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  I froze. “Is this…”

  “An angel,” Blackbird answered before I could finish my question. “Are you scared?”

  I didn’t speak, too captivated by the sight of the creature.

  “You should be,” he smirked and flexed his hands, looking down as if he was staring at a piece of dirt. “He might look harmless, but he is dangerous. The moment he wakes up, he will start looking for a way to kill us.”

  I took a step back, cautioned by his words.

  “Don’t worry,” Jin stepped forward, kicking one wing aside with his foot. “He’s in shackles.”

  My eyes fell on the iron shells around his wrists. They didn’t look as if they could even hold back a human. “Are they strong enough?” I wondered aloud and earned a laugh from both the demons.

  “They are impregnated with demonic power,” Blackbird explained. “It’s not the metal holding him, it’s the darkness it contains.”

  I wasn’t sure if I should pity the creature or gloat at him when it suddenly stirred on the ground. With a roar of ferociousness, it jumped up and charged at us. It happened so fast, I couldn’t lift my arm to defend myself.

  “Got him,” Blackbird pushed me aside and raised his hand at the angel. He held the strings in his hand within a fraction of a second and twitched his finger just a little bit. The creature screeched in pain as he started pulling on its soul, and sank back to its knees.

  “Back where you belong,” Blackbird commanded, watching the angel crawl away from him, but he had nowhere to go.

  I just stood there, petrified by the sudden attack and relieved that Blackbird had intervened. And there were other things I perceived, pain and fear, and a cruel satisfaction. They seemed to be in the room, just floating there. It was pretty clear, though, where the pain had its source. It was what the angel must be feeling—and it deserved it.

  “Who is your mark?” Blackbird asked with a polite tone, as if he was talking to Nora or Volpert.

  And again I was confused. What was a mark?

  “I never marked anyone,” the angel said with a fierce tone and grinned at us darkly, eyes glowing deep-blue as he looked up from under his brown curls. Was he mocking us?

  “For some reason, I find it hard to believe you.” Blackbird moved his finger up a little more and the angel buckled under the force of the pain, light slowly streaming into Blackbird’s hand and up his arm. I hardly saw the angel’s agonized face, that’s how brightly his soul was shining.

  “Who is it?” Blackbird’s tone was cold and controlled. Despite the fact that I didn’t understand what he was talking about, I had to admire him. The way he kept resisting the urge to drain the angel was impressive. After looking at the light for a while, I wanted to bathe in it, cloak myself in it. I wanted to become it.

  “No mark,” the angel repeated with gritted teeth.

  Blackbird snorted. “Then you won’t mind if I kill you, because nobody will go insane over the loss of you…”

  Jin stepped closer to my side. “The creature is a half-angel,” he commented as if he was narrating a sports event, “Half-angels need to be catalyzed. Normally another human is involved.”

  Trying to ignore the draw of the bright star under the creature’s wings, I focused on Jin’s voice.

  “They aren’t born with wings. Their wings need to be triggered, and when that happens, part of their soul is transferred into the catalyst,” he continued. “If either of them dies, the other one goes insane with pain from the loss. The fear of that alone is our most powerful weapon when we need to get answers.”

  His words made perfect sense, and as if to prove they were true, the angel started pleading.

  “Whatever you do, don’t hurt her. She has nothing to do with this…”

  Blackbird tightened his grip more, making the angel choke mid-sentence.

  “Too bad for you, we already have her,” he informed the angel. “She’s in these caves, not far away from you. If you listen carefully, you might hear her scream.”

  The girl I’d tested my powers on?

  Jin nodded at my moment of comprehension.

  The angel gasped and tore at the chains, trying to free himself. “You are pure evil,” he shouted, eyes fierce and glowing intensely as if he was trying to burn Blackbird with his gaze.

  “I’ll take that as a compliment.” He smirked at the creature.

  “In the end, we’ll win. We’ll destroy you the way we should have long ago.”

  “They always think they are right,” Blackbird commented, filling me in. “Like they are better than us.”

  Revulsion crept up in my throat and I held back a growl as the angel looked at us with his eerie eyes.

  “That’s because we are,” he spat.

  I forced my anger back down into the depths of my nonexistent soul.

  “We’ll make it quick. Don’t worry,” Blackbird said to the angel in a tone I couldn’t understand. It sounded almost as if he felt sorry for the creature, but then, it was clear he didn’t. And all the time he kept talking, the angel's light slowly trickled into his hand. “Neither of you will live long enough to have the pleasure of insanity.” With a flick of his hand, he pulled a vast amount of light, letting the angel slump face-first to the ground.

  “He’s all yours,” he said as he lowered his hand and stepped away. “Enjoy your first angelic meal. You deserve it.”

  Even in the much-reduced version, the angel’s soul was brighter than any human one I’d seen. It was like a remedy to finally allow myself to draw upon it. As I placed my palm on the angel’s back, between his wings, it was as if I’d opened a dam and the energy washed into me. There were flavors in this soul, making the human souls I’d tasted before seem bland. A variety of spices, emotions I couldn’t name but which seemed to be something worth suffering, or even dying for. There was no limit to the rush it gave me, the satisfaction. For a brief moment, I was more. More than the memory-less demon.

