Runes of Mortality_A Reverse Harem Urban Fantasy Read online

  “To fly, spread your wings out and think of flying. It is that easy. Once you are up, just think of where you wish to go,” he says, and his wings spread out, lifting him into the air. He floats with his wings flapping as he waits for me. Come on, Evie, it’s just flying. No big deal. I look at my wings and think of them spreading out, which they do, and then I think of flying up in the air. My wings slowly flap, once and then twice, before they shoot me up into the air, and I keep going up. I scream as I keep flying up, and then start spinning in circles. I can’t think straight as I try to make them stop in my mind, but nothing happens. Fuck.

  “Slow down! Think of slowing down!” I hear Danike shout as the wind batters against my face, and I feel myself spiralling out of control. I think of slowly flying, balancing in the air, and I finally slow down, flying gently in a circle. I sway as I try to shake off the dizziness from all the spinning as my wings fly me around. A cold hand clamps on my arm, stopping me from flying in circles, and I follow the hand to see Danike flying next to me.

  “Good. Now this way,” he instructs and lets me go. I imagine myself flying slowly after him, and surprisingly it works. I fly right behind Danike as we turn left and then fly down a little. A massive cloud comes into view, and Danike flies right into it. I have nowhere else to go, so I follow him in, slowing my wings down a little in case there is anything to bump into. There is nothing but white cloud for a long time until I come out the other side and see a small village in a cloud. All the houses are white and ancient, there is white grass surrounding them and a water fountain in the middle. It looks like ancient Greece, at least the pictures I’ve seen online of it. There are even some statues of angels in the far distance near the bigger houses. I glance to my left as someone flies up to Danike, but her eyes stay on me. Another angel. She is stunning with long white hair and a white dress like mine on her. I bet this dress is hers. The angel is much shorter than we are, and she looks concerned as she glances at Danike. Her wings are massive, even larger than Danike’s and have a silver shine to them that matches her silver eyes.

  “Who is she?” the woman asks, her question fearful and nervous.

  “Evie. She appeared at the border last night. She doesn’t know who her father is, but he must have been one of the last on earth. I need your help to remember her past,” he replies just as I get to his side and think of my wings just floating me in place. Thank god it works, or I would look like an idiot falling.

  “Does she know she is stuck here?” the angel asks. “She doesn’t look like she is having a mental breakdown about being trapped forever.”

  “Yes, she knows and seems to think she can escape. I’m sure Evie will come to realise the truth soon enough,” Danike replies smoothly.

  “I am right here, and I am getting out of here,” I state firmly, even if I don’t have a clue as to how I’m going to accomplish that. The angel smiles at me, running her eyes over my body and back up again.

  “Maybe she knows something we don’t. Either way, this place is boring, and it will be fun to have someone new around. Come on then, Evie.”

  With that, she shoots down towards the houses in the blink of an eye. I have to learn how to move that quickly, it’s awesome. Danike quickly follows after her, and I make my wings move, flying me down in the direction they went. I look around, seeing no one outside the houses, and everything is so still other than the sound of my wings moving as I get closer to the ground. Where is everyone?

  I fly to the house that Danike and the angel land outside of, wondering how to land in the graceful way they do. I think about to how they landed, and know it can’t be that hard. I think of landing on the clear patch of white grass I spot in front of the house, and my wings start to slow down. I land with a thud, rolling across the grass and feeling bruises everywhere, plus what I’m pretty sure is grass burns on my legs.

  “Fucking hell,” I mutter as I cough out some of the white grass in my mouth. Hearing someone laugh, I look up to see Danike and the angel watching me from the door, the angel bent over laughing with her hair covering her face. I try not to be completely intimidated by the very gorgeous woman as she laughs at me, but it’s hard. If we were back home, I would likely make her a friend of mine. She is stunning, and I wonder if she has some kind of natural draw to her. It might be her power, for all I know. The odd thing is how the angel looks at Danike, like he has the drawing nature when he doesn’t one bit. Danike doesn’t even seem to notice her at all by the looks of it. Even the gorgeous women can’t always get the guy it seems.

