The hulk flexed his biceps, and I choked. “But Godric needs to use the blade.”
“That prophecy is uncertain,” the snakelike man snapped. “Kill her now, and to be sure, we can drive the blade through her corpse later.”
It was pointless to struggle. The man behind me felt like a marble statue, his enormous strength apparent in every tiny movement. My death might be seconds away.
But I was a survivor.
I wasn’t strong, but I wasn’t stupid either. I knew I had to stall them. Alex and Nate could be here in a heartbeat—a second’s delay could mean life, or my death. All I had to do was throw these fanatics off course.
What would confuse them? I thought quickly and decided to pretend to speak in tongues.
I took a huge, shuddering breath, and let myself exhale, uttering a stream of garbled nonsense. For effect, I rolled my eyes back in my head and jerked in the hulk’s arms, and then called out again, repeating the same nonsense words, over and over and over.
The thin man’s head snapped up. “What is she saying?” he whined. “Is she speaking Substrata? Is it part of the Venetian prophecy?”
The man behind me grunted in confusion. “We need Godric here to translate. It might be important.”
My diversion was working. I jerked twice in the hulking man’s grip, and called out again.
Suddenly, I felt the wind brush my hair at my back, and I knew instinctively what was coming. Instantly, I went limp, pretending to faint. The man let me drop; I crumbled to the ground, curled myself into a ball, and braced myself.
Alex stormed out of the trees, and I heard the crack as he hit both men with his fists. The thin one went flying back; he hit a tree trunk and fell to the ground. The big man was heavier; he didn’t fly, but rolled a few yards away. But both of them were on their feet, snarling, within seconds.
I peeked out through my hair and saw Alex, his fists clenched and his eyes blazing. He faced both men and roared.
Even in my terror, I was transfixed. There has never been a vision so perfect than of Aleksander Sorensen, standing strong and tall, his shoulders broad; a young Nordic god, flexing his muscles, uncurling his fists, and waving the two assassins forward. I was mesmerized by the power surging through his limbs and the perfect, bloody rage on his face.
While I was staring in wonder at Alex, another gust of wind blew in, and suddenly I was flying. The trees whipped by and I had to squeeze my eyes shut to block out the sting of the air. Gentle hands held me in a careful grip, and I realised I was nestled up against Nate’s chest.
Through tiny slits of my eyelids, the colors around me changed from green, to red, to black. The air around me cooled. Nate slowed his pace, and my stomach suddenly lurched as we seemed to fall straight down.
But we weren’t falling. Nate was still running fast, but we were going down a steep incline. My stomach turned again as I realized where we were going. I kept my eyes shut tight.
Nate slowed to a walk. “Eve,” he said urgently. “Are you okay?”
“No,” I muttered, my eyes still glued shut.
“Are you hurt? Did they hurt you?”
“No,” I repeated, gritting my teeth. “But why the hell would you bring me down here?”
He sighed in relief and set me down on my feet. “I forgot that you don’t like the caves.”
“I don’t not like the caves,” I said, crouching down on the rocky, uneven floor and looking around. I didn’t recognize where we had stopped, having never been farther than the cave’s entrance. It was a smaller pocket, so we weren’t in the main crystal cavern or in any of the well-lit tunnels. We must be a bit farther down in the system. “I hate the caves,” I said forcefully, trying to rid myself of my anxiety through my words. “I feel like I’m going to suffocate down here.”
It was more than that. I could feel pain and misery in here. And it wasn’t mine. But I didn’t want to bring that up with Nate right now.
“Do you want to go back up?” Nate asked me, without even the tiniest hint of sarcasm or reproach. “I brought us down here because the tunnels would give us good ground to be able to take out those… those…”
I looked up at Nate. “Men?”
He was frowning deeply. “I don’t know.”
“They are men, Nate. But they’re strong.”
“They smell like men,” he admitted. “They act like half-breeds.”
