“But she isn’t like them, I know,” April said, standing up with her fingers resting on the wood table.
We were in one of the smaller council rooms. Everyone, except Malachi and Nessa were there sitting at the long, rectangular table as the rain pounded outside and against the slender glass windows. Only one side of the room had windows that overlooked the Sapphire Sea that was now a duller shade of blue. The rest of the walls were covered in shelves with books that held many law and regulation books of current and past civilizations of this and many realms. Shangri-La was really a common ground or meeting place for all problems or issues to be solved. Unfortunately, our demon dilemma wasn’t going very well.
“I have not only Ezra’s energies; I have Ebony’s and Eos’s as well. I feel that this is my destiny, and we can learn a lot from the demons. Ebony wanted to work with the angels, and still does. It was Eos that wanted the demons to take over the realms.” I looked at April. She was still the same in appearance, but I could see and hear Ezra speaking through her. “She was the one that was bitter. Eos threatened that monster into giving her a portion of that serum.” Suddenly, April’s hand began to shift with grey tones. It was Ebony surfacing. “But the serum didn’t work on humans because,” she looked at everyone with grey eyes. “Because Ebony made it that way—she sabotaged the potion, tried to get her sister to reason another way, but Eos was never the diplomatic type. She preferred battle. She consumed the serum as a last resort and forced her sisters as well. But what Ebony thought to be terrible, was her chance to make truces with the angels. Eveie is innocent, and above all, she wanted to be a mother. Her intentions were never evil—she’s a victim of her sister’s doings. ”
“Eveie is a demon, and a demon must be destroyed. April has not only another monster’s energy, but two demons as well.” Isaiah gazed steadily at April. “I don’t even know how it came to this being an issue. Anything demon or demon related is governed under archangel laws—simple as that.” He pounded his fist on the table. “Now, I’m taking action, and calling this to an end. The demon will be transported to Avalon where the Faes have a facility to handle this delicate situation. April will stay here protected by the laws of Shangri-La until we decide what needs to be done with her.”
“I think we are acting too quickly here,” Ayil, in all of her whiteness, said gazing at each of us. “This demon, we can learn from. I think as long as we keep her contained, she will not resist. And I know she wasn’t the mastermind of trying to create a serum to strengthen demons. Her mind is too simple and was manipulated by Eos.” She stood up and looked at Isaiah. “She wanted to just be a mother.”
“Demons have shown honesty and allegiance in the past, especially in the angel-demon wars. We shouldn’t judge the acts of one demon and consider all demons are that way.” Uncle Hes gave Isaiah a steady look with his dark eyes.
Isaiah let out a long, tiresome sigh.
“It’s true,” said Ella.
Everyone turned towards the dark-haired girl.
“How did this child get in here?” Isaiah asked with livid eyes. “What sort of establishment do you run here where a little girl can just wander in on an important meeting that shouldn’t be even happening?” Isaiah shook his head at Rusul and Yolanda before sitting back down and resting his head in his hands. He let out another sigh in defeat.
“Eveie isn’t a mean demon. She saved me when my village was attacked by demons, by Eos. If it wasn’t for her protecting me, Eos would have killed me a long time ago. If you want to understand demons, and what their true intentions are, you shouldn’t condemn them all.” Ella stood with her black hair cascading down her shoulders.
I knew she was Malachi’s sister, but Malachi hasn’t woken up from his injuries yet. Uncle Hes reassured me he’d be fine, but I couldn’t help but worry, and only left his side when Uncle Hes asked me to.
Yolanda stood and rested her hand on Rusul’s shoulder. “We are all tired and need to rest to make better judgements concerning this matter. We, as host of Shangri-La, will conclude this meeting for now. We will assemble tomorrow and make a decision at that time.”
“We will not wait until tomorrow!” Isaiah pounded his fist on the table as Yolanda glared at him.
