Beyond Beta's Rejection

(Harper’s POV)

“So with the influx of what we can only assume are demon bloods around the edges of the territory, it only serves as confirmation that the seal is indeed broken.” I narrowed my eyes at Drake as he continued his flourish of a speech. I looked over at Aaron with a raised eyebrow and he chuckled.

“More demon bloods confirm the seal is broken,” he said, and I looked at Drake again.

“See how easy that was?” I asked, and he rolled his eyes at me. We had been looking over all the data that Aaron had gathered for the last hour. Elias was sitting in one of the leather chairs, reading through another book. His face was set in a frown that made me wonder what he was reading.

“So these demon bloods?” I asked, and Aaron and Drake looked at me. “Are they dangerous? I mean, I know they are dangerous, but what I mean, are they gonna band together and attack the town?” Aaron shook his head. He searched the table for a book and passed it to me. He had marked a passage of the book.

“In the first, the nomad will gather to form the foot soldiers. Then, in the second, the ranks will prepare to welcome the new master.”

I glanced up at Aaron and shrugged.

“Flowery,” I said, “But what does it mean?” He grinned as he took the book back off me.

“From what I can see, from this and other texts,” he said, “The demon bloods that have gathered aren’t attached to the Circle. They are, well, rogues, for the lack of a better word. They seemed to be called to the town because of the break in the seal, but it is more of an instinctual call than a planned move.” I glanced over at Elias and then back at Aaron.

“Both Elias and Colton said that they could feel a pull,” I whispered. “Like they had a need to go back to the town.”

“I can still hear you,” Elias called over without looking up from his book, and I sighed. He stood up and came over to the table. “Stop trying to protect my feelings.” He pulled me into him and circled his arms around my waist. The feel of him at my back sent shivers down my spine and I felt myself relax, where I didn’t even know I was tense. I leaned further into him and felt his body relax, too.

“So, you are saying these nomads are basically cannon fodder without even knowing it?” I asked, and Aaron grimaced.

“Yeah, it looks like it,” he said. “And the ranks, well, I reckon that is The Circle. They will come later before this supposed Master.” He glanced over at Drake quickly, in a you might have missed it if you weren’t looking kind of way, but I caught it.

“So, where is this seal, exactly?” I asked, “And is it an actual seal in the ground? Or are we just being symbolic here?” Aaron smiled and pulled out another book. This one had a picture, like one of those wood carving types. In the picture was a square with symbols on it. I recognised the shifter symbol for the divine order and the one that I had seen for the witch out in the hallway. There were two others there, too. One had a compass like cross on it, while the other looked like an intricate Celtic design. All four had the two smaller circles on them. I fingered the necklace I was wearing, the one that used to belong to Elias’ sister before she died. The two circles, one at the top of the moon and one at the bottom, both had a stone in. One black and one white. The picture showed that the white stone in each of the symbols was lined in the centre, connecting each of the symbols as they made one bigger symbol. Elias pointed to the symbol with the cross.

“This is the immortal crest?” he asked, and Drake nodded.

“Which makes this one,” I pointed to the final symbol, the one with the Celtic design on, “The faerie one?”

“Indeed, it is.” I looked over to see Brighid walking over to us. She was now in a long, flowing green dress with a paler green shawl around her shoulders. She turned around and her skirt swirled up around her legs. With her back to us, she dropped the shawl to the floor and revealed that the dress was backless. But that wasn’t what brought a gasp from my mouth. On her back was an intricate design that looked Celtic in nature. It seemed to spread out across her back and into her dress. At the centre of the design was the symbol for the divine order of the faeries. It was a few shades darker than her skin and looked more like a brand than a tattoo, but no tattoo or brand could create the effect that I could see on this beautiful piece of work. It was like there was a glow under the design, like a current of electricity running under her skin.

I walked over slowly. I felt like there was almost a pull to touch the design, although I held back.

“This is stunning,” I said as I watched the glow circle the design, in an almost heartbeat fashion. Drake had followed me over and picked up the shawl from the floor and handed it to Brighid. She turned around again, taking the shawl from him, and smiled at me.

“I am sure that once you accept, yours will be as lovely,” she said, and I narrowed my eyebrows and looked between Brighid and Drake.

“Mine?” I asked. I looked at Drake. “You have this too?” He nodded in response and then shot a not so happy look at Brighid.

“Oh, I see,” she said with amusement, playing on her lips. “You haven’t told her that part yet.”

“Told me what part?” I asked, but Brighid just walked past me without answering. “Drake?” I asked, and he forced a smile on his face.

