Sinister Seraphim of Mine (Overworld Chronicles Book 8) (5 page)

Jeremiah didn't even spare a glance for Shelton. "The Gloom is a shadow realm of Eden. Perhaps it altered the properties of the arch."

I shrugged. "That's what we assumed. The colors on the rune were reversed, too."

His dark eyebrows pinched, angling down. He remained silent for a moment before speaking. "This is deeply troubling. Unfortunately, Daelissa may not need the Grand Nexus to supply her with reinforcements from Seraphina." His hard eyes found mine. "When Maulin Kassus discovered the leyworms in El Dorado were somehow resurrecting husks and turning them into healthy infant Seraphim, he kept the information to himself. The man hoped to capture one of the reborn Seraphim to win him riches and great favor with Daelissa."

Maulin Kassus had been the leader of the Black Robe Brotherhood, a group of mercenary battle mages who'd once worked for Darkwater, a company owned by Jeremiah. They'd tried to kill me on more than one occasion.

"I haven't been to El Dorado for a while," I said. "The dragons are super protective of the cupids—that's what we call the reborn angels."

"They are protective for good reason," Jeremiah said. "When I was in control of Darkwater, I was tasked with removing husks from each Alabaster Arch way station. I purposefully left the Grand Nexus for last."

"Was it ever cleared?" I asked. Since the shockwave from the Grand Nexus in the last horrific conflict had traveled through all the Alabaster Arches, consuming the light from anything alive in the blast radius, every location around one had been filled with husks. Not all had been Seraphim. There were husked humans, and even shape-shifting Flarks who prowled the depths, seeking to drain the light from any living being they came across.

He shook his head. "Not unless Daelissa managed it without my knowledge." His shoulders slumped as if a great weight had settled on them. "But that is not what you should fear. Before his capture, Maulin Kassus was working on another way of resurrecting husks. He had those purged from Thunder Rock and other Alabaster Arch stations delivered to Kobol Prison."

"So that's what Darkwater was doing," Shelton said. "When we rescued Justin's mom from you people"—he jabbed a finger at Jeremiah—"we found truck delivery schedules indicating they were shipping something out there. We thought it was political prisoners or something."

"No." Jeremiah shook his head. "This is far worse."

Mom gasped. "She's resurrecting the husks?"

He nodded. "At this moment, Daelissa is already rebuilding her Seraphim army."

Chapter 4

"Did she capture dragons?" Elyssa asked, a look of disbelief on her face.

Jeremiah shook his head. "Even Daelissa couldn't force a leviathan dragon to do her bidding. After Kassus's first failed attempt to steal a cupid, he assigned his brightest people to the task. They built aether pods, which simulate being in the maw of a dragon by irradiating the husks with magical energy."

"If she revives her former allies, she will conquer this world without ever needing the Grand Nexus," Mom said.

"Many of our former Darkling allies are among the husked," Jeremiah said. "I shudder to think what she will do once she discovers their identities."

"How fast do the cupids reach maturity?" I asked.

He shrugged. "It seems to depend on how much soul essence they are fed. The husks rescued by the dragons are approximately Ivy's age, physically speaking of course."

"You've visited them again," I said.

"Of course."

"Will they play with me?" Ivy asked, hope in her eyes. "None of the other kids ever play with me."

Jeremiah smiled, reached a hand as if to tousle her hair, then seemed to check himself. "I'm afraid if the Brightling cupids continue their rapid growth and regain their memories, they will rejoin Daelissa."

"What about the Darklings?" I asked.

He shrugged. "I'm certain each individual would choose their former allegiance."

"Is there any way we can convince the Brightling to cupids join us?"

"There were Brightlings who joined your mother in her opposition to Daelissa." He pursed his lips. "Memory suppression could be used to change their loyalties. That is precisely what Daelissa did you your mother, though it is only a temporary solution. As you can see, your mother overcame the reconditioning."

I turned to Mom. "Can you do that to the Brightling cupids?"

She shuddered. "Absolutely not. Even if I were willing, it would take tremendous concentration and too much time to repress the memories of dozens of Seraphim."

"I fear it will not be an option anyway," Jeremiah said. "The dragons were our allies in the war. They, too, know the dangers the Brightlings represent and are taking measures to prevent them from returning to full power."

