Sanctified (4 page)

Gabriel and the mage exchanges looks that made Jesse wonder what they were like together. “Not all the time,” Gabriel said. “We had our moments.”

Lazarus simply gave Gabriel a smug smile. “That we did.”

Before Jesse could further contemplate the images floating around in his head, Gabriel stepped through the portal, tugging Jesse with him.

When they emerged on the other side, something prickled at Jesse’s mind. He swept his gaze around the room, noting the overturned throne on the dais, the broken tables and sconces along the walls. Several marks dotted the stone floor, as if fires had been set -- or something burned to ash where it stood. He shivered.

“Something’s not right,” he whispered.

“Agreed.” For the first time, Lazarus seemed wary, a far cry from the arrogant confidence he usually exuded. “Bela…”

Gabriel released Jesse’s hand and headed for a door at the back of the dais. He tried opening it, but it appeared to be locked. He stepped back, surveyed the door itself, and then, with a harsh growl, kicked the thing in. It cracked and splintered, shattering on its hinges. Dust settled and Gabriel stepped into the room beyond.

“Lazarus!”

Jesse ran behind the mage, fear ratcheting higher. They came to an abrupt stop in the doorway. “Fuck!”

Blood covered everything -- ceiling, walls, floor. What looked like an arm lay in one place, while a cloven foot lay across the room. Bits and pieces of what used to be a demon’s body had been scattered everywhere.

“What the fuck?” Jesse muttered. “Gabriel?”

Gabriel crouched in the center of the room, near a grate in the floor. Blood still seeped through grooves and into the openings of the grate. “It’s true.”

“What?” Lazarus approached him. “Bela. What is true? Is this --”

The sound of metal scraping stone was loud and Gabriel shoved the grate to the side with a loud crash. He reached into the hole and lifted a bloody skull. Jesse’s eyes widened and he felt his stomach churn. The skull itself seemed larger than life -- three times bigger than any human. Two massive horns had once curled outward, but had been cut or filed down to ragged stubs. The empty eye sockets still seemed to stare out at the horror of the room, while jagged, fang-like teeth dripped fresh blood down Gabriel’s arm.

“Whatever did this,” Gabriel said, “is not of this world. This was not the Maskim. It was something else.”

Jesse paced the floor while Gabriel rounded up the remaining guards he could find outside the palace. Lazarus stayed behind as well, though his company was little comfort.

“How?” Jesse asked. “How the fuck could something tear apart an archdemon like that?”

“Many things have the ability,” Lazarus answered. “Many things beyond human comprehension. Beyond even Bela’s comprehension.”

“You’re an enemy of Ba’al.” Jesse turned and faced the mage. “How could you ever hope to defeat him? Do you have an army to back you up?”

“I think I see what you’re getting at, and no, I do not. Although I’m strong, it’s not enough to rip someone like Ba’al to shreds. That takes more brute strength and much darker magic than I possess.”

“What about cross-breeds?”

Lazarus raised an eyebrow. “Cross-breeds?”

“As in demon and elemental. That sort of thing.”

“Or… vampire and elemental,” Lazarus finished. Jesse nodded. “With training, such a being could be powerful indeed. Whether he -- or she, of course -- could defeat an enemy like we face is up for debate.”

Jesse couldn’t believe he was even considering asking the next question, but so far, they’d come up with no other options. “What do I need to do?”

Lazarus approached him. Ignoring the instinct to back up, Jesse held his ground.

“Complete your transformation. I knew Bela would change you. Now it’s up to you to finish it.”

“What will happen to me? Will I die?”

“If you were a mortal, yes. But you are not. Bela’s blood protects you in that regard, but it has no sway over my magic.”

Sounds came from outside the throne room door, and Jesse knew he didn’t have long to think about it. If Gabriel found out what he was contemplating, it would never happen. Taking a deep breath, Jesse nodded.

“All right. I’m ready.”

He squeezed his eyes shut, unsure of what to expect. He heard Lazarus murmur strange words, and his skin tingled. Jesse gasped when the cold began seeping along his arms, from his fingertips on up. He opened his eyes and watched, spellbound, as his flesh darkened to blue-violet. When he looked up at the mage, his jaw fell open.

Lazarus, arms raised, eyes closed, chanted the words over and over. His skin, once pale, was now the same blue as Jesse’s, yet it radiated a pearlescent aura, pulsing with every word. Jesse glanced back at his own body and the blue crept along, covering every inch. Fear soon gave way to fascination.

