Anahit scanned the classroom with a delicate smile on her face. The students were enthralled by her story.
“Yes, May?”
“They don’t breathe until they turn seven.”
“That’s correct, May. Thank you.”
The petite blonde sitting next to Sophie was silently cheering at her first success.
“Until they turn seven, cambions don’t use their lungs to breathe. They are like small, porcelain dolls, and they look like nothing you could ever find in this world. Also, they do not speak. Their presence is charming and hypnotic, and they communicate only telepathically. Otherwise, their safety depends on their mother, who usually hides and protects them until they start learning the behavior of normal children.”
Strangely, Sophie couldn’t remember much of her childhood before turning seven. Or eight. She dismissed the thought.
“So, on that unfortunate day, those poor, terrified peasants brought twelve innocent souls in front of the Inquisitors, hoping their families would be spared any false accusations at the future trials. It didn’t matter to the Inquisitors that they were half-demons; they treated them just like they treated their other victims. That was the last drop of a long series of mistakes. And it cost them. A lot.”
A new set of pictures appeared on the screen. Demons with long tails and horns were burning, eyes mad with pain and something similar to surprise, their torn cloaks feeding the flames. After no more than five such pictures, the screen went black and all eyes were trained on Anahit. The white demoness took a couple of steps towards the students and put one hand on the nearest desk. The boy sitting there was staring at her wide-eyed.
“You are the Army we created to defeat the enemies of mankind. Our children, our soldiers, our hope. This war is not about the principles of good and evil. It’s about humans. It’s about these innocent beings who don’t even know their world is an arena for a one-sided battle. The Dark Forces are attacking over and over, and no one has their back. The Angirs are sitting on their little clouds, carefree and careless, t
hey don’t see what’s down here. It’s up to us. We took action because they were killing our children and, maybe, our lovers. Because the Dark was no longer our home. The human world is our home now.”
Sophie suddenly felt lightheaded as adrenaline ran through her veins. She felt excited, determined, and strong. She was willing to do her best, to start learning and training in that instant.
“We, incubi and succubi, were created by the Dark Forces. You, our cambions, are half-human and half-demon. You always have to remember that it is not about who you are, but who you choose to be. And we choose to be protectors. We fight evil through evil, for this is our real purpose. The Dark Forces have failed with us.”
?
The library was in the North Pavilion, occupying almost the entire third floor. To say it was huge would have been an understatement. The library at Lure was the biggest library in the world, given that what could be found at the third floor of Septentrio was actually a joke: entire rows filled with books to simply decorate the reading lounge placed in the middle of the room. There were tables, armchairs and pillows scattered on the floor, most of them already occupied by students. The actual Library was underneath the building, digging deep down inside the mountain. To have access to those huge halls of world knowledge, the cambions had to talk to Tarini, the fourth ranked succubus. But, until then, they had a lot of study material at the upper level, and they rarely needed Tarini’s help. Only when a particular case asked for particular documentation.
Alexi was sitting at a far table, near a window guarded from the outside by a half-eagle, half-ram gargoyle. He was looking intently, almost angrily, at the files spread before him. All that trouble… for what? And to think he had almost felt guilty for running to Kvasir, taking advantage of his father’s soft spot for him, and convincing him to get him the files which, technically, contained Kain’s past! How silly of him. What had he expected, anyway? After going through twenty cases, his mind started wandering to different places. First, it was Kain’s attitude towards him. He was too pushy, almost clingy. Alexi felt like the blond was following him around, and even though he didn’t know his roommate very well, he was sure it wasn’t in Kain’s nature. Then, he had also claimed Sophie as an apprentice, an action that still boggled Alexi’s mind. Why on earth would Kain suddenly decide he wanted to mentor? He hadn’t mentored in over ten years, and even then he hadn’t showed much interest in his apprentices. There was only one logical explanation: he hadn’t done it for Sophie, he had done it for him, for Alexi. To challenge him? To piss him off? To get his attention? Trying to make sense of the blond’s motives was useless. He was just going in circles.
