THE SAINTS HAVE FALLEN: CHAPTER 26

The Saints Have Fallen is a YA Dark Romance Fantasy Novel written by Celine Mahadeo.

Novel. Fiction. Genre (Dark Romance Fantasy).

By Celine Mahadeo.

BLURB

After being stripped of his title as a God and turned into a demon in the presence of his brother, Yuri was banished to earth to live amongst the humans whom he hates. 200 years later, a young girl shows up at his doorstep holding both his life and death in her hands whilst not having any idea of the power in which she possesses.

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Chapter 26

Yuri.

A monster? That, I know I am.

The word never bothered me in the past. Not until…

I watched as she walked away from me. I could have gone after her. I could have killed her. But I couldn’t bring myself to do either. Something stirred within me. Achingly. I detested this sudden feeling. Was it regret? Guilt? No. I do not feel such things. I am a monster as she so claimed. It is nothing but the truth. Neither a God nor a demon. Something entirely different. I knew it. I felt it.

At the side, I knelt to retrieve the girl’s bag she had forgotten behind. If she was to leave, then she’d return to the house for her items. The idea of her leaving, as she implied, troubled me. But I couldn’t force her to stay. If that is what she wished, I shall respect that.

“My, is that a gift for me?” a satin-like voice glided through the air.

A woman sat perched upon a high branch of the tree, clad in a thin and silky dress that slit down her thighs. Her ivory skin glistened, kissing her nakedness as her bare feet and curled toes pressed against the rough texture of the tree. Her chestnut brown hair fell on either side of the sturdy branch as she gently leaned against it with a soft moan. And her scent, anything but human.

“Demon-God,” she breathed seductively as she raised her legs to balance on the branch. She’d wanted herself to be seen as she caressed the bare skin of her legs, reaching for her dampest area. Her back arched slightly as she chuckled softly, and her nipples visibly perked beneath her thin gown.

She slid effortlessly down and stalked towards me with a hint of a smirk playing at the edges of her lips. I scowled, unaffected by her charm, placing a hand on the hilt of my dagger at my side. She moved around me, in a slow circle. A predator stalking its prey. I wasn’t sure what she was, but I was no prey.

“Enough with your game. I am tired.” I frowned, uninterested. She stopped before me and smiled a wicked smile, showing a bit of her tongue- a midnight black. Her hands slowly wrapped around my neck as her green eyes glistened in delight.

“That girl was a bore,” she sighed and loosed one of the strings which held her dress together. In a second, it tumbled to the ground as she stood with plump full breasts and sinful intent. “Look at me,” her voice was a soft demand as her hand caressed the outline of my crotch.

I clasped her wrist and roughly pushed her away. “I said enough.”

She chuckled. In a swift moment, she lunged at me with a hiss. I gripped her by the throat and slammed her. Her body flung itself back, hitting the tree. Whatever beauty she had all vanished. Her green eyes turned unnaturally black, her breasts sagged -stopping at her waist, and her body and skin were covered in blue-black infected sores. The scent of poison oozed out of them pungently. She screeched, all teeth of fangs and wings emerged viciously out of her back. It was anything but beautiful. Brown and putrid, covered in dead flesh and structured with rotted bones.

I gripped my scythe, ready for a fight. I’d never seen a creature like this. Where were these new creatures appearing from? She chuckled as she stood, her tone was that of a hag, “Not today Demon-God. The others are coming. Some are already here.”

“What do you mean?” I demanded in question with gritted teeth.

“Soon.” She gasped in wicked delight.

I thought she was about to attack. Instead, she curled her wings around her body and bulleted through the leaves of the trees above. Dispersing within the air above.

I walked towards the entrance of the house conflicted in my thoughts. When that creature, Syn, appeared before me in the forest he didn’t arrive with the intent to disobey. I’d never seen him before. His kind was also unknown to me. Whereas the one I just encountered was completely different. Claude was right, demons and creatures were infiltrating into realms they weren’t supposed to be in. This was no coincidence. Just like that creature the human and I encountered at the cave in the Otherworld. But why? How? And why was I a constant with them?

