Chapter 3

[1750 B.C.]

She was floating above the cathedral, her eyes golden, her body completely covered by the white blanket. It was like seeing Mary herself - the virgin chosen by heaven to bring forth the life of the one who would save all mankind.

Elaine was equivalent to Mary, but her beauty was certainly superior.

I was not surprised that Callistus fell in love with her, or that he accepted death because he loved this woman. Elaine was like a divinity in a fragile, delicate and mortal body; she was a strong and determined heroine who was willing to do anything to achieve what her God had commanded.

I couldn't deny that I admired Elaine. Not only for winning over Callisto - my big literary crush - but also for giving herself to a cause like she did (even if I secretly considered it dumb when the cause was something like religion and ancient, archaic beliefs like hers).

"By the 9 hells" Callisto grumbled, and I could see his pink eyes glisten with the anger he felt at that moment.

He hated situations where he had no control, and with Elaine he was never in control. This was probably one of the biggest factors that made him fall in love.

Elaine taught him a lot, but especially to get out of his comfort zone, something Asra had never done.

"Have them take her down" the king growled, but Azrael pointed to demons that constantly cursed the girl floating above the temple.

Nothing was happening.

Nothing could happen, after all, Elaine was blessed by her God, and he would never let anything touch his favorite child, his deadly weapon that would bring defeat and death to the one who caused the downfall of his beloved daughter.

"They can't hit her, sir" Azrael muttered, and I could see Callisto burning with the rage that ignited his chest "weapons, curses, everything seems to be unable to hurt her.

"Then I will pull her out of there" he said with a wicked smile on his lips, but I knew where that was going.

Callisto would fling himself upwards, spreading his wings for the first time in many years, and when he looked closely at her, when Elaine's eyes opened, he would remember his wife, the way she looked at him, and he would flinch.

That was all Elaine needed, that was all the time it would take for him to be dropped from the sky and for her to finally face him for the first time.

I would not let that happen, and if this was a dream, then I would use it to my advantage.

"I will" I spoke with firmness in my voice, but Azrael looked at me with such disbelief that I almost believed I was incapable of pulling Elaine from the sky.

"Don't get me wrong..." he began, and then I interrupted him.

"Then shut up." I felt Callisto's hand on my back.

"Asra, you said you were just going to watch."

I couldn't tell if this was concern or annoyance.

Asra had always been a burden to him, so I couldn't judge him if he seemed more in the way than trying to be helpful, but this was not a fact that extended to me; I would never be a burden to Callisto, never put my purposes above his.

"Honey" I called to him with a smile, "let me try".

He looked annoyed as he turned his gaze to Elaine, who was now mumbling something in Latin. A prayer it seemed, and from a distance I could hear the cries of the demons and lesser infernals; those who suffered with the holy words that came out of the girl's mouth.

"I may be nothing more than a concubine" I spoke using my last card, "but these are still my people, let me try".

I was playing it down, I admit. For from all the scenes I had read, Callisto's pain was obvious when he told Asra that he would never make her his queen, that she would never become anything more than what she already was or had been.

He felt guilt, and now I was using that guilt to my advantage.

"Okay" he whispered, and I felt his hand squeeze my hip as he bent towards me "but be careful" he said and if I didn't know that Callisto would be incapable of loving or caring about anyone but his son, I would swear that he was worried about Asra.

"I will."

His lips touched my cheek and then my lips one last time before he pulled away. I could feel my breath pause for too long to stay alive, and then, I fixed my gaze on Elaine.

"Like I said before, curses don't work on her" Azrael grumbled to the side, probably thinking the obvious, that I would try to attack Elaine with magic, but I stared at him with a smile and plucked the black wife he carried with him from the fallen man's hip.

"Wait!" he shouted, "what do you think you're going to do with that?"

"You don't even know how to use a sword," he shouted mentally, too loud to hide his foolish thoughts from me.

I smiled openly and with a brief thrust on my tiptoes, I leaped toward Elaine.

I would break her shield, make her fall, and then on the ground, I would drag God's favorite into the confines of hell.

"At least that was my original idea, but different from the script," Elaine stared at me as I stepped towards her, "and it hadn't happened, it wasn't supposed to happen."

"You" she whispered, "you are the one with the blood of the beginning and the end".

I snorted, oracles had always been annoying to read, but now that I had to hear them coming out of someone's mouth, they seemed even worse.

"Sorry, sweetie, but I don't have time for this" my words had barely come out and a golden spear that seemed made of light stopped the sword I was waving inches from Elaine's face.

"A-s-r-a..." she called to me, "the one who carries the black heart in her chest".

I knitted my eyebrows together, not understanding and somewhat surprised by her sudden change; these were lines I didn't know. I dodged, and with a quick movement and a spin in the air, I attacked her again with precision, and this time, she dodged, dropping to the ground blond strands that were nimbly cut by my blade.

The spear was now held in Elaine's frail hands and I mentally cursed myself at that moment, because Elaine - unlike the spoiled Duchess Asra - had trained for a long, long time and any weapon she touched was blessed by the grace of the Lord.

A single wound from that cursed spear, and Asra's beautiful little body would gain an eternal scar.

"Shit," I grumbled.

I couldn't miss, much less be hit.

"What the hell," I thought, "it's just a dream after all. So what can she do? Kill me?"