***
“What happened to him?” Rose asked, as Christian finished his tale.
“Who?” he asked, absent-mindedly.
“Elijah.”
Christian paused, before smiling bashfully as he gestured towards himself with a wave of his hands. Rose looked to him, confused.
“I’m Elijah,” he said, slowly, not meeting her gaze.
“But… you’re Christian,” she stated, hesitatingly.
“I am,” he said. “But I was known as Elijah for a long time.”
Rose stared. “You changed your name?” she asked, “Why?”
“Because of you,” Christian smiled, embarrassed.
Rose frowned. “I don’t understand,” she admitted.
“I changed my name twelve years ago.” Christian chuckled at her expression as she continued to stare blankly. “Right around the time a little girl named her imaginary friend,” he prompted.
Rose gasped in surprise. “Really?” she asked “Why would you do that?”
Christian tightened his grip on her fingers, deep in thought. “I’d been alone for two-thousand years,” he said eventually, looking down at their joined hands. “Just observing, rarely interacting,” he smiled lightly. “Until you saw me,” he looked up to meet her eyes. “You spoke to me, reached out to me.” He shrugged. “You called me Christian then, and I wanted to be the one the words were meant for. I wanted to be the friend that you called to for protection,” he sighed, resting his head back against the wall. “You included me in your life – something that I’d never had before, and … it just felt,” he smiled, squeezing her hand in his. “Right.”
Rose stared, speechless, before reaching for him, wrapping her arms around his neck. Pulling him closer, she kissed him, hard, surprise and gratitude tumbling over her.
Christian smiled against her lips, drawing her against him as he kissed her back. She rested her forehead to his as his hands moved up to smooth her hair back.
“I never wanted this for you,” he said, quietly. “I watched the others, kept the secret. I did my job.” He shrugged. “But you are the only one I’ve ever truly wanted to keep safe.”
Rose stared in awe. “You’ve watched my whole family,” she shook her head in amazement. “For all those years… All those people,” she looked up sharply. “All those women.”
Christian chuckled at her apprehensive expression. “And yet, you are the only one to ever see me,” he placed his lips to hers reassuringly. They were silent for a moment, and Christian sought to soothe the confusing mix of emotions he could feel leaking from her, his hands tracing patterns in her skin.
“How does it work?” she asked, timidly, as another idea raised its voice in her head.
“What?” Christian’s hands trailed a line down her neck, momentarily distracting her.
“My Mother, she’s part of the bloodline,” she pulled back to look. “Is she the Archon too?”
Christian’s hands stilled on her collar bone, before they continued on their path. “No,” he said. “The Potential is passed down to each daughter of the line,” he shrugged. “Your mother would have lost her Potential when she had you.”
Rose processed this. “So, if I had a daughter?” she let the rest of the sentence hang in the air, unable to see that far into her future.
Christian shook his head. “The Prophecy will be realised with you,” he said, gently. “Your daughter – should you have one – would play no further part in this.”
Rose nodded, strangely grateful that any child she might have wouldn’t inherit the destiny that awaited her.
“What’s going to happen to me?” she asked, moving to rest her head on his shoulder, still cradled in his lap.
Christian sighed, his arms going around her protectively. As if he could save her from it all, just by holding her close.
“Now that you are aware of your potential, you’ll create a beacon of energy. A pulse which will draw others to you,” he brushed a kiss against the top of her head in comfort as she tensed. “Both factions will fight for you,” he said, resignedly. “And the ties to both sides of the Blood will grow stronger.”
Rose frowned. “They’ll fight for me?” she questioned, sitting back to face him.
Christian nodded. “Each side of your… parentage… will try to sway you to their cause,” he said. “Neither will stop until you swear fealty.”
Rose processed this. “So it’s… a custody battle?” she asked, trying to put it into terms she could understand. “Divorced parents, fighting over their child?”
Christian smiled at the analogy. “Essentially, yes,” he said.
