Dancing With Monsters (10 page)

“
You have it, now take
it,” Ben said behind me.

Everything faded around me. Yellow
light engulfed me and the half rotten man. But I looked past that,
and all I saw was his magnificent eyes. Like two tunnels of blue, I
burrowed my gaze into them. I was light and heavy with exhaustion
at the same time as I pulled myself further into them until
everything exploded around me in a burst of gold and blue
flecks.

I jumped back and covered my face with
my hands as I screamed.

“
April, you did it,” Ben
said, holding onto me. “You’re alright.”

He took my hands away from my face as
I gasped for air.

“
There…there was an
explosion…I’m hurt,” I said, examining my hands and feeling my face
as Ben chuckled at me.

“
No, there really wasn’t
an explosion, it just appears that way.” He smiled at me. “You
relieved him of a bad choice he was paying dearly for, and,” he
pulled me to my feet as I noticed the bits of thin tissue blowing
around my feet. “You now have energy—his energy from his life force
in you.”

I glanced at the tissue remains of the
man that looked like discarded Kleenexes.

I should have felt disgusted or even
sick at the thought of what just happened, but I didn’t. The man
wasn’t in pain anymore. I ended his misery that was prolonging a
certain death. My body felt strong, and I wasn’t a victim to any
human, monster, or demon anymore.

“
But April,” he looked at
me with his brown eyes. “You shouldn’t have left the
house.”

“
I didn’t want to stay
there and wait for you.” I crossed my arms.

Ben looked at me and then reached into
his pocket and pulled out a pair of sunglasses. “Well if you want
to get back home without an angry mob coming to our house later
with pitchforks and torches, put these on.” He handed them to
me.

“
Why,” I took them and
handed them back to him. “I don’t need them.”

Ben pulled out a small mirrored
compact and flashed it in front of my face. I gasped and looked at
Ben with horror.

“
What the Hell!” I
gingerly touched my face. My eyes were just as black as Ben’s
were.

“
They’ll turn back to
normal in a couple of hours. It’s your first Taking, and your eyes
will be fine.”

“
Are you sure?” I asked
taking the mirror. “What if they don’t?”

“
April,” he took the
mirror gently from my hand and put the sunglasses on me. “Trust me,
I’ve had to unfortunately do several Takings and after a few, the
effects will barely last for no more than a couple of
minutes.”

“
It will be hard to run
through the woods with these on. Can I take them off when we reach
the edge of town?”

“
We’re not going to go
home,” Ben said, grabbing my hand.

“
Where are we going?” I
asked as he pulled me out of the alley. “Did something happen?” I
whispered.

“
No,” Ben said, as we
crossed the street and up to a black limo.

“
Is this yours?” I asked
as Ben opened the door for me with a grin.

“
Oh, sorry, wasn’t fast
enough, Mr. Marsh,” said a thin man no taller than me dressed in a
black suit and tie.

I looked back at Ben. “Mr.
Marsh?”

Ben nodded. “My last name.”

I didn’t know Ben’s last name and
didn’t even think to ask.

“
As you requested, there’s
a chilled bottle of champagne and sorry, I couldn’t get
strawberries so I got chocolates from Shangri-La—strawberries
aren’t in season and well, nothing compares to produce grown
there.”

“
Thanks, Sam,” Ben said as
he motioned for me to get in. “Well, are you going to get in or let
a few more of the townsfolk gather for the spectacle?”

I looked at several pressed faces that
looked out from the salon window. They didn’t hide their gawking at
us as I could see them as they talked among themselves.

“
I could take off my
glasses and smile—that would give them
really
something to talk about.” I
said with a raise of my eyebrows.

“
Ben shook his head. “Just
get in.”

Seth

“
Demons have penetrated
the Shadowlands, are you sure it wasn’t someone’s hallucination?”
Ayil asked Ezra. “The Shadowlands are secured by the
angels.”

Ezra huddled next to me like a
frightened cat. “The angels have all but abandoned the Shadowlands.
Their portals are in danger and they abandoned the gates. A few of
us passed, but some lingered…” Ezra nestled her head into the crook
of my arm and wrapped her arms around me tightly.

She stayed and risked being caught by
demons for me. Ezra didn’t escape the Shadowlands because she
wanted to be together. I took a deep breath and held her back
stroking her hair.

“
The demons will easily
take the power of the orb and make the Shadowlands their own.” Ayil
paced the floor rubbing her chin.

“
That’s not all,” said
Ezra. “There were more than just demons there. They had an army of
new demons that I’ve never seen before. They looked like a cross
between demon and monster.”

Ayil’s eyes shifted to me. “Demons
must have been successful at transforming humans to hybrid
monsters—this isn’t good, not good at all. Walk with
me.”

Ayil abruptly went out of the room and
into her study. Malachi, Nessa and I exchanged glances as a light
from the study flicked on.

“
I said walk with me, and
that means come here please,” Ayil said with a raised
voice.

We went into the cluttered room with
books piled high and loose papers strewn throughout the room. It
looked like a windstorm had gone through it, but Ayil seemed to
know what she was looking for.

“
Tuscany was considered a
sleeper town now, but at one time it was a major trafficking route
for demons to transport their drugs. And all was wonderfully quiet
in what I thought was retirement for me, then, a monster, genius
really, came to town with an amazing discovery,” Ayil said as she
rummaged through a basket she sat on top of her paper laden table.
“He had created a serum that we believe was contracted for him to
make by demons. Since demons are of a delicate state to travel to
other realms, often use humans, monsters, and even fairies to do
their leg work for them. But this guy, this monster went to them,
and I haven’t been able to locate him. He lives in the area, but
travels and moves very quickly.” She then pulled something from her
basket, and held it over her head. “Ah ha,” she said. “This will be
our secret weapon.”

