“That’s fine. I’m sure you’ll like it. Do you take sugar with your tea?”
Watching her warily, I nod. She nods in response and sets the kettle down on the stove. Done with that, she makes her way back over to me and sits in the couch opposite mine.
“Who are you?” I repeat.
“I think you already know, Melody. You’re smarter than you’re letting on.”
“I know what you are.” If there is any doubt in my mind, it’s gone now. This woman can’t be anything but. “But I don’t know who, exactly.”
The tiniest of a smile appears on her face. “My name is Charmeine. Though I don’t think that is very important.”
“Everything is important.”
She nods. “I suppose that might be true. I’m sure you have more questions for me.”
I don’t like what she’s doing. She’s too calm. Too at ease. There is some power play I’m not aware of yet and the thought makes my skin itch. So, I just cut to the chase. “You want the destruction of the demon race, don’t you?”
“Why, yes I do. They are horrid creatures that need to be eradicated. Peace and wellbeing cannot exist while they do.”
“No one will exist in your quest for peace and wellbeing.”
At that, she blinks at me. “Who told you that?” Before I can respond, she waves a hand dismissively. “I admit there will be some casualties, but demons are my main target. I’ll try to avoid hurting you humans as much as I possibly can.”
“Which I don’t imagine will do much.”
“Maybe not. But it’s a risk we’re willing to take.”
Just then, the kettle whistles. Charmeine rises to her feet with all the elegance of a queen and makes her way back over to it. I watch her as she calmly pours the boiled water into two mugs and plops a teabag in each. She spoons in a teaspoon of sugar in both then brings them over, setting them on the table between us.
She gestures expectantly at the mug. I pick it up but don’t take a sip. “You know I can’t allow you to do what it is you intend to do, right?”
“I know you don’t want me to. I also know you can’t do anything to stop it.” She takes a silent sip. “Melody, you do know I could have taken your soul the moment you set foot into this apartment, right?”
I have no doubt about it. With the way she says those words, I’m even more convinced, but I keep myself quiet.
She goes on, “But I didn’t. I wanted to talk to you first.”
“Why?”
“To see where your head space is at. To see if you are actually who I thought you were. Tell me, Melody, what do you think about demons?”
Ask me this question a week ago and I would have said I think they all should be terminated. Now, I merely sip the scalding tea. “They are creatures of nature.”
At that she laughs. “Many things are creatures of nature. Just because the bear is a part of nature, doesn’t mean you should just stand there and let it attack you.”
“Which also doesn’t mean you should wipe out the entire bear population.”
“If wiping them out will ensure your safety, why would you hesitate?” And this woman is meant to be an Angel? She takes another sip. “So, you’re a sympathizer, then.”
“Call it whatever you want. I’m not going to allow you to go through with your plans.”
“You won’t die, you know,” she tells me. “I can spare your life. I can let you and the people you love live. If death is what you fear, then you have no reason to worry.”
“And what of everyone else?”
“I can’t speak for anyone else.”
“Which is precisely the problem.”
She seems impressed by that. “You’re very upright. I like that. It’s really too bad we don’t share similar opinions.”
“Too bad, indeed,” I say dryly. I should be calling Lucifer, but there is one more question I need to ask. “Why do you want me to join you so badly?”
She doesn’t respond straightaway. She watches me from over the rim of her cup, then sets it back and down and crosses her legs. “I’ve been watching you for a while. You’re very, how should I put this? Spirited. I remember your fervor for killing demons and, while I had to admit was a bit off putting, I thought it would suit my objective perfectly. I shouldn’t have been surprised, though.”
“Why?”
“Because, Melody, you’re different. I thought you knew that by now.”
“I don’t know the technicalities.”
“Oh, well, in that case, it’s simple. You, Melody Black, are half demon.”
If I wasn’t sitting, I would have fell. I stare at her, searching her face for any hint of deceit. If she is lying, she hides it perfectly. “That doesn’t make any sense.”
“It does, actually. Your mother is a demon. Your father is not. It’s as simple as that.”
“My father despises demons. His only goal in life is to eradicate them. And I don’t have a mother.”
“The past does have a way of shaping one’s future. Your mother has never been your life, Melody. That doesn’t mean she doesn’t exist. Think about the way your father is. Think about the fact that he throws himself into his work wholeheartedly. That when it comes to you, he tries his hardest to be distant. To be a boss and not a father. He still protects you though, because you’re his daughter. But the part of you that belongs to the thing he hates more than anything, well…it pushes him away.”
It would explain a lot actually, including why I catch him looking at me with veiled resentment. But still … that couldn’t be possible.
Charmeine presses on, “You have demon blood in your veins, Melody. Have you never stopped to wonder why your lust for blood is so bad? Why do you think you can sense things that others can’t? It’s because of your demonic bloodline.”
“If that’s the case, wouldn’t you want to get rid of me just like you do all the others?”
“I would have,” she confirms with a shrug. “But you channeled it well. Your only aim is – was – to get rid of the demons. As long as you were working for the greater good, there’s was no need to get rid of you.” She says this like she’s not taking out demons and hunters alike.
