The Dark Ones

by Rachel Van Dyken

  My head was spinning with possibilities. The war had been going on for as long as I could remember, which by the way was quite a long time.

  I've been around since close to the beginning.

  The fall.

  When angels chose the human race as mates, they went against their creator and creation in order to please their carnal desires. Not the wisest of choices, considering the side they willingly chose meant certain death.

  Made my job that much harder. After all they were my family, my race. My entire heritage is evil. Try sleeping at night with that little piece of information plaguing you. My whole existence is basically Purgatory, fighting for Heaven while living in a personal hell. Really, it's great.

  My heritage was actually of the Nephilim, but by choice I lived the life of a Seeker, not a Phantom. We've lost many Seekers in the war, those who do so much for the price of freedom that they forget exactly who they are fighting for. The evil overtakes them like it so easily does our kind, and they are forever lost.

  My job as a fighter was to kill those who informed and those who threatened us. All together Headquarters had only about fifty of us who walked around killing. The rest pushed paperwork, or as Adonis strongly put it, "Sat on their butts all day and act like idiots." I didn't say we were perfect. The Greeks called us gods and demi-gods, the Romans followed suit, and modern day society would most likely call us freaks, vampires, or superheroes. You name it, we've been called it.

  Adonis constantly complained about the ones who refused to fight. Hercules was his biggest complaint, since he did nothing with his life except try to convince Hollywood producers to make another movie about him. He was an actor, always had been, but even he wasn't the worst. No, the worst had to be Achilles, ever since that, uh, incident, he'd walked around with a chip on his shoulder the size of the Grand Canyon. If and when we did see him, he was drunk. Nobody was really sure if he would go with anyone to Eden when everything was said and done. Not that it mattered, considering it could be thousands of years before we even got a glimpse of Heaven.

  Adonis pulled into the drive-through and ordered the usual: two cheeseburgers, three large fries, and water. For some reason, any sort of soda made Seekers drunk, as if we'd just had a barrel of rum.

  "Penny for your thoughts, Thena?"

  "You sure you want to know?"

  He lifted his perfectly-arched eyebrow and shook his head. "How long have we been doing this?"

  "Oh, please don't make me count the years," I grumbled, pulling out a hot fry.

  "Yes, reminding you of your age is a sore point. Sorry for forgetting. You know you can always go pout with Achilles if I'm aggravating you."

  "Not fair!" I yelled. "Do not pair me with him. Just yesterday Dionysus said the entire room was a pig sty from that guy. I don't see why he can't just get over it."

  "He lost the Trojan War and the woman he loved, Thena. People don't just get over things like that."

  I shook my head. "Yes they do. It's been over ten thousand years!"

  "Ah hah! See? I knew I could get you to mention age!"

  I threw my fry at his face and stuck out my tongue. "You never play fair."

  "I'm Adonis. Whoever said I'd play fair?"

  "Do you really need to remind yourself who you are over and over again? Yes, you are Adonis. Congratulations. People love you. Women swoon in your presence."

  "I thought the real estate agent was going to have a stroke." He passed me the water as I took a big gulp and tried to talk at the same time.

  "I could have sworn she was going to. You need to learn to back off sometimes. Humans aren't used to your…"

  "Perfection?" he offered.

  I threw another fry. "No, your presence."

  Adonis shook his head in disgust. "You'd think after all the movies Hercules has been in, they'd be used to it by now."

  "One." I held up my finger. "I think you're jealous. Two, eventually people are going to start noticing he doesn't age, so his film career is basically over, and three… well, three, the movies are kind of good."

  "If I have to see another Brad Pitt movie, I might go insane," he lamented.

  "Shh!" I swatted him. "You can't just go around using their names together.

  "Oh yes." Adonis's voice got quiet. "Because people will really believe me when I say an A-list movie star is really a Nephilim."

  I smacked him on the arm and took my cheeseburger out. "When do we have to be back to Headquarters?"

  "Ten minutes ago."