“You archangel, are a lot more threatening than that demon we have safely contained. And by the laws that override your laws here, we can have you thrown in a cell as well.”
Isaiah glared at her as Edan leaned over and said something to his father. Isaiah put his hand up to stop him as his eyes were fixed on Yolanda.
“Earth angels are in no position to threaten me. I will contact my superior about this and resolve this thing by force if I have to. Demons can’t be trusted no matter what form they are in.” His eyes shifted to April. She stiffened upon his glance.
“There will be no contacting your superiors because of the rainy season. It’s impossible to even use the portals until the weather is a little more agreeable.” Yolanda kept her eyes on Isaiah.
“Please, everyone,” Rusul said standing up. “We shouldn’t be threatening anyone and fighting among ourselves. That tactic has always been proven fatal. What we must do is wait for the weather to clear, which will be in a couple of days, and keep the demon secure and allow others to heal,” he motioned towards April. “And talk among ourselves, not threaten with laws and argue. We are no better than the way of demons by doing so.”
I went back to Malachi’s room that had blue tinted windows and three puffy beds sitting in row. Nessa was sitting in the bed across from him with Adan beside her.
“Seth,” she jumped off the bed, wincing a little from her twisted ankle.
“Sit, Nessa.” Edan who was sitting beside her, guided her back down. “It will never heal if you don’t stop getting up and standing on it every time someone comes in.”
Since I left Edan and Nessa at the portal that led to the Shadowlands, they have turned into almost a couple. I wasn’t sure how that happened, especially since I left Nessa with a dagger to use if Edan became troublesome. I certainly didn’t expect her to use it, but I certainly didn’t expect to see them slightly doting on one another. I wanted to ask Nessa how she and Edan became companions, but I would worry about that later.
I looked at Malachi who seemed to have paled sine I left him for the meeting with the angels to decide what to do with the demon which proved to be useless. He looked worse, and I should have been here.
“What’s—what’s happening? Malachi looks worse than when I left. I thought Uncle Hes had given him something to make him heal.” I asked getting two grim looks.
Edan cleared his throat. “I think your uncle failed to diagnose Malachi correctly.” He looked at me with his sympathetic eyes. “I’ve seen it before when angels patrolling the borders of the Lands of Shadow—where the demons exist.” He let his eyes fall on Malachi. “He’s been stung by a demon thorn, and it’s slowly poisoning him. I found it behind his ear, a popular place that demons like to strike.”
“Demon thorn?” I’ve never heard of anything like it.
Edan turned Malachi’s head revealing the small black dot behind his ear that had faint veins of black vining out from it.
“Demons usually don’t strike since they can hardly materialize outside the shadows. And since archangels patrol their borders, a few have been strung from time to time, but,” Edan lifted his eyes to me. “The demon thorns we usually deal with are not as potent. Eos had almost full power making the venom much stronger.”
“What do we do for him then?” I asked feeling bile rise in my throat. The thought of losing Malachi to poison…
“I’ve done what I could at slowing it, but only a demon’s venom can counteract the poison in him.” Edan sat back as Nessa reached for his hand.
I looked at Malachi and then back at Edan. “We have a demon. Now we just have to get her out, and have her help us.”
Edan shook his head. “Good luck with that. Eveie is not only a demon, but she’s a little unbala
nced in the head, if you know what I mean.”
“She wanted children, and we’ll use that reason to get her to help us.”
“You’ll never get past my father or the earth angels guarding her,” Edan said in a matter-of-fact-tone.
It would be dangerous and if the demon got loose without helping us, a lot more would be destroyed than just Malachi dying.
April
I wanted to see Malachi, but wasn’t allowed to. I paced the floor of my gazebo-like bedroom as the rain tapped on the glass overhead. I felt I had to do something because all of this waiting and being told what to do was irritating.
I walked over to the door and placed my hand on the silver knob. The door was made of wood with seashells embedded into it and painted white. It was a beautiful door, I thought to myself as I contemplated opening it.
