Shadowhunter (Nephilim Quest Book 1)

by Leena Maria

  "So they probably know about the other members of the team as well... maybe now the shadows know everything. How could we have been so stupid, not taking the dreams into account!" Grandma pressed her forehead with her fingers as if she had a headache.

  "We need to leave as soon as possible. We can still get away in safety, though; we just have to mislead them. We'll leave in pairs," Daniel said. "I'll work with Weavers to take the members of our team to different locations, very quickly, and return immediately. And I'll then come and pick everyone up from their chosen location. We need to temporarily scatter all over the world."

  We made our spur of the moment plans. Grandma and Reggie would go to Toronto, Mr Donnelly and Jason would be sent to Edinburgh and Diana and Aemilius to Rome, Elijah and I were going to Paris. Specific hotels in these locations would be used.

  "Why these particular hotels?" I asked.

  "Because we have our own people working there. We only need to appear, and they will give us a room without entering our real names on their database. Also they will not ask for our documentation."

  We began to pack our things immediately. Everyone fetched their clothes. All modern jewelry and watches were left behind. We would have to leave our regular clothing as well, but at our rendez-vouz-point, which was for Daniel to decide. He did not tell anyone about the location of this point, other than Elijah, in case we fell asleep and were spied on. Elijah was not likely to fall asleep - I knew from experience now that the Nephilim did not need much sleep.

  If we got out of the Centre without anyone noticing, we would be safe from dream-spies. They would need to know our physical proximity to find our dreams, the "dream bubbles" were only visible near the physical location of the dreamer.

  Our major problem was taking our big coffers with us. Daniel and Elijah would first carry them through the buffer zone and to our secret rendezvous point. When they had moved everything, they would return so we could start our travels.

  "Nervous?" Diana asked me after we had nothing else to do but wait in our room.

  "Yes... to actually go to ancient times... What if we get lost? What if something happens to us there? We can die in another time, can't we?"

  "Yes, we can. We have the same physical form there as we have here, so we can get sick, and die, and be harmed. But we have you with us, so what's to worry about? Besides, we've been vaccinated against cholera, plague, smallpox and what have you..." Diana cringed at the memory. She wasn't exactly fond of needles.

  "Has anyone ever gone that far into the past?" I asked.

  "Well... No. I think Aemilius and Rome is the furthest back we have ever gone... and the destruction of the Alexandria library... The farther back we go, the more... vague the paths become. Especially if we are talking about a time that is not well researched."

  "Why is that?"

  "It's quite simply those laws of energy once again... what you concentrate on, gets stronger. I am not sure we could even find our way to any "lost civilization" if there was no historical record about it, and we were only going by legend or rumors. Like the myth of Atlantis, for instance. But if we think about Amarna, so much has been written about it, and so many objects found, that its energies should be strong enough for us to find it easily."

  "No one has told us in exactly which year we're aiming to arrive..." I observed.

  "True... Maybe we should go and ask Lilith about that..." Diana rose from her bed.

  "Yes, let's." I just couldn't stand the small room any longer. "If anyone wants us we'll be in the Center, if we chance to be away from our room."

  It was a relief to walk down the corridor, and towards Lilith's office. We knocked on the door, but she was not there. Reggie, on the other hand was, with his nose buried in a big book about Amarna. Mr. Donnelly was feverishly writing something in his notebook beside him, with his index finger pointing to the page of a book to his left.

  "Ah, young ladies! What can we do for you?" Reggie smiled.

  He had red dots burning on his cheeks, and you could tell he was happily anticipating our time travel. Mr. Donnelly looked just as pleased.

  "We were wondering... do you know to which time we're planning to go, exactly? In Amarna I mean. Any specific year?" Diana asked.

  "Well... I'm not sure we should really be telling you..." Reggie scratched his ear.

  "Oh come on – we're going in a few hours, and we promise we won't take a nap before that!" Diana insisted.

