by Eva Brandt
“Should we just…” Stefan trailed off, obviously having trouble finishing the sentence. When he forced himself to speak again, I understood why. “Kill the body again?”
Most people might have considered it a repulsive suggestion, but I could see where he was coming from. That body wasn’t Lyssa, not really, so hurting it wasn’t like hurting her. I’d hate doing it, but I could, if I had to.
And it was becoming increasingly obvious that we might have to.
If Berta Bones used Lyssa’s power to summon the destructive magic Mephistopheles feared so much, Lyssa’s soul might be in danger too. We didn’t have much choice, did we?
For the moment, my decision was beside the point, as there was no way to approach Lyssa’s body. Berta’s whirlwind of dark magic was still increasing and there was no telling what had happened to the people who’d been swallowed up inside it.
Thankfully, we were not the only ones ready to make a stand here. A familiar glowing form descended from the sky, heading straight for Berta. It was Redrum and he was already preparing to bathe the battle field in blood and dragon fire.
I would’ve liked to tell him to limit the intensity of his blasts, to at least make the attempt to salvage Lyssa’s body. But like Mephistopheles, Redrum had a duty to the school and I couldn’t stop this, not anymore.
My concerns all proved to be irrelevant anyway, since the moment Redrum’s fire made contact with the black magic, it was repelled, just like Satan’s flame had been. It wasn’t a huge surprise, but I was still a little relieved.
The dragon fire did provide us with the opening we needed, making the shadows swirling around Lyssa a little less dense. Above us, Redrum roared and shot another gust of fire at her. I knew he was doing this on purpose, to buy us the chance to make our move.
I intended to do just that and I already had a plan. With the shield of necromantic magic no longer in place, I could see Berta much better and I could extend my aura toward her once again.
Uncontrollable emotions had not worked, but maybe cold logic would. Berta’s little tantrum was caused by her feelings for her brother. If I manipulated those feelings, she might lose her desire to continue this battle.
Mikael must’ve understood what I had in mind because he grabbed my hand, wordlessly providing me with support. Our aura traveled down below, toward the necromancer who had stolen our lover’s body.
I didn’t immediately attack her. I wanted to, but it was dangerous and I needed to make sure this new strategy wouldn’t backfire again. While Redrum continued distracting her, I poked and prodded at her mental defenses, all the while testing her magical core.
What I found shocked me beyond belief. Berta hadn’t been able to assimilate Lyssa’s magic, not completely, but just like I’d guessed, she was using it to feed her own abilities. The two forces weren’t that compatible and eventually, Berta would kill herself just by using Lyssa’s power. It was a situation similar to the effect of divine magic on Mikael. He could cast it, but when used excessively, it would hurt him.
But that wasn’t my most important revelation. We had another, far more serious, problem.
There was a spark of something else inside Lyssa’s body. It didn’t have feelings per se, at least not at a conscious level. I only felt it because I was so familiar with Lyssa’s body and her essence.
As soon as I realized what it was, I blanched. Fuck. At one point during the past couple of months, the contraceptive charm I’d cast on Lyssa had worn off.
Spells like that tended to last a long time, especially when cast by a powerful magic user. I’d been careful, knowing that Lyssa was wary of pregnancies due to her condition. How had this happened and what were we supposed to do now?
How had the child even survived Lyssa’s death? Fuck, I didn’t know what to do.
The others must’ve noticed my panic, because they turned to look at me. “Callum? What’s wrong?”
I wanted to burst into hysterical laughter, because every fucking thing was wrong. This day shouldn’t have existed. Reality was a joke.
But saying all that wouldn’t have helped me, so instead, I revealed what I’d just found. “She’s pregnant. Lyssa is pregnant.”
Stefan went pasty white. “What? You can’t be serious!”
“Do you think I’d joke about something like this?“I hissed at him. “Now of all times?”
Nobody answered, but they didn’t have to. I could see on their faces that they believed me. Of course they did.
