Demon Evolution (23 page)

Not realizing his lips were even moving, he
replied, “Of course, sir. I mean, my lord.”

Dionysus stepped across the threshold and
admired the room. “Ahh, beautiful in its simplicity,” he remarked.
“This is a good room. It has a similar look to my room, only mine
is a lot bigger,” he joked.

David smiled. “I should hope so, my
lord.”

Dionysus mirrored the boy’s smile for a
moment and then his face became serious. “I was very glad when I
heard that Lucas had selected you as his apprentice.” His words
were very careful, as he enunciated each and every syllable of
se-lec-ted
. Of course, he was lying, having forced Lucas to
take on the boy. It was all part of the mission.

“You…you were?”

“Yes, very. Did Lucas tell you that he’s my
apprentice?”

“No.”

“Well he is. And I guess that makes you my
grand-apprentice. I only stopped by to tell you that and to welcome
you. Feel free to come to me anytime you would like to talk.”

“Wow, thanks, my lord. I will.” Dionysus
could tell that David felt honored, special, to have been visited
by the Head of the Archangel Council.

Without another word, Dionysus turned on his
heel and walked rigidly from the room, leaving David to his own
thoughts.

C
lifford had left
immediately after Gabriel. It was the middle of the night and
Taylor felt exhausted. She lay down to try to sleep, cursing
Gabriel’s name under her breath over and over again. Eventually she
drifted off. When she awoke, she felt around the bed—Gabriel’s bed.
His bed was empty, except for her. It was still early; something
had awakened her. What was it? As she fluffed her pillow, she
mulled over this thought.
Something
. Maybe it was a dream,
but she couldn’t remember now. The room seemed lighter than usual.
Located deep within the heart of the mountain, she enjoyed being
able to sleep in complete darkness, but now she found herself able
to see. The pillow, the bed, she could even make out the brass
handle on the door. What was different?

Looking around the room for the source of the
light, she suddenly realized that she was warm, very warm, hot
even. She thrust off the covers and nearly screamed at what she
saw: her entire body was glowing. It was a subtle glow, but was
bright enough to cast a dim lightness on the entire room. She
looked…well, she looked like Gabriel.

She had glowed three times previously and all
under similar circumstances: when an angel was connecting with her
unusually strong aura. As Gabriel had explained it:

“
We, as angels, refer to it as your aura.
Each human has an aura and, as far as we know, it has always been
that way. Your aura is a light that comes from within you. In
humans, that light is generally very dim, as opposed to angels, who
have extremely bright auras. Because there is such a contrast, we
refer to humans as having an ‘aura’ and angels as having an ‘inner
light’. Your aura is much stronger than all other humans.

Because angels have the ability to harness
the power of light, we are also able to harness the aura of humans.
With most humans, however, that aura is so small that the
incremental power gained from them is of no real use to us. Even if
we were to try to harness the power of a hundred humans, or a
thousand, for some reason the power gained is not cumulative. In
other words, we can only use the power of the strongest aura
amongst the group.”

The strongest aura
, she thought. Her
aura was the strongest, but still, her body had never glowed unless
an angel was connecting with her aura. Twice it had been Gabriel
and as her body glowed, a wonderful sensation had flooded through
her body. Like sunshine on her skin, like a cool breeze through her
hair, even like sex in a way, the experience was life-changing. The
other time it had been two complete strangers, angel warriors that
had used her and abused her. And almost killed her.

Now, as the glow had apparently returned on
its own, the sunny-day-cool-breeze-sex feeling returned slowly,
creeping from her toes, to her legs, through her stomach, and
finally into her head. She smiled in delight.
Ahhh.

As quickly and unexpectedly as it had come,
it was gone. No warm feeling, no glowing. The room was pitch black.
Weird
, she thought. Very weird.

“W
ell, we have to do
something!” Chris yelled. He was getting angrier by the second, and
was starting to surprise even himself at how reckless he was being
with the head of the Eldership of the demons.

Even the usually calm and collected
Clifford’s blood pressure was up, his face darkening from deep red
to dark purple. “And what do you propose we do, Christopher!?” he
roared.

Chris took a deep breath. “Look, I’m sorry,
but he’s our friend. We can’t just hang him out to dry. What he’s
doing is suicide.”

“You think I don’t know that?”

When Chris found out about the Knights’
abduction and Gabriel’s decision to try to save them on his own, he
called a private meeting with Clifford to voice his concerns. So
far, he was getting nowhere.

“I’m going after him,” Chris announced
stubbornly.

“You will not!” Clifford growled.

“We’ll see,” Chris said. He rose from his
chair and stomped angrily from the room.

Clifford shook his head in frustration.
Losing Gabriel would be a major loss, indeed, but losing Chris at
the same time would be devastating. They were both born leaders and
were exactly who the demons needed to end the War. But he couldn’t
stop him from leaving, if that’s what he wanted to do. He was no
dictator.

