Soul of Shadows

Seth

The sun rose on the horizon, sending light shining through the open window, making me hiss in pain, my shoulder burning in the light, Destiny buried safely beneath the blankets. Reaching up, I closed the curtains, kissing Destiny’s forehead, before standing and grabbing my pants, pulling them on and entering the hallway, unsure where a bathroom was.

Standing in the hall, startling me with their presence, was Adelia and Cain, the former cradling her stomach and doubled over, a look of pain on her face, the latter frantically sending for Jason, his arm supporting his wife. They were both still in their night clothes, likely woken by whatever infliction Adelia had.

Rushing up to them, I asked, “What’s wrong?”

Cain waved me away, but now that I was closer I could see Adelia was covered in sweat, her face pale but her cheeks flushed a bright red, and she had suffered a nosebleed, a handkerchief pressed to her mouth and nose. Her eyes were wide in concern, tears streaming down her face.

A soldier rushed up, instructing Cain that a carriage would be at the front door within the minute, and I took Adelia from him, scooping her into my arms, leaving Cain to help the soldier prepare the carriage faster.

Rushing the High Queen of Ordeallan down the stairs, I waited at the front door until the carriage appeared, Cain already seated within, although he threw himself out to take Adelia from me, breathing a quick thanks before the two of them raced down the path, heading for Jason’s workshop, leaving me behind- Only for a soldier to grab me from behind wearing thick gloves and a long cloak, a mask pulled over his mouth and nose, wrestling me into a carriage, shouting, “Remain in the carriage with the windows sealed at all times!” What the Hell was going on?! Destiny was nowhere to be seen, and neither was Tatiana as the carriage began racing after Cain’s.

We reached the workshop in minutes, Jason already waiting outside, his face pinched with worry. Two of Jason’s assistants, wearing similar outfits to the Guard who had wrestled me into the carriage, opened my carriage door, Jason shouting, “Sanitize it! Seth, come in here!”

The door to his workshop was open, Cain seated beside Adelia, who had been laid down on a bed, Jason guiding me to the bed beside her before pulling a curtain across, separating us from sight. Leaning over me, he pulled a mask over his mouth and nose, tugging thick leather gloves on that had been resting in boiling water. Lifting my shirt, he examined my chest, asking sternly, “Any fever?”

“No? What’s going on, Jason?”

Rolling me over, he studied my back and neck, before clicking his tongue, demanding, “Any skin greying?”

Skin greying? That was a symptom of Henara!

“Holy shit, is Henara back? I thought we had gotten that vaccine thing!”

“Sh! Don’t be foolish, boy! Yes, there is a small outbreak that I noticed yesterday and have been quietly dealing with. Cain was notified, but… I’m not sure my letter reached him, which means there’s someone in the Palace, one of the advisors, most likely, who is withholding that information.”

“I got that vaccine! I should be fine!”

“This strain is different,” he muttered absentmindedly, reaching into a bucket and pulling out a long, thin needle, grabbing my arm and rubbing at it for a moment, before sticking me with the needle. Cursing in pain, I scowled, Jason injecting a dull green liquid. Patting my back, he pulled the curtain back for a moment, Cain lifting his head.

On the bed, with her nightgown raised to show her midriff, a blanket covering her lower body, Adelia was sweating profusely, the sheets soaked and her eyes closed while she grasped at the sheets, Cain demanding, “Do something, Jason!”

“She’ll be okay,” the Vampire-Fae Shaman assured quietly, although it appeared mostly to reassure himself, “Adelia was given the same injection I gave everyone else.”

“And yet you just told Seth that this was a different variant. Can you cure it?”

Holding up the needle, he winked, exclaiming, “Already done it, High King of Ordeallan.”

“I- Is the ba- baby okay?” Adelia groaned, her voice no more than a whisper in the room, Cain’s eyes closing while he breathed deeply, Jason grabbing Adelia’s arm, still wearing those thick leather gloves.

Injecting Adelia, he then turned, pulling the curtain shut, the sound of fabric rustling on the other side. I could feel the tingle of Jason’s magic in the air, and he clicked his tongue, humming in surprise, Cain begging, “Is everything okay?”