  “Totally clueless, isn’t she? I think I love it and her,” the angel laughs even more. Even her laugh is beautiful, and I don’t even like girls. Dammit, I feel like the ugly duckling right now.

  “I believe her death in Hell unlocked her wings for the first time. Her father must never have met her to unlock them before,” Danike muses. “I wonder if she will have any other powers.”

  “Well, I am looking forward to seeing who her father is. I bet it’s Aniker, he was always a bit of a player after what you told me, and you said he loved demons. She is clearly half demon with that beautiful hair,” the angel states, waving a hand at me. The blue hair, of course, is making her think I am a demon.

  “I’m half Protector,” I explain as I stand up, wiping grass off me and looking at my runes on my arms. I call my healing mark to heal the bruises forming everywhere, but nothing happens. I frown, wondering what the hell is wrong now. I tap the rune a few times, knowing it won’t do anything, but it makes me feel better.

  “Protectors have a small bit of angel blood, and this place makes you need a lot of power to do anything. Your powers will not work here even as a half angel,” the angel informs me as Danike just strangely stares at me.

  “Great! No bacon, no weapons and now no runes! This place is fucking fantastic!” I grumble, and the angel laughs.

  “Why don’t you come inside, Evie?” she asks. “I don’t have any of those things, but I do have fruit freshly picked. It is lovely.”

  “What is your name?” I ask, avoiding rolling my eyes at the idea of anymore of their fruit. Choking some down last night was enough. I keep my eyes on Danike who looks like he has just seen a ghost or something as he stares at me. Did he not realise I was a Protector or something?

  “Charmeine,” she says, before opening her door and walking inside with Danike following right behind her after he snaps out of whatever trance he was in. I think of my wings disappearing, whispering the Latin phrase under my breath and watching my wings as they disappear this time. They disappear into black smoke, leaving a little black dust that falls to the floor. I’m surprised it’s not painful and that I can’t feel the wings leaving at all.

  “Evie?” I hear Charmeine shout for me. I look around at the ghost town once more before walking in the house, knowing I have plenty of questions I need the answer to. Like if this was a place all the angels in Hell came to, where are they all?

  Azi

  “Now, I am going to count to three, and if you don’t speak quickly, I will rip your throat out,” I growl, holding the whimpering demon in the air with my one hand. The demon shakes his head, still refusing to tell me what my brothers are up to. The demon is only young, with dark black hair and black eyes. I doubt his powers have even really come through yet as I bet he is about seventeen, and I have no intention of killing him…but I have to know what happened to get me here. One minute, the floor is falling through in my old home, no doubt a bomb of some sort by my brothers. The next thing I know, I’m waking up with what feels like the worst hangover as this demon drags me down the stairs of a basement. Where the fuck is Evie and those damn Protectors? If anyone has hurt her, the world will burn for it.

  “One,” I start, and he still refuses for a moment, until I start warming my hand up with fire. As his neck burns lightly, he screams and screams, wriggling to get free. Not that I am really hurting him. Not yet anyway.

  “Okay!” he finally shouts, and I let him drop
to the floor. The demon stares up at me, fear-filled eyes darting around the room as he rubs his throat with his hand.

  “I haven’t got all day,” I snap, feeling impatient.

  “They are kidnapping all your brothers and a few demon experimenters who work in a lab I don’t know much about. I don’t know what they are doing, I swear. My father only told me to lock you in here, and then you woke up early…” he squeaks the last part out. Shit, this is bigger than I thought. I need to find Evie and get Hali.

  “You tell my brothers everything went fine. That I’m locked down here. Understood?” I tell him, rubbing at my arm where there are several cuts that are only just healing. They took my blood, but why? I storm out of the basement of cages, all of them empty, and call a portal, the need to find Evie the only thing on my mind.