Lyssa was so important for all of us. She was the only person who’d accepted us and still called us out on our shit. At first, I’d been so shocked when she’d resisted my aura and it was part of the reason why I’d wanted to seduce her, to break her heart. But after that, everything had changed, and no matter what Lyssa thought, it had nothing to do with her powers.
That led me to a simple conclusion. As much as I hated making this choice, we had to try to save Lyssa.
“It doesn’t change anything,” I said. “We have to protect Lyssa’s soul. That takes precedence, above anything else.”
The sphere holding Lyssa’s essence slid out of Mikael’s grip, as if protesting my decision. She didn’t want her child to die. I didn’t either. But what else could we do? Besides, everything that had happened earlier, from her death to all the necromantic magic Berta had used, must’ve affected the unborn child.
The other teachers chose that exact moment to show up. It had taken them forever. What had they been doing while the rest of us were fighting for our lives with a crazed necromantic construct? Having an orgy?
As soon as he saw the black bubble, Faust hissed in apprehension and started to back away. Despite the distance between us, I could still hear the conversation that followed. “Not again. I thought they’d calmed down lately. What could’ve possessed them to do this?”
“Something must’ve happened to the girl,” Professor Jones said, “This is honestly getting a little repetitive. At this rate, it might be more practical for me to trap her in my locker and keep her there.”
“This has nothing to do with Alyssa Michaelis’s lovers,” Professor Grim replied, “at least not in the way you mean. This is death magic, the kind very few people dare to use.”
His scythe manifested in his hand and he swept the blade through the black bubble, clearing the path for both himself and the others. This would have given me hope that we’d still be able to make it out of this one alive, if not for a very simple thing.
The magic must’ve had at least some connection to Lyssa, because when the scythe sliced the darkness Berta had summoned, her soul cried out. It couldn’t make any actual noises, but I heard it anyway, felt the echoes of her pain, grief, and sorrow.
She started to float away from us once again, her essence being pulled into the hazy darkness. I tried to make a grab for the soul, but it wasn’t a corporeal thing, so I didn’t manage to capture it.
With a frustrated cry, I changed the target of my aura and focused on her instead of Berta. The feelings I sent to her were very different from the ones I’d used to target the necromancer. This time, my weapon was the sharpest, most dangerous emotion of all. Love.
“Lyssa, you don’t belong down there,” I said, imbuing my words with magic, but also honesty and desperation. “You belong with us, remember?”
The sphere hesitated. Down below, Berta let out an unholy screech as Grim started to make his way toward her.
“Nothing will ever change that, princess. Not magic, not death, not our bodies. No matter what happens, we’re meant to be together.”
“We all made mistakes,” Meph said. “In an ideal world, we wouldn’t have been put in this position. But we can still make the best of this.”
“You might not have faith in us, princess,” Mikael piped up, “but we still have faith in you. All the faith in the world. And I know you’re hurt, maybe even broken-hearted. I know you blame yourself. But there’s no reason to. This doesn’t have to be an ending for you.”
A part of me knew it wouldn’t be so easy to persuade Lyssa to stay with us. She’d always been stubborn and her death wouldn’t have changed that, or her opinion of us. But souls didn’t process things like living people did. Maybe she’d understand.
By now, Grim had reached Berta and was lifting his scythe, ready to remove the young necromancer from existence. If he reaped Berta’s soul now, would Lyssa be dragged along?
Just the possibility was enough to make us act. In the blink of an eye, Mephistopheles opened another portal. Mikael jumped through with him and his flaming sword was there to block the scythe before it fell.
“This isn’t wise,” Professor Grim said. “You know that isn’t the woman you love.”
“I know,” Mikael replied. Even from the distance, I could get a glimpse of his hand turning black on the blade, the same way his skin had, after the ritual that had torn apart the familiar bond between him and Lyssa. “I’m also aware that it’s too risky for you to use your magic on her body. It would kill her too.”