“But I can’t do anything,” Rose exclaimed, frustrated, pushing her hair out of her eyes. “How can I protect myself?”
Christian smiled tightly. “I’ll teach you how. We can start working on figuring out what you can do, how you can protect yourself,” he shrugged.
“Should I do that?” she asked. “Isn’t that what will draw them to me in the first place?”
Christian tipped back his head against the wall in frustration, staring up at the ceiling. “You don’t have a choice,” he said, letting out his breath in a rush. “Not now.” He lowered his gaze to meet hers, his eyes tight. “The Bond will strengthen regardless of your abilities,” he said. “They will find you.” He reached out and cupped her face in his hands. “I’d rather you use what you have to protect yourself than be left defenceless when the time comes.”
“But you’ll be there,” Rose said, quietly. “When they come.”
Christian pulled her tight. “I’ll be there,” he confirmed, resting his chin on the top of her head. “I’ll always be there,” he pulled her back to look her in the eye. “It’s just a precaution,” he said. “Just in case.”
Rose nodded, knowing that it made sense for her to learn what she could. “What can you teach me?” she asked, unable to think of anything that might help.
Christian frowned. “You’ll be able to jump from place to place like I do,” he shrugged. “Other than that, I don’t know,” he said. “We’ll have to figure it out as we go along.”
Rose smiled enjoying the idea of being able to teleport from place to place like he could. “So I’ll have powers?” she giggled. “Like a superhero?”
Christian chuckled. “That’s one way of looking at it.”
“Why didn’t you say so?” Rose grinned. “Let’s get started.”
***
Ben stared in shock as she finished telling him and Ana what she’d learned.
“Do we have to bow or something?” Ben asked, his eyes wide and his mind blown.
Rose grinned. “Yes.”
Christian chuckled as he returned with a tray full of tea. “No.”
“Don’t spoil my fun,” Rose admonished, as he handed her a mug.
Ana, who had been very quiet up until that point, spoke up. “Is that why Rose’s aura has changed?” she asked, looking to Christian.
He nodded, sitting down next to Rose on the sofa. “It will darken. Eventually it will be purple, the colour of royalty.”
Royalty. The word thundered through Ben’s chest. Rose was God’s daughter…
“I’m still me, Ben,” Rose said, leaning forward to cover his hand with hers. “That won’t change.”
Ben’s eyes flicked to her face in distrust, his heart stuttering. “Did you just read my mind?” he managed to say, pulling his hand out from under hers.
Rose shook her head. “I can’t read your mind,” she said. “But… but I can pick up on your emotions.” She looked to Christian for support. “Christian showed me how to do it.”
Ben held her gaze. “What are my emotions telling you?”
Rose looked at him, really looked at him, her eyes as familiar to him as his own. “You’re afraid of me,” she said sadly, looking down at her lap.
Christian’s arms reached around her in comfort and Ben’s brow crumpled, torn between wanting to deny it, and not wanting to lie t
o her.
“It’s okay,” she said, unable to look at him. “I get it.”
Ana leaned forward then, and punched Ben on the arm. “Don’t be stupid,” she admonished, as he turned to her in surprise, rubbing the spot she’d hit. She took his hand, reaching for Rose’s and twining them together. “She’s your best friend,” she said, seriously.
Rose looked to Ana, smiling tightly, as Ben tried to sort the myriad of thoughts cluttering up his mind into some kind of order.
He knew Rose. They’d shared every experience together, every fear, every accomplishment, every laugh, and every tear. He knew each part that made up the whole of her, every measure of her soul.
Except this. This secret, hidden, superhuman part that he’d never found, never looked for, never even dreamed could exist. The thought left him hollow, doubt slithering through his chest with the realisation that, if this colossal part of her had been hidden for so long, what else would she discover? What other parts might he find in his friend that would fill him with a nameless dread, like this Archon did? Would there ever become a time when he was afraid of the one person in the whole world who he trusted entirely?
