Fallen Angel of Mine (6 page)

"Are those the pages Underborn gave
you?" Elyssa said in a low voice, peering over at the wrinkled
sheets.

I nodded. "Yeah. I was thinking about
what he and Vallaena said." Both the assassin and my dear aunt
seemed convinced I was at the center of a prophecy, though for some
reason, they referred to it as a foreseeance, claiming it wasn't
the same thing. Auntie Vallaena wanted to take me into her
protective custody so I could perform whatever dread duty lay in
store for me, while Underborn seemed to think it had some
connection to his investigations regarding Thunder Rock. I had yet
to do more than glance at what he'd given me, but maybe, just
maybe, these pages held an answer or two. Maybe Thunder Rock was
the start of a conspiracy, or maybe not.

I shuffled through the pages. The first
few bore a list of names, while the last few had what looked like
several random sentences. Both Underborn and Vallaena claimed they
had tried to locate a copy of the full text of Foreseeance 4311,
the assigned name for this particular jumble of prophetic nonsense.
Apparently, more than one person could see the same future events,
but every recorded copy of 4311 had vanished, and many of the
foreseers were either dead or had forgotten their own words by the
time Underborn tracked them down. These sheets bore the withered
fruits of his investigation.

"Who are these people?" Elyssa
asked.

Kassallandra peered over my other
shoulder, the curtain of her flaming hair dangling next to my face.
A sweet odor like a field of flowers mingling with a barbed, burnt
scent tickled my nose, reminding me of Vallaena for some reason.
Something deep within me stirred, and I found myself turning ever
so slightly to draw in another breath flavored with her scent. What
was it about spawn women that tantalized my nose? Succubus
pheromones?

Thankfully, neither female
seemed to notice as they stared intently at the list, and I
recovered, forcing my face away from the redheaded temptress. Many
of the names on the list were crossed out in various colors of ink,
the names and addresses still visible through the hasty slashes.
Hand-written notes crowded the margins next to the names.
Deceased
and
Missing
were the two
most-used words. Some names had a small number next to them and the
numbers corresponded to numeric notations next to the sentences on
the last page.

"Where did you get this?" Kassallandra
asked, walking around to my other side and taking a seat next to me
on the flat boulder.

"Underborn," I replied.

A look of mild amazement crossed her
face. "You keep dangerous company."

"My girlfriend is the most dangerous of
all."

A smile touched her face and just as
quickly vanished. She took a page of names from my hand and
examined it. "I believe I know what these people are—or
were."

"Foreseers," Elyssa said, pressing her
curvy hip to mine and sandwiching me between the two
women.

I took a deep breath, trying to
concentrate on the paper, instead drawing in a heady dose of
female-scented air. Brain number two perked up along with the
insatiable incubus inside of me. I frantically shifted my train of
thought to baseball before something embarrassing
happened.

Kassallandra took the page with
numbered sentences on it, hopefully unaware of the hormonal war
raging in my bloodstream and said, "Underborn was tracking down
these people, trying to piece together the complete
prophecy?"

"I think so," Elyssa said with a
nod.

"How interesting." She shifted sideways
so she could view both of us at once. Her eyes, now a muted amber
hue, searched our faces for a moment. "Does this foreseeance have
something to do with Thunder Rock?"

I shrugged. "Underborn said it might be
connected to the events here."

Kassallandra eyed the page in her hand,
eyes narrowing with every passing second. "This speaks of momentous
events and an important choice." Her gaze met mine. "Are these
fragments of Foreseeance forty-three eleven?"

My eyebrow quirked. "You've heard of
it?"

"Only by chance." She ran a finger down
the page. Her eyes snapped up to meet mine over the edge of the
sheet. "This is about you, is it not?" Her voice was heavy with
accusation.

I scooted sideways a bit, pushing
Elyssa with my hip as my body tried to get away from Kassallandra's
stare. "Vallaena and Underborn seem to think so."

"Vallaena is so convinced she tried to
put Justin under her protection," Elyssa added.

Kassallandra pushed her hair behind an
ear. "How intriguing."

I was tempted to snatch the sheet back
from her. "Well, what does it say?"

She ran her finger to the
top of the page.
"As the alliance splinters
into factions, so come the destroyers. None shall be strong enough
alone to withstand their might. For they once ruled here and once
again shall they rule. Unless the half-damned soul reunites the
dissolution, all shall once again descend into the shadow of the
light."

Elyssa pressed a hand to my thigh and
leaned over. "That's exactly what's happening now. The Conclave—the
alliance it mentions—is falling apart."

"And I'm supposed to unite it?" I said,
my voice going up an octave.

"Perhaps," Kassallandra
said. "There is more from a different seer." She smoothed the sheet
against her leg and continued. "
I see not
one, but two half-damned upon this plane. One is wreathed in the
dark, the other in the light. Both gather their armies for the
fight. In the end, two choices will be decided, but only one will
matter. And the sacrifice must be made
."

"Two half-damned?" I pressed my face
against my hands as a hollow space formed in my chest and pressed
outward, threatening to consume me. "Am I really half-damned
because of my Daemos half?"

Kassallandra touched my hand and
offered a grim smile. "Those who believe in damnation because of
our lineage are fools. Just because we are the progeny of those who
come from another realm does not make us intrinsically evil or
condemned."

"Then why do they say it in the
foreseeance?"

"The seers are merely human, their
visions tainted by subjectivity. It is in their nature to condemn
that which they do not understand."

Elyssa gripped my other hand and
grinned. "Besides, they don't want nerds in Hell."

