Angel of Darkness Books 6-10

by Mackenzie Morris

  The black-winged bald angel with the scar over his eye landed in front of Carvael. His dark eyes pierced into Jaylen's mind like needles. His pale skin was rippled with muscles and fresh tattoos of dragons that showed through his thin white shirt. Axaniel flashed a sadistic smile as he held up his hand where bright flames flickered to life. "Bring his angel. We'll deal with him first."

  Two more soldiers dragged Zeriel to stand in front of Axaniel then pushed him to his knees.

  "Perfect. Look up here at me, Zeriel." Axaniel lifted Zeriel's chin to look at him. "There we are. Conspiring with Finalis to kill Archangel Carvael? Isn't that something? That takes guts, you know? Didn't you see what happened to those who are deemed to be enemies of Eternal Eclipse? Their ashes are scattered all over this land from those fires. I know you heard their screams and begging for mercy all night long. You used to be my friend, Zeriel. You truly did. But then you got tangled up with that brat boy and lost sight of what it truly meant to be an angel. Look at my wings. I am Fallen, just like you. But the difference is . . . I am redeemable. Through serving the next Sola faithfully and helping him bring about a new Aldexa and a new Heaven, I will find my power again. But you? You will never be holy again. There is only one punishment befitting a fallen angel with no hope for redemption. Hell's flames."

  Jaylen screamed as he pulled against the soldiers who held him steady. "No! Zeriel!"

  The flames surrounded Zeriel, burning brightly and hotly until the angel cried out and collapsed to the ground. Carvael stepped in front of Jaylen, blocking his view as Zeriel screamed. He grabbed Jaylen's hair and twisted it cruelly before retrieving his golden heavenly sword from his hip. "You've become useless to me, Finalis. You stabbed me, so it's only fair that I do the same to you. Say hello to the archdemons for me."

  Jaylen gasped as the large blade entered his stomach. He choked and whimpered as blood poured from his mouth. An all-consuming coldness swept over him as the shock of the impact spread through his body. Tears swelled up in his eyes, but he could not cry. Instead, he stayed there, impaled on the golden blade as time itself seemed to stand still. When Carvael pushed him off of the sword with his foot, Jaylen crumpled to the ground where he watched Zeriel burning as he slowly lost consciousness.

  Chapter 17

  Day Two: Night

  Command Camp, Outer Ilyan, Vilyron

  Allied Vilyron and Wolfekin Military

  Liam clung to Karix's waist as he watched the funeral pyre burning slowly in the night. The angels who remained circled around the fire, dropping black rose petals as they went. Some of them wept. Some of them simply remained silent as they laid down the blanket of velvety petals for the fallen seraph. Liam still felt a bit woozy from the medicine he had been given earlier after he had caught a fever and lost consciousness. In his stupor, he had tripped and hurt himself. At least, that was what Karix had told him. But he didn't believe him. Deep down, he knew. That hardly mattered now, though. Even through his haziness, he knew he was sad beyond anything else. He had thought of the young seraph as a friend.

  Jeremiah stood next to him with his arms stoically crossed on his chest. His face was expressionless in the firelight, but his hazel eyes showed the inner turmoil and sadness of losing his closest friend. He ran a shaking hand through his blond hair before turning his back on the funeral pyre and walking back inside his command tent.

  Even Liam could tell how much of a bond the two seraphs had. That's why he couldn't let him be alone, especially not right then. Liam pulled away from Karix before walking in Jeremiah's large footsteps that he left behind in the soft mud to the tent. He pushed the tent flap open then offered what he hoped would be a comforting smile. "Are you okay, Jeremiah?"

  "I told him to stay in camp, to bring his scouts back and wait until we could find a more secure place for him to set up. I warned him not to go, but he was too stubborn. Nimiel was always like that." Jeremiah knelt down on one knee beside the large wooden table then slammed his forehead into the table leg over and over. This continued until the wood was stained with his blood and the usually strong seraph collapsed where he knelt and cried. He cried with a force that terrified Liam. Jeremiah's legs trembled as he eventually stood up and leaned over the table. "You should go back to Karix, Liam. Actually . . . don't. You should go find your grandfather and stay with him instead. We can't lose anyone else."