  I walk through the portal that leads me to an old, haunted house in the middle of New York City. My friend has lived here for centuries and never wanted to change the house, even as the high rises where built right next to it. It looks very odd in such a built-up city, but everyone knows a powerful demon lives here, and they aren’t stupid. The door opens and Lamia steps out, watching me closely but not inviting me in. She never has in all the years I’ve known her. Lamia looks like an old woman, and she wears rags even though money is not a problem for her. She also uses this appearance to come across as weak and helpless when she is anything but. People walk down the street in front of me as I slide my hands into my pocket, keeping eye contact with Lamia.

  “Azizi…what brings you to my door for the first time in hundreds of years?” she asks, her voice clear even though we are a far distance apart. I walk over to her house, stopping just outside her picket fence. I know I cannot step foot onto her land without paying a price, which many demons do not know. She smirks at me, knowing I wouldn’t fall for her trap like many others.

  “I need your assistance,” I answer.

  “An overlord needs my help? My, my…how things have changed,” she muses, laughing low.

  “I helped you once. You owe me, and demons always pay their debts,” I remind her.

  “This is true. Time moves so quickly these days, I forget the past and my debts at times,” she says, and I understand that. Lamia walks down the steps of her house, lowering her hood, and her empty eyes meet mine. Her eyes have no pupil, nothing but an off-white colour glazed across them. The street goes silent, and I look around to see she has frozen all the people walking down the street, the cars and everything. Nothing moves.

  “How can I assist you?” she asks.

  “Find someone. Her name is Evie, and she is the deadly assassin, helper of demons—”

  “Salvatore. I have heard her name whispered everywhere recently. Many look up to her for the future,” she says, her tone serious. “Many say she is the lost royal child of the Protector and she will be queen. Queen of the Protectors and demons.”

  “Then help me find her,” I ask, thinking over her words. She is fucking what? I don’t even have a clue what happened while I was out, but clearly a lot did. The queen of the Protectors? How can that even be possible? Her mother or father couldn’t have been a royal. Lamia places her hands over her ears, and she nods to me. Her white eyes glow brightly for only a second. The light is dazzling and so pure, much like it is said her power is meant to be, pure and endless, though I don’t always believe all the rumours. I wait for her to lower her hands after she seems like she is back from wherever she was.

  “Salvatore cannot be found by me. I already know it, so will you. She has died in Hell,” Lamia informs me, her voice cold and unfeeling. The shock rolls through me when I sense the truth in her words. Evie is gone, that’s why I cannot feel her. That’s why everything feels wrong.

  “No,” I shake my head, stepping back and feeling my anger take over. The floor starts melting as fire drips off my body, and my inner demon takes over. I can’t even think, not wanting to fight him if she is gone.

  “You must go to the Protectors if you wish for answers. They hold the key,” Lamia says, snapping me out of it a little to look at her in confusion. My inner demon slides back into the mental cage I keep him in, and the fire slows down into little embers that drip off my skin onto the floor.

  “Why would I care for anything if she is gone?” I ask, but I remember Hali and know I have to save her before finding out what happened to Evie and destroying those responsible.

  “Death is not the end for us all, overlord. You know this. I believe the Salvatore needs to return for her revenge soon. The Protectors are the key,” she tells me, filling me with a little hope as she bows her head and whispers, “Sempiternum daemonum futurum oriri.”

  “Demons will rise,” I repeat her words, but in English. Lamia means them in a show of respect as that’s what they were always used for. Now demons only whisper the saying, not understanding where it came from. I bow my head before turning and walking down the street, where people are now walking around like nothing just happened. Time to find those annoying Protectors and Hali.

  Evie

  “Come in, come in. I never see anyone these days, and never someone new!” Charmeine happily tells me, practically jumping on the spot as I walk into her house. Seems like falling out of the sky and spitting out grass has made her like me more. Go figure. Danike shuts the door behind me as I take in the simple room before me. There are two sofas, a fireplace much like Danike’s, and a white fluffy rug in the middle of them. There is a kitchen with what looks like white apples in a bowl on the side and a small table and chairs. There are white flowers in vases everywhere, and the whole place feels like a cosy home.

  “Why is everything white?” I ask.

