Smolder Chapter 21

In Jade's hands were photocopies of the original missing pages. Something that, up until now, had remained only in the hands of the Conclave members.

"Chapter Four," she started reading, "A Mixed Breed."

"The story of how we began is perhaps the most controversial topic in our society's long and prolific history: the mixed breed. How did they act? What did they look like? Were they dangerous? What powers did they possess? What weaknesses? And most importantly, what would happen should they return?

"Answers, however, are the one thing we do not have. They are what we seek and need to find to secure the future of our people, but they are also the hardest things to come by. How do you search for information about a species that died out more than ten millennia ago, a time that predates written language itself?"

She could not help but gulp. She knew she was the first mixed-blood Seraphina to come by in a long time, but 10,000 years? It was almost an impossibly long time to imagine.

"We can only look to myths, legends, and, of course, history. What we've told you thus far are our theories about the evolution of our separate species. Almost ten thousand years ago, when pastoral civilization was only beginning to arise, the species began to evolve apart. We of course, believe that as families began to settle and discard the hunter-gatherer lifestyle, colonies of like-minded Seraphina formed. Because of this, the species stopped intermixing and new powers evolved ones that reflected their like-minded souls. In our modern words, Hierophants to protect what they believed were the lost souls inside of demons, and Vindicators to destroy what they believed was an inherent evil. Was our God involved? Perhaps. But in this text, we will discuss only science.

"Like demons, Seraphina evolved beside humans, to look like humans, but we are not humans. We are genetically different: from mystical sources or natural ones, we will probably never be certain, but what we can do is hard to describe without introducing divine magic into the equation. And that is more relevant to ancient Seraphina than any of us could ever believe, for their powers, according to legend, were limitless. Myths of many ancient civilizations discuss fire bringers — modern tales have turned us into ludicrous creations like fire-breathing dragons — but ancient texts mention myths of human-like beings capable of spinning fire. For a long time, we believed these words were about our current species, but now we must fearfully turn to these myths for answers. Fearfully, because in the times these ancient legends look back on, both Seraphina and demons were the evils in the stories. In a word, they were mad."

Maybe this wasn't such a great idea, Jade thought while looking away from the pages and down at the active harbor outside her window. If the species spent 10,000 years evolving apart, how did her parents manage to have a child anyway? And what was to say she wasn't just a new breed entirely, something completely different than the ancients were? The idea that a book written two hundred and fifty years ago held all her secrets was ridiculous. No one had answers. The only thing she saw here that called out to her was the word magic because that was the only way to explain her life.

Even knowing it could all be false, Jade's eyes fell back to the text. Ever curious, she needed to know more. She needed to be prepared to face whatever she was.

"Unlike us, the ancient ones were ruled by their powers. Though hard to believe, it is said that they lacked control, that sometimes a Seraphina would go blind in rage, spouting flames for days on end with no stop until death finally took them. In these legends, they did not burn demons alone. The myth says when an ancient one lost control, entire villages would be burnt to ash. Entire families were killed, and animals were charred beyond recognition. It is because of these legends that we now strive for control."

"Demons are evil because they give in to carnal instincts. When the hunger strikes, they go on a killing rampage, brought completely out of humanity's grip in blood lust. What is Seraphina if not controlled? If we killed everything we touched, we would be just as evil as the very things we were born to fight. We believe that at first, this unconscious need for control helped split the two species. Now, we consciously strive to keep it that way. Because we are always asking, what if a half-breed returned? Would humans be more at risk from it or the demons? And, even though Vindicators will kill a demon when they must, if the time came, could any of us, Hierophant or Vindicator, murder one of our own?"

Jade let her head fall against the back of the seat. She stared up at the rippled white ceiling, seeing only flames and screaming people, running not from demons but from her.

But, she had never lost control like that, never so badly that anything but demons was affected.

Suddenly, she thought of Aiden. Had he been right? Was he the only reason she had never fallen so deeply and had never lost so much control? If he hadn't been there in Crystal River to bring her out of her delirium, would she have turned the entire village and every conduit to dust, just like the demons?

