Dark Descent (Codex Blair Book 3) Read online

  "I would but Fall again, tempted by one such as you," he said with a shake of his head.

  That surprised me—I did not know the story of his Fall, though I dearly wanted to ask it of him. Had he Fallen for a woman? I had to wonder at what type of woman could cause an Angel to Fall. She had to be one hell of a woman.

  "The temptations of the flesh can be resisted. You must have done so once. You were not always Fallen."

  His eyes flickered to me before they moved back to Emily. "You are not bound by the rules I was, so you cannot possibly understand what it was like to Serve."

  "I am in the Service of our Lord even now, lest you forget, Fallen."

  He smiled. "Ah, but surely you are aware that the rules are different for you mortals."

  She frowned, pursing her lips.

  "Perhaps you shouldn't debate something like that? Neither of you are going to agree with the other," I said, moving to stand closer to them.

  Emily bobbed her head. "It is a topic for another day. I believe you will find your way Home, Fallen. There is room in His heart for you yet. But Blair is right, we should let this rest for the moment. She said that you wanted to meet me?"

  "Yes. It would appear that you are the requirement for Blair to attend a specific function, though I am sure it is something you would not wish to be a part of, so perhaps you could persuade her to go alone," he said, moving to sit on the couch. He spread his arms wide to rest on the back of the couch, crossing one leg over the other so that one ankle rested on the other knee. A perfect picture of male virility.

  I rolled my eyes.

  Emily tilted her head to one side, looking at me. "And what function is this? If it includes your company, then no, I do not think I can refuse to attend. She must be protected."

  My eyebrows rose at that. "Does no one think I am capable of taking care of myself?"

  "No," they said in unison. And then a miracle happened: they smiled at each other.

  "Blair, you are dear to me, but you almost died at Tyburn Tree, and you told me about your excursion this past summer. You have a knack for getting into near death experiences," she said. "I cannot stand by while you associate yourself with one such as him. So long as you intend to keep up this relationship, and so long as the Lord does not guide me to end it, I will do what I can to protect you from him."

  "Protect her from me?" Mal laughed. "I am the one keeping her safe from others."

  "You cannot truly expect me to believe that you can keep her safe from yourself. You are a threat to all that come near you, most especially those who practice magic."

  Mal looked to me again, and my eyes widened.

  “Do not tell her!”

  “Rest easy, love, I will not spill your secret. I can see what she means to you.”

  I let out a breath of relief, then panicked for a brief moment as I waited to see if Emily had noticed anything suspicious. She did not seem aware of what had transpired, though, she merely waited for a response from Mal.

  "You have a point, Paladin. I have designs on her, much as you do. We shall see who wins," he said, lifting an eyebrow as if in challenge.

  She tilted her head down, then back up, slowly.

  "Are...are you two fighting over me? Is that what's happening here?" I gaped at the two of them, unable to believe what was happening.

  "I believe we were agreeing to let it play out as it will," Mal said, looking to me. "Which would indicate that neither of us are going to do any fighting."

  "I cannot believe this," I said beneath my breath, stomping into the kitchen to fix myself a drink. I needed one if I was going to have to deal with the two of them getting along. Good Lord, who had expected that?

  "So, will you come?" Mal was talking to Emily again.

  "You never told me what the function will be. I cannot agree to something I do not know anything about."

  "It's a formal party. For demons. What more is there to know?"

  "Who will be in attendance? Other Fallen, or mere demons? What is the reason for this party, if there is one, and is there reason beyond the obvious that I should be concerned for Blair's safety?"

  He sighed. I walked out of the kitchen with drink in hand to see him glaring at her.

  "A multitude of demons will be in attendance, but I will be the only Fallen there. It is abnormal for us to attend such functions, as they are rather...low class," he said, making a face. "The only reason I am attending is for the opportunity to catch the succubus. There is a high likelihood that she will attend, as this will be just her type of affair."

  "What does that mean?" I looked up from my drink sharply, zeroing in on Mal's face.

  He sighed. "I had hoped to leave it a surprise. It's a burlesque party. It will be very...enjoyable."

  Emily coughed, looking at me with wide eyes. "You intend to go to this?"

  I frowned, chewing on the inside of my cheek. "If it's our best chance of catching the succubus, I don't see how I cannot go."

  She looked like she wanted to wring my neck just then, and I took a step back towards the kitchen, looking from her to Mal and back again. "I think I might need some of that protecting," I said.

  It was a joke, and I knew that Mal knew it, but he was at my side with a hand wrapped around my waist before I could blink. He tilted his head to the side, so that it brushed against my hair.

  "If you do not wish to attend, Emily, I can assure you that I will be keeping a very close eye on her. Of course, I would prefer the opportunity to keep my eyes on you both," he said, practically purring the words.

  I shoved an elbow into his gut, grinning when he gasped for air.

  "Don't be a tool, Mal. She can decide for herself if she wants to come."

  "As I said, I cannot stand idly by while you associate yourself with a Fallen," she said with a heavy sigh. "So, it would appear I will be in attendance as well."

