Entanglement

Azlynn closed her eyes, heart pounding. Her mind raced wildly as Drew’s anguished growls filled the air. Qurtem. She knew of it; all angels did. It was a wicked, brutal substance that demons used for excruciating torture. It was always laced with a demon’s blood; the tracking device was a new touch though. The demon blood was enough for demons to track someone; they were always drawn to the blood of another of the Damned.

Azlynn’s eyes flew open. Demon blood. Of course. The tracking device they injected her with wasn’t for the demons. That was given to Charlotte in order for people like Morrison to find her. McNitt could find her because of Leviathan’s blood. The more powerful the demon, the easier their blood was to track. McNitt had made a mistake injecting Charlotte with the Qurtem.

She supposed the initial injection had been meant to use her to find other paranormals that he could recruit; if he had already known about Azlynn when he injected her, he never would have used Qurtem. Because Azlynn was half demon. She was half Leviathan. If anyone could track Charlotte down, it was Azlynn. Of course, after dealing with her, McNitt would probably never expect Azlynn to track the demon blood; she was too much an angel to have the ability to so easily follow the trail of Leviathan’s blood.

But he had underestimated Azlynn. She was an angel. She had been trained as one, and she had repressed all her demonic traits and powers, aside from Hellfire. And even then she didn’t use it to its full potential. She took a ragged breath. In order to find Charlotte, and defeat her father, she was going to have to do something she had sworn never to do. The repercussions of the choice she was about to make would be devastating.

But it had to be done.

“I can find her,” she said. No one looked at her. Drew continued to snarl and pace.

“I can find her,” Azlynn repeated, increasing the power in her voice. She made them hear her.

“Are you sure?” Lawson asked her. Azlynn nodded. She prayed Gabe and her mother would forgive her for this.

“I am strong enough to do this,” she whispered fiercely. She had to be. She couldn’t lose herself in this transition. She had to meld both sides of herself; wholly accept both sides of her lineage. She slowly closed her eyes, allowing her carefully constructed defenses to crumble. She could physically feel the earth shake, and wondered if it was all in her mind or if the others felt it too. Already they had faded. Her world went black, then exploded in a riot of colors. She felt like she was falling down and flying up at the same time.

Images of death and chaos roared across her vision. Screams of souls trapped in Lucifer’s kingdom, bones crunching and muscles tearing apart, cackling demons and creations of Hell that no nightmare could ever compare to, tongues of black fire consuming the world. A voice spoke to her; a voice that held the scream of every terrified soul that fell into the abyss. The voice told her she belonged in this world, that it was a part of her. She must embrace it. The darkness was on the brink of taking her mind completely.

But then another image caught her eye. Another voice spoke to her. It was a man, with eyes like quicksilver and shaggy hair almost as black as her own. He seemed familiar to her. She pulled away from the voice of the devil and drifted towards the silver-eyed boy.

“You’re Azlynn,” he whispered to her, gaze steady as he stared at her. “And you belong with me.”

Again the world exploded in light, a dizzying clash of black and white suns. Azlynn fell through time and space, coming back to herself with a violent jolt that made her gasp in pain.

“Azlynn!” a muffled voice called. “Azlynn, dammit woman, wake up!”

Azlynn smiled to herself. Her eyelids drifted open. Her silver-eyed boy was leaning over her, gripping her shoulders and commanding her to wake up.

“I know you,” she murmured, her heart swelling with gratitude.

“Of course you know me,” Dante said, looking baffled. Azlynn found that she was lying flat on her back on the ruined floor of the Death Valley testing facility.

“Umm, Azlynn?” Lawson said quietly. “What happened to you?”

Azlynn sat up, reaching for a shattered piece of window to check her reflection. She had always had features that were not exactly angelic; her animal-like eyes and her fangs. But now she looked unlike anything she had ever seen. Her eyes were almost completely violet, but their irises were now rimmed in a vibrant, startling blue. There were no whites in her eyes at all. Black and white markings trailed down her cheekbones and neck, and down her arms. The white rose designs mingled with the black snake designs. Her ears were now slightly pointed. Her skin was pale as fresh fallen snow, and her lips were red as fresh spilled blood.

“I am Azlynn,” she said, so softly that it was hard to tell if she had spoken at all. She rose to her feet, feeling more graceful, powerful, and deadly than she had ever felt before. “I become more myself,” she said, in answer to Lawson’s tentative question. Her voice rang with power; and it sounded like summer melded with winter. The purest angel, and one of the first and most cruel demons ever created.

She barely needed to cast out her senses to know where Charlotte was. The Qurtem in her body called to Azlynn’s own blood. “I see her. I can get us there. No, not you William.” She cut off Lawson’s unspoken question. He looked startled. “I have to go! That’s my little sister! I got her into this!”

