Daimonion (The Apocalypse Book 1)
Page 29
Jenae’s grimoire was—is encased in a pillar of glass on the opposite side of the room. It too has given my mistress much difficulty being separated from its owner. Occasionally, the book will flutter about within its enclosure, attempting to find a way to be closer to Jenae.
Every now and then, the girl had—will have moments of lucidity.
Dirty hair hangs unkempt and matted, covering most of her face. The white gown that Aradia has put her into is soiled and filthy.
Cages line the periphery of the room, and the guests contained within make—have made various assortments of disturbing noises and outlandish requests.
“Quit taunting the girl, Watcher. She is drained. If you don’t tend to her wounds soon, she will die,” says the pudgy old woman whose cheeks are always ruddy and who smelled of jasmine and vanilla. She has been here the longest. “You let me out. Please, let me help her.” Her accent is thick and old-world.
“Quiet, Healer, your talents are not—have not been requested.”
Jenae swings her head towards me and glares even though her eyes hold no irises or pupils. She should not—cannot see. She smiles wickedly, and it sends a shiver through me when she speaks.
“I see a winged demon and an angel. I see my sister, Kasadya Cerys, all in white. She aids them in their quest to beat back the beast and—” She copies me word for word, and then she finishes. “The demon who found freedom shall heal his soul. His companion, an angel made from demon flesh, shall best you all.”
About the Author
Author Bio: J.P. Jackson is an IT Analyst by day working in the health industry, but at night, when the monsters come out, he writes. Demons, shape-shifters, and a host of non-human entities converge around the computer as disturbing tales are shared and recorded.
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Other books by this author
A Tended Garden (Into the Mystic Anthology, Coming Soon)
Coming soon from J.P. Jackson
Nephalem
Books of the Apocalypse, Book Two
Excerpt
Into The Light
DATI
It took hours to stumble down the side of the mountain in the dark, putting as much distance as possible between us and the destruction we had played a part in creating.
We climbed into the van that had brought us here days earlier with Hemming taking the passenger side, his head wrapped in strips of clothing. The blood steadily dripped from his head wound, but he would recover, eventually.
The vehicle seemed particularly empty with Jenae, Riken, and the Kasadya demon missing.
No one said anything. What could be said?
Caleb was distraught not having Jenae next to him, not to mention losing his brother. His emaciated frame shook with anger, his eyes red and puffy.
Alyx took the seat behind me, and as we pulled out of the forest, tree branches scraped the side of the van. Alyx laid his hand gently on my shoulder. It was an attempt at comfort.
Pulling onto the highway, I couldn’t help but think: Silenus is dead. I’m free.
The soul vial was tucked away in my pocket. I would never allow it to leave my possession, but now I had to find a way to mend the two pieces of my soul back together.
Most importantly, Alyx was still with me and, by all accounts, wanted to be as close to me as I did to him, despite the Incubus brand on my neck that marked me as his and forced us to be together.
It had been a long night, and we all wanted to be as far away from the mountain as possible. Even though Hemming and I were free from Silenus, we had a whole host of other problems now, the least of which would be healing Caleb.
Aradia and Silenus had known each other and, it would seem, had been rivals. The Kasadya had lured us into Aradia’s hands. Aradia had seen a way to free her sister Siofra, using Jenae and her Soul Door. But in return, she had stolen Jenae from us.
Somewhere in the mix, Riken had been taken as well, but something told me that his disappearance with the Kasadya meant that he had willingly chosen to go with them.
The sky was lightening as the sun began to rise, but despite the impending brightness, everything before us was just grey.
In the middle of the highway, a bright light shone, blinding us as it grew in intensity. At first, I thought it was another car, until we almost drove into it. I slammed on the van’s brakes and swerved the vehicle sideways. The van came to a halt with a lurch. Hemming smacked his head on the window beside him, then gave me a dirty look.
“Everyone okay?” I asked.
There were grunts of discontent, but no one had sustained any further injuries.
The light was still shining brightly as we got out of the van. It was as if someone had punctured the air in front of us and shone a floodlight through the hole.
A tiny ball of intense white light the size of a marble, at half my height, in midair, floated in the center of the road.
The four of us inspected it. Caleb, weak and unsteady, hung onto me for support. Hemming walked around the light and inspected it from the other side.
“There’s no light here. I can see you, but you look as if you have a spotlight on you, but there’s nothing here.” Hemming walked back around to stand behind us. And then a familiar thing happened.
A delicate hand pushed forward from the center of the light. The appendage was covered in a fingerless white lace glove, followed by a large billowing white sleeve. The material was silky, shiny, and the cuff was over-exaggerated and trimmed in pure white fluffy feathers.
In unison, we took a step back.
From within the light, an arm with ornate clothes appeared, followed by a shoulder, until a small-framed delicate young woman stood before us.
The elaborate sleeve was part of a well-tailored and tight-fitting jacket that had a massive stiff collar, also trimmed in feathers. The girl’s bobbed platinum hair was streaked with white highlights; the ends were tipped in pink.
A black tattoo seemed out of place jutting out from under her lace-trimmed blouse. It ended in a strange hieroglyph just under her ear, which was pierced multiple times, each hole occupied by silver hoops of descending sizes.
I knew exactly what she was. We had another Kasadya on our hands.
“My name is Cerys,” she said cheerfully but succinctly. “It took you long enough to get here. But now that I did—will have, you came—you’re going to have to come with me.”
“We are done dealing with the likes of you, Kasadya,” I said.
“I’m watching—have seen what you’ve been doing. The whole lot of you have really screwed things up. And so now, you’re going to help—have helped me restore some balance,” she said authoritatively.
Her voice was perky. She was determined and straight to the point, but her gaze bounced back and forth, evaluating each of us, seeing the various timelines and the options that lay ahead of us.
When she stopped evaluating, she took two steps forward, placing herself in the middle of our mob of demons.
Another blinding white light surrounded us.
It was warm.
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