A Glow of Stars & Dusk by Eve L. Mitchell

They had been angels.I looked at the three of them and at my mum and then back to the three of them. They had been angels.

“Do you have wings?” I blurted.

“Not as you think of them,” Pen told me quietly.

“You’re an angel?” I said incredulously, looking at Sam.

“Demon.” He drank his tea. “All demon.”

“I think I’m having a stroke.” All the weirdness in my life, I dealt with it, no problem. This? This was beyond my comprehension.

“Dramatic,” Zel snorted as he too drank his tea.

“Shut up.”

“What age was she when you bound her?” Sam asked my mum almost pleasantly.

“Five.”

“And the Druid’s lotion?” he spoke on, ignoring her obvious hostility.

Mum looked at him and then at me in disapproval. “I told you this when you were here last?”

“You did.” Sam didn’t flinch under my mum’s hard look.

“I reacted to it when I was pregnant, but I thought it was me. When Star was born, the spirits were so thick it was difficult to breathe. My mother was able to dispel them, but all through her infant years, Star was surrounded.” Mum shook her head slightly as she recalled. “When she went to kindergarten, she started passing on their messages, she scared the children.” Mum ran her hand through her hair. “My husband taught her not to see them. But she is a stubborn, wilful child, and she was soon talking to them again. She would leave in the night. We’d find her in a graveyard, a church, Christ, sometimes even at the side of the road.” Mum’s tone was heavy with her former worry. “She was in so much danger. They surrounded her wherever she went, I had no choice.”

“Who bound her?” Pen asked.

“Hamish and my mother.”

“We have his bones,” Zel informed her. “Your mother?”

“My gran was cremated.”

Zel tipped his head back and sighed. “Every fucking step we gain, we fall back two.”

“Who did the blood spell?” Sam asked.

“Blood spell?” Mum asked warily. “Blood magic is dark magic, my mother did not practice dark magic.”

“The Druid then,” Pen said to Sam quietly.

Zel stood abruptly. “We go to the old battleground.”

“Battleground?” I asked as I watched Pen stand too. Sam remained seated.

“So much blood has been spilled on the ground at Dunnottar, Viking raids, Scottish battles, killing of soldiers, treason. It’s soil is heavy with the stain of evil and hatred.” Zel looked almost saddened as he thought about it. “A dangerous, dangerous place to bind a child.” His look to my mum was full of judgement.

“We work with what we are given,” my mum answered him softly, not in the least bit intimidated by him. “Nowhere else close by would hold her power.”

“Go, tell the others, there’s a change in plan,” Sam said as he looked at Zel, whose gaze flicked to mine once, and with a nod of acknowledgement to Sam, he left.

Pen offered my mum his hand and smiled. “It’s been so long.” He gestured to the teacups. “Will we?”

My mum actually blushed. The two of them gathered the cups and went out to the back garden. I went to the window to watch them, curious to see the exchange. Mum always burned the leaves after a reading, and I assumed that Pen went with her to ensure she did. I noticed he didn’t hand her Sam’s cup.

Sam. He was still seated at the table, silent and unmoving. I was going to have to address this sooner or later.

“I thought he was you.” I continued to watch my mum dispose of the tea leaves as she spoke to Pen. “He looked like you, and I was…” I inhaled deeply. “After sleeping beside you, I was, I dunno, shy.” I turned to him to see him watching me closely. “It was you I slept beside?” Sam nodded slightly. “Well, thank fuck for that.” My laugh was harsh before I felt overwhelming sadness. “I’m sorry, I should have known,” I whispered dejectedly.

“You should have.” He stood swiftly.

“What happens now?” I asked quietly as I watched him with building unease.

Sam’s look was heavy with scorn. “Now? We go to Dunnottar, we break your bind, you do the spell and you bleed.” His grin was vicious.

“Be careful, your savageness is showing,” I muttered. “You stay pissed off then?”

“I’m indifferent.”

I barked out a laugh. “You’re not even in the same general region of indifference. You’re full of shit.”

He moved so quickly my back hit the sink with a thud. “No,” he hissed in anger. “I’m not indifferent.” His head bowed as he leaned forward, and he inhaled deeply. “I can smell his spilled seed on you, and it fills me with a rage I struggle to contain.” His finger trailed along my jaw before his hand circled my throat as he drew his head back to look at me. “The scent of betrayal makes me ill. You make me ill.” He stepped back from me. “The sooner this is done, the sooner I am free of you.”

“Sam.” My fingers caught his arm, and he looked at me before dropping to look where my hand curled around his arm. I dropped my hand when his eyes glowed softly.

“Do not touch me again, witch.” Sam took a step away from me. “Once you are unbound, the spell will be easy.” He strode out of the kitchen as Mum and Pen came back into the kitchen.

“You okay?” Mum asked me as I hurriedly wiped my eyes.

“Yeah, all good,” I lied as I rubbed my hands over my jeans. “So.” I looked at Pen. “Angels, huh? Kept that quiet.”

