Strength
“The art of fighting is second nature to us,” preached Lakyn as he walked around the Combat Training room. The sound of wood against wood was deafening as the students blocked and parried their opponents with two-metre long sticks.
“Very good, Kat, Scarlett. Have you two done this before?” he joked.
“No, sir,” replied Kat, blocking a swing from Scarlett, who had spun to put more force into it.
Jacob walked into the room and stood at the edge of the mat with his arms crossed.
“Now, a change of scenery for you two. Kat I want you to take on Jacob here,” he suggested. Kat met Jacob’s eyes with concern. “And then after, Scarlett will have the honour of fighting me,” he told them, meeting Scarlett’s eyes. Did she just see his irises change? She forced herself to swallow. She would not let Lakyn scare her. She promised Dyston that she would hide who she really was, and hide she would.
Kat matched Jacob’s blocks and parries easily. It was as if they were in sync with each other. They danced around the mat gracefully.
“Come on, this is boring. Jacob, don’t go soft on her. She’s Katherine the brave, Katherine the strong,” stated Lakyn, as he circled them. Finally, Jacob spun and somehow got his stick behind Kat and pulled her towards him until there was no space between their bodies. Their faces were mere centimetres apart. She thought Jacob was moving in to kiss Kat, but at the last minute, he spun her and moved his stick underneath her throat.
“Very well done, Jacob.” He applauded. “This, class, is why he is our best fighter.”
Jacob released Kat, but not before whispering, “Sorry,” into her ear.
Scarlett knew what was coming. She silently wished she could send a message to Dyston. Then she remembered that she could. She closed her eyes and prayed, hoping that it would work. It was the same way he could put images in her head. If she were really the offspring of an Archangel, she would be able to, as well.
“Dyston, Lakyn’s making me fight him. Please come. He’s going to try and expose me.”
Before she could even finish, Dyston had entered the room. She met his eyes, and he gave her a reassuring nod.
“Ah, perfect timing, baby brother,” said Lakyn, grinning like a Cheshire cat. “Come to watch your girlfriend lose?” he teased. Scarlett cringed. What else was he going to try to expose?
“Not likely,” replied Dyston. “I’ve come to watch her beat your sorry arse,” he teased. There was a collection of oohs around the room.
Lakyn laughed.
“Well, you’ll soon be disappointed,” he said as he picked up a stick. Scarlett picked up hers and stood on guard. In one second flat, Lakyn was across the room and right beside her. His stick crashed against hers, making an ear splitting sound. Scarlett praised her fast reflexes and blocked it. She spun around and hit him square in the chest, winding him.
“Woo, go, Scarlett!” cheered Kat and Thomas. And then she heard Dyston’s voice in her head.
“He has a weak spot, right at the back of his neck. He was burned. Hit him there.” Scarlett almost dropped her stick. She wasn’t expecting him in her head.
“Don’t lose focus. He’ll come at you from the right. Anticipate him,” he told her. She wanted to look at him, but she resisted. He was right though. Lakyn swung at her from the right, but Scarlett spun right too, meeting him. She could almost see defeat in his eyes.
“Very clever, Miss Porter. Has Dyston been training you?” he asked, eyeing his brother.
“Yes, he’s an excellent teacher. I understand him better than I do you,” she told him. His irises flared, and there it was, she saw it—the green monster. It appeared and she noticed it. She swung her stick around above her head like a helicopter and brought it down behind his neck, pressing it into the damaged skin. He cried out and dropped heavily onto the mat. The class erupted with cheers and applause as she turned to face Dyston. He smiled and clapped as well. She wanted to run towards him and throw her arms around his neck, but she withheld.
Lakyn rose from the ground. He was fuming. Dyston sensed the rage and immediately, moved in front of Scarlett to block her.
“Lakyn, control yourself. Not here,” Dyston told him, his voice steady and calm. Lakyn strolled towards them.
“You,” he stood a few centimetres from Dyston and Scarlett, “watch yourself,” he said and stormed out of the room. Scarlett didn’t know if it was directed towards Dyston or herself. Dyston looked at Scarlett and then at the class, who were standing watching with their jaws on the floor.
