Sinister Seraphim of Mine (Overworld Chronicles Book 8) (7 page)

Nightliss gave me a confused look. "Who is this Marsha?"

"Uh, never mind." I checked my watch and realized it was almost dinner time. "What time are we going on our mission?"

"I've dispatched a scout to take pictures of the area," Elyssa said. "At midnight, we'll use the omniarch to open a portal in a safe place around Kobol Prison. I'll have to inspect their defenses before we infiltrate."

Nightliss touched her shoulder. "Elyssa, your father and I would like to speak with you."

My girlfriend raised an eyebrow. "About what?"

"Your role in the Templars."

Elyssa's other eyebrow climbed to join the first. "I thought my role was pretty clear. I'm a sergeant in officer training."

Nightliss gave her a gentle smile. "While we know your rank, your actual role has been anything but clear. Since I became Clarion of the Borathen Templars, I realized the new organizational structure has many gaps and holes." She opened her mouth as if to continue and frowned. "I do not wish to go into further detail without your father present."

"He's coming here?" Elyssa asked.

"Or we can take the portal there," Nightliss said.

Elyssa pursed her lips. "Let's do it tomorrow."

"Very well," the angel said. "I will go rest a while in preparation for tonight."

"I'll go talk to Mom," I said.

Elyssa pecked me on the lips. "I'll be in the war room."

I headed toward the front of the house and saw Ivy sitting alone in the den, eyes on the floor, shoulders slumped. I dropped onto the couch next to her.

"Are you okay?"

She looked up at me with big, sad eyes and shook her head. "I never have anyone to play with."

I wrapped an arm around her shoulder and hugged her. "I'm sorry, sweetie. Hopefully, some of the cupids will play with you when they grow up a little more." Unfortunately, I knew that was just a short-term solution since the rapid aging of the reborn Seraphim would carry them to adulthood within a couple of months, leaving my poor sister lonely again.

She wiped away the tears. "I know, but all the other kids have best friends they get to grow up with. I don't have anybody who wants to grow up with me. They think I'm weird."

I gave her another squeeze. "You're not weird. You weren't given a normal childhood, Ivy. Jeremiah and Eliza never gave you a chance to socialize."

A fresh pair of tears rolled down her cheeks. "So I'm screwed? I'll never have friends?" She buried her face in my chest and sobbed.

I stroked her hair. "No, that's not what I meant at all. It's never too late to make friends." I kissed the top of her head. "I'm your friend."

She looked up at me. "But you're my brother."

"That doesn't mean we can't be friends, does it?"

Ivy looked at me for a long moment before shrugging. "I guess not."

I handed her a tissue. "Clean off that messy face." I smiled. "Maybe we can go get ice cream again real soon."

"I'd like that," she said, wiping her eyes and nose. She grinned. "You know how to make me feel better, Justin."

"That's what big brothers are for," I said, feeling tears of my own trying to well up. It felt so good to be able to say those words. I'd been through hell and back trying to fix my family. It was amazing having a sister.

"Well, if it isn't my two most favorite people in the world." said a familiar voice from behind us.

We both jerked around and saw Dad standing in the doorway. He offered us his customary grin. "What's with the teary face, Ivy?"

My sister's forehead wrinkled. Jeremiah had taken her as a baby and she hadn't had the luxury of growing up with our father like I had. She'd seen our mother from time to time until Mom had left me and Dad to go live with Ivy full time. To her, Dad was practically a stranger.

I got up and gave Dad a manly handshake and one-arm hug. "I didn't realize you were in the neighborhood."

His eyes lingered on Ivy a moment, as if hoping she might give him a hug before turning back to me. "Working out the final details for the wedding."

My heart sank. Dad was the first demon spawn—or Daemos, for the politically correct crowd—to walk the earth, and the head of House Slade, the most powerful house of Daemos. Kassallandra Assad controlled the second most powerful house and demanded my father marry her to unite the houses and, not coincidentally, grant her major political power. Otherwise, she threatened to defect to Daelissa's side. I understood the political necessities, as did Mom.

I tried to muster a response, but my throat locked up. Unfortunately, understanding didn't make acceptance any easier.

"I was kind of hoping we could go grab some dinner," he said. "And, um, I also wanted to see Alysea."

