Lailah (The Styclar Saga)

by Nikki Kelly

  “I’m sorry. That night he’d helped me at the club after, well, drinking from a stripper.”

  “What?”

  “I was upset with Jonah and left, and that’s when the guy came after me.…” This confession wasn’t getting any easier. But I might as well get it all out now.

  “I blacked out, and when I came to, the guy was dead.”

  I tried to connect to Gabriel’s mind, but he’d closed it off. I guessed he wanted to deal with my revelations in private.

  “Jonah said I killed him, but I couldn’t have. I’m not like them. I—I…”

  Feeling my eyes welling up, ready to spill over, Gabriel pulled me in to him and held me tightly, running his hand in a circular motion over my back.

  “I don’t know what Jonah’s game is,” he said. “But I’m sure you didn’t kill him, Lai.”

  I sobbed a little. “Don’t be mad; I know you’re upset, but Jonah’s been really good to me. He’s looked out for me and kept me safe.”

  Gabriel squeezed my hands reassuringly. “I should have been here protecting you. I’m sorry I had to leave.” He kissed the top of my forehead and mopped up my tears with his fingertips.

  “I need to tell you something extremely important, Lai.”

  He was deadly serious and as I raised my face up to meet his, I braced myself for the worst. Was he about to tell me that he had been with Hanora after all?

  “It’s about when we first met—”

  A voice cut through our exchange. “Sorry to interrupt this little heart-to-heart.” A man appeared next to us, eyeing me with interest.

  As he stood a few feet away from me, I felt the strangest sense of déjà vu creep over me. I had never met him before, but I felt like I knew him. And in some strange way, he looked like me. His skin was milky white, and his large eyes were a unique shade of blue that was strangely similar looking to my own. Most important, he seemed uncomfortable in his surroundings. As though he were a fish out of water. He could only be the Angel whom Gabriel had brought back with him.

  Gabriel stood up, startled by his sudden and uninvited arrival, and I quickly followed suit.

  “Azrael, this is Cessie.”

  My ears pricked at Gabriel’s choice of name for me, and I took it to mean that Azrael hadn’t yet earned Gabriel’s trust.

  “Delighted.”

  He extended his hand to mine, his eyes narrowing as I reached out politely. As his cool skin stroked my own, I was overwhelmed with the strangest vibration that caused goose bumps to run up my arms.

  My mind was filled with an intense light that finally burst into droplets of silver and gold, exploding like an enormous firework.

  I yanked my hand away and stumbled, grabbing for something to steady me. Gabriel wrapped his arms around me and we both stared at Azrael, whose expression was unreadable.

  He finally nodded and smiled. “Seems I’m your Creator. Or would you prefer Dad?”

  I looked to Gabriel, astonished. His expression mirrored mine.

  TWENTY-SIX

  I PACED ANXIOUSLY AROUND the living room. Eventually Ruadhan interrupted my racing thoughts.

  “Sweetheart, sit down. Let me make you something to eat; I haven’t seen you touch a bite in two days.”

  I stopped briefly. He was right; I hadn’t eaten since before I had fallen into the stream.

  “I don’t want to eat, I want to hear what they’re saying!”

  Azrael had called a council with Gabriel. Alone. I was stuck out here while they discussed me. It was hardly fair.

  “I know, love, but patience is a virtue! Let me whip you something up. What would you like?”

  I had an idea. “Eggs.” I knew we didn’t have any.

  “I’ll check.” Ruadhan scrambled around the fridge and the cupboards, scratching his head as he came away empty-handed. “No eggs.”

  “That’s okay, I’ll pop out and get some. Jonah said one of the distant neighbors has chickens.”

  “No! Not by yourself. I’ll go fetch some; I can be there and back in a few minutes. Just stay put.”

  As soon as he sped off, I tiptoed down the wooden stairs and sat on the last step. Gabriel and Azrael were just outside the basement, but their voices were muffled. The chessboard momentarily distracted me, as I saw that Gabriel had now put me in check. Worse still, on closer inspection, I realized that he had actually put me in double check; having brought his bishop diagonally across the board, now both it and the knight—two equal forces—were threatening my king.

