Angel of Darkness Books 1-5

by Mackenzie Morris

  Oviel took off into the sky, dodging the arrows from the archers who had been alerted by the commotion.

  "Stand back!" Brinx descended from the sky in a flurry of pink feathers. She drew a silver bow from her back and pulled back a glowing arrow. She let the arrow fly into the center of the mass of reanimated skeletons. With one flick of her wrist, a blinding white light spread over the abominations, eliciting shrieks and guttural groaning as they exploded. A sea of bones and moldy hair rained down over the grey stones of the fort.

  "Brinx!" Trevor, soaked in the enemy general's blood, ran to her side. "What was that?"

  She flicked her long bangs out of her face then replaced the bow on her back. "I destroy undead. You'd be surprised how many zombies lived in the basement of the Haunted Library in Cilona where I'd been living. They always tried to take the cakes I baked. Well, I wasn't having that. Those were my cakes! My cakes, you dumb undead skeletons!"

  Jaylen couldn't help himself. He doubled over giggling.

  Zeriel didn't look amused. He glared at his sister until she stopped laughing. "This isn't the time to be laughing and making jokes. There's a necromancer around here somewhere. We have to find him, or there will only be more undead to deal with. Liam is falling back into whatever is ailing him. We need to get those documents from the room back there and take them to General Riz."

  The swooshing of wings overhead caused the torches nearby to surge brighter. Heavy boots hit the stones behind them in the courtyard as a bald angel with black wings and a scruffy beard landed. The angel's scar across his right eye shimmered in the torchlight as he drew a six-foot-long claymore from his back. "No one is going anywhere. In the name of Queen Sela of Wolfekin, surrender now or I will be forced to eliminate each and every one of you!"

  Chapter 8

  Jaylen stumbled backwards in surprise until Zeriel caught him. Axaniel? What was Axaniel doing out here? Was he actually going to fight them? Surely not.

  Zeriel pushed Jaylen protectively behind his ebony wings. "We will never surrender, Axaniel. Why are you standing against us? Don't we fight for the same cause deep down? You are my friend."

  "Was. I was your friend. But some bridges can never be rebuilt once they are burned down. I know everything about you now, Zeriel. I know about that orphanage in Kervlin. I know about the slaves and the demonic rituals. You sent all forty of those young children to their deaths! I cannot stand here and let you live!"

  Zeriel was obviously taken aback. "What are you talking about? What orphanage? What children?"

  Axaniel stepped up to the piles of bones from the defeated army of skeletons and spread out his arms. "These children. You had them arrested nearly twenty years ago. They were tried in Ilyan for their petty crimes. And what did the clergy do to them for disrespecting the woman who ran the orphanage or stealing carrots from the farm next to the orphanage? Death. Every single one of those kids was hanged for that. You and Doran were the ones who had them arrested. You even put the shackles around their tiny wrists as they cried and begged you to let them go! Don't pretend that you didn't know!"

  Jaylen gasped. "Zeriel, is that true?"

  Brinx walked up to face her brother. "Tell me you didn't do that to children. Please tell me he's lying."

  "I don't have to explain anything to you people. This isn't about me and my past. Stop trying to change the subject, Axaniel. None of that matters."

  Trevor once again drew his longsword and pointed it at Zeriel. "It matters to me. My mother was from that orphanage. She was only thirteen when my father married her and brought her to Ilyan. You would have killed her!"

  "Trevor . . . I . . ."

  Oviel landed next to them. "I alerted General Riz. The rest of Squad Eight is on its way here. Why are you still here? Why haven't you run yet?" He looked around then froze when he locked eyes with Axaniel. "Axa!"

  Axaniel only glared darkly at him. "Do not call me that. No one calls me that anymore. Whatever we had is gone, Oviel. My allegiance lies with my one true Master, Sulstair, and to the future only world power, Wolfekin. Now, surrender to me and come quietly, or I will slaughter every paladin and angel here. Squad Eight will be decimated just like it has been so many times in the past. Do you want that guilt and everyone's blood on your hands?"

  Oviel held out his hands to his dearest friend. "I don't want to fight you. Don't make me fight you. I love you, Axa!"

