"We were there, drawn to you. I do not know how, but I do know why."
"Well, spit it out."
She tilted her head, a bemused expression on her face before opening her mouth in understanding. "You must make a choice. Daelissa and I represent opposite sides to this choice."
"What is it with all the dark and light stuff? It seems like everything always boils down to black or white."
"I do not mean to insult your intelligence, Justin—"
"Go ahead. It's not like everyone else doesn't already do it."
A laugh tinkled in her throat. "The human mind cannot see some things the way we do, the same way we do not see things the way humans do. This dark and light is how your mind interprets what it cannot understand."
"So break it down for me."
"It is not good or evil. It is not black or white. It is balance and choice. One choice will save this world the way it is. The other will remake it, perhaps condemn it, depending upon who you are."
"Is that all?" I breathed a mock sigh of relief. "And here I thought it was something serious."
"It is serious, Justin." Alarm filled her dark eyes.
"That was a joke. Sarcasm."
The relief was evident on her face. "Oh. Good. You frightened me."
"So the bottom line to this whole mess is, you want me to choose your side, the side my mind says is the dark." I thought back to the many dreams I'd had, especially the one where Elyssa told me she'd be my light in the dark. My dark light. But what if our dreams were being manipulated? What if neither side was the right one? This whole mess might be some farce dreamed up by a bunch of bored angels. A game to pass the millennia.
"You must choose me, Justin. Daelissa has powerful allies and I have none. She has had a very many lot of years to prepare and I only started to remember not a lot of many years ago."
"Oh jeez. I gotta teach you to count."
Her eyes pinched in a hurt expression. "I do know. Just not how to translate yet."
I mulled it over for a moment. Daelissa had done some terrible stuff, no doubt. She'd incited the war between the spawn and Templars, and certainly had something to do with Maximus. The massacre at the arcane school in Dallas had her stink on it as well. The blonde chick with the burning blue eyes was bad news. The temples in El Dorado bore a permanent reminder of that.
"Did your kind rule us once as gods?"
She looked up and I could tell from the strain on her face, she was trying desperately to remember. Or pretending to. With a sigh, she gave up. "I cannot remember it all. I do know I punched Daelissa in the face once."
I chuckled. The two could be twins from mirror universes. "Is she your sister?"
Nightliss nodded slowly. "I think so. In some way."
I stood and took a step away. Stared into the night. "It feels like your side is the right one, Nightliss. But I need to know more. I need you to remember. I've jumped into enough messes in my life, without plowing right into a choice like this. Besides, the dark side is usually made up of the bad guys, even if they do have cookies." Elyssa was right about my decision-making skills. I tended to jump without looking. Not this time. For all I knew, saying yes to Nightliss might start an Armageddon none of us were ready to face. And in my limited experience, the dark side was really good at manipulation. I couldn't picture this petite cutie manipulating anyone for evil, but what did I know?
"I understand," she said, her voice sad. "I cannot promise you cookies. But I will be patient and try to remember."
Down the building from me, I saw Bella spot me and come my way. I looked back at Nightliss. "How do I stay in touch with you?"
"I will try to stay close, but until you commit to me, I cannot give you a gift."
"A gift?"
"Yes. It is like giving you a part of my power."
"Is this like what Daelissa does for the Templars?"
She nodded. "It is the same."
It reminded me of something very important. "Can you restore Elyssa's memories? Undo whatever Daelissa did?"
"If she wishes it, I will see what I can do."
"Please."
Nightliss stood on her tiptoes and kissed me on the lips. Just a peck, but it made me wonder what sort of customs angels had for greeting people. Were they like the Colombian women I'd met who liked to kiss me on the cheeks every chance they got? I didn't have a chance to ask. She left my side and walked toward Elyssa, and Bella reached my side a second later. She hugged me and kissed me on both cheeks.
"You were magnificent," she said.
My ego inflated by about a hundred pounds, but I was also a bit puzzled. "How so?"
"You are a true leader Justin. The foreseeance spoke of it, but now I have seen you in action. You won others to your cause and they fought for you."
"I never actually forced them to."
"And yet they followed." Her complexion had darkened a bit more, closer to her natural olive tone, but dark rings underscored her eyes.
