I grunted. I did know what he meant. I’d ended up going to war with Sebastian’s vampires unwillingly. I’d wanted to sit out. Sebastian wouldn’t let me.

  ‘I was one of the rare few who were spared from fighting. A representative of Heaven came to me and offered me this job. All I had to do was record observations of the supernatural world. I was to be impartial. It was perfect. It not only saved me from having to take part in that war, but it saved me from taking part in any war.’

  ‘How long have you been sitting out of everything going on in the world?’ I asked. Ancients were immortal so he could’ve been here since the beginning of time for all I knew.

  He looked off into the distance seemingly absently, but there was a lot going on behind his eyes. ‘Millennia.’

  ‘What a waste,’ said Zeke. I agreed with him. Life was not for hiding in a room writing about other people’s actions and memories. It was about making your own.

  Clarke looked at him calmly and even offered him a small smile. ‘Many people see it that way, but for so long I was happy. I was content. I love this world, you see. I love it so much. And being an agent of Heaven allows certain benefits. I was even more invulnerable with their backing. I could walk the world freely, going where I pleased. Few things could hurt me whilst I was doing the work of the angels. I had a network of portals that could take me all over the world. And I could do things. I was forbidden from getting involved in major events. I couldn’t alter anything. I could still enjoy the world. I could still make my own memories. I recorded them too. I wrote them in my own personal books.’ He stared off at the wall again, a fondness in his eyes that I recognised. Love.

  ‘I took a wife. She was the most amazing person I ever knew.’ His happiness fell away and was replaced by an accepted kind of sadness. The grief of someone who has held it for a long time. Time had healed the wound but the scar remained. ‘I never found another lover after her. I never wanted to. Nobody would ever be able to fill the void she had left. You don’t know true love until you find that person who you simply cannot bear to be parted from. Not even for a few hours. When you feel the true bite of love, that person is the only thing in all the worlds that you need. And to lose that feeling… It cannot be replaced. Not ever.’

  I thought of Ashley and how I’d felt every morning when I woke up next to her. I wondered if anybody would ever be able to take her place if I hadn’t died myself. The answer was not an easy one to figure out. I suppose that was an answer in itself.

  I could see the love in Clarke’s eyes. I could feel it radiating out of him. I could see the love between Howard and Amara when they looked at each other, when they sat together, and when they fought together. It was like a bolt of electricity that bound them to one another.

  Ashley and I did not have that. I did love her and I knew that she loved me but it wasn’t on the same level as Clarke and his wife, or Howard and Amara. Even Nickolas Blackwood had loved somebody so much he’d ripped a hole between the realms of the living and dead to bring her back to life. I hadn’t put in nearly as much effort for Ashley. Not really.

  I wanted what Clarke, and Howard, and Amara had. I wanted to feel that connection to another person. I wanted to know what it was like to have only one person in the entire universe matter to you. I thought I did know it, but now I realised I was wrong. Ashley and I could’ve had it if only we’d had more time together. One year was not enough. Our relationship had barely even gotten off the ground. It never had the chance to blossom into this thing that Clarke was describing now.

  ‘What was her name?’ I asked Clarke, suddenly I wanted to know more about his wife. I wanted to know how they met. How they fell in love. How that bond grew over time. How he proposed. How they lived together. And how he carried on after she died. I wanted to know where that love came from. I wanted to know how long it took to get there. I wanted to know how to create it.

  Clarke smiled at me and the corners of his mouth touched his eyes and made them twinkle. For a second I forgot that he’d betrayed me. ‘I don’t think I’ll tell you that,’ he said softly. He wanted to keep it to himself. His private love. Letting it out might mean he’d lose some of it.

  ‘Can we get to the part where you tell us why you started stealing things,’ Zeke growled, clearly not at all touched by Clarke’s love story.

  Clarke’s smile faded and he was back to business again. ‘After she died I went back to my life of solitude. Just myself and those who brought me their observations. Sometimes I would go out and observe for myself. But this job is not forever. The angels told me that when they hired me. Eventually, the Cosmos decides I’ve had my time and someone new has to step in. The angels just facilitate that.’ He touched a finger to the crow’s feet at the edges of his eye and smiled. And that was when I noticed.