  Axaniel spit at Oviel's feet. "You love me? You've never loved me, Oviel. I tried to be good enough for you for years, but you turned me away because I wasn't good enough for you. I could never take Gawain's place, no matter what I did for you. I wanted to love you, to be your one and only, but you wouldn't have it. Now you die."

  "You truly feel that way? Axa, I didn't know you were angry with me because of that. I thought we both agreed that it was better for us to not get physically involved. I was leery of it because I didn't want to anger Sola again or get in trouble with the Angelic Court. I thought you agreed with me."

  "For years, I have given everything I had to you, but it was never enough. I'm done talking. Either kneel before Master Necromancer Sulstair, or die."

  A thin grey elf man in black and blue robes covered in metal spikes with large glowing orange eyes stepped out of a side room. His waist-length black hair blew in the frozen wind that filled the courtyard. He made eye contact with the tiny green-eyed boy who was cowering behind Oviel's turquoise wings. "Liam Ulverin, I have come back for you."

  "No! I'm not goin'! You can't make me!"

  Sulstair snarled as he turned to Jaylen. "Jaylen Corrifus, you should force this boy to come with me. If you knew what was good for you and for the fate of Aldexa, you would relinquish the boy to me then surrender and be taken to Queen Sela in Wolfekin to be held on ransom or until this war is over."

  "You want us to be prisoners of war?" Oviel asked. "Why don't you just kill us instead? Liam Ulverin is under my protection now. I have bonded with him. I'll be damned before I let you take my paladin."

  Sulstair chuckled dryly. "Paladin? Paladin! You think that boy is capable of being anything holy? I take it that Liam didn't actually go through the complete Divinity Trial. Am I right?"

  "No, but it was shortened."

  "Ah. I see. But apparently you still don't. Liam Ulverin is dead. He is only more than a living corpse because before he died, he sold his soul to me for a loaf of bread and six chicken eggs to feed his family. He knew exactly what he was doing. I have every one of his soul segments. Why do you think I had to return the three soul segments of Jaylen's? Because I didn't need them anymore. I had more than I knew what to do with from my dear little thief. After those red paladins killed him, I bound his soul to his corpse and brought him back to life."

  Oviel held Liam close to his chest. "I knew there was something different going on. Why would you give a corpse his soul back? What can you possibly be trying to accomplish?"

  "Really?" Sulstair asked. "Are you this stupid that you didn't figure it out? Liam has been unknowingly spying for me. He's seen everything from your little vampire coven to the inner workings of the clergy and the military camp in Ilyan. All of that has been recorded by those beautiful emeralds that I implanted in his eyes."

  Jaylen looked between them. "So those emeralds in his eyes are enchanted with his soul segments just like my amulet?"

  "His eyes were so green that hiding the gemstones in them was a simple operation. They cannot be removed without blinding him."

  Zeriel's voice was filled with anger and passion. "How can you be so evil? He's a child! I don't care if you're an elf, a necromancer, or any other kind of demon. How could you even think about taking a child's soul in exchange for a loaf of bread and some eggs? He was starving. His entire family was starving to death. Any child would be forced to make an exchange like that. You're heartless!"

  "I'm heartless? I wasn't the one who arrested all those children from that orphanage and mercilessly watched their executions. You were there drinking wine an
d making jokes as those young, young children were hanged at the gallows. They were all under fifteen years old. One of them was two years old, Zeriel. Two. I saw the entire thing, so don't try to pretend that you weren't there. Now who is heartless?"

  Jaylen watched his normally strong angel completely crumble in front of him. Tears streaked down Zeriel's cheeks as he fell to his knees and hid his face from everyone. Was it true? Could Zeriel, the angel who loved children more than anything else, have done something so heinous? He didn't want to believe it. He couldn't believe it.

  Brinx looked heartbroken as she rubbed her brother's shoulders, trying to console him as he wept at her feet. "Zeriel, tell me it's not true. Please tell me it's not true. Lie. Lie to me and tell me you didn't do this."

  "It's true! It's all true. Doran and I watched those children die and we laughed as they were crying. We laughed the entire time because justice was being served."

  Trevor threw down his longsword in front of Zeriel. "I'm done. I will not be associated with a monster like you!"

  Brinx tried to stop him. "Trevor, don't do anything rash."

