Dancing With Monsters (30 page)

I pushed harder, and as I did, I
realized they were guards that listened to only one person. “Rusul
commanded me to take the demon—these are his orders.”

They stared at me like two statues,
and then parted lowering their heads as a sign of listening to an
order. Inwardly, I smiled as I stepped up to the portal and with my
lightstone in hand; I sliced the lightcell wall and went
in.

Inside was bright and I quickly sealed
the wall in one motioned. I clenched the stone in my hand and
turned expecting an angered demon bearing down on me that I had to
reason with, but instead, Eveie was curled up in a ball with her
head tucked into her knees. Her shoulders bobbed up and down and I
could hear her whimper.

“
Please just kill me,
Isaiah. My sisters are gone and I’ve lost my little girls.” Slowly,
she lifted her head up with her red hair stuck to her scaled
cheeks. Her eyes widened as I took a step back. “You’re not
Isaiah,” she said, gazing up at me.

Isaiah had spoken to her when I
thought she was in confinement, and no one was supposed to be
entering the lightcell. Obviously, there was more going on here
than just containing a demon. I couldn’t question her, and had to
keep it simple and on track. I still didn’t know the temperament of
Eveie yet.

“
No, but I’ve come to get
you out.” Never thought I’d be saying that to a demon. “One of your
children is ill, and will die without your help.”

“
Ella…April…” I could hear
the concerned voice of a mother coming from her.

Just as a precaution, I extended my
compelling to her. Never compelled a demon before either, and
wasn’t sure if it would even work.

“
No, another one, the boy
you let live—your son, Malachi.” I tried to push into her thoughts
and paly on her desire to be a mother.

“
My son…” She pulled away
from my gaze—compulsion wasn’t working on her. “Eos is gone and so
is Ebony. I’m my own demon now…free,” Eveie said, lifting her blue
eyes to me. I wasn’t sure where this was going. “Your compelling
won’t work on me.” She smiled with a tilt of her head as I rolled
the lightstone in my hand. “You don’t need to compel me to help one
of my children. All you had to do was ask—I love my children.” She
stood up and stepped closer to me. “And you are brave to come in
here and ask me and you must love him too, because you risked
coming in here with a dangerous demon.” Eveie didn’t look
dangerous, not like Eos, but looks can be deceiving.

“
Are you dangerous?” I
asked with a smile from Eveie as I squeezed the lightstone
summoning its power.

She glanced down at the stone that
illuminated my hand. “Only to those who wish to hurt my children,”
she replied to my relief.

“
Very well then, I will
release you on your promise that you will listen to me as no one
knows I am doing this.” I looked at Eveie. She was truly a
magnificent demon—all light and sparkle like untouched
snow.

“
I promise, Seth
Fairstone, holder of the angel light. I am free of my sisters and
free of my burden of oath to them. I wish to have my children with
me and safe.”

I nodded my head, but not
sure about how the
with me
was going to work out, but Evevie was the only
one who could save Malachi.

We exited the lightcell and sealed it
as I told the guards they’ve done a good job and Rusul would be
proud. They may have been guards for a long time, but I knew
through compelling them that they still yearned for praise from
their leader. I left them with gloating smiles.

Eveie, I felt, was a different demon
with her sisters gone. She truly wanted to be a mother and live
quietly with no desire to take over the realms and destroy others.
Why she was different, I didn’t know, but I could sense it and
trusted her enough to let her trail behind me as we quickly passed
through the hallways to Malachi’s room.

I checked to see if Nessa or Edan were
in there, and found the room empty. A single orillion was left
dimly glowing on the table next to Malachi. I motioned for Eveie to
come in.

She glided up to his bedside and gazed
down at him with her blue eyes surrounded in shimmering scales.
Eveie was all white and silver with red hair that made her
appearance look out of place. She was pale as if made from a
mixture snow and ice splattered with dots of blood. Her appearance
was striking as she warmly looked at Malachi.

