Lailah (The Styclar Saga)

by Nikki Kelly

  I shuddered as Gabriel continued.

  “For a while, they were like savages. It was almost as though they had stumbled across the rifts and passed through to the second dimension. They were merely surviving here with no purpose or goal. But then they started creating Second Generation Vampires. They became ordered and collected. The Pureblood Vampires started building small armies of humans that they had infected with their venom and turned into Second Generation Vampires. The Purebloods sought good, clean souls; it seemed as though the venom worked in a superior way, changing the mortal not just into a Vampire with powers, strengths, and gifts of their own, but it made their external features enhanced and flawless. It made it easier for them to hunt and bring the mortals back for them to feed off or change as they saw fit.” Gabriel took a breath.

  “So what you’re saying is that they target dark souls to feed from and pure souls to change?”

  “It appears that way. They seem to survive on blood and the dark energy released from a tainted soul. Mortals who are pure take far better to the change when a Pureblood fills them with their venom. When they are changed they become connected to their Gualtiero, their Master,” he reminded me.

  “And what of these scavengers?” I asked.

  “It seems that more and more creatures are creeping into this dimension. The scavengers appear the same way we do, to collect the souls of humans who have died. Only they seek out dark souls.” Gabriel seemed riled at this idea.

  “So basically, to ensure the survival of Styclar-Plena, your kind transfer light souls to fuel your own world. And in doing so have created cracks in these … dimensions, so that we now have evil penetrating Earth, and murdering human beings? And worse still, Angels know that for every doorway they open, more rifts occur and yet they still come?”

  How could the inhabitants of Gabriel’s world be so careless?

  “They didn’t do it intentionally, Lailah. But this dimension in itself is a hard place to live. While Earth has its beauties, it’s also so full of darkness. Styclar-Plena is a miracle, pure and excellent, where there is no such thing as suffering or pain. I could try to describe it to you, but I could never do justice to its magnificence. They deem the few lives of humans to be a worthwhile sacrifice for the many lives in Styclar-Plena, and for the world itself.” Gabriel’s eyes glazed over with a sense of longing. I wondered how much he missed his home.

  “Let me into your memories, show me,” I pleaded, my eyes filling with tears.

  “I can’t, Lai. Humans can never pass through the gateway to Styclar-Plena, they would lose their physical form the moment they touched it, and if they were a pure soul, would exist only as light. You’re immortal, but I don’t know exactly what you are. So for now, you can’t experience it in the same way that I can. If I showed you from my memories, I fear you would drift in and not return. I couldn’t risk it; I might lose you, only this time, not to the darkness, but to the light.”

  I must have appeared crestfallen, so Gabriel attempted to compensate.

  “Can you imagine the icebergs in the North Pole, with the sea that runs underneath so crisp and unspoiled, that it reflects everything that surrounds it? So still; no breeze, no movement. Perfect. You seem to breathe not air, but the taste of fresh fruit, crisp and refreshing, and it consumes you. Looking up, there is no sky; just a blanket of stars and moons, and worlds swirling against a clear film. If you can imagine that, then you are a thousandth of the way there.”

  I closed my eyes and tried to picture it, and strangely the image came to me so clearly that I didn’t have to struggle to imagine it. I was staring out into the landscape that Gabriel had just described. It was as if there were no sky and no ground at all. It was as if I was always meant to have seen it.

  Later, I would come to realize the full enormity of the life I had been robbed of. But for now, I shook the wonder off and considered the cost. “You say the Arch Angels deem the deaths of humans to be a worthwhile sacrifice in order to keep Styclar-Plena, and its inhabitants, in existence. But they are not sacrificing anything of their own. So it is not their sacrifice to make, is it?”

  FOURTEEN

  GABRIEL HAD OFFERED NO REPLY to the question I had asked of his kind. He suddenly seemed nervous, and somewhat distracted. Twice he started a sentence that he didn’t finish.