  "What are you talkin' about?" Liam asked.

  "Now is not the time to be keeping secrets that could end up harming someone. Liam, have you noticed any new wounds or scars on your body since you woke up earlier?"

  "Yeah."

  Jeremiah rubbed his neck. "Karix did that to you. He tortured you and drowned you, all because he was angry and he could."

  "I know."

  "You know?" Jeremiah turned to him in astonishment.

  "I do. I remember everythin' he did to me. He lied to me and told me I hurt myself, but I know better. He thinks I'm dumb, but I know stuff."

  "Why are you okay with it? He's just going to do it again and again."

  Liam ran his hand over one of the still-bloody wounds that Karix's claws left behind on his stomach. "I know, but it's okay. Really. He needs to do it to feel better. I want him to be happy. That's all I want. I'll let him keep doin' it to me if it makes him happy. Everyone is so sad and people keep gettin' hurt everywhere. I don't want people to hurt, but it happens. So I'll do whatever I can to keep at least one person happy. I will die over and over to keep Karix happy. It's worth it to me."

  Jeremiah stared at him in awe. "Liam . . ."

  The tent flap was pushed open as the brightly-colored bard entered the tent with his golem on his shoulder. "Liam, there you are. I was getting worried about you being out in the cold night after getting so sick earlier. Come with me and I'll get you into bed."

  Liam threw his arms around his grandfather and held him close. "Jaycob, don't hate Karix."

  Jaycob knelt down and took Liam's bony shoulders in his hands. "Why would you say something like that? Why would I hate Karix?"

  "I know you had a dragon who hurt ya, but that's just what dragons do to their riders. Sure, it hurts a lot and it's scary, but then death is warm and empty. There ain't no pain there. Once you pass out, you drift away 'til you're brought back again."

  Jaycob looked to his golem then over to Jeremiah. "Jeremiah, what is he talking about?"

  "Raise your shirt and show him, Liam."

  Liam obeyed, revealing the deep bloody gashes and the swollen bruises on his ribs. "Karix did it. He killed me. I can't die."

  Jaycob covered his mouth with his hand as he examined the wounds. "Jeremiah, how could you let this happen?"

  "I don't know, okay? I thought it was the best thing at the time to keep Karix satisfied. I can't have an angry dragon wrecking my camp. Damn it all. Everything is falling apart and there's nothing I can do to fix it. I . . ." Jeremiah pounded his fists into the table then fell to his knees again and tore at his hair. "I can't do this anymore. Take him out of here. I need some time alone."

  * * *

  Xair sat alone in his tent with a single candle flickering on the table in the corner. He listened to the funeral pyre crackling nearby, but he would not join them. Instead, he stayed where he was on the pile of blankets he used as bed and stared up at the top of the tent where the shadows played tricks on his mind. His arms were empty where his wife should have been. His heart was the same. There was a deep emptiness, a void in his soul that he could not fix on his own. The more time went by, the more and more it became obvious that everyone was defeated. They had given up. Having Jaylen and Zeriel defect to Eternal Eclipse was bearable. They could have worked around it. But losing Nimiel to Jaylen's sword? That was irreparable.

  Once again, they were down to only two seraphs. Jeremiah and Xair could not open Sola's cage without the third one. There was no way of knowing who it would be at this point in time. Everything seemed entirely hopeless and meaningless. Perhaps it would have been easier just to
surrender and let Carvael do as he wished. After all, this world was not one that Xair even cared to save anymore.

  A soft female voice cooed to him. "Xair? Are you still awake?"

  Xair sat up and rubbed his eyes. He squinted his eyes to see the centaur with the long blue braided hair next to his bed. "Naomi? What do you need?"

  "I hope I didn't wake you. I just wanted to talk."

  "Sure, sure. I can talk. Anything for you. I didn't even notice you come in."

  She sat down next to him then took his hand in hers. "How are you holding up after finding out that Amari is a dragon and has left you?"

