"Bringing a souvenir from the night market?" I asked picking up a green section of material that was twisted around both April's and Malachi's feet.
"Where are we? How did you get here?" Malachi stood up and looked around at the garden that surrounded us. "More importantly, how did we get here?" He turned to April for an answer, and then to me. "The last thing I remember was running through drying panels of material, and?" his eyes shifted back to April, "almost losing you."
April shook her head as if trying to get rid of the memory. "You were the one leading the way." She huffed. "I thought you knew where you were going." April stomped in front of him as she threw to the ground a small pink section of the material they brought with them. "And more importantly what about Edan following us-they seem to pass through portals?"
Malachi gently cupped his hands around April's cheeks as a look of surprise filled her eyes. "Are you alright?" He asked softly with concern.
April didn't reply at first, and then nodded. "Yeah," she said.
Slowly Malachi removed his hands from April, and slipped his hand into hers. April had a mixed expression of shock and contentment. Nessa and I watched as she nudged me with her elbow and smiled. We watched the spectacle without word.
"It isn't what you think, Nessa," Malachi said, glancing over at us. "We found the woman-the gypsy woman-the one that completed April's hexmark."
I looked at April's intricate hexmark. "It's a strong one, and I've never seen before."
"The gypsy woman said you were both in a safer place and," he shook his head. "I think?"
"Ezra helped us," April finished what Malachi had trouble with.
I looked at her, at her eyes trying to find a hint of Ezra, but she wasn't there.
"So this is Shangri-La?" Malachi asked looking around. "So how did you guys get here?"
"By an angel that lives here," I said, pulling my eyes from April's. "She was looking for us and was the one we tracked to the portal in Iethia. She's an earth angel, and she saved us from two demons at the market." Malachi raked his fingers through his wet hair. "They are gaining strength, but have no more serum. That is what they were looking for."
Suddenly the portal that was nestled between the tall shrubs, began to glow and hum with someone passing through it. We stepped back as Malachi drew his dagger and glanced at me.
"Oh, and we had Ayil and her two sidekick angels that tried to capture us," said Malachi pointing his dagger towards the portal.
Not sure who to expect, I drew mine as well.
A translucent, white mist filled with flecks of gold, slowly thickened as a single form took shape.
"It looks like they're alone." I stepped closer to the portal knowing they would be a little disoriented at first.
Malachi joined me as the effects of the portal faded.
"It's Edan, the younger of the sidekicks." Malachi rushed up onto the platform and grabbed him, jerking him to the ground and shoving his dagger in his face.
"Why did you want us? What were you going to use us for?" He demanded.
"Get off of me you crazed baboon, or the demons will try to come through the portal!" Edan yelled slipping his legs out from Malachi just as the portal began to hum.
Edan said something under his breath that I couldn't understand and waved his hand in front of the portal. It stopped, dropping whoever was in there in a void-the dark places between portals.
"I had two of them practically gnawing at my heels as I chased you two idiots down the street. And now, we can't use this portal because it's infested with the little creatures." He shook his head as he gazed at the portal.
"You still didn't answer our question," I said, stepping up beside him. "What do you want with Malachi and April?"
Edan turned around with an arrogant gaze and smirked. "Well, let me ask you this. What are you going to do with a contained demon, more demons coming after her, and the serum meant to enhance monsters is now being consumed by demons, and they are gaining enough strength to come out of their shells. How are you going to handle that?"
Before I could answer this obnoxious angel, a voice answered for me.
"-with the help of an earth angel-that's how." Yolanda, the angel that brought Nessa and I here in her buggy at the night market, said standing under the shrub that had grown and was manicured into a tall arch. "This is our portal platform, or one of the many that are here. We control them, so, don't worry, when we get tired of you we'll shove you through one of them."
"Yolanda," April said with wide eyes as she stepped towards her. "What happened? I thought you were to come and take us to sanctuary," she stood in front of her, both nearly the same height, and stared into her eyes. "Ben's dead." She stated as if Yolanda was responsible.
Yolanda reached into her pocket and pulled out a cigarette, but before she could light it, April slapped it from her hand. "Ben's dead, and you should have helped us!" April's voice shook.
Yolanda studied April for a moment, and then smirked at her. "Feisty monster, aren't you." She picked the cigarette off the ground and lit it. "No, my dear, Ben should have stayed put in the safety of his house where I was to pick him up. Not travel all over Timbuctoo to woo you into marriage. So the way I see it, he took a risk and paid the price." She puffed smoke towards April who stood unaffected by it. Yolanda chuckled, finding it humorous and did it again.
