Cast In Blood: Revelations Series Book 1: (4 page)

C
elestial magic was
strong and left an indelible mark in the atmosphere where it was used. Polly decided to throw together a simple spell that would cloud the essence of her magic so that nobody but Lucifer, Michael, or God could discover what she had done.

The First Knight knew the best way to use her magic without being caught and decided it was time to use it. She began the spell, certain she would be able to talk to the shifter without being seen or overheard.

The only hitch in her plan was that she had to make sure the girl was sleeping when Polly slipped into her dreams. Otherwise, she could find herself in someone else's dream, which would be disastrous, or she would be left in her creation losing time, which could leave her drained and unable to complete the meeting.

She thought for a moment about what it would be like for her to be stuck in the dream world until someone freed her. It was too embarrassing a thought for her to contemplate further, and she pushed it away while she continued working the spell.

To make sure the shifter was in the dream world, Apollyon sent a raven to watch her. The bird would signal her once the girl was in the right realm. As she waited for the raven to report back, she also wondered about Demas and included getting his whereabouts on the bird's to-do list.

Polly just hoped the raven didn't find Demas
before
she went dream walking. It was never an easy thing to do and manipulating someone else's dreams took a lot of power and energy out of her. A battle with a djinn would make a good meeting impossible, and she had some questions for the shifter that needed answers.

Until her winged scout called to let her know the shifter was asleep (and hopefully also give her Demas' whereabouts), Polly had nothing more to do. She decided to take the time to meditate and conserve power as much as possible. Too much power, and she'd attract the things that stayed in the shadows within the dream realm. Too little, and she'd attract them by broadcasting as prey.

The shadow creatures were simply vague spirits who were occasionally mischievous. They were the people that never were and things that should never be. Sometimes they hung on and caught rides into the earthly realm with demons or angels. Humans and animals were protected from these creatures, in the sense that they were only able to manifest as nightmares to mortals.

Most of the time, when death occurred, the energy that was the soul went back into a queue of sorts, and there they swam the metaphysical currents until their time to be born/reborn, or become something more, arose. Sometimes untapped energy leaked out, attracted to the great magics in the world, the way a moth is to firelight, and it was that energy Polly absorbed while she meditated.

She sat on the floor of her chambers in Hell and worked at stretching and plying her magic. She had no doubt she could cast the dream spell on the girl. It wouldn't be hard in the least, especially since she'd had a good whiff of the girl's soul earlier. It would actually make tracking it in the dream realm easy as pie.

Very few demons, or archangels for that matter, could track the way Apollyon could. She was gifted at it, always had been; tracking ran in her blood. The worries she had were simple. She was afraid someone else could hop on the dream trek and also terrified of getting stuck in the world she created.

Polly went through a ritual that would keep the openings to the dream small enough to keep out intruders while still allowing her to focus her power like a scalpel. With pinpoint accuracy, she would be able to find and track down the shifter the second the raven let her know the girl had fallen asleep. Polly hoped it would be soon. She amused herself making an entire dreamscape that was fun and frivolous, complete with a forest and picnic.

The spells she cast were practiced by young demons trying to get the hang of their power. It amused her to be using an enchantment wrought by young ones trying to find control. She had actually never expected to use the spell again in her lifetime. She had enough control to make a single snowflake stop in time. Unfortunately, when in a blizzard, controlling only one snowflake was mostly useless. It was, however, a good way to learn how to control the power that came with being a demon. That power was also good to use when creating a beautiful trap.

Once the shifter was locked into the dream realm, Polly could control their environment so that nothing that may have tagged along could see them or overhear anything that was said. Someone following the girl was what she was mostly looking for. After crafting the forest, Polly sat her dream-self down under a large tree and waited for the
Corvus corax
to give her the sign that the shifter was asleep.

It wasn't very long before she heard the raven's call, and Polly refocused her energy on drawing the shifter deep into the woods. She set a thin line of intrigue and curiosity to the path she had created through the trees so that the shifter would want to follow it. As she finalized all the bizarre trappings of the dream she created, Polly waited in a shadow at the edge of the scene. When she was through, she refocused on pulling in energy and waited for the shifter to appear.

