The Children of Caelum

Copyright © 2015 E.S. MERCERCover Art Copyright © 2015 SelfPubBookCovers.com/Shardel

All rights reserved.ISBN-13-978-1511824699 –Second Edition

ISBN-10-1511824697- Second EditionISBN-13: 978-1494716004-First Edition

ISBN-10: 1494716003 – First EditionISBN -978-1-312-91174-1 – EBook

ISBN – 978-1-312-91175-8 – Hard Cover

DEDICATION

This book is dedicated to my family. You all had faith in me when I didn’t and pushed me to be a better version of myself. Without you this book could not have been

completed.

This is a work of fiction. All characters and places,

corporations, institutions or organizations in this novel are

either the product of the author’s imagination or, if real, used

fictitiously without any intent to describe their actual content.

E.S. MERCER

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CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1 – PG # 07CHAPTER 2 – PG # 34CHAPTER 3 – PG # 67CHAPTER 4 – PG # 87CHAPTER 5 – PG #106CHAPTER 6 – PG #131CHAPTER 7 – PG #168CHAPTER 8 - PG #188CHAPTER 9 – PG #212CHAPTER 10 – PG #236CHAPTER 11 – PG #257CHAPTER 12 – PG #298CHAPTER 13 – PG #321

The Children of Caelum:

Evangeline‘

E.S. MERCER

*****

Part I

E.S. Mercer

INTRODUCTION

The Una Vis: The center of the universe and the core of everything. An entity of pure energy, it fueled creation as if giving birth to millions of tiny little beings, each a ball of life, and home to life itself.

The youngest of all was what we call earth. Home to the 9 realms of Caelum, it was created to host yet another lifeform, the children of the Una Vis. But something happened, causing the Una Vis to split apart into two separate entities, The Cimmerian and The Lumenaria. The Cimmerian, which was made up of dark energy, and The Lumenaria, which was made up of white energy, created a rift that spawned two different creatures.

The Lumenaria gave life to a being known as Hyperian, the son of the White Light; a being of pure power, strength and the power of creation.

The Cimmerian gave life to his counterpart and brother, Samiel; a being who controlled powers of a much darker nature. Not evil in nature, but not entirely good either. He controlled the elements as well as a deep well of magic.

The sons were to rule the earth as they saw fit, creating a world that reflected the true nature of their father’s.

The son of The Lumenaria, who possessed a much greater power than his brother, assumed the throne of their new home in Caelum, a heaven-like realm that would house the highest of beings, angelic creatures, and sons and daughters that were spawned from the flesh and bones of both Kings.

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The Children of Caelum: Evangeline

Hyperian created life forms that would serve as warriors, guardians, and as protection for his creations, as well as his greatest creation, Mother Earth; a creation that gave birth to the rest of the world, to adorn the earth with more beauty than anyone thought possible.

Hyperian never once gave thought to the fact that he was not meant to rule his Kingdom alone, and gave Samiel a small, far, dark corner of the realm to rule, Atra. Home to the shadows, his small kingdom housed his spawn, the sons and daughters of Cimmerian.

Caelum as a whole was home to the sons and daughters of The Lumenaria. The children of Caelum, from either side, wielded diluted powers given to them by their fathers, for eternity. Immortality, a gift of the Una Vis, was given only to the decedents of Samiel and Hyperian. It wasn’t until later that Hyperian and Samiel were able to tap into this immortality and grant it to all their angelic children.

6 realms reside on earth, coexisting in different planes, with 5 of the realms created by Hyperian himself. Some were built as extensions to Caelum and housed all different types of creatures. Hyperian did not feel it necessary for all creatures to live equally, therefore giving them their own domain. He created them as “favors” for his people, never expecting them to do with it as they wished. A millennium after their creation, all realms chose to rule themselves, conceiving the long fought War of the Realms, and in turn producing two more realms, The Terra and The Abyssus Realm. The Vrykola Realm came much later and was given as a gift to a once loyal and now fallen friend.

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Terra – the realm of the mortals. Mortals were fallen angels who were cursed to walk the earth, stripped of their physical immortality.

Vrykola – home to the children of Lucifer, also known as Emil Cobrazu, the father of all vampires.

Abyssus – the realm of punishment and isolation, created by Hyperian to punish anyone who did not follow the ways of Caelum.

Olympus – home to the Halflings, the guardians of Cimmerian.

Magas – the home of witches, creatures created by Hyperian to guard magic, a severely diluted form of Cimmerian power. Magic was considered a waste product, expelled whilst Cimmerian power was being used.

Oraculum – a realm created for all creatures of foresight, premonition and prediction. A creature created again by Hyperian to control the outcome of all life. These creatures lived in the water and could travel between any realm.

Aasgard – home to The Lumenaria. Giants of peace and guardians to Hyperian’s source of power. As children of the halves of the Una Vis, Hyperian and Samiel were able to summon its center to earth, to live under their protection. Aasgardians were the mightiest of Hyperian’s creatures and deemed worthy to protect his source of power.

In the beginning there was this, a life not measured by time, as we know it, but one where moments and eternity were one in the same. An existence that gave birth to our heroine and savior, Evangeline.

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←←←←←←←←←← “You are not supposed to know that I exist. You were never supposed to see past the horizon of your mortality. The fact that you know this now makes you stronger, smarter, and now, my ally, my friend. If I must somehow meet my end, it will be up to you to tell the world the truth.”

-Evangeline

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CHAPTER 1←← I met him once at a gallery opening about two weeks before. Slithering in slow motion through the crowd, his head would pop up behind people who were already so transparent, it made him easier to see. The familiarity of his presence made me even more intrigued. Everything he tried in order to get close to me was countered by the odd insurgence of waiters who mysteriously tripped up his advances. If I didn’t know any better, it would seem as if they had done it on purpose, or honestly didn’t see him there.

Everything about him, even the slight scent of oxygen that lay dormant on his skin, brought back feelings of déjà vu. I knew that I had seen him before. With each breath I took, I inhaled his presence deeper and deeper into my soul; the more I did, the more I knew I just needed to feel him. When I finally did…I knew instantly why the desire had been so strong, and after knowing that, realizing why it wasn’t supposed to become a reality was something I was not prepared to face.

← *****

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← In order to better understand who I am and who I will become, I must start from the very beginning of what I can remember. Unfortunately it isn’t much. People claim that what I have are memories floating around my head, but I just can’t believe them. I refuse to. What I see are manufactured stories, possibly created by my own psyche to fill in the blanks of a past I can’t truly remember. ←← The day I turned 19 is the first day I can say I TRULY remember. Anything before that is a blur, and the memories that are ingrained…don’t feel like my own.

I remember waking up in a panic, to a scene that oozed much more then the desperation and agony then it intended. Empty pill bottles lay strewn across the bed, with a pill here and there placed perfectly out of reach, as if the entire stage was set for opening day. The bottle of rum that rest in my unsuspecting right hand glared mockingly at me. It was near empty and yet I had no alcohol on my breath.

Happy Birthday signs dangled from the defective ceiling tiles as a mutilated birthday cake stood sadly on the table across the one room apartment.

I couldn’t remember what got me to this point - why I would attempt such a thing. The feeling in my gut told me to fight, but looking around me, I could tell that fighting wasn’t something I was used to doing.

What I saw and what I felt didn’t seem to coincide.

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← At first I kept fading in and out, as if my body was refusing to play the part. The pain I could feel in the middle of my back complimented the pain I now felt in my head. Flashes of memories that didn’t feel like mine were pounding against my subconscious, causing me to nearly pass out.

As I started brushing the obvious suicide attempt off of me, I was distracted by the faceless shadow of a man in the corner of the room screaming a name I could barely hear and didn’t recognize.←← He rushed me as I jumped off the bed, and as he dissipated in front of me, I dropped to my knees sobbing. ←← “Help me,” I exhaled painfully as my eyes slammed shut and I fell to what I thought was my end.

← I saw him again in my dream, but this time his face was there…I just couldn’t see it. It was so blurred, his features melted together, making it impossible for me to see anything. His voice, warbled by the vibrations of my subconscious, made it impossible for me to recognize it, but I knew who he was and trying to say his name, through the cursed tying of my tongue, made the dream seem more like a nightmare.←← “Come back to me,” he said. “You have to come back to me.”

← “I can’t!” I said as if I knew I honestly could try. “I am already starting to forget who you are.”←

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← He pulled me close with so much passionate vigor that I felt as if I had been pulled inside him. His arms, so strong and safe, held me as tightly as one man could without strangling the breath from my soul.

← He leaned down and whispered in my ear, “I won’t leave you Eva. I promise. I will NEVER leave your side.”←I tried to respond, but as it goes in any dream - that moment you want to speak with determined honesty, you mysteriously lose your voice.

← The last thing I remember is him pushing me away with equal vitality saying, “Wake up Eva. Wake up and find a way to me!”←← As I awoke, I could feel as if something was missing – a part of me, or of my soul, and I felt as if I had suffered a great loss. I had no idea why the dream would have caused me so much pain, and I really couldn’t remember much of it, but the hole it left in me was more painful than what had brought me to this point.

← I looked down at my knees and found a crumpled piece of paper, with a morbid version of my handwriting on it. It very plainly stated my reasons for wanting to end my life, but even in all its despair, it didn’t match the feeling of sorrow I had now. It spoke of a feeling of loneliness, of being such an underdog in the fight of my life, and being the punching bag of my own spastic nature. It spoke of a loss in identity and sanity in the life I was living; something my surroundings obviously solidified.

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←← The rest of the note had been washed away by the rain that dripped steadily from the ceiling above me, leaving one legible, sad line and a name on the bottom of the paper. A name that was very different than the familiar Eva the man in the dream had called me.←← ‘With all the regret a woman like me could have in this world…

-Melody ’

←← *****← After searching the gloomy and rundown little apartment, this is what I could learn about Melody. Melody was a woman who had spent so much time trying to fit in. She alienated every single person in her life, except for the alcoholic drugee boyfriend, Leland, who seemed too high to notice that she didn’t even like him. A square peg in a round hole, she tried so hard to be the cool girlfriend, excusing Leland’s behavior and even enabling it. She found herself too high to care about the bottom of the barrel she lived in. ←← The more I poked around, the more I could remember and yet, Melody still didn’t feel like me. Her life didn’t feel like a life that I would have allowed myself to be in. It felt wrong and disconnected and I was sure something had gone awry.←

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← I looked through the wallet sitting half open on the bedside table. The name on the license said Melody O’Harrigan. I looked at the mirror next to me and back to the license I now had in my hands. Sure enough, next to the name was a picture that matched the face I saw in the mirror. Melody really was me and according to the birthdate, it was my 19th birthday.

← *****← I was actually a pretty girl, with strong features and high cheekbones, and by mainstream standards would have been a decent palate to work with, but my nature allowed for the word quirky to best describe me. Merely 5’ 2”, I carried a little extra weight on my backside, earning me the nickname I now remembered as Mongo. Don’t ask me why, but it was said once by one of Leland’s friends, and somehow it stuck. I had long, stringy hair that I didn’t do much with; it was a waste of my pathetic time, and my wardrobe lacked the, well, I am not sure the word to describe it. The closest I can come is ‘homeless chic.’ Jack, the Vietnam vet who lived at the bottom of our basement stairs, compared me to a trash heap. Nothing ever matched.

← I was way below the low class, but Leland’s Workman’s Compensation check enabled us to live slightly above poverty level. The alley cats behind our rundown apartment building lived better than we did…they at least found something to eat every day.

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← Apparently about a year before, Leland had fallen down on the job, while working at the fish market, hurting his back. He was drunk when it happened, but being that he actually came from a long line of successful lawyers, his brother, one of the top attorney’s in Heaven City, managed to win the case. I had only been with him 6 months, so I am not sure what really happened.←← This was not a life I was going to continue living. I was disgusted by the thought of staying where I was or even knowing that I would have chosen death over change. I was determined that I was going to walk away from all of it and start over. I could feel a disconnect that came with an urge to better my life and I knew this was the perfect time to do it. I was on my way out anyway and this time I would do it right.

← I grabbed my moth-eaten, multicolored wool jacket and handmade scrap scarf and made my way towards the door when a very drunk Leland walked in. He tripped over the threshold, pushing me to the floor and landing on top of me. He threw up beside my head and wobbled as he attempted to lift his head up. He started to yell when he stopped abruptly and looked me in the face.←← “Who the hell are you?” he asked as he finally sat up.

← I looked over at him stunned by the whole incident, but not shocked that he would ask.

← “Are you really that drunk?”

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← He brushed himself off as he reached for his beer that had miraculously fallen without breaking.

← “Seriously you freak, why are you in my apartment?”

← “What the hell is that supposed to mean? It’s me, Melody,” I said as I helped him up. I walked him over to the couch across the room. “Seriously Leland, this is getting absurd.”

← Leland was a drunk who bamboozled the system, but I could kind of see why I might have been attracted to him at one point. Under that used up exterior, you could see an extremely attractive man. He looked as if a frat boy turned rocker, had let himself go.

← He ripped his arm from my hands looking at me with genuine confusion. “I know Melody, and you are not her. You may look like her, but you are not her.”

← He grabbed my face and stared into me with his glassy, searching eyes. ←← “Nope, you aren’t Melody,” he growled with a slight chuckle. “Melody is a big fat loser. You can smell the desperation on her. You, you are something different.” He pointed his shaky hand towards the door. “You my dear can get the F$*& out of my apartment.”

I was completely confused by his reaction but didn’t hesitate to do what I was told.

If he didn’t think I was Melody then why did everything say that I was?

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← I had no knowledge of family or close friends, and honestly, no knowledge of where I actually came from or who I was. The desperation and sadness that Melody felt was really inside me, and what seemed to be a forced memory or two, but I really didn’t know in my gut who I was. So when I walked out the door I was able to wipe the slate clean and start over as someone else.

I walked out the door and slammed it behind me. I was going to change everything about me, starting with my name. Melody didn’t roll off my tongue as I said it over and over again, sauntering down the 20 flights of stairs, so I decided to find a name that would.For some reason I decided to use the name the man had called me in my dream. It seemed to suit me; he called me Eva so I became someone named Evangeline.

← *****← When I walked into the salon down the street, Gail, the shop owner, didn’t even have to ask why I was there. Written so intently all over my face, I silently invited a team of girls who were prepared to “fix me” and before I knew it, I was turned around in my chair and staring into the mirror at a completely different person. I was beautiful. I was soft and almost even sultry in my look. With my blood-red hair and clean skin, I made 19 look extremely mature.

Yet, I still seemed lost, and unsure of myself, so, Gail who lived above the salon offered me a room. She knew I couldn’t pay her and had no problem telling me how I could earn the room and board. She had a sister who ran a coffee shop down the street and I was to report for work in the morning.

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← I knew I was going to be happy in my new life, but I still had a feeling that things weren’t right. I felt as if I was in the wrong body and that I was meant for greater things; that I was someone once and meant something to so many people.

← I should say that I felt tired from the life I had just left and that I needed to recoup and rest, but it felt more as if I needed to recover from a great tragedy, one that held higher ratings than leaving Melody’s life.

← Gail offered me the most exquisitely soft bed I had ever felt, with sheets so silky and clean that it felt as if I was embraced by the arms of heaven itself, allowing me to find a comfort I hadn’t felt before. But it wasn’t until I rolled over that I felt a surge of peace. I couldn’t explain it then, but I swear I felt someone’s arms wrap around me; they felt so safe. I felt his breath on the nape of my neck, and at one point felt a tear run down my spine. I could hear the echoes of his voice in my pillow.

← I ran my hand down the back of my neck and even rolled over to face this invisible person, but as hard as I tried I couldn’t see him. ←← “Who are you?” I asked as if he would answer. There was nothing but silence.

← “It doesn’t matter, I guess,” I said as I buried myself deeper into the bed. “I feel you,” I whispered…and nodded off to sleep.←← *****

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← As lucid as my dream was about to become…I knew I was not awake, at least not in the traditional sense. Typical dreams don’t allow the ability to taste, smell or feel. They don’t allow you to truly live.←← I found myself strolling in the middle of a field full of purple daisies and pink sunflowers. The grass was the most unique saffron-esque color yellow I could have ever imagined. It smelled of lilacs and was as soft as an angora rabbit’s fur. “Maybe the bed is causing such an exquisite vision!” I so plainly exclaimed in my dream. “If not, then my imagination is really kicking.”

← I looked down at the trailing ivory lace and silk dress that draped perfectly on my body. I could feel the tenderness of the stitching as it flowed flawlessly down the seams of a dress made with love and affection, as my bare feet welcomed the sensuality of the grass wrapping around my toes.

← I looked up at the sky to see ripples running through my distant reflection. Its water-like texture allowed for the most fluid movement of the clouds, like little white bubbles, and the wind, so steady, stood still in reverse. ←← “This shouldn’t be possible,” the warbled voice said softly behind me. “I shouldn’t be able to see you.”

← I turned to see the blurry-faced man drop to his knees. “I didn’t think this would be possible,” he said with a sigh of relief.←

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← He remained on his knees wrapping those familiarly warm arms around me. “Eva, you have no idea what it has taken for me to find you like this. I have sacrificed everything, even if it is to see you one last time.”

← “But why can I not see you?” I asked as I knelt before him. I could feel his face with each and every feature rippling beneath my fingers. I could even taste his breath and feel the warmth of his lips when he leaned in to kiss me.

← Again…I knew him…but I couldn’t say his name. I could feel the curse that bound my tongue as well as blinding me to the knowledge of his face.

← The next thing I knew, he was ripped away from me, sucked into what looked to be the end of a vortex.←← I woke up the next morning forgetting the whole thing. ←← It wasn’t until the next night that I found myself meeting the faceless man in a field of contradictions, basking in the silence.

← For over 10 years it continued and it was always the same.←*****On my 30th birthday things changed drastically.←

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← I had spent the last 10 years bettering my life…finding my center, in body, mind and soul. I changed my image to reflect the artistic nature that had been born the night that I had tried to die, and it seemed as if my looks morphed with it. I found a confidence that transformed my entire being into something that some would have called angelic. My features even mimicked the peace in my life.

← I had become a photographer, using my unique eye to my advantage, and it seemed to pay off. I had just bought my first building with the most exquisitely run-down loft. Each exposed brick, with its scratches and potholes, brought forth a character that worked as a muse for my work.

← The large industrial windows allowed the sun I was no longer afraid of into my life.

← *****← I left my loft to meet my dear friend Gail down at the market for some Pho and a glass of wine, which was so badly needed after a photo session that seemed to last all day. I truly loved what I did, however, the people that worked in my line of business tended to be exhausting. The models and designers forgot that nothing they did mattered without the end product. Something only I could give them.←← I battled an emptiness that felt very much like a deep and haunting depression. Even if I couldn’t remember my dreams I always woke up feeling lonelier than before and always in search of a feeling of closure I could never get. Honestly, if it weren’t for Gail working beside me all those years, I probably would have found myself sliding back into a life of miss-step and low self-esteem.

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← “So are you that afraid of 30 that you are purposely ignoring the reality of what today is?” she said in a hint of a Spanish accent, as she sipped her glass of some 1983 Merlot with a fancy label. A label that made it seem much more posh than it tasted; she always did have expensive taste. The daughter of a Brazilian immigrant mother and African American soldier, Gail vowed to make her mark on the world by transforming every convoluted girl out there, and make a buck or two while doing it.

← She tossed gorgeous hair and continued talking.

← “Honestly Angel,” a nickname she had given me when we first met, “why are you so glum on a day like today? Your birthday is a big deal love.”

← “Today was just a bad day, is all,” I said under my breath, distracted by a couple at the next table. “I guess I am just tired of seeing the same ole’ pretentious, pompous, self-deluded, and otherwise idiotic robots walk around, demanding preferential treatment.”

← “Oh come on doll,” Gail said, habitually flipping her long, black, shiny hair, yet again. “Without them we wouldn’t have this life, now would we?” She picked up her napkin and wiped her lips, attempting to keep her gaudy red lipstick on, then stood up and threw down her napkin. “Now let’s go celebrate!”

← I tried to accept her demand with a forged smile, realizing that it wouldn’t be fair to Gail if I didn’t let her have fun on my birthday. ←

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← So, I let her take me to the PHE-nom club where we owned the VIP lounge. (Being a photographer in the fashion world gets you those kind of perks.) It was a place you would find models and want to be artists, raving the night away. With its darkly lit corners and heavy beats, the club would only start bouncing when the strobe light kicked in.

The smell of sweat and over-priced cologne set the stage for a sight that only the intoxicated dancer would appreciate. If you made it to the dance floor it was common to brush up against sleaze you would beg to wash off in the morning.

← However, I did my best to lose myself in the night, allowing the cinematic drama of slow motion to almost consume my half-sober eyesight. I danced as if I had no place to be, all while wishing I could be there with someone. Someone I had seen in my dreams and longed for constantly. Someone I couldn’t remember but loved unconditionally.

← The more I wished for him there, the more I felt him there.

← I could feel his hands, as if a weighted shadow, gliding around my face and neck. I had never felt him so intensely before, and as cliché as this whole entire scene seems, it was as real as you are, reading this story.

I could feel him press up against my back, swaying with me to the beat of the music. My hands, which traveled up and down my body, did so with the intensity of the moment.

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← But my moment was interrupted by the obvious stare of a man I could feel through my closed eyes. He honed in on me so intensely that it was hard NOT to know that he was looking at me. I opened my eyes and looked around, knowing I would find him somewhere. When I did, I saw the most androgynous and flamboyant man I had ever seen, glaring at me through the brightest blue and most intensely made-up eyes. If it weren’t for the lack of a bust under his lacey corseted dress and deep voice when he spoke, I truly would have thought he was a woman. He definitely made the creepiest and prettiest man I had ever seen. He hung on his effeminately looking man servant, as if he needed him for support and waved his crooked, long, pointy finger at me, beckoning me to follow him.

← I had met eccentric people before, but he took the cake, and I was hoping it was a photo job request, because I wanted nothing more than to take this odd little man’s picture.

← I left Gail to her polygamous flirting and followed the strange, little man. His off-base outfit left traces of glitter and sequins in a trail behind him, and his hair grease clashed with the scent of a musty perfume.

← We walked to the other side of the club and up a set of stairs that led us to an enclosed room above the DJ booth. Its wall-to-wall, one-way mirror gave us a perfect view of the dance floor. The opposite walls, adorned with an Asian cloth, made it look less like a room and more like a genie’s bottle.

← It had an interesting sense of adventure embedded in its fibers.

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← “Please, sit down petite one,” he said in a faint, slithery, Romanian accent. “Your face intrigues me and I must read you.”←← “Read me?” I asked as I took a glass of water out of his man-servant’s hands. I looked up to see the soul of an old man in such a pre-pubescent body. He looked trapped in a shell that wasn’t his own. Something he had borrowed as he cheated death or time. And there was something strange about this manservant too. There was something strange about all of it.

← “Yes dear,” he said, reaching for a candle, some cards and a match to light his incense. “My name is Noita1 and I am a warlock. You may know it as a psychic, or even a witch. I have been called both at many times.”

← I chuckled rather nervously, but he seemed pretty intent on proving his witchy connection, so I decided to sit back, amused.

← He “humphed” as he began to lay out his cards. He would mumble with each card and shuffle them nervously.

← I went to reach for my glass of water on the table when the movement of my hand alone knocked over the glass. My hand hadn’t even touched it, which caught Noita’s eye.

When he and I reached for the glass simultaneously, his hand touched mine, sending a surge of panic through his body. The look on his face matched his reaction, causing me to attempt to pull back. But he grabbed my hand and squeezed it harder than if caught in a steel vice.1 Noita-sounds like ‘Noh-ee-tah’

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← I think I even saw his eyes briefly roll into the back of his head.

← With his hand touching mine, I was completely paralyzed. I gasped, taking in air as if it were the last time I was going to breathe. Once he grabbed me, the only things I could seem to move were my eyes, and even those started to fail me.

← The room began to spin, so quickly in fact that the walls started to disappear. With each object in the room vanishing, a tree or purple daisy I had seen so many times in my dreams would appear. The tornado-like winds that swept the world away brought in the same peaceful field I had dreamt of and forgotten about time and time again.←← “Who are you?” Noita said grasping my hand tighter and tighter.

← “What are you talking about?” I said trying to pull away. I couldn’t let go.

← “Who are you?” he yelled over the wind, in now a deeper voice. “You are not human.”

He held on to me as if disconnecting would make our surroundings disappear, and us along with it. It looked as if he didn’t have a choice.

← The wind began to stand still as it did a decade ago, and in the distant horizon I could see the faceless man come closer and closer. Noita said something in a foreign language that I couldn’t understand, and then bowed towards the faceless man as if he was some kind of royalty.

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← He then looked in my direction and begged, “Please forgive me, I had no idea. She does not look herself.”

← I looked over to see that the man finally had a face. And it was the most beautiful face I had ever seen.

← I raised my left hand to feel the stubble across the chiseled jawbone that ran seamlessly into the prominent cheekbones, which lay so perfectly under his crystal blue eyes. I traced the lines of his nose to the creases in his forehead, hoping that when I woke up from all of this, I would finally remember his face. I inhaled his breath, basking in the sweet smell of strength and passion. I absorbed the shadow he cast towards the sun.

← “Eva,” he said, in a soft and soothing, deep British Accent.

← “Michael,” I said, once again able to speak his name.

← Something caught the corner of Noita’s eye and he screamed as he quickly let go of my arm.

← “No! Michael!” I screamed reaching out towards the melting beauty in front of me.

← I saw him lunge towards Noita and just as he reached him, he dissipated and vanished.

← I gasped for air as I realized that we were back in Noita’s room.

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← “You must leave and never come back.” He said waving me towards the door. “I insist that I must NEVER see you again.”

← “Wait! What do you mean?” I stood up petitioning an answer. “Who am I? Who is he?” I screamed, fighting the security guards that now dragged me towards the door.

← “YOU, you my child are danger and I will warn all the other worlder’s to stay far away from you. The last thing we want is your father coming down on any of us.”

← “My father?” I asked from the other side of the threshold. “Who is my father?”

← He said nothing, turning his back to me. I was now more confused than ever and obviously not getting answers any time soon.

← I convinced the security guards to let me get my coat and purse at the coat check, but they wouldn’t let me back in to find Gail. I had to try and call her, but with the noise inside the club, I knew she would never hear her phone. ←← I texted her in hopes that she would know where I went.

← I turned towards the street, trying to figure out my next move, while my head continued to spin. I could swear for a moment that I started to hear voices that weren’t there.

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← I could see his face everywhere, and nowhere at the same time. Everyone I passed would whisper my name, and turn back as if they hadn’t said a thing.

One man even stopped and grabbed my hand whispering, “Find me.” Scared by the whole thing, I ran to the other side of the street, hailed a cab and went straight home.←← What I was about to experience next is so absolutely difficult to describe with words. So bear with me and know that the intensity of this moment is 10 times greater than what I could ever express. ←← When I tell you it was life changing...it was.

*****← I curled up in a ball and quickly drifted off to sleep after stripping down and climbing into bed. I don’t know if it was from exhaustion after the events of the night, or in anticipation to find Michael in the land we had once met, but I sure was in a hurry.←← But this time, I didn’t find myself in a field. I found myself waking right back up.

← “Eva,” the voice said quietly in my ear. “Eva, I am here.”

← I could feel the breath that expelled as he spoke. I could smell the oils of his skin, a scent that was so heavenly, it cleared the stench that surrounded me. I could feel the ridges in his fingertips as he touched my face. ←← I rolled over so fast I think I even caught some air.

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←← But when I went to touch him back, he wasn’t there.←← I mean I could see him, but I couldn’t touch him. ←← It was as if a hologram lay next to me in bed, a hologram that could touch me, but one I could not touch back.

← “Are you real?” I asked sitting up in bed. “Or am I just going crazy.”

← They say loneliness can cause a person to go insane…but this wasn’t me going crazy. It was crazy. You can’t feel hallucinations.

← He sat up grabbing my face so that I could feel him.

← “I am very real Eva, and I don’t know how, but I am here.” He dropped his hands, “For now.”

← “But who are you?” I pleaded. “I need to know why I crave you so badly.”

← He explained the entire story to me, in so much detail that memories of who I really was flooded me. He wasn’t sure how he was able to be there to tell me these things, but what he could tell me made my jaw drop.

← Shortly before sunrise, he decided to stop talking and lay silently next to me as if he didn’t have much time left.

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← He gently settled his hand on my exposed stomach as he leaned in to kiss me, sending vibrations through my entire body. Knowing that he couldn’t actually feel my lips meant nothing as I could feel the electricity of his surging through me.←← The moment, so completely sensual, mixed with a lifetime of longing, resulted in the most intensely orgasmic moment I had ever experienced. No penetration, not even touching me in a manner to incite such a result, just simple energy exchanged between two lovers.

← I forgot for that moment that I couldn’t touch him. I felt him and that was enough.

← Before long I drifted off to sleep, so completely satisfied and comfortable with what it was.

← But sleeping was the worst thing I could do. Tonight’s dream was the opposite of what it had always been.←← I found both of us standing on a dark city street. The one working streetlight flickered on and off as the empty storefronts acted as the only clear light around us. In the distance I could see faceless shadows slowly moving in our direction.

← I could hear Noita’s words echo “You are in danger.”

← I looked over in Michael’s direction, hoping he would have an answer as to what was going on, but when I looked, I saw that his face had disappeared.

← His voice was once again warbled.

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←← “Oh shit,” I thought…”Please no, not again.”

← He started to run towards the dark and I could barely hear him scream my name.

I begged for him to find me, but he was going in the wrong direction.

← “I am here!” I yelled as I ran after him. “Please come back…I’m here!”←← I ran as fast as I could, but fast wasn’t fast enough. He faded into the night, his scent fading with every step closer to the darkness. And as if I had hit a wall, I stopped, choking on the deep sorrow that prevented me from actually finding him. He was on the other side of nowhere, and I was too lost to see him.←← I woke up and remembered nothing. Not even the events of the night. My memory was again – wiped clean.←← That night was the last time I would see him, hear him or even dream about him, for two straight years. I remembered nothing of him, or that I had ever dreamed about him. He was gone altogether.←←← *****← I moped around the loft for a good couple weeks, cancelling all my appointments - a shut in with a broken heart, without a clue why.←

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← Gail, who was now living with me, was at her wits end and demanded that we go back out to PHE-nom for a night out.