  Pacing in a circle, thinking, Gabriel eventually tried to convince me to return to the main house. I promptly and stubbornly refused; I wasn’t ready to face any of them. So instead Gabriel fetched some water and breakfast for me, returning with the chess set in hand.

  “I’m not really in the mood.…”

  He looked almost hurt. “There’s time to start a game, while you eat.”

  He began setting up the board and pieces in between us. I munched on the fruit, surprising myself at how hungry I had become. Despite trying to keep my manners in check, I wolfed down the chunks of red apple and licked my fingers. Gabriel gestured toward the board, nodding at me to begin.

  I set the fruit down and wiped my sticky fingers against my red-smeared jeans, crossing my legs, not entirely fulfilled by his offering. Shifting uncomfortably on the uneven concrete I reached over and carefully lifted the heavy board, twisting it around so the pieces were changed.

  Gabriel raised his eyebrows.

  “Today I get to be the red family,” I said.

  It was a statement of intent. Today, I would be firm and get answers to my questions. Today, he would tell me everything.

  Moving a pawn forward two squares, I was careful not to scratch the aging pine.

  I was ready to begin with my inquiries, but he beat me to the punch.

  “Lailah, I have to leave.”

  His words ripped through me. The brave and bold person I was planning to become withered right there and then. “Wh—what?” I stuttered.

  “The message Thomas left last night—the situation is worse than I’d thought. The Pureblood Masters have convened and an edict for your capture has been issued. All the Purebloods and their clans have been called, they are combining all their armies to seek you out.”

  His brilliant blue irises opened and expanded into the shrinking white sclera that surrounded them. His expression was held deliberately and perfectly still. I let the information sink in.

  “All of them?” I stifled in disbelief.

  “All of them.”

  I rubbed my cheeks pensively. “Did his message say anything else? Did he say why?”

  “No, but he warned that his own clan, his Gualtiero—Eligio—is hunting us while the rest come together. He wants to be the one to find you. He wants the glory.”

  “So when you say you need to leave, you mean we need to leave?”

  “We all must leave, but on different journeys,” he said. “You will go with Ruadhan. He will hide and protect you.”

  “Where are you going? Where are the others going?”

  He fingered a pawn and took his gaze away from my own, moving the piece one square. “I need to find Malachi. He is a very wise fallen Angel. I don’t know why the Purebloods want you, but I do know this: they are not the only ones.” He cast his eyes back to me, pursing his lips as he finished his sentence.

  “What do you mean?”

  Was this what he had been keeping from me?

  “The Arch Angels want you too. It seems the highest beings from both dimensions are looking for you. We know you are some form of immortal, but I have no idea why they all have such a heightened interest in your existence. We need to know; perhaps then we will understand.”

  My stomach tied into a nervous knot.

  “Go to the Arch Angels,” I implored. “Go to your people, surely they will help!”

  He turned his face away. “They want you dead, Lailah. We cannot go to them.”

  How did he know that? Why would they want me dead? Nothing he was telling me made any sense.

  “You will go with Ruadhan. I’ll seek out Malachi, he may have information. Until I know exactly what y
ou are and why they want you, I cannot fully protect you. I will come back, I promise you that. I would go to the ends of every world to keep you from harm. I owe you nothing less.”

  He reached over and grazed my cheek with his fingertips and for the first time, I didn’t feel comfortable in his presence; I pushed back. What had he done that had landed him in my debt? I didn’t know, or couldn’t remember. It didn’t actually matter, and I silenced the voice that dared me to ask. I had a suspicion that I wouldn’t welcome the answer.

  “And what of the others?”

  Where would Jonah, Brooke, Michael, and Hanora go?

  “They’ll leave together. I can’t be sure I can trust them with you. Especially after what happened with Jonah last night.”

  I tensed; I didn’t want to confess my near betrayal. Hesitantly I replied, “I cut my finger. Jonah reacted and Brooke walked in.”

  I moved, releasing another pawn. The game provided a useful distraction.

