Embrace, Entice, Emblaze (36 page)

Any doubts that had floated into my mind after talking with

Steph vanished.

Of
course
he’d been an angel of light.

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chapter
thirty

“There is no arguing with the pretenders to a divine knowledge
and to a divine mission. They are possessed with the sin of pride.

They have yielded to the perennial temptation.”

waLter LippMann

I was standing alone as they marched toward me. Death, Doom, and
Destruction in the form of an army of exiles— a promise of pain and
suff ering wafting in and out of focus, becoming shadows and then reappearing. Th ey moved like a physical force, almost suff ocating everything
around them.

Th e
two
that
led
emitted
enormous
power. One was slightly elevated
above the ground, still walking but levitating at the same time. It
was Onyx. Th e other looked at me, burning a hole into my eyes right
through to my soul.

“We can feel your power, rainbow. You are the link that promises
destruction. We are coming for you.”

I heard the words, even though he didn’t actually speak.

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I
stood, unable to move, like the nightmares from my childhood
where I couldn’t run away. I tried getting down on my hands and knees.

In my dreams, that sometimes worked. But I couldn’t move at all.

“Who are you?” I asked.

“Joel. Once of the Principalities. I will not let you cloud my path. I
have played caretaker to man for too long; now this world will conform.

It is the only way.”

I
saw
the
long, silver sword by his side. He held the hilt and leaned
on it like a walking stick. Blood was sliding down the edges. Where had
it come from?

“The only way to what?” I asked, now feeling like this wasn’t only
a dream.

“To take the control we are entitled to. Humanity is weak and
wicked in nature. They will serve us or be sacrificed.”

“And you’re planning to be what? Their leader?” I must have
confused him, because he lost his composure for a brief moment before
lifting his head high and continuing the sermon.

“Humans have spat in the face of free will and abused their privileges. The time has come for a new order and it is clear that I must
succeed where others have failed.” He lifted the sword off the ground,
still pointing it downward. Blood dripped slowly from the point.

Fear
coursed
through
my
body, along with all five senses, though
somewhat dampened.

His
body
distorted, eyes appeared all over him, and wings spread
from his back— three wings on each side. My breath caught. They were
magnificent. Then they burst into flames, raging red and blue fire, and
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he just stood there in front of me, his arms slightly apart as he burned.

Then he was gone.

Onyx
was
left
standing
before
me, his minions floating in the background under a cloud of gloom. He looked at me, smiling, tilting his
head as he had the last time we met. He looked at me like he knew all
my secrets.

“For one who was once of the light, he does have an increasing flair
for the dramatic,” he said, sounding amused by Joel’s demonstration.

“It’s a slippery slope, the road of sin. Even those with the most noble of
causes can justify the need for it. Fabulous, isn’t it? He truly believes in
his crusade, even as it stains what is left of his soul.”

Onyx
glided
toward
me. I struggled for movement in my unwilling
body. It seemed to cause him great pleasure.

“That’s the beauty of exiled angels, for we all must inherit Original
Sin in flesh. It is called
concupiscence
”
—
he
rolled
the
word
on
his
tongue—“and it has the most intriguing results in our kind
.
It
makes
things
so
much
more
…
entertaining.” He laughed and walked away
into the pulsing darkness that enveloped him.

I
stood
in
emptiness, still unable to move, trapped. I could hear Onyx
laughing his high- pitched cackle. Even in a dream, the guy was grating.

I
could
do
this. I could free myself from this. It was just a dream. I
took a deep breath and tried to center myself and draw on the power
that had been given to me. I used it to push the darkness away, peeling
layers of it back and slowly surfacing, until the dream started to release
me and I was able to bring myself back to—

— a street. No, some kind of alley. My mind took a moment to

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catch up with my eyes, but bit by bit, the world around me came into focus. It was still dark, but not the same dark. It was night and I was no longer in my bed.

The senses were all around me now—a part of me, they hummed

and buzzed. Apple and flowers encircled me, warning me but not

overpowering me. They informed me and departed.

I was standing on my own, all except for the dead body that

lay at my feet. A car drove by the opening to the alley, throwing a momentary beam of light toward me, illuminating enough of

the body and face for me to recognize it. Lying in a pool of

blood, in jeans and what was once a white button- down shirt,

was
Marcus
.

What had I done? I didn’t know where I was, but I was dressed

and it was the middle of the night. Had I been sleepwalking?

Panicking, I patted down my jeans pockets and felt the familiar lump that meant I had my phone. When I pulled it out, I saw

my hand was dripping with blood that I had smeared all down

my clothes.

