Rise of the Fallen Read online

  She had bitten through her bottom lip, a thin stream of blood ran into the corner of her mouth before dripping to the floor. Phebe quickly raised a delicate hand to try and stop the blood from running any further. Dorian’s eyes were glued to me; I could feel it. As I looked back to him, his expression puzzled me. He didn’t seem at all angry, nor did he seem to be repressing any violent emotions or thoughts. In fact, he smiled at me.

  “I’d like to speak to you alone, Emilie,” he said, the smile still plastered on his face.

  Neither Markos nor Phebe moved, even as Dorian’s eyes turned cold and leering.

  “That means you two are going to join Soul and Bato upstairs in the game room. Now.”

  Silently, Phebe and Markos passed Dorian on the staircase and disappeared down the upstairs hallway. Dorian gestured to a small room underneath the staircase. I hesitated momentarily before opening the door and entering. Dorian followed. It was a cramped room, hardly big enough for one person, let alone two. He said nothing, just smiled. It wasn’t a threatening I’m-going-to-kill-you smile, it seemed to be a genuine one. After a moment he leaned back against the door with a loud sigh.

  “What?” I asked quietly.

  Dorian was breathing heavily. “Lilith is going to kill me,” he mumbled, standing up straight and closing the small gap between us.

  “For what?” I didn’t even want to ask.

  “Well … I might have let it slip that I thought I loved you, and that Soul was a smart man,” he said with an impish smile on his face.

  I blinked in confusion, “What?”

  Dorian chuckled, “She knows what you’re all planning, Emilie.

  And about the first statement – it is difficult for me to even admit that, but I have a feeling it’s true. What other possible reason could there be for you still being alive?”

  “That’s not because of love … it’s because I’m lucky. But that’s not important, what’s important, Dorian, is how much does Lilith know?”

  “She knows you’ve planned a coup d’état. She doesn’t know the details, which is again lucky for you because I think you’d be the first she’d punish. But don’t worry, my dear, I’ll protect you,” he added with a somewhat serious tone.

  I couldn’t help but laugh. “You wouldn’t protect me, Soul’s the one who’s protected me.”

  “Are you sure about that? If I hadn’t told Soul to tell you to be careful around that brat Holly, you would be dead.” Dorian showed disgust in even speaking her name.

  “Why bring her up? She’s dead,” I said; I was beginning to feel claustrophobic as the closet heated up.

  He laughed, “You think she’s dead? Why would Lilith kill her? Even she hasn’t sunk to that level yet.”

  I frowned in confusion, there was absolutely no reason to believe him.

  “I recognise that look in your eyes, Emilie, the disbelief. You’ve always had a problem with trust. Yet you would trust two bloodthirsty demons like Soul and Markos over me. I’m a tad hurt,” Dorian smiled.

  I pushed away from him, but he pulled me back gently and leaned down to kiss me. The door opened behind him, revealing a furious Soul. He pulled Dorian back by his arm and pushed him into the foyer. I stepped out of the tiny cupboard of a room to see what Soul was going to do.

  “Calm down,” Dorian said brusquely, smoothing out his designer jacket.

  Soul sighed loudly and looked towards the top of the staircase. Phebe turned the corner of the upstairs hallway and lingered at the railing to stare down at us in silence. Bato walked up behind Phebe and placed a hand at her waist. She turned back to him and smiled, stretching up to kiss him on the lips. Quite frankly I would never have pictured them together, yet they looked like the perfect couple. Markos walked past them to the top step of the staircase.

  “Emilie, we’re leaving,” Soul whispered to me.

  “Why?” I asked.

  He didn’t answer, just leaned forward, kissed me on the lips and led me to the door.

  “Taking her away from here won’t stop anything, Soul. She knows, and I’ll do what I can to stop her from doing anything irrational. But my reach only goes so far,” Dorian said, from the top of the stairs.

  “Maybe you should trust him, Soul.” Markos said, despite Phebe calling him a traitor.

  “Why thank you, Markos, at least one of you is seeing sense.” Dorian said appreciatively.