“Everything is fine, your Crown Heir is perfectly healthy, although my suspicions were correct and Adelia does have the new variant of Henara- BEFORE you panic, the injection I gave her will halt it, and, after two days in quarantine, destroy it entirely,” Jason said, pulling the curtain open once more, Adelia now dressed and leaning back on the pillow, the parents sighing in relief. Leaning over his workbench, he scribbled out a small note on a piece of parchment, folding it once and tucking it into an envelope that he quickly sealed, handing it to Cain and patting his shoulder, explaining, “At four months of pregnancy, you can see the baby’s gender. If you would like to know, I have written it down for you.”

Cain’s eyes shot down to the envelope in his hand, Adelia opening her eyes and gasping, “You can see-” She was cut off by a sharp gasp of pain, her hand reaching up behind her to claw at her back, Jason shouting to his assistants, “In here! I’m going to need restraints!”

“Restraints?!” Cain snarled, “Why?! What’s happening?”

Shoving Cain aside, onto the end of my bed, he tried to wrench the curtain across once more, stopping just before our vision could be cut fully off, Jason rolling Adelia onto her side and lifting her dress, both Cain and I’s jaws dropping open.

We knew how Henara worked, stripping people’s genetics back to whatever they were at the very start of their bloodlines, but it normally didn’t work this quickly. Whatever this new variant was, it was faster, because Adelia’s back was riddled in thousands of tiny, pin-sized white and grey feathers. Looking to Cain, I whispered, “When did she start showing symptoms?”

“An hour ago. She woke up with a fever…” Cain choked out. Sliding my hand across the bed, I gripped his hand, his fingers tightening on mine, squeezing until I was worried my hand would break. It didn’t matter, not to me. Cain needed the support, I was willing to give it.

“Alright, Adelia, you know how Henara works, don’t you? How it strips a person back to their previous bloodline?”

Adelia nodded weakly, gripping the side of the bed in pain, Jason’s assistants tying her in place, preventing her from shifting her position. They brought with them a bucket, Jason grabbing tweezers, continuing, “With the injection I gave you halting the Henara variant, you will remain a Fallen Angel, which means these feathers won’t grow beyond this size. If they remain within you, they could cause infection, sepsis, even death.”

“So take them out!” Adelia begged loudly, Jason turning to his assistants, instructing them to bring him a chair and a lantern.

Cain’s hand remained in mine, his pulse racing, and Jason gripped the first of the tiny feathers with the tweezers, pulling.

Adelia’s scream of pain had Cain stiffening, growling low in his throat until I breathed, “Easy, Cain.”

The first feather emerged, no longer than my little finger from end-to-end, and Jason dropped it into a basket, pressing a cloth to the wound to stop the blood that dripped out before moving onto the second feather. She screamed again, beginning to cry, and Cain shouted, “Stop! Jason, there has to be any easier way! There are hundreds of feathers, can’t you just rip them all out at once?!”

Rip them all out at once… A bell rang in my mind, of an Archangel whose wings had been forcibly removed- “Destiny!” I gasped out, Cain swinging to the doorway, expecting his cousin to be there. I shook my head, stammering, “Destiny knows how to remove Archangel wings! She did it with that Archangel in Moytura.”

Jason watched me, my words sinking in, making me squirm against the bed, and he snapped at his assistants, “Fetch Desterium Maladur from the Palace at once! I want her here in the next five minutes!”

They left, Jason grabbing a damp towel and folding it over Adelia’s forehead, keeping her cool while we waited, and six minutes later, Destiny was striding through the door, her eyebrow sassily raised, her arms crossed.

She was wearing the same dress she had when she had arrived, her face half-covered by a cloak, her mouth and nose covered, and she demanded, “Why am I here?”

