Eduardo spoke clearly into his face. ‘What is your name?’
The creature lifted its head and spat and hissed, snapping teeth at the Guardian. Dom’s blood dripped from its mouth. Eduardo shook his head and with a flick of his arm, tossed the man into the lake. As he touched the liquid there was a fizzing hiss and a puff of steam. His scream was quickly cut off into silence.
Eduardo turned to Dom. ‘Have you healed?’
Dom felt his neck. It was wet with blood, but the wound was gone. There was a strange echo of the pain, but nothing sharp.
‘Yes.’
Eva examined his neck, her breath warm on his skin. ‘That’s going to keep happening,’ she said, ‘and if there are too many we might have trouble protecting Kaide, and I don’t know if she will heal like we do.’
Dom looked as his sister’s sleeping form on the ground. She was right. They couldn’t stay out here.
‘Maybe we should just go back to the apartment. I get that the Nephilim are powerful, but this isn’t like life, with satellites and tracking-systems. This is all old-school. Are they really going to find us that quickly?’
‘Yes.’ The word was said quietly, but the silvery voice was unmistakeable. The three of them swung around to see Satarial standing a few feet away. To Dom’s surprise he was alone. He had expected more of them. The man’s pale hair floated around him in the cold air and he looked like something out of a book Dom had read once, maybe an elf. He was beautiful and calm, and once again Dom had to fight the feeling of awe, the feeling of inferiority.
Eduardo was instantly beside him, quiet but tense.
‘You didn’t disappoint me, Dom. I knew there was a fighter in you.’ His smile was sardonic. ‘And now, you have defied the Nephilim in front of half the City, you have left me no choices.’
Dom took a deep breath and hoped his voice was steady. ‘You want me in one of your glass cases?’
‘No.’ Satarial laughed softly. ‘Not yet anyway. I want you to compete in my Trials.’
‘Never. He’s going through the Maze in a few days.’ Eva was caustic.
‘With what, twenty-five minutes? Thirty? Not even I got through the Maze that quickly. No. I am offering the ten thousand he needs and he can compete in ten days, at the next Trials.’
Dom allowed his eyes to flick towards Kaide, lying in the darkness. ‘What if I say no?’
Satarial kept the smile. ‘You won’t.’
Dom tried again. ‘What if I do?’
Satarial was quick. Quicker than any human or animal Dom had ever seen. He was beside Dom in a millisecond, gripping his throat with his powerful white hand and lifting him out over the lake the same way Eduardo had lifted the creature a few moments before. Dom could barely breathe. Satarial’s hand was like iron clamped on his throat, but he could see the silver liquid a few inches below his feet and he knew instantly that as much as he was filled with horror at the prospect of competing in Satarial’s Trials he wasn’t ready to vanish into nothing in a puff of steam. He pulled at the hands at his throat, trying to swing himself back towards the shore.
Satarial’s face was no longer smiling. ‘Then I release you from death and you are no longer a child in a city of men.’ The bitterness in his face terrified Dom.
Eduardo reached out an arm, as calm as Dom had ever seen a man, and gripped the forearm of the Nephilim. Satarial glared at him with disdain.
‘Let go of me, human. You think you could stop me?’
‘Put him down, Nephilim.’ Eduardo spoke in a voice so resonant and deep they all paused. ‘Do you think you could do anything at all I didn’t want you to do?’ As he said it he visibly transformed. It was just as Dom had noticed earlier. It was as though he shed a layer of himself, his skin brightened, his arms and shoulders grew harder and stronger, he had more presence without growing, he was younger without any change in his features.
Eduardo stood taller even than the Nephilim, and with a sudden crack that echoed across the lake and silenced the howling creatures, a set of black wings erupted from his back and hovered poised above and around him. Dom’s heart stuttered and thumped loudly in his ears. He felt Satarial’s hands tighten around his throat involuntarily and he saw, for the first time, fear on the Nephilim’s face.
‘You’re an Angel?’ Eva sounded incredulous. ‘You?’
Eduardo smiled at her and he was as flawless as any Renaissance sculpture. ‘For such a time as this.’ He turned to Satarial and spoke forcibly. ‘Put the boy down.’