“
He’s dying, and dying
fast. It’s one of Eos’s thorns,” she said with a silver tear
forming in the corner of her eye.

“
Can you save him?” I
asked.

She glanced up at me. “I can, but not
by myself. The poison has gone too far for mine to counteract it. I
need my first daughter—I need April Snow.”

April

“
Why do you want me to
kill Isaiah?” I asked turning towards Hesediel.

“
He’s an archangel that
shares one viewpoint with demons—he wants monsters exterminated
more so than any archangel. Isaiah is a very influential angel
among the archangel leaders, and could sway the council in any
direction he wants. He’s planned this for years and I’m simply
beating him to the one thing that will change things in our favor.”
He turned me to face him, and gently placed his hands on my
shoulders. “April, you have many abilities that you don’t even know
you have. This world has been shrouded from you your entire life,
but yet it always beckoned for you to find it one day. And even
though you know very little about who you are yet, you have the
ability to change things, make our world better, and put an end to
the struggles when have endured for years.”

I looked at Hesediel. He was sincere
with his words at least, that’s what I sensed anyhow. But he wasn’t
any different than Ebony, and to kill someone I didn’t know, even
though they didn’t seem like they wanted me to live, I couldn’t
kill them just because Hesediel wanted me to. At the same time, I
was in no way to go against him.

“
I wouldn’t ask this of
you if it wasn’t for the greater good, and you won’t be
blamed.”

I studied him for a moment letting the
silence give me time to think on how to get out of this. I knew I
had no choice, at least not right now. I didn’t want to kill
Isaiah, but I had to let Hesediel think I did.

“
I don’t know how to kill,
I just know how to do a Taking,” I said as he took my arm and
pushed back the sleeve to reveal my hexmark.

“
By this, April,” his eyes
flickered at me like a mad scientist finally having his creation
come to life. “This is a rare royal hexmark—ones that are nothing
but fabled in the monster world. He brushed his fingers across it
and then covered it back up lifting his eyes to mine. “You do the
reversal of a Taking. You give him some of your energy. The force
will be too much, and kill him as if he died of natural causes.
Archangels may live a long time, but they are subject to death as
much as monsters or humans. Only in the form of light are they
immortal.” Hesediel gazed down at me as if waiting for me to agree.
“Archangels, April, are the reason monsters live in the world we
live in, and are governed by their laws. Monsters have no say in
how their lives should be lived, and because of that, nothing can
move forward.” His eyes filled with a desperate sorrow. “Do you
understand what I’m saying?” He gently asked.

Yes, I understood, but I still didn’t
want to be the one to kill Isaiah, and how that would change the
outcome of things, I wasn’t sure. But I knew I couldn’t say no to
Hesediel, he, I think, would make me do it somehow. I had to agree
so I could get out of it easier. That I learned at Sunrise Acres—go
along with authority then run away when you get the
chance.

I kept my eyes locked with is as I
nodded my head in agreement.

I couldn’t sleep, but how could anyone
that was supposed to murder someone, but not just anyone—a
high-ranking archangel. Hesediel reassured me that no one would
suspect anything, but I wasn’t so sure. Do archangels just drop
dead from time to time like humans? I had to run away from this
soon and very quickly, but the only problem, I was in Shangri-La.
Other than the building I was in, I had no idea what the rest it
was like.

I sat on my bed and closed my eyes
reaching for Ezra or Ebony. I knew they were there, but I felt a
plate of glass had been put between us. I pushed at it, but it
wouldn’t give. They were trying to reach me; I knew this because
just like someone beating on thick glass, I heard a thumping in my
head.

I pushed more, and they thumped more
until it shattered like an explosion in my head. I let out a gasp
as I felt blood rush to my head. Pressing my hands to each side of
my head, I slowly opened my eyes to see perfectly circular drops of
blood staining the marble floor.

Hesediel blocked us from
you with a potion.
I heard Ebony’s voice
inside me.

“
Help me,” I said aloud,
just as the door opened.

I stood up expecting it to be
Hesediel.

