“We can pass him off as your brother.” Wei Caihong said and Nikola shook his head.

“He looks nothing like me, it will never work.”

They have been trying to decide what to do with Azazel for over an hour now as Nikola cleaned the portal’s ritual circle, careful to not even leave a trace of magic behind so that there wouldn’t be another plague. Azazel looked at his student, then at his champion and grumbled. They had both ordered him to be quiet at the same time. So, he sat down and waited for them to decide his faith.

“Cousin, then? If we don’t pass him for your relative, we won’t be able to explain why he is living with us.”

“Us? There are no us, snake.” Hissed Nikola back and Azazel snickered. If his champion became homeless or was forced to grovel at the current Emperor to let him go back home, then the angel would be very satisfied.

“I know the house is yours but you won’t chase me out. How are you going to communicate with Penemue if you do?” Darn, but his champion was a cruel piece of work! Using Niki’s one weakness against him.

“I can wait nine hundred years!” Snapped Nikola and Azazel rolled his eyes. Yes, that was why you fell on another’s dick. He thought to himself. The way the angel saw it Nikola was going to put horns to Penemue with many men and women in this time period. That is if his vampire toy didn’t clutch to him like the leech he was.

“If you could you and I would have never become lovers!” Snapped back Wei Caihong. Magic whirled between these two and Azazel relaxed back against the tree he was leaning on, enjoying the show.

“Don’t you dare judge me!” And wasn’t Niki just a drama queen? No, a drama emperor! Azazel had never seen this side of him before but he guessed it had been reserved for Penemue. As were many other things.

“I’m not. I would have done the same. We can’t change anything anyway. If you have healed the sick and have stopped the plague not only from spreading but from repeating itself then that means I am a hero. Thanks to your little act of claiming I am a great healer, privy to all the secrets of Atlantis. People will talk and…”

As was Nikola’s habit when he didn’t want to listen to someone anymore, he exhaled loudly. Azazel knew the gesture and had flipped his student the bird after it more than once. It was an annoying little habit that Azazel hadn’t missed these past hundred years. He knew what was going to come next: silence.

Nikola uprooted the last of the grass, turning it to ashes but he remained silent just like Azazel knew he would.

“So, you see, you have to keep me around. And you have to show me affection around others.”

Azazel looked at his champion with bewilderment. He had picked this man because of his cruelty and cold calculation. But now he was behaving like a love sick puppy! How he wished he could hit him over the head…with a stone. A giant stone that could be used to crush his pretty head like an egg. Then Azazel turned towards Nikola and saw a similar intent in the Atlantean’s eyes.

“I’ll help you get back Penemue. And this time I won’t trick you.” Silence again. Wei Caihong must be getting desperate by now, Azazel mused. He watched as the noble made a couple of steps towards Nikola only for Niki to make a step back. He couldn’t watch this anymore. It was going to go on for the entire day if he let it. He stood up and begun to wave his hands to get their attention.

“What do you want now?” Asked his dim student and Azazel pointed at his mouth.

“Speak, Azazel.” Commanded him his little shit of a champion.

“The way I see it.” Started Azazel, happy to hear the sound of his own voice again. “There are feelings mixed in between you two. So why not admit it? I’ve spoken with Penemue in the Abyss, Niki. He doesn’t mind it if you keep your new lover. He says you deserve to be happy. So, why don’t you two kiss and make up?”

Wei Caihong made a step forward to do just that but Nikola hummed and roots appeared from the soil to wrap around the noble’s feet.

“You lie as easily as you breathe, Azazel. Penemue didn’t say that.”

Well, no. Not really. His brother was worrying over being replaced. Agonizing over his lover having cheated on him. But Nikola didn’t need to know all that. Azazel would have more freedom to explore Earth if Niki was being busy having his brains fucked out. Maybe he would sire more Nephilim? He did so enjoy the process.

“Check if I lie. You know the spell.” He was calm as he repeated his former words to be checked for falsehoods. He had thought Nikola the truth spell. But he had thought him a version of it that excluded him from ever having his words checked. No one knew for he was careful to speak only the truth around his brothers who knew the original spell. Nikola’s eyes widened, the spell failing to warn him as Azazel knew it would, and stormed his way over to Azazel.