I halted. A strong presence stung through the air before me within the house. One I knew too well. One I will get my answers from. My blood boiled as I slammed the front entrance of the door back shut. Tomai, Byron, and Lou were in a deep sleep on the floor and sofa. Claude was Gods knew where, and the human hadn’t been back yet. My footsteps slammed viciously upon the floorboard as I headed up the staircase and out to the open balcony where his presence grew stronger.

“Mathias,” I sneered with eyes burning into the thick cream material of the back of his coat. He turned and the long material danced slowly and gracefully to his movement. I was about to revoke his presence here until I studied his face. A deep wariness and concern washed across his features. It was a rare look my brother held, never had I seen him this bothered. Only once had I seen that expression for a few seconds just minutes before I was banished upon the humans. But this, never this long, never this lingering. A deep dissatisfaction edged into my soul toward whoever caused this upon him.

“What is wrong?” I frowned, keeping my expression and tone sturdy.

“A great many things I am unable to explain, Yuriel.” He sighed and leaned against the balustrade. “I came because I fear today is the beginning of a dark era.”

“There are many things you need to start explaining to me, brother.”

He shifted his gaze away, “I am aware.”

“Demons and monsters have been infiltrating the realms. Two appeared before me even here. You care about this realm so you should be aware.”

He shot his eyes back at me with knitted eyebrows, “Why are they here? Which line territory are they from?”

I exhaled, “I don’t know. They are unlike anything I’ve ever seen or come across. Apparently, new species are lingering and hiding within the other hells as well.”

“Are you certain they are unidentified?”

“Yes. No other God would know about the demons as much as I do. I am certain.”

“In this case,” he tightened his hands around the railing, his knuckles whitening, “Do you think they want a war? Hiding within the shadows like this seems too strategic for any demons or monsters to come up with.”

I gave a soft mocking laugh, “Are you now doubting the Gods, brother?”

He frowned, deep and wary towards me, “I don’t know what I believe anymore.”

A deep crackling thunder slammed through the skies. That. That wasn’t natural. That was power raw and aching surging through the air. What could have caused that? My jaw tightened and Mathias held the same thought as I.

“Mathias,” I shifted recollecting his previous response. I hadn’t expected that answer. I hadn’t expected his doubt in the Gods. Not from him. But it was clear to me that my brother knew more than he was telling. And it was time to share. “Tell me about the girl. Why did you bring her here? What is she?”

He seemed uneasy about the sudden shift in topic. As if he was dreading this moment.

“And do not lie to me,” I warned, “I’ve looked into her past. You were there. She died, Mathias.”

“Yes,” he answered sorely.

“It is humanly impossible for her to be alive. And forbidden for you to use magic to revive her. You would never go against the rules. And yet, you were holding Septimis’s stone of Time. The Gods never share or loan their gem. And certainly not an ass like Septimis. So, it makes me believe that it was stolen.”

Mathias sucked in a deep, long breath, “I did what I had to do. And I can assure you it is back to the God to whom it belongs. He didn’t even realize it was gone. No harm was done.”

He was holding something back. And I’ll be damned- twice – if I didn’t get every ounce of information out of him. My eyes narrowed and focused on the energy within his mind, searching for how he got the stone. The Goddness of Love’s image fogged within his memory. Her concerned expression was deep and nervous under her dark hooded cloak as she placed the stone into his hand.

Mathias roughly swung his hands into the air, using his magic to push me out of his mind. An instantaneously sharp headache slice at my skull.

“Gods Yuri, don’t get into my head like that. I am here to tell you everything. I will tell you what I know.” He sighed.

“Loraine helped you?” I arched an eyebrow. She was the last person I’d imagine to be so bold. Then again, she did have a liking for Mathias. Still, not enough for her to commit something sinful. There was more at play here and my patience was growing thinner the longer Mathias stood silent here.