I pulled my knees to my chest and hugged them with both arms, a sick feeling in my gut. “Will Alex be okay?”
Nate gave me the ghost of a smile. “He’ll be fine. Why do you think that it was me that took you away, instead of Alex? He’s the best fighter I’ve ever seen. The two men who grabbed you on the path won’t last long. He might just be attempting to get information out of them.”
I felt a warm rush of relief. “Why are we hiding, then?”
Nate frowned again. “There’s four more. Not including the one they called Godric, who was the first to grab you. I thought it best to get you somewhere safe, so we can regroup. We can funnel them around in the tunnels, take them out one by one.”
“Good plan.” I rested my head on my knees for a second. It was so cool down here, I could feel goose bumps rising on my skin. “Can I make a suggestion?”
Nate nodded and knelt beside me. His presence was almost as soothing as Alex’s always had been. Although it was missing the fierce element of protection I felt whenever I was close to Alex.
But he’d do for now. “These guys were like monks, right?” I asked. “So they’d be from some religious order?”
“Yes, I am almost sure of it,” he said, furrowing his brow. “However, they confuse me. They aren’t wearing the robes of the Sanctum Domeni, but they smell like them. And, while they behave like the Sanctum Domeni, they have the strength of supernaturals.”
“Well, you know how Alex summoned his mother, so he could ask her a few questions? Can we do that with your dad?”
Nate looked reluctant, but he nodded. “We could. And although I am hesitant, and my father may not be as helpful as I’d hope, it is still a very good idea. We will need to wait until these strangers are defeated. At the very least, until Alex joins us, so you are guarded when we draw the light circle.”
“Alex will be here soon, right?” My heart thudded when I said his name. I hoped Nate couldn’t hear it.
He nodded again and cocked his head slightly, his ear toward the cave entrance. “I cannot hear much from this distance, but I am attuned to his heartbeat. He is still fighting.”
I took a deep breath to try and ease the pain in my lungs. “So we wait here for a moment?”
“Yes.”
“Can you answer some questions for me while we wait?” I really needed the distraction. The acidic burn of worry was eating away at my insides.
Nate smiled. “Of course, I will answer anything you like.”
“Okay.” There were about a billion questions I needed the answers to, so I tried to arrange them in my head in order of importance. “I don’t think it’s fair to ask you anything about Alex. He didn’t want to tell me your story, so I’ll respect that you probably won’t want to tell me his. So can you tell me about yourself?”
Nate leaned back against the rock next to me and pulled his knees to his chest. “What do you want to know?”
“Well, where are you from?”
“Italy.”
“Okay…” I really needed him to talk. I didn’t want to have to think. “So, uh, how old are you?”
“Let me see…” Nate tapped his fingers on his knee for a second. “Coming up this winter I will be…. One thousand and twenty-seven years old.”
“Twenty-seven? You’re twenty-seven?” I thought I must have misheard him.
“Yes.”
I nodded to myself.
“And one thousand,” Nate added flippantly.
“Wait. You are one thousand and twenty-seven years old?”
He nodded. “Yes.”
“You are ov
er a thousand years old.” I thought it might make more sense if I repeated it.
“Yes.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.” He caught my look of pure amazement and smiled broadly. “I am part angel, Eve. We are essentially immortal.”
“But you… but…”
“Yes?”
“You don’t act like you are over a thousand years old. You’re not… I mean…”
He laughed. “I don’t act wise and all-knowing? Yes, I know. My father reminds me of that constantly.” His smile faded. “As Nephilim, we are born the same as humans, and we grow to maturity at the same rate as humans. But once we have gone through puberty, our growth slows almost to a standstill. And because we are half-human, our emotional maturity slows also. I look and act like I am in my mid-twenties, because I suppose I feel like I am in my mid-twenties.”
“Hmmm. That’s weird.”
“I suppose it is.”
“How do you not learn from your mistakes? You must have seen and done everything.”