  ‘You’re ageing,’ I said. He looked at me with grimness and nodded.

  ‘It started about three years ago. The Cosmos’ way of telling me that my time was at an end.’

  ‘But you were immortal before the job,’ I said in confusion. Even without Heaven boosting him he would never have aged.

  He shrugged. ‘Maybe I still am. Maybe once my replacement has been found I will stop ageing. Or maybe I gave up my immortality when I took this job. But that doesn’t matter. I don’t want to live forever. I’ve done everything there is to do. I lived. I loved. I want to go back to my wife. But before I do that I want to do more than simply watch. I have watched for thousands of years as people of all races have done nothing but cause carnage. Before I cross into the Dead Realm and answer for my deeds I want to do my bit. I want to do what I can to at least lessen the damage people can cause.’

  ’So you’ve been stealing powerful objects. So what, you’re going to do some grand world-saving spell?’ Zeke asked. Clarke shook his head.

  ‘You took them to stop other people from using them,’ I answered for him. He nodded.

  ‘Look at the things Nickolas Blackwood did with the Ambrotos Dagger. That thing extended his stain on the world for centuries and it gave him the power to fill the world with more evil than anyone should ever have seen. And that was just what he did with it. Think of all the people who had it before. And think of all the other devices like that one. Objects of supreme power. I couldn’t allow them to remain in the hands of people who could not be trusted to hold them. So I began confiscating them.’

  ‘Stealing,’ said Zeke.

  ‘But if you give me the Ambrotos Dagger it won’t be in the hands of anybody. I’ll give it to Lucifer and he will take it out of this realm entirely. That’s even better than hiding it, surely?’ I implored him.

  ‘Lucifer. The angel of a thousand lies. You can’t trust the Devil, Eddie. He will say whatever he needs to say to get what he wants. For all we know he could be planning to use this dagger to rebel against Heaven again. Maybe the dagger will tip the scales in his favour this time.’

  ‘How do you know all that about him? Because the angels told you? He said the stories about him, about the angels, about God, all of them are embellished or just lies. He said God isn’t even a god, he’s just another angel,’ I argued. I knew it was hopeless. Clarke was looking at me like a child arguing with a teacher. It was hopeless.

  ‘He will say whatever he needs to. Or maybe he is telling the truth. Maybe he isn’t as bad as the stories say. Maybe he’s the good guy and God is the bad one. But I don’t want to take that chance.’

  I tried another tactic. One that had worked rather well on me. ‘When you die you will go to his realm. He will decide whether you get to be with your wife for eternity. Or if you get eternal damnation.’

  ‘No,’ he said simply. ‘I’ve devoted most of my life to Heaven. Lucifer will not judge me when I die. The angels told me that when I took the job.’

  ‘Well that seems unfair,’ I grumbled. One last attempt, I had to appeal to his good-hearted nature. ‘You might get a free pass but I won’t. Without that dagger, I am set for an eternity of torture.’

  He looked at me sympathetically but again shook his head. ‘That’s not true, Eddie. Without the dagger you will be judged. As you should be. That is the way of things. Lucifer may deem you to be a good man overall and then you will be at peace even without the dagger.’ He leaned forward and placed his hand on my forearm in an effort to be comforting. It did not work. ‘There are no free tickets, Eddie. You can’t live your life however you want and then shrug it all off at the end of your days. Sooner or later you have to answer for your actions.’

  ‘Yeah, so do you,’ Zeke said, his voice growling and bestial. Then a ball of silver shot from his chair right at Clarke’s face.

  Clarke raised a hand laconically and the ball froze in the air, moments from hitting him right in the eye. The Ancient turned his head to examine the spell that had been coming his way. ‘Oh,’ he said in surprise. ‘This would have melted me from the inside out. What a barbaric spell.’ He lowered his hand slowly and Zeke’s spell vanished into the air.

