Bound by Time (22 page)

I
sobel threw herself into learning everything Rose could teach her. Actually seeing and touching a demon made it more real. The bright red fingerprints and dark bruises she’d seen on her throat the morning after brought it all crashing home. It was all real and the danger was growing with each day.

Learning from Rose was a strange experience. It was more like being reminded of things she already knew. Things she didn’t quite remember until they were shown to her. In all of her lives throughout the centuries she’d known how to use her magic. In this life each thing Rose reminded her of removed more bricks from the walls in her memory.

Rose made the trip up the stairs to work on Xapar’s prison again, though it did little good. Isobel could now see the seal and it was frighteningly fragile. Damien, Lucian, and Isaac had no more contacts to call. No one knew where the vial of blood was.

Isobel resigned herself to this fact though the dark angels hadn’t. There was no vial; it had been lost or destroyed over the years. And that was that. Without it, Xapar couldn’t be pulled from the window. When the seal finally failed altogether he might not be able to roam the world in his own form invading whomever he wished, but he would still have tremendous power and could cause untold harm.

Isobel spent a great deal of time thinking about Rihanna during the next couple of weeks. Weeks where the banishing of lower and mid-level demons seemed to happen at least once a day. The more she embraced and worked with her power the less the panic attacks came. She was thankful for that.

One afternoon, after Rose called for a break, Isobel reclined on the chaise lounge on the deck against Damien’s bare chest. The angels rarely bothered with shirts; they needed their wings too often. She wondered what her parents would think if they walked into the house and saw the three shirtless men living there.

Isobel’s mind wandered to Amelia as her friend’s laughter drifted through the closed French doors. She had Isaac’s laugh. “So angels can have children?”

Damien tensed, and she raised her head to look at him. The muscles of his jaw were tight as he nodded. Isobel raised an eyebrow. “Is that a bad thing?”

“Not a bad thing. Not always.” He tightened his arm around her. “Children come rarely to angels. It isn’t our purpose here. With channels to protect, demons to fight, and dark angels that need to be raised when they’re born into this world there is enough for us to do.”

“But they do happen?” Isobel asked, wondering what bothered him about the idea.

A small smile touched his lips. “Amelia’s mother is proof of that. Rose and Isaac have been
sodales in aeternum
since the time of Cleopatra. In all of those centuries and lives, they have born only two children. The first was born in 95 A.D. Somewhere in the world descendants of their souls still likely exist. Our offspring, however, are not very fertile. Amelia’s mother was in her forties when she finally conceived, and Amelia is her only child.”

“Is her mother a channel?”

Damien shook his head. “It usually skips that first generation. Not always, and when it does happen it’s usually only the girls.”

“What about boys?”

“They grow into normal men. Only the Higher Powers can create a dark angel. On extremely rare occasions a boy becomes a channel like Januarius.”

Isobel thought of all of the lives Rose and Isaac had spent childless. “Does it bother Rose and Isaac when they have no children?”

“Considering the risk to a baby being born to a channel and a dark angel, no.”

Isobel searched through her memories, more of which surfaced each day. Memories where she and Damien grew old together. “Have we ever…” her voice trailed away at the pained look on his face.

“Just once.” He stared up at the trees.

“I don’t remember it yet. How could I forget a baby? Being a mother?”

“You never got the chance to be a mother. Or see the baby.” Damien looked at her, and she saw the pain of loss in his eyes. “It was 1237. You died giving birth, and our son joined you in death within moments of his birth.” His jaw tightened again. “If the midwife had called for me, I could have saved you both. But she didn’t. By the time she did it was too late.”

Vague memories of pain and darkness swept through Isobel’s mind. Damien’s voice was quiet when he said, “It isn’t something I care to go through again.”

Isobel laid her head back down hoping that she didn’t have a child in this life. Damien was right, with everything they faced, it wouldn’t be safe. And there was certainly enough to be worried about right now. Like lower level demons working with Xapar.

It was with great trepidation she waited with Rose two weeks later as a dark shadow slid across the yard and into the house. Over the protest of the dark angels, Rose insisted this lower level was for Isobel to banish. The heavy clouds of an approaching storm blotted out the sun and cast the house into dull, murky light.

Isobel could sense the movement of the shadowy figure through the house. With her power embraced even the tiny fibers of the carpet were visible. Rose looked at her and said quietly, “Time to take those training wheels off, Isobel. Remember, you don’t fight him with your hands, only your power.”

“Are you sure saying the words in English will work?” Isobel shifted nervously as she waited for the demon to prowl into the family room.

Rose patted her hand gently. “The angels use Latin because theirs is a different kind of power. They call upon the Higher Powers to help them, and speak the words to banish the demon through the assistance of the Higher Powers. You are a channel. You don’t need to ask for their help. By bestowing the gift of their power to you they have already granted it. The words can be said in any language to focus the power into what you want it do. It’s the energy behind the words that matters.”

