Chapter 43

As he ran down the hall, long legs allowing him to cover a great distance, he saw the guards rise to their feet. Their eyes were purple and focused in on him.

Before Jace had even a second to slow they shot light out at him.

Similar to Gaufrid the light hit him and did nothing, it wasn’t even powerful enough to knock him back. Yet Jace slowed. They were possessed, if shooting light at him wasn’t enough then not shooting enough light to do anything at him showed it clearly.

They both drew weapons from their coats. Swords, one was a katana. Jace had dropped his sword on the ground somewhere near Gaufrid, he cursed and drew another from his coat. It was the last sword he had within it, as he had used a lot recently it seemed.

The guards didn’t seem to have any sort of coordination but they both started to attack him.

Jace was able to block one of the swords from hitting his face and let the other hit his coat. Hissing in pain Jace was grateful it was a mere guard and not Gaufrid.

He didn’t know what he was going to do but being held up by these guards was a nuisance. Yet he didn’t want to hurt them.

They attacked savagely, their sword swinging at him with little regard for the body that they were in. Jace blocked as many of their attacks as he could with his sword. Sparks flew around the hallway. It felt so wrong to be fighting his own kind in front of his own ancestor’s portraits.

Jace blocked the katana, knocking it to the side but the other sword stabbed out at him he had to twist to the side quickly to avoid it impaling his torso which was open as his coat was not closed.

With a few awkward steps and a swift hit from the katana Jace fell to the ground.

He didn’t want to hurt the guards yet viciously their swords wanted his blood. He blasted them with light back into the walls.

Their coats protected them from most of the light but their necks were badly burnt.

They slid down the wall and both started to loosen grip on their swords, curling up into a ball once again.

Perhaps they were fighting back once more.

Jace got to his feet and ran past them, closing the very serious doors that protected the royal’s quarters in case of emergency. Thick iron, though painted white, they were heavy as Jace desperately manoeuvred them.

When he was younger, he, Nikita and Thariel had closed them when playing and got told off quite severely. They were lectured on the importance of the doors to be used for emergencies only. He was sure that this time it counted as an emergency.

Taking a few deep breaths he stepped away from the door hoping that it would protect his sister at the very least. Though perhaps it would serve to protect the rest of the palace from the royal family as well.

Somehow the Myth Hunters were connected to all of this. Jace had no idea how they could manage to coordinate so many demons all at once. They were notorious for being too chaotic to be organised into any such force. Certainly not one big enough to launch an attack this scale on the palace. Yet Jace’s information about demons had been wrong in the past.

Jace ran back toward his quarters, wondering if a demon was trying to possess Zebedaios.

He saw a dark figure stalk out into the hallway from his quarters, he stopped himself quickly as he watched Zebedaios stare him down. Zebedaios’ eyes were still green and shattered. Jace wasn’t even sure if a demon’s own eyes would turn purple if they were possessed by another demon, he wasn’t sure if it was even possible to possess a demon. After all they were pure soul, their bodies were just constructs. Zebedaios had said that something was trying to take control of him, perhaps it was different to possession.

Jace eyed the demon nervously watching his movement carefully.

The demon’s movements were cold and calculated, guarded against anything that Jace might do. Gone was the suave and flirtatious posture. Jace feared for the worst.

“Zebedaios,” He called out the demon’s name but it was more of a question. Reaching for something inside of the demon to bring back his prior warmth. Jace needed to be comforted by him as he had done many times in the past month.

And yet Zebedaios stood there, cold and perhaps a little confused by the name that had been called out to him.

Jace cursed mentally and suddenly the demon disappeared. Teal skin, horns and charcoal clothing, gone in a blink.

Then Jace was hit with it. It felt like an axe to his head. Something hacked into the mental shields that protected Jace’s mind and soul.

He stumbled backward, unable to stay on his feet. All of his life he had been told that demons were not able to pass through the mental shields of royal Phoenix and yet it seemed all of his family was possessed.

He hit the ground awkwardly and clutched his head. The pain was immense, searing through him. He tried to rebuild the walls and yet it was being torn apart way too quickly. This was a huge beast of a soul attacking him. It was more than just Zebedaios, it seemed there was something else tangled up with him. Together Jace just couldn’t fight it.

They ripped the last of his shield apart and Jace’s soul, raw and without its defences fought back against the other soul yet it was just flooded and flattened and his mind was engulfed.

This rushing sensation, a tide coming in, all over his mind, it worked its way over all of his memories and everything that made Jace himself.

It didn’t hurt anymore yet it was way worse. He felt so completely exposed, as if someone had cut him open and was looking at his organs.