“And now?”
“And now, I must give you a choice. Do you want to join me, or be among the rubble of the others?”
I sneer at her. “I think you know the answer to that.”
She nods. “What a disappointment. And here I was thinking I might have rubbed off on you.”
That stills my hand, which is itching to draw my sword. “What do you mean?”
“Haven’t you put it together?” She leans forward. “Melody, you might be special but you aren’t that special. There’s an entire building filled with people who are as driven as you are, though they don’t share the same abilities. I could have gone to any one of them. I wanted you because, as I said, you’re different. Special. We share something I don’t share with anyone else.”
I don’t want to ask. The dread mounting inside me is telling me to just call for Lucifer and the others and let them take care of the rest. But I can’t help myself. “What’s that?”
Another smile spreads across her face. “You’re my daughter, Melody.”
24
My mind goes blank and I can only gape at her. “You said I was half demon. What’s the real truth?”
“Exactly what I just said. Which would mean that I was once demon, wouldn’t it?”
“You were a demon and now you’re an angel? I know you’re aware that that doesn’t make a lick of sense.” I say the words but find that unfortunately I don’t believe them. If the last few days have taught me anything, it’s that I know a lot less about the realms than I thought I did.
She hums thoughtfully. “Has anyone ever told you where angels come from?”
I don’t respond, but I don’t have to. She continues, “I’m sure you have heard of the light, though. When people are dying, they always say they see a white light. Well, believe it or
not, that white light is real. I was a high-ranking demon. I found the Draupnir, which granted me endless wealth as well as eternal life.” She lifts her hand, showing me the bracelet she wears. “I lived a very long time as your average demon, doing the things they do. Steal, kill, destroy.” She laughs at that. “But then, I grew weary of such a life. It always left a bad taste in my mouth, so I stopped.”
“You simply stopped being a demon?”
“No,” she laughs. “I stopped acting like one. Instead, I was the opposite. I lived in the human realm and lived my life, traveling from place to place, helping others and living a good life. When I was killed, it wasn’t the first time, but this time it was different. Instead of the same grey planes of the Purgatory as a body rebuilds itself in Hell, I saw a white light. When I went through it, I saw Michael, the archangel, and he commended me on my good deeds. He offered me the chance to be reborn as a human, or to be an angel like him. I chose to become an angel.”
“You see, Melody, I’ve lived the life firsthand. The horrors we inflict on the realms is irreparable. And demons don’t care. They only care for self-preservation.”
“How do I come into all of this?”
“I met your father during my time on Earth. He was drawn in by my good deeds, and I was drawn in by the fact that he was the first hunter to see me for the things I’ve done rather than the thing I am. Other humans I excused, since they couldn’t see me. But hunters hounded me to no end. We fell in love and had you. But when your father became Guild leader, he was afraid people would find out. He was the one who killed me.”
“I didn’t get a chance to take you with me. I figured you would be fine with him, learning how to rid this world of the very things wanting to destroy it.”
Despite myself, I couldn’t help the wry smirk. “You do know that happens to be you in this situation, right?”
“Oh, but with a cause.”
“But destruction nonetheless.” I get to my feet. I don’t know how I manage to do that since I can’t even feel them, but I manage to stay upright. “And I can’t allow you to do that.”
Charmeine polishes off the rest of her tea and sets the empty mug on the table. “I understand.”
I draw my sword, as I do, I open the door, allowing my thoughts, the plan that is underway, to flood out. As soon as they are free, the room becomes flushed with power and I know, without having to turn and check, that Lucifer and his high commanders are here.
“Melody, step back.”
I do as he says, coming to stand behind the couch. Lucifer steps up beside me. Charmeine watches us from the couch.
“Well, this is an interesting oversight,” she comments.
“It’s over, angel,” Lucifer says, hand on his sword. “This plan of yours is insane.”
“Well, of course you would say that, devil. You’re the main one I’m setting out to kill.”
“Even though you are aware that you might possibly wipe out the human race.”
She shrugs. “Broken eggs in pursuit of the perfect omelet.”
I feel the revulsion rush through Lucifer, mirroring my own in its intensity. “You’re an angel,” he says. “You should be trying to protect, not kill.”
“More humans can be made, Lucifer. Only this time, we’ll make sure they don’t turn into another one of you.”
“This isn’t the way.”
At that she laughs, the sound harsh and unnatural. “Don’t try to tell me what is right or wrong, Lucifer. You are a demon, the worse of them all. You don’t know anything about the right way. This is the only way.”
“Are the other angels in on this with you?” I ask, stepping forward, wanting to shield him from the insults she’s hurtling. “Or are you alone in your quest?”
“They haven’t stopped me. That, by itself, is answer enough.” Even though she says the words, there isn’t that punch behind them that makes them believable. Perhaps she’s not the only one on this mention, but I highly doubt she has all the angels rallying behind her.
Charmeine comes to her feet. “I’m very disappointed in you, Melody. I was hoping you would be different. That you would want to join your mother. But, my demon blood in you is stronger than I thought seeing that you’ve soul-bonded with the King.” She spits those last words out with venom and there’s no misunderstanding the fact that she’s disgusted with me for it.