  Mal grinned savagely. "Oh, this will be quite the experience after all."

  26

  The two of them cleared out of my house shortly thereafter, and I was left alone. Which is not a bad thing to me, I truly enjoy being alone. I settled onto the couch with my recently refilled drink, sipping it and letting the effects wash over me.

  I didn't have long to relax though, because a knock sounded at my door a moment later.

  With a sigh, I put my drink on my table and walked across the small living room to open the door. Raven stood on the other side, human, looking stern.

  "What did I do wrong this time?"

  "Have you done your exercises today?"

  I glowered at them. How did they know? How did they always know?

  "No, I haven't," I said, taking a step back and waving them in. Once they were inside, I shut the door and double checked the enchantments. They were in place.

  I would never stop worrying that they would go down at a moment’s notice, and that someone would break in again. That was how Aidan had been taken, or at least, that's what I assumed had happened. I didn't know if the wards had failed or if brute force had beaten them down, all I knew was that people had got in when they shouldn't have been able to, and he had been taken and killed. As a side effect of that, I was always working on strengthening the wards that kept me safe, never resting or assuming that they were 'good enough.'

  "You know you are supposed to do these every morning and every night, until they become second nature to you."

  "I know, I know, but I had a lot of stuff to do today, and I was..." I almost said that I was going to, but it would be a lie and I couldn't get the words out. "I suppose you've come here to make me do the exercises?"

  "That too, but it has also been brought to my attention that you intend to go to a party hosted by demons. Please tell me my information is incorrect," they said, their eyes a slash of anger.

  I wilted under their gaze, something only they could successfully make me do on a regular basis.

  "Well, um...yeah, it's true. But only because the succubus might be there, and we have to try a
nd catch her. Please tell me some part of you understands that?" I sounded like a child asking permission to go out from their parent, but that was actually how I felt around Raven a lot of the time. Like I needed their permission to do things, or else I would be grounded.

  Most of the time they left me alone to do my own thing, but they had become very protective around me once Mal had become a regular thing.

  Kind of like Emily.

  Did no one trust me to make good decisions?

  Says the girl with a demon mark on her wrist, I thought. OK, I made some good points. I didn't make the best decisions, but I was still standing, that had to count for something.

  "It is not a good idea for you to attend, Blair, surely you must see that."

  "It's not that big a deal, Raven. Emily is going to be with me, and you've seen her in action. She wouldn't let anything happen to me."

  They looked away for a moment, seemingly contemplating whether that was good enough. I couldn't believe I was essentially telling Raven that I was going to have a chaperone and that was why they didn't have to worry about things. But if it was the only way to get through to them, I was going to have to take it.

  "I do not like it."

  "You and me both. I'm not saying this is something I want to do, but I am saying this is something I feel needs to be done. Why are you so cautious about me and demons?"

  "Because you are marked, and you are having difficulties controlling the mark. It is dangerous for you to be around them, I believe your exposure to Malphas only increases the effects of the mark."

  "No, that's silly, he's helping me. And besides, the mark means that none of the other demons are going to mess with me. So, really, it's a good thing I have it."

  It sounded like a bad excuse even to my ears, but I didn't quite know what else to say to them. They made sense; what good would a demon be in lessening the effects of their own creation? I didn't want to think that Mal was being sneaky and making things worse, and I truly believed that he was helping me, but it was hard not to let doubt seep in when Raven was making points like that.

  "Come on, let's just work on the exercises. You're concerned about me being around demons, so why don't we work on something specific to that?"

  They frowned, but eventually nodded their head. "I believe I have the perfect scenario to run you through."

  I didn't like the sound of that, but anything was better than trying to argue with them. There was no way I could win.

  We walked down to the basement, and I took my seat in my customary spot. It had become almost a ritual at this point, to work with Raven. They wanted it to become second nature to me to do it on my own, but it was so much easier when they were there. Besides, I couldn't do some of the things they wanted without them there—I could practice defence against someone getting past my shields without someone to spar with. All I could do was try and control the rage inside, and that was hard.

  I suppose that was the point.

  They took their seat opposite me.

  "What are we going to do?"

  "Open your mind," they said, instead of answering me.

  I did as I was told, as I always did with Raven. I had never doubted that they had my best interests at heart—Raven had opened their life to me when we had first met, so that I could see who they were and know that I could trust them. At the end of the various different memories of theirs I had observed, I had seen a multitude of their forms, and they had all knelt before me. They had called themselves Guardian, and I believed them.

  I felt the effects of Raven's magic, and then I was in an empty room, standing in the centre.

  The world was black and white, but slowly coloured in, and at the same time various different forms appeared. They looked like your run of the mill human, but knowing Raven, they were anything but.

  And then all at once a fight broke out.

  Standing in the centre of the room, there was no way for me to avoid it. I knew that they were testing my control, to see what I would do surrounded by temptation. The demons at the party later would all be feeding into the mark, urging the rage inside of me to grow, whether they intended to or not.

  This fight was a way of simulating that.

