Palace Of Flames (Book One of the Damnata Series)

Chapter Twenty-Nine: Hysteria

[Seth]

I should really be relieved - even glad - that Kristy is awake. But really, I'm not. Would you be happy for someone if you knew they were destined for nothing but tragedy and ruin?

I flit past trees and bushes quickly, knowing that he's nearby. Knowing that whoever the hell this guy is, he's watching us.

Watching Kristy.

I hear the loud, feminine howl as I break past the barrier that separates Diurna and Nocturna Territory, and I skid to a sudden halt in the centre of the clearing. The howling stops, and I suddenly feel like I'm being watched. I scan the shadows flitting through trees, and see a pair of glowing hazel eyes. I snarl softly.

"Show yourself!" I take a step towards the pair of glowing eyes, and then I hear the low growl.

"Why should I? Don't you have any knowledge of my hatred of sunlight?" I narrow my eyes at this inhuman, low snarl of malice. A female, no doubt. This woman is either an extremely cautious Vampiire, or a demon.

"Well, surely if you are Immortal, you must know that sunlight does not affect those shielded by Glamoures." I cock my head to the side as I study the shadowed creature, and then they snarl again.

"Young Fallen Angels are incapable of creating Glamoures, idiot." Then she snorts softly. "You should be able to tell what sort of creature I am, right?"

"It is most difficult to tell such a thing when the creature in question is shrouded in shadows, lady. And an Immortal such as yourself should know that sunlight doesn't affect Fallen Angels at all. Show yourself, or I'll be forced to drag you into sunlight myself."

She sighs, and then steps cautiously and reluctantly out from the relative solitude and safety of the trees' shadows. I narrow my eyes at the familiarity of her thick blaze of ginger-red hair, her brown-green eyes glaring as she studies me.

"Who sent you?" I ask her; she snorts.

"That's none of your business. It'd do you some good to watch over your Oracle a bit better, though."

"How do you know about the Oracle?" I narrow my eyes even more so, and I'm suddenly suspicious of this woman. She just smiles sweetly, yet mockingly, eyes dancing with menace and mischief.

"I've heard of her."

"You're being vague. Who sent you?"

"No one you know."

"I may know of him. Who is it?"

The corner of her mouth twitches up slightly, the slight hint of a smile. "Your persistence is laughable. You're from the Nocturna Coven?"

"Of course." I study this female closely. Not particularly tall, face still quite rounded from baby fat, eyes framed with thick eyeliner and thick lashes, hair fluffy as it waves down either side of her face, framing it eccentrically. Her hands are clasped behind her back, her head held high as she studies me. "Now, would you care to tell me the name of your master?"

"Master? I don't need a master. Demons don't control me- Whoops, revealed too much." She presses a hand against her lips in mock-shock, and I repress a snort.

"Demons sent you?" Now I'm really suspicious of this woman. She only looks around eighteen or nineteen, her gaze suddenly teasing and threatening.

"You're making silly assumptions..." She walks slowly towards me, and I'm suddenly more defensive. "Now, the only question is...why is the infamous Seth Coma, a Whirlwind and Vampiire, out here in the open, not protecting the Oracle?"

I snarl loudly. "Whoever sent you has supreme knowledge of the situation at hand. Now tell me, Fallen, or I will be forced to resort to beating it out of you; who sent you?!"

She grins. "Well. Surely you've heard of Andy Layton?" The name rings a dark, sinister bell in the back of my mind. "He's the one you might know as Scissorhands."

And then I suddenly get it. Something in my head screams at me to take this psycho bitch down a peg, but then again, instinct tells me that nonchalance will somehow amount to more.

"Do you wish for me to...refresh your memory on the subject?" I watch her closely as she begins to circle me, her eyes dancing again. "Scissorhands...he is an ancient being...one which once inhabited the Palace of Flames in Damnatalia. I am sure that, at some point, young Prince Laurence had encountered this being, seeing as they lived in the same palace, during the same period of time. The only thing is, Scissorhands was never as fortunate as young Prince Laurence. He served the young prince, wishing for nothing more than to take the prince's place. He was born a demon, but of course he never truly turned to corruption until King Larten offered him a proposition.

"I am sure you know of the Damnata's involvement with the King, yes? Well, Scissorhands felt as though he was always destined to become something more than a servant. And so he took the King up on his offer, and joined forces with the Damnata. He simply served them for awhile, and felt unfulfilled for the first dozen or so years. But then Larten was killed by his own son. Everyone knew that King Larten had founded the Militia of the Damned, the mortal enemies and rivals of the Damnata. And so the Damnata decided that Scissorhands was perhaps a better weapon for them. They made a deal with the young demon; he would go to Luziel, the King of Darkness, and he would serve him.

"Scissorhands was quick to agree with this idea of the Damnata's, and quickly joined forces with Luziel. Seeing as Scissorhands was a rare and undiscovered creature, Luziel decided to use his DNA to create more demons like Scissorhands, kept in storage for future use. But you see, the creation of the Oracle proved quite a fair opportunity for the King of Darkness and Scissorhands to let these demons loose, especially when the Damnata made a deal with him. Scissorhands was sent forth to watch out for the Oracle, whose powers Luziel craved for weapons of mass destruction. He forged a quick friendship with the young girl, even going as far as to join her band as a guitarist. Everything seemed to be going to plan, he had a direct shot at obtaining the Oracle.

"But then that Fallen Angel, Laurence...well, he got in the way, putting it bluntly. Scissorhands was not impressed. In fact, he made several attempts to kill Laurence. But then you also got in the way, as well as the rest of that minuscule coven of yours, and that sad excuse for a Pack that call themselves Diurna. Scissorhands had to backtrack, and so decided to go back to the Damnata. They told him exactly what to do; there was a young female in the same area as the Oracle, one with extreme latent abilities. She was always destined for greatness, and so Scissorhands was to retrieve this young female, whom he was already acquainted with, and he was to take her to the Damnata.

"You see, the Damnata have many connections. One of which is Jinxx, the Great Protector and now-corrupted creator of the Archaic. Jinxx is allied with the Damnata, and he gladly made the young female a Fallen Angel, giving her the extremely powerful abilities of an Archaic. Jinxx already made Laurence Helyer a Fallen Angel, see, and so technically the pair of Fallen Angels are closely-matched. They are both as powerful as each other, and so-"

"Enough!" I snarl; I've spent long enough listening to her contorted rabble, and now it's just time to get down to business. "Who the hell are you, lady?"

She chuckles slightly, eyes dancing again with malice and bemusement. I want to wipe that smug little smirk from her face.

"My, you really are rather aggressive. I mean, all gentlemen know it's rude to interrupt a lady whilst she's speaking-"

I flit forward quickly, grabbing her by her throat and holding her a foot or so above the ground.

"Well I'm no gentleman, lady, but I know for a fact that letting you ramble on is only a mistake. One I'm not about to make."

"Well, seeing as you...asked so...nicely..." She chokes out. I'm impressed; she's managing to keep that bravado in check, even when she's choking on lack of air supply. I release her, and she drops to her knees, gasping for air for a second before looking up at me from her crouch. "I'm Tay Lee, assigned messenger of the Archaic, and Jinxx."

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[Picture: Hayley Williams from Paramore, who plays Tay Lee.]

[Video: Hysteria by Aiden.]