Summoning Trouble, page 21
“Soleil,” I heard a small voice say in the barn door, and I turned to see Janet. She stood there with a woman who looked to be about my age and looked a great deal like her. But supernaturals don’t age, and I knew Janet was a few hundred years old, maybe older. If she had this child at twenty-one, the woman was probably quite a bit older than me, too. Janet was shaking from head to toe, and I didn’t know if it was fear or cold or something else, but my stomach knotted. There was a man with her, a man I sort of knew, maybe. His face looked somewhat familiar, but not completely familiar. He pushed the women out of the barn doorway and came into the light.
“I know you could stop it,” he said to me, and his voice sounded like someone else I knew. It took a moment for me to realize he was imitating Detective Lazaruk.
“Are you a bodark or are you something else?” I asked him. I already knew the answer. The voice was close enough to sound convincingly like Lazaruk, but the face not so much.
“I am not a bodark,” he replied.
“You’re a magaru. Except you aren’t supposed to exist on this plane. So did you kill the real detective?” I asked. “Because when he was in my hospital room, it was an actual person.”
“Is this the leader you’ve been following?” I asked them, and some of them slowly began to nod.
“He has no intentions,” Raphael said.
“Probably not unless he projects them specifically to fool someone,” I said. “My question is, how did you get here?”
“The same way everything gets here. I was born.”
“Soleil?” Remiel said my name as a question. I ignored him for the moment.
“Is Francesca your mother?” I asked.
“Yes.”
“I figured. So, she was a member of Balthazar Leopold’s science experiment group.”
“For a while.” The thing nodded.
“What is a magaru?” Remiel asked.
“One of Leviathan’s monster concepts; a soulless demon that can be possessed by the living. A reversal of roles, so to speak,” I said. “He hasn’t completed one yet because he discovered in order for the living to inhabit it, they have to fracture their soul, which is really bad.”
“You are in a tricky position, Soleil. As I’m a demon you can control me but doing so will prove you just lied to these people and that it’s you that’s the liar, not me,” the magaru said to me. I considered that for a moment.
“You’re wrong. I can’t control you. Even if I took you to the Stygian. The soul animating you isn’t Stygian, so I wouldn’t be able to control you there either. Unless...” I said and shrugged. “Unless I forced you to become possessed by a demon and then took you to the Stygian. I wonder how that body would hold up if I stuck, say, Leviathan in it?”
“Leviathan wouldn’t fit,” he magaru replied smugly.
“That was kind of the point,” I quipped. “Or better yet, two birds with one stone, Belial. After all, you sent him after me after you had me arrested. He’s not as large as Leviathan, but he’s definitely bigger than that shell.”
“Who is in that thing if it’s not a person?” I heard someone whisper. It was a good question, and I couldn’t answer it. My initial thought had been Uriel or Francesca, but fracturing the soul was extreme, and I couldn’t imagine either of them doing it, even to accomplish Francesca’s goal of convincing people to worship angels as if they were gods. On the other hand, how many people knew about Leviathan’s monster concepts? I felt sure it was limited to just our family, because he only dream-walked in our family’s dreams. “Well, I give up. I don’t know which of my relatives you are, and I don’t really care. You’ve bought into Uriel’s crazy superiority complex, and I just don’t have the energy to deal with it. So...” I said, and the magaru interrupted me with laughter as the bones of the face began to change.
“How many of your relatives work for the AESPCA?” the magaru asked.
“None of them.”
“I do.” Came the answer.
“Okay, great,” I said. “None of my relatives work for the AESPCA.”
“Actually, that’s not true,” Remiel said quietly. I blinked at him and waited. After nearly a full minute of that, I made a rolling motion with my hands. “Francesca’s brother works for the AESPCA,” he whispered.
“Wow, he got a job!” I exclaimed. “Someone should give him a gold star. He hasn’t worked my entire life. He’s been too busy snorting cocaine.”