“I am not a whore! Tell your brother that I can function well enough without a lover by my side! I don’t need my hand held and I am done with all of you!”

“What about my blood?” A last, ditch, attempt at keeping his lover but Azazel had to admire Wei Caihong for trying all the same. Anyone else’s instinct for self-preservation would have kicked in by now. Well maybe admiration was the wrong emotion. Pity was more like it.

“I will be clean of the addiction in a month!” Snapped Nikola, not turning towards Wei Caihong. Azazel raised his eyebrow.

“What?” Said Nikola as he noticed it. Azazel placed two fingers on Nikola’s forehead and Nikola was soon doubling over and throwing up blood.

“Why wait a month? Here, have a freebee.” It shamed him, even when this was his own doing, to see his prize student as a drug addict. He wanted to take to the woods and live as a hermit for nine hundred years? Well, Azazel just hoped Nikola didn’t start to speak to rocks. That would be just embracing.

Wei Caihong froze the roots that held him and he was soon by Nikola’s side, holding him and petting his back.

“What did you do to him?” He demanded to know of the angel but he didn’t dare to order him to get his answer. There was slight fear in his eyes now. Good.

“I cleaned him from your filth.” Said Azazel, inspecting his nails. Wei Caihong had proved to be a lying little thing. Azazel had no further use of him. Nor were there any sentimental feelings that had one thousand years to grow to keep him alive.

“I forbid you to try to kill Wei Caihong!” Said Nikola between coughs and Azazel sneered at him. It would have caused him immense pain if he had broken the ritual bond by killing his champion. But the bond of flesh and blood? That had to be broken willingly by the one who initiated it.

“Weren’t you going to leave him, Niki?” Asked Azazel and he resisted the urge to kick his student while he was down. He had had this urge many times during the time that he known him and had followed through only once. That was the day that he lost one of his wings to a nasty acidic spell and with it the ability to fly. He knew not to repeat the mistake.

“He doesn’t deserve to die!” Blood had finally stopped pouring out of Nikola’s mouth and he fell on the grass. Rolling so that he was on his back and staring at Azazel.

“So, you do love him? Then get together with him and when Penemue comes back just accept you will be shared between them. And who knows? You might even like it. But now that I cleaned you from your addiction in a relatively painless way you owe me. Remember our deal after the century of sorrow? For everything we do for each other the gesture has to be returned. We can start by you claiming that I am your uncle. As for a name I will go by Basil. Remember Basil? Good old Greek King, Basil of Sparta. He nearly defeated you with the Greek fire on the battlefield. But then you brought a four-year long winter to his lands…”

Nikola remembered Basil. He had used blood magic and sacrificed his crippled babes, or babes with even the slightest of deformity, to cause the waters around Atlantis to rise. The island had nearly been submerged back then. But Azazel had used his one remaining wing to stop the island from sinking. They had made the deal then, no good will being left between them after the story with Bjorn. But they needed each other and Azazel needed a power base. And what better than Atlantis?

“Uncle Basil, welcome to China.” Said Nikola with a fake smile, mouth and robes smeared with blood.

“Why nephew, it’s good to be here by your side! Troy has been such a bore as of late! Now, I will naturally live in your house. Together with you and your wonderful lover whom you love very much. And now you will change into the lovely yellow silks I saw in a trunk as I was looking for my own robes. Now what are you going to say?”

Azazel enjoyed the look of momentary defiance in Nikola’s eyes but it was soon gone. Azazel had lost a wing that day, so long ago. But Nikola had been a limbless body on the floor, screaming his head off at the pain of worms eating the inside of his intestines. It had been Penemue who had saved Nikola that day. And the former emperor must still remember it because he spoke.

“Of course, Uncle Basil. You will enjoy your stay, I guarantee it.”

