Chapter 17

17

I spent the next few days in Heaven. And in bed. And in the tub. And…

You get the point. I got fucked every which way from Sunday and I loved it. Even better, so did my grim reapers.

I'd never seen Cain so relaxed and even smiling! He also warmed up to Clover, especially once he decided my dog needed training after a sojourn into Topiia where we encountered demons and my dog, while barking to warn us, then chose to hide behind me. Within a week, Cain had Clover trained to go after demonic ankles and throats.

We did a few missions for the guild during that time. Despite us checking in regularly via the mirror, things were quiet. Too quiet? I wanted to believe the worst was over. However, I knew better. Call it instinct, call it the calm before the storm, I knew the shit would hit the fan soon.

Back at the castle, Mizuki had been making slow progress with the translation of the books. I'd hoped the fact I could understand Xiamo, the man from Topiia, would mean I could do the same with the texts. It worked and didn't. I could read some of them, slowly, while dictating into a microphone, however, I didn't have the time or patience to do more than a few pages a day. I had better stuff to do, like living my best sexual life.

A desperation pulsed inside fueled by my impending sense of doom. Therefore, when Mizuki buzzed the hand mirror we used for communication and said simply, "I found something interesting," I jumped at the chance for a distraction that wasn't sex. My pussy could use the rest.

We left Clover with Isadora—who spoiled my dog something fierce—and used our talismans to portal. It gave me a chance to chat with Fay, so she didn't feel neglected. Not that I'd forgotten about her. We conversed each time I entered the Continuum, me asking questions, her answering. Some things she proved vague about, like her past— I don't recall. It's not important. I'd rather not —but on other topics, she actually had interesting things to impart. I already knew vampires were demon prince progeny but what of the rest?

As Fay explained, The drones, the demons you know as the gray ones, are intersex and capable of reproducing at a rapid rate so long as they have an adequate food source. Hence why they are always traversing the dimensions to Earth and Topiia and other places. Given the drones can literally impregnate themselves, having even one can be disastrous which is why it's so important for the reapers and witches to locate their nests and destroy them before their population runs unchecked.

That kind of runs counter to what I've seen in Topiia, I remarked. For a place with no reapers or witches, they seem to be doing mostly okay.

Topiia has natural predators that have been keeping the demons from overrunning the place. Those you've come across had recently arrived and hadn't yet drawn notice.

I had to wonder what natural predator she meant. So I am curious, while the drones are intersex the demon wizards, or at least the one I met, are most definitely male. Hard to forget the sight of its grotesque prick.

Wizards and other higher-level demons are created when a demon prince, or their former lord, fertilizes one of the drones.

Fertilizes? My disembodied face grimaced. That's a gross way of putting it.

To them, sex isn't an intimate act but one necessary for procreation. They are all about increasing their numbers.

It was on my trip to the castle to visit Mizuki that I thought to ask, Why are some people on Earth born with magic but others aren't?

Because of their ancestors. Fay paused before admitting, Reapers came about as the result of women bearing demonic children.

The reply didn't entirely surprise me, but it did gross me out. Fuck off. Ew.

Yes, ew, Fay repeated. The couplings are usually violent and often end in death for the female, either because of the trauma of the coupling or the actual pregnancy itself. The progeny of these couplings, those that made it to adulthood, seeded a line and from that sprang the reapers. Their demon roots are why they can see through the fog.

But reapers don't look like demons, nor are they anything like vampires, I pointed out.

Because the blood of drones, even wizards, is weak and so the human side dominates.

That explains reapers, what of witches?

Their origin is a bit murkier. There are some who say the witches have always been around.

I heard the doubt in her claim. You don't sound like you believe that.

There is a book in the library, a diary by a monk, that speaks of a woman of uncommon beauty and strange abilities. She was found on their doorstep, emaciated and injured. They nursed her back to health and in thanks, she used magic to repair their chapel.

What makes you think she's the origin of witches?

