Kasadya (Hellhound Awakened) (10 page)

“I’m a light fae; basically it’s like the yellow one in the Tinkerbelle series. I can move light and stuff, but as you know, can also use it to fight with. At this stage my light bombs are too weak, but Seth says that as I grow stronger so will they. In the end one of my bombs will be able to knock a demon down completely.”

“Weak? I don’t want to burst you bubble there, but they hurt like hell. I just didn’t have a choice to go to the ground and cry,” I replied and we burst into laughter.

Lada came out and I gestured to Nanini to go next, she looked like she was about to hit the hay and call it a night. I still had some spunk left in me, might go pick a pool fight with one of the boys. I know what Lada’s going to do looking at her; she was making herself dreamy for an Impon. Yeah, life is turning out okay, no more just doom and gloom like in the beginning. Made me think of a thing my dad always used to say to me when I was down
.
“Take life one step at a time and you will find that some steps were worth taking.”

Chapter 7

The next morning we were back in one of Vulcan’s classes, but this time I was fascinated by it. He started by bringing in a lot of stuff: weapons, amulets, necklaces and much more.

“Come young ones, this time you need to feel what I’m saying,” he said, and gestured for us to come forward. I was up and moving forward before anyone else, because this looked totally interesting. After a few minutes everyone stood at the table with all the objects on it.

“Chanting and charms are one of our best weapons against demons, but it is also one of theirs. All these objects have been charmed. The question is which one is a fallen charm and which one is a demon charm,” he explained, moving his hand over them. Wow magic, now that’s cool.

“Does anyone know how we determine the difference?” he asked looking at all of us, but no one had a clue. He then picked up a small dagger and moved his fingers over it
.
“When you touch a fallen charmed object it will feel cold, this will be your way of identifying them,” he finished and gave the dagger to Cam who did the same, his face turning into a smile. The dagger was passed from one to the other until it finally came to me. I brushed my fingers over it, feeling a tingle, and then it was replaced by coldness. I passed it to Nanini, who did the same. Vulcan then moved to a ruby necklace and picked it up. I was keeping my eyes on his face to see his reaction, and man he didn’t like the necklace. His face turned even more serious than what it always looked like.

“A demons charmed object starts with the same feeling, but where ours are cold theirs are hot. This is where the human’s came to mind that hell is a burning pit of flames,” he explained, and gave the necklace to Cam again, this time he didn’t smile. The necklace traveled to each one of us until once again it reached me. I took it from Lada and the moment my fingers touched it, I felt very uneasy. Another tingle sensation went up my arm and then heat started to replace it. Oh man this is not cool; I quickly gave it to Nanini, wanting the thing out of my hand.

“Does anyone know why objects are charmed?” Vulcan asked, looking at us. No one replied. I’m glad not to be the only one missing an important piece of this puzzle.

“Weapons are charmed to ensure that it doesn’t hurt the owner, or to ensure that it counters any other charmed weapon to kill the owner of that charmed weapon. When an object, like necklaces and other belongings, are charmed it goes a bit deeper. A fallen will use charmed objects to help him or her to obtain something. For example, if I charmed a pair of earrings with luck and give it to Nanini, she will always have luck to help her through her life. Another example, your clothes are charmed to help with the transformation so that it will not tear or trap wings,” he finished, picking up a ring and giving it to Lotan.

“See if you can hit Lotan,” he instructed Cam, and he in return walked over to Lotan and tried to give him a light punch to the shoulder. His fist was redirected by a blind hand and he kept punching him, unable to touch him once
. “
This is a protection charm, the owner will be protected from any enemy, but a demon can counter it with its own charm and defuse the charm, enabling them to kill you,” he explained, and took the ring from Lotan again.

Damn that sucks, so we get magic to protect us, but it can be broken by a demons charm. He walked over and stopped at Nanini, picking up a bronze cuff thing and again his face turned serious
.
“This was found on the remains of a fallen, it is charmed by a demon and we still don’t know what the charm does. The power illuminating from it is very strong,” he finished, and offered Lada the shackle; she retreated and didn’t want to touch it. My gut feeling took over; I stepped in her place and took it from Vulcan. This time the tingle was strong, very strong giving me a strange feeling. Then the heat came and it was just as strong.