“Enough!” The magaru shouted at me. “Uriel told me that you can save the throne when the demons come, and I’m going to prove you can.” I shrugged.
“I didn’t realize both of Uriel’s kids were insane,” I said to Remiel as magic began to come at me from the magaru.
“Hellhounds, attack,” I said, and they started forward. The magaru tried to stop me by shouting at me that it wasn’t fair to use hellhounds and blah blah. Except I didn’t actually care about being fair, I cared about being done and protecting the world from these idiots. The hounds pounced, and I sent the entire bunch to Leviathan in the Stygian. Then I turned to the assembled group of people, all of whom were possessed. I did a quick exorcism spell and sent the pizza brigade spirits back across the divide.
“That was quicker than I expected,” Remiel said.
“Yeah, except he fractured his soul, so we aren’t actually done yet. We have the other half to deal with. But first, you all must realize I can’t save you from demons or monsters or yourselves, only you can. You’ve heard the brothers, demons were here before they were, which means angels were not the first sentient beings. We aren’t better than anyone else,” I said, and then I went to Janet. There was definitely something inside of her and she gnashed her teeth at me. Holy shit. I’d thought the daughter would be possessed by the wendigo, but that didn’t seem to be the case. It was definitely inside Janet.
“So did he do something to the detective?” Raphael asked.
“I think he must have,” I said. “We should check on him as well as find where my cousin’s body currently is.”
“Do any of you know what he was planning to steal from the AESPCA vault?” Magda asked the people, who were in various states of confusion.
“He wasn’t stealing anything from the AESPCA vault,” someone said.
“Oh fuck.” I said, and suddenly remembered Janet. “Shit. Shit. Shit. I played right into his hands. I sent him to Leviathan. He’s after Remiel’s vault! Kabal, I need you to help me with her!” I shouted. “Jerome! Come help Kabal!” I had to get to the Stygian.
Chapter Nineteen
I transported myself directly into Leviathan’s palace, which was incredibly rude to say the least, but I’d apologize later. Leviathan had blackness spreading across his massive body, and several of his demon servants had already turned completely black. The magaru was searching for the wall looking for the door to Remiel’s vault.
“You’re too late. I’ll get the key and then I’ll free Francesca, and we can take our rightful place, ruling these insignificant blotches on society. We were first! We were made to rule over them!” the magaru shouted. I had no idea what he was talking about.
“Demons came first,” Asmodeus said from somewhere behind me. I decided it was time to do something else drastic. I brought Uriel to Leviathan’s.
“This is your doing with all your stupid angels are superior bullshit,” I said to him as I pointed to the magaru. “Your daughter let Balthazar Leopold experiment on her so she could give birth to a soulless demon, and after she was arrested your son fractured his soul to take up residence inside and control her followers. Now he’s looking for Remiel’s vault so he can get some key that he thinks will free her. He poisoned Leviathan with basilisk venom to do it.”
“It’s time for you to admit the truth,” Asmodeus said to Uriel.
“It is the truth, angels came first!” Uriel said defiantly.
“No, Uriel, demons came first,” Leviathan said weakly. I searched for the antivenom and remembered I’d put it back in the grass after using it on Haniel. However, there should be tons of the stuff around here somewhere.
“Your lies poisoned your son and daughter far worse than any basilisk venom could have. Your son fractured his soul, Uriel, don’t you get it! You have condemned him to live in madness for eternity!” I screamed at him as I began hunting for the antivenom. Where the fuck had they put it! I ran to Leviathan. “Where is it? Where is the stuff I haven’t taken yet?”
“Still in the courtyard.”
“The key can reunite his soul,” Uriel said softly.
“No, Uriel, nothing can reunite a soul,” Asmodeus said.
“We have to try!” Uriel said urgently. “Where is the damned thing? Damn it girl, forget about the demon and get Remiel here to open this damned vault!”
