by Kant, Komal
“Where is it?” I demanded, my eyes wandering over his desk and then around the room when I noticed the hourglass wasn’t in its usual place. I knew it was in the room somewhere because the Mortal Blade was still warm.
“Where’s what?” His expression was guarded as we stared each other down. He looked exhausted, the crow’s feet deep around his eyes.
“The Angel Glass,” I said, going along with the game he was playing with me. “The one that belonged to Headmistress Melkane.”
“Sit down, Katerina.” Delware gestured at the empty chair opposite him, acting hospitable like he always did.
“No, I’d rather stand.” My tone was stiff; I’d always been at ease around Misha’s “Uncle Troy”, but now I was on my guard.
“So hostile,” Delware said, his tone pleasant. “That is very unlike you, Katerina.”
“Yeah, well,” I said with a shrug, making sure I was in a position where I could grab the Mortal Blade quickly if I needed to defend myself. “That was before I realized that you’ve been trying to kill me.”
It had taken me too long to figure it out, maybe because I had trusted him since I was a child, but Delware was an erat demon and had used his powers of the earth to hurt me. I just didn’t understand why.
“Don’t be silly. If I’d wanted to kill you, you’d be dead already.” The way he said this so casually made my blood run cold.
“Why did you attack me in the first place? If you weren’t trying to kill me then what were you trying to do?” Fear and anger consumed me as I recalled the second attack. “You hurt Anna and Misha! How could you do that to your own flesh and blood?”
“It was a test.” Delware folded his hands on top of his desk. It was pissing me off how normal he was acting, even as he admitted what he’d done. “I was testing to see how strong you were and how strong your bond was with Anna and Misha. You passed.”
“You’re crazy!” I spat out, trying to wrap my head around his confession. “You could have killed us! And your niece! You could have killed your own family!”
“Then you would not be worthy of the ancient prophecy.” Delware stood up, and I immediately pulled out the Mortal Blade. He smiled as I held the blade up in front of me, taking on a defensive stance. “I see you found the Triad object, just as I expected you to.”
“You know about the prophecy?” I asked, taking an uneasy step back as he walked around the table.
“Of course I know about it. It’s not a guarded secret. You just have to know where to look.” He stopped by the large bookshelf against the wall, turning his back to me as he studied the books on it. “And I have suspected for a while now that you could be the true bearer of the Mortal Blade.”
My head was spinning and I felt short of breath. “How could you possibly know that?”
“Because your kind was cast out because of Hallowed Scorn,” Delware said as though I was supposed to know what that meant. “And only your kind would be able to find the blade.”
“What does that mean?” I demanded. Now was not the time for a history lesson, but that was the one part of the prophecy we hadn’t been able to figure out—Hallowed Scorn.
“It means,” Delware said, smoothing down his jacket, “that there was once a time when mortals were the children of Heaven, but they were cast out.”
“What?” The revelation hit me hard. “That’s impossible.”
“It is part of our guarded history. That was how I knew that you would be able to locate the blade.” Delware seemed proud of this knowledge. “By testing your ties with Anna and Misha, I have magnified your power. That is what triggers the powers of a Triad object; the bond between an angel, a demon, and a mortal—a triad.”
When more than one is magnified, the ancient power cannot be denied.
Was that what being a mortal meant—that my kind had once been children of Heaven? Was that why the Mortal Blade had broken through the school’s barriers? Because my friends and I were a triad? Was that why the Mortal Blade had led me to the Angel Glass? Because the power had been triggered? But wasn’t Loire in a triad too? It made no sense.
“But why would you want to trigger the powers for us?” It confused me why he would want us to come into such great power.
“Some of us are not meant to find certain objects of the Triad, so I wanted to ensure it fell into the right hands; hands that I could guide so that the Mortal Blade would find its way to me. And it has.”
What a psychopath. If he thought he could manipulate me and my friends then he had another thing coming. “We will never be controlled by you.” Especially now that I knew him for what he truly was—a murderer.
He shrugged, not seeming to be bothered at all by anything I was saying. “A time will come when you will willingly follow me, Katerina.”
“I will never follow you.” I took a step towards him, pointing the Mortal Blade at him. “What you did to the headmistress was wrong. You killed her, you took away her life, and you don’t seem to care.”
“It had to be done. The Angel Glass was wasting away with her.” His eyes glazed over and he seemed a million miles away. “I plan on uniting all the objects and holding the greatest power that has ever existed in the three worlds.”
Honestly, I didn’t give a crap about his crazy, villain speech. “I hope it was worth it, because I’m handing you in to Parlum and you’re going to get what you deserve.”
“I don’t think so, dear.” He turned his head just the slightest, a smile on his lips. “I am far too strong for you, and I intend on walking out of here with the Mortal Blade.”
My mind was sluggish as I struggled to put together some sort of a plan. Anna hadn’t returned yet with Misha or Loire. I’d tried to keep him distracted, but there wasn’t much I could think of.
“Don’t move or I’ll drive this straight through your face.” I pointed the Mortal Blade at his throat, trying to sound intimidating like Loire had done when he’d ambushed me in my hotel room months ago.