I tried to push down the dread
consuming my chest in a hot blaze. Maybe I really was doomed to a
pit of fire all thanks to my dad's side of the family. "Yeah,
you're probably right." I offered up a fake chuckle so Elyssa
wouldn't think me a wimp. "Anything else?"

Kassallandra resumed her
recitation. "
One comes in the name of Moses
to sweep the land of the gifted and unmake that which was freely
given to man
." She ran her finger down to
the next one. "
The cleansing flood will
wash away the infestation
."

"Moses? A flood? This sounds
like someone was reading straight out of the Bible." I looked on
the list and found the number corresponding to the last
sentence.
Incomplete recollection
was scrawled next to the name.

"The rest of these all say something
very similar," Kassallandra said. "Except the last two."

I stared at the writing. "What, do they
say it's gonna rain frogs?"

She held out the page so we could both
see it and read. I couldn't help but notice the author of these
particular snippets was someone by the name of Beulah T. Atkinson
and wondered how parents could curse their child with such a
name.

Kassallandra raised a red
eyebrow at the name and read the passage. "
In the year of plague comes the Unmaking or the Remaking. The
half-damned will make a choice. Each will ally with a harbinger.
Should the light prevail, all will be cast in shadow. But should
one light the flame in the dark, the shadow may not rise. With
either choice comes the end.
" Kassallandra
opened her mouth to read further but froze, her eyes wide and
alabaster skin growing paler.

"What?" I asked, looking back at the
sheet.

Kassallandra swallowed with
some difficulty. "The last sentence reads,
'I fear my vision shows a great smoky shadow engulfing the
Earth as all light is drained. We have no hope of
salvation.'
"

My own heart solidified into a lump of
lead at the words on the page. "The seer said she sees the light
drained from Earth? We're screwed no matter what?"

"I am as in the dark as you,"
Kassallandra said, apparently unaware of her own grim pun. "Though
foreseeances are usually anything but clear."

"I think I see how the pieces fit
together," Elyssa said, rising and taking a few steps, her brow
pinched. "The first part is about the alliance splintering into
factions. The alliance must be the Overworld Conclave. It's pretty
obvious this part is happening with the Templars and Daemos at each
other's throats, and now the vampires and Arcanes."

"When did Thunder Rock happen exactly?"
I asked, trying to form a mental timeline.

Elyssa braced her chin on her fist.
"You and I were about three. So, about fifteen years
ago."

"The foreseeance known as forty-three
eleven came to light nineteen years ago," Kassallandra
said.

I raised an eyebrow. "How do you know
that?"

"I assumed the dates next to the
sentences were when the seers had their visions."

I glanced at the page. "And they're all
around the same time?"

She nodded. "Give or take a few days or
weeks. Some seers are more sensitive than others."

A big fat shiny light bulb powered on
in my head. "I got it!" I shouted.

Elyssa jumped back a foot, hand over
her heart. "Justin, will you please warn me next time you're going
to do that?"

"I connected the dots!" I could totally
do the pictures on the bulletin board thing.

Kassallandra raised both
eyebrows.

Elyssa folded her arms. "This ought to
be good."

"Thunder Rock was all about casting the
Templars and Daemos against each other. My parents' marriage killed
off relations between the Daemos and the Arcanes. Maximus's
rebellion splintered the vampires, and whoever attacked the Arcane
school just declared war on the Arcanes. Every major faction hates
and distrusts the other now, and some factions are at war within
themselves." I let my statement sauté in the juices of their lovely
brains for a moment before continuing with my Blue's Clues
moment.

Elyssa lifted an eyebrow. "Didn't we
just figure all this out a minute ago?"

"Exactly, but now I know how Mr. Gray
and his Ken dolls connect to this. If I'm the half-damned who can
reunite the Overworld, then whoever is behind this wants me
dead."

"And you think Mr. Gray is working for
the bad guys."

"He might be just another sock puppet,
or he might be a major player." If Thunder Rock was the genesis for
the chaos consuming the Overworld, finding the engineer behind it
might solve a lot of my problems. Or it might not. But where to
begin? I smacked the back of one hand into the other palm and got
up. My eyes met Elyssa's. "We've got to find Vadaemos. If we can
convince the spawn—"

Kassallandra's gaze hardened to
stone.

"Ugh, fine! If we can convince the
Daemos and Templars to make up, the Templars can concentrate their
full strength on Maximus and the spawn might even pitch in since
you once told me they're big on political stability. Your father
has to come to his senses, though, and let go of his
vendetta."

Elyssa blanched. "That's a tall order,
Justin." She shook her head. "Even if we somehow find Vadaemos and
make him talk, there's no guarantee my father will do
that."

I gripped her hands and drew her
closer. "We'll make him see sense." I let go and paced for a
moment. "Kassallandra said the Templars are harassing Daemos. Is
that true across the board? Are they close to real war?"

"Like I said, in eastern Europe, we've
already had some real battles. In the States, it's mostly been
small skirmishes and political maneuvering." Elyssa twisted her
lips thoughtfully. The Synod asked my father to join them, but he
refused."

"Because he hates politics?"

"He despises them. He wants to fight,
not talk."

"Maybe Kassallandra could help with the
Assads," I said. "After all, she has quite a gentle touch when it
comes to dealing with people."

The redhead folded her arms and gave me
a cross look. "I can be quite diplomatic when the need
arises."

I returned her glare. "Because sending
hellhounds after my dad was very diplomatic."

Her eyes flared. "I was and still am
furious with your father for the dishonor he caused me and my
family. I wanted my hounds to bring him to me as a normal dog would
fetch a twig. I wanted him to feel as low as I felt upon learning
that he'd left me for a human."