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  Blackbird smiled as he noticed I was staring.

  “Great exercise,” he explained.

  He dropped the rat and let it crawl away a few feet just to catch it again with one quick motion of his hand, and continued his game.

  “For what?” I couldn’t look away.

  “Precision.”

  He moved his finger across the rat’s stomach, leaving a thin line of orange light behind. It reminded me of the fiery symbols in the pool and in the walls in the training room.

  “What did you do just now?” I asked, eager to learn. Hadn’t Maureen said I should ask Blackbird about it someday? Maybe today was that day.

  “This?” He pointed at the line and drew a circle on top of the rat’s heart. “This is the art and beauty of our demonic powers.”

  “What does the line mean?”

  He didn’t look up but continued drawing on the animal which had now fainted and lay limply in his hand.

  “It’s an ancient technique to transfer energy and preserve it.”

  “Preserve it for what?”

  “To have it available on demand. Sometimes one soul isn’t enough to achieve certain goals, sometimes we need more at once.” He glanced at me and grinned. “In this case, it’s purely because I can.”

  “What do you mean, more at once? For what goals?” I voiced my curiosity.

  “Oh, Adam, there are so many things you still don’t know about our world.”

  “Amnesia?” I pointed at my forehead as an explanation. Blackbird nodded but didn’t give any indication if I had known any of those things before my death.

  “Very well, then. We need to collect angelic energy in order to get access to a special place. That’s all I can say for now.”

  I accepted his partial answer when it came to the Why, but I needed to know the How.

  “How exactly does it work, transferring energy?”

  The rat’s belly was pulsating with orange light, giving evidence of Blackbird’s energy in it.

  “You draw from one source and let it flow into another.” The rat fell to the floor with a thud as he lifted both arms and displayed how he would channel the energy, one hand open, the other directed at an imaginary opponent. “We all have those pathways where our soul should be, but as demons don’t have a soul…” he directed his offensive hand toward me, “We can easily channel other creatures’ light. That is, if we don’t devour it. It’s the ultimate art of demonic practice. Maybe one day you’ll master it.” With those words, he dropped his arms and turned his attention back to the rat.

  “There you are,” Maureen entered the room, wearing tight black pants and her usual heels. Her face showed signs of stress as she waved me over.

  Knowing her grumpy mood, I jumped to my feet and rushed toward her.

  “Have fun,” Blackbird called after us as we left the room together.

  “Where to?” I asked cautiously.

  Maureen eyed me from the side and her lips twitched nervously.

  “I’d say we teleport up from the exit and then head into one of the livelier towns around Aurora. We’ll need more than one human. And we don’t want to draw attention.”

  She was right. A feast meant that all six of us would need at least one human. It would take the entire day to get through cities and towns unnoticed and procure souls. As we reached the surface and Maureen teleported us into a town of her choice, we hid behind the dumpsters in a side street.

  “How should we separate any of those from the rest without being seen?” I nodded at the stream of pedestrians on the main street.

  She smiled and patted my arm. “You can’t be seen, Adam, the people of Aurora think you’re dead. But I can.” And she stepped out of our hiding place. “Watch and learn.”

  She walked away in her pumps and velvet coat, black hair cascading down her back, and stopped right at the corner where she started rummaging her pockets for a reason that didn’t yet reveal itself to me. Her face fashioned an expression of devastation.

  It didn’t take long before a young man in a parka stopped.

  “Can I help you, Miss?”

  Maureen looked up as if surprised by his approach and her features smoothed a bit as she noticed the human was quite handsome. He looked a bit baffled as she stared right into his eyes.

  “I don’t know if you can…I think I lost my phone…I had it a minute ago, and now it’s nowhere.”

  The man smiled. A mixture of compassion and excitement rose in his chest. I could feel it coming right from him and I could see how his light went from a dull yellow to bright white.

  “Maybe you dropped it somewhere?” he suggested.

  Maureen tilted her head to the side, hair flowing over her shoulder, and blinked at the guy with a look that made him feel like a hero. “Maybe.”

  She was good at this, highly effective.

  “I can help you look,” he offered, chest swollen with pride and anticipation.

  Maureen pulled her red lips into a curve, the way she had done with me several times. Her seductive smile. The only difference was: the man stood no chance against her attraction, whereas I did.

  “That would be so nice of you,” she cooed. “Thank you.” She pointed toward me and I ducked out of sight, just in case. “I came this direction. It might be laying somewhere down this street.”

  The human didn’t think twice but started walking, eyes on the ground, searching for a phone which didn’t even exist while Maureen stood there, grinning in my direction. “Almost too easy,” she whispered so softly that for everyone else her voice would be swallowed by the sounds of the street. With my demon hearing, I could naturally hear her and chuckled to myself.

  “I don’t see anything down here,” the human turned back toward her, a bit disappointed that he couldn’t help.

  “That’s alright.” Maureen caught up with him easily. Her seductive face was back in place. “Maybe you can help me with something else.”

  “Anything,” the man said, again without thinking.

