CHAPTER TEN

Searching for a specific memory was often tedious as memories weren’t presented in a linear timeline as one would expect. For a bender, life would be much easier if that were the case, but no. Memory had more in common with a spider’s web, where the oddest associations like a favourite colour match linked one to another.

He could skim through the memories and try to guess which image led to the one he wanted, but the problem of either going off on the wrong tangent or skipping the objective altogether was a very real possibility. Alternatively, if he moved too slowly—well—most celestials had eons to their names.

Worse still, only the starting point of the most recent day followed any pattern of predictability. After that, pre-existing memories fastened to them and pulled them further into the network like a stone through quicksand.

Fortunately, Columbine was only four years old and the memories he was searching for had been created a few hours ago, so this should be a simple sweep.

But the moment he entered the memory section of her mind, he knew he was going to have to reconsider ever using the word simple when regarding his children from now on. This wasn’t the same mind he’d been in yesterday! The gaps between the memories, normally bridged by various threads of familiar association, no longer existed.

From where he stood, whichever way he turned, the tapestry of her memory stretched out in all directions, one impression merging into another almost seamlessly. Everything that Columbine had ever seen, heard or experienced was laid out for his perusal from this one spot, almost giving him a headache with the way they overlapped each other. This wasn’t normal. This wasn’t even natural.

He wasn’t sure how many more surprises he could take from his children.

On the upside, anyone who took the time to learn could navigate her memories without moving from one spot. He turned his focus from her distant past, finding that the newer memories were closer to his imagined point of view. Beneath him, where his feet would be if he were physically present, new memories were being formed as he watched.

Raising his point of view, he began to search for what he needed. Her most recent memories were very close by. He just needed to adapt his focus to discount the overlapping memories that weren’t of consequence.

Something very dangerous uncoiled from within Avis when he found the memory he was looking for and was confronted with the bloody extent of Columbine’s injuries. At the forefront of the memory was Columbine’s view of the shredded mass of her demonic lower body as she sat on her broken bed and how utterly destroyed she felt both inside and out at the time. In the background, Avis heard a high-pitched siren sounding and assumed it was an alarm for more guards to arrive.

They’d certainly be scrambling if this had happened in Mystal. He may not have understood demonic anatomy, but injuries that severe without a powerbase were a death sentence to a Mystallian … and not okay.

He watched as her centipede servant slid a dozen or so clawed hands around her delicate form and gathered her close, sliding her off the bed and into a larger, more comforting embrace. The room around them began to rock as the centipede chirped reassuring noises until at last that ear-splitting siren was subdued.

Avis frowned at that. Wait … he moved the memory back a few seconds and watched it play out again. That was no background alarm to summon the guards. It was high-pitched demonic wailing—the Hellion Highborn Lady equivalent of crying. Listening to it, and now knowing its source was Columbine, shredded him from the inside out. He’d have done anything to make it stop and, in that instant, he made an oath to himself that he would never let her cry like that again. He would protect her. He may not have been well liked, but outside of Hell and the Nexus, he was still highly feared.

And that was when Belial arrived.

Avis caught a glimpse of the powerful demon’s lower body in the doorway and gasped. He fought the urge to look down and away as his own training had commanded despite the fact this was only a memory. A glimpse into the past. It couldn’t hurt him. Digging deep, he forced himself to watch the memory play itself out. All of it. He would see whatever his little girl had seen. The clop of Belial’s hooves as he walked across the room was muffled by the plush pile of Columbine’s carpet, but that didn’t stop his approach from being just as damned terrifying.

Columbine’s point of view shifted as the centipede servant attempted to kneel in the supreme demon’s presence without releasing her hold on Columbine. Points for effort, Avis noted.

“Leave us,” Belial’s deep monotone commanded.

The centipede rose and deposited Columbine on the edge of her wrecked bed, then bowed again at Belial and shuffled backwards from the room. The moment she was out, the timber Mystallian door changed into a solid stone wall, sealing Belial and Columbine inside. His little girl stared mutely at the floor. From the corner of her peripheral vision, he could see Belial’s hooves—a point of view Avis knew only too well.

