Chapter 6

6

King Tanner and Princess Jasmin were both half demons, and half siblings, and along with Erin, children of the previous king of the underworld, Brikan.

Tanner was a handsome twenty-something man, tall and broad, with brown curls and smooth, tanned skin, and Jasmin was stunning. She had luscious red hair, lots of feminine curves, and an exquisite face. She wore a tight black and burgundy gown that seemed to have been sewn to her body.

As a half-siren, she exuded sensuality and charm.

I tensed when they approached our group. As the rulers of the underworld, they probably could tell me about the fiery pits.

I waited until they greeted everyone to turn to them.

I opened my mouth to ask them about it, but Drake beat me to it.

“Friends, please take your seats,” the lord of the castle said. “We’ll have dinner before business.”

Everyone spread out, taking their assigned places.

Maids brought out the first course, and the many vampires in the room got a big goblet filled with blood.

Once upon a time, that would have bothered me so much. But now I was used to it; I barely gave it a thought.

For some reason, as the courses were brought and empty plates were taken away, I started getting nervous. This meeting was supposed to be just to spread out information, to make sure no one fell for the angels’ trap, something that almost happened to the demon hunters, and it was Thea’s idea to use this meeting as an excuse to bring all of our friends and allies together.

But now that everyone was here, I felt tense.

Dessert was served—a delicious chocolate lava cake with caramel sauce—and as soon as most of the guests seemed done with it, Drake walked over to me.

He stopped behind my chair and whispered, “Ready?”

I nodded, though my nerves only increased.

I got up and walked with him to the center of the room, amid the five tables.

“Friends, we’ve called you all here tonight to see you all and have a good time,” Drake started, “but also to clarify some rumors and explain some things. And give you some warnings.” He gestured to me.

I cleared my throat. “Everyone here knows that five years ago I lost my wings and got stuck on Earth, since without wings, an angel can’t cross the portal to go back to Elysium.” I paused. “But that wasn’t the only reason. I couldn’t go back, because I knew the moment I stepped foot in Elysium, I would be captured and tortured … until I gave them the information they wanted.”

I saw many narrowed eyes, but I trudged on, and even though a few people in here had already heard everything, I told them all about it.

I started with my mission, that I wasn’t supposed to go—and now I knew why. The trap, the dagger, Molraz, my sword and my wings.

I briefly touched on meeting Farrah and Wyatt, Kayden and Daleigh, and so many others.

Then I slowed when I got to recent events: losing my powers to Paimon, being desperate about finding my wings and magic again. Summoning a wish-granting demon and trying to trick him to help me.

Getting my wings back, finding out my mentor, Ylena, had been behind it all, and no one had any idea. Slowly, she started gathering allies, who wanted to do the same things: to be stricter, to destroy all demons and most supernaturals, to make humans pay for being so careless and loving their free will.

I let them know that without a special item, Ylena couldn’t kill Adona and take over. However, she was now stuck in the underworld with Levi, and I had no idea what Rhodes was doing in her absence.

Another thing I had no idea about was how Adona was doing. Was she trapped? Locked away? Did she know what was going on? How were the other angels? How long would it be until everything exploded and chaos ensued?

“I know they are smart and ready for anything,” I said. “They tried scheduling a meeting with the demon hunters, and I’m pretty sure it was to either bring them to their side or kill them.”

Murmurs started and I saw many of my friends shaking their heads, as if they couldn’t believe this was happening.

Me neither.

“So, what do we now?” Erin asked. “I canceled the meeting, but they keep contacting us.”

“By now, with their failed attempts to silence Ariella and with Ylena gone, Rhodes and their allies probably suspect Ariella told us everything,” Drake said. “I doubt they will continue to bother you.”

Erin nodded.

“We think Elysium is at the brink of a civil war,” I said.

“One that will spill over to the human realm,” Drake added.

“Right.” I nodded. “And the first to be involuntarily involved in this war will be the demon hunters.” They were viewed as the supernatural police, old allies of the angels, who once upon a time helped them with evil and darkness in the human realm. “Then it’ll take over everyone and everything.”

“So, we stop them,” Shane suggested. “We go to Elysium, stop this Rhodes guy, and put an end to this rebellion.”

“Only angels with their wings can enter Elysium,” I reminded him.

“Right,” he muttered. “Then we create a trap for him here?”

“That’s on our list of possible outcomes,” Drake said. “Friends, my intention with this meeting was to make you aware of what’s going on, so you and your loved ones don’t fall prey to the angels. We’ll obviously do something, but we need more information and time to do so.” He looked at me. “Ariella and I will create a council, with one or two of each supernatural species, and we’ll assess the situation and come up with a plan about what to do. When we have a concrete plan, we’ll invite everyone here again.”

I frowned. Never would I have thought we would get to this point. Supernaturals rallying together to attack the angels.

What was wrong with this world?

Everyone nodded and muttered their agreements.

I looked at them all. “Thank you … for believing in me.”

Farrah scoffed. “Was that even a question?”

I smiled. “Well, angels are trying to paint me as the villain. One against them all. I guess my worries are warranted.”

