Malcolm (Book 1, The Redemption Series) (7 page)

CHAPTER five

A day passes. Then two. Still no word comes about Millie and Eliza's whereabouts. I have no way to find out where they are or why they’re still being held. In truth, I welcome the silence in the house. It lets me focus on what I need to do next. I decide that if I'm ever going to find a way to bring my father back I will have to wait until after my marriage to the emperor. On the day of our wedding, I will also be crowned empress and have far more power than I do now.

I can't call the person masquerading as the emperor Auggie because he
isn't
my best friend. He is an imposter. Of that, I have no doubt whatsoever. I'm not sure how long it will take or what I will have to do to prove that fact to everyone else, but I feel certain the truth will reveal itself in time. I simply have to be patient and choose my actions carefully because I am also certain the dowager empress will be watching my every move. I will have to hide my real agenda from them both if I am ever going to get my family put back together.

Two days before my marriage to the emperor, the usurper shows up in my home completely unannounced. I am playing with Vala in my sitting room when he suddenly appears in front of me. I find his unexpected arrival odd because I didn't see the flash of light that usually coincides with someone teleporting. It was more like he just materialized out of nowhere.

“Good evening, Annalisse,” he says, his eyes roaming over every inch of my body with undisguised carnal interest. Further proof to me that the person standing before me is not Auggie.

“Good evening,” I reply, as Vala sits up on my lap, staring at the emperor like she'll pounce on him if he dares to try to touch me.

The emperor looks around my sitting room like he is seeing it for the very first time, taking in every detail before returning his gaze to me.

“It's a pity, you know,” he says with a heavy sigh of regret.

He doesn't complete his thought, and I know exactly what he wants.

“What's a pity?” I ask, providing the slight prod he seems to need to finish what he was about to say.

“It's a pity how your life has turned out,” he finishes. “You were given everything a person needs to survive in this world, yet, look where you are. Forced into a marriage you don't want. Exiled from your father and friends. It just seems rather pathetic considering all the effort that went into placing you where you are now.”

“What are you talking about?” I ask.

The emperor makes a clicking sound with his tongue like he's chastising me for something I said.

“Come, come, Annalisse. I think we both know what's going on here. You don't have to hide your knowledge from me. You know what I am.”

“I know you're an imposter,” I say vehemently, not being able to control my temper. “Where is Auggie?”

The person masquerading as my friend narrows his eyes on me looking slightly confused.

“Don't you know?” He asks.

“How am I supposed to know what you did with him?” I demand. “Where is he?”

I watch as the man's expression transforms into one of sudden realization. He begins to laugh. It's not a joyous sound but one filled with scorn.

“I can't
believe
they didn't tell you anything!” He howls, completely amused by my ignorance of what's really going on.

“Then why don't you enlighten me,” I say, becoming annoyed by his mocking. “If you're so smart, why don't you share your vast store of knowledge with me?”

The man is finally able to bring his mirth under control and looks at me with no pretense of friendliness. He hates me, that much is certain. I just don't know why he hates me.

“What fun would that be?” He asks. “Why would I give up the upper hand I have over you? Plus, you really don't need to know anyway. You won't be alive long enough to do anything with the knowledge.”

My body tenses and Vala begins to growl.

“You leave her alone,” Vala threatens.

The emperor chuckles.

“I've lived longer than this world has been in existence, my little robot friend,” he says to Vala in disgust. “It will take more than you to end my life. Of that, you can rest assured.”

Even though he didn't want to give up any information that would help me, he just did.

“How can you be older than the Earth?” I ask, hoping to coerce him into opening up a dialogue. “I think you're lying.”

“How limited your mind is,” the man says condescendingly. “I can't believe Andre raised you to think so inside the box. There are powers within this world that are beyond your limited imagination. And I'm one of them.”

“Prove it,” I say. “Just what kind of powers do you presume to have that would amaze my limited intellect?”

The man stares at me, and I can see that he's trying to decide whether or not to entertain my request. Before I know it, a whip made of what looks like lightning appears in his right hand, crackling with a supernatural power. He lifts his hand and slashes the portrait of my mother which has always hung over the fireplace in my sitting room, cutting it in half and causing it to catch on fire.

I feel my heart race but try to hold back my fear. Fear isn't an emotion I want to show the creature standing in front of me.

“What are you?” I ask in a whisper.

“I hate to sound cliché, but I'm what's known as your worst nightmare.”

“Why do you hate me so much?”

“Oh, where to start,” he chuckles. His gaze is drawn to what remains of my mother's portrait. “We could start with her I guess.”

“You knew my mother?”

“I've known your family since the beginning of it,” he tells me, sounding sickened by the fact of the association. “You come from a long line of thorns in my side.”

“Sounds like I would have liked them,” I taunt.

“Well, you will be happy to know that little smart ass mouth of yours was inherited honestly.” The man snorts derisively. “The knowledge won't do you much good I'm afraid. You won't live long enough to have time to really think about it.”

“Are you going to kill me?”

“Absolutely not,” he says, looking offended by such a notion. “I wouldn't want to dirty the emperor's hands with such a task.”

“Where is Auggie?” I ask again, hoping his arrogance will prod him into flaunting the truth in my face.

