Chapter Forty-Three
Fee
We flew for an hour to ensure a good distance from where Mammon’s spies might be scouting. The moon was high, the world below us was still, as if in mourning. My heart was a boulder in my chest, weighing me down, but the sliver of hope Esmael’s feather brought kept me afloat.
Uri flew beside me, silent but watchful. My guardian on this journey.
We’d decided on him coming because of his connection to the Beyond and the fact that he too was tainted like the Seraphim. Esmael wouldn’t be threatened by him, and he might even feel a kinship for my lover.
Also, Mammon’s scouts wouldn’t recognize us. We weren’t faces they’d be looking for, so even if we were spotted, they were unlikely to harass us.
I’d flown north like Samael suggested, and below us was lush forestland with an open plain beyond, and inky black mountains in the distance.
I drifted closer to Uri. “I think this is far enough.”
We landed on the edge of the forest, facing the flatlands. The world was silvery-gray and serene, and it was hard to believe that only a few hours ago, we’d been in the middle of a bloody war.
“What now?” Uri asked.
I pulled the feather from my pocket and held it up to the night air recalling Esmael’s instructions. “I call his name and burn the feather.”
I pulled the matches I’d borrowed from one of the guards out of my pocket, and handed them to Uri. He struck one and held it to the feather.
“Esmael, I need you.” I said the words as the feather was devoured by the flames, then dropped it so as not to singe my fingers
Silence reigned for long seconds.
My pulse beat too loud in my ears as I scanned the night sky, searching for the friend I’d made. Esmael, where are you?
Minutes ticked by.
How long would it take for him to get to me? He could be miles from here. Shit, I hadn’t even considered that.
“Fee?” There was doubt in Uri’s tone that I couldn’t entertain.
“No, this will work. He said—”
A gust of air brushed the hair from my nape with icy fingers, and then there was a flash of light in the sky—a star hovering too close to the earth—and a sleek, dark figure with batlike wings materialized against the midnight blue.
The sliver of hope burst into a flame in my chest.
Esmael was here.
The Seraphim flew down to land a few feet away. Steam plumed from his nostrils, and a bone numbing chill clung to the air around him, as if he’d just stepped out of a meat locker.
Beside me, Uri tensed.
But the Seraphim had eyes only for me. They bored into me, intense and bright. “So, we meet again, Seraphina Dawn. You call upon the debt you are owed.”
Debt? I shook my head. “No, Esmael. I don’t want to call on a debt. I call on you as a friend. I need help but the choice to give it will be yours. There’s no obligation.”
He tilted his massive head to one side. “What is it you desire?”
“Mammon has taken the capital. He has the Keep, and I need your help to get it back… You...and the others of your kind.”
Esmael’s eyes narrowed to slits. “You wish us to aid Lilith?” Her name was a sibilant curse, saturated with venom, and for the first time since I’d known him, fear danced up my spine.
“Not for Lilith,” Uri said, stepping forward, hands held out placatingly. “But for all the innocent demons Mammon will exploit and for all the humans you once loved and protected, because if Mammon succeeds in his plan, the human world will be the next to fall.”
Esmael was silent and still, his gaze on Uri’s face. A strange tension radiated off him.
“Uriel?” he said his name softly, almost reverently. “Uriel, my brother.”
Uri stared at Esmael. “You… You know me?”
Esmael blinked slowly. “Your light is hidden, but it is you. I would know you anywhere. You never came back. We believed you unmade.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You don’t remember.” Esmael snorted expeling more mist from his slanted nostrils. “Of course. He would not have destroyed you. He would not abandon you. You, the favorite. The beloved. As beloved as Samael had once been. He took your memories and hid your light.”
“I don’t…I don’t understand…” Uri’s voice trembled. “I…I know you.”
“Yes, you do.”
Esmael stepped closer, his shadow falling over Uri, but Uri didn’t flinch or back up. He stared up at the Seraphim in wonder and awe. Esmael carefully ducked his head so his forehead was pressed to Uri’s. A soft orange glow bloomed at the point of contact, and Uri’s eyelids fluttered closed. They remained locked like this for the longest time, and the only sound was the whistle of the wind in the trees behind me. My skin pricked, breaking out in goosebumps. Something was happening, something monumental that was beyond my comprehension.
Finally, the glow died, and Esmael stepped back, but Uri didn’t open his eyes. He remained still and silent like stone.
I looked to Esmael. “What’s happening?” A hint of panic edged into my tone. “What did you do?”
Esmael’s eyes were warm, and if I didn’t know better, I would have said he was smiling. “I awoke the Lord of Death.”
Uriel
“No, Uriel, the gates cannot open for the keepers. I’m sorry.” The divine says.
The chamber of light is empty save for us. No celestial will risk being close to me, a tainted keeper who’s clawed his way up from the Underealm. They shied away as I was led here, shackled like a criminal.
Shackled for doing my duty.
Tainted for serving the divine.
I fall to my knees and implore the divine, hands held out beseechingly. “They have done only what was asked of them. They deserve to come home.”
His expression softens, and for a moment I think that he will capitulate, but then his mouth flattens in resolve.
“Letting you through the gates was risk enough. The taint on you is strong. I can see it. Smell it.” He pinches the bridge of his nose. “Maybe if the circle had closed a century ago…It’s too late now. The keepers have been amongst the demons for too long.”
“Father, please…”
He approaches and crouches by me. “Don’t fear child, you were his first, his most beloved.”
I’m confused. “Who do you speak of?”
His smile is wistful, almost sad. “You will stay. I will make this right…for him.”
“The others?”
“Will be remembered for their sacrifice.”
No. I can’t abandon them. “Please, there must be a way.”
“Not for them. Only for you.” He presses his palm to my forehead. Bright light fills my head and then I am gone.
I suck in a sharp breath and open my eyes to the moon and the stars. Memories, so many memories, flood my mind, settling into place like cards being laid out in order. The circles.
My keepers.
My Seraphim.
I am Seraphim.
My chest heats, and I look down to see an orange glow expanding beneath my diaphragm.