Delware let out a laugh; the sound made me sick to my stomach. His eyes gleamed as though I’d told a funny joke. “You are not going to hurt me. You’re not a murderer. And while you may not want to submit to me at first, eventually you will.”
He made a slight motion with his hand, and I heard something traveling through the air. My heart sank as I recognized the sound—it was what I’d heard both times I’d been attacked. But this time I knew what to expect.
Spinning around, with barely any time to react, I held up the blade like it was a bat and swung the Mortal Blade at the first few rocks that came flying towards me. There was clanging as several rocks bounced off of it, barely missing me. My plan was working, but more rocks were still hurtling towards me. I needed to think of something else.
Misha had said that erat demons couldn’t use their powers indoors, so I was assuming that Delware was channelling his powers using the plants in the reception area. Very clever of him.
If I could injure Delware then I could get stop him from summoning the rocks and try to detain him here until Anna came back with the others. Turning back to face him, I charged at him with the blade, but with a flick of his wrist, Delware used the rocks to build a wall in front of him.
I paused, my eyes taking in the rocks suspended in mid-air in front of him like a shield. I had never seen anything like it before. But maybe the Mortal Blade could break through it.
With as much force as I could muster, I raised the blade above my head and brought it down on the rocks. There was a clash of metal against stone, and I staggered backwards from the sheer force of the blow.
The rocks had fallen away from Delware’s wall of defense, but they were already been replaced by more rocks. He was much more skilled than I was. He could easily beat me in a fight. Maybe I did need Anna and Misha. Maybe I should have waited for them, but it was too late now. I had made my decision. I had wanted to do this alone.
“Don’t waste your energy. You are not strong enough to defeat me.” His comp
lacency filled me with an uncontrollable rage. “Hand it over already, Katerina. You are testing my patience.”
I let out a war-cry and charged at his wall again. The blade made impact with the wall with a crash, but this time I was thrown backwards onto the floor with so much force that black dots danced in front of my eyes.
Delware approached me slowly, his wall of rocks swirling around him now, like he was trapped in the center of a tornado. “You are starting to annoy me, Katerina.”
He raised a hand and a line of rocks strung themselves together like a necklace and floated across the air towards me. Before I could react, they wound themselves around my body and squeezed me so tight that I couldn’t move.
“I didn’t want to kill you, but you’re leaving me with no choice,” Delware said, still speaking in a pleasant tone. The guy was psychotic. “I will take the Mortal Blade from you, just like I took the Angel Glass from Ava Melkane.”
My breathing became shallow and the black dots increased as I struggled to remain conscious. Delware was going to kill me, and he was going to get away with it. There was nothing I could do.
“KAT!” The familiar voices of my friends filled my ears, and all of a sudden the rocks fell away from me.
Regaining my breath, my heart soared when I saw that Anna and Misha had entered the office and were with Loire, Tyrone, and Veritas.
“Stay down, Kat!” Veritas’ voice said in my head.
Flattening my body to the ground, I watched as Loire took on an offensive stance just as Tyrone hurled a huge, flaming ball of fire right at Delware. Loire used the ball of flame as a cover, and immediately ran at Delware, sword raised.
Delware was too quick though—he used his wall of rocks to first shield Tyrone’s fire attack and then Loire’s physical blows. As he became distracted by Loire, he left himself with an opening on his side.
Quickly, I jumped to my feet and ran at him with the blade, knowing I only had seconds to take advantage of his weak spot. The blade’s magic burned through me, like it had fused itself to me.
“KAT! What did I just tell you?” Veritas was yelling in my head.
Ignoring her, I raised the blade and a sudden burst of energy flooded through me as I plunged it into Delware’s side. Blood spilled from the wound as the blade hit its mark. Delware staggered and looked around in surprise as I pulled the blade free. The wall of rocks fell around him with numerous thuds and he dropped to his knees as blood pooled around him, his face twisting in pain.
“You’ve made a huge mistake, Katerina.” His hazel eyes—so like Misha’s—met mine as he clutched his side with a hand, reaching for something in his pocket. He pulled out an auburn strand of hair and closed his eyes. “Esthera, hurry!”
Before I could comprehend what was happening, a woman materialized beside Delware, grabbed him, and teleported out of there before I could even react.
I dropped to my knees, letting the Mortal Blade fall to the ground in front of me with a clatter. Delware was gone. I’d let him escape. I’d failed.
Loire was immediately by my side, pulling me into his arms, running his hands through my hair. He grabbed my face in his hands so that I was forced to look into his eyes. They were glistening as his thumbs pressed into my cheeks.
“You did good, Rookie,” he whispered, pressing his forehead against mine. “You did good.”
“Kat!” I heard Misha scream, and Loire released me as both she and Anna dropped to the floor and wrapped me up in their arms.
Letting myself go, I fell against them, drained and broken, but at the same time complete.
Chapter Twenty-Four
The only good that came out of our headmaster being a murderer was that the second week of exams was postponed—something only Anna complained about. Everyone else celebrated by getting drunk.
