Dancing With Monsters (23 page)

I gazed up at the cylindrical wall of
light that looked like a frozen waterfall. If I didn’t know what
was in there, I’d think it was beautiful, like a
sculpture.

“
April,” Rusul said as he
paced in front of me, his light footsteps brushed against the tiled
floor of the cathedral-like building we were in.

I felt everyone’s eyes on
me.

“
The demon is requesting
you.” Rusul stood in front of me and gazed at me with his striking
green eyes that matched the green used in the stained glass windows
that flooded us in colored, fragmented light.

“
Of course she’s
requesting her,” Edan stepped beside Rusul who slid his eyes over
to him in a glare. “Don’t you see,” Edan wasn’t the slightest
intimidated by Rusul’s steady glare. “April has power in her and is
an easy target. The demon will gain power, and when that happens,
you’ll have a demon running wild in your lovely paradise here.” He
waved his arms I the air, and held the cool gaze they shared. “What
are you going to do then? Do you have an army… militia…
warriors…anything that will contain this demon other than your
puzzlestone that was never meant to hold a demon
anyhow?”

“
The puzzlestone is fine;
the demon needs to be dealt with, but not by your means.” Rusul
turned his gaze back to me.

“
Wait,” Edan was
persistent. “How else are you going to deal with a demon? You can’t
reason with them, they haven’t the capacity to understand
negotiations, and if they are attempting to do so, it would be
nothing more than a trick.” He crossed his arms.

Rusul drew in a deep breath. “Look,
the only reason I let you in here was because of the long list of
laws stating that you had every right to be here. When it comes
down to one thing—you’re wasting time. The demon is gaining
strength, and demons are not the creatures you archangels make them
to be.”

“
This one has two sisters
and they are already in the Shadowlands claiming reign over it,”
Yolanda, dressed in the same long cape, said joining Rusul’s side.
“Demons have lived in the shadows for a long time. They’ve had time
to think, conspire, and they are not the mindless, barbaric
creatures you paint them to be.” I thought of how human Eveie
looked, at least at first.

“
She was the one who bit
me as a little girl, and wants me as her daughter,” I said looking
at the waterfall of light that encased Eveie. “She knew my mother,
my real one, and knows things of my past.” My fear of the demon was
quickly turning into curiosity. “She doesn’t want to hurt me, and
she isn’t without reason.” I glanced between Rusul, Yolanda and
Edan. “Eveie has answers to my questions, but she can’t have my
power unless I consent to it.”

“
This isn’t a question and
answer game,” Edan stepped closer to me. “She will take what she
wants, and I don’t care what earth angel’s philosophy of demons is,
because all demons come from the shadows and nothing good exists
there.”

“
I am going to talk to
her.” I stated. “I’m not the
easy
target
you think I am, and really, you
don’t know me. Demons have been a part of my life for a long time
when I didn’t know that’s what they were. I was strong and now I’m
ready for it to be over.”

Edan made a discouraging sound. “Being
ready for things to be over isn’t a solution. You’ve had demons
torment and follow you your entire life, but how many have you
fought?”

“
I’ve fought demons before
you were even born,” a man emerged from the shadows and walked
through the beams of colored light created by the tall, stained
glass windows. “I also know the ways of archangels and earth angels
as well as April’s kind.”

He was a gentle looking man with
greying brown hair and dark eyes. He stood a distance away and
looked up at the cell of light that contained Eveie.

“
Uncle Hes?” Seth
questioned. “What—how did you get here?”

Seth

“
Yolanda and Rusul, nice
to see you again,” he said with a bow. “But unfortunate to meet
under these circumstances.”

“
Hesediel Grayson,
welcome,” Yolanda said.

“
The serum didn’t work
well on humans, and the demons gave up on it until this one,” Uncle
Hes motioned towards the cell containing the demon, “decided to try
some for herself. Eveie has eluded me for some time and I could no
longer keep the lightstone in my possession.” He shifted his eyes
to me. “That’s where you came in, Seth. And I see your two
door-squabblers are still with you,” he glanced at Nessa and
Malachi. “Good companions are hard to find.”

“
But,” I stepped towards
him. “What is this all about? I thought you were in
Duneloc.”

“
I was called here, just
as Ayil Archer and Isaiah Tollwick,” he looked to Edan, “your
father, and one of the best archangels I’ve ever worked
with.”

Dumbfounded as the rest of us were,
Edan nodded out of respect.

“
I don’t understand,” I
shook my head. “Uncle Hes, you need to explain.”

“
It’s very simple when you
think about it.” He stated like I should have caught on by now.
“You are blood of my blood, I’ve always told you that, but that is
only one part of it. I wanted you to prove to me you were worthy of
the lightstone before I just handed it over to you. You brought
back Ezra from the decaying Shadowlands, captured and contained a
demon in the lightstone, and worked the portal to get to earth.” He
placed his hands on my shoulders. “You are not just some ordinary
monster Seth Fairstone, you are one blessed with archangel
abilities.”

“
He can’t be,” Edan
protested.

“
He is,” said another
voice coming from the shadows. It was Ayil walking beside another
man that looked like an older version of Edan.

“
Father…” Edan gazed at
the man that looked as hard as white marble.

“
This wasn’t how things
were supposed to go, Hesediel.” He was dressed in the same black
robe as Yolanda and Rusul. “You said Ayil had your nephew at her
residence along with his companions. We ended up chasing them
through the night market, and nearly losing them to this demon’s
two sisters.” He motioned towards the cell. “I think you were
trying to trick us.”

“
Trick you—I wasn’t,” my
uncle replied sternly. “Things of this matter can go astray at a
moment’s notice. We are here now, and that’s all that
matters.”

