A Shadow's Tale (12 page)

Amarath:
So if you throw up, there's something really wrong with you!

Vrael: Thank
you, Amarath, although that is essentially true
.
Now, if I may continue without any further interruption…

Amarath:
I'm not making any promises
.

Vrael:
Amarath!

Amarath:
Fine! Sheesh, you're really touchy today!

Shaeman:
Uh, guys? We don't really have all that long before someone figures out we're here…

Vrael:
I will make this as rapid as possible. Demons and demonic hybrids also have a third hemisphere within the cranium that allows our use of magic and the cohabitation of the demon within a hybrid's mind, but I believe that Shaeman will be able to tell you more about the demonic influence on one's life and actions. Also, we are stronger and more endurant that regular humans, but once more, I believe that Shaeman knows more about our abilities than I am capable of explaining
.

Amarath:
And, of course, Vrael has given me the task of explaining the reproductive system. Coward. Okay, I'm going to make this as short as I can. Demons and half demons are hyperfertile. If you're not really
,
really careful, you can end up pregnant, but you already know about that bit. And because we're magical beings, we don't even need to have sex to get pregnant!

Vrael:
What our dear sister is attempting and failing to explain is this: in a philosophical sense, a child is a blending of the essences of the parents. For magical beings such as us, the essence of a person can be found in anything deeply personal to the one in question. Handwriting
,
a hairbrush, a much-loved necklace and so on. When Karthragan's hand traversed you, it cause an onslaught of his essence that your body knew not how to deal with, or rather knew how to deal with in only one manner: by creating a child
.

Amarath:
Which is way wrong since Kar's our dad. I mean…Eww! But yeah, that's basically the ‘how baby's are made' speech
,
demonic edition. The human method works just as well, by the way
.
Now a quick summary of everything else in our reproductive cycle: we're always ready to reproduce, we don't get the human ‘time of the month', we always bear twins, our pregnancy period is ‘round about five months. I think that's pretty much everything you need to know on that front. Shaeman? You want to tell our Shad about our demonic powers?

Shaeman:
Our powers are pretty varied. You know about the magic
,
about manipulating it into shields and bolts, etcetera. You have to remember though that every demon, full-or half-blooded, had a unique signature, a feeling, that other demons can sense every time you use your magic, so you need to be careful about that. Anyway, we can teleport, as you also know. Uhm, some demons can heal others. Vrael can
.

Vrael:
In truth, any demon is capable of using their magic to heal others. What makes the difference is that many do not wish to spend the time to learn to do so. However, no demon can heal his own injuries
.

Shaeman:
Anyway, as Vrael said earlier, we are physically stronger and more endurant than humans, although not as much as a full-blooded demon. We're kinda stuck in the middle. We're also immortal
,
to an extent. Time can't kill us, but illness, injury and all that can. The reason we're immortal to time is because demons stop ageing at a certain, random point in their lives. I believe that all four of us have reached our point, and that this is the physical age that we will retain for the rest of our existence
.

Another one of our powers is shape-shifting, but it's limited. Very limited. Every half demon has five different shapes. Normally at least
.
As with every species, you always have a couple of oddballs thrown in by the gods for giggles. Your everyday form, the half demon one; your human form, the one you revert to when your vulnerable period comes ‘round; and the animal form, you know, wolf for you, lycorn for Amarath, panther for Vrael and a pegasus for me. Those forms you've already come across. There are two others, one of which you may have already found. There's your demon form, which is basically what you look like when you lose control of your demonic side. It's usually pretty
close to your half demon form. And finally, there's your true form. Full-blooded demons know their true forms from birth, but hybrids don't
.
It's dangerous, Shadow, really dangerous. A hybrid who shifts into their true form very rarely come back from it. I don't know much more than that, I'm afraid. Apart from that, I don't think there's much else you need to know
.

Vrael:
We may wish to inform Shadow of the basic hierarchy of Aspheri, as this is one element she may be mixing with in later life
.

