by Zoe Winters
Luminitsa took the cup from the bewildered gypsy man and drank it down with one long gulp. “It’s just beer,” she said, laughing.
“I’m sure that’s true,” Cain said, indicating he didn’t believe her in the slightest.
She sat on a large log beside the fire. “Well? What is it you need?” She turned to one of her friends and said something in her native tongue.
“You may as well gossip about me in English. I understand all languages,” Cain said. “It’s a perk of being the demon leader. How else would I find all my demons and communicate and integrate them into my dimension?”
“Then why are we speaking English?” she asked.
Cain indicated Hadrian with a nod. “The vampire doesn’t speak your language. I don’t wish to be rude.”
Luminitsa sighed. “Proceed,” she said regally, as if she were a queen holding court. And maybe she was. No one else had stepped in to take control of things, and no one spoke over her. Maybe she was the leader.
“What I’m about to tell you must not leave the tribe. It would endanger Tamar and perhaps yourselves as well.”
“Boldo, take the children away and leave us alone.”
The man nodded and a few moments later only Cain, Hadrian, and the dark-haired woman sat at the fire.
“Now, speak,” she demanded.
Hadrian watched the war play over the demon leader’s face. Cain wasn’t used to taking orders, but he also didn’t take risks with the magical set, either.
The demon growled, no doubt an image compromise. “We would like to sever the link between the earthly and heavenly planes. There are a few things Tamar needs for the ritual that she thought you would have, and one thing she’d like to borrow.” Cain took the folded paper from his pocket and handed it over to Luminitsa.
“And how will this affect us?” she asked. “If you are truly Tamar’s mate, she would tell you something to prove yourself. So tell me.” Her gaze shifted to Hadrian. “Wait. Can he be trusted?”
“Not really,” Cain said, “But he has no reason to tell your secrets, and if we are successful in the ritual, it won’t matter any longer.”
She seemed to think about it, then she said, “Very well, tell me, demon, what magic does my tribe do that severing the link might disrupt?”
“Tamar told me about how you keep your souls coming back to this tribe so that your magic can remain in the same hands and grow over generations. She told me about the ritual you do to bring a soul back to you when they reincarnate and take human form again, and of the rite of passage ritual that’s performed with a potion that grants a member of the tribe access to their previous life memories on their twenty-first birthday.”
Luminitsa looked at the list. “And Tamar wants to use the knife. Of course.”
“She believes it may help, given that your magic touches and affects the heavenly realm.”
“And how will this affect us if she succeeds?”
“Tamar says it won’t. Souls will still be able to reincarnate. The severing will only prevent angels from falling to Earth, demons from being made, and angels from crossing into this dimension.”
“Has she written the chant yet?”
Cain pulled out another piece of paper. “She said you’d want to see this.”
She read through it, nodding to herself. “I can see how this might work. But this ritual knife is extremely valuable to my people. If we don’t get it back, we’ll be unable to perform the magic that keeps our tribe intact. Surely Tamar knows what she’s asking for. I need some form of collateral to ensure the knife returns safely to me.”
Cain turned to Hadrian. “And I have it. You can kill the vampire if your knife doesn’t get returned.”
Hadrian growled. So this was why the demon had insisted he come along. It wasn’t for extra muscle or because he was a chickenshit. That grudge he had going seemed to be getting stronger all the time.
The tribe leader looked at Hadrian for a long time, assessing him as if he were a horse she might put out in her field to plow the soil.
“He doesn’t care if I live or die,” Hadrian said. “He brought you collateral of no value. He tortured me for about twenty hours to get Tam’s location when I helped the head psycho cycler kidnap her.”
The vampire reeled back when Cain’s fist connected with his nose. The demon picked him up and tossed him. Hadrian hit the ground hard a few yards away. White-hot pain shot up his back, and he was convinced his vampiric nature and fast healing time were the only things that saved him from genuine damage.
The demon pinned him and growled in his face. “You stupid son of a bitch, you are risking everything.”
Luminitsa rose from the log to join them. “Boys. Let’s not do this.”
The two of them looked up from the ground. She handed the ritual back to Cain, but held onto the other paper.
“Leave your vampire for now and go bring me something of actual value, then I will give you the knife and the other roots and rare spices that you require.”
“What do you want?” Cain asked.
“Bring me your brother.”
The demon leader’s eyes widened. “Fuck you.”
“I heard he’s been one of your demons for a while. Bring him to me so that I know I will get my knife back.”
Cain transformed into his demon form, growing larger and more monstrous, claws, horns, and fangs emerging from their hiding spots. But Luminitsa only looked up at him mildly.
“Bring. Me. Your. Brother.”
“Why do you want him so badly?”
“The sun will be up in a few hours. If your vampire melts, the offer is off. Now go.”
The demon stalked to the blue glowing doorway, not bothering to shift out of his demon form.
“So, how do you know Cain?” Luminitsa asked pleasantly when the demon had gone. “Are you hungry?” She pulled her hair back to reveal the pulse throbbing beneath her throat.
Hadrian was hungry, but he assumed Cain’s warning against eating or drinking anything went double for their blood.
“N-no, thank you,” he managed.