Misha in particular didn’t hold back on the alcohol, although her other reason for getting drunk was probably because her uncle had killed the headmistress, had tried to kill me, and was now trying to take over the world. Despite the fact that her beloved uncle had turned out to be a psycho, she was taking it pretty well. I had to give her props for that.
Loire, Veritas, and Tyrone had given their official reports to Parlum about Delware and his role in the death of Headmistress Melkane. All three of them had conveniently left out the part about me having the Mortal Blade in my possession.
That was a pretty big deal for Veritas since she was all about telling the truth, but since she was indebted to me for keeping her and Tyrone’s relationship a secret, she managed to leave that small detail out of her official report.
The week was almost over—I’d seen my parents the very next day after Delware had disappeared. They’d asked me if I wanted to go home, but I decided against it. I still had some unfinished business left at the school.
My mom had told me that Parlum was looking for Delware, but so far they’d had no luck. It wasn’t going to be easy to find him—he was obviously very resourceful and knew how to fly under the radar.
Yeah, I was worried he’d come after me and try to kill me again, but right now I was too exhausted to think on that. I just needed a break from all the craziness and wanted to spend time with my friends.
Anna and Misha sat beside me by the fountain in the main courtyard. Snow had fallen, covering the ground like a thick blanket. It was cold out, but it also nice to get some fresh air. I didn’t want to be cooped indoors, and the freezing temperature kept most people inside, so we weren’t very likely to run into anyone.
“What are you guys doing for Christmas break?” Anna asked.
“Greggy and I are going home,” Misha answered. “You?”
That would be an interesting Christmas at the Dellings, considering Delware was now a wanted fugitive in the supernatural world
“My parents want to go to Colorado to visit my grandparents,” Anna responded. “What about you, Kat?”
“I’ll be going home, too. My mom actually got Christmas off this year, so we’re going to spend it together like a real family.” I think, considering the year I’d had, Mom had really pushed to get some time off.
That meant more to me than I could even begin to express. It would be a nice change to spend time at home with my human father and mortal mother, where being normal and pretending the supernatural world didn’t exist was easy.
“Hey, Anna?” Misha said suddenly, twirling a strand of her curly hair around her finger. “The thing with you and my brother-”
Anna groaned, her cheeks flushing bright pink. “Really, Mish? Are you still giving me grief over that? I explained to you that we’re just friends.”
“I know, I know.” Misha actually sounded embarrassed, which was totally out of character for her. “That’s why I wanted to apologize. After all the crap that’s happened lately, I’ve realized how important family really is. And you’re like family.” Her hazel eyes flickered over to me. “You both are.”
“Oh, Misha!” Anna exclaimed, jumping up and wrapping her arms around her. “That means so much to me!”
“Wow,” I said, staring at the two of them in disbelief, “Misha actually has feelings.”
Misha stuck her tongue out at me. “I’m glad you didn’t die, Kat,” she said, before reaching for me and turning it into a sappy group hug.
And, honestly, I didn’t even mind the sappiness. What could I say? Sometimes Katerina Lyrille was a s’more—tough on the outside, but gooey in the center.
“Well, hey there, serial killer,” said a familiar voice.
My friends and I broke apart to find Tyrone, Veritas, and Loire standing a few feet away from us. Veritas looked super cute all bundled up in a fur coat and white jeans—I hated how effortlessly beautiful she was.
“How original. You’re out stalking me as usual,” I commented, shooting Tyrone an annoyed look.
His face broke out into a grin. “Well, when it comes to you, I just find it hard to stay away from your charming personality.”
I burst
out laughing at that, my gaze falling on Loire who was studying me with an inscrutable look on his face. I wondered if you had to master that look to become SRECON. “So, what’s going on with you, guys?”
“We’ve been relieved of our duty here,” Veritas answered, pushing her perfect blonde waves off her face. “We leave today.”
It felt like someone had socked me in the gut. “W-what?” My eyes shot to Loire immediately, and it felt like something was clawing me from the inside out.
Was she kidding me right now?
Veritas’ expression was dead serious, plus I knew she didn’t know how to make a joke. “Well, since you’ve been proven innocent, there’s no need for us to be stationed here any longer. We will be given a new assignment.”
“Unless you decide to kill someone else,” Tyrone said with a wink.
“Making jokes about killing someone is not funny.” Veritas shot Tyrone a look of disapproval.
Seeing the two of them together like that truly hurt my heart. The fact that they couldn’t ever be open about their relationship, in fear of death, made me sick to my stomach.
As though sensing my thoughts, Veritas’ gaze fell on me and she gave me a tight smile. “It was definitely an experience meeting you, Katerina Lyrille.” She approached me, extending her hand formally.
I reached out and shook it, an ache growing in my chest. “You too, Very Tassels.”
She cracked a smile at that before stepping back.
Tyrone bounded forward and wrapped his arms around me in a rib-shattering hug, lifting my feet off the ground in the process. “Don’t go running away again, little mortal.”
Trust him not to respect my personal bubble.
“If I do, will you come find me?” I asked with a grin.
“Always.” Releasing me, he took his place beside Veritas. The two of them glanced over at Loire. “We’re, uh, gonna grab our stuff before our ride gets here,” Tyrone said, elbowing Loire very obviously.