Chapter 22
Armaros frowned at Alicia.“It was Barquiel?”
“Yes.” The Reaper queen’s knuckles whitened on her drink. “I’m convinced it was his demonic energy. I felt it faintly in Hell Deep, through one of my Reapers. I was making my way there when I crossed paths with Azazel.”
Mae’s pulse quickened at this news. She’d suspected Chaos Seal had imprisoned Barquiel in Hell since that was where Azazel first created the spell, but this was the first time she’d had confirmation of that fact.
“I also detected a trace of his presence.” Azazel frowned. “His powers felt…odd. Not at all like those of the demon I recall.”
Astarte stared. “What do you mean?”
Azazel hesitated. “It was almost as if I could sense two beings where there used to be one.”
Ilmon furrowed his brow.
Mae’s stomach knotted. “I—are you sure about that, father?!”
Azazel blinked. A pleased look dawned on his face. “It feels good to be called that after so long, child.” The demon sobered. “Yes. The more I think about it, the more I am convinced I could feel another inside Barquiel.”
Mae squeezed her eyes shut, hope bringing a lump to her throat. She opened them to find Azazel and everyone else giving her a puzzled look.
“What’s wrong?” Nikolai asked guardedly.
“It’s Rose.” Mae swallowed. “I’m sure of it.”
Vlad’s eyes widened. Nikolai frowned.
“You mean, your friend who got possessed by Barquiel?” Cortes said, unconvinced.
Mae nodded. “I thought I felt a remnant of Rose’s soul when I stabbed Barquiel with Hellreaver in Brooklyn, the second time we fought. I was certain she was still inside him when I used Chaos Seal to imprison him.”
Armaros and Astarte traded a wary glance.
“My witch is right,” Hellreaver piped up. “Brimstone and I felt it too.”
The fox huffed in agreement where he’d coiled into a ball on Mae’s lap.
Azazel’s brow knotted. “Soul Magic.” He met Alicia’s troubled gaze. “That’s the only thing that would make sense.”
Surprise jolted Mae. “Soul Magic?”
“Barquiel was cursed when he fell from Heaven,” Azazel explained. “He cannot survive in the realm of man in his demon form for long. That is why he must possess another to walk the Earth, so he is able to access his powers outside Hell. Man, woman, demon, beast. It doesn’t matter who it is as long as that being possesses a soul that is compatible with his own.”
Mae’s pulse thumped rapidly as her father’s words sank in. Does that mean Barquiel has a weakness when he’s on Earth?!
We need to remember that when we fight him next, Na Ri said in a steely voice.
A muscle jumped in Nikolai’s cheek. “This…Soul Magic is how he does it? How he takes over other people’s bodies?”
“Yes,” Azazel replied.
“Could he have taught that spell to Vedran?”
Azazel stiffened at the sorcerer’s question. “Why do you ask?”
“Because my father killed his familiar and is using his soul to perpetrate his crimes,” Nikolai said coldly.
Alastair crooned quietly on his shoulder.
Astarte’s eyes widened. Ilmon cursed.
“Nikolai and I caught a glimpse of the Sorcerer King’s dead familiar when we last confronted him,” Mae confirmed. “He appeared before us a few days ago, after I used Soul Conjure on the body of a Dark Council witch Vedran had killed. His familiar was a wolf named Balkin.”
Crimson flashed in Alicia’s pupils. “How despicable. That magic carries the harshest of penalties. To think Barquiel would even think of teaching it to a human is unbelievable.”
“That bastard would do anything to achieve his goal of reviving Ran Soyun,” Nikolai ground out.
Azazel froze, his pupils rounding. Demonic energy detonated around him, rattling glass and metal and whipping their hair and clothes into a frenzy.
His enraged roar shook the castle. “WHAT?!”
Astarte hung on grimly to her chair in the violent tempest and scowled at Nikolai. “You know, you could have broached that topic more sensitively!”
Mae stood up and closed the distance to her and Na Ri’s father, her magic buffering her against the powerful storm shaking Armaros’s palace. She knelt before Azazel and clasped his hands, the anger she and Na Ri had felt when they’d first learnt the dark truth of Barquiel’s intentions a banked heat simmering in her blood.
“It’s okay, Dad.”
Azazel shuddered. The fury darkening his face and wreaking havoc on the room abated at her quiet words.
“I—I apologize, child,” he mumbled after a moment, his tone haggard.
“The one you should be apologizing to is me,” Armaros grumbled.