Satarial paused for a second too long and Eduardo’s face changed slightly. He reached for the Nephilim’s own throat, closed his hand around it and lifted him out over the lake, prying Dom easily from his grasp and placing him safely on the edge. Dom coughed quickly, trying to regain some dignity after being so easily manhandled.
‘Why should I not drop you in the lake?’ Eduardo asked casually.
Satarial’s voice was strained by the hand at his throat. ‘You are not permitted to kill.’
‘You don’t know what I am permitted to do. You know nothing at all. I have a mandate to protect the boy, I can do it however I wish.’
The two faced each other in silence, staring: one with the palest blue eyes of ice, the other dark and brooding, his eyes golden. Eva slipped silently over beside Dom, gripping his forearm. He noticed Eduardo’s hand tighten a little and remembered the man’s comment about angry Angels. He was going to do it.
The Nephilim narrowed his eyes and renewed his attempt to pull the hands from around his throat.
‘No! Stop!’ The voice made them all turn. Dom saw Kaide running desperately towards them, her legs buckling under her as she stumbled forwards. He tried to reach her before she hit the lake – before it was too late, but she slipped past him, splashing recklessly into the liquid and throwing herself in front of the Nephilim. ‘What are you doing? Put him down!’
In surprise, Eduardo did as she asked, tossing Satarial lightly onto the sand and rocks a few feet from the edge of the lake. Kaide splashed back out and ran to him, throwing her arms around him and pulling him to a sitting position. The group looked around at each other in various levels of shock.
‘The Glass? Why didn’t she burn?’ Eva asked.
‘You know him?’ Dom asked his sister.
Eduardo watched, a frown creasing his forehead. His wings folded with a rush of wind and vanished into his shoulders. He remained in his new form however, taller and broader than he had been.
It was Satarial who seemed the most shocked. He looked at Kaide as though she were a new species. Completely stunned. His neck, which had been a wicked red, faded to a pale white quickly and he barely even struggled for breath.
‘Are you okay?’ Kaide asked him, her arm still around his shoulder. She was gazing into his face as though he were some sort of superhero.
‘Uh, Kaide?’ Dom ventured, squatting next to her. ‘What are you doing? Do you know who he is?’
‘Of course I do.’ She smiled at him radiantly. ‘He saved my life.’
Dom looked from his sister’s glowing face to Satarial’s. Glimmering through the surprise he saw triumph, and he felt a stab of fear.
PART II
THE TRIALS
Bid me run, and I will strive with things impossible.
W. SHAKESPEARE, JULIUS CAESAR
1
Dominic’s Hourglass
13 Minutes
It was Satarial who moved first. He stood effortlessly and stepped back from Kaide’s embrace though he still eyed her with an expression of wonder.
‘You have ten days, Dominic. I will give you that. Then I will see you in the Arena. After you compete, I will return your sister to her life. If you do not come to me, I will send my people to get you. Angel or not.’ He glowered at Eduardo, but dropped his gaze and turned towards the wall and disappeared into the darkness. The group were silent for a few moments.
‘What was that about?’ Kaide asked. Then she glanced around her and frowned. ‘And where
am I? This is crazy weird.’
‘We should go back to the apartment.’ Eva sighed. ‘We can talk there.’ She looked at Eduardo as she said it. ‘And you have some explaining to do, Angel. You spent the last six cycles drunk and useless as what, a cover? Like some sort of spy? Wasting my time.’ She was cautiously angry, and Dom had the sense that she didn’t know much about Angels or how to interact with Eduardo after this new revelation.
Eduardo smiled sardonically at her and pointed to the wall. They pulled out the loose pieces of stone and climbed back through. It was much lighter in the City. The walls of the houses were glowing with a variety of colours and Kaide was entranced.
‘This place is so beautiful. What is it? Are we dead?’
She seemed much more at ease with the idea than Dom had ever been. He was surprised. Kaide had truly loved life. He tried to explain it as best he could. Occasionally Eva spoke up and explained something he didn’t understand yet, but mostly she stayed quietly beside him and he struggled to read her emotions. With Eva he mostly knew how she felt, and usually it was frustration or anger. Now she seemed withdrawn, and he was torn between his happiness at seeing his sister and the confusion of the whole situation. Eduardo walked behind them, out of disguise and looming in his angelic presence.
