Bloodline Diplomacy: A Young Adult Urban Fantasy Academy Novel (Bloodline Academy Book 3)

by Lan Chan

  Alison scratched at my face. “Stop!”

  She needn’t have been so concerned. Whatever this thing was, it wasn’t the wallflower kind of deity. Gaia returned my attempt to contain her with a blast of her own power. Sapling green streaks of lighting cascaded from the heavens. It struck the five tips of the star inside the circle. The back of my eyes illuminated for a second. The entire fern forest became awash in an unearthly green glow. Gaia raised her arm in my direction. My chest spasmed as something inside me tugged free. My own body glowed with iridescent blue before a thread of it whipped towards Gaia. She wound the thread in her hands like she was spooling wool. I felt like someone had reached into my chest and was squeezing my heart. My third eye opened to reveal the pool of hedge magic draining from me. Gaia was retracting my magic. Panicked at the thought, I attempted to cut off her assault. She raised her other arm. Lightning speared from the heavens. Like an explosion, the flash was followed by pain.

  A fissure tore inside my mind. I let go of Alison to press my palms against my temples. A phantom limb burrowed its way into my brain and set off mini-explosions inside. I groaned as I toppled over into the foetal position. Around me I heard a scuffle but I didn’t have the wherewithal to contend with it. Twining beams of green snaked up the inside of the circle. It rallied against being trapped and tore into my mind. The pressure of it felt like the pounding of a hammer in my head. Blood dripped from my nose once more. I tasted the metallic edge of it on my tongue.

  “Let go of the circle, Alessia!” Matilda shouted. I heard her words, but in my current state, I couldn’t comprehend her meaning. I was down and Gaia was mentally kicking me. It never occurred to me how much of my self-identity was wrapped in my magic. It was the only thing of worth I’d ever had. When the hedge magic became nothing but a handful of droplets, I did the only thing I could think of to save it. I wrapped it in layers of the darker magic and buried it as far as it could go.

  For some reason, my mind conjured up the Ley dimension. I watched as the already bright green world around me exploded into a rainbow of colour. It was only then that I saw how corrupted Gaia’s light truly was. Embedded in the seemingly green hue of her power were small specks of rusted brown. Wherever she was, the containment was eroding her. Unable to get at the last of my power, Gaia let out a skin-peeling shriek. It wasn’t a sound that could possibly have come from a human throat. My insides turned to ice at the sheer rage and despair in it.

  “Surrender,” that ancient voice commanded. Everybody always told me that despite the ambiguous source of my power, I was still human. Like every human, I was subject to the whim of our Earth deity. My mind sighed in release. The Ley lines disappeared and I returned to the physical present. Little by little, the darker magic unfolded to reveal the blue. My arm stretched out as though offering her penance. She had given me this power. It was her right to take it back. At the same time, my mind shrieked in despair. Without the hedge magic, I wouldn’t be able to unbind Nanna. That’s when something primal inside me sparked to life. I was a selfish, lowly human. I wanted my grandmother whether or not she was my flesh and blood.

  My outstretched hand curled into a fist. The darkness enclosed the blue light once more. The assault on my mind resumed. It punished me until I was kneeling in front of her, my arms wrapped around myself. The next time the lightning struck, the darkness hit back. It turned the circle into a glowing sphere. The darker magic speared Gaia in the chest. Something slammed into me in real life. I recognised it as Harlow punching me in the arm. But I was too preoccupied with fighting the deity I had meant to save.

  Maybe it was just a Hastings thing. Like great-grandmother, like great-granddaughter. I was eternally grateful for the gift Gaia had given me, but I was not a slave. I was not hers to do as she wished. It was with that thought that laughter erupted in the clearing. Harlow’s physical assault ended. In my periphery I saw her limbs slacken as her head turned, trying to find the source of that melodious laughter. I knew exactly where it came from.

