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  “Here is what I’d like you to do, Adam,” Volpert said as he laid his hand on the doorknob. “Go inside, incapacitate her. Don’t feed on her, do you understand? We’re going to bring her back to the caves.”

  I did understand. Only, my hunger had gotten strong and my motivation to keep holding back had faded.

  With a smirk, he pushed the door open. The woman didn’t look up, too absorbed in her little tune and her spreadsheet to notice how I was sneaking into the room, noiseless like a shadow.

  “Hello there,” I addressed her when I was standing there, right behind her.

  She jerked around, brown eyes widening with shock as she saw me standing within arms’ reach.

  “Who are you?” she asked, pulling off her headphones. The music kept tootling in the background, louder than before, now that it wasn’t dampened by her head.

  There was no need for me to introduce myself. She wouldn’t live long enough to get to benefit from knowing my name anyway.

  “What do you want?” she tried again.

  For a moment, I simply stood there, looking down at her frightened face. The fear streaming at me was exhilarating, enhancing the perception of her light and multiplying the self-control needed so I wouldn’t drain her then and there.

  Volpert’s eyes on my back were keeping me in check. I couldn’t disappoint him, not now that I had gained his trust and he had finally taken me to the surface.

  “Just your soul,” I said with a smile, enjoying the moment of power.

  The woman gasped. “You’re the devil,” she assumed, making my grin widen.

  “Not the devil.” It was Volpert who answered for me. “But so much worse.” And with a nod of his head, “Incapacitate her.”

  With one twitch of my finger, the human screamed and fainted in her chair, taking away all the fun.

  “Well done,” Volpert clapped his hands and came closer.

  “You know, I could have just grabbed her arm and teleported her back.” A struggling human had so much higher energy levels.

  “I know.” He patted my arm before he brushed a bit of dust off his black coat. “I never doubted your physical strength, but now I know you have the mental strength to follow my orders, no matter how tasty the temptation.”

  He had been testing me. For a second, I wasn’t sure if I should be upset or honored.

  “Let’s get back.” He grabbed the woman’s arm and my shoulder and we faded out of the room and back into the darkness of our hideout under the city.

  When we hit the ground in the banquet hall, Maureen was there, expecting us with an unreadable face.

  “You brought a snack?” she asked, not really looking at the human as Volpert dropped her on the stone table.

  “Adam hunted his first meal.”

  Maureen dismissed his words with a nervous twitch of her lips.

  “What’s wrong, dear?” Volpert asked, though it sounded more like a demand than a polite question.

  “Her guardian angel reappeared,” she said, and Volpert understood without any further explanation.

  “Get the others ready,” he ordered before he turned back to me with a grave face. “I am unspeakably sorry, I have to leave you to your meal by yourself.

  “It’s the human, right?” I asked as he started walking away. “The one we need to take down.”

  Volpert stopped and nodded.

  “Can I do anything to help?” Despite the mouthwatering light in front of me, the thrill of hunting down an enemy seemed even more exciting to me.

  “Thank you, Adam,” Volpert dismissed my offer. “Not this time.”

  Without another word, he left the room with Maureen and I was alone with my meal. The human's light was pulsating gently with her heartbeat, tinting the cold, stone walls into a more welcoming color. The color of life-energy. It was a calm tone. Not the exciting one from when she had been alarmed. I wanted that one back.

  With a pinch of my fingers, I woke her up, expecting to see the soul flash back into the hot energy from before.

  The woman jerked upright, fear in her eyes and thick in the air between us.

  “Who are you?” she repeated, “Where am I?”

  I enjoyed her emotion for a minute, letting her shake in angst on the stone table before I stepped closer and pressed my palm on her chest.

  “The question is not who I am, it’s who you are,” I said as I started drawing her energy, “and you’re my dinner.”

