Of Light And Shadows
Chapter Forty One...

“Jia? Hey, can you hear me shortstack?” Something warm touched Jia’s cheek as her eyelids fluttered.

“Jia, look at me.” Another voice like liquid gold. Lucifer. She opened her eyes to replace him and Mammon leaning over her where she lay on a plush sofa inside Lanthia’s gorgeous little cottage.

Asmodeus and Desiree hovered near the sofa arm with concerned looks on their faces and Sellik and Evander stood behind Mammon and Louie where they knelt in front of her on the floor. Lanthia appeared with a tray of steaming mugs for everyone.

“Louie?” Jia mumbled, and his shoulders sagged with relief as her eyes found his at last. She was vaguely aware of Beelzebub following Lanthia into the room with a tray of cakes in his hands as she struggled to keep her focus in one place for long.

“Lanthia called for us when you fainted. What did you do, doofus?” Mammon asked gently, tugging Jia’s sleeve to get her attention.

“The ley lines,” she said hoarsely. “I followed the ley lines.”

“You can’t follow ley lines,” Mammon frowned. “It’s possible to see them and manipulate things using them but you can’t actually travel through them.” He turned to Lanthia. “Can you?”

“I hadn’t thought so until now. But Jia certainly did travel through them. In fact she followed our ley line and managed to cross to an intersecting one all from her position beneath our moon gate.”

The Witch leaned down and pressed a gentle hand to her forehead. “I think she exhausted herself and fainted. There’s no sign of fever or injury. A good cup of tea and a cake is what she needs.”

Lucifer helped Jia sit up gently, wrapping an arm around her shoulders to keep her steady as she swayed where she sat. Mammon raised an eyebrow at the contact but kept his comments to himself, reaching instead for an iced bun before Bee could scarf them all down.

The first sip of tea was hot, but nice. It tasted strange but not in an unpleasant way. She found herself wondering which herbs in the enchanted garden had been used to brew it.

When she felt better she set the cup aside and passed a hand over her eyes, remembering the pulsing lights and the speed at which her soul had travelled across the realms without needing help from anybody else.

“There was another moon gate,” she said softly. “In the Demonic realm.”

“You weren’t in the Demonic realm,” Asmodeus frowned. “You were in the back garden.”

“In body, perhaps,” Lanthia interjected. “In soul she was elsewhere. Jia, I had no idea how far you’d gone. How did you do it?”

“I’m not sure. I was following the pulse like you said and when I reached the edge of the wards I sensed Jezebeth’s magic so I sort of...followed it. It led me down the ley line to where the two joined so I kept going.” She remembered the shadowy figure in the moon gate and the thunder clap as they collided. “I think I knocked her loose.”

“You did what?” Lucifer asked, his brow furrowing. “How?”

“I sort of...tackled her with my consciousness. I was going pretty fast so I thought if I went faster I could knock her right out of the moon gate and stop whatever she was doing.” She smiled at him sheepishly.

“It worked,” Desiree said, shooting her a look of appreciation. “You could’ve killed yourself by being that idiotic but what you did got rid of whatever was restricting the wards. We managed to expand them right to the edges of the city.”

“Oh, that’s good.” Jia felt abruptly ravenous as she reached for the plate of desserts and bit into a wonderfully sweet lemon pastry. “So what does that mean for the Vampires?” she asked, glancing at Evander as she chewed.

“The rogue ones won’t be able to cross into the city without burning to ash,” Sellik answered. “Evander here is fine because he isn’t rogue. The wards will only work on him if he develops an intention to feed on someone.”

“Lucky for me, Sellik’s mask is working wonders.” He winked one silver eye at Jia and she grinned back at him, glad that he was doing well.

“When you’ve eaten you should return home to rest,” Lanthia said kindly. “You’ve expended a vast amount of power and risked your life to help us without truly understanding what you were doing. We owe you a debt, Jia. I will Scry you in a few days to see how you’re getting on.”

“Thank you,” Jia replied awkwardly. The Witch took a few steps forwards to crouch down and clasp Jia’s forearms in her slender fingers.

“There is immense power inside you, my dear. Don’t be afraid of it and don’t doubt it. Learn to understand it and it will reward you when you need it most.” Lanthia kissed the back of her hand in an almost motherly gesture. “Take care of yourself.”

“I will. I look forward to hearing from you.” Jia managed a weak smile before Lanthia excused herself.

“We should return to the academy,” Lucifer said, his eyes never leaving Jia’s face. “You need to rest.”

“I’m not up to travelling across town just yet,” she replied sheepishly. “We can’t use the shadow portal inside the city.”

“Sure you can,” Desiree piped up. “The wards work on unwanted or unexpected Demons and on violent Vampires. You’re no longer unwanted or unexpected. You should have no problems travelling back through your portal from here as soon as you’re ready. Just remember to Scry us beforehand if you plan to come back.”

