+1+

Kill the prince.

I jumped as two shots rang out from behind me. Isobel was crouched down holding on to the gun I’d taken from the Angel. She had been aiming for Isaiah and missed dreadfully.

Cursing Isobel ran back into the club.

I braced myself as Isaiah’s newly born daemon hurled toward me.

My hand found the white gold dagger the Angel had given me and when the daemon was close enough I slashed at his shoulder. It only grazed him but he was strong and determined to please. He bared his teeth.

He wanted my blood.

“Face me like a man, Brother”, I shouted to Isaiah as I dodged his creation, “Don’t send your creatures to do it for you.”

The daemon threw me to the ground his teeth snapping at my neck. I could only make out one word on his lips.

Blood.

 I twisted my neck as the daemon’s teeth scarped me. I threw the daemon off of me and staggered away as it reared to charge again.

“You would have never understood, Prince”, Isaiah said, “All you’ve ever wanted to do was follow in Father’s footsteps. I bet the sweet soft prince won’t even kill my daemon here.”

He was right.

A shrill ring cut through the eerie silence, the backdoor swung door open and hundreds of people spilled out of the club and onto the dock. Isobel was caught in the current and navigated back to my side.

The newly created and uncoordinated daemon was swept up in the stamped

“I set a fire”, Isobel explained.

I looked to where the crowd was trampling over the daemon, it tried to rise but was crushed.

When the crowd disappeared I could make out the  daemon on the floor. Isaiah was still watching from a distance.

“Mercy”, I offered the injured daemon.

I reached down to help the daemon up.  I studied the tear in his shirt from where Isaiah had stabbed him when he had been human.

“I can help you, Brother. ”

I reached out to make peace, the dameon took his hands to my neck and Isobel tore into the daemon’s arms trying to pry him off me.

Then a tart spray of reddish-black blood splattered on my face and lips. The daemon’s grasp loosened and he fell to the ground. A dark ring around his neck where his throat had been cut.

Seraphina’s icy blue eyes harshly judged me.

Weak

Soft

Pathetic

Not a drop of blood hand landed on her white attire.

She shoved a magazine of white gold bullets at Isobel and wiped her blade on my shirt.

“Shot at me and die, human”, she warned.

With that she slowly walked over to where Isaiah stood. Too gold daggers hanging on her fingertips. Isaiah watched her the way all Demons watched Angels. . . with repugnant disgust and morbid fascination.

“Stealing snowfires from the Angels, poisoning humans with your foul blood, creating these abominations. You will die for your crimes, Demon.”

Brother Isaiah put his hands in his pockets and shrugged.

“Come after me you pathetic little bitch”

So she did.

Isaiah  anticipated the Angel and ducked out of her way. He grabbed one of the server’s trays and blocked her strikes. She was fast and cut  thin line along his jaw. He touched his face and when he saw and opening in her stance he slammed the tray roughly into her stomach.

The Angel fell grasping her side, he had hit the spot Isobel had stabbed her all those weeks ago.

Next to me Isobel cursed to herself while trying to reload the gun, my own hands were shaking as I helped.

Isaiah kicked the Angel on to her back, with her blade still in her hand she jammed one into Isiah’s shoe. With a pained expression he removed it with a low grunt.

He grabbed the Angel roughly by her hair and dragged her to the edge of the dock and slammed her face down. He picked up one of her gold daggers and in a quick motion sheared her cloak in half.

She screamed.

“Brother, leave her”, I ordered, “This is not Angel business.”

“Don’t call me Brother, Prince”

“Why are you doing this ?”

He let go of her hair and with his foot pushed the Angel into the East River.

“Because this is the future.. How many times must you announce that this is not our world when it should be. This will be our world for the taking. If we don’t take it they will.”

“This is madness.”

“Is it ? You gave me the  idea 500 years ago when you suggested I paint the Angel feast. It reminded me of the old folktales and myths about Demons being created by blood. I spent all these years looking for a way to create my creatures. All that was missing was and Angel element. The snowfires were all I needed."

A few party goers still lingered and as I took them in one by one, they all had a vacant look about them. Ashen skin and tired eyes. They looked like Caden Kellers the night he had died.

But Caden Keller had been dead long before he was shot.

They were all daemons.

“Kill Paris Prince”, Isaiah ordered to his daemons, “You can have his sweet blood,”

Isobel started shooting at the advancing daemons.  Isaiah was so enthralled in this scene of chaos he didn’t notice the Angel pulling herself out of the river. Her dagger clenched in her mouth.

“Run, Isobel”, I shouted before considering what to do.

