Fallen Angel of Mine (18 page)

"Who are your enemies?"

"None I need name before you,
child."

Elyssa paused a moment before blurting
out the next question. A question so important she could hardly
contain the anxiety accompanying it. "Are you an angel?"

The Divinity laughed, a beautiful note
of crystalline clarity. "Your people have called us many things.
Are you aware 'angel' simply means 'messenger'?

"It also means 'messenger of God',"
Elyssa shot back, feeling a bit smug about one-upping the Divinity
even if it was on something really minor.

"If you are referring to winged beings
with glowing halos, then yes, we have taken such guises for your
kind. However, we are more. So much more. But if it calms your
inadequate little mind by affixing a name to our being, then do so
and I shall not judge you harshly."

Elyssa's eye twitched. Oh, this bitch
was all about the judging. "What's your name?"

The woman smiled. It was an amused
smile. But it also scared the crap out of Elyssa because something
twisted and evil seemed to lurk behind those beautiful red lips.
The smirk reminded Elyssa uncomfortably of Marjorie Foreman, the
evil queen of after-school detention who had put her and Justin
through a week of hellish punishments, including cleaning out the
school cafeteria grease traps.

"You may call me Daelissa for the short
period remaining to us. Afterward, I fear you shan't remember a
thing about this conversation. In fact, the taint upon your mind
your father wishes removed may be the cause of much distress in
your pathetic life. You will be happier once it is gone. Perhaps it
will even purge the darkness from you."

"Actually, I'm pretty happy as I am.
Oh, and the darkness inside me? That's called Goth. I'd like to
hang onto it."

"Child, there are other far more
important reasons to remove this taint. It appears as though you
may stand in the way of our champion and prevent our light from
returning to this realm. Do not allow your petty concerns to
obstruct the light."

A cold lump settled into Elyssa's chest
as she realized exactly what this woman was saying. "Who's your
champion?"

A perfect blonde eyebrow rose on
Daelissa's face. "Once you are cleansed, perhaps you'll live long
enough to see for yourself."

Ignoring the arctic cold fear raising
bumps on her skin, Elyssa tried for another tidbit of information.
"Are you the only one of your kind here?"

"Am I not enough?" A smug smile lifted
her lips. The woman seemed narcissistic to the point of
puke-worthiness.

Elyssa decided shake her up again. "Are
there more Darklings like Nightliss here?"

Daelissa recoiled. "I should hope not!
Their scourge would only hasten the corruption of this realm to the
point of no return. They were banished, each and every one, long
ago to the Pitch."

"Pitch? As in pitch black?"

"I am weary of this discussion, child.
But before I bless you and remove the taint, you must tell me where
you saw this Darkling and where I can find her."

Elyssa didn't have a clue where to find
Nightliss. Maybe she was back to pretending to be a cat with
Stacey, for all she knew. The last she'd seen of the woman had been
just before Kassallandra yelled at her in the forest. "I saw her at
my high school. As for where she is now, I have no
idea."

"Did she leak darkness?"

"Uh, she looked fine to me. Tanned,
spunky, and cute."

Daelissa sighed. "Pathetic. Our absence
has allowed this realm to fester with ignorance and darkness. So
many gifts we have given you, and yet you allow them to be used for
purposes contrary to our hopes."

"Gifts? You mean like the blessing for
Templars abilities?"

"Oh yes, and many more, though
apparently some humans have developed interesting gifts on their
own. That, I must admit, was unexpected. We have yet to see the
like in other realms." A tiny moan escaped her throat. "Though with
the near destruction of the Grand Nexus, we may never have the
chance to discover more."

Elyssa felt torn. Daelissa
might actually be good, albeit a bit twisted and insane after
decades or centuries of isolation from her kind. Or maybe she and
her kind were warped and evil as a whole. They might all be
leechers who wanted to use Earth as an all-you-can-eat buffet. And
what were these other
gifts
Daelissa spoke of? Had they granted other beings
supernatural abilities as well?

Underborn's warnings flashed back into
her mind. He had told her and Justin an organization was
undermining the various factions, while Foreseeance 4311 warned of
a huge catastrophe lurking on the horizon. Daelissa might be a part
of it. Or Nightliss might be playing sweet, luring Justin into a
false sense of security. One claimed to represent light while
accusing the other of being full of darkness.

"How long ago was the Grand Nexus
damaged, Daelissa?"

The other woman's icy eyes met hers.
"Two thousand years ago. Perhaps three thousand. I have long
stopped counting."

Two or three thousand years ago? Elyssa
could hardly imagine living so long. And this woman—this being—had
probably been alive much longer.

"The gifts have been misused," Daelissa
said, more to herself than Elyssa. "They must be reclaimed. Taken
away from the abusers. Only those who walk in our light will keep
their rewards." Her words trembled with notes of insanity again.
Apparently, what little sustenance she'd drawn from Elyssa hadn't
lasted long.

Her rambling continued, some of it in a
musical language Elyssa found very familiar. If only she had a way
to record this. The information was too important to forget. But
whenever Daelissa recovered her wits, she'd wipe it all from her
mind and nobody would have a clue the Divinity was really a
deranged lunatic from another plane of existence, not to mention a
member of the race who had created the Grotto and its sister
sites.

Father would just die if he
knew any of this
.

The thought of his ignorance almost
made her smile. Almost. The hopelessness of the situation murdered
the smile before it could reach her lips. She glared at the strap
around her right hand and pulled hard as she could, but it didn't
budge. The paint near the arm straps on the chair bore numerous
scratches, as if people before her had also struggled against these
very same bonds and failed.

Frustration built like a rising flood
of anxiety, gripping her insides and squeezing. She jerked and
strained again, but only succeeded in adding another scratch to the
cheap paint. In a flash of inspiration, it occurred to her what she
could do. It wasn't much, but maybe, just maybe, she would see it
and remember.