  Blackbird chuckled as I let my hand glide across the white feathers, taking it off the angel’s back.

  “I keep forgetting this is all a first for you.” He patted my shoulder. “Let’s go put the girl out of her misery.”

  The rest of the day passed like in a trance. The angel’s light was so much stronger than the human ones that the high didn’t vanish for a long time. Not even when I laid back on my cot and folded my arms behind my head. My map of right and wrong was growing as I thought back on everything that had happened. Blackbird had saved me from the creature. Punishing the creature was right. It deserved to suffer. Angels were our enemy. And the residual energy I had received from the angel was worth the little struggle.

  When my eyelids started drooping, I didn’t fight it. The light was still lingering within me, and it was resonating inside my chest, making me drowsy.

  The blackness of my dream at first didn’t frighten me. It was the same dark haze that I encountered down here, in the caves, on a daily basis. But the thinning grayness that followed worried me. It brought up a sense of unease, like I could expect a trap around the corner any second. Just there weren’t any corners. I searched my way through the wafts of mist, searching for shades to melt into when I saw a slender shape walking in front of me. Light was breaking through her skin, making her sand-colored hair glisten.

  Drawn by the bright soul, I sped up, following her closely until she came to a halt. Her head turned to the side, looking back over her shoulder. Bluish eyes set into a pale face, and that light of a human soul brightening her features. I took another step, intrigued.

  “Adam,” she whispered, looking through me.

  I froze. She knew my name.

  There was sadness in her eyes and I could feel that sadness as I looked at her.

  “Who are you?” I took another step toward her, but she didn’t react. She didn’t even seem to see me. After a second or two, she turned around and continued walking until she was swallowed by the haze.

  6

  The Enemy

>   The girl’s face stuck with me the entire next day. Even after the effect of the angel-soul had worn off. It was hard to focus on anything but that face. She was familiar somehow, and yet I knew nothing about the girl. None of my memories had returned. I was still the blank piece of paper. More or less at least. The map of right and wrong was getting more distinct, and the girl in the dream added an extra layer of confusion to my already difficult situation.

  Assisting Blackbird with interrogating angels, or humans that carried an angel’s mark, didn’t provide much of a distraction. I didn’t do much more than incapacitate them. After the third, it cost me less than a subconscious flick of my fingers to put them in or out of the soul-harness. The others didn’t tell me where all the individuals came from and I didn’t ask, but it wasn’t likely they were all from Aurora. They spoke different languages and were of different ethnicities. None of them was the girl from the dream, and so my mind circled around her instead of dwelling on something I had no influence on. When Blackbird was done with them, he let me feed on the residual energy again, and it was a feast, like the first time.

  “You are settling in,” Maureen noticed as she walked me back to my room, a ritual it seemed.

  “You are all very understanding of my situation.”

  She eyed me from the side, mouth twitching. Was she smiling?

  “It’s good to have you back,” she said as she stopped in the door. “I didn’t expect to get another chance with you.”

  What was she talking about? I stopped on the threshold, trying to read her face. Something was streaming from her toward me. An emotion of admiration, of desire.

  While I was still wondering, she leaned in. “You and I,” she whispered and ran her fingers over my cheek, “we are the perfect combination.”

  I shivered as she lingered on my lips. A primal instinct awakened inside of me and I pushed her against the wall. The sound of her back against the cold stone was like music in my ears and her accelerated breath was hot on my throat.

  As Maureen slid into my room, pulling me with her, a pair of grayish-blue eyes stared at me from inside my mind. I froze.

  “What’s wrong?” Maureen grazed on my earlobe.

  The heat was gone. Mine at least. Maureen still seemed to steam in front of me.

  “Nothing,” I took a step back and freed myself from her hands. “It’s been a long day.”

  Disappointment was there in Maureen’s face, but I didn’t have much attention for her questioning gaze or her attempt to pull me back toward her. The eyes in my mind seemed to be calling me.

  As Maureen’s steps echoed away into the tunnels after a minute, I flung myself on the cot and focused on those eyes.

  “Who are you?” I thought in my mind.

  There was no answer. Not that I had expected one, but it was worth a try. The eyes kept staring, sadness more pronounced than before. The emotion was new to me. I couldn’t remember having been sad, but I recognized it for what it was.

  She kept staring at me until I drifted off into a restless sleep. Once more I followed her in the haze until she disappeared. She didn’t call my name this time. Someone else did.

  “Adam!” Nora penetrated my sleep.

  I jerked upright.

  “Good morning,” she laughed at my dumb expression. “Get up. Volpert wants to see you.”

  With a groan, I let myself drop back onto the pillow. “Can I have a minute?”

  “Come on,” she pulled me upright again. “If Volpert calls, you don’t make him wait. Understood?”

  I nodded and forced my tired body to my feet. Nora smiled with approval.

  “Thanks for looking out for me.”

  “Anytime.”

  There was a grin I didn’t understand. Somehow irony had found its way into the curl of her lips. However I was able to recognize that, I couldn’t tell.

