The Codex: An Angel's Guide To Seducing A Human (22 page)

She shook her head, and the air around her darkened with corruption. She bore down on me with her unnatural eyes. Before I could react, she placed her hands on my throat. They felt cold, icy. Emily smiled, and then squeezed.

A flow of magic from her fingertips seeped into my heart. The air in my lungs escaped, and no matter how many times I breathed, I couldn't fill them again. I was drowning. Reaching out, I grasped Emily’s arms to fend her off, but she was too strong.

Her unnaturally cold fingers darkened with corruption seeping out from them.

Crimson steam rose from my body and solidified upon touching Emily, covering parts of her skin in a thin layer of bloody frost.

Dark spots and stains appeared in front me. I tried to say her name one last time, but I couldn't move my lips. My eyes closed and refused to open. Her hands were different than I remembered. They were so small when we first met.

How did I forget?

Narius—ten years ago

I studied the little demonspawn’s hand as I pulled her out of the courtroom. 
How can anyone have such tiny hands?
 Even her body was different. Her head only came up to my waist, and her body seemed so fragile.

We headed out to the vast, spotlessly clean, marble hallway belonging to Lord Arudi.

Emily jerked her arm back and tugged my hand, her eyes wavering. “Everyone here calls me an abomination. Aren’t you scared?”

I laughed at her concern for me. “I am an angel! Lord Halfaya said that nothing will scare me. Besides, it's not like you did anything wrong.”

“Who are you?” Emily asked as we walked down the empty hallway. Sunlight reflected off the pristine floor, making the place brighter than any part of the Great Library I had visited.

I puffed up my chest. “I am Narius, your guardian angel for the next few weeks until we find the Grimoire and secure it again.”

“Guardian angel? So, you're a few hundred years old?”

“Not yet, but I am getting there. I am already ten.”

Emily raised an eyebrow. “Liar. You look like an old and wise angel.”

I rubbed the back of my head and smiled, touched by her kind words. “You really think so?”

She bobbed her head up and down. "Yes, I—" Her stomach growled. A deep, glowing blush swept across her cheeks, and her left hand shot over her shirt to cover her belly. "Got anything to eat?"

Being the old and wise angel I was, I conjured a pile of manna. Once the blob was in hand, I offered the best food in the world to her with pride.

Emily grasped the blue gel in her tiny hands. Her eyes and face shone with amazement, and she took a bite, but as she chewed, her face wrinkled. She spat out the manna and stuck her tongue out, splattering pieces of blue goo against the marble floor. “What is this? It tastes like troll’s milk.”

I frowned. “Troll's milk? What's that? Does it taste good?”

She spat out more blue fragments. “You need to eat better.”

I gave her an annoyed look, wondering how anyone could hate food. “By the way, where are your wings? It would be faster to fly.”

“Wings? I’m a human.”

My mind jolted. "What? But you are a—" Unable to hide my excitement, I poked her cheeks. They felt soft, just like mine. "Never mind. Is it true that you will get taller?”

Emily tilted her head and raised her eyebrows. “Of course."

"Then what about when humans become older?"

“Hmm… usually men get beards."

“So, you will you have a beard, too?"

"No." She placed her hand on her chin and frowned. "Hmm. Women grow differently. I'll tell you when I grow up.”

I nodded, eagerly soaking up her words of wisdom. We chatted, and before long she told me stories about the world below. In particular, I was fascinated by the variety of food they had, even if they probably tasted like dust compared to manna.

Enjoying Emily's worldly knowledge, we talked for hours until we finally reached the confinement wing. There, only a handful of cells were illuminated by a few eternal lanterns, with the rest covered in frightening shadows. We stood there for a moment, silent and listening, but the confinement wing was as deserted as the hallway.

On the jailer's wooden seat in the corner of the prison lay a note, yellowed with age. I picked up the parchment. 
Be back in fifty years. Need to restock on soap.

Emily's eyes darted from me to the darkness around us with fear in her eyes, like someone who had just forgotten the page of a book that they were reading. I smiled, trying to comfort her while a twisting feeling in my stomach made me uneasy.

With no one for me to hand Emily over to, I ushered her into a relatively well-lit iron cage. It was the least scary-looking one, and only had shadows at one end. Then I barred the iron door, squealing it shut.

"Will I see you soon?" she asked, the little confidence she had before now gone.

Though it didn't feel right, I turned around and walked away, my duty finished. "I'll see you tomorrow."

Emily sniffled, and my legs refused to move any farther.

I glanced back. She stared at me from the shadows, her clear blue eyes filled with sadness. "Why do I have to stay here?"

My wings twitched. "I don't know."

"For how long?"

"I don't know."

"Can I go out?"

"I don't know."

"Can I go with you?"

“I—" The question surprised me. I thought about what mother had told me. 
'Take Emily to Confinement.’ She didn't say what I should do after that.

"Please?" Emily asked, tears dripping from her eyes. "I-I don't want to be alone."

As I looked at the small human, a sharp pain throbbed in my heart. Letting out a deep breath, I lifted the bar and opened the gate. I grasped her soft hand.

She flinched and tried to step back into darkness.

I held on to her and, with an odd feeling of pride, led her out of the shadows and into the light. "Come on. There is so much to see! Where do you want to go first?”

Emily tightened her grip and smiled for the first time.

Emily

My hands were wrapped around Narius's throat, and I was smiling at him. I tightened my grip.

He wasn't breathing, and his unfocused brown eyes stared at the ancient stone ceiling of the temple. An ivory dagger jutted from his chest while the sticky blood from his wounds clung to my clothes.