Shelton grimaced. "Do I want to hear this?"

A horrified look flashed across Mom's face. "Are they killing them?"

"No, my dear," Jeremiah said, a kindly smile touching his lips. "The dragons have magic of their own, ancient powers none of us can fully grasp. They are taking the Brightling cupids, as you call them, and placing them in powerful preservation spells, exactly as they did to you after her rebirth."

I raised an eyebrow. "Suspended animation?"

He nodded. "Once the cupids begin to show their affiliation to either the Murk or the Brilliance, they are sorted. The Darklings are nurtured, while the Brightlings are placed in stasis and hidden deep beneath the earth."

"Holy Mary," Shelton said in a horrified tone. "Don't get me wrong, I don't want those Brightling jackasses roaming free, but being entombed like that gives me the willies."

"What will become of the Darklings?" Mom asked.

"I have spoken with Altash," Jeremiah said. "He wishes to return them to Nightliss when they reach full physical maturity."

"Altash?" I asked.

"He is the one you referred to as Gigantor, a name he found amusing."

Altash, a leviathan dragon with red scales definitely lived up to the name I'd given him. I'd nicknamed his purple companion Lulu.

Mom looked disgusted. "They can't simply put every Brightling in a hole for eternity. I need to see them."

Jeremiah shrugged. "I'm sure Altash will have no issue with that."

"Let's back up a step," I said. "I need a time frame. If the Darklings nurtured by the dragons are already Ivy's physical age, how far along are the cupids at Kobol Prison?"

Jeremiah put a hand to his chin in thought. "Each husk takes a week to incubate. If the maturation rates are governed by how much the infants feed, it might take them a month to reach adolescence."

Shelton scratched his head. "A month to be teenagers?"

"Yes." Jeremiah tilted his head slightly. "I'm sure the maturation rates differ, depending on the individual, but fifteen to eighteen years within a week would be accurate."

"Great." Shelton dragged out the word. "As if grown Seraphim aren't enough, now we have to deal with pubescent teenagers."

"Hey, now," Elyssa said. "I'm still a teenager."

"My point exactly," Shelton said, tossing in a wink.

Elyssa rolled her eyes.

It had been nearly two months since discovering the cupids. Maulin Kassus had discovered them shortly thereafter. I made some quick calculations. "How long has Daelissa had these incubators?"

"At least a month," Jeremiah said.

"How many babies in a batch?" Shelton asked.

Jeremiah shook his head. "I do not know."

"We've got to take this facility offline," I said. "Where are they storing the cherubs?"

"The husks are kept in a delivery bay on the opposite side of the prison." Jeremiah traced a finger in the air, and the glowing outline of a building formed. "Husks are kept in null cubes, which prevent them from draining the life force of any Brightlings who go near them." The image of an infantile form with a huge faceless head and dark oily skin appeared inside a clear cube. Wavy red arrows wafted from the cherub, hit the inside of the cube, and rebounded.

Shelton shuddered and made a sound like someone who'd just woken up in a bed filled with spiders. "Those things make my butt cheeks clench."

I examined the illustration. "In other words, Daelissa can go to Kobol Prison without worrying about the cherubs." Under usual circumstances, a cherub would weaken her and other Brightlings by simply being nearby. They had to touch most other creatures to affect them the same way.

"Do cherubs affect Darklings like they do Brightlings?" Elyssa tapped a finger against her lips, a sign usually indicating an idea was brewing.

Jeremiah shrugged. "You would have to perform an experiment, I imagine."

My girlfriend turned to me. "Will they affect you now that your Seraphim abilities have blossomed?"

I shrugged. "Guess me and Nightliss should go to El Dorado to find out, huh?"

Elyssa's finger paused its tapping. She spun back to Jeremiah. "How would we release a cherub from a null cube?"

He traced a triangle with two horizontal slashes through it. "This symbol will unlock the cubes."

I turned to Elyssa. "Are you thinking about releasing the husks inside the prison?"

She nodded. "All we need is one cherub to protect us against Daelissa. If we can catch her off guard, we could let the husk drain her or kill her outright." Her lips pressed into a grim line. "We could end the war before it ever starts."

"What if she ain't there?" Shelton asked.

"We destroy their incubators and take out any Brightlings we find." She slashed a hand through the air. "We can't let her manufacture an army."

