"Zeriel was my friend. More than that . . . he was my grandson."
"What?" Jaylen asked, completely confused. "Your grandson?"
"Yes. I raised Carvael from the time he was reborn as an angel like my own son. He lived with me and everything. When a soul is reborn as an angel, one of the existing angels adopts him as their own, like a very close friend or almost like a son. Carvael was one of mine."
"I had no idea."
"Not many angels know. Then there was Axaniel. I raised him once he was reborn as an angel as well. That's why our relationship became even less romantic because it seemed weird to raise him and watch him grow up then to be romantically involved with him, so I tried to cut it off and just be friends. Apparently, he didn't feel the same way. We never were physical or anything, but it was still weird. But enough of that."
Liam slid out of bed, still holding his hands over his eyes so the enchanted emeralds in his eyes wouldn't record the images of Jaylen being there. "You left me to die."
Jaylen's heart sank. "Oh, Liam, no. I don't know what came over me at the fort, but I will never let you die. Okay? That's why I'm here now. I'm here to save you."
"Doesn't matter. I'm already dead anyway."
"What did I tell you about that?" Oviel asked. "You're not dead."
"Okay, Ovi. I'm not dead. But you were mean, Jaylen. Really mean."
"I know. I'm sorry. I will do my very best to make it up to everyone, but especially you, Liam." He stopped when he heard footsteps echoing down the hallway. "I have to go now, but I should be back tonight. We are going to Ilyan for a while. Try to leave while we are gone. Please get out alive and find Trevor and Brinx. Meet up at my house in Ilyan if you make it."
"Bye, Jaylen!" Liam waved at him, still with his eyes closed. "See ya later."
Chapter 3
Jaylen slid off of Pegasa's back then patted the winged horse's nose. He fed her a sugar cube then handed the reins to the stable hand. "I don't have any money right now, but-"
Carvael interrupted him then placed two gold coins into the young boy's hand. "Keep the change. Groom her and feed her. We will be back tonight."
"My pleasure, Archangel Carvael." The stable hand bowed before slipping the coins into the front of his leather apron and getting to work removing the saddle and bridle from Pegasa.
Jaylen followed Carvael out of the stables then looked around at the city that was still smoldering. In many places, the rubble from the collapsed houses was blackened and charred. The peasants sorted through the debris and carried out anything that had survived the inferno. A few women wept as a line of plain wooden coffins was carried down the street behind horses.
Jaylen thought for sure that the guards would have recognized him and at least tried to arrest him or question him about the events of two days ago, but they instead ignored him and carried on with their patrols. "Why aren't they bothered by me being here? I thought I had a bounty on my head."
"Do you see any wanted posters around anymore?" Carvael asked as he held out his arms. "No. Because I have already cleared your name. You're welcome."
"So you showing me that wanted poster-"
"Was just me rubbing it in your face that I have full control here. You are nothing. Get used to it. Without me, you would be in shackles and on your way to the gallows right now. Instead, we get to go negotiate with an assassin for the lives of your family. How does that sound?"
"Like the best day of my life."
"It's unlike you to use sarcasm. I like it. It makes you seem rougher."
"Rougher?" Jaylen asked.
Carvael nodded to two women who bowed as he passed. "You need to grow up a bit. Who knows? Maybe today will change that."
"What do you mean?"
"You'll see in a bit. You are technically a member of the royal family, only a bit removed."
"What are you talking about?" Jaylen asked. "You know who the assassin is, don't you? Who is he? What does he really want? Why is he targeting my family?"
"All will be answered in time." Carvael grinned as they walked past a merchant who was busy scrubbing the black soot from the walls of his shop. "That reminds me. Did you enjoy reading those letters?"
What? How did he know about those? Jaylen nervously laughed. "What letters? I'm sure I have no idea what you are talking about."
"Don't lie to me, boy. Your amulet recorded everything, including you handing the dungeon key over to Oviel. They didn't get far. When we get back to my underground palace, you will see how we are going to punish your friends for your mistakes. How does that sound? They will be the ones feeling my wrath for your missteps."