  We teleported to the throne room and found Volpert sitting by the fireplace. He was alone.

  “Leave us,” he dismissed Nora with a wave of his hand before he looked up at me. “Come here, son. Sit with me.”

  I did as he asked, Nora’s words at the back of my mind.

  “How can I help?” I assumed he had another task for me. After two days of interrogations with Blackbird, it seemed the others had started to trust me.

  “Funny you should ask,” he smiled, ponytail dangling to the side as he tilted his head. “Indeed, I have something I could use your assistance with.”

  He waited for me to sit before he straightened up and his features turned dark.

  “It has come to my attention, that a certain enemy has arisen in this area.”

  “Another angel? A stronger one?” I wondered aloud, fearing and lusting to face one of them again. Dangerous as they may be, I had a difficult time enduring the period until I would devour one of their souls again. Nothing compared to the rush I experienced after feeding on them—even if so far it had only been the residues of their lights.

  “Worse,” Volpert raised his hand at my curious face, stopping my questions before they could hatch. “Much, much worse.”

  How much worse could it be? The look on his face scared me. If a demon, powerful as Volpert, feared that creature…

  “There is a certain human female out there,” he said with horror, “She has harmed this clan once, and she will again. She needs to be taken care of.”

  There was no doubt he was serious about this.

  “Adam, this family is in danger. As long as she is out there, no one is safe.”

  “Who is she?”

  “She is the one responsible for so much pain…” His eyes grew distant for a moment, as if he was traveling back in time.

  “Tell me what I can do,” I reacted as his face turned into a mask of helplessness. “I’ll do anything to help.”

  “Oh, Adam,” he patted my arm, leaning forward. “What a good demon you are.”

  His praise made me feel as if I’d already helped.

  “There is hardly anything anyone can do,” he looked down with a dramatic drop of his head.

  “There must be something.” He had summoned me here to ask for help, hadn’t he?

  “I don’t know if you’re ready, son,” he shook his head, letting me pull the information from him.

  “You trained me, I’ve helped Blackbird. I can do it, whatever it is.” A side of me came to life I hadn’t known existed. It wasn’t just about pleasing my savior. I wanted to protect Volpert and all of us.

  “If you insist,” he gave in. “There is one way to make sure we all are safe.” His head snapped up in a sudden motion, eyes cold as ice. “Revenge,” he whispered, “She needs to die.”

  I waited for instructions, but nothing came. Volpert had fallen silent, eyes back on the flames, and fingers playing with the pendant on his necklace.

  “When can I go back to the surface?” If I was about to hunt that human monster, I’d have to face daylight, I assumed.

  “When you’re ready,” Volpert said, without taking his eyes off the orange light. Then he clapped his hands. “Maureen!” he called, and she appeared in the doorway. “Help Adam relax, will you?” he asked with a sweet, unbothered voice, as if he’d never spoken about our enemy. “He’s getting bored, I believe.”

  His lips twitched into a smile as he waved his hand, indicating I should leave.

  Something had changed, from one day to the other. Despite his friendly words, he wasn’t as welcoming as he’d been the first hours of my stay in his caves. He had taken on the behavior of a master. It was clear he was the leader, and the others did obey him. I’d seen the respect in Blackbird’s demeanor, the jumpy steps Maureen was taking around him, Nora’s fear of disappointing him…

  “Come on.” She directed me past the dimly-lit vaults behind the throne room, leading the way in her satin pumps and tight black pants which made her legs appear endless. I enjoyed the view as I followed her uphill along the sleek stone walls.

  “What does he mean, ‘bored’?” I as
ked, feeling not at all bored with my eyes on her backside.

  Maureen glanced over her shoulder and tossed her hair aside, grinning widely as she noticed my stare.

  “Exactly that,” she commented and stepped into a room I’d never seen before. “When’s the last time you’ve been with a woman?”

  “What?”

  She sat down on a bed much more comfortable-looking than my cot, silky covers on top, shimmering purple in the light of the candles on the white rock which she seemed to use as a bedside table.

  “Of course you can’t remember…”

  Slowly, she pulled off her jacket and shoved one of the sleeves of her top over her shoulder, exposing ivory skin. I swallowed.

  As I realized where she was headed, my body reacted with a hunger similar to what I felt when I was lusting for the light of angels. Maureen’s amused expression let me guess she knew exactly what she was triggering in me right now.

  “Relax, Adam,” she summoned me with her finger and waited until I stood in front of her. “It’s just a little distraction.” She chuckled as she slid her hand under my shirt and felt my stomach. “Days can be dark and endless down here.”

  Her fingertips were smooth and cool on my skin as they painted lines along the structure of my muscles. I smiled, amused by her words and full of anticipation of what was coming.

  It was the strangest sensation, some emotion washing over me, coming from Maureen. Desire of my body wasn’t the only thing on her mind—I would say on her heart or on her soul, but she didn’t have either. There was desire for something far beyond it. An intangible part of myself. I took a step back, trying to read her as she looked at me from under those black lashes, eyes sparkling with expectation. Just for what?

  “What’s wrong?” She got to her feet, stabilizing herself against my arm, and wound her fingers around it.