by Ella Summers
“No.”
Angels didn’t get to choose the person they married, the person with whom they had children. That was all arranged by the Legion and their tests— tests that predicted which pairings were most likely to produce offspring with the greatest potential to later become angels. I’d never really thought about what would happen when the Legion found Nero a magically-compatible soldier.
Ok, let’s cut the bullshit for a moment. I had not wanted to think about it. And nothing had changed. I still didn’t want to think about it.
I pointed at another game that involved hitting blinking lights with a toy foam sword. “How about that one?”
He looked offended at the suggestion.
“How else will you impress me with your manly prowess?” I teased him.
“I have better ways of doing that.” The look in his eyes was dangerous.
I was saved by the bell. Or, more accurately, saved by the Bella.
“Leda,” she said, giving me a very ladylike wave. It was the wave of a queen.
As always, my sister’s hair and makeup were flawless. Her blue silk summer dress was perfectly ironed. Her silver sandals were spotless. Considering the dusty state of the streets, that was a feat only explainable by magic. But despite her put-together appearance, she was obviously completely unraveled. She had a rattled, nervous look in her eyes.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, embracing her.
I hadn’t seen Bella since our lunch date in the city a few weeks ago, but she’d seemed fine then.
“I need to speak to you. Alone,” she added.
“I know what happened,” Nero said.
Surprise flashed across her face—surprise and betrayal. “Harker told you?”
“No, your thoughts did,” he replied. “They are screaming it out. You are fortunate there are no other telepaths in town right now.”
Bella paled.
“What’s going on, Bella? Did you and Harker…” A smirk curling my lips, I allowed the unspoken implication to hang in the air between us.
“Oh, gods, Leda, no! Nothing like that.”
The color returned to her face with a vengeance. That was one impressive blush. So she must have really liked Harker. Interesting. I made a mental note to tease her more about that later.
“Bella!” Gin called out with glee, running through the crowd. She gave our sister a big hug.
Calli and Tessa weren’t far behind.
“Why is Bella blushing?” Tessa asked.
Which, of course, only made Bella blush more.
Nero looked at her, then at me. “Come with me.” He started walking.
Bella, Calli, and I walked behind him. Gin and Tessa moved into line behind us.
“Do you think he means all of us?” Gin whispered to Tessa as we followed Nero past the festival grounds.
“Gods, I hope so.”
“Tessa, stop staring at my boyfriend’s ass,” I warned her.
“What makes you think I’m staring at his ass? You can’t even see me,” she said, her voice defiant.
“I know you. And I have eyes in the back of my head.”
“That’s not one of the gods’ gifts.”
“What can I say? I’m special.”
“You sure are special.”
I glanced back at her “Watch it, missy. If you’re not nice, I’ll curse you with pimples.”
“Mom! Leda’s threatening me with mortal harm!” Tessa cried out.
“Since when are pimples considered mortal harm?” I asked Calli.
“When you’re eighteen, everything is a matter of life and death,” she replied wisely.
We’d reached the Legion office in Purgatory. A towering, sparkling skyscraper housed our New York City office, but out here we had only a single room tucked inside the Pilgrims’ temple of worship.
The Pilgrims were our counterpart. The Legion of Angels was the hand of the gods’ justice. The Pilgrims were the other part of the equation: the voice of the gods, of their teachings, their gospel. Their job was to spread the stories of the gods, of their great deeds and immortal triumphs.
Two Pilgrims stood outside the entrance, dressed in plain brown cotton robes. The moment they saw Nero, they both immediately swept into a low bow.
“General Windstriker, we’re honored by your visit,” said the Pilgrim on the left. “What can we do for you?”
“We require use of our room.” Nero didn’t slow down. He kept walking, right past them.
The Pilgrim who had spoken hurried to match pace beside him. The other stayed at his post.
“We are completely at your service of course.”
Though they served a divine purpose, the Pilgrims were not considered equal to the angels. The angels were as close to gods as you got on Earth. As we walked down the hall, Pilgrims were bowing left and right, over and over again, at Nero. They didn’t pay me or my family any mind—except for the chatty Pilgrim.
“Do you require use of the bigger jail cells downstairs, General?” he asked Nero, his gaze flickering briefly to me.
He seemed to remember me—and my ‘subversive’ nature—from my days living here, egging on the Pilgrims in the streets when they tried to sell me their religion. It was the clothes. Right now I was dressed like a civilian. When I was in uniform, the Pioneers didn’t see past the Legion paraphernalia. They didn’t see me. They saw only a soldier in the Legion of Angels.
Nero gave me a look that was cool and emotionless, but I’d learned to read the feelings beyond the chilled facade. He was laughing inside.
“Not just yet, but I will let you know if I need you to bring out the chains. Or the gag,” he told the Pilgrim, his face still completely blank.
He was getting me back for the cotton candy snapshot. I was sure of it.
Nero went over to a silent Pilgrim standing in the hall and handed him the fluffy pink bundle. The Pilgrim looked just as perplexed as Nero had when I’d given it to him.