Jaylen had told Liam to cover his eyes, but he had completely forgotten about the amulet around his own neck that was recording everything nonstop. At least he could be thankful that the amulet couldn't record sound, or he would be in much more trouble. What would happen to his friends later? In an attempt to diffuse the potentially horrible situation, Jaylen bowed to Carvael. "Forgive me for my crimes against you, Archangel. You know how confused my mind is at this point in time. Sometimes I do things that I have no control over and can't explain."
"I realize that, but you still must be punished until you don't let that part of yourself take over. You wouldn't want me to give you more of those injections and make you lose any identity besides being a dog, would you?"
Jaylen instinctively touched the leather collar around his neck. "Wait. That was you? You made the priests and guards torture me like that and walk me like a dog?"
"It worked well, didn't it? Until you left and the effects wore off. I think I liked you better that way. You didn't talk back to me. Why do you think I still make you wear that collar? Bark for me and tell me you love me, Jaylen."
"No. I'm done being your dog."
"Do it, or I kill that little green-eyed thief you care about so much."
Liam. Jaylen was stuck in a situation he couldn't get out of, so he did the only thing he could do. "Woof."
"Come now, boy. Be good and bark like you mean it."
He rolled his eyes. "Woof!"
"That's better. Now let us go figure out what is going on inside the castle."
Jaylen followed closely behind Carvael's golden wings as they walked up to the castle gardens that had been turned to coals and charcoal. A group of red paladins in their black chainmail and blood red surcoats was gathered around one side of the castle where the guard captain was busy speaking to someone through the small door. They all looked up and bowed when Carvael got near.
Guard Captain Stallos greeted Carvael. "We welcome your help, Archangel. We have just received another list of demands from the assassin who is currently holding the entire royal family hostage. If we do not give him what he wants, then we will kill them all. Please do something."
"What does he want now?" Carvael asked.
"I haven't had a chance to read it yet."
"Then don't you think you should get to it? Open it up. Well? What does it say? What does he want?"
Guard Captain Stallos unfolded the note. "He wants Jaylen Corrifus."
Jaylen took a step backwards. "Oh, no, no. I'm not going in there with him. You aren't actually going to send me in there, are you?"
Carvael gave him a warning glare. "Be a good dog."
"Please, don't make me do this. He will kill me."
"Go. Or I make you go. You wanted to save your family, didn't you? Then get in there and save them." Carvael pushed Jaylen up towards the small opening between the door and the smooth stone wall. "Have fun!"
Jaylen mocked him under his breath as he stepped up to the door. "Have fun."
"What was that, Jaylen?" Carvael asked.
"I just said how much I love working for you, Carvael. You're the best ever!"
"That's your sarcasm coming out again, isn't it? We will talk about it later. Go."
As soon as Jaylen slipped inside the pitch black hallway, he knew something was wrong. He had been in this castle many times before, but
not once had it ever been this silent. Nothing moved. Even the long lace curtains that cascaded down in front of the stained glass windows were motionless. Far off in the middle of the castle, Jaylen spotted a flickering flame in the narrow throne room. This was it. Jaylen walked slowly and timidly down the burgundy carpet below the glittering chandeliers that had long been darkened. Just before he could pass underneath the crystal arch and onto the marble floor of the throne room, a man's rough voice barked orders at him.
"Down on your knees. Stay facing away from me. Put your hands on the back of your head."
Jaylen followed each order perfectly until he was kneeling with his back to a crazy assassin. He was pulled roughly to his feet then led backwards into the middle of the room by his arms then pushed down on his knees again. The overly pungent stench of blood and what he could only describe as death itself lingered in the air and turned his stomach. He couldn't hear anyone moving or breathing aside from the assassin who then spoke to him again.
"Three questions. I will answer them. Go."
"Who are you?" Jaylen asked.
