Darkest Knight

by Karen Duvall

  “So I take it you’re new to all this knight stuff, too.”

  “Yep.” Yet I was to be her teacher. I think in this case we’d be teaching each other and that’s what my grandmother had in mind all along. “You talk to angels?”

  “Well, I mostly listen.” She glanced behind her as if to make sure no one else listened in. “My foster family thought I was crazy and pretty much convinced me of it, too. The social worker assigned to my case had me diagnosed as schizophrenic. I was institutionalized, fed a bunch of drugs, but I eventually ran away. Once the crap cleaned out of my system, I could hear the angels again.”

  “And they told you to come here,” I prompted.

  “Something like that.”

  “Chalice?” my grandmother called from downstairs. “We’re waiting for you.”

  By we I’m sure she meant Rafe was with her.

  “Good luck,” Xenia told me.

  As I turned to go she gently tapped my arm and said, “I know what it’s like when no one believes you. I saw what you saw.”

  I smiled. “Thanks.”

  “Anytime.”

  Wrapped in a thick wool sweater and wearing a clean pair of Levi’s, I padded my way down the stairs and into the great room. Rafe and my grandparents stood stoically beside the fireplace, all eyes on me.

  I glanced down at my jeans to make sure they weren’t stained. There was an old bloodstain on one cuff but I was the only one who could see it. “What’s wrong?” I asked them.

  Rafe, now back in his GQ human form, asked, “What’s this about a mysterious cloaked stranger?”

  He had to be kidding me. “Come on, Rafe. You must have seen her, too. Your eyesight is almost as good as mine.”

  “I had something else on my mind at the time,” he said, and rubbed one of his shoulders like it was sore. I didn’t think angels could get hurt. “Your BF kept me busy.”

  I crossed my arms. “You started it.”

  He scowled at me. “He was trying to kill you.”

  “No, he wasn’t.”

  Aurora held up her hands in the shape of a T. “Time out. You two should talk. Right now.”

  She was right. The only way to convince them that Aydin wasn’t a threat was to get Rafe on my side.

  I needed to show him where I’d seen this woman. It might jog his recollection of events. Even if he hadn’t seen her I felt certain his sharp angel senses had picked up her presence.

  Rafe followed me outside, but when I got close to the warded entrance to the property, he ran ahead of me and blocked my path.

  “What do you think you’re doing?” I asked.

  “Stopping you from leaving the safety of this home,” he said.

  “There’s nothing dangerous out there. I’ll prove it.” I stood very still, opening my senses to the wilderness. The graceful soaring of a hawk drew my attention upward and I scanned the skies for anything out of the ordinary. Too cold for insects, I heard no buzzing but detected the scraping of deer or elk antlers against a tree about a quarter mile away. Leafless branches of aspen trees rattled against each other in a mild winter breeze. A nearby brook bubbled beneath a thin crust of ice. The air smelled crisp and untainted by the stench of the black veil. There was no safer place on earth at that moment than this very spot.

  “Such a peaceful setting could change in a flash,” Rafe said, his voice low and calm. He appeared nothing like the fiery angel that had attacked Aydin in the early-morning darkness. He was as serene as the babbling brook that echoed in the distance. “It happened once and can happen again. I’m prepared for the deluge. Are you?”

  “More than you are,” I told him.

  He smirked at me. “Does that mean you’d kill your gargoyle if he attacked you again?”

  I gritted my teeth. “How many times do I have to tell you there was no attack, at least not by him. Let me show you where I saw the woman.” I shouldered past him and he grabbed my arm. I yanked away. “What are you going to do, ground me?”

  His jaw tightened and his eyes went cold. “As your guardian, it’s my duty to protect you.”

  “I know that.” I folded my arms. “But you can’t protect me by letting a murderer go free.”

  “I have no intention of letting him go free.”

  “You mean her.” I stepped backward toward the boundary, my gaze glued to his stubborn face. “It wasn’t Aydin. Xenia saw the woman, too. Let’s both go look at the spot where we saw her. It might jog your memory.”

