The Inner Circle: Holy Spirit (37 page)

‘
Fine,’ El-i-miir
replied, unable to help but feel admiration for the woman’s spirit.
‘Thank you for taking us in.’ She kissed Mistress Daorey on the
cheek. ‘All the best,’ she stated, before rushing to the front room
where the others were waiting.

CHAPTER
Twenty-Eight

In the Dead of Night

Seeol stood on top of Mistress Daorey’s
house. He was bitterly upset about Fes’s death and couldn’t stand
to be inside--or anywhere near Parrowun, for that matter. He knew
the truth. Seteal knew it, too, however much she tried to ignore
it. Seeol wasn’t a fool. He knew it wasn’t a sickness. Every time
Parrowun started crying, people started bleeding. He was a mean
baby.

There was a moth half squished beneath
Seeol’s toes. He’d caught it earlier, but it’d long ago stopped
wriggling. He’d lost his appetite. He looked down at the creature
and plucked out its wings. He’d never liked the taste of them for
some reason. Giving into his emotions, Seeol snatched the moth up
in his beak and beat it repeatedly against the roof of the house.
Why did Fes have to die? She was such a merry island, whatever that
meant.

Seeol’s head snapped toward the
south when he heard a bell chiming. He cocked his head sideways,
curious as to what had caused the sound. He fluttered down to the
eaves and peered over the edge to find El-i-miir standing outside
staring blankly into the distance, her beautiful hair being tossed
about in the wind. He wanted to talk to her, but didn’t dare. She’d
made her feelings clear. El-i-miir leapt back into the house and
started shouting. Perhaps she’d felt him watching her. Now he’d
made her cranky.

Moments later the front door flew
open and El-i-miir ran outside along with Briel, Ieane and Seteal
with Parrowun. ‘Quickly,’ El-i-miir urged the others. ‘We don’t
have much time.’

Shouting rang out in the south as
the bell continued to chime. A distant popping sound told Seeol
that someone was firing a pistol. ‘El-i-miir,’ Seteal urged her
friend nervously as she eyed the flickering shapes flitting about
the night sky.

‘
Just let me
concentrate,’ El-i-miir replied, her head moving back and forth as
though she were watching something only she could see. Of course,
she probably was watching something that only she could see, when
Seeol really thought about it. ‘This way.’ She pointed and started
moving along the street, but having concentrated so much on one
thing, she’d clearly forgotten another.

Briel stumbled away from the
group and soon fell behind as they made their way down the road.
His eyes were red and filled with tears. He moaned deep and low,
before turning to run south.

‘
Briel, shtop!’ Seeol
cried, swooping after the Merry Islander. ‘You ish going the wrong
ways.’

‘
Briel!’ Seteal
called from farther up the road, the others having noticed his
absence. ‘This way.’

A silt slid around a dimly lit corner
glancing about suspiciously as she went. Briel set off at a
surprising pace for a man of his build. He grunted and put his full
strength into approaching the demon. Seeol dove for his back, dug
his talons into Briel’s coat and beat his wings as hard as he could
in a useless effort to slow the man.

‘
Briel,’ Seeol
begged. ‘Please stopping.’

The silt across the street turned
in surprise when she heard shoes slapping the pavement. She took a
nervous step back when she saw the sheer bulk of her attacker and
put a hand on her scythe. Realising the futility of his efforts,
Seeol released Briel’s coat and landed on the road. Stumbling on
alone, the Merry Islander gasped out exhausted words that probably
made little sense to the silt he was approaching.

‘
Please,’ Briel
choked out. ‘Ye can save her. It nah take long. There still be
time. I beg ye,’ Briel leapt forward and fell to his knees. The
silt’s eyes bulged as she clearly thought she was about to be
struck. She swung her scythe as Briel fell and the blade hacked
hallway through his neck.

Seeol leapt into the night,
retreating from the horrifying scene. Female screams told Seeol
that the others had witnessed what’d taken place. They didn’t wait
for him. Fearing for their lives, they hurried for the safety of
the north along with increasing numbers of locals that spewed out
onto the street. Seeol flew south as fast as he could, but by the
time he got to where most of the action had taken place, the
violence had all but simmered to an end.