As the demon came closer, Rose withdrew to the far side of the room where Damien, Isaac, Lucian, and Amelia stood in the deep shadows. Damien waited, his wings half unfurled, every muscle tense.

Isobel focused on the evil of the sensation as it slid closer. A small knot of nerves tied itself in her stomach. She wasn’t worried about it hurting her. No matter what happened, Damien would protect her. Adrenaline poured through her system making her feel stronger and more courageous than she really was. Isobel reminded herself that she’d done this before many times. Not in this life, but in others. She wouldn’t fail.

The tall, shadowy figure stepped into the family room. It only took a second for it to realize it was a trap. Before it could flee Isobel raised a circle of golden-white light around it. Unable to escape, it tried to charge her, came against the wall of power, and bounced back. The impact sent ripples along her energy.

Ignoring the shrieks of rage that sounded like nails on a chalkboard, Isobel focused on the floor beneath the creature. A design in the same golden-white light flashed on the floor inside the circle. First a cross, then the Star of David, a pentagram—

The shadowy figure screamed. Isobel held that design and focused the rest of her energy at the demon. When she spoke her voice was surprisingly calm and even. “I banish thee. I banish thee back to the pit from which you came. I banish thee from this plane. I banish thee from the world of the living. I banish thee.”

The volume of the scream rose several decibels as it shrank and shriveled until it was no more. As it disappeared, the memory of every demon she’d ever banished came back. Her power thrummed in her veins bringing with it the knowledge of how to use her power to its fullest extent.

Silence filled the house. Slow clapping made her turn as she backed the power down and released it. Damien walked toward her, love and pride shining in his eyes. A smile of intense relief spread over her face and her hands shook with adrenaline. Damien pulled her into a tight hug and whispered, “You did it. Congratulations,
meae deliciae
.”

Lucian approached with a huge smile on his face. “I knew you could do it.”

“Ha!” Rose poked him with her cane. “You and Damien were the two who argued the strongest against this.”

Thunder rolled over the house as both of them talked over each other listing off reasons why it could have been a terrible idea.

Amelia took hold of Isobel’s trembling hands, her mouth spread in one of her gorgeous smiles. “I told you your gift was coming forward.”

Isobel hugged her friend, thankful she had come with Rose. She watched them all with a twinge of sadness. They felt like family. Her mind wandered to Rihanna, and she knew what she would do when it came time to face Xapar without the vial. Isobel wasn’t sure exactly how to do it, but the way would present itself. It was the only way to protect them all. She prayed quietly to the Higher Powers that they wouldn’t let her courage fail when the time came.

She quietly whispered the words Damien had once spoken to her,
“Eis quos diligo me devovebo.”
I will sacrifice my life.

I
sobel jolted awake as thunder crashed over the house. A strange, soft light filled her bedroom. She rolled over and glanced around. The walls were covered in ghostly writing.
“Sanctum inveni virum”
was written over and over again. Find the saint. She reached for Damien and found his side of the bed empty. “Damien?”

No answer. Sorsha offered a trilling meow. Isobel pushed back the covers as she sat up. The cat hadn’t set foot upstairs since the window was installed. Isobel slid out of the bed. The door was open, but she didn’t see Damien on the landing. Sorsha meowed quietly again from the doorway. Isobel flipped the light switch. Nothing. The power must be out again. Outside the wind surged and howled. Xapar glowered at her from the crimson center of the window in the flashes of lightning, and dark shadows veined around the window.

Sorsha ran a few steps and paused, looking over her shoulder she meowed again.

The walls of the landing were covered with the same message as was the wall leading to the attic stairs. Isobel walked to them and stared up into the darkness. The words covered the attic door as well. The cat raced up the stairs and sat at the top, gazing back down at Isobel, her eyes half closed. She meowed again. Trailing her fingertips over the wall Isobel climbed the stairs, feeling the words in raised relief.

She opened the attic door. The inside was dark except for the box that contained her mother’s diary. Isobel glanced down at the cat. “Are you joining me?”

Sorsha rubbed up against her leg with another meow then dashed down the stairs.

Isobel stared after the cat then shook her head and walked into the attic. It looked like she was on her own. The glowing words were written on every available space on the box. “What am I supposed to find this time?” she whispered to the empty attic. How much energy had Eusebia used to draw her here?

The words remained as Isobel opened the box. The diary glowed with the same otherworldly light. Isobel picked up the book. She’d been through it already; there was no mention of the saint or his blood. The light around the diary flared and the words sprang up on the walls all around her.

“Okay, okay. I get it. I missed something.” In the glow of the words, Isobel opened the diary and thumbed through the entries scanning them. There was nothing new. She examined the diary itself, sliding her fingers over it. On the inside of the back cover she found a slit just big enough for three fingers. Isobel felt inside and found a small piece of folded paper.