Dancing With Monsters (29 page)

“
Please, everyone,” Rusul
said standing up. “We shouldn’t be threatening anyone and fighting
among ourselves. That tactic has always been proven fatal. What we
must do is wait for the weather to clear, which will be in a couple
of days, and keep the demon secure and allow others to heal,” he
motioned towards April. “And talk among ourselves, not threaten
with laws and argue. We are no better than the way of demons by
doing so.”

I went back to Malachi’s room that had
blue tinted windows and three puffy beds sitting in row. Nessa was
sitting in the bed across from him with Adan beside her.

“
Seth,” she jumped off the
bed, wincing a little from her twisted ankle.

“
Sit, Nessa.” Edan who was
sitting beside her, guided her back down. “It will never heal if
you don’t stop getting up and standing on it every time someone
comes in.”

Since I left Edan and Nessa at the
portal that led to the Shadowlands, they have turned into almost a
couple. I wasn’t sure how that happened, especially since I left
Nessa with a dagger to use if Edan became troublesome. I certainly
didn’t expect her to use it, but I certainly didn’t expect to see
them slightly doting on one another. I wanted to ask Nessa how she
and Edan became companions, but I would worry about that
later.

I looked at Malachi who seemed to have
paled sine I left him for the meeting with the angels to decide
what to do with the demon which proved to be useless. He looked
worse, and I should have been here.

“
What’s—what’s happening?
Malachi looks worse than when I left. I thought Uncle Hes had given
him something to make him heal.” I asked getting two grim
looks.

Edan cleared his throat. “I think your
uncle failed to diagnose Malachi correctly.” He looked at me with
his sympathetic eyes. “I’ve seen it before when angels patrolling
the borders of the Lands of Shadow—where the demons exist.” He let
his eyes fall on Malachi. “He’s been stung by a demon thorn, and
it’s slowly poisoning him. I found it behind his ear, a popular
place that demons like to strike.”

“
Demon thorn?” I’ve never
heard of anything like it.

Edan turned Malachi’s head revealing
the small black dot behind his ear that had faint veins of black
vining out from it.

“
Demons usually don’t
strike since they can hardly materialize outside the shadows. And
since archangels patrol their borders, a few have been strung from
time to time, but,” Edan lifted his eyes to me. “The demon thorns
we usually deal with are not as potent. Eos had almost full power
making the venom much stronger.”

“
What do we do for him
then?” I asked feeling bile rise in my throat. The thought of
losing Malachi to poison…

“
I’ve done what I could at
slowing it, but only a demon’s venom can counteract the poison in
him.” Edan sat back as Nessa reached for his hand.

I looked at Malachi and then back at
Edan. “We have a demon. Now we just have to get her out, and have
her help us.”

Edan shook his head. “Good luck with
that. Eveie is not only a demon, but she’s a little unbalanced in
the head, if you know what I mean.”

“
She wanted children, and
we’ll use that reason to get her to help us.”

“
You’ll never get past my
father or the earth angels guarding her,” Edan said in a
matter-of-fact-tone.

It would be dangerous and if the demon
got loose without helping us, a lot more would be destroyed than
just Malachi dying.

April

I wanted to see Malachi, but wasn’t
allowed to. I paced the floor of my gazebo-like bedroom as the rain
tapped on the glass overhead. I felt I had to do something because
all of this waiting and being told what to do was
irritating.

I walked over to the door and placed
my hand on the silver knob. The door was made of wood with
seashells embedded into it and painted white. It was a beautiful
door, I thought to myself as I contemplated opening it.

I closed my eyes and
pictured Malachi in my head. I’ve never had much boy-girl
relationships before, and now I’ve experienced two. Ben was nothing
but spell induced, and Malachi was woven into my destiny, but was
someone who was woven into your destiny supposed to give you
butterflies and goose bumps in their presence?
I had to know if Malachi was alright.

I pushed the door open to find
Hesediel, Seth’s uncle, standing in front of me. He was a
broad-shoulder man with dark eyes and greying brown hair. He was a
weathered looking man, the kind that appeared bitter, but then he
smiled at me. Wrinkles formed around his eyes as he gazed at
me.

“
May I come in, April?” he
asked as I stepped aside and closed the door with a cold look of
the pale guard standing outside my door. His eyes were neon blue,
and his white skin was covered with swirling marks. In his hand was
a silver staff with a very pointed end. I shut the door as Hesediel
stood with clasped hands in the middle of the room. Rain pattered
on the ceiling and shadows flickered throughout the
room.

“
May I turn on an
orillion?” He pointed to the globe that sat on a small table
between two chairs. He brushed his hand across the bottom as it
slowly began to glow.

Warm light began to fill the room as
he turned on more orillions.

“
I haven’t talked to you
very much, and thought I would come by to engage in conversation
with you.” He sat down and motioned for me to sit as well. “That
is, if you weren’t going anywhere, but I don’t think you’d get past
the guards.” He glanced towards the door.

“
No, I wouldn’t, and,” I
shifted my eyes from him to the door. “I wanted to know if Malachi
was alright.”

“
He is fine—tended to him
myself, and he will make a full recovery.” He leaned forward
resting his elbows to his knees that were covered in thick robes of
dark green. “I know you had no idea any of this existed just a few
weeks ago, but it is something that was planned a long time ago by
your mother.”

I felt like the air had been knocked
out of my lungs and I questioned even my hearing.

“
You said my mother, not
Eveie who wants to be my mother?”

“
No, the one that took you
to the market in Nethopania to have your hexmark uncovered, and the
one that nearly died after giving you away.”

My knees began to shake as I stood
hanging onto the chair and digging my fingers into the plush
cushioned back.