“As regrettable as it might be, Ms. Michaelis is already dead,” Grim answered. “You can’t change that.”
“Is that supposed to be some kind of joke?” Mikael shot back. “You’re our Necromancy professor and you’re telling us we can’t bring people from the dead. I’ve seen at least three things today that would contradict that opinion.”
Professor Grim let out a deep sigh. “Yes, and because of that we ended up with a whirlpool of death magic on our hands and I had to intervene.”
A crow landed next to him and turned into the graceful silhouette of Morrigan. “Death comes to us all, young nephilim,” she told Mikael. “It’s not something we can avoid. Besides, you will see her again. Her soul won’t be beyond your reach.”
If that was supposed to be comforting, it didn’t help. Mikael sneered at her, his hold on his blade tightening. Even so, it was Meph who answered the goddess, speaking for all of us. “I highly doubt that. She belongs in The Celestial Realm and we wouldn’t be allowed to set one foot there.
“Besides, this isn’t just about Lyssa as a person. I have to wonder, Morrigan, where you were when all this was happening. You’re a goddess. You must’ve sensed the disturbance before Berta Bones got angry. Why did you keep your distance?
“Do you fear Lyssa’s power? Do you not want hope to return to humanity?”
It was a good question. I hated people with a passion, but I could accept and admit that humans could be a formidable species when they set their minds to it. Most of the time, if they had incentive to do something great, they accomplished their purpose.
Losing hope was often their biggest obstacle. Many dreams that could’ve changed the future had been cast aside because of that. Countless dreamers had been unable to maintain their elusive grasp on the fragments of hope Lilith had preserved, which had led to their failure. Some people circumvented that through ambition, jealousy, or even hatred. For countless others, it didn’t work that way. Their futures had been written in the ink of hopelessness.
Morrigan was a goddess. She might fear humanity’s potential and she wasn’t wrong to feel that way. But unlike her and Grim, I wasn’t thinking into perspective.
I didn’t care about the future of a species, or even that of the school. I cared about Alyssa Michaelis.
With shaking hands, I once again reached for the sphere that held my lover’s soul. “Lyssa, I know you can hear me. You’re the one who can stop all this. We’re with you all the way. Don’t be afraid. Stay with us. I promise you will not regret it.”
A beautiful, familiar voice drifted into my mind. “I don’t know if I can. I’m scared, Callum. I… I killed someone.”
Killed someone? Who did she mean? What else had happened while I’d been unconscious?
A vague memory flashed through my head, blurry and unfocused, but clear enough that I understood what I was seeing. At one point, Lyssa had attacked Eve and despite being a spirit, she’d won.
I was proud of Lyssa for standing her ground, but I could also understand why she was struggling with this. She was still human and she’d never killed anyone before. “Lyssa, I don’t think anyone in their right mind would blame you for doing what you had to do. That woman tried to eat you. She was a ghost who, as far as I can tell, regained a temporary body through some kind of artificial process. You did everybody a favor.”
“I still killed her,” Lyssa said with a whimper.
“Yes, but if you hadn’t, TB would have died. And who knows what else would’ve happened? Besides, I don’t think that matters much now, does it?”
“I suppose. I want to try to be what you think I am. I want… I want my body back. And I think… I want my baby.”
I didn’t have the heart to tell her the pregnancy might not survive anyway. If the thought of the baby helped her do this, so be it. We’d deal with the consequences later, once she was in her body again.
Much to my surprise, Stefan intervened in our conversation. He’d been keeping an eye out for us until now, not wanting to put more pressure on Lyssa. It looked like he’d finally lost his patience.
“I’m sure our pup wants you too. You know, I’m not very talented at specialized magic, but I do know this, Lyssa. The fragments of hope are always within the hearts of newborns. Our pup is waiting for you. If he or she is still alive, it is because of you.”
