by L. L Hunter
“Adam? The weapons are here.” She paused to let him reply. When she spoke again her voice had the sound of concern. “Where’s sister Bernadette?” She paused again. “Oh, okay. I guess I’ll have to entertain him then. Bye.” She hung up and looked at Lakyn.
“Sorry about that. My brother will be here soon.”
“Oh, Adam’s your brother?”
“Yes, and I’m Rachael. Welcome to Daylesford.”
~
“This is the chapel. Most of the things you see are from the original buildings,” Rachael said, showing him around. But Lakyn didn’t really care about the surroundings. All he cared about was her. And couldn’t take his eyes off her.
“You’re staring you know,” she said when they stood on the altar. A white stained-glass star with a golden centre shone down, surrounding them in a golden halo-like light.
“I uh… sorry. Its just… sorry if I seem rude or forward. But I’ve seen your face before.”
“Really?” Rachael smiled. She felt herself perhaps being seduced by this stranger. “I must have one of those faces.”
He had to tell her. He simply had to. Now was his chance.
“I’ve sketched you.”
“What?”
“I’ve seen your face before. In my dreams.” He pulled a folded piece of paper from his pocket and handed it to her. She took it reluctantly, unfolding it.
“Oh My Gosh. Who are you?” She gasped.
“I’m Lakyn Blackbell. I’m Nephilim.” He waited for her reaction.
“Finally,” she breathed, “someone like me.”
“You mean, you’ve not met another Nephilim before?”
“Only my brother and my parents. But my parents are dead, so Adam and I have been the only ones. Until now.”
“You believed you were the only Nephilim? Man. You really need to get out more.”
“I know. But we’re not allowed to leave.” Rachael ascended three flights of stairs to the top floor. Lakyn followed. (He wouldn’t be letting her out of his sight.) Being three doors there, Rachael opened one on the left and entered a room. Lakyn loitered outside, unsure of whether to follow her in, the room looked like her bedroom.
“You can come in Lakyn,” she said sweetly. He peered in and beheld an airy room lit from two arched windows. A large round bed surrounded by green silk curtains was in the centre. Rachael sat by one of the windows. It had two glass panels pushed outwards and looked over the rooftops at the city beyond.
“Rachael…”
“Ssh, don’t speak. I’ve never even met a boy, let alone another Nephilim, before.”
“You have your brother.”
“Yes, but a boy that I’m attracted to,” she corrected herself. Lakyn stepped closer.
“Are you attracted to me?” She whispered invitingly. Rachael slipped off the windowsill and moved towards him, her hands poised at his chest. Startlingly, the door burst open.
“Adam!” Exclaimed Rachael.
“Step away from her.” Adam growled at Lakyn, drawing his blade.
“Adam, we were merely talking. Put your blade away.” Rachael told him.
“Do you know who this is?” Adam demanded.
“Yes. He’s the nice young boy who brought us our weapons.”
“Not so. He’s deceived you. He’s a Lucifite.” Adam turned his Archangel blade towards Lakyn.
“That’s stupid,” scoffed Lakyn. “How could I be a Lucifite?”
“He’s a Blackbell, they’re descended from Lucifer,” Adam insisted to Rachael.
“That’s just a rumour, it’s not true,” begged Lakyn.
“Adam please, he wont hurt me. Will you Lakyn?” she smiled sweetly at him.
“Of course I won’t,” declared Lakyn.
“Lies! They lie, demons,” spat Adam, drawing his blade to Lakyn’s heart.
“I think you have misunderstood,” muttered Lakyn, raising his hands in surrender.
“Leave now. Before I send you back to The Realm from which you came,” growled Adam.
“Alright, I’m leaving.” Lakyn slipped past Adam and left, glancing a look to Rachael one last time.
Fleeing down the stairs and out though the front door, Lakyn heard a voice from above. It sounded soft but it echoed. He knew whose it was, he looked up and met Rachael’s gaze.
“I’m sorry. When might I see you again?”