“
You…you knew her?” I
breathed.

Hesediel looked at me with concern.
“April, do sit before you fall down. I know a lot has happened to
you, and I hate to bring everything down on you, but time is not on
our side.”

He got up and walked towards
me.

“
Please sit and I’ll tell
you what should have been told to you a long time ago.”

Hesediel took my hand and in the soft
light of the orillions with the rain pouring down outside beating
like drums on the ceiling, he began to tell me something that I
craved no matter how much I tried to bury it—he told me about my
mother.

Her name was Aleena Snowbird, and she
was twenty when she had me. Her family lived in the northern part
of Iethia called the Crosslands, but they disowned her when she met
a monster from the Borderlands. She was young and naïve, and
quickly found out that her monster lover was no monster, but a
demon disguised as one. Aleena had been used and fled to Duneloc
where she went to the guardians for help. Hesediel became her
counselor.

“
I was with the guardians,
and serving my time in the office section before I could work out
in the field where I wanted to be. I thought your mother was just
another stupid girl from the Crosslands who spread her legs to the
first monster who promised a way out of there, but she wasn’t. She
told me about the demon that had tricked her and the child she
carried was a mixture of monster and demon with rights placed on
her unborn child. Even in our world, the idea of a demon even
making it out of the shadows was farfetched. But Aleena was very
convincing and accurate with the activity near the Crosslands at
that time. I believed her and secretly housed her. Ayil helped
deliver you when the time came, and then your mother disappeared
along with you.”

I felt a mixture of emotions swirl
inside of me as I looked down at the floor and the flickering
shadows. “But Eveie bit me—turned me into a monster that
way.”

“
She bit you, but she
didn’t turn you into a monster, you were already one, and one that
was to be used for a purpose. You were the one to free the demons
from the shadows and destroy all the angels, monsters or anyone
that got in the way. That was the demon’s plan with you. You were
to be their legs and arms in the worlds of light for them. They
wanted you to be their key to unlock the door that has been shut on
them for too long. And then, unexpectedly, an ignorant monster got
the idea of making a serum to strengthen the race of monsters. When
I heard that demons consumed it, I thought all was lost.” Hesediel
leaned closer with his dark, unblinking eyes focused on me. “Seth
has proven he is strong with archangel abilities, but you are the
key to our plan, and a place for monsters in this
world.”

“
But I don’t know anything
about this world and just learned that the darkness that has
followed me was Eveie and that different realms exist. How could I
be the key to your plan?”

“
It isn’t your knowledge,
but the power inside of you. You have the power of two demons, an
unfortunate human, and a monster in you.” He got up and poured two
glasses of water. “Here, you look thirsty.” He handed me one with a
smile, and I took a small sip as he watched me with eager
eyes.

“
You bear the royal
hexmark, and I believe that your father was no ordinary demon, but
that of royalty and power.”

I stood up and walked over to the
window. Darkness was taking over the wet landscape and rain gently
came down pitter-pattering on the ceiling. I closed my eyes wishing
Ezra or even Ebony would speak to me, but their thoughts were
silent.

“
So, what are you going to
do with me?” I asked as Hesediel stood and joined me by the
window.

“
For starters, I need you
to kill Isaiah,” he said as I looked at his stone-like expression
staring into the blackened distance that was being reflected in the
widow in front of me.

12

Seth

I couldn’t find Uncle Hes anywhere,
and it appeared everyone in Shangri-La had gone to their rooms to
hide from the rain and storms that passed through one after
another. Edan took Nessa to get something to eat and made her rest
in her own room. I knew she cared as much for Malachi as me. I
stayed in his room just long enough to come up with a plan to get
Eveie out of her cell. I had archangel abilities, but I didn’t know
what I was capable of or what extent they went to.

I brought Ezra out of the Shadowlands,
and controlled the lightstone, but how was I to break a demon out
of a heavily guarded cell, make her come with me, and have her cure
Malachi all without anyone noticing? I couldn’t, but I could enter
the cell and speak to her before I did let her out. The only
problem was trying to escape if things didn’t go well. But Eveie
had a motherly edge to her, and unlike Eos, she could possibly be
reasoned with. It was a risk I had to take, and one that I had to
do alone. I couldn’t risk anyone’s life, not even
Edan’s.

I hovered behind a pillar and could
see two guards by the lightcell that contained Eveie. The only
weapon I could use was my ability to compel, but could it work on
two extensively trained earth angels that have been around for a
long time and are immune to many spells? I had to try. I had no
choice.

I walked out into the room looking up
at the ligthcell that went from ceiling to floor. Their pale eyes
shifted to me.

“
You’re not supposed to be
here, move on,” one said in a stern voice.

“
Oh, I know, but I’ve
always wanted to be a guard in Shangri-La since I was little, and
now I’m here. I won’t get another chance, so I thought I’d jump at
the opportunity now.”

“
Go talk to Rusul, he’s in
charge of us. Now, leave this room,” the other one said in the same
stern voice.

I stepped closer pushing my invisible
force to them. Usually I go a bit slower, but I had to be quick
with these two ancient guards that have the experiences of the ages
with them.

“
I’m sorry I can’t,
because I need to get in the lightcell,” I said with their eyes on
me.

“
Move on,” one of them
repeated with a motioning of their spear.

I pushed farther into them almost like
I was casting an invisible lasso, and tightening it in one quick
motion. I’ve never used so much energy before, and could feel it
quickly draining me.

“
You don’t understand,” I
said, stepping closer to them. “Let me in the lightcell.” I didn’t
even blink my eyes to break the connection I had with them, but
that connection wasn’t convincing them. They’ve been guards for a
long time and resistant to compelling, but I knew I had them, at
least a little.