I closed my eyes and pictured Malachi in my head. I’ve never had much boy-girl relationships before, and now I’ve experienced two. Ben was nothing but spell induced, and Malachi was woven into my destiny, but was someone who was woven into your destiny supposed to give you butterflies and goose bumps in their presence? I had to know if Malachi was alright.
I pushed the door open to find Hesediel, Seth’s uncle, standing in front of me. He was a broad-shoulder man with dark eyes and greying brown hair. He was a weathered looking man, the kind that appeared bitter, but then he smiled at me. Wrinkles formed around his eyes as he gazed at me.
“May I come in, April?” he asked as I stepped aside and closed the door with a cold look of the pale guard standing outside my door. His eyes were neon blue, and his white skin was covered with swirling marks. In his hand was a silver staff with a very pointed end. I shut the door as Hesediel stood with clasped hands in the middle of the room. Rain pattered on the ceiling and shadows flickered throughout the room.
“May I turn on an orillion?” He pointed to the globe that sat on a small table between two chairs. He brushed his hand across the bottom as it slowly began to glow.
Warm light began to fill the room as he turned on more orillions.
“I haven’t talked to you very much, and thought I would come by to engage in conversation with you.” He sat down and motioned for me to sit as well. “That is, if you weren’t going anywhere, but I don’t think you’d get past the guards.” He glanced towards the door.
“No, I wouldn’t, and,” I shifted my eyes from him to the door. “I wanted to know if Malachi was alright.”
“He is fine—tended to him myself, and he will make a full recovery.” He leaned forward resting his elbows to his knees that were covered in thick robes of dark green. “I know you had no idea any of this existed just a few weeks ago, but it is something that was planned a long time ago by your mother.”
I felt like the air had been knocked out of my lungs and I questioned even my hearing.
“You said my mother, not Eveie who wants to be my mother?”
“No, the one that took you to the market in Nethopania to have your hexmark uncovered, and the one that nearly died after giving you away.”
My knees began to shake as I stood hanging onto the chair and digging my fingers into the plush cushioned back.
“You…you knew her?” I breathed.
Hesediel looked at me with concern. “April, do sit before you fall down. I know a lot has happened to you, and I hate to bring everything down on you, but time is not on our side.”
He got up and walked towards me.
“Please sit and I’ll tell you what should have been told to you a long time ago.”
Hesediel took my hand and in the soft light of the orillions with the rain pouring down outside beating like drums on the ceiling, he began to tell me something that I craved no matter how much I tried to bury it—he told me about my mother.
Her name was Aleena Snowbird, and she was twenty when she had me. Her family lived in the northern part of Iethia called the Crosslands, but they disowned her when she met a monster from the Borderlands. She was young and naïve, and quickly found out that her monster lover was no monster, but a demon disguised as one. Aleena had been used and fled to Duneloc where she went to the guardians for help. Hesediel became her counselor.
“I was with the guardians, and serving my time in the office section before I could work out in the field where I wanted to be. I thought your mother was just another stupid girl from the Crosslands who spread her legs to the first monster who promised a way out of there, but she wasn’t. She told me about the demon that had tricked her and the child she carried was a mixture of monster and demon with rights placed on her unborn child. Even in our world, the idea of a demon even making it out of the shadows was farfetched. But Aleena was very convincing and accurate with the activity near the Crosslands at that time. I believed her and secretly housed her. Ayil helped deliver you when the time came, and then your mother disappeared along with you.”
I felt a mixture of emotions swirl inside of me as I looked down at the floor and the flickering shadows. “But Eveie bit me—turned me into a monster that way.”
