by Leena Maria
"So you mean we should lull them into false feeling of security, and let them do the work for us? Daughter, you make me proud."
Angel bowed her head.
"And if I managed to get my venom into her, then she will come to us anyway somewhere along the path of their search. Even if they haven't found the book by then, we'll get all the information she already has, and can continue on our own. If she doesn't transform, we shall get the information we want anyway, but indirectly. We have our spies."
Cain smiled. His teeth were perfect, white, and straight. His beautiful smile mesmerized his victims, giving him ample time to attack them. Most of his human servants were his own victims, who now happily served him, and spread terror in the human world in their transformed state.
Cain never doubted his power. There was no need to. What he wanted, he obtained. His war to turn all the Nephilim into his own kind was progressing well. It would take time to achieve his vision, but eventually they would draw them all, and this unnecessary and unpleasant - friction - between the two groups of Nephilim would vanish. They would be one, at last, the way they should be.
He could wait for that day; he already had, for years too many to count. One day, soon, they would have all of humankind as their cattle and servants, without any need to hide their true form. This world would belong to the Nephilim, as it should have done from the beginning of human history. The thought made Cain feel content.
"Daniel will be ours soon, too, if all goes well." He looked at Angel. "You may keep him, if you still wish," he added in an unexpected moment of generosity.
Angel bowed her head, but not before Cain had seen the lust in her eyes. Well, who was he to blame her! Despite Daniel breaking the word of his father, he and Angel were perfect for each other – strong, young, and beautiful. Their offspring would be a valuable asset to Cain. He felt almost elated at the thought. Daniel's bloodline was something he had wanted to get his hands on for a long time. It would be worth a try to see if he could manage to produce an heir to Cain.
"We managed to get Elijah," Angel dropped the good news almost casually. "One of us fought him when they stole the librarian, and bit him - the venom went straight into him."
"What? Really?" Cain clapped his hands and laughed out loud. "This is perfect news! You could have him as your spouse instead. Why wait for Daniel when we already have his brother with such similar genes? Maybe you'll finally succeed in making beautiful Nephilim children for me!"
Angel clearly had not expected this. She looked shocked. She had wanted Daniel only. Cain enjoyed her disappointment, and the fact she could not protest. To him it did not matter. Either one of the brothers was good for his plans, and Angel must try to breed with anyone he ordered. Yes, she would do it and finally produce another heir to his line.
"Go now." Cain waved his hand and Angel turned and walked out.
CHAPTER FIFTY-EIGHT
58. Hades
Ambrogio remembered the path that led from Delphi to a sacred Corynthian cave. It was situated higher up on the same mountain, a long walk from the temple of Delphi. It was a place where since time immemorial local people had gone to seek answers from the gods, with no need for an oracle. They used dice with the names of the gods to ask for advice.
He would need to go there, to be in a place where the sun would not reach him. But how could he leave a message for Selene? He had no writing equipment with him.
He looked around. Maybe he could use small stones to write a message on the path for Selene... He knew that Selene knew how to read - a rare thing for a woman.
So he reached for palm-sized stones with his blistered hands, wondering how many stones he would need to write in big enough letters "Selene, I will be back. Wait for me."
Where should he write it so Selene would see it? If he wrote it across the road, any people and donkeys passing by before Selene arrived would walk all over the text. If he wrote it on the roadside, she might not see it, if she was looking the other way.
But he had to try. He decided to write the text on the side of the road, following the direction of the road. Maybe that way his text would remain untouched. He would also make an arrow out of stones to lead her gaze to the text.
Darkness fell quickly after the sun had disappeared, and soon he could see nothing. He had to feel the shape of the letters with his fingers, and desperately grope in the dark for small stones. He did not dare to stop his efforts, to think too deeply about what had just happened to him. His mind could not comprehend that the gods actually walked among ordinary people, and that he had raised the wrath of one by falling in love with a maiden so beautiful even a god lusted after her.
Then, suddenly, he heard the sound of something moving behind him. He froze. There were wolves in the mountains.
"Who is Selene?" a slightly curious male voice asked. A pleasant, strong, scary voice.
Ambrogio was so on edge he yelled aloud and fell to the ground, totally startled. He had not heard anyone approach. Whoever was standing behind him must have appeared out of thin air.
He turned around, but could barely see a human figure in the darkness.
"How do you know about Selene?" he managed to ask.
"You have written her name on the ground with stones," the voice observed.
Ambrogio turned to see the ground, and saw nothing. He could not even see his own toes.
"But you cannot possibly see it!" he said.
"Oh but I can," the man sounded amused.
Ambrogio just stood there.
"You smell strange. Has one of us attacked you?" the man asked
Ambrogio took a step back, messing up his carefully laid stones while doing so. The odd metallic scent of rotting fruit wafted in the air as he moved.
"Are you a god too? Why are you all here now? First the beautiful naiad, then Apollo, and now you... Who are you? Are you here to curse me too?"
"The beautiful naiad... What did she look like?" the voice asked, now sounding genuinely curious.