Ayil had in her hand an amber colored
stone.

“
A broach?” Malachi gazed
at the antique looking piece of jewelry. “A gaudy piece of jewelry
is going to save everyone from demons?”

“
This, my young monster,
is no ordinary broach. In fact, it wasn’t even supposed to be a
piece of jewelry—I had it made into one. This amber colored stone
is light from Iethia long before demons poisoned it.” Her brown
eyes focused on me as her silver hair glistened with gold from the
light emitted by the stone in her palm.

Ayil extended her hand towards me and
smiled. “And you will be the one to save us, archangel.”

“
Archangel?” Nessa blurted
out pointing at me with her thumb. “Seth isn’t an archangel. He
couldn’t even use a dragon blade correctly until I showed
him.”

Ayil shifted her eyes towards her.
“Nessa, some things are in us that we don’t know we have. Seth
brought Ezra back from the Shadowlands, a feat no monster no matter
how strong they are could do.”

Ayil turned her attention back to me.
“Take this.” Her voice commanded.

I took the intricately cut stone that
flickered with light. “What do I do with it?” I asked looking at
her.

She smiled and then shrugged her
shoulders. “Your Uncle Hes gave it to me and said one day you’d
come and said to give it to you. As far as instructions, he gave
none. I disguised the importance of the stone as a piece of
jewelry.” She then cupped her hand over mine that held the stone.
The light emitting from it dimmed. “It’s yours and as a monster
with an archangel heritage, the limits of your power are
infinite.”

“
You mean Seth can rule
any dimension he wants?” Malachi asked standing next to
Nessa.

“
His powers are infinite;
I didn’t say
what
powers were infinite, and dimensions are another story—they
require more than just having the power to kick ass.” Ayil stepped
in front of me. “There are things that one must discover on their
own, rather than have someone tell them everything. Power must be
understood on one’s own terms, not by following in another’s
footsteps.”

I looked at the stone then at Ayil.
She was telling me something that I didn’t understand and before I
could ask any questions, she turned off the light and motioned for
us to leave the room.

“
I suggest we all get some
rest as our hunt for this serum-making monster will start tomorrow
as well as the never ending battle with demons.”

“
Wait,” Nessa said,
turning towards Ayil. “Shouldn’t we start now? I mean the
Shadowlands are being taken over by demons and you want to go to
sleep like nothing is happening. What if Iethia is attacked? What…”
Ayil waved her hand over Nessa’s face.

Malachi caught Nessa before she
slumped to the floor.

“
She’s right about some
things, but she hasn’t been in very many battles.” Ayil glanced at
all of us. “Anyone else want to discuss as to what we should do now
besides go to bed and get a few hours rest?” No one said anything.
“Good, be up by sunrise.”

“
I can’t believe I’m here
with you,” Ezra whispered as she laced her fingers through
mine.

The moonlight poured in through the
window as the breeze made the tree limbs sway making shadows dance
across the floor. Ezra laid next to me, her body was warm, her skin
was soft, and she was as I remembered holding her.

“
And I plan on keeping it
that way.” I gently kissed her on top of her head smelling her
sweet scent.

“
But what if it comes
back?” Ezra sat up, and gazed at me with worried eyes. “What if my
cancer comes back?”

I sat up and curled my arms around
her. “It won’t. Didn’t you listen to Ayil?” She nodded. “I’m a
monster with the abilities of an archangel.” I could hardly believe
those words were coming out of my mouth. “If I can bring you here
from the Shadowlands, then I think I can stop anything that might
hurt you—including cancer.”

Ezra took in a deep breath and
burrowed her head into my shoulder. “Just hold me, Seth and be like
how we were with no disease, no serum, and no demons. I want it to
be just you and me watching the sun come up over Black Sea in
Iethia—our home.”

I closed my eyes and thought of home.
I had a simple life compared to now. Uncle Hes always said I was
special, and I wondered if he knew of my archangel abilities. But I
didn’t want to think of that right now. I wanted to go back to a
time when it was going to the beach with Ezra and going out with
Malachi who deemed to annoy every girl he met when he was trying to
impress them.

Suddenly, a bright light flicked on
and I opened my eyes to see Ayil standing in the
doorway.

“
No rest for the wicked,
come on, there’s been a disturbance in Brumbriar. It’s about an
hour away. Time to put your abilities to work,” Ayil said leaving
as she left the door open.

“
Seth,” Ezra said with
worry.

“
It will be alright. I
promise,” I said, putting a black wool coat over her shoulders and
kissing her on the forehead.

I wish I knew how to use my abilities
to transport us back to Iethia and to another time before demons
ruined our world.

April

“
Alright,” I said, as I
watched the scenery go by through the tinted window. “You have got
to tell me where we are going.”

Ben smiled. “No, I don’t, because it
is a surprise and you should’ve stayed home like I said. Now, as
your punishment, you’ll just have to wait.”

“
Seriously, you’re
punishing me by feeding me chocolate and allowing an under-aged
person to consume alcohol? I think I can handle it,” I said, taking
a sip of the sweet champagne. I’ve had a couple of glasses and
found getting buzzed felt pretty good. “You know Sunrise Acres
should give out booze for sedatives—not to mention to make the
place a little bit better to live at.” I giggled as Ben took the
glass from me.

“
I think you’ve had enough
spirits for now.” He then handed me large white box with a silver
bow on it. “Here,” he said.

I took and looked at it. “What is
it?”

“
Really, haven’t you ever
been given a gift before?” He smiled.

“
Yes, but…”

“
Just open it April and
see what’s inside.”