  "Well, that is true..." Reggie considered for a while. "OK, we have chosen Akhenaten's year 12. That is when he arranged a great show in Aketaten, and royalty all over the ancient world traveled to attend it. He wanted to show off his newly built city, and display his riches and power. The city will be full of strangers then, so a few more won't draw too much attention to themselves."

  "Great!" Diana clapped her hands "We shall see a real spectacle then!"

  "Yes, indeed. But there is one unpleasant thing about it..." Mr. Donnelly raised his head, looking very much like a nutty professor.

  "Yes? What is it?"

  "The guests brought an epidemic with them, which caused havoc in the city. Many of the royal family also died of it. Some of Akhenaten's daughters, maybe Nefertiti as well. And the king's mother, Tiye. Probably Akhenaten's favorite second wife, Kiya as well. It may have been cholera, or plague. So we need to be careful out there..."

  "Oh..." Diana became serious, "but thankfully, we have Dana with us, in case the vaccines don't work!"

  "I think you trust my abilities a bit too much..." I said. "I don't know exactly how to heal..."

  "Nonsense. You're our medicine on wings, dear! You don't need to know. It seems your Nephilim side is on automatic mode on this matter," Diana smiled. "OK. Let's get back to our room and wait..."

  That we did. To spend the time we played cards.

  While Diana was picking up her hand of cards, I felt something. A slight electric current shot through my spine. I had learned that the feeling meant a Nephilim of our kind was near. It was like a vibrational hello.

  "Time to stop playing! I think they are coming." I took the pack of cards from the bed and replaced my card hand on top of it. "I sense a Nephilim presence."

  "Great!" Diana jumped to her feet. "All ready to go!"

  She turned to grab the sack which held her clothes. It was carefully made to look genuine in ancient Egypt. I turned to get my belongings, still holding the playing cards in my hands.

  The Nephilim who suddenly appeared in our room holding one others' hands were neither Daniel nor Elijah. There were three of them. One immediately grabbed Diana's neck, and she slumped onto her bed.

  "Don't worry, she will be unharmed." The Nephilim responsible for making Diana unconscious turned to me.

  I could see they were my kind. Bright blue eyes. I didn't understand.

  "What is this? Who are you? And - why did you do that to Diana?"

  "No time to talk," a tall red-headed woman answered bluntly. "You're coming with us - now."

  "I'm not going anywhere without..."

  "Oh but you are. If you don't, your friend here will die. No one wants to see that happen, but we are ready to kill her if we must," another Nephilim woman with an olive colored skin said. "I'll stay behind to make sure you leave nice and quietly."

  The other two grabbed my arms and tugged me into the buffer zone in an instant. They did not seem to do any weaving, but simply opened their wings – ochre and grey in color - and rose out of the misty zone into a level that looked like a desert. I remembered what Lilith had told me - that Nephilim touching each other physically amplified each other's power, which is how they could enter the buffer zone if they were not able to do so alone.

  I held on to my sack all the time, and noticed I still had the pack of playing cards in my hands. The moment we arrived at the level of the desert, I carefully moved my fingers so that one of the cards fell down. The Nephilim did not notice - they were looking straight ahead. I could only hope that Daniel would f
ollow us to the right level and would be able to hunt me down with the help of my scent on the cards. I knew first hand what an amazing sense of smell the Nephilim had. I could not bear to be near people who used perfume anymore. Any man-made scent was almost painful. Only natural floral scents smelled good.

  We flew for a long time, and I dropped the cards, one by one, every once in a while. My escorts were in such a hurry they never looked back to see the cards flying in the air. After I had dropped the last one we flew for such a considerable distance I began to fear my little leads would be left too far behind, and I would never be found.

  And then, finally, we began to descend, and entered the misty zone. From there we emerged a totally featureless room. There was one door, heavy, made of metal. No furniture, no window, no nothing. Only a surveillance camera attached to the ceiling, and loudspeakers in the corners.

