by Leena Maria
Ambrogio decided it was time to act. He waited for Selene in the evening when she headed back to the town, as he had done for weeks now, for fear the tall nobleman would follow and attack her if he found her alone. Whilst they walked, Ambrogio asked Selene to marry him and to come back with him as his wife.
They were very much in love by that point, and she agreed.
They kissed, and he felt the passion in her body and was tempted to have his way with her. But he would not. Instead he asked her to walk to the temple at dawn the next day, as she had done these few weeks. He would wait for her on a specific turn of the road with his donkey, and what provisions he had gathered, so that they could leave together immediately.
Selene left him reluctantly, and he returned to the town alone.
Ambrogio remained standing where he was until she had disappeared. Only then did he notice someone standing under a tree, next to a boulder by the road.
It was the stranger - the nobleman from the temple. And seeing his eyes Ambrogio knew immediately that he was in trouble.
The man looked at him with an expression of contempt.
"She is not for you," he said in a cold voice, "and you will leave her alone."
It took all his courage, but Ambrogio managed an answer:
"She has promised herself to me, and we shall be married. You can go and find yourself another girl."
"No, it is you who will find another one. She will be mine."
His voice bore almost no emotion. Ambrogio had the unpleasant feeling he cared less about him than he would about an ant. He wondered what the man would do next.
What the nobleman did surprised him. He moved so fast Ambrogio did not have time to blink. He was suddenly in front of him, grabbing him by the shoulders, and he quickly spat into Ambrogio's eyes and face. A surprising amount of saliva wetted his face. He only had time to realize he was staring into strange golden eyes before it happened. Eyes similar to those of the goddess.
Then the man simply let go of him, and stepped back. Ambrogio did not understand. Why show contempt by only spitting into someone's face? He had expected a physical attack.
For a while nothing happened. Then came a slight tingling sensation. It intensified into a horrible burning in his eyes, and the skin on his face felt as if it had been torched. He screamed and fell to his knees, rubbing his eyes. He heard amused laughter.
"I will let you keep your worthless life - for now. If you stay away from the temple, I will allow you continue living. But a word of warning - I have now taken the light of the sun away from your life; from now on you can never let the sun caress your skin ever again. It will get worse over time; every moment will be torture when your skin is touched by light, until you shall be a creature of the shadows. And your precious maiden will not want to have anything to do with you anymore, because you will have turned into a monster. So you shall spend the rest of your wretched existence in darkness. No maiden will follow you there."
It took ages before Ambrogio managed to open his eyes. In disbelief he stared at his hands that were covered in blisters. He had no way to see his face, but he guessed it must look the same.
The tall stranger must have been a god... a god who had taken a liking to a beautiful mortal maiden, and would not accept any competition. And now he had cursed Ambrogio so that he could never walk under the sun any more. Ambrogio had no reason to doubt he had been telling the truth.
A horrible thought rose in his mind. The man must have been Apollo himself in disguise... That would explain his healthy, tall, muscular body. And his power to deny the light of the sun from a mortal. He was the god of light, after all.
What could he do now, having been cursed by a god?
"The curse. The Moon. The blood will run," he whispered to himself. The Pythia had known.
He looked up into the sky, water running from his burned eyes, its salt stinging his damaged skin. There was a strange smell of fruit around him. Much like the smell of ripe fruit around the goddess, but in him the sweet scent had turned bad. Rotting fruit.
The sun was setting. He could not meet Selene in the morning, because he could not face daylight any more. He would need to find a shelter - preferably a place where people would not see him.
And yet, in the midst of his horror, he felt his love for Selene becoming even stronger.
How could he ever win her now?
CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX
56. Silver Angel
"You're quite an act to follow, I'll give you that!" Diana sat by my bedside on the sick ward.
"Oh God... I'll never be able to look him in the eye again!" I groaned, burying my face in my hands.
Diana laughed.
"Quite an interesting reaction, I'd say. It was so obvious from the moment you arrived, that you had a crush on him. And now that you have actually kissed him, you are embarrassed? Unbelievable... every female in this Centre would have given their right arm to be able to kiss Daniel! He is Hot! And I won quite a decent sum - we had a bet going on how long it would take you two to fall into each other's... erm, wings. Lets just say I won."
"Oh God!" I repeated and reburied my face in my hands, Diana's laughter ringing in my ears.
It had taken an hour or so before my memory returned. Unfortunately I discovered that the short-term amnesia had not erased our embrace from my mind. I was so totally embarrassed at my behavior that my face was as red as a fire truck.
Daniel had sat by my bedside until I got my wits back. I pretended to be utterly exhausted to make him leave. After that I had tried to think where on earth I could fly, so that I wouldn't have to face him again.
I withdrew my wings, and the doctors took many tubes of my blood to see whether Elijah's blood had infected me. Then they took even more blood from Elijah, who now seemed to be in amazingly good condition.
Our test results came back at the same time. I was not infected. And - neither was Elijah.