  Even I had begun to have my doubts about Markos. There were things that didn’t fit, that didn’t make the slightest bit of sense. How could he trust Dorian now? What had changed? Bato’s loud laugh echoed through the now silent house.

  “You are all pathetic!” Bato said, letting go of Phebe’s waist. “Phebe, Emilie, Soul, Markos and I are leaving. We have things to discuss and don’t worry, Dorian, we won’t do anything without talking with you first.”

  In seconds, Bato had taken control. Dorian was speechless. Soul led us quickly to the car, and opened the front passenger door for me, while Phebe, Bato and Markos got into the back seat. He sped away – his mood had clearly soured.

  I looked back briefly to see Phebe holding Bato’s hand in hers. It was a sweet gesture, especially for someone who wasn’t supposed to feel or want anything other than chaos and hate.

  Markos looked utterly bored as he stared out the darkly tinted windows. Forests of pine trees sped past at a rapid rate as Soul accelerated. I looked out the passenger window and once again I saw it, the green light approaching us.

  “Soul, what is that?” I asked, not daring to take my eyes off it. Soul looked over at it and sped up.

  “It’s nothing you need to worry about,” he said, gripping onto my hand a little tighter. “It won’t reach us.”

  I wasn’t convinced. He seemed far too tense for it to be nothing.

  “What the hell are you two talking about?” Bato asked looking out the window, clearly not seeing what we were seeing.

  “Can’t you see it?” I asked, my heart pounding in my chest.

  Soul focused all his attention on the road ahead.

  “I can’t see anything,” Phebe whispered.

  “Nor can I,” Markos agreed.

  I looked over to Soul. Why wouldn’t he tell me what it was, I mean what’s so bad about it? Soul didn’t look at me but shot a look at Markos in the rear vision mirror. He looked irritated with him, as though Markos had done something wrong, or had done something to offend him. He continued to hold my hand tightly, bringing it up to his face to kiss it. No one else said anything for the remainder of the trip, until Soul pulled onto a dirt road, slowing the car down to a speed that felt like we were barely moving.

  “Haven’t been here in a while …” Soul said loudly, as if to break the silence.

  “Why would you? Your new house is much nicer than this dump.” Phebe said in a bored voice.

  Bato pinched her arm and shook his head.

  “I, for one, like this place, always have. Though I have to admit your new house is much more you,” Bato said with a chuckle.

  “I hate coming out here now,” Soul said with a sigh. Soon we reached a creek and Soul drove along the bank until we reached a small cabin. The walls were made of thick logs, with a few dusty windows in the centre. The front porch seemed well kept, though the yard was overgrown and weeds shadowed the three front steps.

  Soul threw the house keys to the back seat where Bato’s hand waited. Bato exited the car first and was followed by Phebe and Markos. I opened my door to get out but Soul’s hand stopped me. I turned back to him.

  “Emilie, please don’t choose Dorian. We are best friends but he’s too unpredictable. I’m the safer choice. Choose me.” Soul’s voice broke slightly.

  The others had let themselves into the cabin. No one was near.

  “I already have picked you,” I said, reaching up to kiss him quickly.

  He breathed a sigh of relief and let go of my arm. We walked inside the cabin and I stood beside Phebe. Soul went straight to the point.

&nb
sp; “So tonight we’ll go to the graveyard,” he told Bato, who nodded once.

  Phebe’s eyes flashed to him, then to Soul. “We had an agreement! I would only help you so long as Bato stayed out of it! I won’t lose him,” Phebe exclaimed, panic in her piercing eyes.

  “Ignore her, Soul,” Markos interjected, “She’s only upset because she can’t control this like she controls everything else.” He leaned against the now open window and looked outside at the fading light.

  “Oh, just die already,” Phebe retorted.

  Bato placed a hand on Phebe’s shoulder.

  “I am more than capable of taking care of myself, darling,” he said smoothly, his grip on her shoulder firm.

  She nodded, sadness in her eyes. As powerful as she was, Markos was right. This was one thing that she couldn’t control and it was killing her. Soul hadn’t said a word; he just let things play out. It was definitely better that way. Phebe was still involved and Bato would make sure of that. I was getting used to Markos being right all the time, and it’d be a shock now if he were proven to be wrong.

