by M. L. Desir
Seth brushed past Colin and sauntered into the room, his arm interlocked with Bela’s. On her ivory face crept a small smile. Her eyes met with Gabriel’s briefly, and he felt a sharp pang of desire. She looked away first.
He frowned, hoping Seth didn’t notice how he felt when he looked at her. He sensed that Seth was the kind of man who would use the desires of others to his advantage.
Seth bowed a greeting. “Our Prince, I’ve started the cleansing of the world, so that it shall be a world you’re proud of—honored to rule.”
“And how did you go about doing that?” Gabriel asked, genuinely curious.
“You won’t find them in the newspaper yet. I was so overwrought with excitement that I had to tell you about it in person. I’ve merely destroyed a couple of weeds choking our world.”
Gabriel set his pen down and rubbed his forehead. His mouth bowed into a perfect frown.
Seth released Bela’s arm and walked to the desk. He placed his hands on the top of it. “You don’t look pleased. I’ve started to cleanse the world for you. Doesn’t that mean anything to you?”
“Cleanse? Don’t you mean kill?”
“Call it fate, my Prince. They needed to die. The first was a pathetic drunkard. The second a prostitute. A worthless, fallen woman. We won’t need such types in our utopia, people who taint our godly demeanor. And the third was a priest. It goes without saying that their kind would be against us. You of all people, I would think, would be familiar with burnings and hangings. Imagine what will happen when we come out of hiding and our gift is free to the world. It’ll turn into a bloodbath.”
“A bloodbath, eh?”
Seth nodded. “Just imagine mortals imprisoning us so that they can bottle our blood and sell it.” He let out a soft chuckle. “Forgive the analogy, but we shall be no better than cows.”
“So,” Gabriel said, “your philosophy is to kill the mortals before they threaten us? Surely, the odds are against them because we’re stronger, faster, and more resilient. If you continue to do this, there won’t be anyone left to rule or to quench your thirst.” He had deliberately left out the Chosen’s greatest advantage against the humans: their supposed never-ending immortality. Ha. Never-ending immortality? He didn’t believe it to be so, and merely bringing it up wouldn’t change that.
Seth straightened himself and gave a lopsided grin. “Of course there will be. There shall be us and a select group of humans.”
“You don’t seem to understand, Seth. I didn’t want this.” He dashed the letters on his desk to the floor. “Any of this!”
Seth stooped to the floor, and picked up one of the letters addressed to Gabriel. His strange-colored eyes lit up with recognition. Gabriel could almost see the flash of pound signs in his green and amber eyes. “Payments, eh? The Chosen have begun to pay you? You’re a fool, Gabriel. To say no when the whole world could be your footstool. Or is this an instance of the lady protesting too much?”
Gabriel glanced at Bela, who stared at him intensely, before glaring at Seth. “You don’t know what you desire. You don’t understand that the price is too high.”
“No, no. I understand, Gabriel. I understand all too well. Lilith is a fool. Her disciples are spoiled ingrates. And her power isn’t without limit. She’s not the only one who can Enlighten. And why she chose you, I have yet to see. I shall take this world. I am the appointed one, after all. You’re not necessary, Gabriel. We don’t need you.”
Gabriel gave him an arrogant smile. “Appointed by yourself, of course.”
Seth vanished from the place he had been standing and reappeared a few feet away, draping his arm casually around Bela’s shoulders. “So you would like to think. But we’re all entitled to our fantasies, aren’t we? And besides, what good is immortality if you do nothing with it?”
The door slowly creaked open wider. Nikolai slipped inside. A loose white nightshirt hung to his knees. He brushed past Bela and Seth who watched him with cool interest as he padded barefoot on the carpet and into Gabriel’s lap. He coiled a strand of Gabriel’s hair around his index finger, humming.
Bela laughed. Seth cleared his throat.
Gabriel frowned. “Colin!”
“He went on an errand,” Nikolai whispered. “He told me to stay in bed, but I heard voices and couldn’t sleep any longer.”
“Who may I ask,” Seth asked in an unusually sweet tone, “is this?”
Nikolai wrapped his slender arms around Gabriel’s neck.