  I tried to run to a side of the room, to get out of the way, but someone grabbed me by the waist and threw me back to the centre, where various different people were slamming into one another. Magic flew overhead, brilliant flashes of red and blue and black and purple. I knew that I needed to get away from this if I had a hope of proving myself to Raven.

  "Fight!" One of them snarled at me, throwing dark energy at me.

  I danced to the side, narrowly avoiding the bolt, eyes wide and frenzied. I didn't know if I could be hurt in this dreamscape, but I didn't want to find out. Every other time we had practiced, I had been roughed up but otherwise OK. If Raven had something to prove, though, there was no saying that they wouldn't hurt me to do it.

  "I'm not going to," I said, panting as I dodged another bolt of energy.

  "You have to," the man said, grinning at me.

  I felt it, then, the burning of the mark against my skin, the call to do battle. Of course, Raven was inside my mind, they could make me feel whatever they wanted to, and I was powerless to stop them.

  Was I?

  I forced myself to concentrate, taking in one deep breath after the other, all the while dancing to one side and then back to avoid the bolts of energy. The goal was not to win, or even to come out alive, I was fairly certain. The goal was to maintain control of myself. If I allowed myself to be egged on by the fight, then Raven would know that I could not go to the party and keep myself contained.

  I pushed the rage down, visualising it as a flame that was slowly being choked to death. I could fight this, I knew I could.

  And then a bolt of dark energy caught me by the waist—I hadn't been paying attention. It sent me spinning across the room, slamming me into a wall. I fought for air, fought to bring my thoughts to some semblance of coherency, but it was hard. The mark on my wrist called to me, told me that it could bring everything to heel if I would only embrace it.

  It was temptation.

  It was a demon's mark.

  With a scowl, I shoved the thoughts aside and forced myself to breathe. In and out, in and out. I could do this.

  "I'm not giving in!" I shouted to no one in particular, knowing that Raven would hear me. They would have to, seeing as they were in my mind. I didn't even have to say it aloud, I was sure, they would know what I was thinking.

  Well, I'm thinking they're a rat bastard.

  Another bolt of energy came for my head, and I scrambled to the side to avoid it.

  So, I was right, they knew what I was thinking while I was in here.

  I kept moving, dodging bolts of energy left and right, narrowly avoiding a wave of fire that chased me around the room, and doing my best to tamp down the need inside of me to fight back. I had never been one to run from a fight, it was a foreign concept to me, but that's exactly what I was doing here. I knew that if I were to take up arms, there was no saying I could stop myself from using the power that Mal had given me.

  I slammed myself into a corner of the room, breathing heavily.

  "Aegis!" I hastily drew a shield around myself, watching as energy bounced off it immediately. I panted for a few seconds, happy to be safe from further attacks. I concentrated on my breathing now, beginning to visualise the rage again, forcing it to go lower and lower until it was something that I could squash.

  And then it was gone. And so was the world around me.

  I found myself sitting in front of Raven, shaking and swaying back and forth, covered in sweat, but in one piece.

  "Told. You. So." I pushed each word out between breaths.

  They smiled.

  "Again."

  27

  I was not prepared for the hedonistic party before me.

  Mal had insisted that we dress the part, and while I had made some concessions, Emily had f
lat out refused. She wore her armor as a point of pride, sword slung over her back, a picture of fierce determination that would not back down no matter how came at her. The sight of her took my breath away, she never looked more beautiful than when she was blazing with glorious purpose.

  I, on the other hand, was wearing a dress. Not quite slinky, but close, it was a black gown that reached my ankles on one side, but had a dramatic thigh high slit on the other. I had not chosen it out of any desire for sex appeal, but for ease of access to my weapons should I need them. I wore my harness beneath the dress, which was just flowing enough to hide the belt strapped around my waist so that it didn't bulge unattractively. The holster on my right thigh was very much visible—I didn't believe in hiding who I was.

  My platinum blonde hair was half up, curling around my neck to fall down one shoulder. I had enlisted Emily to help me with my makeup, an experience which had been surprisingly intimate.

  The look on Mal's face when he had seen me had been worth the trouble; it was rare that I could surprise him, but it would appear that I had done it this time.

  As soon as we got off the elevator—which Mal had told me was spelled to put up with magical energy—and stepped into the penthouse where the party was taking place, all eyes turned to us. Or rather, to Emily. There was no mistaking who or what she was, and the nerves of every demon present were very obvious. Mal was stationed between Emily and me, and he threw an arm around either of our shoulders as he walked us into the room.

  If he had announced that she was his to protect, he couldn't have been any more obvious.

  The bubble burst as soon as we walked, and various different demons swarmed on us, a thousand questions coming to light.

  "What is she doing here?"

  "Have you finally tainted a paladin?"

  "No, it's impossible, you can see the holiness shining from her."

  "How did you manage it?"

  They were all directed at Mal, as if we were there but not quite there. I shot a look over Mal's shoulder at Emily and found an amused expression on her face.

  "I am here, capable of hearing you. You would do well to remember that," she said to the group at large, and a hush fell over the crowd as she spoke.