“Fuck you, Uriel,” I said, and ran out to the courtyard. I wondered for a moment why I could see the door and they couldn’t, but I didn’t actually care enough to put effort into the thought.
Amphoras and jugs of various sizes still littered the courtyard, and I began searching for some with pink liquid in them. Thankfully, it wasn’t a pale pink, it was bright, so I couldn’t confuse it with the venom, but at the same time, it had been sitting outside and everything was covered with red dust, including the tops of the liquids in the amphora, but red and white made pink. Then I recognized one of the amphorae as being the last one I’d filled. I ran to it and sure enough, there was pink liquid coating the inside of the amphora even though the bulk had been moved out. I stuck my hand in it. Hopefully the antivenom wouldn’t hurt me if I wasn’t envenomated. I ran inside with the thick sticky fluid trying to run down my hand and arm, as I held it up in the air so I wouldn’t lose any of it. I ran to Leviathan and as I knelt down, I felt something tangle in my hair and jerk my head backward, and something cold pressed against my throat.
“Get Remiel here to save my son, you half breed cunt!” Uriel shouted in my face. I didn’t think, I reacted. I exorcised Uriel, jerking his soul from his body. His soul continued to curse me, but the magic held it and it couldn’t go anywhere, not even back in its body. The knife fell from my throat. The soul attempted to grab it and couldn’t. I grabbed Leviathan’s arm, which was entirely black now. Please let this fucking work quickly, I thought as I began to smear everything that was left of the goop from my hand to Leviathan’s arm.
I didn’t see the knife get picked up. I didn’t see the magaru coming toward me as I knelt next to Leviathan. I didn’t realize what was happening until I felt the cold metal slide across my throat and come up around the back of my ear. Uriel’s soul was screaming for him to stop, he needed me to put it back in its body. I didn’t panic, not at first. I felt warmth spill down from the wound. I thought shouldn’t it hurt, and then I heard and felt Asmodeus come up behind me and take me into his arms and pull me back into his chest. I could feel the former demon king’s heartbeat. There probably wasn’t enough pizza in all of Cassanova’s to stop Asmodeus from taking possession of me or killing me. Fuck. The demon felt warm behind my body, very warm. Well, at least Uriel was fucked. No one would be able to put his soul back into his body if I died, and that was fine. My final fuck you. I leaned into the demon, because I could tell I had lost a lot of blood and I was going to die on the floor of Leviathan’s palace, killed by a soulless demon animated by my cousin. It was probably a fitting end. Remiel had better take excellent fucking care of Angel and Jerome or I was going to come back and haunt his ass. Or maybe I’d come back as a hell prince and stalk his ass from the Stygian. That might be better. At least there were hellhounds in the Stygian, and who knew, maybe Leviathan would let me play with them if he survived. I felt movement and then more warmth washed over me, but I didn’t know what it was. It felt warm and sticky and might have been blood. But it couldn’t be mine. I didn’t have enough left for a second bloodbath.
“You’re warm,” I said to Asmodeus.
“Shhh,” he whispered into my hair.
“Sorry, I don’t think I’ll get your throne back for you now or break the curses of Hecate and Zadkiel,” I said, and my voice sounded tinny and far away.
“Shhh, Soleil, don’t talk,” Asmodeus said.
“I’m gravely injured, but I’m also half angel. This is not going to kill me,” I said. “Although I don’t think I should do a lot of head turning, but that leaves me conflicted, Asmodeus. If I die, Uriel’s stuck without a body, and I feel like that’s what he deserves. If I live, as I’m sure I will, I’ll feel guilty for ripping his soul out of his body and I’ll put it back in. But he won’t have learned anything. He’ll still walk around with his nose stuck in the air treating me like I’m inferior because I’m nephilim and not pure angel.”
“That is unfortunately the cost of being a better person, you don’t crow when someone gets their comeuppance, you feel bad for them,” Leviathan said, touching my leg. “What do you need us to do to assist you, niece?”
