Son of Secrets

by N. J. Simmonds

  ‘Brainwashing?’ Luci snorted. ‘They are only people, Zadkiel. Humans come and go so much, it gets tedious. Who cares about them? Anyway, I don’t like the term “brainwashing.” I call it “dazzle.” It sounds much more glamorous that we are dazzling our way through life.’

  ‘Dazzle? That’s a crap word. I’m not using it.’

  ‘Well, up until a few weeks ago, I was the only one that could do it so I could call it whatever I wanted. Fine, call it brainwashing if it eases your conscience. But you can’t deny it’s very useful.’

  She was right. It was useful, but it still made him uncomfortable.

  ‘I don’t want to steal and lie for all of eternity.’

  ‘Oh, for fuck’s sake, Zadkiel. Don’t then! Get a fake ID and a proper job. Pay your taxes, moan about the weather, and go to IKEA on the weekend like every other unimaginative idiot on this planet. I couldn’t care less how you live your life, but you’d be a fool to settle for a boring human existence when you can have it all.’

  Luci picked up their empty cocktail glasses and returned to the beach bar. He could hear the sound of bottles clinking and ice being shaken in two metal cups.

  She was right. He could do anything now. It was time to get his head around a life without Ella. The original plan had never been to have a relationship with her. He’d done what he’d intended to do ever since their first meeting three-and-a-half years ago—he’d got her back on her path. She was with Josh, and she was happy. Plus, Luci had killed Sebastian, so she was also safer now. Perhaps Ella didn’t love Josh the same way she’d loved him, but she did love him. At least she’d lead a content life in ignorant bliss until it was time for her life to end. It was better that way. It had to be.

  He rubbed his face. So why did her happiness feel as sharp and painful as the sword Sabinus had driven through his heart?

  ‘Here, drink this,’ Luci said, handing him a bright blue drink.

  He downed it in one gulp and wiped his mouth on the back of his arm. Fine, he would listen to his mother and try to live a little.

  ‘You’re right, Mamá. We survived Mikhael, and he doesn’t know we exist. We should make the most of it.’

  ‘Survived? Nothing good ever comes from just surviving, Zadkiel. We rose again! We soared! We won! Surviving implies that we were once victims. I’m no victim.’

  Zac smiled. Life was certainly going to be interesting with his mother by his side.

  ‘It still feels like Mikhael won, though,’ he said. ‘Gabriel told me the Choir turned against him when I died. He’s losing control, and it’s making him angry. You know he was going to kill Ella? Death Eternal. Forever!’

  ‘He’s a cruel bastard, Zadkiel, and he’s capable of much worse than that.’

  ‘And we’re powerless to do anything!’

  ‘Actually, we’re not.’ Luci unclipped the necklace from around her neck and passed it to Zac. She then took off the two matching rings and handed them to him, too. ‘What do you see, son?’

  Zac turned the jewellery over in his hand, rubbing his finger over the angelic inscriptions on the back, thinking back to the day he’d done the same thing in Leo’s Spanish cottage.

  ‘I see amethyst stones, gold, and angelic script.’

  ‘Yes, but there’s more to it than that. I was shocked and relieved to see this chain around Ella’s neck today; I thought I had lost it forever during the Spanish Civil War. Long story. Anyway, this jewellery was made for me in 1613 by a Dutch witch named Marisse. She was a dear friend and a powerful Nephilim, fathered by the lesser angel Azantiel—do you remember him?’

  ‘Of course. He fathered quite a few secret Nephilim and was caught in the end. I was at his Judgement when Mikhael took his wings. He must have died, though, surely? Only we archangels survive having our wings removed.’

  ‘Yes, he’s dead. But he was killed not because he’d disobeyed Mikhael, as you all thought, but because he hated Mikhael and had discovered how to destroy Mikhael’s sword and render him powerless. Azantiel knew his end was near, so he told his daughter how Mikhael could be finished, and she in turn told me. In fact, it was all written down in a very old book. I lost the Book of Light years later to pirates…’ She looked down, swallowed, and then sniffed. ‘But I remember everything that was written inside it; we don’t need the book to perform the magic.’

