Fallen Angel of Mine (7 page)

In a way, I could totally identify with
that anger. I certainly remembered how infuriated I'd been after
Katie spurned my lovesick attentions. Now I had all sorts of women
fawning over me all thanks to incubus pheromones. At least I knew
Elyssa had liked me even when I was still a chubby nerd. My thought
process took a detour back to one of the newer women in my life,
namely, the olive-skinned girl who was also apparently Nightliss,
the cute little black cat.

I'd nearly forgotten the encounter,
what with all the post-traumatic golem stress and prophecy talk.
"Kassallandra, who was the girl you were speaking with in the
forest? Is she a felycan?" It was the only thing Nightliss could
be. Then again, Stacey was a felycan and she'd never had a clue
about Nightliss's true identity.

Kassallandra sniffed. "A felycan? Don't
be silly."

"In case you hadn't noticed, she turned
from a cat into a human."

"You're talking about that dark-haired
girl I saw running away into the woods?" Elyssa said.

I breathed a quiet sigh of relief.
Elyssa hadn't seen the kiss. If she had, a response wouldn't have
been long in coming. Elyssa wasn't one to bottle up her emotions.
"The girl was Nightliss."

"What?" Elyssa said. "Nightliss is a
felycan too?" She shook her head. "That can't be right. Two female
felycans would never live together. That's not their modus
operandi."

"What is she, Kassallandra?" I asked.
"You two seemed pretty chummy and all, not to mention the language
you were speaking sounded pretty funky."

Kassallandra's eyes flickered bright
red and her pupils shrank to pinpoints. "I do not know who she is,
but I think I know what she is."

"Whatever you said made her leave even
though she was scaring your dogs."

"They are hellhounds, Justin, not dogs.
And only one thing I know of can cause them such
distress."

"A giant squirrel?"

A sarcastic smile broke through the
flat line of her lips. "She spoke to me in Cyrinthian."

I remembered how surprised Kassallandra
had looked when Nightliss yelled at her. I also remembered someone
else mentioning this language. "Shelton said sorcerers use
Cyrinthian to write scrolls. He said it's the base language or
something like that." Ever since Shelton had first tried to capture
Dad and me for a bounty, he'd become a useful source for
information on all things magical, if not a friend. I'd been
meaning to learn more about the arcane arts but something always
seemed to come up. Hellhounds were obviously a detriment to my
higher learning.

"It is, although I believe the Arcanes
only use it to look impressive just as others still speak Latin, if
only because they wish to brag about it." She touched a dainty hand
to her chest. "I think it rather pretentious. Scrolls do not
require Cyrinthian to work, as the paper they are written upon is
sealed with the spell and unlocked by the triggering words on the
page. But since very few people speak the language, there's little
danger of someone accidentally casting a scroll by saying the
proper word combinations."

"Is it a dead language like
Latin?"

"Nearly. Daemos must learn the language
as part of schooling. Arcane Academy requires some proficiency in
it as well. But I have never heard anyone with such a grasp on the
language as the girl. It sounded as though it were her native
tongue."

"Did she give you her name?"

"No."

Elyssa spoke. "You said you only know
of one thing that can cause such distress in a hellhound, Anae
Kassallandra."

"You may think me unbalanced for
supposing such a thing, but once I grasped her nature, I was able
to use it against her."

"I already kind of think you're
unbalanced," I said, "even though it's probably not your
fault."

Kassallandra narrowed her eyes. "You
would do well to learn some manners from your beloved,
boy."

"He's a bit rough around the edges, but
adorable once you get to know him," Elyssa said, one corner of her
lips curling into a lopsided smile.

"Does that not describe all men?"
Kassallandra said with a huff. "So very few refined males." Another
sigh followed her pronouncement, as if adding italics to an already
bolded and underlined sentence.

"Ha, ha, fine, make fun of
me all you want." I threw my hands up in exasperation and clamped
my mouth shut before I went on a rant about crazy women. The best
way to
see
crazy
was to tell a woman she's crazy.

Kassallandra walked to the boulder
where the giant hellhound, Malkesh, rested, his yellow eyes
following each move we made. His ears raised and swiveled on
occasion, probably due to some noise even my super-hearing couldn't
pick up.

She rubbed him affectionately on his
great head and said, "I believe your dark-haired girl is, in fact,
an angel."

Elyssa burst into laughter which she
quickly stoppered by jamming her hand over her mouth. "I'm sorry,
Anae Kassallandra, but are you kidding?"

I gave Elyssa a questioning look. "Hey,
remember back in the Grotto? You told me that if demons came from
one plane, it's entirely possible that angels could exist on
another."

"Yes, but—"

"Were you were just saying that to make
me feel better? Or did you mean it?"

Elyssa's face flushed. "You seemed so
depressed."

I turned back to Kassallandra. "Do you
honestly believe the girl is an angel?"

She nodded gravely. "It was just a
feeling I had as I spoke to her."

"Did you ask her outright?"

"No. But I told her she couldn't
directly interfere in our affairs. She is forbidden by ancient
pact."

I frowned. "Ancient pact?"

"Legend has it, their kind and our
distant relatives—"

"You mean full-fledged
demons?"

Her eyes met mine. "That is exactly
what I mean. Those known as demons made a pact that our plane was
off-limits to interference."

I thought back to the demon that had
killed Meghan Andretti's mother. "It just so happens I saw one—a
big green one with a huge shark mouth—kill someone when I was a
kid. Obviously, our dear relatives aren't following that
agreement."

