CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
"Your negligence has already cost two lives, and you sit there begging for forgiveness as though your regret will bring them back."
He wiped his blade and returned it to its sheath.
"Clean this up."
Two guards immediately stepped forward.
"Yes, Commander."
They carried the body away.
No one questioned the order.
They understood his actions.
The guard had not merely made a careless mistake. He had abandoned his responsibility because familiarity and personal favours had mattered more to him than the safety of the capital.
And two demons had paid for it.
It felt more like a lesson to those present, as though prince Damiel was telling them, if you ever made such mistake I won't spare you, it was duty over friendship.
Just then the guards he sent to investigate came back holding a scroll report of their investigation.
Immediately the one holding the report bowed while handing over the report to Damiel, he took it, as he scanned through it, face calm but beneath he was curious what the ancient demon was planning.
There were three different accounts of report.
One witness had seen the trader carrying a sack through the outer district.
Another claimed the sack looked unusually heavy.
A third had remarked that it appeared more like he was carrying a weapon.
Damiel's gaze sharpened.
"The sack."
Roan glanced at him.
"What about it?"
"The trader was carrying something inside it."
Damiel looked up.
"Something he wanted brought inside the capital."
Kael's expression darkened.
"You believe it was a.....?" Kael asked.
"Weapon."Damiel said, as Zaiel glanced at the demons who went to investigate.
"Did you find anything in his house?" Zaiel asked.
"No," one of the generals answered. "The residence was searched thoroughly. Nothing suspicious was found."
Damiel gave a cold, humourless smile.
"Naturally."
He placed the report on the table.
"The creature wants us to know it has entered Avalon. It wants us to know it has brought something with it. But it has left no weapon, no trace of its presence, and no evidence that can lead us directly to it."
Zaiel considered this.
"So the trail was deliberate."
"Yes."
Damiel's eyes narrowed.
"It's tauting me, show me what you can do."
He paused.
"And it looks like it had anticipated this investigation."
The implications were disturbing.
The Fallen Angel had predicted their response.
It had exploited the farmer's and trader's familiarity with the guard, and left just enough information behind to make certain Damiel understood that his enemy was already within the capital. He could have entered the capital by manipulation, the fact he used this was the ancient demon telling Damiel there were other ways he could handle them.
It wasn't merely hiding.
It was taunting him.
"Search the surrounding districts again," Damiel ordered. "Quietly. I want every abandoned building, storage room, and residence connected to these demons examined."
"Yes, Commander."
"Keep watch over their families and anyone who might have known about their movements. Nobody leaves Avalon without permission."
He turned toward the remaining guards.
"Clean this place. And make certain no word of what happened here reaches the public."
"Yes, Commander."
A knock sounded at the door.
A guard who had went to dispose of the first body entered, bowed, and approached Damiel.
"Commander, there's been a report."
"Speak." Damiel said as everyone attention was focused on the guard reporting.
"The families of the two demons, the farmer and trader, who died during questioning have all been found dead."
The room fell silent.
Roan's expression hardened.
Kael looked toward Damiel.
Zaiel's face became unreadable.
Damiel merely scoffed.
"Clever but brutal, cleaning his trails himself. That saves me the trouble of following them."
"Leave."
The guard bowed and withdrew.
Damiel turned as he spoke.
"The creature is pretty thorough. It leaves no loose ends."
His eyes hardened.
"Keep the investigation confidential. If anything happens, no matter how small I want a report of it immediately.
He looked at the watchtower ledger one last time.
"At first light, summon the king, the Council of Elders, and every general responsible for the capital's defence. We will discuss our next move then."
"Yes, Commander."
Damiel turned toward his men.
"Kael. Roan. Zaiel. With me."
They followed him out of the dungeon.
Behind them, the guards began cleaning the blood from the stone floor.
The capital had not yet seen an open battle.
But the enemy had already crossed its gates, claimed its victims, and left its commander with a warning.
The war had begun.
Damiel's Chambers
A low fire burned in the hearth.
Damiel entered first.
He removed his gloves and placed them on the table before walking toward the windows.