He waved his hand at me. “Another human failing. Our memories are not the best; probably only slightly better than a human. I only remember bits and pieces of the last thousand years. You can’t learn from an experience that you don’t remember.”
“But you remember the last twenty years or so?”
“Probably in the same way that you do,” he shrugged. “I remember things that happened further back, the big things. But my memories are flawed, like I’m viewing them through murky glass. Or as if they were a dream.”
I nodded, understanding. “So you have the strength and immortality of an angel,” I summarized, “but the grey matter and maturity of a human.”
He surprised me by laughing. “You are assuming that angels have superior grey matter and maturity.”
“Don’t they?”
“Of course not.”
“Well, that explains a lot.”
He nodded, looking a little sad.
“What is your next question?”
“Well… who is your dad? Can you tell me about him?”
“I guess so. His name is Malach.”
“Please tell me he is not one of the lesser angels?”
Nate gave a tiny smile. “No, he is not of the Percutiat. He is, technically, an archangel. He is not one of the well-known ones.”
I hugged my knees. “What’s he like?”
Nate bit his lip. “He is… he is strong, and he is kind. Most of all, he is conflicted.”
“Conflicted? Why?”
He looked down at me wryly. “He is a greater angel. He loves, sometimes far too much. He loves God and wants God’s plan to succeed. But he also hates humans suffering, and he is torn apart by the number of tortured souls in hell.” Nate’s eyes misted over. “He wants to do more, but he can’t. He does not believe he has free will.”
“But he does?”
“Of course he does. He had me.”
“A sin, right?”
Nate shrugged. “Lust is a sin. Although he justified it to himself. Lots of things are technically sins.”
I nestled down farther in to the rock behind me. It dug into my back, but I was riveted on Nate. “Tell me about your mother.”
He sighed, suddenly looking very sad. “My mother was young, beautiful, and devout. Her name was Aurelia, and she was a lady-in-waiting to the Holy Roman Empress Adelaide of Burgundy when my father met her in the year 991. He was acting as an emissary, bringing messages from the Host. The archangels still had hope that the highest churches in the land would serve God, and were beholden to bringing messages of love and harmony.”
“And the punishment of sin, of course.”
“Of course.” Nate gave a self-deprecating smile. “So the Host sent a message, intended for the Emperor, Otto the Great, and for Pope John XII. My father brought it and looked in on the court of Adelaide of Burgundy. He spotted my mother, Aurelia, and was reminded of a deep, endless love he had once shared with another female. So he came closer and spoke to her. When he saw Aurelia’s spirit and tasted her essence, he realized she was quite a different woman than the one she reminded him of. She was more timid, very gentle. She was kind, devout, obedient, and very loving.” Nate’s eyes misted slightly as he spoke of his mother. Before I could think of what this meant, he carried on with his story.
“He had disguised himself as a human messenger, but she could sense his etherealness. She left the court immediately, and he married her. That was his justification, of course. They were wed in church, by a priest, before they consummated the marriage. And then they had me. That was the year 991 AD.”
I frowned down at the hard rock at my feet and nudged it with my toe. “So, if you are over a thousand years old, does that mean that Alex…”
Nate gave me a sweet smile. “I thought you weren't going to ask questions about Alex?”
“I can’t help it. I’m worried about him.”
His eyes were soft. “I don’t blame you. To answer your question, yes, Alex is almost as old as I am.”
“Almost?”
“He is younger by a hundred years or so.”
I whistled through my teeth. “And how did you guys meet?”
Nate coughed a little. “I met him around twelve-hundred AD, in France. He was dating my sister.”
“You have a sister?” I swallowed my next words, screaming them out in my head instead. And Alex dated her? Is she as beautiful as you are?
“Yes,” Nate replied, smiling slightly. “Just one sibling. She is just a little over a year younger than I am. My mother had both of us close together.”
My stomach clenched. I recognised the emotion this time - the acid-burn of jealousy. “So,” I tried to sound nonchalant. “What’s her name?”