The pain in Columbine’s lower abdomen and legs subsided as the shredded flesh knitted back together again. All without Belial touching her, and while her little body was infused with tefsla—the shapeshifting equivalent of a mental seclusion ring. All his life, Avis and every other bender in existence knew that a seclusion ring could isolate a target from any mental incursions, no matter how powerful the bender was.

If the same was true of shapeshifters and tefsla, then Belial shouldn’t have been able to work in and around Columbine’s shape. Yet clearly, he was. Avis had long suspected seclusion rings wouldn’t work on his father either, being the ultimate bender, but seeing the proof of that in his father’s shapeshifting counterpart was terrifying.

“You must never do this again, Columbine,” Belial declared, once her injuries were expunged and she could hear him without the interference of pain. “Punishments are given when they are necessary. You must never attempt to circumvent them again.” He paused, as if to give her a moment to accept his words—something he’d never done for Avis. “I want your word, Columbine. Never again will you stop the discipline of a Highborn Hellion.”

Columbine dipped her head lower and Avis felt the wetness of her forked tongue as it travelled around both sides of her beak simultaneously. It was an evasive manoeuvre. One he recognised instantly and he cringed, knowing Belial would not take her refusal to comply lightly. Just nod, baby! He doesn’t know Cora’s locked your mind down and you can’t use your voice! Just nod, baby …

He knew she lived through whatever happened next. She wouldn’t be alive now to have these memories if Belial had killed her for her impertinence. But the range of what could be survived was enormous—a fact Avis could personally attest to—and he didn’t want anything of that nature touching her.

If that meant breaking his cardinal rule and saying something she didn’t mean just to please someone else, he didn’t care. Not in this instance. Not against Belial. He wanted her to tell him whatever he wanted to hear, if it meant she wasn’t harmed afterwards. When Belial let out a breath of thick smoke that billowed around his hooves and moved forward until he was right in front of her, Avis’ fear for her safety soared.

Unable to take his eyes from the memory, Avis’ mental image knotted both hands into a double fist and he raised them to his lips, tapping the knuckle against his teeth. His real body outside would have an elevated heartrate and might even be sweating. The realms knew he wanted to. Belial squatted down in front of her, but her head was so low Avis could still only see to his knees which brushed lightly against Columbine’s tri-taloned toes. “I will have those words before we proceed, child,” he rumbled. Speak.

The word reverberated through Avis with so much power it drove him to his knees. He planted both fists between his knees and rolled forward over the top of them, determined not to fall in a complete heap. He’d never felt power like it, but knew without a doubt that it wouldn’t change anything. Belial was a shifter, and Cora’s mental block came from a bender. No amount of power from a shifter would break a mental …

“She was hurt so badly, Grandfather. The pain was so much …”

Avis’ head snapped up. What the ever-loving fuck? Belial had the power to override a bending command? The one that forbade her to speak had still been in place when Avis removed it, which meant this override was temporary. Still … what the fuck?

Belial’s hand caressed her throat. “That is not in doubt, child. But I have yet to hear your oath.”

Columbine’s chest plates rose and fell at the turmoil that tore her apart on the inside, and Avis looked up from his crouched position, well understanding why. If she agreed … if she said the words aloud, her pride would hold her to them for all time.

Avis knew that sentiment well. It was perhaps the first thing he’d seen about her personality that was even remotely Mystallian. Promises were rarely given in Mystal, because once offered, they were never reneged on. Columbine shook her head, refusing to look up at the ruler of Hell.

Belial’s taloned hand tightened, and although it prevented her from shaking her head, he still didn’t hurt her. “You must understand, Columbine. Pain is a part of life. At the very least, it reminds people they are still alive. In time to come, you are going to understand a lot about people’s pain and for the sake of your future sanity, you need to learn to ignore it all.”