← “I forgot to tell you,” I said with such melancholy. “I can’t go back there.”

← “Why the hell not?” She asked digging through 300 pairs of her favorite shoes.

← Scuffing my feet across the cold floor, I answered in an aloof tone. “Don’t remember.”

← Gail managed to get me dressed and looking sharp, as she hatched a plan to fix me up on a blind date. She figured what I lacked was some “booty” as she put it, and was determined to “knock the cobwebs out.” She called upon one of her many club jocks who agreed to bring a friend to meet us at Paris Je T’Aime on the shore.

← Gail and her expensive taste.

← When we got to the restaurant, it wasn’t hard to spot who we were looking for. The flashy suit and greasy hair fit the type of men that Gail always looked for. Her philosophy, “The tackier the suit, the more money they had.”

← What I didn’t expect was the man who sat next to her. He wasn’t even a third as flashy, and I found him to be more down to earth than even necessary. He was laid back and quiet, seeming to spend more time taking things in. His heavy five o’clock shadow and dark hair complimented his olive complexion. I couldn’t help but stare at his perfectly straightened white teeth, as they accentuated the perfect outlines of his lips.

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←← He was extremely put together in his Armani suit and I kinda liked him.

← His name was Paul.

← *****Gail and her friend Bobby spent more time picking food out of each other’s teeth with their tongues than actually paying attention to us, so we were forced to find other ways to entertain ourselves. Avoiding the sight of them was our main goal.

← “So you said your name is Evangeline?” he stuttered as if he had forgotten.

← I shook my head as to not answer with a full mouth. The lobster was so delectable, that to swallow without savoring would have been a sin.

← “I am sorry about my friend,” I said between bites. “She loves to share her love of love.” I laughed as I said it. “If that is what you want to call it.”

When Paul chuckled, something immediately clicked and within the month he moved in with Gail and me.

← *****← Paul was a man who believed in taking chances without a second thought, so he packed up his things and decided to kick our relationship into full swing. I am not sure that I minded that much since it kept my mind off the strange loneliness I had felt and kept me from trying to question the hole in my heart.←

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← He made me feel special and I guess I had no choice but to decide to love him. It wasn’t a ‘love’ kind of love but more like a great admiration. Respect for a man who found ways to weasel his way into my life and my heart.

Turns out he was a gallery owner and a man who had an eye for art and business. He owned the J’adore L’art Gallery in the Art District downtown. He was always looking for new talent and swore he knew art better than the artists themselves.

While unpacking his things he found some of my never before seen photography shoved in the back of one of my closets. Outtakes of the fashion shoots I had done over the years. My favorite thing to do would be to take black and whites of the models in between takes. Their candid moments always made the best photos.

← There were some amazing human moments he felt I should display, yet I didn’t feel the same way.

← If there was ever a fight between us, it was always my unwillingness to show off my best and most honest work.

← Other than that, the relationship was comfortable and safe and I enjoyed his company, but sadly, he always loved me more than I loved him. He never really saw it, but Gail did and so did I, which allowed for the big hole to continue growing in my heart.

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← Six months after he moved in with us, we were married. No wedding or get together. Just me, his brother Mark and Gail who spent most of her time hitting on him at the Heaven City Courthouse. It was almost as if I didn’t have a choice. He never really asked me, it just happened and before I knew it, I was Mrs. Paul Ruffalo.

← It was almost as if he would rather say sorry than give me a choice. He was like that with our entire marriage.

← Whatever he liked, he expected me to like too. Whatever he did, I did.

← At one point we even went skydiving because he felt that if we faced death together, it would sync our body’s life forces into aging at the same rate, which was completely off the wall and strange because he was 6 years older than me; he started aging long before I came along.

← Then as a wedding gift he decided to put a show together for me at his gallery. He figured since it was a surprise he could choose to show the art I had always hidden from the world. It was a black tie affair and demanded that I explain myself over and over again to people who had no idea what they were asking about. Or talking to people who liked art because it was “the rich thing to do” and every single one of them had an interpretation of my work that went way beyond the scope of it.

Before the night was through I was sure I was going to stand up on the nearest table and yell “It is literally what it looks like people. Candid human emotions!”

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It was one of the worst nights of my life until it became the most wonderful moment I had experienced in the 10 years I had in this life.←←←

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←

CHAPTER 2

←← I was close to walking out the back door when someone across the room caught my eye. In my peripherals I knew I recognized the man but, looking at him straight on, I couldn’t put my finger on it.←← He slithered through the crowd, his head popping up behind it, gliding through the already transparent people. A man who made the pretentious sounds of those clogging the airways of the gallery disappear. A man whose eyes pierced my soul in a way that seemed so familiar and so intense that I felt a tingle boiling into what could have been a public orgasm. ←← I had to get to this man and he obviously felt the need to get to me.←← He dodged people, as they seemed to purposely get in his way. Every time he would get a few inches closer a waiter or bystander would stop and try to engage him.

← After the third appetizer he begrudgingly ate, he looked up at me confused and heartbroken.

Finally he just started pushing people out of the way until he finally managed to break free.

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← “Hi,” he said, standing in front of me. He took a long pause as he wondered what to say next. “Um, I am Chris.” I didn’t realize at the time that his name was supposed to mean anything.

← “Hi,” I said like a meek little girl. I shrugged my shoulders and looked childishly towards the ground. “I’m Eva, but most people call me Angel.”

We stood in silence as the crowd started to gather between us.

← I felt as if I was losing touch with him, so I reached through the people standing silently, and had a sudden urgency to shake his hand. It was a struggle to get to him, but we finally connected, holding on firmly. I could feel the shadows of the people around us pick me up and try to pull me away, but the connection had already been made and it seemed as if the room instantly cleared.

← He pulled me into him slowly, looking deep into my eyes. The next thing I knew, I found myself in the arms of a man I had unknowingly been pining for my entire life. There he was, a real man. A skin and bones man with facial hair that I could feel, and muscle fibers that I could feel twitching under his soft touch, and lips that transferred a wet affection to lips that could finally kiss back.

← It drew me in and held me there for an endless minute. Then I knew. I knew exactly who he was. “Oh my God, Michael!” I said pushing away from him.

← He touched his lips as if he had the same realization. “Eva,” he said pulling me back.

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← His skin felt like the purest silk infused with the softest lotion, mixed with a visual sense of masculinity in every perfectly curled dark blonde arm hair. The swells of his breathing pushed his perfectly sculptured chest into me, and I could feel the rhythm of his heartbeat. It was as if it had its own beat to match the melody of his voice.

← He kissed me again and this time, invoked a vision of my past. A vision of me standing high above a sea of angels, with a raised sword and tears in my eyes. My wings spanned on either side of me as I was dressed in what looked like a torn and tattered wedding dress, with a brown leather corset and knives strapped to my side. There were very few spots of white peeking through the blood and dirt indicating that I had already been in a struggle, possibly one for my life. ←← And there on the cliff in front of me, Michael who stood with an army. But he wasn’t leading them. He was their prisoner and I was there to rescue him.

← The vision ended as quickly as it started, and the shadows finally managed to rip us apart. The room instantly filled with people again, with Paul grabbing me as I fell to the floor.

“Eva!” he cried as he was pulled back into the crowd. “I remember you.” They pulled him as far as the door before he broke free and ran to me.

← “I remember us,” he said as he stopped fighting against those dragging him away. The more I concentrated on his abductors the more I realized they were in fact shadows, and not human at all.

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← One even looked at me and shook his head. “Don’t,” he hissed as he pushed Michael away. His dark companions overcame Michael pulling him through the side door and out to the alley.

← I ran out behind them, but by the time I had gotten there, they were gone and all traces of him with them.

← This time I didn’t forget. I couldn’t and for two weeks I walked around, a woman who had finally realized what she had been missing all along. A woman who felt more love in her heart that she could have ever imagined. But those weren’t the only changes that were being made.

← Gail noticed that my accent was slowly changing from a simple city accent to an old country British accent with a few language slip-ups here and there. I would randomly speak in different languages, languages I never even heard before. A couple times I caught her calling me Scary Spice in reference to my strange changes and odd new accent. ←← Another week had passed and she and Paul kept commenting on the changes of my skin. “I think you have gotten even prettier,” Gail said as she trimmed my hair one day. “You have a more porcelain look to your skin.” ←← “If dark porcelain is a thing,” Paul chimed in from the chair in the back. “A tan porcelain doll,” he finished sarcastically.

← It was wintertime, so I wasn’t in the sun much, which made it even stranger.

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← They even noticed my features were changing too. “A more chiseled yet refined beauty,” is how Paul put it.

← My dreams got even more intense than before. They had tapped into my subconscious and I was remembering things in the most lucid manner.

← The most recurring dream I had was one where I was attempting to rescue Michael from some dark evil. I could never figure out what that evil was and when I got to the point where I could save him, I would wake up. They never answered any questions, just gave me more to ask.

Though I knew they were dreams, they felt more like memories and made more sense than the ones I had as Melody.

*****← “I knew that guy looked familiar!” Paul said abruptly one morning over coffee. It was a little hard to hear him over Gail’s always absurd chomping of her bagel, but his urgency rattled with agitation making him clearly understood.←← “What guy?” I said rather confused.

← Paul turned the magazine around to show us the cover. “That is the guy at the gallery,” he pointed out to Gail. “The one that was hitting on Angel.”

← I looked at the front cover to see Chris Haines, the person I knew as Michael, posing for People Magazine with an interview for his upcoming movie.

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← “I don’t understand,” I said pushing the magazine back to Paul. “He’s an actor?” I looked back at the page.

← Gail looked at me perplexed, “How in the hell did you get the attention of a world class, famous and HOT actor?”

← “Cause he isn’t really Chris Haines,” I said under my breath. “His name is Michael.”

← “What did you say?” Paul asked while sipping his coffee and gazing angrily at the face of the man on the cover. I don’t think he cared as much about what I was saying, but he still looked as if he wanted to pick a fight.

← She pushed another magazine my way. There on the cover was a photo of Michael leaning in to kiss me. We may have thought the crowd had disappeared on us, but they hadn’t. They saw the entire thing.

← And Paul snapped out of his trance to snatch the magazine away from us.

← I grabbed the magazine Paul had originally and read the interview on page 135. The interview mentioned a near death experience he had a few months before. A car accident that left him nearly dead. Thing is, I think Chris Haines really did die and as with me, Michael had taken over his life without anyone being the wiser.

← Leland had been right. I may have been Melody, but not his Melody. ←← My name REALLY was Evangeline. ←

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← *****← The strange changes kept on coming, sporadically. Sitting at breakfast one morning I spilled my coffee, but before the liquid could hit the metal counter, I gasped, freezing it solid. When I touched the sculpted coffee spill, it shattered into a million pieces, vanishing into thin air.←← Another night I laid in bed by myself, since Paul was working late at a gallery function. As happy and in love as I may have seemed, I hadn’t been feeling the greatest and it seemed that the more the days went on, the sicker I actually felt. I found myself in bed more than out, weaker and weaker by the day.

← I swear in my sweat-drenched stupor I saw Michael standing at the end of my bed. I wasn’t sure at first if he was a hallucination, but when he touched my big toe, I found myself transporting to what looked like the alley below my loft.

← He grabbed the back of my neck, softly pulling me to his lips.

← “I am sorry, I had to,” he said quietly under his breath. “I couldn’t wait a thousand more years.”

← We kissed so intently that I didn’t realize we were still technically in my room, and Gail was witness to the strangest thing. She could see the man standing at the end of my bed.

← As she went to turn my light on to see what was happening, he swooped across the room, without touching the ground, and grabbed her wrist. “Don’t,” he whispered. In her fear she did it anyway, and into the light he vanished.

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← “Ok, that is it!” she yelled waving her right hand behind her head. “What the hell is going on?”

← I was still stunned by the whole thing and I didn’t have any answers to give her. As much as I wanted to discuss all the things going on, I was afraid she would have thought I was crazy. Especially if I told her about all the shadow people I kept seeing, following me everywhere, like the ones at the gallery. I swore one even stood in the corner of my room as I slept.

← I call them shadow people because I could never fully see them. They were there, but they were blurry and almost colorless. They moved swiftly, as if they defied gravity and made no sounds as they moved. I would see them in different positions, as waiters, taxi cab drivers, policemen, etc. The only thing I could ever see clearly were their bright red eyes.

← They should have scared me but they didn’t. Especially when I would see the same thing sometimes when I would look in the mirror.

← My answer to her question was…

← “I am going crazy.”←← “If so then I am too,” she said slumping down onto my bed.

← *****

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← I’m not really sure if it was the fact that I told Gail I was going crazy, or if Paul was genuinely concerned, but he refused to leave my side for days. He would watch my every move, as if he were looking for something, and would even ask me a million and one questions about how I was feeling. ←← He was always rather odd, but he was even more so than usual.

← “Do you think we are sick?” I asked Gail. “Could we have some rare illness?”

I was only half joking, but there were some drastic things happening with him that made changes more apparent.

← And then, one night, I swear I saw his eyes flicker red a couple of times as we talked. He realized it too, because he turned quickly to look out the window.

← Michael seemed to keep his distance as well. Whether it was on purpose or he genuinely was being prevented by the shadows, I didn’t see him for at least a couple weeks.

← And then I finally saw him in the back hallway of a coffee shop, with a worried look on his face.

“I know none of this is making sense to you,” he said as I met him secretly. “It doesn’t make any sense to me either.”

← He heard a scuffle around the corner and pulled me into the women’s bathroom, locking the door.

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← “Michael,” I squeaked through a choked, fearful tear. “Who are you? Please, I need to know.”

“I don’t know,” he said as shaken up as I was. “I don’t know any more than you do.”

← I stood there in disbelief. “Right, ok. So who am I?”

← “I really have no idea,” he said “I don’t know anything.”←← “I wish I knew what was going on,” I said moving closer to him. “I have been confused about my life for the last 10 years and I always felt like I didn’t belong.”

← “10 years?” he asked, taking another step forward, “Same here.”

← He grabbed ahold of me when we heard banging on the door.

← “Angel!” Paul yelled from the outside, beating on the door as if he were trying to knock it down.

← I motioned for Michael to head out the back window. I kissed him quickly and headed towards the door.

← I looked back as I unlocked the door. “I am fine,” I whispered as I tried catching my composure. I glanced back briefly towards the window again to see Michael was gone.

← Paul burst through the door in anger, violently shoving open each stall door.

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← I think he realized the severity of his behavior because he immediately softened and came over to kiss me. I swear I saw his red eyes dim as he did.

← “I was worried about you,” he said in a strange tone. “I heard there is a killer in the area.”

← I hadn’t heard such a thing, and I knew he made that up, but I went along with it. I could tell something wasn’t right with him, and I didn’t want to get into it with him; I pushed away and walked towards our table.

← As he sat down he could tell that I knew something wasn’t right.←← “Are you ok?” he asked, swirling his finger around the top of his coffee cup.

← I looked over at the people sitting at the table beside me. They seemed awfully eager to pretend they weren’t listening to my conversation. They looked like the shadow people to me and I knew it wasn’t safe for me to be there. They weren’t like some of the shadow people I had seen before. I could see their faces clearly. These made me nervous, but I didn’t let on that I was worried.←← “I am fine,” I said standing back up and grabbing for my coat. “I am just realizing that I am not in love with you anymore.”

← I am not sure why I said it that way. Truth was I knew now where I was meant to be and I should have just told him that. For some reason I guess I thought this would be the best tactic to get him to move on without me.

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← I needed to know more about who Michael and I were. I needed to know who he was to me and I knew I couldn’t do it with Paul in tow. He was already becoming more paranoid than necessary.

← I headed straight for the door, and of course he ran after me.

← “What do you mean?” he asked trying to catch up with me. “How could you not love me? How and when could this have happened?” he whined acting more like his normal self.

←← “I guess I never really did,” I said scrambling for more ammunition as I hailed a cab. No answer I could give him seemed like it would be good enough for him. Nothing I could have said would have made him understood.

← I felt bad for him really, but it didn’t persuade me to do anything different than what I was about to do.

← “I need you out of my apartment by tonight,” I said as I got into the cab and tried to shut the door.

← His eyes visibly glowed red this time around as he grabbed the door handle, ripping the door back open.

← “As long as you are still here, I will not leave,” he said pushing me over in the seat.

← I didn’t have to ask who or what he was. The red eyes gave it away, and I knew now he really was not on my side.

← *****

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Shortly after my last meeting with Michael, Paul started to act even more strangely. He had a level of paranoia that drove us into a lockdown that even dedicated prisoners could not escape.

← He removed Gail from the apartment, claiming she was now a threat. He hadn’t even given her a chance to pack, handing her a bag of what was more than likely dirty laundry, shoving her out the door. He moved heavy furniture in front of our large sliding door, and cut a chicken’s head off, using the blood to smear a strange looking hex on the floor in the middle of the loft and all over the windowpanes. He sprinkled a charcoal-like substance around the edges of the floors, chanting in gibberish, a gibberish that sounded more like eerie sounds than a language.

← He paced back and forth tapping the tips of his fingers together, and every time I moved a muscle, he would jump, as if he were afraid I would get lose.

← After a few days he decided to black out the windows completely with a can of blue spray paint we had in the closet, all the while saying the word obscurum, over and over again. After the 20th time, the light bulbs shattered leaving us in a candle lit darkness that added to the craziness of the whole situation.←← A few days after that, he started excreting a toxic sweat that made the loft reek of rotting flesh. His paranoia started to get worse, but he wasn’t the only one who felt worse. My body at this point was too weak for me to fight. And I slept more and more as the days went on.←

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← Then one night as I lay in bed I saw the room start changing in front of me. I recognized my new surroundings as the room I had visited in the PHE-nom club. There sat Noita disturbed to see me, but as if he had no choice but to summon me. He was the only one who could apparently breach Paul’s hex.

← “As you may have figured out by now,” he said in his famous lisp, “I am a very powerful witch.”

← He adjusted himself in his seat as he looked at his long, pointy fingernails…blowing on what looked to be wet nail polish. “And no dear, this is not a dream. It is a vision.”

← I could see Michael standing in the corner, confused, crossing his arms and staring quietly. A man who resembled him stood by his side. He looked as if he was his slightly younger brother.

← I looked to the other side of the room and noticed two men walk out of the shadows. A man who had a family resemblance to Michael and his companion, one that looked a little bit like me.

← “It’s time,” the younger looking man said as he stood next to Noita. “She has started remembering. They have to be brought together before her father knows he found her.”

← “Who are you?” I asked, again confused by the whole situation.

← “In due time,” he said as he stood back and allowed two more people to advance from the darkness. They were identical to Noita - as identical as paternal triplets.

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← “The greatest strength and power of witchcraft comes with the power of three,” he said as they all laid a hand on my head. “And with what we have to do to you, three is definitely better than one.”

“Do what?” I asked quite worried.

“You need your powers and your memory,” the man replied waving at Noita to start.

← The three of them began chanting, “Memor fio exsisto memor quis vos operor non animadverto.” After the third time, the room began to spin so fast that the three of them became one. After the tenth time saying it, I was knocked out and came to back in my loft. ←← Paul came rushing at me like a rabid dog, foaming at the mouth and tripping over his loose skin. It was as if his body was allergic to the demon inside him, and his body barely contained it.←← I raised my hand to stop him, but as I did, a bright white light came shooting out of my palm. It burned my hand severely as it hit him squarely in the forehead, knocking him down. His back arched so much, only the top of his head and tips of his toes touched the ground, followed by what looked to be a grand mal seizure and a lot of painful screaming on his part. Then it all stopped as a dark cloud rose from his quiet, widely spread mouth, dispersing into the night. ←

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← Paul lay there seemingly lifeless, but as I crawled cautiously closer to him, I could see shallow breathing. As I reached his body, he gasped as if he hadn’t felt air in his lungs in weeks. He sat up suddenly and growled as he tried to talk; I watched the red in his eyes fade as he grabbed for my throat.

← I quickly freed myself grabbing my slippers and coat as I ran out the door. I wasn’t sure what to make of all of this, and I felt it better to be out of the building. Hindsight being what it is, I should have probably helped Paul, but he scared me. I was more concerned about getting far away from the apartment than helping anyone in it.←← The utility elevator was at the bottom floor and it seemed to be stuck, so I decided to take the stairs. I had made it halfway down the 4 flights of stairs when I saw a noticeably exhausted Gail on her way up.

← “What are you doing here?” I asked stopping and pulling her back down the stairs. She resisted a little, but started to make her way back down.

← “I thought I heard a scream,” she said deciding to pull me back towards the top. “I came over to see if Paul would let me back in. Then I hear drama and screaming and stuff so I ran up.”

← I remember thinking to myself how hard it would have been to hear someone scream from outside the building, but at this point anything was possible, so I went with it.

← *****

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← We made our way back up to the loft to find Paul completely normal. I am talking, skipping around the apartment, cleaning and singing, normal. He had a couple of the windows cleaned off and was sweeping the floor when we came in.←← “My girls!” he exclaimed. “Come, let me make you some food.”

← I looked at Gail who seemed as confused as I was, and he acted if nothing had happened. I thought maybe I should ask him if he remembered anything, but Gail beat me to it.

← “What has gotten into you lately?” she asked in her silly little accent. “One minute you are an overbearing freak and the next you are Mary Poppins.” She looked around at the disaster that was our loft and continued. “It serves you right to clean up your crazy little mess.”

← He stopped sweeping, looking more confused than we did.

← “My mess?” he asked going back to his sweeping. “I thought for sure you two were up to something when I woke up from my nap and the place was a mess.” He pointed to me with the tip of the broom. “I know how you are with your strange “changes” lately,” he said as he looked directly at me, “and I figured this was just another one of your, you know, “episodes.”

← When the shadow person had left his body, all memory of the last couple of weeks had gone with it. He really didn’t remember anything.

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← Whether it was the wackiness of it all, or I had a horrible flu, I all of a sudden felt myself start to sweat and quickly get weaker. I stopped being concerned about Paul and found myself concentrating on just being able to stand up straight. Something was seriously going on. I was too sick to go anywhere at this point so I made my way to the bedroom and tried to rest.

←← *****← I wasn’t sure that Noita’s chanting worked though because I still didn’t remember anything. It had been a day or so since the event and other than the whole thing with Paul, nothing else had happened. He attempted to get things back to normal, but the illness I felt kept that from happening.

← It felt as if I was dying all of a sudden. The weakness turned into an empty feeling that grew bigger as the dark hole in my chest grew. My heartbeat visibly kept getting weaker and weaker until it suddenly stopped. I had attempted to walk over to the kitchen sink to get a drink of water when suddenly I died again. This time I flat lined, and stayed dead for over 20 minutes.

← Gail had called the ambulance as Paul lay sobbing over my body. His sobbing quickly turned to pleading, even after Gail tried to tell him I was gone. The paramedics arrived and after attempting to revive me, the monitor still screamed as the line lay flat. Shortly after that, they called the coroner and requested a statement of death. But, before he arrived, the monitor that had not been removed from my chest began to beep again. I didn’t gasp for air, I didn’t suddenly open my eyes; I just started living again, without even waking up.

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← The ambulance whisked me away to the hospital, where it was decided that I was in a coma. No one stays dead for more than 5 minutes without brain damage and they never expected me to wake up.

← But Paul in all his grief begged for a little more time. He and Gail decided to stay each day without ever leaving my side. Many of their friends would come in and stay to try and cheer them up. Apparently the people I had worked with and found less favorable thought I was some kind of friend and came to mourn my impending doom.←← It wasn’t until Michael found his way to my hospital room that things started to change for me. I am not sure how he knew I was there, but when he walked into my hospital room, the nurse noticed a rise in my blood pressure and a quickening of my heart beat.←← He leaned down towards my left ear while keeping one eye on a glaring Paul. The tension in the room caused a few of their friends to slowly back out of the room. Paul was like a guard dog and Michael might make him bark.←← Michael seemed unaffected by this and continued to complete his mission.←← “Come home,” he whispered. “Let go and come home.”←

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← I suddenly awoke, jumping out of my bed. I ran towards Michael who had made his way to the other side of the room, but as I tried to hug him, I went right through him. He breathed in the scent of me as if he knew I was there, but didn’t move to greet me. I could see a smile hidden in the corners of his mouth, but he stayed intent on not giving away what was going on. I watched as the nurse offered him a chair and he quietly sat down as if waiting for something to change.

← I turned to see my body still lying motionless on the hospital bed. My heart rate was even shallower than before, and I looked hollow as if an empty shell. ←← “Am I dead?” I asked as if someone could hear me.

← “No Eva,” a voice said from behind me. “You are more alive than ever.”

← I turned to see the same younger man that had joined us at Noita’s. He was the one who wanted me to remember. Yet in this light, I realized that he was in fact much older than Michael. He didn’t actually look like it, since he had a strange and intriguing façade of youth, but you could tell by his silver waist length hair and ancient eyes that he was not as young as he seemed.←← “What happened?” I asked looking at my body. “And again, who are you?”

← He gestured for me to sit on the side of my hospital bed. Not that I could have hurt myself by fainting, but I guess he figured sitting would make it easier to hear the truth.

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← “My name is Samiel,” he answered. He hesitated for a moment as if he expected a response. If Noita had done his job right, I probably should have reacted. But I didn’t and he continued. “I am the King of the Cimmerians once of Atra2, which is the dark side of the Caelum3 realm. I am the son of Cimmerian and ruler of all the dark powers. I control everything that lives in the shadows.

← He kept going without skipping a beat. “The people of Caelum in its whole are what humans call Angels. A winged creature that protects the 9 realms of Caelum. You have the Cimmerian’s who are dark and the Lumenarians who are white. You can tell them apart by the color of their wings. The Cimmerians are all my people.”

← “So then dark winged angels are Cimmerians and those are shadow people?” I interrupted.

← “The shadow people as you call them are both Cimmerian and Lumenarian,” he responded. “Angels cannot be seen by human eyes.”

I got what he was saying…and let him continue.

← “I am the father of Michael as well as his brothers, Raphael, whom you saw at Noita’s place, Ramiel, Uriel and Gabriel.”

← “My Michael?” I asked as I got up and walked towards the beautiful man sitting in wait. I hoped at some point he would finally see me.

2 Atra- ‘Ah-truh’

3 Caelum – ‘Say-lum’

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“Yes, your Michael, and he will not be able to see you,” he said reading my mind. “Michael is as human as you now.”

“Why?” I asked as I sat on the arm of Michael’s chair. He could not see me, but I knew he could feel me.

← “Listen,” Samiel said, pulling me away from Michael. “Michael was stripped of his wings and cursed as a mortal because of you. Until the curse is broken you cannot be in the same place at once. Your father will never allow it.”

← He continued. “You see, the reason you are in this hospital is because your mortal body could not handle the truth of who you are. You fight your existence here in the mortal world and therefore cannot survive it. You are different than all the rest and will not allow yourself to be anything but what you are.

“Huh?” I asked. He continued without putting to rest that confusion.

← However he managed to stop and take a breath before recommencing. “When your father cursed Michael he was stripped of his wings, making him human and therefore damning him to live the life of a mortal. As long as the curse is not broken, he would have existed as a mortal, died as a mortal and been reborn as a mortal for the rest of his existence. This was the ultimate punishment for anyone in the Caelum realm.”

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He shifted. “You on the other hand cut off your own wings, stripping yourself and binding yourself to the mortal world, causing your father to put many measures into place. He insisted that you be removed of your memory and treated like any other mortal. But you are not, never were and never can be.”

“I don’t understand. How am I different than Michael and how can I see you now?” I asked.

← Samiel ignored me again and went on to explain that his magic allowed me to see Michael in my dreams. Breaking through the cracks in my father’s curse, he was able to give us glimpses of each other.←← Finally he gave me something close to the answer I was looking for. “You carry the white light, which is the power of the Lumenarian,” he said grabbing my hands. “And your father is the one and true King. The giver and controller of the true white light. The ruler of all 9 realms.

← “That must have been what I saw coming out of my hands,” I said aloud as he continued. “It was a white light.”

He skirted that issue and moved on.

“The fact that you have been able to make contact with my son is beyond impossible. Your father’s spells are ironclad.” He paused to take a deep and cautious breath. “The night you connected with Noita, you must have set something in motion, allowing Noita’s magic to seep through and start eating away at your memory spell.”

←

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← He looked over his shoulders as if to watch out for someone. “You see, Noita and his brothers are dark witches, witches whose magic is more like a plague and is toxic to the white light. For them to use their power against your father, or attempt to help anyone who is against your father, is met by severe punishment.”←“Even I have been cast out of Atra for using magic against your father’s will. I was to be his equal yet he says my magic is dark and banned from Caelum.”

← I walked to the window desperately trying to feel the sun that poured in. I felt nothing but the cold of the distance between the living and myself.←← He turned me around so that I could see the black portal opening at the end of my bed. “Now come with me and remember who you are.”

← Michael suddenly looked up as if he could feel what was going on and he breathed a sigh of relief.←← I grabbed Samiel’s outstretched hand, and followed him in.

← And that is when the monitor started to scream and yet again I was gone.

*****I would love to be able to tell you that what happens next is simple. I would love to say that when we arrived on the other side, everything went back to normal and Michael and I were able to find a way for Michael to return and say that we lived happily ever after. I would even love to tell you that I remembered absolutely everything and things moved forward as it should, but if I told you that, I would be lying.

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← We did make it to the other side of the portal, but what we found wasn’t happiness and it wasn’t the end of all misery. It was darkness. Complete and utter darkness. I could see where we were trying to go, but the cosmic barrier as if a thick sheet of glass that stood between us and the total truth was stronger than Samiel, and I couldn’t tap any of the power Samiel said I had.

← “Why?” I asked utterly disheartened. “Why are we like this? What happened to us?” I dropped to my knees, leaning my forehead up against the ice like barrier. “What did I do to deserve this?”←← “You fell in love,” Samiel said as he joined me on the ground. He leaned back on the barrier and put his hand on my lap. His white button down shirt draped haphazardly over his smooth muscular chest and his demeanor became calm and sultry. He had the air of Captain Hook and a false sense of confidence bubbling under a layer of insecurity. “You fell in love with someone you were never allowed to love.”

← “Michael?” I inquired, as I turned myself around. “What is wrong with Michael?”

← “He is my son, and a Cimmerian Prince.” He said shifting himself in order to face me, patting my leg with the tip of his pointer finger. “A Cimmerian Prince being with the only daughter of the Lumenarian King spells disaster. Our races cannot and will not mix.”