  “How nice of you.”

  Maureen stopped and so did the guy. They were now standing a few feet away from the dumpster in the alley, out of sight from the main street. She reached out her hand, running it along the zipper of his parka and he almost burst with anticipation. This was the exact same reaction the girl with the boots had shown when I had asked her for directions to a restaurant the other night. It was almost amusing to observe, maybe more than to be the hunter myself.

  “I will need you to come with me,” she said and looked deep into his eyes.

  “Anything you need,” he repeated.

  “Wonderful.” Maureen patted his shoulder and looked at me over her shoulder. “Wait here.”

  She grabbed the human’s arm and they faded out of sight. I stayed right where I was, behind the dumpster, ignoring the smell of rotting pizza and diapers, and did as she’d asked.

  It didn’t take long until she popped up right next to me.

  “That was easy,” she commented with a grin.

  “You’re really good at this,” I praised her.

  “Maybe. Or men are predictable.” She took my hand. “Well, most of them.”

  I didn’t object. It was clear she was referring to my seeming immunity to her charms. But it wasn’t entirely true. Of course, her figure, the way she moved and dressed, all were tempting, however, until now I’d mysteriously been resistant to her attempts.

  “You’re hot, Maureen, you know that.” I nudged her arm, freeing my hand to do so.

  She nodded but it was clear it was bothering her that she couldn’t have her way with me. Had I had the ability to feel emotions such as friendship, I would have considered her a friend, but I was a demon. Demons didn’t feel. At least not something positive such as friendship. Maureen had taught me that herself.

  “Shall we get on with it, then?” She pointed at the street, letting me know that the conversation was over.

  It took all morning to get three more humans to the c
aves. Logistics were the biggest challenge, not finding the humans and luring them away from the herd. We slowly made our way through towns, until we ended up back in Aurora, near the local high school.

  “We’re faster if we split up,” she suggested after a while of standing in the shadows of a small coffee shop.

  It was broad daylight this time and people would notice if we ripped groups of students from the parking lot and made them disappear. We’d need to be cautious.

  “Alright,” I took a glimpse of the wide parking lot in front of me. The students were all inside the building, but it wouldn’t be long until this area would be overflowing with teenagers. “This seems like a good hunting ground. Plenty of young, excited humans. I’ll stay here.”

  She nodded. “I’ll head north and try my luck there.”

  Ever since our little chat in the training-cave, our relationship had changed. She wasn’t trying to seduce me and I didn’t reject her. Things had turned a different direction. We watched out for each other.

  With a brief movement of her hand, she disappeared into the streets, silent like a cat. As I looked after her, I almost expected one of the others to pop up as a supervisor, just in case I went astray. When after a while no one came, I focused on the school grounds again. The line of trees along the parking lot to the left of the coffee shop was still bare and the ground cold, but there were tender, green leaves searching their way through the cold soil here and there. A sign the winter was over. I couldn’t tell exactly how long I had been staying with Volpert’s clan, or how long I had been dead before. All I knew was that time didn’t seem to matter much, now that there was a clear target ahead of me. I would punish the girl-monster for her crimes against Volpert and all demons. I would get revenge in time.

  Nobody noticed me as I ghosted to the trees and blended in. I leaned against one of the thicker tree trunks. The noises in the building became louder and it was less than a minute before movement at the school entrance caught my attention. The first students were trickling into the parking lot, all eager to get away from the educational institution. It was clear in their auras how much they were longing to retreat. As I studied them for a while, an exceptionally bright light caught my attention. It was headed toward an inconspicuous car at the center of the parking lot. Was that…? I blinked to clear my demon vision and looked again. There he was, bright as a star, rushing across the lot, slow like a human. What was an angel doing there?

  He glanced around, his creepy eyes lingering on the trees for a second before he leaned against the car and stared at the school entrance the way I had before. Had he noticed me? Most certainly not. I was a shadow, hidden under my hood, disguised by the trees.

  His face was tense, as if something was upsetting him. For a moment I wished I could read minds. His angelic energy created a layer of light around him, brightening a couple of feet around him. It had a pull on me that was almost impossible to withstand. In an attempt to regain focus—I was there to procure humans, not to confront an angel in a school parking lot in the middle of the day—I turned away. And then I forgot that he was even there as my eyes fell on a slender figure who was heading toward him.

  How was this possible? I had seen those sand-colored strands before, and I had seen that pale face before. And I had stared into those same grayish-blue eyes. Time seemed to slow down even more. Her footsteps, rushed as they may seem for a human, were almost stagnant as I noticed every detail I had seen before. The light illuminated her hair and her features. And there was this sadness I had seen in her face before. Her hands were clutching the strap of her book bag as she made her way through the crowd without looking to the side.

  It was the girl from my visions. Only, she was there, flesh and blood and bones. Whether I should laugh or cry about the irony of finding her right now, when I was procuring humans for Volpert, I yet had to make my mind up.

  A frown appeared on her delicate features as she noticed the angel at her car, like she was displeased with him for some reason. Did she know him?

