Dark Angels and Light Demons
Book IV: Shadows and Dust
Part IV: Tainted Love
Chapter: Work in Progress


22 JANUARY 2015, 0100HRS ZULU
NEW YORK CITY, USA


                The night was anything but normal.  The people milled about the streets as always, the cars honked their horns as angry drivers struggled to make the next green light and the homeless held their hands out in the hopes of receiving charity.  All was as usual.  But this night was not like the rest, even when the same dog chased the same cat through the alley and knocked over the same trash can.  No, this was not a normal night.  The air was different, it seemed colder, foreboding.  
Maybe it was the winged demon crouched on his perch high above the city, maybe it was his glowing red eyes taking in the scene of the manic chaos below.  Or maybe it was the way his horns seemed to cast a shadow over the streets, the way his hair flowed in the light breeze.  It could have been the way the claws of his feet dug into the concrete slap that supported his weight, the way he stood up and craned his neck to survey the scene.  The power that seemed to weigh on his shoulders, the rage that burned inside his scarred chest; that was the difference.  
That was the difference from last night and the nights before.  The patrons of the city below may not have noticed, but Lukan did.  He knew that it was not normal for his blood to boil this way, especially after the long day of rest that he just had.  Something in him had his head on a swivel, had him paranoid.  But what could it be?  The shadows screamed at him, the darkness slithered around his powerful wings as if frightened that the day would come and stop their night short.  Something was not right about this night.  Something; but what could it be?
He spread his wings and tested the breeze; the first leap into the wind was always the hardest.  Even a demon such as he could feel fear.  Even though he had died a thousand deaths and felt pain that mortals could only write poetry about.  He curled his wings inward and crouched, gathering the strength in his legs before leaping head first into the black nothing of the night sky.  Just as the momentum was lost, he spread his bat-like wings and with one hard flap caught the breeze and soared over the city.  Just as he tilted his head back to savor the scent of the night air, he felt a presence in the back of his mind.  
The flash of light that passed in front of his eyes threatened to blind him completely, he temporarily lost his balance in the air and began to fall for a split second before he was able to flutter his wings a few times and regain his momentum.  The red glow of his eyes grew fiercely bright as he searched for the source of the light.  That was when he heard the laugh.  A voice like music made ugly by the sadistic nature behind it.  The voice of Aromei; The Fallen Light Guardian.  Her feathery wings were splayed to their full span from her perch on a nearby building below him.  Lukan’s eyes went black with rage at the sight of her.  He knew he had felt a long forgotten presence, but hers was not what he expected.  He was sure of it.  
“Foolish Lukan, did you really think that you could hide from me?”  Aromei yelled; her voice full of arrogance and a sick sort of delight.  Lukan’s gut wrenched inside of him as he came to a graceful landing atop an adjacent building from her.  “You’re speechless I see.” She started, smoothing the stray hairs in her face behind her ears with a slight gesture of her hand.  “What’s the matter Lukan? You don’t look happy to see me.”  She called from several yards away.
Lukan was in no mood to deal with the likes of a fallen angel, especially if that fallen angel happened to be Aromei.  His last entanglement with her had almost completely shattered the rift that joined the realms.  Part of him wanted to call upon the power of his beloved Luna and Nyght.  Part of him wanted her though he knew it would be wrong.  He was a man torn between pride and something else.  “What do you want Aromei?” He called, aggravation dripping from his voice as thick as honey and twice as tart.  Aromei frowned; her eyes a pale blue glow in the dark of the night.  “Come now my dear Lukan, you know how I detest being spoken to that way.  Especially when I know just how sweet your voice can be.”  She taunted; a cruel smile playing across her lips.  Lukan shuddered visibly and bared his fangs in revulsion, a low feral growl escaping his throat.  “That was a long time ago Light Demon!”  He started, “You won’t get that from me; not this time!”   He growled through clenched teeth.  “But if you insist, Luna and Nyght have been dying to taste the blood of another Fallen One.”  He finished, a smile of satisfaction playing across his face.
Aromei took a step back in surprise at his response.  She reached a hand up to her neck and pulled the collar of her cloak away to reveal a deep scar that ran across her throat.  The flesh seemed to glow red beneath the skin, as if a fire were burning forever within the torn muscles of her neck.  “True, it was a long time before I was able to sing again after our last little tryst demon! But you’ll find that I am far more resilient than you first thought.  My creator has made sure of it.”  Her voice reflected a twinge of disgust for the Shadow Demon before her; as though her kind were far more superior, despite her feelings toward him.    Despite everything, Aromei still believed that Lukan loved her, even if the scar around her throat burned like the pits of hell every night.
Lukan laughed at her last little comment.  He feigned wiping a tear from his eye to add to the effect.  “Your creator is the same as mine, that childlike brat didn’t know what he was doing when he thought of creating his little whore.  You were simply a mistake in case I ever got out of hand.  I don’t think he or ‘it’ even understands the meaning of balance.  He created an entire army for the sole purpose of dealing with me!”  Lukan’s indignance had the desired effect; he could see Aromei become flustered.  She knew that he was correct; there was an army of angels that spent their entire lives in the Light Realm training to take a shot at the Shadow Demon of the Dark Realm.  Her own superiority complex would be her downfall and Lukan would play that card until she breathed her last breath.  