“Sorry, mother dearest,” I say, not feeling even an ounce of a connection to this woman, “that’s just the way it’ll have to be.”
I lunge at her. She sidesteps me and, as she does, a dozen demons appear in the room. From the power that slams into me, I know they are her zombies. This solidifies my belief even more that she doesn’t have the entire Angel race behind her. If she did, she wouldn’t need to brainwash hunters into carrying out her dirty work. This angers me even more. First Natalia and then Abigail and now, a mass of faces that I recognize even if I don’t know their names. My chest burns with sorrow and with pity when I look at them. When I look at her, however, the sorrow and pity turn to anger. It takes a despicable person to do what she has done; to turn the people who were once at my side into my enemies. And the worst part is, they don’t even know what they’ve become. Not really, anyway.
All at once, they leap at me, but Merlidon and Brotus are already in action cutting into their number within seconds. A dozen more appear, this time humans, then another dozen, then more until the room is filled.
My feet never stay on the ground. I whirl around the others, cutting into them before I’m on to the next. I know exactly where Lucifer is, near the window, but I can’t tell if he’s with Charmeine or not. I fight my way to him, and I’m drenched in both human and demon blood by the time I make it to the window.
He’s locked in with the angel, his black blade up against her shining translucent one. Her white pantsuit remains untainted, though Lucifer’s black battle suit is already stained with stray blood. They prance away from each other, then collide again. The power that collision emits nearly throws me off my feet.
A hand lands on my shoulder. I grab it instantly, whirling around and dodging the blade of a sword intent on driving through my heart. I twirl lightly on my feet until I’m behind the attacker and run my sword against her throat. Abigail drops dead at my feet and I close my eyes at the sight of her. Not wanting this to be one of those things that sticks in my memory.
She wasn’t the Abigail you knew, a voice in my head says. And even though it is correct, it doesn’t make me feel any better about having killed her.
“You’re fighting a losing battle, Lucifer,” Charmeine says, her voice soft and unhindered despite the power she’s fighting against. “I cannot be killed but I know you can. Once you are gone, it won’t take me long to get all the remaining souls I need.”
Lucifer doesn’t answer. I know it’s because he thinks there’s no use.
More brain warped hunters come at me and then a mass of converted demons too. They crowd me until I can’t see anything but their long bodies. They drop one by one and, by the time I’m finished, I see Lucifer on his knees, Charmeine’s blade pointing down at him.
“No!”
I move. I don’t know how. I don’t know when. I don’t recall moving. But all of a sudden, I’m by his side, then before him, then I’m on my knees as the sword drives home into my stomach. It hits him as well, going straight through to the other side and a single tear springs to my eye at the fact that I have failed to protect him.
Charmeine’s face is unamused. “You foolish girl,” she spits at me, straightening. “You would give your life for a demon?”
“Not just any demon,” I sputter, blood running down the side of my face. “The King of Demons.”
I pick up my fallen sword, my blood now mingling with the blood of the things I’ve killed, and ram it into her abdomen. Charmeine doesn’t move. She just looks down at me, amusement playing in her eyes.
“Didn’t you hear me?” she asks. “I said I can’t be –”
“’That which you were will always be a part of you,’” I say, quoting an old saying I heard a long time ago. “You may be an angel, but the demon blood you left behind is capable of taking you down. My demon blood.”
Her eyes grow as wide as saucers. She falls to her knees, trembling hands grasping the sword – her sword – in her belly. She coughs and blood dots my forehead. “Cut the head off one,” she says, “And two more will appear. Remember that, my child.”
I do. In that moment, those words are forever engrained in my heart. I know that as I know that I won’t live long enough to see if it really is. I don’t see when she falls. Blackness edges in on my vision and I feel hands grab me before I drop to the floor.
25
As soon as I am awake, I know the pain is gone. I’m staring up at a familiar sight, bed posters hovering in my peripherals. I know they’re here with me as soon as I open my eyes. Not just Lucifer, but Merlidon and Brotus too. I can feel them, as though a part of them is engrained in my very being.
Someone squeezes my hand and I squint my eyes open. “You almost didn’t make it,” Brotus says. The look on his face doesn’t put any emphasis on the word ‘almost’. It looks as though he’s still not quite sure I’ll make it, or like he’s in disbelief that I did.
“Yet, here I am,” I whisper.
“Yet, here you are,” he answers, lowering his head to kiss me in the same spot his lips had graced before the mission. I feel the gentleness of that kiss to my core and carefully, rest my palm at the back of his neck, holding him to me for just a moment longer.
When he breaks away, it is Merlidon that comes into sight. He’s at the other end of the room, lips pressed together, hands woven into tight threads.
“You look like shit,” he says.
“And you smell like it,” I counter, though what I smell is the complete opposite of shit. The familiar scent of Merlidon’s expensive cologne tickle my nostrils and I can’t believe how much comfort it brings me.
Hunting Darkness Page 18