I gave it back to Vulcan and he then passed it on to others who felt it and then he returned it to the table. “Demons use charms like these to compel or entrance humans to commit sin, a lover’s charm given to a married woman will take her into the arms of the first man she meets, committing the sin of infidelity. Another charm is the lust charm, the human will be consumed with his or her deepest lust, if he desired money he will do anything to get it, if she lusted after a man she will do anything to get him, even kill if they have to. Charms like these are collected and destroyed when we find them,” Vulcan continued, as he picked up an object to pass it around letting us get a feeling for them.

“Why do they need humans to commit a sin?” I asked, confused why such objects will travel into the human world, and land in a human’s hand.

“They feed on sin. Each time a human commits a sin they grow stronger. This is how the “cracks” in the seal came into existence. The moment mankind stepped into sin and did not follow God’s laws, “cracks” started to form in the seal God placed around the underworld, and the demons started to escape into the human world. But to ensure that their “cracks” stays open, and they obtain their power, demons needed mankind to keep committing to sin,” Vulcan finished, and left me even more confused.

“Okay, so if mankind stopped committing a sin, demons would be trapped in hell and the world will be a safe place again?” I asked, wanting to make sure I got this right.

“Yes, but mankind is too weak, it will never happen; which means the world will never be without evil. Some even believe in the “Yin-Yang” theory, that a good world without evil will not be a success. They believe that the one is needed to balance out the other.”

“That’s just stupid. Who ever thought that up didn’t see what we see every day,” Lotan replied, and looked a bit pissed.

“Yes, but can you imagine the chaos if they did see what we see? You have to remember that mankind is a strong species in their eyes only. They are not strong enough to deal with demons like we do, take mankind’s approach towards themselves. They can’t even accept one another; they have racism, religion clashes, and many more. They are too afraid to take a step into another’s world and see for themselves, they’d rather judge and keep away. The moment a human sees a true demon, they’ll run as fast as they can and never look back,” Vulcan finished, and I could see the heartache in his eyes. Indeed mankind is not strong enough to take on such a challenge; they can’t even fix their own world.

“So that means we are the only ones to take on the demons and have a chance of winning. We are born into this service to protect them and repent our greatest mistake,” Vulcan went on when silence greeted him.

“Yeah, that pretty much sucks,” I replied, and walked over to the bronze cuff again
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“They keep the seal broken, and we have to protect them,” I finished, holding the charm. This is so unfair; there is no hope for a normal existence for the fallen.

“The humans have a saying: Deal with the devil, and you’ll regret it for an eternity. It’s our price to pay for eternity, because we followed him and not God,” Vulcan said, taking the charm from me and placing them back on the table
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“I think that is enough for today.” He ended the discussion, and gestured to the door. We took the hint and went to lunch.

Lunch was very quiet indeed. I think everyone was thinking over the discussion we had with Vulcan. After we ate, the girls and I skipped the zone and went straight for the arena. Lada planted herself on the grass, and Nanini started to go through the obstacle course next to her. I went to lean on the tree next to Lada, keeping my eyes on Nanini as she moved around, trying to work out her adrenalin.

“I asked my father once why I should pay for someone else’s mistake. His answer was that an oath to God is buried in your blood, making it unbreakable. So because the first fallen broke their oath to God and stood with “him”, the penalty for it also buried itself into their blood. That’s why their children and every generation that follows will have to carry the first fallen’s curse for eternity,” Lada said, next to me. I listened to her but kept my eyes on Nanini. So that’s why we get to serve, because our blood is tainted.

“My mom said that when humans baptize their children, the same oath takes place. But that Jesus died to break the punishment to their children, so human children are freed from their parents sins,” she went on, and I heard in her voice the sadness she felt.

