Prologue

Screams could be heard through the walls of hell so loud that even the dead souls hid from the terrible sound. The queen of hell was giving birth to her second son tonight with the king by her side, holding her hand. Another scream was once again heard through the castle. The king feared that she wouldn't survive. Her condition was already terrible. Then with one last push, a healthy baby boy came out with black wings on his back. He gave away a tiny cry while the queen sighed relieved. The king's assistants quickly wrapped a towel around the newborn child before they gave him to the queen.

"He's beautiful," She whispered with tears in her eyes. "Promise me to raise him well."

"Don't worry, We'll raise him together." The King replied as he looked at his new son.

"No," The queen whispered sadly and the king turned his attention to her. "My time here has come. I'm sorry."

The king took his queen's hand. He looked at the woman he fell in love with. The woman who had given him a family to fight for. He took her hand, knowing that it was for the last time, and held it tight.

"Name him," The king said. "At least name him for me, as one last memory."

"Isaac...." She whispered with a smile. "Isaac Daemonium."

Her breathing slowed down and her eyes lost the glimpse of life, she was gone. The King didn't shed a tear nor did he cry. He just took Isaac in his arms and walked out with a bitter expression. Outside was another boy waiting, almost six years old with brown hair as his father and grey eyes as his mother. The boy was waiting impatiently when his father came out with the infant in his arms.

"Come here Alex," The king said. "Let me introduce you to your little brother."

The young boy Alex slowly went up to his brother and studied him for a while. The silence hung in the air as he looked at his brother. A part of him felt some kind of love towards his brother, but another part saw him as a threat. That was until Isaac made a little sound, a little whimper. It made Alex realise how fragile the boy actually was.

"You two will play and grow up together, and I'll make sure that nothing bad ever happens to you," The King said with a determent tone and took Alex's attention from the infant.

"What about Mother?" Alex asked, and the king froze for a tiny second before he relaxed. Even if Alex only was six years, he recognised the sorrow in his father's eyes and therefore wasn't surprised with his father's response.

"She's on a better place," The King said sadly.

The king pulled Alex into a hug as comfort while Alex starred at the thin air. Ever since birth, his mother had been by his side but even at this age, he knew that his mother was gone. He knew that he would never be able to see her again. A queen of hell doesn't rest in hell. The same fate awaits them all.

"Can you please hold him for a while?" The king asked his six years old boy. "Be careful, I'll just say goodbye one last time."

Alex took his little brother as his father left them there. The newborn held Alex's finger, he was still whimpering as if he was afraid of something.

"Don't worry," Alex whispered as the infant slowly went back to sleep. "I won't let anything bad happen to you. I'll teach you self-defence and how to fight, while our father mourns our mother. I promise to protect you at every cost, better than our father ever did to me. I'll treat you like mother treated me, with love and protection until you grow strong enough to fight your own wars, and then I'll fight with you."

*****

Inside the house, you could smell the scent of vanilla and chocolate. Music played from the radio and scramble was heard from the kitchen. A small knock was heard on the door, everything stopped. The music and the scrambling, the only thing you could hear were small whispers before someone opened the door. A tall man with golden brown hair and faint violet eyes stood there and looked out over the place. It took him some seconds before he noticed the little thing wrapped in a towel on the doorstep.

"Who is it, Jason?" A female voice called from inside.

Jason didn't bend down to grab the thing, instead, he used his magic to lift the thing up, really carefully. Almost immediately the towel started to move, and what he saw came as a shock. It was a baby girl, only a few days old with beautiful brown eyes which stared right back into his soul. The girl was awake and curious about the new male in front of her. Normally, children would cry in the hands of a stranger, and Jason was surprised that she didn't. That's when he saw a note attached to her wrist, a note with a name written in cursive.

Ivy Angelus

Once again Jason looked at the baby. He didn't know how long he stared at her before Catrine, a ginger woman with blue eyes and an apron around her waist came out.

"What's going o..." Her voiced faded away when she saw what was in his hands. "It's a child."

"Just some months old. Abandoned." The male said.

"Have you tried tracking her parents?" Catrine asked.

With a flick of his hand, a trace of magic appeared and started to search around the city, but it came back as soon as it left. He sighed in frustration when he realised that it could only mean two things. One, that her parents also were magicians and they were shielding themselves from magic or two, that her parents were dead.

"I can't track her parents," Jason explained.

"Come, let's take her in," Catrine suggested when she felt the cold wind blowing past her skin.

"What if she's dangerous?" Jason asked and turned to the woman.

"What do you suggest that we do? Leave her like her parents? She's probably innocent." Catrine replied as she looked on the little child. "It's not her fault."

Jason nodded and took Ivy inside. The little girl gave away a laugh, almost as she knew that she was safe with them. Catrine went upstairs and came back later with some new baby clothes. Jason was still holding the girl and studied her with fascination. He found her beautiful, even if she was just a little baby.

"Where did you get them?" Jason was slightly surprised when he saw Catrine with clothes for infants.

"I'm a witch," Catrine laughed. "I got my ways."

Jason handed Ivy over to Catrine. The baby was terrified at first but calmed down when she saw Catrine's calming eyes. Catrine smiled down the girl and kissed her on the forehead.

"I'll check if there's anything for Ivy to eat," Jason said after looking on his wife and the child. He headed for the kitchen and searched around, but found nothing except for recently baked chocolate chips.

"Jason?" Catrine suddenly called from the living room. "You might want to see this."

Jason stopped his searching and went to the living room to find Catrine sitting there with Ivy in her new dress, but that wasn't the important part. On Ivy's back was a pair of white wind covered in something that looked like feathers, a pair of angel wings. Ivy let out a laugh as Jason stared at her.