Then Azazel pointed at the tent where the bandits have kept their robes. But not before he gripped Nikola by the hand and cleaning his face off the blood with the moisture the angel collected from the air. Just like he had done many times before. Except back then Nikola was still an innocent creature. Full of wonder and mistaking the gesture for affection. Azazel had been Nikola’s favorite after Penemue before Bjorn had been born. Azazel wondered if he could talk Niki into performing some good old fashioned Necromancy and bringing Azazel’s lover back to him. Then they could all be a disgustingly happy family together, only Penemue missing from the picture.

Nikola walked out of the tent in the yellow silks and Wei Caihong was soon by his side, brushing through his hair with his fingers and righting the bun in his hair.

“You look a vision, my Emerald.” Said Wei Caihong and Azazel made a gagging noise. Why were they so sickly sweet? Why couldn’t they be more like his Bjorn? Granted Nikola’s grandson had taken his own life, not being able to stand Azazel anymore and yet being forced to remain in a loveless, on his side, marriage. He had been such a warrior. Such a leader of men. Azazel’s eyes closed imagining the tall blonde with his green eyes. Lighter than Niki’s but much more intense. Pure perfection.

“Now.” Said Azazel as he moved to fix a wrinkle in Nikola’s color. “The main thing I will require as a reward is to have Bjorn back. You know the spell…”

“Azazel!” Screamed Nikola outraged. Wei Caihong looked between them, not understanding what was wrong.

“I miss him. And if he is around then I won’t search for women to warm my bed. That means no more Nephilim. Be happy about it.” Azazel looked at Nikola and wondered if he shouldn’t force his insides to his outsides for this little rebellion. Nikola could order him to stand down but by the time he did so Azazel could dish out a lot of damage. And they both knew it.

“Bjorn took his own life to get away from you!”

“I will share a peace of my soul with him.” Said Azazel and then he shut his mouth. He should not have said this. Nikola looked at him suspiciously.

“And how does this change anything? He loved you since he was a child, you bastard. And you loved his soul since the moment he was born. But he still took his life so he wouldn’t watch you commit your atrocities!”

Azazel placed a hand over Nikola’s shoulder and watched as the man flinched under his touch. And to think there was a time when Nikola would look at him with trust instead.

“I can change. And he will be immortal, just like you.”

“But not free of your influence.” Said Wei Caihong and Azazel turned to glare at him. “Because this is how Penemue bewitched Nikola, isn’t it? He infected him with a piece of his soul and now Nikola is blind and desperate.”

Nikola looked between them and was shaking his head. Then Azazel decided to undermine his dear baby brother and shatter his lovely image in his student’s mind.

“True, that. It is one of the oldest tricks in the books. You can’t help but love your soul and for you, you glorified monkeys, it is hard to make a difference between your own souls and the soul of someone else. But with Bjorn it won’t be a bewitchment. He already loves me. We are married.”

Nikola swayed to the side and was immediately supported by Wei Caihong.

“Take Penemue’s soul out of me! I order you!” He said and Azazel huffed. Nikola had long since absorbed what he needed to in order to remain immortal even without the soul piece.

“This is going to hurt.” Azazel simply said as he placed a hand over Nikola’s eyes and begun to whisper.

Winds of the North blow away this impurity.

Winds of the South warm the emptiness left behind.

Winds of the West fill up the pit with a tornado so that the truth can be revealed.

Winds of the East calm your rage and bring peace where there is only turmoil.

Silver liquid dripped from Nikola’s eyes and Azazel wiped it with his hands, mindful that it didn’t fall on the man’s robes.

“Do you see now?” Said Azazel as he finally released Nikola who had not let even a whimper escape him even though his eyes had been blinded and the eyesight restored to them. For everyone else the blindness would have remained. But Nikola wasn’t human, not anymore.

“I still love Penemue.” Said Nikola but he sounded uncertain. As if he remembered all that the angel had done to him over the years. “I do!” Azazel shook his hand to clear it off the silver liquid and turned around.

“If you say so. But that makes your debt to me bigger. Now you truly need to bring back Bjorn. I want him to be made of mud and water. Pure elements, just like Adam and Lilith were. I will give him the freedom of choice if he wants to remain with me. But I will not give him the freedom to keep on hiding from me.”

