Lies… Kill…

Feed…

So much hunger…

Icy fingers climbed up my back, brushing over my skin and clinging at my spine, making shivers race through my body.

“No. I’m not going,” I growled, crossing my arms, fear pricking at the back of my mind as I watched him sigh.

“Allie, please, don’t make this harder than it has to be. They won’t hurt you. It’s just meeting.”

He was stalling, trying to get me to willingly go.

“They’ll kill you, and then I’ll be sold off to the highest bidder. We could run, we could go into hiding. You could go into Limbo and I could run.” I babbled.

“It wouldn’t work.” His hand reached for the pendant tucked underneath his shirt, tugging the chain until the orb dangled from his hand.

I swallowed the shriek that scraped in my throat, it glowed, a glass orb, rippling beneath that barrier was a red and white thing. Light, tainted and also clean, so misunderstood and roiled. I pressed against the fridge. It called to me, screaming and howling in my head, fighting against that seal, like a rabid creature. It foamed at the mouth, shouting at me. I shut my eyes, cowering there, away from my own Glory, away from Heric. Bile clogged my throat and I forced it back down.

“It would.” I pressed, covering my face, “Please, don’t.”

“It’s just one small command, Allie, I’ll be fine.”

“No, no, no, no, no.” I knew he couldn’t hear my whispering, until I said nothing, just my lips mouthing that word.

“I order thee, Archangel Azazel, to accompany me to the council meeting henceforth.”

His power detonated, pressing against my will until it snapped within seconds, his words filling me with that dull motionless feeling, and I had no choice but to get to my feet and face him.

He was watching me, eyes wide as if he was amazed it had worked, then I noticed the corner of his mouth curl and I knew I’d lost Heric.

“You might as well go and get changed, hurry.” He commanded, waving a hand.

I did as instructed, going into my room, changing into black jeans, my boots, and a tank top. Then, like the robot I was, I strode back out into the living room.

He smiled when he saw me, “Told you I’d be fine, now once this is over, we can go back to normal.”

I knew that was a lie, but he didn’t know it yet. He’d always been so careful not to demand, order or command anything of me. Now, he’d started something that he couldn’t stop if he wanted to. And within one or two more commands, he would want nothing more than to order me around. I couldn’t force a smile back, just stared at him emotionlessly, resigning myself to the fate I’d been bound to.

We made it to the council meeting within the hour, as we were the only ones that couldn’t use Limbo to reach the meeting place within moments. So they’d chosen to hold it on an Island, one large enough to hold them all, but small enough to be uninhabited by the mortals. It was in Lake Michigan, off the Upper Peninsula, where I’d lived with Heric. I walked beside him like a zombie, the strength of the command flowing through me with each movement. I said nothing, and neither did he. We arrive across the wide channel by boat, something Heric loved, he loved the water. Docking was simple, he cut the engine and helped me off, not that I could decline his offer. I was stuck in his thrall like putty until his order was completed.

I could feel them, and I’d felt their power long before we reached the island, it was like a pulsing heat, pressing against my skin, my throat, tightening my lungs, and making my headache. They may have all been Fallen, but, just like those I’d been commanded by, they retained the majority of their Grace, and in the numbers that were on this island, it was like wave after crushing wave of pressure.

They began appearing, stepping out of Limbo, popping up like ghosts, all astonishingly beautiful, all with those cold probing eyes, searing through my flesh and right to my human soul. They sniffed, smelling my blood, my warmth, some crooned, others were still and silent, watching me with a reverence that could be mentioned for my old self. From most, I could smell a pungent starvation, my presence, the power of my chained Glory beginning to drive them insane with want and need. However, none advanced on us, they parted, allowing us passage.

Heric held my upper arm tightly, leading me towards were the Fallen had shaped themselves into a large circle, leaving a space at the center. That was where we went, standing right in the middle of over a hundred hungry immortal beasts. Seated in thrones of vines, roots, and plants were the twelve council members. I’d never laid eyes on them, nor cared too. Up until now, they’d never asked for me.

“We thank you for attending,” Cerberus spoke, deep resonating voice rumbling through me.

“I could not decline an offer from the council,” Heric said, bowing, pulling me into the swift smooth movement with him before straightening and releasing my arm.

Eliscor grumbled, “Well, that’s reassuring to hear. We were concerned that this heathen had taken sense from your mind.”

I could do nothing but stand there quietly, to be stared at.

“Of course not.” Heric shook his head.

“Very good, we were having trouble coming up with a suitable replacement for you if you were tainted by her.” Gerib drawled, tapping his long nails against the arm of his earthen chair, “You aren’t tainted are you, Heric?”

“Of course not.” The Fallen standing beside me repeated firmly.

A few nodded thoughtfully, and then Faolen cleared her throat, “Though we did call you here to check your sanity, Heric. There is another matter. Many of our brethren have felt the presence of beings. Disturbances, perhaps, that are stepping out of Limbo.”

