“No.”
“You hold my heart in your hands. Here, drink from me for you have lost much tonight.” Jacob holds his wrist up to Malachi. I wonder why he does not pierce the skin first.
“No, it will weaken you.”
“Drink. You need your strength to protect her,” Jacob orders as he pushes his wrist to him again. Malachi takes the offering in his mouth and somehow drinks the powerful life source into his body. I see pure white wings spread out across the night. I look into Malachi’s eyes, and they are glowing crystal blue. I shiver at the sight of him. A blue light radiates over his body and covers him like an orb. He drinks until satiated.
“That’s better. Now go.” Jacob closes his wounds and lightly touches my face. “I will see you soon. He is your Guardian, your protector. He will die if he must. You must not interfere. You are still a child in the ways of our people. Malachi, teach her what you must.” Jacob removes his shirt and transforms. His black wings are much larger and help to disguise him against the night air. He spreads them out and ascends into the sky. Before I can even speak, he is gone.
Chapter 4
“Come.” Malachi turns to me.
“What are you?” I ask. “I tasted your blood. You are no Vampire.”
“But I am not human either. We can talk later. We will have plenty of time alone together in the tunnels.” He picks me up in the cradle of his arms. I am surrounded by his blue glow as well.
“Can’t you turn that light out? It’s like a beacon pointing us out in the night.”
“No, I cannot. It’s a protective shield. Only those who have had my blood can see it. Do not worry. I know what I am doing.” He leaps off of the ground as I hold onto his neck and shoulders. I wonder what time it is, and how long Jacob is going to be gone. I feel like we should be following him and not hiding in a mountain cave.
Malachi circles a large building and heads across the field towards the large lake-like pond. I see a large well to the north, and we head that way. He rises above the well and folds his wings around me. He then falls toward the earth in a spiral. I start to scream, but he clamps my mouth shut. We descend rapidly into the black hole before he opens his wings and glides gently to his feet. I am shaking slightly in his arms. I look around and see tunnels emerging in different directions.
“We are deep within a wine cellar. This part has been shut down for decades. No one on the staff knows about it, only the Guardians, Jacob, and his sister. My quarters are down this way. I thought we could walk the rest of the way. It would give you a chance to ask some questions.”
“What are you?” I ask the most important one first.
“I am neither alive nor dead. I walk the world in between, not here or there. I am a Guardian. We are made up of Angels and Demons. We are protectors of Vampires, among other things. You have always been mine and I have always been yours.”
I stop and look at him. “Are you a Demon?”
“What do you think?” He laughs. “Some of us are, but no I am an Angel, a Fallen, a cast-out. I have been alive since the beginning of time.”
“Who is Jacob’s Guardian?” I ask.
“Charles.”
I wish I didn’t know. “He is a Demon,” I say as a statement and not a question.
“Yes, but what makes you think that?”
“He did awful things to me.” A tear falls from my eyes.
Malachi does not wipe it away when he looks at me. I want him to hold me and comfort me as my eyes start to leak uncontrollably. I step towards him, but he backs away. “No,” he says. “We should keep moving. The doors are hidden along that rock wall.” His light stings as he grabs my hand and leads me several yards up ahead. My fingers start to tingle and the sensation crawls slowly up my arm. Pressing a rock until it clicks, he rotates it and a disguised door slides open. He leads me inside. The room is dark with only his blue orb lighting the blackness. He walks over to a table and picks up a box of matches, then lights the torches along the walls. He folds in his wings and retracts his blue aura back inside his center.
He grabs some large pillows from the bed and throws them against the wall before taking a seat upon them. He motions me to come and sit down between his legs. I hesitate, but only for a moment. I take my seat on the pillow and lean back against his bare chest and abdomen. I notice that his skin no longer tingles against mine as his arms surround me and hold me. I am safe. I am protected.
“How long have you been my protector?” I ask, remembering that he said I was always his.