The chatty Pilgrim bowed and left, stars in his eyes, so happy that an angel would ask anything of him. He was acting as though Nero had just done him the biggest favor in the world. I rolled my eyes.
Nero closed the door. As he turned around to face us, he caught the tail end of my eye-roll. He didn’t comment, and he didn’t have to. I knew that look. It was the look that said eye-rolling was not becoming of a soldier in the gods’ army.
But now was not the time to debate propriety. I had to know what was bothering Bella—and whether there was anything I could do to help her. Now that the door was closed, at least we had some privacy.
I turned to her and asked, “What’s going on? Why all the secrecy?”
Bella took in a deep breath, and then it all spilled out at once. “I found out where I come from. I am the daughter of the former first dark angel and granddaughter of Valerian, the Dark Lord of Witchcraft, one of the ruling demons of hell.”
4
Silver Platter
Bella’s revelation surprised me so much that it was a moment before I could speak. “The granddaughter of the Dark Lord of Witchcraft? That certainly explains your magic. I’ve never met a more natural witch.”
When the gods had come to Earth, they’d not only given us the gift of monsters. They’d also given us magic. The seven ruling gods created the seven groups of supernaturals: shifters, elementals, telekinetics, vampires, sirens, witches, and fairies. Each god had a specialty, a magical strength that they bestowed upon humanity. For example, the God of Nature made elementals, and the God of Faith made vampires.
Each supernatural group prayed to their patron gods and gave them offerings in thanks for their magic, but the gods never responded. It was not a conversation; it was a monologue, a poem of praise to the deities of heaven. The gods existed on a whole other level, high above humanity. There weren’t even many Legion soldiers who’d met a god.
The demons were the flip side. On worlds where they reigned, the seven ruling demons had created their own seven groups of superna
turals, the dark magic equivalents to the shifters, elementals, telekinetics, vampires, sirens, witches, and fairies.
And then there were the super soldiers, the gods’ and demons’ armies: the Legion of Angels and its equivalent, the Dark Force of Hell. A Legion or Dark Force soldier drank directly from the source of magic, the food of gods or demons.
As the granddaughter of a demon, Bella was also close to the source. That meant her magic was much more potent than that of a normal dark witch.
“How did you find out about this?” I asked Bella.
“There was an incident of dark magic at the university,” she said. “The Legion suspected there was a demon-worshipper there. Harker came to investigate, and he asked for my help in identifying the culprit. I didn’t know the investigation would lead back to me, that the source of my magic is the demon blood inside of me. When we discovered it, Harker covered it up.”
Good for him.
“Lately, the Legion has been cracking down hard on dark magic,” I commented.
“It’s the gods,” Nero said. “After recent events, they’ve grown concerned that the demons are looking for a way back to Earth. They believe exterminating dark magic would wipe out all the demons’ followers and therefore their influence on Earth.”
“That’s like killing a fly with a flame thrower. You kill a lot of innocents too,” I protested. “Bella didn’t even know about her origin. And she is the last person on Earth who would ever try to take over the world.”
“That’s the problem with these sorts of policies,” Nero said. “But the gods consider those acceptable losses. They don’t like dark magic. They never have. Every few decades, they push the Legion to conduct a dark magic purge.”
Nero’s father Damiel had been the victim of one of those purges. And he was an archangel, the highest order of angel too. No one was safe. No one was above extermination.
No, we’re really not, Nero spoke in my mind.
Well, they wouldn’t be getting my sister. She wasn’t going to be a casualty of their latest purge. No way, no how.
“We’re here for you,” I told Bella, setting my hand on hers. “No matter what.”
Gin set her hand over mine. “Always.”
“And forever,” Tessa said, adding her hand to the stack.
Calli was the practical one, less romantic than the rest of us. She said to Bella, straight to the point, “I’ll put a bullet in anyone who tries to hurt my girl.” Then she set her hand on top.
“I love you all,” Tearing up, Bella pulled us all into a big family hug.
“You’re going to have to hide your dark magic,” I said to Bella when we all finally stepped back.
“I’m not sure how.” Her voice was uncertain, frightened.
“How is dark magic identified? Through blood tests?” I asked Nero.
The Legion took regular blood samples from its soldiers. They were primarily used for tracking our magical development and for making matches, for marrying angels to other soldiers. But I wouldn’t have been surprised if the Legion was using them to track us in other ways.
“We haven’t figured out how to identify light and dark magic through blood tests,” Nero told me. “Some powerful dark or light spells leave an imprint, though. An echo. Those can be tracked to a location, but they are not so easily linked to a person.”
“That’s what happened at the university,” said Bella. “While studying for my exams, I cast a powerful spell, and since my magic is apparently dark, it was detected.”
“Only use spells that don’t leave an imprint,” Nero said to her. “And if at all possible, do not use your magic around angels or gods. Light and dark magic can sometimes be felt by powerful magic users. It’s just a feeling, very hard to quantify and almost impossible to track. You need to be especially wary of angels.”
“Well, being wary of angels is just good common sense anyway,” I said, smirking.
“Of which you possess none,” he retorted.
I winked at him. “Don’t flirt with me in public, honey. It’s unbecoming of a Legion soldier.”
