by Amanda Jones
Chapter Thirteen
Katia
She was frozen, her entire body locked up tight. Katia’s mind was reeling. Elaina. Something about that name was calling to her in the strangest way. Standing just inside the living room staring at this softly glowing man with a face that was so like her own. She realized she was in shock. A buzzing had begun in her ears, drowning out the whispered questions of the room’s other occupants. Through the numbness that had taken root in her body, Katia felt a hand run comfortingly up her spine. Leaning down, Luc whispered softly in her ear, “Katia, are you okay?”
Taking a deep breath, she turned her head towards him and raised her eyes to meet his. They were inches apart now, their breath mingling softly. Katia didn’t know what to say, all she knew was that she felt safe here in this little private world held within Luc’s gaze. She nodded slowly as she swayed closer towards him. The moment was broken by the harsh sound of a throat clearing across the room.
Katia swiveled away from Luc, taking in the other two new occupants of the room that she hadn’t noticed earlier. The woman was a stunningly-beautiful blonde that looked like she should be perched on a cloud somewhere strumming a harp. In contrast, the man looked like a warrior. His sharp, chiseled features and shortly-cropped, light-brown military cut were in complete sync with the steely look in his eye. He was a handsome man, but certainly not one to be trifled with. Stepping away from the comfort of Luc’s body, Katia peered back at the man who had so captured her attention and thrown her into mental limbo. He was still gazing at her in wonder. Swallowing hard, Katia finally found her voice.
“Who are you? I feel like I’ve seen you before, but…I don’t know,” she said, shaking her head in confusion.
Closing his eyes at her words as though they were the loveliest sounds he’d ever heard, Bellerophon began to make his way slowly towards Katia. “My name is Bellerophon. I’m an angel, and yes, you have seen me before.” That last part came out in a strangled croak as though it cost him a great emotional toll. As though they were being drawn together by an invisible cord, Katia stepped towards Bellerophon as he was drawn towards her. As she approached the angel, Katia felt her heartbeat slow, the buzzing dropped away and time seemed to stand still. Raising a shaking hand, Katia reached out and placed it on Bellerophon’s cheek. An electric pulse ran through her as the warm glow he emitted took hold and ran up her arm, blanketing her in its light and warmth. The angel must have felt it too as his big body shivered at her touch. Shaking her head, Katia looked deeply into the angel’s eyes. “So much pain. Why?”
Taking a deep breath as though he were trying to breathe in her very essence, Bellerophon reached up and tucked an errant lock of Katia’s midnight hair behind her ear. “Loss is the cause of my pain; loss of the ones I loved more than anything.”
Katia was caught in a trance by the sadness in his eyes that reflected her inner pain. “I’ve lost people I loved too. Who did you lose?”
A single tear tracked down Bellerophon’s cheek as he replied, “My wife, my son, and my daughter. But that which has been lost can sometimes still be found.”
Katia was being drawn in by the soft tone of Bellerophon’s voice, almost willing to believe that she could reclaim what had been lost to her. It was so simple when stated that sweetly in the voice of an angel. Smiling sadly, Katia shook her head and dropped her hand back down to her side. “No, I wish that were true. But when some things are gone they’re gone forever.” Katia turned away from Bellerophon, ready to move back to Luc’s side when that calm, drugging voice came floating back towards her.
“But I found you, Elaina.”
Looking over her shoulder at the angel that had this strange pull on her, Katia spoke.
“Why do you keep calling me Elaina? My name is Katia.”
That sad smile curled up the corners of his lips as he replied so softly he was barely audible. “It wasn’t always.”
Turning around to face him fully, Katia asked the million dollar question. “What do you know about me? Why are you here?”
“I’ve always known you, Elaina – who you are, what you are; you’ve always been a part of me,” he replied in that same quiet tone.
Throwing up her hands in sudden annoyance, Katia raised her eyes to the ceiling as though asking for strength from a higher power. “Seriously? Are you trying to win a medal for being the most cryptic being on the face of the earth? Why can’t I just get a straight answer?” She began to pace back and forth in frustration, her hands began to shake. The enormity of the situation had suddenly come crashing down upon her like a ton of bricks. Luc stepped forward and placed his hands on her shoulders to try to calm her. Shaking him off abruptly, Katia made cutting motion with her hands. “No. No. Enough of this cryptic shit! I want answers! I’ve slipped down the rabbit hole here and there’s no way out unless someone gives me something I can work with here!”
From his position behind Bellerophon, Michael spoke up. “Your human, Sergei, summoned us. We can’t help you out of your situation as it appears to be of an issue for the dark to handle. Bellerophon thought he may be able to help us out by placing your species within our world.” As he spoke, Michael glanced over at Bellerophon who was still staring at Katia as though she alone held the meaning of life in the palm of her hand. In a voice full of confusion he continued. “But it appears as though there may be more to this situation than we’d originally thought.” Stepping forward, Michael placed his hand gently on Bellerophon’s head. Katia was taken aback by the gentle gesture made by such a hardened looking warrior. Closing his eyes as though to block out the rest of the world, he stood silently for a moment, then took a sharp breath that sounded more like a hiss. His eyes snapped open and he stared at Katia as though he were seeing her for the first time. His gaze turned back towards Bellerophon, narrowing as though he were trying to put together a puzzle with missing pieces.