  Zac’s eyes widened. If there was a way of taking the power away from his father, then Zac would be free to be with Ella and neither of them would be persecuted again. He could take her off her path, and she wouldn’t die as planned. They could live a normal life together until she died of old age years from now.

  ‘What did this Nephilim tell you? What was in the book?’

  ‘Well, it’s complicated. Practically impossible, actually. It involves three spells and six Nephilim. Spell number 666. Have you heard of it before?’

  ‘666? As in the number of the…?’

  Luci took a sharp intake of breath. ‘Don’t say it. Honestly, that fucking father of yours and his Devil lies. No, it’s not an evil number. In fact, 666 is the most powerful spell there is.’

  • • • • •

  Afternoon turned to early evening. Zac and Luci had drunk more cocktails and convinced a passing local to bring them some tapas from the hotel restaurant. While they ate, Luci explained everything there was to know about the power of the necklace and what they needed to do to end Mikhael’s reign.

  ‘So that’s why my father’s been killing Nephilim since the birth of Jesus—because they lead to his destruction?’

  ‘Exactly. If I hadn’t discovered his feather and mine hidden in our cottage in Fiesole all those years ago, the spell would be impossible. But we stand a chance now; everything has fallen perfectly into place.’

  It hurt to think of how close he’d once been to living a normal life in Tuscany with his precious Arabella. Thinking of that time pained him, but he’d never forgotten discovering those magnificent feathers the day his mother had disappeared.

  ‘They were yours and Mikhael’s? I never made the connection. I found them caught up in the jasmine plant the day you disappeared.’

  ‘You have no idea how hard I fought that monster when he came to take me away. I was so scared he’d find and kill you, too, son. Our fight was an ugly one and he won, taking my precious wings and throwing me half naked into the woods—leaving me for dead. Thank goodness some plumes were left behind.’

  ‘So they are inside the jewellery that was made to destroy him?’

  ‘Yes. I thought I’d lost the amulet and rings sixty years ago; I was convinced I was back at square one. Luckily fate is on our side and we have the feathers back. Now we just need one of yours.’

  Zac thought back to the glass frame beneath Ella’s bed and the large, fluffy white plume within it. Was he ready to start an angelic war?

  No, he wasn’t.

  ‘I don’t have a feather,’ he said.

  Luci smiled and held her son’s face in her hands. ‘But Ella did. I found it in her room when I took some of her clothes. Look.’

  She rummaged inside a large cloth bag she’d been carrying and produced a giant white feather that fluttered in the light breeze. His feather.

  ‘You stole from her?’

  ‘Oh, lighten up, will you! We have one part of the spell covered. We’re nearly there.’

  ‘But it was hers. She has nothing left of me now.’

  Luci waved her hands up and down as if his words were smoke.

  ‘You need to focus on us, son. You and me, that’s all that matters now. Move on.’

  Zac turned away from her. Is this what two thousand years alone did to a person? It turned them callous and insensitive? Or had she always been so cruel?

  ‘You had no right to take away her memory of me!’

  ‘No, I didn’t, but I’m playing the long game. If we win and get rid of that bastard father of yours, you will get her back anyway. If we manage it before her premature demise, that is.’
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  He got it now. Luci saw life as one big game; it was shining in her eyes. A ruthless game where having Zac all to herself, and getting her revenge on Mikhael, were the only prizes. Was she laughing at him? Did she find him ridiculous and weak?

  ‘What happens now that we have the feathers? What about the rest of the spell? The blood and Nephilim part is impossible.’

  ‘Nothing is impossible, Zadkiel. We just need to be patient. Let me see… We need the blood of three generations of archangels. Well, you and I bleed now that we are fallen, so if you were to have a child, we would have our third generation.’

  ‘Mamá, the only child I am ever prepared to father will be with Ella. Yet it won’t be in this lifetime, not while Mikhael is still on a Nephilim killing spree.’

  ‘You’re telling me you didn’t have sex with Ella in the library?’

