Bloody War ~ Spectre

"You've been awfully quiet Tergeo, everything good?" Erie's voice broke my thought process. The masking spell hitched, making me scowl. I nodded and fixed the tiny crack in our aura-masking cover. Erie frowned, apparently not pleased with my simplistic answer.

I sighed. "What do you want me to say, Erie?" I asked her.

"I don't know! Anything would be good at this point Spectre, you haven't said a single word since we left Mizeareigh!"

"Well, someone has to make sure the spells remain intact so we won't be noticed and followed, and in case you don't know, that alone requires quite a lot of concentration, Ludevicus." I suddenly felt a fracture in the magical energy in the area.

"No. They can't get away now, get them angel!"

"Shut up Tempest, this my mind and thoughts, get out."

"Well, in case you've forgotten, you accepted my presence here, so you're stuck with me I'm afraid."

"....shut up at the very least, will ya?"

Silence from her for a while.

I opened up a portal into the main room of the tavern.

"Everyone get through, and do it quickly!" I called, gesturing at the portal.

Once I got myself through, all I could see was the fading black smoke of the spell.

Blasted teleportation spell.

I let out a string of curses, walking back outside. As I got there, Tempest started speaking again.

"You know you could always search by moonlight....."

"And give you a hold on my soul? I don't think so."

Tempest laughed. It wasn't a nice laugh. It was a spine-chilling laugh that creeped me out quite a bit.

"If I wanted your soul, I'd have it by now. I'm waiting until you willingly give yourself up to me Trophonia."

"Well, you're going to have to wait quite a bit for that one, demon." I replied.

I heard someone walking up to me, so I turned around to face them. It was Argotaurius. He had a sort of bored expression, like he'd rather be literally anywhere else than here right now. Honestly, I didn't blame him, every second spent out here was another second giving Raziel an opportunity to find us.

"Do you know where they could be?" he asked me.

"No. I do have a few places in mind though. " I responded quicker than I thought I could manage, almost like I didn't do it myself-

Wretched demon. Always manipulating my actions.

"And what would those places be?"

"Thatchstone, Euthoria or Yevalone." Argo's breath noticeably hitched at the last one.

"Yevalone?" he asked.

"Figured Leviathan might've gone there for god knows what reason. I don't think anyone's there though, I heard the vampires relocated. "

"Well, does it matter at this point? We came too late. I'm not about to risk my presence to either places, both would outnumber us severely." Argotaurius explained.

"I know, and besides. There are too many people in Euthoria that would recognize me as someone else." I replied.

"So, what will we do?" Erie asked us. "We came too late, so what was the point-"

"Wait a minute!" I cut her off. "We didn't come too late, they couldn't possibly have known we were coming. They must've been warned. "

"Yes, but who would have warned them?" She replied.

"My only guess is Zachriel. It can't have been anyone else, nobody else knew about this." I said firmly.

Argo nodded. "As much as I want it to be wrong, that's the only possible explanation."

"That still doesn't answer how the could portal away- hey Erie?"

"Yeah?"

"The next time I see your cousin Demyx, I'm going to kill him. Slowly. quite painfully." I said.

"Why..?"

"Because he's the only one in that group capable of transportation spells and masking their presence. I know for a fact that it isn't Leviathan, he's not powerful enough in spellcasting! That leaves Demyx, a fairy and two humans, one of which is almost as powerful as old Marchosias. And I highly doubt it's the humans. "

Erie sighed. "You know, for a second I forgot that Demyx was with them. That idiot cannot have portaled them somewhere, he can't even summon a simple flame. And fire is his ability."

"Maybe he doesn't have a certified element. It's rare, but it happens. Maybe his strength lies in regular spellcasting and not elemental." I replied.

"Whatever. You're the expert here, Tergeo."

I thought for a second, then opened a portal to Mizeareigh. "Erie, take the team back to the island. I have a plan to execute here on the mainland."

She nodded, and a few minutes later, everyone was through.

"Now what?" Argotaurius asked me.

"Take me to Mt. Tenebra. It's time we move into the second phase."

_________________________

As I stood in front of the circle of pentagrams, Tempest spoke again to me.

"And you plan on doing the second half of this plan how, without letting me take over?"

"That doesn't matter at this point. I'll find a way, believe me."

"What was that?" Argo asked.

"Nothing of importance." I replied.

