First And Last

chapter Six



A couple of uneventful nights passed.

I was glad that life seemed to be return to normal. Well, my kind of normal, that is.

What made me even happier was the Council had agreed to send Kyden and I out on an assignment in New York City. “Who knew going to kill a guy would be such a breath of fresh air,” I said to Haven as we descended upon a home that was well away from the busy part of town. Middle class house in the rural part of New York City. The only thing that made it stand out at all was the large backyard. Simple home, but great land.

Haven giggled. “This seems easy now, doesn’t it?”

“I’d say.” Considering what I’d been up against these past couple weeks, this was actually quite refreshing, and it felt wonderful to be back in my element.

Just as we approached the backyard, I could see a man with his back to us, bent down as he examined the ground. As we drew closer, he stood and turned toward us. “Nice to see ya again,” Detective Foley said.

The Weretiger looked exactly as he did the last time I saw him, sometime before Lazarus. Lordy, that seemed like a thousand years ago. Foley’s everything a Weretiger should be—scary. Built to the hilt, with his shaved bald head and grayish blue eyes, he was definitely a force to be reckoned with.

“Likewise,” I replied. He offered his hand. I took it and gave it a firm shake.

After a few more niceties between us, Kyden glanced around, then back to Foley with a curious look. “There is nobody here?”

“Very observant of you.” Foley guffawed.

Kyden snorted something close to annoyance, but before he could put a voice to it, Foley continued. “We were contacted and told if we came to this scene we’d find that a murder happened here.”

Just as Kyden stepped forward to examine the ground, a loud squish came from beneath his foot. “Bloody apples.” He shook his foot to get the sticky mess off, then nudged Haven’s arm. “Time’s a wasting, let’s see what happened here.”

She raised her hands, and in seconds, the scene was before us thanks to her gift from the Earth Element. She can manipulate time to recreate past events. Cool, right?

Once the scene was before us though, my pride about Haven completely vanished as I sighed in total exasperation. “Oh, just f*cking wonderful.”

A Demon, yeah I recognized one, was doing some kind of ritual. He drew a rune on the ground with black ash, and to my horror, used human blood as well. The rune was a simple pentagram, but on each point of the star was a tribal symbol, looked almost like music symbols, but just different and evil.

The man who lay dead in the center had a deep cut in his stomach, and the demon kept dipping his hand into it, then slowly walked around the circle to let the blood drip into the ash.

The worst part was that the human’s face was frozen in a state of deadly shock. Mouth wide open, eyes terrified—complete yuckiness! Like, never get the image out of your head, icky.

After a final drop of blood landed on the ash, the Demon shimmied into a black ghostly nothing and they vanished into a black puff of smoke. All that remained was the pentagram.

The vision froze and we all just stared at each other. I’d never seen anything like this, nor heard of it for that matter.

“This is peculiar,” Kyden finally said.

I laughed. “Peculiar? You’re kidding right?”

“Right alarming, does that suit you better?”

“Yes, much better,” I said aloud, which earned me an odd glance from Foley.

“A demon.” Foley bent down and examined the pentagram on the ground, which still sat before us. “We were contacted by an anonymous source who told us of this incident. Nothing about demonic forces was mentioned. Leads me to wonder who would’ve known about this?”

Yeah, I wondered that myself. I glanced down at the pentagram and noticed an image in the center that appeared to be just a fancy pitchfork, and looked tribal. My gaze snapped back to Foley. “Dark ones, that’s who.”

“What do we do?” Haven asked. “I’ve never seen anything like this before. What the heck was that demon doing?” She pulled back her magic and the rune vanished before our eyes. Apparently, whoever had called it in, had taken the time to clear the ground of the ritual that had been started.

“What do you think?” I asked Kyden. I was at a complete loss. My familiarity with demons was only what I’d seen so far. Runes and such were very much not in my knowledge base.

Kyden sighed. “I’ve never seen anything like this. We need to discuss this with Misa. Of anyone, she should know what this is all about.”

“Just what I want to do,” I sighed. “Take another trip down under.”

* * * *

The moment I stepped foot in the spectacular glass home, a horrible feeling in my gut formed. Misa’s home once belonged to Magnus. Being back here was a big fat reminder of him and quivers shot straight down my spine.

“It’s all right, Álainn.” Kyden leaned down and kissed my lips softly.

It settled the tremors, but I still didn’t like being in the house. It only solidified my need to get on with this.

Three times, I had repeated the story of what we saw, and Misa was having a hard time processing it. She stood, mouth wide open. With an action that looked forced, she clamped it shut, but the bemused expression never left her face.