  “Soul, I admire your courage for doing this, I really do. But you’re going to mess it all up. We have to work together; we have to trust each other. Otherwise, we lose everything,” Bato said.

  Soul nodded in agreement, lost in thought. He was lingering, standing behind me, his hand light on my arm. He was not trying to hold me back; he was just letting me know that he was there and that he was the one who cared.

  He was going to do this, he was going to overthrow Lilith and Samael and face the other demons. He would change everything. I hoped they would see that this was a good thing – sooner rather than later. Phebe looked close to tears and Bato let out a loud sigh of annoyance.

  “Phebe. Outside. Now,” Bato said, walking out of the door. Phebe followed close behind. They disappeared into the woods. No sound was heard from either of them.

  Markos stood up silently and moved away from the window, probably not wanting to seem like he was eavesdropping or watching them. Phebe would surely have snapped at him again and threatened Soul’s plans of attack. Bato was right of course, we needed to work together, we needed to trust each other for this to work. Markos said nothing as he kicked one of the chairs out from under the small square table and sat down. He rested his hands on the table for a second before undoing his tie. He pulled it loose and stretched slightly. I had begun to wonder if he ever got uncomfortable wearing formal suits all the time – I guess that answered my question. Soul gently pushed me to the table to sit opposite Markos. He sat down beside me and, strangely enough, he seemed uneasy. I couldn’t help but wonder why.

  CHAPTER 16

  The silence was disturbing. It wasn’t safe anymore. It was different here. Eerie. Maybe it was the melancholy glow of the grey tombstones in the silver light of the moon, or maybe it was the presence of death. Cemeteries were not my favourite places on earth, but if you think about it, no matter where you are there’s always the inevitability that someone died in that exact spot. Of course it was more likely at this moment, as I was the one sitting on top of a large unmarked tombstone. The words had faded long ago; all that remained was the stone. I knew I was breaking all kinds of taboos.

  I was the bait and they would soon come. Who, I wasn’t sure. Soul hadn’t told me anything. The low, whispered arguments of Markos and Soul were all that I could hear above my own erratic heartbeat. I had been sitting in this cemetery for over two hours and whoever we were waiting for still hadn’t arrived. It wasn’t that I was looking forward to the ensuing massacre; it was just that the suspense was killing me. The long-sleeved t-shirt dress I was wearing felt way too comfortable for a time like this. It was black though, so I guess it was fitting.

  Out of the corner of my eye I noticed movement, but I couldn’t see anything so I assumed it was my imagination playing tricks on me. Soul and Markos had gone silent, which put me on edge. Bato and Phebe were on the opposite side of the cemetery and they too were quiet. The crunch of leaves caused me to turn slightly, just in time to see the flickering form of a demon approaching from behind. I held still. Three more flickered into view behind it. From a distance they resembled phantoms, ghosts, grey and almost transparent. But their eyes showed them for what they really were.

  All four were male, which shouldn’t have surprised me. As they got closer, I started to panic; none of the others had moved. So much for the promise that I wouldn’t get hurt. The apparitions seemed to look at me in confusion; perhaps it was confusion about who I was. I stared intently, waiting for them to make a move, but they didn’t. They just stood and watched me. The leaves on the trees outside the graveyard blew, and an almost constant rustling sound started up. The creatures took a step back in fear. I wondered what that fear could have been – I couldn’t see any movement from Soul or the others.

  I turned around to face the entrance to the graveyard and gasped at what I saw. Dozens of black-eyed children were running through the gates, their faces filled with glee, as though they were running towards a playground, not a graveyard. Soul had said nothing about children. How could they cause much damage? Three ebony-haired girls were the first to reach me. They paused, their smiles hungry. They couldn’t have been more than five years old. The smallest looked hard at the gravestone I was sitting on. It began to shake. The children behind her ran quicker and a few of them surrounded me, the rest went towards the four demons.