“I wasn’t going to mention her because I didn’t want her involved any further. I cannot risk her safety. And as for the stone, I didn’t use it for the purpose of going back in time to revive the sweet girl, I used the stone for the purpose of hiding something.”     

“I don’t understand,” I scowled.

“The day I got the stone was the day of your sentencing. What I needed to hide, I needed to stay hidden. It couldn’t be in our present so I hid it in the future. It’s strange Yuri, that stone, when you hold onto it you experience your past, present, and future -at least as much as it wants you to see. Then I felt it, I felt her. A girl in the future, she had so much faith and hope in me unlike anything I’d ever felt from a human, and yet so much hopelessness and emptiness she felt in her situation. So much pain. It felt wrong to turn my back on her then so I tried to give her my blessing but there was too much evil surrounding her. It was preventing me from aiding, pushing me away. I admit I have tampered with the stone trying to help her, I didn’t want to fail her. I couldn’t. But death,” he turned to fully face me, his icy blue eyes heavy in exhaustion, “When death sinks its teeth into you, when it gets a taste of you, it doesn’t let you go.”

I stared at the worn-out image of my brother before me. Stress was clearly eating him from the inside out. My breath shallowed, there was more, and I saw it in his eyes. “What were you hiding?” My tone was cold but low, without menace.

His eyes flicked away. “The day of your sentencing, I overheard a conversation from the Gods of the High Court. I was on my way earlier to make an appeal for your release. They were unaware of my presence outside at the time. I- they-” he shook his head in confusion entwined with conflict, “They made no sense. They were talking about an awakening and using you as a vessel. They spoke of your power and-” he paused to exhale.

Those words. I’ve heard them already. The snake sorceress mentioned a vessel of some sort. And Awakening– awakening was becoming quite repeated as of recently.

“I believe they had the intention of sacrificing you, but it was even clearer to me that they wanted your power. It was as if they needed it. I didn’t understand why, but it all felt sinister. There were other motives involved, that I know.” He stared at me for a long minute before continuing, “Forgive me Yuri but I did what I had to do to save your life. Your power is your life, I did what I did to keep it safe. I had to keep you safe.”

“Mathias,” I said, not liking where this was going.

“The blood you’d given as procedure to the Court’s system, I had my messenger switch it with theirs. I took the vile which contained yours and performed a forbidden spell to temporarily hold your power. It was your power that I needed to hide, Yuri.”

My jaws tightened as my voice came out in sharp ice, “You took my power?”

“I protected you,” he firmed, “I left you with just enough to defend yourself, I wasn’t going to render you helpless. But quite frankly brother, you are stronger than I’d ever imagined. Magic, power, you have it within you regardless somehow.”

I pushed away his flattery. If he was flattering me now, then there was even worse news ahead. And I- I don’t even know what could be worse than this. I opened my mouth, but his voice replaced the silent space between us.

“So yes, I hid it a little beyond time. Which is why I used Septimis’s stone. That was when, as I said, I felt the girl’s aura calling to me. I needed to hide your power somewhere unsuspecting Yuri, and I had to help her somehow.”

I pinched the lids of my eyes together and tilted my head back to lean against the wall. This was a nightmare. I let out a shallow, tired breath, as I muttered low and irritated, “You put my power in her.”

I felt my brother’s gaze on me through closed eyes. Almost as if he was waiting for me- waiting for me to realize something.

I snapped my eyes open and daggered my glare upon him. No. He couldn’t have.

“How?” I growled.

He couldn’t have done what I thought he did… It was nearly impossible for him to do what he’d claimed he had done unless… But he had my blood, it was possible. I shook my head as my throat when dry, a thick aching soreness lumped within it. No. He wouldn’t have done that to me.

“The girl, Yuri, I…”

“You betrothed us.” I hissed so low and deadly that the venom and snarl within my tone were practically dripping out.

Mathias stood his ground, “It was the only way.”

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