I thought back to how I'd blundered along, somehow surviving, somehow making it through so many challenges. Somewhere along the way, I'd picked up a little confidence and added that to my determination. Had I become a leader? I looked at what remained of the carnage, now mostly a few bloodstains and shattered glass. This hadn't been my doing. Thomas Borathen caused this destruction, at least in part. Daelissa had helped things along. That woman had a gift for mayhem.
"Lina told me of her attempts to teach you magic." Bella's raised eyebrow told me what she thought of those efforts. "I think it is time to truly teach you. You have the ability and you must have every skill available to you in the battles to come."
"Magic is a lot harder than I thought it would be."
"It is no easy skill to learn."
I spotted a familiar figure in a leather duster across the parking lot, staff in hand. An older version of myself walked by his side. Next to him stood a woman with flaming red hair.
Oh crap.
My father had shown up at the wrong place at the wrong time. And Kassallandra was going to make him pay.
Chapter 36
It took me a moment to realize my father and the redheaded Daemas hadn't come to blows just yet, nor had hellhounds hauled him off by his scruff. My eyes widened even further when I noticed Dad had an arm around her waist as she limped along in obvious pain. Bella and I hurried over to meet them.
"Almost missed the fun," Shelton said with a smirk. "You were right, Justin."
"About what?"
"You are trouble."
He grinned and held out a hand. I gripped it and shook. "Careful now, Shelton, or I might think you're going mushy on me."
He chuckled.
Dad had a somewhat guilty look on his face. Kassallandra looked exceedingly smug, her rosebud lips turned up in a satisfied smile despite the long gash down her right leg and the blood on her torn shirt. Dad let her balance on her uninjured leg and took his arm away from her, embracing me in a bear hug.
"I thought you were dead, Son."
"I thought the same thing a few times myself." We released each other and stood back. "When did you get here?"
"Your father killed two hellhounds and saved me from certain death after Vadaemos struck me," Kassallandra said.
"Hey now, sweetheart, I helped too," Shelton said, sounding a bit injured.
She pursed her lips. "I suppose you did."
"Wow, two hellhounds," I said, thinking back to my own battle with the things. They were tough to take down.
"My hellhounds fought bravely as well," she said, looking back at the monstrous Malkesh and one of his smaller siblings.
"I thought Thomas Borathen locked you up. Did he let you go?"
She shook her head. "A mysterious man helped me escape."
"Mysterious?"
"Dressed in black. Sunglasses and a mask. He looked very silly, but he freed me nonetheless."
"Big guy?"
She nodded. "A beast."
A string of yarn connected two more thumbtacks on the corkboard in my head. Not a lot, but the best I could hope for considering my deductive reasoning skills weren't the strongest in the world.
"Justin, I have something really important to tell you," Dad said, his face going pale.
"Oh boy, this should be good," Shelton said with a grin. I felt certain it took all his willpower not to rub his hands together with delight at whatever the bad news was.
Kassallandra folded her arms and looked even smugger, if that was possible.
My stomach turned to stone. "Don't tell me you're going to marry her."
"Your mother—"
"Is still your wife!" My voice rose to a shout that echoed across the parking lot. "She's obviously under the control of the Conroys and you're going through with marrying her?" I shot Kassallandra an accusing glare. She actually had the grace to wilt a little under my stare.
"It must be so," she said. "For the good of our people."
"In case you didn't know, there's a law against polygamy, even in Utah."
Dad gripped my arm and dragged me away from the others. I didn't resist, despite the rage boiling in my chest. He turned and looked at me, eyes stern, gaze commanding. I had never seen him look so determined. It puzzled me even though I burned with anger.
"Justin, we all have choices to make. Your mother made hers, you made yours, and now I've made mine. You captured Vadaemos. Meghan told me about Daelissa, and how she's responsible for the mess between the Templars and Spawn. But you must remember House Assad and Slade are still at odds. The news of Vadaemos might heal those wounds in time, but we don't have time to waste."
"It's not like the two families are fighting in the streets and killing each other," I said. "Look, even Thomas Borathen shook my hand tonight."
He nodded. "I heard. I'm proud of you, Son. More proud than you could know. But spawn have a different way of fighting. They use politics. And the maneuvering both houses have used over the past several years has all the major houses aligned with one or the other and nobody wants to apologize and lose face. There are even talks of secession from the Overworld and creating a new supernatural government."