  Good girl, Lucifer said in my thoughts. Gaia’s mouth twisted into a vehement snarl. She was so busy being disgusted by Lucifer’s essence that she didn’t noticed the small portal opening up inside my magic circle. None of us did until it was too late. An enormous gelatinous creature with dozens of tentacles emerged through the portal.

  Matilda let fly with a string of curses. The giant squid demon latched on to Gaia and tugged. Golden lances of power laced around her. I saw them for what they truly were. The squid might have taken her physically, but it was Lucifer who restrained her metaphysically. We could do nothing as Gaia and the squid thing receded into the portal. No sooner had they disappeared did Matilda kick the closest candle in my circle aside. Her act of breaking the circle released me from my stupor. I bent over gasping.

  Somebody yanked me into standing position. “What did you do?” Harlow screamed in my face. “She’s been taken to Hell!” Her fist reared back. Matilda grabbed her wrist.

  “Stop it,” Matilda said. “What just happened was completely out of anyone’s control.” Harlow and Winnie burst into tears.

  I was too busy trying not to throw up. I sank back onto the ground and laid my palms flat against the earth. The debris in my hand was dry but not lifeless. It just wasn’t the kind of life that my hedge magic required. When I looked inside myself at the well of my power, only the few droplets of blue remained. The darkness cocooned it, protecting it from further decay. A tear slid down my right cheek. A few more seconds and she might have taken all of it.

  “What do we do now?” Harlow asked, her voice thick with unshed tears.

  “I don’t know what that was,” Matilda said, “But it wasn’t Gaia.”

  I uncurled from the ground. “What do you mean?”

  Matilda shrugged. A frown etched across her face. “I’m not sure. Our deity isn’t destructive in that way. Something’s wrong with her.” She turned to me, her expression suddenly contemplative. “Are you okay?”

  I most assuredly was not. “Yeah, I’m fine.”

  I would have done a great job of pretending to be until I glanced over her shoulder. A figure stood at the edge of the clearing. His cowl billowed against a non-existent breeze. Sensing my distraction, Matilda turned her head. If she was scowly before, the look on her face was now deathly.

  “We’ll meet you back at the car,” Matilda said. She waved at the Evil Three who scampered to clean up the clearing. They marched past Azrael without acknowledging him, but the way their heads bent low told me they weren’t immune to his angelic presence.

  When we were alone, he approached slowly. Nothing about him was ever rushed. He had all the time in the dimensions after all. I bit my tongue to stop the rush of emotions from overwhelming me. Unlike the others, I did bow my head. And in doing so, it made anger race to the forefront.

  “Where have you been?” I seethed.

  His head tilted to one side. “Where I have always been, little one.”

  I was careful around Azrael. He didn’t have the same empathic soothing spirit as Raphael. It was just like me to be patronised by the angel of death. But after that ordeal, my filter was gone. “And where is that exactly? I’ve been trying to speak to you for months! Thanks for showing up after the fact.”

  His brows drew together. I shit my pants and regretting the smart comment. Azrael raised a hand. I shrank back. This was it, I was going to be smited. Frankly, I was surprised it hadn’t already happened.

  “I’m not going to hurt you, Alessia.” He came closer and laid his hand on the top of my head. My pet status was restored. I was not amused. Shaking him off, I crossed my arms over my chest. He had to have seen what had just happened.

  “She tried to kill me,” I said. The disbelief made my tone sharp.

  “Who?”

  Was he joking? “Is immortality making you blind? Gaia, she just tried to kill me and Luc –” The stranglehold on my throat locked down my speech. I glanced up at Azrael frantically. I had tried to
contact him with thoughts of Lucifer and what he’d done to me. I had hoped that the seraph’s ability to read my mind would negate Lucifer’s hold on me. But as Azrael peered down at me in confusion, a seed of utter terror planted in my mind.

  “Azrael?” It was less than a whisper. He sensed the pleading in it but didn’t understand where my despair was coming from. It didn’t stop him from kneeling in front of me. Another figure materialised to the right. Then another on my left. This time I was unable to resist.