“Since you were born. Everyone has an Angel and a Demon assigned to them. We fight over your soul. I won my right to guard you. From that day, I have been by your side. I could tell you everything about yourself, but Jacob was advised to let you remember on your own, so I stayed silent. The mind is very fragile. One wrong move and we could cause you irreversible damage. Jacob’s Angel and Demon coexisted for centuries, taking their turn to be with him, but then Charles got greedy. Jacob has to fight with his morality every day. I am afraid for his soul. I felt a great darkness descend upon him last night.”
“Charles was tortured for what he did to me, and I think Rebecca betrayed us.”
“You should not harm her. What was her betrayal?” he asks me. I tell him about almost burning in the morning sun. I tell him that I do not know how she got into my room to steal the remote.
“Rebecca is a Vampire, turned by Jessica, but she is also a witch. She didn’t have to enter your room to get the device. Her black magic could have done that for her. She has been with Jacob for over two hundred years.”
“How long exactly?” I ask.
“Two hundred and twelve, why?” he asks as he figures it out for himself. “I should have seen it. Merlin did not put the sleeping spell on you. Rebecca did.” His arms hold me tighter as my blood begins to boil. I shake in my anger. I want to kill her.
Malachi lights up like a bright wattage bulb. “No,” he says, “come back to me. You must not harm her.” I feel his caress and warmth touching my body. I wonder if his hands would feel electrified against my bare flesh. “Why have I never seen you in all those years before tonight?”
“You cannot see Angels or Demons when you are…”
“Alive?” I finish the sentence for him.
“Yeah, something like that,” he says as he kisses the top of my head.
“And you’ve never left me?” I ask.
“Only once. When he began to transform you. I couldn’t stay and watch. I left. I could not find you when you were in your deep sleep either. My heart was breaking for you, for the life that was being depleted. If I had been strong enough to stay and watch then I would have been there to stop that Demon, Charles, from attacking you. I’m sorry.” He raises his hand and pushes my hair behind my ear with his fingers. I feel his skin touch mine. I am crying again. This time he wipes away my tears.
“Do you love me?” I ask.
“Always,” he says.
“Even after what I have become? Even though we can never be together?”
“Always,” he repeats.
I want to change the subject. This one is becoming too serious. “Tell me about the first Vampires.”
“There are many adaptations to the story, but I have seen the beginning with my own eyes. I was there. I had not yet fallen. My duty was to protect His body as He died. I failed. A Demon drew my attention away. While I was fighting with him until the death, a man snuck up the hill and kissed the feet of my Savior. His everlasting life is found in His blood. As soon as the man swallowed the blood, I knew I had been tricked. I ran to slay the man, but I was stopped by my Lord. He cast me out for my failure, or for my thoughts of murder—either one is a sin. Then He uttered a curse upon the man before He died:
Your teeth shall be as poisonous as the serpent
Never to see the sun again
You shall roam in eternal darkness
Forever to drink blood to remind you of your sin.”
Malachi cont
inued. “Only with evolution and the help of Demons did Vampires grow into what they are today. That is why the Fallen became involved, to try to repair the souls of the damned.”
“I’m sorry,” I say.
“For what?” he asks.
“For what that Demon made you do.”
“I never should have left my post. My eyes were to be on Him at all times. The Demon was my temptation, and I failed. I will not fail again.”
“I know.” I don’t know why, but I lean back and kiss his soft lips. He pulls me up into him and returns the favor. My lips tingle with his touch. His hand reaches forward and cups my face. I am startled by the jolt. He is getting warmer and his light is shining all around us. I rise up away from him and take off my jacket. I want to feel his hands on me. After turning to face him, I take his lips with mine once again. We are breathless. My body is shivering in his hands. I mold into him as he rubs my bare back. My desire is burning brighter than his skin. I reach below for the button of his pants. He pushes me away.
“No.”
“I’m sorry,” I say. “I don’t know why I am so drawn to you.”