I wasn't sure if April was going to attack Yolanda, or begin to cry. Malachi noticed, and pulled April away and whispered something in her ear. She nodded and lifted her eyes to me. There for a flicker of a second, were Ezra's dark eyes staring into mine. I wanted to hold her again, to talk to her again, but knew I couldn't. She was just letting me know she was here, and protecting us. Like a quickly approaching storm taking over a summer sky, Ezra was gone, and April gazed back with apprehension. She was unaware that Ezra had surfaced for just a moment.
"You are two in one now, half-baked." Yolanda stepped in front of April flicking her cigarette to the ground and crushed it out with a twist of her foot.
"What do you mean two in one?" Edan stepped beside Yolanda, and they both looked at April as Malachi shoved her behind him.
Yolanda sensed Ezra's presence even if it was for only a discreet second.
"Yolanda," I said, gently touching her on the shoulder. "We were going to discuss things back at your haven, weren't we?" I asked. "There is a great deal going on, and now with demons gaining strength, time is running short."
"Yes, I suppose we should get back, my husband is waiting for us, and he hates it when I take too long."
"Wait, wait, wait," Edan said, waving his hands in front of his face. "This is not only earth angel business; this is archangel business as well. We need to open a portal, and I know you have many, for my father and Ayil, his agent."
Yolanda glanced over her shoulder towards him. "The portals are sealed, and there's no one leaving or entering until things are secure. If you didn't want to risk getting trapped here, then you shouldn't have tagged along and wandered blindly into the portal. I can't help it if you archangels aren't in touch with the reality of the realms and expect us to bend at your screw-ups."
"Excuse me?" Edan caught Yolanda's shoulder. "Archangels preside over earth ones. You know that, and it's a law."
Yolanda jerked her shoulder out from under his hand. "You're in my realm now, and laws work a little differently here. I suggest if you want to help the matter, you follow me or if you want to discuss what laws juristic over what realm, then you can stay here and discuss it over with yourself."
Yolanda and Edan exchanged looks for a moment and then with a shrug of her shoulders, she motioned for us to follow. Malachi and April walked together as I walked beside Nessa.
"Too bad he didn't get sealed in the portal instead of those demons. At least we can kill a demon and not get charged with anything." Nessa giggled like a school girl telling a dirty joke.
"I heard that!" Edan
tromped up behind us. "I heard that," he repeated now walking behind us. "And that was a threat." He grabbed hold of Nessa's shoulder and twirled her around with his finger pointed in front of her face.
"It wasn't a threat." She crossed her arms and glared at him as she passively lowered his extending finger with hers. "Did I threaten your life? No. I threatened the demon's."
Edan scrunched his face as Nessa shook her head. "Yes, but you did indirectly and," a smug look blossomed on his face, "I plan to make formal charges against you."
"Is there a problem here?" asked a thick voice behind us.
Nessa and I turned around both in awe of the tall, dark skinned man with neon green eyes that gazed down at us. His massive, crossed arms were folded across his chest and looked like two weapons ready to be used if we didn't answer the question correctly.
"No," Edan answered meekly.
"Good, then please join me and my wife, Yolanda, back at our haven."
Shangri-La had been the home of earth angels for a long time. I've never been here, but heard plenty about it from Uncle Hes. It was just as he described it with its sweet air, clear skies, magnificent gardens, and pristine scenery. It was also a preservatory of endangered animal and nearly extinct plants. Very few could come here as you had to request permission to do so. It was the best place we could be in right now.
"So when are we to discuss the current and not to mention the pressing issue of demons, serum and the two being mixed?" I asked as Yolanda poured wine for each of us.
"I have to agree with the monster," Edan chimed in. "You earth angels are good at hosting, but I don't think you'd like to be serving demons?and that's what you'll be dong if the matter isn't handled properly. The two demons at the night market were following me and I've sealed them in the portal-practically brought them to you on a silver platter. Why not deal with them now?"
I shook my head. "They may have been in there for a little, but they're out by now. Those demons, if traveling through the night market and were chasing you, are probably the demons strengthened by the serum. They may not be able to come here, but they are not trapped like you think." I looked at Edan as his face turned sour.
"You're just a monster. What do you know about demons?"
Edan agitated me, and we didn't need someone like him on our mission, and I certainly didn't need to prove anything to him.
"Well, you can go back into the portal and search for them if you like, and if you find them, why not kill them and claim all the glory?" I asked as Yolanda poured me some wine with a smile. Adan's face paled.