My smile vanished. I took my hands off him and stared at them. For a split second, dark thread-like smoke dissipated from my fingers. I blinked. My hands were covered in blood. All around me, the floor was painted in scarlet. Some of the blood was frozen, reflecting my horrified face. I pulled the dagger out then applied pressure to one of his wounds. "Narius? Narius? What happened? Wake up!"

He remained silent.

My breaths quickened. 
There has to be something I could use!
 I tried to remember if I had any smelling salts, a healing potion, anything that could help him. But the only thing that came to mind was the Grimoire lying on the floor beside the shattered head of a stone angel. Her owner, Mafis, was nowhere to be seen.

I looked at my hands again, and fear crept inside me as Narius's blood drenched them further. 
No. This is just a dream. Narius can't be here. This is some sort of trick. This can't be real.

"I was too late," a voice next to me said. "I should have never told Mafis to show you the book. I was foolish to think you were strong enough to keep the corruption submerged. I am sorry, but Narius will be dead soon."

"Dead? No.... No, no!" I turned to the voice and found a crimson-haired angel. He looked nothing like Narius. Instead of armor, he wore a bathrobe, and a halo floated over his head. "Who are you? Who did this to him? Was it Mafis?"

The angel shook his head. "My name is Heliose, young one, and no, it was you who killed him."

Chilly air brushed against my neck. 
No, no, no. 
"Save him!"

"His lungs cannot take any more air, and he has lost too much blood. Time is against this one."

"B-but you can heal him!"

"I cannot do that, demonspawn."

Demonspawn?
 "Why? Why not?"

"Because it was you who did this to him." The angel flicked his wrist and summoned a mirror. Inside, it showed a series of images of a girl casting a spell. The girl was me, except that my eyes were red. Dark smoke escaped from the image, and I saw myself pull an ivory dagger from my belt. 
Wait. Why do I have that dagger? Did Mafis give it to me?

Narius grabbed my wrist and tried to shake away the weapon, but I watched in horror as a dark wisp of smoke exploded out of me again. It threw him to the floor, and before he could get back up, I mounted him and stabbed him again and again.

Narius tried to push me off, but eventually his arms became slack, and he lay there, unmoving.

Leaving the knife buried in his chest, the image of me placed her hands around his neck. I was choking the life out of him, grinning manically.

"No!" I pushed the mirror to the floor, shattering the glass.

The angel snapped his fingers, and the broken glass disappeared.

Tears rolled down my cheeks. "Th-that can't be true. This is a dream. I don't have dark clouds coming out of me, and my eyes are blue, damn it! I'm not a monster!"

"The mirror never lies." He jabbed his finger at me. "You are the one who stabbed him. You are the one who choked him.” He glared at me. “You are the one who killed him.”

His words dug deep into my heart. I clutched Narius and cried. I wanted to tell him that everything would be all right, but the words escaped me.

"Do you know what he said right before he lost consciousness?" The angel smiled and tapped his halo. "I believe it was 'Get this demonspawn away from me. Get this monster off me.'"

I held Narius against me as the warmth of his body slipped away. "Narius would never say that! He would never hurt me!"

The angel tsked. “You have it all wrong. A demonspawn like you—one who has tasted corruption and attacked an angel—is a threat to everyone. It is the duty of even the most lenient angel to kill you."

Guilt and fear paralyzed my body. "Just heal him! Please!"

The angel shook his head. "I am afraid I cannot just save him. You see, if I heal him then he will try to kill you."

“But if you don’t heal him—"

“It is rather unfortunate, but he will have to die, so that you can live. Say, were you ever in heaven?”

"Heaven? What? I-I don't understand. Please, help me. "

"Forget about him. I need your help, demonspawn. Personally, I would prefer to use the Grimoire and power the ritual myself, but I am afraid, as a holy creature, such evil activities will have an unfortunate effect on me."

I hugged Narius and buried my face against his neck, his familiar chestnut smell making my heart ache at the thought of losing him. “What? I don't understand. Please! You have to save him. I-I’ll do anything. I can give you money, pray every day, just tell me what you want from me!”

Heliose scratched his chin. “Well, I suppose there is one thing.”

Narius felt colder in my hands already. I couldn't stop crying; I sucked in my breath and wailed. “Please, just let him live. I-I'll even give you my soul.”

The angel scowled. “I wouldn’t touch your foul and twisted—" He coughed, and the smile returned to his face. "A few decades ago, a curse was placed on my wife by a despicable demon. Normally, the curse can be lifted by whoever cast it. But unfortunately, this demon would never do that, so the only plausible way is to kill the demon responsible."

"I'll do whatever you want. I'll kill the demon for you. Just-just give me back Narius."

He laughed. "No, no. No killing." He placed his finger on my cheek and stroked it. "I will heal Narius and place a seal on him and his Codex to make them forget everything that happened today. But, in exchange, I want you to get your hands on the half of the book being offered as a grand prize in Lodina's arena and make sure that Narius does not purify it."

"What? Why?"

"Well, you see, the Grimoire is really torn in half with a few missing pages that are floating around. And the half I am missing is in the arena. Mafis cannot steal the prize himself because of his bounty. And I cannot make a public appearance. So..." Heliose tapped his hand against Narius, and a sliver of light entered him, starting his breaths again but not healing any of his wounds. "The only possible solution is for you to acquire the other half of the book. I don't care if you participate in the fights and win it yourself, or if you hang back and simply steal it from the winner. Just acquire the half of the Grimoire and prevent Narius from destroying it. Then, once I have most of the book, I can drag Palkeon out of his cozy little cell. With, of course, a little bit of help from you to power the spell."

"B-but Narius told me that if a demon is free—"