“You can be entirely certain that she could kick your backside, Grace. Aza would annihilate you.” Gabriel didn’t crack a smile as he tipped his head in farewell to those waiting by the porch. His eyes slid over the small crowd. They passed over Mathas and Jasmine, with just a second of hesitation for each, and landed on Cain. “Stay sharp, my friend. Keep the home fires burning.”
Something unspoken passed between the two men before Gabriel turned and walked through the slip without a backward glance toward the spot where Jasmine and I stood. I peeked at Jasmine out of the corner of my eye and felt a stab of pain at the sight of her small arms wrapped tightly around her body. Emmanuel gestured at Sam and Lucas to step forward. “Samuel, Lucas, please assist Gabriel in ensuring the area is secure.”
Lucas jogged over to Jasmine and kissed her on the cheek. “My mom said she’d contact you when she got back to New York. Tell her to give Ozzie a hug from me, okay? And I’ll visit Eli the minute I get back. I promise.” He turned to walk back toward the slip but stopped halfway. “Mind yourself, Jas.”
Jasmine squeezed her lips shut and gave him a tight smile. I leaned forward to hug her goodbye but her rigid posture deterred me, and I landed a pat on her shoulder instead. I crossed to the slip with my eyes on Cat’s pale face. She didn’t wave or return my smile. I quickened my pace, battling the anxiety that had already begun to seep into my bones and paralyze my muscles. I focused on breathing in the fresh mountain air as I waited for Emmanuel to give me permission to pass through the slip, but the ethereal beauty of the North Carolina wilderness only amplified my fear. Why was I leaving this piece of Heaven? Why must I risk losing even more than I already had?
Emmanuel nudged his palm against my back to move me through the slip, but I balked and pushed away from the slip instead of through it. Sam appeared on the other side of the portal. My body ached to move closer to him, but confusion and fear sent adrenalin pumping through my brain in a stream of sudden clarity.
If I went to the Shadow City, nothing would ever be the same again.
I shook my head and started to back away from the slip. Emmanuel and Lizzie called my name, but I could barely hear them over the roar of my pulse throbbing in my ears. Cat’s face was a storm of emotions as she sprang down from the steps, but a small dart of copper cut in front of her and embraced me in gentle, skinny arms.
I bent my neck to look into Dawn’s delicate face. Her eyes stared into mine as she pressed something small and soft into my hand. I inhaled. I didn’t need to look to know what she had given me. I crushed my forehead against hers and scraped my courage together. My fingers pressed into her little shoulders one last time before I broke away.
I ran past Cat with the grubby teddy bear clasped against my chest. Dawn’s voice reached me as I burst through the slip, an echo from my childhood, my foster mother’s words brought to life again. “Good people and evil are separated only by their deeds.”
Good and evil. I prayed to Eve that I had the wisdom to know the difference.
Chapter Eleven
The slip opened into a dank, narrow yard. The walls surrounding the enclosed space towered high above us and blocked the light from reaching the cracked concrete ground. From the patch of blue sky overhead, it looked as though it was still afternoon.
Niamh was waiting for us in the center of the yard, but her lips remained pinched tightly until Emmanuel had sealed the slip. Aza was leaning against the wall beside a narrow wooden gate that had been painted white at some stage in its sad life, but had now faded to a dirty gray. Aza’s pose was casual, but her eyes burned with intensity as she focused on Gabriel’s back. Niamh extended her arm and directed us into a line. She pointed her finger at each person in turn. “Emmanuel, Elizabeth, Gabriel.”
Niamh’s voice caught on Gabriel’s name and she paused to clear her throat is before continuing. “All three of you are familiar with the geography of the Shadow City. The Angelic Council have announced your arrival to the people of the city, and have forbidden any violence against you, but you know as well as I, that such guarantees are not written in blood. Should the need arise, I expect you to return to this point immediately. You must ensure the children stay with you.”
