Chapter 5

  Sins of the Fallen.

  I dressed in the dental room, the sterile smell of antiseptic clinging to my clothes like drink on a bar fly. Sam and Veronica waited outside by the car, oblivious to the storm brewing in my head.

  I opened the door to the hallway and paused, the world blurring at the edges as tears threatened to spill. I rapped my forehead against the doorframe, a futile attempt to knock some sense into the chaos swirling inside me. Just then, Lila's voice crackled from my coat pocket, slicing through the fog.

  “Sorry, Barty. I tried to get them here as fast as I could, but I couldn’t possess anything to stop her. I—” She hesitated, and I could feel the weight of her words hanging in the air. “I don’t think they know what happened. I think they’ve filled in their own story. Do you want to talk about it?”

  I leaned my forehead against the doorframe, gripping it like a sailor clinging to a sinking ship. “No…yes. I—I don’t know, Lila. Maybe.” My gaze drifted to the ceiling, fighting back tears that threatened to cascade like rain on a long forgotten alley.

  “I could tell them…” Lila started.

  “No! Don’t. It’s complicated,” I cut her off, urgency clawing at the lump in my throat, even as my shoulders slumped.

  “Bart!” Her tone hardened, the playful lilt stripped away like paint from a weathered wall. “She ra—”

  “I know, Lila,” I said, my voice colder than the steel of a blade. “I know, but there’s more to this mess than you realize.” The wooden frame creaked under my grip as I slammed my fist into the wall, pain blooming through my knuckles, plaster dust raining down like shattered dreams.

  “Do you lo—?” Lila’s question hung in the stale air, a whisper caught in the shadows. I answered before she could finish.

  “Yes. At least I think I do” I shook my head hoping it would clear the emotions and thoughts that buzzed around inside my mind like flies near cattle, just waiting to bit and irritate.

  I made my way to the waiting room, sinking into a chair that felt as worn as my soul, thumbing a cigarette between my fingers. I let the silence stretch, heavy as the night, before I lit it and took a long drag of its bitter smoke.

  “You know what a succubus is, right?” I asked, my gaze drifting to some distant point only I could see.

  “Sure. A fallen or demon of lust and desire, feeds off acts of passion.” I could hear the flush of embarrassment in her voice. I nodded. “Mostly right. But do you know why they’re called the fallen?”

  Lila hesitated, then ventured, “Not really. Because they fell from grace?”

  “Close. They’re the fallen because when they sin, they’re cursed and cast out. A succubus, like every demon, was once a seraphim, otherwise known as an angel. In Selene’s case, she was a guardian, or well her past life she was.” I shrugged the weight of the world heavy on my shoulders. “Like everything it’s always more than the simplicity we reduce them to.”

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  Leaning back, I stared at the ceiling tiles, imagining them peeling away like the layers of a dark secret.

  “Selene was a childhood friend, later my childhood sweetheart. Back then she was always the voice of reason in our trio, Kane, Selene, and I, haunting the city streets.”

  “Selene never knew her heritage, not till she awoke.”

  “When a seraphim dies, they can, much like a cuckoo bird, be born into a new family. Some regain fleeting memories of their past lives, while most don’t remember a thing, with no one to guide them, they find themselves lost and alone.”

  I pulled my phone from my pocket, to communicate better with Lila, but in reality it was to keep my hands occupied so the tremble I felt wouldn’t grow and spread.

  “The seraphim were born from the world tree, Yggdrasill, call it what you will, but it’s real, so I am told. Angels emerged from its branches. When the ‘gods’ bound them, they feared them and sought to bring the seraphim to heel. they stripped away their ability to reproduce. Although they’re free of the gods now, they’re still shackled by those ancient tenets.”

  “Transgress against these tenets, and you become a cruel parody of your sin. These sins aren’t like mortal ones. Love is a sin for Seraphim. Those who dare to love are cursed, cursed with Lust and Desire a hunger for the pleasures of the flesh, Yet never sated never able to truly feel whole or loved, craving for the very thing they once cherished. If they indulge that desire, they drain their partner’s life, often driving themselves mad.”

  My leg bounced as my foot tapped on the wooden floor against my will.

  “Selene came into her inheritance at sixteen, we had been growing close, I had my first kiss with Selene, that’s all it took, she fell that day, and I nearly died.”

  “She began to shut herself away from us, she didn’t know what was going on, when she found out I was like her, not mundane, I swore I would help, that it would be better.” I stood stretching my back as I peered through the glass doors of the dentist's office, where the streetlights cast long, eerie shadows. Sam and Veronica waited outside, silhouettes in the gloom.

  “Nothing I did helped so we swore to keep our distance.” I stared into the darkness as if looking for the answers I needed.

  I stepped out onto the street flicking my cigarette away and exhaling the pungent smoke, as if trying to expel the shame and memories that began dragging their way from the darker places of my mind. “That’s enough for now sweetheart. I’ve got a Fae to track down, and we can revisit this tale later.”

  I walked to the car as Sam lent on its roof giving me a his grin a flash of white in the night, without saying anything I slid into the front seat, as Veronica glided through the car slipping in gracefully behind me, like a shadow trailing in the dark.

  “Where to, Bart?” Sam asked, glancing over as I lit another cigarette. “I can think of three options: First, we could check the next closest location. Second, we could split up to cover as many places as possible, if you’re able to help. Or third, I could gather supplies and attempt to track Grim using a ritual.”

  I took a moment to consider our options. The flickering streetlights cast a dim glow inside the car, illuminating the faces of my companions. Sam's expression contrasted sharply with the turmoil roiling within me.

  “Let’s check the next location,” I finally said, exhaling a cloud of smoke that hung in the air like a ghost. “We need to stay focused. If Grim is there, we can’t afford to waste time.”

  Sam nodded, his enthusiasm undeterred. “Got it. I’ll pull up the coordinates.” He turned to his phone, thumbing deftly over the screen as he accessed the address. Veronica remained silent, her gaze fixed on the street ahead, as if she could sense the shadows lurking in the depths of my mind at that moment.

  As we drove through the winding streets, I felt the familiar tension creeping back in. The city was alive with its usual hum, but to me, it felt like a fa?ade, hiding the darkness that lay beneath. I glanced at the rear-view mirror, catching a glimpse of Veronica’s reflection. Her eyes were sharp, alert, her form rarely flickered now after Kane was taken down, her and Sam had made a pact letting Veronica to not only be seen by him but keep her form for longer.

  The car turned a corner, and the next location came into view, a school that had seen better days, many of its windows boarded and walls covered in graffiti. It was a stark reminder of the city’s struggles, age, colour and gender mattered little, when your own boot straps kept you down.