  “I can help.” Natalie trotted down the front steps toward us. “If the woman left something behind, I may be able to learn who or what she is.”

  My grandmother came out of the house behind her, but she didn’t venture beyond the porch. If her hearing was anything like mine, which I knew it was, she wouldn’t need to. I wondered why she didn’t protest Natalie’s offer to help. Maybe she was giving us enough rope to hang ourselves, or to hang someone else, depending on what we discovered. The knights weren’t children and she knew that. Must be some kind of test that I had every intention of passing.

  Rafe appeared slightly unhinged. “Natalie, it’s not safe for you or Chalice. Your guardian wouldn’t approve.”

  “Camael is my guide, not my boss,” Natalie told him in a steely tone that surprised me. “I listen to his suggestions, but I’m the judge of what I can and cannot do. If I need his help, I’ll let him know.”

  Rafe squinted at her. “You’ve been a knight longer than Chalice has. She still has much to learn.”

  Natalie shook her head. “Not about something like this. She’s encountered more dark forces than any of us, and I’d say she handled herself just fine. Wouldn’t you?”

  “Of course,” Rafe admitted. “But this is different. She was almost killed today.”

  “Rafe, I can count on both hands the number of times I’ve almost been killed,” I told him. “Today wasn’t all that different.” I jerked a quick look at my grandmother, who grinned before turning to go back inside the house.

  “Come on, Natalie,” I said, and led the way to the road. “I’ll show you where she was.”

  Natalie followed me, and Rafe trailed behind her, his eyes narrowed as he scanned both sides of the road. He popped out of human form like an exploding firecracker and spread his impressive wings. Rafe wasn’t the type to flaunt his angelic beauty. What he did flaunt was far more lethal to any baddie who might be lurking nearby. I had no doubt his show was also for Aydin’s benefit, just in case.

  When we arrived at the spot where I’d seen the woman, I scrutinized the disturbed snow. There was the indentation of footprints, but none leading to that area. It was as if she landed there from out of the blue. Maybe she had.

  I sniffed and smelled nothing but pine and a well-used squirrel’s nest that had me wrinkling my nose at the stench. Ammonia tended to wipe out other scents, at least it did for me. I detected no other odors. But I did see something.

  “A crow’s feather?” I said, bending down to pluck the black plume from the snow. “A damn big one, too.”

  “Not a crow.” Rafe stood rigid, his broad chest expanding before a deep sigh escaped his lips. “That feather belongs to one of the Fallen.”

  eight

  “WHAT DOES THE FALLEN WANT WITH US?” I asked, though I doubted either Rafe or Natalie could give me that answer. The angels who fell had no ties with the Hatchet knights, not once they chose the darker road. The Arelim and the Fallen kept to opposite sides of the fence and their paths rarely crossed.

  “I wish I knew,” Rafe said, his voice lowered to a whisper. He appeared deep in thought and I imagined he was speaking telepathically to the Arelim about our curious find.

  I clamped my jaw to keep from saying I told you so.

  Natalie held her hand out to me. “Can I see?”

  I frowned. Though spells could affect me, I was immune to cursed objects and charms. But I wasn’t so sure Natalie could escape whatever nastiness the feather might contain. However, it could just as easily
be harmless as a feather duster. “I don’t know, Natalie. It might be dangerous if you touched—”

  She snatched it away from me. “Too late.”

  Her tenacity surprised me, yet I admired her for it. I didn’t think she had it in her.

  Rafe looked ready to pounce. “Don’t hold it too tight,” he warned, though Natalie had already gone into her psychometric trance.

  An entire minute passed in silence.

  “She should have said something by now about what she senses,” I said, concern tying a knot in my stomach.

  Natalie groaned and whispered, “No. It can’t be.”

  “What can’t be?” The fine hairs on my skin bristled.

  She swayed slightly, then gasped as her eyes popped open with only their whites showing. Her lips were turning blue.

  “Oh, my God,” I said. “She’s suffocating.”