Desiree flipped her red hair back off her shoulder before pressing herself against Asmodeus and kissing him like she’d never see him again. He obliged all too eagerly, forcing Jia to look away uncomfortably.

“Is there really any need?” Bee tutted as he pocketed two cinnamon rolls wrapped in napkins and took a huge bite of a third. “Put him down, Desiree. We need to go home.”

“I was just saying goodbye,” the younger Witch pouted.

“It didn’t look like a goodbye to me,” Mammon muttered, shaking his head as Asmodeus winked at him.

“Jealousy looks terrible on you, Mammon,” Asmo replied with a charming smile.

“What you’re seeing right now is my ‘I’m gonna throw up’ face. Jealousy has nothing to do with it.”

“Can you stop bickering so we can go home?” Sellik huffed, glaring at the pair of them. “This disguise spell is starting to itch.”

Lucifer rolled his eyes and stood, waving a hand to summon the shadows that would transport them to the Demonic realm. As the others began to disappear into them he stooped to lift Jia off the sofa and gave Desiree a respectful nod before following them home.

Jia started to feel better almost as soon as they stepped out of the darkness and into the familiar study. The scent of leather and wood varnish was homely and comforting as Louie set her carefully down on the sofa and turned to the others.

“Thank you for coming with me despite the risks. You all know how Satan feels about cross-realm cooperation so I don’t need to remind you what could happen if he replaces out what we did today.” He folded his arms across his chest and surveyed each of them.

“What next?” Mammon asked.

“Satan has Demons stationed in every city, but only a few of them are Greater Demons. They pose the biggest risk to the safety of the human world. If we can deal with them then the lesser Demons are likely to scatter and return here.”

“How can you be sure?” Evander asked as he removed his mask and handed it back to Sellik.

“Lesser Demons have less autonomy than Greater Demons, Sphere Demons and the Ruling Caste. If they’re commanded to do something by anyone ranking higher than them they must obey,” Asmodeus supplied.

“The majority of lesser Demons prefer a quiet life and will likely be in the human world against their will. As soon as they’re released from their command they’ll go into hiding to avoid being enthralled again.”

“So, what? We hunt the Greater Demons?” Mammon asked.

“If we do that we’ll need to be anonymous,” Bee noted. “If word got back to Satan he’d do more than just obliterate us. He’d kill us permanently.”

“Are we seriously talking about this?” Sellik asked incredulously. “What you’re suggesting is treason.”

“Not necessarily,” Jia interjected. “What if we can talk them out of it? Convince them that working with Satan is worse for them than backing off?” She sat up slowly, ignoring the dizziness that made her want to lay down again.

“When I thought I was Lotura I studied to become an Empath and I learned to influence the decisions of others. I was never great at it but maybe now I understand myself more I can get better.”

“Could you convince them to forget us once we’ve made them back off?” Mammon asked, watching her intently.

“I don’t know,” she shrugged. “Maybe.”

“It’s too dangerous,” Lucifer answered. “Satan already wants you for himself. If you fail to make the Greater Demons forget you they’ll tell him what you tried to do and he’ll do more than just take you from us.”

“What other option do we have?” she countered softly. “If we do nothing the Greater Demons will continue to climb to political power. Whatever Satan is planning needs to be stopped before the human world suffers for it.”

“We don’t know what he plans to do,” Louie replied, shaking his head. “I won’t risk you like that until we know more.”

“We know that he’s trying to increase the Vampire population in that world,” Evander put in. “The Greater Demons have to be helping him with that. There’s no way one Demon could control an entire species without somebody to take some of the strain.”

“The Vampire’s right,” Asmodeus nodded. “Even if we aren’t clear on what he’s trying to do, we know that he’s working against the best interests of the human world. Every Shifter, human, Witch and Lotura is in danger if he continues to help the Vampire virus progress. That alone should be enough to make us act, Lucifer.”

“We won’t make a move unless you instruct it,” Bee added. “As the first born it’s up to you how we go ahead, but I agree with Asmodeus and Jia. We have to do something.”

“If Satan gains control of the human world that’s another realm he can pitch against the Angels,” Jia said softly, reaching out to touch Lucifer’s arm. “I have an awful feeling that the war Lanthia is talking about will be a replay of the Uprising.” She looked him right in the eye, willing him to understand that she wanted to help. “If we wait too long we’ll play right into his hands, Louie.”

The Demon Prince looked between all of the eyes in the room before turning back to Jia and reaching out to touch her cheek. She saw the conflict in his eyes before logic finally won out.

“You’re right,” he agreed eventually. “Of course you’re right. We can’t let Satan get any more of our kind into the human world.” For a moment he seemed to forget they weren’t alone, his ruby eyes burning into hers.

“Make no mistake, Jia. No matter what happens, I won’t let you do any of this without me. I’d crawl through the fire pits of Varra before I’d let Satan take you from me.”