← First thing that came to mind was a Romeo and Juliet type thing, a rival of kingdoms, but Samiel assured me it was much more than that.

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←← “You see,” he said, “Cimmerians must never join with children of Lumenaria. Each carries its own special powers and control of forces no human has ever seen. If the two sides were to couple, it would mean the destruction of this power. The Lumenaria and Cimmerian are two halves of a very powerful entity that cannot be combined. It would end everything as we know it.”←← He pulled himself back up as he kept slouching on the slippery ground and gave me more.

← “Your father and I are born of these entities with a pure and direct bloodline given to our children. Unlike the other angels that were created by your father, you were birthed of our loins and are mostly pure. Your union could not happen.”←← “So is a Cimmerian evil?” I asked brushing off my knee. There had been just enough light shining through for me to see how filthy the dark side had made me. The floor was covered in the same substance that had lined the corners of my loft.

← “No,” Samiel answered as if a little insulted. “It is not evil.” He continued a slight bit more humbly. “The dark is not evil just as the white is not good. There are elements of each in both, however when power is in the wrong hands, it can do dangerous things. As with any power, proper control is necessary. I have seen even the most good-hearted people destroyed by both the Cimmerian and the Lumenaria.”

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← “You had mentioned before that the shadow people are angels,” I said, changing the subject ever so slightly. “Why do some seem so evil?” I asked as if the question had been burning in my soul awhile.

← “The shadows that you speak of have been summoned to keep you from Michael and they come from the depths of the Abyssus realm, a place with no King and no ruler, until now.” He should have held his head in shame, but he spoke so matter-of-fact about it. “My punishment, if I succeed in helping you two, will be to rule the Abyssus realm forever. I have been cast out of Caelum for what I have done and what I believe.”←← He folded his hands, resting his elbows on his knees and his chin on his thumbs.

← “This, as well as the summoning of such creatures, was the decision of your Father and his ever loyal Il-Lumen Eternus council. For now I walk amongst the realms, a punishment they had hoped would remind me of where my place is. But I have no place with people who are afraid of power. Power is necessary! Power is good. You someday will be ruler of Caelum and you too will have power.”

← “One single power is not necessary,” I said sadly. “No one is meant to be ruled!” I started to get anxious with this conversation.

“Well,” he said getting equally anxious. “There is a prophecy that states that you will gain the ultimate power; power that has been denied to all - power to rule us all.”

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← “If I was to gain this power, I would not use it. I do not want Michael because of this power,” I said as if I started to remember. “I would denounce this power just to be with him.” I yelled to the icy barrier as I started to beat on it, “I don’t understand…I just wanted Michael!”

← “That is what you said right before you were stripped,” Samiel said. “But, I do not see it this way. Find this ultimate power, take it and relieve your father from the throne and earn your inheritance.”

← “I don’t want it,” I said standing back up. “I just want Michael.” I planted my face on the barrier slumping in despair.

← He stood back up attempting to break the barrier one last time. His attempt was futile.←← “I’m sorry Eva,” he said sadly. “We have no choice but to go back. Somehow your father has prevented us both access to the realm. He must have used the barrier of banishment. He does that when he is angry at those he feels betrayed him.”

← “What kind of man banishes his own daughter?” I thought aloud.

← “A man who loves power himself,” Samiel said as he struck the barrier in frustration. “You must change your mind about your power. You could prevent something like this ever from happening again. You owe it to me for what I have done for you. And you owe it to yourself.”

← He waved his hand towards the far corners of the darkness, summoning the portal. We were hesitant, but we had no choice but to walk through.

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← As we arrived back into the hospital room, it was as if we had never left. The doctors were rushing in the door with a crash cart and Paul was sobbing in the corner. Michael stood in a calm that expressed his eagerness for me to ascend, and friends stood with tears slowly streaming down their faces. Time was moving a fraction of its normal pace.

← Then, Michael’s demeanor seemed to change once he felt the slight breeze of our return. His calm quickly turned to a silent panic.

← “No, no, no,” he said nervously as he stood to face the black hole that stayed invisible to his now mortal eye. “Samiel, you promised you could get her home!” he exclaimed as if he didn’t know what direction to quietly yell it in.

← “You promised.”

← Apparently shortly after the whole gallery incident, Michael had been visited by his father and had a very similar conversation.

← “Oh, no,” he said as he fell back into his chair. His despair rang louder than Paul’s sobbing and the constant scream of the heart monitor. I could feel his disappointment to my core and it made it hard to breathe.

← I tried to comfort him, but the limbo I now stood in, prevented me from making any kind of contact.

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← “What you feel now is what we have felt for a century!” Samiel exclaimed as if he could feel my pain. “There are those of us who have mourned you for a very long time.” I turned to respond, when I realized he had just said century.

← “But I have only been here for a little over a decade,” I said still staring intently at Michael’s face. I’m not sure he could feel me standing next to him, but he sure acted like it…his panic subsided and now he stood with a slight smile on his face.

← “Both of us have only been here a little over 10 years. I don’t understand.”

← “Time doesn’t exist in the same way in Caelum,” Samiel answered. ←← “Time is not measured in Caelum, no constraints; it is not measured by rotations around the sun or seasons. It is infinite and therefore fluid. We only measure it by human terms when necessary. So to a human it is 10 years. To us it would be more like a century.”

← I looked back at my lifeless body, watching the doctors try over and over again to get my heart beating again. I watched them finally give up hope, leaving the room full of mourning loved ones and a very pensive Michael who now stood by the side of my bed, opposite of a grieving and obviously irritated Paul.

← “You are the only one who can fix this,” Samiel said gesturing towards the bed. “You need to go back and find a way to undo all of this. You must remember who and what you really are and restore the balance of things.”

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“What does Michael remember?” I asked the oddly excited Samiel.

He turned and walked circles around his son.

“He knows what he needs to know and that is it.” He stopped and put his hands on my shoulders.

“Now fix this and make it all right,” he said in a vexed tone. “Fix this for my son.”

← I turned and faced my body, waiting for something to happen. I don’t know how I managed to do it but I began to feel the flesh and bones of my body creak as I started to move. I silently came back to life and as I did, there were even more changes made to my body. Changes that those who witnessed it could not understand. Even Michael seemed a little bit shocked by the whole thing.←← Apparently I was looking more and more like my true and original self.

I not only started to get the color of life back in my skin…my features changed. My hair, which had been shoulder length and a wicked color of blonde and pink, drained itself of all the dye, producing a tar like color. It grew in the time it took Paul to blink his eyes three times, piling by my side.

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My eyes, which had always been a dark shade of brown, turned into a white blue color, as if a pure white paint was swirled into a clear crystal-blue paint and splattered onto each eye. On the outside corner of my left eye there was a fairly decent size red mark that glowed with a flicker. My eyelashes grew until they made their way to the bottom of my perfectly sculpted eyebrows.

← My lips, already a decent shape, plumped themselves into perfect cushions lying daintily on my face. They became a perfect contrast to the now sculpted body that lay under the sheets. My rear end had narrowed itself down to a reasonable size, yet allowed all who would soon see it, to appreciate its presence. I think I even grew an inch or two, and I definitely went up a cup size on my chest. If there was anyone considered to be perfect….I was the model for it.←← The structure and overall look of my face remained the same, just prettier and more angelic with a dash of perfect and a pinch of warrior princess.

← With both Michael and Paul at my side, I made a conscious choice to choose Michael first as I brushed my fingers against his hand, to let him know I was awake. His reaction was less subtle than I had hoped as he planted a gentle yet excited kiss on my newly sculpted lips.←← “Welcome back,” he said at the end of his kiss. “I missed you.”←← As he started to pull away, I raised my left hand to touch his face, pulling him back down...I wasn’t done.

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← Paul, who had been standing there the entire time, fell back into his chair. Thing is, instead of looking angry, he looked defeated, but not defeated enough to quit. He brushed himself off and stood back up, following up with a kiss of his own. To him, this was only the beginning of round one, and he was going to win this match.←← Sadly he thought he still had a chance, and I may have allowed him to think so longer than I should. I loved Michael and needed to be with him, but I left the hospital with Paul. We both agreed that it wasn’t safe enough for us to be together yet. Michael was a high profile actor and being together would have been too public for us. For him to disappear would be an even bigger story. We had to figure out what was going on and sticking with Paul a little longer was the safest place to be. As long as I wasn’t with Michael, the shadow people would leave us alone and I could take time to figure things out.

← As I said goodbye to Michael, I assured him I would see him again soon.

← “I promise,” I said as he rested his forehead on mine. “As long as we are apart they won’t bother us. Let me at least get my bearings. I will find you as soon as I can.” I brushed the hair off the side of his face. “I promise I will see you soon.”

← *****← As long as my father still had this curse on me, remembering fully would be impossible. But, once I managed to make it into the comfort of my own home, the visions of times past started trickling in.←

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← I would remember lying next to a small lake filled with copper colored water, under the shade of a large Honeysuckle tree, holding the love of my life and making plans for the family we wanted to raise. In some memories it was Michael. Yet sometimes it was someone else.

← Then, the next memory would be of us running down the dark alleys of a cobblestone street, with swords in our hands and fear in our hearts.

← And the most vivid memory was that of the battle I had seen in my dreams before. This time, with much more information and much more feeling of despair.←← I could see me walking down the silky grass aisle that led me to the hand-carved stone alter at the end of the line. I wore a floor length white dress, or what was left of a dress, as it seemed to be missing its sides, from shoulder to ankle. It was held together by a dark leather corset and a leather holster carrying my sword. My waist length hair, adorned with lily of the valley, swayed in the afternoon breeze. My wings glowed beautifully, leaving trails of my essence behind me.

← As I walked, I could hear the calls of white doves sitting in the red rose trees that lined either side of the meadow we were in. Soldiers with black wings and armor-like robes stood guarding every entrance to the woods.

← The pink and yellow sun cast a beautiful orange light across the meadow as I saw Michael stand before me in a robe of white, flanked by what I believed to be his immediate bloodline. No others presented themselves for this glorious occasion, proving the ceremony was being done in secret.

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A cheribum stood at the altar ready to marry us. By his expression he wasn’t given much of a choice and didn’t seem keen on this union.

← We did make it to the very end of the ceremony before we had any interruptions. Our wedding ceremony was short and sweet with a few chants and a cheer at the end of his speech. To conclude the ceremony however, we were to consummate the union, making our way to the tent behind the altar.

As we began to undress we could hear disturbances outside. Shouting coupled with the sounds of metal clashing and wings flapping forced us to quickly put our clothes back on. Michael left the tent first, running towards the woods, evading the bolt of lighting that rained down from the sky. I ran after him, fighting angels with white wings, who kept getting in my way, pushing me farther away from him. I would fend them off and get away just to end up fighting some more.

Finally I was able to break free as I ran into the forest after him. My dress tore as I ran through the quickly growing thorns and angrily structured trees. There were even moments when I felt they were purposely getting in my way. Realizing that my father must have been behind all of this, I wouldn’t have been surprised.

← As I finally cleared the trees on the other side of the forest there I stood, on a cliff, standing opposite of a captured Michael and my irate looking father.←It was then that the memories ended - I never remembered more.

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←←←←← CHAPTER 3←← It had been 6 months since I returned home, and I found myself more invigorated and determined than I had ever been. It was as if a different blood coursed through my veins, making me invincible and more convincing.←← The shadow people were no longer shadows as I could now see their true forms - looking through what felt like a different set of eyes. Some were angelic creatures, statuesque in nature, male and female both, with bodies that looked as if they had been sculpted in stone, and wings that looked more like wisps of white or dark light, depending on the angel. Their eyes glowed either a golden or red color, depending on their wings.

← Other shadows were more demon-like in their appearance, with a scaly texture to their skin. Still perfectly sculpted, they looked more like an evil twin to the other angels. Again, both had either white or dark wings, but every one of them had eyes that glowed in the deepest red I have ever seen. If red could be close to black, theirs were. Those were the ones I had always been fearful of, but now, I didn’t fear them so much. Come to think of it, I didn’t fear much at all.

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← I still refer to them as the shadow people though. It seems to have a ring to it.

Michael kept his distance, living his famous and public life as if nothing had changed, but I could always see the pain in his eyes during interviews or photo ops. I wanted to reach out to him and even thank him for the anonymous flowers that would show up at my studio, but we had agreed to have no direct contact for a while.

Although, I am pretty sure I would catch him outside my loft window once in a while, or sitting incognito at a table in the back of a restaurant I was in. If I would catch him he would wink and go back to reading his menu.

Paul desperately tried not to be defeated by any of this. He knew I was only there until I could figure out my next move but still hoped that somehow he could win me over. He would go above and beyond to match whatever subtle move Michael would make and soon I was showered with more gifts than I ever wanted.

He even tried to stay involved in what I was doing, but I spent more time slipping in and out of places than being accessible to anyone. I had already left the relationship - I just hadn’t physically left yet.

← And I needed answers, yet Samiel never came back around. I had no one to ask and no direction, so I decided to figure things out the hard way.←

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← I visited the Heaven City Library, tearing through their religion and occult section. I would find books on angels or religious texts that suggested a Hierarchy no different than the one taught in religion but nothing that led me to believe in my existence. I even tried Mythology, but nothing came up. ←← My confusion started to reach catastrophic levels and I felt defeated and alone, so I decided to try asking men of the cloth if they knew anything. But no Protestant religions would accept the questions I would ask. Their denial of anything outside their one true God allowed for a transparent ignorance. I could tell they truly knew nothing else. ← Finally a Priest from the Mission District’s Catholic Church suggested that he might know where to lead me. He knew that he had heard stories of secret societies in the area who knew a little more about things than he did himself. He told me that the Catholic Church always knew more than they ever led on but that Priests at his level were given very little information.

← “I believe there is a faction of Illumaniti here in Heaven City,” Father Benjamin said in a thick Irish accent as he walked me to the door. “Find them and find your answers, I am sure.”

As I walked out the door and down the church steps he stopped me with a revelation.

“Wait,” he said running after me. “What about the Catholic Warriors? You have heard of them right?”

“No,” I said with a little hope. “Where would I find them?”

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“Well, they are out of the Vatican,” he said pensively biting a nail. “I know of none here in Heaven City but I am sure that doesn’t mean much. We are only a small parish here. Try the one downtown, Saint Michaels, there you may find a Priest who knows more.”

I thanked him and made my way to Saint Michael’s. It was the largest church in the city and catered to most of the wealthy and politicians in the area. Its priest, Father Sean, and his bishops were always in the local government’s council. Some would say it was a church with a direct line to the Vatican and a subsidiary of heaven. To be a member there meant to be a member in very good standing.

But when I arrived I was met with challenges. No one was willing to speak with me and got a bit militant with my removal. I wasn’t greeted with any kind of acceptance or esteems, instead when hearing my name they demanded I leave.

I tried to ask for Father Sean, but even though I saw him standing at the altar, I was told he wasn’t available for council.

“Find someone else to bother,” one of the young bishops demanded before slamming and locking the church door. “We have nothing for you here.”

But, I wouldn’t let it get to me. Their hesitance to help me meant I was finally on to something.

← I decided in the meantime to track down Noita, but it wasn’t easy. He hadn’t been to the club since the last time I had seen him, and no one seemed to know where he was.

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← The more I tried to find him, however, the deeper I seemed to go into the human underground. If there was a pit of humanity, a deep, dark place where all the most un-human like humans lived, I had found the heart of it in this clandestine society, as if being a freak was an exclusive club and they must protect the ones in it.

Club after club in the Toiler District came up empty, with each place getting darker and more ominous than the next.

← It wasn’t until I ran into a coven of vampire wannabes that I started to get any answers as to where Noita was. They told me to visit the ‘Gateway’ and then pointed me in the direction of an abandoned building, set back in the darkest parts of the city. A place that had been home to vagrants, drug pushers and prostitutes. The perfect cover for anything supernatural.

← I hesitated to go in that direction; the human underground was more unpredictable than anything, but I knew he was my only chance to understanding it all.

← By the time I finally found him though, I had made my way down into the basement of the building, through a hole in the wall that led to an abandoned subway, through a mile of stairs leading away from the city and downward towards the center of the earth and then turned left.

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← As I made my way below, I could almost understand where Dante had gotten the idea for Inferno, a book I had once read during my re-education and reinvention of myself. They weren’t the 9 circles of hell, but it was pretty damn close to hell on earth. With each level I descended, the scene became more and more grotesque.

← The people seemed to look the most normal towards the surface, if scantily clad, obviously starved, with painted faces and poorly shaved heads. Sounds cliché I know, but the movies really do pull from real life, and this is life at its realist.

← Every corner I turned, there were people who looked less like people and more like melted flesh on twisted bones. The stench of death and sex permeated through the deteriorating walls, making it un-necessary for this version of the underworld to require guards. No sane mortal would make it this far.

← After what seemed like hours, I had found the Gateway. The place that no realm would accept, a place where lost souls from all realms came to dwell. A place where vampire-like humanoids, and animal-like demons lived. The bottom feeders of all realms and all species. A place just barely above a rat or cockroache’s station.

← But this was the only place where you could find a back door entrance to all the realms. And Noita and his brothers had become its latest guardians. ←

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← My journey came to an end when I entered a grand cement room, lit by modern day torches, adorned with beings crawling the walls and what looked like runes carved into its ceiling. There were archways with large iron doors all around the room, with glowing, yellow hexes burned into each door.

← The heat and steam rushing out of cracks in the floor forced me to take off my leather jacket, exposing my bare arms and the knives tucked into my tight leather pants. Knives seemed the natural thing for me. In the last few months anything sharp seemed to make me feel a little more comfortable.

As I finished studying my surroundings I saw Noita and his brothers in the far side of the room laying provocatively across a large wooden canopy bed, one drowsy from the pipe he smoked, the other sleeping, curled up with naked Eunuchs at their feet, and Noita, immersed in whatever was in his black crystal goblet.

← “I am sorry,” I said, moving closer. “Am I interrupting something?”

← I had caught Noita off guard, and he dropped the drink he had been sipping on, leaving a half chewed straw dangling from his mouth.

← He hit one of his brothers in the arm, waking him up and startling the other one. They scrambled to the floor.

← All three bowed to their knees in front of me.

← “Forgive me your highness,” Noita’s muffled voice screeched out. “Forgive us for all we have done.”

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← “What is it that you have done?” I asked. So far all I knew, is that they had helped Samiel and me on more than one occasion. “And I have to ask…what are you?”

← I motioned for them to get off their knees.←← “We are the guardians of the underworld, the portal to all realms, and the keeper of all things not human. The misfits of all realms you could say, as we adopt the waste of the human world as well.” said the second brother as he pointed to the mutilated human sitting in the corner. “The ones who have no choice but to wear their sins.”

← He rose to his feet. “We are also what humans call witches or warlocks, practitioners of witchcraft and voodoo.”

← “And what we have done,” the third brother chimed in, “is betray you.”

← “How?” I asked directly to Noita, at least I think it was…they all were identical.

← He shied away from me as if guilt embellished his imagination. I could see how many punishments flashed in his mind.

← And then I realized, I didn’t need him to answer. I could read his mind, literally.

← I could hear the voices of conversations he had with my father. How forthcoming he was about any knowledge he had of me.

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The more I heard, the more he tried to fight it, but I still could hear everything.

← He had contact with my father and he had told him everything. For this my father had threatened to wipe them from all realms, especially for assisting me in the past. But in return they vowed to help him destroy my hope and refute any speculation I may have had. He agreed and spared them in return for destroying me and giving him Michael’s head.

← Through Noita and his brothers I learned that my father, the King of the Caelum, and ruler of the realms, was currently rendered powerless in two realms, the Terra realm, where the humans dwelled, and the Abyssus, also known as the Hell realm. Due to his lack of power, he was unable to see through to this realm and had sent his hound dogs to find me. He needed everyone else to deter me.

← “The prophecy states that only one can have the power to truly rule all the realms. This power lies in the one that carries the power of the light and the dark.”←← Noita looked around and then whispered as if the room had been bugged.

← “You are to become ‘that one,’ Evangeline,” he said as he circled me. “And he asked us to stop you.”

← “What will happen if I were to become the one?” I said with air quotes. “What is he afraid of? And why have you not destroyed me?”

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← “Losing control,” the next brother told me. “He will lose control of all realms and of you. Both he and Samiel will be rendered powerless. For you, this is about love. For them, this is about power and nothing more.”

← Noita continued. “We have not destroyed you, because we serve a new master now. A master with whom we will seek eternal solace and protection from your father and the power of the Lumenaria.”

← “What master?” I asked inquisitively. But even their minds would not give me the answer I sought.

← It was always “in due time” with them.

← “What matters now,” brother number three interjected, “is that you become what the prophecy has said you should be. You must complete the ceremony with Michael. Tonight!”

← “I am not going to let this stop Michael and I from being together. They can have their power. I don’t…” I started to say putting my foot down.

“Shhhhh,” Noita said lunging at me. He covered my mouth with his sweaty, bony hands with the stench of mold and wine traveling to my sinuses.

← Noita’s third brother dropped back down to his knees with his face shooting towards the ceiling.←← “You must find Michael tonight,” he said in a thousand voices. “This is your fate. You will join with him tonight. The war is upon us and you must be ready.”

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← He rose to his feet effortlessly, joining his brothers who now surrounded me.

← The brothers grabbed my arms and Noita placed his palm on my head.

← They started chanting in a language I started to understand. It came to me in bits and pieces, but I could understand the gist of what they were saying.

← And suddenly my skin started to burn.

← I looked down at my arms that were now the canvas for a dark, thin, scrolling line that appeared all over my skin. The more they chanted, the more the line would take over my arms and chest, almost like a mystical tattoo. It followed my veins as it made its way up the left side of my face and disappeared into my hair-line.

← When they finished, I dropped to my knees; the pain had stopped my breath for a moment.←← “This spell should temporarily hide you from all other realms and all the Kings,” Noita said. “You must find Michael, you must be with him tonight.”

← I had no idea if Michael was even in Heaven City. His life as Chris Haines kept him so busy that he was hard to track down. I could always feel him near me but, I know it was because I missed him so much and it had been days since I had seen or heard from him.←

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← Noita then explained to me that I had the power to move around the realm just by will or thought. My father’s banishment had prevented me from leaving the realm at all, but as long as I tapped into the power that seeped through the cracks of the curse I placed on myself when becoming mortal, I could move freely within this realm.

← “Think of where you want to be,” he said. “It will bring you there.”

The brothers held on to me, acting as a conduit into my untapped power, allowing me to wield what little I could muster.

I closed my eyes, imagining where I wanted to be, and instantly I was transported to a meadow; the earthly equivalent of the ones in my dreams. It was far outside the city, but I could see the skyline on the horizon. It felt like a warm spring morning as I stood there waiting for Michael. As soon as I whispered his name he appeared through the mist, as he did so many times in my dream; but this time he was real.

← When he saw me he started running like a man on a very important mission.

← When he reached me he didn’t say a word, just picked me up into his arms and pushed me into the tent. A tent I had conjured with my wish. I straddled his waist as my hands gripped either side of his face. Words would have minimized the intensity of the moment, ruining the release of sexual tension that had built up for a very long time.

← The moans that slipped through the cracks of our kiss pulled us closer and closer together.

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←← He wasn’t wasting any time, and didn’t wait for me to tell him why we were even there. He knew, and apparently was about to prove that 10 long human years is a long time for a man to wait.

← The beast inside him slowed itself down long enough to place me gently on the bed that stood in the center of the tent - pushing the hair back from my eyes. He stared so intently into me that the already burning desire welled up in my chest, causing me to arch my back off the bed. It was as if my body was inviting him in – with every heartbeat drawing him in more and more. He acknowledged by pulling off his shirt and ripping mine from my breast. He lunged towards me as to not miss the opportunity to feel flesh against flesh.

← I couldn’t help but stare deep into his eyes. The soul of an immortal man I once knew lived as a mortal I hardly got to know, and here I was, falling in love with him all over again.

← As I got lost in his beauty, I also got lost in the moment. The intensity of it grew stronger and stronger until, our bodies melted into each other, making it impossible for anyone to see where one body started and the other ended. It was angelic and demonic all at once. He was I and I was he, one in the same; we were equal parts of a whole. The most horrifically beautiful thing you could have ever seen.←← And for that moment, time stood still, as we forgot that we weren’t supposed to be doing this at all.

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← The explicit truths of our bodies expelled as we merged more than our souls, creating a light so intense it could have lit the way to Heaven. The dark beam from his body and the light from mine, intertwined, becoming one beacon of love and devotion.

← It was at that moment that I could feel my soul permanently breaking free from whatever curse lay upon it. Who I was and what I was, was who I would be for the rest of eternity – and with that would come the ultimate power and the greatest of responsibility.←← *****← We were then torn apart by the light that had spewed out of us, throwing us into a levitation of sorts. Both paralyzed by the moment, we were unable to break free of its power. The more intense it got, the stronger I felt. ←← Then suddenly it released Michael, dropping him to the floor. As for me, the light continued pulsing into my chest and leaving through each one of my outstretched fingers. My eyes glowed red and yellow for a few seconds and my hair suspended in mid-air as if gravity had vanished.

← When it stopped, Michael was there to catch me. He placed me down on my feet, gawking at our surroundings.

← “We should not still be here,” he said feeling his skin. “I should not still be here.”

← He looked at me, confused. “My father told me this would break the curse.”

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He pulled away from me, looking out the front of the tent as he started to get dressed. “Angels cannot dwell in this realm.”

I turned him around to see if he had his wings but he didn’t.

“So what just happened?” I asked trying to feel if I had mine.

“I’m not sure,” he said, “but I think we are still mortal.” He turned me around to see if I had my wings. “We have to be. Neither one of us has our wings.”

“Your father said us being together would destroy everything. Do you think….?” I started to ask.

“No,” he said coming back inside the tent. “I don’t think at all. There is something more to them not wanting us to be together. I can feel it.”

“I know. I feel different,” I said zipping up my leather jacket, now that I know longer had a shirt. “I feel stronger somehow.”

“I don’t know,” he said buckling his pants. “I just know we need to find my father.”

Once we were dressed I tried to wish us back to the city. I tried as I held his hand hoping that I could tap into more power. I tried again and again until he told me just to give up.

“Let’s just walk,” he said leading us toward the gravel road ahead of us. “Maybe we did break something.”

*****

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←← After walking all day and hitch hiking for the rest of the trip, we made our way back to Michael’s loft in Heaven City, hoping to find a way to reach Samiel. We couldn’t go to my place because of Paul and Gail, and being anywhere public with a famous man was an impossibility. ←← “We need to lay low until we find your father,” I said, closing all his floor to ceiling drapes. I tried summoning Samiel with a wish and a thought, but it still wasn’t working. When he didn’t respond, I closed my eyes tightly and tried again, screaming louder in my head.

← Even if he did hear me – he refused to answer.

← I met Michael in his living room as he sat on the couch with his head in his hands. He looked more distraught than I would have expected after what we had just finished doing. ←← “What’s wrong?” I asked, pulling the hair from his eyes.←← He sat back firmly on his couch and sighed.←← “He will come for us, Eva,” he said wringing his hands. “He will come for us and we will be lost again. He has done this to us so many times before. I really thought this was it.”

← I sat down next to Michael, curling my legs under me. I was bracing for another story. “Who will come for us?” I shifted. “You mean my father? And what do you mean he has done this to us before?”

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“Yes,” he said dejectedly. “We have found each other a couple times before and he always finds us and has us wiped, starting the whole process over again.”

“You mean we’ve done this before?” I challenged. “In the last 10 years?”

← He stared blankly past me as if he was thinking too intently to hear me.

← “You have got to be kidding me!” he exclaimed, springing up. “Gabriel?”

← “Gabriel?” I asked confused. “Who is Gabriel?”

← I stood up and turned around to see a man standing in the middle of the carpet. He looked so much like Michael it was eerie. He was obviously younger, but you could definitely tell they were brothers.

← “Gabriel?” I repeated. “Your brother?” I saw the man standing there just staring at me with a tormented look on his face.←← He stood there silently a little longer waiting for another response from me. His left shoulder was cocked back just slightly as if he was ready to run. His hand twitched as if he was ready for a fight.

← Nothing came, so he turned his attention to Michael who seemed much more agitated by his presence.

← “What is going on here?” I asked them both.

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← “You don’t remember do you?” Gabriel said keeping his gaze locked on his brother.

← “No,” I said desperately trying to remember something. “I really don’t.”

← “Try really hard to remember,” Michael said through gritted teeth. “Trust me, it will come to you soon.”

← I sat down on the couch forcing myself to try and remember something. I closed my eyes and wished as hard as I could.

← And that is when I remembered – I loved him once.

I stood up facing them both as I started to remember. It turns out there was much more to the story than either Samiel or Michael ever told me. There was more to all of it.

I was in the middle of a supernatural love triangle.

← Before I had a chance to respond, Gabriel broke his stance and ran to me. He knew I could remember and didn’t want to lose the moment.

← He kissed me, so passionately, right in front of his brother.

← Michael who became angry, ripped his brother off me, shoving him across the room.

← I gently wiped my lips, confused at the feelings I had when he kissed me. The uncontrollable urge to cry pushed a tear or two out of my eyes.

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← But I wasn’t the only one who was crying. Gabriel was now down on his knees sobbing.

← “Forgive me, both of you,” he said wringing his hands. “Forgive me for what I have done to you.”←← He motioned as if he was going to stand back up, but his brother pushed him back to his knees.

← “Why should we forgive you? What is it that you have done, other than kiss my wife?” Michael said angrily. “You never could get it through your head that she wanted me instead of you.”←← “She loved me first,” Gabriel said as if this conversation continued a life-long sibling rivalry. Gabriel now sprung to his feet. “She loved me first Michael!”←← The two started to brawl right in front of me.

*****Gabriel and Michael were two of Samiel’s most expressive children. Michael who was the more aggressive of the two always found a reason to compete with his softer more ethereal sibling. Although there was an age difference and a few siblings in between them, those two always had it out for each other.

They looked the most like each other too.

Their father treated them very differently. Michael, the perfect soldier was his father’s go to for things that required strength and brute force. He expected more of out him and was quick to let Michael know when he had done something wrong.

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However, Michael always wanted something more. He knew the strategies of war and all things a ruler should know but never wanted any part of it. His strength was based on a compassion he could never show his father. To him, compassion in someone like Michael could be seen as weakness.