The demon peeled himself off the mounted hellbear he’d been clinging to.
Azazel grimaced, contrite. “I’m sorry, old friend.” He met Mae and Nikolai’s gazes, in control of his emotions once more. “Tell me more.”
Nikolai related how he had followed Barquiel to a hidden destination in Hell a few weeks back and uncovered a disturbing secret. One which the demon had concealed from the Dark Council.
“Barquiel intends to steal the first Sorcerer King’s soul from under Vedran’s nose and gift it to Ran Soyun, along with the core in Mae’s heart. He believes he can revive her that way.” Bitterness underscored Nikolai’s voice. “As for my father, not only is he planning to assimilate the first Sorcerer King’s soul, but he is likely scheming to kill me so he can consume my white magic.” He hesitated. “I overheard a conversation between Barquiel and my father, when I was still under the influence of the Illusion Sorcery spell they put me under. I think Vedran tried to do the same to my mother once but failed.”
“There’s one more thing,” Mae added in a hard voice. “Vedran now possesses the ability to use Hellfire Magic.”
Azazel flinched. Armaros swore.
“What?!” Astarte gasped.
“Yeah, I forgot to mention that what with everything going on,” Alicia muttered.
“He absorbed it from Nikolai and Alastair’s cores,” Mae explained. “Dietrich Farago, the Immortal alchemist who was helping the Dark Council, was convinced Fire Magic could open the Book of Light.” She exchanged a wary glance with Nikolai. “We suspect Hellfire Magic will definitely do it.”
Azazel cursed.
Mae’s stomach sank. She only had to look at her father’s distraught expression to know Farago had been right.
“If he takes Davor’s soul, all will be lost,” Azazel mumbled distractedly.
Mae chewed her lip. “Was Davor truly that powerful?”
“Yes.” Azazel steepled his hands under his chin and scowled at the floor. “He defeated Ran Soyun, after all.”
A fraught silence ensued.
Ilmon slapped Azazel heartily on the back. The demon startled.
“I will have less of that glum talk from you, old friend.” The Incubus king smiled faintly. “This time, you are not alone.” He looked at Mae and her companions. “Your daughters are with you. And those two with her are pretty powerful sorcerers.” He beamed at Vlad. “My son, of course, is just awesome.”
Tarang made a happy sound, his tail sweeping the floor. Vlad narrowed his eyes.
“I’ve been meaning to ask you about that, actually,” Azazel said. “When exactly did you sire a cambion?” His eyes widened when he got a closer look at Vlad. “Oh. His mother was a very powerful Fire Magic witch.”
Ilmon blinked. “You can tell?”
“Of course.” Azazel’s gaze swung from Mae to the three men who had accompanied her to Hell. “Are they your consorts, child? They all have powerful seeds.”
Alicia choked on her beer. Astarte sighed. Armaros smirked.
Mae nearly swallowed her tongue. “What?! No! I mean, Nikolai is, but those two aren’t!”
“Yeah, I already promised my seeds to someone else,” Cortes muttered.
Popo bobbed his head firmly.
Vlad arched an eyebrow at Azazel. “I am trying to convince her to take on a second consort. Maybe you can help.”
Nikolai’s face darkened. “Over my dead body.”
“That can be arranged.”
Astarte let them bicker for a minute before calling for silence.
She frowned at Mae. “So, what do you intend to do now?”
Mae met the Goddess’s eyes unflinchingly. “We search Hell Deep for the cave where Barquiel hid my mother’s body and half her soul. And we stop that bastard demon and Vedran before they can achieve their goals.” She turned to Azazel. “There’s something else. Something only you can do. Teach me Soul Magic. I want to free Rose from Barquiel’s hold.”
Azazel’s eyes widened.
“But—I’m not sure that’s even possible,” he protested.
Mae hesitated. “I can already do several Soul spells. So, I think—” she fisted her hands, “no, I’m certain I can release Rose’s soul from her prison.”
“Your daughter has achieved quite a few impossible things since coming into her powers,” Alicia muttered.
Azazel brightened. “She has?”
The Reaper queen shuddered. “Still, that new Eclipse spell gave me the heebie-jeebies.”
Armaros frowned. “That’s a bold plan and everything, but this Vedran guy may already have the Book of Shadows and the soul of the first Sorcerer King.”
Azazel seemed to come to some kind of decision. His eyes glittered strangely as he watched Mae and Nikolai. “There are two things that might still work in our favor if that is indeed the case.”