by Eva Brandt
That was when everything went wrong. All of a sudden, Lyssa recoiled, as if Mikael had struck her. She shot to her feet and stumbled away from us, but she didn’t get very far. She was shaking and when she leaned against the apple tree behind us, her skin seemed to ripple.
Shiro was there in seconds, pressing his body to hers in an attempt to anchor her. It didn’t work. The moment he touched her, a black mist left her body. “Be careful!” TB hissed from somewhere above us.
It was too late. The power inside Lyssa blasted Shiro away. It didn’t do much damage to him and he landed easily a few feet away, but it was still alarming.
“Keep your distance,” Callum told the two familiars. “Lyssa wouldn’t want you to get hurt.”
As he spoke, he tried to reach out with his aura, to calm Lyssa down. It had the opposite effect. Tendrils of shadows erupted from her fingers, zeroing in on him like black daggers.
I shoved him out of the way seconds before they could pierce him straight through. We hit the ground with a thud and stood up, trying to find a solution. “What the hell…?” Callum murmured. “What’s going on? Lyssa!”
I empathized with his confusion. As far as I knew, Lyssa had never learned much shadow magic. She’d wanted to, but she’d never gotten the chance. Her stay at the academy had been so tense and full of turmoil that certain topics hadn’t been included in the curriculum.
It wasn’t out of the question that a sudden surge in magic would make her accidentally lash out at us. Stranger things had happened and we had just had a small fight. But she’d rejected Shiro too, and that was unusual. Lyssa was very protective of her familiar after the incident in her first year and she’d have never hurt him, not even like this.
I received my answer mere seconds later, when my eyes met hers. It shouldn’t have been a big deal, but in those tortured, dark orbs, I saw myself.
A beast was inside her, something not fully human, a demon struggling to get out. Something was controlling her from within, and it had nothing to do with her power.
Another possession, like the incident with Berta Bones? Maybe. Either way, I had no intention of letting anyone steal her from us, not again.
In the blink of an eye, I shifted into my hell-hound form. It hurt, like it always did when I forced my body to go through a quick change, but I didn’t care. Physical pain was nothing compared to the potential loss I was facing.
Now on all fours, I lunged forward. It would be difficult to immobilize Lyssa without hurting her, but I had to try.
Before I could do exactly that, Mikael got in the way. “Wait. Let me handle this.”
“Mikael, no!” TB hissed in protest, flying down toward him.
“I’ll be fine,” he assured her. “Just wait for me with Shiro.”
TB looked like she wanted to argue, but in the end, she didn’t. She retreated, eyeing Mikael with serpentine concern.
I was just as confused and worried. He hadn’t tried to attack the shadow and it hadn’t tried to attack him. I growled, doubts, feelings, and instincts warring inside me. I trusted him with my life, but Lyssa’s safety took precedence.
Still, this was Mikael. He loved Lyssa as much as I did. He’d never do anything to harm her. Maybe he’d figured out something I hadn’t.
I didn’t understand why he’d pushed TB away, but he must’ve had his reasons. I’d put my faith in him.
Reassured by my silence and TB’s compliance, Mikael turned toward Lyssa again. “Please, don’t. Stop this. Whatever you think you can accomplish here, you need to stop.”
“No, I don’t. I won’t, and you can’t change that.”
I couldn’t see who was speaking. It was Lyssa’s body, that was for sure. Could it be…? No. But it was. The voice was coming from the shadow.
This wasn’t a possession. The creature around Lyssa wasn’t a spirit or a ghost. It was a demonic symbiote.
There were plenty of such creatures on the island, but they’d never been hostile, not to me or my lovers. Mikael and I had always gotten along with them. My core bestial nature had helped me communicate with them and Mikael’s parental background gave him kinship with the creatures. They’d even helped somewhat during the battle with Satan.
Clearly, this particular symbiote wasn’t so friendly.
“Let Lyssa go,” Mikael insisted. “If you have a problem with me, go ahead and kill me. But leave her alone.”
