Chapter 8
EIGHT
CHANEL
Ten concerts and fifteen days later, Regan and I were finally perched on the roof of The Emerald, surveying the colors of the Serenity.
We’d been doing this exact thing for thousands of years, but I never got bored with the view, with the colors.
It was like watching the sunset or ocean waves rolling onto a sandy shore: equally as beautiful every day yet always slightly different.
No two sunsets were identical in my opinion.
The Serenity was never the same. But my favorite nights were the ones where the Serenity blanketing the world was identical to the aurora borealis in the sky. Those nights were the most magical.
This was not one of those nights.
In Manhattan we were lucky if we could see the stars above us.
This was also not one of those nights.
I glanced up to the sky and snarled at the thick clouds blocking my view of the crescent moon.
A gust of wind rolled in off the Hudson a few avenues over, the chill sharp enough to slice through my clothes.
I shivered and wrapped my arms around myself.
The last segment of our Chanegan tour had been in Southern California, Nevada, and Arizona, where autumn meant something different than it did in the northeast. As a result, my body would need a day to recalibrate.
Lack of sleep wasn’t helping. Dreaming of Kaso’s golden eyes and suspenders was really, really not helping.
“Chanel, look!” Regan elbowed my side gently and pointed to our left. “A darkening.”
Adrenaline rushed through my body. Finally, something to fight.
I was ready to be Chanel the Virtue again, putting Chanel the pop star on the back burner.
I leaned forward to look around her, then frowned.
The Serenity usually looked like a fog covering a town, or a mirage, just a shimmer of colors telling us the vibes happening in that location.
It was easier to see darkenings quickly that way.
Nighttime had the best hunting view. Once we focused our magic, we could see more details, almost like thermal scanning.
The colors indicated the type of people in the area.
Humans were golden and usually quite pale in color.
Magical beings were the bright and vibrant shades.
Vampires showed in shades of red while mages were purple and fae were turquoise.
When shifters came about, they appeared in shades of green, but we mostly only saw green in Manhattan, on Megelle Island, or down in the Florida Keys where there was a small siren community, I wasn’t allowed to say it out loud but their sea-green was my favorite shade in the Serenity.
In the heart of winter, we’d watch as the deep hunter-green of the wolves flooded the mountain ranges once the humans thought it too cold to venture out.
Every once in a while, there’d be the dark emerald-green of a jinn.
It always made me sad how few of them there were.
I looked down at my hands gripping the edge of the perch and smirked.
Angels showed in shades of blue. At least the shade Regan and I showed as complimented our color palettes.
Regan twirled her fingers in the air like she was zooming in with a camera. The Serenity focused on that one spot to allow us to see where the darkening was. “Mostly calm humans."
“Which means a darkening might be someone trying to hide from us.” I narrowed my eyes. “Looks like Montreal?”
“Naturally, on a day we’re freezing already,” Regan grumbled. “I may have to give in and admit to Bodhi we need some help.”
“Well, we don’t have time for that right now. Plus, she’s busy working in the infirmary. Let’s fly.”
At the same time, we pushed off the ledge and dropped toward the sidewalk many, many floors below.
But our wings popped out as they always did, catching the breeze and lifting us back to the clouds.
We were just crossing over the Hudson River when a hot electric spark tingled down my spine.
I gasped and stopped short, which caused Regan to crash into me.
“Nel? What’s wrong?”
“I don’t know. Did you feel that?” I frowned and glanced around. There wasn’t anything out of the ordinary.
Regan’s eyes were wide. “You okay? We can take the night off and sleep—”
“Shut up. I’m fine. I just felt—there!” I spun around just as that hot electricity slid down my spine again, except still I found nothing to see. “Did you feel that?”
“No . . .” She scowled. “You’re worrying me.”
“I’m worrying me.” We didn’t usually feel things like this through the Serenity. I scanned around us in a slow circle until I spotted a dark spot just over Regan’s shoulder. I gasped and pointed. “Look! There! Another darkening.”
Regan flipped around to look, her face falling when she saw it. “We’ve got the full opalite down there.”
Because the colors swirled together like they did in an opalite crystal, opalite was our code word for when all the types of species were in one spot.
“That’s suspicious.”
Regan nodded. “That’s the Bahamas.”
We glanced back and forth, left to right, looking between the two dark spots.
We had to hit both, but often times when it happened, we wound up missing the second target on our first attempt.