Icy blue eyes flashed in our direction as Niamh scrutinized us. “Demon child Seeker, Demon child Reaper, direct line Angel, lower house Angel.” Niamh’s stare lingered on Lucas’s face for a moment before she moved her focus to Brandon. Her lips pursed as she took in his sculpted frame and the defiant set of his jaw. She flicked an arm toward her second in command. “Aza, this is the Human? The one Gabriel gave his life blood to rescue? The one whose emancipation from the Guardian’s clutches could have cost us our standing with the Angelic Council had Gabriel not marked himself a traitor to the London Demons?”
Aza squinted at Brandon. “The very one.”
Brandon’s mouth tightened, but he didn’t drop his eyes. He lifted his chin and glared into Niamh’s face— daring her to judge him. The corner of her lips twitched upward. “Why are you here, Human child? You could have returned safely to a Human life, not the one you were born to, but magic could have given you a life you believed was always yours. Yet here you are in the City of Shadows, amongst those who will kill you for piercing the Veil if they get the chance. Why?”
Brandon pushed his shoulders back. “I could ask you the same question. Why does the original Demon, who has spent two millennia trying to broker a peaceful existence for the Demon population of this realm, risk her standing with the Council for the sake of the Shadow Children? Ma’am.”
Aza stirred at the wall and stood a little straighter, watching the exchange between Brandon and Niamh with greedy eyes. Niamh’s lips twisted upward into a broad, grudging grin. She reached out and tapped Brandon on the chest. “We each have our own path which has led us to this point in time.” Her smile vanished as quickly as it had appeared and she curled her finger back inside her fist. “I hope your sacrifice shall not be in vain, Human child.”
Niamh whirled away from us in a flurry of gray skirts and disappeared past Aza and through the gate before I had time to process her words. Brandon exhaled and let his hands fall loosely by his side. He muttered to me out of the side of his mouth. “Why does everyone we meet have to be a total weirdo?”
I coughed to disguise my snicker as Aza’s gold flecked stare narrowed on my face. She pulled away from the concrete wall and rose up to her full height. “Keep close, Toto, you’re not in Kansas anymore.”
The Demon’s homage to my favorite childhood film lingered, even though her body had slipped out through the narrow gate and into the treacherous streets waiting for us on the other side of the slime covered walls. Gabriel slid past us so that he reached the exit first. Lizzie and Emmanuel spread out at the rear of our group. Emmanuel’s long fingers were wrapped around the handles of two unlit Spirit Blades, and I realized with a shiver that I had never seen our Master armed before. The warmth of the day drained away, and I pulled my shirt tighter around myself.
Sam closed the gap between us with a sidestep so that his forearm rested against mine—skin touching skin. I jerked my arm away and followed Gabriel out through the gate, bracing myself for the terrors of the Shadow City.
Bright sunlight glistened on a vast expanse of clear blue water and dazzled me. I blinked in surprise as a jet of water shot from the lake and split the sky. The waterfront was lined with tall majestic buildings, and gleaming yachts bobbed at the water’s edge. Lizzie dug her fingers into the small of my back, and I forced my feet back into motion on the pristine pavement. I stared back over my shoulder at the pillar of water rising like an ancient god from the seas.
Niamh took a left, and we followed her at speed through a maz
e of gleaming streets until she slowed her pace at the corner of a cobbled square, outside of a picture perfect old-style coffee shop. Aza grabbed Niamh by the shoulder and ducked under the striped awning in front of the slender blonde. Aza’s piercing glare swept over the empty tables and chairs on the pavement and probed the dimly lit building. The door flew open, and a heavy set, balding man thundered over the cobblestones.
“I told you twenty years ago that your kind is not welcome in my establishment, boy.” The man’s voice was dripping with contempt as he stared down at Gabriel. Aza hissed and raised her right hand, but Niamh slipped out of her lieutenant's shadow and confronted the aggressor. The scowl melted away from the man’s handsome features, and he bowed his head. “Lady Ambassador, forgive me, we were not expecting your arrival. You honor us with your presence.”