They reached their apartment with no further trouble from the Nephilim and Eduardo pointed Kaide to his bed.
‘At least I no longer have to pretend to sleep,’ he said, laughing. His voice sounded different. It sounded deeper, richer, almost as though there were hundreds of voices speaking at once. It sent shivers down Dom’s spine and he wasn’t sure if it was a good feeling or a terrifying one.
Kaide sank down on the bed. ‘Geez, I’m tired. I’ve been lying down for months. You’d think I’d never want to sleep again.’
‘Months! Have I been gone that long?’ Dom was stunned. ‘I thought you said time went faster here?’ He glanced at Eva.
She shrugged. ‘It does for me. I’ve been here for a long time, but the last time I looked through the Glass, it had only been two or three years. Don’t ask for sense here, Dom.’
Dom sighed and sank onto his own small cot. ‘We’ve got to figure out a way to get you back. If you can’t be hurt by the lake, maybe we can use it somehow.’
‘Back? What do you mean back? I’m not going back.’ Kaide was serious.
‘What do you mean? Of course you are. You’re not dead. You don’t have to be here. You can go on living.’ Dom was frustrated. ‘Not all of us have that choice, Kaide. This isn’t a holiday, or like heaven, or anything out of some book.’
‘I know that, Dom.’ Kaide’s voice was soft suddenly. ‘I get it. This is death and you obviously hate it. But you didn’t like life much either, did you?’
Her words slammed into Dom’s chest. Was he just a miserable person no matter where he went?
‘You got the easy way, Dom. You just died. Gone. You know what happened to me?’ Her voice was still soft, but it was laced with bitterness.
‘I saw you.’
‘Then you know. I don’t remember much after the accident, but I remember pain. Endless days and weeks and months of pain. Pain like I have never felt before, in my head and my spine. I couldn’t speak and I couldn’t scream, but I could hear. I heard Mum and Dad and I heard the doctors all saying I couldn’t feel anything and so I didn’t need pain relief. They said my spine was severed and I would never walk again. They said my face couldn’t be reconstructed. They said my brain was damaged and I wouldn’t be able to talk, or eat by myself. Or even breathe.’ She looked directly into his eyes and Dom saw in Kaide’s face that she was not exaggerating, if anything she was playing down how bad things had been.
‘Eventually the pain receded. Then it was just like having a headache all day, every day. I could hear more clearly, but I couldn’t see anything. I just lay there all day, all night. And that’s what I get to do for the rest of my life. The doctor told Mum I was strong and I could go on like this for years. Mum refused to turn off the ventilator in case one day I woke up. So I could have been there for decades, Dom. Just lying there for years!’ A tear slipped out of her eye. ‘And if I did wake up, if I finally did, I wouldn’t be able to do anything but sit and watch. So my “life” was effectively over.’
‘Yeah.’ Dom didn’t know what to say.
‘And the Nephilim?’ Eva prompted.
‘Ariel?’ Kaide smiled. ‘He came into my room one day and I realised he could hear me and I could see him, and we talked. Eventually he told me he was trying to find a way to get me out of there. To a place where I could live again. I thought he was some sort of alien – you know, he’s all white and shiny. I figured I’d be going to live on some other planet. He’s so amazing. I’ve never met anyone like him.’ When she smiled her face lit up.
Dom and Eva looked at each other and they heard Eduardo cough a strangled sound behind them.
‘His name is Satarial. He tried to kill you. He kidnapped you so he could bring you here to trap you in that tank of water and then bait me to fight in his stupid Trials. He’s not an alien, Kaide; he’s a Nephilim. He’s half-Angel, half-human. He’s from before Noah’s ark.’
‘Wow. That’s cool.’ Kaide was unflappable. ‘And he did not try to kill me. Because of him I can actually speak. And more. Have you even considered the possibility you’ve got him all wrong, Dom?’ She said it in the slightly condescending tone of someone deep in the throes of infatuation and Dom just shook his head.