“He’s not hiding! He is dead!” Screamed Nikola. He was irrationally angry for some reason. If he brought back Bjorn, he would look with glee as his grandson abandoned that snake Azazel a second time. Yes, he would play to Azazel’s tune for now. But the result will remain the same. “But fine. I’ll bring him back. If I can’t use a human to do so I will have to use you. You will have to power up the ritual. I don’t have the strength to do so.”

Azazel smiled brightly and then he pointed at the small pit that Nikola had created in the place of the portal circle.

“We do it right here. Right now.”

Nikola nodded and extended his hand. Azazel grabbed it. Physical contact was needed for this to work if Azazel was the one who needed to power the ritual. Wei Caihong watched as water was extracted for the trees, them drying up and dying in front of him, and the water mixed in with the soil of the pit and a face begun to form in the mud. The face took a deep breath and then muddy eyes, more like holes in the ground, opened.

“What? Azazel! Let me rest, you bastard! Grandfather, please don’t do this to me.”

The voice belonged to a man who kept on begging as his face became a part of a head and a neck appeared. The mud was drying and flesh was appearing in it’s place. Now the man was screaming in pain as if someone was killing him. Azazel looked like he couldn’t get any happier, thou, and Wei Caihong wondered which one of the two was crueler. Azazel for demanding his lover back even from the clutches of death or Nikola, who was going to hand over his own flesh and blood to Azazel to toy with.

Clouds hid the sky as the unholy ritual took place. Why hadn’t Nikola done this sooner? Why was he allowing for this to happen now? Was he this far gone? The man begun to talk in Norse and rain begun to fall down. Every drop was making the mud less stable. Wei Caihong remembered the incantation and then thought about what it was costing the man to perform it without any sacrifice. How was he even powering it?

Finally, despite the rain, the man fully stood up from the pit. He was naked and impossibly tall and muscular. He must take after his mother for Atlanteans were always of a lithe build. The man extended his hand as if he was holding something and a giant axe appeared in his grip. He pointed it at Azazel who was looking at him as if he was a piece of meat.

“My love…” Begun the angel and then he needed to let go of Nikola and dodge an axe swing. “My dear Bjorn! Just like that, my love! Fight me!” Two swords appeared in Azazel’s hands and he begun to battle the man. They were evenly matched and neither could land a cut on the other.

“What is the story behind this?” Asked Wei Caihong Nikola after he had gotten the former emperor to safety.

“They are soulmates.” Said Nikola as if that explained everything. Which it didn’t. Wei Caihong send him a look and Nikola begun to explain further.

“The reason why Azazel even rebelled alongside Samyaza was because he saw that his soulmate will be born. From a marriage between a grandson of mine, product with my first love and wife, Maria, and a Viking warrior woman by the name of Freia. So he thought me everything he knew so I would survive that long to protect his soulmate in his childhood. Not that I need prompting to protect my own grandchildren.”

Expect when you bring them from the dead and throw them in the arms of lustful angels. Wanted to say Wei Caihong. But he kept his mouth shut and nudged Nikola so that he would continue.

“Azazel hovered over him even when he was a newborn. Freia didn’t make it pass the birth and Dimitar, my grandson, sunk into a pit of despair. So I and Azazel stepped up and raised Bjorn together. Azazel put him to sleep every night with words of love, even when he was too young to understand them. But when he finally understood he came to the throne room and said he wanted to marry Azazel and Azazel, who was on my left at the time, agreed and I held a betrothal ceremony between a four-year old and an immortal angel. I knew it would happen eventually, how could it not? They were soulmates. Azazel had wanted me to marry them at the spot but that meant a consumption of the marriage. I stood my ground and proclaimed that they would be married when Bjorn turned eighteen. The boy was so happy.”

Wei Caihong looked at the battling couple and saw the pure rage on Bjorn’s face. If there had ever been happiness there, then it was no longer present. Bjorn swung his axe and managed to break one of Azazel’s blade’s in half. The angel responded by digging the other blade in Bjorn’s shoulder and then leaning over and much to the younger looking blonde’s horror he kissed him and the same silver liquid that had fallen from Nikola’s eyes dripped down Bjorn’s chin.