“It’s natural at first. We will have to work at restraint. It will get easier with time, if Jacob does not kill me first.”
“Jacob,” I say and stand up. “What am I doing? I am married now. We can’t do this.” I feel anxiety wash over me.
“It’s all right. I said it is to be expected. He was fond of his Angel too.” Malachi looks away, but it is too late.
“Who is she?” I stare at him.
“Deborah, but she is gone now.”
I breathe in and out loudly. “He said he never loved her.”
“I never said that he did. I said he was fond of her. She lost her soul to her Demon lover. She wanted Jacob to transform her so she could change her lover too. She blackmailed him into changing her, but she didn’t know that a new Vampire cannot turn someone else for at least a few years. She tried to force Jacob to do it for her. When he refused, they sought to kill him. He was warned to let the Committee deal with them, but he struck them down in his anger.”
“Why didn’t he tell me about all this?”
“I guess you needed to know about our existence in your own time.” Malachi stands up. I see that the front of his pants is strained by his hard erection, and I look away quickly. He shakes his legs out one by one.
“I’m sorry about that,” I say.
“It’s all right,” he says. “I know better. Kyle would be dead if he had unzipped his pants.”
“Why didn’t Jacob just choose you to start with, if you are mine and all that?”
“He knows of the attraction first-hand. He was scared and rightly so. Here, please put my jacket back on. You’re cold.” He scoops it up off the floor and offers it to me. I look down at my chest and see that I am indeed a little chilly. I try to take the coat from his hands but he tells me to turn around. I do and he places it over my shoulders, but as he does this, I feel a sharp pain in my skull. I fall to my knees, grabbing my head.
“What is it? What’s wrong?” Malachi squats down behind me.
“It’s Jacob. He needs me.”
“No, you can’t go to him. He doesn’t want you to. I’ve had his blood too. I know what is happening. You have to stay here. It has been ordered.”
“You knew this was going on. Why did I not know until now?”
Malachi stands and lifts me gently to my feet. “He has been blocking you. I imagine he can no longer. He needs his energy and strength now.”
“Why? What is happening?” I ask.
“He is in too much pain.”
“If we can sense him does that mean that he knows what we’re doing, that we kissed?”
“Yes,” he says as he looks at me.
“And you knew that he would feel it?”
“Yes,” he comments as he looks away.
“He’s being tortured.”
“I know.”
“You have to save him,” I beg.
“I am your protector, not his.” He raises his voice to me.
“Then as my protector, you will have to follow me?”
“Yes, but it is too close to dawn. We need to wait until nightfall.”
“Jacob could be dead by then. Are you not stronger during the day and Demons weaker?” I do not know how I know this, but I do.
“Yes,” he says.
“Then we leave now and attack at sunrise.”
“Maybe your plan will work. They will not expect us.” He cocks his head side to side, popping his vertebrae. “He doesn’t want you involved.”
“Too late.” I march over to the door and try to open it. He comes up behind me and helps with my struggle. The door opens.
“We do it my way or I bring you back here, agreed?”
“I can live with that,” I say.
“I hope so. I hope I can restrain myself when the time comes.” He grimaces, and I hear his flesh rip and his bones separate. His mighty wings emerge, and he envelops me quickly as he jumps into flight. I keep my eyes open this time. It seems to help with the nausea. We escape through the well in record speed. I look over his shoulder and see the sky is starting to lighten. I cling to his neck, hoping to stay in his shadow. He banks left to avoid a few early workers making their way up the long narrow drive. We are almost to the large house. I wonder what he has planned.
He flies straight up towards the sky. The sun breaks through the tree line as we rise up to meet it. I feel the heat bearing down on us. I try to scream but he covers my mouth. Higher and higher he climbs, always keeping his back to the sun. I am protected. He spreads his massive wings out, and we hang in the air longer than I think possible. The ground seems like miles away. I look down and see a multitude of chimneys. He is going to drop down one of them just like he did into the well. I close my eyes for a brief moment. His wings surround my body in a tight tunnel. We fall, spinning feet first, towards the roof. His hand never leaves my mouth. His other arm presses me tightly to his chest. The feathers of his embrace feel almost on fire. He is glowing from the sun. That is where that light comes from.