G
abriel felt the
warmth of the sunshine on his face, as a light breeze ruffled his
hair. It was one of those perfect days—not too hot, not too cold,
just right. But he could not enjoy it. In fact, he hated it. The
weather should be miserable—cloudy and rainy—to reflect how he was
feeling. He felt like he had been punched in the gut. His emotions
were torn in more directions than he could fathom.

On one hand he had Taylor, the love of his
life, to think about. If he got himself killed she would be
devastated. Leaving her was too hard, too painful. On the other
hand, his family was depending on him. They would undoubtedly be
murdered in cold blood if he didn’t do whatever was asked of him.
Any attempt to rescue them would result in their deaths. And then
there was the third hand, his responsibility to fulfill his
destiny, which he couldn’t even start to grasp yet. He didn’t know
whether he was the chosen one that Clifford talked about, but he
did feel responsible to tell the angels the truth—the truth about
The Plan, the truth about Dionysus, the truth about what their sons
and daughters were fighting for. If he tried to save his parents
and got himself killed in the process, he would be letting a lot of
people down.

He had been sitting on the top of a mountain
for hours trying to get his head around these three hands, and
which one was the most important. Taylor was certainly important to
him personally, but in the scheme of things their love alone
wouldn’t save the millions of humans that were unknowingly counting
on him. His family was clearly important to him as well, but again,
saving their lives might be selfish, in a way. He cared not for his
own life, if it was lost in an honorable cause. No matter which way
he spun things, upside down, inside out, backwards, or frontwards,
the conclusion remained unchanged: His number one priority needed
to be defeating Dionysus. Even if that meant making sacrifices that
he was completely and utterly unprepared to make.

At least that’s what his head told him. But
his heart was on a completely different page and continued to urge
him to try to save his family, and if by some miracle he survived,
go back to be with Taylor again.
If by some miracle.
A
miracle, that’s what it would take. Or destiny, maybe. If destiny,
fate, the will of the gods, or just plain dumb luck intervened,
perhaps he would see Taylor again.

So here he was, stuck between head and heart,
as so many others had been before him, on the literal and
figurative precipice of his life. Waiting, waiting. Waiting for
what? For a damn phone to ring. For a call from a voice that he
wished he would never hear again. From a person who he wished were
dead.

The phone rang and his heart skipped a
beat.

“Yes?” he answered.

The familiar voice said, “Sundown. Warrior’s
Plateau. Come alone. Your life for theirs.”

“Sounds like the Wild, Wild West, but I’ll be
there.”

“One more thing, the deal only includes those
who want to be exchanged.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

“David has decided to remain…with us.” The
voice was cold, yet jubilant.

“Screw you, he’s coming, too, or there’s no
deal.”

“Then they will all die together.”

Now was not the time to make demands. He knew
that. He would have to find a way to get David out later. “Fine,”
he agreed. The line went dead.

Gabriel dialed the number he had memorized.
Chris picked up on the first ring. “Hello?”

“It’s Gabriel.”

“I heard what happened. Where are you?”

“Don’t worry about that. I’m calling because
I promised Clifford I would keep you informed of my progress. I
just received a call from the snake himself. I am meeting him on
the Warrior’s Plateau at sunset to exchange my life for my parents
and Peter.”

“What about David?”

“He’s not coming,” Gabriel replied
flatly.

“I’m going to help you,” Chris said.

“No. You’re not. This is merely a courtesy
call. No one can come with me or they will kill them all.”

“This is suicide, Gabriel.”

“I know, but it’s the way it has to be.”

“Who will lead the other angels?”

“Sampson will. He has purer blood than me
anyway. I gotta go, tell Taylor I love her and don’t try to help
me.”

“I’ll tell her. You’ve been a good friend,
man. Good luck.”

“Thanks,” Gabriel said, and then ended the
call, afraid his emotions would betray him. He had about five hours
to prepare himself mentally for the challenge to come.

A
fter the excitement
of the mission, Sampson and Kiren had found a quiet spot to relax.
Despite his concerns about whether Mr. Kingston was the primary
target of the angels’ attack, Sampson needed a break from
conspiracies, strategizing, and war in general. Kiren was easy to
talk to, down to earth, for a demon. He didn’t feel like he needed
to play games with her or show off. He could just be himself. He
liked that.

Nestled in a small, deserted cave that he had
discovered while exploring the Lair, Sampson put his arm around
Kiren and rested his head on one of the pillows they had brought.
She tucked her body against his, leaning her head on the crook
between his shoulder, arm, and chest. She sighed in
contentment.

“Tell me about when you were little,” Sampson
said.

“Okay. My mom is human and my dad is demon. I
am the middle child—my sister is six years older than me and my
brother three years younger. My sister, Lira, never wanted to play
with me because I was too little. I didn’t fit in well at school,
so most of the time I ended up playing with my younger brother and
his friends. I got along better with boys, so I didn’t mind.”

“A tomboy, huh? Now that’s a shock,” Sampson
joked.

“Yeah, I could always run just as fast, climb
as high, and fight as strong as any of the boys. My sister was
different. She played with dolls, used makeup, and liked shopping;
she still does.