“Sooner than you think,” replied Lakyn, and he smiled as he pointed towards the telephone near her. An encouraging slip of paper poked out from beneath it. Rachael smiled to herself. There was hope.
Chapter Twenty One
Frozen
Present Day
Lakyn stood frozen still, before the ruins of the convent. He couldn’t believe his eyes, it was gone, her home. Leaving him wondering, was she gone too? He vowed then and there that he would end Scarlett’s life with his own hands. It was all Scarlett’s fault.
Trembling, he picked his way through the ruins that remained. Everything was gone, only a smoking rubble remaining. The chapel, its wall of stained glass was excepted. He ran to the chapel, ducking under a collapsed brick arch, and entered. It was miraculous. It must be the wards, he thought. Special magic suffused each piece of consecrated ground, but surprisingly, he could enter now. His boot crunched noisily on a broken piece of glass and she turned. He saw her at the very same time she saw him. Their eyes met.
“Rachael,” he whispered.
“Sorry. You must be confusing me with someone else,” the young woman spoke. Her face was familiar to him, yet different, but she seemed to be much younger in years, than thirty.
“I know you somehow. Your face,” said Lakyn.
“I must have one of those faces,” she said as she turned and walked swiftly out of the chapel. Lakyn experienced a freaky sense of déjà vu. Those were the same words that Rachael had once spoken to him. And this woman was so similar in looks. She must be related, he thought.
“If you’re not Rachael, then you must be related to her.”
“Sorry. I don’t know any Rachael. I have to go.” she started to run but Lakyn grabbed the girl’s sleeve. She gasped and looked into his eyes.
“I think you do know Rachael. You know this place. It was her home.”
“Sorry.” Without warning the woman spun round and delivered a roundhouse kick into Lakyn’s groin. As he crumpled in pain, she ran off.
“Definitely related,” he moaned, holding himself on the ground.
~
By the time Lakyn had arrived back at the factory, he observed that most of the rubble was now cleared and that a secure entry had been constructed over the door to the bunker that Lakyn and his army had made their underground home.
“Where have you been, Son?” Inquired his father, moving to meet him at the foot of the stairs. The bunker constructed entirely of steel, dated to the mid 1900’s. The Blackbell Family had constructed the factory above it soon after World War Two.
“I had to check on something. But it’s gone.”
“You don’t have to pretend, Lakyn. I had you followed,” Zachariah said to him.
“Why’d you do that?” Lakyn’s injury was now healed. From a refreshed table, he grabbed a glass and poured himself a scotch.
“Because I knew what would be your weakness, the same as was your brother’s. Love ruins everything. It’s the obstacle on the path to the one true goal in life.”
“So that’s all Mum was to you? An obstacle?”
“Yes. And unfortunately I realised that too late.”
“So, Dyston and I were mistakes?” Lakyn’s rage bubbled inside, rising near to boiling point.
“Of course not. You were all part of a grand scheme.”
“Yeah, whatever.” Lakyn angrily taking his scotch, retreated into his room, slamming the door behind him.
~
“Has Simon returned yet?” asked Zachariah of David.
“No,” he replied, adjusting his bandage between sips of his tea.
&nb
sp; “I’ll have to send someone to see whether he has retrieved Katherine’s soul.”
“Miss James’s soul has not yet been harvested,” said Abraham, tending to the fire in its place. “And I would know.”
“Then what happened to it?” Pursued Zachariah, glass halfway to his lips.
“Her soul is still attached to her body.”
“So she isn’t dead?”
“Leave her. She’s not worth it. It’s the Archangel spawn we want. In addition, the girl’s body is heavily guarded by her boyfriend and the students of Gabriel.”
“Hmm, I feared he would become a problem.”
“Do you want us to deal with him?” asked another young recruit, named Peter.
“No. He is far too skilled with weapons, probably more so than any of us. Leave him. Grief will overcome him soon enough.”