"She was beautiful. Very tall, she had golden hair to her waist, golden eyes. She carried something made of silver. Maybe a weapon. She gave me a kithara so I could take part in the Pythian games. And I won..." Suddenly, winning the contest felt like nothing and Ambrogio fell silent.
A sharp intake of breath from the darkness.
"Indeed? And what curse are you talking about? Why were you attacked?"
"I love a maiden of the temple, Selene. She is the sister of Pythia. But Apollo has fallen in love with her too, and does not want her to leave, and he cursed me so that I can never enter daylight again. We were supposed to leave tomorrow morning with my donkey, Selene and myself. She agreed to be my wife... And now I can never see her again..."
A long silence. The man did not move, and for a while Ambrogio thought he was alone again.
"What if I help you? In return for a favour," his voice suddenly pierced the darkness.
"How could you help me? Why would you help me? Who are you?"
The man did not answer, but instead something strange happened to the darkness around him. It began to glow. First a faint glow, in a semi-circle around the man. Then two huge black, yet glowing wings appeared around the figure, making his form visible as a shadow against the glow. Golden light coursed through the wings like blood in veins, and the same golden light seemed to shine from his eyes too. Ambrogio fell to his knees at the sight.
"You are Hades... the god of the underworld!" he shouted, understanding why this god moved in the dark and had black wings. He fell to his face on the road only to exclaim in pain and rise up again when his cheek and hands touched the ground.
Ambrogio thought he heard amused laughter. Probably it was because of his wriggling on the ground. How silly mortal men must look in the eyes of gods...
"I can offer you a safe place where the sun does not touch you, where your skin can heal from its blisters, and where you can live your days out in comfort. You may bring your Selene there too."
A
mbrogio fell onto his face again, disregarding the burning of his skin on his hands and face.
"How can I ever thank you enough, o mighty Hades?"
"Come. I will show you," the god said. "You need to take my hand."
Ambrogio hesitantly held out his hand, and the god took it into his. The god's skin was burning hot and the heat on the blisters on Ambrogio's skin made him almost faint with pain. The world around began to fade, and turned into a grey mist. Only then Ambrogio understood that if he was holding the hand of Hades, the place where he was taking him, had to be the afterlife - the joyless place where souls were doomed to reminisce about their former life in the world of sunshine for all eternity.
So he was dead now. He would never see Selene again except in his memories, not until she died too and they could meet in the afterlife. And he had heard the afterlife was a dreary place, where lovers did not recognize each other anymore, where a mother would not remember her own child.
Mute with despair he hardly looked around him, not even caring about the pain in his hand. The god did not seem to be moving his mighty wings, but there was a feeling of moving forwards nevertheless. They were in thick grey mist. It was very dark at first, but then the mist began to get lighter. A landscape began to form. And it was nothing like Ambrogio had expected the world of the dead to be.
First of all - there was light. It seemed to come from every direction simultaneously, but you did not see the sun anywhere.
Secondly - there were buildings. And people, who quickly bowed down when they saw Hades with his wings stretched. And then there were odd shadowy, distorted creatures, which did the same. Ambrogio had never seen the likes of them. They had to be some kind of demons.
"Is this your kingdom, oh mighty Hades?" Ambrogio asked with a shaking voice.
"This is where my servants live and are not touched by time," the god said. "Or the sun, for that matter," he added, after a quick look at Ambrogio's face.
He let go of Ambrogio's hand and strode forward. Ambrogio wondered why he did not use his huge black wings, but maybe they were for the human world. He did keep them open, though, but moved forward with his long legs.
He had to run to keep up with the black-winged god. He could not stop staring at the amazing wings and almost tripped on his own feet because of it. They were nothing like a bird's. They were formed like wings, sort of. But they were transparent, and looked almost... liquid. The golden blood pulsed in the see-through veins, up on the back of the wings, and down at the front. From the wings emanated a clear hum.
Hades entered a big palace-like building and strode up the steps two at a time to enter. Ambrogio trotted after him.
They walked over the stone floor of the entrance hall, and into a smaller room with a few chairs.
"Wait here," Hades said.
Ambrogio bowed deeply, and the god disappeared through a doorway. He did not dare to sit - chairs were for the nobility.
When the god came back, he had hidden his wings and Ambrogio stole a short look at his face.
He was handsome. Very tall, dark-haired, and golden-eyed like the goddess had been.
"This is for you," the god said and gave him a bow and a quiver full of odd-looking arrows.
Ambrogio took the weapons, which surely had to be magical, and waited.
"You are to kill the silver winged ones with these," the god said.
Ambrogio did not understand. Which creature had silver wings?
"Swans, oh Hades?" he hesitantly asked.
"Yes, you can call them that. But I will explain better: they are my kind. Human in form, and they have wings. Silver wings. I do not want to leave even one of them alive in this world."
Ambrogio bowed down, not daring to ask why.
"How do I find them, oh Hades?" he asked.
"With this," the god said and extended his hand.
A silver... something - not like anything Ambrogio had seen before. It was a curving piece of metal, with leather straps attached to its ends.