"Oh dear sun and moon, she's..."

"Partly angel," Catrine finished. "Maybe even a complete angel."

"During my years in life, I haven't seen anything like this. Why is an angelic child here? And more importantly, who left it here?" Jason asked, slightly enchanted as he stared at the little angel being.

"We can't just leave her anywhere," Catrine said. "Somehow, the angels might have chosen us to raise her."

"But how are we going to raise her? There isn't anyone known in this world who is like her, not anymore. She might be the last of her kind," Jason said. "And we can't put her in a Wizardry school, or any other fitting school."

"We'll have to put her with the humans," Catrine said. "It's the only way."

"The humans aren't worth her presence," Jason said disgustedly.

"We might not like humans..."

"Who does? Everything they do is cause destruction and starting wars." Jason sighed.

"We have to," Catrine said. "Who knows, she might teach us one thing or another about humans. Maybe she'll be the key for us to live freely again."

"You have too high hopes Catrine," Jason said. "But you're right. It's the only way. As long as we protect her, things might turn out good. Just pray to the stars that humans never find out what she is until the time has come."

*****

The dark rooms in the castle of hell were lightened up by small torches. Except for the sound of two swords hitting each other repeatedly, there was nothing to be heard. If you walked by the pond of punished souls and took left down the hallway you would find the area where the two brothers were training.

"Come on focus!"

Alex did as he promised, he started teaching his brother self-defence at the age of two. Their father was too busy to bother the brothers, so Alex had made it his personal request to make Isaac the best fighter in this realm. They trained every day and made sure that they both learned their tactics perfectly. Alex learned from the harsh swordmasters from ancient Greece, but he never liked their way of teaching. Therefore, Alex trained Isaac himself, with the knowledge from the historical warriors.

"You must never get distracted," Alex said, as he avoided an attack without any struggles. "One mistake and you're dead."

"Really. Like that time you got distracted by that girl," Isaac smirked and made an attempt for another attack.

"You're ten years old. Don't dare speak to me like that," Alex joked, with no humour in his tone, but Isaac was used to it by now.

Suddenly Alex went to attack and twisted the sword out of Isaac's hand. He flipped Isaac on the ground and rested the sword on his throat. Alex looked at his brother and expected to see the usual grey eyes staring back at him, but instead, he saw that they were completely black. Alex slowly backed away in fear as his heartbeat increased in speed. Alex breathing was about to have similarities to the breaths of a panic attack when Isaac's eyes got normal again.

"I said no powers. You lost focus," Alex commented after he had retrieved from the shock. "But you've improved, your ability to control fears is rather impressive. Soon you'll be able to scare father himself."

"If he ever gets time to notice me," Isaac muttered while placing back the sword.

"Patience brother," Alex warned. "He's trying his best. Trust me I know that feeling. The first time our father bothered me was when I found out about my chaotic powers."

"That must have been real chaos," Isaac joked and Alex sighed at the lame pun. "I just wish that my life was more than just training and hiding in this hell. Literally."

"Who knows, maybe one day father will take you to this human world, as he did with me," Alex collected all the weapons and put them back on their place.

"How was it?" Isaac asked curiously. "The other world."

"Nothing like this" Alex answered while he shrugged his shoulders. "Hopefully you'll see. Soon enough."

*****

"Ivy! You're getting late for school!" Catrine called, but nobody answered. "Ivy!"

Catrine walked into Ivy's room and saw her lying under the cover. Catrine smiled as she walked up to the little girl. There were books all over the floor and even more toys. Catrine sighed at the mess but decided to let it be.

"I'm sick," Ivy muttered and then fake coughed.

"You're not sick," Catrine gave away a little laugh. "What is it? Why don't you want to go to school? Did something happen?"

Ivy took off the cover and looked at Catrine with her chocolate brown eyes. Catrine and Jason had treated Ivy as their own, but it was hard for Ivy to fit in. The past ten years Ivy switched school six times, and there was nothing they could do about it.

"I hate it there," Ivy said. "The students think I'm some kind of freak. There are rumours everywhere about my special abilities."

"You've only been there for a week," Catrine said. "Give it time. You'll soon feel welcomed there."

"They called me a psychopathic case," Ivy muttered low, but enough for Catrine to hear.

"What did you tell them?" Catrine asked as she stroked Ivy's hair slowly as comfort. She knew that Ivy wouldn't be able to fit in at any school. She would never be like the others.

"Nothing," Ivy muttered. "Because I don't even know what I am. I don't even know what I can do. All I know is that I have wings of an angel and that I possess powers of telekinesis. Which is great if I actually were able to control them. What if I hurt somebody, again? What if I am the freak everyone says I am?"

"Don't let fear control you," Catrine said calmly. "You are a gift from the angels themselves. Don't believe those lies they're telling you. You are unique and that's a good thing. Don't ever let them tell you otherwise."

This time Catrine pulled her into a hug. The smell of cookies surrounded Ivy and she felt safe. In the corner of her eye, she saw her angel wings. She has learned to hide them, but at home, it was easier to let them be free, as they should be.

"What about this," Catrine said as she let go of Ivy. "No school, but only for today, only today. Instead, we'll be training you to control your powers and if Jason approves we'll tell you more stories from the nonhuman world."

"Really?" Ivy's voice was full of hope.

"Yes," Catrine chuckled. "You deserve to know where you come from and how you got here. As long as you promise me that you'll try your best to blend in during school time. The humans aren't ready to face you yet."

"I promise," Ivy said with a little smile.

"Good," Catrine smiled. "Now we have to tell Jason that we have changed plans."

Ivy jumped off the bed in excitement and together Catrine and Ivy walked out hand in hand.