Chapter 16

It was late at night, and the entire world had fallen asleep, except Bo and Tamsin.

Chuckling quietly at the loud snores coming from Vug downstairs, Bo rolled on her side and wrapped one arm around Tamsin's waist.

The Angel, who was facing away from her, let out a light sigh and locked their fingers together.

Gently running her fingers along the edge of the large scars on Tamsin's back, Bo whispered, "do they still…hurt?"

"Not anymore," Tamsin whispered back.

Then, it was just silence. Bo continued tracing the tip of her finger along Tamsin's scar, and Tamsin had her eyes closed.

"Those were…" Tamsin eventually started to explain. "Those were scars from…my wings."

"Your wings?"

"When Angels fall, we have to…relinquish our wings."

"But I thought…you still have wings." Bo frowned a little as she recalled seeing Tamsin's wings once in Heaven.

Tamsin let out a smile as she rolled to face Bo. "My other wings."

Cradling Bo's face, she rubbed her thumb over Bo's cheekbone. "I had three pairs of wings. The first pair allowed me to travel to Heaven instantly, with or without a soul. The second pair allowed me to travel to Hell so I could lift a soul to Heaven. The third pair…well they are just normal wings that allow me to fly."

"There is nothing normal about that, Tamsin," Bo giggled.

Then, she pondered the word "relinquish". It must be painful. She thought.

"That's why you had to go through that gate at the end of the walking trail to enter Heaven?"

"Mhm."

"And that's why you had to ask someone else to lift Kenzi's soul from Hell?"

"Yes, but…at this point, we both know that she might not be in Hell at all."

"Right, yes, I know," Bo murmured.

She closed her eyes and pulled herself closer to Tamsin, nesting in Tamsin's arms. She inhaled deeply, taking in the Angel's scent, and her warmth. "Tamsin…"

"Hmmm?"

"I'm scared," Bo admitted in a whisper. "My father…I'm scared of him. I mean…ever since I met him, I've always had this unsettling feeling whenever I'm with him, but this time…with all the lies that he has told me, I'm just really scared of things he might do to you, or to me…."

"I'm scared too, Bo," Tamsin told her in a barely audible whisper as she tightened her arms around Bo. "I'm just…it feels like that he has some sort of a big plan and we-I mean, especially you, are probably pieces in that plan, and…."

"You mean the device he's looking for?"

"No, I mean, yes, the device, but I don't think that's the only thing that he wants. If there's one thing that someone like him wants more than anything, it would be power. And that device must somehow fit that purpose."

"Power? But, he's the King of Hell. What kind of power could he possibly need?"

"I don't know, but you can't never have too much power, can you?"

After a long sigh, she added, "we'll figure it out together."

With that, she held Bo closer.

Half asleep, Bo let out a soft moan as she buried deeper into Tamsin's embrace.

What a wonderful morning. She thought.

Until, she heard a loud "ahem".

As she opened her eyes, she saw Bilith standing on top of one of the bed poles. The little panther stared at her intently.

"Whaaat…" Bo slurred lazily. "If you want breakfast, there's everything you need in the kitchen. If you want candy…the vending machine…."

Bilith landing on her stomach completely awakened her. "Hey!" She protested.

"Someone wants to see you."

After a brief pause, he raised one of his front paws and pointed at Tamsin, "both of you."

"Who the hell would want to see us this early in the morning…" Bo groaned as she pulled the blankets to cover her face.

"Bo!" Bilith stood on her chest and pushed her face with both of his paws. "I'm serious!

Someone wants to meet you! This is important!"

"Who?!" This time it was Tamsin. Her voice was still thick of sleep.

"Someone with…answers," Bilith explained.

"Like…all the answers?" Bo pulled her head out of the blanket.

Bilith rolled his eyes. "Come on. You two can fornicate later."

Bo sighed as she got out of bed. She hunted for clothes in her dresser and then in her closet for Tamsin and herself. Then, she paused as she looked at the doorway. "Where is Vug?"

"Chasing a damn butterfly outside," Bilith grunted. "He'll be ready when you two are ready. Hurry up!"

Following Bilith's instructions, Bo drove to the east side of the town and eventually arrived at a small square beside a busy street.

The three of them followed Bilith to a shop in the corner of the square. When Bo noticed that it was a sweet shop, she crossed her arms in front of her chest and tilted her head at Bilith. "Really? A candy store? I thought this meeting was important."

"This is where he wants to meet us," Bilith growled. "Come on. Let's get inside."

