by Maya Daniels
“Well? Where are they?” I turn around and look at Remi.
“Where are who?” She frowns at me.
“The smokes. Where are they?” I wave my hand in her face so she can hand them over.
“I need one, too,” says Jez on a sigh.
“Maybe we should all have one,” Meda adds, grabbing the mug I’m handing her.
“You don’t smoke,” I tell her pointedly.
“You quit, but here we are,” she adds, glaring at me as if I’d offended her, and that makes me laugh.
“All I’m saying is you won’t like it. I wasn’t telling you what to do. You’re a big girl.” I wink at her, and she smiles.
“Let’s go outside and debate it there,” Remi says and opens a drawer, pulling out a pack.
We start walking out, and as I pass the living room I see that Daisy is sitting by herself, deep in thought. I stop, unsure whether I should call her to come or if she would prefer I leave her alone. I wonder where Lucifer is but last night, as if summoned, plays in my head and I shiver. I need to stay away from him if I want to keep the conviction of protecting my heart. The feelings he awakens in me can’t be healthy. Can angels get you addicted to them? Hmmm…now there’s is a thought. As I’m standing there like an idiot, I feel a ripple in the fabric of life that makes my body tremble slightly and I gasp. I look at where Daisy was sitting and see she’s walking towards me, a frown on her kind face.
“Did you feel that?” I ask her
“Feel what?” she answers, but she won’t look at me.
This gives me an uneasy feeling, like earlier, when I walked out of the living room. Narrowing my eyes at her, I wait, not moving an inch, which makes her stop to avoid colliding with me.
“The ripple. Someone opened a portal, and it was not Meda.” I look around again as if an answer will appear out of thin air. “Where is Lucifer?” I add and the feeling intensifies.
“I don’t know; he was here a minute ago but he walked out. Have you checked upstairs in his room?” Her words sound innocent. Way too innocent, if you ask me. I glare at her.
“Where did he go?” I squeeze the mug I’m holding so tight my hand shakes and hot coffee splashes on my skin, making me gasp.
“Now look what you did,” Daisy chides me, taking the mug gently from my hand.
“Where did he go?” I repeat, not fooled for a second by her diversion.
“I honestly don’t know,” she says quietly. “I can guess, but I’m not sure”
“And your guess would be?”
“To find the answer to why you haven’t been told things that he thinks you should know,” she says dejectedly.
I frown. Say what, now? He’s looking for answers when he doesn’t tell me everything, either. Talk about contradictions. Or maybe he feels it’s okay for him not to tell everything but no one else is allowed to do it. It’s almost comical, when you look at it that way.
“You want to come sit outside with us? I really need a smoke. I figure I’ll die a lot sooner then they will have a chance to harm me, so might as well take advantage of it.” I chuckle at my own pathetic joke.
“Not funny,” she says, but she wraps her arm around my shoulders and we walk outside.
“Oh, look. Alexia decided to grace us with her presence,” Remi says dramatically, and they all laugh a little.
“Bite me.” I flip her the finger and she barks out a laugh.
After grabbing the pack that’s next to her hip, I pull out a smoke and light it up. The first drag chokes me a little, making me cough, and they chuckle. Shaking my head, I ignore them, my eyes going towards the woods like a compulsion. At first, I think it’s because of what happened with the snakes. The thought makes me shiver a little and goosebumps cover my arms. Everyone around me is talking, but I can’t get rid of the strange feeling. I can’t even hear what they are saying. After a second, I feel a pull in my chest like someone tied a rope in the middle of it and is yanking on it. I gasp, then choke some more, coughing from the smoke I inhaled too sharply.
“Take it easy there, killer. No one is taking it from you.”
I hear Remi’s words as she’s coming to pound on my back as if that will make it better. My eyes water from it but I have no time to worry, because I feel that if I don’t move towards the woods, something will split my ribcage open.
“Something’s wrong,” I rasp, my throat raw from the smoke I sucked.
“Wrong how?” she asks and everyone is on instant alert.
