Chapter 08 | A Weird Dark Lord

By the time the broth began bubbling, Matthias had stopped checking the restaurant door.

Almost.

Outside, the afternoon had turned cold enough for snow. Flakes drifted past the window while traffic moved away from the mall district.

The authorities had cleared the area quickly. Nobody in charge had looked as surprised as Matthias thought they should.

He looked around the table.

"You promised an explanation."

Yuki slipped off her cardigan and draped it over her chair.

"Yeah. Joseph's contacts gave us a heads-up."

"The scholar in the jungle?"

"Yep, that Joseph. His family knows all these historians and researchers, plus people who keep tabs on the supernatural crowd."

She reached for her chopsticks.

"They noticed Sylvia making moves a few weeks ago. Then things got way more active around here two days ago, so Aki and I stayed close. Close enough to jump in if something happened."

"You were following me again?" Matthias asked Aki.

"Keeping an eye on the cult. You happened to be where they were headed."

"Why didn't you warn me?"

Aki set down his glass.

"We should have. We didn't know when she'd act, and we cut it too close."

Matthias remembered the sword falling toward his face.

"Next time, tell me."

"Agreed."

Yuki's chopsticks rested against her bowl.

"There's more, though. Matthias, she isn't trying to get you on her side."

"She said she wanted to bring back the Dark Lord."

"She wants to kill what they call the 'current vessel,'" Yuki said. "Then move the soul into someone else. Someone they can raise to be exactly what they want."

Matthias stared at her.

"The current vessel."

"You," Aki said quietly.

The broth kept bubbling.

Matthias looked at his hands beneath the table. He had spent the afternoon wondering what Sylvia wanted him to do.

Apparently, dying would have been enough.

Current vessel.

Sylvia hadn't needed to know whether he liked his life. He was something to empty so she could make use of what remained.

He pressed his palms against his knees. He had been choosing clothes that morning. He wanted to be angry about losing the afternoon, and resented how small that sounded beside being murdered.

Belial touched his wrist.

He turned his hand and held hers for a moment.

"The cult isn't new," she said. "We've stopped them before."

"You and Astreal?"

"Twice, in different centuries. We worked with human forces to keep them from securing a suitable candidate."

"And the balance she talked about?"

Belial's expression hardened.

"They believe the Gods have too much power and a Dark Lord must oppose them. Conveniently, they intend to choose that Dark Lord."

"And control him," Matthias said.

"Yes."

Astreal lowered her cup.

"One attempt came close. Wallachia, in the fifteenth century. A man named Vlad."

Matthias looked up.

"Dracula?"

"The name means son of the Dragon, not vampire," Aki said. "His father belonged to the Order of the Dragon. History acquired a few embellishments."

"What happened?"

Astreal reached for a piece of meat.

"He fell from his horse."

Matthias waited.

She put the meat into the broth.

"That's it?"

"There was an arrow involved."

"Her arrow," Belial supplied.

Matthias looked at Astreal's hands.

He'd watched them straighten his shoes and adjust a camera. He was still learning what else they had done.

"You shot Vlad off his horse."

"The cult had been cultivating him for some time," she said. "He had the disposition they wanted. I interrupted the arrangement."

Yuki leaned back, smiling.

"Okay, why weren't history lessons ever like this? You two just casually drop the wildest stuff over dinner!"

Belial's thumb brushed Matthias's wrist before she let go.

"We intervened when we had to. We wanted a world you could return to safely."

"That was why?"

"We were not acting out of love for humanity," Astreal said. "Our concern was the world you would be born into."

Matthias glanced at Belial.

She met his eyes without denying it.

He remembered her standing between the monsters and the fleeing shoppers. Whatever had driven them through those centuries, she had protected strangers today.

"Did you know Sylvia was coming?"

"We suspected the cult was moving," Belial said. "We didn't know she would strike today."

Astreal's fingers tightened around her cup.

"I should have kept closer to you."

"You were fighting things trying to kill us."

"One reached you."

"And I'm here."

Her gaze dropped to his empty hand.

"Because of that sword."

Matthias opened his palm on the table.

"You recognized it."

"The Sun Blade," Astreal said. "The Marco family's heirloom, passed down since the age of the three heroes."

"A holy weapon?"

"Forged to fight dark-aligned beings. Only those of Marco blood should be able to wield it."

He looked at Aki and Yuki.

Neither contradicted her.

"I'm guessing a demon lord doesn't qualify."

"No," Astreal said. "Whatever body you were born into, your soul should make that impossible."

Matthias flexed his fingers.

The grip had felt so familiar. He hadn't needed to think about where to place his hand.

"Then what does it mean?"

Astreal hesitated.

"I don't know."

That worried him more than the explanation.

Yuki pointed her chopsticks at him.

"See? Weird dark lord. I totally called it."

"You said he looked like he took the train," Aki said.

"Okay, but was I wrong?"

Matthias ignored them.

