by Lan Chan
“Can they hear us?” I asked.
“Yes.”
“So he knows I’m…”
“Yes.” But he was still fighting for me.
I turned to him once more. He’d managed to shove Professor Mortimer aside. Now it was Astrid who was trying to hold him back. Jacqueline stood there stoic as a statue. But when my gaze rested on her, she shook her head at me and smiled. And then Sophie was there. My eyes misted over.
I glanced down at the dagger and then back at her. The way her mouth moved told me she was screaming my name. She held my great-grandmother’s diary up and used it to beat at the soul barrier. It didn’t reject her because she wasn’t a supernatural, but it wouldn’t let her through either. Ever since the cavern in the Hell dimension I had been searching for a way to beat Lucifer. Now I had a solution. Any way I looked at it, I was always going to die.
“You were never meant to live anyway,” Gaia said. She came to stand above me.
I picked up the dagger and repeated what I had to do. She was asking me to take my own life for the greater good of all the dimensions.
And why would she do that? Lucifer crooned in my ear.
For the first time, I actually listened. Because I’m a bone witch, and even when I die, my magic might still remain.
Not just your magic, Alessia. The only way to destroy you completely is for you to give up what you are. He laughed. I couldn’t find the funny in any of this. But I knew why he laughed. Because even if I died, he would probably find another human capable of producing a child. The irony was that it would most certainly be an Earth-magic user. He would reproduce the cycle over and over again until he achieved his goal. He was seraphim.
So I would listen. It just wouldn’t be to Lucifer. Or Gaia. I heard Hilary’s cracking laughter in my ears. Flipping the dagger in the grip of my left hand, I surged upright with the last of my strength. I went for Gaia’s chest knowing full well she would stop me. As she reached out to grab my wrist, I called Morning Star. It flew into my right hand. I shoved it through Gaia’s ribs. She cried out in anger more than pain and flung me aside.
Retracting the sword, I cut my own hand. Our blood pooled together. This time I smiled at her. I smiled at the way her eyes widened before I lassoed her with the same spell my great-grandmother had used to bind her. Only this time, I didn’t try to hide her away. She shrieked and fought against it, but the magic I had used wasn’t gifted to me by her. It was Azrael’s.
“Let go of the barrier,” I said to her. She screamed at me. “Let it go or I’ll hide you away so well no one will ever be able to find you!”
“You insolent little –”
I wound a string of death magic around her throat and constricted it. In the back of my mind I knew there was something dreadful about a human with the kind of power I possessed. I didn’t care. I’d had enough of being pushed around by these deities. As though I had conjured them from my thoughts, Azrael, Raphael, and Michael appeared. They materialised around the perimeter of the barrier. Raphael pressed Kai against him. He spoke urgently in Kai’s ear.
My stupid Nephilim wasn’t listening. If I didn’t know better, I would think he was close to punching Raphael in the head.
“She means what she says,” Azrael’s voice sounded in the air around Gaia and me. “Release the barrier, sister. This feud has gone on for too long.”
“You!” Gaia screamed. “This is all your fault.”
Azrael nodded. “Yes. And I will take full responsibility for it. There is no need to destroy the world you created.”
Her body shuddered beneath the vines of my power. I thought she was struggling until I glanced over and saw tears streaming from her face. The humanity in me made me bow my head. Insane or not, she was our deity. The pain she must have felt for so long washed over me. And then Azrael was beside us. I felt the wind, the real wind, again as the barrier came down.
Azrael placed his hand on my shoulder. “Come, little one. We need to speak.”
It was about damn time.
40
We materialised in the garden in Seraphina. “I take it I’m no longer banned,” I said, my voice dry. The other seraphim appeared around us. Rather than answer, Raphael placed his hand on my side. I squeaked as heat blossomed around my ribs. When he pulled away, my ribs weren’t throbbing anymore. But it was the rush of hedge magic that funnelled into me that had me grinning.