“What do you feel?” Jez comes next to me, her arms already reaching down to touch the earth.
“I don’t know. I just know I must go into the woods,” I tell them, my feet already moving in that direction.
No one stops me, but they all come along, making a semi-circle around me. The closer I get, the more urgent it feels. I have to be there. I speed up my walking at first, then start jogging and within few seconds I sprint, entering the trees like I’m running for my life. I have no control over my body or my actions. I hear them calling my name but I’m powerless to stop or even slow down. As I get deeper into the woods I see shimmering between trees, and I know that’s where the portal was opened earlier when I felt it.
“Meda, call out the last portal now!” I scream from the top of my lungs.
I know it’s of life-or-death importance that I enter the portal. I don’t know how I know this, just that I must go through it this second. Luckily for me, Meda doesn’t question me nor does she hesitate. As I get closer, I hear her chanting and the purplish portal appears. I fly through it. What I encounter on the other side stops me dead in my tracks before plastering me on one wall like a painting.
Lucifer stands in the middle of Inanna’s temple. His body is shaking and glows like the sun. His wings raise up and stretch out as far as they can go. His power whirls around, out of control, shaking the walls and the ground like an earthquake. Cracks appear on the walls and ground, and rubble falls from the ceiling. Opposite him, Inanna is standing proud, her hands in front of her, palms facing Lucifer. A shield of rainbow colors pushes against his power to keep it at bay and away from her. My breath gets stuck in my throat, and I’m frozen in place, not knowing what to do. Spreading my arms to the sides so I don’t get blown all over, my mind starts spinning with questions. Why is he here? More importantly, why is he attacking Inanna? Did I make another poor choice by allowing him to wiggle his way into our little tribe just so he can hurt her? Was he working with Tiamat? Derik’s and Enlil’s faces float in front of my eyes. He gave Derik wings, didn’t he? Thoughts are whirling through my head at a million miles per hour. Out of nowhere, his face when I woke up this morning comes to mind and all thoughts disappear like they were never there. I refuse to believe he will do such a thing. He might be arrogant but he has too much pride to stoop that low. He would’ve made sure we all know that he wants to hurt her, just so he can gloat. It doesn’t make him evil. It makes him an entity. God or angel, they think themselves above the rest of us. With that in mind, I snap my shield around me and start pushing my way towards him, screaming his name. I must stop this crap and find out what the hell is going on. Their powers are so strong that within seconds, cracks appear on my lousy shield and pain starts crawling all over my body.
It’s not easy to move. It’s like placing your hands on a building and expecting to be able to push it from its place. I keep repeating Lucifer’s name and see Inanna finally looking at me. Her lips move, and even if I can’t hear her, I see them forming my name. As she finishes the last letter, Lucifer’s head snaps in my direction. Like my name was the only thing that could get through to him. In an instant, everything stops, and I topple over after losing the resistance to my shield. Tripping over my own feet, I go head first towards the ground, but before I hit it, arms wrap around me, lifting me to a firm, muscular chest. His scent wraps around me like sunshine peeking through dark clouds, and I burrow closer to him, taking deep breaths. He tightens his arms around me and snuggles his head into my nec
k, panting like he has been running for days.
“Are you okay, love?” Inanna’s husky voice breaks the silence, and I feel Lucifer stiffen.
“What the fuck is going on?” I snap, remembering where I am and what I found when I got here. I push on Lucifer’s chest so he can let me go, but that only makes him squeeze me harder to him.
“We had a misunderstanding,” she says nonchalantly as if they were simply exchanging words.
“Try again.” My voice is strained. “Lucifer, you’ll break my ribs if you keep squeezing that hard,” I add, gasping.
He loosens his grip on me but doesn’t let go. Instead, putting me down, he moves his body in front of me, pushing me behind him in a protective manner. What the hell? Is he trying to protect me from Inanna? If I hadn’t seen what was going on earlier, I would’ve laughed. I don’t find it funny now. Lifting an eyebrow, I stick my head out from behind him. I look at her, waiting for an explanation. One way or another, I’ll know what got up their asses. I’m not going back home without an answer. It must be written all over my face, because Inanna sighs, her shoulders sag and taking a deep breath, she starts talking.