"You sing with this and they come to you. When they do, you are to kill them with your arrows. One arrow for each silver winged one, so do not miss! Forty five arrows in all, and no more can be made. These arrows kill them, no matter where they hit. And you are to take their blood, and write to me with it that you have killed one of them. You can then write another note to your girl."
"But the sun, oh god..." Ambrogio's voice trailed off.
"You shall move by night. And I shall have you brought back here every sunrise. Before that you shall have to present the body of the silver one to the beautiful goddess you have met."
Ambrogio looked at the bow in his hands, and the metal piece with straps. To kill the likes of Hades, and then give the bodies to the goddess?
"These silver ones are a threat to us, they can destroy us. They are our enemies, willing to destroy the balance of the gods, and of the human world as a result," Hades said to Ambrogio. "This is not work that I would give to anyone lightly. But you told me you can sing, and this instrument will draw them near. And these 'swans' are a gift to the goddess you have already met. She has something that belongs to me."
The silver... something she had been holding came to Ambrogio's mind.
"Her silver weapon," Hades confirmed. "She has stolen it from me, and I want it back. Your mission is to win her trust with the bodies of the silver ones she too hates, and when you get the chance, you will steal her weapon and bring it here. When you do, you and Selene can come here and live under my protection. No other god will dare to hurt you here, in my domain."
Ambrogio bowed, wordless again.
"Here..." Hades had parchment and a quill in his hands; "You will write your messages with these, using the blood of the "swans". You will discover that you cannot fool me with any other kind of blood. And if you fail..."
His voice was suddenly hard and menacing, when he towered over the much shorter Ambrogio.
"If you fail in this, I shall make sure your Selene suffers. I shall give her to Apollo myself. He is not known for being gentle with the girls he fancies."
Ambrogio could only stand with a bowed head, too scared to say anything.
"And if you plan to escape, know that I can follow your scent easily, and find you no matter where you go. If, however, you succeed, you shall be my loyal servant and well rewarded for it. You shall have this palace, or any other you'd like to live in."
Ambrogio swallowed. Something moved past him. He turned and saw one of the demons looking at him. It looked like half man, half... predator of some kind. Its eyes were dull, lifeless, its movements dreamlike, slow. He could see through it.
"Look into its eyes," Hades commanded.
Ambrogio obeyed, still holding the bow and arrow tightly.
Something strange happened. The more he looked into the creature's eyes, the more alive it seemed to become. And soon it was as if something opened in his mind and part of him could... see through its eyes. Not as a clear visual experience, but like a picture that appeared in his thoughts. He stepped back and felt a tug in his chest.
"This is your shadow now. He will help you to hunt, and you can see through his eyes and hear through his ears. If you try to escape, he is to come to me and tell me where you are. Because he can also see through your eyes and hear through your ears," Hades said.
Ambrogio's limbs began to shake.
"Oh come now," Hades laughed, "once you get used to your shadow, you will see it is a great help to you in hunting. It moves much more quietly than you ever do, because it is not quite solid. If you wish to make him more solid, concentrate and give him more of your own power. If you wish to make him more transparent, draw your power back. You'll learn it soon enough."
Ambrogio took a step backwards, and the shadow followed him like a dog, mimicking slightly his movements. If he lifted his hand, the hand of the shadow twitched. If he took a step, the shadow did so too. Still, it moved on its own as well, and Ambrogio felt a slight tug at his chest when it did so.
"And now it is time. It is midnight in the human world, and you need to hunt one of the silver ones for me before the night is over. Come, I shall take you there."
Hades extended his hand and Ambrogio had no other option but to take it. The afterworld began to darken around them, first into dull grey mist, and then it was pitch black, and they stepped out into the starry night of the human world.
CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE
59. Shadows at the Gate
The faint light of the night sky was visible through the window. Diana slept on her back, snoring lightly, her long curly hair spread across the pillow, but I could not sleep.
I stood by the window, staring at the eternal stars of the north, the Ikhemu-sek – the stars around the North Star, which was the star Thuban in the constellation of Draco in ancient times. The Egyptians used to call them the undying stars, because they never set during the night. Before their worship turned from stars to the sun, they believed the souls of their pharaohs travelled to the northern stars after death. That was probably why the pyramids had these tiny tunnels, stellar shafts, towards the north sky, reaching upwards from the burial chamber. The soul of the pharaoh could use the tunnels to travel to the night sky.
I never understood why I was so interested in ancient Egypt. But ever since I was a small child I had dreamed about the place and I wrote the dreams down. Much to my surprise many of the names and places in the dreams turned out to have actually existed. I never told my mother this, knowing how she would react, but I did begin to wonder at an early age whether there was truth in reincarnation stories.
It was very quiet, even though I knew the Centre was functioning all around me, operating in secret alongside a luxurious spa. It was heavily guarded, and within its safe walls researchers worked, Time Walker groups were trained – and now, prisoners were kept. All because of the war between the good and the bad Nephilim. I felt like a character in a fantasy novel.
I tried to wrap my mind around all the things that had happened to me. A few weeks ago I thought I was a normal sixteen-year-old girl. And now I knew I was Nephilim – I had wings, and I could heal people. I still did not think it was me – the energy seemed to come from an unknown source I could not yet identify with.