by Anna Santos
Thinking about Philippe made me serious. “We should join them. I don’t know why, but I have a bad feeling. Cedric accepted our suggestion too easily. Do you think he is willing to call off the attack?”
“Why would he lie?”
She followed me into the corridor.
“He doesn’t trust vampires.”
Walking by my side, Jo argued, “Why wouldn’t he believe Philippe’s words? He’s trying to help and protect you as much as Cedric is.”
I said nothing because I stopped to stare at the two tall angels who bowed but were blocking our way.
“The prince demands your presence at the palace,” the angel in front of me said in a solemn voice.
“At the palace?” I frowned. “Weren’t we going to Philippe’s church or something?”
“It was the prince’s order,” the angel stated.
“Where’s Philippe?” I questioned him.
“Our orders are to take you to the palace. We know nothing more,” the angel said.
I looked at Jo as fear clutched my heart. “Cedric did something to Philippe.”
Jo’s expression changed to worry. “He wouldn’t dare.”
“You have no idea what Cedric is capable of doing,” I assured her. “He lied to me again!”
“Aria.” She grabbed my arm, and I felt her confusion. She felt as betrayed as I was.
“Take us upstairs,” I ordered the angel.
“I just have orders to take you,” he said while the other one grabbed Jo and disappeared before I could do anything to stop him.
“Where is he taking her?” I asked, stepping forward.
“To the dungeons,” he answered, putting his hand on my shoulder and disappearing with me.
The angel and I reappeared in a big room with floors of marble and walls of stone. Cedric was sitting on a throne made of golden wood or real gold, I didn’t know. It was a fancy throne, with red velvet and carved floral patterns. His eyes were staring at nowhere in particular, and he seemed pensive.
“What did you do?” I asked him, yelling and pushing the angel away from me. I advanced to confront him with blood boiling in my veins.
“I got rid of the distraction,” he said nonchalantly.
I stopped in front of his throne with balled hands. “Where’s Philippe?”
“He’s in the dungeons. Where I should have put him the moment I knew he was your soul-mate.”
“What?” I asked, losing my breath as my heart stopped beating. “Why?”
“As long as he’s alive, you can’t fully let go of your former self. You need to accept your angel and get over him. Once he is dead, you will.”
He said those words so coldly that my heart sunk into my chest. I thought I was having a bad dream.
“Are you mad?” I asked as my throat got dry. “Are you telling me that you are going to kill Philippe?”
He nodded.
“And the plan to stop the attack to the graveyard and manage to convince the covens of witches and the specters to talk to you?”
His voice was as emotionless as his eyes. “Philippe and that specter are in this together. I don’t believe in anything that vampire says, and you are a fool if you do.”
I stepped back, looking around, confused and lost. Trusting him was stupid. He tricked us.
“And Jo, what did she do to you to be arrested?”
“She’s Philippe’s master and lover,” he added the last part with disgust. He must have understood the look of shock in my eyes. “Didn’t you know that? Did you think that she was just his maker, that they didn’t have a sexual relationship? That she was his mom?” He seemed to like hurting me with mockery. “How naïve are you?”
“So, what?” I asked, infuriated by his evil smirk. I wanted to slap him. “What does that have to do with you locking them up?”
“She is his maker. Therefore, they are in this together.”
Philippe was right. “You are paranoid! Are you listening to yourself?”
“Are you listening to yourself? Trusting vampires, wanting to give up your powers, so you can go back to the guy who tried to kill you?”
“What are you going to do to them?” I ignored the same old accusations. I was worried about Philippe. My heart was pounding fast, and I was having a hard time controlling my anger. I wanted to scream at him. I wanted to force him to take me to Philippe and release him.
If he had done anything to him…
“Philippe is going to die as soon as the sun comes up. As for Jo, I’m still unsure of what I’m going to do to her.”
“What?” I fisted my hands and felt my wings growing restless on my back.
He leaned in as he said, “You know that this is the only way for you to come to your senses and accept your angel. He’s the only thing between us.”
“Are you saying that you are doing this to have me back?”
“Yes, of course.”
“Then you are mad, and you are doing a lousy job! The only thing you are succeeding in doing is making me hate you!” I screamed at him, losing my temper.
“You can’t hate me,” he said, unfazed. “I’m your mate. Your angel can’t hate me.”
I glared at him, noticing him getting up and stepping my way.
I moved back, afraid of his closeness, frightened by how tall he was. He looked threatening and unreasonable.
“Don’t come near me,” I ordered him.
Cedric hesitated and frowned. “I’m not going to hurt you.”
“You are already hurting me!”
“You will forget him once your angel takes over.”
“You aren’t listening to me,” I protested as tears prickled my eyes. “You never listen to me!”
“And you never listen to me! I’m telling you that they can’t be trusted. Yet you keep running after Philippe and believing his lies,” Cedric said, raising his voice for the first time.
I raised a finger to him. “You had a deal with Philippe. You said you would listen to him. You said that you were going to try to stop the attack. You lied. You tricked them and me to believe you, so you could stab them in the back. What sort of angel are you?”
