“Yes, but we aren’t going far. If you should need me, we’ll be at the Crystal Oasis.” Cassius replies.
The soldiers nod and immediately open the doors for us. Even though the Citadel is so well lit, the light outside is even brighter, but the strange part is I don’t feel the need to squint. It’s as if the sun here is much kinder than the one in the mortal world. I don’t realize I’ve paused at the door, taking in the feeling and warmth of the sun, until I see that Cassius is getting away from me. I run to catch up with him. He doesn’t look in my direction, but there’s a small smile on his face.
“Is this sky the same sky as the one in my world?” I ask. “It feels different. Well, this is a parallel world though, so I guess that’s a stupid question.”
“It’s not a stupid question. This is the same sky and yet it is a different sky,” Cassius explains. “In a way, it’s a reflection of your sky. While you can travel outside of the planet, our sky has a limit. I suppose you could think of Ilenima as a world within a world.”
“Really? That’s strange.”
“Perhaps, but it is what God designed,” Cassius states.
I follow him as we descend on frost crystal stairs down a steep mountain. The whole city laid out before us looks like it’s all frost crystal too. Everything is so clean and spotless, beautiful like glaciers. It looks like it should be cold, but it’s warm. Everything here is warm.
As we continue down the mountain, I see angels outside of their houses, showing life in a place that looked almost still and lifeless. These angels aren’t wearing silver armor like all the other ones I’ve seen. These angels are dressed similarly to the oracle, though they aren’t necessarily wearing robes. They wear plain shirts and plain pants, dresses, cloaks, but the one thing they all have in common is their modesty. Necklines show little more than the collarbone. Everyone has sleeves. Shorts and skirts don’t go above the knees.
A few angels make eye contact with me, so I smile on reflex. They smile in return, and the gesture sends a flood of warm through me. A few other angels talk with each other excit
edly as they look at me, or maybe the oracle. Probably the oracle. I even see a family with a small child. If I was guessing the child’s age based on human age, I’d probably say she’s around four years old. I give her a big smile without reserve when she looks at me, and she returns the gesture. I could get used to it here.
“So, if you’re immortal, Cassius, how old are you?” I ask. “And how long have you and Valor been… what was it called?”
“Mates.”
“Yeah, that.”
“You are a curious one, aren’t you?” Cassius asks without turning around as he continues leading me down the mountain.
“Sorry,” I say quickly. “Is it rude to ask?”
“No, it’s completely fine. You can ask any question you would like. I am three hundred and sixty-nine years old. As far as Valor and I go, we hadn’t officially become mates until three months ago.”
My eyes go wide with wonder. “You’re three hundred and sixty-nine years old, and it was just three months ago that you and Valor became mates? Weren’t you lonely? Do angels date and stuff?”
“I was never lonely. The son of the oracle never had a boring moment, so being lonely wasn’t possible. As far as dating, relationships, boyfriends, girlfriends, wives, husbands, we angels do things very differently from you humans. For instance, while you would greet someone you’ve never met before with a handshake, we tend to greet others with a kiss, especially close friends.”
“Rynne kind of told me about that before,” I say. “You really kiss even your best friend who you don’t have any romantic feelings for?”
“Yes, because you see, a greeting kiss is not about romance. A greeting kiss is about showing unconditional love. It has nothing to do with romance. As far as mates go, a female angel is allowed to pick an unclaimed male for herself when she is able to conceive. At that moment she and the angel she picked are forever paired together, unless death parts them. So, no. We do not date.”
The Pull of Destiny (Undying Love, Book 2) Page 13