Pen smiled despite himself, and after a brief farewell with my mum, he gave me a few moments in the kitchen alone with her. She opened her arms, and I hugged her tightly.

“It’s all gone to shit,” I whispered in despair.

“I don’t think this was ever a good situation for you,” Mum said with light humour. “His ego is wounded, he will come around.”

“I don’t think so, Mum.”

“Trust me.” She let me go as she reached up and smoothed my hair. “You call to him, he will forgive you.”

“What a mess.”

“Yes,” she agreed as she collected the teapots. “Ugh,” she groaned. “And I have to tell your dad.”

“Do you? I mean really?”

“Lies have consequences,” Mum chided me slightly.

“I’m currently living through one now,” I snarked and immediately regretted it when I saw her face fall. “Sorry, Zel brings out my inner bitch.”

Mum’s smile made me smile in return. “He is full of righteousness, still has too much angel than demon,” Mum remarked. “You must be careful. They will not tell you all that you need to know, you must be clever, Star. Your emotions cannot rule your head.”

Well, there was no danger of that. “I’ll be good, and it will be over and done with in a jiffy.”

Mum groaned as she dropped her head in her hands. “Stubborn, obstinate, wilful child,” she berated me. “They want to unbind your powers, to lift a curse, on a prince of hell. Do you really think you can walk away unscathed?”

A prince of hell? I shifted on my feet. “They didn’t say he was royalty.”

“God above, Star. Open your ears and listen to what they are not telling you,” Mum fretted as she tipped out leaves from the teapots. “I cannot stop them, I am not that strong.” She wiped her hands on the tea towel. “You are, you must be careful.” She looked over my shoulder quickly. “Do you have allies amongst them?”

I nodded slowly. “I think Chaz is a friend.”

“Chazaquel is more of a lover not a fighter.” Mum worried her lip as she thought about it. “Penemue is the same, both more scholars than warriors. You need a fighter on your side.”

She looked so worried that I knew I had to assure her. “I do.” I grinned at her dubious look. “I have a strong fighter who likes me,” I promised. I didn’t think it was necessary to mention that it was a hellhound. No need to kill her outright with fright.

“Promise me you will be careful?”

“I promise.” I hugged her tightly.

“And stop kissing demons,” she chastised me as she squeezed me back. “You need to find a real man.”

“Ruairidh?” I teased as I put my coat on.

“Good God, no, your father will kill you if you end up with that drip, you’d have more success with the demon.”

“Dad doesn’t like Ruairidh?” I asked in surprise.

“Another conversation for another day.” Mum patted my bum as she ushered me to the door. “Be careful, and if you are in danger, you call them forth, Star,” she whispered in my ear. “I don’t care if it disturbs their rest, you call every soul to you if you need to.”

“I will.” I gave her a final hug, and then with mounting dread, I headed out to my van.

* * *

The drivefrom Inverness to the edge of Stonehaven on the northeast coast was, to say the least, tense. And silent. The silence was almost deafening. When Ros tried to make conversation, he was shut down so savagely by Zel that I actually apologised for him getting his head bitten off. When I was told to shut up, I spent the rest of the journey imagining a horrible death for the dark demon.

Dunnottar Castle was situated on the cliffs overlooking the North Sea and was so exposed to the elements I was freezing before I even got out of the van.

“We need tickets,” I blurted as they went to leave the van. “To get in.”

Sam snorted as he got out, ignoring me, and I looked at Chaz in despair. “We have ways of getting in,” he told me gently before he got out too.

I sat a moment longer. They hadn’t mentioned the other demon, he was not with us, and I was too scared of the backlash from Sam to ask about him. The window got rapped loudly, and I jumped even as I glared at Zel whose grin showed more teeth than normal.

As I got out, I smelled the chips from the food van and realised I was starving. Ignoring them all, I ordered a coffee and a plate of chips. Ros sniffed them as I sat and opened a sachet of vinegar, sprinkling it over the crispy golden goodness, my mouth watering in anticipation.

“I want some,” Ros told me. I handed him my credit card and told him to order everyone a portion. “What do I ask for?” He looked uncertain.

“Fries,” I decided. His accent was almost American, I thought. “We call them chips here, but if you order six portions of fries, the girl will know.” I pointed to my card with a chip. “Just hold it up against the device she hands you to pay, okay?”

As I finished my coffee, I tried not to show the hurt I felt as they sat at an opposite bench, eating chips and drinking coffee that I had bought them. It was like being back at school, forever the outcast. I watched them out of the corner of my eye. Sam didn’t eat anything, he did drink his coffee though. As I tried not to watch him, I felt a pang of remorse.