  The comprehension in her features as she realized there was no way she would escape this was beautiful. It reflected in her soul, the urge for survival peaking, and I couldn’t wait another second. With a quick pull on her soul, I devoured it, letting her light wash into me until she dropped back onto the stone, lifeless and dark as the room around her.

  Glutted with light, I ghosted back toward my room. There was no sound, except for the small stream of water running through the room with the pool. As if the water was calling me, I diverged from my path and followed its gurgling voice.

  Steam greeted me as I entered, the orange light of the symbols shining from the bottom of the pool. Still on my energy high from feeding, I slid out of my clothes and into the water. I didn’t even care to look around before I dipped my face into the warmth and stared at the symbols. I had to ask someone how those worked.

  As the fiery orange danced in the water, my mind drifted back to the streets of Aurora, the air, the sunlight, the humans escaping the cold. Wasn’t I like one of them, wrapped in their winter coats? Just the cold I felt was one coming from inside rather from the wind and weather. No coat would keep me warm, no matter how thick the fabrics.

  “Adam,” a voice called. A gentle, soft voice, coming from a distance.

  My head shot out of the water and turned back and forth, trying to locate the source.

  “Who’s there?” I asked, but there was no answer. The others had gone to hunt down our enemy. There was no one there. I was alone with the darkness and the orange symbols.

  With a shake of my head, I cleared the tiny bit of concern rising in my chest and dove back into the comfortable warmth of the pool.

  “Adam.”

  There it was again. I listened closely, eyes wide open as I stared into the ornate pattern before me.

  “Adam.”

  “Who’s calling?” I thought, figuring the voice must be coming from inside my head, not outside.

  There was a gasp and then her face appeared before my inner eye again. The pale girl with the grayish-blue eyes. Sadness was there in her features, pain, as she searched my eyes for something.

  “Who are you?” I tried again.

  There was no more sound. Only that stare that seemed to go right into my soul—had I had a soul. As I didn’t, all she must be seeing was a dark void. A black hole.

  I stared back at her and her soul became more visible as it broke through her skin like the sun through a roof of leaves. Slowly and gradually, her features disappeared in the light, the only thing remaining visible her eyes, sharp and unblinking, searching for something.

  As the energy high dissolved, the girl was gone. I had no idea how long I had been staring back at her, but my head was still under water and I was looking at the symbols again, orange and warm and mysterious. Did they have something to do with my hallucinations? Or was it just me, and my broken mind?

  “There you are,” a dull voice appeared as a hand grabbed me and pulled me up. I blinked as the air hit my eyeballs and I looked into Jin’s dark eyes. “Volpert’s asking for you.”

  He didn’t give me time to get out of the pool but simply tossed my clothes at me.

  Needing more than a minute to clear my head from the vision, I got out of the water in slow-motion. Jin didn’t turn around or avert his gaze. He watched me with a smile as I slid into my clothes, skin still dripping with water, and waited for me to get ready. I had learned better than to let Volpert wait.

  “What does he want?” I fell into step beside Jin, who had started walking the mo
ment my feet were in my shoes.

  “I don’t know,” he shook his head and pursed his lips. “It might have something to do with what happened on the surface.”

  A wave of anger rolled off of him. I could feel it strong and clear as it hit me from the side.

  “What happened?” I was still trying to forget the grayish-blue eyes as I adjusted to Jin’s state of mind.

  He coughed and bit his lip for a second. “That’s for Volpert to share, not for me.”

  He led me further down into a part of the caves and tunnels I’d never seen before. The darkness was thick here. Much thicker than in the banquet hall or even the throne room. When he turned the corner to a vault on the side, I had to duck my head, not expecting such a low entrance.

  “Thank you, Jin,” Volpert waved for me to come closer. Beside him, Maureen was eyeing me like a ghost.

  Jin left me at the rounded door and his footsteps disappeared back into the tunnels.

  “As I can see, you enjoyed your meal,” he said with a smile. There was pride in his eyes, as if I was an A-student living up to his expectations. Maureen didn’t seem as thrilled. She seemed to be in shock, glancing back and forth between the moist, black walls of the narrow vault.