L
enny lay awake
in her bed at The Children of Light compound. There was a guard walking the halls just in case that demon thing came back. She felt safe there in her own room, but she had so many questions eating away at her. Where had all these monsters come from, and what did they want?

Despite the day's excitement, Lenny suddenly felt tired. Her eyes felt heavy and grainy as they finally closed for the night.

Within minutes, Lenny was deep in sleep and dreams overtook her.

She walked down a dark path in the middle of a forest she had never seen. The trees on each side of the path were void of leaves, and the outlines of their branches looked like scrawny arms reaching out to grab hold of her at any second. She felt the chilly breeze that whistled through the holes in their trunks cutting all the way to her bones. Her body shivered, partially from the cold but also from the ominous feeling that gripped her insides.

The path wound around a bend, and she expected to see some sort of monster waiting to pounce on her just around the corner. Instead, she saw a small table sitting in the middle of a circle of sunlight. Lenny walked up to the inviting table and surveyed the setting. There was a small, delicate tea service in the center of the table. Two place settings were set with small plates, forks, and teacups sitting on small saucers. On each of the plates, a large slice of cake sat waiting to be eaten. The bright pink frosting looked delicious surrounding the moist white cake. Adorning each slice, a delicate frosting rose rested in a lighter shade of pink. Lenny sat in the dining chair and waited for what was going to happen next.

She didn't have long to wait. Out of the shadows, the beautiful demon from earlier that day stepped out and silently took the seat opposite her. Lenny readied herself to run at a moment's notice, but a large part of her wanted answers to her pre-dream questions.

She found a small spark of bravery and spoke to the demon. "What do you want from me?"

The demon smiled, and Lenny could not help but be comforted by the woman's beauty and strong presence.

"Eat your cake," she said as she poured Lenny a cup of tea.

"How do you know what I am?" Lenny made no move to eat the cake in front of her.

"Please,
eat your cake
." The demon glared at her.

Lenny got the impression that the demon would be offended if she had to ask her again. She spread the napkin across her lap and lifted her fork. She took a forkful of cake and brought it to her lips. The sweet frosting filled her mouth, and she swallowed without chewing. The demon looked on with satisfaction as Lenny took another bite. She finished the whole piece before she looked down and saw the snake winding its slithering body around the crumb-filled plate. She pushed herself back away from the table and watched as Polly picked the snake up without hesitation.

She brought the reptile up to her face and gave it a kiss as it wound itself around her fingers. She turned her attention back to Lenny.

"You see, shifter, even things that seem sweet may have something dark waiting behind them. And things that seem dark and frightening can sometimes hide the sweetest purpose." Polly gestured to the dark forest surrounding them.

"What are you saying?" Lenny said, getting frustrated, even though she was still afraid of the demon.

"I'm saying that even though you may think this 'Father' character is a saint, he is really just a snake in saint's clothing. You are more than all of that, Lenny. You don't need to follow some ridiculous false messiah in blue jeans in order to find your place. You have a place where you belong. Unfortunately, you just can't see it yet. Also, I need your help."

"What the hell can I help you with?"

Polly laughed a deep, throaty guffaw. "Hell is correct, shifter. I am Apollyon, the First Knight of Hell, and I am something of a bounty hunter. I track down escaped demons and such. This time I need help. I need
your
help to be specific."

"I'm just a regular girl. What can I do?"

"You are so much more than a regular girl. You have a pretty cool power that would allow you to do and have whatever you want. You just need to use it. But that is not the only reason I came to see you today. You are something special, and my boss thinks I can use your help to capture a djinn by the name of Demas. He is a particularly nasty one that did a lot of damage in your old neck of the woods."

"Do you mean the camp?"

"Yes, I do. Do you remember a girl named Laura?"

"Yeah, she disappeared one night. I figured she got tired and decided to go back to her home."

"Eh … not so much. Demas got hold of her and killed her. He ate most of the parts that could be identified, so what's left of her is still sitting in the morgue."

"Oh my God. He ate her?"

"Easy with the 'G' word." Polly winced. She had no real problems with the big man upstairs, but she also didn't want to go pick out curtains with the guy, either.

"What can I do?" Lenny asked again.

"You can find out some information about this Father character and let us know why he is hiding a djinn in his church. I'm getting the feeling that there are more than a couple monsters hiding there."