“Thanks,” I said.
He bowed his head. “Thank you, Alessia. We will take Gaia to our sanctum and help her to heal. The return of your magic is the least she can do for you.”
He stepped back and Michael took his place. Unlike the Nephilim he had blooded, the warrior Seraph looked at me with softness in his eyes. “What you are about to see, no one else has witnessed in centuries,” he said. Somehow, I knew they were about to show me where Lucifer was imprisoned. I took an involuntary step towards Azrael. He didn’t move, but I felt the reassuring aura of him and that was enough.
The beautifully clean structures of Seraphina wavered. A chill bit into my skin. Aw man! Why did it always have to get cold?
I saw now why I had experienced an icy cavern as hell when Lucifer invaded my mind. Around me, the world turned into the stark reality of grey rocks and celestial bars. Icicles hung from the ceiling and crystallised in forgotten corners. Two seraphim sentinels stood on either side of a cell. My breath condensed in front of me as I took a look through the bars.
On an altar of rock Lucifer lay prone with his arms splayed over his chest mummy style. Around him, an icy tomb had been erected. There was no light in the cavern except the glow that radiated off him despite his frozen state.
I could no longer feel my lips. My teeth chattered. “So, no fire and brimstone?” I asked Ariel. He smiled at me.
“Fire is life,” he said. At once, I understood. We humans had gotten it all wrong. I blinked and we were back inside Seraphina again. I stamped my feet and jumped around to get the feeling back in my limbs.
Michael and Raphael took their leave. I remained in the garden with Azrael. “What Gaia said inside the barrier…?”
He nodded. “She spoke the truth.”
“How is that possible?”
“Our brother is treacherous. His ability to twist the mind of men is unspeakable. Your mother had no idea that your father was one of Lucifer’s most devoted acolytes. Lucifer’s possession of your father was absolute.”
“Does that mean he blooded me?”
Azrael shook his head slowly. “Lucifer would never dilute his power that way. When my other brothers gave up their blood, it was to lessen themselves to give the Nephilim strength. The blood Lucifer gave your father, the blood he gave you, is about control. The Nephilim are separate from my brothers. You are not separated from Lucifer.”
I swallowed. My hand massaged my throat absently.
“This bargain my great-grandmother made with you…”
He lowered his cowl with both hands. I averted my gaze. Lucifer might be beautiful, but Azrael was no less devastating in his own way. “Hilary refused to believe that her line was doomed. The Hastings women have always been gifted. Sometimes, that affects them in peculiar ways. Your grandmother died from an errant spell gone terribly wrong. But there is strength in your blood unlike anything we have ever seen. Gaia and the rest of the Sisterhood were intent on destroying you. They convinced your mother to take her own life before you could be born. Hilary asked for my help in concealing you.”
“How did I not die when my mother threw herself off the rocks?”
He let me think on it. The answer came to me in a rush of awe. “My great-grandmother brought me back,” I breathed. Bone witch. Something occurred to me. “Phoenix?”
He sighed heavily. “Another one that should have passed. He is changed for it. As are you. Hilary would not let you go. I would not allow her to make arbitrary decisions about who was worthy of saving.” He smiled. “Hilary didn’t care. She had a way of flouting all rules no ma
tter who enforced them. We made a bargain.”
“A life for a life.” I heard Hilary’s voice telling me she hoped they hadn’t died for nothing. She was including herself in that statement. “She gave her life for mine. This death magic I have, it was hers.”
I waited for him to elaborate. “She hoped that the combination of three magical lines would counteract Lucifer’s blood. You see now why telling you what you are might have coloured the person you’ve become?”
I knew myself well enough to understand I would have been rolling around pissed as hell. Everybody would have copped a spray. “You’re not telling me everything,” I said.
“No, I’m not. That was my bargain to make with your great-grandmother.” He reached out and took my hand. “This is only the beginning, Alessia. Hilary saved your life, but she couldn’t save you from what is to come. For all of the portents, there is no way to see the future. I fear it will not be kind.”