  They yanked my sack from my hands and rummaged through it. The only contents were plain linen clothing, a toothbrush and a hairbrush - and nothing of value.

  "You can keep it." The man dropped the sack on the floor.

  They left the room, the man and the red-haired woman. Immediately after this the loudspeakers began to play a sound that I remembered and hated - that of the brass bowls.

  Elijah had been right – the sound shot right through my very core, in a quite different way from when I was still a "normal" person. It did not cause actual pain, even though it was definitely unpleasant. But when I tried to use my wings, they were paralyzed.

  I fought panic. I stood up and breathed deeply a few times. When I finally managed to find my anger, it became easier. I walked to the corner of the room, under the old fashioned surveillance camera, so they could not see me, and leaned against the wall. I carefully built up my rage so that I would not be paralyzed by fear as well. They would tell me soon enough what they were after. And at least they were my own kind, so I probably was not in danger of being infected. If I even could be infected with my silver wings...

  I did not have to wait for long. The door opened, and the olive-skinned lady came in dragging Diana with her. Diana's eyes were dilated, and she was groggy. I guessed they must have drugged her. She blinked her eyes slowly, and tried to focus them, but you could see she wasn't really present.

  Then the two others walked in as well. I could see a corridor with fluorescent lamps behind them. For a while I considered attacking them, because the music had to have an effect on them too. But in all likelihood I was not a match to the muscle power of three grown Nephilim, and so I did not move, but remained in my place with my arms folded over my chest. I discovered that I was afraid, which surprised me; then I realised I was not afraid for myself, but for Diana and what they might do to her.

  I said nothing, just stared intently at the red haired woman. I had used this technique at school whenever the Blonde Crew had tried to bully me. Not one of them liked me looking them straight in the eye and they stopped soon enough. So I kept right on staring at the Nephilim woman without blinking an eye. She broke first and lost the battle of wills.

  "Stop that!" she yelled.

  I did not. I kept on staring at her, and she took a threatening step towards me. The man grabbed her by the hand and shook his head.

  "No. We are not here to harm you."

  I still did not say anything, but nodded towards Diana.

  "Yes, sorry about that..." the man said, but he did not sound very embarrassed. "Desperate measures. You see - we need your help."

  "You have an odd way of asking," I said curtly.

  "We know... Daniel would never have agreed to this, so we had to keep an eye on him and come for you when he was away."

  So the good Nephilim knew where the Centre was.

  I waited. The door opened and three more Nephilim came in. It was beginning to get crowded.

  "I know you," I said to the woman on the left, "you were at the convention."

  "Yes," she nodded. Her expression was odd - it was desperate, and very tired.

  She and a dark-haired Nephilim with a scar on his cheek were carrying yet another Nephilim. He was heavily drugged, and could not stay on his feet without them holding him up. He had a scarf tied over the lower part of his face, covering his mouth. He did open his eyes, for a while, but when they rolled towards the ceiling, I saw they were bright yellow. He was dark.

  "You will heal him," the woman from the Council commanded and nodded towards Diana, "or she will die."

  CHAPTER SEVENTY-EIGHT

  78. "You Will Heal Him"

  I stared at the yellow-eyed Nephilim.

  "You cannot be serious!" I could not believe what I had heard.

  "We heard how you healed Elijah, right? And he was no longer infected at the Council of Nephilim. You were not infected either, though you healed him..."

  The woman moved closer to me and looked into my eyes. She nodded.

  "You are immune, and you are a healer. You will do this."

  "Do you have your Council's approval for this?" I asked.

  I hit a nerve there. The Nephilim exchanged nervous glances.

  "No, you haven't," I concluded, "and how do you think the Council would react if they heard you had kidnapped me?"

  "They need never know."

  "Oh but they will know, one way or the other." I tried to keep my voice from shaking with anger. "I'll talk. Or someone here will let the secret slip out."