After the four of them had entered the sweet shop, Bilith gave Vug a glance and a head tilt at the door. Vug rushed over. He held the "OPEN" sign with his teeth and flipped it to "CLOSED".

Bo scanned the small store vigilantly. The tiny store had a row of display cabinets in front of her, and they were filled with trays of mouth watering sweets: gourmet chocolate truffles, salted caramel chunks, fudge, old fashioned marshmallows….

Bo frowned a little as she sat down beside the small table by the window, since she found no one else in the store.

"Who exactly are we meeting here again?" She asked.

"The leader of the resistance force," Bilith replied simply, before he jumped on top of the counter, on which small bags of assorted candies were placed. He pulled a bag out and tore it open with his teeth. Sticking his nose into the bag, he sniffed briefly before he started eating the candy.

"Really? The leader of the Order of the Queen?" Tamsin narrowed her eyes. She had heard things about the leader of the resistance force, including how mysterious and private that leader was. She didn't even know that it was a "he" until today, let alone his identity or looks.

"Really?" Vug exclaimed in excitement. He wiggled his tail so hard that his entire body started to wiggle. "I'm gonna meet the leader today? Oh boy this is exciting! Finally I get to meet him in person!"

"Wait…you haven't met him before, like ever?" Bo frowned hard at him.

"No, he hasn't. No one has ever met him in person before," Bilith answered her.

"I heard he's fierce, like one glare from his eyes and then you'll explode," Vug said absentmindedly as he licked the chocolate crumbs that Bilith had dropped.

"How many dumb superhero movies have you watched?" Bilith hissed at him. "The leader is just a Demon, like us."

"Okay, if neither of you have met the leader in person, how could you…how does everything operate in the…organization? I mean…."

"We have secure communication channels," Bilith said. "Demon stuff."

"Indeed." A voice came from the back of the store. Then, the door behind the counter opened, and there appeared an old man.

Bo gaped at him. At first she was just surprised by his outfit, which she had only seen in those period shows. She stared at his neatly tailored jacket, which was dark with silver trim, as she wondered: was it called a doublet, or a doubler?

Then, she couldn't help but stare at his face, at his eyes which looked like smoky quartz. She knew she had never seen this face before in her life, but strangely, she found him familiar.

"Who…are you?" Bo frowned hard at him.

"Forgive me for not greeting you at the door, Ysabeau," the old man said to her with a gentle voice.

"Yeah…that's…alright…" Bo muttered as she kept staring at him. "Do I know you?"

The old man gave her a warm smile. "I used to babysit you when you were little."

Bo's frown deepened. Those eyes…she could swear that she had seen them before, but not on this old man's face, nor on any human or human-like faces….

Those smoky quartz like eyes, she had stared into them many times. In them, she had found both impatience and tolerance.

Vaguely, a distant memory came to her, where she was lying down and staring at the hanging chandelier. There was a subtle sulfur smell in the air.

She had something in her arms, a rope…no not a rope. A rope wouldn't move on its own, but the thing that she was holding would….

It was something bushy and hairy, something wiggly…like a tail.

She would pull on that tail, and then she would get a glare from…a big, orange cat with a pair of clear, brownish gray eyes.

"The orange cat…you are that orange cat," Bo blurted, and the old man laughed.

Bilith, who had been eating one bag of candy after another the entire time, suddenly stopped. He pulled his head out of the half empty cello bag and stared at the old man intently.

"My name is Valefar," the old man introduced himself. "I used to be your mother's-"

Bilith's shocked voice interrupted him. "Great grandfather?!"

The little panther stood in front of him and examined him. "Weren't you…dead?!"

"Well…" Valefar stroked Bilith's head like a grandparent would to their grandchild.

"My father told me that he attended your funeral. You are alive?! You are alive but you never told anyone?"

"I had to," Valefar sighed. "I had to fake my own death so the Dark Lord would stop searching for me."

"But…but…they buried you! If you are still alive, whom did they bury?"

"They buried a body, just not mine."

"Wait, wait a minute," Bilith murmured as he paced back and forth on the counter. "Why do you look like this? Dad told me that you were a big, fat orange cat with a tail the size of a sailor's arm!"

Valefar burst into laughter. "Yes, but…it's much easier running a candy shop in human form, don't you think?"

"I can't believe that you are still alive. Wait, you are also the leader of the order?!"

"I'm the leader, and the founder, of the order, Bili," Valefar affirmed.

"Wait…you are Lord Valefar?" Vug muttered, before he groveled.