  I scanned the board and, though I tried hard, the white and the red just seemed to merge; I couldn’t see a way to escape.

  Great. I wasn’t getting any better at this game.

  Straining to hear, I crept slowly along the side of the wall, hiding behind the half-open door.

  “She was infected. She’s not like you or I. You need to understand that.” Azrael’s voice was calm but assertive.

  “There’s no darkness in her; you’re wrong.”

  “She was created from light, but she was infected and changed by the most terrible evil and then she was born into this dimension. That makes her more powerful and destructive than any being in the three dimensions,” Azrael said.

  “I won’t accept that. I’ve seen nothing of her that would suggest it is true!” Gabriel’s raised voice made my hairs stand on end.

  Then there was silence.

  I was trying desperately not to react, holding my breath, but Azrael’s revelations caused my heart to thud hard against my chest. The emotions rising inside me must have given me away: Gabriel appeared in the basement.

  “You wouldn’t make a terribly good spy.” He crinkled his forehead and extended his hand to mine, leading me through the doorway.

  I kept hold of Gabriel’s hand and addressed Azrael. “You know what I am?”

  He looked to Gabriel and then back to me. His eyebrows raised, he seemed surprised that I had dared to interrupt their private conversation.

  Tilting his head Azrael said, “Yes, Cessie. There is a reason you are different. You were created in the first dimension—our home—as an Angel Descendant, but something happened to you.…” He trailed off as Gabriel bore holes through him with his stare.

  “It’s okay,” I said. “Tell me what happened?”

  “You were infected by a Pureblood Vampire, when your mother—my Angel Pair—was carrying you. Not just any Pureblood Vampire; his name is Zherneboh. He was the first Pureblood to emerge from the third dimension. Your mother fled and it seems she gave birth to you here in the second.”

  Gabriel took his hand from mine and wrapped his arm around my waist, as if bracing me for the worst of this wild story.

  I shook my head. “But I am … I was human. It was only when I died that I woke up and I was different.”

  “You were born here. In your first death, your mortal, human-self indeed ceased to continue. But you came back immortal, inheriting your true lineage.”

  “You mean I became an Angel?”

  “No. You might have been created in our world, but when the Pureblood infected you, it mutated your DNA. You have your light, but you also have darkness now—”

  “That’s enough!” Gabriel shouted. “Lailah.” He caught himself. “Cessie.”

  “What did you call her?”

  Azrael moved closer and Gabriel nudged me backward protectively.

  “My name is Lailah,” I replied, in the smoothest tone I could muster.

  Upon hearing this, Azrael circled the room, finally smiling to himself. “Do you know that Lailah is a name given to an Angel of Freedom and the highest-ranking Angel under an Arch Angel?” Azrael said. “Your mother left you one thing at least. Hope.”

  Gabriel turned his body in to mine. “Azrael has been wandering this dimension for nearly two hundred years. He doesn’t know anything for certain; he’s surmising.”

  I glared at Azrael. “Gabriel’s right, you can’t know what the effect would be from what that Pureblood did
, and you can’t know for sure that I am the child you lost.”

  Azrael pulled his crisp shirt down and neatened his blond hair. It was strange to think that this being—who looked no older than Gabriel or me—was in some bizarre way claiming to be my father.

  “You told me that a Second Generation drank from her?” His tone had returned to calm, almost caring.

  Gabriel nodded.

  “Was it the female you traveled with?” he asked.

  “No, his name is Jonah,” I answered too quickly.

  “Is he here?”

  “He’s not back yet,” I said.

  “Well, let us go and wait for him.”

  We lingered uncomfortably upstairs in the living room. Ruadhan set an omelet in front of me, which I played with on my plate.

  Gabriel called Jonah from his cell. If Jonah showed up, then perhaps Azrael would show his hand.

  Azrael gestured to me and sat next to Gabriel on the sofa, no space between us. “Out of curiosity, Gabriel, what does she look like to you?”