Shaeman:
And I guess that's my job as well. Great. Okay, Aspheri is very simple when it comes to politics. The big chief is known as the Prince or Princess of Darkness. It used to be the strongest demon in the dimension who took control, but now it's mainly hereditary. There is a system of marking an heir to the throne, but I've never figured it out
.
No one really knows what it is or how it works. Anyway, under the Prince comes the Council of Elders, who are basically glorified advisors who keep an eye on the two smaller cities in Aspheri. Anything else we need to tell Shadow?

Amarath:
Oh! Did you know that demons aren't evil? They're actually just really volatile and give in to every single emotion that crosses their mind. It was just luck of the draw that Karthragan was such an evil bastard
.

Vrael:
We must leave! I sense someone coming!

Amarath:
Well, hope you enjoyed it, Shad!

—Click—

Once I had recovered enough, I made up my mind. I had to go and see Karthragan. I couldn't bear to lose anyone else to his power, especially since I now had Archangel and Onyx to think about. I had to make sure they were going to be safe once I was gone. I poked my head around the door, listening out for the sounds of my siblings. The faint screams of terror coming from outside told me everything I needed to know: Shaeman and Vrael were trying to teach Amarath to fly a pegasus again. Closing my eyes and focusing my thoughts as Amarath had
taught me to do, I teleported.

I appeared in Aspheri, under the scarlet sky. The perpetual sun hung low in the sky, flaming like a giant torch. Dust rose from the black, baked ground as I walked towards the palace where I knew I'd find him. The ruler of Aspheri was considered almost a god. For as long as records had been kept, Aspheri had been ruled by a Prince of Darkness, a title and power that descended through the male line. Until the prophecy. Until Arellan. Until me.

Lesser demons scattered left and right as I strode through the maze-like corridors of the palace for the first time without a guide. Any other day, I would have gotten lost or had to stop and ask directions, but Karthragan's power suffused the black marble walls. All I had to do was track the highest concentration. The closer I got to the throne room, the less scared of me the demons became. That didn't bother me though. They couldn't hurt me. They knew that only Karthragan was allowed to kill me, thanks to the prophecy. The door guards let me pass without a trace of hesitation.

Karthragan sat on his throne, glaring down at me though his red eyes, but made no move to attack me. I suppose I had to be thankful for that at least. I stopped in front of him, bowing sarcastically, returning his glare.

‘Hello,
Father.'

He looked as if he was considering ignoring the prophecy and killing me there and then, but he wouldn't. Then again, he didn't have to. He knew perfectly well how to get to me without touching me. That's what I was here to put an end to.

‘I'm here to make you a deal,' I continued, folding my arms. As much as he tried to hide it, I could sense a spark of interest. I smirked slightly. Demons were demons. They couldn't resist a bargain, preferably for your soul. ‘You don't hurt any of my friends, human, demon or otherwise, and I won't run from you
on the night of the prophecy.'

Karthragan's rumbling laugh echoed through the dark corners of the chamber. ‘You dared to present yourself before me, mere weeks before the prophecy, to bargain with me for the pitiful lives of a handful of hybrids!'

‘Humour me,' I growled. ‘I could run. You know I could run, faster than you could keep up with me. You spare their lives, I won't run from you.'

‘You could never run fast enough.'

‘Oh, I could. I would. You know it as well as I do. I could shield myself from you so thoroughly that you could walk straight past me. You could send all the demons you wanted after me, but you know I could fight them.' At least, that's what I was telling myself. It was basically all talk. I was relying heavily enough as it was on Amarath being able to train me to be able to fight and I still had a lot to learn in that respect.

Karthragan grunted. I had him there. He believed me, which was all I needed. He waved a hand irritably. ‘I will grant your request, as trivial as it may be.'

I allowed triumph to twist one corner of my mouth upwards. With another sarcastic bow, I teleported myself back to the cottage.