“Mags.” Nate suppressed a grin. “They were only together a month or two. It was a fling, of sorts. I think Mags was trying to encourage Alex over to our side. And Alex was taken with the idea of corrupting a Nephilim.”
The acid burn of jealousy eased slightly; I couldn’t possibly be jealous of anyone called Mags. It was definitely not a sexy name. Images of elderly washerwomen, or prim novice nuns, drifted into my head.
I smiled. “But he met you, and fell in love with you instead.”
Nate grinned broadly. “Something like that. Mags is very devout, like my mother, and she has a crusading streak. She spends her lifetimes trying to save everyone.”
“And your bromance with Alex is legendary.”
“It is,” he said proudly.
“Despite him being over a hundred years younger than you,” I said dryly. The time frames were making my head spin.
Alex’s voice drifted over me like distant thunder. “I may be younger, but I am Cambion, which means I am infinitely wiser.”
He crouched above us on a ledge, smiling down at us. I could almost imagine dark wings spread behind him.
Nate nodded up at him, smiling. “You took your time.”
“There were more than I expected.” The glint in Alex’s eyes faded. “And they were stronger than any men I’d ever encountered.” He looked down at me and narrowed his eyes. “Two of them are dead. The ones that held you,” he said, his voice taking on a harsh tone. “But the other two, and the leader, scattered while I was trying to question the big one. They are almost as fast as we are,” he said grudgingly, nodding at Nate. “But they smell human.”
“They are human,” I said softly. “That man Godric—the pale-haired one—he’s the one from my dream. I know he is human. I know in the same way that I knew that you were an angel,” I murmured, without thinking.
His beautiful mouth curled up in a smirk. “Don’t insult me.”
Nate coughed. “So, what are they? They smell of the Sanctum Domeni. And they appear to have the same end game.”
“Well, we’ll probably find out, one way or another,” Alex said grimly, looking above his head. “Because they’re headed down this way.”
“What?” My heart sta
rted to race. “They’re coming down here?”
Alex held my gaze. “They’re strategizing this attack like seasoned generals at war,” he explained. “They attack in groups of two or more, so one of them can distract us while the other kills you. The two that grabbed you were waiting in the perfect spot, knowing that you’d come barrelling down that hill after Godric tried the first time. The other two were waiting at the entrance to reception. I think it’s pretty clear that they’ll stop at nothing, and that you’re exactly what they came for.”
Nate spoke. “There are only three left, but they will be coming down here with a plan to separate us. Two will probably try and ambush us while the other sneaks up to kill you.”
I put my head on my knees again. “Why does it have to be in here?”
There was a soft thud as Alex jumped from the ledge to my side. He leaned against the cave wall and let his legs slide out until he was sitting on the rock floor next to me. His solid, comfortable presence soothed me a little. “I’m sorry, Eve,” he murmured. “I know you’re uncomfortable down here. I was just worried about the collateral damage if we went to war with them aboveground. It will be easier to track them in here and take them out one by one. They might have superhuman strength and speed, but we’re still faster and stronger. We’ll take care of them.”
“Yeah, until the next round of insane superhuman monks tries to kill me,” I muttered under my breath.
“We’ll get through this, woman.” Alex tilted his head until it touched mine, and I felt a spark where we touched. “I promise. And we’ll figure it all out.”
I breathed in his sweet, fiery scent deeply, trying to get it in the lowest depths of my lungs. It was helping. I wasn't panicking nearly as much as the first time I’d tried to come down here.
Nate had wandered a few feet away, but now he cleared his throat and cocked his ear upward. “I hear them entering the caves,” he said softly. “There are six of them.”
“Six,” Alex growled. “So they had more backup. I wonder how many are in their ranks.”
“Eve suggested I ask my father what is going on,” Nate said quietly.
Alex cocked an eyebrow. “Could you?”
“Of course, I am reluctant, but what if it helped?”
Revelations: The Black Chalice (Revelations Series Book 1) Page 22