  Rafe lurched toward her and I shouted, “No! Don’t touch her. Break the connection and you could destroy her mind.”

  “She’s dying,” he said, his eyes shining as he pierced me with a pleading look. “We have to make her stop.”

  Whatever she had connected to was using the feather to steal her breath. Nothing I knew of had such power, but whatever this was obviously did. And it was killing Natalie.

  The veins at her temples swelled like slender blue worms just beneath her pale skin. Her mouth opened wide as she struggled to breathe. I knew how she felt. I’d experienced the same thing just hours ago. I had survived and I was determined she would, too.

  Broken mind or certain death, I didn’t know which was worse. We had already lost too many knights. I refused to count Natalie among the fatalities.

  I nodded at Rafe and he grabbed the feather from her.

  Natalie gulped in air like a drowning person and just before she crumpled to the ground, she whispered, “Maria.”

  I sat beside Natalie’s bed as she slept. She’d lost consciousness right after saying the name Maria. It sounded so familiar, but I couldn’t recall anyone I knew by that name. It nagged at me like a fly buzzing in my ear. I should know what it meant, but the harder I tried to remember, the more evasive it became. As if the name itself was a spell created to halt any memory of it.

  Natalie’s room was next to the one I shared with Xenia. Rusty slept in a bed at the other end and was oblivious to everything around her after crying herself to sleep. With the exception of Camael, she worried more about Natalie than anyone. I hadn’t seen her guardian, but I’d sensed his presence. Unlike Rafe, who enjoyed slipping into a human guise, Camael seemed shy and unassuming. I wondered if Natalie might consider a trade, but I knew better. Big brother Rafe and I were stuck with each other.

  How could I have let this happen? I’d wanted to protect my sister knights, not endanger them more than they already were. But my plan to prove Aydin’s innocence as a way to enlist his help had backfired. He might be clear of any wrongdoing, but wrong had still been done and I was the one responsible.

  “Chalice.” My grandmother rested her hand on my shoulder. “It’s late. You need to eat and get some rest.”

  I covered her hand with my own. “I can’t. There’s something I need to remember, but…” I shook my head in frustration.

  “You’ll think more clearly in the morning,” she told me.

  I looked up at her and asked, “Now do you believe that Aydin wasn’t responsible for any of this?”

  She sat in the ladder-back chair beside me and leaned forward, her elbows resting on both knees. “Yes.”

  Relief flooded me in a waterfall of tingles from head to toe. “Then you must lower the wards so he can enter Halo Home. Aydin can help take down the murderer.”

  “That may be,” Aurora said slowly. “But we have to think about all the squires here, not to mention Rusty and Natalie. Removing the wards would leave them vulnerable to attack.”

  She made an excellent point. Spirits crushed, I sought a different solution and an idea came to me. “What if the wards were reset to allow ghosts inside? That way Aydin could enter in his invisible form.”

  My grandmother winced. “I hate ghosts.”

  “So do I.” That confirmed she had the same talent for seeing ghosts that I did. “But they’re lesser evils than demons and other black veil entities, including the Fallen.”

  She hesitated before saying, “True. But ghosts aren’t entirely harmless. There’s an old Indian burial ground about a half mile from here.” She shuddered. “It’s loaded with the things.”

  I lit up with another idea. “How about a charm?”

  Looking dubious, she asked, “What kind of charm?”

  “A ghost-repelling charm. And I know just who can make it, too. Quin Dee.” Quin had a talent for creating pendants out of Celestine, a crystal with the power to connect to the realm of angels. Quin used to make them for the people he did angel readings for. “The Arelim can invoke a protection spell in the crystals and everyone can wear one.” Everyone but me, of course. Though I could still wear a pretty piece of jewelry around my neck even if it didn’t keep the ghosts away.

  Aurora smiled. “I like that idea, Chalice.” She stood and grabbed my hand to pull me to my feet. “I’ll call Quin now so he can get started. I’m sure the squires will enjoy a pretty new bauble as part of their initiation into the knighthood.”