“Yeah,” I said, my eyes still on Nanini. The whole serve and protect thing was running through my mind, a war within myself. Why protect them when they create the problem? Why put our lives on the line when they openly indulge in sin? I was getting pissed-off thinking about it.

“Salve Lada, Kasadya,” Chax said from behind me. I just kept my eyes on Nanini, my internal war wasn’t over yet and I still couldn’t find a good answer to my questions.

“Kasadya, are you ready?” Chax asked moving into my view. I looked at him and saw him making a frown
.

“We better get to it then, seeing that it’s all we are born to do. What do you want me to do?” I asked, in a bitchy way.

“I think I’ll go find my
Custos,
” Lada said, and I heard her get up and walk away. Behind Chax I could see Nanini still going at it, and then my eyes fell on Chax’s again.

“So are you just going to stand there looking at me, or are we training?” I asked, now getting pissed off at him. He turned to look at Nanini going at the course, then turned back and looked past me.

“Salve Arianna.” he said and then I heard footsteps behind me. I just kept my eyes on Nanini, looking into Seth’s partners eyes now would not be a good thing.

“Salve Chax, I see you have the same problem we have,” she replied and walked passed me with Lotan on her right side to the arena. Chax followed her to the spot she picked for training. They spoke and I saw Lotan say something to Chax but I just wasn’t interested. Nanini finally stopped and walked up to me
.

“Can’t get it out,” she complained, and paced up and down in front of me.

“Yeah same here, and it looks like Lotan isn’t doing any better. What a way to begin a day, but hey this is a fallen life so we just need to get used to it,” I replied to her, watching her move up and down.

“Yeah,” she said and looked at me; I could see her internal war in her eyes. I think the question we are all facing is; why bother?

“Salve Nanini, Kas,” Seth said from behind me, and stopped at my left side. I looked at him, his smile lighting up my mood a little.

“Hi Seth,” I responded, and Nanini followed suit. I saw movement in the corner of my eye and turned my head to see Chax walking back to me, his face all serious as always
.
“It’s going to be a long day again,” I said and looked at Seth, this time with a small smile on my face.

“That bad, hey?” he replied and turned his head to follow Chax as he walked back to us
.
“I’ll see you later. Nanini, let's begin,” he said and walked off with Nanini, leaving me alone. Well for a while at least. Chax made he’s way back to stand in front of me. He looked at me but still said nothing.

“So, are we training, or are we just going to stare at one other?” I asked him, getting more pissed off by the minute. He kept looking at me then offered his hand. Oh boy, here we go. I placed my hand in his, and the next moment we were standing in a dark ally, a street with moving cars in front of us, music banging in the building to our left. Releasing my hand he turned and opened a door of the building, the music crashing into the ally. We were in the human world, but why?

He gestured for me to follow and walked in. I followed him into a hallway leading into another, a line of people standing in it. He turned left and I looked down to see it was a line waiting at the bathrooms. I followed him into what looked like a club, people everywhere dancing to metal music. Chax walked up some stairs that led to a second floor, also filled with people. He walked over to a railing and stopped then started looking down at the crowd; I followed and stopped next to him.

He just looked down and didn’t say a word
.
“So, what are we doing here, am I even allowed to be here?” I asked him. He lifted his head and looked at me.

“You are here with me so it’s allowed, and I’m showing you the answer to your question,” he replied and looked back down.

My question? I can’t remember asking him something
.
“What are you talking about?” I asked confused.

“Patience,” he responded, and continued looking at the crowd. I bent over and did the same. Everyone was having one hell of a time, enjoying their normal life. I saw a couple making out in one of the booths and suddenly felt shy; is that what Seth and I look like? Man, they were devouring one another. I then saw a hot guy walking between the dancing people, smiling and greeting some of them, he walked around like he owned the place. He stopped at a girl that looked like she was sixteen and wrapped his arms around her. She smiled and enjoyed his attention, but something was off. This guy was too good. I looked at Chax and followed his gaze; he was also looking at the same guy. So it’s not only me who gets a weird feeling about this.