Because the man who fell in love with her claimed she'd told him she came from a different world. She fled lest she die. Before she left the monastery she bore a child for the monk, a girl who came into her power as a teen. She could wield the elements and do miracles.

What was her name?

Unknown. The monk explained in the diary that he kept her anonymous to protect her because once her powers became known, the girl was hunted.

Killing that which they didn't understand. A common theme throughout history.

No, it was more that people coveted that ability for their own.

If reaper magic is of demon origin and the witches from some strange lady, how is it messovenatas have both?

Because sometimes the right circumstances occur, the right people meet, the planets align… I could almost feel Fay's shrug.

Meaning messovenata is a fluke of nature.

Essentially, yes.

So my parents were…

Most likely regular people who just happened to produce a rarity.

Anything else I should know?

The blood of a messovenata, because it has both sides, flows with sangual, making it powerful. Hence why it is so important you are not captured by the wrong sort.

In other words, stay away from the demons or they'll use me.

Exactly.

Thanks for the info. Guess I'd better go see what's got Mizuki in a tizzy.

Be careful, Fay warned for the first time since we'd started talking. Before I could ask why, we were on the dais in the woods.

Cain and Vance didn't say anything about the voice. They never heard her. No one else spoke to Fay and at times I wondered if she even existed.

The reapers on guard duty didn't harass us as we headed for the castle. Pods of men trained outside, their blades gleaming in the sunlight as they went through the motions. Asher had been recruiting heavily of late, but would these new troops be ready in time? Time was running out, I could feel it in my bones.

While Asher increased the reaper ranks, I knew Nova had the witches scrying for more women with magic. Alas, they proved much harder to find. Potential witches didn't have a demon test they could pass like the reapers. With the men it was easy. Can you see that bald gray bastard? Good. You have what it takes. But witches… I still remembered doubting my magic. Thinking there had to be an explanation. Add to that fact witches emitted a sort of scent that attracted demons and they were hard to find before they got killed. The lack of success meant we wouldn't be able to count on much magic in a big battle.

As we entered the castle, people mostly ignored us, busy with their tasks. Nova's office door was closed, and I didn't bother knocking. While we'd patched our relationship, I no longer trusted her like I used to.

Mizuki must have been watching for our arrival because she came flying out, cheeks flushed with excitement. "About time you arrived."

"I came as fast as I could."

"Not fast enough," she muttered mysteriously. "Come with me." She hooked her arm in mine, but when the boys would have followed, she shook her head. "Why don't you go see your boss while Sadie and I have a chat."

Cain got his grumpy face on, but Vance nodded. "We'll see you shortly."

I didn't get to watch the nice view of their asses as they left because Mizuki dragged me to her room. The moment the door closed, she huffed, "You won't believe what I found!"

"Please say it's how to close the demon portals for good."

She shook her head. "I wish! No, this has to do with the last messovenata. She was having an affair with a demon!" When I didn't react, she accused, "You already knew?"

"Yeah, kind of. I had a dream which I thought was just my imagination."

"And didn't tell me?"

I shrugged. "Didn't realize it was true. Then again, at the time, I didn't know demons and humans could get together."

"What? No! Gross!" Mizuki shook her head hard.

"Apparently, it's more common than you think." I paused before relaying my info from Fay. "Reapers are part demon."

Mizuki blinked. "Oh, that's unexpected."

"Is it really, though? I mean, it explains why they can see through the fog."

"I guess it does." She frowned. "But witches can't see demons."

"Because witches aren't demon spawn. According to Fay, our magic might be from some woman from another dimension."

"What else did Fay tell you?"

"That the grays, those she calls drones, are capable of being male or female, and like to make babies. Lots of them."

"Hunh, guess that explains why they multiply so quickly. Does that mean they can impregnate themselves?"

"Yes, which would explain why they're so stupid." Then because I couldn't resist, I adopted a dull monotone to say, "This is my sister who is my daughter and also my brother and my son."

Mizuki made a face. "Ew. I think that might be worse than incest."