“We need you to remove wings.” My Connected’s gaze shifted to Adelia, her back on display to the room, and she spat, “Oh, so it’s a massive sin worthy of exile when I do it to an Archangel enemy in order to defend myself, but it’s perfectly fine when it’s to save an ally? You are all absolute hypocrites!” She spun on her heel, tears forming in her eyes that she tried desperately to hide, Jason racing forward and grabbing her arm, begging, “Look, I understand why you’re upset; I would be too, but if we do not remove these wings, and Adelia dies, the child she is carrying will suffer immensely before it, too, dies.” Destiny paused, Jason taking the opportunity to forge ahead, “I know you well enough to know that you don’t hurt children. Don’t hurt this one in your stubbornness.”

She paused, glancing to Cain where he sat, slumped over, his head in his hands, on the bed, and then to Adelia, who was gasping in pain, her face crumpling. Wiping at her eyes, my Connected sighed heavily, “Okay, but only for the baby. That’s. It.”

Striding over to the chair Jason had been sitting in, my Connected took a seat, sucking in a deep breath, Cain whispering, “Des, thank-”

“Not now!” Destiny snarled, her hand resting on Adelia’s back, my darling Connected shaking her head, her power filling the room.

It had been a while since I had felt the power of Daemonium, since the last time she had wielded it around me she had been messy, untrained, but this time, there was a unity to it, like she knew how to use it. Red and black swirled, small stars popping throughout the black, Jason murmuring, “Is that Archangel Michael’s power? The stars?”

Shrugging, Destiny replied, “Probably. Adelia, this might hur-”

“Don’t you dare hurt her!” Cain snapped from where he sat beside me, Destiny glaring at him and mocking, “Right, Cain, because I was just planning to do so! I’m ripping her damned wings out, of course it’s going to hurt! Adelia, this might hurt, and I have to warn you that any powers you might have, any magic, they’ll be transferred to me.”

“I have none,” Adelia said, and Destiny added, “What about your child?” She looked to Cain at this, who paled. Cain was the Prince of Demons, which meant his child was bound to have powers.

If Destiny removed them… Could a Demonic-being be born without the power of Hell?

“Why would that matter?” Jason questioned, my Connected saying, “I have done this once, and it was on a male. I have no idea what might happen to a pregnant female.”

“Just do it!” Adelia gasped out, only to scream just seconds later, Destiny’s power sinking deep into her skin.

The feathers dissolved, the holes in Adelia’s back healing over, Adelia passing out from the pain, and Destiny rose, brushing her hands off. It was done so quickly? How?

Dipping her head to Jason, she strode for the door, intending to leave, only for the Vampire-Fae Shaman to stop her, his arm in front of her chest.

“You have entered a Henara variant infected site, which means I need to vaccinate you against it.”

Rolling her eyes, Destiny took a seat on the bed beside me, sticking her arm out, wrenching her sleeve up and muttering, “Then get it over with!”

Grabbing a needle, he stuck Destiny’s arm with it, only for the wards on her dress to flare, Jason hissing in pain, his hand burning where he had grabbed her. He would have been thrown back if it weren’t for his training, catching himself before he could fall, and Destiny cursed the dress, waving her hand down her body, the fabric shifting until it was a simple black nightgown, the wards gone.

“You can change your clothes like that?”

She looked to me, seeming vaguely amused, like she enjoyed the chance to show off, before raising her hand. The room shifted, the walls changing colour, and then material, until they were a bright pink cement. A second later, they changed back, Destiny explaining, “I can change whatever I want.”

“Can you change what Super-Natural you are?”

She winked, opening her mouth to reveal two sharp teeth, her eyes fading from the black into red pupils, Jason bouncing on his heels in excitement. Waving her hand down her again, she shifted back into a full-blooded Demonic-being, Cain’s face as white as parchment paper in shock and horror.

With a cheeky grin toward me, she clicked her fingers, Cain’s hair becoming blue, and he hissed at her, Destiny laughing in delight at the sight of it.

The sound seemed to make him crack, too, the corners of his lips tugging up even as he demanded she change it back, the brown returning.

“This makes taking your hot water away so much easier, cousin,” she teased, Cain rolling his eyes playfully and replying, “You could change the world with that power.”