“Whoa,” he muttered. “Now I know how Violet Beauregard felt.”

“Well, I found --”

Jesse snapped his gaze up toward the throne room doors.

“Jesse!” Gabriel growled and started for Lazarus. Without thinking, Jesse lifted his hand up and a bolt of blue-white light arced, hit Gabriel’s chest, and sent the man flying back into the far wall.

“Gabriel!” Jesse rushed over and helped Gabriel to sit up. “Oh, fuck. Fuck. Are you okay? I’m sorry. Oh, God, what did I do?”

Gabriel grabbed Jesse’s hand and stopped him. “What have you done? Do you know what you’ve become?”

“I do.” Jesse sighed and sat back on his heels. “I didn’t see any other choice. I can’t die -- not since you turned me.”

Gabriel’s gaze shifted to something over Jesse’s shoulder. “And you. You coerced him into this?”

“No, I did not,” Lazarus said. His skin, Jesse noticed, remained the same blue color as before, but the aura settled into what looked like a second layer over the surface of his flesh.

“Gabriel, please. It was my idea. Hell, you saw what I just did to you!”

“I know,” Gabriel said. “I don’t like this, Jesse. There’s nothing human about you anymore. You realize that, don’t you?”

Jesse nodded. “I do. I don’t think there’s been much since you turned me, to be honest. But,” he said, cutting Gabriel off when the man tried to speak, “your turning me also kept me from dying when Lazarus and I completed the transformation. I’m okay.

Really.”

“Let him be what we’ve created him to be,” Lazarus said. “Whether we intended to or not, he is the only thing standing between whatever we face and utter destruction.

If you want to avenge Ba’al, Jesse may very well be your only weapon.”

Gabriel shot to his feet and fisted Lazarus’ shirt, jerking the mage close. “If any harm comes to him,” Gabriel snarled, “I will tear you apart, mage.”

Despite his precarious position, Lazarus seemed unmoved. “Have no fear. I do not intend on losing my young pupil anymore than you do.”

It was then that Jesse realized something seemed very wrong. He looked around, then back at Gabriel and Lazarus. “Um, where is Semoriel?”

“He stayed at the inn,” Lazarus said, straightening his shirt once Gabriel released him. “Why?”

“I don’t know. Just… a feeling.”

“We need to get him,” Gabriel said. “We’re going to need every demon we can find.”

* * *

Lazarus started to unlock the door to their room, but Gabriel stopped him.

“What?”

“He’s not alone,” Gabriel whispered.

The mage backed up slowly, gazing at the door. Gabriel held out his hand and placed his palm on the wood. Eyes closed, Gabriel let his mind slip through the barrier and into the room beyond, unseen.

“You have done well.”

“Thank you, my liege,” Semoriel said, bowing his head. He knelt on the floor before a bowl of red smoke and fire.

“I expect your brother will find out soon enough, but once we have his fledgling vampire in hand, Bela will be easy to control.”

“Yes, my liege. I will do everything in my power to --”

“We are not alone,” the voice interrupted. “The door.”

The moment Semoriel glanced up, Gabriel snapped back into his own body. He grabbed Lazarus and Jesse and rushed down the hall, out of the inn as fast as possible.

Neither said a word until they stopped in a darkened alley.

“What the hell was that about?” Jesse panted.

“He’s betrayed us!”

“What?” Lazarus narrowed his gaze. “What do you mean?”

“He was speaking with someone -- or something -- he called his ‘liege.’ The plan is to capture Jesse and thus have me under their thumb.”

“Wait…” Jesse looked from Gabriel to Lazarus. “Semoriel knows Gabriel turned me, but he doesn’t know that I’ve completed the change with Lazarus.”

“Good point,” the mage said. “Do you know who Semoriel was speaking with?”

“No, but I have the feeling he’s in league with whatever destroyed Ba’al.”

Lazarus turned and walked down the alley a bit, lost in thought. Jesse chewed his lip.

“Why would he do that?” Jesse asked quietly. “Why would Semoriel betray us?

Or, at the least, Lazarus? I thought they… well, maybe not loved, but enjoyed each other.”

Gabriel sighed and watched the mage wander along, his back to them. “I don’t know. Semoriel, like most of our kind, isn’t known for lasting allegiances. I have an advantage in that I’m not a full demon in the true sense of the term. Semoriel, however, is, and allies change with the wind.”