“Class dismissed,” he told them.
“It’s so dark, I can’t see, Josh. Argh!” Emer screamed as something brushed her arm. She grabbed onto Joshua.
“It’s okay. It was just me,” he told her.
“Are we there yet?”
“Almost,” he told her. And then he felt her fingers slide through his. He grinned to himself, knowing that she couldn’t see him in the dark.
“Can you give me a hint?”
“Nope. Just wait a little longer,” he teased.
“Fine. Oh, it’s cold in here and my voice echoes…” She was suddenly surprised as the room was illuminated. She blinked to adjust her eyes, looking around.
“We’re in the kitchen?”
“Yep,” he said, smiling at her.
“What are we doing in the kitchen? We’re not allowed in here.”
“I wanted to make you,” he walked over to the pantry and opened it, taking out a few items, “my special hot chocolate,” he told her, grinning. She giggled.
“Is something wrong?” he asked.
“No, I just thought, well, a boy like you…”
“A boy like me, what? Can’t make hot chocolate?”
“Well, yeah,” said Emer as she leaned against the kitchen counter.
“Prepare to eat your words, Emerald Rose,” he told her, turning around to make it. Emer was intrigued.
“You know my last name? I hadn’t told you yet.” She didn’t want to spoil the surprise but at the same time she wanted to be close to him while he did it. She didn’t want to admit it to herself, but she was beginning to fall for him.
“Yes. And you don’t have to stand so far away Emer, I don’t bite,” he said, glancing over his shoulder. Emer walked towards him, coming to stand behind him. She then leaped up onto the counter. Joshua’s heart jumped, but he tried not to appear nervous, which he had to admit was incredibly hard. Emer always made him nervous.
“How do you know my last name, Mr Know-it-all?”
“I saw it on your books,” he replied sheepishly.
“You put chilli in it?” she asked, changing the subject.
“You sound surprised. Haven’t you ever had chilli hot chocolate before?”
“No, is it good?”
“You haven’t lived until you’ve tried chilli hot chocolate,” he told her, his green eyes meeting hers.
“Is it ready?” she asked after a moment of staring at him.
“Oh, yes, sorry,” he replied awkwardly and he passed her a mug. Their fingers grazed. Then a strange thing happened—a picture clouded her view, and all she saw was smoke and fire, and she heard screams.
A dark figure with black wings watched from a rooftop a few kilometres away.
Then the scene changed, and she saw Scarlett jogging. She had her iPod headphones in, and she didn’t seem to have a care in the world. That was until a shadow swooped down and consumed her. The next thing Emer noticed was Joshua’s eyes, and she almost dropped her mug. Hot, chocolaty liquid spilled onto her wrist. Joshua caught the mug just in time.
“Emer? Are you ok? What happened?”
“I… I… don’t know,” she stammered. Joshua got a tea towel from a drawer and wet it. Then he dabbed it on her scalded wrist. Emer winced.
“Sorry. Want to tell me what happened? You had this expression on your face that I can’t explain.”
“When I touched your hand… burning… it was burning… and people were screaming. And
oh, my goodness, Scarlett!” she cried.
“What about Scarlett?” he asked, her knees resting on either side of his hips. He dabbed her wrist with one hand and wiped her tears with the other. She hiccupped and looked into his eyes.
“Josh, I think Scarlett’s in trouble.”
“We’ll go find Dyston and tell him, okay? But right now I want to make sure you haven’t burnt yourself bad.”
“It hurts, but it’ll be fine. Thanks, Josh.”
“Are you sure?” he asked. But she didn’t answer him. Instead, she leaned forward and kissed him. Joshua forgot all about the burn and dropped the tea towel on the floor, pulling Emer into him. She wrapped her arms around his neck. And then she pulled back.
“I have to go,” she told him, pushing away, and jumping off the counter.
“Emer…” he called. But it was too late. He was now alone in the kitchen.
Lakyn stormed into his father’s office unannounced.