  "Whatever you say, we're not letting you go! So they will never hear what happened," the red-haired woman snapped.

  "Oh, is that so? And why, then, should I help you?" I asked her.

  Her answer was to start strangling Diana. She tried to fight, feebly, but was too weak because of whatever drug she'd been given.

  "Stop that!" the man who was carrying the yellow-eyed Nephilim said sharply.

  "If this is what it takes..." the red-haired one replied.

  "Stop playing the brass bowls," the man said and someone at the other end of the surveillance camera did as he asked.

  My anger was such that my wings snapped open in an instant. Their force field current was so strong the others were thrown back towards the doorway.

  They opened their wings too, in defense, but they were not as big as mine. I felt anger turn to rage. The emotion rose up my spine, and my wings reacted by bending towards them all, threatening. I did not look at my wings, but from the corners of my eyes I could see the silver lightning flashes shooting upwards in them. The air was cracking with electricity. I could see the others were afraid now.

  Then I sensed an odd presence in my mind. When I opened my wings, it was as if they were connected to... something beyond me, yet something that was strangely familiar. Thoughts and ideas flooded into my mind with such speed that my thoughts could not keep up with them.

  "Explain yourselves!" I said in a strange voice. It had a strength and a musical ring to it I did not recognize.

  The red-haired woman squeezed Diana's limp body against her, and she looked at me defiantly, but her lips were trembling.

  "He is my husband," she whispered, "and he was infected. We...we said he committed suicide, but we have kept him drugged in a room with the brass bowls playing without ceasing, hoping something could be done to heal him. And then... you appeared," she nodded at me.

  I got the eerie feeling she was having a conversation with someone other than me, even though she was talking directly to me.

  I looked at her in the eyes again, or something looked at her through me. She took a breath and stepped backwards.

  "Your eyes..." she breathed.

  "What about my eyes?" I asked, and my normal self felt a pang of panic. Were they yellow?

  "Silver..." she whispered.

  Silver eyes? Surely she was seeing wrong. My eyes were bluish grey - or had been, when I was a child. I knew they had turned bluer after my change, not grey.

  My wings began to hum.

  "You will let her go," the voice said through me.

  To my surprise she obey
ed. Diana slumped against the wall. I wondered what would I do next, how we could escape, but this is when the dark Nephilim began to wake up.

  His head turned faster, and his eyes began to focus. The others tightened their grip on him. He began to struggle, and then... fade.

  "Quick! The bowls! Play the bowls!" the red-haired woman yelled.

  "No!"

  I did not even understand at first it was me speaking. The word thundered in the room with such force that the yellow-eyed Nephilim stopped trashing and froze. He did not fade any more than he had already done and slowly began to be more solid again, sliding back to physical reality from the edge of the buffer zone. Now he looked at me directly in the eye.

  And I looked into his eyes. They were just like Angel's - a strange yellow. It was like there was oil floating on top of them, constantly moving ever so slightly from inside out. Have you ever looked at a mud fountain blobbing out an air bubble on its surface? That's how it was - only the mud was golden yellow.

  Something was different, though. The look in his eyes. Angel's had been pure cold evil. You could see she enjoyed her mental state, but in these eyes I saw... desperation underneath them. The eyes told me that the Nephilim within was drowning and calling for help.

  I looked into the eyes of the red-haired woman. The pulse in her orange wings was nervous, fast.

  "How long has he been infected?"

  "Four months now. He turned dark... two months ago. He fought it longer than usual."

  I looked at her again, and saw the same desperation there I had seen in the yellow-eyed man. She looked like someone who was trying to keep a grip on sanity, but underneath madness lurked.

  There was something much bigger at issue here than I understood.

  "Silver one..." the man said, "you are new, so you may not know..."

  "Tell me," I said.

  "These two made promises to each other, and thus became one."

  "Marriage vows?"

  "Yes, the Nephilim way. Not rituals only. They melted into each other in body and soul, and became one."