Gabriel glared at him. “Don’t touch me, spawn,” he commanded in a dark whisper.
Nikolai just smiled and slid off his lap, making a funny, chirping sound deep in his throat.
He grimaced. Laughter? He looked at Seth. The latter’s whole persona had changed from threatening to charming. He smiled brightly, from ear to ear, his eyes dancing with amusement as he stared at Nikolai. Bela wore a similar expression, but it wasn’t at all frightening on her.
Nikolai broke into a perfect, gentlemanly bow facing Bela. “I’m called Nikolai. A pleasure to meet you, my lady.” He glanced from Bela to Seth and then at last to Gabriel. “At least, I hope it to be a pleasure.” He looked up at Seth with his enormous, blue eyes twinkling. “You’re not cross with Master Gabriel, are you, sir? It would break my heart.”
Seth gave Nikolai another bright smile and patted him on the head, like one would to a dog, but he didn’t answer.
Bela bit her bottom lip, looking thoughtful. “But your name alone doesn’t tell us much, does it, little one?” She stretched out her hand and touched the side of his face.
Gabriel stood up and took hold of Nikolai’s collar. “Time for you to return to the world of dreams.”
“Has he, has this child,” Bela drew in a sharp breath, sputtering, “been Enlightened?”
Gabriel felt Nikolai’s body tense against him. He seemed to be holding his breath, as if he feared what Gabriel might reply. “That’s none of your concern,” he said finally. “I bid you a good night. Follow me. I shall show you out.”
Obediently, Seth and Bela fell into step behind him and Nikolai. Gabriel peered over his shoulder and noticed the same broad, bright smile still plastered on Seth’s face. He smiled like the wolf, hungry for the girl in the red cloak. Only he was more dangerous than a wolf, and he seemed hungry for Nikolai. Gabriel wondered why. Lust? No, that was an emotion that Gabriel had become in tuned to. Lust had its own aroma, its own sensation upon the flesh. He sensed very different vibrations and scents from Seth.
He opened the door and waited while Seth led Bella through it, into the night where the stars sprinkled in wild abandon across the sky. Gabriel closed the door, wishing that he could shut the proverbial door to his troubles.
Nikolai stared up at him, a perfect frown on his face. “That Seth . . . I sense a light in him that isn’t light.”
Gabriel almost smiled at Nikolai’s comment. He led the boy back to his bedroom of fanciful murals and cozy blankets. Without being told, the boy climbed into his bed.
“You don’t have to sleep now, if you don’t want to. The sun won’t rise for several more hours.”
“May we play ‘Guess My Riddle’ again?”
“Not now. I’m terribly busy. Busy with matters concerning you. Don’t you want justice against the one that caused you to suffer? What does he look like?”
Nikolai gave a throwaway gesture with his hand. “It’s in the past. It doesn’t matter anymore. I’m here to serve you. To protect you.”
“You must be confused,” Gabriel said. “I was told that I would be serving and protecting you.”
The boy made a face. “Was it Lilith who told you that?” He paused and stared intently at Gabriel’s face, as if waiting for a reaction, but Gabriel must’ve disappointed him with one of his blank expressions. “What’s the latest lie now? Gypsies kidnapping German nobles? Am I to play the part of a d
uke’s son or a prince? Hmm. You’re right. I am confused.”
Gabriel scowled. “What?”
Nikolai covered his mouth to mockingly suppress a small gasp. “Oh dear. I wasn’t supposed to say that.”
He again grabbed on to Nikolai’s collar, like a lion taking hold of one of his cubs. “Lilith has brought you here under false pretenses, boy?”
Nikolai closed his eyes and shook his head. “I shan’t say another word.”
“I have ways of making you talk.” Gabriel pulled him several inches off the floor.
He popped his eyes wide open, grinning. “You mean torture?” He laughed, long and high. “I don’t think you have it in you.”
Gabriel smiled unpleasantly.
The boy’s grin vanished, but he held Gabriel’s glare for a full minute before growing pale and looking away. “I really strung you along, didn’t I?” he said after some time. “It was a joke. A silly prank. All that I said. Really, you mustn’t take me seriously, my lord. It’s just that I’m so . . . well, bored. Terribly so!” He threw up his hands in the air and brought them down in a melodramatic display of this said boredom.