She just laughed.
Chapter Thirteen
Angeline startled from sleep and scanned the tent, surprised to find herself alone. Hadrian should be back by now. Was he mad at her? He’d been adamant about the claim, but he was young still. He didn’t know what he was saying or offering.
While a part of her wanted to rush into his arms and throw caution to the wind, she didn’t know what motivated him. It couldn’t be love. Though they had a long history, six decades of it had been her watching him on screens in Heaven like some weirdo stalker. If he’d felt any emotion at all for her, it had been hatred, and maybe pity. But pity wasn’t something to base eternity on. Angeline feared if he gave in to whatever demon instinct insisted he claim her that he’d come to resent her sooner rather than later.
She couldn’t be irrevocably tied to him—having that link where she felt him near only to know his deep and crushing resentment. She wouldn’t let him claim her. As soon as they got out of the demon dimension, she’d be safe. At night she could use her protective powers, and when the sun rose she could sleep safely. He wouldn’t have a chance if she kept her guard up.
Angeline tossed the blankets back and slipped her boots on. She assessed her appearance in the mirror, still not sure how she felt about running around in just a corset and jeans. But if Daria could flounce around the demon dimension in lingerie, why couldn’t she? It wasn’t as if no one wore corsets as tops, especially one like this that didn’t even look like an undergarment.
And it wasn’t as if Angeline were a virgin. Whatever brainwashing had occurred in Heaven, it wasn’t as if she couldn’t reclaim her comfort with her own sensuality. She was surrounded by sex demons. Half of them streaked through the dimension without a stitch on, and the other half wore things that usually didn’t leave the bedroom. But then, Cain’s dimension was one big bedroom.
Satisfied with the neuro
tic self-talk, she left the tent in search of Hadrian. She’d made it a few blocks when someone whistled at her.
“Nice!”
She spun to find a human male ogling her. He stood shirtless with Daria in the marketplace. Daria smacked him. “Cut it out, Sam. You’re my dinner, not hers.”
He looked sheepish. “Sorry.”
Daria turned back to Angeline. “Do you need something?”
“I um… I’m kind of hungry, and… have you seen Hadrian? It seems like he’s been gone a while.”
“Haven’t seen him, love. Sorry. I’ll take you to eat something after I’ve fed, if you like.”
Angeline blushed, unable to stop herself. “O-okay, thanks.” Sixty years of celibacy had screwed her up.
She wandered a few more blocks and ran straight into Cain. The demon leader was even more intimidating when he was on a mission. “H-have you seen Hadrian?”
The demon looked guiltily away, but it was too late, she’d already seen Cain’s aura. Angeline’s eyes narrowed and a wind picked up around her, kicking up a sand storm in her fury. She shrieked in anger and pain as her wings ripped through the corset.
“Where IS he?” she demanded.
Cain took a couple of steps back. She matched his retreat with her own advance and focused her anger at him. The force field went up and pushed him onto his ass in the sand.
He growled and made a fireball, but it bounced off the barrier.
“Where. Is. He?”
The demon produced another fireball and lobbed it at her. It bounced off the barrier once again. The fireball came back on him and singed his skin before dropping and fizzling out in the sand. Angeline knew she couldn’t hold him off forever. She didn’t want to think about what Cain would do when her energy ran out.
“You’d better watch yourself, little girl,” he growled as if to put a point on it.
But she couldn’t bring herself to stop now. Her emotions spiraled out of her control, and the more amped up she got over Hadrian’s whereabouts, the stronger her power climbed, even as she knew she’d burn out at this rate. Then she’d be at the angry demon’s mercy.
She rushed him and propelled them into the air.
“If you don’t put me down this instant, you’ll find out first hand what I did to Hadrian the first time he crossed me,” the demon growled.
She spotted a large rocky-looking cave off in the distance and flew to it. When she reached it, she dropped the demon. He hit the jagged side of the cave, then bounced off and hit the ground.
Angeline landed softly a few feet away, spent and shaking from hunger, anger, and fear.
Cain shifted into his true form and produced another fireball. This time, Angeline was too wiped to put the shield up again. Fighting a demon as old and powerful as Cain without feeding first would have been suicide if she could die. As it was, it was just plain stupid.
The fireball burned her shoulder, and she screamed. He stalked over to her and picked her up.
“What in the hell is going on out here? Cain, what are you doing?”
They turned to find Tam standing—or more like hovering—in the cave entrance, her hands on her hips.
“Well? I’m waiting,” she said.
The demons must have seen Angeline fly like a bird of prey with their leader in her grasp, because a crowd had gathered.
“This lunatic guardian of Hadrian’s started attacking me.”
“Where is Hadrian?” Angeline shouted, having found the energy to speak and put some measure of threat behind her words again, even though she knew right now she couldn’t back it up with anything.
Tam crossed her arms over her chest. “Did you get the knife, dear?”
“I tried. Hadrian’s with her now as collateral, but she wants Luc. If the sun comes up before I bring him and the vampire dies, we won’t get it.”
Angeline hauled back and slapped the demon, even though she knew it wouldn’t hurt him and might bring his anger down on her. Both Cain and Tam ignored it to address what they seemed to feel was the larger issue.