  “We have a situation, Adam.” Volpert laid his hand on my shoulder as I stood beside him. “Now that you’re one of us, you feed yourself and know how to handle yourself around humans, it’s time we put you to work.”

  I didn’t understand. “I’ve been helping with interrogations,” I reminded him.

  “True.” He squeezed my shoulder and I felt how strong his fingers were. “But now that the enemy is getting stronger again, it’s time you help us in the field.”

  “You mean fight?” A blood-lust flared inside of me.

  “You will kill the girl.” His eyes were cold and pale-blue, like icicles in the winter sun. Hard and determined and ready to pierce any enemy in his path.

  “The one who is responsible for my death?” Was he talking about that dangerous creature? If he did, I needed to kill her. I wanted to. I was lusting to. Anyone who threatened my family deserved to die. Or worse…

  “Focus, Adam,” Volpert called my attention. “It is the girl, yes. But things have changed. She isn’t unprotected like she was a couple of days ago. Her guardian angel is back, and he is a particularly difficult one. Hard to catch, ancient and strong. Even older than I am.”

  How old was he, exactly? I didn’t dare ask.

  “He will do anything to protect her,” Maureen continued Volpert’s explanations, “and we need to get rid of her before she can harm anyone else.”

  My back straightened under the prospect of bringing justice to the creature who had harmed my family.

  “She will stop at no cost to hurt you again,” Volpert warned. “She’ll act as if she’s an innocent little flower. But don’t trust her, no matter what she says or does.”

  “She has a history of causing demon’s deaths,” Maureen said. “I don’t want to lose you again.”

  “Remember the disaster with Alabaster?” Volpert shot Maureen a look and she nodded, face sad.

  “What happened with Alabaster?” Not that I knew who that was, but I needed to know what that girl-monster was capable of.

  “He had her captive, ready to get rid of her once and for all, but she and her guardian angel escaped after they murdered all of his clan.”

  I shuddered. That guardian angel must be something if he was able to take down not only one demon at once, but several.

  “You are right to be scared,” Maureen read me correctly. “You will need all your demonic strength and an iron fence around your mind in order to get through to her.”

  “Her bright soul is fairly distracting,” Volpert added and chuckled darkly. “Not just her soul, to be honest.”

  “Don’t get sidetracked by her appearance,” Maureen translated and I nodded.

  “I understand. Dangerous, attractive, has a strong guardian angel at her side who will stop at nothing to destroy us,” I repeated the quintessence.

  Volpert curled his lips at my detached summary.

  “What’s the plan?” I asked, ready to go out and destroy.

  “Patience, son,” he stifled my enthusiasm. “You need to learn how to fight, first.”

  He was right. I knew how to incapacitate or suck souls, but when it came to defending myself, I didn’t have any prior experience I could draw from—at least none that I remembered.

  “That’s why we’re down here,” he explained. “And Maureen will be your sparring partner.”

  I looked at her as she tossed her hair back over her shoulder. Her red lips were pulling back into a grin, and from her emotions I could read that she wasn’t in the mood for a fight, but something completely different, also involving body contact.

  “I’ll leave the two of you to it.” Volpert chuckled again and disappeared into thin air, leaving me in Maureen’s capable hands.

  “Ready?” she asked, and without waiting for an answer, she lifted her hand and shot a silver flash at me. It hit me right in the chest.

  With a groan, I tumbled and almost fell to the ground, but stabilized myself against the wall in time before my knees hit the ground.

  “I wasn’t ready,” I complained.

  “Nobody said you needed to be,” she smirked at me.

  “How does this work?” I asked, pointing at her hand while I was still recovering.

  “It’s a controlled release of energy,” she explained, hand still directed at me. “When you feed, the life-energy you absorb is stored in your tissues.” I remembered the feeling of the light settling into my body. “You either draw from it gradually until you need to recharge, or you release it in one big flash.”