"I would say an old friend, but I don't think you would feel the same way."
"That didn't really answer my question."
A bright red light spread across the area and hovered in the air. "I am a demon. That is all you need to know."
"Okay. Um . . . why are you doing this? Why hurt these people? Why work for an evil man like Stephan?"
"I don't work for anyone. I tolerate a pseudo partnership with Archangel Carvael, but only to get what I want. Stephan is clueless. He doesn't even know who I am. No one knows who I am except Carvael. I am a vampire and a chained spirit of regret."
"A spirit of regret?" Jaylen asked. "What does that mean?"
"Is that your final question?"
"No. I was thinking out loud."
"What is your final question?" The vampire asked impatiently.
"Where is the royal family?"
"Turn around and see for yourself."
Jaylen turned around, remaining on his knees with his hands on the back of his head. He didn't want to upset the assassin. He gasped as he looked over the bloody mess. The corpses of the king and queen and all of their remaining children were piled up in the corner of the throne room with their wrists and ankles bound. They were deathly pale . . . almost as if all of the blood had been drained from them. "How could you? How could you do something like this?"
"Look at me, Jaybird."
Jaybird? No one but his mother and Zeriel ever called him that. Who else would have even known that was his nickname? With a racing heart, Jaylen looked up into the glowing orange and red eyes of the vampire standing in front of him. His breath instantly left him. He knew that face, that scruffy beard, the dirty blond bangs, and those wide shoulders. It was like his worst nightmare coming true, taking physical form and capturing him.
The vampire chuckled as he wiped the blood from his long white fangs. "You look sick, boy. You should be happy and thanking me for giving you this. Sola knows you wouldn't have been able to do this on your own. Now you're king. Congratulations. Maybe now you can actually do something worthwhile with your life. And you're wearing that collar I gave you. Good boy."
Jaylen rubbed his eyes and blinked a few times. This couldn't have been happening. True enough, when he opened his eyes again, the vampire was still there. When he finally salvaged the ability to speak, he found only a few words. "You . . . you're my father."
"Took you long enough. I was certain that you would have recognized me from my voice. Though, that's probably because I wasn't yelling at you." Doran walked up to his son then extended his hand. "Get off the floor and get ready to lead this kingdom. When I first imagined this meeting, I thought you would be much more . . . mature."
He took his father's hand and stood, still staring in disbelief.
"Well, aren't you going to tell me how much you've missed me? How your life has been empty and meaningless without me there to guide you?"
All Jaylen could do was laugh. "My dead father is now standing here with my entire family slaughtered and he's a demon. A demon! A vampire. A chained spirit of regret, whatever that is. I need to lie down. I can't breathe."
"You still suffer from those panic attacks?"
Jaylen clutched his chest as it tightened and his heart rate went out of control. He sank back down to his knees as he struggled to draw a full breath. Even so, he managed to scream as Doran wrapped his arms around him. "Let me go! Let me go!"
"Calm down. You're going to pass out if you don't stop this." Doran held him tightly to his chest then started stroking his hair. "Shh. Breathe, Jaylen. If I had known this was going to do this to you, then I would have tried another way."
Jaylen continued to writhe against his father's strong arms to no avail. Eventually, he lost all his strength to keep fighting, so he stayed there as an unwilling prisoner while Doran started humming the hauntingly beautiful paladin dirge. When all of Jaylen's willpower and fear subsided, the tears began to flow from his eyes. The leather and musky scent of his father filled his senses and brought back a myriad of unwanted memories.
"Jaybird, I know this is a lot for you to deal with, but we should take things one step at a time. First off, let's get you back to Carvael's palace so we can all sit down and discuss the next few steps until your coronation. Oh, and I heard that you killed Zeriel. Way to take all the fun away from me. I wanted to enact my revenge, but I guess I'll have to settle for something else."