He froze, the look on his face absolutely priceless. But it was gone almost instantly, and a dangerous, predatory smile slowly curled back his lips. Oh, I was really in for it now. Our next training session was going to be hell on Earth.
I looked at Bella. “What does Harker know about your origin?”
“Everything,” she sighed.
“I’m hurt. How is it your boyfriend knows before we do?” I teased her.
She frowned. “Firstly, Harker is not my boyfriend.”
I nodded. “Which is why you blush every time someone says his name.”
Her cheeks went red.
“Yep, just like that,” I told her.
Bella cleared her throat. “Secondly, there was no way around Harker finding out. He was right there when Valerian put me into some kind of trance. Harker drank my blood to link us together, to see what I saw so he could pull me out of the trance. And he healed me with his blood.”
“You exchanged blood?”
“Yes.”
“There will be consequences of exchanging blood with an angel,” I warned her.
“I am not an angel or a Legion soldier, so there should be no lasting effects. I researched the topic thoroughly afterwards.”
Of course she had. Bella researched everything. It was one of the reasons she was so smart. But books didn’t know everything, and now I had to break the bad news.
“When your books promised no lasting effects, they were referring to mortals or typical supernaturals who’d exchanged blood with an angel,” I said. “But you are neither mortal, nor are you a normal witch. You are the daughter of a dark angel and the granddaughter of a demon. Your well of magic is deep, your potential power enormous. Take, for example, the Legion brats, the children of angels. The laws of magic work somewhat differently in them. You have immortal blood, Bella. This blood exchange will have consequences.”
She mulled that over for a moment. “You have a point.” She didn’t look happy about it.
“You’d better get used to Harker hanging around,” I teased. “He might even show up in your dreams.”
Bella stiffened. “He wouldn’t dare.”
“Of course he would. He’s an angel.”
“Leda is right,” Nero said.
“Three words I always love to hear,” I told him with a grin. No, I hadn’t teased him enough for one day. After all, once you were damned anyway, you might as well have fun and really deserve it.
Gold and silver sparks lit up his eyes. “I’ve heard more humility from angels,” he said seriously.
“I…um…crap!” I hissed. Seriously, nothing came to me. No snappy comebacks, no snark, no sass, nothing.
“I’ll give you some time to work on that,” Nero told me without a shred of sympathy. Then he looked at Bella. “For better or for worse, you and Harker have a connection now. This isn’t something you can just wash away.”
“I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it,” she declared.
She tried to appear strong and logical, but she was obviously concerned about the consequences of the blood exchange. I completely understood. I’d been surprised by the effects of my blood exchange with Nero, but I’d come to appreciate its benefits. If we’d exchanged blood recently, we could track each other easily, even over great distances. And it allowed us to link our magic powers. And, well, our connection made for some pretty awesome sex too.
“Is there a way to mask my dark magic so angels and gods don’t sense it?” Bella asked Nero.
“Yes, but it will take practice.” Nero also possessed a bit of dark magic mixed in with all his light magic. He hid it well.
“Harker can teach you,” Nero told Bella. “He is a very good magic Tracker. If you can hide your magic from him, you can hide it from almost anyone.”
Calli looked at me, concern crinkling her brow. “Do the gods know about your mixed magic?”
She was
referring to my balance of light and dark magic, both existing in complete harmony inside of me. According to the gods, such a thing was impossible, not to mention sacrilege. It was a threat to their ‘pure’ magic. I was pretty sure they considered mixed magic even worse than plain old dark magic.
I exchanged glances with Nero. “We think at least one of the gods might know about me,” I told Calli. “And that this god might have been the one to lace my Nectar with Venom once.”
“Your magic has grown too powerful to go undetected,” Nero told me. “Like your sister, you should practice masking your dark magic when any angel or god we don’t trust is around.”
“To be honest, I’m not sure that I trust any of the gods.”
Nero nodded in approval. “Good.”
“Do you think Harker has any time in his busy schedule to train me?” I asked him, an expression of perfect innocence on my face.
“I will train you, Pandora.”
It was just too fun to tease him.
Calli sighed. “My special kids sure don’t make it easy to keep them safe.”
“Hey, how is it hard to keep me safe?” Tessa protested.
“Well, for one, you’re always chasing after paranormal soldiers,” said Calli.
“They’re harmless,” Tessa replied with a dismissive flick of her hand.
“Until the day you chase them out of town.”
“The paranormal soldiers are all good and fun, but I’m saving my heart for an angel.” Tessa gave Nero a demure look.
I rolled my eyes.
“Know any single angels?” Tessa asked him.
“None you want to give your heart to. They would serve it back to you on a silver platter.”
Tessa giggled.
“I was not joking.”
But Tessa looked unconvinced.
“Speaking of silver platters, who’s in the mood for dinner?” I asked, my tummy rumbling for only the hundredth time this evening.
Gin’s hand shot in the air. “Famished.”
“Working always makes me hungry,” Tessa agreed.
“Good,” I told them. “Because today we’re all going to dinner at the fanciest restaurant in town.”