  ‘No! Of course not!’ he cried, his face prickling with the shame of lying. ‘Anyway, why can’t you do it? Have another child and then wait for grandchildren.’

  Her face clouded over. She looked down at the glass in her hand.

  ‘You think I haven’t tried?’ she said quietly. ‘You think I haven’t lain with men, even those I despised, anyone that I thought could help replace the boy I once lost? I came close a few times…’

  ‘I didn’t realise,’ Zac mumbled.

  ‘Of course you didn’t because you only think of yourself. The only being that can get me pregnant on Earth is another archangel,’ she said. ‘Which is difficult to do when none of them know I’m still alive, and other than Gabriel they probably all still hate me. Even a Nephilim doesn’t hold the power to create an offspring that will survive.’ She swallowed and shook her head as if clearing away images from long ago. Then she smiled. ‘Mind you, after seeing how handsome Gabriel looked today, perhaps…’

  ‘Mamá!’

  Luci waved her hands up and down again, her face stony with concentration.

  ‘Fine, fine, whatever. You may change your mind about having a child one day. We can still do this. Since I learned about the spell nearly four hundred years ago, I have been plotting, taking notes, and studying the teachings of witches and angel experts so I could finally exact our revenge on your father. We have the feathers and most of the blood, but it’s the last part that concerns me. I just don’t know where we can find six Nephilim, seeing as you’re not prepared to make me some.’

  ‘Mamá, stop it! I won’t bring children into this world just so they can be your foot soldiers. Mikhael would kill them anyway.’

  ‘Well then, we wait until—by some kind of miracle—six Nephilim are conceived in one lifetime and we somehow find out about it.’

  It was Zac’s turn to smile. This could actually work. If he could help his mother find the Nephilim within eleven years, he could rid the world of Mikhael and his sword and save Ella. It was worth a shot.

  ‘Actually, there might be another way,’ he said, grinning at his mother. ‘Gabriel mentioned the Choir went crazy the year I died. They came to Earth and mixed with many women, although he wasn’t as delicate about describing it that way. Over the last two years, Mikhael has murdered most of the Nephilim born to these women, masking the deaths as natural or accidents. But I don’t think he knew about them all. Gabriel said many angels mixed the modern way, consensually and freely at music festivals, college campuses, and nightclubs. I believe it’s no longer frowned upon like it was when poor Mary had to escape to Bethlehem.’

  ‘What are you telling me, Zadkiel?’

  ‘What if Mikhael missed a few? What if there are little Nephilim toddlers running around right now?’ he said, thinking of Raphael’s children, but not daring to let his mother know everything. Not yet.

  Luci closed her eyes and smiled.

  ‘When you cut off your own wings, Zadkiel, you set in motion the beginning of the end for Mikhael—and you didn’t even know it! This is it, the reckoning we’ve been waiting for. Although, for the spell to work, we’ll have to wait until these children of shadows are at least teenagers. Until their eyes get bright.’

  ‘What? We haven’t got time to wait! We have to find them all within eleven years, before Ella dies.’

  ‘No!’ Luci shouted. ‘I will not steal a child away from its mother!’

  Zac leant forward and put his head in his hands. He was tired. Loving Ella was relentless and exhausting, and it would never be over. When would he ever get to the end of this perpetual chase? All he’d ever wanted was to be how they had once been on that one day by the stream in Fiesole, happy and relaxed and in love. If he could have gone back in time, he would’ve made that day beneath the fig tree last forever.

  ‘I have to be with her, Mamá. I need to change her path and stop her from dying. I can’t do that while Mikhael retains his power.’

  Luci looked at him with a strange expression on her face. Part puzzled, part amused.

  ‘Zadkiel, when I saw you with Ella, she had blood around her mouth. Was that her own blood?’

  ‘What does that have to do with anything?’

  ‘Just answer me.’

  ‘No. The blood was mine. I was injured, and when she kissed me some must have got in her mouth. Why is it important?’

  Luci smiled and walked back to the bar. She mixed more ice while humming a tune he recognised from his childhood.

  ‘My darling boy, I wouldn’t worry too much about having a deadline. I think we have more time than you could ever imagine.’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘I mean we finally have the answer to your question.’