"No shit. Back to this reaper witch with the demon boyfriend. Did this book mention if he was a prince by any chance?" Because in my dream, the man was attractive and definitely not gray or gross.

"I don't know. The messovenata only ever called him?—"

"Ethan."

My reply rounded Mizuki's mouth. "You already knew?"

"Again, it was in the dream I had. I must have picked up on some residual memory left behind in the cave." A year ago, I would have called myself crazy for even suggesting it.

"Well, as you can imagine, they kept their affair hush-hush. The messovenata worried because she knew the witches and reapers would never understand."

"Mortal enemy and all that."

"Exactly. Anyhow, she and this demon were supposed to be working on a peace plan, but for it to work, they needed to get rid of Moloch."

"Who was proving difficult to kill, so they lured him out of his fortress using her as bait."

Again, she eyed me before accusing, "You already know the story."

"Not all of it. My dream ended with them doing the horizontal tango. But I'm guessing it must have worked since Moloch ended up in that prison dimension. Does she say how she did it?"

"The diary ends with her going to play her part."

"Ends? Did she die?"

Mizuki rolled her shoulders. "No idea. Maybe one of the other books will have more details about what happened."

"Can I get a copy of the diary?"

Her lips turned down. "No. Nova confiscated everything I translated. Claimed she needed to study it."

That brought a frown. "Isn't that what you were doing?"

"I told her I was happy to take notes to give her a condensed version, so she didn't have to waste her time, but she insisted and then told me to keep hush-hush on what I deciphered."

"Why?"

Mizuki shrugged. "I don't know. It didn't make any sense to me either. I mean, the more we know, the better we can fight."

"Can we, though? Moloch once said to me that no weapon made on Earth could kill him. What if the princes are the same?"

"We eliminate demons all the time," Mizuki pointed out. And it was true. We slaughtered them easily but…

"The demons we've handled are drones or underlings. Nobodies. The princes are Moloch's direct descendants. If one of them came here, could we stop them?"

Mizuki's lips pursed. "A good question, and the answer is probably in that book that was translated that spoke about the different types."

"The one Nova confiscated." For some reason, it bugged me. Why not share the knowledge? How could knowing more about the enemy be bad? We should all be well informed so as to be able to fight.

Mizuki defended her actions. "I'm sure it's only temporary."

Was it, though? I had to wonder because to me it made no sense. At all. And it kind of peeved me off. Those were my books. Finders keepers and all that. I'd given them to Mizuki, not Nova.

With that thought in mind, I went marching to her office and knocked on the door to no reply.

Annoying. Apparently, Nova had gone out and not left word on when she'd return. Should I stick around stewing or go back home?

Home had Isadora's cooking and my puppy. I collected my boys and entered the Continuum. When Fay said, Back so soon?

I asked, Did you know there was a reaper witch who took a demon as a lover?

Yes. A curt reply.

Hold on, was that you? I should have guessed that given the dream had them meeting in that cave.

I told you I made a mistake. I trusted wrongly.

What happened? It seemed like the two of you were working on peace.

I was, but as I told you, demons lie. They will say anything to get what they want.

And what did he want? I asked.

To get Moloch out of the way. Fay paused. I didn't realize that he wanted his father gone so he could step in to take his place. By the time I realized the plan, it was too late.

I'm sorry. It had to suck to be fooled by love.

Don't be. The mistake was mine. I knew better than to listen to a demon. Especially a prince. I was fooled by his pretty face and false words.

How did you trap Moloch in that prison place? Because surely, what worked for the father might work for the sons.

Why does it matter?

Because I'm worried we won't be able to kill the demon princes if they cross. Especially the one calling himself emperor.

You won't be able to end their lives with an Earth-made weapon. They are impervious to fatal harm from anything but a chalum blade which is only found in Inferis.

What is chalum?

A special and rare metal that disrupts their healing ability.

And there's none on Earth?

No.

Meaning I might have to do what you did and try to trap them somewhere.

Only if you're ready to do so at the cost of your life.