  “And what did she walk in on exactly?” Gabriel persisted, removing a stray blond curl from his vision.

  I felt my face flush and I shifted uncomfortably. “It’s your move,” I muttered, keeping my attention locked on the board.

  He slid another pawn quickly across the checkered box and his attention was back on me. “Lailah, what you do is your business. All I ask, for your own sake, is that you do not put yourself in harm’s way. Jonah is a Vampire, that’s something you shouldn’t forget, regardless of how much you … enjoy his company.”

  His voice trembled a little; he suspected that I had feelings for Jonah.

  I moved another pawn. “Well, I—”

  He cut me off. “As I said, it’s not my business.”

  His dry reply was nonchalant; perhaps it didn’t hurt him because he was merely paying me back for whatever he believed he owed me in the form of his protection, nothing more. I couldn’t be sure he felt anything romantic toward me, at least not the me that stood before him in the present. I accepted that he might just be hanging on to an echo of my past self. One thing I was certain of was that nothing was ever clear-cut with Gabriel.

  “The others have readied themselves, and I need you to prepare a bag. We need to leave,” he said, with a chill that blew through his voice.

  “I have a backpack ready,” I replied. “I don’t need to pack.”

  I moved a rook and, holding my finger on it, narrowed my eyes and crinkled my forehead. “Gabriel, I…”

  I wasn’t sure how to tell him that I loved him, that I didn’t want him to leave me. I was frightened, and not of the Pureblood Vampires, but of losing Gabriel all over again.

  His face smoothed and he took my hand from over the board and slid his fingers in between mine. “Don’t be scared, I’ll never let anything happen to you.” He misinterpreted the reason behind my fear.

  He parted his hand from mine, moving his bishop into play.

  I suddenly filled with an uncomfortable impatience. “Why are we playing chess?” I blurted.

  “Because I wanted to start a game we could finish when I come back to you. Something to look forward to,” he offered.

  The fire burning next to me was starting to scorch my skin and I shifted away from it.

  “Why can’t I come with you?” my voice pleaded in a slight squeak.

  “They will suspect I will look for Malachi, it’s not safe,” he replied.

  I didn’t know if he was referring to the Purebloods or the Arch Angels.

  “If these superiors of yours want me erased then why don’t they just come and do it?”

  He grimaced. My words stung him. I felt it.

  “They can’t. They watch over the other Angels bound by their own rules. Finding you isn’t that simple. They have no claim to you.”

  I perched my finger on top of the red knight and my body shook, disconnecting my train of thought. My fingertip tingled as it stamped the smooth mane and the knight seemed to enlarge. “I feel something toward the knight,” I said, my voice shaking.

  Gabriel grinned. “It was always your favorite piece. You said it reminded you of your own horse … Uri.”

  As he said her name, my skin began to tingle. I felt myself slipping back through a tunnel of memory: I was watching myself pelting through thick, green grass on top of a fantastic white mare. We were galloping across a wet field, stormy clouds forming above us. I watched myself pull the horse to a halt, while a galloping stallion came into view, eventually coming to a stop next to us. I was surprised to see that the rider next to me was not Gabriel. As he dropped the reins, he brushed his long, dirty-blond hair back from his face. Catching the stray strands, he placed them neatly behind his ears. The gold ring on his finger caught my attention and for a brief moment I thought I recognized it. As I began to scan his features, the scene suddenly felt strange and I was forced to look away.

  The image spun and whizzed in front of me as the thundery clouds swallowed up the daylight. I panicked. It was the same sensation I had felt when I had sat with Gabriel, lost my memory, and become trapped in a vision of a Pureblood. I felt my heart racing and I desperately tried to leave and return to the present.

  As a wave of heat from the log fire brushed my cheek, I began to relax. I was in the room again, Gabriel sat opposite me; his lips moved, but strangely the words didn’t reach me. He was mute, and it occurred to me then that I was suspended, caught between Gabriel and the dark clouds.