“A smart one,” he said, smirking as if his answer amused him. “I said that, so he would believe that I was falling for their plan. Do you honestly think that he cares about you? That he is worried about what you want or that he wants to save innocent people?” He was finding his questions amusing, like everything was a big joke. “He wants you to lose your angel, like his ally, so we don’t gain more power over Paris and the rest of the world. He couldn’t care less about you. He didn’t want you then, and he doesn’t want you now!”
He was saying all that to hurt me and doubt Philippe’s intentions. He was being mean on purpose.
“He doesn’t,” I whispered, feeling the tears falling down and my voice weakening.
Cedric narrowed his eyes.
“He doesn’t want me to lose my angel.”
“My decision is made. Philippe is going to die at dawn,” he said coldly, turning his back on me and walking back to the throne.
“I’ve had enough of you bullying me and ignoring my needs. I want you to free Philippe and Jo right now!” I demanded, pushing him back to look at me.
“And why would I do that?” he asked, holding on to my hand and staring straight into my eyes.
I gulped at the contact. Confronting him wasn’t the wisest decision, but I wasn’t going to back off now. “I’ll hate you with all my heart if you hurt Philippe if you hurt innocents because of your blind hate for vampires and specters.”
He blinked. “You don’t mean that.”
I took my hand back and held his gaze. “Yes, I do. You have no idea of what I’ll do if you hurt them.”
Shrugging, he said, “You can’t do anything, Aria. You have all that power inside of you, and you don’t use it.”
His words stopped my anger for a moment.
“Are you getting mad? Why don’t you let her out?�
� He teased me, smirking mischievously.
“Are you doing this on purpose?” I asked, breathless.
“Let her out!”
I put my hand on my chest in shock. “You are wicked. You want me to lose myself to her. That’s twisted of you!”
“I want you to learn how to control her,” he said, grabbing me by my arms and pulling me closer to him. His face hovered over mine, and I tried to recoil back, so he wouldn’t come close. His wings were spread behind his back, and the whole place got surrounded by a weird force field that was making me feel heavier. “You are not weak, and she isn’t there to control you. She is you, the strong you. Stop fighting her, embrace her and your power.”
“Let me go,” I ordered, feeling my skin burning up by the white power that was coming from him. “Stop that, Cedric!”
“Let her out.” He gripped me harder. I was crying, I knew I was. “Stop being afraid.”
“Stop, you are hurting me,” I begged him, wanting to get away from him.
“Let her out, and the pain will stop,” he said next to my mouth.
I felt the air escape from my lungs. I didn’t want him to kiss me and make me obey his wishes.
“If not for me, do it for Philippe. He’s going to die.”
I frowned, troubled by the mixed signals he was sending me.
“Release her and experience your true power and what you can do.”
“I don’t want to,” I cried, falling on my knees while Cedric held me and prevented me from hurting myself.
“Then you are weak, and there’s nothing you can do to stop me from killing Philippe, is there?”
I became furious at his words. It was as if he was mocking me and torturing me on purpose. Something burned in me, inside and out. My wings spread wide opened. I jumped on him and grabbed him by his neck.
“Tell me where Philippe is,” I demanded in a guttural voice. My hands erupted with flames that didn’t seem to harm him. Cedric’s eyes were shining silver, and I could see in their reflection my flamed figure and beautiful wings. My angel was out.
“Are you still afraid of what you are?” He smiled and put his hands on mine, pulling me back effortlessly. “Can you feel your power? Do you want to give up all of this for a vampire? I’m your soul-mate, Aria. Not him.”
I stepped back, scared by my determination in hurting him. Afraid that I would lose control of myself and would forget about Philippe, Jo, and the innocents I had to save. He wanted to revive his mate, not me. Or was it me? Who was I at that moment?
I looked around, trying to figure out who I was and what I wanted.
“Why do you even care if something happens to him? He is a monster and doesn’t deserve to live. You are one of us now. No one can harm us. We know who the enemy is. We can catch him and be happy, together,” he said, coming closer and putting his hands on my face. He forced me to look at him. It was impossible to run and ignore his words. “You are confused, Aria. Your confusion will stop once you understand that you are mine.” He was speaking softly, huskily even. Cedric tried to kiss me, but I evaded him, and he kissed my cheek. “Don’t resist.”
“Stop trying to control me,” I snapped at him, pushing him away and almost making him fall. “Where are they?” I turned around as I listened to the voices inside my head. The room seemed to be spinning around. “Where is the dungeon?”
“You can’t be serious!”
I turned to face him and tilted my head to the right while I glared at him. I was going to ask him one last time until a voice echoed in my mind and urged me to concentrate. I did.
“I’ll find them on my own,” I told him, focusing on Philippe’s presence and teleporting out of there.
I reappeared somewhere unfamiliar. I had never been there, but it was similar to the old prisons in ancient castles. I was in the middle of a corridor with holding cells on both sides. The only thing illuminating that place was me. I was a human torch. Amazingly, my dress was untouched, protected by some sort of force field that was preventing it from burning.
I focused on what I went there to do and looked around. Some cells were occupied, others were empty. I just needed to find Philippe and Jo.
“Aria!” It was Philippe calling my name. “Is that really you?”