Chapter 4
Jaylen used his fork to pick at the pot roast on his plate and push around the cubes of potato and sliced carrots in the oily broth that glistened in the pale flickering light from the line of candles that stretched the length of the long wooden table. He tried his best to avoid making eye contact with the two worst dinner guests in the history of dinner guests. Archangel Carvael on one end of the table and Doran on the other. Both of them constantly stared at Jaylen as if they expected him to say something to them. But he didn't have anything to say to those two people, if they could even be called people. The sooner this awkward dinner was done, the sooner Jaylen could try to get his friends out of this horrible underground palace on the outskirts of the Vilyron mining city of Calchedona. This entire palace had once been a system of mining tunnels.
"You should eat, Jaylen."
A shiver still ran down Jaylen's spine when he heard his father's voice again. "I'm not hungry."
"You should eat so we can go take care of your friends who still need to be punished for trying to escape earlier. We wouldn't want you to miss that, would we?" Carvael asked with a dark grin.
Jaylen only watched the bubbles in his sparkling water as they climbed up the sides of the narrow glass to pop on the surface.
Doran slid a plate with a buttered biscuit on it towards Jaylen. "Here. I buttered it for you. I know you like cinnamon butter and honey."
Jaylen stood up and took the plate in his hand. With one scream, he sent the porcelain plate flying against the far wall where it shattered only inches from his father's head. "Don't pretend to care about me now, Doran! I don't know why you think it's okay to come back into my life after so long. And you even have the nerve to pretend that you ever gave a damn about me? You just don't get it. I hate you! The day I found out you were dead, I ran outside and cheered. I was laughing and crying from relief, from knowing that you would never get another chance to hurt me or my mother again. That was the best day of my life."
Doran slammed his fist on the table. "Sit down, Jaylen."
"No! You never listened to me when I was a child, but you will listen to me now. You hurt me. You killed my newborn sister. You didn't take those pain pills away from Mom. Why? You knew that she was addicted, but you never helped her. Now I'm taking them for my jaw that you broke in half when you hit me. I was a child. Even before that, you would treat me like a dog and chain me to your bed. Did you not think that I knew what you were doing to me at night? Did you think I wouldn't
notice? I can't trust to be around anyone because I'm afraid they will abuse me the same way you did. Why? Why would you do that to your own son? Answer me!"
"What do you want me to say, Jaylen?" Doran asked, his massive fist tightened in the black lace tablecloth. "All I can tell you is that I was drinking and-"
"That's not good enough!"
"Stop your screaming and listen to me for a minute. If you want an answer, don't make me give you a lie instead. All I know is that I would drink so much that I forgot everything I did until I woke up the next morning to see the destruction I left in my path the night before. Out of every horrible thing I did, inappropriately touching you was the single worst I could have done. I see how that has deteriorated you. You're hurting from that still. And I understand why. I would wake up in the morning with a terrible hangover and find you naked and curled up at the foot of my bed while your mother was passed out in the bathroom. I couldn't deal with knowing what I had done to you, so I started drinking more and more just to get it out of my mind. But that never worked. I always did it again. It was a vicious cycle. You don't have to forgive me, but you have to understand where I am coming from. I started down a path that I couldn't break away from. That is my fault, not yours. I am so sorry, Jaylen."
Jaylen wasn't going to stay there and listen to those lies. He threw his napkin on the table then ran out of the room.
"Jaylen, come back!"
"Let him go." Carvael poured another glass of wine. "He will be back in a bit. We still have a good deal of fun left for tonight."
* * *
Jaylen had been dragged out of his room by Carvael's palace guards in the middle of the night while he had been trying to get some sleep to wipe the memories of Doran from his mind. Now, he was standing in his yellow silk robe and sleep pants with bare feet on the cold marble floor of the throne room where Carvael and Stephan were sitting on golden thrones below the black iron chandeliers. Doran and Axaniel stood behind them like guards awaiting orders. If Axaniel was Sulstair the elf's angel, then where was that evil necromancer? Why was he not in attendance for whatever was about to happen?
Angel of Darkness Books 1-5 Page 53