He nodded, unsure of my answer. "You still want to see if this works? Technically it shouldn't, since you aren't an angel, but-"

"Technicalities don't matter. Angels may not count me as one of their own, but neither do demons. Even though I am in the middle, my blood remains venomous to demons. Or would you like to prove me wrong on that?"

He cleared his throat. "I'd rather not, thank you very much."

I felt the corners of my mouth twitch upwards, then back down as if they were going to smile but didn't want to.

I took a step into the middle of the circle, looking over the runes that were carved into the rock. I took a deep breath, then lightly dragged the blade of my knife over my forearm, creating a shallow cut in the skin. The blood, dripping on the ground below me landed by my feet with a sizzling noise, not very different from hot oil. Looked around for a certain star, then started the summoning.

"Audi me, non ambulat in deum quam quem in suis pari potestate. Et vocavi vos mandatum meum, ut sacrificet mihi in capite et omni imperio. Ego Angelus hostiae sanguinem libenter satisfacere nocturna animalia sub luna. Electi milites exiet et iudicium agamus simul modi putamus."*

As soon as I let go of the last word, the runes started glowing. The light extended in long tendrils up into the sky, from the seven different circles surrounding me. When they returned to the ground, each of them took the form of a person, or nothing. Four took no form, but I watched as the remaining three manifested in front of me.

"Welcome, Vine Faerondal, Dagon Ludevicus and Archon Fowler. It seems you are the only four left alive out of the original seven." I said to them.

"Four? I don't think-"

"Archon, are you blind? Look to your left, idiot." Vine interrupted him.

He did so, and physically smacked himself upside the head.

"Of course he's alive you absolute-" he said to himself.

"Argotaurius, old friend, how've you been?" Dagon had already stepped out of his circle to greet the other demon.

"I've been better. I don't think anyone's at their best right now either, we're all trying to survive Raziel's wrath. I see you somehow found the time to get someone to marry you two. It was about time, really." he said, aiming his words at his friend and the dark fairy. "What about you Archon, what have you been up to in the past.....thousand years?"

Archon sighed. "I've been sitting around in the void doing nothing, doing nothing on the mainland, doing nothing underground, wreaking havoc in the City of Angels, akward third-wheeling these guys' dates, married said two people to each other, need I say more?" He smiled. "Good to see you too Argotaurius."

I stepped out of the middle, having finished patching up my arm. All four of them turned to me.

"And your orders?" Dagon asked me.

"I didn't summon you here so you could follow me into battle. I summoned you here so you could follow Argotaurius into battle, before Raziel would get the genius idea to make you fight each other." I said. "Inevitably, my orders to you are to follow Argo as you would me, and that is all. "

They all looked at each other, before nodding.

"Of course." Vine said. "So, do we have a legitimate, fool-proof plan or are we going to wing it like we always do?"

"Legitimate, yes. Fool-proof? Definitely not. But we'll make do with what we have." I replied, smiling lightly. "I'll send you to Mizeareigh on your own guys, I have the second half to execute. Summoning you was the first part, now I must finish the rest."

I opened a portal, sending them through, one at a time. Before leaving, Vine hesitated, then gave me a hug.

"Stay safe Spectre." She said, then left, and I closed the portal after her.

I looked up into the sky, thinking.

Is my soul and sanity really a necessary sacrifice? I thought.

"So you have come to a conclusion?" Tempest's voice rang through my head.

"Yes, I have."

"And what would that be?"

"I give in. Control is yours. You know what to do."

"Then so be it, Trophonia."

With that, I felt myself lose control of my own body, and all of the sudden, it was like I was simply a spirit. One that could only see through one eye, but the other was taken. My guess was that Tempest could only see through the non-angelic one, and I seemed to be right.

"Surgere luna noctu reginam omnium creaturarum. Accedens autem alter succumbat brachiis vestris et tenebrarum ligula." **

Soon, the world turned darker around us, as the moon rose to the sky, in front of the vibrant sun. The eclipse would last, and Raziel would take this declaration of war.

*Hear me, you who walks amongst the gods as an equal in their power. I summon you to my command, to serve and heade my every rule. I, an angel, willingly make this blood sacrifice under the moon to satisfy the creatures of the night. Come forth soldiers of the elite, and let us fight together for the ways we think the right.)

**Arise, moon, queen of the night and all its creatures. Come forth and wrap your arms around the world and let it succumb to your darkness forever.)