"Agreed," Mom said, though her eyes looked troubled. "Unfortunately, your plan excludes me since I can't be near a husk any more than Daelissa."

"I will go," Jeremiah said, eyes glittering. "If possible, I will kill Daelissa myself."

Elyssa didn't look too sure about that, but didn't object.

Ivy frowned. "I guess I can't go either since I'm a Brightling."

Mom looked relieved.

Elyssa took out her arcphone. "I'll speak with my father and see if he can release Nightliss from her Templar duties so you two can go to El Dorado." She began tapping on the screen without even giving me a chance to respond.

"Fine, Miss Bossy Pants." I threw her a jaunty salute.

She gave me an apologetic smile. "Pretty please?"

I fluttered my eyelashes. "Sure thing, honey buns."

Shelton made a retching sound. "Who else is going on this suicide run?" He gave Jeremiah a suspicious look. "I still don't know if I trust you."

"Understandable," the other man said, though his narrowed gaze clearly indicated he wasn't about to back out.

"Tell me this," Shelton said. "What kind of wizardry has kept you alive all this time? I mean, I've heard rumors about life-extending spells, but nothing that would keep an Arcane alive for thousands of years."

Mom's eyebrows rose. "I, too, would like to know how this is possible."

"Are you the Moses from the Bible?" I asked.

Jeremiah grunted. "I will admit parts of my early life are similar to the biblical Moses. As for the rest of the story, only small portions bear any parallels." His eyes seemed to cloud with sadness. "I was fervently religious. I prayed for a good wife, for fertile land teeming with livestock, and to father a large, prosperous family." He wiped his drawings from the air as if clearing a chalkboard and the floating images of Kobol Prison and imprisoned cherub vanished in mist. "After my first wife died giving birth to a daughter, I believed I had failed God."

He paused for a long moment, eyes staring into the distance. "My father threatened to disown me if I didn't live up to my brothers' standards, so I looked far and wide for another suitable wife. I met Thesha, and negotiated with her father for her hand in marriage. We agreed on the price of five goats."

"Five goats?" Elyssa blurted. "You traded animals for a woman? That's disgusting."

"At the time, it was a steep price for a woman," Jeremiah said seriously. "I sired a large family with Thesha. My father and brothers helped us settle the land in a nearby valley, and within a decade, we had the most prosperous herd of anyone."

"So, goats made you immortal," Shelton said in a dry tone.

Jeremiah ignored him. "Then I met my first Seraphim. He must have found me praying and thought it humorous to toy with me by surrounding himself in a ball of light and descending from the sky." His eyes glittered with anger. "He told me I would lead my people for God. What he meant was I would be leading my people into slavery under the Seraphim. By this point, some Seraphim had taken to hiding their identities, pretending to be human royalty, and only revealing themselves when it was convenient to incite religious fervor among their slaves."

"This was before we met," Mom said.

Jeremiah nodded. "I believe this was nearly twenty years after you first opened the Grand Nexus and allowed the Seraphim into Eden, and perhaps five years before we met." He shook his head. "After so many centuries, remembering a precise timeline is difficult."

Mom closed her eyes and looked away. "I had no idea—"

"It was not your fault, Alysea." A hint of sadness touched Jeremiah's eyes.

I wanted to hear more of the story. "Why were these Seraphim—these Brightlings—hiding their identities?"

"Though many Brightlings fought wars like giant chess games, destroying human lives for entertainment, some sought more direct means for gaining power. They employed betrayal and assassination to usurp the power of others." Jeremiah shrugged. "As precautions, the Brightlings disguised themselves, using human rulers while they pulled the strings." He grimaced. "When my people were enslaved by the Seraphim who ruled Egypt, I escaped to the desert. I wandered for forty days and forty nights—"

"Now it's starting to sound like the Bible," Shelton said in a sarcastic tone.

Jeremiah's eyes flashed with anger. "Perhaps I should bifurcate that smart tongue of yours, boy."

Shelton turned white and made the motion of zipping his mouth shut.

Elyssa snorted.

"As I was saying," Jeremiah continued, "after wandering the desert, I found strange markings which led me into a cave. Inside this massive cave, I met the dragon, Altash, for the first time. He told me the Seraphim had discovered how to use magical gateways between worlds and were now invading ours."