Her Demon Prince (Forbidden Fantasy) (10 page)

Galaden closed his eyes. When
he opened them, desolation crossed his face.

"What did I see?"

His expression hardened like
the marble he had been carved from. "My kin. I am a descendant of Lucifer
bound by kinship to follow his rule." Galaden left her side as if he could
no longer be there.

Rachael struggled to remain
awake but it seemed her soul was intermingling with fog.
Her
psychic acuity, the one great skill that helped her find truth, faded as she
struggled to stay conscious.
Her mind was too misty to summon her gift.
Helpless, she watched as Galaden, his face brittle with determination, strode
toward the doorway. He raised his hand and white energy flowed from his palm.
The seal on the apartment door vanished and it opened to reveal Envy guarding
its entrance.

A shudder passed through
Rachael at the sight of the demon.

Envy stood over seven feet
tall even without its head on its shoulders, evil emanating from its body.
Under its arm, it held its head, the eyes glowing, watching.

"Command the troops to
assemble. It is time to track and destroy the demon. Do not harm the
princess." He handed Envy the necklace. "This contains her energy
signature. When you find her bring her to me."

There was a ruthlessness to
his tone when he said the word 'princess' that Rachael had never heard before, and
she didn't need her gift to know that something was desperately wrong. Fear
like a blade struck her heart. The creature Envy was malevolent and Galaden
commanded it with ease.

What hellish thing had she set
in train?

She tried to order her body to
rise but she could do no more than raise her forearm and even then it flopped
uselessly by her side. She could sense her mind sliding into a dreamlike state
and finally her eyelids closed as the outside world disappeared.

She fought to maintain a tie
to Galaden by throwing out a gold chain of light and winding it around him,
binding them together, so that she could remain linked. Mentally, she clung to
the chain to keep their connection, but instead of staying in this lifetime,
she seemed to be traveling backwards in time to their previous life.

The last thing she remembered
was Galaden's words that, 'some humans go into a coma.'

House of the Healer 948 BC

"Rachael! Daughter
come
quickly."

The urgent tone in her
mother's voice alerted Rachael that something was amiss. She packed her herbs
in her basket and raced through the field and up the hill toward her father's
villa.

Her mother hurried to meet her
and grabbed her hand. "Prepare yourself daughter, the demon son of the
king has entered our home. I fear you will need to call on all your powers to
help our family survive this encounter."

Danger prickled all the way
down her spine, but there was no time to respond to her mother's warning. When
she approached, she saw a magnificent stranger with long dark hair standing at
the entrance talking to her father and while he didn't have an evil face, her
gift allowed her to see the dense, dark energy that surrounded him. Her throat
tightened with trepidation. She knew he was from royalty from his quality linen
tunic and colored robe with the king's serpent insignia embroidered onto it. At
his side, he wore a fine bronze dagger. She couldn't take her eyes off it and a
vision of it twisting in a victim's heart came to mind as she approached him.
This man brought death to those he encountered. No wonder the prickles of fear
radiated throughout her when she normally carried peace. May Yahweh help her
deal with this dark energy that had entered her house of healing.

When he turned, he studied her
with eyes so black and powerful she wanted to step back and escape his gaze.
Her basket of herbs dropped by her side and if it weren’t for her mother who
gripped her arm, she would have backed away.

Her father’s cheeks were
reddened and when he came to greet her she could smell wine and sweet herbs on
his breath, but a sour scent also met her nostrils and she realized her father
was afraid of this stranger too. “Come daughter. We have the most auspicious
guests. Meet his lordship, Prince Agrat, heir to the great throne of Jerusalem,
who honors our house with his presence. His brother is resting in the healing
chamber. I have assured his lordship that Prince Galaden will have the best
care we can give him."

Rachael bowed her head sensing
the urgency in her father's tone.

The dark prince towered above
her, his scrutiny intense and she had the sense that the cost of failure would
be deadly. “I have been assured you are a gifted healer. My brother is in
urgent need of one."

“My daughter is young but she
has the great gift passed down through generations. People come from many miles
around to seek treatment,” her father said.

Her mother nodded.

"So I am told." The
prince turned to her. "So you, Healer, explain your methods to me."

Rachael opened her mouth to
speak, but her throat had dried. "Yahweh..." She coughed, trying to
overcome her fear.

"Yahweh?" the prince
questioned.

"Gives me guidance as to
the healing method." Looking down she saw that her hands were trembling.

The prince laughed but his
tone was barren of mirth. "What if 'Yahweh' will not guide you with this
patient?"

"I do not understand, my
lord. Yahweh rules all things."

"Believe me, Yahweh is
selective in whom he assists. Follow me," the prince ordered her.

Had God turned his back on
this prince? Rachael's stomach tightened with dread. Behind him, she saw her
mother make the sign of protection. Rachael resisted making the sign too, not
daring to affront the prince, but inside her she quailed wondering what evil
had come to their house.

Her father backed out of his
path as the prince strode into their villa and turned left into the treatment
room. Rachael followed him, noticing he walked with an air of command. In the
middle of the room, on the pallet lay an angel, his wings spread wide. Imbedded
in his chest was a spear, its tip had penetrated the skin under his sternum.
Silver glitter sparkled on the tiled floor beneath his wings and specks of
light glistened in the air, gathering around the wound.