The dark forest around her seemed to be closing in and Lenny found herself having trouble catching her breath. "What do you mean monsters?"

"Demas is not the only soul that escaped, and I need to get some intel from an insider. That insider being you. But you have to trust me."

With that, Polly made a sweeping gesture. The darkness faded away and light took its place. Leaves sprouted on all the trees, and grass replaced the dead vines that covered the forest floor. Suddenly, the forest no longer seemed frightening and ominous; it seemed full of life and hope.

"How can I trust you? You're a demon."

"I think it is a lesser-of-two-evils situation for you, Lenny. You can trust me, the one who is looking out for you, or you can trust that whack-job preacher of yours that was planning on riding you like a hobby horse earlier today."

"Father would never…," Lenny trailed off, cementing Polly's suspicion that she was not fully indoctrinated like the rest of those mindless puppets at the Children of Light.

"Wouldn't he?"

"No. He isn't like that. He gave me a home with the others. I may be naïve, but I'm not stupid. Father loves me."

"Well, he would like to."

"You are sick. This is what Father warned us about. People that say disgusting things to try and sway us all from believing in him. Sick."

Polly reached over and took hold of Lenny's hand without saying a word. The girl winced as she had a vision inside of her dream. In the vision, she saw Hershel sitting in his room at the end of his bed beside a fourteen-year-old girl she knew was named Marissa. Marissa was wearing a T-shirt and underwear, and Hershel was in a dark blue robe. He reached over and placed a hand on Marissa's bare thigh. The girl looked frightened and confused. Hershel moved his hand up to her face and pulled her toward him. She tried to resist but he held fast.

"You love your messiah, don't you?"

"Yes, Father," the girl replied shakily.

"Then show me you'll do anything to please Father."

He leaned in as he pulled her face to his, placing a hand on her shoulder.

At that point, Lenny had seen enough. She pulled her hand from Polly's grasp and shook her head.

"That can't be true."

"Ah, but it is. She took your place after I came in and talked with you." Polly looked at Lenny and saw a twinge of guilt in the girl's eyes. "Look, I'm a demon, and even I can't get behind that crap. Hershel is skeevy beyond words. He is worse than a lot of demons I know, and they are pretty shitty."

"I don't believe you. This is a test. Father said I might be tested." Lenny folded her hands and shook her head, but she seemed less than stern in her resolve.

"I don't know about you, but I've never been big on tests. Look, I have no reason to lie to you. I need your help, and that's it. We don't have to be girlfriends or anything."

Lenny shot a suspicious look at Polly. "What exactly do you need from me?"

"Easy stuff. First of all, I need you to help catch Demas."

"Are you out of your mind? Didn't you just say that he ate those other girls?"

"I would be there to protect you. If you hadn't noticed, I'm kind of a big deal." Polly chuckled at her own joke, hoping that a bit of self-deprecating humor might loosen the girl up a little.

"I can't be involved in any of this. You want me to put myself in the path of a demon-dash thing that eats people so that you can collect a bounty?"

"No, that's only part of it. Hell could definitely use someone with your talents. You have a pretty clean soul, and we could benefit from a person that isn't jaded like most of the demons working for us."

"Now you want me to work with you in Hell? I have to say, you are painting an awfully nice picture of this whole proposition. How could I
possibly
resist?" Lenny said, rolling her eyes.

"Good, it's settled then."

"No, it is not. What do I get out of this?"

"Aha, there's the little street urchin I knew was in there. I'll tell you what's in it for you. You get to find out who you are and where you came from, you get a steady job, you get to have a pretty cool boss, and you get to work with me. What more could you ask for?"

Lenny sat up straight at the delicate tea table, trying to look tough. "I'll need to talk to your boss first."

"Ooh, you want to go straight to the top, huh? Feisty little thing once you get your footing, aren't you?" Polly leaned forward and folded her arms on the table. "I'll tell you what, shifter, if you can get yourself away from those goons at the Children of Light and meet me at the coffee shop on 3rd Street, I'll take you to meet the boss. You are gonna love her."

"Her?"

With that, Polly was gone and Lenny was wide awake in her room at the complex. She lay there for a few minutes, trying to decide if anything that had just happened in her head was real. She decided to take a risk and see what happened.