“She bit you, but she didn’t turn you into a monster, you were already one, and one that was to be used for a purpose. You were the one to free the demons from the shadows and destroy all the angels, monsters or anyone that got in the way. That was the demon’s plan with you. You were to be their legs and arms in the worlds of light for them. They wanted you to be their key to unlock the door that has been shut on them for too long. And then, unexpectedly, an ignorant monster got the idea of making a serum to strengthen the race of monsters. When I heard that demons consumed it, I thought all was lost.” Hesediel leaned closer with his dark, unblinking eyes focused on me. “Seth has proven he is strong with archangel abilities, but you are the key to our plan, and a place for monsters in this world.”
“But I don’t know anything about this world and just learned that the darkness that has followed me was Eveie and that different realms exist. How could I be the key to your plan?”
“It isn’t your knowledge, but the power inside of you. You have the power of two demons, an unfortunate human, and a monster in you.” He got up and poured two glasses of water. “Here, you look thirsty.” He handed me one with a smile, and I took a small sip as he watched me with eager eyes.
“You bear the royal hexmark, and I believe that your father was no ordinary demon, but that of royalty and power.”
I stood up and walked over to the window. Darkness was taking over the wet landscape and rain gently came down pitter-pattering on the ceiling. I closed my eyes wishing Ezra or even Ebony would speak to me, but their thoughts were silent.
“So, what are you going to do with me?” I asked as Hesediel stood and joined me by the window.
“For starters, I need you to kill Isaiah,” he said as I looked at his stone-like expression staring into the blackened distance that was being reflected in the widow in front of me.
12
Seth
I couldn’t find Uncle Hes anywhere, and it appeared everyone in Shangri-La had gone to their rooms to hide from the rain and storms that passed through one after another. Edan took Nessa to get something to eat and made her rest in her own room. I knew she cared as much for Malachi as me. I stayed in his room just long enough to come up with a plan to get Eveie out of her cell. I had archangel abilities, but I didn’t know what I was capable of or what extent they went to.
I brought Ezra out of the Shadowlands, and controlled the lightstone, but how was I to break a demon out of a heavily guarded cell, make her come with me, and have her cure Malachi all without anyone noticing? I couldn’t, but I could enter the cell and speak to her before I did let her out. The only problem was trying to escape if things didn’t go well. But Eveie had a motherly edge to her, and unlike Eos, she could possibly be reasoned with. It was a risk I had to take, and one that I had to do alone. I couldn’t risk anyone’s life, not even Edan’s.
I hovered behind a pillar and could see two guards by the lightcell that conta
ined Eveie. The only weapon I could use was my ability to compel, but could it work on two extensively trained earth angels that have been around for a long time and are immune to many spells? I had to try. I had no choice.
I walked out into the room looking up at the ligthcell that went from ceiling to floor. Their pale eyes shifted to me.
“You’re not supposed to be here, move on,” one said in a stern voice.
“Oh, I know, but I’ve always wanted to be a guard in Shangri-La since I was little, and now I’m here. I won’t get another chance, so I thought I’d jump at the opportunity now.”
“Go talk to Rusul, he’s in charge of us. Now, leave this room,” the other one said in the same stern voice.
I stepped closer pushing my invisible force to them. Usually I go a bit slower, but I had to be quick with these two ancient guards that have the experiences of the ages with them.
“I’m sorry I can’t, because I need to get in the lightcell,” I said with their eyes on me.
“Move on,” one of them repeated with a motioning of their spear.
I pushed farther into them almost like I was casting an invisible lasso, and tightening it in one quick motion. I’ve never used so much energy before, and could feel it quickly draining me.
“You don’t understand,” I said, stepping closer to them. “Let me in the lightcell.” I didn’t even blink my eyes to break the connection I had with them, but that connection wasn’t convincing them. They’ve been guards for a long time and resistant to compelling, but I knew I had them, at least a little.
I pushed harder, and as I did, I realized they were guards that listened to only one person. “Rusul commanded me to take the demon—these are his orders.”
They stared at me like two statues, and then parted lowering their heads as a sign of listening to an order. Inwardly, I smiled as I stepped up to the portal and with my lightstone in hand; I sliced the lightcell wall and went in.
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