“Listen to me,” Gabriel said. “If you choose to be a good boy, I promise that I’ll have Colin—”
“Who’s Colin again?” he interjected.
“My servant,” Gabriel answered, releasing him. “I’ll have him buy you books so that you can read. Seeds and bulbs that you can plant. Colin adores growing roses, and I think that you two will get along quite nicely. But if you don’t behave, then you’ll be sorry. Well, how’s that? Agree?”
Nikolai leaned back against the pile of pillows in his bed and let go a deep sigh, as if his previous outburst had exhausted his energy. “I agree. I promise.” He placed his hand on his chest. “Cross my heart and hope to—to live—forever.” He smirked then looking like a little cherub . . . or devil.
Gabriel bid him good night, relishing a brief sense of relief. He exited the room and slipped into his frock coat and rushed out of the house, hoping that Seth and Bela hadn’t gone very far.
* * *
Gabriel spotted Bela and Seth a good hundred yards ahead. He quickened his pace, keeping his hands in his pockets, fondling his dead sister’s ring . . . for comfort? It only gave him a multitude of fragmented thoughts. He emptied his mind. If Seth could read minds, he didn’t want him to pick up on his. Once, his prey stopped to stare into a shop window, and he slipped into a narrow alley, careful not to be seen. He peered around the corner, and from the shadows, he made a brash decision to follow as Seth helped Bela board a hansom cab and slip in after her. He waved for his own and told the driver to follow the previous one.
“Listen well, whatever you do, don’t lose that cab,” he said. “If you please me, I shall reward you greatly for it.”
“Wut e’er you say guv,” the driver replied, a smile in his voice.
“You must follow it at a respectable distance.” He shut his own door as soon as he took his seat. “Do you understand?”
“’Course I do, guv. We chasin’ a lover of yers?”
“Something like that.”
They followed the cab at a regular pace through several streets and stopped behind it in front of an apartment home. “Here,” he said, handing the driver a wad of notes. “And thank you. Wait a little while, until I rap the back of your cab. I’ll need coverage so that my lover,” he went on, flashing a devilish grin, “doesn’t see me.” He stepped out and behind the coach and waited. In the distance, Seth assisted Bela out of the vehicle. The two walked with arms linked to the two-story apartment building in the middle. Seth produced a key, opened the door, and then they both went inside.
Gabriel willed himself invisible and moved to the window. Even through the glass and masonry, he could hear what they were saying. If he were merely human, he would have to rely on reading their lips. Enlightenment had its usefulness, he admitted grudgingly.
Bela leaned over and kissed Seth on the lips, and Gabriel felt a sharp pang in his chest (jealousy?), but he didn’t look away. He didn’t want to miss a single thing. He concluded that they lived together, and to the public eye, were merely brother and sister . . . or cousins. But after seeing the way in which Bela kissed Seth, he knew that they were clearly not relatives—unless they were the kind to entertain an incestuous relationship. And what kind is that? inquired his dark inner voice. The unlucky kind. The accursed kind. Yes, that, too.
“What do you make of the boy?” Bela asked Seth.
Seth shrugged.
“He’s a beautiful child. I wonder who Enlightened him and why his master hasn’t taken him back. Don’t you find it at all peculiar?”
“Everything is peculiar in our dark, shimmering world.” He tilted his head at an angle. “You asked Gabriel if the boy had been Enlightened, Bela? Why? What gave you the impression that Nikolai was one of us?”
She gave a slow, graceful shrug of her shoulders. “I don’t know. It’s just a feeling I got. What, you didn’t sense anything?”
“. . . No. Nothing at all.”
Seth seemed to take a long time to reply. His hesitation told a lot. A lot indeed.
Gabriel hoped Bela proved to be more perceptive to push the matter further. But she disappointed him when she bid Seth a good night and turned to leave.
Then, she paused in midstride and faced Seth. Gabriel held his breath with anticipation, hoping that she would reveal through questions what he himself wanted to know. “Will you—”
Seth cast his eyes down into his lap. “You’re not really going to ask me that?”