Time passed slowly, lazily. Alba and I still worked in the flower shop and Shaeman and Vrael had found out how to play the stock markets and investments to keep our income growing and taught me more about magic in our spare time. Amarath had wandered off somewhere, no one really knew where, but nor were we particularly bothered. Amarath could handle herself perfectly well. Unfortunately, Karthragan was moving on the offensive again, probably angered by my insubordination. He often tried to break into my mind, to kill me from the inside out. This often led to my demonic side taking the chance to break free and take over. Slowly, over the course of three weeks, the attacks
became less and less frequent. I started venturing in back into the city again, although under the constant escort of either Vrael or Shaeman.

I wandered around the city one night in wolf form, closely followed by Vrael's sleek panther form. He was seriously getting on my nerves though. I trotted into a square lit only by a couple of street lamps nearing the end of their life. Morphing back into human form, I put my hands on my hips, glaring at him.

‘Vrael, if you keep watching me like that, I swear I'm going to spontaneously combust!'

From the other side of a broken fountain, a voice called out. ‘Vrael, is that you? What are you doing here?' I whipped my head round to glare at a teenage boy, younger than me. He looked a little scruffy, and smelled a little odd, sort of like a shape-shifter, but not quite.

‘Shadow wished to leave the house for a few moments, and I volunteered for the guard duty. It was only chance that lead us here.' Vrael replied calmly. He obviously knew this boy. I relaxed fractionally.

‘Who are you?' I asked. He narrowed his eyes at me. I sensed apprehension radiating off him.

‘Name's Bart. That's all you need to know.' I raised an eyebrow at his abrupt answer. ‘I met Vrael by pure coincidence a couple of weeks ago.' He pulled a dog-eared piece of paper from a pocket of his baggy white trousers, studying it closely. He glanced at his watch, apparently waiting for something. I rounded on Vrael, arms folded. He raised his hands in a gesture of surrender.

‘I was with Alba. There is no harm in that, I presume? Bart met she and I there, when you were…not quite with us.'

‘You mean when I was going mad?'

‘Yes.' I rolled my eyes, turning back to Bart.

‘So what are you doing here? You're waiting for something, that much is obvious.'

Bart looked as if he wasn't going to talk, but ceded. ‘I'm a sort of chosen one from a race called the Kraferrs. I doubt you've heard of them. Well, we've got this kind of relic, a necklace, the All-Teller necklace. There are thirteen ‘One' Kraferrs, humans given the powers of a Kraferr so they can try and find it. I'm one of them, but I have to wait for a shaman Kraferr to create a replica of me so my parents don't panic.' Understanding I nodded and watched from a distance as what looked like a further evolved monkey appeared. I guessed that he was the shaman Bart was looking for since the boy walked over to greet him. Vrael and I stayed at a distance, feeling that this was perhaps not something to be observed closely. I could hear them talking, but couldn't make out any individual words. I felt Vrael stiffen beside me, putting a hand on my shoulder and clenching it hard. Glancing up at him, I saw his gaze riveted on the proceedings between Bart and the shaman. A split second later, I realised why. There was blood involved. I could smell it. I guessed that the blood-lust was starting to descend on Vrael, but he was making a valiant effort to fight it. I put one hand on his, squeezing it slightly. He looked down at me, his features rigid, but managed a tense smile. Looking back over at the Kraferrs, the shaman had vanished, leaving Bart standing over his clone. Bart lifted his wrist to his face, his features bathed in a blue light as I guessed he checked his watch. Surreptitiously, I slid a vial of blood from my belt and pulled out a wind-up mouse I had enchanted to never stop once started. I had to spend some time alone before I went nuts. Making sure Vrael's eyes were still fixed on Bart, I tipped a few drops of blood on the mouse, enough to give it the scent. Vrael's head whipped round, the hunger clear in his eyes. I felt a little ashamed about using his weakness against him, but turned the key on the mouse, sending it scurrying away into the night. Vrael shot after it in a heartbeat. Breathing a sigh of relief, I walked over to Bart.

‘I should be able to disappear for a couple of months with this
replica,' he said, his mind obviously a long way away.

‘Why isn't it moving?' I asked. I couldn't fathom how this replica thing worked if the clone didn't move. Was it supposed to make him appear to be dead or something? In a coma?