13
Lucifer…
“There was some new development to your path, love. I can’t tell you details without altering it. What you witnessed was Lucifer disagreeing with it all.” With a sigh, Inanna bends down slowly and sits ungracefully—for the first time—in front of me.
As angry as I am, I cannot stop the pity I feel for her. Everything she has worked for might crumble in a blink of an eye, but my protective side when it comes to Alexia does not let it linger long.
“She will not do it. This ends here!” I snap.
“No one asked you, Lucifer!” Alexia turns on me with venom in her voice.
I know she’s angry and frightened after witnessing our standoff, even if she tries to hide the fear. My witch is brave, but she will be stupid if she ignores it and just plays along with this whole charade. I will not stand for it. She might hate me to start with, but eventually she will realize I’m looking out for her. She stands in front of me and glares at me with her hands fisted on her hips. My reaction? Like any arrogant male, I laugh! Not at her. I laugh because it is so adorable and refreshing that this woman stands up to me and glares at me as if I’m a mortal when gods and goddesses cower under my gaze. My heart thumps hard in my chest and warmth envelops me. A shiver runs up my spine, and I stiffen at first, darting my eyes around the temple to see if there is a threat. It takes me a second to understand it’s her magic swirling around me, flirting with my power—caressing, linking, seducing until I fully relax my tight muscles. Sharp pain, like a dagger, stabs me in the thigh and I look down to see an ice magic shard sticking out from my leg. Jerking back, I growl my displeasure and glare at Alexia.
“Really? Now you’re upset? Want to laugh at me some more, angel? See how that works for you,” she says sweetly.
“You do have a death wish, love.” Inanna chuckles and I glare at her next.
“I see, now, why she is your vessel. You both can drive a male out of his mind,” I tell her through clenched teeth, pulling the ice shard out of my thigh.
They laugh halfheartedly, but the strain is heard in it loud and clear. I do not know if I like how Alexia is changing me. If this were to happen with anyone before I had connected with her, they would’ve met their maker in many different ways by now. The witch makes me soft, and it brings out fear in me that I am not familiar with. Not just with my reactions but with everything I feel. This will either make a difference or it will get us all killed. Alexia’s voice brings me out of my musings and makes me shiver. The witch can bring me to my knees with her voice alone, not that I would ever tell her that.
“Will anyone be able to tell me anything, or do I just go into it blind? Actually, you know what? I don’t give a damn. Don’t tell me. I’ll figure out my own way around it, like I’ve done until today. It’s not like any of you have warned me before,” she says tiredly and plops on the ground at my feet. “Assholes,” she mumbles, and I chuckle.
“I might not be allowed to tell you anything, but I will protect you with all I am.” As the words are spoken, I freeze. Why did I say that out loud? I should’ve kept it to myself, at least until I was alone with Alexia, judging by the blooming smile on Inanna’s face. I glare at her and she laughs, softly shaking her head.
“We are all doomed. We will either change the order of life or we will all perish and it shall be like we never existed.” She closes her eyes and tilts her head back.
Looking at her like this, she resembles Alexia so much it’s disturbing, like seeing double. The difference is that there is this energy surrounding the witch that I have never come across before I met her. It’s addictive and alluring. You can tell water is her strongest element. Like a siren, she pulls me in and I’ll do anything to protect her and be around her. I wonder if her maker knew this and created her like this on purpose. I wouldn’t put it past him. Speaking of which…
“Can we at least tell her about…” my words trail off because Inanna starts to shake her head, making it clear I should stop.
Alexia huffs at that and shakes her own head, making her hair tumble around her like silk. My hands itch to run my fingers through it but I clench them into fists at my sides. I do not think she would appreciate that at the moment. I must stay vigilant around my witch, skittish as she is. But she will change. I’ve made it my life’s mission to change that.