“Why would you think I’d want to do that?” the symbiote asked. The surface of the shadow rippled and to my surprise, I realized it was hurt. “You’re my son.”
Well, shit. This was definitely not something I’d seen coming.
By my side, Callum flinched. He didn’t seem as surprised as I was by this revelation. But then again, Callum always had a knack for guessing the secrets of our enemies, simply by interpreting their feelings. This particular case couldn’t have been much of a challenge for him.
“If you don’t want to harm Mikael, why are you here, Fara?”
“I’m afraid that’s my business and not yours, Callum Adamson,” she replied. “I have my reasons, but no desire to share them with you.”
The shadow’s hold on Lyssa’s body tightened. Lyssa let out a sharp whimper and tried to shield her swollen belly with her hand.
“You bitch,” Callum snapped, his aura flaring. “I’ll kill you for this.”
“Good luck with that, Mr. Adamson. Better people than you have tried. And really, you’re overreacting. All I want is for my son to come closer. You won’t deny me that, will you, Mikael?”
Mikael clenched his jaw. He seemed to be considering his options. The choice was taken out of his hands when more symbiotes materialized around us.
Fuck. This wasn’t good. If Fara had been the only symbiote here, we might have been able to find an opening, some way to catch her off guard. But at least three dozen shadowy figures popped up out of nowhere, and we were so vastly outnumbered we didn’t have a chance.
This new development didn’t startle Mikael. He must have known the symbiotes were there, which was why he’d told me to not intervene. He looked straight at me, and in that moment, I knew what would happen.
There was no way to free Lyssa from Fara now, not when the symbiote had such a tight hold on her. If we tried, Fara might hurt the baby, accidentally or on purpose. Symbiote infestations were treacherous and I was no healer. The arrival of Fara’s minions kept us from trying to fight Fara off. The Watchers were nowhere to be seen, and we couldn’t rely on reinforcements. Fara had taken us by surprise.
But there was still something I could do. “Traitor!” I roared at Mikael. “This is all your fault.”
As Mikael stepped forward, ready to listen to her, I pounced. My speed didn’t fail me. I crashed straight into Mikael, sending him sprawling to the ground. For a brief instant, I hesitated, but then, he gripped my fur. A familiar flow of magic drifted into me, painful, yet gentle.
It gave me the strength to bury my fangs in his flesh. I didn’t want to hurt him. He’d already suffered enough. But for his sake and Lyssa’s, I had to.
As expected, the beast inside me connected to Mikael’s divine power. Behind me, Fara let out an inarticulate screech. “You stupid beast! I’ll tear you apart.”
I had enough presence of mind to loosen my hold on Mikael’s throat before she blasted me off him. Otherwise, she might have gotten him killed by accident while trying to save him from me.
My shifted form minimized the damage she did to me through her magic, so I managed to roll to my feet. Even so, when the second blast came my way, it would’ve probably hit me if Callum hadn’t stopped it.
Elemental magic wasn’t his field of expertise, but he was good enough at it to change the trajectory of Fara’s shadow projections. Fara’s spell missed me.
Several others surges of shadow magic came at me as the rest of the symbiotes attacked. I dodged and ducked, shifting into my werewolf form as I moved to make sure I had the best reach and mobility.
&nbs
p; I grabbed the symbiote who was closest and ripped his throat out. The creature didn’t bleed or make a single sound. It just dissipated into dark smoke, the fumes surrounding us like a malevolent mist.
I did my best to clear the air with my tail. At the same time, I licked my snout and bared my fangs at Fara.
A few feet away from me, Callum took out two other symbiotes and turned to face Fara again. “Give them back right now,” he commanded, infusing his words with a compulsion so powerful it made my beast’s instincts stir even further.
Fara almost complied. Her jet black eyes glazed slightly and started to glow in a way that had nothing to do with her symbiote nature. But Mikael had been right when he’d wordlessly asked me to attack him. She couldn’t be brought to her knees so easily. Demonic symbiotes didn’t have mortal brains, so incubus powers had limited effect on them.