“
That’s not all that
matters here. Three demons have consumed the serum, and that’s
three too many!” Isaiah raised his voice. “You told me your nephew
was ready to take your place and he would be assisting us. The
serum that the renegade monster made was to be ours.” He motioned
towards April. “And now we have a demon-bit monster in the equation
to deal with.”

I looked over at where April was
standing to not find her there, but in front of the cell containing
Eveie. She gazed up at it mesmerized along with Malachi. I knew
they shouldn’t stand that close, and while everyone argued about
what was supposed to happen, what to do with the demon, and who
should have possession of the serum, April lifted her hand into the
cell as a white, slender hand grabbed onto her. April was releasing
the demon.

“
April!” I yelled.
“Malachi!” But it was too late.

Standing tall and slender, like a
blade of grass covered with frost, Eveie with her fire-red hair and
pale skin covered with iridescent scales, stood in front of me and
smiled. She held onto April’s hand, and shoved a dazed Malachi to
the ground.

“
Thank you for the lovely
accommodations, but I must be going,” she said, reaching into her
pocket.

I lunged for April, but was quickly
knocked to the ground by a bolt of light from April’s hand. Her
blackened eyes were like a reptiles; cold and depthless. I tried to
get up, but the air had been knocked out of my lungs.

Yolanda, Rusul, Isaiah, and Uncle Hes
jumped into action without hesitation. Rusul, Uncle Hes, and
Yolanda quickly expelled a thin blade from their hands—palm
scepters that were made by the Fae—I had seen them before though
never used by angels. They began to glow red as if they had been
heated. Yolanda, Rusul and Uncle Hes dropped their swords all in
unison. The smell of burnt flesh filled the air. Isaiah threw two
thin, silver disks towards Eveie that exploded like miniature
fireworks within inches of her. Ayil pulled from her side a long,
golden whip and tried to coil Eveie up with it, but it too was
singed before it could even touch her skin. Evie laughed with
delight as she threw a ball of light towards Nessa who stood by
Ayil. Ayil pushed Nessa out of the way and took the full force of
the blast of light. She fell to the ground beside Nessa who was
showered in sparks.

Eveie was enjoying the fight as if she
was at a carnival playing games. Suddenly, a bright, arched opening
formed behind her and two silhouettes formed behind her. They had
long hair and eyes that penetrated the curling mist. They were her
sisters—no doubt, and they were not only taking April with them,
but Ezra as well.

I jumped up and bolted towards them as
Eveie lashed out at me with what I thought was her fist, but
exploded when it hit my chest. I flew through the air and landed
half-way across the room as the last thing I remembered was Eveie
guiding April through the portal and into the
Shadowlands.

I pushed open my eyes and sat up as a
sharp pain radiated through my chest to my shoulders. I wasn’t in
the holding room where they kept Eveie, but in another room—a
bedroom by the looks of the furniture. My heart sank in my chest—it
was too late to save Ezra and April now.

“
Don’t get up or you’ll
just start bleeding again,” Nessa said with a blackened eye and
bandages around her right forearm.

She guided me back down as her tired
eyes gazed at me with worry.

“
Nessa,” I said with a dry
voice.

“
Don’t talk, just drink.”
She pressed a glass of water to my mouth and I drank until it was
empty.

“
We have to save April
and…Ezra,” I said trying to get up, but the pain pushed me back
down.

“
You’re up, good.” Uncle
Hes with bandages around his hands came into the room.

“
April and Ezra, they’re
gone…to the Shadowlands.” I caught my breath. “We have to save
them. The demons have the serum.”

“
Don’t you think the
angels are already on that?” Uncle Hes raised his eyebrows. “They
have an army and have already passed through the portal. In fact,
they probably are on their way back now.”

“
But Eveie, she is
strong,” I said, still trying to get up.

Uncle Hes gently pushed me back to the
pillows. “No,” he said with wide, stern eyes.

“
I’m no good here,” I said
glaring back at him.

“
You may have my blood in
you, but you are still a monster that bleeds.”

“
You said I was an
archangel. I’m blood of your blood. If I’m an archangel, why am I
not healed?” I studied my uncle’s eyes for an
explanation.

He drew in a deep breath. “You come
from a line, my line, of monsters that are fabled to have archangel
blood running through them.” He let a rare smile escape his lips.
“You, I don’t know how, found the lightstone when you were a snoopy
little five-year-old that had gotten into my belongings. When put
into ordinary hands,” he lifted his up, “it is nothing but a pretty
stone, but put into someone with archangel lineage, and it becomes
something entirely different. I knew and your mother knew that day
that everything had changed, and when you were old enough, we
needed to know if you still had the ability. And I must say, you’ve
exceeded my expectations.”

“
So are you or did you
have archangel abilities?” I asked.

He looked away for a moment as if
recalling a memory. “Not like yours,” he said with a grin. “We need
you, the race of monsters needs you, and if you are to fight you
need to heal.”

“
But Isaiah said that I
was to take your place. What place is that?” I asked.

Uncle Hes drew in a deep breath and
looked as though he didn’t want to answer. “Archangels like all
their power and anyone who remotely displays archangel abilities in
their possession.” A troubled look grew on his face.

“
Uncle Hes?”

“
Archangels want monsters
gone along with demons and anything related to the two. Earth
angles on the other hand, display a little more humanity than the
archangels do. Isaiah and Edan don’t share the views about monsters
as most archangels do. That is why you are important to the monster
race—without you we don’t stand a chance. And chances for monsters
are few and far in between.”

Uncle Hes let his eyes soften as he
held my gaze.

“
So what will happen now?”
Nessa asked worriedly. “I mean, when the angels come back.” I
looked at her as she gave me a sideways glance. I’ve known Nessa
long enough to know when she is hiding something.

“
What’s going on?” I
pushed myself up, and through the pain that wanted me not to
move.