“No”, she shouted back, “They don’t want me-”

A daemon threw itself at me and I was knocked to the ground. It barred it’s teeth at me. While fighting the daemon I could see The Angel behind Isiah

She looked between Isaiah and the daemon’s advancing around me and Isobel. I shook my head, a small gesture demanding her to kill the insubordinate Demon. She closed her eyes as another daemons made a leap towards my  throat.

The Angel  slipped past Isaiah and before I could blink she slit the throats of the dameons devouring me.  As their blood shed the other daemons backed away in fear.

“What are you doing ?”, I asked her.

“Protecting the Prince”, she said with a air of disdain.

“Forget me. Go after Isaiah ”

She ignored my order and circled me while the daemons waited, trying to find the best way to get to me. I stood trying to find composure.

“Don’t kill them”, I said, "They are so young . . ."

“They are already dead.”

“Don’t”

Isaiah didn’t seem at all fazed. . . he was taking notes.

Fed up  the daemons all attacked at once, she didn’t go for their throats,  instead wounding them. They were lazy but determined to have their meal. She couldn’t hold them off for very long.

The Angel dropped her daggers and  and twisted the gun out of Isobel’s hand

“Hide, Isobel”, she ordered to the human, “Prince. Run when you have the chance.”

The Angel raised the gun and shot at the legs of the impending daemons.  Isaiah who was enjoying this display smiled at how his daemon’s fought for their addiction.

“Filthy Demon”, she admonished him, “You have no right to create such abominations. You will die”

She saved the last bullet for him, but he dodged it as if it were nothing.

When the clip was empty she removed a short blade from the bottom of her shoe and threw it at Isaiah’s eyes. He turned to the side in time for it to skid into the East River.

“I think”, he said, “I want the Angel.”

There was a flash of silver and the Angel fell suddenly, a silver tray  landed just a few feet away. I looked to see the other server no longer had its tray.

The daemons creeped out of the shadows.I could hear them salivating, wanting, waiting. They pounced on me. I defended myself as best as I could, my only saving grace that they were fighting one another for a taste of me.

Isaiah stood infront of the Angel and inspected her. He reached down to touch the bruise on her face from where the tray had hit her. Her eyes shot open and she sunk her teeth into his hand. In one motion her foot swept out to knocked him off his feet.

She pinned him down and reached out realizing she didn’t have a weapon near her. Instead  she pulled  a metal flask from Isaiah's belt.

“Run, Demon”, she said.

The daemons on to of me stopped and turned in her direction. The flask contained Demon’s blood. The contents which were now spilled on The Angel's hands.

Isaiah threw her off of him.

Before she hit the pavement  two daemons slammed into her, fighting one another for a taste of blood she’d spilt on her hands.The rest of daemons join the crowd desperate for a taste.

“Sera”, Isobel shouted.

Isaiah smiled as the demons prayed on The Angel, he picked up the discarded weapons and stopped to admire the gun.

“Lucian ammunition. Haven’t seen one of these in years”, he said and pocketed it.

The daemons moved away from her prone figure, her skin now stained black from Demon's blood.

“It’s not their world anymore, Brother”, Isaiah kicked the Angel with each word, “It’s ours”

Face down on the dock she moved her fingers just barely... Isaiah grabbed her by her hair again and threw her to the two server’s waiting arms.Her eyes were red and mouth swollen and bruised. She was trying to say something.

Run.

“Now, that this little cherub is out of the way”, Isaiah regarded his creations, “Kill the prince.”

“Run, Paris. Please.”, Isobel called back

The daemons approached.

I had a dagger in my hand, but I was to shaken to think. My heart bled so much I could drown in it. I wanted to save these creatures  he had created.

But. . .

They had one order

Kill the prince

So I ran.

+2+

I followed the shimmer of Isobel’s blouse as she darted out in front of me. I could hear her crying and whimpering as she ran.

The creatures were slow and fumbling but precise, they would follow my scent till they drained me. That I was sure.

“Isobel, where are you going”

“I don’t know”, she shouted her voice hoarse, “I’ don’t know. I’m so scared”

I caught up with her and took her hand, together the only sound was the pavement and my shoes. Every sound sent us on edge.

“Stop Isobel”, I said, “We have to think. . .”

“No, no no.We can’t stop . They will find us and kill us”, her voice was dry and shakey.

“No. Not us. Me. They will kill me.”, I reminded her. This wasn’t about her.

“I have a problem with that too”, she says with little bravado.