“Unbelievable. I don’t have time for this shit. Lucifer, open the portal. I need to get back so we can go get the potions. You two can stay here and kill each other for all I care at the moment. There are people I need to make sure stay alive.” She waves her hand in little circles at me like I’m her servant and I should hurry up to do her bidding.
So, of course I do, like the besotted fool that I am. Like a trained monkey I jump at her every whim lately. Inanna quirks her eyebrow as I start opening the portal and I glare back at her, daring her to say something. She only grins at me, her first genuine one since I found her in the temple earlier. Alexia jumps up and walks through it with a mumbled “later” and halfhearted wave of her hand over her shoulder. She didn’t even look at us at all, and my heart drops to my feet.
“This is not over. We shall continue this conversation at a later time,” I tell Inanna and hurry after Alexia.
If she’s going to go head first into anything, I shall be right next to her. The realms will burn before she gets hurt, if I am still breathing. Exiting the portal, I lift my head on the other side, hoping she’s waiting for me. Instead of Alexia, roots wrap around my legs and arms and I am airborne the next second, a ball of fire hitting my chest and scorching my shirt.
14
Alexia…
If I weren’t still angry and tired, I would’ve died laughing just seeing the comical expression on Lucifer’s face when his body got lifted off the ground a millisecond before his power blasted the roots to dust. Since I am still pissed off, I just snort and shake my head while looking at Jezzinta, Remi, Meda and Faith. Jezzinta is the only sane one; she gasps, lifting her hands in surrender as she looks at him with wide eyes.
“Oops, sorry. I didn’t know it was you,” she says hurriedly.
I do laugh at that.
“Just who did you expect?” he snaps, glaring at her.
“How should I know? We didn’t know where she went, and the portal closed as soon as she went through it,” she says defensively, pointing her finger accusingly at me.
The others snicker at the exchange and I start walking towards the house. It’s getting darker, and tonight is a perfect time to go grab the potions from their hiding place. I hear everyone following but one set of footsteps are more pronounced, eating up the distance in no time. Lucifer. I’m in no mood to deal with him. I’m confused, angry and just plain and simple tired of it all. Luckily Remi calls out his name, saying something that slows him down. Even when I can’t see him, or hear hi
m for that matter, lately I’m more aware of his presence than my own. It’s frustrating. The warmth that accompanies that awareness scares the shit out of me, so I squish it as hard as I can and push it away. My mind goes along with that idea; my body is a totally different story. It’s so attuned to him that I get all tingly with pointy nipples, just by breathing the same air as him. I need chocolate, that’s what I need. It’ll cure all my problems. So, as any other smart woman will do, I head for the kitchen in search of my hidden stash. It’s hard to hide chocolate in a house full of women. They’re like hounds; they can smell it from miles away. I shouldn’t talk crap about it, because I’m exactly the same. It calls to me. Speeding up, I run inside straight to the kitchen, grab a handful from the box marked “gluten-free rice cakes” (they all hate rice cakes, saying they taste like cardboard—which is why it’s my hiding spot) and run upstairs to my room, pushing the door closed as much as I can. I hope they get the message to leave me alone for a bit. A girl can dream. As I stuff the two bite-size chocolates in my mouth, the door bursts open and they pile inside. One second they’re serious and ready to give me a piece of their mind, the next they burst out laughing.
“What?” I say around a mouthful of chocolate. Not a pretty sight, I assure you, but I don’t care.
“Oh, dear goddess, you look like Gollum guarding your precious.” Jezzinta chortles and I throw a piece of the chocolate at her, regretting it at the same moment.
“Give it back,” I stretch my arm in front of me, grabbing at the air with my fingers like I’m possessed.
Since I obviously have good aim now (not!), it hits Jezzinta in the middle of her chest and she grabs for it, opening it and taking a big bite before grinning at me like a fiend.
“Really? That’s how we’re going to play now, stealing chocolates? Who does that?” I huff, shaking my head sadly at my lost treasure.