  ‘I invited you into my home and you attacked me,’ he said in disappointment.

  ‘Give me the ring and I won’t have to,’ said Zeke. He was sitting erect in the chair, ready to defend himself. Fear was flickering around in the globes of his eyes. He knew he was outmatched in Clarke. We both were.

  ‘That ring is a prison for a particularly vicious Jinn. What do you want with it? The only purpose it has is to control the Jinn and I don’t want anybody wielding that Jinn’s power.’

  ‘It isn’t up to you. The ring doesn’t belong to you.’ Zeke flew to his feet and tossed another spell at Clarke. Clarke blocked it again and then rose slowly to his own feet. He stepped back so he had both of us in his line of sight. Not that I had moved at all since this exchange had begun. I did not want to fight Clarke. He was a friend. Or at least I thought he was. Would a friend really refuse to help me get into eternal bliss? All he had to do was give me the dagger. It was so simple. He’d lied to me. He’d betrayed me.

  I rose to my feet, calling magic to my fingertips. Here we were. Fifty-fifty.

  ‘So be it,’ Clarke whispered to us.

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Zeke threw out a chain of magic and the next second I threw a stunning spell at Clarke. Despite keeping himself isolated and out of the action for so long he was surprisingly adept. Clarke allowed Zeke’s magical chain to coil around his wrist and then channeled a burst of flames into it that forced the spell to crumble right off him. He raised his free hand in my direction and my spell dissolved into his palm.

  ‘You only seek to stun me, Eddie,’ he said in surprise. ‘I appreciate your restraint.’ Magic flew out of both of his hands at Zeke and I. I threw myself behind the nearest chair and the spell sailed right over my head. Zeke protected himself with a shield but the force of Clarke’s power still made him stumble backward.

  I poked my head above the chair and tossed a couple of stunners Clarke’s way, but he defended against them without even looking in my direction. Then he threw something back that I only managed to duck away from in time.

  Zeke was muttering something under his breath that I couldn’t make out. If he was using vocalisations then whatever he was conjuring was going to be destructive. I needed to get behind Zeke. I could see his hands beginning to glow as though they were filled with fire. Before Zeke could release the energy he was harnessing Clarke hit him with twin bolts of lightning. Zeke’s whole body went rigid and he was pulled off his feet and flung into the wall. I was surprised that the plaster held against his body. Zeke immediately began to rise. If he was feeling any pain then he didn’t show it. Clarke’s brow furrowed in surprise.

  ‘Ah,’ he said, nodding in understanding. He strode forward and before Zeke could stop him he snatched the hat from the wizard’s head. A transparent wave of magic rippled over Zeke and his eyes widened in alarm. Clarke swiped his empty hand through the air and Zeke hurtled across the room, slamming into another wall. This time his whole face twisted in anguish and he curled into a pained ball on the floor.

  I raised my head over the chair and flung a hastily conjured spell at Clarke. He batted it away like it was a nuisance fly and I retreated behind cover again. Magic didn’t seem to be working on Clarke, we just weren’t fast enough to get the drop on him. But maybe surprising him with a different kind of attack would work. I grabbed the armchair I was using for cover. It took a lot of strength to lift it and I had to channel magic into my muscles to increase my strength. I spun in a circle like an Olympic athlete performing a discus throw, and then released the chair at Clarke.

  His eyes enlarged in alarm but then the chair vanished into thin air. There was now nothing between me and him. Nothing to hide behind. Nothing to throw.

  ‘Eddie—’ he began. Then Zeke rammed into him. Zeke was more than twice the size of Clarke in height and girth and with the attack coming as a complete surprise, the smaller man didn’t stand a chance.

  Clarke groaned as he was flung to the floor like he was no more than a toddler. Before he could recover Zeke grabbed his collar and flung him into the wall and this time the plaster did crack. The wizard’s attacks were relentless. He hammered fist after fist into Clarke’s face, pummelling him bloody. I would have rather been attacked magically than be subjected to that kind of treatment. It wasn’t easy to watch. It was like seeing a man slam a kitten against a wall repeatedly. Clarke was an Ancient which meant Zeke’s attacks would keep him down but they wouldn’t leave any lasting damage. That was the only thing that kept me from trying to pull him off. After all, Clarke was a friend despite this betrayal.