“How could you? A direct order was issued from the highest power…” Michael shook his head in complete confusion.
Tearing his eyes away from Katia, Bellerophon turned to look Michael in the eye. “How could I not? You wouldn’t understand. None of you could have understood.” He took in a shaky breath. “I wish I could show you, make you feel it, but I can’t.” Michael took a step away from his colleague and passed his eyes around the room sightlessly. When his gaze returned to Bellerophon his face was covered in a mask of confusion and hurt. “It seems I’ve never truly known you, and I can’t pretend to understand…angels were created to carry out our duties, not to fall prey to such…human emotion. Tell her. She has a right to know, and it seems as though it is now imperative that we find a resolution to your past indiscretions.”
“This should be good,” said B from across the room as he stubbed out his cigarette butt in an ashtray on the table next to him. “A bona-fide angel with indiscretions that hasn’t been hanging out with us for the last few millennia…who’d a thunk it?”
“Shut it, B.” Luc shot at him with an annoyed look.
Giving him a wink and sliding his eyes over to Katia, B replied, “Touchy. Aren’t we?”
Luc shook his head and scrubbed his hands over his face. “Just shut it, my man.”
Always the peacemaker, giving every being in the room with a heartbeat a wide berth, Sam stepped into the fray. “All right, you two. Let’s just get all the cards out on the table here. We can all have a go at each other later.” He gestured towards Bellerophon. “Why don’t you share with the rest of the class. What did Michael see when he did the Vulan mind meld?”
Locking eyes with Bellerophon once again, Katia took a deep breath and waited. She felt as though her stomach was full of caged butterflies; her heart was about to drop down to her feet. This was it — the answer to the question that would hopefully set her free from this nightmare. The answer would allow her to leave this group of supernatural misfits behind so she could return to her life and her music and her friendship with Sergei. Katia frowned as those thoughts flit
ted through her head. Why did the idea of leaving Luc make her heart clench in her chest? Why wasn’t she more excited about returning to her normal life? Shaking away her errant thoughts, Katia pulled her focus back to the situation at hand. Bellerophon closed his eyes briefly and muttered what looked as though it were a prayer. Then spoke the words that Katia never thought she’d hear.
“You are my daughter.”
Silence and shock greeted Bellerophon’s announcement. Katia’s mouth opened and closed as she tried to make sense of what she’d just heard. Her head was spinning as she was once again pulled apart and put back together. “I need to sit down a minute,” Katia mumbled as she made her way numbly towards the couch and sank down. Sergei sank down beside her and put his arm protectively around her shoulders. Instinctively, she leaned into his embrace, seeking comfort from the familiar. Across the room, Luc clenched his hands into fists at the sight of Sergei comforting her. He looked like he was fighting to stop himself from flying across the room to take his place.
As everyone gave Katia time to absorb this new information, Bellerophon moved to perch on the arm of the couch next to Katia. He reached out hesitantly as though unsure of his reception to touch a lock of her hair, rubbing it between his fingers and smoothing it back over her shoulder. He spoke quietly, but the force of his emotions was evident. “I want you to know I loved your mother very much…still love her to this day. She was a remarkable woman. I would have happily spent eternity with her by my side, no matter what the consequences.”
Katia looked up at Bellerophon through a sheen of unshed tears. “Who was she?”
“Her name was Calista. She was a very powerful immortal, but more importantly, she was the love of my existence. She had a keen intelligence, she loved with her whole heart, and I lived for her smiles.”
As Katia looked into her father’s eyes she saw the raw, unadulterated love he still held for her mother shining down at her. One of the broken pieces of her heart seemed to shift back into place. No matter the rest of the story, she knew without a doubt that she was the result of a love that radiated out of this angel like the sun. Bellerophon gently placed his hand on her shoulder and she felt that glorious warmth move through her from the point of contact. As the warmth spread a feeling of comfort and ease permeated her body. As her tension eased, she took a long breath in and let it out slowly. “So, am I part angel?” she asked him as she continued to hold his gaze.
“You are as your mother was. She was a mixture of many things from the Other World, equal parts light and dark.”
“What happened to her?”
“I’m afraid it is a rather long story that starts well before your birth.” Bellerophon moved to sit on the couch beside Katia. Reaching out, he took one of her hands in his and then began. “Many centuries ago, there were great wars between the light and the dark, each side vying for ultimate power over the world of man. Neither side was able to overcome the other independently. Over time, a race of special and powerful creatures came to the attention of both sides. Realizing that these creatures were the key to ultimate control in the hands of either side, a momentous pact was made between the light and the dark, the first time in history any kind of agreement had been struck. In order to maintain a balance, these creatures were to be hunted to extinction. For centuries, angels and demons alike hunted and executed these creatures without second thought. During this time, I was an angel of the warrior class, one of those tasked to destroy these beings. Procreation amongst their species was difficult with a very high mortality rate amongst the offspring, so their numbers were small and they had hidden themselves well in both the human world and the Netherworld. In all my time as a warrior angel, I only encountered one such creature…your mother.”