“You will not be able to pass through that gate and live,” Azlynn said. “You have neglected your magic for too long. To survive a journey like this you have to be an avid magic user. A strong one. Drew I’m not even sure you should go.”

“Fuck that,” Drew yelped, in his human form again. “I’m fucking going with you.”

Azlynn shrugged. “Suit yourself.”

“So, where exactly are we going?” Dante asked. He was the only one who seemed unfazed by her transformation. Azlynn met his eyes. “A place not really meant for the living.”



“How did we get here?” Dante asked, glancing around the misty, gray realm.

“I flew us here,” Azlynn said.

“Where is here?” Drew asked.

“It’s an in-between place; on the edge of Purgatory,” Azlynn explained. “Stay close to me; if you get lost in here you’ll never find your way out again.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Drew muttered. He shifted into his tiger form and stalked along beside Azlynn and Dante, his ears alert.

“Why would McNitt bring her here?” Dante asked.

“Demons can manipulate these pockets of space to suit their own whims. The veil between realms is thin in places like this; but not so thin that they’re easy to penetrate. Only demons, and a few very powerful angels, can get through. You two would never have been able to get here if you weren’t with me, and Charlotte could only get in because McNitt brought her here.”

“So you’re our ticket into all the cool demon clubs. I’ll remember that,” Dante quipped. “So, what was with the trance earlier, and all the new body mods?”

“I had to let my inner demon wake up,” Azlynn said quietly. “I’ve been suppressing my powers from my father’s side my whole life. In order to get us here I had to unleash them.”

“Are you all right?”

“Yes.” I think so, anyway. “This particular Veil belongs to Leviathan,” she went on. “That’s probably why McNitt brought her here specifically. Leviathan rules this realm, so no other demon can touch it or alter its reality.”

“Very good, Azlynn.” McNitt’s voice and slow applause echoed in the stillness. There was a gust of wind, and then they were cast into darkness. A light flickered dimly through the shadows, and they could see McNitt sitting on a large stone chair that resembled a medieval throne.

“Gabriel trained you well,” McNitt sneered.

“How come he can manipulate this reality?” Dante asked, watching McNitt with hatred in his eyes.

“Oh, I admit I can’t do much,” McNitt said. “Leviathan only gave me a little bit of room to play here.”

“If you use it well, do you get a cookie?”

“I suggest you watch your mouth, Weredragon.”

“I suggest you go fuck yourself.”

“Where is Charlotte?” Drew was human again, but his eyes still looked wild and he still had his claws extended.

“Drifting along the river by now, I expect.”

Drew and Dante looked confused, but Azlynn stiffened.

“Quit bullshitting me,” Drew demanded. “Where is she?”

“It’s a shame, really,” McNitt continued, ignoring him. “Leviathan put her up against thirteen of his best demonic skin walkers. She did remarkably well; I must admit I was impressed. She made it all the way to the last round. But of course, Leviathan was always known for his tricks. He saved his most powerful for last. Of course by then she was quite exhausted, but she still put up a wonderful fight. I blame Tedantrios, really. He taught her those ancient spells, but he didn’t teach her how to be ruthless enough to use them. Miss Lawson did not, sadly, use those dark spells often enough to be wholly prepared, and in this sort of work you have to be prepared for everything. I’m quite disappointed that Leviathan played it that way. Miss Lawson would be an exceptionally valuable asset to out cause.”

“Stop your blathering!” Drew snarled, a spark of desperate rage flashing in his eyes. “Tell me where she is!”

“You dumb feline, I thought I had made that quite clear,” McNitt said. “She’s dead.”

The silence that followed his words reverberated like a gunshot.

“You’re lying!” Drew burst out. He lunged for McNitt, only to be slammed hard against the ground when McNitt flicked his wrist. “See for yourself, kitten boy,” he drawled. The darkness receded as dim light filled the simple room they were standing in. Azlynn tensed. The room was littered with the bodies of hideous, disfigured creatures. No doubt created by Dark Mages under Leviathan’s tutelage.

But it was the flash of bright red hair amid the carnage that drew all their eyes.

“No!” Drew ran to Charlotte’s side, sinking to the floor as his knees gave out. He gripped her shoulders and shook her. “Charlotte, wake up! Wake up! Charlotte!” He choked. The veins beneath Charlotte’s skin were black, a startling contrast against skin that was far too pale. And she was frightfully still, looking like Gothic doll. Her caramel colored eyes remained closed, no matter how much Drew shook her.

“Fuck,” Dante whispered. Drew kept whispering Charlotte’s name over and over. Sorrow rolled off of him in waves.

“Father,” Azlynn whispered, voice laced with acid. “I’m going to kill you.”