We all stayed that way for a total of fifty breaths—I counted.

“Soooo…” I finally said. “Are you going to say something?”

Misa’s mouth slowly parted, then to my annoyance, she repeated, “You saw what?”

“Please do not make me repeat it.” I rubbed my temples. For Christ sakes, did I really need to go over this again? The story had run dry and to me it didn’t seem all that bad anymore probably because I’d told it for the umpteenth time.

Kyden chuckled.

Misa gave her head a little shake, I suspected to clear her surprise. “Let me get this straight. A human was in the center of a pentagram. There was a tribal-looking design in the center with other symbols at each point. The demon used the human’s blood along the pentagram, then poof, the human and demon disappeared. Is that right?”

I gave a tired nod. “To put it simply, yes.”

She stood from the couch we sat on and began to pace. Her expression tight, her jaw even clenched a few times.

Oh, this was so not good. Suddenly, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to know what all this was about. If a demon was worried, shit was about to go down. I mean really, what could a demon be worried about?

“What does it mean?” Kyden demanded.

Misa stopped pacing and glanced back to us. “I have no idea. I’ve never in my time heard of a human and demon who just poofed into nothing.”

“You haven’t?” I gasped.

She shook her head, very slow. “It’s not a normal occurrence. We drain life forces, not kill the human entirely. It’s not a normal thing for a demon to do a ritual. Warlocks, yes. Witches, yes. But demons don’t need to.” She spun on her heels and headed for the front door. “Let’s go to Quinney. She is older and may know what this is about.”

Kyden and I quickly jumped up to follow her. I just wanted the hell out of this house. Returning here, with no good memories, was still too new. The moment we stepped out into the night, I inhaled deeply and sent all those memories back to the place I never go to. Hidden deep within.

Kyden took my hand, smiled down to me and a blast of love coursed through me. Ah yes, happy memories, those were the ones to focus on.

As we walked past the houses, it was still hard to accept that it resembled a gated community, but in a large pentagram. Demons glanced out their windows at us and bowed as we walked by. My body shivered. It still gave me the hebejebes at just how normal this all appeared.

The homes however were fantastic. The American dream.

Quinney’s home was no exception, with its white limestone walls, cast-iron gates, limestone arches, massive courtyard and sculptured fountains.

Before we could even reach the door to knock, the door opened. “My Lady. My Lord.” Quinney bowed.

“Hello, Quinney. It’s nice to see you again and you don’t need to do that.” Someday I’d get to stop the repeated instruction, but for now I let it go.

She gave a kind smile and waved us through. “Please do come in.”

Tonight her angled bob hair looked even redder and glossier. She’d either dyed it or opted for a brighter look. Whatever it was—it looked damn good. Not like I’d tell her, it was neither the time, nor appropriate, I thought.

As we entered, Tyde stepped through a doorway just off to the right and gestured for us to enter.

I followed Quinney into the sitting room. The room was elegantly designed with simple black microfiber fabric couches, red walls, and flowers in tall vases everywhere. The scents in the air were inviting and soothing, to say the least. Not really the décor to expect from a demon, but these weren’t just any demons. These were good demons. Insane, but true nonetheless.

Quinney motioned us to the couches, and we sat. She and Tyde, however, stood in front of us. It was awkward. “You can take a seat you know.”

“As you wish, Nexi.” Quinney and Tyde sat opposite us in the loveseat.

Immediately, I took notice of the way they sat close together and angled their legs together. There was a closeness between them that couldn’t be missed. “Are you two a couple?” I asked them.

Quinney smiled. “Yes, Nexi.”

Okay that was just annoying. Now that I told her not to call me My Lady she was just replacing it with Nexi. It still felt ridiculous. “Well that’s nice. How long have you been together?” I wanted to get to know them a little. If we were going to be around them a lot, it only felt right to do so.

“We have been together for well over…” Tyde hesitated. “Ummm…”

Quinney laughed softly and smacked his leg. “Two thousand years.”

“You’re f*cking kidding?” I gasped.

Kyden laughed.

“We are quite old.” Tyde responded.

We sat quiet for a moment. I think they allowed me time to process that. Truthfully, I couldn’t. That’s damn old. Too old. Resigned that the thought was going to continue to shock me, I move on. “So, the reason we are here is because a demon killed a human.”

Quinney did a double take. “What was that you said?”

I sighed deep and threw my hands up in frustration. “It’s like I’m a friggin’ broken record.”

“It is an unusual situation.” Kyden rubbed his thumb over the back of my hand. “This is to be expected.”