  "Not very well at all, I'm afraid. For centuries, I had Amari by my side. I became so sure of it that I could never picture my life without her. Though now . . . now I don't know how I feel about her, actually. I guess after a heart has been betrayed, it becomes hardened to the point where the person cannot feel certain emotions anymore. How could she have lied to me for all those years? After everything I did for her, she still never showed her true self to me. I feel like everything we had was pointless."

  "Are you saying you feel as though you can never love again?"

  Xair squeezed her hand. "I don't know."

  Naomi leaned closer to him then pressed her pink lips against his. They stayed there like that until she blushed and pulled back. "I'm sorry. You just looked so sad."

  "No, it's okay. Thank you for your kindness, Naomi." Xair stood up then untied the belt around his purple silk robe. The robe slid off of his shoulders to the floor.

  Naomi looked over his body in the soft candlelight. "Xair . . . I . . . I've never been with a human before."

  "And I have never been with a centaur before. But I am willing to try if you are."

  Naomi stood then took him in her arms. "I would love to. You know that. But not tonight. You are in no state to be making these kinds of decisions for yourself. You have been through so much lately and you are far from being fully recovered." She ran her fingers over his velvety purple wings. "I think it's best if we remain friends for now, okay? And once you confront Amari, or Astrinalix, then you can have the closure you need. I will be right here waiting for you if you decide to move on from her. However, tonight you need to rest. I love you, Xair."

  "I love you, Naomi. Thank you."

  * * *

  Shane glided in his ball of pink hazy light down to the riverbank lined with birch trees then landed on the shoulder of Doran's leather jacket. He let his light fade before leaning against the large man's neck. "Hey, Doran."

  Doran finished off a bottle of wine then tossed it into the river. "Go away, faerie. I'm not in the mood to deal with you."

  "Hmm. From what I've been told about you, you were supposed to have stopped drinking."

  Doran picked Shane up by his clear wings then held him in front of his face. His white vampire fangs glinted in the starlight as he frowned at him. "What would you do if you were in my position? My son and the angel I care about like family have both left me to join Carvael of all people. I stopped drinking so I couldn't hurt Jaylen anymore, but little good that did. I drove him away so far that he felt the need to change sides."

  Shane pushed his long brown dreadlocks behind his shoulders and sighed. "How can you be so sure it's your fault?"

  "Because I know my son. He runs from things he hates rather than confronting them directly. I'm not saying Jaylen's a coward, but he tries to ignore his problems. Then they fester and build until there's nothing anyone can do to save him from them. I wish he was still here so we could talk this over. I could make him listen to me."

  "I'm not so sure that force is the best way to communicate with him."

  "I'm not saying I'd hurt the boy or anything. That's not who I am anymore. Shane, do you know much about chained spirits?"

  Shane shrugged his tanned shoulders. "Of course. They are demons who manifest after death with their souls forever connected to a living person's soul. They cannot find eternal rest until they fulfill whatever it is that is holding them back from that peace."

  "Along with being a vampire, I am a chained spirit of regret. I'll give you two guesses who I'm chained to."

  "Jaylen."

  "Precisely. I have been in the background this entire time, letting him do as he wished, and waiting until I could make my move and say the exact right things to garner his forgiveness. That's all I want, Shane. I want my son to forgive me for all I put him through as a child. I remember the day he was born. I arrived late, after Corina had given birth without me. Zeriel had helped her deliver Jaylen. He was great, but I felt so bad for missing it. I had been at the tavern drinking and gambling all the money Corina had saved for Jaylen's nursery. I lost every copper piece. Jaylen came into this world without even a blanket for himself. But then Zeriel placed him in my arms and he smiled at me. He smiled. Despite me being the worst father on the planet, that tiny blue-eyed baby smiled at me. Those tiny fists latched onto my fingers and wouldn't let go. I swore to Jaylen in that moment that I would do better, that I would be the father he needed me to be. I swore that I would stop drinking and I would give him everything he would ever need."

  Shane hovered in the air as he watched the sadness spread over Doran's face. "You did what you could."

