Shadowhunter (Nephilim Quest Book 1)

by Leena Maria

  One night I finally managed the question that had been in my mind for many days.

  "What is it you are protecting us from?"

  Mut-Bity did not smile.

  "From evil. You especially need to be protected."

  I was too young to understand real evil yet.

  "Why did the servants bring me presents?"

  "They believe you are a great seer like your mother, and want to be in your favor so you would scry their future."

  This was surprising.

  "But I am no seer!"

  Mut-Bity turned to look at me. The stars were so bright that even on a moonless night they cast her shadow on the roof next to mine. The world seemed to be all black and white and there was no sense of depth.

  "Do you remember the day you fainted in Tiye's rooms?"

  "I did not faint, I fell asleep," I corrected.

  "You looked into the vision bowl of your mother, and it was as if you had fallen asleep with your eyes open. You spoke with an odd voice, and you predicted the future."

  "What did I predict?"

  "Two deaths. First the death of the crown prince Tuthmoses. And then the death of the king. You told to the day he would die, and you told everyone who was listening how even the gods would die with the new king."

  "But the king is not dead..."

  "The day has not yet come. Word about you has spread, however. I am not sure you are safe here."

  "What would threaten me here?"

  I did not find it odd that I spoke like an adult to Mut-Bity, even though I was only six years of age. Mother always said I was born old. I learned to speak at two years of age, but I spoke full sentences from the beginning.

  "Evil. Evil in human form, which could use a good seer to further their own purposes."

  I did not understand. But when a messenger from Inbu-Hedj, the city of White Walls, came with the news that prince Thutmose had died of a strange disease after a few brief days, my mother did not hesitate. She and Mut-Bity packed my belongings quickly.

  Mut-Bity fetched her bees from a nearby garden, and we were on our way to the harbor before the news had spread. We heard the first ululations of grief over the walls of Mi-Wer when our boat had already left the pier. And on that journey we had been until the pale man appeared.

  CHAPTER SEVENTY

  70. Council of Nephilim

  It was Daniel and Elijah together who introduced me to the Council of the Nephilim.

  The image the phrase had originally conjured up was a dozen of them sitting cloaked in a semi-circle in some ancient crumbling castle, but the truth could not have been further from that.

  Instead of a tower, I found myself standing in the south foyer of the extremely modern London Convention Centre. I was looking down at a carpet with grey, blue and red squares, while Daniel and Elijah collected our nametags from people sitting at a low table near to an enormous glass wall opposite the theatre. To my surprise the nametags were ready and waiting for us. Then I realised that this was probably what Daniel was arranging when he disappeared briefly from the desert.

  Daniel handed me my nametag. It said that I was a participant in a convention of Nubian studies relating to the Middle Kingdom period of Egypt.

  We walked through wooden double doors that were flanked by two very muscular Nephilim, who would not let us pass until they had looked right into our eyes. Everyone had to take off glasses or sunglasses before gaining entrance into a lecture hall that was filled with Nephilim.

  "Wow..." I whispered.

  They were all tall and visually arresting. Everyone looked young, or if they were clearly older, their appearance was still very youthful. The massed concentration of high body temperatures gave the theatre a mildly tropical atmosphere. A female member of the convention centre's staff was standing in the doorway, reassuring everyone that they would do their best to find the fault in the air conditioning.

  "Oh, we are used to hot climates," a man reassured her and she gave him a grateful smile and no doubt wondered if she could ask him out. He looked extremely handsome, of course.

  We sat at the back of the theatre. Some of the Nephilim turned to stare at me with open curiosity; others paid us very little attention.

  The doors were closed and the room hushed in an instant.

  A dark-haired man stepped onto the podium.

  "I bid you welcome to our seminar," he began, "and to begin with I'll present the latest news... First of all, three of us were infected during this last year. One committed suicide after learning the fact, two left and joined the other Nephilim, as was their right. We shall miss Tabitha Jackson, Maria Angelos and Jonathan Rossman."

  The silence was deafening.

  "The good news is that we have learned of fifty pregnancies worldwide amongst us. Our adopted children have been taken good care of, and three have gained their wings this year. We did not lose a single child this year."

  This time the audience applauded. They did not look happy, though. But how could you - if you knew all the babies were taken from their birth parents and given as adoptive children to other people? I now began to understand how heartbreaking it was for the Nephilim.

  "And - " the presenter paused for effect "- in our midst today is one of the three who have now grown wings. Daniel Archer has been her Guardian for reasons that will be revealed soon."

  There was a slight murmuring and then an air of silent expectation fell across the theatre. I blushed in horror. Was this meeting held because of me?

  "We have received information that Cain's Nephilim are now certain their Prophecy is to about to be fulfilled. Those of you who are attending this Council for the first time: the Prophecy can be found in an old manuscript in their possession. It relates how all the Nephilim could inherit the earth - with the knowledge of the Watchers."

  There was some mumbling from the audience, when the new members of the Council were filled in.

  "This last hundred years' persecution of our kind can now be better understood. Cain wants the dark Nephilim to be in power. Supposedly the reason for this is the wording of the Prophecy that says 'the Nephilim shall inherit the earth.' If only Cain's Nephilim were left, he wouldn't need to worry about sharing power."