I called Griffin. I described the area and found a couple of street signs at the end of the alley. Griffin told me he would be there in ten minutes. After I broke into an all- out panic, he promised to be there in five.

I walked back into the dead end where I had woken from my

nightmare and found the bloodied body. I braced myself for the

awful sight again. Thoughts of Steph rolled through my mind.

But…it wasn’t Marcus.

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This guy was tall and slim, wearing a dark suit. He would have

been about thirty years old. He didn’t look anything like Marcus.

I called Steph. She answered, half asleep. “This better be an

emergency of epic proportions. I’m talking rising from the dead kind of stuff here. It’s 3 a.m.”

“Steph, when did you last speak to Marcus?”

“Tonight, why?” she asked, becoming more alert with my tone.

“Can you try to call him for me? I need to know if he’s okay.” I was doing that thing where I bounce up and down on the spot. It was becoming a habit.

“Okay.” She drew out the word as if she thought I was crazy. I

was wondering the same thing. “Can I ask why?”

I was freaking out, not thinking straight, so I just blurted it out.

“I had a nightmare and then I woke up in an alley in the middle of the city and I was standing over a body and it looked like Marcus and now it…doesn’t.”

“WHAT! Marcus is dead?” She was hyperventilating.

“Yes…No! I don’t know. Can you please just try to call him?”

She hung up the phone without another word.

While waiting for her to call back, I looked in the alley to

find something to clean myself up with. I settled for ripping

apart a cardboard box. But when I looked down, the blood was

no longer on my hands. They were as clean as if just washed. I

dropped the cardboard, searching myself for any other signs of

the blood. Nothing.

I was losing it. Losing perspective. I started to feel woozy and 308

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claustrophobic. I was going to pass out. I walked toward an upside-down crate and collapsed onto it just before my legs gave way.

The next thing I knew, someone was slapping me across the

face. Griffin.

“Aww!” What was it with everyone belting the crap out of me

when I was unconscious?

“Ah, you’ll be okay. You have extra durability now and you

wouldn’t come round with the lighter slaps.” He smiled a little.

“How many times have you hit me?” I asked, alarmed.

“A few,” he said, blowing it off and adding, “you’re a Grigori

now, Violet. You can take a few hits.” As if that was the end of it.

“What happened?” he asked.

I told him how I had ended up in the alley with the dead body

after having a nightmare about Onyx and another exile called Joel.

He sighed when he heard the name.

“Do you know him?” I asked.

“Yes, he’s an extremely powerful and insane exile, once of

light”— he raised his eyebrows at me— “with a particular panache for dream altering. He believes he is on a divine mission, and he leaves a trail of death and destruction everywhere he goes. He is especially vengeful toward Grigori and has always been a hunter of us. We’ve never been able to get close enough to finish him.” He shook his head and frowned. “Acting alone is bad enough. Working with Onyx…” Griffin wiped his forehead then threw his hands in

the air. “Honestly, they used to at least have
some
honor. Light and dark working together— there’s no integrity anymore.” Griffin 309

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kicked one of the wooden pallets beside me, breaking it in two. It seemed to calm him down. “Come on. Let’s look at this body.” He turned toward the end of the alley where it lay.

My phone rang and when I answered, Steph was on the other

end, yelling at me.

“Are you insane? You almost gave me a heart attack!”

“Did you speak to Marcus?”

“You mean did I piss Marcus off to no end by waking him up

in the middle of the night? Yes! I’ll be surprised if he ever takes me seriously again!”

My whole body folded over in relief. “That’s great!” I said.

“
No
…it’s not great. He thinks I’ve lost my mind.”

“Okay, so I’m sorry about that part, but I’m still glad he’s okay.”

“You really saw a dead body that looked like him?” She sounded

in control but for the little tremor in her voice.

“No. I saw a dead body that
was
him. I can’t explain it now. I’ll call you in the morning.”

“There is some seriously weird stuff going on around you at the moment. You know that, don’t you?”

“Yep.”

“Well, call me when the sun is up.” I could hear her getting back into bed. “Night.” The phone went silent.

When I rejoined Griffin, he was leaning over the body and

already on the phone, organizing a cleanup crew. I suddenly had a bad feeling. He snapped his phone shut and put his head in his hands, taking deep breaths.

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“His name was Angus. He has been a Grigori for more than a

hundred years. He was my…mentor. My friend.”

I swallowed a lump in my throat. “Griffin?” I asked hesitantly.

His eyes flicked up to me.

“I…I had blood on my hands. When I first realized I was here,

there was blood all over me. I don’t know if…if I?” I didn’t believe it, but the fact was, somewhere along the line I had lost time, and when I came to, a dead body was at my feet.