Harper

“The who of the what?” I exclaimed. I stared at Aaron in disbelief. Was he joking? He narrowed his eyes at me.

“The Four Horsemen are a-” he began before I interrupted.

“I know who the Four Horsemen are,” I scoffed. “I’m checking I heard right. I mean, are you sure?”

“As sure as I can be,” Aaron shrugged. “I can only go on with the information I have at hand.” He shuffled the papers around and then picked up his notebook again.

“The demons are said to be born from the pure b***d of Lucifer, and when all four walk the earth, then the war between Heaven and Hell will begin, and with the balance tipped in Hell’s favour, Heaven will fall.” Aaron continued to read from his notes as we all listened.

“Word of the four demon bloodlines got to Heaven and to Rachel,” Aaron read.

“The Angel who rejected Lucifer?” I asked, and he nodded.

“There is more information on this in the books,” he said, and Drake scoffed.

“Of course there is,” he said, and I turned to him. “This is the story of how the Divine Order of the Angels was created. We all know the story.” I screwed my face up.

“I don’t,” I said, and Drake smiled at me.

“Well, you haven’t been as accepting of your status, have you?” I shrunk back, suddenly feeling like a child being scolded.

“But that is by the by. You are here now and we can rectify that now, can’t we?” He smiled again, but I got the feeling that this wasn’t just a case of having a history lesson. Drake cleared his throat and turned to the rest of the room.

“Rachel heard of what Lucifer had done,” he said. “She heard of his intention to use the corruption of his tainted b***d to put pressure on the seals, and to break them. She knew that with four separate lines that he would be able to move on his plan much quicker than the Angels could counteract.” He looked at each of us in turn. “The Angels were locked out of earth too, you see.”

“Why didn’t God just let the angels back in to fight?” Elias asked. Drake shrugged.

“Rachel asked him,” he said, “In fact, she begged for God to interject, to stop what Lucifer was doing. He refused, saying that he had done enough.” He reached down and ran his hand over the picture of the seal in the book and sighed.

“Rachel fell into a depression,” Drake looked up at me. “She blamed herself for rejecting Lucifer. And the more that she, and the other angels, watched the spread of corruption, the more her depression grew.” Brighid sat down at the table and smiled up at Drake.

“Rachel knew that something must be done,” she said. “She knew she couldn’t stand by and allow what was happening to continue.” Brighid looked over at me. “Rachel gave her grace in penance. She sought out four of her own warriors. She knew that those that were in heaven were good at heart. She wanted the balance of power to be equal, so chose one warrior from each of the supernatural lines.” Brighid pointed to herself. “One from the fae line.” She then pointed to Drake. “The immortals, the shifters,” she nodded to me and then placed her hand over the witch seal in the picture, “and the magic workers.”

“Rachel split her grace, the very life source of the angels, evenly between the four chosen warriors,” Drake said, “And then she sent them back to earth, through the Neverplain, to begin the fight against the demon bloods.”

“It was to be her ultimate sacrifice,” Brighid said. “With her grace circulating in the bodies of her four warriors, Rachel was no longer an Angel. She lost her wings and fell to Earth.” I felt the weight in their words. The story was running around in my head. That someone would be willing to give up so much. I looked over at Drake and he seemed lost in thought.

“So, this was how the warriors were created?” I asked, “And their guardians?” Drake smiled and nodded.

“Rachel’s grace, precious as it was, was not infinite in volume. This is why there is only one Divine Warrior at once. It sought out only the strongest offspring to carry its essence within them. But with the increase of demon bloods, the need for more than just the warrior was evident and residual grace seemed to lie within others within their bloodline. This was where our Guardians were created.”

“But that wasn’t the end of the story,” Aaron said as he looked between Drake and Brighid.

“Indeed, it wasn’t,” Brighid said. “Lucifer heard that Rachel was walking the earth as a human. He decided to search her out, and in turn, abandoning his power to the princes and leaving his throne in hell empty.” Aaron searched through the books on the table.

“Yes,” he said, pulling out a book and scanning the text. “The ongoing belief was that Lucifer used his bond with Rachel to pull himself through the Neverplain.”

“His bond?” I asked, “Like a fated mate bond?” Aaron nodded.

“Yep, that is potentially why you have found yourself mated to two demon bloods,” he said and I glanced at Elias. “The theory is that Lucifer and Rachel were fated mates and because you contain Rachel’s grace and the demon bloods hold Lucifer’s b***d, that the two somehow recognise each other on a basic level.”

“That makes sense,” I said, half in thought. Drake raised an eyebrow.

“How so?” he asked.

“Well, the books talk about, as Divine Warriors, we appease the demon bloods,” I looked over at Aaron who confirmed with a nod. “Well, one thing that a pair with a fated bond can do is calm each other down. They help to control the emotions of their mate.” I glanced around the table.

“That is a very interesting concept,” Brighid said. “It does make sense.”

“That must be what this part was about,” Aaron said as he pulled out another book. “It says that Lucifer leaving hell in search of his lost love left a space in hell needing to be filled. He bypassed the seals because of the bond, but left his demons still trapped.” He looked around at everyone.

“The book says that Lucifer’s desire to be with Rachel outweighed his desire for power, but the connection remained and still flowed through the Horsemen.” He looked confused as he continued to read to himself.

“Hey Aaron,” I said, and he looked a little startled. “Share with the room, please.”

“Oh yeah,” he said. “I’m just trying to figure out what this all means. It says that because of Lucifer’s tainted b***d and the primary desire for power that the Horsemen still hold, they would need to go through the seals to return to their mate.” He frowned at the page. “I’m just not sure how this would help us.”

“I think I know,” Elias said, looking at me. “Or at least he does. He is just being tight-lipped about it, but I can tell that he knows something.”

“Can you not force him to tell you?” Brighid asked, and I saw something flash behind Elias’ eyes. I watched Elias as he seemed to work through an internal struggle. I reached out my hand to him and he grimaced.

“I’m sorry, he really isn’t talking,” Elais said, taking my hand. I looked deep into his eyes.

“Please,” I said, not to Elias but to the demon. “I know you want to ensure my safety, but we can’t do that if we don’t have all the information.” Elias’ eyes bled to black, and he smiled at me. I knew it wasn’t Elias, but the demon.

“Well played, mate,” he growled, his voice deeper. “Playing on my need to protect you. Only I know that if I tell you what I know, then you won’t use it for your safety, but to head towards the danger.” He tightened the grip on my hand. “You must understand the danger he holds, not just for you, but for all that you love.”

“How could I understand if I don’t have all the information?” I asked, and he sighed, although it sounded more like a growl. The black drained from his eyes, and Elias resurfaced. He inclined his head, and I saw his eyes widen ever so slightly. Something like anger crossed his face before he looked back at me.

“He said that the reason the seal is cracked is because of our bond. When we completed the bond, it created a stronger connection between my demon and his host, or bloodline. Like the bond itself is what will break the seal.” He looked upset as he said it.

“He said that now the connection is stronger that the bloodline host can use that to come to the surface and when he completes his own mate bond, he will be able to break open the seals altogether.” Elias shook his head, and a tear fell down his cheek. holds text © rights.

“Harper, he says that if his bloodline host makes it to the surface, then his single-minded mission will be to take you from me. He will shatter our bond and replace it with his own. And with it, he will shatter the seals that prevent hell from spilling on to earth.”