  I dropped to my knees in the presence of Michael and Raphael. When I looked up again, another seraph was standing behind Azrael. It made sense that Ariel’s aura was golden tan. He was the patron seraph of the animals of every dimension. The glow of it reminded me of the sparks in Max and Charles’s eyes when their lions were in charge.

  I couldn’t get any lower to the ground but I tried. My world blurred as tears streamed down my cheeks. Because as much as I tried to force the confession out of my mouth, it wouldn’t budge. Tiny, invisible thorns scratched at my throat.

  Azrael brushed the back of his palm over my cheek. “Tell me, Alessia.”

  I shook my head. I couldn’t. The hand I held to the ground tried to paint a picture in the dirt for him. But I was shackled, and no amount of coaxing would get it out of me.

  Good girl, Lucifer praised. I glanced at Azrael to see if he’d heard but his expression was mournful.

  “Luc…” It was all I could utter before pain had me bent over.

  “Is our brother contained?” Azrael turned to Ariel.

  “Most certainly,” the other seraph confirmed. “We would know immediately if there was a change.”

  “What about his artefacts?” Michael asked.

  “Also contained. There is no change, brothers.”

  Their gazes returned to me. Raphael moved forwards. His red-brown hair loose from the lowered cowl. The look on his face made me want to howl. “We ask too much of her,” he said. “She’s just a child.”

  I wasn’t sure why but something inside me stood to attention. In the same vein, Azrael’s shoulders tensed. “I do not interfere with Malachi,” Azrael said. “Do not put weakness into her mind.”

  “One of us should have blooded her if you wanted her to fight like this,” Michael said. It was such a warrior point of view. “If something is not done soon, this dimension will collapse.”

  “Something is being done,” Azrael said. The others bowed their heads at his assertion and teleported out. Azrael turned back to me, his expression resolute but soft. “I’m sorry, Alessia.”

  The apology made me reach for his hand. He curled his massive fingers around mine. “We all have our part to bear in this, and I’m afraid yours is the heaviest burden.” He nodded towards the remnants of the broken circle. “This summoning shouldn’t have happened. You cannot simply wrench the souls of the departed into this realm at your whim. That is why a payment in blood has to be made.”

  “I didn’t do it just because I felt like it!” I said. “My great-grandmother knows where Gaia is!” His eyes softened.

  “I understand. But the dead need rest. Just because you have the ability doesn’t mean you should use it.”

  Something slotted into place. “So it’s true. I am a bone witch.”

  “Yes. It was the only gift I had to give you.”

  I squeezed his fingers. “I don’t understand how to use it.”

  “You will. In time.”

  “How will I find Gaia without my great-grandmother’s help? Can’t you find her?”

  “There are forces in this dimension that we can’t reckon with. Not unless we want the entire fabric of reality undone. Your great-grandmother was a very talented witch. Even we can’t see past her spell.”

  And in my thoughts, Lucifer chided. “Even if they knew how to find her, they wouldn’t tell you. That’s how my brothers work. They hint at things and force you to struggle for something they can do in the blink of an eye.”

  I wanted very much to reach into my mind and tear out his presence. Azrael pressed my hands together. “She’s destroying this earth,” I said.

  “She doesn’t know what she’s doing. That is my biggest fear.” There was an absent quality in his voice that told me he was no longer mentally present. I kept thinking about my biggest fear.

  “Why am I frightened of the ocean?”

  He stood up. “Why are we frightened of anything? When have you ever shied away from things that scared you?”

  His form began to fray at the edges until he faded away. It left me standing in the darkened clearing on my own. Why were we frightened of anything? Fear was about negative consequences. What would going into the ocean take from me? Besides my life, of course?

  28

  One of the Evil Three must have texted Samantha because the grand mistress was standing at the back door bathed in a glow of light when we got back to Terran. “What exactly happened?” Samantha asked before I could even get out of the back seat.

  I had a question of my own. “Azrael says we’re not supposed to summon the spirits of the dead,” I said. “Did you know about this?” The last part was directed at the Evil Three.

  “It’s their rule, not ours,” Winnie said. “Besides, their necromancers do it all the time!”