  Doran shook his head. "But I didn't. You don't know even half of what happened. It's all my fault. I got drunk so often because I hated who I had become, and I took it out on Jaylen. He was only two weeks old when I first left a bruise on him. I felt like a monster, but then I drank more to forget about it. That only led to me hurting him more. Something inside of me altered the way I saw him. No longer was he my tiny baby with the big eyes who smiled at me. No. He became a mocking symbol of how much I had failed. Every time he cried from hunger because I lost all my money in a card game and couldn't buy milk, or whenever he was sick from being in a cold house because I neglected to chop firewood, all I could think of was how much I was failing him. Then one night when Jaylen was five, I went to kiss Corina, but it wasn't her in my bed. It was Jaylen. I was so drunk that I didn't care. I kept going until Corina found us and she slapped me until I let him go. I thank Sola every day that she stopped it when she did. But that wouldn't be the end of it. That continued for years."

  "Why would you do that to your son?" Shane asked.

  "Honestly? I don't know. I felt dirty and evil, but controlling Jaylen meant keeping him from ruining my life. It was twisted and wrong to think that way about a child, but that's how I viewed it. By the time I had to leave with Zeriel to fight in the Eight Night War, I had his death all planned out. I was going to return from the battlefield then strangle him in his sleep. Want to know the awful thing? I had already built Jaylen's coffin and kept it hidden underneath his bed. But I never got the chance to kill him."

  "Because Zeriel killed you for no reason."

  "That's a lie too. I deserved it. I don't know where you have learned all these false things about Zeriel, but they are just that. False. Zeriel is a pure soul, one of caring and love beyond what I've seen in any man. I betrayed that trust. I was his paladin, but I harmed him. He retaliated to defend himself, which any man would have done. And I'm glad he did it."

  Shane picked up a blade of fresh grass then took it to the river where he found a drop of dew on an exposed rock. He picked up the dewdrop on the grass then carried it back to Doran's shoulder where he sat and sipped on it. "Then how were you going to attempt to make amends with Jaylen?"

  Doran reached into his shirt and held up an emerald sun sigil pendant on a golden chain. "This emerald contains his dead wife's soul. I found it after I followed him to Xair's execution. He threw it away in his anguish, but I retrieved it after Carvael took him away. I've been speaking with Kato when she gathers enough energy to do so."

  "See? You're a good father after all."

  Doran scoffed then retrieved another bottle of wine from his pack. "No. I'm simply a father who is doing everything in his power to gain forgiveness . . . forgiveness that I
will never deserve."

  * * *

  Day Two: Night

  Calchedona Wheat Fields Mass Grave, Calchedona, Vilyron

  Remnants of Eternal Eclipse Invasion Force (Disavowed)

  Jaylen slowly awakened to a cramping pain in his stomach, a sticky liquid that had pasted his tunic to his skin, cold snowflakes landing on his face, and someone's suffering groaning nearby. His eyes were stinging and he found it difficult to draw a full breath, but he rolled over on the cold dirt to stare up at the cloudy night sky. A few stars peaked through the veil of snow clouds only to be suffocated again as the storm front engulfed them. Jaylen wiped the dirt from his face then gathered the energy he needed to sit up against the side of what appeared to be a trench dug in the dirt of the wheat field. A lantern was burning a few feet away from his foot near a few pieces of his armor that had been removed somehow.

  His armor was filthy. Streaks of blood and soot covered the white dragon scales. A large hole showed the path Carvael's golden sword took as it penetrated the breastplate and exited in the back. Jaylen reached down to unbuckle the armor that was still in place around his legs, but stopped when he noticed the blood. Massive amounts of blood had gathered around his knees and clotted there. His hand then traveled up to his waist then his stomach where he stopped. Black feathers had been woven together and placed inside the deep wound in an attempt to stop the bleeding. Jaylen's fingertips danced over the soft feathers that were matted with sweat and blood. He knew those feathers. Zeriel.

  The tortured moaning grew even louder and constant to his left, so Jaylen started crawling that way. His hand touched the cold face of a deceased Ka'taylin and he vomited, but only blood came out. He was weak and the world was spinning, but he continued crawling towards the sound. Someone was alive in all of this and he made it his mission to find out who it was. More corpses had been discarded here in this trench like some kind of crude mass grave. Then it hit him. Jaylen had been thrown away and left to die. This was his grave.