Columbine dared a very quick glance at Belial’s face, and in that moment, Avis thought the supreme demon’s expression appeared … sympathetic. Or maybe it was his imagination. “You are very special,” Belial went on. “More special than you realise. More special than most will ever realise. For your sake, I need to hear those words from you, little one, and now I am not asking. You are too important to be killed over something so menial as one person’s ongoing discomfort.” His tone hardened and his grip increased. “Say them.”

Avis knew how badly she wanted to deny him this, but no one stood up to Belial long. Her gaze twisted so far away from him that Avis found himself looking at the destroyed bed behind her when she murmured, “I promise I will never undo an elder Highborn Hellion’s punishment ever again.”

And here Avis thought his apprehension couldn’t climb any higher. Now it was launching into the next realm! The Mystallian leapt to his feet, focusing fully on the memory. That was not what Belial had told her to say! To the Highborn Hellions, all the men of any generation outranked the women. Columbine’s choice of wording meant she would only abide by an elder’s punishments, not any of her cousins or lower generations who happened to be male.

Avis had never wanted to be present at a past event so badly in his life! If he’d been there, he’d have clamped his hand over her mouth, spoken for her, or better yet, put the words Belial wanted to hear into her mouth by way of bending so that it would appear as if she said them—verbatim. Whatever it took!

Stop antagonising him, princess! he wanted to shout at her, bracing himself for the wrath he knew would be coming any second now. I’m taking you home! It doesn’t matter what any of these jerks say! You’ll probably never set eyes on another one again anyway! Just tell him what he wants to hear!

“Columbine.”

That one word had both father and daughter wincing together. The hand around her throat lifted her upwards. “Stand.”

“No! Don’t hurt her!” Avis shouted, knowing these events had already transpired but unable to help himself as they unfolded before him. His point of view rose from the bed and stood halfway up the supreme demon’s thigh. “Leave her alone!”

He’d never felt so helpless in all his life! Not at his father’s hands, and not during his incarceration with the Damned. They had all attacked him until he’d wished he was dead, but the second he was no longer the focus, it was over. He had his reprieve. Contrary to those times, this was true torture. His darling little princess was facing off with one of the most dangerous beings in existence and there wasn’t a damn thing he could do to stop it!

As he waited for Belial’s wrath to land, he forced himself to not turn away. He would watch this through to the end and know what she had endured. Every second of it. And he promised himself he would never tolerate this feeling of helplessness again. From this moment forward, if anyone ever dared to harm her, if anyone even thought about it within his hearing, he would make it his life’s mission to destroy them. He would check on her memories daily and mete out any pain anyone made her feel in triplicate. If that made him a voyeur, he’d live with it, but the realms would learn Columbine was off-limits. If she was hurt—those responsible would hurt more.

Avis chewed nervously on his thumbnail, knocking it between his teeth as if he were back inside his body. The memory of Belial’s talons around Columbine’s throat would haunt him forever. “You bastard!” he shouted, only to clamp his hand over his own mouth as a tingling sensation poured through that contact point until every atom in her body felt independently alive. Stop it!

Avis had no idea what he was doing to her. He’d never been inside a shifter’s body before to witness such a thing, and he could see Columbine didn’t have a clue either. But it had to be a punishment and Avis was working himself into a lather of panic as the friction inside her body grew to the point where her whole body glowed. Leave her alone!

The light effect went on for almost a minute, and somewhere in the middle of it Avis realised from her memories that she wasn’t in any real discomfort. Apart from the bone deep vibrations, there was no heat that bothered her Hellion body; no pain that implied something bad was taking place.

Her body pulsed and glowed just like his sister’s daughter, Raushan did when she tapped into her powerbase and lit up the realm for a new day, and seemed just as unbothered by it. Columbine stared in fascination at the glow in her hands, clicking the tips of her talons together to create a sparkler effect and suppressing the desire to giggle in wonder. What is this?