Niamh returned his respectful nod, but her eyes were bright and beady, like a sparrow watching an earthworm. “Thorn, I apologize for not providing you with advance notice of our arrival. I’m afraid this is quite a sensitive situation, one that I am sure has not escaped the ever-watchful attention of the Demon population of the city, I am sure. You are greatly changed indeed if you no longer have ears on all corners of this majestic city.”
The burly Demon gave Niamh a sheepish smile and mumbled in acknowledgment. Niamh’s eyes flashed. “I would expect no less of you, Thorn. A representative of the Angelic Council will be meeting us here presently, I trust we can rely on your hospitality and discretion until they arrive to escort us to the University?”
Her tone suggested that Thorn would be braver than me if he chose to tell her that we couldn’t use his establishment as our meeting point. He swept his arms open and gestured toward the door. “But of course, Lady Ambassador. It would be my pleasure. Please, come inside.”
“No, thank you. An outside table is sufficient. Please don’t trouble yourself on our behalf, we expect to be leaving presently,” Niamh said.
Thorn dipped his head and started to back away from our motley crew. “If you will not come inside, you must at least accept a cup of chocolat . The children look exhausted.” His curious eyes feasted on us as he disappeared through the glass door and into the café. Lizzie and Emmanuel sat down at one table, Lucas and Megan sat down beside them.
Sam wandered to the edge of the awning and began to examine a brass plaque that was fixed onto the wall of the building adjacent to the café. Brandon ducked under Sam’s arm to get a closer look.
“Boastful gloating disguised as respect for the dead. Pomp and circumstance. I haven’t missed this place.” Gabriel’s lip curled as he watched Sam and Brandon examine the elegant monument. He dropped himself into a seat at the closest table. There were no other customers despite the hustle and bustle of the busy square. I perched myself on one of the wrought iron chairs surrounding the circular table.
A few feet away, a group of older gentlemen were playing chess with giant chess pieces and a board that had been set into the pavement. Every shop front was cleanly painted, every window was gleaming, each cobblestone looked as though it might have been polished by hand. I struggled to reconcile the beauty around me with the terrifying city of my imaginings. The streets I’d pictured had been better matched to the dirty yard where we had met Niamh and Aza than they were to this urban paradise.
A little girl walked past holding her mother’s hand. Her soft curls fell down onto the collar of her red dress, and she stared at me with huge brown eyes as she passed. Instinctively, I lifted my hand to wave at her, and her round face split into a delighted grin. Her mother snatched the girl up into her arms and recoiled across the pavement, shielding the child from my view as she scurried down the street.
“Welcome to the Shadow City.” Gabriel’s eyes followed the Angel and her daughter until they disappeared out of sight. He arched his eyebrow. “So much for an understated entrance, that woman will be howling about the filthy blooded visitors before she rounds the next corner. Nothing has changed in the past two decades.”
Aza rested her elbows on the table. “Or in the thirty decades before that.”
For a moment, a flicker of warmth passed between Aza and Gabriel, but it was gone as quickly as the summer’s breeze. I watched strangers passing by out of the corner of my eye. “When you talked about the Angelic Council having their headquarters in the Shadow City, this is not what I pictured. This place is beautiful—like something out of a storybook. I’ve never seen anywhere so clean.” My gaze landed on an ornate clockwork model suspended above a watchmaker’s shop. “Everything is so perfect, it almost doesn’t seem real. I can’t imagine a place that looks less like a city of shadows than this one.”
Gabriel’s jaw hardened as he observed the picture-perfect scene around us. “All that glitters isn’t gold, Grace. The streets of this city are paved with lies and deceit.”
I scraped my fingernails against my palm. “I just didn’t expect it to be so… I thought it would be colder. Marble and glass, oversized statues of Angels— that sort of thing.” I leaned further into the table and lowered my voice. “Are we in some pocket of reality? A piece of land concealed from all those who can’t see beyond the Veil? Like that desert you sent me to when you are sacrificing me to the Spirit Demons. Is this city a place like that?”