She blinked, and just like that, she broke free of Callum’s hold on her. “You’re going to have to do better than that, Adamson,” she said with a sneer. “Not that I’ll ever give you the chance. Have a nice life.”
“No!” Shiro howled, already running toward her. He must’ve been fighting the symbiotes too, because his fur was ruffled and blood-stained. TB had stuck with him, like she’d been instructed, and had probably helped him out. She looked mostly unharmed, but it was impossible for her to fly.
The two familiars tried to force their way through, to reach Lyssa and Mikael. It was too late. Shadows enveloped us, deep, dark and suffocating. They smelled sulphurous, a little like the lava pits in The Infernal Realm. Even with my advanced senses, I couldn’t see a thing. Neither could Shiro or Callum.
The darkness seemed to have physical consistency. The symbiotes came together, abandoning their previous, humanoid forms in favor of a shape we could hardly touch. Fumes surrounded my body, clutching my limbs and wrapping themselves around my throat, trying to suffocate me. They might have succeeded, but Callum’s aura and my connection to Mikael gave me enough strength to shake them off.
The shadow magic couldn’t have contained me and my beast forever, but it did the job. By the time the thick mist cleared and the darkness retreated, Mikael and Lyssa were gone. Callum dropped down on the ground, dazed, staring at nothing.
I looked up at the sky and couldn’t help a small laugh. Mikael’s mother had another think coming if she thought she could take Lyssa like that. She was in for a big surprise.
Meph’s Madness
“You’ll pay for this, treacherous swine. I’m a Prince of Hell and you’re…”
Mammon’s words died into a scream as I speared him through the shoulder with my sharp tail. “Would you care to repeat that?” I asked.
Truth be told, I wasn’t angry at Mammon, at least not for this. He and the other former princes were already paying the price for their plan to harm Lyssa. I wasn’t supposed to be here today, since I’d promised Lucifer to help him more while Callum, Mikael, and Stefan were away.
But Lyssa’s absence distracted me. I’d never thought I’d come to hate The Infernal Realm, but without Lyssa here, the place was hellish—and not in a good way. I knew her departure had been necessary, for her good and that of the baby, but that didn’t mean I had to like it.
Mammon knew very well that he couldn’t escape, but even the former Lord of Greed was prideful enough to not give up on this conversation. It wouldn’t help him, but he had to try to get another dig in. “You might think you’ve won and maybe you’ll hold the throne of Hell. But your human bitch will pay the price for your greed. I should—”
With a snarl, I swept my tail over Mammon’s neck, slitting his throat. His sentence died in a choked gurgle, but even then, I wasn’t completely satisfied. He deserved to suffer more for insulting Lyssa.
Unfortunately, I didn’t have enough time to unleash the true extent of my wrath upon him. By tomorrow, Mammon would recover and he’d be ready for a new round of torture. Maybe I’d ask Lucifer to come with me. For now, I had a job to do and I’d postponed it long enough.
I left Mammon’s cell and headed toward The Third Circle of Hell. Lucifer had mentioned this morning that a new influx of souls would be coming and most of them would be taken there.
I found him supervising the transfer of the souls, with several incorporeal humans prostrated at his feet. “Please, please, have mercy,” one of the men said.
Lucifer didn’t bother speaking with the pathetic mortal. He jerked his wing at a nearby demon and the creature scuttled to retrieve the human and usher him back in line.
Meanwhile, Lucifer took one look at my blood-stained tail and arched a brow. “Mammon sends his regards,” I told him.
“Does he?” Lucifer asked pleasantly. “I’ll have to pay him and the others a visit too. I’d hate to be rude and I haven’t had the chance to drop by lately.”
Trust Lucifer to make torture plans and get a dig in at my laziness at the same time. “I apologize. I know I said I’d assist you, but I just feel so…”
I trailed off, uncomfortable with saying too much when we were in public. Lucifer didn’t need me to explain anyway. “I understand. Don’t worry about it.”
“Do you really think we did the right thing?” I asked.
