“You know I’m right,” Solaris snapped. “He did this on purpose. He knows how we feel about…about…” she glanced at me and lifted her chin, “about being friendly with demons.” I had a feeling she meant to say something else.
Lunaris sighed and glanced at me. “I apologize for my sister—”
“You don’t need to apologize to
The way she said “her”, I might as well be something that crawled from the sewer.
“What is your problem, Solaris?” I asked, working hard to control my temper. “If you feel so strongly about them, why did you volunteer to come with me?”
“We didn’t volunteer. The senile old fart told us to come,” Solaris said.
Something inside me snapped. “Don’t call Master Haziel names. He’s many things, but he’s not senile or a fart, whatever that is. I’m sure he had his reasons for choosing you.”
“Of course, he does,” Solaris snapped. “He is playing head games with us, as usual.”
My eyes narrowed. “What is that supposed to mean?”
“He knows how we feel about demons because they killed our parents,” she snarled.
I blinked at the hatred in her voice. “Oh, I didn’t know.”
“Why should you? It happened thirteen years ago during the demonic raid,” she answered, her eyes flashing. “You were only three.”
Oh, no, not that again. Did they know my father was behind it? Would I ever put what he did behind me? My father had gone on a murderous rampage while searching for my mother and me, but no one had ever made me feel guilty for his actions until today.
“I’m sorry,” I said.
“You should be,” Solaris said with so much venom I cringed.
“That is enough,” Esras interjected.
“You stay out of this, Esras,” Solaris snapped.
Was this the purpose of this mission? To see if I could work with people who hated my guts?
Solaris continued to glare at me. “Your father—”
“Is in Tartarus,” I said with as much venom as I could master, which was easy because I was now pissed.
“No, he’s not. He’s been seen more than once the last two weeks.”
My stomach hollowed out. “That’s crap. My grandfather defeated him during the battle on Jarvis Island, and anyone who claims he’s alive is calling my grandfather a liar. I’m sorry you lost your family, but I lost my mother and grandmother, too.
Solaris opened her mouth again, but her twin grabbed her arm and marched her to the back of the building. I didn’t bother to listen to their exchange. I took some deep calming breaths, then glanced at Lucien and Esras.
“You handled that very well,” Esras said. Lucien nodded.
I shook my head. The very thought that Valafar could be alive filled me with dread. My feelings toward him were still conflicted. Part of me wished he wasn’t suffering in Tartarus. He had once loved me enough to raid Guardian enclaves while searching for my mother and me. The other part of me wished he would just disappear forever. He’d been ruthless and ambitious, and if by some remote chance he’d survived Jarvis Island, he’d come for me again. Even giving weight to Solaris’s rants pissed me off.
“Are your feelings going to get in the way of this mission?” I asked when the twins rejoined us.
“Of course not,” Lunaris answered and I could tell she was telling the truth.
Solaris glowered instead.
I cocked my eyebrow, but she still refused to speak. “If you can’t be objective, Solaris, then go back to the valley and report to Master Haziel.”
A flicker of uncertainty flashed in her eyes.
“I mean it. If you can’t take orders from me, you have no business being here.”
“My feelings won’t get in the way of my duties,
“Good because rule number one is never let personal feelings get in the way of getting a job done.” I glanced at Esras, then Lucien, before coming back to the twins. “If any of you have a problem with me because Valafar was my father, put it aside for now. You’ll have plenty of time afterward to continue hating me. Jethro may be a Hermonite, but he’s an ally. His customers are our allies too. You don’t attack anyone unless I say so.”
Silence.
“Is that understood?”
“Yes, Cardinal,” the four said in unison.
This time, I didn’t tell them not to call me Cardinal. We’d wasted enough time talking. “Let’s go.”
No one spoke as we sidestepped puddles of grey muck and walked toward the entrance. Valafar alive? What utter nonsense. We exited the alley and entered the road running in front of hulking warehouses. The parking area in front of the bar was packed with bikes.
Like most of the warehouses in the area, the exterior needed fixing. In fact, it looked exactly the same as the first time I saw it. The green and black canopy above the metal railing was faded, the chairs and table were chipped and paint was falling off the surface. The only new additions were the ancient words scrawled on the glass window.
“Ready?” I asked before opening the door. Lucien and Esras nodded right away. The twins took their time, but they eventually did.
The aroma of freshly brewed coffee mixed with spicy foods greeted us when I opened the front entrance. The tingle and heat at the base of my spine slowly spread upward and outward as though someone had injected something hot into my spine. My fingers grew warm and for one brief moment, my vision blurred then sharpened as I glanced around.
I recognized faces in the crowd, but the usual nods and smiles were missing. There was a mass transformation as the shape-shifters reverted to their human forms. Scales smoothed out and body hair shrunk until skins were human-like. Horns, tails, and claws retracted. Cat and dog-like ears shifted. Lizard-like tongues stopped lapping at bug soups. Then there was mass teleporting from the tables near us to the far walls, Hermonites tripping and bumping against each other.
They’d never run from us before. Maybe it was the new faces. I glanced back and was surprised when they all stopped walking and stared at me like I’d sprouted two heads. When Lucien’s eyes went to my hands, I looked down and gulped. My hands were glowing. Why?
The ancient texts were visible on my wrist and the back of my hand, and it hit me. I was a human lethal weapon. The Kris Dagger’s powers had sensed the demons, just like they had with Dante and Kael a week ago. Chances were I was already emitting rays harmful to everyone in the room. No wonder they’d teleported away as soon as we stepped inside the restaurant.
I glanced around and fought panic. Jethro’s customers stood near the walls and watched us warily. The tingle along my spine and arms intensified, and the glow around my hands grew brighter. If I didn’t control my powers, I’d flood the room with the Kris Dagger’s death rays and kill every Neutral in the room.
I focused hard on staying calm. It was one thing to control my powers when I sparred at home and quite another when I faced demons.
Flashes of past scenes zipped through my mind—Jethro welcoming us with open arms, giving us information, riding in a motorcade, eating, playing a game of pool in the next room, listening to Karaoke singers. Some of the memories were hazy, possibly because I couldn’t remember when they happened, but being in the bar brought them back.
My hands grew dimmer. The more I focused on the Neutrals’ past goodness, the dimmer the symbols grew. After a few more seconds, the glow disappeared, though the buzz along my spine remained. I glanced at the other Guardians, who were watching me with a mixture of concern and awe. Even Solaris forgot to glare at me with