I gripped his hand. “I’m not exactly the sweet and kind type,” I told him. The amused look he gave me was better than the effect of any Arcana fruit.
“Your great-grandmother gave you to her sister’s daughter to raise,” Azrael told me. My heart seized. “Her sister was non-magical. They had cut ties when they grew older because your great-grandmother understood what her kind of power might bring upon the rest of your family. Bethany Hastings might not be your grandmother, but she is still your blood.”
He brushed a lock of hair from my face after I kept swiping at my watery eyes. “Have care, Alessia. Trust yourself the way your great-grandmother did. Otherwise, I fear for this dimension.”
He brought me back to the beachfront. I immediately wanted to leave. “Can you fix this?” I asked. I swept my arm over the chaos.
“That’s what the Council were supposed to be for.” He lifted his cowl once more and disappeared. I latched on to the past tense in his statement.
I took a shuddering breath and stepped up to the remains of Terran Academy. The soul gate had been destroyed in the fight. As had most of the building. There were holes the size of bathtubs in the roof. Much of the earth was scorched and all of the windows had blown out. The devastation was complete. That didn’t stop the Terrans from being territorial about it. There were idiots arguing on the lawn.
Matilda and Jessica stood neck and neck with Victoria and Orin. Behind them, the rest of the remaining Terran students were armed and ready. It would have been impressive if Rachel wasn’t limping and Sean didn’t have a massive black eye. The Evil Three were decidedly uncomfortable. The problem was that the Council representatives were in peak condition.
“You will answer for your actions,” Orin was saying to Matilda.
“Come over here and I’ll answer them right now,” she said. “Where are the rest of you? Or are you and this walking prune the lackeys they send to do their dirty work?”
Orin reared. His wings popped out of his back. The wind picked up around us. Like Brigid, Orin was a wind elemental. If her strength was anything to go by, he could probably flatten what was left of this place with a single thought.
Nora raced between the two factions. “Let’s just take a breath,” she said. They inched towards her. Mani and Sophie ran to her aid. I searched for Kai amongst them, but he had been hurt quite badly. I imagined he would be in Seraphina by now. There was no way the Nephilim would allow the last of Raphael’s line to remain here in his state.
There was no reasoning with either side. The humans were weak and vulnerable. They’d gotten Gaia back but she wasn’t right in the head. The supernaturals were shaken and disoriented. They’d been dominant for so long it rocked them to the core to think there were forces out there capable of hurting them.
Soon, Lucifer said. I closed my eyes but didn’t try to shut him out. This end is inevitable.
My eyes flicked open to find Scott Goodall with his cobalt sword flaming. He had it drawn out in front of him and pointed at the Evil Three. I wasn’t sure, but I thought I’d heard Harlow comment on the fashionableness of his shoes. This was what I had to work with. I could just imagine them bickering with each other while Lucifer rained death down on us.
I was done with this.
“Shut up!” I screamed at them. The blast of death magic had been entirely unintentional. I think. It whipped through the atmosphere and extinguished the light around Scott’s blade. They all froze, their attention turning to me. “I am so sick of hearing you justify yourselves. You’re all as bad as each other. At this point, I hope the apocalypse comes quickly so I don’t have to listen to you anymore.”
I marched up to where Matilda was bristling at Orin. With Samantha’s death, she had become grand mistress by default. “Let’s end this, shall we?”
She smirked at me. “And how are we going to do that? There’s no way we’re giving in to these monsters!”
Orin snarled, his glamour shimmering to reveal pointed teeth. He was going to get punched if he didn’t back up. I looked from one side to the other. The smell of smoke and salt filled my nostrils. If they did this the human way, it would take months for Terran to be rebuilt. In the meantime, they didn’t trust each other at all. Who knew when the next attack would come? And through it all, I would be stuck in the middle. As if I didn’t have all kinds of other problems.