  "I will do what I believe is right. I've seen far too many innocent people be pushed around in the name of false corrupted justice. Nothing about what that fallen angel did is right. Call me a deserter and hunt me down. I don't care. In fact, I welcome the entire Vilyron military to try to find me. I will kill them all. If they are perfectly fine with harboring a demon like Zeriel among their ranks and parading him around as being holy and a defender, then I welcome death instead of staying here and fighting for something I don't believe in. You knew about this, didn't you, Oviel? You knew this entire time, but you neglected to tell anyone the truth. How can you morally allow Zeriel to be so close to Jaylen when you know how ruthlessly he could turn on him? Is Zeriel going to watch and laugh as Jaylen is executed as well? Now it all makes sense." He turned to Zeriel. "You didn't come to Cilona to rescue Jaylen because the thought of him suffering gave you pleasure, didn't it? You enjoyed knowing that he was suffering right alongside all the other children who were sold to Carvael."

  "No. That's not true!" Zeriel screamed.

  "It is true. If you actually cared about Jaylen, then why do you continually put him in compromising situations? You could have stood up to your father and gotten him back sooner, but you didn't."

  "You don't understand what it's like to deal with Carvael. He wouldn't listen to me."

  "I don't care."

  Sulstair clapped his hands to get everyone's attention as the archers on the roof drew back their bows, arrows ready to fly. "Now, now. This really isn't the place for this kind of drama. You will all have plenty of time to argue while you are imprisoned in the Wolfekin dungeon. Surrender now and come with us before we all freeze to death out here."

  Oviel tore his gaze away from the crying Zeriel and focused instead on Axaniel. "Axa, don't do this. It's not too late to join us again. I don't know what I've done to you to make you hate me this much. I thought we had something . . . something wonderful. Why are you siding with evil?"

  "Don't you see, Oviel? I'm not the one siding with evil. You are. Look around you at the company you keep. Don't you understand what the clergy has been doing to people? They sacrifice and mutilate children! And it's all in the name of Sola and the church. I will no longer be a part of this."

  Oviel turned his back on the angel. "So be it."

  "Kill them now!" Liam shouted as he tossed a vial into the middle of the courtyard. A flash of blue light filled the area as smoke choked out the light from the torches. All at once, everyone was moving. They clashed in the blinding darkness, colliding with feathers, leather, and steel. Streaks of holy light magic pierced through the thick smoke.

  Jaylen didn't move.

  High above the smoke, the other angels flew in fast, pelting the entire courtyard with glowing arrows as their paladins knocked down the front gates and stormed the fort. General Riz was smiling as he ran headfirst into the battle. "Fight now, Requiem Squad! This is what you've been training for. Take no prisoners. Take their lives! For Vilyron!"

  The other paladins raised their longswords into the air. "For Vilyron! For Sola!"

  Jaylen watched as the fighting commenced until he spotted the glowing orange eyes peering out of the smoke and glaring right at him.

  Sulstair lunged at him, but a sudden flash of light swirled around Jaylen, protecting him from the daggers. It prevented the elf from even getting close. Jaylen had his own little magic bubble . . . and he stayed there. Alone. No one else would get in. Even if they begged with their dying breaths, he would not let anyone else into his protective bubble.

  Everything happened in a flurry around Jaylen, but he couldn't move. It was if he was frozen there, chained in place to the grey stones as the fighting occurred around him in slow motion. Hot blood splattered onto his face and his clothes, but he still did not move. Steel flashed through the dim torchlight as white, pink, turquoise, and black feathers were ripped from the wings of angels and scattered around in the mess. Everyone was yelling, screaming, and dying, but their cries of agony sounded far away or as if he was underwater. One by one, the paladins fell to their knees and Axaniel's heavy blade severed their necks. Their heads rolled down the steps, leaving rivers of dark blood in their paths. Then he watched as General Riz called out to him, screaming at him to fight and to help the other members of his squad, but Jaylen didn't. Jaylen couldn't move. His legs felt like lead. All he could do was stand there and watch in disbelief as the bloody massacre continued.

  "Jaylen, help me! Lieutenant Corrifus!" One of the paladins cried out to him, only to have his screams cut off by Sulstair's thin blade that skewered him all the way through his stomach and emerged out of his back.