They couldn't keep Diana off the ward as soon as it was clear we were out of danger. She burst through the door with a wide grin and announced that everyone knew Daniel and I were an item.
"How, what... who...?"
"Well, Daniel kindly broke the door, if you remember, and the pieces hung on their hinges at an angle so that one could peek through quite conveniently," Diana declared, sending me to the depths of shame.
"You mean everyone saw..."
"Oh yes, honey. Or rather, just a few people. Elijah was most interested, but you cannot blame him, really. After all, you had just healed him. And the doctor, Lilith and Layla, who were concerned for your safety. So, a nice little audience there. And me too of course. Word travels fast."
When I finally dared to take my hands off my face, Lilith and Grandma had appeared.
"Darling girl!" Grandma ran to hug me so that my ribs cracked. "You healed Elijah!"
"Don't thank me... I have no idea how it happened," I said. "All I know is that I am seriously odd... what on earth was that all about?"
"That, my dear, is who you are. For the lack of a better term, let's call you a silver angel."
"Silver angel?"
"Well, Nephilim. Silver Nephilim. You are something that hasn't existed in thousands of years. We thought the silver gene had vanished from Nephilim blood - the Nephilim history books say that the dark Nephilim created a formidable Hunter who could find and destroy the Silver Nephilim. At that time they were a family group, all related and probably staying in close proximity to one other. That was a mistake that cost them their lives.... The Hunter from the dark Nephilim found them, and killed them all, so they would not pose a threat to the power of the dark ones. Or so the dark Nephilim believed," Grandma explained.
"Silver gene - what is that, exactly?"
"Maybe I could explain it to you," Lilith began, then fell silent for a while, searching for words. "As you know, much of the Nephilim blood has been diluted in mixing with ordinary human blood. But there have remained some bloodlines that are purer than others. Mostly beca
use it is very tiring to pretend to be human to your spouse - not to mention living hundreds of years longer. If you wanted to hide your true identity, you had to arrange your disappearance after a few years - people started to realise how young the Nephilim looked and wondered about it. So it was easier to find a spouse among your own kind than to hide your identity from ordinary humans."
Diana and Grandma were nodding in agreement behind Lilith's back.
"Well, Cain did his best to breed the ultimate Weaver, to find the Book of Watchers. What he did not take into account was that his own son would turn against his heritage and manage to escape, or that he would father a child without Cain knowing of it. Probably Cain would have given him a very high position, and could not understand why he chose not to take it. He could have been Cain's second in command. But as it turned out, that person is now Angel."
"So my father was dark?"
"We suspect he wasn't yet infected when you were conceived. Cain usually infected his children once they had developed into Nephilim, not before. It has to do with their ability to procreate. And your father had not been Nephilim for long," Lilith told me.
"Also your mother was the end of a very pure line of good Nephilim. Probably your genes are a unique mixture of two pure bloodlines, which both carried the recessive silver gene."
"And what does it do - this gene?"
I avoided their eyes and observed my fingers closely. They appeared to be completely ordinary now.
"It is the gene of a healer. You have the power to heal injured Nephilim, and humans too. One of the forms of healing is by blood exchange. Your wings are like a huge dialysis machine. The same skill that you use for weaving, is obviously connected to the healing part - you spin silver threads into the sick person's veins, suck out their blood, your wings clean the toxins from their blood and neutralize it, and then the silver threads return the purified blood back to the sick person's body," Lilith's hands drew imaginary wings in the air, and then pushed something down - probably she wanted to show how the blood returned to the sick person.
"So you could say I am a sort of a vampire after all..." I cringed, "or...or...a flying dialysis machine...I didn't realise that was what I was going to turn into!"
"Well, not really a vampire. Of course the sucking of blood part is true, in a way, but you don't drink it, you just clean it and give it back." Diana looked and sounded enthusiastic as she said this, as if she was describing some fantastic creative gift that I had, like being a concert pianist or world class opera singer or something.
"I bet your grandfather did not know that he had actually managed to breed the worst possible weapon against himself," Elijah said from the doorway.
"Weapon? I am no weapon!" I felt slightly hysterical, "and if you think I will ever meet him face to face, you can think again!"
"It may not be a choice for you to make," Daniel appeared from behind his brother, and I duly blushed again. "But he has no way of harming you now, other than killing you."
"Is that supposed to make her feel better?" Diana asked. "Such a great choice of words..."
"No. But I very much doubt Cain would want to kill the last offspring of his long line," Daniel said, "So Dana should be safe."
Safe was the last thing I felt at that moment.
CHAPTER FIFTY-SEVEN
57. Cain and Angel
"Well? Did you succeed in your task? Is she now ours - one with us?"
Cain's voice was emotionless. His high-backed, carved chair was set on a platform, below which thick oriental carpets muffled the steps of anyone approaching. He was the epitome of luxurious living and gave the overwhelming impression that this was his natural state.
Angel stood in front of him.
"I spat into her face, when I found an opening in Daniel's defenses." Angel's voice was respectful. "He wiped it away, but - with luck - some of my venom got into her eyes. We shall have to wait."