The idea made him cold, barely feeling as Rose tugged on his hand, reaching her other arm out to him. She pulled him into a hug, holding him tight.
Ben let her, jaw clenched against the desire to somehow rip this new part away from her, to keep her safe from it, protected, wrapping her suddenly into his arms as if he could keep it from finding her.
He met Christian’s gaze over her shoulder, finding new understanding in his keeping the truth from Rose for all this time. In the blinding light of hindsight, Ben wished with all his being that he had trusted her Guardian with his secrets.
“Sorry,” he mumbled into her shoulder, breathing in the familiar honey-and-sunlight scent of her. Sorry for what, he didn’t know yet, only that this awakening, this revelation of Rose’s heritage, felt like the beginning of something. Something bigger than he could have ever imagined.
She squeezed him briefly, before letting him go, understanding in her gaze.
Ana crawled into his lap as Rose returned to her seat beside Christian. Ana’s arms went around him as she kissed him on the cheek.
“Silly thing,” she said, grinning. There was no sign of the anguish he felt in her eyes, no fear – only acceptance, and even excitement.
“It’s alright for you,” he said, softly, settling her against him more comfortably, entirely grateful for her steady presence. “You’ve dealt with this sort of stuff your whole life.” He shrugged, trying for nonchalance. “It’s weird.”
An understatement – perhaps the biggest ever to be spoken, but all he could bring himself to utter.
“You’re not kidding,” Rose smiled tentatively at him as Christian pulled her closer.
“So what else can you do?” Ana asked, the green of her gaze shifting over to Rose. “Other than the emotion thing?”
“Nothing yet,” Rose shrugged. “We only figured that out this morning,” she frowned. “I don’t seem to be very good at controlling it.”
Christian huffed at her impatience. “You’ve had less than a day of knowing that you even could,” he said. “And don’t forget, I can only sense you. You’ve figured out how to reach everyone.” He smiled, reassuringly. “It’ll come.”
“How far can you go?” Ana asked. Her tone was speculative, intrigued as she leaned forward in Ben’s lap.
“What do you mean?”
“Emotional state tends to sit on the outer shell of most people’s consciousness,” Ana explained, “which is why I can read them through their auras. You’ve not really done anything more than brush the surface of our minds.”
Ben turned to Rose, watching her frown as she understood what Ana was asking.
“You want me to … go into your head?”
Ana’s shrug had Ben tightening his grip around her.
She shot him a soft look before replying, “Don’t you want to know if you can?”
Rose looked to Christian who pursed his lips, doubt etched on his features, and Ben felt a rush of relief wash over him, glad he wasn’t the only one concerned by the idea.
Rose flicked a glance his way, her expression sad, and Ben remembered too late, that she would see his apprehension for what it was.
This was Rose, he reminded, so he steeled himself before saying, “Try it on me, first.”
Rose looked up again, and he held her gaze.
“Are you sure?”
He knew she would feel his lingering unease, his resolve to overcome it, as he nodded. “I trust you. Besides,” he added, forcing a smile, “I’ve got nothing in here,” he tapped his head, “that you don’t already know. Nothing to hide.”
His smile faltered as her eyes shuttered, and he realised the double meaning behind his words, but she took a breath, her shoulders squaring, preparing herself.
Ana moved from his lap, giving him space as he did the same, bracing for the feel of her in his head as she closed her eyes, his heart hammering in his chest.
It was worse than he could have imagined, that first brush at the edge of his consciousness. A gentle stroking, alien thing that caressed the inside of his skull. He winced, trying hard not to recoil from the intrusion, not to run from the tendrils that curved and coiled their way through his thoughts.
But there was no way to run, he realised, as sweat dripped down his suddenly locked spine. His most private space, his sanctuary, violated, and there was nowhere to go, nowhere he could hide –
The tendrils disappeared with an almost audible snap, and Rose reached out to him.