Gabriel, the more sensitive one, was Samiel’s youngest and their mother’s most prized possession. He never got his hands dirty and was allowed to show emotions publically. He lived to love and loved to live, finding a way to hold on to the beauty in everything.

However, Gabriel was secretly the strongest one of them all. He had a fortitude passed down to him from his mother that would make him persevere better than anyone else. It was an admirable trait and one that only those who got to really know him could see.

Samiel always treated him as if he were a child that never grew up. When their mother died she made Samiel vow to never allow him to come to any harm. She saw something special in him and didn’t want his purity tainted or destroyed.

This set the stage for a jealousy that went way beyond their love for me. And my choosing one over the other was dangerous for their relationship.

*****

“Enough!” I yelled after giving it a couple minutes to work itself out. However, it seemed to gain momentum the longer it went on, so I demanded it to end.

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← When I finally managed to separate them, I directed my first question to Michael.

← “I assume you know what he is referring to?” I said looking towards him. “You actually know what is going on?”

← Michael looked at me and then towards his brother. “Yes. I remember everything. I don’t know how, but I do.”←← “You told me you loved me once,” Gabriel interrupted.

← I walked over to Michael who now seemed calmer than he did before.

← “I believe you,” I said turning my attentions towards him. I could feel a pull when I first saw him and the word love seemed the most appropriate for the situation.

“I believe that I loved you very much,” I continued. “But I obviously chose your brother. There has to be something said about that.”

Michael stood straight up and puffed up just a little bit.←← “But why?” Gabriel begged as he grabbed my hand.

← I would have answered him, but I was hit with flashes of a very dark and sad memory.

← Feelings of anger, hurt and betrayal flooded me.

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← “Oh no,” I said pulling away from Gabriel. “Oh Gabriel, why?”←← I pulled away from him desperately holding back tears.

“I’m so, so sorry,” he said again taking a step towards me.

I backed away and made it to the couch where I slumped down in a puddle of tears.

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CHAPTER 4←← I had fallen in love with Gabriel once, long before I met his brother Michael. He was beautiful and fun and the softness of his voice and personality were a perfect contrast to the men my father had tried marrying me off to. ←My father betrothed me to a General in his army. A man I really didn’t know. His name was Abraxas and I had met him only a few times before he shipped off for the war. He was a strong and manly soldier who really seemed to know nothing about being anything but.

Gabriel was a man who owned your soul. A man who could love you so intensely that you could not imagine love to be simple. He brought mystery to the relationship as well as an open honesty I had never seen before. He found his way into the fibers of my being and anchored himself into my heart.

What made him even more exciting was that he was a Cimmerian Prince, something my father always treated as taboo. I could not understand this because his most trusted friend and brother was King Samiel, their father. So it only made sense to me that I could maybe change his mind.

← I had been with Gabriel for what amounted to a decade (in human time), in secret, and many times from a distance. As much as I wanted my father’s approval, Gabriel assured me it would bring nothing but pain. He said that someday he would figure out a way for us to be together and I waited patiently. But that all ended when the Angels returned from the Realm War, and brought Michael back with them.

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*****Centuries ago my father had declared war on all the realms, demanding total control. He felt that the other realms could not exist without the ultimate power of one King and he chose himself to be the one to rule. This sparked a war between Caelum and the other Realms. They fought as hard as they could against it and drew out the war for a very long time. Many people were lost on both sides, yet my father never backed down.

Towards the beginning of this war my father found a way to punish those who did not concede to his will or fight in his war. Stripping the angels of their wings, he banished them to live as mortals in a realm created especially for them. It was known as the Terra realm. A realm full of ignorance of anything else outside their mortality; a place where people would live and die just to come back and do it all over again. If he saw fit to forgive them they would ascend back to Caelum. If not…they lived as mortals for eternity.

Eventually these mortals became wise to their predicament and began questioning their existence. Forming secret societies and pockets of revolutionaries, they attempted a revolt against the heavens. During the mortal Middle Ages, my father found himself sending his soldiers to wipe out these trouble-makers. It would go down in history as the Crusades, a war between the Christians and the heathens, but in reality it was my father’s soldiers and the mortals who did his bidding, spreading the word of ignorance throughout the realm.

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Atra, the dark side of Caelum, was left to be ruled by King Samiel, and therefore untouched by my father’s need to dominate. It was given to him as a token of my father’s love and affection. He was his brother, the other half of his whole and the only true friend he ever had.

In return, Samiel gave my father men for his army, including his own sons.

The war finally ended after my father decided he had made his point. A war that if measured in the mortal timeline ended sometime in the 1800’s.

Michael, who led the Cimmerians into battle, stood by his Lumenarian counterpart Abraxas as they fought, forming a brotherhood that would take them into the most intimate of conversations and allowed for tales of home and love. Abraxas would tell Michael of his love and affection for the Lumenarian Princess. He would speak of my beauty and compassion, as well as my passion and need for change.

I was the King’s daughter, but I wanted a simple life where everyone in all realms were treated equal. This was something Michael believed more than anything. He may have fought for his father and mine, but he had always disagreed with Realm domination.

*****← When they returned my father threw them the most elaborate and public parade. He sat on his throne on the sidelines, proud of those who returned. He felt as if he had won, but each and every one of them looked defeated.

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Leading the parade was an injured Abraxas and his brother in arms, Michael.

He caught my eye as much as I had caught his, as he sauntered by with his soldiers. Call it fate, or a desire for something I couldn’t understand, I found myself wishing to know about him. I didn’t know he was Gabriel’s brother, not that it should have mattered; I shouldn’t have gone after him. But I couldn’t help it. It was as if I was being drawn to do so.

← That evening we retreated to the castle where all the generals and officers of my father’s army were treated to a glorious ball. Our clothing matched that of our mortal counterparts with a 19th century twist to a celestial form of Greek fashion. I wore a backless ball gown that looked more like an elaborate toga. My arms were adorned with long, silver armbands that reached from shoulder to wrist. My hair, pulled back into a loose braid, had specks of gold in it. The women who joined us wore something very similar.

The men stayed in their uniforms, made up of a full body leather outfit overlaid with pieces of armor over the major parts of their body. It was thin enough to move around in but strong enough to withstand the blade of a sword.

Those who were not in uniform, like Samiel and the King, wore leather pants under a toga.

My father and Samiel sat opposite of each other lining the far walls with their people. I could see Gabriel sitting next to him ignoring his sister Uriel as he stared distressingly at me. Unlike the many times before, when we found ourselves sitting across the room from each other, I was not staring adoringly at him.

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No, this time I was staring at a man I had just realized was his brother.

Samiel noticed my intrigue and brought his son over to meet me. “Ah, my Princess,” he said bowing to me. “May I present to you my son Michael? General in my army and my favorite of my children.”←← In all the years I had spent around the Cimmerian Princes of Atra, I had never seen Michael. He had been gone in the war a long, long time.

← My father didn’t put much effort into concealing his feelings about the introduction.

← “Oh look,” he said, pointing towards the door.

← “Your future husband has arrived.”

I completely ignored my father and Abraxas who stood awkwardly waiting for an advance I refused him. I was more interested in the man that stood before me. I got down from my chair and shook his hand.

“My name is Evangeline,” I said, like an idiot.

He chuckled as he kissed the back of my hand and winked. “I know who you are.”

As much as I loved Gabriel and with the intensity of it, I should have never looked twice at Michael. His charms were just that, charming and nothing of great substance. But the more I was around him the more I felt drawn to fall quickly and madly in love.

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Realizing this, my father held council with Samiel as a forewarning for the fate of his son. He knew by my reaction that nothing he could say would deter me from falling in love.

“You will keep them apart,” my father warned him. “They cannot be together.”

“Yes, yes I know,” Samiel said completely ignoring my father’s request. He seemed to have his own agenda and didn’t mind the idea of us being together.

For a while he managed to help us hide our relationship from my father. A quick spiral into a full blown love affair caused for a whirlwind romance that left Gabriel completely in the wind. I hadn’t even given him an explanation as to why I chose his brother. Truth is, I really didn’t know.

He tried more than once to plead with me for some kind of answers, but I only left him with more questions. Soon after many failed attempts he just kind of went mad.

← On the day of my secret wedding, Gabriel was the one who told my father - he was the one who ripped Michael and I apart.

← * * * * *

← “Please forgive me,” Gabriel said, as he soared to my side, pulling me up and holding me close. “I never meant to hurt either one of you. I couldn’t accept the fact that I had lost you and I wasn’t thinking. You have to understand, I didn’t know your father would take it this far.”

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Michael had caught on to what he was apologizing for and lunged at Gabriel in a rage I had never seen before.←← He ripped Gabriel away from me and flew across the room, slamming into the wall. The force of it all crushed the brick behind them. Michael slammed him into the wall over and over again until Gabriel just stopped fighting him.

← “How could you?” Michael screamed. “You are my brother!”

← “And you were mine,” Gabriel sobbed as he submitted to Michael’s anger; he was choosing not to fight. “I know what I did was wrong, but you have to forgive me.”

← Gabriel looked at me defeated. “But you took the only person I ever loved and honestly,” he said pushing Michael off him, “you don’t deserve her.”

← I could see the pain he was in and started to feel badly for him.

← “Michael,” I whispered loudly. “Let him go.”

← “NO,” he whispered back. “No, he has to pay.”

← “I said enough,” I said sadly. “He said he was sorry.”

← And I truly believed that he was. He wasn’t the type to rub what he had done in our faces, and to present himself after doing something so unforgivable, I knew we had no choice but to forgive him.

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← “Besides, we have more important things to do than to argue. What’s done is done, we can’t change that.”←← Michael realized I was right. He backed off as Gabriel straightened himself out.

“How did you find us?” I asked brushing Gabriel off.

“I am not sure,” he said fixing his hair. “I was in Atra one minute thinking of you and the next thing I know I am here.”

He fluffed his wings, which had been tucked away in a manner where they could not be seen. An angel didn’t have to display his wings if he didn’t want to and he hadn’t until now.

Michael put his feelings aside in order to get to the bottom of things. “Wait a minute. You have your wings? How is that even possible?”

“What do you mean?” Gabriel said, putting them back under his skin. “I have always had my wings.”

“Yeah but after the Middle Ages, Hyperian made it so no angels could exist in this realm. So how is it that you are?” He added.

“I don’t know,” Gabriel said. “I really don’t know much of anything right now.”

I walked into Michael’s room and grabbed a t-shirt out of his dresser drawer. “We must have done something,” I said as I took off my jacket.

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I was in front of the door and in the line of sight so the brothers caught the whole half naked event.

Realizing my mistake, I quickly put on the shirt and turned back towards them.

“It is time to go find Samiel,” I said as I whipped my jacket on.

← I knew things between the brothers would continue to be strained. We really hadn’t resolved anything and they both had reason to be upset. But I hoped that feelings could be put aside long enough to find out what was really going on. If we could fix any of this maybe I could sit down with them both and fix us.

“Can we call a truce?” I asked as I started toward the door.

Gabriel who seemed overjoyed just to be in the same room with me, ran to my side and kissed me again.

“For you, anything,” he said pulling me in for a hug.

“Only if you keep your lips off my wife,” Michael mumbled under his breath.

I shot him a look as I gently pushed Gabriel away. I understood Michael’s point of view, but I could kind of understand where Gabriel was coming from. It was a battle with me as the prize and they were both going to go about it in their own way.

“We must go to the Gateway,” I said as I looked at Michael, “and Gabriel will go with us.”

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← “Why?” he asked still irate under the surface of his skin.

← “Because we need him,” I said as I made my way over to comfort him. He softened at the feel of my touch.

← “I am yours,” I reassured him. “You know that.”

← I kissed him, grabbing Gabriel’s hand, and this time as I wished it, we vanished with a flash of light.

← *****←← We made our way back to the Gateway in hopes that we could get some answers. After my attempts to summon Samiel had proven unworthy, I knew we would find what we needed from the triplets.←← But as we entered the grand room of the Gateway, they were nowhere to be found. Other than an imp or two lurking in the corners, all was quiet. Maybe a little too quiet.

← Our heavy breathing of confusion, echoed against the empty walls of the grand room, as the three of us stood back to back.

← All of us could feel that something wasn’t right.

← The murmurs of our concern were interrupted by the loudest silent scream I had ever heard. As if he had shouted, a 9 foot tall grayish, yellow man with lips sutured shut, appeared from a narrow hallway in the corner of the room. He ran back in when he saw us, whimpering along the way.←

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← It didn’t have a door like the others and seemed to be no more than 5 feet tall. The man practically had to crawl as we entered after him.

← After about 100 yards, we arrived on the other side of the hallway, into a room much larger than the one we had left, and much busier.

← “Where are we?” Gabriel asked presenting a sword, leaving Michael and me empty handed.

“Your new home,” a familiar voice said in the far end of the back of the room. “Welcome to the entrance of Abyssus.”

← I turned to see Samiel sitting on a throne with angels on either side of him. Four to be exact. The other was a whole other species of her own.

← But these angels looked as if they had been working the mines for centuries. Their skin had a grayish, yellow tone like the silent man that had led us, and their eyes were black as the night.

← “What is going on Father?” Michael said taking a step towards him. “Why didn’t we go back to Caelum like you promised?”

← Michael was stopped by a 3 foot tall imp with a staff.

← “Wait a few moments. We are waiting for the others,” he said, motioning to the chairs that now sat a few feet in front of him. “Only then will I answer you.”

← He motioned again towards the chairs and barked, “Sit!”

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← “We are fine,” I said standing in front of the boys. “We will wait here.”

← “Ah, Princess,” Samiel said in a little more demonic tone than I was used to. “I am glad to see you found your way back.”

← He motioned to the disturbed angels that stood by his side.

← He got down from his throne. “I told you Eva, if I was successful in getting you and Michael together, ruling this realm would be my punishment.”

← He made his way to us, stalking just a bit. “I find it to be less of a punishment and more of a fresh start.” He flicked Michael’s nose.

← “And thanks to you two,” he looked over at me, “the barrier between Caelum and Terra has been broken. Angels are now free to exist in both realms.”

← He walked back towards his chair. “And now, I can put my plan into action. But first…”

← He started at the end of the line. “May I introduce you to the Fallen?”

← Azazel, the angel standing farthest from Samiel, was a brut of a man with a monotone personality and silent nature. I remembered him as a soldier in my father’s army, an angel that once fought beside Abraxas. He was Lumenarian but always had an odd loyalty to Samiel. He was older than the rest, and although age was difficult to determine with our kind, he looked to be close to Samiel’s age.

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← Next to him was the great Kael. Another brut, brawny man, he was younger than the rest. He was a Cimmerian and always an aggressive type - determined too. He had holes in his wings and still found a way to fly. Stories of Kael in war were more like urban legends than anything; too far fetched to ignore yet dramatic enough to question.

← The other three I knew nothing about…

← “This is Lilith,” Samiel said, rubbing up against her as if they were lovers. Her fierce physique and hollow stare, coupled with the long fangs she bore as she growled softly, made for a poor excuse to look vicious. You could see she was more of an evil seductress than anything.

← “Lilith is a soldier of the Vrykrola realm and loyal to our cause,” he said licking her face. She hissed and he slapped her ass as he walked away.

← Molloch, as introduced by Samiel, was Lilith’s brother.← ← “He is a serial killer of sorts, killing and torturing humans for blood.” Samiel shrieked as he shied away from the drooling monster, “EEK!”

← The last one, Danyal, a Cimmerian, was just as creepy as Molloch but far less vicious. More of a stalker-like freak, he gave off the white van with candy vibe.

← “I thought you said we only opened our realm,” I asked confusedly.

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← “Yes, technically,” Samiel responded. “It’s more like blending,” he said trying to come up with the right word.

“You didn’t open the portal to Caelum so to speak, you just allowed us to exist in this realm.”

← “But how are they here?” I asked.

← “You see, angels like Danyal were found here in the hub, where as the others left with me, and Vampires like Molloch were left here after the realm war. I found them and recruited them.”

← He pointed towards the doors again.

← “Until your father demanded the closure, we could all walk freely through the realms if we so chose. Terra may have been where the banished were sent, but it was also always the hub for all the realms and all pathways to them.”

← I looked back at Danyal who seemed like more of a pedophile than an angel. In his exile, he had attempted to strip himself of his wings, as to become a mortal like all the humans he so admired. He failed, leaving nubs of flesh dangling from his back. Therefore he was neither mortal nor angel and lived in the Gateway’s purgatory.

← If an angel was improperly stripped of their wings, they remained ill for eternity, and he was definitely showing signs of sickness.←← We were interrupted by the sounds of voices exiting the long, dark hallway.

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← There stood the rest of Samiel’s children. His oldest son Raphael, the wise one, as well as Ramiel the Viking who was his second to youngest son, and his daughter Uriel, the beautiful matron of the family and a true Cimmerian warrior. She was a vision of beauty and strength with a chiseled jaw and flawless skin. She looked as if Wonder Woman and Superman had procreated.

← They looked as confused as we were, but visibly un-happy to see the three of us at the same time.

“Ah, my beautiful children,” Samiel greeted. “Come, come, we have much to talk about.” He again motioned towards the empty seats.

← “Why have you brought us here father?” Raphael asked, in his booming voice of reason. “What is the meaning of all this?”

Samiel’s children had been left behind in Caelum, given solace by my father and his council. They were never a part of any plan their father may have had and therefore were spared any retribution. Now that we had broken the banishment barrier, they were able to be summoned to meet us.←← Samiel got off his throne to greet his other children, but they all responded with the drawing of their swords.←← The three of them looked in our direction.

← “If it hadn’t been for the three of you, none of this would have happened!” Uriel yelled to us in a motherly tone. “None of you realize what you have done.”

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←← I moved in front of the crowd to address the apprehensive siblings.

← “I understand your worry Uriel, but you have to believe me when I say I never meant for any of this to happen. I just wanted to be with your brother. I had no idea about the prophecy.”

← “Even after your banishment, and being warned about the prophecy you still did it anyway,” Ramiel chimed in.

← “I figured my father would see the error of his ways and forgive us. I had no idea he would take it this far.”

← “It is much larger than that,” Raphael said as if he realized something new. He looked at his father who now sat plotting what to say next. “It isn’t their fault at all,” he said as he pulled Uriel towards him. “Father didn’t tell her everything.”

← Samiel sat back on his throne as if comforted by his son’s revelation.

← “Indeed I left something out,” he said. “I left a lot of it out.”←← Raphael backed away from his father and towards the three of us who stood in repentance.

← “What are you talking about?” Michael asked with a crack in his voice.

← “What have you done?”

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← Uriel and Ramiel sensed what was going on and joined our line.←← “What I have done?” Samiel mocked. “What have I done is attempt to restore order in the universe.” He cackled. “I refute the idea of one order and the ideals of your father,” he said as he got up and walked towards me.

“I am a pure Cimmerian,” he said in a jealous tone. “I am the son of the Una Vis, just as your father is and I deserve as much as he does.”

He calmed down a little bit realizing his was getting a little over zealous.

“What I forgot to tell you both, my dear,” he said as he was stopped by the raising of the siblings swords, “is that if you and Michael join, the curse would be broken and your father would relinquish all his power, per the sacrifice he provided when casting this curse. He would be weakened, being no more powerful than the rest of us and therefore subject to replacement.”

← He walked backwards towards his throne. “I am tired of being second seat to your father. Since the beginning of time, I have stood by him and gotten nothing in return.”

“You said we could destroy everything by being together,” I said, remembering the conversation he and I had before. A warning that neither one of us heeded, and one that he seemed to not worry so much about.

“Oh yes, it could have,” he said clapping happily. “And that I was prepared to face. If it meant the end of your father and his rise to power, I would have accepted it.”

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← He crossed his legs and bit at his ring finger. “The funny thing is, what I didn’t count on was the back door banishment spell he cast, keeping me out of Caelum.”←← He pointed to me, shaking his finger, “Only you Evangeline, can break that.”←← “You had his love and admiration,” I said in between tears. “He loved you like a brother,” I said. “Why would you do this?”

“Because I want what he has and I have the right to take it,” he said getting angry again. “He doesn’t want to play fair then we play it my way.”

“So what has this got to do with me?” I asked. “You have your own powers and witches who I’m sure can help you get what you want.”

Samiel started pacing, putting his children on edge.

“Because you have something I need!” he yelled accidently. “I need your power to defeat him.”

“Why?” I asked again like a 4 year old child.

“Because you have a power that neither one of us have and your father and his white light is somehow slightly stronger than mine.”

He batted Ramiel’s sword and continued pacing. “If you denounce this power and hand it over to me, I can defeat your father and rule all the realms.”

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“What power?” I said shaking my hands. “I don’t have any more power than you do.” “You do and I want it,” he said in the midst of a temper tantrum.

His children just gawked at him in horror. Their father, a great King, was acting like a 2 year old.

← “Fine,” I agreed, pushing past Michael. “I don’t want any of this. Take whatever it is you want and you deal with my father. As far as I am concerned it’s your problem, not mine.”

I looked over at Michael who stood firmly next to Gabriel. “Besides, I have my own problems to fix.”

“Then say it,” Samiel said. “Say you denounce all your power.”

← “I denounce all my power,” I said waiting for something to happen. Nothing did.

“Say it again,” Samiel said, this time standing with his arms outstretched waiting to absorb something.

Again, nothing happened.

← I could see his ire ooze as he was given absolutely nothing. I found it a little hilarious and caught myself chuckling.

As quiet as it was, he heard me, making him much more upset.←

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← I moved back into formation, hiding behind the line of swords, with a white ball of light I had conjured in my hand.

← The Fallen moved forward as if to attack.

← “No!” Samiel yelled as he turned towards his throne. “She obviously has nothing to offer me. Otherwise it would have worked.” He ordered his Fallen to stand down. “We must wait until she has found her power.”

He turned towards us and plopped down in his chair. “Then, we will destroy them all.”

← Uriel looked at her father. “We are your children, why would you want to destroy us?”

← He never once looked at her, as he sat staring at his fingernails. “Then fine, join me and I will spare you.”

← “I want no part of this,” she said looking for agreement from her brothers. “I will not join you. None of us will.”

Samiel leaned on the arm of his throne and never once looked up at her.

“Then when the time comes, you will die.”

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←←

← CHAPTER 5

← Meanwhile…

News of us finally consummating of our union, spread quickly throughout Caelum, soon after it had been announced that King Hyperian had fallen ill. The banishment curse he had been bound too was broken, causing him to fall into a coma.

← In this state, Hyperian’s powers were dulled, leaving Caelum with an unknown fate. And as far as everyone was concerned, I was the cause of it. The citizens were in a state of unrest as they waited to hear from Renu, the grand elder of my father’s Cherubim council and the interim ‘head of state’ as it were.

← The Cherubim council was made up of elders from all the other realms. No one other than Renu had powers drawn from either the Lumenaria or the Cimmerians and were no more than a congress of bloated egos, fangs and fluffy wings, however, they were able to pass laws and decisions that could determine the fate of all under my father’s rule. Renu, being grand elder, was the voice of my father and the voice of the councils. He was my father’s right hand man and feared by all.

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← With my father incapacitated, all major decisions would fall on him and he was now in charge of the Il- Lumens and Cherubim councils.

← Renu sequestered all members from both councils, demanding they remain in my father’s castle. Abraxas feared there would soon be an attack and moving the council was his first suggestion. But like my father, Renu did not waiver from a plan.

← Instead he insisted that Abraxas go and hunt us down, bringing us back to Caelum to be questioned. He had no idea whose side we were on or if we even had a side. For all he knew we were starting our own war in retaliation for the mess my father had put us in.

He was a loyal and good Lumenarian, but at this moment his only goal was to protect his realm and all of those in it. Anyone who stood in his way would be dealt with.

*****← Raphael knew that it was now their duty to keep me safe and under the radar. Humans were the weakest of the realms and could be easily turned by both sides. He felt their ignorance made them weak and their loyalty could be swayed with any version of the truth. ←← And he was right. The mortal nature of a human allowed for a more gullible soul, allowing any human to believe in what they didn’t understand. To them there was always truth in superstition or religion. The Hierarchy of Caelum, in order to keep them under control, were good at providing both. Hence the creation of God and religion.

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← Religion had become the greatest police force since the beginning of humanity.

← Whether it be Samiel or the Council, whoever could make the humans believe the fastest had the most control. For Samiel gaining the human’s trust would be to knock me off guard, but for Caelum, the humans meant more eyes looking for me.

← Abyssus was undoubtedly under Samiel’s control and the 8 realms kept their distance, hoping to not get dragged into something they didn’t want to get involved in.

← Samiel made it clear that he was after my power and would do anything to make me give it to him. Knowing that I had no idea what this power was allowed Samiel to back off for a little while. He would wait until I showed promise and find the perfect time to attack. If anyone else realized that my power was something they could take, I could be in a greater danger. ← After a lot of consideration, Raphael knew there was only one realm that would even consider helping us, a people who had no desire to take my power. They were a species of love and peace and had no desire to gain anything from anyone. It was the last place anyone would think to look for us, and it would buy us some time to regroup.

*****

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← They were a people who had lost so much already. Their home was destroyed by the mortals and later many were lost to the Realm War. They were given sanctuary in a new Realm of their own, but they never felt as they if they got their due. They kindly accepted their fate, however, and chose to live a life of love and forgiveness. Raphael knew we would be welcomed, but not necessarily welcome. Forgiveness never means to forget.

It was going to take much more than an apology to request haven in the realm of Matris, and Raphael knew that by asking them to help us, we were asking more than we deserved. ←← Matris4 was a realm filled with Fairies, Nymphs, Elves, Pixies and all other Sprites. They were the guardians of mother earth and all things related to nature. They were once guardians in the Terra Realm, but mortals had driven them away with their haphazard behavior and disregard for nature. ←← As the Terra Realm began to die, so did the Sprites of Matris. Mother Nature saw to it that they would not go without retribution, so they were given a place to live, untouched and unseen by the mortal eye. They could co-exist with Mother Earth and inhabitants on all realms, tending to its landscapes and forests. Matris, their home, was a realm within the Terra Realm, existing deep in the forests, with access gained in certain places around the world, access you could gain only if you found the right tree.

4 Matris – (mah -trees) – latin for mother.

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← When we arrived at the portal to Matris we were greeted by the guardian, Lelayna, who immediately denied us passage into the realm. She was a widow of the Realm War and lost her father and brothers as well. After her mother died of a broken heart, Lelayna found herself the last of her elven family. Elves had a harder time forgiving than the rest.

← “I cannot let you pass,” she said firmly. She raised her staff to cover the entrance as to accentuate the period at the end of her sentence. “We have no use for you here.”

← “We need safe haven,” Raphael appealed to the little guardian of the woods. “We need to speak to Noami.”

← But Lelayna wouldn’t budge. Raphael looked back at where I stood in the back of the crowd.

← “I am so very sorry for what my father caused for you,” I said as I pushed through to the front. “If I could take it all back I would. I would absorb your pain and free you.” I came up closer to her and dropped to my knees to be at her level. I placed my hand on her tiny little china doll face.

← “I would take all your pain away.” And as soon as I said it, I could feel her pain and anguish strike my heart. I had actually absorbed her pain and it struck me with enough of a punch to knock me off my knees. I looked up at her through tears in my eyes to see a smile on her face.

← “You did it,” she said looking at me. “You took it all away.”

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← I looked up at Michael as he picked me up off the ground. “What just happened?”

← He looked over at Raphael who was bending down to assist. “You did what you said you would. It seems to be one of your many powers. You think it, you wish it, you can do it.”

← “I will contact Noami immediately,” Lelayna announced. She looked at Raphael with the same disdain she had earlier. She still hadn’t forgiven him for what was done. I had fixed her broken heart, but not her memories of it.

We were soon given passage to Matris by way of the tree Lelayna had been guarding. Its core filled with the purest pixie dust transported us to the center of the realm, more beautiful than anything I had ever seen. Untouched by any other creature it was the most perfect representation of the purity of earth.

Its waters were as clear as a flawless diamond and the sky as blue as the topaz gemstones that lay mixed in the dirt. The leaves on the trees wore every color green on the spectrum while some found a new version of a color never before seen.

The air was as pure as the water was clean and everything in it was perfect.

← It was the core of the earth and all its realms, the heartbeat of the eco system and of nature itself. It was Mother Nature’s womb.

And when its Queen met us down by the water, we found ourselves looking at the embodiment of all this beauty. We were looking at Mother Nature herself.

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Raphael, who bore the weight of guilt for our people, found himself bowing at her feet, full of remorse. I don’t know if it was just being in her presence, but I found myself feeling sorry for things I had done 10 years ago. I felt myself seeking forgiveness for things I hadn’t even done to her. She had a way of bringing the guilt out in people, as if confession would set us free.

← Before we knew it, all of us were at her feet, attritional.

← “Rise,” Noami, the Queen of Matris, said to me, taking me by the hand. “It is I that should bow to you.” She pulled the train of her excessively long robe away from her feet and knelt in front of me.

← I was confused by her behavior, for I was not my father and did not wish for ultimate control.

← “But I am not your Queen,” I said pulling her to her feet. “I do not rule over you.”

← She placed my hands in hers and pulled them to her heart.←← “And that is why you ARE my Queen,” she said graciously. “You will be the one to set us all free. Because of you we will all be free. You will save us from this tyranny.”

← She welcomed us into her home with no mention of any misdeeds of my father’s. Instead she led us above the lake to a place that we would call home for now.←

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All Sprites lived in a structure that was carved out of the core of a very, very large tree. It was known as the Acropolis, housing all inhabitants of the realm. Their communal nature was due to the small numbers in their species and their need to feel close to each other and the Queen.

The Acropolis housed more than 40 floors with 30 rooms to each level.

Noami however, lived on the ground floor of Acropolis, as a guardian to her people. As she led us home, she told me that a true leader protects their people by standing guard against evil, as the first line of defense.

← There were no doors or security walls and no barriers between its residents, other than a few walls for privacy, and a bamboo blind here or there. They believed in the fluidity of openness and thrived on the air and light. There was no running water and no electricity. Residents either carried water to their suites or bathed in the lake. Hollowed out rocks with oils and wick lined each room and torches stood tall in all hallways and walkways. ←← Michael and I were welcomed into Noami’s home, with a room just off the Veranda, looking over Lake Quies. Uriel and the brothers were brought to a wing of Acropolis where they were able to rest and gather their thoughts.←← “Rest easy and rest assured,” Noami told Raphael as she motioned for an escort. “They are in good hands and you need not worry about her well-being.”