  ‘What question?’

  ‘You asked whether I had a plan. Well, this is it: we’re going to destroy the King of Angels and get Ella back.’

  She handed him an elaborate cocktail complete with a paper umbrella and a cherry on a stick. She popped the cherry into her mouth and winked at him.

  ‘That bastard father of yours is going to wish he’d killed himself instead of us. It’s time for the fallen to rise again.’

  SIX WEEKS LATER

  FOUR HOURS INTO her flight to LAX, Ella’s mind had wandered back to her wedding day. She couldn’t help it; it was like a scab she couldn’t help picking. There was something not quite right about that day, but she couldn’t put her finger on it. She daren’t mention it to Josh again. She’d pondered over her feelings of unease so many times during their last few weeks together that he was beginning to think she was regretting their hasty wedding.

  But why couldn’t she shake off the feeling?

  For a start, there had been a rip in the lace sash of her wedding dress—one that had definitely not been there when she’d got ready that morning. As Ella had walked down the aisle toward her father, her mother beside her and gripping Ella’s arm proudly, she’d also noticed a red stain on the hem of her gown. It looked like blood, but how was that possible?

  The ceremony had been perfect, but she’d struggled to concentrate on her father’s beautiful words. Her head had been pounding, and she’d been distracted by a dark red mark running vertically down the golden crucifix behind him. She’d put her jitters down to wedding nerves and hadn’t mentioned her headache or any of her concerns to Josh, her friends, or her parents all day. It wasn’t until she’d heard Mai Li ask Felicity if there were any headache tablets at the hotel and then heard Leo mention during dinner that he’d been struggling with a migraine all day that she wondered whether perhaps they’d all eaten something bad at the restaurant the night before. Was it food poisoning that had made her feel so poorly?

  And what about the dark silhouettes on the balcony of the chapel? She could have sworn there were people in the shadows watching them. Had she been so ill she’d hallucinated? She asked her father and he said he hadn’t seen anybody, but Ella was sure someone had been up there. What if it had been Mikhael and his archangels searching for Zac? Or what if one of them had been Zac himself?

  Her stomach lurched at the thought of the angel. She’d waited for him throughout h
er entire wedding day. As she’d been getting ready, she’d expected to see his reflection in the mirror. As she’d stood in front of the altar, imagining him crashing through the heavy wooden doors to proclaim his undying love, her back had prickled with anticipation.

  Had she really wanted him to stop her?

  She loved Josh, but she knew deep down that getting married to him had been the ultimate test. Just like the night she’d thrown herself off the roof of the hotel and Zac had flown to her rescue, she was daring her soulmate to intervene. But this time he hadn’t. He couldn’t.

  As soon as Ella had said ‘I do,’ she knew she’d said goodbye to Zac forever. Whatever it was he’d attempted to do to save her life on that fateful night three years previous hadn’t worked. Mistakes did happen in Zac’s world. There were no miracles.

  ‘I can’t believe I’m moving to Hollywood,’ she said to Josh beside her.

  He grinned her favourite smile that showed the dimple on his cheek.

  ‘Are you worried? You know, we can always move back to Spain if you don’t like LA.’

  Ella shook her head. ‘No, I’m excited. We’ve talked about this; it’s easier for me to leave the hotel with my parents than it is for you to walk away from all those films you’re contracted to shoot. Oh my God, I’m married to a Hollywood actor. So surreal.’

  ‘You think this is surreal?’ He kissed her lightly. ‘Just wait until I tell the world you’re my wife. You’ll have to shut down your Twitter account because there’s going to be such a massive teen backlash.’

  He winked, and she laughed. She didn’t have Twitter or Facebook or any of that stuff anymore, and she couldn’t care less what the media said. There was nothing anyone could say or do anymore that would make her change her mind about Josh. The love they had for one another was fated; nobody could argue with that.

  Ella and Josh were the only ones seated in first class. An air hostess offered them a glass of champagne, but Ella shook her head. It was the first time she’d ever said no to free champagne; she was turning over a new leaf in more ways than one.