"Unfortunately, the archangel here has sealed the portal at our end rendering it useless for the time being. The demons, Seth you are correct, are out of the portal and still searching for their sister," she motioned with her head in no particular direction, "that is here and contained in a lightstone from Iethia. She was put there by Seth Fairstone, who is just a monster," her eyes flicked to Edan, "and kept her there until he got here where she is contained within the lightcell stone-the strongest containment-what do you archangels like to call our inventions," she glanced up at the sky with a roll of her eyes. "Oh, yes, gadgets. And Seth, who is just a monster, did it with very little training. How long have the archangels been trying to control the demons? Eons has it been?"
"Demons aren't easily extinguished as you think." Edan retorted. "They live in shadow, but when that shadow is penetrated by light, they die. To use the entire archangel light would be our demise. You can't destroy the demons by yourself and your knowledge of history," his eyes shifted to me. "We need to make a plan or we will all perish."
"As much as I hate to agree with an archangel," Yolanda's husband said as he stepped from the shadows of the gardens outside. "We need to come up with a solution because demons aren't waiting."
"Greetings," Yolanda went up to her husband and lovingly gave him a kiss on the cheek. "I don't think you've been properly introduced. This is Rusul, my husband." Yolanda smiled back at us. "He presides over our haven here in southern Shangri-La."
"So as protector of the southern hemisphere, how do you propose to deal with the demons?" Edan asked with a conceited look on his face as he stretched out with legs crossed, wine glass empty in front of him, and hands clasped together. He looked like a fat cat soaking up the sun.
Rusul tilted his head to the side and with a wave of his hands over the grey, stone table that sat in the middle of our circle, a map, transparent, formed in midair.
"This is a map of the Shadowlands that the demons have already taken over. They have the orb, though they don't know how to use it, and they have the serum, but no means on how to create more."
"How did you get a map of the Shadowlands?" Edan asked Rusul. "Earth angels have no connection to the Shadowlands."
"You don't know your history." Rusul stated. "Earth angels were the engineers of the Shadowlands and we gave it light-our light-so the shadow children of humans had a place to go before going through the mist. Therefore, I know enough to make a map."
I glanced over at April sitting next to Malachi. She looked up at Rusul with relevance, and then shifted her eyes to me. They were dark-Ezra. She smiled and looked away.
April blinked her eyes and rubbed her forehead as Malachi noticed and even though I didn't hear his words, he was asking if she was alright. April answered with a nod as Yolanda watched with curiosity as well.
Rusul went on to tell us that there was one hidden portal that went directly to the Shadowlands. It could only be accessed by one way, and that was here in Shangri-La. There were three demons that had consumed the serum, Eveie being one, and two others.
"Demons are not stupid, but they have tendencies to follow their instincts rather than reason. To battle them is fruitless; they will never tire until they've won. So, I've come up with a plan. We will lure them here with not only Eveie, but with the one ingredient they lack." Rusul set his eyes on April as she paled. "You have a light in you that I've never seen before in a monster. It's like looking at treasure that's been buried and denied the light of day for centuries." He smiled bending down in front of her.
April looked frightened, and I hoped Ezra had the ability to calm her nerves as she looked like she wanted to run. Rusul took her arm that had the hexmark on it, and turned it over exposing it. He ran his dark fingers over her pale skin like a black storm cloud covering the sun.
"The gypsy woman has done a good job." He continued to study her hexmark. "You are a gem to us here, April and Ezra. Both of you will be the bait we need to capture the renegade demons." He smiled at her.
"Who's Ezra?" Edan asked looking from April to Yolanda. "Is that what you meant by two in one?"
"She's done a Taking-and she has another powerful monster's life force in her. She will do us good and she will be the one to fight the demons."
"She's scared, but she is strong, and I remind her of that often," April said, but it was Ezra I was talking to. "She has an ancient connection to our past-our monster heritage. She desperately wants to find her mother, but like everything right now, she is frightened, almost too frightened to move or even think. Malachi is good for her; I've seen it written in the constellations. He is to protect her and guide her. Rusul's plan will be an effective one, but April can't fight the demons alone." She looked up at me with her dark eyes.
"We will be there to protect her. Rusul is just using her as bait," I said as she shook her head.
"Demons can communicate telepathically, even if in different realms. Eveie can give them information, and the longer she's here, the more information she is giving them. Rusul needs to know this, but when April is frightened it is hard for me to speak. I've been in the Shadowlands, and I've seen demons." She pulled herself closer to me. "They are strong when appearing weak. They manipulate and control at their own amusement." Slowly Ezra's dark eyes were fading. "I have to let go or April will only weaken with
each time I surface, and I can't let that happen."
As much as I wanted Ezra to stay, I knew it was a risk to April. I held onto her, and she to me until her arms went limp falling to her sides and her eyes closed.
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