I ran to his cell and noticed that it was different from the others.
“Aria, what are you doing here?”
It was Jo asking. She was in a cell next to Philippe’s.
“What happened to you?” Philippe questioned. I could see the worry in his eyes. “Are you still you?”
I nodded. “Go back. I’ll get you out of there,” I urged him, looking at the big hole in the ceiling where the moonlight was coming through.
The sun would kill him the moment it came up. I couldn’t believe that Cedric had done something like that. It was torture, counting the hours to die.
Putting my hands in the cell’s bars, I made the entire door melt. With no time to waste, I headed to Jo’s holding cell. Instead of melting the bars, I melted the lock and opened the door.
“Aria, stop!” Cedric appeared in the corridor, looking displeased. “Stop, we need to talk. Listen to me.”
I ignored him. “We need to leave,” I said to Philippe who was leaving his cell and stepping over the melted iron. “I’m so sorry…”
Before I could run to Philippe, I halted, aware that I was in flames and that I would kill him if I touched him.
He recoiled back, knowing that I was deadly to him.
Cedric was coming closer and, before I could think about stopping him from touching Philippe, Jo sped in front of Cedric. He paused and focused on her.
“Why did you do this to us?” Jo asked. “I did nothing but helping you.”
“Vampires can’t be trusted.”
She lost it. Jumping on him, she grabbed him by his neck and crushed him against the wall of Philippe’s previous holding cell. She wasn’t joking around. The wall shook with the impact. Jo lifted him with her fangs out.
“You are an idiot,” she growled. “No wonder Aria wants to leave you!”
“Jo, I can explain,” he claimed, putting his hands on her shoulders.
“Save your fucking breath,” she said, letting him go and turning around to face us. “Let’s get out of here. I hope you can control your angel, darling, because we need a ride out of here.”
I nodded, waking up from the state of lethargy I was in because of her outburst with Cedric.
“Aria, we need to talk,” Cedric yelled.
It was too late. I had controlled my fire and grabbed Philippe’s hand. Jo had put her hand on my shoulder, and we teleported out of there to the only place I could think of.
When we reappeared in Philippe’s living room, he was going to tell me something. I could guess by the look on his face. But my eyes captured the group of vampires in front of us that got startled by our arrival. The words never left his mouth.
“Where have you been?” Sean asked, pulling the other vampires away, so he could reach us. “I’ve been worried sick!”
“I’ve been…busy,” Philippe said, turning around to face him.
“The angels are going to attack the graveyard, and you told me to assemble all our warriors and wait for orders. I did that. We have the group leaders here, and we were trying to reach you to know what you wanted to do. Do we stop them from entering the graveyard or not? Mara and Margaret have urged the witches to leave their mausoleums. They are reluctant in letting the angels go in and destroy everything while they search.” Sean stopped talking to take a breath.
“And we have trespassers. There are packs of wolves in our city,” one other vampire informed.
“What will we do?” Sean asked Philippe who looked pensive.
“If Cedric wants a war, we will give him a war,” I said to him.
“What?” Philippe and Sean talked at the same time.
“What she said,” Jo intervened. “But I’ll be damned if I won’t convince some of the vampire king
s to desert him!”
“We’ll go to the graveyard to talk to the witches and the specters,” Philippe said. “Whether they like it or not, it was a specter who was distributing the drug to kill vampires. We need to make sure that there isn’t any Clarity hidden there. We will try diplomacy first. If that doesn’t work, we will probably have to fight gargoyles, angels, and vampires.”
“Werewolves, too,” Sean added. “We’ll be outnumbered.”
“The witches and specters won’t go down without a fight,” Jo assured them. “And those cocky angels have no idea of what a witch can do,” she whispered darkly as she grinned.
I felt a shiver running down my spine. Jo was scary when she was mad.
Chapter FOUR
ARIA
I felt betrayed and cheated. How could Cedric say all of those things to me? I was shaking while trying to draw air into my lungs and listen to Philippe and Josephine chatting. She was angry, but Philippe was weirdly calm despite Cedric locking him up and sentencing him to die. I wanted to ask him how he was, but we didn’t have time for that. War was coming. Even if there were few reasons to start one, I knew that it was no time to be a coward and try to find another solution. Cedric wasn’t being reasonable. I didn’t want to fight him, but something inside of me was stirred up, and I was no longer going to put up with his narrow-mindedness.
I was spacing out, barely hearing what was going on around me, when Cedric appeared in Philippe’s living room with William by his side. Narrowing my eyes, I jumped from my seat as the others did when they noticed his arrival.
Is he going to attack us?
Everybody in the room turned to him and growled, even me.
“Calm down. I’m here to explain myself,” Cedric urged, placing his hands in front of him.
No one moved. No one would without Philippe’s order. They looked at him to see his reaction.
“You are not welcomed here,” Philippe said sternly, putting me behind him. My head was spinning. Was Cedric crazy to come here?
“I want to talk to Aria, not you. I brought William, so he could explain why I had to make you mad,” Cedric said, apparently speaking to me.
I was peeking out from behind Philippe’s arm and resting my hands on his back.