  Gabriel’s expression darkened and he catapulted forward. I desperately reached for him, and just as I was on the verge of meeting his hand, I slipped away.

  I left him, falling back through the tunnel against my will. The cottage, the chess game, and the flicker of the flames were all gone. Something, someone, was dragging me back in.

  I was faced with a backdrop of emptiness. The Pureblood appeared in front of me, huge and towering. He took his time striding toward me. As he neared, I recognized his coal-black tattoos, two opposite rows from the center of his form. They were plastered across his face, broadening as they ran down his neck, two faultlessly symmetrical quills, black liquid keratin stained against his skin. The raised lesion prominently embossed between his orbs. It was the same Pureblood I had seen in the vision when I was drinking lemonade with Gabriel. He was back. This time he was alone.

  He grew closer, seeming to change position without moving. I encouraged my legs to stretch out into a sprint, but my body was unwilling to shift an inch. He circled me; disappearing and reappearing. Finally, he extended his terrifying clawlike hand and moved it over my eyes and nose, stopping at my throat. He squeezed it, just enough to prevent the air from finding my lungs. He seemed to cackle, tormenting me. His sharp-razor fangs protruded over his lower lip.

  As I gagged, I considered his expression in all its unholy glory; it made me want to die on the spot. I couldn’t move my neck to avoid his glare and more panic rose inside me as his black pupils mutated, forming a revealing clear film. In his eyes I glimpsed a reflection of a dark silhouette—the girl in shadow. Where was she?

  Petrified, silent tears poured from my eyes and I forced them shut. Just as I felt my arms and legs growing limp, he dropped his hand from around my throat. Gasping for air, I shivered as he ran the tip of his split lizard-like tongue up from my jaw to my eyelashes, tasting my tears. He pulled my head back by my hair, and with the serrated talons extending from his knuckles; he sliced a tuft of my loose curls. Grasping the stolen strands, he threw me down.

  I was confused as I watched him raise them to his orifices. As he took in the fragrance, the wavy curls appeared black. Perhaps everything he touched turned to night?

  He tilted his head from side to side, his bones cracking, and I found myself elevating from the ground. He raised his arm up and I ascended; he was controlling me.

  “You belong to me!” he roared with a sonorous voice.

  Each word quaked in a language I didn’t recognize, but I understood him nonetheless.

  I felt an anger brewing inside the pit
of my stomach, unlike any emotion that I had felt before. My blood seemed to boil and blacken, and my hands formed into claw shapes, daggers breaking through my knuckles.

  I didn’t know what was happening, but as I grew hotter my teeth shifted and fractured. I felt myself slipping away when a lightning bolt flashed across the blackness. It splintered into forks, vibrating my name and crushing the metamorphosis rising inside me. I cooled as my name was sung to me in the second strike. I didn’t see the creature disappear; I was focused on the lightning that was illuminating the space, now filling the void with light. The ground dissolved and I dropped into nothingness.

  My eyes opened. A blurred but bright spark spread across my vision. A beacon, leading me home. The illumination glowed, expanding until the light made up Gabriel’s figure. I choked, my body released, and I gasped for air.

  “Where were you? Lailah! Are you okay?” Gabriel’s words struck me repeatedly.

  I said something and he stared back at me confused.

  With soothing tones, he said, “Lailah, I don’t understand what you are saying.” He was running the back of his hand over my blazing cheek and my attention pricked, witnessing his skin dripping crimson with the stain of my bloodied tears.

  “She is mine!” I hissed in a voice that didn’t belong to me.

  Gabriel didn’t flinch. Placing both of his hands on either side of my face he came in nose-to-nose with me. I closed my eyes shut; I didn’t want him searching my swollen and blackened orbs.

  “She is under my protection! I will end you if you harm one hair on her head!” Gabriel yelled.

  I knew the creature was still listening, imprisoning my consciousness. I was a vessel.

  “Know her for what she is, Angel, and you will release her to me!”