Conquest Of The Fallen: Dark Dominions

Chapter 63: Carnage Spell

"THE ETERNAL FLAME APPEARED YESTERDAY."

It was the supremely blonde Fae, Giselle telling Rafel. They both stood at a corner in the villa's grand foyer, watching the Count's corpse hefted away on a stretcher to a macabre hearst in the driveway. The mansion's white doors were ajar. Gothic undertakers dressed in sharp black bundled the deceased into the back of the death buggy.

"What? When?"

Rafel zeroed his amber pupils on her. It was snowing mildly and a large fireplace trickled warmth into the vestibule. They stood beside the heat, under a hung stuffed deer's head. The branched antlers cast twisted figures on the wall.

"At nightfall," Giselle replied. "I found a bunch of my kin dancing around it in the woods, thinking it was some sort of fucking sign from the gods."

A couple of hurrying maids bowed as they swept past them.

"When were you going to tell me?" Rafel asked.

"I'm telling you now."

She caught Rafel's smouldering gaze and quickly paced out, "I'm sorry. I'm being impolite. I should not be, especially not to you, but this case and killer has me sprung like a leprechaun's cock in harvest. I know I don't need to tell you what the Eternal Flames suddenly sparking to life signifies.

Eldoria has not had to deal with the presence of the [Divinities]. Not since the last holocaust in the days of Agrippa the Conqueror. I just...this is new for me. I don't know how to handle—"

"It's alright." Rafel took Giselle's hand. For the first time on the road down their friendship and intimacy, he was initiating contact. He understood the fey Queen never admitted fear or uncertainty to anyone. She was strong. And in moments like this, he respected her even more.

"—It will be alright," he continued. "I assure you. It pains me to admit this but the murder of Sir Lucius is a message."

Giselle's blond eyebrows shot up.

"A message? For whom?"

"Me," said Rafel in a cold drone.

The Queen twined her fingers with his. "Care to elucidate?"

"I have something Mephistopheles wants. He did this. He killed the Count to get my attention. Some fucked up way of announcing himself. I know what you're going to ask, why Sir Lucius? To answer that, the Count was becoming a close friend.

He gifted me the [Divine] Andorran Warhammer. A horror relic thought to be lost in the last devastating battle of realms. Sir Lucius viewed me as some sort of savior—though I didn't quite get that."

"I get it," said Giselle. "For the war we both know is nigh, you, dear Israfel might just be the only one between us and apocalypse. However, concerning this thing in your possession that Mephistopheles wants, what is it particularly?"

Rafel's yellow eyes sparkled and fireplace raged.

"Not what, love... Who."

Giselle ran her golden eyes up and down his fine body. She thought a moment and immediately as the inspiration dawned, she clicked her tongue.

"Ah, the girl. Ravenna de Vries. I was wondering why you kept her all these while, paying her way with your fortune. At first, I just reasoned she was some spicy lolita you kept around for your benefit. But now..."

"...now you know the truth." Rafel added.

He went on to explain in details all about Ravenna's story. How she believed her father struck a sour deal with the god of deception, and everything else about the mysteries surrounding her mother's death. All the while, Giselle listened attentively. She offered,

"You must really like this girl. To draw swords with an SSS-RANK DEMON is definitely up there on the chivalry board—as much as you might dislike it. But from your tale, I don't think she's all human. There has to be some magic in her. I mean...why else would both you and Mephistopheles risk a duel for her? I don't get why she's so impor—"

"Giselle! Your Grace! Quick! Come see this!" Lady Cordelia's head suddenly appeared out the living room's archway.

Running back to the crime scene, Rafel stumbled upon a resplendent interior. The Count's body was gone, as well as any stains of blood from the rosy floors. The living chambers smelled like rosewood and bleach. Giselle was the first to speak.

"What is it, Delia?"

The Countess began speaking as she came forward with a strangely glowing crystal ball. It was larger than the normal druid average you might find in an [Arcane Shop] and emitted enough light to dim that of the chamber's lamps with its own eerie purple glow. Cordelia reached both Rafel and Giselle. She held out the ball of pulsing mana to their eyes. She said,

"Here, we intercepted an incoming invocation call from Emberfall. A witch named Corazón is on the line, holding. She says it's urgent."

"Let her through," Rafel returned.

He watched, aware of his demonic heart starting up a staccato, as the bosomy Countess rubbed her fingers over the ball like a [Jhinn Lamp]. The crystal glowed brighter in purple light, utterly drowning the chamber in mystic aura. It was an enchanting sight.

Rafel peered into the shimmering ball of wispy light, and heard Cora's voice pierce through, along with a profile of her face. He smiled at her silvery fade but it vanished from his face when she spoke. Her voice cracked at the end.

"Y–Your G–Grace, can...can you hear m–me?"

"Speak, Corazón. What is it?"

"Your Grace, Emberfall is under attack. MEPHISTOPHELES is h-here."

It was what Rafel feared the most.

"MOTHERFUCKER!" He belted out with a great and demonic thunder. His voice quaked the ball in Cordelia's grasp.

All the shadows in the villa swarmed to him, blackness running across from under bedroom doors and sweeping across cold floors to he who summoned them. A mighty tornado of darkness swirled like rapids around him, rising up to the high ceiling and making the impressive chandelier swing.

Lady Cordelia clutched the crystal ball close to her chest and dove from the swarming shadows, and shielded her eyes next to Giselle.

Rafel's growl still left their bones trembling. And when the shadows dissipated and darkness retreated, the space where the redhaired demon once stood was empty.

Rafel was gone. Vanished into the cyclone of dark.

Alone now in the villa, Giselle finally turned to her best friend and embraced her, kissing her cheek.

She said, "I fear for you, Delia. I fear for us. War is here."

[TO BE CONTINUED!]