Chapter 15: Black Deeds

Devnik

I could feel the daylight shield rippling like gauze around me. My skin tingled. It felt like a thin layer of frost had settled softly against me.

I picked the ruby up and slipped it into my pocket. The gem felt dead and empty. The magic that normally coursed through it was gone and expended. Being forced to play one of my trump cards irritated me. The ruby was a comforting last resort. Now that it was used, I would have to wait decades before it could provide me with even an hour of protection.

Jon was staring at me, speechless.

I restrained the urge to roll my eyes. Jon liked to think that he had seen all of my tricks, and he always seemed eternally bewildered when I kept surprising him.

My gaze wandered over to Maria. Her blond hair was tousled by her sleep. Stray locks of blond hair pointed every which way, making her head look like the nest of some woodland creature.

A warm feeling suffused me as I continued to stare at her. It was good to have her close.

I had rather been hoping that my little ritual would wake her. One should not go to a potentially lethal battle without some sort of token of a lady's favor, and I had wonderful ideas about the 'favors' she could bestow upon me. All of them, however, required her to be awake.

"Well," I said, "she seems to be an extraordinarily heavy sleeper."

Jon followed my eyes to the bed.

The white sheets had become tangled as she had stirred. They had fallen just enough to reveal the tops of Maria's breasts. Pale, curved skin peeked deliciously out from under the coverings. Maria had thrown one slim arm above her head, which rested on her brow.

Jon spoke while I took in the sumptuous lines of her figure.

"We had an extraordinarily trying journey, my Prince," Jon said as he averted his eyes from the sleeping Half-Angel. "We were attacked twice. Once by an Afflicted, and once by an entire ship of sailors."

I nodded without looking at him.

"I know Jon," I said as I moved to stand. "Orias foresaw all of your journey. He was the one who told me to send Ezrih to rescue you from the ship. He was the one who warned me that the Judicar was traveling with you."

My feet carried me toward the bed, and I knelt down beside Maria without thought. I listened to Jon splutter behind me while I traced my love's cheek bones with the pad of my thumb.

She shifted slightly in her sleep.

"My Prince," Jon said, "I hope you don't think too little of how I handled our travels. I was aware of the Judicar's identity the entire time. I was bringing him here so that you could cast him through your Crossing Gate."

I snorted.

"How could I possibly get him to willingly walk into my Realm Jon?" I asked dryly. "No living thing not of the Dark can be forced to walk Hell's roads."

"Ah," Jon said, "But if I recall, Daniel has a piece of Darkness in him."

My butler's sounded terribly pleased with himself. Almost annoyingly so.

"In fact," Jon continued, "I believe he has a stone heart beating in his chest ... crafted by your very magic."

I pulled away from Maria, and looked over my shoulder at the butler.

Jon shrugged when he noticed my eyes on him. "I am merely speculating here," he said. "But, I imagine Hell would gobble Daniel up readily."

For a brief moment, I saw Daniel Fleeting, one of the four men to ever win immortality from me, condemned to wander my Plane of Hell for eternity. It was a very agreeable fantasy.

"That was..." I paused, unwilling to admit I hadn't thought of something, "Very clever of you Jon," I managed after a grating pause. "I will have to try and see if the Crossing will accept our guest after Michael and I have had words."

My butler nodded. He gestured to the door, and I waved a hand in dismissal.

Jon stood from his chair, and my supernatural hearing heard the tiny creaks and pops of his weary body. Suddenly, I felt very weary as well. Perhaps, when this last matter was attended to, I would rest.

"Don't think that I've forgotten about that debacle on the boat," I said calmly, as I turned my attention back to Maria.

"I'm going to tell Ezrih that you owe him..." I said, trailing off. I let Jon imagine what Ezrih would want as repayment.

Jon sighed.

"As you wish, my Prince," he said.

Then, I heard him open the door, but I didn't hear him leave.

"I suggest you hurry," Jon said after a moment's hesitation, "I don't know what has kept him, but I doubt Michael is going dally much longer."

Before waiting for my reply, he stepped through the door, and closed it gently.

I chuckled softly under my breath. I liked Jon. Impertinence suited him.

Underneath my fingertips, Maria suddenly jerked violently. A great, heaving gasp rushed from between her parted lips. Beneath her eyelids, I could tell that her eyes were moving franticly. She jerked her head again, and I could see tears welling at the corners of her eyelashes.

My heart clenched. She can't be afflicted with mortal illnesses ... can she? I thought uneasily.

I was seconds away from calling Jon back in ... when I caught the smell of it.

There was foreign Light magic on the air.