For the past few months, Jade had only ever thought that Seraphina had her to fear: that if demons caught her, they would be immune, and they could go on a killing spree. But that wasn't really why Seraphina wasn't allowed to interbreed. Every Conclave for hundreds of years had been keeping their entire society's biggest fear a secret: the fear that one of their own might be the greatest danger in the world, that one of their own might be a monster.

The only thing Jade didn't understand was why hide this. If every Seraphina knew this, they would never risk mixing blood. Her parents would have probably stayed away from each other.

The healing, she thought. The scholars must have written about her powers of healing. It was the one thing that made her existence good, the one thing Seraphina might risk madness for. After all, she had risked it to save Aiden not so long ago.

She skimmed through the following pages, skipping past the countless myths all describing the same thing: the ancient ones' insatiable power and falling into madness.

She was almost about to stop reading, haunted enough by what she had learned when she came across a change in tone.

"While we would love to remain with these ancient myths of horror, we feel honor-bound as men of academics to produce the other side of the story. Fearful as they were through the stories we have just now told, all Seraphina throughout history have been things of light. Our powers are those of God and goodness, and while madness might be our undoing, our powers give us strength.

With this in mind, we must admit that all of our findings have been full of blood and horror. We believe with every ounce of our combined beings that bringing a new mixed breed into the world would mean the end of life as we know it, but stories do tell of ancient fire bringers capable of restoring life. They could, we believe, heal humans and Seraphina alike as long as they kept the madness at bay.

We were not sure if we would write these words, we almost believe that a mixed-blood Seraphina today might be able to hone this power. When we think back to the lives of the ancient ones, we must remember that the world was a different place. There were no rules, no governments, and no notion of civility. There was food, killing for food, and staying alive no matter the cost.

If a mixed breed were born today, in a society governed by control and regulation, there's no telling what may occur, no telling if the Seraphina would be a madman or a savior. But knowing what we do, we wholeheartedly agree that finding out is not worth the risk."

She looked at the name of the next and final chapter — The Prophecies and realized she didn't want to hear any more about how her life meant the end of the world. A prophecy was a rigid proclamation, an unchangeable destiny, and she didn't want to feel like her life story had already been written for her.

Instead, she slipped into a skirt and flip-flops to wander around in the busy harbor below. She tied her hair in a ponytail, put on her oversized sunglasses, and donned a hat; if that wasn't camouflage, she didn't know what was. Her hair and eyes were covered, and no demon would have any idea who or what she was, or at least she hoped not, because she had to get out of that hotel room.

Of course, sitting on a bench and basking in the sun still didn't do much to appease her thoughts. Without Benjamin or Aiden around to distract her, she was pulled right back into dark territory the minute she sat down. The beautiful weather helped a little, but the sun didn't have its usual effect of calming her. Rather, as she let it soak into her skin, she couldn't help but feel dangerous with the power.

The mind-reading or whatever crazy psychic connection she shared with Aiden was still a mystery, however. It was the one thing she held onto because it was the one concrete thing she had that made her different than the ancient ones with their uncontrollable powers.

She had felt dangerous at times, almost insane. She also felt unstoppable at times, especially when she healed someone or something. According to myth, so had all the other Seraphina thousands of years ago but the connection she and Aiden shared was an unknown, the one thing that might just help her hold on to her humanity.

She shifted on the otherwise empty bench and stretched out. As she turned to the side to lift her feet onto the wooden planks, a mass of long, straight, glistening hair caught her attention.

She sat taller in the seat, stretching to see the woman who looked almost familiar. Her skin gleamed white in the sunlight. Her frame was long and lean, and she wore a loosely flowing dress in a deep purple color. Tendrils of fabric blew in the breeze, creating a fluid train down the back of the dress. It was low-cut to show the pale curve of a skinny back.

Slowly, as if searching for someone, the woman turned around. The pointed curve of her nose and taut lips came into view, but all Jade could see were familiar piercing eyes: Skye.