She straightened. “And what exactly was I going to ask you?” Her voice tinged with what Gabriel felt—annoyance.
“Oh,” Seth sighed, “a many number of things. You’re a daughter of Eve. Curious. Inquisitive behavior like that cannot be helped.” He shrugged, sinking back into the couch. “You,” he went on, “were going to ask ‘will you hold me tonight?’ or ‘will you be going out tonight?’ And… ” he paused and looked her in the eye. “Will you kill Gabriel tonight?”
Gabriel clenched his fists as anger lanced through him.
Bela stepped backward, mouth gaping. “You can’t. You mustn’t.”
He smiled. “Oh, and why not? Do you think I’m unable because I lack the power? Do you think I’m inept? Or is it because of some other reason?”
She stared at him for a few minutes before turning to leave.
“Is it because you love him? Because you love someone that you have only just met? What is it Bela—”
“You can’t kill Gabriel, especially—especially since he is to be Prince!”
Seth laughed. “What a stupid reason. Can’t you be a little wiser, a little more clever, Bela? What your argument should have been is that killing Gabriel is impossible because he’s one of us, he is Chosen. Therefore, he is immortal. But, don’t worry about disappointing me. All of you do. Immortality. Do you even grasp the word? The idea of it?” He inhaled deeply as his shoulders lifted and fell. “I want to know immortality. I want to truly take hold of it. So, theoretically, if I mortally wound Gabriel—you know, stake him through the heart, perhaps even cut out his heart and if he survives—that should prove or disprove my fears, my doubts about our dark, shimmering world.”
Bela gasped. “Kill Gabriel? Come now, would you please stop saying that! You know what the law states! You can’t kill one of our own!” She kneeled in front of him and rested her chin on his lap. “Seth, are you even listening?”
“The Old Law.” He tapped his chin. “Hm. Mm. Oh yes. I hadn’t thought about that troublesome thing. Well, so long as I can destroy the Old Law, then I don’t think I shall have to obey it. I always wondered why we had such a useless law and could never come to any decent conclusions. Now, I’m beginning to see why the powers that be enforced it. Obviously, we’re truly not immortal. Kill one
of your own, and the proverbial cat, as they say, is out of the bag. And once that last ray of hope is let out of Pandora’s Box—what then?” He turned to Bela and lifted her chin with his fingertips. “And all that about your beautiful, dear Gabriel being Prince? I shall just have to make him see that he no longer desires it. And make the title my own.” He grinned, his different-colored eyes twinkling. “Before I kill him, of course.”
Stunned, Gabriel reflected on what Seth had said. How ironic that Seth and he were more alike than he had thought. He too had always wanted to test his own immortality. But that was where the similarities ended. He would’ve tested it in a fatalistic manner by attempting to “take” his own life. But he had never given into the desire, that dark temptation of using another’s life to satisfy his raging curiosity. Gabriel went transparent, ready to vanish from the window and reappear in front of Seth and challenge his plans here and now. Patience, he told himself, patience. He would bide his time. Give Seth enough rope so that he could hang himself . . . when the time was right. He sensed that Seth was more powerful than he was letting on. What is the source of that power?
“You’re so helpful, Bela,” Seth said. “I do enjoy these delightful little chats.”
She cleared her throat. “I didn’t help you! I shall have no part in your insidious plans. He’s one of our own. Our own kind. Why do you hate him so?”
Seth wagged his head and stared at her sympathetically, as if she were some poor dolt. “Hate him? I bear no such emotions toward him. I rather appreciate his existence. Gabriel Lennox is a tool, a tool placed in my path to test what we have been merely told to believe.” He paused, and his eyes narrowed into brooding slits. “However, I do see him as an obstacle to my plans. I can see what you cannot see, Bela. What none of you can see and yet still they worship him . . .”
Bela let out an ugly laugh. “What are you? Omniscient, like God, and able to see all things, Seth?”
He looked at her with sudden darkness in his eyes. “Are you . . . are you mocking me?” He seized her by the hair and slapped her twice across the face: first, with an open palm, then backhanded. “How. Dare. You. Mock. Me?” he raged, punctuating each word with another slap. He released her, and she sank to the floor, covering her face, and sobbing.