In the last seconds, the light grew in brilliance until Avis raised both hands to shield his face, and the glow still shone through the flesh of his fingers. But then it was gone. The lumination was gone. The vibrations were gone. Everything was exactly as it had been before, leaving Avis very confused.

What just happened?

“Columbine, look at me,” Belial rumbled, and Avis’ point of view snapped to Belial’s chin towering far above her. Belial stepped back several paces, so she didn’t have to crane her neck. “You have yet to come into your own, child, and as I have stated, you are too important to allow anyone or anything to harm you. Your champion is not here to protect you. The fault of that is partially mine, yet still you must survive to adulthood, so I have bestowed upon you a gift as compensation. A gift I have given no other before, and never will again. The gift to protect yourself, until you come into your own.”

He paused, as if waiting to see if she could work it out for herself. Given that Avis had billions of eons under his belt and he had no idea what Belial was talking about, it didn’t surprise him when his little four-year-old girl tilted her head questioningly.

Belial breathed out another smoke-filled breath. “You will be able to touch shapeshift anyone except myself. Those with age over you will still be able to shapeshift you, provided you permit it. But with or without their permission, you are now able to take command of their physical form.” He folded his arms across the huge barrel of his chest. “Your grandfather Theodrick and I will be the only ones excluded from your control.”

Avis couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He was having a hard-enough time grasping her other powers and she was only a four-year-old girl. “Are you fucking insane?” he screamed at the memory, though he still couldn’t bring himself to look above Belial’s chest at the very bottom of Columbine’s perception. “You can’t give her even more power! She’s just a kid!”

But Belial didn’t appear to be finished. “You will also need to remember who has said and done what to fulfil your destiny, so I have bestowed upon you the gift of a perfect memory. Your changes have been made on an essence level and there are only two of us who can remove them.”

Two? Avis pondered with a frown. Who’s the other shifter?

Before he could conjure any wild guesses, Belial took physical control of Columbine’s body and forced her chin up until his face came squarely into view. Gone was the sympathetic grandfather he’d been whilst addressing her, and in its place was the cold, ruthless supreme ruler of Hell that Avis knew him to be. “You know what will happen if anyone learns of her abilities,” he rumbled, still staring straight at Columbine; though it was clear the message wasn’t meant for her. “Emotional or physical.”

Avis gasped and tore his eyes away from the memory, only to glance back at it moments later. The supreme demon continued to glare at him. Oh, yeah. He’d known Avis wouldn’t be able to resist prying. He’d been counting on it.

Avis’ heart pounded painfully in his throat, trying in vain to remind himself that this was just a memory replaying itself. That Belial couldn’t have known when Avis would come looking. Still, it really did feel as if Belial was staring him down and Avis wanted to crawl into the nearest corner to hide.

“I have given her the ability to protect herself and now it is up to you to protect this memory from invasions such as yours.”

Avis knew what he was asking. Or rather, demanding. As the eldest son of Theodrick, only his father had the power to break a mental command of his making. If he chose to hide this memory from prying eyes and his little girl, only he and his father would be able to reveal it.

Belial’s expression softened to where it had been before he addressed the Mystallian. “Little one,” he rumbled, releasing his hold over her. “I forbid you to speak of anything that has occurred during my visit to you this day before I called you little one. If anyone wishes to have this conversation, they must come to me first. Nod, if you understand.”

The viewpoint moved up and down, signifying Columbine’s compliance.

Avis had seen enough. Following Belial’s suggestion to the letter, he used his power to block her memory starting from when the supreme demon told her to stand, to the point Belial ended his conversation with Avis. He understood the logic behind giving it to her now and hiding it.

This was a gift for the future—once she matured. Until then, they needed to be able to discipline her without fear of reprisal. He covered the memory in its entirety, smothering it from all sides with his power and placing mental locks over the coverings. It was still there, but only someone of his own power level or higher could remove the mental blanket he had cast over it. He gave it a once over to ensure he’d left nothing exposed, then withdrew from her mind.

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CHAPTER ELEVEN

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For more of my work: r/Angel466