It was insidious, and terribly, terribly subtle. It had completely slipped my detection. But now that I was focusing, I could sense it on Maria's skin.

Dream magic, I thought to myself... And more potent than any I have ever seen.

A deep chill ran down my spine, and settled at the base of my back.

Michael.

Frantically, I placed a hand on Maria's cheek, and pushed my own magic against the spell that kept her asleep and dreaming.

True Dream magic is an art that only the Light can perform ... but I could still dispel the working ... hopefully.

"Maria! Wake up!" I nearly yelled, as I continued to channel magic against the foreign dream magic. Red sparks twitched down my hand as I gritted my teeth. Dispelling this magic had already consumed several times the power I had estimated it would.

Finally, I could feel the dream magic shudder ... and then break.

Maria's eyes flung open. Her pupils were wide and dilated ... leaving little of her silver iris visible.

Lust, light, and fear. Those are the three things that can naturally widen the pupil ... and currently, fear radiated from my dear Aethling's every pore. Before this moment I hadn't truly had any motivation to face Michael, other than duty to my King.

But now, seeing Maria small and shivering like this, I could feel a blossoming anger towards the arch-angel.

I did my best to stifle my growing rage.

With a soft hand, I placed my palm on Maria's cheek. Her skin was cold and damp.

"Are you alright, dear one?" I asked.

Her body tensed up under my hand, and she shied away from my touch.

I withdrew my hand like I'd been burned. I was confused and worried.

Ah, I thought after a moment, her fear is not for Michael ... it is ... for me.

The anger that had been roiling and boiling inside of me reached a crest ... and before I knew it, the room was dark and cold and tinged with a wicked red hue.

Never before had I felt this ... hurt.

"What did you dream of, my pet?" I asked, in the calmest voice I could muster.

Maria huddled the sheet close to her body ... attempting to cover herself. Her eyes had begun to water again...

"I won't ask again ... Aethling," I murmured dangerously.

Maria's head sunk down, and she began to speak.

"Michael visited me while I slept," she said. "He told me some things ... and he showed me even more."

I could feel my mouth grow dry.

"What did he say?" I asked.

Maria pulled her legs up to her chest and set her head on her knees. She closed her eyes.

"He told me that he was sorry he didn't make the protections around the Aethling awakening stronger."

I nodded dumbly, but she didn't see, her eyes were still shut.

She continued, "He also said that the only reason you've been kind and loving towards me ... is because the Awakening bond works both ways."

No ... I thought... That's not possible. I would have felt it.

I closed my own eyes, and dived deep into myself to search out the bond's presence within my magic self.

It was not on the surface, like I had expected. It was not a weak and subtle thing like I imagined it to be ... to escape my notice for so long. I did not find it amongst roiling ocean of Dark magic I had at my disposal. I did not find it even deeper down, within the place where the dark flames of Destruction rested.

Michael probably lied to her, I thought. I can't find it where a normal working would take hold.

But I hadn't looked everywhere.

With hesitation, I searched farther down.

There, down in the deepest part of myself, I found my love for Maria.

It looked like a golden cord, made up all out of starlight and stillness. And, like a gently twisting vine, it had entwined itself all around my true form.

It looked wholly out of place, wrapped around the embodiment of The Prince of Unmaking. Like snow white lilies decorating a guillotine

Like a dove perched atop a lion with blood on its maw.

My anger cooled as fast as it had risen.

In its place was a pit of sadness and disgust. Our love is a lie, I thought to myself bitterly. No matter how much I might wish otherwise, this beautiful magic was guiding me to act against my nature.

I opened my eyes, and found myself looking into Maria's bright silver eyes.

"What else did he say?" I asked. My voice sounded hollow and dull.

Maria regarded me warily, though not with the same fear as she had shown before. Now, she simply looked confused, and tired.

"He showed me visions of you," she whispered. "I watched you murder an entire village with strange black fire ... I watched you kill other Angels ... I watched you laugh at their suffering."

I couldn't remember what specific nights those might have been ... there had been many in the early years.

Maria watched my eyes ... looking to see if I would deny the truth of Michael's dream visions.

I held her gaze ... as my stomach churned in regret.

"You knew that I was a monster," I said. "In France, in my library, you caught an inkling of the black deeds I have done."

Maria nodded once, her blond hair swirled and fell in front of her face.

"You said you did not care then," I said. "Has that changed?

Maria pulled her hair back, and looked at me with an expression I hadn't seen from her in some time.

Her face was fixed in the defiant expression that she had worn during our first moments together. With speed I had forgotten she possessed, she blurred out of the bed and shoved me. In my surprise, I tripped over the chair Jon had been sitting on, and fell hard onto the floor.