“It’s done. I will have at least one of my grandchildren by my side.” Said Nikola with a faraway look on his face. Bjorn managed to get out of Azazel’s grip and he backhanded him hard. “And it seems that Azazel wasn’t lying. This would only make Bjorn immortal and nothing more.”

“You bastard!” Screamed Bjorn, wiping the remains of Azazel’s soul sliver from his lips.

“My dear soulmate! This is just what I needed to get my blood pumping! I’ve missed you, precious. But I won’t be demanding of you this time around. Heck, you are even free to leave me here and I will still be happy knowing you are alive!”

“I’ll feast on your blood!” Screamed Bjorn and Azazel uncovered his right shoulder to him, eyes twinkling.

“Go ahead. I didn’t know you liked blood, thou.”

Bjorn turned around to stare at his grandfather and then pointed a finger at him.

“You could have spared me this! Don’t you love me even a little? You raised me!” Nikola nodded at his grandson and then went up to him, ignoring the axe he still help in his grip, and hugged him tightly.

“Leave him and live your life to the fullest, grandson. But now we need to find you clothes. Go to this tent and rummage into the chests there to see if something fits you.” He pointed to the tent from where he had gotten his own clothes and then Bjorn was walking there with Azazel following his every move.

“I’ve miss feasting on his loveliness.” Said Azazel and then he turned towards Nikola. “Do you think he’ll let me braid his hair?”

Nikola snorted at that which made Azazel pout. Wei Caihong moved closer to Nikola while he was distracted and sneaked an arm around his waist. Nikola was too busy in his back and forth exchanges with Azazel to notice and when Bjorn walked out wearing blue silk robes that showed his feet he raised his eyebrows at the display.

“What about Penemue, grandfather?” Asked the man and Nikola finally noticed the possessive arm that was around him. He hesitated and then he tugged himself out of Wei Caihong’s grip. Wei Caihong sighed but didn’t reach out towards his lover again.

“I still love your grandfather. But this is a bit complicated.” That was the time Azazel choose to pipe in.

“Not everyone can have a soulmate and keep to one bed as a result, eh, precious?” Bjorn send him a glare and Nikola chuckled.

“We need to get back home. To check if everyone is healed and to rest. Azazel, I’ll buy you a house so you wouldn’t need to live with the three of us for long.” Finished Nikola and Azazel pulled a face.

“Think again, Niki!” He said and he pointed his blood soaked blade at Nikola. “I am living with my Bjorn under the same roof. And soon our love will rekindle.”

“Azazel, I order you not to make unwanted moves towards Bjorn.” Said Wei Caihong and all eyes turned to him.

“You can’t order him; he is an angel.” Said Bjorn and then looked at Azazel whose face was turning red with the effort to say something. “What is the meaning of this?” Asked the blonde Atlantean and his grandfather soon explained to him everything about the ritual and how Azazel was bound twice over. At that Bjorn begun to laugh and clutch his side.

“You were had, sugar puff.” Said Bjorn between laughing and Azazel whined deep in his throat.

“Precious, I thought we spoke that you will no longer call me like that. Think of my image.”

Bjorn stopped laughing and his lower lip twitched. His eyes became misty and he exhaled. Azazel was on him in seconds, trying to hold him and comfort him but being held back by an invisible force.

“You are too easy, butter cake.” Said Bjorn, the smile returning to his lips.

“You vixen! You…” Anything that Azazel wanted to say came out as a muffled attempt. Bjorn ran a hand through his hair and then looked at his grandfather.

“Will you at least explain to me why we are not on the island? And braid my hair while you do so.”

Azazel was attempting to jump in the air while raising his hand. As if to say: Me! I’ll explain and braid your hair! But after a while he fell to the ground, unable to move.

“Of course, grandson.” Said Nikola and then he went to retell the story as he knew it with Wei Caihong filling in for the one-hundred-year gap. By the end Bjorn’s hair was braided in a big braid created from many small ones and Azazel was pouting.