  “We don’t actually know. See, I have only been up here for five hundred years and everything was white when I first came up. Not all the older angels like to talk, so it’s hard to find things out,” she says.

  “How long have some of you been here?” I ask.

  “Thousands of years,” Charmeine says, her voice tainted with sorrow. “Most of them left have been here that long. Danike, my sister and I are considered outsiders.”

  “How many are alive here?” I ask.

  “She asks a lot of questions, doesn’t she?” Charmeine asks Danike rather than answering me.

  “Unfortunately, yes,” he says, rubbing his jaw as he watches me. “There are thirty-two angels alive here.”

  “That isn’t a lot,” I muse, walking around the room.

  “Souls come…we cannot fight. We are not warriors like the angels that were on earth. We were sent to Hell to make peace with the demons…but we found only death instead,” Charmeine tells me, her silver eyes locking on mine. I’m sure there is far more to it than that, but I’m not sure if I want to know more right now. I came here to see my past, not deal with the past of the angels.

  “I want to see her past. That is why we are here,” Danike tells Charmeine who nods, looking me over.

  “Fine. It will hurt. Are you ready for that?” she asks carefully.

  “Pain is just pain, and this time the pain will be for something. I have never known who my parents are, which has always stuck with me. I only just found out about my mother…and I do not have the answers I need yet about my father,” I explain to her.

  “I never knew my parents either, and I only got trapped here when I heard rumour my sister was trapped in the stars of Hell,” she says sadly, somewhat making me like her a little bit more.

  “Was she here?” I ask.

  “Yes. My sister lives and will be back soon. She is much younger than us. Only a child when she was killed and came here. We age so very slow here that she is only a teenager now,” she tells me and looks over at Danike. “We should start, the memory will knock you out for the day and drain me. I do not want to still be under when it gets dark.”

  “Understood. Lie next to me, Evie,” Danike says, and walks into the lounge. He lies down on the fur rug, and Charmeine goes to kneel next to him. She looks up at me an
d pats the floor on her other side. I start to wonder if letting her put me to sleep is a good idea or not. I can’t fight when I’m not awake.

  “We will not hurt you. You are our kind, related to us in some way. We are the last of the angels, and we need to know who you are. You need to know who you are,” Charmeine says kindly, and I know she has a point. I don’t like the idea of being defenceless, but this is the only chance for the memories I need. I slowly walk across the room and lie on the floor next to her.

  “You may see some of Danike’s memories as his powers link you. It is normal,” she tells me, and I nod once. Charmeine places a hand on both Danike’s and my foreheads. Her touch is freezing cold as she starts chanting a language I do not understand. The room slowly fades away into a white light, a light that shines so bright that I cannot see anything but it as I can only hear Charmeine’s chanting. When the light fades a little and the chanting disappears, I pull myself up and sharply turn around, seeing nothing but a white room with nothing in it. The room spins rapidly, causing me to fall over even as I try to keep up. I close my eyes as the room spins and spins, a scream ripping out of my throat as my hands go to my head.

  “Open your eyes,” Danike’s voice comes to me, and as I do, the spinning suddenly stops. I see the gold fur rug I am seated upon first, spreading my fingers in it as everything stops blurring. I stand up quickly, pausing at the sight of a man leaning over a woman in her bed. The bed is huge, and the frame looks like it is made out of solid gold that is decorated in runes. There are gold coloured curtains, a solid gold dressing table and one beautiful painting on a wall. The painting is of a dark-haired woman kneeling on gold grass as a gold light blasts off her body.

  “Open your eyes. I miss seeing the beauty in them, Eella,” the man says softly, and I step closer, seeing that it is Danike, hidden in a white cloak. I don’t recognise the soft tone in which he speaks to the woman he looks down at. The woman in the bed sharply sits up, wrapping her small arms around Danike’s shoulders as they kiss, her long dark hair hiding her face from me. When she pulls back, I see her runes on her face, her blue eyes and her long black hair. Her large pregnant stomach comes into view, and I just know who she is. It is like finding someone you have always known is just there but never seen. She is my mother.