~
Lakyn twisted a ring on his ring finger continually. The ring had once belonged to Rachael and he had never taken it off. In time, a knock came at the door.
“Go away,” he responded.
“Its me, Lake.”
“Come in then.” The door opened and Lakyn’s long time friend and confidant David, stepped in.
“What’s going on?” David asked, concerned. “Ever since returning from Daylesford you’ve been, I don’t know… for lack of a better word, a zombie.”
“No. I’m fine Dave.”
“I don’t think you are Lake. Spill.” David sat at the edge of Lakyn’s cot and waited. Lakyn sighed and rolled over to face his friend.
“It’s gone.”
“Gone?”
“Yes, gone.”
“So there’s no trace?”
“Only smouldering ruins. But I saw someone there.”
“Someone at the site?”
“Not only someone, a girl about fifteen. She looked just like Rachael.”
“Hmm, I thought this would be about Rachael.” He paused. “You haven’t gotten over her, have you?”
“I loved her, David.”
“So this girl in the ruins, Was it her?”
“How could it be?” He muttered in confusion, “how could Rachael still be fifteen years old?” He paused, “unless this is her ghost?”
“It’s a relative perhaps. What was she doing?”
“Staring at the star.”
“The star?”
“Yeah, a luminous star in the chapel. Every star I see now reminds me of her.”
“You really are a romantic,” David joked, shoving Lakyn. Lakyn shoved him back.
“Shut up. And don’t tell my dad,” he laughed, but only half meaning his words.
He and David had always been close; they had grown up and gone through the Academy together. They knew each other’s strengths and weaknesses, and were there when each received his Tasks and gained his Traits. They always had each other’s backs.
~
Fourteen Years Earlier
“Fix it!”
“I…”
“Fix it!” Screamed his boss. It was David’s first week as an apprentice chef in the biggest hotel in the city and he was over it. He couldn’t see what he was doing wrong and his boss seemed to have it in for him. He would have preferred an apprenticeship in Lakyn’s family’s business, but with both his parents being chefs, he had to follow in their footsteps—all young Nephilim had to. David obediently picked up the fish dish that apparently hadn’t been cooked properly and returned the fish to the grill. As he watched the white flesh sizzle in the surrounding juices, the kitchen door flung open suddenly, but he assumed it was one of the cooks and didn’t pay much attention. Not until he heard his name spoken, and felt a tap on his shoulder.
“Dave I need your help.” It was Lakyn, and he had been running.
“Lake, what’s going on? You aren’t supposed to be in here. My boss will have a fit,” said David.
“He’s out there talking to my father, something urgent,” breathed Lakyn, still trying to catch his breath.
“What’s wrong?”
“She’s here!” he burst.
“Who?”
“The girl I told you about. You know, the one I’d been sketching though haven’t seen in six months.”
“How could I forget?” sneered David with sarcasm.
“Please! I need you to make me a crème brulee. Girls love them.”
“But how do you know this girl actually does? She could be a different type of girl.”
“She’s in a league of her own,” mused Lakyn dreamily. He drifted on a romantic sea whenever he spoke of Rachael, but here reality quickly snapped him back. “Will you do this one thing for me?”
“And what will you do for me?” David retorted.
“I’ll take you to the factory to try out some of the prototypes.”
Pleased, David smiled. “You have a deal.”
~
Lakyn’s Father was holding a private function to stimulate interest for their family company. Lakyn entered the crowded hall.
“Here’s my eldest. Lakyn, come over here and meet these fine people,” said Zachariah, reaching out his hand to present him. He couldn’t disappoint his father.
“Hello,” he said, nodding politely to a middle-aged couple before him. The man with light grey hair and sapphire blue eyes was wearing a top hat, while the woman wore a gold long-sleeved gown and her hair was strawberry blonde.
“Lakyn, this is Joseph and Mary Porter. They have a granddaughter just a little younger than Dyston, and Joseph here, is going to be working at the company.”