Cain observed his beautiful daughter, who showed no fear in front of him. He liked that.
"Luck? Ah, yes. A very human concept, my sweet. She is your niece. She belongs to this family. She will be one of us."
"Yes, Father. Of course, Father."
"She should be our pride and glory, not theirs. She is the ultimate Weaver. And why is that?"
Angel kept silent, because she knew that he wasn't really waiting for an answer.
"That is because I have used the bloodlines correctly." Cain paused before continuing. "I myself sired all the original foundation stock used in this breeding program in ancient times, and before that, I spent years in devoted study, examining the family history and skills of every Nephilim before permitting them to breed."
Angel waited, watching him warily, taking advantage of his apparent disinterest in her to wonder how this - project - might affect her own future. She did not even dare to think what had gone wrong after those ancient times, why Cain's direct offspring could no longer breed.
He continued, speaking softly, as if almost to himself. "I know she is the strongest Weaver yet. She must be ours!"
Angel had heard this talk many times over, but she knew well enough not to show any disrespect towards the subject or his commitment to it. She nodded in agreement and stood still in attentive silence.
"I have heard disturbing information, Father," she finally said when Cain had fallen silent for a time. It would have been dangerous to interrupt the Patriarch.
"Yes?" Cain's eyes seemed to grow sharper as he focussed on her intently.
"Two Nephilim came to the city of Immortals and stole one person, together with his shadow."
Cain's eyes narrowed.
"Why?"
"We suspect it was because the person who was taken is our librarian. He knows about our search. This would suggest the secret...is no longer secret."
Cain rose to his feet. He was very tall, and very handsome. His body was that of a young man, and his skin had a pale glow. If you looked closely enough, you could see tiny wrinkles on it, which revealed that in fact he was no longer young. But no-one looked too closely at Cain. Ever. You kept a respectful distance, and you were wise to be afraid of him. He was staring intently at Angel when he next spoke.
"We know of the - unfortunate incident - of the shadow who talked to one of their Hunters."
"Layla," the name came from Angel's lips without thinking and she had to concentrate on not showing her fear whilst Cain continued to look at her. She had interrupted him. She bent her head in shame, and after a while Cain spoke again.
"Yes. Layla. She is one of their most experienced Hunters, so she would have taken the words of the shadow seriously. So they have heard of the Book of Watchers. But they do not know what it is. Does this librarian know? Do we know?"
"No. No one knows what the book actually is - there are no known references to it anywhere in any ancient text, as far as we - or anyone else - knows. There was once a book called the Book of Messengers, but we have destroyed every copy of it after searching for any clues within it - it was said that in one of them the key was hidden. We never found it in any volume we discovered. The last copy was kept in a nunnery in England. Our men went in search of it. They did not find it, as they were interrupted, but the whole library burned down because one of the nuns dropped an oil lamp. That was fortunate for us even though we lost that book, because now that copy, or any other, can never reveal the secret to anyone."
"What does this librarian know? Which one of our librarians was it?"
"The one we brought from London. He knows we are searching for a trail of clues leading to the Book of Watchers. At worst he knows the likely starting point, because that was his field of research. But nothing more, of this I am certain. I have spoken to him on many occasions, asking what he has learned. If a mortal lies to me, I'll know."
Cain closed his eyes and stood like a mighty statue. Slowly he opened his magnificent wings, which were much like his daughter's, only much darker and more impressive. Angel knew he revealed his wings inside
only when he was angry. They reached up and out as though they would fill the whole world.
"Ah yes, I do remember our little librarian now. An inconsequential fellow, though much devoted to you, my pet. I greatly suspect he had found the starting point, or was very near finding it, and was too afraid to reveal his information. Most likely he thought he would be useless to us after that. Probably he was right too... Thus we can draw the conclusion that they will try to go to that starting point, using our Weaver. We might be able to catch her there... Why did I did not force the librarian to tell me what he knew, the last time I met him? Or why didn't I ask you to do so? A missed opportunity..."
Angel waited until she was certain Cain had finished talking.
"May I suggest something, Father?"
Cain's cold eyes turned back to his daughter. He enjoyed looking at her beauty. He had considered taking her as his wife, but as he was careful about the strength of his bloodline, he did not want to risk it with inbreeding. Shame, though, as she was as shining an example of a perfect Nephilim as any other he had created. Her only fault was she had not managed to produce children yet with the Nephilim he had chosen for her. But she was not alone in that. The lack of reproduction in his children was Cain's greatest disappointment.
Angel enjoyed the appreciative look of her father and looked him straight in the eye. She had learned ages before that even the slightest sign of fear could throw anyone out of Cain's favor.
"If we catch her, she will fight us. And Daniel will do all he can to stop us."
"Of course."
"And that is simply a waste of time. Why fight them now? Why not let them do the work for us? We know the librarian will be of great assistance to them. Why stop him from helping them? Let's follow them, and if they find the Book of Watchers, then we'll attack with all we've got. There are so many of us, and so few of them, that we should win easily..."