The Codex: An Angel's Guide To Seducing A Human (10 page)

My heart tingled at her concern for me. I held her hand and smiled. “Thank you. You really must be the kindest person in the kingdom.”

Emily’s face lit up, her eyes startled by my sudden move. “W-well, if you know that, then good. Now, stop arguing—"

I took my hands off her, and headed towards the staircases leading to the High Priest’s office. “But it’s my duty.”

Emily cursed, and the sound of her footsteps echoed behind mine. “Bloody idiot.”

Narius

Passing barrels of gunpowder, I sprinted up the stairs to Varian's office as fast as I could, my wings brushing the coarse stone walls.

Emily followed behind me, grumbling like an unhappy ogress who had missed her second lunch. “Third time climbing these damn stairs. I'm going to wring Varian’s neck.”

Why?
 I asked the Codex. 
Shouldn’t we be trying to save him?

Do you hear yourself, Narius?
 Codex whispered. 
Emily said he locked you in his room and tried to give you a special pie to take advantage of you. You know there’s something naughty going on here.

Me eating the pie?

The Codex sighed, but didn’t answer.

Before I could ask her what was wrong, I spotted the light at the end of the stairwell, seeping beneath the door of Varian’s office. I turned to Emily to tell her the good news. "Hey—"

She shoved me against the wall and covered my mouth, her nose almost touching mine. "Hush."

The Codex shook and rattled the chain. 
Remember, Narius, no tongue on the first try. Only your lips.

What?

Don’t try to eat her tongue. Just think that you are shaking hands but only with your—

“You too,” Emily slapped the Codex, breaking my connection with her, then pointed at the door. “Narius, can you hear them?”

With the Codex and our footsteps silenced, faint voices echoed from the room, and I bobbed my head.

“Good. Let's listen and find out what's going on.”

“But what about the barrels of gunpowder we saw on our way? Can we afford to wait?”

“Since when did you become the thinking type?” Emily placed her ear to the door and motioned for me to join her. “Relax. They probably want to have a little friendly chat with Varian first. The elves won’t destroy the temple. Not yet.”

I followed suit and pressed my ear against the door. There were two voices. One belonged to the High Priest, the other to another male.

“Varian, you miserable slug,” a calm voice said. “Where did you hide the dagger? I know it is here. The book told me so. Is it in your room? Is it with your winged beast?”

“I am not telling you anything," Varian said with pure contempt in his voice. "Just get it over with. Have your petty revenge for your daughter’s timely death.”

“Listen, you tub of fart lard. I am going to ask one last time. Where did you put the dagger?”

“Somewhere you will never think to look, you elven vermin.”

The elf's voice remained calm. “You can talk, or we can do this another way.”

“Ha. After what the witch said, you’ve got nothing.”

“I am going to count to three.”

I glanced at Emily and motioned to her that I wanted to break down the door, but she remained still, her eyes betraying her hesitation.

“One.”

Knowing that it was foolish to play with the priest’s life, I gently pushed Emily away. She gave me a nod and moved aside as I got ready.

“Tw… what is that bulge on the side of your robe?”

I kicked the door in, rushed into the room, and came face to face with an elf holding a kitchen knife over the High Priest’s throat. The latter was sprawled across the table with a spilled bag of jewels and coins at his side.

A black book, missing half its pages and front cover, dangled on a vine from the silver-haired elf's waist, right next to a small crossbow. The sole cover of the battered book suppressed the corruption but small tendrils escaped from the missing side of the book.

I pinched my nose at the overpowering stench of corruption. The elf glanced at me, and I recognized him as Mafis, the thief from the wanted poster, dressed in ragged robes.

With a grin on his face, Mafis slid the kitchen knife into Varian’s neck. "Thank you."

In response blood gurgled from Varian's mouth and spurted from his neck, spraying the elf's face.

The high priest's head slumped to his side and his glassy eyes staring at me, unblinking and unmoving, sending chills down my wings.

As I stood frozen, the elf tossed the knife away, reached into the priest’s robes, and pulled out an ivory dagger. Raising the weapon against the flame of a large fireplace, he smiled. “Perfect.”

Emily burst into the room, the orb of her staff glowing bright with magic. "Stop where you are, Narius. I got this."

Knowing Emily's lack of knowledge about the Grimoire, I moved in front of her and blocked her view. Then I took a hesitant step towards the elf.

The thief, with confidence in his eyes, sheathed the dagger by placing it against the vines around his waist. Roots slithered and swallowed the blade, securing it in place. Then the elf leaned over next to the dagger and pulled out the small crossbow. With the weapon aimed at me, he waved the Grimoire, smiling. “You want this, don't you?”

Though I knew the weapon didn’t pose a threat against my armor, I readied myself to summon a halberd when the Codex vibrated. 
Narius, wait. We can’t assume that he knows the true use for the Grimoire. Especially with half of the book missing. For all he knows, that old hag is just something he carries around because he is amused by her out-of-date advice about seducing the opposite sex.

Taking her wise words to heart, I pushed down my desire to disarm him and forced a smile. “Can I have the book?”

“No.”

"Please?"

"No."

“Why?”

“Because it’s not mine.”

I nodded, eyeing Emily's subtle movement to my side, readying herself to attack. “But it still needs to be destroyed.”

“Too bad. I need it to summon the demon.”

My wings twitched. "What? You know about—"

“Now.” The book burst open at the elf’s command. Dark smoke erupted from it and billowed toward us.

Emily stood her ground, oblivious to the threat before her.

I shoved Emily to the side.

The corruption slammed into me, throwing me back and pinning me against the wall. My feet dangled in the air, unable to reach safety as the smoke squeezed every part of me like a giant hand.