We never worried about that as we always, always, got our man.
But hunting Christopher was already different.
Cheese and Crackers helping him wasn’t making it better.
Regan sighed so hard it turned into a groan. “I’m already cold. Dammit.”
The Virtues had a rule: whoever smelt it dealt it. Whoever spotted the darkening first had to investigate it. Whether or not she had backup. Araqiel and Zuriel believed there were reasons for who saw which spots. I wasn’t so sure, but it wasn’t my place to question those two angels.
“Dammit, we’re splitting up,” I grumbled. “I hate splitting up.”
“Such bullshit.” Regan groaned again, but more dramatically. “If it wasn’t for this Christopher and his Cheese and Crackers, I’d say fuck it and we go together, as always—”
“But we can’t.” I nodded and held my fists up in between us. “Finisher finds the other?”
She fist-bumped mine. “It’ll be me. I’m in no mood to linger in the tundra of Montreal.”
I snort-laughed as I sped back toward The Emerald with my cousin still cursing her stupid luck for spotting the darkening in the stupid cold.
I pitied the fool she found up there tonight.
Actually, on that thought. I tucked my wings in and took a swan-dive back to the rooftop of The Emerald, right on the terrace behind Araqiel and Zuriel’s office.
The second my feet hit the tile, I heard Araqiel screaming.
I froze, my fingers twitching toward my sword on my thighs.
But then Zuriel stepped out from behind the wall and met my stare. He closed his eyes and shook his head once.
“I DON’T CARE ABOUT INNOVATION1” Araqiel shouted. “IT’S A TACO! WE DON’T PUT ANCHOVIES IN TACOS—”
“Just pick them out—”
“I CAN STILL TASTE THEM, ZURIEL! THEY’VE INFECTED THE CHEESE! INFILTRATED THE CHICKEN!”
“Then eat the other one—”
“WITH THE SARDINES? ARE YOU MAD?”
There was a beat of silence.
“YOU ARE MAD IF YOU THINK I’M EATING A TACO WITH A DAMN SARDINE IN IT.” Araqiel growled. “RUINED TWO PERFECTLY GOOD TACOS—”
“You said you wanted to try new tacos tonight.” Zuriel spoke calmly, like he was speaking to a toddler. “I got you new tacos.”
“A NEW RESTAURANT, ZURIEL. NOT THIS BLASPHEMOUS GARBAGE—Wait a second.” Araqiel groaned. “You did this on purpose.”
At that, Zuriel let out a little chuckle. “No, but I might next time. It’s a fantastic weapon to add to my arsenal.”
I rolled my eyes and slipped through the door on Zuriel’s side of the office so I wouldn’t be spotted and dragged into the war on tacos.
With a chuckle, I hurried into the elevator, then down to the floor with the infirmary.
Inside, I found the only other Virtue left besides me and Regan sitting at a table with her head down working, the long strands of her purplish-black hair wrapping around different potion bottles like an octopus’s tentacles.
I took one step inside when she said, “About time, Chanel.”
“We’re stubborn.”
She looked up from what she was mixing and her grey eyes sparkled. “Takes one to know one.”
I grinned. “How are ya, Bodhi?”
“Oh, fine. Just finishing up some potions for you and Regan.” She poured the contents of one vial into another. “I felt you both when you returned earlier, so I got to work. Granted, I thought I’d have to pour these down your throats when you fell asleep, but consent is always better.”
“Bodhi.” I laughed and shook my head. “Regan just flew up to Montreal. She’s gonna be an icicle when she returns.”
“On it.” She looked back up to me and cocked her head to the side. “And for you—”
“Surprise me.” I winked and headed back for the door. “Thanks, Bodhi!”
Bodhi was a Virtue like me and Regan, but she was different.
She was a healer. Her job in our crew was to keep us on our feet and strong.
Everyone once in a while she’d come hunting with us, but for the last decade or so she’d really stuck to the infirmary.
She took good care of us, so we didn’t give her shit for lying low. We all handled our demons differently.
I stepped out of the elevator at the bank of portals.
Four of these doorways would lead me into the other realms. As a Virtue, we had an all-access pass to all of them.
If I wanted to go, I could. But tonight there was only one portal I was aiming for: the First Realm portal, the one that would teleport me to any location in First Realm.
For the Bahamas, I would take the express train.
Montreal was close enough for Regan to fly to though, and at least that way she’d build up some body heat.