He was right and all, but criminy, this was entirely frustrating. I took in a deep breath, an attempt not to smack my head against the wall and gave them the information they needed to help us here. “Yes, you heard me right. A demon was doing some bizarre ritual. You know with black ash and blood thing, then poof, they both disappeared.”

Quinney and Tyde exchanged a curious look. I didn’t miss the implication. “You’ve never heard of this either?”

“Never,” Quinney replied. “You say a demon was doing the ritual? Like an offering?”

“How in the hell should I know.” I shrugged.

“It looked like that,” Kyden offered.

“Hmmm,” Tyde pondered. “Best we look to the Diabolus Somes for an answer.”

“The what of the what?” I burst out.

Amusement flickered through me. Obviously, Kyden was getting a rise out of my stupidity. I shot him the look at that one. The amusement grew.

“It’s our history,” Quinney explained. “After you destroyed Magnus, Misa brought it here. Our status of superiors in the Underworld leaves us the best choice to watch over it—to keep it safe. It could be detrimental to the worlds if someone who wanted power obtained it.”

Well, what in the hell were we waiting for? “All right, well go get the damn thing.”

Tyde was off in a jiffy, back seconds later with a book that definitely looked like it dated back to the beginning of time.

“Good lord, what is that thing made of.” I leaned forward to examine the thick book.

Tyde handed it to Quinney and she ran her hand over the cover. “The cover is ultrathin sheepskin, but the inside is plain old paper.”

She opened the book, and paper wasn’t quite the appropriate word. Maybe once it was paper. Now, it looked like newspaper—all crumply and worn.

I glanced at the writing, annoyed to say the least when I couldn’t read a word of it. “What language is that?” It looked like scribble.

“Latin,” Kyden answered.

My gaze fell to his. I’d actually wondered this long ago, but with all the other shit going on, it just never came up. “Speaking of that, why do you know how to speak Latin?”

“Immortals are old, Álainn. Latin was once the language spoken. Many vampires still to this day use it. You have heard them, have you not?”

I thought back. The memory of the vampires that wanted to off me for killing Lazarus was a memory I chose to lock away in the vault. But they did use a language that night that I hadn’t recognized. “The Vampires at the lodge.”

Kyden nodded. “You see why it would be important.”

“I guess I do, but why haven’t I learned it?”

Laughter came around.

My irritation hit the roof. A bunch of demons, laugh at me? Oh, hell no! “What’s so damn funny?”

“Nexi,” Tyde amused. “Do you honestly think if a vampire saw you he would care to even use words against you?”

Misa snickered. “He’d probably just book it.”

I waved away the compliment. I didn’t like being put in the spotlight, so I quickly moved along. “So, read it. What does it say?”

“A thousand years ago, we took the original Diabolus Somes that was in the Kurdish language and transcribed it into Latin,” Tyde said with a little shrug. “It was easier to read.”

Kurdish, Latin, it was all gibberish to me. Translating it into English would have been the best choice. Of course, why would anything be easy, it never was. My curiosity always did get the better of me. “Where is the other copy then?”

“The humans have it,” Tyde answered. When he saw I needed more than that, he answered my next question. “Since we had this copy, there was never a need to get it back. Besides, they have it bunkered down. It won’t fall into the wrong hands.”

My gaze fell upon Quinney as she began to read. “Darkness is glory—the truth lies before you.” She looked away from the book to meet my gaze. “Quote from Beelzebub.”

“Lovely,” I exhaled.

She gave a soft nod in agreement, then read some more. “I exist in all and subsist in the hidden.” Our gazes met again. “Quote from Satan.”

I exhaled deeply. “Even better.” Spookiness was all around, and my body reciprocated as such and shivers of fear ran through me.

Kyden wrapped an arm around me and pulled me close. “There is nothing to fear here. They cannot hurt you. The ones she speaks of are gone.”

“I know, it’s just spooky.”

Quinney flipped through the book a while, and stopped as she ran a finger down the page. “Ahh…here it is. The rituals.” She glanced back up to Kyden and I. “Do you remember what the rune that was drawn looked like?”

Kyden shook his head without hesitation.

“I remember,” I said.

He arched a brow, looked incredulous. “You remember something you only saw for a moment?”

I shrugged. “Well it was scary and that type of things stays frozen in my mind.” I glanced back at Quinney. “Do you have a pen and paper?”

“Just draw it in the air,” she replied. “I’ll be able to identify it.”

I closed my eyes for a moment, concentrated back to the rune on the ground. After a moment or so, it became clear. I lifted my hand and drew what I had seen. I focused on the pentagram with the tribal thingy in the center. It was a little unsettling how easy it was to draw. It almost seemed natural.