We run all the way back to her apartment and she doesn’t hesitate to punch in the code and drag me inside. On the third floor she struggles with her keys, eventually  opening the door to a dark airy loft.I stepped over piles of clothes and shoes as she leads me to a bedroom in the back. She shuts the door and locks it behind her.

I took the time to notice her bedroom was small and neat with a cheery pink theme. The only decoration is piles of textbooks. A door off to the side lead to a small bathroom connected to an empty bedroom. Hannah’s old room.

I catch my ragged reflection in the mirror. My neck and is covered in dried blood. I still shaking from disgust and from betrayal. I fell to my knees and tried to hold back the nausea.

Isobel peered out of the tiny frosted window overlooking the street.

“I don’t see anything. I think we lost them.”

“I’m. . . sorry”, was all I could say.

As Isobel walks into the bathroom I realize for the first time that she isn’t wearing shoes.She turns the shower on and the room fills with steam.

“You’re covered in blood”, is all she says

“No, Isobel you weren’t wearing shoes you sho--”

“Please, I can’t look at that. . . gore on you anymore.”

The warm water felt good against my hot skin. Isobel had left the room for a few seconds and returned with a clean pair of men’s sleeping pants.

I wanted to ask her where she found them, but I remember her roommate Eric.

I sit down on Isobel’s bed, scolding myself for being to sore to stand. Isobel sits on my lap, her arms around my neck. For a moment we are both just silent, knowing the world as we knew it has changed.

She spoke softly in my ear and I hold her tighter.

“Hannah was one of those things. I knew something was off.. . I knew it”

“There was nothing you could have done. If she was a daemon that means she was already dead.”

“I should have known”.

“I should have known.”

My Brother, how had I not seen this.

For years we had worked together, everyday sharing secrets and memories. How had I not seen this betrayal ?

I had wanted to take Isaiah’s Aeterna pin from him. To shove it down his throat for his sins against our kind. Against humanity who had done nothing to us.

“I thought they were going to kill you. . and then me  and I--”

“It’s over. You are safe. This is not your fight anymore”, for now I wanted say.

She raised her lips to mine and it was such a bittersweet kiss compared to the carefree one from earlier.  I held her cheek and pressed my mouth further into hers. Her hands flat against my bare warm chest.

“Isobel--”

“Don’t talk. Because I know if you keep talking then it means it’s good-bye for us and what might have been. Right now I just don’t want to be alone.

I’m speechless because she is right. She kisses me again and for a few seconds we are lost in one another.  Beneath the short hem of her shirt I notice the ink on her skin. Laying her back I lift her shirt running my lips over the Lux Aeterna tattooed there.

“Why would you want this to be apart of you.”

She runs her hand through my hair and thinks for a second.

“I didn’t know what it meant and Eric knew a guy. . .”

I move back up to kiss her lips, our hands entwine and I feel something soft at the end of her bed.

There is a pile of  white material on Isobel’s bed. I pick  it up and realize in the midst of the attack Isobel had picked up the Angel’s torn cloak.

We both sit up and Isobel takes the torn cloak from me and runs her hands over the soft downy feathers.

“I thought it might be important to her. I want to give it back to her when we go back for her--”

“She choose to fight a battle that wasn’t hers”, I said, “There is no going back.”

Now Isobel looks at me as if I am a monster.

“You are going to save her aren’t you ?”, Isobel asked, “She protected you--”

“That was her choice.”

“Paris”, she stood up and I missed her touch instantly, “You’re not that kind of man.”

“I’m not any kind of man”, I reminded her, “I’m a Demon.”

“You showed mercy to a creature who wanted to drink your blood but you won’t go back for---”

“An Angel. No I won’t”, I finished, “I’m sorry Isobel but it’s simply not done. My Brother’s are my priority. There is a legion of vicious daemons who will kill for our blood . . .that is my priority.”

I watched her lose a bit of faith in me, in my humanity. I thought for a moment about what the Angel said about having a good sense for love.  I hoped in my heart that after this was over Isobel Charter could still fall in love with me.

+++

Williamsburg was peaceful at dawn. Isobel made her way up the firescape a little after I did, and despite everything she still  marveled at the beautiful dawn..

I closed my eyes and listened to the phone ring  on the other side of the line.

“Who the hell is calling at--””

“Ashe”, I cut him off, “Are you alone.”

“Am I ever?”

I kept my eyes ahead and spoke carefully.

“Ashe. You need to be alone”, my serious tone surprised even me and Ash was quiet for several minutes

“Prince ? Get stuck at a one night sta--”

I lowered my eyes.

