Angles and Demons

To the Future

I devoted myself to figuring out how to break Margaret's deal with Uvall. I scoured over the books, searching for any answers. I needed to understand the demons powers, where it came from, what it could do. I needed to know as much about them as I could.

There were so many books on different topics: plants, crystals, insects, mammals, the moon, the sun, candles and the meaning of their color and flame, spells, incantations, bindings, blessings. Just about every topic. I had never before seen so many books on magic in one place, and yet none of it had what I needed.

The only book that held any promise at all was the one I got from Theo, but many of the pages were scant, and at best raving mad. It took me hours just to figure out the flow of one thought.

It wasn't like the beginning of the book, where it was coherent and together. The more the book went on the more it went mad. The ink even seemed to turn red, as if they were writing in their own blood.

I was desperate for another solution, which is what caused me to turn to the other books. I was thumbing through one on the origins of magic when I got frustrated and slammed it shut, huffing out a few curses. Another dead end, no mention of demons.

"That bad without me, huh?" Rimmon asked from the doorway.

He was wearing dark leather armor. I hadn't seen him in days, and I hated to admit the little wave of relief that spread over me when I saw his face, those dark eyes looking at me, that smile slightly turned up at the corner.

I tried to hide my excitement. "Hadn't even noticed you were gone."

Rimmon gave his signature dark chuckle, coming farther into my study. He walked smoothly as he towered over me.

"Careful now. Saying things like that might make me think you don't like me."

"What have I ever done to give you the impression otherwise?" I barked back, crossing my arms over my chest.

"I might be wrong," he cooed, giving me a knowing smirk, "but I thought I thought I saw something similar to happiness when I came in."

I scowled. "You're wrong."

Rimmon and his signature chuckle was intoxicating. I had missed it, missed our playful banter, his suggestive comments, while he was gone. I silently chided myself. I hadn't realized how much I had been waiting for it in the background until now. He always seemed to come out of nowhere.

He picked up the book from my lap lightly, turning it over to see the title. "Doing some light reading?"

I stood, snatching the book back and walking over to the bookshelves I had been slowly putting back together with the rejected ones. The workshop was a mess. There had been so many things stashed and stored away in all the nooks and crannies of the shelves. Even some hidden stashes of ingredients and notes.

I didn't know why my predecessor had decided to keep it hidden, but I decided to follow in his footsteps until I could figure out the reason for myself. I didn't know how long he had been here. He may have just been overly cautious, or he quite possibly knew exactly what to keep secret from his master.

My master.

I shuddered at the thought, but that's really what Uvall was. I had indentured myself to him to spare my grandmother, just like Margaret.

"Just cataloging," I lied again. I didn't know how well they could hear, see, or smell. I hoped he couldn't sense my heartbeat speeding up. My fingers twitched around the book as I slid it into its new home.

Rimmon leaned against the arm of the chair I had just been in. "I didn't know tearing apart the whole place constituted as cataloging," he commented.