  As she approached him, I focused hard, making sure I wouldn’t miss any part of the conversation.

  “Hi there.” The angel pushed away from the car, making way for her to step to the door, and reached down to open it for her.

  They must know each other.

  “I thought I didn’t know you when we are at school,” the girl said and answered my question with a fairly confusing statement, while sending my fascination to a whole different level. Her voice. I had heard it before in my mind. This same voice, which now seemed to be chastising the angel, had spoken my name before. And it sounded like a miracle. Something inside of me ignited.

  “I guess, after Amber introduced us, it’s alright if we talk in public,” the angel tore me out of my trance.

  Who were they? Why was she talking to an angel in public? I didn’t even attempt to understand what their conversation was about. I knew I stood no chance without context. Instead, I focused on every tiny movement of her sparkling soul, every frequency in the spectrum of her voice, every change in her face as she looked at the angel as if he had done wrong. I soaked it all up like a sponge, craving not just her light, but to understand who she was and why she was haunting my dreams.

  “Can I ride with you today?” he asked.

  Her blonde eyebrows raised in surprise at his question. She seemed to be struggling to answer and responded with a sound rather than words before she confirmed he could. Then her eyes flickered to the side and she saw something or someone who made her frown again. She waved at whoever—I didn’t dare to look away for fear she would disappear if I let her out of my sight—and then, as she was about to return to scowling at the angel, her eyes stopped at the trees where I was hiding. For a brief moment, it appeared as if she was looking right at me. I urged myself out of my petrification, realizing I had stepped away from the tree trunk and moved closer toward it until I melted into the shadow again. There I froze again, not allowing myself to even blink until the girl averted her gaze and buried her face in her scarf.

  “Are you alright?” the angel asked with a voice so compassionate it hurt my cold, demon heart.

  The girl didn’t scold him this time.

  “Yes,” she nodded and slipped into the car, finally acknowledging his gesture of holding the door for her. “Let’s go.”

  As I was still watching them drive away, the flame in my chest slowly went out, leaving embers behind.

  10

  Rituals

  Maureen didn’t ask why I was so quiet when we met back in the caves, each of us having brought in four humans.

  “That’s the last one?” she asked as I stretched out a middle-aged man on the stone table. He was knocked out. They all were.

  “Correct.”

  I didn’t feel like talking. I didn’t even feel like having a feast. All I wanted was to retire to my room and spend the rest of the day on my cot. The bluish eyes and the bright light under her skin were still there as if they had burned themselves into my mind. I could stare at them for hours, for days.

  In retrospective, I was unhappy about the decision to not follow her. Maybe I would have had a chance to talk to her… No, I wouldn’t. I wasn’t supposed to be seen, by anyone. Or I’d have to kill them. That was the deal. And I wasn’t ready to kill the girl, she was too intriguing to just extinguish her flame.

  “Where are you going?” Maureen stopped me with her hand on my shoulder as I turned to leave.

  “My room.”

  She smiled as if I had just made a good joke.

  “You know Volpert wants us to set up the whole feast.”

  “We brought the humans, what else is there to prepare?”

  Her eyebrows rose as if she was expecting me to figure it out myself.

  “What?” I had other things on my mind. There was no way I would strain my brain to figure out what Volpert wanted.

  “The robes,” she gave me a hint I couldn’t categorize.

  “Robes?” What was s
he talking about?

  “In order to prepare for the execution of the human, we’re going to have a small ritual,” she explained as if that was common knowledge.

  “Ritual?” Now my thoughts did focus on her words. “What does that include?”

  “Just the usual. Sacrifice and…the executioner will be channeled some energy. Not just by feeding, but…”

  The image of Blackbird playing with the rat came back to my mind. “I can imagine, thank you very much,” I stopped her right there. “Where do we find those robes?” I sent the conversation in a different direction.

  She smiled and lifted her chin. “Follow me.”

  We left the humans behind, knowing they would continue sleeping for a little longer.

  Maureen led me down into the areas where the blackness was thickest. I felt safe there. Hidden from human eyes and sometimes it seemed also demon ones. When we were almost at the training room, she turned into an area I had never set foot in before.

  “What’s this?” I asked as I noticed several symbols on the walls. They weren’t like the ones in the pool, fiery and glowing, they were matte lines on polished stone as if they’d been etched into the surface.

  “This area is off limits,” Volpert’s voice joined our conversation before Maureen could answer.

  He stepped out of a doorway beside the symbols, smiling his unreadable smile.

  “Master,” Maureen stepped aside, making way for him.

  “My dear Adam,” he ignored Maureen and laid his arm around my shoulder on his way out, pulling me with him.

  Helpless, as I was being pulled along with Volpert, I glanced back over my shoulder at Maureen, who was eyeing us with a mixture of jealousy and relief.

  “Bring the robes, Maureen,” Volpert ordered without looking at her.

  “Sorry,” I mouthed at her and let him drag me all the way back to the banquet hall.