  "But that's insane," I whispered to Daniel. "Who in their right minds would believe some vague prophecy?"

  "Cain would," he whispered back.

  "Daniel - please step forward and tell us more about the prophecy and the latest developments." The chairman's voice was controlled, but something in it caused the air of expectation to intensify.

  Daniel rose and walked to the front. He exchanged a few whispered words with the chairman, stepped to the front of the stage and began to speak. His voice was so clear and audible he did not need a microphone.

  "It's as our chairman said - I have been guardian to a young Nephilim, who was hastily rescued from Cain's hands in the midst of the London Blitz in 1940. Rarely has a more desperate rescue been attempted, but the child was saved and brought to our time. She has been well hidden within a foster family - the daughter of one of our very best Hunters, who had kept the child's true identity a secret from her family. Thus they had no idea of the parallel world of the Nephilim, shadows and the afterlife.

  "Without our realising it, somehow the shadows found her in our time, but Cain's Nephilim did not attack her. This was surprising, but we think we know why - they were not sure of her heritage and waited for a time, to assess if she was truly Nephilim. When we kidnapped Cain's senior librarian from the City of the Immortals, we discovered even more."

  This was news to me. They had to be talking about Mr. Donnelly.

  "He had read the Prophecy and recited it to us. There was one part in particular that caught our attention. I'll repeat it here."

  Daniel took a piece of paper from his pocket and began to read. As he spoke the words, my spine began to tingle.

  "The time shall come, when the offspring of the bloodlines of Cain and Seth is born, who will be called She
of the Silver Waters. Her companion is a white lioness, who sees the future. Together they can walk the Trail of Angels, and old times shall be once more. You shall know her from what she weaves. "

  My mouth opened in astonishment.

  "We think now we know who this person is. Dana, please join me here."

  There was nowhere to hide. Every face turned towards me and oh yes - I blushed.

  "Go on, Dana," Elijah nudged me, "they don't bite. Pun intended."

  I managed a shaky smile, and rose. I walked to the stage with wobbly knees.

  "This is Dana," Daniel introduced me, "my protege, and the last offspring of the bloodlines of Cain and Seth."

  Astonished whispers from the audience.

  "Her father was the eldest son of Cain, Nathaniel. He escaped when Cain approached him, after he had grown to his Nephilim state, whilst he was still living with his mother. Cain declared that he was to be changed and to marry a bride of Cain's choice. Nathaniel was one of us, as many of you may remember."

  I did not understand this. Did Cain keep a harem of unchanged Nephilim, then? And did the act of lovemaking in itself not cause an infection? It had to do with venomous spit only? How else could my father be still unchanged as an adult?

  "He had a brief affair with the daughter of the Seth line, and Dana was the result of this relationship. Nathaniel was found by Cain's Nephilim and taken before he learned of the pregnancy, so Cain did not know of a coming child either. This is probably why Dana's mother had a chance to give birth to her - and nurse her."

  The audience stared at me intently - all those bright eyes were unnerving. I noticed two Nephilim with darker complexions in the audience as well, and their eyes were not blue but of a cool yellowish shade. Not like Angel's oily bright yellow, no, but more a mixture of gold and silver. One pair of eyes staring at me at the front row were brown, and I could see the yellow specks in them as well.

  "We sought knowledge as to what the Prophecy meant by the One of the Silver Waters. When we fetched the main librarian, we were attacked by one of Cain's angels. He fought with Elijah, who was severely injured, and also bitten."

  Voices rose in argument. Angry glances in Elijah's direction, confused looks towards Daniel.

  "Elijah, come here."

  Elijah rose and walked up to us on the stage. I noticed how the Nephilim avoided touching him as he passed.

  "Anyone is free to come up here and look into his eyes."

  No one moved. Just as the situation was beginning to feel awkward, the chairman himself stepped up and walked to face Elijah. They looked into each other's eyes for a long time.

  "His eyes show no change," the man finally said, "and the number of yellow specks is very low. How can this be?"

  "Dana, time to show your wings," Daniel murmured to me, and smiled at me. Warmly, with emotion, clearly with the intention of calming me down.

  When my knees were firm again, I drew in a deep breath and opened my wings. OK, I admit it, I shared some of Daniel's sense of drama, and I popped them open fully extended, so that everyone could see them well.

  Total silence. Absolute, total silence.

  "These are silver wings. Both of Dana's parents must have carried the very rare, recessive silver gene. The silver gene is the gene of a healer, and you cannot have silver wings unless both parents carry the gene. She has used her healing powers twice now - first to heal Elijah's wings, and second, to purify his blood. She did this by weaving silver threads straight into his veins. You shall know her from what she weaves."

  The chairman stepped in front of me and stared at me in the eye. Looking into his stern eyes I knew that he was capable of killing me, if he did not like what he saw. But I did not flinch, or back away. I felt this was a decisive moment in my life.

  Finally, he withdrew and turned to the audience.