I heard whispering, Kill… KILL…

Silence filled the island and all eyes turned to me. I still stared ahead, compliant to Heric’s will. But the words echoing in my head grew painfully loud, Feed… You must kill… Take to the skies and bleed the Earth dry… Kill… Azazel…

“Strange.” Vur commented as he watched me, his head tilting and his black hair tumbling off his shoulder, “Very strange.”

I knew they were all communicating with one another, telepathically, so I was listening to silence. Somehow though, they’d felt or heard those words. I guessed that they couldn’t hear exactly what they were, but they knew something was hissing in my head.

“What do those disturbances have to do with me?” Heric asked after the silence spread among the Fallen.

“We just needed to make sure it wasn’t anything to do with the prisoner.” Loris murmured, brushing a leaf from her pale green robes, her bright silver eye piercing mine and she clucked her tongue, “We needed to make sure the seal was still strong.”

“We must trust the Archangels to have bound her well,” Heric argued, I could tell he wasn’t much for distrusting the Archangels.

“Very well. We understand. However, you must understand our concerns as well. For she cannot be released, or the entire realm will suffer for our failure.”

They couldn’t care less about the humans, but if this realm died, then so would they. I could say nothing in my defense. I stayed still, jaw locked and I blinked.

“You will be allowed to continue her guardianship, and none of those present will attempt to destroy either of you. Though, we cannot speak for the Grigori that are not present.” Vur said calmly, waving a hand at the gathered Fallen.

I could tell there were only about a hundred Grigori along with the Council. Meaning about a hundred other Grigori, those who had shed all care for the Angelic laws, were out there and would still try and take me. Two of my seven guardians had been of that faction, and the rest had just been driven by greed and lust to kill their brothers and sisters for my Glory.

“I thank you. And I assure you, these disturbances are not our doing.” Heric bowed, grasping my arm once again and tugging me around.

Behind us I heard Cerberus, “We’ll keep a close eye on you, and if either of you steps out of line. We’ll step in.”

Heric nodded once as he walked, acknowledging their warning as we arrived back at his boat. When I turned my head to look back over the island, it was empty, completely and utterly clear of any life, like it had been before we had arrived.

It was silent and growing dark as we returned back to the house, I kept my eyes down, and once we stepped over the threshold of the home, the tightness in my body relented and I gasped, body trembling as I threw myself into action. I scrambled away from him, ripping out of his hold as I made a break for my room.

“Halt!”

Ice enveloped me and I froze, body bent forwards, as I turned to stone, my chest the only thing moving as I breathed, “Release me!”

“You can’t just take off like that.” He said softly as he walked over to me, “Stand up and look at me.”

So I did just that, unable to stop my body from obeying, I stood, arms at my sides, head turning to look into his eyes. I saw Heric there, his kindness in the depths of blue, but now, like a shadow lurking in the back of a room, I could see it all. The Lust, the greed, the obsession. It was just a seedling, but I could see it growing stronger.

Fear spread through me, but I ignored it, “You don’t even notice what you’re going to become. It’s already starting.”

“Nothing’s changed, Allie. I’m still me.” He reached out and gently caressed the curve of my neck, his skin warm against mine.

“You just can’t see it. I warned you, I really did.”

He hushed me, brushing his thumb against my lower lip with a gentle smile on his face, “I’m still me.”

I wanted to scream, I wanted to hide, but all I could do was stand there and watch him, “I warned you, you’d lose yourself.”

He didn’t bother saying anything else as he stepped closer to me, I could feel the pressure of his Grace encircling me as I stared sadly into his face. Then, he ran his finger along my jaw, “You’re so beautiful, Azazel.”

Abruptly fire shot through my veins and I wanted nothing more than to curl up and hide, but it was new, so fresh and angry. The speed at which the agony raced through me almost set me over the edge into blackness. However, it was so intense that it held me from relief, making my heart pound unnaturally.

In seconds I’d found the source of my new found torture. He’d gotten too close, and now it was touching me, searing like a hot iron. My Glory thrummed, vibrating as it connected with my skin, and it was screaming in my head, shooting tendrils of pain ripping through me. Always on the inside, until I was so numb that I couldn’t even tell what Heric was doing, I couldn’t hear him, smell him, feel him anymore. I was sort of glad, because as the orb pressed harder against my ribs, the pain increased, yet since he held me under the command, I couldn’t release some of my pain in shrieks of agony.

It multiplied tenfold, shattering my hold on reality and it fought to slice that last thread of humanity I held within me. It grew, filling me with blinding and numbing sensations that forced me to recede into the confines of my own head. It shoved me out of the way, gorging out caverns of my soul, shredding it.

There was nothing I could do, not physically, nor mentally, as the acid poison of the Archangels seal erupted within me.

You can never touch your Glory. You were forbidden. You are punished. Remember the pain, Azazel, and repent for your sins.