  I knew for a fact that wasn’t true. Practice of that kind of darker magic was heavily regulated within the supernatural community. Quite simply because any mage or sorceresses with that kind of power also had control over vampires as well. It was at that point when I resolved to study my ass off because neither side could be trusted to be truthful where I was concerned.

  We entered the kitchen. That’s where we found Jessica, Rachel, Sean, and Ashton. Despite it being close to midnight at this point, they were all up and teeming with an undercurrent of excitement. Melissa shoved a mug of hot chocolate in front of me when I sat down. The scent of cocoa and melting marshmallow made my stomach rumble. Only thing was, she’d been a bit cheap on the marshmallow front. “May I have more marshmallows?” I asked.

  “Something wrong with your legs?” She shot back from the stove.

  Right. Forgot where I was. When I’d finished raiding the marshmallow bag and my mug was more mallow than liquid, Samantha pressed her point.

  “I don’t know what happened!” I said, between sips. “The Ev – the girls said I had a better chance of reaching my great-grandmother so we did a summoning spell. Five seconds into it Gaia’s spirit showed up and tried to kill us!”

  “Tried to kill you,” Alison corrected.

  “I’m pretty sure she was on a general homicidal rage.”

  “She didn’t try and take back our powers,” Harlow reminded me. I pushed my mug aside. The thought of food was suddenly unappealing. I was all too aware that my hedge magic was waning. I looked at Samantha.

  “Will I get it back?” I asked.

  She laced her fingers in front of her. “There’s no way of telling,” she said. “Nothing like this has ever happened before. I wouldn’t be too concerned. Our power does regenerate.” She reached out to place her hand over mine. “Do you see now why it is so imperative that we find Gaia?”

  I understood. My only concern was whether or not I would live through it if I did find her. Our supposed deity seemed pretty intent on bringing me down.

  When Sean dropped me off at the exchange spot this time, it was Astrid who was waiting for me. Phoenix stood up in the back seat and growled at her. I scratched the hairs on the back of his neck. It wasn’t until he was out of the car and sticking to me like Velcro that I realised he was feeling uneasy.

  “They tend to do that around me,” Astrid said. Sean waved and drove off.

  “He’s been okay around Kai.”

  “Malachi is one of Raphael’s,” she said. Like that explained everything.

  “Where is he?”

  She touched my arm and the world went dark for a second. We reappeared just outside my bedroom door. Once again, Sophie wasn’t in. It was Friday
night. If she wasn’t here then I figured she was probably with her parents in Rivia doing some Council-related stuff.

  “I’m not sure,” Astrid said in response to my previous question. “He said he was doing something important and couldn’t leave Seraphina.”

  I tried not to let the disappointment show on my face. She could tell anyway. “I’m sure it must be critical if he didn’t go to get you. He hasn’t been himself since you’ve been gone.” She stayed and watched me unpack. Diana arrived a couple minutes later.

  “So,” Diana said. “It’s your birthday soon.”

  “Don’t remind me.”

  She splayed out on her belly on Sophie’s bed. “Are you sure you don’t want to do anything?”

  “I’m certain.”

  “But it’s your eighteenth,” Astrid said. “I’m given to understand this is an important rite of passage in the human world.”

  “We’re not in the human world.” They exchanged a glance. “What?” I said.

  “We just don’t want you to regret anything,” Diana said. “I mean, last year you didn’t even tell anyone when your birthday was!”

  “That’s because I forgot. Dates aren’t all that important when you’re living on the streets.” It was the truth. Last year the whole thing had completely slipped my mind on account of me trying to get used to the fact that the supernatural world even existed. This year I had only told them because Sophie had commented that I hadn’t had a birthday in all the time they’d known me.

  The girls seemed unable to come up with a response to my assertion. It was hard to justify a big party in the face of homelessness. I let them off the hook. “Thanks, guys, but I really am okay about it. “Besides, I’ll be at Terran and I’m being dragged to the treaty negotiations anyway.”