Kael remained near the door, arms folded across his chest. Roan pulled out a chair and sat, his usual easygoing expression replaced by a troubled frown. Zaiel stood beside one of the pillars, quietly studying the room, it was his first time here.
For a while, nobody spoke.
Then Damiel turned.
"What do you think?"
Roan leaned forward.
"He's no ordinary enemy. He can possess bodies, interfere with minds, and kill through the people he uses. We can't even be certain someone is acting of their own free will."
Kael glanced at him.
"Can't believe you actually said something smart."
Roan turned slowly, but said nothing.
Zaiel stepped away from the pillar.
"I think we're asking the wrong question."
Damiel's gaze settled on him.
"Explain."
"We're trying to understand how he entered Avalon, but that only tells us what he's capable of. It doesn't tell us why he came."
Zaiel paused, as though wanting it to sink in.
"He could have attacked the capital. Instead, he entered quietly, manipulated our people, and made certain you would discover his presence. He wanted this investigation to happen."
Roan's expression tightened.
"Which means he wanted us to find something, or wanted us to believe we had found something," Zaiel replied.
Damiel studied him.
"Go on."
"The evidence may be real, but the conclusion he wants us to draw could be wrong. The weapon might be inside Avalon, or the trail might simply be meant to keep us searching while he does something else."
A thoughtful silence followed.
Damiel's eyes narrowed slightly.
It was a reasonable possibility.
The ancient demon had been several steps ahead of them in the north. There was no reason to assume its strategy would become less sophisticated now that it had entered the capital.
"Then we stop chasing every trail it leaves," Damiel started.
"We determine what it wants and force it to reveal its next move,so the plan now is to focus not on what he wants but instead why it's here, if we could get it we'll get leverage over it".
Zaiel nodded.
"There's another problem. If it can possess a demon without our knowledge, we cannot assume that anyone around us is trustworthy simply because they appear normal." Roan said, as keal nooded
"True, so we make him think we are still on its path, we report to the council about the events, keep following his trail openly, while we figure out his next move quietly." Kael said as they all nodded agreeing.
"And until we find a way to detect possession, we should assume any one of us could be compromised." Roan said
Zaiel looked toward Damiel.
"Even us."
"Especially us," Kael replied.
Damiel voice was cold, as he spoke.
"The creature knew too much about my men from the beginning. It has been watching us longer than we realised."
He studied each of them in turn.
"Protect your minds. Pay attention to gaps in your memories, unfamiliar thoughts, and anything that feels out of place. Do not act on sensitive orders without confirmation."
"Understood, Commander," Kael said.
Roan nodded.
"We'll be careful."
Zaiel inclined his head.
"Of course."
Damiel's gaze lingered on Zaiel for a moment.
There was something about the demon he still couldn't quite understand.
Zaiel was perceptive, composed, and careful with his words. Yet whenever the Fallen Angel came up, Damiel sensed something difficult to identify beneath his calm exterior.
Not necessarily guilt.
Not necessarily fear.
Something else.
He would have to pay attention.
"You may leave."
The three men bowed.
"Yes, Commander."
Kael departed first, followed by Roan.
Zaiel lingered for a brief moment, his eyes meeting Damiel's for a split second as something flash before his eyes, before he turned and followed the others.
The door closed.
Damiel was alone.
He stood motionless for several seconds, listening to the fading footsteps in the corridor.
Then he turned toward the bed.
The day had been long, and the coming dawn promised no relief.
He sat on the edge of the mattress, resting his forearms on his knees.
The Fallen Angel had entered Avalon.
It had brought something into the capital.
It had killed without hesitation.
And it had spoken of a KEY.
His thoughts drifted, against his will, toward Reyna.
His expression tightened.
That girl was becoming a problem.
Not because she disobeyed him.
Not because she was human.
But because nothing about her made sense.
Her presence affected Azaelth in ways Damiel could not explain. Her touch eased the pressure inside him, and his inability to read her mind remained a mystery he had yet to solve.
Now, the Fallen Angel had made it clear that it was searching for something.
Could Reyna be connected to it?
Damiel leaned back against the bedpost.
He hoped not.
But hope had never been a reliable strategy.
His eyes slowly closed.