by Lola StVil
Aaden Case is giving me his Rah.
“Aaden, you can tell me anything, anything at all,” I encourage as I suppress a goofy smile.
“Pryor…”
“Yes?”
Here it comes…
“I can’t be with you.”
“What?”
“When I was growing up, I only had my dad, and I felt so incomplete. I would daydream about what it would be like to be raised by two parents. I longed for it in ways I can’t even begin to explain. Growing up with only one parent, I was always searching for something, something that kept eluding me. And it was painful, Pry.
“I don’t know a lot about being a dad. I’m scared to death that I’m gonna screw it up. But one thing I know for sure is that I have to put my daughter first. And maybe Diana and I being together won’t work out. Maybe it’s the stupidest idea in the world, but when my little girl asks me why her parents aren’t together, I need to be able to look into her eyes and say that I tried.
“I have wanted you all my life; now I have to walk away, and it’s killing me, baby. Please believe that. But I can’t let my child suffer like I did; I won’t. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,” he concludes.
I gasp as if someone has just thrown a Powerball right into my midsection. I don’t realize I’m shaking until Aaden puts his jacket around me.
“Pryor, what can I do? How can I make it better?” he begs.
“Go,” I manage to say.
“Pry…”
“GO!”
He hesitates, but then takes off into the sky. I stay on the rock and wait for the shaking to stop. I wait for the hurt to come to an end. The cave laughs at me; it has been around for millions of years. It knows something I’m only just starting to learn. Heartbreak is not only inevitable, it’s eternal.
BOOK II
THE KON ( AKA: BEXINGTON )
“There is the heat of Love,
the pulsing rush of Longing,
the lover’s whisper, irresistible magic
makes the sanest man go mad…”
–Homer, The Iliad
Chapter Twenty-Two:
Compromised
When you take something away from someone, something that they love, it changes them. The change may not be immediate, but it is eternal. My little brother, Hunter, and I used to be close, as close as any two brothers could ever hope to be. Then I took something away from him and his love for me…ended.
It started back when we were kids. We lived in a drafty castle embedded on top of one of the tallest mountains in Stuttgart, Germany. Hunter and I would find ways to torture the staff who worked for us. We weren’t cruel, but we were mischievous and could drive even the most tolerant Para crazy.
Our parents would be visiting Paras on the other side of the world or having a meeting in the light and we would entertain ourselves. One of the ways we did that was by getting candy filled with temporary powers, called Snaps. We would down an entire bag and use it on the staff. Thanks to us, someone in the castle was always being frozen, growing extra limbs, or disappearing altogether.
We also had this thing about experimenting. We said that in addition to being Kons one day, we’d also be scientists. We loved experimenting on things to see how they worked. Hunter placed a mini Powerball inside a frog once to see what its insides looked like. When the frog exploded, it took the staff a full week to scrape all of its guts off the castle ceiling.
We were always trying to one-up each other, so when I saw him explore the inner workings of a frog, I knew I needed to go bigger. I placed a flame-flavored Snap in the mouth of a squirrel because I wanted to give it firepower. It didn’t work, but it did make the creature dance like it was drunk and then puke everywhere, including on my father’s throne.
If the staff would catch one of us, we’d yell out to the other, “Save yourself!” and the one that was yet to be captured would run into the forest. When the staff did actually catch Hunter and me, we would talk our way out of any major trouble. I would somehow find a way to explain my actions (usually saying it would help humanity), and Hunter would always say he did what he did “in the name of science.” The staff would laugh and vow the next time we broke the rules, we would get in real trouble.
Hunter and I were so close. I remember us entering the castle, excited to tell our father our perfect plan. We burst into the throne room and leaped into his lap. He smiled broadly and asked what had made his sons so happy.
“We have a plan, Dad!” I said.
“What is this plan, Bex?” he asked.
“We figured out a way for both of us to be the Kon when you step down,” Hunter said eagerly.
“How is it possible for a kingdom to be ruled by two different leaders?” my mom asked from her throne a few feet away.
“Bex is going to be the Kon in the morning. I will be Kon at night.”
“I see, and what about when you two have to go to bed?” she wondered.
“Then everyone goes to sleep too,” I replied.
“Your sons are so smart!” my mom said, trying to hide her smile.
“Of course they’re smart, they are my sons!”
“Daddy, you like our plan?” Hunter asked.
“It’s a wonderful plan! I’ll tell the staff,” my father said.
I was about six years old then; Hunter was four. I really thought we were geniuses for our “two Kon” plan. A year later I overheard my mom and dad talking. He told her that while he loved us, he wondered if we had it in us to lead the Para world. He considered staying on as Kon longer because we weren’t anywhere near ready.
Although Hunter was younger than me, he took the news better than I did. I wanted my father to think me worthy of the throne. And even though all I had to do was wait a few years, I wanted his approval right away. That meant I would have to do something brave and daring. Something only a Kon could do. So, early one morning, I ran away from the castle in search of a demon. My plan was to defeat him and drag him back to the castle to show my father.
