Shade of Darkness

Chapter 3

Twenty-one days to the Summoning

Twenty-one days to the SummoningHe expanded his wings as far as twenty feet on each side and was pleased that they made no shadow under the sunlight. He was invisible to the eyes of all creatures, however he only paid attention to a special kind. That had been his approach for thousands of years. He was immortal, and he didn’t waste time on primitive creatures like humans or ordinary citizens in the various universes. They were just too … ordinary for him to care about.

HThe multiverse was beneath him. He needed to focus on those of his caliber—those who could see him and fight him, his fellow angels and the demons. Maybe there were others who could look him in the eye and put up a decent fight. But until he encountered them, he wasn’t going to waste his time worrying about it.

They called this place New Earth. Every creature in the multiverse was talking about it because of the Scorpio key Summoning ceremony.

That stupid key had taken him such a long time to track down, only for him to discover he didn’t have the power to make the stubborn piece of stone surface. He’d have to wait for it to rise in its own natural cycle. As long as there was a level playing field, and ordinary humans and supernaturals also had to wait, he was fine with that.

Then a rumor in the multiverse had dragged him here early. He had competition. Someone had put out a job in the multiverse to search for the Scorpio key. He didn’t mind competition—it would make his immortal life more interesting—but he didn’t like not knowing who his opponents were. He cursed silently and glanced around, looking for something on which to let out his frustration.

He saw something from the corner of his eye. It was one of the semitransparent ice creatures from the bloodstone mountain. He chuckled and said, “Well now, long time no see.”

He leaped into the air and landed just behind the creature. It was one of the minions from the mountain where the Keymaster had harvested his bloodstone to make the Scorpio key. He knew for sure it wouldn’t be able to see him.

He had wondered several times about the origin of these creatures. Had they emerged from of the bloodstone in the mountain, or had the Scorpion king created them and sent them to get what he needed? If so, what could the rotten, long-dead Scorpion king possibly need?

He had seen crazy things during his time. He wouldn’t say he knew a lot, but he was sure that once a creature was dead, that was it. No two ways about it. Even if it was brought back by some kind of magic, the creature wouldn’t be the same. It had to be a rebirth of some kind.

He shook his head, still keeping his eyes on the movement of the ice creature. Rebirth? For what? He laughed to himself. The Scorpion king was ancient!

He heard what sounded like the chirp of a cricket behind him. He turned around and saw an ice creature looking right at him. The chirping vibrated from its throat again.

“So you can see me!” He smiled at it.

canIt kept making the noise and then tilted its head. It was looking straight at him.

Or maybe not.

He turned his head to look down the narrow alleyway behind him and sighed. The ice creature wasn’t looking at him after all. It was watching a human teenager who was gliding along the street on a small piece of wood with wheels underneath.

The creature approached the human, who couldn’t see it, swung an arm, and whacked him off the moving piece of wood. It stared at the board as it veered away and stopped when it hit a wall. The human’s body smashed against a stone fence, and his natural life left him. As an angel, he could see the young boy’s spirit leave his body.

It astonished him that no other humans paid any attention to what was happening. The youngster had just died in front of them, but their lives continued, and the traffic diverted from the scene to give way to a large vehicle that came along soon after to clean up the street.

The ice creature knew ordinary human eyes couldn’t see it. It stood there, contemplating what it might do with the abandoned moving board.

There was loud roaring noise. He had just enough time to leap away to the top of a high stone fence before a human male on a giant motorbike struck the creature with the bike’s front wheel, crushing it to the stone wall. The man kept the wheel spinning until the creature was shattered into shards of blood ice. The pieces scattered over the ground and then melted away.

He smiled with amusement. The human on the bike could see the creature!

Then the human looked up at him.

“It’s good to see a Dark Angel.”

He leaped down to the ground. “And it’s good to meet a human who can see a Dark Angel.”

The man chuckled. “I’m Nathan Breen, leader of Ethesus. I’m a shapeshifter. And if you couldn’t tell I’m supernatural, then you’re not ready for this coming war, Angel!”

“Don’t you want to know who I am?”

Nathan smirked. “No, there’s no need for me to know the inferior.” He started his motorbike and zoomed away.

He raised a hand, made a fist, and pumped a lightning strike, hitting the back wheel of the vehicle. Nathan lost his balance and jumped from the bike, sending the bike skidding driverless across the ground until it hit the stone fence.

Nathan turned and looked at him. “I have one equal opponent. She is Alyna McCabe. I don’t care how much magical power you have. I know you can kill me with one of those lightning strikes of yours, but if you want my respect, you’ll have to earn it.” He chuckled. “What’s your name?”

“So now you want to know my name?”

Nathan smiled. “That bike cost me a great deal of money, and you trashed it. That’s why I need your name.”

“Call me Dark Angel then.”

“That’s a job description, not a name.”

“And what’s the job description of a Dark Angel?”

Nathan shrugged. “Angels who deal with shady business.”

He laughed. “All right. I’m Azriel.”

Nathan nodded. “Azriel, you’ll have to compensate me for the bike. And for your information, debt collection is one of the lines of business we do best at Ethesus.” He turned, shifted into a lynx, and darted away.

In the last thousand years, Azriel couldn’t recall encountering anyone who had insulted him and remained alive, and he didn’t care to set a precedent now.