The chair's armrests were a little
wider than her forearms and extended past the palms of her hands
where they ended in a hand-sized circle. Using the fingernail of
her right forefinger, she pressed it against the paint and
scratched in a final and very short message. With her left hand,
she inscribed a tiny bit more. It took only a few seconds, thanks
to a combination of hand strength and the crappy paint on the
diamond fiber chair. It wasn't much to go on, but it was better
than nothing.

Daelissa abruptly ceased her rant as
clarity shone through the cloud of dementia in her blue eyes. "I
must go, child. But first, the ritual must be completed." She held
a hand toward the White Torch and pressed a hand to Elyssa's
forehead.

Tears gathered in Elyssa's eyes and
trickled down her cheeks.

Justin, I love you. Don't
forget Justin. Hold on, girl. Hold on! Stay with me
Justin!

The world vanished in a flash of
blinding white light.

I heard Elyssa calling out
to me, crying for help. I followed her voice down endless
corridors, which morphed into cavernous rooms, each one darker than
the last until I couldn't see a thing. The world was dark and the
darkness alive. I wandered, hopelessly lost in a morass of
twisting, black tendrils, and my night vision refused to flicker
on.

Cold hands gripped my
wrists, my legs, and pulled from all sides. It was all I could do
to hold myself together, to keep the unseen creatures from tearing
me to bits. Pain built from a low burn to the sharp stab of agony
as muscles failed and flesh tore.

"Help!" I shouted. "Someone
help me!"

A brilliant mote of dark
light drifted from somewhere above, falling toward me like a
snowflake infected by ultraviolet starlight. Screams echoed from
every side and the icy grips weakened and vanished, leaving me
almost alone. As the speck of light drew level with my eyes, I held
out a hand and caught it before it reached the floor. I expected it
to be hot or at the very least, warm. Instead, I hardly felt its
presence.

"I love you, Justin."
Elyssa's voice sounded so muted and tiny, coming from the speck of
light as it did. "I will always love you. Help me."

I held the speck to my ear
but no other sounds emanated from the bit of stardust.

"Elyssa?" I called. "Elyssa,
answer me!"

The brilliant light
flickered. Dimmed. Died.

The sound of countless moist
bodies wriggling and squirming toward me caught my ears. Closed in
from all sides. Icy cold ripped into my flesh. Tore me to
bits.

I awoke with a shout. Fumbled for a
lamp and found it. When I turned it on, I saw pink walls and frilly
purple bed covers. A soft teddy bear regarded me from the
nightstand. Lina had given me her room to sleep in, I
remembered.

"It was just a dream," I said. "Just a
nightmare." But deep down I knew it wasn't a simple nightmare. I'd
had dreams like this before, dreams connecting Elyssa and me in
ways I didn't understand. The last time it had happened, I'd been
dying or mostly dead after Meghan had used my blood to save Stacey
from an infected hellhound bite. Elyssa, glowing with an
ultraviolet aura, had visited me in the dream and told me she was
my light in the dark.

I shuddered at the significance of the
dream I'd just had. Did this mean Elyssa had been mind-wiped
already? Even worse, had something horrible happened to her? My
heart thudded with anxiety and pain. Sweat gathered on my forehead.
I pulled out my phone, but there was still no signal. Not like it
mattered. I'd asked to use a phone but the tiny town didn't have
landline phones and it was nearly forty miles down the road to get
a signal on a cell phone—a signal which was incompatible with my
phone. Alejandro told me he would take me outside town to a place I
could get a signal and use his cell phone. But it wouldn't be until
tomorrow. Damn it, I should have insisted he drive me out there
after dinner.

My stomach growled even though it was
still full from the meal earlier in the evening. My demon blood
cried for essence, making me feel hollow. I'd ignored the feeling
all evening, unwilling to latch onto any of my hosts, not just
because they might detect my efforts to feed off them, but also
because it was just plain rude.

The bedroom door creaked and Lina poked
her head into the room. "Are you okay? I heard a shout."

I nodded. "Just a
nightmare."

She tiptoed into the room and shut the
door behind her. "You frightened me. What was it about?"

I couldn't help but notice she wore a
pair of tight short-shorts displaying the contours of her smooth
brown legs and a purple tank-top adhering to her curves like a
second skin. "Oh, nothing much. A bunch of monsters tore me to bits
and probably ate me. I wouldn't know. I was dead by
then."

She grimaced, her big brown eyes
reflecting the lamplight. Then she took a seat on the foot of the
bed. "I wanted to ask you something, Justin."

"Fire away." My stomach made a noise
like a starving Wookie. I winced with embarrassment.

"Are you hungry?"

"That's what you wanted to ask
me?"

She smiled. "No, but your stomach is
making funny noises."

I shrugged apologetically. "It's not
food I need."

Understanding lit her face. "Oh, demon
hunger. I have never seen spawn feed, but heard it is very
interesting." Despite her strong Spanish accent, her English seemed
mildly improved from earlier and I wondered if she'd been
practicing.

A chuckle escaped me. "Yeah,
if you're into voyeurism. When I was first learning to control it,
I had a few interesting experiences."
Interesting
was hardly the word to
use, considering I'd nearly had sex with a woman in the grocery
store and my gym trainer all thanks to my special incubus
temptations.

"How does it work?"

"Well, I feed off of a person's
essence, mainly through emotions. The more positive the emotion,
the better it 'tastes'." I made air quotes.

"And what emotion tastes the
best?"

I wondered if I should be discussing
this with her at all. It felt kind of strange and embarrassing to
tell someone what rocked my socks when it came to leeching.
"Happiness is pretty good."