My breath escaped me and refused to return to my lungs. I couldn't move. Darkness seeped into me, twisting my soul and overcoming all my senses with pain. It felt like someone was peeling off my skin and plucking my feathers. The Codex shouted something, but her voice disappeared, smothered by agony.

The elf’s silvery eyes bore into me. "You know, I just wanted to take a break from collecting the pages to find a dagger, but what do I get? Needless complications, and an angel at that."

Emily stepped in front of me and raised her staff at the elf, the feather on her neck gleaming as it absorbed the stray magic around her. “Stop whatever you’re doing to him!”

Mafis shrugged. “I am not doing anything to him.”

The pain intensified, and the dark cloud pressed me further into the wall, crushing parts of my armor inward and digging into my skin.

I couldn’t take it anymore. My mind crumbled. I screamed. I screamed as loudly as I could. It hurt so much.

Emily

Narius screamed, his wings twitching out of control and his body shaking as if some invisible force held him against the wall. I wanted to help him, but I had to take care of the elf first.

I aimed my staff, cast off a large ball of ice, and sent it hurtling straight towards Mafis.

The ice smashed into the elf and tossed him into the brightly lit fireplace.

As he flew back, his crossbow fired, and I cried out as the bolt slammed into my arm. The force of the impact spun me in a half-circle, the sudden pain driving me to my knees.

Meanwhile, Mafis rolled out of the fireplace and onto the floor. He threw off his now-burning robe, revealing a slim rectangular sack on his back.

Brushing away the pain, I struggled up to my feet. I aimed my staff to subdue the elf, only to see him rush towards the open window and jump out.

What the hell?
 Clutching my bleeding arm, I stumbled to the window and looked down, expecting to see the splattered remains of an elf who thought he could fly. Instead, a large circular green cloth blossomed from the pack and carried the criminal to safety like a slowly falling leaf.

The strength in me vanished like the elf who had gone with the wind. Exhausted, I sank to the floor and checked my arm. The bolt was firmly lodged in my bicep, the tip protruding out the back. The sight alone brought even more pain. I turned away.

Nearby, the fire had consumed Mafis’s abandoned clothes and begun to spread to the rest of the room. Ignoring the throbbing pain, I went to help Narius, who was still glued to the wall, his face pained and wings twitching.

Fortunately, he wasn't screaming anymore.

Unfortunately, he seemed to have passed out.

Summoning a bit of light to the orb, I raised my staff to get a better look. Only for the chain around the Codex to snap out at my staff and wrap itself around it.

Alarmed, I tugged back, but the chain tightened its grip on the staff and pulled it to his side like a scabbard.

“Hey, what do you think you are doing?”

Getting your attention,
 Narius's book said.

I tried to take my staff back, but the book refused to let it go. “Well, you got it. What’s going on? What was that knife? What’s happening to Narius?”

Now is not the time. We need to get him out of here. We need to push out what remains of that old hag inside him and wake him up from the coma.

“Hag? You mean, the Grimoire?”

I pulled at Narius' arm, slowly peeling him off the wall, lowering him to his knees. His body was still somewhat responsive, but his eyes were closed and refused to open no matter how hard I shook him. “Is he going to be all right?”

He'll be fine. The old hag won't be able to do anything to him now. Narius has a strong mind. He just happens to be the dullest tool in the shed, and "inexperienced," if you catch my drift, you coy little—

“I get the drift. But now’s not the time. What do we do?”

Run. We have to get out of here before this place burns down.

I glanced back at the flames. The fire was closing towards us, now engulfing and filling half the room with smoke that made my eyes water. “Give me my staff. I'll put the flames out.”

No.

“What?”

The temple is rigged to blow, in case you have forgotten. Now, carry my angel to safety.

As if to remind me, I heard distant explosions from the city. “Do I look like a troll? I don’t think I can even carry his armor.”

Well, then.
 A bright light flashed from the book. It felt warm, and with it renewed strength filled my arms. 
Be a troll.

The pain dimmed. My body felt refreshed like I had taken a long relaxing bath. I flung Narius's arm around my shoulder and lifted him, but despite my new found strength it still felt like I was trying to lug around a bag of bricks. “How did you do that?”

Do you think he carries me around for my good looks? Now, let’s get going.

My wounded arm cried out in protest, but I wobbled down the stairs, trying not to fall on my face.

The steps shook every so often and the ceiling showered me with dust as I carried my angel-shaped luggage. “So what would happen if the Grimoire takes him over? Does he become a puppet?“

She would probably abduct you.

“For what?”

Grimoires are usually a group of senile, psychopathic ladies. I can bet you’d probably get sliced into thin bits as they try out their cooking recipes. Then it would probably end with Narius eating you. And not in the pleasurable way.

I threw up a little in my mouth at the thought of Narius eating me. "Great. I'm going to be scared for the rest of my life."

Pushing down the disturbing imagery, I placed one foot after another down the endless staircase.

Narius's book vibrated. 
So, I have to ask. Why are you here?

Gritting my teeth, I answered, “To get your stupid angel out of here.”

Why?

“Because I don’t want to have nightmares about him if he ends up dead or used like some sort of tool.”

You like Narius, don’t you? Do you have any wet dreams about him? Perhaps imagining his strong hands gently caressing your body while you rest your pretty head against his flawless chest, softly moaning as his sizable—

“Shut up. I have a clean mind.” 
At least I hope so. Minus that thought I had when I imagined what it would feel like to lie on his chest.

Ah ha! So you do have wild fantasies involving the innocent angel.

I staggered and almost smashed my head into the stairs before I regained my balance. “What? How? No!”

Admit it. You like him.

I felt my eyes twitch. “Fine. I like him. Happy?”