  Still, Jaylen didn't move. He clutched the sky blue amulet in his hands and watched the gory spectacle unfold around him. He could smell the blood, hear the gurgling dying breaths of his paladin brothers, see the magic flying through the night air. But he didn't step in to help. It was as if his mind shut down in an attempt to block it all out. However, he fully experienced all of it. He heard the clashing of swords, metal snapping through bones, bloody blades scraping across the stone walls. Glowing heavenly arrows ripped through the air, only to be thrown back at the angels who fired them. One by one, even the angels fell. The winged defenders gave their lives to protect their paladins, but Jaylen only watched.

  Even his own angel was beyond help. Sulstair threw his daggers across the courtyard, each razor-sharp blade slicing though Zeriel's wool coat. When the blades fully penetrated the angel's stomach and were embedded in the wall behind him, Zeriel turned deathly pale. He grabbed the wounds as a lake of blood spilled by his feet. He was soon kicked in the face as Sulstair began to strangle him. "Jaylen . . . help . . . me."

  Jaylen didn't want to watch, but he couldn't turn away. He couldn't even blink.

  "Jaylen!" Zeriel kicked the elf off of him then lunged at Jaylen, breaking through the protective magic barrier. The angel scooped Jaylen up in his arms as he took off and flew away from the fort, narrowly avoiding a shower of arrows. "What the hell is wrong with you? Why wouldn't you help them? Don't you understand what just happened? They're dead, Jaylen. They're all dead!"

  Jaylen remained silent as he allowed Zeriel to carry him far away from it all.

  "Answer me! Say something, damn it! Say anything! I know you're not this callous. Answer me!" Zeriel coughed up blood from his injuries as he began to fall out of the sky. Tree branches broke under him and tangled around his wings as they plummeted through the thick canopy of evergreen trees in the thick forest. They came crashing down quickly onto a rocky outcropping as two entire trees were uprooted and fell down towards them.

  Jaylen didn't even cry out as he slammed into the ground or put up his hands to defend himself when the heavy trees fell towards him and the world went black.

  Chapter 9

  The torrential rains pelted the streets of Ilyan, sometimes blowing s
o heavily in the winds that the sheets of water blocked out the light from the balls of mage-glow that danced on the poles of the streetlamps. A constant wet sheen covered the cobblestone streets and large puddles pooled up between the buildings and alleys. It had been raining nearly every day for the past three weeks. The war with Wolfekin had to be postponed on both fronts due to emergency flooding situations that made the roads impassible. Even daily life became a struggle for survival as some of the low-lying towns were nearly washed away or buried in mudslides from the mountain ranges.

  As Zeriel hobbled through the slippery streets of Ilyan with the help of a wooden cane, he pulled the large hood of his cloak down over his head and watched the soldiers scurrying to line the roads with sandbags to hold back the water from the overflowing river. A few children were playing and splashing in the puddles, all to the dismay of their parents who yelled at them to stop. Zeriel then imagined what they would do after that. They would skip along into their warm homes and find dry clothes as their parents gathered them around the blazing hearth to enjoy a meal before bed. They would probably dance and tell stories while their fathers played a violin or a fife as the long wet night dragged on.

  Zeriel could only wish for a family like that. But in the end, angels didn't keep families. They had other angels they were related to, but nothing like the love between these people. And the only person Zeriel had ever truly felt love for was gone . . . at least for now. Jaylen's true fate would be in the hands of the Vilyron Tribunal.

  That was where he was headed now. He slowly climbed up the white marble steps to the courthouse across the plaza from the temple of Sola. Even though two months had passed since he fell out of the sky, Zeriel's cracked pelvis still hurt him. Being mortal was not fun . . . not in the slightest. The healers told him that he was lucky the second tree that fell on him didn't hit a bit higher up his spine. Then he could have been paralyzed. But he couldn't dwell on that right now. There were far more important things to come to terms with, like the deaths of his sister and his friends. The first few days after the incidents at the fort were filled with his fight for recovery from his severe injuries, but after the initial shock wore off, only pain and regret took over his every thought. Only the potions the healers gave him for his depression kept him going.