  I groaned. "Please tell me you're lying. We can't be late again, or they're going to give us the worst assignments!"

  He looked at me as if to say every assignment was the worst assignment, which is only partially true. In return, I gave him a pitiful "I hate getting into trouble" look.

  "Fine, let's go." He started the car in the direction of the Pike Place Market, downtown Seattle.

  CHAPTER THREE

  IT WAS ALWAYS AMUSING to watch Adonis in public. Women couldn't seem to help themselves. Yes, ladies, he looks like a god. Greeks used to worship him for a reason. Those were the things I couldn't say out loud, even though it killed me inside.

  Adonis loved the attention. He practically bathed in it. I, for one, got irritated by it. Men stared at me the way women stared at Adonis, but I knew what men thought when they gawked at my five-foot-ten form. It didn't help that my hair was pitch black and my eyes an odd shade of violet. My pupils tended to glow when I was upset, which, for a warrior like myself, was quite often.

  Headquarters usually forced me to wear sunglasses in public, since I was perpetually offended around humans. But what else would you expect from a warrior? I was always on the lookout, always looking at the shadows, watching and waiting.

  I hated to say it, but if someone was tall and attractive, I immediately found them suspicious. Not that every movie star and supermodel was a part of the fallen race, but a good many of them could be, and I didn't like taking chances.

  Adonis motioned for me to follow him as he walked against the crowds toward the pier. I trailed behind him and tried not to make eye contact. Cat calls and whistles continued to plague us as we made our way to the bottom of Pier 39.

  "Do you see anyone?" I asked, scanning the deserted pier.

  "We're safe, stop worrying." Adonis briefly touched my face again and kissed my mouth. I instantly wished he would stop.

  I hated feeling weak, like I needed him in order to survive.

  I was irritated that I was attracted to the one man I've been told by Headquarters not to get involved with. He knew it, I knew it. But Nephilim had more heightened emotions than humans; granted, we can control them better. It didn't mean we didn't feel. And well… it was hard to feel anything but lust when a man like Adonis was kissing you.

  "Let's go." He broke the kiss and pinched my cheek. I could feel the color flowing through my veins. I hated being weak after battle almost as much as I hated the fact Adonis didn't seem to have any feelings for anyone but himself. Yes, he cared for me like a sister, but I could almost guarantee he'd choose himself over me any day. Adonis, thy name is Vanity.

  "Are you talking to yourself and leaving me out again, Thena?" he asked as he pushed the elevator button.

  "Yes," I said, turning toward him. "Too bad you can't read minds."

  He grunted "I know you better than you think."

  If only that weren't so true.

  The elevator opened.

  In we walked, waiting for the bone-crushing plummet that would kill a normal person. Under the Puget Sound we go, to Headquarters, or as all Nephilim call it, Halcyon.

  My nails dug into the gloves I was wearing, nearly cutting off my circulation as the elevator plunged into the deep. After a few minutes, the doors opened.

  "Ah, home!" Adonis announced, spreading his arms wide open with glee.

  I felt like slugging him, but realized how childish it would be, considering I'm supposed to be a mature several thousand years old, or something
like that. I'd conveniently lost count.

  "And how was the trip?" Janus asked scribbling on a piece of parchment the exact time of arrival and what door we used to get to Headquarters. Seekers were asked to use the secret doors in a scattered manner, so we weren't followed.

  "Door Seven," Adonis said as we brushed past Janus, who was still squinting at the number on the elevator. Adonis grabbed my hand and led me down the hall.

  "You'll have to wait like the rest of them," Janus called out.

  I rolled my eyes. Janus was the gatekeeper and supremely annoying. It was like he needed to control people's comings and goings. It was the only job he actually had as a Seeker.

  The dude would die if he was sent out into battle. Sometimes I think he wanted to die. I'd probably want to die too, if I had to sit and watch doors all day.

  I turned and nodded my acceptance, then followed Adonis through the gold-encrusted doors into the giant hall.

