Page 19 of The Angel's Kiss
At first, the visions were of him standing by as he watched humans slaughter themselves. Others were of him whispering how to kill someone into another human’s ear. Lavish banquets he attended where he moved through the crowd, a seductive menace lending his ear and giving his advice to royals, clergy, and politicians on how to get what they wanted. I had a lot of curiosity about the demon. I wanted to know more, but I never told anyone about my erotic dreams, those were my little treasures. Besides, they wouldn’t understand me anyway since they already thought I was weird. Telling the others I dreamed of how sexy I thought a demon was would only make them treat me worse.
There was one vision in particular, though. It left me reeling, catapulting through a maze of emotions I couldn’t get out of. It made me conflicted. It was of my demon, lying in bed... crying. Balled up in a fetal position and crying so hard, I could feel it in his soul. I didn’t think demons had souls that could feel such torment. But he did. I reached to take him into my arms, kiss him and tell him it was going to be okay. Based on his clothes and the style of his bedroom, it didn’t seem like that was too long ago, maybe a century. He was so vulnerable. That dream has haunted me more than any other.
Darius knew of the visions I had of the demon when he was at war, but it wasn’t like he could help me avoid them. He couldn’t explain why I was still receiving visions, so he also had no advice to give other than for me not to be afraid of them. To embrace them. When I asked him about the demon in my vision, he only told me that he’d tell me one day when I was ready. Whatever the fuck that meant.
My alarm clock went off reminding me that I had training. I climbed out of bed to get ready for the grueling day ahead.
***
I charged at Darius, my sword relentless as I kept him on the defense. But then I made a mistake and he took advantage, punching me three times, knocking me to the ground. I groaned, then climbed back to my feet.
“Don’t get overconfident,” Darius said.
The next day after my sixteenth birthday, he’d taken over my training for the majority of my lessons. Something else that made the other Guards jealous was that I had such special attention from the Headmaster. Even other Guardians had something to say about it.
“Sorry, sir,” I said, then dabbed the blood from my split lip.
“Your techniques have improved, this is good,” Darius said.
I snorted. “With the way you just took me down, I can’t tell, sir.”
He smiled. “You will have eternity to hone your skills as long as you’re smart in every battle you face. No two demons fight the same. You must be able to adapt instantly.”
I nodded. “I understand.”
“That is enough for today. There is something I want to show you.”
We put our swords up, they were real because Darius felt like I needed to get used to fighting with steel. I followed him to achamber that had been forbidden to me in the past. He stood in the middle of the room and allowed me to take in everything. I looked at all of the paintings on the wall, large portraits of the Guardians and their Champions. And under each portrait was the mark of the Guardian. My eyes traveled to a blank space on the wall, but next to it was a portrait of a man who I recognized instantly.
He was the demon in my dreams and after I had sobered up that night, I knew he was also the man I’d met at the club when Marcel and I had snuck out on my sixteenth birthday. I walked over to the portrait and stared up at it. He was so captivating, I felt drawn to him, even his image. In the portrait, he was looking forward as he adjusted his tie. He was wearing a black suit with a black tie and a white shirt. There was a red broach on his suit jacket and he was also wearing a black ring on his ring finger. His hair was in the same style as before, but his eyes... those hypnotic indigo eyes held me engrossed as much as his seductive expression did.
“That’s the demon I’ve seen in my dreams. Who... who is he?”
“Your Champion.”
I blinked as if breaking the spell his portrait had on me and turned to Darius. “What?”
“He is your Champion,” Darius repeated.
I turned back to the portrait. “How? Why?” I looked at Darius again, waiting for him to explain.
“We aren’t quite sure how a demon was chosen to be a Champion. His name is Azazel and he is the oldest and strongest of all the demon Knights of the Round Court of Hades. He is the Demon of War and is rumored to be over ten thousand years old.”
My mouth dropped open at that. Holy shit, ten thousand years!
Darius continued. “On the night that he killed Guardian Jean Dubois, he was given theAngel’s Kiss.For an Archangel, it’s a coveted honor. A gift from God to be a warrior. For Azazel—a demon— it was a curse. He has since been cast out of Hades and unable to cause any harm to innocents. He is unwilfully on his way to redeeming his soul. But he is alone, an outcast of both his side and ours.”
As he spoke, I began to understand why I was also an outcast. “Does he have to be my Champion?”
Darius nodded. “You are the last Guardian and he is the last Champion. It is both of your fates.”
“Why are you just now telling me this? Is that why everyone has been so shitty toward me?” I asked.
“I’m sorry that you had to face that. Since nothing like this has ever happened in the past, some do not fully trust you. Every Champion has been paired with an Archangel of considerable gifts and powers. You have been paired with a demon. An anomaly in every sense,” Darius said.
I didn’t like the fact that I was being judged by something that was completely out of my control. I didn’t ask to be a damn Guardian and I certainly didn’t ask to be paired with a fucking demon. “So, what now? I have to endure their insults and mistrust forever?”
“You have my trust.”