“What about Lazarus? I can’t imagine what it feels like to know all this.”

“I am fine,” the mage said, returning to them. He stood a bit straighter, shoulders back, a hint of steel in his eyes. “I am not unaccustomed to such things. I will deal with him as I do all my enemies and those who cross me.” He started walking toward the entrance of the alley, then turned back to look at them briefly. “I will kill him.”

Despite his vow to kill the bastard, Lazarus couldn’t stop the constant barrage of images in his head reminding him of the times he’d spent with Semoriel. Had it been love? Not even close. But he had felt something, though he now wondered if it was only lust.

“Earth to Lazarus.”

“Hm?” He shook his head, attention snapping back to the matter at hand. “Oh.

Sorry. Just thinking.”

Jesse didn’t seem too convinced. “Uh huh.” He sat down beside Lazarus and leaned close. It surprised Lazarus how quickly things had changed. Before, Jesse feared him -- hated him. Now, Jesse showed nothing but interest and, if Lazarus really gave it thought, possibly caring. “I don’t know what to say.”

“There is nothing to say,” Lazarus muttered. “Demons, Bela excluded of course, are turncoats at heart -- what little heart there is in their black souls.”

“Can I ask you something?”

“Of course.”

Jesse stared down at his fingers, twining them. “Did you love him?”

Lazarus didn’t know how to answer. He’d loved… once. It didn’t get him anywhere. “Only one has ever come that close, and that has been my biggest mistake.”

“Gabriel.”

It didn’t surprise Lazarus that his pupil caught on so easily. What did surprise him was that the mere memory brought back things he hadn’t felt -- hadn’t allowed himself to feel -- in a very long time. “Yes,” he said finally. He met Jesse’s gaze. “Does that bother you?”

“At one point, I would’ve said ‘hell yes’.” Jesse shrugged. “But now, it’s hard to explain… it just… doesn’t.”

“Cherish him, Jesse.” At the rather shocked look, Lazarus just smiled. “There’s no one else like him.”

“I know.” Jesse turned his head toward Gabriel, who stood talking with a group of fellow demons. “There’s no one like you either,” he muttered.

Lazarus studied him for a moment, wondering if he’d heard correctly. “You are,”

he said. “As time goes on, you will be more than I am.”

“That’s not what I meant.”

“I don’t follow you.”

Jesse chuckled. “You know, for such a powerful mage, you’re not always quick on the draw.”

“I beg your pardon.” Lazarus huffed. “I merely pay attention to that which concerns me and ignore that which does not.” In an effort to return the conversation to something less awkward, he stood. “We must begin your training if you’re ever to become a mage.”

* * *

Though he desperately tried to focus on the discussion, Gabriel found his attention wandering. The sight of Jesse and Lazarus working together, Jesse mimicking every move the mage made, the two of them standing so close together, made something tighten in Gabriel. He cursed himself for a fool. Lazarus had proven long ago that they had nothing to offer one another.

Nothing beyond the bed, at any rate
.

When the others left, Gabriel stayed still, content to watch and not disturb the mage and his new apprentice. What was it that lured him? Was it the magic? Was it the inherent danger of being with an elemental with so much power? Or was it simply something only Lazarus and Jesse possessed? Gabriel had no choice but to grudgingly admit that the two of them looked quite good. Together. When he expected jealousy, however, he felt none. Instead, he felt envy for what they could do, and here he stood, a lowly vampiric demon to their elemental magic.

“Bela!”

Gabriel spun around and forced himself to remain completely nonchalant as his brother rushed over. “Where have you been? We’re trying to muster our forces to deal with whatever destroyed Ba’al.”

Semoriel, much to his credit, didn’t even blink to show the slightest hint of agitation. “I’ve been doing much the same. I think I can gather some others outside of Terrova.”

“Good. Bring them here.”

“They might listen better if you were to accompany me. I am no leader.”

Ah. So it begins
…

Gabriel sighed. “All right. I’ll be right back. I at least need to let them know.” He left Semoriel and went to Lazarus and Jesse. Lowering his voice, he motioned them closer. “Stay alert. He claims others will listen if I join him outside the city. I can at least keep him occupied if you two can handle anything else. Maybe we can find out who or what is behind all this.”

“You can trust me,” Lazarus said. “I swear to you that.”

“I know.” Gabriel leaned close and kissed Jesse. “Be careful. Please.”