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← She summoned the elves who stood guard to take the first watch and suggested that we all clean up and get some rest. ←← I had gone ahead of Michael to our room as he made sure his brothers and sister settled in safely. He felt responsible for dragging them all into this battle and wanted to make sure he could do everything to help them get comfortable.

← After changing into the local wardrobe, I found myself wandering out past the veranda and onto the beach, as I took in the beauty of my surroundings. The sun that was now setting cast a purple mist across the horizon, moving quickly towards the lake. The water that collected at my feet came from a large, white waterfall that stood directly across from Acropolis, and smelled of Gardenia and Hyacinth. The beach was covered in crushed sea shells and soft black sand. The rocks were as black as coal and as translucent as a polished gemstone.

← It called to me, exotic and enticing. I couldn’t resist. I stripped naked right on the beach and walked in.

← As soon as my toes touched the silky water, I felt more invigorated than I had felt in a long time; as if every wound I had ever sustained as Melody or Evangeline was healed instantly. Like tiny fingers, the water crawled up my skin, sending shivers down my spine. The tranquility that I absorbed through this wet serenity stripped away my inhibitions, intoxicating as it was, allowing moans of pleasure to escape my lips. ←

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← Being surrounded by the warmth of the drink was orgasmic in itself…being joined by the love of my life made it even more so.

← I had made my way out to the middle of the lake, soaking it all in, when I felt Michael come up behind me. His arms glided fluidly against the water, sliding around me effortlessly – I fit perfectly in his hold. I could feel his heart beat against my bare back, quickly syncing with mine, until the rhythm of our hearts laid the beat for the seductive dance we were about to perform – oblivious to the audience above us.

← They may or may not have been looking…and we didn’t care.

← Michael twirled me against the current of the water, as he placed me so perfectly in front of him, keeping my feet two inches off the lake bottom. My arms, now wrapped around his neck, positioned me perfectly to grab the back of his hair for reinforcement.

← The waves crashing off the Fall of Creation, as the locals called it, manufactured a perfect motion for our bodies as we made love. Our exhale, in harmony with the slapping of the branches just off shore, coupled with the wails of ecstasy mocked by the birds who lay atop these branches, created a chorus of sensuality that resonated throughout the realm.

← We had no knowledge that the impact of what we were doing would have far greater consequences than when we first merged, and with the pressure of our first time being a thing of the past, we made love as only experienced lovers could.

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← As I opened my eyes, there stood Gabriel pacing at the edge of the beach. He had seen the whole thing.

← I jumped off Michael’s waist, calling out to Gabriel, but he quickly retreated to the forest. I made it to the beach, grabbing my gown to run after him, but he disappeared quickly.

← Michael stopped me before I could go any further.

← “Let him go Eva,” Michael suggested. “Let him calm down.”

← I wrapped the tie around my waist. “I just wish he didn’t hurt so badly.” I walked farther down the beach. “I never meant to devastate him. I couldn’t help but fall in love with you. I didn’t know that I would.”

← Michael grabbed my hand, stopping me. “Eva, we can’t help who we love – and I am sorry too. I am sorry that I stole something so precious from my own brother – It was never my intention.” He began walking again, leading me along, “but I am not sorry that I fell in love with you. I will never be sorry.”←← I waited in the hallway well after dinner had started, but Gabriel never showed. I looked up towards his room to see a light flicker and him laying silently in his bed. Even from the 4th level I could see the tears streaming down his face.

← I felt compelled to go to him. I wasn’t sorry for the fact that I loved Michael, but I was sorry that I ever hurt him, and I was even sorrier that I could feel that I still loved him. I couldn’t stand to see him so hurt.

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← I started to make my way towards his room but Noami stopped me before I took my first step.

← “Now is not the time,” she said standing in my way. “He will get his chance.”←← I looked at her, stunned. “Get his chance for what?”←← She motioned for me to enter the dining hall. “His chance to show you how much he loves you.”

← She looked back towards him. “All in good time.”

← ****← After dinner, Michael and I met the siblings out on the beach to discuss our next move. We had issues to attend to as well as a war to prevent, so we had to prioritize what was most important. ←← To Raphael, protecting Caelum was the most important. To Michael, protecting me against their father was his top priority. “If we lose Eva or her power, we lose everything,” Michael chimed in. “We must protect her.”

← “Yes,” Ramiel agreed. “You are right. But we don’t even know what this power is,” he added. “Father didn’t seem to know either.”

← “You are right,” I agreed. “Until we do know, I think we are safe.”←← Uriel chimed in. “You are weakened by your ignorance.” She never looked at me, just kept pushing rocks around with her sword.

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←← “Uriel,” Gabriel chastised as he joined us. ← She stood up as if to defend her statement.

← “No,” I said, standing up between them. “She is right Gabriel. I know nothing of who I am or what I really can do. I am truly a danger to myself and all those around me. If something happens and I figure out what this power is, none of you are safe.”

← Michael stood up as if he had an idea.

← “Her father is the only one who can help her,” he said. “We must find a way back to Caelum and ask for his forgiveness.”

← “Forgiveness for what?” Gabriel asked. “What did she do to him?” He started pacing back and forth. “How was she to know what would happen?”

← “Your father did suggest that it would destroy everything,” I said apologetically. “That in itself is a reason for me to apologize.” I looked at Michael. “I am not sorry for what I did or why, I am just sorry it had such a catastrophic effect on everyone else and I will do what I can to amend that.”

← “It doesn’t matter right now,” Noami said from the veranda above. “Rest now and we will take to you Caelum in three day’s time. For now, find solace in our land and draw strength from Mother Nature. She patiently awaits you.”

← She motioned towards the waterfall. “You will take a team of my men and make your way to Caelum soon enough.”

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← I ran to the veranda questioning her decision.

← “You have lost so many men to my father and his army already.”

← She nodded her head in agreement. “Because we believed in something bigger, better.” She moved directly in front of the moon.

← “And you Evangeline are something bigger,” she said as her wings now glowed in the moonlight. “Bigger than all of this,” she pointed to the angels below. “All of us.”

← “Not only are you the daughter of the King, you are much more than anyone realizes, that I have always known,” Raphael interjected as he joined us. “There is more to the story then we were ever told.” He looked over at his siblings below. “My father knows something that none of us do. Something about you and your abilities. Yet I don’t think he knows enough. In order to defeat him we must figure that out and Caelum is the only place we can do that.”

← “What I do know,” Noami concluded, “is that you are more than any of us could ever imagine and keeping you safe is important to us all.

*****Meanwhile back in Caelum The Il-Lumen Eternus council and the hierarchy of angels, also known as the Cherubim Council, called for an emergency meeting on the Terra Realm, calling all its mortal counterparts to join them.

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The Cherubim and Il-Lumen councils, as well as members of the Illuminati, Mason and Catholic Warrior groups from all over the world, met beneath the Vatican City to discuss the dangers that came from my new powers and recent disappearance. With my father ill, the power of the Caelum Realm could easily fall into the hands of Samiel and his fallen, and worse, not knowing my intention in this whole thing, they were afraid that I was working with Samiel.

← The Illuminati, Masons and Catholic Warriors are made up of mortals with knowledge of the other realms, guardians of the supernatural and infiltrated all governments, religions and communities in order to squash anything supernatural that would surface. Whether it was a memory that seeped through a mortal brain or a defector that somehow managed to show their powers and true self in the Terra Realm, they took care of it.←← The Illuminati in particular were made up of fallen angelic warriors. A most militant of the secret societies, they were the ones that swayed the governments into declaring war on other countries, cleansing these other countries of their ideals and attempt for a rise to power. They would choose the country best suited to rise and control them from the inside. Crushing and policing countries that didn’t do their bidding allowed for an illusion of control. This kept the mortals more worried about their surroundings than their origin or the things happening around them. The ebb and flow of superpowers were monitored and corrected and the mortals were none the wiser.

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← The Masons were the ones who cleaned up the messes left behind by the Illuminati and its militant ways, as well as disposing of the evidence that there were beings other than those who were deemed human. They were more or less the police force of the secret world.

← This leaves the Catholic Warriors. They were created by the Vatican as the guardians of the “word.” The ones who discredited all those who attempted to tell the truth and controlled mortal thought and belief. The ones who wrote the rules for mortal belief, a forged history that controlled mortal thought. The Catholic Church itself was created by the Il-Lumen council in an attempt for global religion and power. A place to control the backstory and origin of the world. The controller of the matrix if you will. ← It wasn’t that the mortals couldn’t handle the truth, the councils didn’t want them to know the truth. It would ruin everything they had built; an Empire even my father the King was unaware of.

← Our enemies lived in secret, the rest thrived on the fact that mortals knew not of their existence. Something else that we could have possibly used in our favor. They all feared being found out, and we needed a level playing ground.

← Terra was where we would fight our battle against Samiel, my father and his councils. They wouldn’t risk being found out, therefore ending the war before it started, or so we thought.

← Samiel had so much more control over all of this than any of us even knew.←

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← *****← The meeting of the councils seemed to lack the order they always desired from their subjects. With yelling and elders claiming they knew what was best for Caelum, no one could clearly get their point across. ←← When the yelling became a loud buzz in the room, Renu finally had enough.←← His voice was always one that could demand respect.←← “Enough!” he barked loudly. Everyone in the room fell silent, waiting for his next word.

← “The bottom line of all this is, we need to find Eva and Michael before they invade Caelum and take the throne,” he said urgently.

← “How do we know they intend to do us harm?” Ladoris, the exquisite senator from Olympus, asked hesitantly.

← “If they didn’t then the King would not have banished her,” the slinky, old archbishop of the Catholic Warriors responded. “We follow the King’s lead and assume the worst.”

← Ladoris wasn’t satisfied with this answer.

← “If the prophecy is true,” she continued, “we would have known by now. Nothing has changed and therefore she is not a threat.”

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← She looked around the room at the mob silently stewing. “If she meant us harm she would not have run. She would have found a way to come to us as soon as the barrier of banishment disappeared.”

← “Her memory was sufficiently wiped and therefore she has no idea who she is,” Renu responded. “She is hiding until she understands her true potential. This does not prove her innocence, just fuels her intent to overthrow the throne.”←← “I think you are wrong,” Ladoris announced. “And I will not be part of hunting her down on an assumption.”

← Brianna, the senator from Matris, seconded that motion. She knew where we were and would go to her grave with that secret.

← “Matris stands by Olympus’ decision,” she said as she stood in support.

← “As guardians of the Light, Aasgard votes against it as well,” Elder Blainock chimed in.

Renu stood silently as if he was attempting to come up with something that would change their minds.

← “If you are not with us you are no longer under Caelum’s protection,” he announced to the three senators. “You three are on your own as we will not protect you from Evangeline or Samiel. You may leave the council if you so wish. We are no longer in need of your vote.”

← Blainock seemed angered by his response.

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← “You have no power to deny us protection,” he reminded Renu. “You are merely meant to be the voice of the King, not his hand. And as for your protection,” he stood back up, “we never asked for it in the first place.”←← He pushed back his chair as he circled the table.

← “We are gods in our own right and were chosen by your King to protect the power of the Lumenaria. We are the true Guardians. You should be asking us for protection.”

← *****← Aasgard was the realm at the center of it all. A realm made up of handpicked guardians of the Light. They are stronger than angels and a little less powerful than god’s, beautiful giants who were unable to be corrupted or swayed by any sin. Their mental strength and agility allowed for the perfect warrior and guardian.←← No one in any realm had ever visited Aasgard as its harsh environment and treacherous terrain was not able to host any other creature.

← Their cities were built on the sides of the mountain of the Lumenaria, rumored to be a ball of pure white light surrounded by the darkest night. Its cold emissions and severity of brightness hindered the sun from warming Aasgard, making it the coldest place on earth.

← Their oceans were black and their homes made of stone. Their wives were the most beautiful Amazon women, with great strength and power of submission. They worshiped their men and were treated like queens.

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← Its people, drawing energy from the light, lived a life of peace and kindness beyond any other’s attempts. All were created equal with no King or Queen to rule them. Their emotions were considered necessary when needed, and controlled yet understood.

← They were telepathic, empathetic and in tune with one another. If you were to cut one down, they would all feel it. They all would suffer.←← If anyone should have had control over all the realms, it was them. They could have tapped into this power anytime, and yet, never chose to use it.

← Olympus, a realm of demi gods, or Halflings, was home to the children of mortals and supernatural beings. They had no power to control, however resembled the likeness of their supernatural parent. An angelic Halfling would have its wings, but no powers to go with it. An Aasgardian Halfling again had no powers but would stand 11 feet tall.

← They had no reason to fight, no reason to fear. They were the “rejects” of the realm and only had a spot at the table of councils because in all his quests for power, my father somehow developed a soft spot for them and wanted them to feel as if they had a voice.

← As hard as they tried, they never really were ever taken seriously.

← Their home was similar to the Grecian Islands, surrounded by pink oceans and white trees. Many lived in tree houses while some lived in the side of the mountain.

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← And although a realm made up of the most diverse species ever created, they all remained equal.

← Olympus was also the home of the Cimmerian. A ball of dark energy surrounded by the warmest of light. Buried deep within the tallest mountain, it was guarded by the Aasgardian Halflings.

Legend has it that my father being the true son of the Lumenaria, the only man formed of the white light, entrusted its, as well as the Cimmerian’s protection, to the Aasgardians after their proving themselves the only ones worthy.

← *****← Renu seemed to not waiver in the wake of the Aasgardian’s plea. He would not deviate from his plan, as he felt he was doing what was best for my father.←← Unknown to the angelic councils, Renu had not taken council with my father in weeks. My father had fallen into a strange coma, leaving Renu completely in charge. ←← All that fueled him was a desire to protect the realm. A desire that blinded him to the fact that one of the secret societies of the mortal world, once in the control of Caelum, now sat idly by as spies under the Vatican that day.

← They had been turned by Samiel shortly after his arrival to Abyssus and were waiting for the right moment to strike.

← A revenge that also caused him to make decisions that would further hurt the councils and my father.

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← With Matris, Aasgard and Olympus gone from the councils, my father stood to lose most of his allies.

← Magas and Oraculum, were realms of magic and premonition. Their people were witches, warlocks, and oracles. They never took a side and existed merely to be of use to the Angelic councils. They were not enemies or allies. They were both the Switzerland of the realms. Given the right circumstances however, they could choose a side.

← Magas was home to Noita and his brothers. A very flamboyant and androgynous type of people, they tended to be very frail and impish looking. They were not evil, however could be easily turned if provided a plethora of whatever deadly sin they desired. Lust and greed were their greatest sins, along with trickery, which they would use on the mortals as often as they could. They were like Igor to Frankenstein, created to do the councils bidding and easy to terminate if necessary.←← Their magic was drawn from the remnants of dark light, the scraps of unused power wielded by the Cimmerians, with a governor on how much power they were allowed to use. They were created with a long life span but were not immortal and they never seemed to age past 25.

← Rumor has it that they were spawns of the shadows, the drippings of all secret sins, a creation of the depths of a mortal’s deepest psyche.

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← Their realm oozed of fragile riches and gold plated fabrications that looked as if they horded trash from the Terra Realm; they were flashy and indulgent; they were nothing and something to all. The last resort for a desperate King.

← Oraculum, the realm of seers and oracles had a seat on the council, but did not represent itself physically. The creatures of Oraculum were fish like in nature, described as mermaids by humans who had seen glimpses throughout history. They lived deep in the darkest parts of the ocean, a realm full of undersea cities and castles, like royalty. They could freely cross over into any realm that had water, as fluidly as the water they swam in.

← All oracles looked exactly the same, as if cloned a thousand times over. Another androgynous species, they all seemed to sway more towards a female species. They spoke in unison, thought in unison and felt the same way. They were structured in three parts, with some as messengers, some as seers and the others as the maternals, made up of ancient oracles.←← Their purpose was to keep time. They were the ones who determined what was present, past and future. They controlled the tides, gaining their power from the moon. All realms came to them to seek answers they could not find.

← Their communications sounded like shrill whines to those who could not understand. If a mortal was to come across one, they would never be able to understand it. As a matter of fact all the other realms, except that of Caelum and Matris, could not understand them.

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← To those who could understand, their word was always loud and clear.

← They too were neither allies nor enemies and held no voting capacity in the council.

← This leaves the Vrykola Realm. A realm of vampire-like humans. Creatures infested with an illness that was passed down by their father Emil Cobzaru. He was a man always searching for the truth. It was rumored that he became wise to the other realms and found the Gateway in early 1000BC.

← The door he chose led to Olympus and directly to the base of the mountain.

← The legend states that he claims he heard a voice coming from the center of Cimmerian, beckoning him to find its center.←← He traveled deep into the center of the mountain, under the radar of its guardians, masked by the stench of his intent. He had come with ill regard to the other realms, hoping to seek power for himself.

← Emil had started out as a fallen angel named Lucifer. His attempt to overthrow my father and the throne of Caelum forced his banishment to Terra to live as a mortal, however mortality was never enough for him and his lust for power never ceased.←← He had no memory of his past life, but his ingrained lust for power drove him to seek it in any way possible, with his search driving him to Olympus.

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← Only a few know the truth behind how Emil was infected and they have yet to tell the rest of us, allowing rumor to become legend. What is known is that he made his way back to the Terra Realm with an absence of taste, feel and an endless hunger and thirst that drove him insane.

← He ran to the darkest corners of the earth where he hid for centuries, feeding on the blood of wild animals and vermin, until one day he emerged, in the early 1700s in what was now known as Romania.

← His features had changed, to a pale, frail color, with his bottom jaw protruding in a beast-like manner. His fangs were sharpened by feeding on carcasses and his veins darkened by the black blood that coursed through them. His heart slowly beat to a rhythm set by loneliness, barely pushing his stale blood through his body.

← He was grotesque and sad, yet appealing to the young women of Romania. He became a secret lover to lonely housewives, and the father of over 100 children in a matter of a decade. His disease spread like an STD infecting all he had been with, and the children that he spawned.

← They became as empty as he, feeding off the healthy, sucking them dry of their life force. Stealing their souls as to quench a never-ending hunger that lay inside of them. Their bite merely a way to tap into the flesh as they sucked the will to live right out of you. They were cursed to feed for eternity with no end to their hunger. They would breed to lock in the curse and move on.

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← With his new army, Emil attempted a coup once again, but was stopped in his tracks by the warriors of Caelum, and again banished with most of his children to yet another realm, Vrykola.

← It was void of mortals, full of despair and painfully hot in its forever night.

← While the realms were still open, his children would gain access to the Terra Realm every new moon on the tenth year, a day also known as All Hallows Eve, breeding and biting until sunrise, while he lay quietly in Vrykola waiting to die.

← A fate he would never reach. Cimmerian had cursed him with immortality of emptiness.←← After centuries the infection finally lay dormant, unable to be spread by its hosts, and now those who come in contact with a child of Vrykola are unaffected. Vampires stayed hungry but did not need to feed to survive.

← Some have remained in Terra hoping to find a cure while the rest live in Vrykola waiting to die.

← Their senator, who never left the mortal realm, is one who seeks change for his people and hope for the future.

← He like many of those who remain in this realm, are enemy to no one and are one of my father’s remaining allies.

← Vladorick, the Vrykolan senator, also represents his realm in hopes that he can persuade them to grasp on to the same reigns of hope he has.

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← With Caelum’s support for his cause, he would do its bidding.

← Renu had the minority of the IL-Ilumen Council’s vote, but with the entire Cherubim council, Illuminati, Mason and Catholic Warrior Councils behind him, he was preparing for a full attack and sending word to Abraxas.

They were no longer asking any questions. His orders were to kill all on sight!

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←←←←←←← CHAPTER 6 ←← As I lay bareback next to a slumbering Michael, I could see Gabriel staring back at me from his room above us. The candle light that backlit his room, made his shadow even more haunting and sad than I could have imagined.←← I could see the tears well up in his eyes as he looked down at me, and his sadness became my own. I couldn’t bear to see him hurt as badly as he was and I needed to know why I was still so drawn to him.

← I quietly snuck out of bed, putting a robe on and making my way to him. I thought maybe it was finally our moment to talk and get to the bottom of all of it.

← As soon as I came to his room, he rolled over laying in his bed just staring at me.

“Can we talk?” I asked knocking on the pillar beside me.

“What for?” he said dispiritedly. “You didn’t talk to me before.”

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“I know, I realize that, and I am sorry,” I said as I moved towards his bed. He rolled over facing away from me, hoping his attitude would deter me.

“Look,” I said, sitting on the bed next to him. “I can barely remember what happened so I need you to help me understand.”

I slid down the silk sheets so I could lie down beside him. “Please help me understand why I am with your brother and love your brother, but I still feel this pull for you.”

← He rolled back over burying his face in my chest, sobbing and pulling at my robe. I pulled him in as close as I could, holding him as he shuddered with heartbreak.

“You tell me,” he said between sobs.

“I don’t know what happened,” I said running my fingers through his hair, releasing a scent of anguish and enchantment, mixed with a large amount of loyalty and devotion. “I just know that I would never intentionally try and hurt you. I can feel how much I loved you.”

I am not sure that was the right thing to say but it came out anyway. I didn’t know what I was really feeling at that moment and lying next to him felt right. It felt familiar and it felt safe. The more I lay there holding him the more I started to question my feelings for Michael. As if being with Gabriel lifted me from a spell.

“I don’t understand,” I said pulling him tighter. “I just don’t get it. I am with Michael and I love Michael. I have yearned for him for a long time. I have him now and it feels right.”

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Gabriel, getting annoyed with the conversation, jumped over me and got out of bed. I sat up and continued.

“Yet I lay with you now and I feel…”

“So make a choice,” he said coming back to me and dropping to his knees. “Make a choice now, it’s either me or him.”

I held his hands in my lap and just sat there. I couldn’t answer.

← “You know what?” he said standing back up. “I can’t. I try but I can’t. Every time I look at you, I find more reasons to stay and torture myself,” he added through choked tears. “My heartbreak is fueled by your presence but my death would be induced by your absence. I need you to survive, even if it is to live in this glorious hell.”

← “What are you talking about?” I asked confused by his sudden outburst.

“You obviously can’t make a choice,” he said wiping his tears, “and I can’t seem to quit you.”

He stood by the window looking out towards the stars and fell silent.

“Look,” I said again coming up behind him. “I love your brother and I am married to him. Maybe it is time we find our closure and move on. Maybe it is time for you to let me go.”

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← “No!” he snapped still looking away. “Just let me bask in the depths of my unrequited love, where torture and pain allow me to still feel something at all!”

“What are you talking about?” I asked a bit confused. “You are talking in riddles and poetry.”

“Yeah,” he said as he whipped around. “Something you used to love about me.”←← He looked at me with such intensity; I was a little worried for him. He didn’t seem right at all.

“Gabe,” I said, pulling him back. “I never said I didn’t love you. I just can’t be with you and that is not fair for you I know.” He ripped his arm away from me walking towards the door.

← “You can’t come in here and tell me you love me all while telling me I have to move on!” he barked. “It’s insensitive and insulting.” He came stomping towards me. “I had to sit by while you fell in love with my brother, with no explanation and no logical reason.”

“I would expect something like this out of my brother,” he said grabbing me. “But you, I never imagined you would hurt me like that.”

“I never meant to hurt you,” I said pressing myself against him, holding him tight. “I am so sorry.”

“I get it, I really do,” he said trying to get away. “You love me, but you love him more.”

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← “I don’t love him more,” I said pleading for him to calm down. “I love him differently. I didn’t remember that I loved you until yesterday. So please, until I can remember it all, cut me some slack.”

How could I make him understand when I didn’t myself?

← “If you had truly ever loved me,” he said remaining irritated, “you would never have betrayed me.”←← “I said I was sorry,” I said backing away. “But in the end you betrayed me too.” I started to walk out the door realizing this conversation was starting to be a bad idea.

← He flew towards me in a fit of rage.

← He grabbed me, flipping me around, eyes glowing red and talking through gritted teeth.

← “I didn’t betray you,” he said squeezing a little tighter. “You had taken everything from me, you loved another without thought,” he growled. “If I couldn’t have you, neither could he,” he said as his grip got even tighter.

← My eyes, which had turned a red to match, turned back to their original color as I found myself calmed by the sadness of the situation.

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← I wanted so badly to allow myself to just love him for a moment more so that I may understand what this feeling was in the middle of my stomach. I wanted to know what it was about this man that was driving me crazy. I should have just walked out the door but I felt compelled to stay. I wanted him to feel what I was feeling so that I could console him. But to console one would mean hurting the other, and this moment, I felt it was best to leave well enough alone.←← He saw the sadness in my face and loosened his grip. He pulled me close touching the tip of my nose, relinquishing his anger to anguish and drenching my face with his warm tears. Tears that absorbed into my skin and straight to my soul.

← I gasped as his grief strangled my beating heart, feeling in that moment as if I was going to die. My knees would have failed me if he hadn’t still been holding on to my neck. I couldn’t breathe as I immersed myself in his sadness. I was paralyzed.←← “Now you know how I feel,” he said shoving me back, as I still desperately tried to hold on to him. “I will not abandon you, I will never stop loving you, but I cannot speak to you anymore. Please Eva, just get away from me.”←← He released himself from me, slowly moving back.

← I took a step towards him, but he turned his back to me.

← “Please Eva, just go.”

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← I turned back towards my room full of more despair and heartache than closure. He made me fall in love with him even more with the heartache that he felt. I could feel the intensity of what our love must have been in the past.

← But I could not ignore the feelings I had for Michael. Years of yearning for him made our love irrefutable. It felt strong and sincere and genuine as if he was where I was supposed to be.

← Gabriel on the other hand, was like a water to quench an unquenchable thirst, or the oxygen I needed to survive. I found myself needing to need him and wanting to love him more.

← I was torn terribly but knew that the heat of the moment was not the time to think of such things. I had loved Michael intensely until that very moment and I would not forget that.

He had gone through hell and back to be with me while his brother spent our last moments in Caelum betraying me.

I shouldn’t have been questioning any of it at all. Lying down beside my husband I softly cried myself to sleep.

← *****←← I finally drifted off to sleep finding myself in a new lucid dream. Instead of fields and long lost loves, I found myself wandering in the halls of a dark and empty castle. It seemed vaguely familiar and somewhat comforting, yet its cold, dark and desolate walls gave me a feeling of insecurity I could not explain.

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← I wandered in what felt like a maze. Sword in hand and fear in my heart.

← “Eva,” I heard as an echo off the walls.

← I looked around to find no one was there.

← “Eva,” the deep voice said again. “Come find me Eva.”

← I kept walking cautiously looking for a doorway or a set of stairs, but every door I touched was either locked or would disappear.

← Finally, I closed my eyes to try to listen to where the voice was coming from, but when I heard it again, it sounded as if it were right in front of me.

“Eva,” it said again in a singsong tone. “Come find me Eva.”

← I opened my eyes to find that I was now in an open and lit room at the top of what looked to be the tower of the castle.

← To my right I could see a balcony, looking out over the land and to my left lay a decrepit old man in a large 4-poster bed, feeble, weak, and sleeping.

← I realized at that moment the man in the bed was my father. He was much older than I remembered but he was definitely my father.

Being in that room made me start to remember everything.

← “Eva,” the voice said behind me.

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←← I whipped around to see a man glimmering with perfection, gliding towards me.

← His glowing wings spanned across the room radiating a warmth and protection that I remember feeling before. His long white hair, braided loosely behind his back, trailed on the floor behind him. His pale, white skin and ruby-red lips gleamed under the pale light radiating ever so slightly from his eyes.

← “Father,” I said before looking back at the man lying in the bed. “But you,” I started to say before he cut me off.

← “Yes Eva, I am dying,” he said walking towards his body. “When you broke the curse, you took my power, rendering me helpless and feeble.”

“But how?” I said walking to his bedside. “I don’t understand; how did I take your power?”

← “By breaking a spell I was bound too,” he said sitting beside his decrepit body. “When casting the spell I used a magic that was not my own and had to sacrifice myself in order to do it. If I failed, I lost and therefore I would die.”

← “But aren’t you immortal?” I asked sitting on the bed next to him. “Aren’t we all immortal?”

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“Technically yes,” he said sitting on the bed opposite of me. “Since time does not exist here, we do not live with a definite end,” he said leaning against the headboard. “I especially. I was born of the Lumenaria, created with no parents if you will. Therefore, I do not follow the same path as everyone else. But, things can kill me - just as things can kill all the other immortals as well. Immortal is more of a mortal thing to say. Everything dies at some point. Some sooner than others.”

← He stood up and walked around the back of the bed to get to me. Pulling me gently by my arm he guided me out to the balcony that stood at the top of the castle.

From there you could see the entire world. We sat above it, just above the clouds, but on this gloriously clear day we could literally see it all. It was the world the way it had been intended to be; created as a reflection of the glory of the universe. Yet this realm was untouched, as if the remnants of an original painting, preserved by the layers of paint on top of it.

← It was the template for all the other realms, and the only place where you could see all of them at once.←← They existed all in different planes, yet one on top of each other, mortal and supernatural co-existing without having a clue.

← “This my child is your Kingdom, not mine.”

← I turned and looked at him in awe.

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← “There are only a few people who know who you really are,” he said leaning on the balcony wall. “It was I who chose to keep your identity a secret. I knew if anyone else knew what you were, you would be in the danger you are in now.”

← “Samiel,” I thought out loud.

← “Yes,” he agreed. “What Samiel told you were lies; all lies.”

← “You see,” he started. “I never banished you from this realm,” he said as if he was sorry for sending me away. “I sent you away to protect you. I thought if I could hide you in the mortal world, just for a time, I could find a way to stop Samiel from carrying out his plans.”

← He brought us back into the room to sit.

“But you sent Michael away and I am the one who chose to strip myself and follow him,” I interjected as I sat down on the chaise lounge. “You punished him and therefore punished me.”

← “Yes, and no,” my father said sitting next to me. “He had announced his attentions to me the day of your wedding, by sending his son Gabriel to me, to betray you. He had played into Gabriel’s pain, convincing him I should know. But in truth, what he was really telling me was that he was about to destroy you.”

← “Why would he want to destroy me?” I asked. “To get to you?”

← My father grabbed my hands as to brace me for his answer.

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←“No. His intentions were to come after you.”