“It’s nice seeing you two getting along,” Sellan said from the doorway, leaning heavily on his cane and coughing, looking to Jason with fear in his eye before brushing his sweat-soaked hair back, revealing his pointed ears were turning grey, “I fear we have a problem, Shaman. Henara, I presume?” Destiny and Cain fell silent, both seeming to realise just who they had been talking to, and they glanced awkwardly away.

“You- Damn it! Take a seat there, Sellan!” Jason snapped, handing quills, bottles of ink, and parchment paper to all of us, ordering, “Write down everyone and everything you have come into contact with, even if it’s embarrassing! If one of you has slept your way across town in the last week, I want to know the names of every man, woman and beast, understand?! Do not hide ANYTHING!”

“I’m going to need more parchment paper,” Sellan sighed sadly, pinching the bridge of his nose, Jason handing it to him before standing before Cain, summoning a handful of prepared posters, handing one to Cain and asking, “Do I have your permission to lockdown the city?” The poster, which was printed in bold black ink, declared a city-wide lockdown, and for anyone with symptoms of any illness to report to Jason immediately. Anyone found dead in the street was not to be touched- the soldiers would handle all burials.

“Yes, of course.”

“Everyone in this room, barring me and my assistants, are to remain here for the next two days. I have dealt with Henara before, and it is not fun, people!”

“Two- Are you joking?” Destiny demanded, “There are three beds in this place!”

“I have an underground section dedicated to emergencies like this. You will be placed into those dormitories, along with any other sick we find.”

“We’re not sick!”

“You’re carriers,” Jason corrected, “I injected all of you with a vaccine, plus a sort of… antidote to it, but it needs two days, of which you’re still contagious.” With a worried look on his face, Cain said, “Illness kills Demonic-beings faster than it does-”

“I am aware, High King of Ordeallan, but that doesn’t change the fact that you will be staying here. Go downstairs and pick your beds.”

I rose from the bed, helping Destiny stand, Cain scooping Adelia up, the envelope stating his first child’s gender still clenched tightly in his hand.

Jason’s basement was made of a thick stone, wards carved into it preventing attacks- everything from soldiers, bioweaponry and nuclear warfare, Destiny humming appreciatively. There were wards for clean, fresh air, killing of germs, and a sense of calm.

Down the centre of the large room was a river of sparkling blue water underneath a thick floor of glass, rows upon rows of bed divided on either side of this untouchable river, each one sporting the same white sheets and pillow. There was a wooden trunk at the end of the bed for a patients items, and a small table that could be folded over it, allowing the patient to eat. In truth, with its too-clean, soap-like smell, it reminded me of the- “Hospital,” Destiny sighed, wrinkling her nose, “This place reminds of a hospital.”

Picking a bed at the very end of the room, Cain placed Adelia down on the mattress, folding the sheet over her and pressing a kiss to both her abdomen and her forehead, my Connected rolling her eyes and taking the bed two down from Adelia, leaving a space in between, so he could remain next to Adelia. He nodded gratefully, sinking into the sheets, his hand behind his head, Destiny taking the bed two down from him, leaving a bed between them.

Sighing, knowing it was better to be the mediator than hear them arguing all night, I chose the bed between them, Sellan taking up the spot on the other side of Destiny, rubbing at his arm, whining, “That Vampire sure can be rough when it comes to injections.”

Grabbing my parchment paper, I began writing, tuning out their quiet conversation about the Henara outbreak, writing down where I had been in the last week… There weren’t many places.

I had been here, in Jason’s store, albeit in a room upstairs, and then at the café where Sellan had surprised Destiny with me, and then at the Palace. After that, I had been here again.

Destiny, pinching the bridge of her nose, scribbling down names and places with her other hand, muttered, “What’s Jason going to do? Drag Lazarus, Nazareth, Jezebel and Nicnevin in for a Henara vaccine?”

With a smile, folding my own paper over, the list complete, I said, “I feel like Gods aren’t worried about Henara.”

“Then why the Hell am I here?!”

“Are you a Goddess?”

She glared at me when I, unable to stop the smile on my face, snickered, Cain suppressing a laugh of his own in the bed. She rolled her eyes, continuing her list. She must have been to so many places since the Manor had let her go.