  “Like you just did?” Now it was I who smirked. “Does that mean you’re empty?” Had she used up all her reserves? Would she be that reckless?

  Another shiny ray hit me, in my stomach this time. “Never underestimate a demon,” she said and raised her other hand in addition. “Your turn.”

  “How do I do this?” I lifted my arm and mirrored her posture. Hand in front of her chest, palm toward me. “How do I release my energy?”

  “You fed earlier,” she reminded me. “ Your tissues should be flowing with light. I can most certainly see it from here. You’re like a pale version of your meal.” Her tone was almost mocking.

  “How, Maureen?”

  She laughed and shot another flash at me, hitting my shoulder. As I gasped in pain again, I wondered if this was her revenge for me not responding to her advances.

  “Come on, Adam,” she called. “Release your inner demon.” Her fingers twitched as if she was going to strike again. “Put all your anger in your palm, all your disappointment, your cold, demonic heart,” she danced close until my hand was almost on her chest, “and release it from your control.”

  Images flashed through my mind. The threats of the angel, the guardian angel who had attacked us in our own home, the girl-monster who had harmed my clan—my family—the feeling of losing control between all those delicious lights, the stare of those grayish-blue eyes… As the anger rolled off of me, it took the form of a silver flash, just like Maureen’s. It didn’t hit her, though, even if she was standing right in front of me. An equally strong flash had erupted from her own palm, keeping mine at bay.

  “Not bad for a first-timer,” she commented as she moved aside, letting my strike through to the wall. Small pieces of black rock flew through the air where the light had hit it, leaving a rounded hole behind.

  Now it was I who laughed. I teleported to the wall and examined the impact. There were several holes with the same shape as the one my blow had left.

  “You come here a lot?” I asked, running my hand over the surface.

  “Whenever someone needs training,” she said and then with a blush, “or when I’m really upset.”

  8

  The Art of Playing

  “What are those?” I asked as I no
ticed thin, orange lines shimmering through cracks in the wall. They were shaped exactly the same way as the ones in the pool.

  “Demonic signs,” she said as if this was common knowledge.

  “What do they do?” I ran my fingers across one of the half-circles.

  “They reinforce the walls. Why do you think your blow didn’t make the cave collapse?”

  Demonic signs. “How do they work?”

  “They store angelic energy and channel it into a purpose.”

  “The ones in the pool look the same.”

  “The ones in the pool have the purpose of keeping the water hot,” she chuckled at my interest.

  “How do you get the energy to stay in there?” I wondered.

  “Ask Blackbird someday,” she said, unnerved by my curiosity. “Are we going to keep shooting or not?”

  She was frustrated. She was wearing the same look she had when Volpert gave her orders.

  “He’s giving you a hard time,” I assumed from what I had been observing.

  She looked at me as if caught in the act.

  “Blackbird?”

  “Volpert.”

  She frowned.

  “I mean, you seem to be a different person when he leaves the room.”

  Her lips twitched, informing me that I was right.

  “Let’s say, he can be very persuasive.” She chuckled darkly.

  “Persuasive?”

  “Well,” she lowered her hand and leaned against the wall where I had broken the hole in the surface, “You have seen him. He is powerful, strong…”

  “A leader,” I suggested.

  “A puppet master,” Maureen blurt out and covered her mouth, shock on her face. “I shouldn’t have said that.”

  For a second I wasn’t sure whether to laugh or applaud. A grand accusation of our clan’s leader. The father of our family. But the longer she kept staring at me, worry creeping into her eyes, and drifting toward me from somewhere inside of her, the more I realized how serious she was about what she had said.

  “Please don’t tell him,” she pleaded and took my hand.

  Her distress triggered something within me. I hated to admit it, but there was the awful sensation of compassion growing inside of me. Did I feel sorry for Maureen?