Demon Blood

happiness that was marred only by the gradual change in their parents. Though the demons’ physical forms became more angelic than human or demonic, the corruption in their hearts once again resembled a demon’s.
    And so when Lucifer brought his dragon from Chaos to Earth and the Second Battle began, their parents joined the demon prince. The grigori, led by Michael and inspired by Anaria, stood with the angels and mankind, instead. Three grigori fell before the dragon and Lucifer’s demons, and much of the world burned. When Michael was killed while slaying the dragon, Anaria held him and wept—and when he returned to life, transformed by the seraphim and made a Guardian, her tears were of joy.
    Each of the grigori eventually made the necessary sacrifice to become a Guardian, and for hundreds of years, they lived in Caelum, training new members of the Guardian corps, and defending the Earth from demons and nosferatu.
    Their lives were full. They had both purpose and family. Anaria lacked only one joy, but it became a steadily growing blight to her happiness: She could not bear children.
    For more than a thousand years, she and Zakril tried to conceive. They Fell; they became Guardians again. Zakril eventually accepted that they could not have children, and found his joy in what they had.
    Anaria could not, and she would not give up.
    In secret, she went to Lucifer, and they struck a bargain: If he taught her how to create children, they would serve Hell’s throne. Though Lucifer hated to share his knowledge, he could not resist the temptation of commanding the children of a grigori, and so Anaria learned of the symbols and how to work their magic.
    They were not immediately successful, however. Anaria’s body would not conceive. Finally, they bargained with the human women suffering in the Pit—women who were not truly flesh, but spirit that manifested as flesh in Hell. In exchange for a quick burn and their souls’ release from Hell, they were impregnated with Zakril and Anaria’s seed. Hundreds of nephilim were born full-grown and stronger than most demons—but Anaria was disappointed, for her children could not physically leave the realm. Like the women who bore them, the nephilim were only spirit that manifested as flesh in Hell. They could travel to Earth only by possessing a human spirit as it entered Hell and by inhabiting that human’s body; on Earth, they could shape-shift into their own form temporarily, but a prolonged transformation risked the host body rejecting the nephil’s control. And as long as anyone who had to follow the Rules sat upon the throne, the nephilim also had to follow the Rules.
    Lucifer was not disappointed, however. The nephilim became useful to him; when demons on Earth broke the Rules, a nephil was called across the realms to slay them. And when demons within Hell, led by those who had been transformed with the dragon’s blood, rebelled against Lucifer’s reign, he sent the nephilim to kill them.
    Upon learning that her children had been ordered to slay her father, Anaria intervened and led the nephilim against Lucifer. Though the nephilim’s numbers were small, their strength devastated Lucifer’s armies, until Belial’s forces joined with Lucifer’s. They defeated Anaria and her nephilim. As punishment, half the nephilim were slain, and the others were imprisoned with their mother.
    When Anaria did not return to Caelum, the Guardians began searching for her. For years, they searched. They finally learned of her bargain with Lucifer and the children she had created, the war she had waged. Michael, Zakril, and Khavi journeyed to Hell and, with enormous effort, freed her from her prison. They did not free the nephilim.
    Centuries passed. Anaria dreamed of releasing her children. She dreamed of liberating Hell from the tyranny of Lucifer’s reign, and of freeing the tortured souls in the Pit. She dreamed that humans would no longer sin and always choose kindness and compassion over hatred and fear. She developed a plan that would fulfill all of her dreams.
    As her first step, she led a group of Guardians who shared the same dreams. Together, they slaughtered a human army.
    Michael did not allow her to take any more steps. They’d broken the Rules, and so he forced her Guardian companions to Fall or Ascend. His sister was grigori, however—and even though he stripped Anaria of her Guardian status and Gifts, her strength and power far exceeded a demon’s or