"They can come when summoned."
Kassallandra shrugged. "As I said, the pact is more myth than
reality. We know of no written accord or book of rules we can
consult. In all likelihood, entities of that sort do not stoop to
using pen and paper."

I didn't know what to think. Had I
really been kissed by an adorable angel? Or was I confusing the
biblical or mythical definition of such a being with their true
nature? The classical definition of an incubus or succubus made us
out to be dream invaders who seduced humans. The reality was quite
a bit different. "What were you and the angel talking about? I want
to know everything."

"She told me not to harm
you, that you were very important. I asked her who she was and what
right she had to interfere with my business. She then told me she
was the only one who made it through and would do whatever it took
to keep you safe. It was then I felt the strange energy between us,
like magnets pulling one moment and pushing the next. I just
knew
what she was and
forbade her interference."

"And just like that she gave up?" I
groaned. "Guess I don't have a guardian angel anymore."

"I think she's just another felycan
with the hots for you," Elyssa said scowling.

"Babe, you know I'm yours."

"Yeah, but you have incubus issues."
She sighed.

I laughed. "I think most guys my age
have enough hormones in our blood to give us issues, incubus or
not." I glanced back at Kassallandra. "Can angels turn themselves
into cats?"

The redhead quirked an eyebrow.
"Obviously."

I rubbed my eyes and paced for a
moment. Looked out at the green-hued lake and the gray granite
walls beyond. Vegetation grew through cracks in the rock, clinging
to the chiseled cliffs. A couple of trees had also taken root, the
width of their trunks evidence of how long this place had been
abandoned. "Of all places, why did you bring us here? Couldn't we
have had this discussion at a coffee shop?" I looked at
Kassallandra.

She produced the tiny black arch. "This
artifact was brought back by our lone survivor of the Thunder Rock
slaughter, Pallassiana Assad. She was thrown into the lake by an
explosion and a slab of rock fell and pinned her to the bottom. As
she struggled to free herself, the bed of the lake collapsed
beneath her and she fell into an underwater cavern. She won her way
free and found an air pocket. During her search for a way out, she
discovered a polished circular surface at the bottom of the
cave."

I couldn't help but notice how similar
this story sounded to Underborn's own experience when he escaped
the carnage that fateful day. It only served to reinforce my belief
everything had been carefully staged and planned.

"A circle?" Elyssa said.

"Yes." Kassallandra rubbed her thumb
against the surface of the tiny arch. "One exactly like the
polished circle beneath the Obsidian Arch in the
Grotto."

"My God, so this place really is
another relic."

"It would seem so. Pallassiana examined
the circle and found something in the center." Kassallandra held up
the arch. "This is what she found."

"She told you all this?" I
asked.

"No, I read this in her secret reports
many years later, though they had been warded and sealed by command
of the Paetros."

"In other words," I said, "you broke
into her files."

"Yes. I have long sought answers for
the Thunder Rock massacre. Since I was to serve as a sacrificial
bride to House Slade, it seemed only fair I understand what caused
the rift between our families."

"Doesn't your duty override all else,
Anae Kassallandra?" Elyssa asked.

A wistful smile played about the other
woman's lips. "While I am a firm believer in our customs, I also
believe a strong woman should understand the many underlying facets
of her duty. I also wish to see the true perpetrators of this crime
punished."

I looked at the manmade lake. "You're
saying there's an underwater place here similar to the
Grotto?"

"More like an unfinished construction
site which, if completed, would have been like the Grotto. I've
spent countless hours exploring the underwater areas. Why it was
abandoned, I do not know. This place is situated over the crossing
of several powerful ley line conduits. It appears that these
particular ley lines may differ in quality from those beneath the
Grotto."

"How so?" I asked.

"I don't know. If I had a sorcerer I
could trust, I would bring one here to determine what makes these
different from others." She regarded the tiny arch in the center of
her palm. "Unfortunately, this arch can only bring us to Thunder
Rock or I would have used it to take us elsewhere."

I raised an eyebrow. "That's all it's
good for? Just to bring us to this lousy place?"

"I have never been able to attune it to
another arch or location. I can only assume it was tethered to this
place somehow, but never fully affixed."

Elyssa looked at the cliff walls in
alarm. "How are we supposed to get out of here? Isn't there a
magically protected perimeter surrounding this place?"

"The underground cavern has an exit
which is not too difficult a swim."

I groaned. "We have to go in the
water?"

Kassallandra nodded. "With the golems
and police closing in, I felt this place was our only chance for
escape." She glanced at the pink-tinged sky. "It will be dark soon.
There are things which lurk here in the night and I do not wish to
be present when they come out."

"What sort of things?"

She shuddered. "Who knows what they
are? Remnants of the massacre? Dark spawn trapped in this realm? I
do not wish to find out."

I clapped my hands and rubbed them
together. "Well, might as well get this over with." I bent down and
touched a hand to the water. It was so cold my nipples hardened at
the thought of jumping in. We might be having a mild winter, but
the water didn't care.

"How deep is the lake?" Elyssa
asked.

"Forty feet to the hole, and another
twenty feet to the first air pocket," Kassallandra said. "An easy
swim for those with our strength, though I suggest you grab a hefty
rock and use it to assist in your descent."

My hands trembled at the thought of
those dark murky depths. "Just great." I paced back and forth. "Any
chance there are leftover creepy crawlers or anything nasty down
there?"

Kassallandra shook her head. "No. I've
been in this lake many times during daylight hours and have seen
only fish and vegetation."