  The speed and aggression of Zeke’s onslaught were keeping Clarke from being able to concentrate for long enough to cast any kind of counter attack. Magic was the only hope Clarke had because there was no way he was going to overpower Zeke physically.

  ‘Go and find the fucking objects!’ Zeke roared at me, obviously realising that he was never going to keep Clarke down.

  I tore out of the room and found myself in a plain circular lobby with five doors including the one I’d just come through. I didn’t have time to diddle over which door to go through. Clarke could get the drop on Zeke at any moment. The briefest of pauses between attacks would give Clarke his window and Zeke would soon start to tire.

  I went to the first door on the left and pushed it open. It was a bathroom.

  Next door. Bedroom.

  Number three. A short hallway with two more doors in it. I glanced back at the final unopened door. It would still be there if this venture didn’t pan out, but I had a good feeling. I ran into the hall and threw open the first door. I stared at a small garden that was completely covered in snow. More snow was falling. A statue of a naked woman stood in the centre of the garden, most of her body covered in snow. I closed the door and went for the next one. A library. Not the one I usually found him in. A personal one. This must be where he kept his personal journals. All the recordings of his own life, not for the eyes of those in Heaven. I would have loved to read those books but there wasn’t time.

  I turned and headed back to the circular room. The door to the sitting room was now closed. I raced to the door on my left, the only one I hadn’t yet opened, and tossed it open. It was the bedroom again. I closed the door and looked around me. The bedroom had been on the other side before. I moved to the next door and saw the sitting room again. Zeke was shoving his knee mercilessly into Clarke’s face, but his attack had lost a lot of its vigour. I closed the door, knowing that Zeke would grow too tired to maintain the attack soon.

  The bloody place had rearranged the doorways. I opened them all again until I found the one that I had not yet looked behind. Jackpot.

  I walked into a room that looked a lot like a museum exhibition. Display stands lined the walls, display podiums were dotted around the middle of the room. There were so many items on display in the room. I walked around, examining them all briefly. There was a silver necklace with an emerald hanging from the chain. A golden gauntlet encrusted with various jewels was on one of the podiums — no it was not the infinity gauntlet. If only. Then again, maybe it was. I had no idea what any of the things were in this room.

  I carried on moving around the items. There was a spear on one of the stands, broken in two. A bottle made of black glass on another. Behind it stood several more of the strange glass bottles, in different colours. They were all beautifully crafted. Were all of these items dangerous, or were they just things Clarke wanted to preserve? I carried on through the room and saw on one of the stands a collection of different rings. Was one them the one Zeke was looking for? At the back of the room stood a massive Egyptian sarcophagus made of solid gold by the look of it. I walked towards it and then saw what I was looking for.

  The Ambrotos Dagger. The key to my salvation.

  It was held on a glass display stand, hovering above the surface of the podium. The black handle was encrusted with five rubies, each stuck on one of its five faces. I never thought I would see the golden blade again. I reached out to the dagger and felt a vibration emit from it. It was kind of like a cat purring when you stroke it. My fingers closed around it and the vibration ceased. It felt… right. This dagger belonged in my hand, I don’t why I felt that but I did.

  I drew it out from the holder just as someone entered the room behind me. I turned and saw Clarke. His face was covered in bright red blood, but his wounds were almost all healed already. He held Zeke’s hat in one hand. He approached me slowly and spoke gently as if we hadn’t just had a fight in his sitting room.

  ‘Eddie, please put that down. It isn’t yours to take.’

  ‘I need it,’ I said, trying to keep my tone quiet to match his. I didn’t want him to hear my desperation. I had the dagger in my hand, I wasn’t going to put it back now.

  ‘I don’t want to hurt you. We’re friends,’ he said. He reached me and stopped, looking at me with compassion. ‘I’ve always helped you in the past and I would help you now if I could, but I can’t.

 

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