Angelic

Bernadina ~ 29

The sun had long since set before I even considered walking out onto the streets of Berlin. Draco followed next to me, walking in silence.

"Anne, Ralph—hurry up." Cat barked at my two newest subjugates. I picked them up in a nightclub near the border of Idris the night I visited Eveline in New York. Funny how her scent covered the place like she spent her time covering her blood on the walls. I knew she wouldn't be there, but the thought of her blood thirsted me deeply enough to find a fat couple and pick them for snacks instead.

Their blood had been memorably delicious.

The streetlights reflected off the streets, shining against the fresh puddles on the sidewalks. Finally, we turned onto the streets of the college. The words Humboldt Universität zu Berlin hung large and bright above the front office. Draco, his arm looped through mine, led me away from the main building, guiding me around the campus until the greenhouse was in sight. Why they insisted on meeting here I would not understand.

I heard their voices before we saw them.

"...she's coming of age." It was Valfred, the leader of the Vienna wolf pack in Austria. His accent was thick. If I hadn't known him for decades I doubt I would have understood him. It was as if his smell drifted with his voice, because once I heard him speak, I could hardly keep from gagging. "We're running out of time."

"Patience." A new voice, one I couldn't recognize immediately, spoke up. "Bernadina took the liberty of turning her mundane friend half a week ago. That will distract her for a while. You know how Shadowhunters get when their emotions are involved."

"Yes, and we should all thank Bernadina for the extra time she has given us to evolve our new plan." This was Raymond, a cunning and sly warlock from Ireland. He had been a foolish narcissist when I had first met him. Of course, he had only been twenty years of age then. I had watched him grow, helping him learn to be less bigheaded and realize the only way to have a long-lasting life of immortality was to live carefully, making alliances with the right people at the right time, and always being the smartest person in the room. "Bernadina is—"

"Grateful of the kind words you use to talk about me behind my back." I interrupted, walking into the greenroom. The place was filled with every kind of plant and flower that existed, taking up most of the room in the wide, low-roofed greenhouse. The roof was made of glass, allowing the moonlight to illuminate the room.

The werewolves stood furthest from the door. Even then, though, I could feel their stench burning my nose. Valfred wasn't alone tonight; a young boy stood next to him. Brunette and blue-eyed, he was all skin and bones, almost taller than Valfred himself, who surpassed six foot in his teenage years. He was a beauty to look at.

I took in the fey standing beside the new wolf. His long white hair had grown since our last meeting, nearly reaching his spine. The silver tattoos written in fey language littered his face and neck, disappearing under his shirt. His black eye was nearly swallowed in the darkness of the night, while his gold one glowed as if inside its own spotlight. Killian. He was part of the council of the Unseelie Court, and one of the fey king's most trusted servants. He never spoke much, but he listened well, and was a good messenger between the king and I.

Raymond stood closest to me and I took a step towards him, letting my arm fall from Draco's, leaning into the youthful warlock to kiss his cheek.

"I'm glad you were able to travel safely, my lady." He said in response.

I pulled back from him, gripping his chin between my two fingers and examining his face. His red eyes, which had been his warlock's mark, still shined as darkly as blood. "Oh, dear boy. You know how to flatter me."

"We were discussing our time limit," Valfred told me, "before you arrived."

I turned to look at him. "Yes, I know. I could hear you from a mile away. You might want to quiet down when you speak of this, Al, unless you want a Downworlder to hear you."

The young boy next to him frowned. Valfred must not have filled him in on everything, then.

"Not all Downworlders are in agreement with this." I explained to the boy. "They may not agree with Shadowhunters in the sense that anyone with any percentage of Nephilim blood belongs to the Clave, but they're too passive to say anything about it."

"Why is this girl so important?" He wondered.

I smiled, slightly amused at his innocent curiosity. "Ask Al to fill you in later, um..."

"Jackson. Jackson Young." He answered.

I tried to keep from laughing at the irony. Give it a handful of decades and his last name would turn into a word that no longer applied to him. "Right." I turned to Killian. "Has the king come with news?"

"The king continues to grow impatient with you." He responded, his eyes cool and almost... bored. "His deadline is the end of next week."

I flexed my jaw, but I tried to keep my voice neutral when I spoke. If I seemed angry at all, there was no doubt that it would get back to the king. "That is quiet a challenge to take her back in that little amount of time, especially with the Shadowhunters at the New York institute so willing to protect her."

"Not to mention she has Magnus Bane and Ragnor Fell in her favor." Raymond added.

"Should we have heard of those people?" Draco asked next to me, regarding Raymond as if he were an annoying bug that continued to bother him.

"Bane is the High Warlock of Brooklyn, Draco." I told him, keeping my eyes on Killian. "Fell, the High Warlock of London. They're quite important. Please try to remember them."

"The king will not give you anymore mercy." Killian continued, speaking as if Raymond and Draco had never opened their mouths. "He wanted the girl back a week ago."

No one responded, the memory of the the dead Downworlders filling our thoughts. The next time I saw Ragnor Fell, I would repay his actions on my children tenfold.

Raymond and Draco both opened their mouths as if to argue, but I held up a hand to each of them, signaling for them to be quiet. I held Killian's gaze. "Alright, Killian. We will respect your king's wishes." Seeing Valfred's eyes nearly pop out of his head out of the corner of my eye and feeling Draco's and Raymond's shocked eyes lock on the back of my head, I added, "Whatever obstacles we may face we will be sure to deliver her by then, and no later."