His dark hair blew in the breeze, his mouth twitched in a smile as Der said something that the others laughed at. He never fully smiled, I realised. The demon I had been with smiled freely. That should have been my first warning something was wrong. I also thought of the way Sam had kissed me in the bar and the van, hard but careful. His hands had been the same, rough, but his touch had been gentle. He had never once caused me discomfort when he had his hand between my legs. I bowed my head as I felt the tears well. How had I not known from his touch, how had I not known when he kissed me?

“Witch,” Zel called me, and I realised they were all standing, waiting for me.

“Well, it’s a step up from whore,” I muttered as I stood.

We walked down the path to the castle, and I took in the sheer magnificence of the ruin. It must have been spectacular in its day, I realised as I walked down. I looked at the stairs down to the castle and didn’t relish coming back up them.

“Wait,” Chaz called, looking up at the sky, his hand up in warning. “Wait.”

I caught up to them and looked up at the sky as I looked over at Chaz. “What’s happening?”

“He reads the clouds,” Pen said softly beside me.

“Clouds?” I looked at Chaz again and then at Pen. “I didn’t know that was a thing,” I admitted.

“Don’t know much, do you?” Zel said with derision.

“No, I don’t.” I glared at him. “But I know a dickhead when I see one,” I snapped.

“You seem to know a lot about dicks,” Zel growled as he returned my glare.

“You know, maybe it’s time you fucking dickheads, remember you need me. I don’t need any single one of you.” I brought myself up short at the realisation. “I don’t actually know why I’m here,” I realised as I looked at them all. “And I don’t want to be here anymore.” I turned and walked away, walking back to the van.

I made it to the van and was about to get in when I was turned and pinned against it. I looked up at Sam and met his angry stare with one of my own.

“What?”

“Get back down there.”

“No,” I answered stubbornly. “You want my help? Well, I no longer want to help you.”

“Witch,” Sam warned.

“Demon.”

I glanced around us and fought the eye roll. I really needed to learn to reverse park. If I had done, then I would be seen by all the visitors to the castle, but no, I had to drive into the space front first. The only thing that could see me was the small robin sitting on the hedge. The bird flew off. Of course it did.

“The quicker you are unbound, the quicker we leave,” Sam reminded me.

“Maybe I like being bound,” I said to him with a careless shrug. “I’ve been bound since I was five, I don’t know any different.”

Sam stepped back from me and looked me over. “You’re so fucking clueless, it’s infuriating.” He glared at me. “You’re infuriating.”

“Well, you’re a bossy bastard.”

Sam rolled his head on his shoulders, as if he were trying to relax, before he looked at me again. “This is not the time or the place to have an exchange of insults.”

“Slagging match,” I told him reluctantly. “It’s called a slagging match.”

“It sounds delightful.” His tone was dry, and for the first time since everything had gone to shit, he almost looked like himself again.

“I made a mistake,” I began and felt a pang of regret as I saw him shut down. “I thought he was you, but when I think about it, I don’t know how I could have.” I looked away as I felt the familiar tears. “You weren’t rough with me before, I should have known.” I dipped my head to hide the wetness threatening to run down my cheeks. “I don’t want to be here,” I whispered into the silence. “Zel hates me so much, it feels almost like a physical assault when he looks at me. Chaz looks at me with pity, and the others are too scared to approach me in case they upset you. And you”—my head lifted to meet his stare—“detest me and what I did.” I tucked my hair behind my ears as I blew on my fingers. “And it’s freezing here, and I want to go home, where I’m not hated.” I heard him huff in disagreement. “Okay, where I am hated, but at least they don’t want to actually harm me…that I know of.”

“You don’t always get what you want,” Sam told me coldly. “I however, do.” His hand encircled my arm, and he pulled me forward. “You will go into that castle, you will be unbound, and I promise you, witch, you will cast the spell.” He began to walk me back to the others. “Then you can return to your sad lonely little life, where I am sure you’ll marry that fool you call a friend, and you will die alone after what I am sure will be a long and miserable life with him.”

“You’re hateful,” I gasped as I tried to pull my arm away from him, my mind reeling from his harsh words.

Sam glowered down at me and hissed, “Demon.”

“Witch.” I pulled away from him and reached for my power. It rushed to meet me, and wildly I called the words that came to me. Sam went flying backwards, and I turned and ran back to my van as I heard the others yelling as they raced towards us.

Hands grabbed me, and I screamed as I was thrown backwards through the air. I landed with a thud on the frozen ground, and I looked up at Sam in shock.

No, not Sam.

Samyaza. The leader of the rebellious angels. His power was wild as it raced around me, his eyes glowed bright green with anger, his twin swords were in his hands as he looked down at me with barely concealed fury.

“You run from me again, witch, and I will cut off your legs so you never run again.” He looked to the others who had reached us. “Wipe them.” He looked at the gathered spectators, some on their phones either recording or calling for aid. His gaze returned to me. “Get up.”

“Fuck you.”

One large hand reached down and picked me up effortlessly. “Shut your mouth,” he growled before he shoved me into Zel’s hold. “Keep her contained, and for fuck’s sake, keep her quiet.”