“We didn’t have much choice,” Lucifer replied. “Lyssa needs to go through the transformation, and that’s not going to happen as smoothly as I hoped.”
“I still think it might be better to tell her outright.”
“I wish I could, Mephistopheles, but… How should I put this? I’m uneasy. Something’s not right. I don’t want to burden Lyssa with it, not right now.”
I could understand what he meant. A sense of barely perceivable pressure had fallen over The Seven Circles of Hell. It had started shortly after our return and gotten progressively worse. The craziest thing about it was that I couldn’t pinpoint the source. The demons had displayed no sign of wanting to rebel against Lucifer. If anything, most of them were thrilled at having the real Satan back. They hadn’t truly respected Jax Masters, not like they respected Lucifer.
The captives occasionally mouthed off, but like Mammon, none of them could escape. And yet, I still couldn’t shake off this unexplainable anxiety.
“Do you suppose The Celestial Realm is planning something?”
“The Celestial Realm is always planning something. I admit I’m still not sure how to handle that.”
As if summoned by our words, the bright figure of an angel manifested in front of us. The demons around us tensed, but only for a few seconds. The moment they saw the mild tinges of crimson around the white feathers of the angel, they easily identified him.
It was Yeqon. We hadn’t spoken for a while, but I’d have recognized that red anywhere. The sight of it alarmed me, since as a rule, it only showed up when he was in dire straits.
“Has something happened at the academy?”
“Unfortunately, yes,” Yeqon reported. His wings twitched in agitation and he swept his hand through his hair. “The Supreme Being sent Raphael to give us our deadline. We’re to return to The Celestial Realm at once.”
Lucifer cursed viciously. “I didn’t think he’d push you quite so quickly.”
“That’s what your bride said too,” Yeqon replied. His eyes glinted with a mix of concern and malice. “Lucifer… I’m pretty sure Raphael tried to take her.”
“Take her?” I repeated. “Did she—?”
“She’s fine,” Yeqon answered. “Fortunately, she saw through the trick. She wanted to help us, to convince The Supreme Being to let us choose our own destinies. But in the end, her concern for her daughter won out, and Raphael didn’t push.”
That was a huge relief, but it was also not good enough. Demonic energy flowed off an infuriated Lucifer and his eyes crackled with the divine light of retribution.
“I’ve grown tired of them trying to take what belongs to me,” he growled. “We had an agreement and I’ll make sure they keep it. They won’t touch the academy and they won’t touch her.”
I couldn’t have cared less about their feelings, but according to Yeqon, Lyssa was fine. Callum, Stefan, and Mikael were with her. No matter how much the thought appealed, we couldn’t abandon our responsibilities outright.
But even knowing that, even aware of how tough it was to manage Hell, I still wished there had been another way. Lucifer agreed.
“Why isn’t the Grim Reaper sorting these people properly?” he hissed. “He and the other death deities have been dropping the ball lately.”
“Maybe they’re trying to test you, now that you’re back as Satan,” I suggested.
Lucifer rubbed his eyes tiredly. “Just go. Check on Lyssa and the others. I’ll take care of this and catch up with you.”
I nodded and willed myself out of The Infernal Realm. I hadn’t fully accommodated to my new position as Lord of Gluttony, but even so, I had no trouble making the journey on my own. My power as a High Lord of Hell was more than enough.
Like before, I arrived at the transport point, but this time, I chose to fly instead of walking. When I got to the academy itself, I found Stefan and Callum sitting on the ground, surrounded by Watchers. The fallen angels were fussing over my younger lovers, but their assistance didn’t seem to have any effect.
Stefan was in his hell hound shape and Callum’s aura was subdued, so much so that I could barely feel it at all. Something was horribly wrong.
Shiro was lying on the ground, motionless, with a limp TB on top of him. The sight reminded me an awful lot of the time Lyssa had been in a coma after The Celestial Realm had attacked her.
I landed in front of them and asked, “Where are Lyssa and Mikael?”
The abrupt question startled Stefan and Callum from their haze.
“Gone,” Callum said, his voice flat and his eyes blank.