The First Book of Demons

by Raquel Dove

King Aelek looked down at his newborn daughter, a half smile stuck on his pale white face. She was the most beautiful creature he had ever seen. The thought brought a mixture of pleasure and pain to his chest.

  “She is beautiful,” he said, glancing up at his wife Lucia. “Like her mother.”

  Lucia was indeed a beautiful creature. She had the typical pale skin and black hair of the Maracovs, but she also had startlingly clear blue eyes which was a stark contrast to the dark red that characterized their kind. He handed the cloth-swaddled infant back to his wife. She reclined in the bed, her gaze focused on the baby squirming in her arms.

  “You are happy this day,” she said, her eyes shining with pride as she kept looking at her daughter.

  “Many good things have come to pass my dear,” he said, taking a seat next to the bed. There was a moment of hesitation in his response, and Lucia knew he had not come only to see their newborn baby.

  “So you have received news?” She inquired, her gaze falling back to the baby in her arms. She lifted a finger to the newborn’s hand and tiny clawed fingers instantly wrapped around it.

  “Very good news,” Aelek said, standing once more and walking to the other side of the room. He paced back towards the bed, satisfaction beaming in his crimson eyes. “Sami is dead. It is beginning.”

  “Well, that is very good news,” Lucia said. The crackle in her voice belied the happy words she spoke.

  “Lucia,” Aelek said firmly, causing her to look up at him. “It is time.”

  Her face fell. She knew this day was coming. Or at least she had been told many times by Aelek that it would come. Deep down she had prayed that maybe he would change his mind. Maybe seeing her would force him to have a change of heart. She was so very beautiful after all.

  “Must we,” she sighed softly, looking once more down at the baby. “You are more powerful than them now. You do not have to--”

  “Lucia,” Aelek cut in, his voice harsh, “Do not speak in such a way. You know what they have done for me. What they have done for us. I cannot disobey them now. Especially not for this.”

  “I know,” she said, “I just--”

  “Me too,” he sighed, pushing a long strand of black hair behind his shoulder. He couldn’t be mad at Lucia. This wasn’t something he wanted to do either, but it was necessary. He owed the Magi everything, and he could not deny them what he had already promised. “We simply do not have a choice.”

  Lucia just nodded as a single tear ran down her cheek. Aelek rubbed it off with his thumb, caressing her face for the briefest of moments. Finally, she handed the baby to him and he left without another word.

  

  The newborn squirmed in the bony hands of a Magi. In the pale light of the half moon they had gathered. Heavy black cloaks hid their hideously deformed faces, the toll for centuries of practicing the darker arts of magic. The Magi were not creatures of this world, but they had made do, struggled, and survived after the near annihilation of their kind. There were but a few of them left, and they had dwelt quietly in Maracov for many centuries, waiting for the right time. That time was nearing.

  The baby screamed, her tiny face turning bright red as she was laid on a cold square slab of marble. Her bare legs kicked absently as her hands reached into the empty air. The Magi gathered around the marble altar, and their chanting took over the silence of the night. The clouds swirled together overhead in a dark mass. Lightning flashed, thunder cracked loudly around them. The gleam of a solid gold dagger flashed in the sparse moonlight and the baby fell silent as her tiny throat was slit, draining her little body of what blood it had. This sacrifice had to be made, for though the Magi were powerful in the art of magic, they were not powerful enough on their own to cut through the veil blocking them from their home. As the last droplets of blood leaked from the baby's body, and the Magi's chanting came to an end, a temporary link between the worlds split the empty night air.

  Not all humans were born with an aura, and those that were, weren’t terribly powerful. Even further, very few ever learned how to master it, but there was one that could. It had been many centuries since they had felt that particular aura. Many centuries that they had waited, and hoped for that special person to be born. Now, everything was in place and they were ready to find her.

  They followed the scent of the aura to a two story house on a quiet dead end street. A heavy silence hung in the air, only broken by the occasional chirp of a cricket. Inside that house they found a woman sleeping peacefully on the couch. It was not the person the Magi were tracking, but it was someone very close. Someone that would suit their purposes just fine.

  Aunt Tammy's chocolate eyes snapped open when a cold hand clamped over her mouth, muffling her screams. Her balled fists struck her attacker anyway they could, but it was useless. He was incredibly strong. He removed his hand, and for a brief moment her scream rang out through the house. Grasping the woman’s tongue between his fingers, the Chief Magi easily ripped it from her mouth. He leaned in closely to the woman, who was slowly beginning to choke on her own blood.

  “Did you think you could keep us away forever?” he hissed, as the wide eyed woman beneath him began to convulse uncontrollably.

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