  The sun was lowering and, in response to the dwindling light, Azrael flipped on the lamp next to him and gestured again. “I’d say she’s got long blond hair, blue eyes, pale skin, average height, slim. You?”

  Gabriel turned to me, confused with the question, and shot back to Azrael, “The same, she’s always looked the same.” His reply was brisk and smooth.

  “Ruadhan, is it?” Azrael called over to my Irish protector, who sat at the table with his nose in a book—though I could tell he was only pretending to read it.

  “Aye.”

  “How would you describe her?” he pushed.

  Ruadhan drew his neck in a little and eyed me. “Exactly the way you said. She’s a sweet little thing, when she’s not up to mischief.” He grinned at me, which made me feel a little bit better.

  “Hanora!” Azrael bellowed.

  My body stiffened; I didn’t want to see her. The door upstairs creaked and I watched as Hanora delicately descended the stairs until she stood next to Ruadhan.

  I couldn’t help but notice that underneath the silk headscarf that she had wrapped around her hair and over her ears were burn marks, bubbled and scarred down the porcelain of her neck. Vampires healed quickly; I didn’t know what could cause that kind of damage to sit on the skin for a prolonged period of time.

  “You?” Azrael asked.

  Hanora eyed me with contempt; if looks could kill I would have been dead in an instant. “She’s a bit on the short side.”

  Hanora didn’t miss her opportunity to have a dig. I gathered she’d been listening in from the other room.

  I turned to Azrael. “Why are you asking them what I look like?”

  Before he could answer, the front door slammed and the whole house shook as Jonah catapulted up the stairs, with Brooke behind him.

  “Cessie, are you all right?” he fired, assessing the scene.

  “She’s fine,” Gabriel half growled, standing up from the sofa. “This is Azrael. He’s an Angel and he’s come to help us.”

  Gabriel took my hand and squeezed it. I stood and saw Hanora flinch from across the room. Wasting no time, Azrael paced up and down the living room, holding everyone’s attention.

  “You are Second Generation, of course.” He spoke in the smoothest of voices, directing his statement at Jonah.

  “Too good-looking to be a Pureblood, don’t you think?” Jonah spat sarcastically.

  “Gabriel tells me that you drank from her. Just the once, was it?”

  Jonah shifted uncomfortably, finally nodding. Swaying a little he shuffled Brooke behind his back. I knew by this sly move that he was unsure of where this was leading and his instinct now was to protect Brooke. They could after all be ended by an Angel and they didn’t know or trust this particular one.

  “Is she appealing to you?”

  “I’m sorry?” Jonah said.

  “Was she appetizing?” Azrael continued.

  I felt Gabriel’s body tense.

  “What does that have to do with anything?” Jonah replied.

  “Don’t you find it interesting, given that you are a dark creature that enjoys drinking from dark souls of humans, that you would find her so pleasing, given that she is a light soul?” Azrael glared at Gabriel. “I’m interested to know, from the perspective of a Vampire who has drunk her blood, how you see her?” He looked back at Jonah.

  The lines in Jonah’s brow deepened as he considered Azrael’s bizarre question.

  “You have a pair of eyes, don’t you?” Azrael pressed, glaring at Jonah with contempt. He clearly wasn’t used to conversing with Vampires, and he seemed to be running out of patience, and fast.

  Finally, shrugging his shoulders, Jonah smiled at me and said, “Cessie is quite striking. Dark eyes, gray, verging on black…” He hesitated before he continued. “Either way they are twice the size they probably should be. Long, loose, jet-black curls that bob in the arch of her back … pale, like she’s never seen the sun.” He watched my jaw drop.

  I looked to Gabriel and then to Azrael, puzzled.

  “Jonah, stop messing around,” I huffed. “Just tell him so we can stop this ridiculous conversation!”

  But Jonah’s earnest eyes told me that he wasn’t joking.

  “I don’t understand.” Hanora spoke first.

  “Lailah is not very different from all of you. She’s just better at hiding it,” Azrael answered calmly.

  My eyes shot to Ruadhan, who stood still as a statue as the realization of my name and what that meant dawned on his expression.