"Okay, great, Lord Valefar, also Bilith's great grandfather, alive not dead, also the leader of the order. Sounds awesome, really, but can anyone tell me…why we are here?" Bo exclaimed.

"Of course," Valefar sat down by the table as well. He offered everyone a plate of fudge chunks, before he continued, "I was your mother's companion."

Seeing Bo's confusion, he explained, "your mother and I were like you and Bilith."

"Oh," Bo nodded. "So you knew her well."

Valefar gave her a firm nod. "I met her shortly after she was born and became her companion. I was her closest friend. She trusted me like she trusted herself. We did everything together."

"Okay, it's nice to know that the two of you are close. Now can we get to the why-are-we-here part?"

Valefar didn't answer her. Instead, he gave her a long, intense stare. "Allow me to start from the very beginning."

"The very beginning?" Bo frowned hard.

"From when she had discovered the Book of the Dead."

"Okay," Bo nodded as she savored a chunk of fudge.

"Your mother was your grandparents' only child. They poured all their love to her, and her life was nothing but a fairytale. She was the bravest person I've ever met. She also had an inquisitive mind."

"Yeah yeah old man, I think we have already established that she was the most wonderful woman in the world. Can we cut to the chase?"

Valefar cleared his throat as he glared at Tamsin. "Of the many things that she loved, reading was probably her favorite. She would spend hours in the library of Hell reading old tales and sagas. One day, in a corner that perhaps no one had ever visited, she found an ancient manuscript. It was a long scroll of symbols and vignettes."

Bo and Tamsin exchanged a look, before they simultaneously exclaimed, "the Book of the Dead?"

Valefar beamed. "Yes, but of course, at that time, neither of us knew that it was the Book of the Dead. Somehow, she was very curious about the meaning of the symbols in the manuscript, but no one around her could read it. So, she asked her father, the King of Hell, to find someone who could read it. It took the late King years, but eventually, he found someone."

He turned to Tamsin and pointed at her. "Your great grandmother, Vinga Verthandi, the high priestess of the Verthandi family."

"Huh…" Tamsin murmured.

"So, Aife, your mother, and I went to see Vinga."

"When was this exactly?" Tamsin asked.

"I don't remember the exact year but it was a few years before Aife met that man."

Valefar paused briefly. He didn't seem to want to discuss Bo's father, or the encounter between her parents. Instead, he continued describing the meeting that took place between Vinga and Bo's mother.

"Vinga examined the scroll and told us that it was an ancient language, a language that was no longer spoken by anyone. Luckily, she was able to read it. She told us that it was a collection of spells that were so powerful that life and death could be altered by them. It was from her that we learned the name of the scroll: the Book of the Dead."

"So, the Book of the Dead was in the library of Hell this whole time?"

Valefar nodded, but immediately shook his head. "It was when Aife had found it, but it was lost during the war. Some say it was taken. Others say it was destroyed. Either way, I have not seen that scroll since…. Anyway, when Vinga translated the content of the manuscript to us, Aife asked her a question that no one had ever asked before, "

"What did she ask?"

"She asked Vinga how to cast those spells," Valefar said. "We were sitting by the firepit in the longhouse, and she asked Vinga, if those spells were so powerful, why she had never heard of them before. Were those spells legit?"

"Interesting…" Tamsin hummed in a frown. Those questions might have crossed her mind, but she had never given them much thought.

"At that time, Vinga couldn't answer those questions, but she was so intrigued by them that she promised Aife she'd find an answer. After that, she went radio silent, didn't contact us for years. During that time, Aife was crowned the Queen after her parents' death. Later, she met…that man and Bo was born. She got so busy with the baby and everything in Hell…and I thought Vinga had forgotten about the Book of the Dead, but…a few months after Bo had her 2nd birthday, Vinga told us that she had found the answer."

He stopped briefly, ordering Bilith to get him a bottle of water, before he continued, "so we went to meet Vinga, and Vinga told us that those spells were indeed real spells. The reason that no one had ever cast them, and no one can right now, was that, just like casting any other spells, one is required to chant the spells."

"Ummm…okay?" Bo furrowed her eyebrows at him. Why does he make it sound like chanting some spell would be so hard? She wondered.

"Those spells were written in a dead language. The last person who spoke that language had died a millennia or two ago. It was impossible for us to know the exact pronunciation of each hieroglyph. If you can't pronounce them, you can't chant, therefore you can't cast those spells."

"So, only those who actually speak that language could cast those spells," Bo concluded. Valefar gave her a nod with a smile. "Even though Vinga had told Aife that all those who once spoke that language had died a long time ago, Aife didn't give up. She didn't believe that something that powerful would just be lost in history. After a lot of digging, she had finally found a connection between the Book of the Dead and a lost temple in the underworld."