I came across a group of demons in town. We had been trained to take on demons since birth, but we had yet to learn how to take on a crowd of them. So I wanted to run screaming. But I knew I could not because I was the future Kon; it was my job to stay and fight.
I don’t think the demons would have bothered to waste their time with me since I was just some kid. However, one of them recognized who I was and how valuable it would be to take me prisoner. He shared that with the mob of demons, and soon there were Powerballs coming at me from every direction.
When I saw the first Powerball headed towards me, I closed my eyes and waited for death to take me. But it never came. Someone had stood in the way of certain death—my father. The Powerball hit him in the face; he fell over.
I yelled for him to get up, but by then, the demons had ganged up on him and begun to beat him to death. By the time help came, my father was dead. The Omari hunted and killed every single demon involved with my father’s death. It did little to ease our pain.
My mother said she didn’t blame me. And I can’t say that she has ever treated me differently since I got her husband killed. But I can say there is a pause when she says “I love you.” That pause was put there by my carelessness.
Things between Hunter and me changed after that day. I would forever be the Para who took his father away from him. He hated me in ways I could never have imagined. He tried to sabotage me any way he could. I begged him for forgiveness and reminded him that I loved our father too. But it was no use; Hunter would never forgive me for what I had taken from him.
The death of my father made me grow up quickly. The very next week I added extra hours of training to my schedule. I made it my mission to excel in combat, defensive flying, and advanced Omari training.
While losing my father made me more focused, it did the opposite for Hunter. He was free-falling and managed to get himself into all kinds of trouble. He routinely started fights, disappeared for weeks at a time, and immersed hi
mself in the drug scene.
He didn’t want anything to do with the Para world. The loss of my father made it painful for him to stay around. It was only when Malakaro resurfaced that Hunter got in touch with us. He feared that something had happened to our mother. When he found out she got stuck in the light along with the other Guardians, he came by the castle.
We had not seen each other in years. Yet when he entered the throne room, we did not embrace. There were just too many issues between us. He did, however, tell me that he would be on the lookout for a way to defeat Malakaro, so that when our mother came back from the light, she would be safe.
That was a year ago. I have not heard from him since then. That is, until the night he came to pick up my ex-girlfriend at Pryor’s house. I can’t tell you how shocked I was to see the two of them together. I know Hunter likes to hurt me, but this is taking it too far.
Honestly, if he really liked Key, I would learn to be okay with it. But Hunter is obsessed with trying to get back at me for our dad’s death. I don’t want him to use Key in his vendetta.
I’ve been trying to talk to Key. I’ve called her to apologize for the argument we had before the ball. I think she could hear just how dejected I was after having to face the families of the angels who died. And while we aren’t best friends, we’re now on speaking terms, and I’m grateful for that.
Unfortunately, Key isn’t the only issue I’m facing. Malakaro has only grown stronger in the past few months, and if we do not find a way to stop him, it will mean the end of life as we know it. To make matters far more complicated, I’m at war with my greatest enemy: myself. The war started the day I laid eyes on Pryor Reese Cane.
The daughter of the first Guardian was impulsive, overly confident, and a huge pain in the ass. We had training sessions together, and she was always doing things without thinking them through. She took action too quickly and was also known for losing her temper. However, there were other things about Pryor that I noticed: things that would endear her to me for the rest of my life.
Pryor Cane is the epitome of loyal. When we simulated missions in class, she would never leave any team member behind even if it meant she would fail the task at hand. She was also passionate about people, no matter who they were. When she felt one of our instructors was being unfair to Easton because he was only half angel, she got in his face. When the instructor threatened to suspend her from class, she staged a walkout. She made so much noise about it, the instructor went up for review and was fired soon after.
Yet the most amazing thing about Pry isn’t her strength. It’s her heart. I have never met anyone, angel or otherwise, who has a heart as pure as Pryor’s. Some take her genuine need to help everyone as a weakness, but it isn’t. It is actually her greatest strength.
Pryor believes everyone is worth fighting for, no matter what. She fights with the same vigor when saving a total stranger as she would her team members. She is small framed and has no real height to speak of, yet she is the strongest being I know. I have tried to keep my feelings for her at bay, but that has failed. No matter what I do, Pryor is in my blood.
I see her eyes inside my head when I’m supposed to be focusing on my people. I bolt to the other side of the world if I know she will be there just so I can get a glimpse of her. If there is a chance that she might place her hand on mine, even in passing, I am filled with anticipation. When she kicked me off the team, I understood why, but that didn’t make leaving any easier.
When she left the team over a year ago and went to human school, I was happy. I thought once she was gone, I could focus again. I was so wrong. The more I didn’t see her, the more desperate I became. I would stalk her on Earth. I’d look out for her and make sure she was safe.
I did that for months, but then I had to take hold of myself and remember that I am not a schoolboy. I am a Kon, and focus is mandatory. So I stopped coming to Earth. And when I did come here, it was to the castle and not to New York City.