"Wait. Your weapons are holy too, aren't they? The staff and the tomahawk?"

Belial nodded.

"We were consecrated priestesses before we met you. That affinity stayed with us when we became your servants."

"So allegiance doesn't change what you can use?"

"Not necessarily," she said. "Our holy affinity runs deeper than that."

Astreal set down her cup.

"Your former self understood the tactical advantage."

Matthias looked between them.

"He recruited priestesses so he could use holy weapons against his enemies?"

"He was aware of our capabilities," Astreal said.

Aki's mouth curved.

"A very practical recruitment strategy."

"He loved us."

Astreal answered so quickly that everyone stopped.

Color rose in her cheeks.

She picked up her cup and looked into it as though the tea required her full attention.

Belial's smile softened.

Matthias reached for his water. He wasn't going to make her defend that memory at a dinner table.

It was uncomfortable to feel grateful to a man he was also afraid of becoming. Yet someone had given Astreal a memory she still protected three thousand years later.

He didn't know how to fit that beside the rest of what he'd heard. He could leave the question open without taking the memory from her.

"Back to the sword," he said.

Yuki pressed her lips together before nodding.

"Right, yeah. Well, you didn't accidentally steal Joseph's, so you can stop worrying about that. He's still got his."

"You're sure?"

"Yep. We talked four hours ago. He had it with him, and he hasn't messaged me going, 'Hey, where's my sword?'"

Matthias stared at his palm again.

"Then what did I summon?"

"That's the interesting part," Aki said.

Matthias shifted his chair back from the table.

Belial watched him.

"Master?"

"I want to try something."

He held his hand away from the others and remembered the weight of the grip.

For a moment, nothing happened.

Then warmth settled against his fingers.

The sword appeared.

He caught his breath. Gold light ran quietly along the edge, just as it had in the car park.

This time, he had called it on purpose.

He'd half expected nothing to happen. That would have let him call the first time luck, though it would also have left him defenseless.

Now the light lay steady against his fingers.

All right. This part is mine to learn.

Aki leaned forward, keeping clear of the blade.

He examined the cross-guard, then tilted his head to follow the light along the steel.

"If it's a copy, it's a very good one."

"Who could make it?" Matthias asked.

"I don't know. Or why it would answer you."

Yuki took out her phone.

"Oh, Joseph's already booked the earliest flight he could get. Give him a few days and he'll be here."

"Because of this?"

"Yep! I called him after the fight and told him everything. He's so excited about your sword."

She glanced at the message and grinned.

"Like, actually excited. Look at these messages! Usually he only gets like this over something he dug out of the ground."

Aki looked at Matthias.

"You've replaced a ruin on his schedule. Quite an achievement."

"I'm honored."

Matthias loosened his grip.

The sword faded, leaving his palm warm.

Belial watched until it was gone, then gently pushed his untouched bowl toward him.

"Eat something."

He looked at the food.

"This morning was supposed to be clothes shopping."

"It was," she said. "We found some lovely things."

"Then someone tried to kill me."

Her smile faltered.

He picked up his chopsticks before she could apologize.

"The clothes were nice, though."

Astreal glanced at the bags beside her chair.

"They survived."

"Good. Something went to plan."

Yuki rested her chin in one hand.

"Aw, there you go! Cute clothes still count as a win, right?"

"Is this what my life is now?"

"Kinda looking that way, babe."

She paused.

"But, you know, if there's room in that new life for a mistress—"

"No," Astreal said.

"Absolutely not," Belial added.

Yuki sat back with a theatrical sigh.

"Wow, not even letting me finish now!"

"You're remarkably persistent," Aki said.

"Hey, you don't get commissions by giving up after one no!"

"This isn't a commission."

Matthias laughed, and some of the tightness in his chest finally eased.

The snow thickened outside the window.

Matthias ate while Yuki rescued something from the pot and Aki argued that she'd taken his portion. Astreal quietly moved a dish out of the path of their chopsticks.

Belial leaned closer.

"Whatever happens next, we're here. Both of us."

He looked at her.

"You don't have to face this alone," she said.

Across the table, Astreal met his eyes and nodded.

Aki put down his glass.

"Same goes for us. Different reasons, same arrangement."

"Us?"

"Me, Yuki, Joseph. You have an ordinary Tuesday, we leave you to it. You have monsters in a car park, we show up."

Matthias held his gaze.

He was still angry about the warning he hadn't received. But when the spear had crossed the car park, Aki had been there.

"Generous offer from someone who prefers beer and cards."

"I contain multitudes."

Yuki raised a finger.

"Ooh, so that's a lot of chances for someone to need a mistress—"

"Eat your dinner," Matthias said.

Belial laughed first. Aki followed, and then a short, quiet laugh escaped Astreal.

Yuki looked delighted with herself.

Matthias reached for another helping.

The cult was still out there, and the sword made no more sense than it had before dinner. He would have to deal with both.

Tonight, at least, he knew who would be beside him.