The concept rendered me mute. I should’ve seen it earlier and Stefan shouldn’t have had to point out what was right in front of my nose. I knew very well that children held the fragments of hope, fragments that deteriorated as they grew. It was given to them as soon as their soul imprinted on the mother’s body. That had to count for something. That had to be something we could use.
Lyssa must’ve seen right through me, because her soul tried to escape my hold. “I’m not going to attack my child’s soul, Callum.”
“That’s not what I’m suggesting,” I said quickly. Fuck, I didn’t know what I was suggesting. But I also didn’t understand the true extent of Lyssa’s power. How did it work? How much could it physically change?
“That body down there still belongs to you, Lyssa,” I said. “Berta Bones would’ve never managed to steal it had she not been a necromancer. And normally, we’d have found another way to chase her out, but now, we don’t have time. There are too many things that can go wrong.
“I’m a demon, Lyssa, and not the best person to say this, but I keep hearing that there’s a unique bond between mother and child. You have to find out if there’s some truth to that. You have to believe in it, even if you believe in nothing else.”
Something in my words reached out to Lyssa. The soul sphere glowed a little more brightly, pulsing in my hands like a heartbeat. And then, it dissipated into thin strands of light, all of them shooting down, toward Berta Bones.
She never got the chance to reach her target. The fabric of reality twisted and the figure of a black-clad angel appeared in front of Berta. He caught Lyssa’s traveling soul and seemed to squeeze it. Lyssa’s shadowy, glowing figure appeared in his hold and she screamed, the sound so unbearable I wanted to tear my heart out of my chest.
The angel didn’t care. “It looks like I win our little battle, Lucifer,” he said with a laugh. “Tell me. What are you willing to do to get your little Sacrifice back?”
The night sky lit up as Lucifer Morningstar finally descended from up above. He looked tired, bruised and bloody, but determined. His wings carried the traces of another battle, one he must’ve fought elsewhere.
“I think you already know the answer to that question, Beel. Let her go.”
From the depths of the school, hordes of demons emerged, filling the courtyard. They were led by the Princes of Hell themselves, Mammon, Asmodai, and Belphegor.
“What are you doing here?” Satan asked them. “You were supposed to keep Lucifer busy in The Infernal Realm.”
“And you were supposed to be at least a little competent and handle one girl and her lov
ers,” Mammon replied. “We can all see how that turned out. We thought that we might as well get rid of two Satans while we were at it.”
The black light was dying now in the wake of their appearance. No one seemed to know what to do.
Berta had stopped panicking because of her lost brother and had realized her own existence was in real peril. Grim and Morrigan had turned their attention toward the new arrivals. Mikael and Meph were watching Beelzebub with hatred and pondering methods of freeing Lyssa from them.
Lucifer landed in the courtyard, not seeming put out by all the tension. “Haven’t we had enough of this nonsense for the day? You can’t win against me. You never could.”
“I don’t think you understand your situation, Brightest Star,” Asmodai said. “We’re holding all the cards now. You’re the one who’s going to have to surrender, kneel and earn our generosity.”
Lucifer’s lips twisted into a dark grin. “Okay, then. If that’s the way you want it to go… But I hope you’ll remember I warned you.”
As he spoke, he pulled out his weapon. It was probably a sword, like Mikael’s, but it was glowing too brightly for me to get a good look at it.
As soon as she saw the glowing blade, Morrigan panicked. “No!” she shouted. “Don’t!”
Lucifer ignored her. He didn’t attack anyone. He buried his sword deep into the ground, much like Morrigan sometimes did when she traveled from place to place.
In his case, it had an entirely different effect. The whole world turned white and I screamed as I tumbled through shadow, fire, and madness.
Fuck. This was really not the way my day was supposed to go.
Lucifer’s Light
Earlier
Sometimes, being a fallen angel sucked.
I didn’t regret leaving behind my divine roots. I’d never really felt at home among the other angels. As both a cherub and a throne, I’d always challenged The Supreme Being a little too much, questioned his wisdom and had different opinions. But I regretted other things, such as the decisions I’d made after my fall.