  I still held the blighted black feather by its quill and absently ran my fingers over the silky vein, then the downy fluff at the feather’s base. How could something so beautiful be so deadly? I gazed down at Natalie’s serene face, her eyes closed in sleep. “Hang in there, Nat. We’ll get you out of this.” I prayed I was right.

  * * *

  The following day there was still no change in Natalie’s condition. We took turns sitting vigil at her bedside and I’m sure Camael never left her for a moment. I felt his presence every time I was with her.

  Rusty had begun preparing the squires for their continuing education in the ways of the knighthood. Aurora had me sit in on her first session since I was about as green as the normies who had yet to receive their shields.

  It was also a good way for me to get to know them a bit before I began their instruction on the fine art of charms. I still hadn’t decided which ones to use. I needed to go through Aydin’s collection to determine the most useful and least dangerous of the bunch. Some charms also went dormant after fulfilling their designated task and would require recharging before they could be used again. Who would recharge them? Yet another obstacle I had to overcome.

  Rusty gazed down at her small gathering of eager young faces, all of whom sat in a circle on the floor of the great room inside the main house. “And that’s how the Hatchet Knighthood of Medieval Times continued on with daughters born of human women like you. We inherited our supernatural powers from our guardian angel fathers.”

  “Will we have superpowers, too?” one of the women asked. She sat Indian-style with her arms wrapped around a pillow, her freckled face as innocent as a cherub on a Christmas card. I studied the others. They all had that wholesome look about them, the kind that made me think of gingham dresses and bobby socks. All but Xenia. Her innocence hid beneath a ton of kohl eyeliner and a bad haircut. Now I understood why she covered herself with that junk—she really was trying to hide. Why had the Arelim chosen these pristine little ladies? I’d expect them to recruit Amazons, not Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm clones.

  Rusty smiled. “No, Lisa, you won’t have powers. But your daughter will.”

  Disappointment flickered across their faces.

  “That doesn’t mean you won’t have supernatural ways of protecting yourselves in dangerous situations,” Rusty told them, and tilted her head at me. “Chalice has some tricks to share with you.”

  Six heads turned in my direction.

  “Um…” I shrugged. “Yes, I do. They’re not really tricks, they’re charms. Magic invoked in objects to make them do special things.”

  “Like what?” a blond ponytailed girl asked me.<
br />
  I glanced at the paper name tag she wore on her chest. “Well, Dale, there are a variety of charms that can be helpful. There are some that make you invisible, fly, run faster than a speeding car, deflect bullets, block someone from reading your mind. I could go on and on, but I’ll save it for later. This is Rusty’s time with you right now.”

  The little group erupted with questions.

  “What charm do I get?”

  “Can I be as strong as a super hero?”

  “Is there one that can make me shrink to the size of a mouse?”

  I held out my hands. “Whoa! Hey, I said we’d go over all this later.” Not to mention I wasn’t prepared. I needed to know something about each squire before assigning them a charm suited for their individual needs. Baby steps.

  Rusty glared at me and I understood why. I’d stolen her thunder.

  “Look,” I said to them, wearing my patient face that felt tight since I hadn’t donned it in a while. “Our attentions are divided right now. As you all know, one of our sister knights is in a coma caused by whatever took the lives of so many in our order. You’ll just have to be patient.”

  They bowed their heads and tossed ashamed looks at one another.

  “No worries, okay?” I melted the chill from my smile as I said, “I’m almost as new to this as the rest of you.”

  “We heard,” said a pixie of a girl with black hair in a Peter Pan haircut. “Aurora told us you have a story to tell.”

  Murmurs fluttered between them and they looked at me expectantly.

  “That’s true,” I said. “And I promise you’ll get the full scoop on my sordid life and the curse that nearly killed me. Just not today.”

  They groaned, looking dejected.

  This session was as much for my education as theirs, so I had a question of my own. “You six are the chosen few, and I’m curious what you have in common.” They stared at me as if I’d just told them their panties were showing. “You’re all lovely young women with a unique talent for speaking with angels. But what makes you more special than other girls with the same gift?”