“Why would she want Luc?” Tam asked.
One of the male demons stepped out of the assembled group. “I think I know why she wants me.”
The demons and Tam turned expectantly to him.
“Cain, you know how when you’re human and you die, you go to that golden round room?”
“I have the vaguest possible memory of it, yes,” Cain said. It had been a very long time since he’d been human.
“In one of my human lives I think I killed a member of that tribe.”
“How would you know?” Cain asked.
“I overheard you and Tam, and I remember the tavern and that village. It could be a coincidence, but I think it might not be.”
There was a loud whistle, and everyone looked at Tam. “I need to meditate and prepare. And we can’t do this without the knife. The ritual hinges on it. It might not even work, but I know of no other way we can concentrate enough power for this to work.”
“I can’t give them my brother.”
“You’re not giving me to them. I’m going of my own free will,” Luc said.
Luc’s mate spoke up then. “No! Tam, you can’t let him…”
“Anna, he’s a grown demon. I can’t stop him.”
“Of course, you can stop him,” Anna said, clearly exasperated.
“Not if I want to have the energy I need for this ritual. I can’t solve anybody’s magical problems until this is done. Work it out among yourselves, and do it away from the cave. I need that knife; make it happen.” With that, the witch retreated into the darkness of the cave.
At least the focus was off Angeline. For two seconds, anyway.
“They can’t kill me. Whatever they do we know they can’t kill me and once it’s done you can come get me,” Luc said.
“I’m going with you,” Anna said.
“No. You will stay here,” Luc said, closing off further discussion of the matter.
“I refuse to be some weirdo ghost person while you’re held captive by some angry gypsies. They can’t hurt me if I’m not in solid form.”
He sighed. “Fine.”
“I forbid it,” Cain said. “You will not hand yourself over to these gypsies for whatever retribution they plan.”
By this point the other demons, deciding there was nothing that exciting to see, began to disperse, leaving only Anna, Luc, Cain, and Angeline to sort it out.
“They have Hadrian?” Angeline asked.
The demon leader rounded on her, eyes glowing. He was still in the big red scary demon form. He hadn’t bothered to shift back to normal. “What are you still doing here?” A fireball hovered in his palm.
Angeline put her hands up in surrender. She was almost out of juice. If she didn’t get some moonlight soon, she’d collapse. “I-I need to feed first, but I’ll go and protect your brother as much as I can, if you get Hadrian out.”
Cain growled again, but this time it didn’t have much animosity behind it now that she’d proven potentially useful to him. “Fine. Let’s go.”
Angeline followed them quietly down the many cobblestone streets, past hundreds of brightly colored tents, through the marketplace, until they reached the portal. Luc and Anna passed through first. Cain took Angeline’s hand and pulled her through.
Needing to be helped in crossing the dimension only reminded her how she didn’t fit. Anywhere. She had no people now. She still didn’t understand why the guardians couldn’t organize themselves as the vampires and therians and angels and demons had. From what she’d seen, the guardians worked mostly for the vampires, but they weren’t included in anything. Weren’t guardians strong enough to have their own faction and their own leaders and interests?
The other end of the portal revealed a small village that time seemed to have forgotten. The group moved forward without her.
“W-wait.”
They stopped and turned impatiently to Angeline.
“I-I need to feed.
It will only take a minute.”
They waited while she closed her eyes and pushed her wings out through the destroyed corset. The Moon was nearing fullness and felt more powerful than before. Angeline absorbed the light, trying not to take too much pleasure from feeding. She wasn’t much of an exhibitionist.
The weakness and tremors subsided, and her strength returned. Without a word, the demons and Anna turned and continued on, Angeline trailing behind them.
Angeline wanted the link severed as much as anyone else. Ever since her experience in the black room and her dream about Rodolfo destroying her, she’d felt uneasy about their access to her. Even as she’d told Hadrian that they didn’t bother with fallen angels, she still feared that they would. Perhaps that was why the guardians didn’t organize into their own faction, why they were so careful not to call attention to their wings.
They were all too aware of Heaven’s watchful and unforgiving eye, knowing they were never outside the scope of the angels’ surveillance and any retribution that might bring down upon them. Guardians had to be as invisible as possible. They had to blend and fade, pretend not to exist, so Heaven might deign to forget they ever had.
When they reached the deserted tavern, Cain did a secret knock. The door opened to reveal a beautiful woman, her hair as dark as Angeline’s.
“Why have you brought an army to my door, demon? I said to bring that one, only.” She pointed a bejeweled finger at Luc, sizing him up, a malicious glint in her eyes.
“I’m his mate,” Anna said, moving closer to Luc.
The gypsy turned her assessing gaze on Angeline.
“I-I’m Angeline. I-I came here for Hadrian.”
“Luminitsa, she’s here to guard my brother until after the ritual is complete,” Cain said, in case Angeline had forgotten her role in this trip.
Angeline wilted from the woman’s glare. “No. I give you your vampire and the knife on loan for Luc. No one else will enter.”
Cain’s face didn’t betray any emotion. “I would like a private moment to consult with my people.”