In the center of the capital, there was a tower-like building surrounded by a garden. The garden contained hundreds of flowers and was bordered by a wall of hedges. Within the garden, there was a golden statue facing one of the building’s balconies. On the railing of the balcony, Sariel was kneeling with her eyes closed, head lowered, and hands pressed together in front of her face. Although her eyes were shut, she could visualize hundreds of white floating fireballs: behind her, above her, below her, in front of her, in all directions. Some of the flames were dimmer than others, while some were brighter, illuminating more of the darkness in her mind.
But not all the flames were white. Almost directly above her, there were three pitch-black flames. Beside them, there were three white flames. Sariel continued using her powers, ignoring the lights above her, focusing on the gray flames in the distance instead. Most likely, they belonged to the angels that had their sins sealed by their family. There was one white light in the distance that had a black core. Sariel sighed as she overlaid a map of the capital with the vision in her head. “One of the Desti family,” she murmured as her mouth tightened into a frown. Her eyes opened as her hands fell to her lap. A sigh escaped from her lips as she stood up, turned around, and stepped off the railing onto the balcony, facing the room where the council convened. It was unoccupied. The table was still there, but the seats were all pushed in and a layer of dust had formed on the wooden surface.
Sariel’s expression didn’t change as she walked past the table and out of the room, stepping into a carpeted hall. She turned towards the left and continued walking until she reached a spiral staircase, leading upwards. For a brief moment, her steps faltered, but she pursed her lips and ascended the stairs. At the very top, there was a red metal door with a lock on it—the only door with a lock in the whole capital. Sariel’s hands reached behind her neck and unclasped her necklace. She pulled it out of her robe, revealing a key-shaped pendant. Her hand trembled as she pressed the key against the lock, taking three tries to insert it properly. She exhaled and bit her lower lip before turning the cold metal in her hand. The door clicked and swung ajar.
Laughter along with the sounds of eating and drinking reached her ears, but it stopped when Sariel pushed the door open, causing its hinges to squeak. She stepped past the threshold and shut the door behind herself. A breeze rushed past her, causing her robe and hair to flutter. Sunlight streamed down, shining on her face and heating up her body. The room consisted of four walls and a floor: there was no ceiling, six beds were neatly arranged in a row along the wall furthest from the door, and a hexagonal table was placed in the center, taking up the majority of the space. Three demons and three angels sat around the table, all of them facing the door except for one angel.
“Is that Sariel?” the angel who wasn’t looking at the door asked. His eye sockets were empty, but it was hard to tell because they were covered by his silver bangs.
“Good afternoon,” Sariel said as she approached the center of the room. The occupants ignored her and focused their attention back onto the table.
“It’s your turn, Uriel,” an angel with a scorpion-like tail said. The point dripped green venom as it curled and uncurled.
Uriel, the angel with two pointed horns sticking out of her forehead, smiled as she picked a card from her hand and placed it into the center of the table. It was a seven. “King of hearts,” she said in a melodic voice. “Your turn, Raphael.”
The angel with no eyes frowned. His fingers ran over the bumps on the cards in his hands. “I have the king of hearts,” Raphael said and turned his head to face Uriel even though he had no eyes. “Can’t you ever play fair, woman?”
Uriel clicked her tongue and looked away. Raphael’s stare always unsettled her. Usually, she’d get away with bluffing the blind angel because everyone cooperated with her schemes. “I misspoke,” she said. “It’s a seven of clubs.”
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“Am I the blind one or are you?” Raphael asked and snorted. He slapped an eight on top of the pile in the center.
By now, Sariel had arrived at the angels’ and demons’ sides. “You’re all looking well,” she said. She wasn’t lying. All six of them looked like they were in their prime. It terrified her because she knew how old they really were.
The scorpion-tailed angel rolled his eyes as his tail stabbed into his chair. “That’s because you won’t let us die,” he said. He turned his head and stared at the blue-skinned demon next to him. She had three heads, each facing a different direction, and six arms. “What life am I on, pumpkin?”
One of the demon’s heads turned to face him. “You have died seven hundred and thirty-eight times,” she said. “If you call me pumpkin again, it’ll be seven hundred and thirty-nine.”
“Thanks, darling,” the scorpion-tailed angel said. A second later, one of the demon’s arms stabbed through his head, killing him instantly.
Sariel’s face paled. She pursed her lip before staring at Raphael. “Can you please revive Camael?” she asked.
“What the hell, Asura,” Raphael said and leaned over to the side. “Really? You know I hate it when you get blood on my cards.” His hand pat the air next to himself as he searched for Camael’s dead body. He kept leaning to the side until he found it. A white light enveloped the room as the remains of the dead angel’s head started to reform. Moments later, Camael sat up and blinked a few times.
“When did darling become another word for pumpkin?” he asked and snorted. He grabbed Raphael’s hand. “Hey, Raffi, can you revive Levy too?”
Sariel’s face turned green as she realized one of the demons had collapsed face first onto the table. The demon had the torso of a human but had a spider-like lower half. Her bottom was armored like a crab. Raphael sighed as he stood up. “Where is she?” he asked and let Camael guide him. “I know I can bring you back to life and all, but that doesn’t mean you should constantly be killing each other like this.”
“He started it,” Asura said, all three of her heads speaking at the same time.
“Does Sariel have something to tell us?” the remaining demon asked. He looked absolutely ordinary. His skin was purple and his eyes were red, but other than that, he had no unhuman characteristics.
“Just a small matter,” Sariel said as she shielded her eyes from the light coming off Raphael’s hands. “The archangels I sent to deal with the rebel army haven’t returned yet. I’m afraid they’ve lost.”
Camael shrugged. “Sucks to be them,” he said.
A wry smile appeared on Sariel’s face. “Yes, sucks indeed,” she said. The light surrounding Levy disappeared. “I just wanted to inform you that your help may be necessary if the rebels breach the capital.”
Levy blinked and rubbed her eyes as she lifted herself off the table. “Did someone say slaughter?” she asked as her head swiveled from side to side.
“No,” Sariel said as her face blanched. “I said—“
“Massacre,” Levy said and nodded. “Got it.”
Raphael shook his head as he shambled back to his seat, feeling for obstacles with his hands because Camael abandoned him. The blind angel’s body stiffened. A second later, Sariel stiffened as well. Her vision dimmed as her power activated. Instead of three pitch-black fireballs, there were four. “My eyes,” Raphael growled as black wings made of fire burst out of his back. “Which bastard has my eyes!?”
Asura stood up as Raphael flew into the air. The six-armed demon jumped up, grabbed the angel’s ankles, twisted her waist, and tossed him back into the room. “Calm down,” she said as she landed feet first on the angel’s head. The black fire flickered around her body, but an oily sheen prevented it from harming her. “You lost your eyes ages ago.”
“Don’t tell me to calm down!” Raphael yelled as he tried to stand up. His efforts were in vain. “I can sense them! I sense them!”
“The last time you sensed your eyes,” Asura said as she sat on the angel’s back, “was over two hundred years ago. And it turned out you just needed to burp.” She paused and rubbed all three of her chins. “When was the last time you used the bathroom?”
“Dammit, Asura!” Raphael said. “I’m not a baby! My eyes are right there….” His brow furrowed as he stopped struggling. “I can’t sense them anymore.”
“Can you two get back here?” Uriel asked as she picked at her nails. “It’s your turn, Asura.”
Sariel bit her lower lip. “I think I’ll be leaving now,” she whispered as she sidled towards the door. None of the six acted like they heard her.