Rachael gasped, raising her
hand to her mouth. An angel.
A real angel.
Such
magnificence. Beauty. Awed, she stepped closer. A glow pulsed from his body
though its color was a sickly yellow. He looked close to death. Even so, he was
breathtaking like one of the great carvings she had seen in the king's palace
when her father had taken her there as a child. "Why does an angel need my
help? Surely with his bloodline — "

"My brother, Galaden, is
half human and his physical weakness comes from the mortal side. You must tend
his wounds."

Galaden's face was ashen and
his eyes were closed but occasionally he heaved in a deep breath. Blood
trickled down his ribcage and from the corner of his mouth.

"But he is dying,"
she said, seeing his injury and the way life seeped from his body.

"It cannot be so,"
the prince said, his voice hoarse.

Rachael moved close and raised
her hands so that they hovered over the angel's body. She waited for her palms
to become charged with the healing energy from Yahweh. And waited. Nothing.
Instead, death lurked like a thief searching for an opportunity to strike. She
withdrew her hands, dropping them by her side, her chest tight with terror. Why
had Yahweh deserted her? "I cannot summon Yahweh. Without his guidance I
cannot do my healing," she said, her voice distressed. "There is a curse
upon this angel."

"Yahweh excommunicated
his mother. She is kin to Lucifer and does as he commands."

Horror rent her body.
"But he does not feel evil." She waved her hands over his body.

"I do not know what he
will become as he matures. I only know that I love him well." The prince
met her gaze before looking back to his brother. "My brother took this
spear that was meant for me."

"He saved you?"

"I have seen many battles
and I am not so easy to destroy. Galaden was foolhardy to rush forward."
Despite his angry tone, his gaze roved over his brother, his brow drawn with
concern. "I am told that mortals do not have the power to take the life of
an angel."

"You know this,
Lord?" Worry made her curt.

"Galaden has never been
severely injured before."

So the belief had not been
tested.
Oh great God, do not leave me in
my hour of need.
Rachael looked heavenward and continued praying. "Yahweh,
help me with this angel. Do not let him pay for his mother's sins against you.
Send me healing for this angelic princeling." She raised her hands waiting
for them to warm with Yahweh's healing charge.

Nothing.

"Yahweh does not bless
our kind," the prince said.

"I have never known
Yahweh to desert me. I have lifted curses of a human nature, but this is
something far beyond my powers." She looked upward hoping for a sign. A
vision. Guidance. What was she to do? Her parents, her clan, their lands would
be destroyed if she displeased the prince.

"It is not you he has
deserted," the prince said, his voice rumbling with anger. His irises
blazed.

"Your eyes are changing
color." Rachael's throat tightened and she fought down the terror that
threatened to rise. Instead, her hand rose to the protective amulet she wore
around her throat and she sought calm within herself.

The prince, perhaps noticing
her distress, closed his eyes and when he opened them again they ceased to
glow. "Do not be afraid of me."

"I don't know if I can
heal your brother."

"I will not punish you. I
respect your gift. I was bred for war, for killing, for all that is black in
the world."

Yet, he loved his brother like
a mortal would love his kin, she thought, puzzled. She studied the black energy
that swirled around his body like the desert sands in a storm. Energy this
color had always signified evil and initially she had thought this to be so,
but there was something different about this prince. "There is much good
in your feelings for your brother."

His chin tilted and his eyes
narrowed suspiciously as if he suspected her of lying to him. "Nothing
about me has ever been called good."

He had the air of a man used
to an audience of fear, yet there was more to him than there first appeared to
be. "I do not know why this gift was given to me, but part of it allows me
to know truth and I sense goodness in your soul."

His face jerked up as if
stunned. "I have one?"

For an instant, under the
steel of his demeanor, she saw his vulnerable core. "Yes. Most people see
the outer shell of the human form, but I can sense what is within. Perhaps I
can find another way to heal Galaden, if Yahweh will not answer my call."

Relief crossed his features.
"Thank you, Healer."

His respectful manner
surprised her. There was no doubt that here was the most dangerous man she had
ever encountered, yet he seemed to have left the echo of violence he carried
with him at her front door. Instead, all she sensed was his concern for his
brother.

Rachael held her hands over
the wound and closed her eyes, seeking with her gift to see whether the spear
had penetrated the angel's heart. The energy from the angel pulsed below her
hands. A myriad of sensations: misery, confusion and anxiety hit her like a
blow as the life of the angel ebbed away. She staggered over the unexpectedness
of it and put her hand to her mouth to stop the horror of what she had seen.

"What is it?"

She glanced up at the demon
prince and saw that he was studying her intensely. There was so much more to
this incident than the prince suspected. "Wounds mirror life. This young
prince loves you but his mother does not and it tears this angel apart. That is
why he took the spear," she said.

"Galaden did this on
purpose?" His swarthy face blanched and he looked as if she'd punched him.

"This is what I have
seen. The angel does not wish to stay on this earth. He admires you, but he
cannot fight the will of his mother. It is written. He must do the will of his
creators." She touched her brow, trying to make sense of the vision she
had seen. "Beware of her. Prepare yourself. She intends to destroy
you." That is the message I am given.

"I am under no illusions
as to Galaden's mother. I am the firstborn prince, but his mother plots my
downfall." His gaze moved to Galaden and his face softened. "We have
been together since the nursery. Galaden is all I have," the prince said,
his voice gravelly.

Perspiration beaded at her
temple. Walking over to the table, which stood under the window, she picked up
a water jug, poured water into a basin, added some distilled herbs and brought
it over to the prince to wash his hands. When he was finished, she took wads of
linen to staunch the wound. "If you will permit it, I could use your
energy to heal this young prince."