“Why?” I asked sheepishly.

← “Because you,” he said almost apologetically, “are the rightful ruler of the realms. We knew when you were born that you were here to replace us. You carry the ultimate power.”

“How?” I asked shifting in my seat.

“I am the son of the Lumenaria. I am the embodiment of its energy. Samiel is the embodiment of the Cimmerian. And you, well,” he said squeezing my hands, “you are the only one born of both.”

“Born of what?” I stuttered. “My mother was a Cimmerian?”←← “No,” he gently barked. “Just like us, you were created. Given to us by the collective Una Vis.”←← To make a long story short, my father told me that thousands of years ago, a child no older than 5 was found in the Aasgardian Realm. She was an angelic child, resembling those of the Caelum Realm. No one made a claim to her or knew where she had come from.

← The Aasgardians brought her to Caelum where she was presented to the Cherubim council, who demanded the council of the oracles.

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The oracles spoke only to the Kings and informed them that the child was the true child of the entity known as the Una Vis5 - the combined energies of the Lumenaria and the Cimmerian. A child who would one day liberate the realms as the true and Supreme Queen. She was the only creation of the Una Vis as a collective and would harness the ultimate power. Something my father and Samiel were unable to do.

She was created to fix the mistake made when creating Samiel and Hyperian - two beings that were created as halves of a whole, who could not work together as one. She was a remedy for a miserably failed experiment.

← The oracles also spoke of a time when she would not understand her true power. She would grow innocent of her ability until the time was right. Her power would not be wielded like any other power and those who knew of her would want to destroy her. She would grow up like any other Caelumite child and know nothing more than any other.

The oracles could give nothing more. They insisted that she be protected and isolated from the world until she was able to find her power. Hyperian chose to take and raise her as his own and named her Evangeline.

“So why did Samiel tell me I could not merge with a Cimmerian, if I am half?” I asked ignoring the moral of the story. “Is it true we could have destroyed everything?”

5 See Introduction

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“No,” he said shaking his head. “You can merge with anyone you would like. In fact, I believe you merged with Gabriel many times before you met Michael,” he said as a father talking to a teenage daughter. “Merging was never part of the original plan.”

He got up to tell me the rest of the story.

“However, when you were small, he insisted that we put a protection spell on you; a spell that would bind you from all the dangers in the world. Unbeknownst to me at the time, he added his own little ingredient into the mix.”

“He used his son Michael as a catalyst for his plan. Adding a love spell to piggyback the protection spell, he ensured that you would one day fall in love with Michael. He needed a way to get you away from Caelum and away from me. He never counted on you falling in love with Gabriel.”

He saw how uncomfortable I was and came back to my seat. “But in the end his carefully thought out plan worked and I sent you from Caelum and bound myself to this coma.”

“Then what happened when Michael and I finally consummated our marriage?” I asked now getting up off the chaise. “What was that whole light show?”

“Again,” he said leaning back on one hand, “my Cimmerian brother found a way to penetrate my banishment spell. He used your intimacy as a way to break it. He knew that you would find a way back to each other and used that against me. Putting me in this position and leaving him free to roam between here and Terra. He must have spent many long years plotting his revenge.”

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← “All because he wanted a power I didn’t know I had,” I said pacing the floor. “He told me I had to denounce it and give it all to him.”←← “Because you can,” he said following me. “Anything you do is of your own free will. Choosing to wield this power is your choice.”

“But I told him I didn’t want it and nothing happened,” I said stopping in my tracks. “Besides. If you believe in free will, then why don’t you allow the realms to have it?”

He stopped a bit shocked as he tried to answer. “Um.”

“I do,” he said gathering himself. “I do believe in free will, I just feel it should be governed.” He walked towards his comatose self. “As for you denouncing your powers…you can’t give up something you don’t have or at least don’t know you have.”

“Then how do I get it?” I asked.

“That is only for you to find out,” he answered. “The oracles never gave us that answer.”

I thought about what he said hoping it would trigger some kind of memory or something that could help me understand this power. I truly didn’t want it but if it was something Samiel was willing to destroy worlds over, it wasn’t something I was going to let get into the wrong hands.

“But why aren’t you trying to go after my power?” I asked the man who stood a shadow of my father.

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“It is not mine to take,” he said fixing the old man’s hair on the bed. It wasn’t a complete answer, and he didn’t say he didn’t want it…he just knew he couldn’t take it.

Looking back I probably should have held on to that comment more, but I had more important things to worry about. Like how I loved Michael only because I was told to.

← I wondered audibly if Michael truly loved me or if he too had been tricked with a spell. I knew of Samiel’s help in Michaels search for me, which aided in my concern, but my father reassured me that Michael could not have found me unless he truly loved me.

← “You cannot cast a true love spell,” my father reassured. “You cannot force someone to love another.”

← “But you said Samiel included a love spell. Wouldn’t that have made me fall in love with him?”

← “It’s more like a strong power of suggestion,” he answered sitting back on the bed. “But you fell in love with him more or less on your own.”

“More or less?” I muttered. “That is not too comforting.”

At first I couldn’t understand why Samiel went to all these great lengths for something he thought I already had, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that he was acting out of jealousy and nothing more.

He was tired of living in my father’s shadow and wanted what he felt was rightfully his.

My father, who felt he needed to reassure me of his innocence, reminded me of why all of this started.

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← “I only sent you away until I could find a way to take care of Samiel,” he shifted in his seat. “I honestly had no idea that Michael would find you.”

I looked over at the dying man whose labored breathing seemed to get louder and louder. He wasn’t doing so well and seemed to fade faster the longer we stood there.

In a moment of pride, whether he admitted it or not, my father sacrificed himself for a sabotaged spell.

← I walked over to the bed and knelt down beside him, to get close to my father’s ear.

← “I forgive you,” I whispered in his ear. “I forgive you for what you think you were doing and for why.”

← I looked back to the man sitting on the bed next to him. The beautiful man I had known as my father sat in remorse for what he had done. Truth is, in his own lust for power he had caused so much pain and hurt in so many lives, including himself.

← He seemed to be a man who was willing to make amends and I would see to that.

“I will come back to Caelum and find a way to cure you,” I said kissing the old man’s forehead. “I don’t know how, but I will.”

← Soon I saw the room disappear around me as my eyes opened, waking me from my sleep.←← In the distance I could hear the sounds of birds and sweet little voices, reminding me it was a glorious morning in Matris.

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←← The sun had risen in preparation of our departure. I would soon be going home to Caelum.

← Or so I thought.←*****

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I couldn’t help but stare down at Gabriel, who chose not to join us for breakfast. His pungent heartbreak made concentrating on anything else, impossible. Even as Michael snuggled into my neck, with whimpers of love and affection, this lachrymose site was too much to bear. And now with new information about my love for Michael, I didn’t know how to think or feel.

← I stood up to make my way to the beach where he stood, but Uriel, attracted by the very same sight, gestured to me that she was better suited for the task.

← “You will only make things worse,” she said in a mental whisper that only I could hear.

← Telepathy, another of my many talents, started to grow stronger with the rising of each sun.

← My powers of empathy hoped for resolve and a mellowing of his sorrow, but the part of me that still questioned everything in front of me, welcomed his despair as if it were a beacon of true love. Which added to my confusion, for only a few days before, I had found the object of my obsession and nightly torture for over a decade, feeling that he was my true and undeniable love.

← Uriel, who acted as a maternal figure in her youngest sibling’s life, stood firmly beside him, offering a comfort that only a sibling could give. With a stern yet soft manner, Uriel’s assurance, though not readily accepted, spoke to a part of Gabriel that was still able to think logically.

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← “Gabriel,” she said standing tall beside him as she laid her head on his shoulder, hoping her touch would bring him comfort, “you must find a way to go on with your life, satisfied with the fact that you were with her, even if for a moment. For that moment, so minute, is more precious than the rest of your life without her. To not have known her and her love at all would have been a greater misfortune. You are a better person for loving her and your life will be nothing short of phenomenal because of her.”

← “How do you figure?” Gabriel sniped.

← “Because, she has taught you how to love. She has taught you how to love from the tips of your toes to the depth of your soul. She has taught you how to feel with such intensity that life seems dull without her, to prove that loyalty and devotion are more important than love itself. That heartbreak is only the beginning and not the end. The beginning of a new day, where you fight harder than you did before you lost her.”

← Although she said what she needed to say, she was wrong. It wasn’t I who taught him to love, but he who made me realize what love was all about.

← *****← It was in the middle of the Blackberry Winter when I first saw Gabriel. An odd chill swept through the world, leaving a bit of frost on the branches nearest the lake. I had gone for a walk to distance myself from the duties of a royal, sneaking out from the basement so that I would not be seen. I was on guard and doing my best not to run into anyone that might drag me back to the castle. ←

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← For some reason, my father never let me out without an escort.

← I found myself standing on the edge of an opal ledge, leaning against a tree that stood as lonely as I, peering over the lake. The fog that crept to meet me, scattered as if in fear of the movement behind me. Looking into the center of the runaway icicle beside me, I could see the reflection of a mysterious dark shadow behind me. The distortion of the reflection wasn’t the result of the curvature of the icicle, but the over-exaggerated shadow of the Price of Cimmerian.

← He had his hands in his pockets, while his shiny little grin glowed beyond the familiar shade that was his skin.←← “Hey,” he said. He kicked the dirt below his feet. “Can I join you?”

← I knew nothing of the man beside me, but we stood silently for hours, understanding the silence between us meant more than anything in the world.

← “Save me,” were the only words I could muster against the intensity of the moment.←← “Don’t worry,” he said as I laid my head on his shoulder. “I will.”

From then on we were inseparable. Moments I could steal would be filled with a friendship that turned into love, lust, mystery and anything else he could throw at me. His intense passion for life made me crave to be near him. He made me feel more alive than I had ever felt before.

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And he loved me with the same intense passion. He would seek out the poetry and prose of the mortals collected and displayed in the Caelum Library. He would leave little notes in the books for me to find with little treasure hunts as he would call them.

If it were too dangerous for me to sneak out of the castle he would find a way to sneak in. Many of those nights we would make love for hours, or just lay in bed in silence. He always said that silence told more about a person than if they spoke. For how they acted in those moments told a person how they truly were. Silence always brings the best or the worst out of people.

The nights we would make love were still the most passionate nights I have ever had. When he touched me it was as if he could tap straight into my soul. He never closed his eyes, telling me that my facial expressions were more important to him than anything else. The scrunch of my nose or the way I would bite my lip as I would moan could tell him more than if I had told him play by play. He found a way to please me and love me in a way no other man could.

And when he would say goodbye he would take his index finger and run it over my lips, pulling my bottom lip down just enough to lean in and kiss it. Then, he would lean in and kiss my forehead. “Til the sun stops burning,” he would say. “Til the moon stops shining,” I would whisper back.

This wasn’t fake or made up. It wasn’t instant either but it was driven and it was deep. It was fast and it was hard and it was the only thing I ever wanted until Michael came along. ←← *****

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The Matrisians gave us the perfect send off with a breakfast table full of as much of the freshest fruits and cider as we could eat. Laughter and euphoria was also on the menu with elven music and singing pixies; we all forgot for a moment we had to leave this place.

It was safe and beautiful and I didn’t want to remember I had to leave.

Finally after handshakes and hugs, we made our way to the far side of the beach.

Six Matrisians waited to lead us into the waterfall if need be.

Even if I did resemble my old self, I didn’t have my wings. Yet, I was able to tap into my angelic powers sporadically. This surely wasn’t enough to defend us against Samiel and I had no idea how to find the power he was looking for. With mortality still hovering over me, I felt a great disadvantage.

← “You are the one,” Raphael said packing his bag. “You don’t need your wings to use your powers. You must believe in your potential in order to wield them and find your true self,” Raphael said swinging it over his shoulder. “You must believe in yourself. You must take us home.”

← “I am trying,” I said in a slight tantrum. “I am trying to believe in all of this, but I don’t know how to control, or use or even conjure any of these powers. I don’t even know what power I have.”

← “Just think of a place you want to be,” Michael offered. “Do it like you did before. You got us to the tent, remember?”

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← “I have tried that twice,” I said, getting more frustrated. “Besides, why don’t any of you do it?”

← “Maybe you don’t really know where you want to be,” Uriel interjected. “And that is a power only you possess. Not us.”

I looked at the brothers before me.←← “Maybe you are right,” I said, slumping down on a log on the beach. “I don’t know anything anymore.”

← Noami, who had come to send us off, lifted her left hand and pointed towards the center of the waterfall.

← “Her heart feels what her head cannot believe and therefore she cannot do what needs to be done. She is tied in torment with something clouding her mind. You will leave by way of water and root. It flows as a pathway through the realms. It is the only thing that is constant.”

← She turned back at me, whispering loud enough for the children of Samiel to just barely hear.

← “You must rid yourself of this personal torment and pain. Quit blaming yourself for what has happened and find your peace.” She adjusted a piece of my hair. “The rest I promise will follow.”

← “Honestly,” I said turning towards the waterfall, “I have never felt more human. I feel weaker and more vulnerable than I ever did before.”

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← “Knowledge will do that to you, but it is with that vulnerability you are able to find the strength and power that has been in you all along.”

← Noami kissed my hand, bowing slightly. “Be safe my Queen.”

← We left Matris by way of the waterfall, bringing with us some of her finest soldiers.

← Our disadvantages outweighed any chance of success at this point and greater numbers upped our chances of survival.←← *****← On the other side of the waterfall stood a tunnel much like a cave, with a walkway made out of the largest tree root I had ever seen. It was every bit 30 feet in diameter and stood as our only pathway home. It followed parallel to a highway-sized river. A river that defied gravity, flowing above a sea of nothingness. Nothing but darkness lay beneath it and the root we stood on, as if we had found the earth’s aorta, the global highway through realms, time and reality.

← It was a tunnel only known to the Matrisians and known as Nihila6.

← The ceiling of the tunnel glowed green with the color of glow-worms that only lit with the motion of our bodies. Flickering with each movement, they articulated the cautious nature of our escape.

The dense air held a smell of dirt and tree sap.

6 Nihila-‘Nee-hee-la

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← Minutes into our journey, about a mile from the Terra entry point, we felt a great disturbance in the atmosphere. A choking sensation swept over us all, as the air began to leave the tunnel. Tree roots from above started growing through, wrapping themselves around men in the front, while low growling sounds seeped through the rough bark clothing their limbs.

← Then, in the distance we could hear the rustling of footsteps ahead in the dark, while a faint glow shimmered.

← I fought as hard as I could against the dead air, gasping for every bit of oxygen left, until I finally felt its release. With my exhale of relief I found enough breath to expel into the air and to rescue them all from their pending fate. The limbs released and withered back into the ceiling, whimpering on their way. The shimmering light moved closer, but we were no longer helpless.

“Samiel,” I thought to myself. I looked at my arm and could see the protection spell fading away.

← “Prepare for a fight,” Madrida, a Matrisian soldier announced from the front. “I fear what is coming.”

← Ahead in the darkness, Abraxas and his army made way. They were untouched by the supernatural forces that threatened us and were quickly gaining on us.← ← We were being hit from both sides and this wasn’t going to end well.

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← As we anticipated the fight approaching us, everyone looked to me to get us out of there. There was no other way around it, no offshoots at this juncture - nothing but a large root, flowing water and a black hole beneath us.

← It was then I saw another attack on Samiel’s sons. Out of nowhere, a bolt of fire launched itself towards Michael and Gabriel, knocking the youngest off his feet.

← Michael’s reaction was to grab at his brother who found himself falling off the wrong side of the walkway. His hand missed Gabe’s by a fraction, allowing for him to descend into the darkness.

← Of course emotion clouded my judgment and I jumped off after him. Michael grabbed for me, missing me too and sending him to his knees as he cried out.

← As I reached Gabriel, I grabbed him and pulled him to my chest. Spinning around in the dark I could see Michael peering down at us through what looked to be above the water surface. I could hear his muffled cries but the nothingness absorbed much of the sounds around us.

← My thoughts rang loud and clear because the next thing we knew, Gabriel and I were back in my loft standing directly in front of a very confused Paul and Gail.

← When I thought of home, this is where we ended up.←← *****

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← The look on Paul’s face said more than Gail’s scream as they saw us appear in the living room. I had vanished from his sight with no explanation and as far as he was concerned, I was dead. ←← But it was the fact that another man was in my arms that I think got him the most. And much to Gabriel’s liking, the arm around his neck coupled with my chest pressed against his allowed for more than just suspicion on Paul’s part.

← Once the initial shock wore off we were able to explain enough to Paul and Gail to pacify them. I didn’t and couldn’t go into great detail, but I assured them there was more to my past than I could tell them and that my life was elsewhere.

← I didn’t feel as badly for Paul as I should have. It seemed Gail had finally snagged her man and Paul’s despair allowed for what seemed a seamless transition from one marriage to another.

← I may have been gone for what was only a few days in Matris, but in Terra it had been a year and Michael “Chris Michaels” and I were considered deceased. It was only natural that Paul would have found a way to move on. ←← *****← Meanwhile, The Matrisians led Samiel’s children into the great river underneath the path and to safety undetected, floating past Abraxas and his army. They left Nihila with the Matrisians sealing the portal behind them, leaving Abraxas trapped in the endless tunnel with no immediate escape.

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← Michael and his siblings arrived in the dark woods outside Heaven city, and found shelter in the great tree of sadness. A memorial that sat at the center of the forest, only known in legend as a tribute to the ones lost in the great war of the god’s.

← The tree had been hollowed out centuries ago with names carved into the grain, names of angels lost in the War of the Realms. They were scribed in angelic text by an angel who had remembered each and every victim. He may not have understood what he remembered or why, but this was the place he chose to memorialize them, and to humans, this tree was a beautiful, tragic mystery.

← To the children of Samiel it would be a place of rest while they mourned the loss of Gabriel and myself.

← A heartbroken Michael scratched our names in the tree next to his 3rd cousin and a member of the council. If he had stopped grieving for one moment he might have realized we were alive, but his heart lay heavy with the assumption that we were dead.

← As he finished the last “e” in my name he dropped his dagger and became inconsolable. As if bewitched, he wailed garishly like a mother who lost a child, piercing through the hearts of those around him. Dropping like flies they all fell to the ground wailing equally.

← The Matrisians were the only one’s left standing.

← “They have been cursed,” Vigeo, the lead Matrisian said concernedly. We must stop what is being done to them. “Noami,” he said touching the dirt below his feet. “I need your council.”

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← Efflore, Noami’s coadjutor appeared flittering by his side. “Samiel has laid a curse on them indeed,” she said, swooping over them. “It seems as if he has bewitched them with eternal mourning.” She hovered over them as she watched them all writhe in emotional agony.

← “A distraction, my lady?” Vigeo asked as he lift Uriel to his chest. He had watched her through their visit to Matris and had found that he had fallen for her. To see her in this much pain tore at his soul.

← “Can you fix it?” he requested as he looked at the efficacious Efflore.

← “Noami would not have sent you if there wasn’t a remedy.”

← “I cannot cure them. They must find their way on their own. I can however, help them find some physical peace.”

← She reached her hand into her side pouch and pulled out what looked to be dandelion spores.

← “Somnus parvulus somnus. Sileo in pacis. Sleep child sleep. Rest in Peace,” she said, as she blew the dandelion spores across their flailing bodies.

← Slowly, each one of them drifted into a tormented but physically peaceful sleep.

← “Maybe their dreams will aid them in breaking the curse.”

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← “Maybe?” Vigeo said, releasing his loving grip on Uriel.

← “It is the best we can do,” Efflore said as he came to his side. “This is a dark curse, one bred out of hatred and jealousy. Those cannot be undone by anyone but the cursed.”

← “Samiel,” Vigeo said as he motioned to the other Matrisians.←← “Stand guard and don’t let anyone in,” he said walking out of the great tree to bid Efflore adieu.

← “They will find their way,” she said as she vanished. “Have faith in them. Evangeline is not dead.”

← “I think I already knew that,” Vigeo said as he stood guard.

← *****← Once Paul accepted the fact that Gabriel and I were in his home, and that I was alive, he invited us to stay as long as we needed.←← “Gail’s old room is there for you if you need it,” he said. “We moved your clothes into her closet after you died.”

← He looked at me with a little confusion. “I mean left.”

← He motioned to the room down the hall. “I will get…” he paused, waiting to remember Gabriel’s name.

← “Gabriel,” I said grabbing Gabe’s hand.

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← “Right, Gabriel,” Paul said staring at our clasped hands. “I will get Gabriel a change of clothes.”

← Apparently the Matrisian garb, hand woven muslin robes with faux leather armor made from rubber trees weren’t going to cut it in the “real world.”

← As we made it to the room, our being together seemed more awkward than ever. We just stood and stared at each other as if we didn’t know what to do with ourselves, and the sexual tension was obviously thick; even Paul could sense it when he joined us.

← “I don’t know what is going on Eva, but that is not Chris Michaels.” He placed the clothes on the bed. “I don’t know what you have gotten yourself into, but good luck with that.”←← He looked at Gabriel with a raised eyebrow. “You sure do look like him though.”

← “I am his brother,” Gabriel said abruptly as he started to change - his gaze never wavering from my teared eyes.

← “Now I really don’t want to know,” Paul said as he looked at me, throwing towels at me.

← “It’s not like that,” I said, wiping the tears off my face.

← “What is it like then?” Gabriel asked, turning his back to me. He seemed more upset than ever; yet, his sadness seemed to have morphed into a defeated anger.

← Paul took a few steps back and grabbed the door.

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← “I will leave you two alone.”

← I crawled across the bed, pulling Gabriel down to my level. All the while he kept his back towards me. I tried to pull at his face, but he kept it hidden as much as possible.

← “Look at me,” I said. “Please just look at me.”

← “I can’t,” he said, trying to not show me his tears. “Just leave me alone.”

← I sat up, putting my arms around his shoulders. “No. I can’t and I won’t. I need to tell you something.”

← He pushed me off, turned around and pushed me down on the bed. He had moved so fast, before I knew it, he was on top of me, pinning me down.

← I looked up to see the blood drain from his face as he realized what he had done. He attempted to move, letting go of my arms but I stopped him. “Please Gabriel, stop.” I grabbed his face with my hands. “I am so sorry for everything. I have told you that a hundred times and I will say it a hundred more. I am so so sorry. But being with Michael is not my fault.”←← His calm demeanor changed as he fought back the tears that welled up in his eyes. And that turned into a glare that burned through my soul.

← “What the hell is that supposed to mean?” he questioned quietly, gritting his teeth.

“Please,” I said pushing him back so I could sit up. “Let me explain.”

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← He turned and leaned in, whispering in my ear. I could hear the agony as he whispered in my ear. “There is nothing more to explain.”

← I reached my hand to his cheek before he could pull away. “Your father put a spell on me. I had no choice but to fall in love with your brother.”

← He pulled back, grabbing my face as he stared angrily into my eyes. The pressure of his hands on my cheeks made me realize that his anger towards me and his love and passion for me were pretty equal.

← “You have got to be kidding me,” he said painfully.

← “I’m telling you the truth,” I said through squished cheeks.

← “I don’t believe you,” he said as his hands started to tighten on my face.

← I grabbed his wrists and pushed him off. “I am telling you the truth. Your father cast a spell on me and when I met your brother I couldn’t resist. That doesn’t mean I ever stopped loving you.”

He stopped for a moment, plopping himself down on the side of the bed. Part of him didn’t want to believe it, but then again, he knew what I said had to be true. Our love was too real and too passionate to just end.

← “You are telling me that you were tricked into loving him?” he asked as I laid back on the bed. He moved closer so he could lean over me.

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“You mean to tell me you do still love me?”

“I never stopped,” I said pulling him in. “Believe me, I never stopped.”

← I guess I had said enough. Whether he truly believed me or not, he founds himself immersed in the moment. His anger subsided as he quickly moved onto the bed and top of me. ←← He kissed me as if every movement of his lips portrayed the pain of loving me. So intensely and passionately that I remembered why I had fallen in love with him in the first place. ←← His hands touched every inch of my body as he inhaled me, eating me alive and growling between every moan.

← I gave up all inhibitions, thoughts, feelings or cautions that any normal and decent person would have. Tearing into him with the same ferocity, I found myself sobbing and shaking throughout the whole thing. It wasn’t slow or tender or romantic. It was furious and excessive and dynamic.

He too, cried the entire time. It was the first time I had ever seen him make love to me with his eyes closed.

← I should have stopped it, but I didn’t want to. I needed him, I wanted him and for a moment, loving him this way would ease the pain and confusion I felt. It was a quick fix with a backlog of problems I didn’t consider I would have to face.←← *****

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← Oddly, Paul and Gail perched themselves outside our door, listening to the whole thing. Gail I think sat there enjoying the thought that I was too preoccupied with another to care about Paul, as Paul sat there mourning the loss of me yet again, but this time to another man. He had always loved me too much and now after me returning from death, he found himself jealous of the man I was with.←← “Not in my house,” he said not so quietly in the hall.

← “Shhhhh,” Gail said slapping his chest. “I don’t want them to know we are out here.”

← “And I really don’t care,” Paul said getting up, walking away.←← Gail seemed un-waivered by Paul’s obvious jealousy and sat there until the very end.

←← *****← I lay on the bed, cuddled in Gabriel’s naked arms, battling with the fact that I felt no guilt at all for what I had done. In a perfect world I could love them both and be with them both, but I knew that could never happen. I was going to have to make a choice at some point between the two of them. A choice that is impossible to make.←← Nonetheless, I found myself drifting off to sleep, hoping I would wake up with a conscious or a decision. Either way, I would know what I should be doing.

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← I found myself back in the field I once travelled to in my dreams, but this time, the flowers were gone, leaving a field of dirt and rocks, as dry as that of a desert in a drought, as if a desert wasn’t dry enough. The sky, once a luscious blue, sat in an endless twilight, and the air was chilled and blustery. I could hear the wailing of a man far in the distance, but could not see him at all. I ran towards the voice, but seemed to always stay in place.

← Then suddenly, Michael appeared, naked shivering and sitting in a fetal position.

← “Eva,” he wailed.

← “I am here,” I said, kneeling to his level. “I am right here Michael.”

← “Why Eva, why did you leave me?” he cried. “Please Eva come back to me.”

← “What are you talking about?” I asked trying to shake him. “I am right here.”←← “Leave me alone,” he said, shaking me off. “I don’t know who you are.”

← “Michael,” I said, pulling him up. “Please snap out of it. It’s me, Eva. I am alive.”

← “No,” he said, pulling away from me scared. The curse his father put on him had changed his perception of me. When he looked at me all he saw was a corpse, a zombified version of me. I would have been unrecognizable to even myself if I had seen what I looked like.

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← “Michael,” I said slapping him gently. “You have to snap out of it.”←← He turned and ran, wailing like a sad puppy.←← Next thing I knew, the ground opened up leaving a cliff about 10 feet in front of him. The ground shook violently as if it were pushing him towards the edge.

← I tried to run but my legs couldn’t fight against the ground.

← “Michael!” I screamed. “Stop!”

← My pleas fell on obviously deaf ears.

← I tried one more time to get his attention, hoping I could pierce whatever it was that tortured him.

← “Michael!” I yelled in a commanding voice. “Stop!” But it was too late and he went over the edge without a care to his demise.

← I closed my eyes as if it would make it all go away and found myself transported to Michael’s position. There he was, falling into a black hole, with no end, nor threat of landing. I grabbed him hoping I could comfort him. But I did more than comfort; I transported us back to the surface. But this time, he was clothed, silent and stoic.

← “Michael, baby, can you hear me?” I said as I pawed all over his face. Nothing seemed to faze him.

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← He had gone from being tormented to being in a state of perpetual silence. There seemed no hope for waking him up.

“Michael,” I said as I pulled at his chin. “Can you hear me?”

← I leaned in and kissed his pursed lips.

← At first it seemed like it hadn’t worked, but the longer I stayed on his lips the more they softened and the next thing I knew, he was kissing me back. Then, I found his arms around me, and finally a responsive embrace.

← “Oh my god, Eva,” he said as he pulled away. “You are alive. I don’t understand.” He put his arms around me again, holding me tight. “I saw you die.”

← “You saw us fall,” I said, “but we survived and somehow I managed to get us back to Paul’s.”

← “And Gabriel, he is safe?” Michael asked sincerely.

← “Yes,” I said hanging my head shamefully. “He is safe, laying in the bed beside me.”

← I looked to my left to see the two of us lying naked in the bed.

← Michael couldn’t see what I could see and for the moment I was very grateful. It was something I would soon have to tell him, but now was not the time.

← “Where are you? We will come to you.” I said changing my demeanor.

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← “No,” he said. “We are safer in the open than you are. We will come to you.”

← “Apparently not,” I interjected. “You were pretty messed up.”

← “We will be fine. I have my brothers and the Matrisians to help me. Stay where you are and we will come to you. We must come up with a game plan.”

← “We need to get back to Caelum,” I said remembering the dream with my father. “We find my father and make everything right.”

← “Your father? But he is the one who made this mess.”

← “Yes, but he is the key to fixing it as well,” I said assuredly. “Come find me and we will make our way to Caelum.”

← “It’s not as easy as it sounds,” Michael said doubtedly. “I still need to wake the others.”

← “Hopefully what ever we just did helped,” I said wishing myself to wake up. “If not, guide them through it and I will see you soon.”

←

←←←←

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←←←←←←←←←←←←←← CHAPTER 7

← I woke up to find Gabriel was already awake and getting dressed.

← “Where are you going?” I begged.

← “What did Michael say to you?” he retorted as he tied his shoe.

← “Gabe, it’s not what you think,” I started, but he interrupted me.

← “I should have known this was nothing but a pity moment for you,” he said standing up abruptly.

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← “It wasn’t,” I said trying to assure him. “It was real. Gabriel,” I said leaning over the bed to try and catch him.

← “I have to go,” he said, grabbing his jacket and walking out the bedroom door.

← I grabbed my clothes and got dressed as I ran down the stairs. The elevator would take too long and I was not about to miss him.

← I found him out on the street, wondering which direction to go in.←← “Gabriel, please wait,” I begged as I caught up to him.

← He ignored me as if I would go away, but I insisted.

← “What!” he exclaimed as he kept his back to me. “What do you want from me?”

← “To stay!” I said walking around to face him. “Your brothers and Uriel are on their way. We can go home. I found Michael in my dreams and I told him where to find us.”