“That’s nice.” Lakyn was bored. His one concern was elsewhere—
finding Rachael for their secret date. His father bragged.
“Lakyn is Head of Design. He’s a brilliant sketch artist, aren’t you son?”
“I’m not all that good, but apparently my father likes my work enough to keep me on,” he joked.
“I would love to see the finished products some time,” said Joseph. “I’m fascinated by the weapons you create; they’re pure genius.” Lakyn in honesty considered he wasn’t that great, but he thanked his admirer anyway and excused himself. Then as he pushed away, he spotted Rachael through the crowd. She appeared bored also. This was his cue to rescue her. He snuck up behind her and swooped her away.
“What the…” she cried, startled, as he led her through more doors until they were alone.
“Lakyn, what’s going on?”
“I’m rescuing you,” he told her, acting as if what he did was completely normal. She smiled lovingly.
“Oh thank you. Honestly, I didn’t know when I would be seeing you again. When I saw my brother’s invitation to this party with your family’s name… I just had to come.” She stepped closer to him. Her dark brown hair shone brightly, as did her silver dress under the lights.
“Shall we take a walk?”
“I’d love to,” she smiled and hooked her arm through his as he led her down the corridor.
Chapter Twenty Two
Fate
Present Day
Lakyn was at a loss. With the convent destroyed and no means of contact, he was beginning to feel Rachael was lost forever. But strangely something in the appearance of the mysterious young Nephilim girl at the convent ruins struck him as familiar. Could she be related to Rachael? He decided he had to find this girl again. She was the only link he had to Rachael.
Lakyn opened the door and ambled out of his room. David had left moments earlier to go hunting for dinner, though not before Lakyn had healed the arrow graze he had suffered.
“Lakyn, excellent. You’re up. Come look at the plans we devised,” said Zachariah, hunched over a table in the centre of the room and looking at a large sheet of paper. Abel, Abraham and Peter were crowded around him.
“Tell me later,” Lakyn grumbled. “I’m going out.”
“Wait, son. What is with you lately? You haven’t been focused. Eyes on the prize, remember?” His father who had risen from the table to stand beside his son;
his hand came down heavily on Lakyn’s shoulder.
“I am focused… always have been. Right now, I have to do something.”
“Don’t go out alone, Lakyn. We have enemies, remember?”
“I’m fine, I’ll survive.” He shrugged away from his father and made his way towards the steps that led to the outside world. Zachariah didn’t bother to pursue the matter. He was at a loss with both of his sons, In fact, but more so with his eldest. Of the two, Lakyn had drifted the furthest off course.
“So… Jacob?” began Abel.
“Ah, yes. That’s where we were. Thanks for drawing me back. So I think Jacob’s next actions are rather predictable,” said Zachariah. Abel grinned in agreement.
“Predictable? Why?” asked Abraham.
“Love makes one do crazy things, but they are predictable things.”
“Ahh, yes. As in those sappy female films, all are so cliché,” inserted Peter. Everyone turned to look at him.
“What? I’ve had girlfriends.”
“Back on track. Now all we have to do is wait,” said Zachariah, refilling his scotch glass.
~
Lakyn flew effortlessly out of the city. But yet, he couldn’t help but to think of her and what the second occasion of their meeting had meant to him. Somehow, he knew for certain, she was alive. He could feel it.
~
Fourteen Years Earlier
“So has your brother eased up?” Lakyn asked as he and Rachael walked together through the corridors of the hotel.
“What do you mean?” she inquired.
“Well, he’s here isn’t he? If he hated my family he wouldn’t be here.”
“You’re right,” she said. “I think he’s trying to find out if the rumours are true.”
“You don’t believe that do you?”
“If I did believe them, I still wouldn’t care.” Stopping mid-way to their destination, Rachael moved closer to him, “And I wouldn’t do this…” She twisted her fingers through his shaggy dark hair and kissed him passionately. Lakyn lost his breath in his need for air that he couldn’t help but let go. He melted under her touch. They leaned back against the wall.