“
April,”

It was Seth looking down at me with
concern followed by Eveie peeking over his shoulder.

I jumped up. “Seth!” I pointed behind
him. “Eveie—behind you!”

He came to me, and placed his hands on
my shoulders. “Shh, it’s alright,” he said, in a low voice as he
looked me in the eyes. “She’s with us, and she’s going to help
Malachi.”

I shifted my eyes to Eveie who slid up
behind Seth like fog.

“
Malachi,” I whispered his
name. “How…” I kept switching my eyes between them. “Is he
alright?”

By the grim look on his face, he
wasn’t. I felt my insides collapse like a sinkhole that swallowed
anything close to it down into its depths.

“
Listen to me, April.”
Seth stated calmly. “Malachi has been stung with a demon thorn and
you and Eveie are the only ones who can save him. But we need to
hurry.”

“
You bleed,” Eveie said,
bending down and touching the drops of blood that speckled the
floor. She rubbed it between her fingers with a disgusted look.
“Who made you bleed?”

I shifted my eyes back to
Seth.

“
Hesediel,” I whispered
his name with a confused look from Seth. “He-he wants me to kill
Isaiah and gave me a potion so that I can’t communicate with Ezra
or Ebony who are trying to help me. I think he wants to get rid of
them as well.”

Seth stepped away from me and paced
the floor rubbing his chin as Eveie stepped closer to
me.

She smiled and fingered a lock of my
hair through her hands. “You are my first daughter that I fell in
love with, and I want to help you save the one who you are just
beginning to love.”

“
We need to go,” Seth
said, tugging on my arm and gazing at Eveie.

“
Wait,” Eveie said as the
light made her scales sparkle. “We can’t risk being seen.” She
cupped her hand and blew into it as a fog curled around us and then
faded.

“
What was that?” Seth
demanded.

Eveie smiled. “You’ve brought me this
far, monster, I’m not going against my word. That was what I call
quiet-and-invisible-dust. It will keep any wandering or curious
eyes away from us.”

Seth tightened his mouth and then
looked at me as he grabbed my hand. “Let’s go.”

Eveie nodded as Seth guided me out of
my room and into the hallway. I walked numbly down and around a
maze of turns until we reached Malachi’s room. I hadn’t been able
to see him since we came here. I felt as delicate as the buildings
here in Shangri-La—all glass held up by thin frames. As hard as the
wind and rain smacked against the structures, they should’ve fallen
in on themselves, but they didn’t. They were stronger than they
appeared, but I wasn’t sure I was as strong as they
were.

Eveie glided over to Malachi and knelt
beside him as she gently brushed the hair from his
forehead.

He looked pale and lifeless. I held my
breath as I looked at boy I barely knew, but felt I had a
connection to that couldn’t be explained.

“
Come here, April.” Eveie
didn’t look at me as she gently turned his head revealing the
circular, black area that reminded me of the rotten spots on a
piece of overly-ripened fruit. Her blue eyes lifted to me. “Come
child, he doesn’t have much time.”

I looked from her to Seth.

I walked over and stood next to Eveie.
The closeness was excruciatingly uncomfortable at the same time, it
was something that I felt deep inside of me was meant to
be.

“
Place your hand over
mine, and we are going to pull the poison out slowly,” she said,
sliding her blue eyes to me. I nodded and she smiled. “The poison
will go from me to you, but you won’t be harmed. It is being
filtered through me, but the energy has to go somewhere, and that’s
where you come in.”

“
You’ve done this before?”
I asked looking at Malachi. “I mean, he looks…”

“
He’s still with us, but
he won’t if we don’t do this.”

I placed my hand over Eveie’s. I
expected it to be cold, slimy or disgusting in some way, but it
wasn’t. Instead, it was warm, soft and…comforting. I glanced at
Seth as he looked anxiously from Malachi to me. I started to say
something and it was quickly forgotten as I was nearly knocked off
my feet by the rush of power that jolted into me.