← “I don’t want to go home,” he said continuing to walk. “All there is for me is pain and loneliness.”←← “But I need you,” I cried. “You can’t leave me.”

← “Leave you?” he asked angrily. “If I stay will you choose me?”

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← I pulled him onto the bench outside the local organic café.

← “I don’t know,” I said slouching back in the chair. “I just need some time to work all this out. I can make everything right again. I just need time.”

← He looked at me sheepishly and asked again. “Does that mean you will leave Michael and be with me?”

← I turned and looked at my shoes then back at him. “I just don’t know yet.”

← “That is what I thought,” he said, putting his head in his hands and gently pulling his hair. “Eva,” he said, sitting back up. “I just can’t do this anymore. For you this may all be new and something you have to figure out, but I have been suffering for a very, very long time.”

He stood up and walked next to me. “I can’t just sit here and wait for you to make a choice.”

He sat back down almost as if he was going to change his mind. “If I stay and you choose him…” He didn’t finish.

“And you are willing to leave and risk losing a chance?”We sat in silence for a few moments until finally he perked up and expressed a bit of joy. ← “Do you know what you are capable of?”

← I looked at him dumbfoundedly and shook my head. I really had no idea.

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← “You are capable of stripping an angel of their wings. You are the daughter of the King and can do anything he can do.”

← “Whose wings would I be stripping?” I asked like an idiot.

← Gabriel looked at me with confidence and desire. Not a desire for me, but a desire to forget me.

← “Me.”←← I burst into tears as I realized what he asked me to do.

← “I can’t.” I looked up at his quivering lips. “I won’t.”

← “You can and you will,” he said taking my hands. “You can give me a good life, one that started long before this, a life of love and happiness. One of fulfillment and success and one away from all of you.”

← “I don’t know how,” I cried. “And even if I did…”

← He interrupted me again.

← “You will do it for me because you love me,” he said as he stood me up. “I know that some part of me will always know that I love you and that should be enough.”

← He grabbed my face lovingly. “You owe me this, please. I need you to release me.”

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← He leaned in and whispered before he kissed me. “Now do it. Please.”

“Why would you risk this?” I asked again. “Would you stay if I said I choose you?”

“You wouldn’t mean it,” he said. “Not yet at least.”

He looked past me and smiled. “If you choose me then come find me. Make me remember. But for now I just need to go.”

← One minute I was kissing him goodbye and the next minute I found myself in the living room of Pauls’ loft.

← I have no idea what I did or how I did it – all I knew was, Gabriel was gone. He was gone from my arms and my sight.

I looked at Paul and Gail who just gawked at the mess that stood before them. I was drenched from tears I couldn’t control, with one shoe on and a shirt that wasn’t buttoned properly.

Gail tried to take a step to approach me but I shook her off as I put my other shoe on. If anyone made a move, I planned to bolt for the door.

And she did. So I ran.

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After about 20 blocks I found myself in a large park so I gave up running and fell to the ground. I tried to move but I couldn’t breathe as the tears choked me without regret. I had no real idea what I was doing or why I hurt so badly. Just a few days ago all I could think about was Michael and getting to Michael and now, all I wanted was Gabriel…and Michael.

Michael had seen me leave the loft and followed close behind, finally coming up beside me.

← “Eva,” he said as he reached the bench I managed to climb onto. “”What happened? Where is my brother?”

← I am sure at this point his concern was less for his brother and more for the sake of our relationship. ←← I looked up with all the strength I had to choke back the tears.

← “I let him go,” I said turning away from him. “He wanted to leave and to forget, so I gave him his wish.”

← I tried to hide the tears but they had already stained my face.

← “He’s dead?” Michael asked as he dropped on the bench.

“No,” I said getting my composure. “He wanted to forget. So I made him forget.”

← “But why?” he said sliding to me. “Is it because you chose me?”

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“I didn’t have time to make a choice,” I said grabbing his hands. “He made it for me.”

← “Would you have chosen me if he hadn’t left?” he asked shakily.

← I stood up and walked around the bench.

“You are my husband,” I said skirting the real answer. “My duty is to honor that. I don’t want to have to make a choice! I don’t want any of this.”

“Please,” he said pulling me back to the bench. “Just sit and talk to me.”

“I just don’t know what to think anymore,” I said resting my head on his shoulder. “I don’t know who I am, what I am or what I am supposed to do.”

← “You know who you are and who you are supposed to be,” Michael said, trying to comfort me.

“Who am I supposed to be Michael? And who are you to me, really?” I got up finding myself getting more frustrated as I waited for an answer, pacing back and forth and clenching my fists in a silent rage of fury.

“What are you talking about?” he questioned.

He stood up, his heart visibly weighing him down. With his head bowed he whispered, “You know who I am.”

“I know who you are Michael. That is not what I am asking!” I snapped back. “What I want to know is why you are here? What you are doing with me?”

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I felt bad for even asking, but after finding out that Michael was part of the spell and how Gabriel felt about the whole thing, I needed to know. I needed to know that what Michael and I had was real in spite of it all.

And boy did I love him too, more than I could express, but I didn’t know what was real anymore.

“You were part of your father’s plan. He wanted me to fall in love with you!” I blurted.

Michael looked as confused as ever, trying to wrap his head around all my questions. All he knew was that he loved me. He knew that he loved me more than any man ever could love anyone and he was bound by that love to show me just how dedicated to me he was. He was never told he was part of the plan. He truly had no idea that he wasn’t supposed to love me.

“I don’t understand,” he said deflated. “How was I part of my father’s plan?” He looked down at his hands sadly. “Are you saying he made you love me?”

I realized what I had done by bringing it up, remembering what my father had told me in my dream.

“No," I said consoling him. “I fell in love with you all on my own.”

I pulled him into my chest, regretting that I ever questioned his loyalty.

“He put you in my path, and we did the rest. It was his wish that we would and we granted it.”

Michael sat up as if to figure it all out.

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“You were meant to be with Gabriel,” he squeaked out. “If it hadn’t been for my father…” he got up and started to cry.

“Oh,” he sighed. “I feel like I am going to be sick.”

I regretted even more now that I had said something, realizing that no matter what, I loved them both and Michael was the one in front of me. The one I was married to and the one whose heart I was supposed to protect.

“Don’t cry, please,” I said hugging him. “None of this is your fault. You, just like your brother and I, are all pawns in a much larger game.”

I looked him in the eye and meant every word of what I said.

“I love you Michael. I love you for who you are and who you are going to be. I love you for your will to fight for me, the lengths you will go to be with me. None of that was your father’s plan. He wanted you to help me break the curse not help save me. And you have done just that.”

I kissed his lips as I had done many times before, yet more passionately than I had since his brother showed up.

“You are a good man, a beautiful man and more man than I deserve. I am lucky to have you in my life.”

He pulled me closer asking me a question I had hoped not answer.

“But what about Gabriel?” he wept. “How can I compete with my brother?”

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“He made sure you didn’t have to,” I said trying to hold back my tears. “He left so that I wouldn’t have to choose.”

He pushed me back so he could see my face as I answered the next question.

“Do you still love him?”

I knew I couldn’t lie. I loved Gabriel too much to hide how I felt.

“Yes, very, very much.”

Michael started to turn to hide his response, but he knew I needed to see his face.

“But I love you just as much and I chose you.”

I stepped back again trying to hold back my tears.

“I chose to honor my commitment to you and to love you as I had all this time. Michael, I love you.”

He took three large steps to reach me and pulled me as close as possible to his chest.

“Love me the way you loved him and I will be the happiest man on earth,” he said between kisses.

“Love me the way I love you and my life will be complete.”

I knew there was a moment where I had loved him this much and now with Gabriel out of the picture I could love him that way again.

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“I promise. I promise I’ll love you the same.”

I lay down on the ground, requesting him to join. It was as if a weight had been lifted off my shoulders and I needed a moment to breathe.

As the clouds started to cry in celebration, he and I forgot about everything and everyone. For five short minutes we were the only two people in the world and there were no bad guys or curses or worlds to save and not once did we realize that Samiel had found us and stood five feet behind us, leaning against a tree. He could have attacked at that moment, but lurked in the darkness listening to the entire conversation while hatching a much better plan.

“A job very well done,” Samiel said to Michael as he approached me. “You have kept her from making it to Caelum to save her father.” We both stood up to greet our enemy, yet froze as he came close. He flicked my hair off my shoulders and looked over at his son. “I couldn’t have done it better myself.”

I pushed Michael away actually toying with the idea that he was in fact working with his father.

“No, no, no, no, Eva, he is lying,” Michael pleaded as he stepped towards me. “You have to believe me. This isn’t real. He isn’t real.”

“He looks very real to me,” I stuttered in dismay. I looked down to see the protection spell had completely worn off.

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“Please,” Michael pleaded some more. “I need you to trust me.” He looked past me to his father grinning behind my head. “He is playing on your confusion. You have to look me in the eyes and see that I am telling the truth.”

The whole time Samiel patiently stood there, waiting for the next opportunity to strike all while Michael kept on pleading.

I tried to run away from it all but ended up running into my father who looked young and unharmed.

“None of this is real,” he said turning me back towards Michael. “Listen to your heart and stay out of your head. Your heart is the only thing he cannot touch.”

I looked over at Michael whose tears looked more real than anything.

“Eva you are dreaming. You have to wake up and come home,” my father chanted. “Do not listen to him.”

“Oh I am very real,” Samiel chimed in. He waved his hand towards the polka dotted sky. “This may be a dream…but the threat is real.”

I started to panic as I rubbed my arms. I couldn’t wrap my head around anything that was going on and the more I tried to make sense of it all, the worse my disorientation became. The air seemed to thicken as I started to drown in confusion and my vision started to blur as I kept myself from trying to pass out. Then the rain that had been softly pelting at my skin attacked with a vengeance. It fell so hard I could feel it penetrating my lungs as I gasped for air. The soft breeze turned into a howling wind with each labored breath I took.

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I clenched my hands so hard that blood started to drip down onto the thirsty soil, turning the grass red all around us. Streetlights started to burst into flames and the trees trembled in fear.

Michael’s body was thrown into the air, disappearing into the dark night, as my father’s body was pushed firmly to the ground. Just when he seemed to be laying as flat as possible, he would lift off the ground and slam deeper into it. Samiel, who originally had control of the situation, found himself twisted around the roots of the nearest tree. He seemed to be more intrigued than worried and didn’t fight his detention as the sounds of his cackling penetrated the wind as it started tearing everything out of the ground.

Just before I passed out, I let out the loudest gurgling scream possible, breaking windows in the buildings surrounding us. My rage was causing all this destruction, expressing a power that was more than I could even handle.

I woke up gasping for air, but found nothing had changed. The rain had stopped and Michael was still lying next to me on the ground, sleeping peacefully. Windows were intact and I felt fine; however the protection spell was gone, which meant Samiel was not far behind.

A familiar and cynical laugh resounded quietly from the large oak tree that stood in the middle of the park and I looked up to see Samiel walking away from me as he waved ever so slightly. “See you soon.”

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He didn’t try anything, threaten anything or even care that I was extremely vulnerable at that very moment. He didn’t have to tell me that he manipulated my dream; his lack of action did it for him.

I quickly woke Michael, who had not been affected at all by anything. He had finally gotten a few minutes of real sleep since we left Matris and felt no threat on either plane.

“Samiel found us,” I said as he rubbed his eyes. “We have to get to the others and get to Caelum.”

****When we made our way to the memorial tree we found that everyone was gone without a trace. After searching the entire area we found a note scribbled into the dirt floor, “See you in Caelum.” No signature, no symbol to let us know who wrote it, but I had a pretty good idea. Samiel had a plan and I knew whatever choice we made, we would be playing right into his dirty little hands.

I couldn’t understand how someone so honorable and good could fall so hard. He became an evil monster, one his children didn’t even recognize. Even more so, why was he toying with me? Why didn’t he just find a way to reveal my powers and then destroy me?

“How do we get to Caelum?” Michael asked after circling the sacred tree. “And where is Raphael and the rest? Who did this?”

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“One guess,” I said as I wiped the message away with my foot. I so badly wanted to give up. I had no idea what I was doing, what I was fighting for or why. I lost one love and was torturing the other one while aimlessly wandering through a world that didn’t even seem real to me anymore. I had powers I was told I could use but could not tap into at all and a man who screwed with my head in order to gain this said power.

“I don’t know what I am doing,” I said as I leaned against the tree. “I have no idea who I am or why this is all happening.”

“You are my wife and the true Queen,” Michael said trying to console me. “And what you are doing is fighting for your life.”

“Is that really what I am doing?” I asked him confused. “I don’t have anything to give them. And if I did he could...”

Michael quickly covered my mouth.

“Hush,” he whispered as he leaned into my forehead. “My father is waiting for you to give up. You say the words and he has won!”

He lowered his hands to the back of my neck so he could pull me closer to kiss my lips. “You will find your power when the time is right. You will tap into whatever you need to win this war and restore balance. I promise you Eva…it is in there…I can feel it. I can feel you and soon you will realize what it is you are capable of.”

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He paused after the sound of branches breaking outside the tree startled me. I gently pushed him away and drew the dagger out of my belt. Someone was coming and I could smell blood and fear as they drew close. I looked back at Michael who stood ready for a fight.

As I tiptoed outside the tree I was hit with a feeling of sorrow that was matched with the sight before me.

Raphael came limping out of the dark part of the forest, covered in blood, sweat and tears.

“Raph!” I shrieked as I ran to his side. His brother made it to him first, catching him before he fell to the ground.

“Please Raph,” I cried as I pushed the bloody hair away from the brother’s face. Raphael’s eyes were draining of life as he looked over at me. “Touch,” he exhaled as he reached for my hand. “Touch and see.”

He took my hand and placed it on his cheek. “Touch me and see.”

I grabbed his face with both hands as I looked up at Michael. He shook his head as his bloody hand wiped tears away from his face. “You can see what he saw if you just try,” he stuttered. “Look into his eyes and see.”

I looked down at Raphael who had only 12 short breaths left. My hands held his face firmly and I looked deep into the back of his dark blue eyes. “I don’t…I don’t see anything,” I started to say as I looked around to see the woods crawling with soldiers.

I turned back to see Raphael and the others sleeping in the sacred tree under the protection of the Matrisians who seemed oblivious to the movement around them.

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“What do you see?” Michael stammered, breaking my concentration.

“I’m not sure,” I said as I counted down Raph’s remaining breaths.

The next thing I knew, I saw Abraxas and his men, wings in full span come running towards the Matrisians. Still they saw nothing.

“I don’t understand,” I said. “They can’t see them coming. Why can’t they see?”

“See what?” Michael begged. He pulled Raphael closer as if he could feel him fading as well.

The angel’s presence only affected Raphael who woke out of his induced slumber and he was the only one who could see them.

As Abraxas came towards the tree, Raphael struck first. He killed three angels before he was struck by Abraxas’ sword. He would have struck again if it weren’t for the howl of a Father who had stood by to watch the attack.

“I said alive,” Samiel commanded. “I want them alive.”

Abraxas stood down, forcing Raphael to his feet. Somehow Vigeo was finally able to sense what was going on and alerted the other Matrisians to trouble, but seconds too late. The angels revealed themselves in time to capture the Matrisians and kidnap Samiel’s sleeping children.

“Bring them to Caelum,” Samiel ordered as he walked into the center of the tree. “I will make sure she knows where to find us.”

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Raphael was determined to get away from his father and fought off Abraxas with all of his dwindling strength. He struck Abraxas across the face with his fists, splitting his cheek and breaking his nose. Being a man of quick temper, Abraxas drew his dagger and stabbed Raphael once again, this time an inch below his heart.

As cruel and heartless as Samiel seemed to be, the thought of another man killing his son without permission angered him to a capitol level.

“No one kills my son but me,” he said as he waved his hand at Abraxas. “No one!”

And with that, the soldier who stood in front of him vanished into thin air with one flick of Samiel’s wrist.

*****Now Samiel could have taken his injured son back to Caelum. He probably could have even healed him or something close to that, but instead he chose to leave him for me to find.

“Now you see what you have done and what you will keep forcing me to do if you do not comply,” he said as he lifted his son’s dying face to his. “I will be waiting for you to come very soon Eva,” he said as he leaned in to kiss his son’s cheek. “It’s either you or one of my children.”

I jolted back to the present as I felt Raphael take his last breath.

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“No, no, no,” Michael cried as he held him close. I could feel the heartbreak and guilt just pour from his soul. “This is all my fault,” he cried angrily as he aggressively rocked him back and forth. “All of this is my fault.”

I leaned over Raphael’s lifeless body to try to comfort him. “No Michael, none of this is your fault. Your father did this.” I cried for him, I cried with him and I tried to mend his heart as it was breaking.

“I can fix this,” I said pulling Raphael into my arms. “I will fix this.”

Michael stood up and backed away as if to give me room. “Do you know what you are doing?”

“Do I ever?” I asked as I laid Raphael down onto the dirt. I laid my hands on his chest and closed my eyes waiting for something to strike me into remembering.

Ten seconds later I opened my eyes to see nothing had changed.

“I don’t understand,” I sounded. “One minute I can do something and the next I can’t.” My frustration began to consume me as I started to cry. “When I need it the most it doesn’t happen.”

I slammed my fists into his chest and yelled, “Why can’t I fix this?”

I laid my head on his chest as I mumbled over and over again, “I just want him to live,” until Michael noticed something happening.

“Eva,” he whimpered through his tears. “Look!”

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As I looked up I could see that he was pointing towards the tree roots that were slithering towards Raphael’s body. When they reached him, they entombed his body and lifted him to waist height off the ground. I waited to see if anything would happen, but they just kept him hovering as if waiting for me to take the next step.

I had no idea what to do next, so I placed my hands on him. As I did, the roots began to glow and shutter as if life pulsed through their veins. The more I held on, the harder the pulse got, rhythmically in tune with my own heart beat and sending shocks through his body. I looked up to see the leaves on the trees begin to glow, as if they were absorbing the light from the sun. I could feel the connection between me and the trees grow stronger. I could feel my feet become one with the earth as my breath became synonymous with air.

His breath broke our connection, sending a surge of light through the roots and streaming through the tops of the trees; and as gently as they had lifted him up, the roots receded, leaving him in dirt, alive.

“Let’s get to Caelum,” he said as he coughed the life back into his lungs so he was able to pick himself off the forest floor. “I knew you could do it,” he announced as he brushed himself off and walked over to his brother.

“None of this is your fault,” he said as he embraced him. “None of this is any of our faults.”

He looked over at me and opened his arms to me. “Come Eva, you resurrected me, I think you can get us back to Caelum now.”

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I thought of asking him how I was supposed to do that, but then I realized that this like anything else was only something I could figure out. I remembered when I dreamt of my father, he said that Caelum was the realm where all realms existed. It was the bottom layer of a multilayered world, one that existed within all realms. It wasn’t that I couldn’t get there…I just couldn’t see it.

“We are already there,” I said as I pulled away from the men. “We have been here all along.”

It was then I could see the barrier disappear between my home and us. And as I looked behind me, I could see the castle peek through the top of the trees adjacent to a mountainside hovering at the edge of Heaven City.

Samiel must have known that it would only be a matter of time before I had figured it out because he had guards waiting for us. As soon as we appeared I was knocked out.

“Welcome home,” my assailant scoffed as he picked me up and threw me over his shoulder.

Michael and Raphael attempted to come to my rescue but they too were met by the butt end of the sword and ate dirt as quickly as I did.

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CHAPTER 8

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The sun pierced my brain, shining through the window as if it’s only purpose was to shock me awake. I thought of revolting against the idea of putting my feet on the floor, but the moans and groans next to me changed my mind. I tried to fight against the down feather softness that tied me to the bed and reaching arms that pulled me close, but my attempts to flee were futile. The next thing I knew I was snuggled up against a perfectly chiseled man who also disobeyed the sun’s request to wake up.

“Just a few more minutes,” he mumbled into my neck. “It’s a Saturday and we have nothing to do.”

I found myself confused by the whole situation for a split second. I still felt myself recovering from a very vivid dream with swords and angels and the back of my head hurt as if someone had smashed me with something. But with the touch of my partner’s skin, I realized that all of that must have been a dream. I rolled over to face him and succumbed to his choice to stay in bed.

“Ryan, if you remember, we have to meet with your sister and parents for brunch today,” I blurted. It came out of my mouth like I truly remembered it, but it felt weird saying it. I looked over at the clock and realized if we left now we would still be 15 minutes late. Today was the day we were going to officially announce our engagement.

“Come on,” I begged as I gently smacked his chest. “You know your mother hates when you are late to things.” I stopped myself, quietly repeating what I had just said. It sounded so foreign and weird.

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“Fine,” he grunted as he rolled out of bed. His naked body glistened in the sunlight, each muscle separated by a tiny little crease in his skin. His tan looked new and fresh while his shoulder length hair somehow fell perfectly into place. As he stood up I could see a tattoo on the small of his back. It was faint and faded, but it looked to be a symbol of some kind, like rune or tribal gibberish.

“What?” he asked as he looked back at my perplexed face. He was beautiful. I’m not talking about Hollister or Abercrombie and Fitch beautiful but rugged and almost professor like. Simple features, with a squared jawbone and a smile that would make you believe anything he said. A man who in his 40’s would make any 20 something jealous and any woman want to know more about him.

“Um, nothing,” I said as I fixed my expression. “I guess I just slept wrong is all.”

He looked back at the bathroom door across from our bed as he pulled his sweats up. “You never sleep well,” he added. “You and those crazy, lucid dreams.” He looked back at me again to tell me that he was going to make coffee when his face changed – completely. His eye color changed from brown to blue and his facial features morphed into someone I recognized. I just couldn’t place who.

I sat up fast and fell off the side of the bed.

“What is with you?” Ryan asked as he picked me up off the floor. “You are a strange one anyway, but today you are really showing your goofy side.”

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I thought of explaining what I saw, but as I looked up at his face I decided it was better left alone. I seemed to always say the strangest things and I was beginning to think he was going to commit me. As a psychiatrist he could do that, or at the least medicate me, and I wasn’t looking forward to that.

“I blame it on last night’s dream,” I said as I rubbed my head. Simultaneously we both looked at my pillow to see that there was dried blood on it.

“Did you fall out of bed last night?” he asked as he checked my head. “You have a cut on your head and you are bleeding.”

I remembered my dream but only in pieces. I remembered kissing, crying, a dying man, but it was all in bits and pieces. Then I remembered where I had seen that face. He looked similar to the man I was kissing in my dream, but I knew it wasn’t him. It looked like him, as if a brother or some kind of relative. I had his name at the tip of my tongue, but for the life of me couldn’t remember.

And then I remembered being hit in the head in the middle of the forest.

“Maybe I did,” I said pulling away. Again, I wasn’t about to give him another reason to commit me.

“You know how I am with my restless sleeping.”

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I washed my hair as he called his mother to let her know that we were going to be late. He blamed it on himself and said that he forgot to set the alarm. She never liked him being late, but she forgave him much easier than she did me. He was her prized child and I was Lenore, a nobody from the other side of Heaven City. She tolerated me because I made him happy and she wouldn’t want to mess that up for him.

I winced as the water splashed my head, releasing the blood from my dirty blonde hair. As it circled the drain I started to see flash scenes from my dream and feel pings of emotions in connection to it. They felt real. More real to me than where I was right at this moment.

I brushed it off as I rung out my hair and prepared myself for brunch with the in-laws. We were set to meet them at the Crown Royal Café in one of the wealthier districts of downtown Heaven City. Their snobbish attitude and high priced taste prevented us from going anywhere that didn’t have cloth napkins and $300 bottles of wine. His mother, Elaina, was a senior partner at the Renaldi, Garbos and Zawinksi Law firm, a high priced Law Firm to the stars. His father, Alastair, was the CEO of the Renaldi and Banks PR Firm and a well known Mason board member. The family owned a large chunk of Heaven City real estate allowing for great influence in its government. Being around them felt like being around royalty.

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And of course there would be his “lovely” sister Veronica, “Ronni.” She was the epitome of a rich man’s spoiled daughter and refused to leave home until she found her prince charming. At 29 years old, her pleasantly plump yet scantily dressed body, coupled with her visible snarl and toxic attitude, kept Mr. Right at bay. Her loneliness was masked by a snarky attitude and constant supply of vodka placed in her purse by the butler.

Needless to say, I, a lowly paid writer for the Heaven City Herald, felt a bit terrified every time I saw them, even more so now that I would be marrying their down to earth and totally loveable son, Ryan.

I remember Ryan being the most incredible man I had ever met. He was an adventurous man who dedicated his life to making everyone’s lives just a little bit better, even if it was with his most beautifully infectious smile. Born into privilege, he refused to live the life his parents wished for him; he felt that the longer he lived like them, the quicker he would lose his own humanity. Meeting me wasn’t a step down he said, it was the sign he needed to reassure him that who he was and who he wanted to be was the right person.

He always treated me as if I was a goddess, a savior and the very champion of his soul. Yet looking at him across the table, I felt as if I didn’t know him at all. Everything felt off to me. His mother, who stared at me from the corner of her eye, to the sister who bit her fingernails as she inappropriately swooned over her unsuspecting brother, seemed completely staged.

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“Is there something the matter?” Alastair leaned in to ask. “You seem a bit more distant and terrified than usual.”

I put down my mimosa in response to his question. Glancing at him out of the corner of my eye I could see his genuine concern.

“Just a little scattered this morning I presume,” I retorted while rubbing my head. “Between the strange dreams I had and the fact that I injured myself in my sleep, I can’t seem to get my bearings.”

“What kind of dreams?” he asked as he leaned in to check my head. “Do you remember them at all?”

I started to answer when Ryan jumped up out of his seat, interrupting the interaction between us.

“Father, I appreciate your concern for Lenore, but I have something rather important to tell you.”

“Lenore? Wait, who is Lenore?” I asked dumbfounded.

Every single person at the table stopped and looked at me as if I had gone crazy. I even think the waiter did a double take.

I honestly had no idea who they were talking about. At that moment the name Lenore did not sound right to me and as I whispered it to myself over and over again, it did not compute at all!

Then, I heard a voice call out a name that did get my attention.

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“Evangeline,” the deep voice said from beside me. “Angel is that you?”

I turned to see a man who seemed shocked to see me.

“What are you doing here and who are you with?” he questioned.

I stood up to face him, more confused than ever. “Do I know you?”

“You aren’t serious are you?” he asked as he pulled at my blonde locks. “And when did you go back to blonde? I just saw you two days ago and you were not a blonde.”

He looked around the table as if he was looking for someone.

“Where is Gabriel?”

Ryan sprinted from around the table as Alastair stood in between the mysterious man and me.

“I am not sure we caught your name,” Ryan squawked as he reached out his hand. “I am Ryan Renaldi and you are?”

The man looked over at me as if waiting for me to answer. Finally he gave in and shook Ryan’s hand. “I am Paul and I am…” Before he could finish Alastair interrupted.

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“I am sorry Paul, but I believe you interrupted something very important. Now if you would excuse us,” he pulled out his chair and sat down. “We have an engagement to announce.”

Ryan ushered me to my seat, but I pushed him away and ran to the stunned Paul.

“I am sorry Paul, but I really have no idea who you are. I wish I was the person you were looking for as you seem to be a nice guy, but I am not your Angel.”

“But you are,” he said as he looked forcefully into my eyes. “You really are. But with everything I have seen over the past couple years I am starting to believe you have no idea who you are.”

“She is Lenore Partain and as my father said, she is to be my wife,” Ryan said grabbing me as to lay claim.

“Then I am sorry for disturbing you,” Paul said defeated. “For what it’s worth,” he said leaning in to kiss my cheek. “No matter what, I never stopped loving you.”

As he walked away, the Renaldi family quickly shook off the whole event by moving on to our big engagement announcement. Even Elaina acted as if it was the single greatest moment of her life and immediately starting making plans for a full wedding within three weeks.

“I shall invite all my clients and all your friends immediately,” she said as she pulled out her smartphone and started an instructional text to her assistant. “I must make sure to call Prilla Verona.”

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Prilla Verona was Heaven City’s most elite wedding planner and a very close friend of Elaina’s. And if she had her way, the wedding would be done quickly and to her explicit specifications.

“No mother,” Ryan said chastising her. “The wedding will be in three weeks but will be on the beach with only a few family and friends.”

I let them fight it out as I excused myself to the ladies room. My head was splitting and every time I turned to look at people around me I would see their faces change into faces that seemed so familiar to me. So many times they would change into the face I had seen in my dreams. Other times I would see a similar yet younger face. Other times I would swear a set of eyes or two would turn red or yellow at first glance.

And after the appearance of a man named Paul, the wedding and the Renaldi’s were the last thing on my mind.

I walked up to the full length mirror at the back of the silk adorned bathroom and just stood there staring at my tired and weary face. It wasn’t the face of a woman who lived a simple reporter’s life but of a woman who had lost way too much recently; a woman who was struggling.

“You are driving yourself insane,” I said out loud to the silent face in the mirror. “It has to be all those dreams you keep having. Not enough sleep and too much of an imagination is a dangerous combination.”

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The fact that I couldn’t even remember that my name was Lenore puzzled me. What puzzled me even more is that none of the Renaldi’s even bothered to address this further. They ushered me through the whole confusing mess and back to the topic at hand as if nothing had happened.

I waited as if I was waiting for the reflection in the mirror to respond to my confusion but found nothing but an empty stare in return. “I am Lenore Partain. I am the future wife of Ryan Renaldi, the most incredible man I have ever known,” I chanted as I fixed my knee length cotton skirt. “I am delirious from no sleep and allowing mad men to cloud my already foggy brain.”

I was interrupted by the sound of the bathroom door and Ronni humming the latest pop hit as she tripped over the heel of her scuffed up Jimmy Choo’s. When she realized that I was watching her, she brushed off her bulging pencil skirt and flipped her hair while muttering a few choice words.

“I never did understand his interest in you,” she uttered as she wobbled to the sink. “You are nothing but a plain Lois Lane with stringy hair and no status whatsoever. But since he has decided to marry you, I guess I have no choice but to be nice to you.”

I walked past her hoping to slide right out the door when her sopping wet hands grabbed my arm.

“When this is all over, he is mine,” she sung. “Your marriage is only temporary.”

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My disgust was outweighed by the confusion of a sister coveting her brother so openly. Yet I was more concerned about the first part of her statement.

“When what is all over?” I asked as she splashed water in her face.