Ilgrin stood at the top of a tree in
the centre of a park dressed in finer clothing than Seeol had ever
seen. The demon military gathered about the tree, countless
soldiers gazing at him adoringly. Other demons loomed over
fearful-faced humans that’d been forced to give up their weapons
and sit in the dirt.

‘
We have not killed
you!’ Ilgrin shouted across the park so that anyone in the vicinity
would hear. ‘You see, we are capable of showing mercy.’ Seeol
glanced around the park and saw plenty of bloodied human remains,
leading him to believe that Ilgrin meant to say that they hadn’t
killed all of them. ‘Not another life needs to be lost,’ he
continued with conviction, ‘but you must all be made aware that
this city now belongs to Old World. I am your leader and you will
become Sa’Tanists.’

Seeol gaped at the arrogance Ilgrin
exuded and could hardly believe he was staring at the very same
silt he’d once considered a friend. He watched as the tall figure
spread his wings and leapt effortlessly to the ground. He turned to
one of the silts standing close by and ordered him to impose a ban
on weapons for any human. Seeol gazed in astonishment at the large
double-horned crown hanging from Ilgrin’s belt and wondered at its
significance.

‘
This transition
needn’t be troublesome,’ Ilgrin announced. ‘We wish only to live in
peace.’ He turned to stride across the park. Seeol took it as his
opportunity, flying down from the rooftops and landing directly in
front of him. ‘Seeol!’ Ilgrin froze in his tracks, a look of
surprise on his face.

‘
Briel be dead,’
Seeol stated. ‘Is you army killed him.’

‘
I’m very sorry to
hear that.’ Ilgrin sheathed his scythe after a long moment of
silence. ‘He was a good man.’

‘
A good . . .’ Seeol
snapped, losing control of his temper. ‘A good man? That is it?
That is all that you is able to say?’ The wind picked up, tossing
Ilgrin’s hair about and lightning struck somewhere close by. ‘Briel
was the bestest man.’

A pack of dogs charged into the
park barking and snapping their jaws, running straight for Ilgrin.
The silt easily evaded the animals by leaping back into the tree
he’d recently come down from, but the branch he landed on broke and
the silt toppled to the ground. One of the dogs leapt at him, but
they immediately fell away howling in agony. White mist swam away
from their bodies and the dogs ran away in fear as an angel stepped
out of the dark.

‘
Thank you, Teah.’
Ilgrin dusted off his shirt. ‘I want every last house searched,’ he
stated, turning to one of his followers. ‘Work quickly but
thoroughly. There must be no weapons left unaccounted
for.’

Seeol landed on Ilgrin’s shoulder and
bit his cheek. ‘El-i-miish was here.’

‘
Ouch,’ Ilgrin
slapped Seeol off before slipping over in the mud. ‘El-i-miir . . .
is she okay?’ His voice bore concern.

‘
So you does still
have some of a heart.’ Seeol bobbed his head. ‘But I won’t tell
you. You is not deserving to know. You have become too
naughty.’

Teah stepped forward, her curiosity
having gotten the better of her. ‘What an interesting little
bird.’

‘
There’s nothing
interesting about it,’ Ilgrin snapped, staring into Seeol’s eyes.
‘It’s just a whisp-mutated owl. Why don’t you fly away, Seeol. No
one wants you here. Go back to Seteal and El-i-miir. Oh, but wait,
that’s right, they don’t want you either. In fact, nobody
does.’

‘
You is very cruel,’
Seeol shouted before leaping into the night.

*

Noah crept through the trees
beside the road, stalking three young women hurrying fearfully
through the northern gates. He remembered one of them: the Elglair
girl. El-i-miir had been taken prisoner by the affiliates when
she’d come to Hades in search of Ilgrin. Yes, he remembered now. It
was very clear she loved him, as disgusting as that was. Noah
scratched his chin and watched her close, wandering whether it was
possible Ilgrin had ever felt the same way about the feeble
human.

El-i-miir’s head snapped back in his
direction and Noah froze, hoping the trees would be sufficient in
keeping him hidden. A moment later she shook her head and hurried
after the others. He would have to be careful about keeping his
distance. He of all people knew what the Elglair were capable of.
He wanted to crush her. He wanted to kill her and roll about in her
blood, but he needed to resist such urges. He knew it was the whisp
that’d made him think in such ways. If Noah wanted to regain his
legion, he’d have to keep his head clear.