It was with that thought sapping my energy that I turned to Matilda. “Terran is gone,” I told her. “It’s never going to be the same again. You know that.”
“We can start over.”
“Or you can join us.”
Both sides protested. Orin and Scott tried to jostle me out of the way and got smacked in the faces by a death circle for their troubles.
“She has a point,” Nora said. “Without the soul gate there isn’t any need to remain here. At least not in the immediate future.”
“And spend all out time watching our backs?” Matilda snapped.
Nora smiled at her. “How about you spend that time watching our backs?” Mani slung his arm around his wife’s shoulders. “We are a tiny faction. We need all the help we can get.”
That was our drill and it usually worked. I was the bulldozer and the Mwansas were the architects. Matilda just stood there blinking for the longest time. Finally, she sighed. “We want our own space,” she said.
Nora cracked a grin at me. Rachel wasn’t as impressed. She stood to the side, her face in its perpetual scowl. I stepped up to her.
“I’m not moving in there,” she said.
“It’s a free country. You’re more than qualified to do something else. But there are humans within the supernatural community who will feel the backlash of what happened here.” I clutched her forearm. “And I know one human in particular who misses his daughter.”
She turned her head away but not before I saw her eyes turn glassy. “I don’t know if I can forgive them,” she said.
“Nobody is saying you have to. But you’re not the only one who needs to forgive.” I thought of Desi and swallowed. “Months ago, you dropped that package off to me and you killed another vampire.”
She turned back to me, her eyes wide. It had taken me some time to figure out which one of them had been the messenger. When she’d told me she used to live in Rivia, I knew it was Rachel. The patrols that night reported one of theirs had gone missing. It wasn’t hard to put two and two together. Her mouth flattened. She was stubborn. And proud. It would take more than a simple request to get her over the line. So I did what she’d done to me.
“Rachel,” I told her. “We need you. By legacy, you’re a part of supernatural society. Your enrolment at Terran ends today. You belong to Bloodline Academy now.”
She burst into tears. My shoulder slumped as I hugged her. I wasn’t sure how, but we would get through this. Even if I had to kick everybody’s ass to get there.
41
Once again I was in an infirmary. Except this time, it wasn’t for me. Both Academies were trying to tend to their wounded. It would take time to finalise the details of
the transition, but that was their problem.
It had been a week since the battle. I sat in the armchair of a private hospital room in Seraphina reading one of Basil’s Western romances. Okay, it wasn’t my first one. If I was honest, I kind of had a slight addiction now. I was getting towards the all is lost moment when my own Prince Charming flicked the cover and the book flew out of my hands. It bounced on the floor and closed.
“Hey!” I jumped off the chair to get it. “Now I’ve lost my page!”
“You’re supposed to be hanging on to my every breath,” Kai said. “Not reading some book with a ridiculous cover.”
“It’s the only thing that’s gotten me through,” I said. I placed the back of my hand on my forehead and pretended to swoon. He yanked me up and onto the bed. His complexion was still peaky but his lids were at half-mast. He glanced at my mouth. His finger traced the outline of the necklace at my throat. My stomach dipped. The swoon was suddenly very real.
He tipped my chin up and smiled at me. His lips brushed mine gently. I pressed my palm to his chest and eased him off after a while. “You’re supposed to be resting,” I said.
“I’m supposed to be a lot of things.” He leaned in again.
“Kai!”
He shackled the hand I used to try and push him away. His eyes searched mine. Darkness bled into his when I glanced away. “Alessia,” he said. The solemness of it made me turn back. “I don’t care whose blood you’ve got.”
My body wanted to curl up. He hugged me to his chest. Despite Azrael’s assurances, I couldn’t help the frequent fear that stole my breath at any time of day. I had Lucifer’s blood. The consequences of that remained to be seen. Most of the supernaturals were already suspicious of me. If it weren’t for Raphael, I imagined I would still be locked out of Seraphina.