  Before I had a chance to say anything—do anything—Hanora’s ordinarily silky voice, now serrated like a spear, sliced through the air: “If she’s like us, you can’t possibly feel anything for her!” she yelled at Gabriel. “You’ve told me, you’ve always told me that you can’t. Or you’d be with me! Wouldn’t you?”

  Gabriel released my hand and scratched his temple pensively.

  Everyone in the room was staring at me. I felt exposed and I wished that I could vanish into the background.

  Gabriel’s nonresponse made my eyes well up. Without thinking, I made for the sliding door and was in the garden faster than I knew I could run. Panic overwhelmed me. I found myself teetering at the top of the sloping lawn.

  The gray beginnings of night were creeping through; they engulfed me. I jumped as a small bat flew past my head. Staring down at the lit-up property, I observed the pandemonium that had ensued; Gabriel was at Hanora’s side, grabbing her flapping arms, while Ruadhan circled the room with his head bowed down. The news that I was harboring some Vampire heritage had set Brooke off; she was crying and yelling. Jonah seemed to be trying to calm her, and though they were a full thirty feet away from me, I couldn’t miss the multitude of blazing red eyes.

  “Sorry. They needed to know.” Azrael came up behind me and rested his hand on my shoulder. I edged away from him.

  “Where did you come from?” I said.

  “Same place you did and in the same manner. Seems you can mask yourself just like we can.”

  “We?”

  “Gabriel and I. How interesting that there’s nothing wrong with your Angelic powers in this dimension. Maybe the apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree; you are my daughter after all.” Azrael’s words were monotone, drifting to my consciousness.

  I started to shake. “Why—?”

  “Lailah, they had to know. You can’t stay with them, and I fear if they didn’t reject you, you would never have left. You’re only prolonging the inevitable.” His words were soft, as though he cared about me.

  “They wouldn’t hurt me.”

  “Let’s consider that, shall we? The boy drank from you. He’s connected to you now and he’ll never stop trying.”

  I remembered what Gabriel had told me; I was a drug to him. Now that Brooke knew, she would turn on me. Of course she would.

  I began to panic as I thought of the way Jonah had explained my appearance. Worse still, I
didn’t know if I was freaking out because of what that implied about my soul, or whether it was because Jonah was actually chasing someone else.

  Because the girl he described standing in front of him was certainly not me.

  “But to be honest,” Azrael continued, “it’s not them that worry me the most.”

  He indicated for me to sit on the metal bench next to him. Now I knew that Azrael was my father, I felt compelled to do as I was told, so I nodded and took a seat next to him.

  “Do you know how it was that Gabriel first came to find you?”

  I shrugged my shoulders.

  “He was sent by the Arch Angels to seek you out and to kill you.”

  Azrael’s words startled me and I jerked back. “No, that’s not true,” I said. “I was killed by Ethan, not Gabriel. All this time, he’s only tried to keep me safe.…”

  The conversation with Ruadhan fresh in my mind caused a spike of doubt to jab me. He had said that Gabriel had confessed to killing the mortal girl he had loved—Lailah—me.

  “Gabriel was created and born from light. He cannot kill you by his own hand; but here, on this plane, he has the power to influence others. My guess would be that this Ethan you speak of did not kill you of his own accord.”

  “No, it was an accident and then I lost Gabriel—”

  “He had you killed,” Azrael interrupted. “He thought his job was done. But it wasn’t, and here you are together once more. The very fact that he has left you in the company of Vampires should convince you.…”

  I looked into Azrael’s faded eyes. They seemed tired.

  “I don’t believe you,” I protested. “Gabriel loves me, I know he does!”

  “He does not love you, Lailah, he is simply on duty. If he wasn’t, he would be fallen, would he not? He exists here immortal and in full capacity of his powers. We Angels are made in pairs. Gabriel has his own waiting for him in the first dimension. You’re keeping him here, away from her. So you must believe me when I tell you that he seeks your end.”

  I couldn’t deny it. Gabriel had told me that he had been created as one half of a shared light. A terrible pain flowed through my chest, making it hard for me to breathe.