We breach the chimney top and fall a hundred feet or so to the hearth. Our speed breaks through the concrete slab. Dust and debris fly among us as he lands in the dungeon below. He hits hard, but I do not feel the jar. I am still safe in his wings, but he does not uncover me. I cannot see my Jacob.
“Malachi, you come looking for a fight.” Charles’ voice burns through my mind. “All to save your love’s husband. Why don’t you just let me finish him and then you can have her all to yourself? I know you will enjoy her. I certainly did.”
I hear an awful sound coming from inside Malachi’s chest, and then I hear the pop of his fangs against my neck biting my flesh. I did not know Angels had fangs. He is drinking me dry. I feel his satisfaction and desire with the taste of my blood. He must will himself to stop. When he said that he hopes he can restrain himself, this must be what he meant. I feel a dull sensation wash over me, and I cannot move. Opening his wings, he helps me down to the ground. I lay there immobilized. I see Jacob straining against his chains, calling my name and cursing Malachi.
“It is a crime punishable by death to harm the person you vow to protect.” Malachi is addressing Charles.
“You should talk. Look at her. You bled her almost to death, so sweet the temptation. Once you have a taste, you’ll never be satisfied. She may die by your hands.” Charles tries to get him to avert his attention to me, but it doesn’t work.
“She will live. You will die.”
Charles picks up a sword and runs at Malachi. Malachi spins around, opening his wings like helicopter blades. I see sharp spears protruding from past his wing tips and slice through the air, cutting Charles’ neck and shoulder. He is down but he is still breathing.
“Release me,” Jacob bellows. Malachi reaches into his wings and throws two daggers quickly at Jacob. I want to scream. Each dagger pierces the silver chains attached
to each manacle on his wrist. Jacob is free. He grabs a dagger from the concrete wall and charges towards Charles and knocks him down, the dagger pressed to his throat.
“Jacob, no, this is not the way. You must fight this evil you feel.”
“My soul is not yours to protect. I’ve killed before. I have no problem doing it again,” Jacob hisses through his teeth.
“In front of her?” Malachi asks as he pierces me with his glowing blue eyes.
“Yes, I do not hide from her. She knows who I am.”
“Only an Angel can kill a Demon and vice versa,” Malachi admits. “Leave him to me.”
“Then what?” Jacob asks.
“A committee will decide. If he is ordered to death, only then can he be slain.” Malachi walks over to me. I can hear and see everything, but I still cannot move.
“But I killed Deborah and Saul,” Jacob says. “I saw them turn to ash.”
“They are not dead, only banished.”
“Then Charles, I grant you your life once more.” With that said, Jacob raises the dagger above his head.
“Think of what you are doing,” Malachi warns him.
Jacob drives the blade into Charles’ heart. Charles’ scream echoes across the dungeon and escapes up the hole in the chimney and fills the mansion. Malachi places his hand upon my forehead and whispers words that I do not understand. Then he extends his hand to me. I take it and he pulls me to my feet. I can move again.
“I’m sorry that I drank from you without your consent. I needed the strength in your blood, and I wanted to keep you anesthetized so he didn’t figure you to be a threat. But I fear this was indeed a setup. He did not even put up a fight.”
“I feel like you almost killed me,” I admit.
“I easily could have. Your blood is like no other I have tasted. We are warned from drinking from our charge. I apologize.”
“I forgive you,” I say as Malachi raises the back of my hand to press against his lips. Jacob walks over to us. He is covered in gore, with silver pieces protruding from his body. He is yanking them out one by one. Malachi gives my hand to Jacob and steps away.
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