“In time,” he said, “It will make more sense soon.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” I demanded. I didn’t like that they were keeping things from me. Drake sighed and walked back towards the table. I followed as he spoke.

“As you are aware, there are four angelic bloodlines, although they all come from the same source.” He looked at Aaron, who was pulling out another book. “As always in balance, there are four distinct demon bloodlines. Again, all originating from the same source.”

“Which is?” I asked, and Aaron looked over at Drake, who nodded for him to take over. I saw the gleam in his eye when he was about to go into teacher mode. It made me smile. Aaron loved all the lore and mythology and he loved to share the wisdom he learned.

“So I was researching the origins of the bloodlines,” he said excitedly. “I thought that the more we knew about the demon bloods and even about your own origins that we might find more ways to combat them.” He glanced at Elias and then back at me.

“I know that the access we have already had to demon bloods,” he nodded to Elias, “Has proved that they are guarded about their own origins. So I took to the archives, and the Order has so many uncataloged documentation and volumes that they have only scratched the surface of information-”

“Aaron!” I exclaimed. I knew in his excitement he had a tendency to get distracted. He startled at my voice and then looked around sheepishly.

“Sorry,” he said, and I smiled. He took a deep breath and began speaking again.

“So I found some old text that talked of a love story between two angels,” he said as he began searching for something on the table. He pulled out a book and skimmed it.

“The two angels in question were Rachel and Lucifer,” he said, and I scoffed. He looked up at me with a disapproving look, and I shrugged with a grin.

“Oh, come on,” I said, “Like we didn’t see that coming.” Elias chuckled while Aaron rolled his eyes. He shook his head and looked back down at the book.

“Well, from what I have translated, when Lucifer fell, he asked Rachel to go with him. Rachel refused. She stood with God against him.”

“Ouch,” I said, “I know my rejection was harsh, but damn.” Elias chuckled again and Drake cracked a smile. Aaron glared at me, and I grinned in return.

“Are you done?” he asked. I shrugged in return, and he sighed loudly.

“Stop being mean,” Elias whispered in my ear and I chuckled, which earned me another glare from Aaron.

“Okay,” I said finally, “Go on, I promise I won’t interrupt again.” He pursed his lips, obviously wanting to say something, but decided to let it go.

“When Lucifer fell, he wasn’t just angry at God but also felt betrayed by Rachel,” he said and then pulled another book out. “He vowed to take over earth and from there rule heaven. From what I can tell, eons passed while he built his army in hell. He made it known that he planned for Rachel to be by his side as his queen and that by tipping the scales, he would be able to bring her to him. He sent demons to earth to corrupt the humans. The more humans he corrupted, the more he tipped the ultimate scales. God saw this and that was when the seals were created, although not the version we now know. God saw that the more Lucifer tried to corrupt the humans, the more the Angels had to restore the balance.” He looked up at us all and then pulled out some notes.

“This was where the Neverplain was created. Souls still had to travel to their resting place, be it heaven or hell, and that is what the Neverplain is for. But God made it so only the impure could travel through it.”

“Impure?” I asked and Aaron glanced up at me. I mouthed a sorry for interrupting again.

“The impure, meaning neither pure good nor pure evil. Or angel and demon.” Aaron looked back up at me, and I nodded for him to go on.

“Lucifer still found a way around this. He sent human souls back up through the Neverplain. They were infused with his tainted b***d. Their only mission was to possess the living humans and procreate to spread his corruption. But the human souls would burn out too quickly under the weight of the tainted b***d.” I remembered Nathaniel telling me about the human soul being in constant battle with the demon side. I had seen this happen in Colton earlier today.

“Lucifer readjusted and started using the combined souls of the supernaturals under his control. It says that he reasoned that the combination of the human and supernatural side allowed them to counteract the strength in his own b***d.” Aaron looked up at us. “But it still wasn’t enough. The initial vessels and the children born from this would still burn out too quickly to be useful to him. But these were the first instance in the records of the demon bloods.” Aaron turned the page in his notes and then glanced nervously at Drake. Drake nodded for him to carry on.

“From what I can tell, Lucifer then decided to dilute his own b***d into four separate bloodlines, making it less potent,” he said. “Now this is just what I’m gathering, and there is still so much to confirm.” Aaron seemed hesitant suddenly. Like he didn’t want to tell us what he had found. He sighed and looked back down at his book.

“Lucifer took four of his most promising demons and infused them with his b***d and crowned them the princes of hell. The sole purpose of these princes was to bring hell on earth.” He looked up again and glanced at me before looking directly at Elias.

“All my research points to these princes also being known as the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.”