“Brother, do you remember the day we met ?  After the Transgression ? The day Jona and I found and pulled you out of the ashes of your family home. How you wept over your 12 dead brothers. Do you remember how that day I told you we would always be brothers ? Have we been anything less all these year ?”

“I-- what are you bringing that shit up for ? You seeing one of those therap--”

“I need you to remember that, because if you are a trader, if you are against me if you are plotting against me I need to know. I need to know you are loyal to me.”

There was silence on the other end that pulled my heart taught.

“. . .I am loyal to you Prince.”, he finally said what I hoped wasn’t a lie.

“Ashe, there are dissenters among us. They wish to see me die. Do not trust Brother Isaiah. I trust you to  seek out those who are loyal to me  and meet me in the neutral zone. Don't eat the apples.”

“Are you speaking in code--”

I hung up not ready to explain anything further.

“Neutrality zone ?”, Isobel asked

“Central Park.”, I explained, “Angel nor Demon is allowed violence there. No matter where we move we have a neutral zone where peace is absolute.”

“You think Isaiah will follow the rules.”

“No”, I said because after thousand of years you knew a person very well.

“Have we reached the good-bye portion of our journey ?”

“No.”, I decided, “You will stay with me for now.  The Brotherhood can protect you.”

“Then what”

“Then we pray that I'm still alive. . . and can take you on a real date.”

+++

“He must have gone mad”, Jona said, “Why-why would Brother Isaiah even do that”

“Those painting must have drove him mad. Isaiah  was always a reader too. I would have never thought”, Brother Lysander remembered.

“I can’t believe it can be done”, Brother Damien shook his head, "

The Brother's watcehd the video on Isobel's camera again in silence.

“It can”, I said, “ He entices young humans with the addictive properties of  snowfire apples and our blood. . . then he kills them. The blood and water in their system reanimates them. . . makes them into daemons. They are resilient to human weapons.”

“Who is the girl ?”, Ashe provided.

At this everyone turned not to Isobel but to Ashe. Isobel hadn’t said a single word and no one had even mentioned her.

It was only moments ago that I came upon my brothers on the eastern edge of Central Park. They were easy to spot in their all black attire and glinting white gold pins. Ashe kept the group small consisting of himself, Jona, Lysander and Damien.

Isobel had followed me and I didn’t have the heart to stop her. She had nothing to lose so I decided to consider her an asset. When maybe she was becoming my weakness.

The Brothers quickly reported that Isiah had not come home last night, nothing unusual, but now they were on high alert to find out if Isaiah had recruited any others. Bane was probably on his side.

“What ?”, Ashe said, “None of your fuckers have cursed so I figured there had to be a girl around.”

Isobel stepped infront of Ashe.

“I’m Isobel Charter. One of my friends was one of those. . . daemon. . . things. She didn’t survive her transformation. She was like a sister to me. . . so I’m here to help.”

She added he last part to gain their sympathy. Ashe reached out and ran his hands from her eyes down to her cheeks, neck and through her hair.

He smirked. In a time like this.

“Well, well Prince you always did have a type.”, He leaned down and smelled her,  “Oh, so you’re the one who was in St. Liliths.”

“Concentrate, Brother”, I said, “We don’t know if Isaiah has anyone helping him from inside the Brotherhood."

“What does he want  ?”, Damien asked, “How do we know what he is doing is wrong, perhaps it is good. It’s not like we have laws against such thing”

“Well, he made it very clear he wants me dead and I hope you all take issue with that. He is killing humans to make his army. He is using his blood now. . . but yours may be next.”

I had been preparing these words all morning. I knew I could talk and be prophetic but could I really stop this horror ?

“Damien”, I continued, “Stay with Father and if Isaiah comes back get close to him. Act none the wiser see if he lets you in. Ash, you and Lysander see what you can find in Isaiah’s personal belongings.”

“What about me ?”, Jona said from beside Ashe.

“Stay with me. I don’t want you out of my sight.When the time is right, we will find him, attack and . . . exterminate the daemons.  Grant mercy only if you see fit.”

“Paris”, Isobel’s words cut through me, “You can’t kill them. I speak for the humans.”

“You saw how they are made. They are dead already. I’m sorry. They aren’t human anymore.”

I could not look at her as I said this. It was not my way but it was the best way.

The Brothers nodded in agreement and with that I turned to leave them. Isobel and Jona followed behind me. I hadn’t bothered to introduce them.

“Brother”, Jona caught up to me, “How are we to take down Isaiah's creatures. We don’t have white gold weapons.”

“I know”, I said hailing cab, “That’s why we are calling on Angels.”