She took a moment to compose herself, a slight flutter of her wings and the disturbed look on her face vanished.  Instead the warm smile of a long time lover replaced it and all at once it was as if she had become a different person.  Lukan almost thought that she looked beautiful.  Almost.  He knew better than to fall for her change of tactics.  He only wished that he knew what she was after at this moment.  “Dear Lukan, my love, I don’t want to argue with you.  I only came here to see you once more.  Who knows? Maybe I could get the opportunity to hear your sweet voice possibly groaning above me once more.”  She said with a voice as smooth as silk and as sharp as a snakes tongue.  “You miss the things that I can do for you, admit it.”
The nerve was struck; the memories came flooding back into Lukan’s mind.  The love they once shared, the tenderness, the betrayal.  The red in Lukan’s eyes returned in full force and threatened to burn a hole through her pretty little face.  Lukan’s wings stretched out violently and his tail thrashed angrily from side to side as he lifted both of his hands and called forth his twin swords.  “Luna! Nyght! To me my children!”  The shadows swirled around him like a black smoke and gathered at his palms.  Slowly, the black and blue blades materialized in his hands, their chains dangling in the wind; the sharpened blades glistening in the moonlight.  As soon as he felt the weight of the swords in his hands he leapt into the air without thinking.  Aromei raised her hands above her head and was instantly engulfed fires of blue and white; her own sword coming unsheathed from behind her back.  Aromei’s blade was twice the size of Lukan’s two swords put together.  It burned the color of the flames that surrounded her.  The cold fires of the light and the black rage of the darkness clashed in the air forcing cries of agony and pain from the two combatants.  Aromei fell to a rooftop at the force of Lukan’s attack only to roll back onto her feet in preparation for his next strike.  
Lukan landed some few feet away from her; swords swinging and spinning in his hands.  Aromei took the moment to remember who exactly she was fighting at the moment.  Her sword beat against the wind in a similar fashion as Lukan’s, a testament to their shared knowledge of the Holy Art of the Sword.  Lukan grinned at the thought of throwing Aromei for a loop and changed his stance, with a flourish Luna and Nyght were flung in circular motions in the opposite direction of Aromei’s.  “You may know the Holy Arts of the Sword, but your creator forgot to teach you the Dance of Darkness.”  He snarled as he lunged at her, Luna and Nyght screamed against the air before crashing into the holy blade with lightning speed.  Lukan was relentless in his strikes, the rage that caused him to call his beloved blades began to take him over and his movements became wilder albeit stronger.  The two crashed and dove in the graceful dance of close combat, Lukan spun and twisted, Aromei arched and pirouetted, bent and tumbled.  
Just as he thought he was getting the upper hand, Aromei reminded him with whom he was entangled with.  At the slightest opportunity she used one of her wings swing some distance between them and jammed her sword into the concrete roof.  The ball of light that she shot at him sent his mind reeling as it passed through him and tore at his psyche.  “You would dare to use the light against me woman! Have you forgotten who I am? I am the lord of all that is darkness you ignorant bitch!” Lukan growled and yelled as the pain of her attack subsided.  “That’s it Lukan, call your shadows to you, watch what we have in store for you.”  She whispered to herself.  
Lukan stretched his hands out to his sides and tilted his head back as he gave a feral roar, his war cry to the darkness that he commanded.  Behind him the air seemed to tear open like a deep wound as several dark minions and their glowing red eyes dove out with their claws bared at Aromei.  Aromei simply kneeled down and bowed her head as the little demons clawed at her but hit nothing.  Little hands and claws, and fangs reached out to grab her and tear her apart but they passed through her as easily as air passes through the leaves of the trees.  Lukan’s eyes went wide with rage.  “What trickery is this?”  The little demons gave various cries of fear at the anger of their master as they feel back behind him.  They were powerless against her, but they knew that their master would be angry at their failure.
“Ha ha ha ha ha ha!” Aromei laughed.  “The lord of all that is shadow and darkness my pretty little ass!  What? Did you think that was a regular fireball or something? You didn’t wonder why the only thing that burned was your mind?  You should have taken my offer Lukan, we could have been wallowing in ecstasy for the rest of the night, but instead you had to make things difficult.”  She smirked haughtily.  Lukan was dumbfounded, that was when the headache slammed into him like a brick wall.  “My creator may not have taught me the Dance of the Darkness, he may not have taught me the Unholy Arts, and he may not have made me very intelligently, but he did teach me how to use the Taint of the Light.  You see, after that little cut you decided to give my throat, my creator found a piece of you in there.  I was tainted by your darkness Lukan.  It took over six hundred years, but we found a way to do the same thing to you.  For six hundred years I have been preparing for this.”  She said; the smile on her face one of pure victory.  Like a cat ready to pounce on an unsuspecting mouse.
The rift behind Lukan began to close and the minions were sucked back into their vortex, the glow of Lukan’s eyes began to fade and his blades became heavy.  He could feel his consciousness slipping away.  He had to think quickly, had to concentrate.  Luna hit the ground first, followed by Nyght.  Lukan hit his knees before falling on his face, the shadows that had swirled around his arms before began to dissipate and fall away.  His eyes closed and he was greeted by the welcoming darkness with open arms like a kiss on the lips.