  I stumbled backwards and the black-eyed children circled me. I had almost forgotten the others and how they were supposed to be protecting me when Markos and Savine appeared behind the children. They moved too quickly for me to see. One by one the children began to drop. Some managed to evade the two vampyres. Andre appeared.

  Soul’s voice shouted out for Markos to stop, but he didn’t respond. Savine stood back, bringing me to my feet and pulling me away from the vampyre who was quickly losing what control he had. Something was wrong.

  I turned to see Phebe backing away from the four grey creatures. A bright red-tinged mist was emanating from the creatures and seeping towards us. The black-eyed children didn’t seem bothered by it; as a matter of fact they seemed amused at the mysterious creatures’ feeble attempt at self-protection.

  Andre continued to close in on Soul, shaking his head in mock disappointment. He knew what was happening, and he knew that he was now the only one standing in the way. His eyes flashed to Markos as he attacked a blonde-haired boy. The resulting spray of blood reached my feet and I stumbled backwards, into the red mist of the grey creatures. They looked startled as I did, as though they thought the mist would protect them from me. But nothing happened and they just stared in confusion. Soul rushed forward lifting me up into his arms and pulling me away. Andre laughed madly.

  “Why even bother trying to protect her. She’ll be dead as soon as she’s out of your sight. Lilith will make sure of that.” Andre’s cold voice didn’t worry me, but it angered Soul.

  There was a part of me that wanted to help Markos fight. I wanted to protect Phebe and Bato, I wanted to be a part of this battle but they wouldn’t allow me. Savine yelled out to Markos in a language that I couldn’t understand. He responded by turning around – too fast for me to see – and slapped Savine across the face. She fell to the ground and attempted to escape, but she was not quick enough. Markos pulled her up by her hair and brought his arms around her neck, squeezing tight until he heard the snap of her neck breaking. He threw Savine’s limp body aside like a doll, his eyes glued to me.

  I froze.

  Soul’s voice broke through the dead silence, “Emilie, you need to run! Now!”

  I would have argued if Markos hadn’t looked so threatening as he faltered towards me. So I ran. I heard childish laughter behind me, following me. The trees cut past me quickly, the small branches and leaves tearing across my skin causing small stinging sensations on my face and arms. I kept going, unsure of where I was heading, but part of me seemed to know.

  Running was
all I could think about doing. I had to get away from the graveyard and away from Markos. The children were what terrified me. They looked so sweet, so innocent and so uncontrollably ruthless. The way their sickly sweet smiles became distorted when they went into the battle stuck in my mind. I wouldn’t be shocked if Phebe, Bato and Soul weren’t able to hold them off and keep them away from me; especially with Markos turning on them. Markos was as out of control as those children, and their thirst for blood matched his. It was a thirst that I doubted they would be able to quench.

  Why would Soul even bother taking me along if he knew I would have to leave because of all the danger? The trees were now few and far between. I wanted nothing more than to be pleased by this, but it meant that I had no place to hide as I ran. Soon I reached a dirt path. I could see the cabin ahead; I pushed myself to run that little bit faster. I rushed inside and pushed the table against the door and turned towards the window.

  Leaning against the windowsill was a tall, broad-shouldered man whose face was covered by a thick bandage. Despite his mask he seemed to be watching my every movement as I took a step back. He stood up straight, stretching one arm out to me, as if I were to hold it. When I didn’t move he closed his hand and placed it back at his side. There was a soft tearing sound, then two enormous black wings sprang from his back. Each feathered wing appeared slightly broken, almost crumpled, and had three large burgundy eyes. The wings spread easily to either side of the cabin.

  I had expected him to rise up and break through the ceiling, but he remained still. Slowly his wings moved back and forth, causing a heavy gust of wind to flow through the cabin, knocking me backwards with its force. He raised his left arm to his face, as if he were going to pull away the mask that shrouded his features in mystery. I could see decomposing flesh and rib cage under his torn shirt. There was no heart, there was nothing. He was empty. His breathing was deep and hollow, rattling through his bones. My gaze had been so completely controlled by this that I hadn’t noticed the child approaching behind him outside. The child’s soulless eyes were fixated on the winged man.