A smile stretched my lips. "As luck would have it, she's temporarily back from Australia. I was just looking for her."

"Well, how about I find her, and I'll let you know where she is?"

I knew all too well it might be an hour before he notified me, and I didn't even want to think about the reasons why. "Sure."

"Great." He pulled out a small box. "Hey, Ivy, I got something for you."

She grinned and got up off the couch. "Really? What is it?"

"Candy."

"Ooh!" Her eyes lit up and she snatched the box. "Thanks, um, David."

Disappointment showed in his eyes, but he smiled to cover it up. "Sure thing." He slapped my shoulder. "I'll be back."

After Dad disappeared, Ivy opened the candy box. She shuffled a few pieces into her hand. They were all purple and looked like small antacid pills. She looked at the box. "I've never heard of Burpity-Bits."

I shrugged. "Me neither." I hoped this wasn't a joke. Dad jokes were bad enough with normal human fathers. Our father, the son of a demon lord, had bonded with a human to become a demon spawn, so his jokes usually crossed the line by a mile.

Ivy grabbed a piece and popped it in her mouth. Pushing aside my misgivings, I followed her lead.

"Ooh, fizzy," Ivy said. "Tastes like a bunch of fruits all mixed together."

Mine fizzed in my mouth, but tasted like rotten cabbage.

Ivy's eyes went wide and without warning, she literally burped a ten-foot rainbow of sparkling mist. I was so surprised, I swallowed my nasty candy. Pressure built in my stomach and a monstrous belch ripped from my esophagus. A green cloud formed in the air with the words "cabbage fart!" emblazoned in brown letters.

"Ooh, it stinks!" Ivy said, giggling and jumping back a step while my cabbage fart burp sliced her rainbow in half. "I love this candy!"

I couldn't help but laugh. "Where in the world did he find this stuff?"

We grabbed a couple more. I burped up a grape-flavored unicorn; Ivy belched out an orange fire monster. We burst into laughter and popped more candy in our mouths. I must have lost track of time, because it seemed like only a few minutes later Elyssa appeared in the doorway with a serious expression.

She leveled her gaze at me. "Justin, it's show time."

Chapter 6

I hugged Ivy goodbye and joined Elyssa in the war room. Jeremiah was already there, deep in conversation with Cinder. Cinder had previously been a mindless golem created by a Seraphim named Fjoeruss. Through an accident of magic, Cinder somehow achieved sentience. His favorite thing in the world was learning, which worked out really well for us since we always had tons of questions.

Dad and Mom entered the room a moment later, laughing and talking. Dad's eyes flashed with surprise when he saw Jeremiah. "Well, well. Looks like you've finally decided to come out of the closet, old man."

Jeremiah's dark gaze turned to him. "As have you, Daevadius. It appears neither of us have succeeded in ending Daelissa despite centuries of subterfuge."

"You had plenty of chances to end her," Dad replied. "But that wasn't good enough. You wanted to hurt her in the worst way possible."

The other man's eyes glittered. "Had it been your wife who died—"

An unholy glow lit Dad's eyes. "As far as I knew, Alysea was dead. Then again, I thought Daelissa was dead too. You managed to keep that a secret from me while she was weak enough to kill because, for you, killing her wasn't good enough to avenge Thesha."

Some of the anger seemed to fade from Jeremiah's face. "Revenge clouded my judgment, and I have been exposed as a fool."

I really had to bite my tongue to keep from loudly affirming his statement. Just because I saw the necessities of allying with him didn't mean I'd forgiven him for nearly murdering me on a couple of occasions. Instead, I directed a steady gaze his way and quoted something I'd once read in an epic fantasy novel. "The path forward is simple. Either we tear each other apart for past failures, or we work together to ensure this world has a future." I looked back and forth between Jeremiah and my father. "The time for our selfish needs is behind us. We have to work together, or failure is guaranteed." I turned my attention to Elyssa. "Are you ready for the briefing?"

She seemed to suppress a smile and nodded. "Tonight, we'll do a simple reconnaissance run. I have the layout of the prison Jeremiah showed us earlier, but we need to know guard positions and security measures."

"I'm afraid they mostly consist of Black Robe Brotherhood members," Jeremiah said. "After Thomas Borathen shut down Darkwater and imprisoned Maulin Kassus, most of his followers joined Daelissa."