A groan interrupted Bellerophon’s recounting of his story. Looking up, Katia locked eyes with the source of the noise. Luc had a stricken look on his face, he had gone white as a sheet. Flicking her gaze around the room, she saw matching expressions on the other occupants of the room. Panic rose in her chest, constricting her lungs. Bellerophon stroked her hand lightly and the panic began to fade as quickly as it had risen. With his free hand Bellerophon lightly stroked the skin beside her blue eye.
“I was captivated the moment I met your mother. Her beautiful blue eyes could hold me like no other force on heaven or earth. I couldn’t destroy her. Her skin was like the finest ivory, her hair felt like silk. All that beauty couldn’t be destined for a fate of evil. So I hid her away from those that hunted her. Over time, we grew to know each other and fell deeply in love. I continued my duties to the heavens, but my real life was with her, hidden away from both the light and the dark. Centuries passed and the rest of her kind were gone, she was all that remained and I was determined to keep her safe. She was everything to me. Thirty-six years ago, she discovered she was with child. We hadn’t thought it possible given her kind’s difficulty in becoming pregnant and my being an angel. We were overjoyed at the prospect of having a family of our own, even though we knew we would have to keep our family in hiding. What we didn’t realize was that we weren’t as hidden as we had thought. A force from the dark had long before discovered Calista’s identity and was determined to use her for their own ends. Unfortunately for them, she had bonded herself to me as my mate and was of no use to them. However, should a child be born with her unusual gifts, that child would be the key to ultimate power.”
“Me,” Katia whispered
“Yes, you…and your brother.”
Katia’s eyes flew up to meet her father’s. “My brother?”
Bellerophon looked down at her as he cupped her cheek, that sad smile returning. “Twins. Imagine our joy at being blessed with not one child, but two. A boy and a girl, the perfect family. But it didn’t last long. Shortly after your birth, your mother was attacked and killed by the dark; your brother was taken. You were with me. When we returned to our home, all that remained was the carnage they’d left behind. I realized then that they hadn’t known there were two of you, so I hid you in the human world, allowed you to be adopted and raised as a human. I intended to find you one day, to tell you of your heritage, but it seems as though circumstance has intervened and hastened our reunion. I always knew you were alive and well. I could feel you out in the world, but couldn’t bear the sadness of meeting you, of intervening in your life but being unable to be a part of it, so I kept my distance. Now you’re here in front of me and I can hardly believe my eyes.” The last part was said with such love and devotion Katia felt her eyes welling up with fresh tears. As a lone tear escaped her green eye that was so like her father’s and tracked down her cheek, she leaned in instinctively and embraced him for the first time. They held onto each other tightly, neither one wanting to let go. With her face buried in her father’s neck, Katia mumbled. “Is my brother alive?”
“I’m not sure.” Bellerophon croaked, his throat raw with emotion. “After that day, I could no longer feel his presence. He’s either passed on or he is being held in Sheol. As an angel, I wasn’t able to enter that realm to search. I had to make the most difficult decision of my existence – remain silent and keep your existence a secret, or alert the light and the dark to the possible presence of my son. I chose to safeguard your life.”
Katia sobbed as her father held her. She cried for the loss of the mother she never knew, the father she’d never gotten to know, and the brother she may never know. She cried until she ran out of tears and all that was left were the dry sobs that wracked her body. Bellerophon held her as Sergei rubbed her back in comfort. The others in the room averted their eyes to give Katia and her father time to reconcile the painful reality of their story. Only Luc’s eyes remained locked upon them. Moving slowly he advanced to the couch and crouched down in front of the trio.
“Bellerophon, I know this is the worst possible time, but Satan tasked me to bring Katia to him. If your son is alive, then why would he need Katia? Why wouldn’t he have already attempted a binding?”
G
lancing down at Luc as he ran his hand down his daughter’s back in a comforting gesture, Bellerophon replied. “He may have tried the binding already with Keir but it wouldn’t have worked. He would require both of them. My mate was a Chimera; I am an angel. If you look at my daughter, you can see that she is a perfect mixture of both. She is both her mother and myself, you can see it in her eyes. A pure-blooded Chimera can absorb the abilities and innate nature of those of the Otherworld if they choose. My children are half-breeds but are still a perfect combination of dark and light. Together, they are complete, two sides of the same coin, the dark and the light.”
Confused, Luc shook his head. “I’m sorry. I don’t understand.”
“Yes, they are unique in this world, aren’t they?” Bellerophon mused. “One cannot be bound without the other as they are connected at the deepest level. They share one soul.”
Chapter Fourteen
Katia
Resting in the comfort and safety of her father’s embrace, Katia sifted through all of the details of her life that had finally come to light. Though she’d just been on a rollercoaster ride of emotions, she finally felt like things were making sense. All of her differences, everything that set her apart from the rest of the world, her adoptive family, her friends — it was all clicking into place. Those smashed pieces of her heart were knitting together one-by-one, turning her from the shell of a person living in the world to a real being that was a part of something. She was someone with a real history, a real family, a past that was more than conjecture.