“Ben, I’m so sorry,” she exclaimed, her hands reaching up to his face, her worried eyes searching his. Ben realised he was shaking the moment she did, and pulled out of her grasp, standing up and crossing to the window, focusing on the rain that dripped down the panes to slow his heart, quiet the roaring in his ears.
Rose stood, intending to follow him, and in the reflection of the glass, Ben watched Ana stop her, shaking her head, before she moved to join him at the window.
“I’m fine,” he told her, before she could ask. He turned to face her, rearranging his expression, hiding the echo of panic that lingered in his veins. “Just a little spooked.”
“What happened?” Ana asked, as he returned to the chair he’d vacated, standing behind it, hands resting on the edge.
“It was my fault,” Rose uttered, so much hurt, guilt, in her tone. “I was so focused on getting in, that I didn’t pay attention to what it did to you.” She stared up at him, blue eyes shimmering with tears. “I’m so sorry,” she said again.
“It’s alright.” Ben shook his head, swallowing down the last tremor of horror that flitted across his skin. He could see it in her eyes, knew she’d felt every second of his panic, that she’d been the reason for it and his heart ached at the remorse in her expression. It was just Rose, he reminded himself, as he remembered the slithering sensation in his mind. Not some alien thing – Rose. “But –” he hesitated, unwilling to voice his desire to leave. To get away.
Thankfully, Ana understood.
“I think we’ll leave you to it for a bit,” she said carefully, “Give Ben a chance to work it out.” She gathered up their things, whilst Ben met Rose’s gaze in apology. She sent him a weak smile, letting him know she understood, but he still felt horrible as Christian pulled her into his arms, holding her tight as Ana ushered him out the door.
“It’s alright,” he heard him say, “You can try it on me, and Ben will come back later –”
Before the door snicked shut.
18
Rose wandered through the streets of Cambridge, looking up at the ever darkening sky in concern. She’d spent most of the day in the Grafton shopping centre, having met with Louise and Toni for a late afternoon coffee and a movie, before returning back to campus, taking the shorter route through the little park known as Christ’s Pieces.
She picked up her pac
e as she made her way along the deserted path, flanked on either side by tall lime trees, their foliage rustling in the growing winds. The sky rumbled ominously, threatening rain at any moment.
Brightly coloured leaves whipped around her in the cold wind and she pulled her scarf closer round her neck, wishing she’d thought to pick up a jacket on her way out that morning.
As she walked, she spotted two men heading along the path towards her, notable in that they were the only other people out on this gloomy afternoon. They were dressed in light tee-shirts and jeans, yet neither seemed affected by the cold.
Rose, lost in her thoughts, thought nothing of it until she absent-mindedly checked the colour of their aura’s, as had become habit since her recent discovery, and stopped dead in her tracks. Black.
Her heart stuttered in her chest as she considered her options. On one hand, they didn’t seem to be concerned with her, chatting quietly as they made their way down the path. On the other, she was the Archon – supposedly sending out a signal that would draw them to her. Could she risk walking past them?
Realising that turning and heading back the way she had come would draw attention and that she had no other option, she slowly made her feet move, continuing towards the college. Adrenalin hissed through her veins, and she wondered why she’d not felt Christian yet. Usually, he’d appear at the first irregular thump of her heart. She missed the comfort that knowing he was near brought her.
As the men drew close enough to see her expression she quickly fixed to it what she hoped was a look of nonchalance, and did her best not to quicken her steps.
One of them, fair haired with bright green eyes, smiled casually, but Rose caught his changing expression as they passed. She kept on walking, fighting the urge to look back, but her body betrayed her by sneaking a glance as the first drop of rain hit her face. They had stopped and were looking back to her with confused expressions.
“Crap,” Rose muttered, her heart taking off in her chest as she picked up her pace. She controlled her body’s urge to run, knowing that would give her away more than anything, chanting Christian’s name in her mind in the hope that he would hear her.
Revelation: Trinity Part 1 Page 20