  The rooms of Halcyon went on for hundreds of miles. The walls were thick-paned glass, making it possible to see out into the dark ocean depths but impossible to see in. It was our way of not feeling claustrophobic so deep into the sea. The Puget Sound was an impressive nine hundred and thirty feet at its deepest. Men didn't come down here, but if they did, they would be dead before they could reach air again.

  Other Seekers nodded as we passed them. Most were waiting for new assignments just like us. As we continued on, I noticed the white marble floors were darkening to a black. The only time that happened was when a Phantom visited. We didn't take them prisoner often, not unless they had information we needed. I, for one, didn't think it wise, but Ares led us all, even though I didn't trust him. I trusted Michael, the archangel we answered to. He reported to the Light. As Seekers, we owed the angels our allegiance.

  We walked by a few waiting warriors, including Hermes and Apollo, both of whom were giving us the signal to stop approaching Ares, but we never listened. Let me rephrase that: I never listened, and where I went Adonis followed. So to the front of the room we walked.

  "Ares?" I asked.

  His muscles tightened as he stretched to his full height, an impressive seven feet of pure warrior, and looked down at me with worry in his eyes. His normal uniform of pristine white was bloodied and torn.

  "Something happened, I gather?" I smiled, trying to lighten the mood, and looked to the side and saw Hermes bite his lip to keep from laughing. To the left, Aphrodite was shaking her head to warn me to stop talking.

  "Yes, you are correct, Athena. How wise you must be to gather such intimate knowledge…" His mocking tone irritated me.

  "Do you need us for something, brother?" Adonis asked.

  "We have one."

  "By one, I assume you mean a Phantom?" I said, bored that it was taking so long for the information to get out. The adrenaline of the fight was still itching in my bones.

  "He's in the hold," Ares confirmed.

  "And the information he has?" I asked, wondering why everyone seemed to be so uncomfortable.

  "In time," Ares said. "For now, our leader asks for you."

  "Michael?" I called him by his first name.

  I heard gasps and instantly regretted my familiarity. I've known him since my birth into this world. After all, our leaders needed to keep their enemies close, and technically I was daughter to the worst type of enemy known to mankind.

  Guess I left out a minor detail: the leader of the Phantoms was my father. His name was Shemyaza. He was the original — the one, who in a moment of pure genius, had decided to ruin the lives of many. He'd led over two hundred Watchers to the earth to mate with the females. He'd found himself entranced by their beauty. He was one of the few who had not been imprisoned in the Abyss after the Light discovered the deceit of the Watchers, or as humans called them, Titans. No, his punishment was to roam the earth with the Prince of Darkness. He ruled the Phantoms. His greatest desire was to free the Watchers from the Abyss, to restore humankind to the hands of evil, making it impossible for them to align themselves with Light.

  It was only natural for others to keep a close eye on me, considering I was known for my cunning battle plans and fighting. It seems I never lost. This translated into me being babysat more than usual, considering the Phantoms would have loved to have me fight for them. Tough luck.

  It might have been why I was so hard on myself. My family heritage would bum anyone out. It wasn't like I had the cards on my side; in fact, they were stacked quite heavily against me.

  Adonis squeezed my hand, and I followed Ares into the inner chambers where Michael resided.

  The room was full of so much light, it hurt my eyes.

  A glowing figure of the whitest snow was sitting behind the mahogany desk. The Light was the reason the Seekers wore white. Angels reflected the presence of El. We couldn't help but be a reflection of our Creator. We wore white to remind ourselves where our allegiance lay. When angels were present, darkness was cast out. All Nephilim had a healthy glow about them. It was enough of a difference that people took notice that we either had a really good skin regimen or something was somewhat off with our appearance.

  I tried to keep my bitterness at bay as memories of my past flooded my mind. Not that I personally had anything to do with the fall or choices made by my people, but it still didn't make me feel like I was good, even though I so desperately wanted to be.