I also focused on being a better boyfriend to Key. She is amazing, smart, and skilled. She deserved my attention, and I felt like a complete jerk all the times that my mind drifted off and thought about Pry.
As crazy as it sounds, I’m glad I finally told her that I love her. It’s been a secret for far too long. When I was telling her how I felt, I swear if I had a heart, it would have been leaping straight out of my chest. I wanted her to say she felt the same way, but she just kept saying she had a life with Silver.
So what?
That’s like saying you’re already sick so why go to the doctor? Don’t get me wrong, I’m certainly not the greatest guy in the world, but I can damn sure do better than the half demon. How could he take off and leave her? How could he have a kid with someone else? And why is she so okay with everything he does? When will Silver be held accountable?
“I wonder what my dear brother is lamenting,” Hunter says as he enters the throne room.
“How can you ask that after all that we’ve lost in these past few days?” I reply.
“Which loss are you talking about? Do you mean Malakaro? Our mother or Edwin?”
“Our mother isn’t lost. She’s in the light, and that won’t be forever. As far as Edwin goes, it’s your fault he’s gone,” I remind him.
“You always have a funny way of recalling things, Bex. You like to remember the parts that suit you instead of what really happened,” Hunter counters.
“What really happened is that you entered a forbidden territory and got an Omari killed when they had to come to your rescue.”
“I had it handled. You shouldn’t have sent the team in. Edwin died needlessly. You had no faith in me; you never did. All my life you have doubted me. I was never enough for big brother.”
“I supported every crazy whim and stupid idea you ever had. I tried to keep you safe from yourself.”
“I never needed you to keep me safe. What I needed was my father. But he wasn’t around, was he? No! He wasn’t around because you got him killed. The same way you got Edwin killed by sending him in after me. And the same way you got Paras killed at the ball. Why do angels keep dying around you, Bex?”
“I have other places to invest my time. I am not going to argue with you. Why don’t you do what you do best and go away?”
“I have been guilty of fleeing in the past, I admit. But I’m back now, and I see that I am needed more than ever.”
“And why is that?”
“It’s simple. You need me to replace the backbone you lost when you decided to fall in love with the sister of the evil you want to kill.”
“You have no idea what you’re talking about, and I warn you, I am low on patience.”
“I’m not here to test your patience. I’m here to help you. I told you that I would keep a lookout for a way to kill Malakaro, and I have found it.”
“You what? Are you playing games with me?”
“There’s a Healer friend of mine who has a less than spotless record and therefore could not be hired by your staff to work for you—officially.”
“In other words, you’re conspiring with a demon who makes mixtures to harm others,” I reply.
“If you want to be blunt. He has been working for me for some time now. I fund his research. It’s called the Freedom Project, and I must say I am very proud of how far he has gotten in such a short time.”
“And what results has this ‘Freedom Project’ yielded?” I push.
“We may have found the ultimate weapon against Malakaro. Something that will eliminate him once and for all.”
“What is it? Tell me!”
“It’s a liquid-based capsule called Void. We are only days away from perfecting it. But I have run out of money. So I’m hoping you can fix that for me.”
“If the capsule can do what you say it can, I will give you whatever you need.”
“Perfect! For once you and I are on the same side. I would love my Healers to have access to the laboratory in the castle. Your equipment is far superior to
ours.”
“Certainly.”
“Thank you,” he says.
“Hunter, does that mean you’re here to stay?”
“For now. Is that a problem?”
“No. The time has come for us to move on from the past.”
“I wouldn’t go that far, Bex.”
“Fine, but I am grateful for your help.”
He nods and starts to walk off, but I get a strange feeling. It’s like the feeling you get when you enter the room and you instinctively know that you are not alone.
“Hunter, what’s in the capsule?” I call out.
“Oh, you know, the usual: blood, guts, and feathers,” he jokes.
“Hunter, stop walking,” I demand.
He turns around and faces me. I can’t read his expression, which is a red flag in itself. I get up from the throne and walk towards him. I study his face and think back to the little boy who was hiding a frog behind his back.
“Hunter, I will find out what’s in the capsule, since all mixtures created in this castle need approval from me. So spare us both the hassle and tell me what’s in the capsule,” I order.
He reluctantly spouts off a list of herbs and tonics. Most of them I have heard of, and while they are powerful, they are not suspicious like I thought they would be. That is until he names the last item on the list.
“And a small, tiny hint of…cobalt powder.”
“Are you out of your fucking mind?” I rage.
“Wait, just hear me out!”
“Guards, leave us!” I shout.
The angels at the door exchange a look and leave us alone. I force myself to lower my voice, knowing this kind of conversation should not be broadcast.
“Cobalt powder doesn’t affect one being, it affects an entire species. You put that powder into the capsule and Malakaro dies along with every other Noru member!” I reply between clenched teeth.
“We think we may have found a way to minimize the effects of the powder on the others.”
“You think? Hunter, even if we were to somehow get Malakaro to ingest this capsule, we can’t take a chance it would kill the others.”