El-i-miir was the answer. Noah was sure
of it. She was Elglair, but Ilgrin would refuse to kill her.
Showing such weakness just might be enough to turn the legion
against him. Noah smiled. But not yet. First he had to satisfy the
urges that came with his new body. Noah slunk away into the dark
looking for a stray human he might be able to kill.

*

Ilgrin pushed against the door
and was satisfied to hear it creak open. He stepped into the dark
interior, knowing that the palace was quite safe, having already
been searched. Still, he refused to light a candle or lantern, for
some reason favouring the dark. He made his way through the large
building silently opening doors as he came to them before
continuing on.

One door squeaked and Ilgrin froze when
he eyed the interior. There was a small bed, low to the ground,
with a pink bedspread. A doll with one eye had her head rested on
the pillow and boasted a dopey smile. Her pigtails looked as though
they’d been brushed recently. Ilgrin stepped over to the bed and
sat down. He picked up the doll and stared into her eye. It was
only when a wet tear sank into her cotton face that Ilgrin realised
he’d been crying. Before long deep sobs wracked his body and he
breathed in shuddering gasps.

Ilgrin had grown up in a bedroom not
dissimilar to the one in which he now sat.

If the blanket had been brown and
there’d been pictures of dragons on the walls, the room could’ve
been his. Ilgrin had loved dragons as a little boy. He read fantasy
books about them and dreamed of a world in which they existed.
Perhaps among humans he felt a kinship with the fearsome
leathery-winged creatures. Certainly now, he felt more similar to a
dragon than he ever had before. Who was the child that belonged to
this room? Had her mother or father been killed? Was she scared out
there in the dark, placed under the guard of nightmare
monsters?

In a fit of rage, Ilgrin tore off the
doll’s head and slammed the pieces down either side of him. Mankind
had betrayed him again and again. If only they’d loved him. If only
they’d been fair to him, he might’ve never been driven to such
extremes. It was their fault!

‘
I’m so sorry,
Briel,’ Ilgrin whispered quietly, removing the crown from his belt
and tossing it across the ground. ‘You didn’t deserve
it.’

How would poor Fes be coping with her
husband’s passing? Ilgrin pictured the big man smiling and holding
his wife. Those two had represented what any young couple dreamt of
. . . what he could never have with El-i-miir.

‘
Ilgrin?’ Teah said
softly as she entered the room. ‘Are you okay?’

‘
I’m fine.’ Ilgrin
quickly wiped his nose and stood up. ‘I’m just perfect.’

‘
I’m sure it can’t be
easy,’ Teah said softly, putting a reassuring hand on his
chest.

‘
It’s not.’ Ilgrin
stepped forward, nuzzling his face into her neck and wrapping his
arms around her. He tried not to touch the wings if he could avoid
it. They made it difficult to imagine that she was El-i-miir. ‘Be
with me.’ He kissed her neck, picturing El-i-miir’s pale pink flesh
and the scent of her dizzying perfume. His hand moved steadily down
her neck to open the top of Teah’s dress.

‘
Oh, Ilgrin,’ Teah
panted, her voice quivering with desire as she moved her hand over
the front of his pants.

Losing all patience, Ilgrin tore open
Teah’s dress and held her breasts. He kissed her neck, slowly
reaching lower and lower until his mouth found her nipple. He
kissed it gently, before moving back to Teah’s mouth and kissing
her deeply. Teah tore at Ilgrin’s belt and unbuttoned his pants,
which fell to the ground and tangled around his feet. He stumbled
backward into the wall and heard it crack as he made an
impacted.

After a short struggle, Ilgrin heard
Teah’s dress slip away entirely and she pushed her hot, naked body
against his. Again they locked lips passionately before tumbling
onto the little pink bed. Teah’s hand slid down the length of
Ilgrin’s chest and stomach until she found her mark. She manoeuvred
him into her and Ilgrin was unable to help but immediately thrust
deep. Teah moaned as the two became locked in ecstasy, their bodies
moving to the beat of passionate lust.