  "She is pure. And what's more - there is no yellow at all in her eyes. They are totally blue. Daniel has spoken words of truth. We have a silver angel in our midst..."

  The chairman turned and addressed his next words to me:

  "Silver Nephilim were thought to be extinct after Cain used the calling device of the Watchers, and lured them all into a trap and had them killed in ancient Greece. We thought their whole line was destroyed, but somehow, miraculously, the genes still existed, and created you. The mass murder of the Silver Nephilim is when the war among the Nephilim really began. That device was intended to call upon Nephilim healers in desperate situations. He used it to kill the healers who could themselves cure mortally wounded Nephilim."

  "Why would he want to kill such healers?" I asked.

  "The virus that infects the Nephilim and turns them dark, is so strong it keeps them alive for thousands of years, if they are not killed in another way. Cain's Nephilim had no need of the Silver Wings to heal their kind any longer. And he wanted to take our healers away from us so we would be weakened. Our life span is shorter."

  While he spoke, people rose from their seats. They stared at me as if they had seen a miracle.

  "Close your wings," Daniel whispered.

  I did. And just in time, too. The doors to the theatre opened and the lady who had been talking about the air conditioning came in. I wondered what would have happened, if she had seen my wings...

  "And indeed the fortress of Buhen is now lost to us. It is now submerged far beneath the waters of Lake Nasser, and we are only left with the excavation reports. Today we shall be exploring some of those excavation reports from the Egypt Exploration Society," the chairman was by the microphone in an instant.

  After the member of the staff had talked again with the man to whom she had been promising improvement in the air conditioning system, she left. By that time the audience had calmed down.

  "But that is not all," Daniel continued his speech immediately, "we have also learned more about the Trail of Angels. It seems that this is a trail where clues are hidden which lead to the City of Angels, or the Abode of the Watchers. Cain's angels want to wake the Watchers and return the old order. Humanity would be enslaved. We need to stop them."

  "Why?" asked someone in the audience, a man.

  Daniel turned to look at him. For a while he said nothing, and his unwavering look made the questioner squirm slightly.

  "This world is not ours only, it is shared with humankind," Daniel stressed his words. "No one is to enslave anyone. Also - we do not know what the Watchers are, and whether it is even safe to wake them up. Or to release them from their prison, if the old legends are true."

  "Shouldn't we be too fearful to find out?" a woman asked. "Would it not be safer to let them be, wherever they are?"

  "No. We have to find out, because if we don't, Cain's angels certainly will. We have received information as to where the clue is that leads to the beginning of the Trail of Angels."

  "Where is it?" the same woman wanted to know.

  "That will not be revealed here, in case anyone here might be infected in future and reveal the information to Cain. We have gathered a Time Walker team that will travel there, and if at all possible, walk the Trail. The Trail might not be in current time, given the ability of Nephilim and Angels to travel throughout time, so Time Walkers are necessary."

  "Many of the Time Walkers are humans. How can you be sure they are strong enough for the task?" the chairman asked.

  "The ones we've chosen certainly are up to the demands of the task. And before you ask, I won't give their names. They will accompany me, Elijah and Dana. They are needed not only because of their skills, but because of their humanness. The Nephilim don't blend in with crowds well, particularly so in the past, when people were much shorter. Even if we did, people still sense our... differences, especially when there are several of us around."

  Agreeing nods in the audience.

  "And Dana will be your Weaver?" the chairman asked. "She is an ordinary Weaver as well, if I have understood this correctly? All the Silver ones in the past have been Weavers."

  "Indeed she is,"
Daniel nodded.

  "Can I ask... who or what is the white lioness in the Prophecy?" someone asked.

  "She was Dana's best friend Kitty. They made a deal to live together in this day and age. She was to develop into a clairvoyant, who could use her skills to protect Dana from any forthcoming danger. She was killed by Cain's people before she could grow into her skills."

  "So she is gone..." the chairman said.

  "Yes and no," Daniel said. "She has returned to the lower levels of the buffer zone, to help Dana as they have agreed."

  "She has not proceeded to her level in the afterlife? She has chosen to stay?"

  "Yes, she has chosen to stay and to do her best from where she is now, to help Dana in her mission, because this was the agreement between her and Dana before they were born."

  The Nephilim discussed the information with each other in low voices. Their conversation did not give any impression there was anything new in this. To them talking about the dead as if they were still here didn't seem to be anything special. Well - obviously to the Nephilim they were still here, sort of, because the Nephilim could move in the spiritual realms as well, and meet with the dead ones.

  "Very well," the chairman finally said. "Of course we respect Kitty's decision, and hope she truly can help you, because you must surely understand that Cain will do anything in his power to stop you from reaching the goal and finding the Watchers before he does."

  "Yes, we are fully aware of this," it was Elijah's turn to speak, "but Dana is our strength. They can't harm her by infecting her, and she has the means to cure those who are infected. As long as Dana is amongst us, we can take risks."

  "I hope you will avoid risks, though," the chairman said.

  "Cain's Nephilim do not know yet of Dana's abilities in healing, so I wish this to remain secret as long as possible. We understand it will be revealed sooner or later, but hopefully later, after we have left," Daniel said.