"Just friggin' great," Shelton groaned. "Those jackasses nearly ended us the last time we fought them."

The Black Robe Brotherhood members were powerful battle mages who tended to blast first and ask questions later. Elyssa gave no indication she was overly concerned. "What about wards and other passive measures?"

"I'm certain the perimeter is warded, though not as well as it could be." Jeremiah's lips curled into a small smile. "Daelissa's frequent lapses into insanity have caused her to trip the perimeter wards so many times, the battle mages stopped putting down as many as they used to. I, of course, encouraged them not to rely on wards."

"At least there's that," I said.

"Anything else?" Elyssa asked.

Jeremiah shook his head. "Daelissa will likely install more security due to my recent falling out with her, but as Miss Borathen stated earlier, it is unlikely she's recovered her wits after our most recent encounters."

"The recon team will consist of me, Justin, Nightliss, and Jeremiah." Elyssa handed out belts of cloth which would expand to cover our bodies in protective Nightingale armor. She looked at Mom. "We'll need you and the others to secure the portal and wait for our return. In case of an emergency, we'll send a picture of our current location for extraction."

Mom nodded. "We'll be ready."

Our group suited up and went to the mansion cellar where Elyssa activated the omniarch portal to open in dark a wooded area. The four of us filed through. Mom and Dad stepped through after us to guard the portal, while Shelton remained in the cellar in case he had to reopen the portal somewhere else for us.

A gentle breeze rustled the leaves, and a large moon glowed overhead. My incubus night vision flickered on, casting everything in a blue tint. I turned it off and let my eyes adjust to the dim light instead. Even though my night vision was great for enclosed spaces, it simply didn't have the range necessary for large outdoors areas. With the aid of moonlight, my supernatural eyesight could see farther into the distance.

Elyssa took out a small white marble and flicked it into the air. It hovered in place, spinning rapidly. "I'm recording everything with this ASE so we can go over it in detail later."

The ASE, aka all-seeing-eye, was a nifty magical recorder that could replay videos as three-dimensional holograms. I'd already re-watched all my favorite science fiction movies and decided the little gadgets were god's gift to nerds. "Good idea. I'm sure Cinder will be happy since it'll make it easier for him to continue writing my biography."

Jeremiah held out his staff, aiming it like a divining rod. He nodded in a direction. "The prison is that way. The ward perimeter starts about a hundred yards from here."

We followed him through thick underbrush and crackling twigs and leaves. I hoped the guards didn't have supernatural hearing, because it seemed impossible to keep quiet. As we walked, a peculiar, yet familiar scent caught my nose. It grew progressively stronger until alarm bells went off in my head. I held up a fist and hissed, "Stop!"

Nightliss turned her green eyes on me. "Is it the odor?"

I nodded. "Brimstone."

"Hellhounds?" Elyssa asked.

I closed my eyes and sniffed the air. Hellhounds came in all different shapes and sizes and they could morph into different shapes, including human form. But the one thing they couldn't change was the wet, sulfurous, dog scent they put off. This smell was very close, but without the doggy odor.

"It's something else," I said. "I don't know what, though."

Jeremiah took out his staff and waved it in a pattern. A sheet of gray mist drifted through the trees. At first it seemed to do nothing until glowing particulates clung to something perched in a tree. The glowing form looked like a cutout against the dark sky. For a long moment I stared at the shape, unable to figure out what I was seeing until it moved.

It had more legs than I could count. I flicked on my night vision for a clearer look and just about gasped at the sight. To the uneducated, the creature looked like a giant spider. Unlike an arachnid, this thing had at least a dozen legs, spiky black fur, and an orifice with razor sharp pincers.

Elyssa's eyes glowed violet as she turned on her night vision. She whispered a curse. "What the hell is that?"

"A crawler," I whispered back.

Jeremiah stiffened. "Are you certain?"

I nodded. While I'd never encountered a real one, my father had dreamcast a crawler in the Gloom and used it to kill a vampire. "How does Daelissa have crawlers?"

"Arcanes can summon them," Jeremiah replied in a quiet voice. "Controlling them is another matter."

"Should I just slice it in half with Brilliance?" I asked.

Jeremiah gripped my arm. "Heavens no, boy. Then we'll have to fight two crawlers."