“Lately, the Legion has been cracking down hard on dark magic,” I commented.
“It’s the gods,” Nero said. “After recent events, they’ve grown concerned that the demons are looking for a way back to Earth. They believe exterminating dark magic would wipe out all the demons’ followers and therefore their influence on Earth.”
“That’s like killing a fly with a flame thrower. You kill a lot of innocents too,” I protested. “Bella didn’t even know about her origin. And she is the last person on Earth who would ever try to take over the world.”
“That’s the problem with these sorts of policies,” Nero said. “But the gods consider those acceptable losses. They don’t like dark magic. They never have. Every few decades, they push the Legion to conduct a dark magic purge.”
Nero’s father Damiel had been the victim of one of those purges. And he was an archangel, the highest order of angel too. No one was safe. No one was above extermination.
No, we’re really not, Nero spoke in my mind.
Well, they wouldn’t be getting my sister. She wasn’t going to be a casualty of their latest purge. No way, no how.
“We’re here for you,” I told Bella, setting my hand on hers. “No matter what.”
Gin set her hand over mine. “Always.”
“And forever,” Tessa said, adding her hand to the stack.
Calli was the practical one, less romantic than the rest of us. She said to Bella, straight to the point, “I’ll put a bullet in anyone who tries to hurt my girl.” Then she set her hand on top.
“I love you all,” Tearing up, Bella pulled us all into a big family hug.
“You’re going to have to hide your dark magic,” I said to Bella when we all finally stepped back.
“I’m not sure how.” Her voice was uncertain, frightened.
“How is dark magic identified? Through blood tests?” I asked Nero.
The Legion took regular blood samples from its soldiers. They were primarily used for tracking our magical development and for making matches, for marrying angels to other soldiers. But I wouldn’t have been surprised if the Legion was using them to track us in other ways.
“We haven’t figured out how to identify light and dark magic through blood tests,” Nero told me. “Some powerful dark or light spells leave an imprint, though. An echo. Those can be tracked to a location, but they are not so easily linked to a person.”
“That’s what happened at the university,” said Bella. “While studying for my exams, I cast a powerful spell, and since my magic is apparently dark, it was detected.”
“Only use spells that don’t leave an imprint,” Nero said to her. “And if at all possible, do not use your magic around angels or gods. Light and dark magic can sometimes be felt by powerful magic users. It’s just a feeling, very hard to quantify and almost impossible to track. You need to be especially wary of angels.”
“Well, being wary of angels is just good common sense anyway,” I said, smirking.
“Of which you possess none,” he retorted.
I winked at him. “Don’t flirt with me in public, honey. It’s unbecoming of a Legion soldier.”
He froze, the look on his face absolutely priceless. But it was gone almost instantly, and a dangerous, predatory smile slowly curled back his lips. Oh, I was really in for it now. Our next training session was going to be hell on Earth.
I looked at Bella. “What does Harker know about your origin?”
“Everything,” she sighed.
“I’m hurt. How is it your boyfriend knows before we do?” I teased her.
She frowned. “Firstly, Harker is not my boyfriend.”
I nodded. “Which is why you blush every time someone says his name.”
Her cheeks went red.
“Yep, just like that,” I told her.
Bella cleared her throat. “Secondly, there was no way around Harker finding out. He was right there when Valerian put me into some kind of trance. Harker drank my blood to link us together, to see what I saw so he could pull me out of the trance. And he healed me with his blood.”
“You exchanged blood?”
“Yes.”
“There will be consequences of exchanging blood with an angel,” I warned her.
“I am not an angel or a Legion soldier, so there should be no lasting effects. I researched the topic thoroughly afterwards.”
Of course she had. Bella researched everything. It was one of the reasons she was so smart. But books didn’t know everything, and now I had to break the bad news.
“When your books promised no lasting effects, they were referring to mortals or typical supernaturals who’d exchanged blood with an angel,” I said. “But you are neither mortal, nor are you a normal witch. You are the daughter of a dark angel and the granddaughter of a demon. Your well of magic is deep, your potential power enormous. Take, for example, the Legion brats, the children of angels. The laws of magic work somewhat differently in them. You have immortal blood, Bella. This blood exchange will have consequences.”
She mulled that over for a moment. “You have a point.” She didn’t look happy about it.
“You’d better get used to Harker hanging around,” I teased. “He might even show up in your dreams.”
Bella stiffened. “He wouldn’t dare.”
“Of course he would. He’s an angel.”
“Leda is right,” Nero said.
“Three words I always love to hear,” I told him with a grin. No, I hadn’t teased him enough for one day. After all, once you were damned anyway, you might as well have fun and really deserve it.
Gold and silver sparks lit up his eyes. “I’ve heard more humility from angels,” he said seriously.
“I…um…crap!” I hissed. Seriously, nothing came to me. No snappy comebacks, no snark, no sass, nothing.
“I’ll give you some time to work on that,” Nero told me without a shred of sympathy. Then he looked at Bella. “For better or for worse, you and Harker have a connection now. This isn’t something you can just wash away.”
“I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it,” she declared.
She tried to appear strong and logical, but she was obviously concerned about the consequences of the blood exchange. I completely understood. I’d been surprised by the effects of my blood exchange with Nero, but I’d come to appreciate its benefits. If we’d exchanged blood recently, we could track each other easily, even over great distances. And it allowed us to link our magic powers. And, well, our connection made for some pretty awesome sex too.
“Is there a way to mask my dark magic so angels and gods don’t sense it?” Bella asked Nero.
“Yes, but it will take practice.” Nero also possessed a bit of dark magic mixed in with all his light magic. He hid it well.
“Harker can teach you,” Nero told Bella. “He is a very good magic Tracker. If you can hide your magic from him, you can hide it from almost anyone.”
Calli looked at me, concern crinkling her brow. “Do the gods know about your mixed magic?”
She was referring to my balance of light and dark magic, both existing in complete harmony inside of me. According to the gods, such a thing was impossible, not to mention sacrilege. It was a threat to their ‘pure’ magic. I was pretty sure they considered mixed magic even worse than plain old dark magic.
I exchanged glances with Nero. “We think at least one of the gods might know about me,” I told Calli. “And that this god might have been the one to lace my Nectar with Venom once.”
“Your magic has grown too powerful to go undetected,” Nero told me. “Like your sister, you should practice masking your dark magic when any angel or god we don’t trust is around.”
“To be honest, I’m not sure that I trust any of the gods.”
Nero nodded in approval. “Good.”
“Do you think Harker has any time in his busy schedule to train me?” I asked him, an expression of perfect innocence on my face.
“I will train you, Pandora.”
It was just too fun to tease him.
Calli sighed. “My special kids sure don’t make it easy to keep them safe.”
“Hey, how is it hard to keep me safe?” Tessa protested.
“Well, for one, you’re always chasing after paranormal soldiers,” said Calli.