‘You called me one in bed mere hours ago, darling Connected.’

‘Being a Goddess in bed does NOT make you a Goddess outside of the bedroom… But touche.’

Destiny huffed, tapping her fingers, Sellan and Cain still writing, before a contemplative look fell over her face.

With a click of her fingers, her page filled with names and places, and she folded the parchment over, placing it at the end of her bed before settling into the sheets, her face glistening with sweat.

‘Des, you okay?’

‘Yeah, it’s just from using my powers, I think.’

Sellan, peering over Destiny, who had closed her eyes, chewed his lip in worry, dipping his chin to Adelia. I nodded. Sellan was right, Destiny’s symptoms were beginning to match Adelia’s.

My Connected sank into sleep, her cousin doing the same on the other side of me, and Sellan mouthed, “Cain is fine. You’re fine. What’s going on?”

“Maybe we don’t have it?” If we didn’t, we soon would. I had slept with Destiny hours ago. If she had Henara, then I would have it, too.

Jason had said the Henara they had would be contagious for two more days, before the injection could kill it off once and for all. He had also said it would halt the Henara process, but did that mean we could still get sick?

If Destiny, Cain and I fell ill, we could die. We were so much more susceptible to illnesses than other Super-Naturals were.

Knowing I was already doomed, I left my bed, instead sliding into Destiny’s, holding her to me, only to grimace. Her bedsheets were soaked with sweat already, and her skin was paling fast. Gulping, Sellan muttered, “It’s always when you take a holiday, isn’t it?”

I snorted, having to agree, and left a thin slice of space between my Connected and I, not wanting to make her burn up with my heat adding to her own.

I didn’t feel sweaty yet, or ill, nor had I suffered any nosebleeds.

Sellan’s ears were back to normal by now, thankfully, but Sellan himself was just as pale as Adelia and Destiny.

Before I could think on it, Jason appeared on the stairs, his magic tapping at Sellan, making him flinch, Jason making a note on the clipboard he was carrying, humming, “Henara symptoms, but no progression…” He tapped at Destiny, who awoke, pausing curiously, his magic retracting and sinking into her skin a second time.

Wiping the frown of confusion from his face, he made another note, saying aloud, “Henara symptoms, but no progression.”

His magic sunk into me, making me shiver at the feeling of goose bumps it gave me, only to retract a second later.

“You have Henara, but you don’t have the symptoms yet, nor the progression. Cain, you’re the same. Adelia, you’re the same as Sellan and Destiny.”

Collecting the parchment pieces from us, he announced, “I will begin rounding up anyone who has been near you, with perhaps an exception to Destiny, since I can hardly drag a Dark God here, nor any of your allies, and lockdown will begin in the city in the next hour. Destiny, will you come with me for a moment? I need to discuss something with you.”

She nodded, seeming intriguely worried, following Jason up the stairs until their footsteps faded away, Jason entering one of the rooms warded against eavesdropping. A moment later, I felt panic shooting down the connection, as well as grief, and then regret.

‘What’s he saying?’ I begged, ‘Are you dying?’

Why did he want to speak to Destiny, but not to any of us?

She didn’t reply, my heart beginning to race in time to hers, and ten minutes later, she emerged at the top of the stairs, tears streaming down her face, Jason at her side. He murmured something in her ear that made her shake her head, her hand flying to her mouth, before she looked to me.

The Vampire-Fae Shaman, despite the danger, hugged her tightly.

‘What did he say to you?’

She kept her gaze locked on me, her entire body trembling with what I knew could not be the fever wracking her body, and she wiped at her face, joining me in the bed once more, cuddling in close.

Opening my mouth to ask what was wrong, she shook her head, choking out, “Not now, please… I’ll tell you tomorrow.”

“Are you dying?”

“No, no.” She sucked in a deep breath, spearing her fingers through her hair, before sighing, “Everything is fine, Seth. Get some rest.”

With that, she closed her eyes, leaving me to watch her, my fingers tracing calming circles on her shoulder…