“I see your point of view,” Raika said, “but I agree with Farrah. We would never doubt you.”

My heart swelled and the back of my eyes burned. I blinked rapidly, not wanting to cry in front of everyone.

“Now that this topic is out of the way,” Drake said, “please, let’s continue the festivities.”

He gestured to a set of doors opening and musicians carrying string instruments entered the room. They settled in a corner and started playing. To my surprise, it was a popular, modern song and it sounded beautiful this way.

Drake squeezed my forearm, looked into my eyes, nodded at me once, and then turned to his table, where he offered a hand to Thea. With a smile, she took his hand and let him guide her to the other side of the tables, where there was more space for dancing.

Several emotions filled my chest at that moment. Gratitude for Drake and his unyielding presence. He had organized this whole shebang, and it seemed he would be on my side no matter what. Relief for my friends who never doubted me or my innocence.

And jealousy upon seeing Drake and Thea together.

And then of Shane and Raika, Hazel and Sean, Luana and Keeran, and all the other couples who headed to the improvised dance floor.

I went back to my table, grabbed my goblet of white wine, and drank half of it in one go.

To my dismay, the three single princes, Dorian, Aston, and Gray, came to our table, and took Abbie, Maggie, and Lacey to dance.

I was alone.

But only for a moment.

I glanced at the table to the side and found Tanner and Jasmin still seated, talking among themselves in hushed tones.

With my glass in hand, I walked up to them. “May I sit?”

“Of course.” Tanner pulled out the chair beside his.

“How are you two doing?” I asked as I sat, trying to be polite.

“I would be better if this party had a lot of hot men I could cling to,” Jasmin said. She glanced at her brother. “Right?”

Tanner rolled his eyes. “She fed before coming here, but it’s still the only thing she talks about.”

“Well, we’re in a room full of beautiful, powerful supernaturals,” she said. “Can you blame me for being turned on? And when I’m turned on, I burn through the energy faster.”

As a siren, Jasmin needed to consume a male’s soul every few days to survive. I knew that Thea, Almae, and other witches had tried spells to keep her from killing her victims or even needing their energy.

But it had only backfired and made her sick for weeks.

“Ignore her,” Tanner said. “Good call on the meeting-slash-dinner. It has been a while since I have seen some of our friends.” He gestured to Lacey, Abbie, and Maggie. “And some I didn’t know.”

I had introduced the girls to them before but hadn’t gone into detail about it. “They’ve helped me out a lot in the past few weeks.”

“You’ve been through a lot,” Jasmin said. Though her words conveyed sympathy, her tone was indifferent.

“Yes, and I might need your help,” I said. Tanner raised his eyebrows. “You heard that Levi took Ylena to the underworld. I think he’s trapped there and I would like to get him out. And I thought?—”

Jasmin picked up her glass of champagne. “You thought we can just pluck him out of there.”

“Well, it’s probably not as simple as that, but as the rulers, you two probably know that place better than anyone and—” The two of them started laughing. I just stared, appalled. “Did … did I say something funny?”

“Not funny.” Jasmin took a deep breath to calm down and stop laughing. “Just painfully true.”

I was confused. “What?”

Tanner let out a deep sigh. “We took over four years ago, and we've barely explored ten percent of the underworld.”

“That’s what we were told,” Jasmin said. “If the underworld is bigger than our informant says, then it could be as little as five percent.”

“Or one percent,” Tanner said. “I don’t trust our informant that much.”

I opened my mouth, but nothing came out.

“Disappointing, right?” Jasmin found another glass of champagne and took a sip. “Believe me when I say, no one is as disappointed as we are.”

“I don’t say this to anyone, but it has been a … difficult reign,” Tanner admitted. “We are young and still newbies in a place we don’t know, filled with our enemies, who are hiding and waiting to strike.”

I didn’t know why I thought they would know the place, or at least maybe most of it. Shouldn’t the rulers know everything about their world? I had assumed …

“So, you have no idea what the fiery pits are? Where it could be?” I knew the answer, but I couldn’t stop the questions from coming.

“Sorry, Ariella, but we don’t,” Tanner said.

“But now that we know about your man and his evil mother, we’ll keep an eye out for him,” Jasmin said.

That didn’t sound like enough, but there wasn’t much I could do.

“Thanks,” I muttered. Slowly, I got up and my brain registered Jasmin’s words.

Your man.

I opened my mouth to tell her he was not my man, but then Tanner offered his hand to her. “Care to dance, dear sister?”

She looked at his hand, almost disgusted, but sighed. “Since there’s nothing better to do.”

I watched as the two of them joined the others for a dance.

Tyren had taken Almae to the dance floor, while Shade took Doreen.

I was the only one left.

My heart squeezed, thinking of Levi, and also of the other times I felt I didn’t fit in. I was the spare tire of our entire community.

I took a deep breath and reminded myself that wasn’t the case. I did fit in and my friends would help me, and somehow everything would be all right.

But right now, I didn’t feel like staying here.

I left the room and went to bed.