“Lakyn, do you ever knock?” complained Zachariah.
“It’s her,” he growled.
“Who?”
“The Legend. He’s hiding her.”
“Who’s hiding her, Lakyn?”
“Who else? Your delinquent son. The one who will never be allowed into the Realm of Fire again.”
“Dyston found the Legend? Where is she?”
“At this very moment, probably in his deceiving arms.”
Zachariah sighed and rose from his desk, rounding it and coming to stand beside his eldest son.
“I somehow knew this would happen. Your brother is unable to finish any task assigned to him. Instead, he spoils them.”
“What should we do, Father?” Lakyn asked. Zachariah put his hand on his son’s shoulder and looked him in the eye.
“Teach him a lesson.”
Scarlett rested on the bottom of the pool, her breath steady, eyes closed. She heard a sound and opened her eyes. Someone was swimming towards her, getting closer and closer. She turned, pushing herself away, but she wasn’t getting anywhere. Her hands slipped and the shadow grew closer. Her body felt like iron. And then it grabbed her, and her blue world turned black.
Scarlett sat up straight in bed sweating, trying to catch her breath. She felt a hand on her shoulder and screamed.
“Shh. It’s me. It’s just me,” Dyston told her calmly. “What happened?”
“I had a dream where I was drowning and someone was after me. They… I couldn’t move.”
“It was just a dream,” he told her, taking her hand in his and rubbing his thumb across the back of it in circles.
“But what if it’s not just a dream anymore, Dyston? What if someone really is after me? I mean, those visions you sent me, they turned out real, didn’t they? Well, mostly real,” she told him, turning to face him.
“Then we’ll just have to be strong, won’t we?” He stroked her hair. “I won’t let anyone hurt you.”
“Dyston?” she asked against his stroking. “Stop touching me for a moment and tell me something?”
“Anything,” he whispered.
“I think we’re moving too fast. I mean, I hardly know you.”
“You know me more than you realise,” he told her, leaning in to kiss her, but she placed a finger on his lips.
“No. Stop,” she told him, sitting up. “How do I know you? Stop using your angel magic against me.”
“I’m not. I swear,” he chuckled.
She raised her eyebrow. “You didn’t answer my question.”
Dyston sighed and sat up, too. “You know me, because I’ve been watching you every day since I received my assignment.”
“So, what? You’re like my guardian angel stalker or something?”
“Something like that,” he told her, grinning. She moved closer.
“Why are your wings black? I thought an angel’s wings only turned black when they did something really unforgivable. What did you do?” she asked.
His words came as a whisper. “Kept you a secret.”
Lakyn stood on the platform that looked over the production line where his employees were hard at work, packing boxes like robots.
“Are they packing the new formula?” asked David, coming up behind him. David was his Head of Production.
“Yes, the first shipment goes out tomorrow. Want to see the results?” Lakyn asked. He led David into his office at the back of the platform and switched on a monitor.
“These are our test subjects. Ordinary, working-class Nephilim who thought they were participating in ‘ordinary’ Market Research. This is anything but,” Lakyn said with a smirk.
“What’s he doing?” asked David, looking at a man on the left of screen.
“This is test subject number two-zero-one. He has been on the new formula for one week now and has already begun to follow every command we give him. Watch this.” Lakyn pressed a button on the keypad on the desk and picked up a microphone.
“Who are you?” he asked the test subject.
“I am Simon, and Lucifer is my master.”
“Very good,” he told Simon, taking his finger off the button.
“What’s going on? How’d you do that?” asked David.
“How? Why don’t you join me and find out for yourself.”
“Just tell me what you gave him, Lake?”
“I gave him a powerful drug that attracts demons to his body. He is now a vessel.”
“That is brilliant, but what is the purpose of all this?” asked David, gesturing to the monitors, to the test subjects, and the employees packing boxes of cigarettes.
“This? It’s for the greater good,” smiled Lakyn, holding out a pack towards David. “Will you join me? We need strength in numbers.”
David met his eyes and took one.
Chapter Seven