Just as I closed the circle of the rune, a loud gasp snapped my eyes open and I nearly shit myself. The rune was right in front of my face, suspended in the air and glowed bright. It looked identical to what I’d seen on the ground, only mine was pure light—no darkness surrounded it.

I jumped on Kyden’s lap, latched my arms around his neck in a death grip. “F*cking, f*ck, f*ck. What is that?”

Kyden squeezed his arms around me, lifted his head so he could see around my neck. “Good question.”

Quinney stood slowly and approached the rune. “Well, that’s a clear indicator. I didn’t mean for you to actually draw it.”

“Just take it away,” I screamed. “Get it. Get it.”

Tyde jumped up and waved his hand in front of the rune. “I’ve never felt anything like this.” He cocked his head to the side, then his gaze met mine. “It’s not from Black Magic.”

“I don’t care what it’s from,” I screeched. “Just get rid of it.”

“I am quite sorry, Nexi,” Tyde replied, still very much intrigued, “but I cannot.”

Scared out of my wits, I looked at Quinney, then Misa, nearly begged for help. “You two get rid of it.”

Both Misa and Quinney approached the rune that sparked with bright white light. Misa reached out and touched it. It crackled loudly, which sent her screaming back. “Note to others, don’t touch it.” She shook her hand as if electrocuted. “That hurt.”

Quinney glanced away from the rune to me, then pulled me off Kyden’s lap to stand in front of her. “You must diminish it since you were the one who created it. Withdraw the rune quickly.” Her voice was urgent.

“I don’t know what to do.” I kept my eyes fixed on the damn glowy thing, waited for that moment where something drastic would happen and have me screaming bloody murder.

“You need to close it. Finish the ceremony,” Quinney demanded. “Focus on that. Focus on the need you had with the rune being completed, and now you wish for it to leave.”

I needed it gone. That was a must and didn’t question her. Hopefully, she knew what she was doing. Quickly, I closed my eyes and focused inwards.

“I thank you for coming to me, but now I ask you to go. You have served me well.” Seemed like the thing to say.

A loud crash, followed by a huge gush of air made me fall back onto the couch. With the move, my eyes opened to see the rune create a flash of light, then it vanished.

“All right, Álainn?” Kyden said in my mind.

“No,” I shouted aloud. “What the f*ck was that?”

Misa, Tyde and Quinney stared at me with something close to awe, which made me sink deeper into the couch. Not again. Their expressions told me I was not going to like the conversation ahead.

After an incredibly long moment of silence, Misa said, “Sooo…you can draw runes.”

“Yeah, I see that.” Idiot! “But why can I do that?”

“Stumped me.” She glanced at Quinney. “Do you know?”

Quinney shook her head in a quick fluid movement. “Runes are a part of Black Magic.” She pointed at me and gave a knowing look. “You don’t use Black Magic.”

“No. I. Do. Not,” I spoke each word clearly to ensure everyone here understood that I wouldn’t go near such magic.

Kyden interjected. “I wonder if it’s from the bond with Magnus. You may have siphoned some of his ability.”

“Could that be true?” I asked.

“It’s only assumption I can come to. Since you shouldn’t be able to do what you just did, it can be the only cause.”

I lifted my chin in defiance. “Well, I won’t be using it.”

Kyden brushed his hand across my cheek and smiled, very gently. “It didn’t look dark to me. The runes I’ve seen are a mirror image of Black Magic. Yours was bright and white. I don’t believe you have anything to worry about.”

Quinney took her seat, her face an image of wonder. “I have to agree. I’ve never seen a rune that was white. Nor have I seen one that’s drawn in the air like that.”

“Really?” I squeaked.

“Normally, as you know, runes are drawn on the earth in black ash.” She examined me closely for a moment, then picked up the book. “I will need to see if there is anything like this in here.” She paused, then looked up again. “There is no need for the two of you to stay for this, it could take hours. I will keep at it until I have the answers we need, then I will come to you with my findings.”

“Thank you for that, Quinney,” Kyden said, as he stood and pulled me with him. The others followed suit, and accompanied us to the door.

I just wanted to get home and away from all this rune talk. Really, another new ability had shown itself. I was really growing tired of new things in my life. I just wanted old, boring Nexi, who had a few gifts, and that’s about it. It was all becoming really quite tiresome and I could feel the weight of it. Can’t the lesson of discovery be over?

At the door, Misa opened it, and a breath of frustration exhaled from my body as a large crowd of warlocks and witches surrounded the home.

My gaze found Kyden’s. “I’m guessing this isn’t the welcoming committee,” I grumbled.

He arched a brow, the irritation showed equally on his face. “Indeed, I think not.”