Gabriel threw his hands in the air and began to repeat his speech about how he hadn’t really been sacrificing me, but Aza stared at me like I was something she had wiped from the bottom of the shoe. “Is the Shadow City in a pocket of reality?”
“Well, it’s obviously not a real city, I’ve been all over the world and nowhere is this clean. It’s not natural. Anyone can see that. What I mean is, can the Humans enter here, or is it hidden by the Veil? Does it not exist on Human maps?”
Aza snorted and tossed a menu onto the table in front of me, face down so that I could see the address marked clearly on the back. “You still think you’re living in some kids’ TV show.” She shook her head and tapped a gold-tipped nail on the table beside the menu. “You’re not in Toy Town, Demon Child. You’re in Switzerland.”
My cheeks flushed, but before I had a chance to probe further, Gabriel, Emmanuel, and Lizzie shot into a standing position, hands poised over their concealed weapons and faces tight. I followed Emmanuel’s narrow glare to a point in the middle of the square and shrank back into my chair as the figure of a man appeared, as if from thin air. Two more figures appeared behind the first. Younger men, dressed in the distinctive black of the Guardians. Niamh extended her arm and gestured for the others to sit down.
Lizzie returned to her chair, and Gabriel followed suit, but he kept his hand tucked firmly around whatever was concealed inside his pockets. Only Emmanuel remained standing. His back was ramrod straight, and his face burned with the intensity of a spectrum of emotions, flickering from one to the next with such speed that I couldn’t identify them.
The man gliding over the cobblestones wore simple jeans and a button-down shirt that flattered his slight, unremarkable frame. In fact, everything about his appearance struck me as forgettable, except for his sharp, hazel eyes, which flicked over our small group with the lightning speed of vast intelligence as he reached the spot directly in front of us and came to a halt.
“High Guardian Adam, you honor us with your presence. I was told to expect a member of the High Council, but was unaware that its leader would be greeting us.” Even though Niamh was seated, and the Angel standing, she somehow gave the impression that she was looking down on him.
The High Guardian showed no visible response to Niamh’s tone. “Ambassador, always a pleasure. The Council felt it would be best if I led this meeting, given its unpre
cedented nature. The decision to open dialogue with the Shadow Children was not unanimous. I have taken personal responsibility for your… safety in the city. You know as well as I do that those who place the Veil at risk have forfeited their lives.” His gaze slid from Niamh’s face to Emmanuel’s, transforming into something razor sharp as it moved. “Isn’t that true, High Guardian Emmanuel?”
Chapter Twelve
“Emmanuel used to be the High Guardian? Head of the council of the most powerful Angels on the planet—how did we not know this?” Sam’s voice was gritty, scrubbed raw by the truth of Emmanuel’s past.
Brandon’s stare flitted warily from the head council and the older members of our group, who are walking ahead of us, to the two younger Angels stalking our steps. “Some people knew. There wasn’t a lick of surprise on Gabriel’s face. Or Lizzie’s.”
“Aza wasn’t shocked either. At least, I don’t think she was, I find it hard to read her features. She terrifies me.” Lucas made the shape of a cross with his fingers and pointed it in the direction of Aza’s back.
Megan rolled her eyes and started to nag Lucas about not being man enough to handle a strong woman. Sam stared in my direction, oblivious to their nervous high jinks. I could feel his gaze on the side of my face, but I refused to catch his eye. I gripped the shoulder straps of my rucksack and tried to memorize the route we were taking through the city.
“He’s taking you to the University.” I raised my eyebrows in surprise. The Angel who had spoken was the taller of the two guards, and his appearance was as remarkable and unique as the High Guardian’s had been bland. His lips were unsmiling, but unlike the other Guardian, who was watching us with undisguised contempt, his gray eyes were bright with curiosity. He nodded toward an island of parkland nestled between the busy streets. “It’s where the High Council meet. It was founded almost five hundred years—”
The Shadow City (The Demon-Born Trilogy Book 2) Page 8