  The large glass door shut, creating a vacuum-like seal behind me. I felt a whoosh of air as the room stilled. The light faded slightly as my eyes adjusted. And then I saw his face.

  It always made me want to cry.

  Sitting behind the mahogany desk was Michael, commander of the angels and our leader, the one who interceded on our behalf. We had been forever separated from El, not by our choices but by the choices of the Watchers.

  "Athena…" Michael's voice sounded authoritative, strong, and every bit like the stereotype Hollywood had come up with. It was deep, beautiful, and commanding. Unfortunately, within a few minutes, my walls came crashing down. Angels had a way of making others around them either burn with fear or fall down in worship.

  Phantoms always screamed and ran in the other direction. Seekers tended to have a sense of calm. I say it was a gift from God that angels didn't terrify us; it would be hard to pledge my allegiance to something I compared to the boogeyman.

  I wasn't sure if Michael actually wanted me to answer him, so I waited. The light faded until finally he seemed like just a menacing giant sitting behind the desk instead of a ray of sunlight.

  He still glowed, there was no doubt about that, but somehow he seemed… er, more approachable, if that was possible.

  "There has been a development," he said in clipped tones.

  Not good.

  "I gather it involves me?"

  "And your partner."

  Adonis tensed next to me. Gotta love his protectiveness; he hated seeing me in danger. Odd, considering I'm in danger every second of every day, but I loved him for it.

  Michael rose to his full height of ten feet and walked around the desk to face us. His movements were fluid and musical. It was rumored the angels could always hear the music from the heavenly throne. Every word spoken and every movement made was in perfect cadence with the heavenly song, the song of Eden.

  Michael had the usual sword belted at his waist. His long silver hair was tied at the nape of his neck with a golden strap. I never ceased to be amazed at how beautiful angels were. Sometimes I wondered if it made Adonis jealous that there were some creatures more attractive than him.

  Michael wasn't perfect, though; he had several battle scars along his arms, though they were what some people might call markings. Tiny golden flecks that represented different battles fought and won. To the naked human eye they were invisible — to us they weren't. I liked to think it made Phantoms nervous when they laid eyes on an angel like Michael, one so magnificent.

  His eyes glowed, changing colors, only reflecting what he saw. When it was dark, they tu
rned pitch-black; when he was facing light, they glow. If he was facing me, which he was right then, they turned violet to match mine.

  It was kind of wonderful.

  "We are ready," I said, once Michael was standing a foot in front of me.

  "You hesitated today," he said, putting his hand on my head like I was two feet tall — which I kind of felt like, considering he was so huge, his hand literally cupped my head like a baseball.

  Adonis stepped forward. "It was my fault. I was cocky, irresponsible. It won't happen again."

  "Your loyalty amuses me, for one who gives the appearance of loving himself above all others — your first love is really someone else entirely, isn't it?" My uncertain eyes flickered to Adonis, who chose that moment of all times to break eye contact and let go of my arm. So much for sharing all his feelings with me.

  I pushed down the stab of jealousy in my chest. The fact he'd pledged his heart to someone else kind of ruined my already crappy day.

  Michael ignored the sudden onslaught of tenseness between Adonis and me and continued on. "You are partners. You share equally in each success, each loss. You also share in the mistakes you make."

  He had us there.

  "It wasn't that you did anything wrong. The kill was flawless. The information you gained was much help for Ares today when he fought your father, Athena."

  I suddenly felt ill.

  "He's not…"

  I wanted to say he was not my father, but that was like denying the sky is blue. Yet I didn't want my identity to come from him.

  So instead I said, "You're more of a father to me, Michael. You know that."

  His smile warmed me instantly. A fire stirred in my heart. It was in those moments that I got a glimpse of what it would be like to be a full part of the angelic race. When someone I loved, someone I respected, warmed at my words, when we shared a moment of real intimacy, I, for a second, glimpsed what it must feel like to be a part of the Family of Light. Another reason I fought. I wanted so desperately to belong, to be a part of something.