And secondly, there were the Duke cases. He was trying to burn holes into the offending files. “All that trouble… I don’t get it.” He was practically fuming. “Hmmph! Maybe I’m too stupid to get it. Maybe I’m obsessed and I can’t see the whole picture. But this, this…” He felt like he could break something right on the spot. After the twentieth file, Alexi could see nothing of the great Lure legend that Kain Svjetlo was supposed to be. He had no technique whatsoever. He was cruel, yes, but careless and highly uncreative. It was like sculpting a delicate art piece with a blunt axe. “A bloody axe! Great… lame comparison.” The Dukes were complex, elegant demons; extremely cruel predators, but smooth and noble in the way they attracted their prey. “I would know… They need to be handled in a creative way. You need knowledge and dedication. Even respect. Gods! You have to respect your victims, not fucking tear them apart. Bastard.” Anger was taking over his judgment. His temples started pulsing with a migraine, which made it difficult for him to focus. Now he hated Kain even more, if that was possible. It wasn’t enough that he wanted the Duke cases so badly and he had always been refused. Not even Kvasir was willing to help him with this one. And now he had to find out that the greatest Kain Svjetlo, the only Lure guardian who had been trained to solve them, was actually slaughtering his victims like an angry child who had lost his favorite toy. To top it all, he also seemed careless and ignorant.
“Sheesh! I’ve got to calm down. Stupid fuck… he’s always affecting me like that.” Alexi breathed in and out a couple of times, and decided to go on with his reading. The pile was still quite big, so he might as well get it over with if he had gone through all that humiliating shit to get them. Only now, he was skimming through them, not paying much attention to the details. He was looking at the Dukes’ information – name, age, gender, physical appearance, modus operandi – in hopes of finding the other thing he was searching for. Him. “But, no, not even Svjetlo could have caught him. Such a waste of time.”
While he was going through the forty-second file, he did find something at least intriguing. The case involved a very powerful demon Lure had been trying to hunt down for centuries. Vepar had been a Great Duke of Hell who controlled the waters, causing storms and floods as he pleased, sinking ships and destroying hundreds of towns and villages by the sea and ocean. Had been because, thanks to Kain, he couldn’t harm anyone anymore. Yes, even the greatest demons of Hell could be killed.
Alexi read: “Svjetlo had followed Vepar to his shelter, the cave known as Uamh-Binn in Scotland. The demon was already suspicious of his real identity, and Svjetlo knew he had to move fast.” At that point, Alexi was more than engrossed in the report. “No way! So careless, so stupid.”
“He caught him as he was taking his demon shape, a dark merman. He pinned his wrists to the cave wall and began the process of hypnosis. Svjetlo was aware that using his energy at that particular moment was dangerous. It was too soon, and the demon was already half turned. However, he had no choice.”
“I can’t believe it. He did it somehow,” whispered Alexi.
“As he slowly began to drain his energy, keeping him pinned and helpless, Svjetlo struggled to keep his focus and fight the Duke’s powerful aura. Svjetlo’s attack was merciless, but the demon’s retaliation was just as powerful and well-aimed. Vepar managed to escape hypnosis and free his wrists. With the sharp talons attached to his scaly hands, he ripped out Svjetlo’s eyes…”
“Excuse me…” Sophie had silently approached Alexi and was now standing awkwardly at the other end of the table. At first, seeing how he was so concentrated on his work, she hesitated a bit, but she had no choice. At least now, after infinite minutes of grunting and shifting around the table in hopes of getting his attention, he was looking at her, albeit with confused eyes.
“Hi!” Why was he staring at her like he’d never seen her before? It was true that they hadn’t interacted much since the Midnight Ceremony. Scratch that. They hadn’t interacted at all. Sophie had seen both Kain and Alexi on the halls, in the cafeteria, or around Lure, but they had always seemed to ignore her, leaving her confused and frustrated. Was that the way mentors were supposed to treat their apprentices? Three days ago, they had both seemed to like her, want her even. They had fought over her, hadn’t they? Sometimes, late at night, lying in her bed, she couldn’t help but think she got it all wrong. It had never been about her.
“I’m so sorry for interrupting you.” She really was now. “May I, please, sit here?” Her politeness was pathetic.
Alexi was still looking at her like she was the eighth wonder of the world.
“Mmm… I… you see… All the other seats are taken. I’m sorry.” He was starting to scare her.
Fortunately, Alexi’s mind found the right portal leading to present time. Water cave left behind, he even managed a smile. “No, please, sit. Don’t be sorry. It’s stupid… I mean, no. It’s not your fault they’re all taken.”
Sophie sat down awkwardly, while Alexi cleared the table, gathering all the papers in front of him. Tension hung in the air, and Sophie shifted uncomfortably in her seat, suddenly regretting her decision to approach him. What was she going to tell him anyway? Ask him why he had ignored her since the Midnight Ceremony? Why he had chosen her in the first place? Because it was clear to her now that he had lied when he said she was special and he wanted to help her discover her inner demon. She placed her own books on the table when there was enough space for them.