‘Then why did he put the tank in the Arena?’ he snorted.
‘What tank?’
‘The water. The one I broke you out of. You were drowning.’ Dom was incredulous. ‘Really? You don’t remember?’
‘I was in pain, Dom. In bed. In a hospital. Ariel said he could save me. I woke up and I could walk. And the Angel guy was about to kill him.’
‘Do not crush on him, Kaide. He’s a freak.’ Dom pointed his finger at his sister, knowing her too well not to be worried.
Kaide changed the subject. She looked at Eduardo. ‘Ariel’s half-Angel? Angels have kids? Angels have sex?’
Dom and Eva turned to see Eduardo’s response. They expected amusement or even anger at her blunt question, but what they saw was almost embarrassment.
‘Yes. Obviously,’ he said quietly.
Kaide thought it over. ‘So why humans? Wouldn’t Angels prefer Angels?’ She laughed.
Eduardo didn’t. ‘It doesn’t work like that.’ He sighed and turned away. ‘There are no female Angels. We are all men. Mixing with humans only brought trouble, but that was the reason.’
Still intrigued, Kaide continued, ‘That’s got to be tough, all being men, especially if you like, you know, wanted to . . . love someone.’ She had a sudden thought. ‘Are Angels gay?’
Eduardo stared at her and she thought he must have misunderstood. ‘You know, men who love men.’
Eduardo sighed. ‘Kaide. We are not human. We are immortals. We have a stronger and more powerful energy and a more direct connection with the Awe. We have more-complicated emotions, different ways of thinking, different desires. You cannot compare us with humans in any way whatsoever. I don’t want to give you false answers to your questions, but they are naïve. We have some interaction with humans, but only rarely and our interactions with each other are different to yours. A very long time ago, some of us became . . . entangled . . . with human women, who are also extremely complicated, I must say.’ He looked at Eva as he said it and raised an eyebrow. ‘The Nephilim were the result of those interactions and they are dangerous and wild. Too powerful to be among humans, and yet mortal. We were taught a lesson that none of us forgot.’ He glanced at the fascinated faces in front of him and laughed. ‘I forgot who I was talking to. Humans think sex is the most important thing in the universe, don’t they.’ He relaxed muscles that had tensed around his huge shoulders and nearly seemed human again. Almost.
Kaide smiled at him, the same smile she gave Dom whenever she di
dn’t believe a word of what he was saying and would make up her own mind anyway, and then yawned. ‘I’m so tired. Aren’t you guys exhausted?’
‘Yeah. A bit.’ Dom agreed, but he didn’t truly feel tired.
He looked at his sister and saw shadows under her eyes. She was exhausted. And thin too. His hand reached out and touched her arm and her skin burned his with its heat. He glanced across at Eva. There was a difference between the two, he noticed. He could tell that there was something different about Kaide. She seemed . . . maybe ‘fragile’ was the word. Breakable. Definitely tired. She lay down and fell instantly asleep. He brushed her long hair away from her face and looked down on her. He hadn’t realised how much he had missed her. He was used to being away from her for months at a time, but having her at arm’s-reach made him feel suddenly stronger, and he took a deep breath.
Then he noticed Eva was watching him and he met her gaze for a long time, his eyes trying to tell her all the things that were whirling through him. He was a tornado of plans to find a way to get his sister back to life, and yet amid all of that he wanted her to know that sitting there, on her simple bed, he thought she was beautiful and if he had to be here, it was fine because she was here too. Her gaze was just as intense, but he couldn’t read her. He couldn’t see anything. Just her green eyes. She turned away.
‘Goodnight, Dom.’ And she lay down.
He leaned back and waited for sleep to come. In the corner Eduardo sat, dwarfing the small wooden table, gazing at the softly coloured City outside the curiously translucent walls, his shoulders slumped a little and looking more like the Eduardo of yesterday.
Dom closed his eyes and waited for the visions of himself in the Arena to flood in on him. They did. Following them were visions of his body in a tank full of water, reaching out for the blurred shapes of the rest of Necropolis staring at him.
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