She seemed to realize that. “He’s ready to see you.”
Now my heart pounded harder, the sound of drums in my ears, the weakness emerging in both of my hands. Flashbacks hit me all at once, his face across the street, standing right up against the window with that smile. His eyes reflected the stage lights as he stood in the middle of the auditorium, his evil presence silencing the protests of the people in the neighboring seats. “Who’s he?” I asked the question without needing the answer. His face was permanently ingrained in my mind, and even if I’d never been taken, he would still be the star of my nightmares.
She stared down at me for a long time, her lips pressing harder together until they were just a thin line on her face. “Your demon.” Her body was so rigid it didn’t seem like she needed to take a breath, like she was a living statue that had no bodily necessities. “Forneus.”
3
Constance
The cold hit me in the face the second I stepped outside and into the elements.
It was dark, moonlight shining down through the branches of the trees overhead. Stars blanketed the sky, so visible and brilliant that I had to be hundreds of miles away from Paris. The only sounds I could distinguish were the crackling flames from the fires lit throughout the area.
Small wooden buildings were spaced out throughout the clearing, small cabins nestled in the privacy of the forest. A slight breeze moved through my hair and kept it behind my shoulders. The fabric of my white dress was light and soft to the touch, made of high-quality cashmere. It was tight around my waist and flared out toward the bottom, and the same happened with the sleeves. I was barefoot, and there had been no shoes in my closet. The fabric of the dress dragged behind me as I took the steps down to the earth at the bottom. My feet immediately felt the coldness of the ground.
The dress was light—but the wings were heavy.
They stretched out far behind me, rising above my height and then curving back down again. They were made of a combination of silk and goose feathers, so intricate that they had to have been made by hand. It wasn’t a cheap Halloween costume that you bought at a party store to go trick-or-treating. This was the real deal.
The woman led the way, her hands clamped together as she glided across the earth.
It was a lot to take in at once.
In the center of the clearing was a large stone statue of a woman dressed the same way I was, with the wings on her back, with her head held high in grace. Beneath her were demons, all reaching their hands up to touch her. They were disfigured monsters with claws and tails, all depicted as pained and vicious creatures. There was a circle of torches around it to illuminate it as the centerpiece of this place.
Goose bumps formed on my arms as we drew near and saw the details up close. The angel was clearly revered—and the monsters wanted her. I stopped on the path to stare even though I wished I’d never seen it in the first place. The demons were different sizes, some small like a child, while others could perch on her shoulder.
The woman stopped when she realized I was no longer behind her—even though she didn’t turn around to look at me. “Beautiful, isn’t it?” She turned her head slightly, her cheek partially visible.
I turned back to her, my eyes incredulous. “That’s an interesting way to describe it…”
We continued through the clearing and reached a cobblestone path. There was too much to take in all at once, and there was no sign to give me any indication of where I was. I was just…nowhere. My eyes turned to scan the darkness, and that was when I noticed them.
The men in the skulls.
The Malevolent.
They were posted in front of the buildings and at the edge of the clearing, standing so still, they looked like statues, and that was why I hadn’t noticed them before. Dressed in all black with the skulls covering their faces, they remained motionless, only turning their heads to watch us go.
She approached a post that had a torch in one of the slots, so she took it and raised it high as she continued to guide me, bringing me farther into the trees and the buildings, passing more statues that were illuminated by flames.
It was a long walk, one that never seemed to end. In the distance to the left, I could make out gravestones under the light from distant torches. Slabs were in the earth, in a line, marking where their dead lay.
Were they demons…or angels?
She halted in front of a building larger than the others, several stories tall, with a domed roof. There were no windows, unlike the traditionally built cabins sprinkled throughout the woods. The place had a different energy than the rest of the clearing, a gentle hum that seemed inaudible and in my head…but real, nonetheless.