“Standing right before you,” the man says with a devilish grin.

“You are not Auggie.”

“But I am in his body.”

“How?”

“I took it.”

“How do you just take over a body? Are you remotely controlling him somehow?”

The man laughs and shakes his head at me like I must be the most ignorant person on the planet.

“No, I forced his soul out so mine could wear his skin.”

“Who are you?” I demand.

“Allow me to introduce myself,” the man says, bowing to me exaggeratedly at the waist. “I am the Archangel Levi, one of the seven princes of Hell, at your service, my lady.”

My father had of course shared his religious beliefs with me, but I didn't remember him ever mentioning Hell having princes.

“Where is Auggie's soul?”

“I guess that depends on how well-behaved a boy he was while he was still alive. However, my guess would be Heaven since he seemed to be such a do-gooder.”

“Then he's dead?” I ask, my voice breaking uncontrollably over my loss.

“Afraid so.”

I take a moment to absorb this fact, pushing back my emotions for now because if I let them surface they will incapacitate me, and right now I know I will need all of my senses to outwit the creature standing before me.

“Why do you hate me so much?” I ask. “Why do you hate my family?”

“As I said, your predecessors have been a thorn in my side for many,
many
years. It seems like each generation is worse than the last. If I kill you, I can end your line and be done with you once and for all. I've simply been waiting for the right time before revealing myself again. It's been a thousand years since I took a mortal's form. After I heard about your birth, I knew the time had finally arrived for me to come back.”

“Why me?” I ask. “What makes me so special?”

“Because of who your father is.”

“Do you have a grudge against my father's family too? Is that why you banished him off- world?”

Levi looks at me like I've completely lost my mind.

“Don't you know who your
real
father is? They didn't keep that from you too, did they? Unbelievable! They've just made this far too easy for me.”

I feel my breath catch in my throat but force myself to ask, “My real father?”

Levi chuckles. “I hate to be the one to inform you... no scratch that...I'm pleased to be the one who informs you, dear Annalisse, that Andre Greco is not your real father. Not the one who spewed into your mother and knocked her up with you anyway.”

“You're lying,” I say, my jaw clenching in anger. “You're just saying that to upset me. It won't work. I know who my father is.”

Levi shrugs his shoulders. “Believe what you want, my little dove. But, it seems like I'm the only one in your life thus far who is willing to tell you the unvarnished truth.”

“My papa would have told me he wasn't my real father if that was the truth,” I say confidently. “I know he would have.”

“No,” Levi says, “I don't think he would. Because your real father is simply too terrible to admit to. Not even Andre could come to terms with the person your mother chose to spread her legs for.”

“Stop talking about my mother like she was some kind of whore!” I yell, feeling my temper reach the pinnacle of no return.

“Oh,” Levi says, holding a hand up to his mouth play acting like maybe he accidentally said too much, “should I just let you remain deluded about the purity of dear mumsy? Or do you want to know the truth of your parentage, Lady Annalisse?”

I swallow hard because I want to know the truth, but I’m almost scared to hear it. So far, I haven't detected a lie from Levi. I decide to gather what information I can from him and worry about the implications later.

“Then, who is my real father?”

Levi opens his mouth but his attention is drawn to something behind me by the entrance to the veranda.

“Ahh,” Levi says, “I was wondering if you had forgotten our little plan, Amon.”

I turn around in my seat on the couch and see a man standing by one of the pillars on the verandah dressed in a black suit and holding a sword in his right hand.

“No, I didn't forget,” the man named Amon says, staring at me like he hates me as much as Levi does. “I've waited too long for this moment to forget about it.”

“Well then,” Levi says looking back to me. “I'm afraid this conversation will have to come to an end just as your life soon will. I would love to stay and watch but the empress is a needy little bitch. I swear I don't know how this Auggie ever put up with her sniveling demands. All she does is nag, nag, nag. I'm afraid I'll have to find a way to dispose of her soon just to preserve my sanity. Goodbye, Annalisse. I wish I could say it has been a pleasure meeting you but that would most certainly be a lie.”

As soon as Levi teleports out of my sitting room, Amon appears in front of me.

I duck his first swing of the sword meant to take off my head and roll onto the floor away from him. Vala launches herself at Amon, teeth bared and mouth open to take a bite out of his face, but he easily swats her away with his free hand causing her to fly up against the door in the room and fall to the floor unmoving.

Her sacrifice gives me just enough time to get to my feet and run to my room, but Amon teleports right behind me and grabs a fist full of my hair, yanking me back against him.

“There's no where you can hide!” He yells at me, viciously pulling on my hair until I'm lying on my back on the floor.

He lifts the sword above his head, holding the hilt with both hands and the blade angled down toward my midsection.

It's then I do something I've never done before.

I teleport myself to safety out onto the veranda.

I don't have time to wonder how I did it because Amon teleports outside too.

He sneers at me as he runs towards me.

I need a weapon. I need the sword my father left for me. And I need it now!

I hear a whining sound behind me like something is flying through the air at high velocity. I spin around just as I see the sword I had hidden underneath my bed come zooming towards me. I hold out a hand, and the sword’s hilt lands in my palm like it knew exactly where it needed to be.