“Make sure my head doesn’t fall off. I can survive having my throat cut, but I hear it’s much harder if the head actually falls off.” I felt something slide around my neck and begin to tighten and for one panicky moment, I thought Asmodeus was going to strangle me until my head fell off. The moment passed, and Asmodeus tied whatever it was at the back of my neck.
“Well, I’ve destroyed the magaru, and I’ve sent a message to Jerome and imps to Magda to see if we can get you some assistance,” Leviathan said.
“Okay and I guess I need whatever it is that Uriel thinks might fix his son’s soul,” I said.
“You know, if you repair the soul and he doesn’t lose his mind, he’ll die anyway, right?” Leviathan asked.
“Yes.” I nearly nodded and stopped myself just in time. “But I have to try,” I said, and realized I couldn’t sigh. I wondered if the lunatic had punctured my windpipe, but if he had, I shouldn’t be able to talk. Maybe I just didn’t have a sigh in me to give. “Uncle, will you help me to my feet?” I asked, holding out a hand.
“I would, but I think you should stay in Asmodeus’s embrace until the other help arrives,” Leviathan said. “The demon king can heal his subjects.”
“Am I a subject of the demon king?” I asked.
“A subject?” Asmodeus gave a dry chuckle. “No, little one, you will never be subjugated. That was my contribution to Leviathan and Lucifer’s gift. But I can assist you while you heal.”
“So, I have some of your magic?” I asked.
“Yes.” I felt the demon nod. “It only seemed fitting that I finally put a little demon magic in one of my creations.”
“One of your creations?” I asked. So many questions.
“Angels had to come from somewhere, and there were only demons before them,” Asmodeus said.
“So, angels are descended from demons?” I asked.
“No. Zadkiel had far better powers of creation than I did, but I had the ability first. One day, I found a small creature I’d never seen before. It was intelligent and capable of more. So, I took it home and nurtured it. It was many years before I found another, but once I did, the pair mated, and I began to alter their makeup and eventually they gave birth to something definitely not like they were. More refinements and discoveries of the creatures, whom I called archanlians, and eventually after many years, one was born with the ability to reason, and more importantly, communicate. The archanlians weren’t good parents, though, and I ended up having to raise their children. Or at least, the first two, whom I named Raphael and Jophiel. Once Raphael and Jophiel were old enough, they raised their siblings. With the birth of Zadkiel, I knew something special had happened. Back then we demons did not require hosts or fear. That came much later. As archanlians evolved, so did Demonation, and eventually we found ourselves at odds. Especially with Zadkiel’s ability to create life from the land.”
“Where did the creatures come from?” I asked. “The first ones, I mean?” Uriel’s soul was having a conniption fit, but we all ignored him.
“That is a good question. Perhaps from another planet, or perhaps they were a sent by a god, or perhaps they started as something familiar and evolved into what I found,” Asmodeus said. “I know those little archanlians became something incredibly special. And you, my Exorcist, you are the one that will heal us all. We needed an angel that could walk between the worlds. An angel that could remind the world demons were dangerous, while reminding demons we were once filled with love. Once upon a time my wife and children cared for those little archanlians as if they were their own children, but as we grew as a people, we lost our way and became parasitic, which is why I helped the archangels separate demons from their hosts. Now more and more groups on both sides of the divide want to reunite the two and that will bring death, chaos, and hate. Modern demons rely on fear to gain power, which is why I lost mine. I do not feed on fear, I feed on love. I wish more of my kin remembered how to do that. One day, I hope you will remind them.”
“I feel like a lot of people have put faith in me that I haven’t earned, and I will disappoint all of them,” I admitted.
“You could never disappoint someone with love in their heart,” Leviathan said. “If you break the curse of Hecate or mine, so be it. If you don’t, so be that, too. In time, you may even be able to heal Uriel.” Leviathan said and looked at his former brother. He shook his head slowly, sadly and looked down at the floor.
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