An Angel and a Demon

Chapter 10

Xenna was scared and she hated it.

She hated the feeling of unpredictability. She hated it when things diverted from the plan. She had sensed him. Somehow he was there already and, worst of all, he knew where Marilyn was. 

She closed her eyes, covering her face with her hands. She had to think this through. Her first option was to run after them. That would mean killing him as well as the two others, immediately. Yes, she would like that a lot. But she had another option. She could leave him to his daughter. Let him take her, talk to her, unlock her hidden power. And then she could kill her, in front of him.

Yes. That was it.

But she needed something a little extra for that. She needed a little more power. She wasn’t about to underestimate them both.

She opened her eyes and took a deep breath. This was going to work. She was going to make it work.

She walked back into the house, seeing Ciara well relaxed on the sofa. She looked up questioningly as Xenna walked in. Lydia’s body slumped on the bannister of the staircase.

“Weren’t you going to find Zayn?” she asked.

Xenna shook her head. Instead, she plopped down on the sofa opposite Ciara, getting herself comfortable. She studied Ciara carefully.

“Tell me, why did you call me about Marilyn?” 

A blank expression dawned on Ciara’s face.

“Um… I guess we realised it was an opportunity to get Zayn to Eazaros with uh… two lives to spare.”

Xenna nodded like she understood.

“Noble. So you both have some human bones in your body,” she chuckled. Ciara smiled. Xenna leaned forward.

“What happened to the narcotic you were working on? It looked like you two were going to win the war with that thing.”

Ciara scrunched up her nose.

“Yeah, we would have. But there were too many complications. We hadn’t had enough time to test it out on demons themselves and besides, we ‘perfected’ it around the same time we lost. It wouldn’t have been good in the field. It wasn’t stable.”

“Or maybe it was stable and you two decided not to tell anyone about its capabilities.”

Ciara stared at her. She continued.

“Yes, I know your whole story. Dear friend, I have ears and eyes everywhere. I’m genuinely sorry, but it was and still is my duty to look out for my fellow demons. I hope you see that one day. Now, I need you to cooperate with me. What did you do with the drug? Where is it now?” she asked, making her voice as kind as she possibly could.

Ciara swallowed, leaning back against the sofa.

“We did that to protect the demons from themselves. You of all people know that we can’t be trusted with that kind of power. We are all poisoned by the need for revenge, I know that. And there is no antidote. Hiding that drug… it was the one good thing I did during the war,” she paused, looking up. “Why do you want it, Xenna?”

She didn’t answer.

“You know, you’re different from the Xenna I know,” Ciara continued, her voice soft. “You seem distracted. You know, you can talk to me?”

She couldn’t help but smile. 

“Listen, Ciara, thank you. Really. I wish I could tell you everything but you’ll have to wait. I’ve got some stuff to do, some stories to finish and I promise you that when I’m done with what I have to do, we can talk. Okay?

But I need something right now. Badly. I have to do something that will allow me to heal. It’s going to put my mind at ease. It’s going to bring me peace. I… I really need this. It’s like there’s something inside me, tearing down everything and the only way I can stop it is if I do this one thing. And I need to use the drug to do that. So please… where is it?”

Ciara pondered the question, as if she was accessing files in her memory that had been left a long, long time ago.

“You have to promise me to not tell another living soul about this, okay?” She glanced back at Lydia to make sure she was still unconscious and then continued. “We didn’t want to store it away in a hidden storage room, that would have been too easy.”

Xenna hung off her every word.

“Instead, we neutralized it and decided to store it in a living demon’s blood, so that it stayed dormant. My blood. It’s been circulating within my body since all those years ago.”

Something deep in Xenna’s gut twisted. She hung her head. She knew what she had to do. She knew. She couldn’t let mere sentiment stop her. She knew that, yet she still hesitated.

“Xenna?” Ciara frowned.

She took a deep breath and stood up, slowly walking over to where Ciara was sitting.

“I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry,” she whispered, raising her arm. Each breath rattled her body.

Ciara’s eyes widened, recoiling on the sofa. 

“No, what are you doing?! Xenna, please, I can find a way around this! Xenna!” 

She ignored her, letting fresh tears soak in the words. She felt it now, buzzing in Ciara’s veins. It was power, intoxicating and ruthless. She shivered, letting her magic pour out from her soul, pulling every particle in the drug from Ciara’s blood, tearing her blood cells, rupturing her organs. Her skin became tinted with pink, so subtle yet sending such a clear message of what had been done.

Xenna could feel it as it entered her system. It came writhing and burning, as her skin soaked it up greedily. It took away her breath, making her step back. Her hands shook as it settled, familiarising itself with the new, fresh blood. She wanted to make herself look at what she had done to Ciara, now a lifeless corpse lying on the sofa, eyes staring into nothing, but the new power took up her entire head, forcing her to poke and prod at it, turning it around and making it obey her. She had to let it out. 

She had to let it play.

She threw open the front door, just as Elijah teleported in front of her, gripping Zayn by the arm. He cursed when he saw her, his face illuminated by a faint red glow. Zayn paled.

“She’s not with you?” she rasped. Her voice sounded so far from her.

“No, she… um… she ran that way,” he said pointing. 

Xenna knew exactly where Marilyn would be. She gave them a last glance and teleported away, leaving them alone on the porch.