"Sorry, I have to ask, why was she so fixated on figuring out this thing?" Tamsin asked.

Valefar sighed and clasped his fingers. "It was just Aife. She was a very determined person, and well, honestly, life in Hell wasn't that interesting. It was a mystery that she had discovered when she was a teenager. She was obsessed with it for years. To her, solving it was like a, pardon me for using this term but…like a holy grail."

"So did she find the Dark Temple on her own?"

"Well, she did. From all the information that she had gathered from reading those lost literature and bards tales, she finally pinpointed the location of the Dark Temple to the end of the River of flames. And that raised a whole new problem. How the hell could we get to the end of that river?"

"How did you get to the end? Did my mother go into the river and get washed away like I did?"

Valefar shook his head. "No, dear, not that your mother didn't try. She did, but growing up in Hell and being the Queen of Hell for many years, she no longer had much guilt in her. Even with her human soul, the river wasn't able to carry her to its end."

"Then how did she manage to do that?"

"It must be the same method that we used," Tamsin said. "Following a guilty soul."

"Exactly," Valefar nodded. "With a lot of trial-and-error, and the recruitment of a gold-hungry Angel, we were able to follow a guilty soul all the way to the end of the river."

He turned to Tamsin and told her, "before I sent you the soul vessel, you asked me on the phone who had traveled down the river that way. I believe that I have now answered your question."

"So, after that, the two of you found the Dark Temple, right?" Bo asked.

"Yes, we did. It was a ruined temple. The only thing that we found was a hatch door."

"The door to the crypt!" Bo exclaimed. "Did you go in?"

"Yes, but…for some reason, we were both knocked unconscious shortly after we entered the crypt. I didn't see anything, and had an intense headache for days."

"What about my mother?"

"Well, when I woke up again, I was back in Hell. Your mother was away dealing with an unrelated, urgent matter . She left me a note saying that she would talk to me when she got back. It was weeks later when she had finally returned. She said that…her experience in the crypt was both confusing and eye-opening. It was brief, since she blacked unconscious shortly after I did, but she said that…she had found things that would change everything we knew about Heaven and Hell."

"Like what?"

"She didn't explain well, and she didn't explain much. I think she was confused too, and there were so many things that she didn't even understand. That conversation between us was very short, since we really didn't have the luxury of a long chat at that time. The war had broken out and we all had things to do, much more important things."

"So…what exactly did she find in that crypt?"

"She found a copy of the Book of the Dead inscribed on the coffin inside the crypt."

Valefar paused for a long time, before he continued, "along with the Book of the Dead, she had also found something else, a device."

Bo, Tamsin, Bilith and Vug looked at each other, before they all exclaimed, "the device?"

"Yes, the device," Valefar said. "The same device that the Dark Lord is looking for."

"He said that…a raven gave it to me, or to my family, but…I don't know if-" Tamsin murmured. "Was it really given to me or my family by a raven?"

"I don't know, but I think it was very likely," Valefar said slowly. "Aife and Vinga became very good friends when they researched the Book of the Dead together back in the days. And Vinga was one of the very few who had little to no connection to Hell. I think it was very possible for Aife to entrust Vinga with the device."

"What is that device exactly? What does it do? Why does my father want it so bad?"

"The device…is a decoder," Valefar explained.

The word "decoder" and the fact that it was discovered inside the Dark Temple with the Book of the Dead suddenly gave Tamsin an epiphany. "Like something that could make the Book of the Dead…chantable?"

"Exactly," Valefar gave her a smile and a nod. "The device was the only thing that could turn the Book of the Dead into a collection of true, usable spells."

"No wonder my father is looking for it. With that, he could use those powerful spells…. What does the device look like?"

Valefar didn't answer the question. Instead, he reached into his inside pocket and took out a small leather pouch. He placed the pouch upside down, and there slipped out a small trinket.

It looked like a half-an-inch diameter gear made with dark metal.

"This is the device?" Bo asked, beyond surprised.

"This is a part of the device," Valefar corrected her. "Before…days before the siege, Aife gave it to me and asked me to guard it with my life. She also told me that I should let no one know that I have it, not even my closest family members."

"Why?"

"Because…she said that…he might not be who she thought he was, and under no circumstance should he be given access to the device."

"Who is he?" Bo frowned hard.

Valefar gave her a long stare, before he answered, "your father. It was your father from whom Aife was hiding the device."