“Oh, nothing,” she said into the bubbles between her fingers. “I am drunk and have no idea what I am saying.”

“You know exactly what you are saying,” I retorted as I wiped my arm off with my skirt. “What do you mean by when it is all over?”

She quickly ran out the door attempting to slam it in my face. I stopped it just in time to slide out and almost catch up with her, but Ryan stopped me in my tracks with a sweeping movement and a kiss.

“I have missed you since you have been in that bathroom,” he said between pecks. “I find myself wanting to make sure I don’t miss a single second with you.”

I knew trying to break away was impossible and knowing me I would not let that comment go, so I gave in to his embrace distractedly.

“You don’t find it odd that your sister has an extremely unnatural attraction to you?” I asked unable to let it go.

“I never noticed,” he answered leaning in for another kiss.

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“No, seriously,” I said rejecting his lips. “She really is attracted to you.”

He backed down and sighed. “Yes Lenore. I see that something is off, but I pay no real attention to it.” He grabbed my hand and led me towards the table. “She has always been a bit off. She has no man and I pay attention to her. It is harmless, I swear it.”

For a doctor in charge of crazy, he sure didn’t seem to know how to spot it.

“I guess,” I said as I flopped into my chair. I felt like I was the ringleader in a circus of pretentious, oblivious and arcane clowns.

*****My simple life required an unvarying routine that brought me to the local Union Diner around the corner from my office. I hustled the two blocks to the diner as if I was trying to avoid anyone in the streets. The newspaper that I worked for had been there for a 100 years and this part of the city grew more and more distressed around it. Known as the Toiler District, it housed the minimum wage residents and long standing businesses.

This being said, it was neighbor to the Poison District and a great meeting place for the low life’s of Heaven City to do any sort of sordid deal.

It was safer during the day, however I could see people out of the corner of my eye that threw off a stalker vibe and I was uncomfortable being on the street.

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I double-timed it, until I was in a slight jog, right into the diner and smacked into its newest waiter. The cup of coffee he had promised the lonely old man by the window was now all over his white shirt.

“Oh my god, I am so sorry,” I said as I tried to wipe him off with the sleeve of my sweater. I looked up to see an absolutely stunned look on his handsome face. His crystal blue eyes and flawless smile made me melt almost immediately. His look gave off a sense of familiarity and warmth.

“I’m fine,” he said gently grabbing my hand, but the electrical shock I got when he touched me was enough to cause both of us to jump back about a foot.

“What the hell was that?” I asked as I rubbed my left hand. He looked just as confused as I was but eager to make up for it.

“Are you ok?” he asked coming closer.

“Yes,” I said backing away. “I don’t know if you should touch me again though. That was quite the shock.” I thought for a minute and then decided to test whether or not it would in fact happen again, so I reached out and grabbed his hand.

After the second and more intense shock we backed away from each other. “I guess it is safe to say we should not touch each other,” he said now rubbing his hands and ushering me to a seat.

“Lenore,” Ryan’s voice said behind me. “I am so sorry I am late.”

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I turned around wondering what Ryan was even doing there. He worked on the opposite side of the city and never came down this way for lunch.

“Were we having lunch today?” I asked as he sat in the bench seat across from me.

“Of course!” he exclaimed, grabbing the menu out of the waiter’s hand. “Thank you there, Richie,” he said reading his name tag.

Richie stood staring at me like a boy window shopping for a new train set.

“Um, thank you?” I said gently pulling the menu out of his hand. As I did, our fingers brushed against each other sending another surge through my body. This time I felt less pain and more desire. The next thing I knew I started seeing strobe-like visions of the two of us in a scandalous and biblical nature. The longer we touched the more intense it became until I found myself gasping aloud. I could tell that Richie felt something too but he never moved.

“Ok, thank you,” Ryan said as he grabbed Richie’s arm.

“Oh yes, I am sorry,” he said as he snapped to. “I’ll be back in a few minutes to take your order.” He kept looking over his shoulder at me as he walked.

“Do you want to tell me what that was about?” Ryan asked.

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I looked down at my menu as to avoid eye contact. “I honestly have no idea,” I said keeping it all to myself.

“Maybe it is time to talk about you coming to work on my side of town,” he said handing me a friend’s business card. He looked a bit nervous as he continued. “The Heaven Times is hiring and I really think you would be a perfect fit for them.”

“But I like my job at the Herald,” I said nervously folding my napkin. “I have been there a long time and feel comfortable there.”

Ryan grabbed my hands to keep me from making another fold.

“But it is in the Toiler District,” he argued. “This place isn’t safe and it is really far from home. You would be better off over there.”

Ryan never told me what to do. As a matter of fact, I don’t ever remember him having a problem with where I worked and actually commended me for working for such and an honorable newspaper. They were nowhere near perfect, but the Herald was known for having the most integrity in the business. The Times was a place that spewed whatever propaganda the city officials wished them too. As a matter of fact, I think many of the board members were city officials or wealthy business folk such as the Renaldi’s. It was a place Ryan would have never asked me to work.

“I just really think it is time to make a change,” he said shifting in his seat. “The Editor is a friend and I have already told them you would be calling.”

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I heard half of what Ryan was saying, as I was too busy looking past him. I couldn’t get my eyes off of Richie and he couldn’t seem to get his eyes off me, and the more he came to the table, the more nervous Ryan became.

“Ryan, are you jealous?” I asked with a nervous chuckle.

“Jealous of whom?” Ryan asked laughing it off. He looked over at Richie as if to answer his own question.

He looked back at Richie nodding for him to return. “Is he always your waiter?” he asked me.

“No,” I replied. “I have never seen him before today.”

“Well,” Ryan added reaching for the check. “I think it’s best if you call right away about that job.”

“Is this sudden push because of the waiter?” I asked confused.

“No, no, not at all,” Ryan replied as he attempted to take the focus off Richie. “I have been wanting to talk to you about the job for awhile. It will compliment our newly married life.”

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Ryan insisted that he walk me back to my office, his excuse being that he didn’t feel I was safe with people like that around. He never noticed the strangely odd people lurking around every corner during our walk back to the office or the fact that there was a man who seemed to follow us as soon as we left the diner. All he kept saying was how much he wanted me out of the Toiler District.

“I will send a car to pick you up after work,” he said as if to assure me of my safety.

“I don’t need a car,” I replied leaning in to kiss him. “I promise you, I will be fine.”

I wrapped my arms around him and lied through my teeth. “I have to work late anyways and have no idea when I will be home.”

He tried to insist, but I managed to be convincing enough for him to let me go on my own.

“Fine,” he said kissing my forehead. “I will see you later tonight. I will be home late as well. I have drinks with the guys.”

The guys - men I had never met but whom kept my fiancé occupied every Wednesday night until almost dawn. A ritual he claims started in college and would never be broken under any circumstance. I never asked what he did and he never volunteered. It never seemed to bother me and tonight seemed to serve a greater purpose as I was going back to the diner to find out who the hell Richie was.

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*****As I sat clicking the computer keys, I found myself distracted by the lingering feeling that I had about Richie. A sudden burning desire to know more about the man who felt so familiar. I started to feel shivers down my spine as I replayed the momentary vision of a kiss, a touch and intimacy. I ran my fingers up my arms as if I could feel his skin on mine. I think I even let out a slight moan or two, convincing me that I needed to know more about him.

The clock rejected my wish to leave as it slowed with passing time, but I rebelled, leaving work 3 hours early and running towards the diner. I didn’t care that I was definitely being followed this time or that I ran abandonedly towards what could very well have been the end of my relationship with Ryan.

Just by going back to the diner I was betraying his trust. But I was driven and couldn’t resist the urge.

Three giant leaps before the door, I felt someone pull me into the adjoining alley.

“Please don’t scream,” the familiar voice said as he covered my mouth. I could feel more surges of uncontrollable desire run through my body as he touched me. I whipped around and caressed his face. “Who are you?” I asked breathlessly.

“I could ask you the same thing,” he said pushing me up against the wall and breathing heavily in my face. “Why do I feel this way around you?”

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My hand dropped more out of fear of what came next. I couldn’t tell if he was confused or upset.

“No,” he said bringing my hand back to his face. “Please don’t stop touching me.”

We stood there for what seemed to be forever, just staring into each other’s eyes. Neither one of us could figure out what we were doing there but knew there was no other place we wanted to be.

“I need to know who you are,” he said barely touching his lips to mine. “Please tell me who you are,” he begged as he ran his index finger across my lips.

I took a deep breath and tried to resist the urge to kiss him as I searched for the right words, but I couldn’t. The desire to feel him grew too strong and the next thing I knew, I was kissing him over and over again.

Finally he backed away enough to break contact. “I don’t understand,” he said between breaths. “I can’t help myself.”

He leaned in again to kiss me, but before he could I heard a loud thud and felt him collapse in my arms.

“Take him,” voices said all around us.

Before I knew it there were at least 7 men in dark suits surrounding us and pulling me away from the waiter.

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“Let him go!” I screamed. It fell on deaf ears because they never heard me. Instead, they dragged him to the back of the building, never saying a word.

“You really shouldn’t have done that,” one of the strange men said. “Now go home and forget everything that happened here today.”

“Forget?” I choked, rubbing my fingers across my lips. “How am I supposed to forget?”

“Because you don’t have a choice,” he said motioning to his friends and walking away.

I ran to the back of the building to find them, but by the time I did they were gone. There was no trace of them or the mysterious waiter. No screeching tires indicating a fast getaway or even the sound of footsteps escaping down the next alley.

“Can I help you?” a raspy voice said from the kitchen door. An old man stood puffing on a non-filtered cigarette and sipping out of an old metal flask.

“I was looking for Richie,” I said peeping through the screen door.

“There ain’t no Richie here,” he said spitting by my foot. “Ain’t no Richie ever been here.”

“The waiter, Richie. He was just in there serving me,” I told him. “He was young, about mid-thirties, 6 feet tall,” I said as I tried to pull open the door.

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“Like I said,” he replied ripping my hand off the doorknob. “Ain’t no Richie ever been here.” His cross-eyed, poorly shaven face, with hideous breath, stood staring at me.

I contemplated arguing with him some more but realized it was futile. “Thank you,” I said sulking down the alley. “I’ll try again later,” I said under my breath.

I went back to work and tried desperately to work through it, but things just weren’t the same after that.

*****As time went on, I chose to never mention the incident to Ryan. Instead, I made the call to the Heaven Times and had a job within the week. And I didn’t do it because Ryan wanted me to, I did it because what happened with Richie scared me half to death. I was sure whatever happened to him was going to happen to me next.

I refused to give up on him though and attempted to make my way down to the Union Café to ask questions, but every time I tried to leave, someone conveniently got in my way. If it wasn’t Ryan taking me to lunch, a pressing story or team meeting kept me from going.

Finally, the day before my wedding, I was able to find some time to slip away. I had been given time off to prepare for my nuptials and decided to sneak off to find Richie first.

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As I left our apartment I found myself feeling as if I was being followed again. I never saw anyone, but I always knew they were there. Day after day I would get that feeling and today more than ever. As I boarded the C train for the Toiler District, I kept looking over my shoulder hoping they wouldn’t stop me. I knew paranoia had set in when I was convinced everyone on the train was there to prevent me from getting to where I was going.

When I finally arrived, my anxiety was replaced with disappointment. No one there had ever heard of or even known a man named Richie. According to them they have always had female waiters and none of the cooks were young enough to fit his description.

“I told you ain’t no Richie here,” the cook chastised from the back. “You are doing yourself a disservice coming here,” he warned. “Go back uptown and mind your way.”

I started to walk out of the diner with my head hanging low when Melba, the 50 something year old waitress, stopped me.

“Pay him no mind,” she said handing me a coffee cup to go. “Walter has been here a long time and is a grumpy old man.” She looked down at the carat diamond ring on my hand and shook her head. “Looks to me you shouldn’t be worried about this Richie fella. If you say he worked here, he isn’t much good to a woman like you.” She lifted my left hand as to show me my ring.

I didn’t feel like explaining myself any further. As I walked towards the door I turned and lied to her.

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“He’s my brother.”

I walked out of the diner with my head hanging low. I am not sure what I would have gotten out of seeing him again. I was getting married the next day and nothing would or could have stopped that. I kept telling myself that I loved Ryan deeply and even though something felt like it was missing with him and me, I had to have loved him. I was marrying him…

The phone rang, disrupting my thoughts.

“You are late for your final dress fitting,” Elaina’s voice chastised through the phone. I looked at my watch and realized that I had an appointment uptown with my dress designer in less than 10 minutes. I wasn’t late as she so thought, but I wouldn’t make it in time to be there “on time.” To her not being at least 15 minutes early to an appointment was considered late.

“I’m on my way, Elaina,” I said hanging up the phone without saying goodbye. I just really wasn’t in the mood for her whining today.

I sat in the next to last car of the F train as I made my way to my appointment downtown. As I sat there I couldn’t help but imagine what I would have done if I saw Richie again. So much so that when I looked up I swear I saw him standing at the other end of the car by the door. When I got up to head towards him, he passed through the door to the next car, pushing his way through the crowd. He never stopped or looked back at me, he just kept pushing forward as if he was running away from me.

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Once we reached the next car I found myself stopped by people who seemed to purposely want to get in my way.

“He is not the man you are looking for,” an old lady stated from her seat at the side of the car. “Stop looking for him. You will only find trouble for yourself.”

I looked over at her as she looked back at her lap, catching a glimpse of bright yellow in her eyes.

“You know who he is?” I asked tapping her on the shoulder.

“Who is, dear?” she asked looking back up at me.

“That man,” I said pointing towards the end of the car, but the man I was pointing at was gone. She never responded, just shook her head and looked down again.

As the train came to a stop I could see him leave the train and make his way to the far side of the platform. As I pushed my way through the crowd I yelled his name a time or two, never getting his attention. More and more people seemed to come out of nowhere and block my way, but finally I pushed through and found him at the end of the crowd.

“Richie,” I said to the back of his head. I walked around towards the front of him to see he was kissing a beautiful brunette.

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He looked over at me and I knew right away it was Richie, but the way he looked at me made me realize he had no idea who I was. His lady glared at me as if I was interrupting something and then went back to kissing him. I debated touching him to see if he would recognize me and as I reached out to grab him, something stopped me. Whether it was fear or divine intervention, I could not move another inch.

He looked over at me and waved as he put his arm around her shoulders and guided her towards the stairs. He honestly had no idea who I was.

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CHAPTER 9

Meanwhile...

If not remembering how he got there wasn’t enough, Michael now found himself chained to the ceiling of King Hyperian’s dark yet modernized dungeon, awaiting the arrival of a very angry father. He had no idea that I had disappeared shortly after being knocked out or what was about to happen to him. His eyes failed him as they tried to focus through the blood stained hair that fell in front of his face. He did however catch a glimpse of Raphael who stood equally chained and confused.

The sweat, dirt and blood that dripped down Michael’s bare chest tickled so badly that he found himself squirming just a bit and alerting the guard that he was now awake.

“He is conscious sire,” the guard yelled into the dark hallway. He stood out of the way as Samiel quickly entered the room.

“Where is she Michael?” he asked his confused son. “What have you done with Evangeline?”

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“I, I am not sure what you mean father,” Michael sluggishly stuttered. “Last thing I knew she was with me.” He looked in Raph’s direction as to get some answers. Samiel looked at him as well, waiting for Raphael’s reply.

“Well,” he blurted. “Where is she?”

Raphael was just as confused as Michael but a little more vocal about the whole situation.

“If she knows what is good for her, she escaped,” he scoffed through his pain. “She is better off just disappearing and staying out of your reach.”

“That is not the answer I was hoping to get,” Samiel said, motioning for two more guards to enter the room.

“String him up,” he said pointing to Raphael.

The guards grabbed the hooks hanging off their belts and dug them into Raphael’s wings. Pulling them tightly, the guards attached them to a rack and cranked the chains until you could hear the bone tear slightly from Raphael’s flesh. As Raphael screamed, they took knives and started shredding his wings.

“That’s enough,” Samiel said, watching quietly as he leaned against the cold wall.

He walked back towards Michael, who stood quietly shedding tears. “You two really don’t know do you?” he asked. “It is such a shame that she would abandon you all.” He flipped a switch, lighting up the rest of the room.

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There in cages and stripped of their wings, lay the rest of Samiel’s children, sleeping in their own blood and tears.

Michael, who had yet to gain his wings back, seemed safe from this horrible torture. You see, an angel’s wings were connected directly to their soul as if an artery leading directly to the heart. Their wings could withstand many different types of attacks and doubled as a shield if need be, impervious to most anything. They were also directly connected to the central nervous system, allowing for excruciating pain if penetrated. Their only kryptonite was Tungsten, a metal that could destroy a wing with little effort; the same metal found in swords and the hooks used on Raphael.

“For you I have a very different punishment,” Samiel said to his broken son. “Much worse than that of your malleable siblings. They follow a Queen who has not yet been given her crown and for what?” He started turning around and around like a little boy dancing to his own beat, chuckling at the thoughts in his head. He cackled at the thought of all the power and glory in the world. The humans prayed to a god; to a man who sat in the clouds, a creator, a being which ruled without reproach. A title he would strip from Hyperian as soon as he could get his hands on my power.

“For a chance to see the world as it should be,” Michael said quietly.

Samiel stopped and came closer to his son. He bent down to place his ear by Michael’s mouth and requested he repeat himself.

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Michael took a deep breath and yelled quietly into his father’s ear.

“To restore the proper order…to end this monarchy of entitlement and to make sure you do not wear the crown!”

Samiel laughed maliciously at his son’s words. Be it ego or a sense of false ownership, Samiel was determined that nothing had been wrong with the way things were done, except for one thing. He, the son of Cimmerian, should have been the rightful ruler of Caelum and all its realms.

“It is my turn to run things around here,” he chanted. “I have stood by Hyperian my entire life, waiting for my turn, and he chooses to adopt some child who will now take his throne?”

He looked up at the ceiling as if he had an idea. “That son of a bitch did it to me again.”

He stormed out of the dungeon and made his way to King Hyperian’s room. He expected a fight as soon as he stormed in but found it to be as quiet as it had been since the spell had been broken.

He walked around the bed and sat gently down next to the unconscious King.

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“You look absolutely dreadful,” he teased as he pulled the covers up to my father’s chin. “And I have yet to know how you did it Hyperian,” he chuckled. “You and your powers are stronger than I would have ever guessed,” he said planting his forehead in his hands. “I really wish I knew how you did it.”

“How did you get here?” Renu’s voice cracked, as he came running into the room. “What are you doing in here?”

Samiel jumped up from the bed, hand on his sword, wings spread wide.

“I assumed you invited me,” he smirked. “One minute I am banned from Caelum and the next I am walking right into the castle.”

Renu stood fast, holding back the swarms of soldiers standing behind him.

“You have always been a supporter of my cause,” Samiel said cautiously. “I assumed you were the one who was helping me the entire time.”

Renu looked genuinely confused. Yes, it was no secret that he felt my father’s way of doing things was wrong. He would voice his opinion whenever possible which was what my father loved most about him. He said Renu always gave him another option if he so chose to use it. Renu even said once that if he had his chance at running things, he would definitely do it differently. But, he was loyal to my father and would never plot against him. And he would never have trusted Samiel.

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“My hands are clean,” he expressed as if he wished my father to hear him. “I had nothing to do with aiding you Samiel.” He was distracted by movement in the corner of the darkest part of the room.

“You are right Renu,” the man said as he drew closer. “You have been a very loyal member of my council. You have done what you thought was best for the people of Caelum and of the world.”

Both men turned to see a young and healthy Hyperian moving towards his lifeless self on the bed.

“Your majesty,” Renu said breathlessly as he dropped to his knee. “You live well.”

“Of course,” Hyperian retorted. “I always have.”

It didn’t take much to see that Samiel was more concerned and confused than ever and Hyperian knew it was time to give some answers.

“I don’t know who took her, but I am sure whoever is hiding her had a noble plan indeed,” he said, now playing with the hair of the man lying on the bed.

“What are you talking about?” Samiel argued. “I had her playing right into my hands.”

“You truly have no idea what you are doing,” Hyperian mocked. “You run around toying with her, threatening your own children and for what?” he asked. “What is it that you think you can gain from all this?”

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He stood up and walked towards Samiel. “You don’t think I haven’t tried to figure out what her great power is?” He turned a quick 180 and stopped, raising his finger. “You don’t have a clue what I have tried to do in this castle since we found her.”

“So, you are telling me that you have been playing me all this time?” an obviously irritated Samiel asked. “You’ve been going after her power too?”

“Of course,” Hyperian announced. “But you see, I am the one and only King. I cannot lose favor with my subjects by publicly battling my own daughter.” He walked up to Samiel and placed his hands lovingly on his shoulders. “You see, the world needs a good guy and a bad guy. Good does not work without evil. I cannot be the all-powerful King if I have not defeated my nemesis.” He clapped Samiel’s shoulders. “And you dear brother, son of Cimmerian, are my nemesis.”

Samiel pushed the King away in disgust. “Haven’t you had enough?” he yelled. “What were YOU going to gain from all this? You have everything already.”

“What can I gain?” Hyperian asked sarcastically. “The same thing you want,” he answered in a singsong tone. “The ultimate power!”

Renu, who realized what was developing, backed slowly out of the room. It was then he realized his loyalties were misplaced and he feared for my life.

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When Renu heard I was in Caelum, he had a loyal guard apprehend me and take me to the council chambers. He had originally thought he was keeping me on ice for the King but now realized he must send me away immediately. He found the guard and demanded that he take me back to Terra.

Renu ordered that I have my memory wiped so that I could remain under the radar until he could figure out his next move. Making me forget who I was, was like disabling the Lo-jack in my brain. It would buy him some time and keep my father and Samiel from locating me.

He called upon his son Raian7, the only man in the world he could trust to protect me. He was a Librarian at the Library of Caelum and a demi-angel. His mother was a human and the wife of Alstair Renaldi.

*****During the Middle Ages Renu had found himself in Terra, assessing the damage during the war. He found he had a soft spot for the humans and did everything he could to stay there. He volunteered to work with the human factions as they cleaned up the mess and any evidence of the war. He found himself traveling to the British Isles where he would work closely with the Masons. There he found the most beautiful woman he had ever met, a woman who had been recently widowed and spent all her time helping the wounded. She was of Irish decent and her perfectly kinked, raven hair and rosy cheeks sparked something in his heart.

7 Raian – ‘Ry-ann’

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Soon the two were in the throes of a heated affair and shortly after she found out she was pregnant. It was then he decided to tell her everything, even contemplating becoming a mortal. He loved her and couldn’t think of a better reason to leave his post in Caelum. Nine months later she gave birth to a beautiful baby boy.

Shortly after Raian was born, Renu was warned of the Gateway closing. He decided to stay, and to become mortal so he could remain with his son and his beloved, but Elaina wouldn’t hear of it. She had given birth to a demi-angel and she knew he could never survive in Terra once the barriers were set. So she demanded Renu leave and take Raian with him.

Renu left reluctantly, thinking he would never see his beloved again. Never in a million years would he have guessed that her pregnancy would cause her to become immortal. He watched her from this side of Caelum, burned by the decision he had made.

For Elaina, it was the worst thing that could have ever happened to her. Broken hearted by her loss and the empty eternal life she was cursed with, she became a bitter and sad woman. It took her centuries to settle down again and not until she met the prominent and well connected Alstair Renaldi.

Raian, now raised in Caelum, found his way to the Caelum library. He would read the words of mortals and bask in the beauty of it, finding a way to stay connected to his mother. In his soul he was more human than angel and did whatever he could to nurture that side of himself.

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*****It was there that he met Evangeline for the first time. Day after day he would see her come in and play the little scavenger hunt that Gabriel would set up for her. He would see her flawless beauty and pure soul and find himself lost in them both. Every time she would see him she would smile, sending him deeper and deeper in love with her. If she would stop to speak to him, he would stutter or stumble over his words as he answered her. And every night before he went to bed he would sketch her, getting every last detail of her face correct.

Who better to take her to Terra and play the man in love with her?

*****“Go to your mother and take Evangeline with you,” Renu said to his trustworthy son. “There you will lead a life with her, protecting her and keeping her away from anything that would trigger her memory.”

He firmly held his son. “Keep her away from the brothers at all costs. You will go by the name Ryan and make her your wife.”

He moved away from his son. “Sell this life so that she will have no reason to question it.”

For a man who had such a deep secret love of me, this was a job Raian was more than willing to accept.

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So while he was in Terra protecting me, Renu would find a way to stop the Kings and rescue Michael and his siblings. He wasn’t sure exactly what was going on, but he knew protecting us was his new, sworn duty.

“Do not let them know you are against them,” Raian told his father shortly before leaving. “Keep their trust and protect yourself. Caelum and the Realms need you now.”

***** “Girl we are gonna fix you up right,” the hairdresser said as she pranced into my hotel room. “My name is Gail and these are my assistants, Sherri and Linda.”

I leaned out from the crowd of bridesmaids to shake her hand. As soon as she saw my face she backed up and then leaned her head in to get a closer look.

“Damn,” she gasped. “You must be the girl that Paul was talking about. You look just like her.”

“You know Paul?” I asked as I pushed the rest of the way through the crowd.

“Know him?” she asked. “Honey, I am married to that man.” She looked harder at me and shook her head. “Are you sure you aren’t Angel? You sure do look like her and trust me honey, I never ever forget a face, especially that of my best friend and sister. “Besides,” she said strutting behind me. “That would make you his ex-wife.”

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“I assure you she is not who you think she is.” Elaina interjected. She pushed me down into the chair and motioned for Gail to start my hair.

“Whatever you say,” Gail retorted, chomping on her gum. She leaned in and whispered, “Shit girl. I know you are Angel.”

Elaina quickly silenced her as she continued babbling about her son’s glorious day.

Since his return, she found more joy in spoiling him than actually getting to know him. She never really knew how to love after Renu and it affected her relationship with her son.

As soon as Gail was finished with my hair, she was escorted out of the room by three armed guards. No chance to even say goodbye, she was whisked away rather abruptly. But, by the time it was all said and done, I looked like a princess. It was completely over the top and expensive, but no one could deny how incredible I looked. My dress was a Grecian style, with a drop shoulder and one sleeve, with gold rope wrapped around my midsection. The satin material of the dress flowed perfectly along the lines of my body as it spilled onto the floor. My long, curled hair cascaded down my back, intertwined with gold rope as well. In the excitement of it all I never really looked at my feet, but I am sure they matched all the other accessories I was adorned with. Nothing I wore I picked out myself.

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“You are going to be late,” my Maid of Honor interrupted as I stared silently into the room’s full-length mirror. “Ryan is waiting.” She walked out the door to stand with the 10 bridesmaids who stood giggling and whispering about the first time Ryan and I met.

Looking back at it now, hiding me in someone else’s life was the most elaborate plan, with the architect of this life leaving no details out and everyone involved played their part unsuspectingly.

Yet, as I twirled my hair around my finger, I tried to convince myself that I knew what I was doing. Everything I had experienced in the last couple weeks felt like a dream. Memories felt vague and unfinished as if important details were missing and the people in my life didn’t feel native to it.

I stared at myself harder and harder until I swear I saw my reflection’s mouth move. “Remember,” it mouthed.

I leaned in a little to see if I could hear what she was saying. My reflection didn’t move as I did. Instead she reached her hand towards me and mouthed again, “Remember!”

The next thing I know the hand broke through the barrier of the mirrored glass and grabbed the necklace around my neck. “Remember!” she screamed audibly.

I leaped backwards, causing the necklace to break and slowly drop gold links to the floor.

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When I looked back at the mirror, she stood there sobbing, holding the remainder of my necklace in her hands, the same necklace that was still wrapped around her neck.

I was interrupted by the door opening, and the entrance of my impatient mother-in-law muttering under her breath.

“Time to go,” she said as she looked at the broken necklace on the floor. “Ugh, well then,” she scoffed as she stepped over it. “You can never seem to do anything on time,” she said as she dragged me towards the door.

I looked back to see nothing but our rear ends in the intact mirror.

*****Hyperian would allow Samiel to retreat to Abyssus to collect his thoughts and plot his next move. He didn’t flinch at Samiel’s threat to destroy him and even shrugged off the suggestion of losing this upcoming war.

“I have cheated death once already,” he said pointing to the aging man lying on his bed.

“But how?” Samiel asked. “Your powers do not allow for your own rebirth.”

“Indeed they don’t,” Hyperian agreed. “Which is why he doesn’t actually exist.”

He pointed to the empty bed. “The spell never affected me,” he said, as if the villain who reveals too much. “I just needed Eva to think it did.”

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He sat in the chair beside his bed and folded his hands ever so calmly. “Go back to Abyssus Samiel. You have done enough for now.”

Samiel stood in disgust. The desire he had to take my power was nothing compared to the hatred he felt for Hyperian, and it fueled him to want to take it from me, even more. If he could get to me first, then he could defeat my father and become ruler of Caelum.

“I will find her and I will make her give me her power,” he threatened through gritted teeth. “And then I will defeat you and take your throne.” He pointed to the floor. “I have Michael, and now she will have no choice but to find her power to save him. In time we will find Gabriel too, double our odds.”

Samiel started to storm out the door when Hyperian stopped him.

“You think she would sacrifice her power for your sons?” he scoffed. “She doesn’t even know what this power is.” He stood up and walked towards Samiel. “You put too much faith in the power of love.”

He walked out towards the balcony and motioned for Samiel to follow.

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“She is a pure soul. She has no choice but to protect all those weaker than her. If put in a position to choose I know she would choose the safety of others over herself. But it would have to be something big. We must threaten the humans and force her to fulfill her destiny,” he plotted. “Let her become their savior in order to find her power.”

“I have nothing against humans,” Samiel replied nobly.

“You act so nobly and yet you torture your own children?” Hyperian chuckled. “You choose humans over them?”

“My children betrayed me to follow your daughter,” he retorted. “The humans are nothing more than victims of you and your regime. If anything, they are kindred spirits. If they knew what you had done, they would fight with me.”

“If you think they would, then recruit them,” Hyperian snarked. “In the end I think you will find they appreciate their ignorance.”

He bowed towards his dark brother. “You figure out what you think is best and I will see you on the battlefield.”

* * * * *

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The doors slammed open as the sound echoing through the grand church alerted everyone to my arrival, putting all eyes on me. Holding back tears and biting through the quiver in my lip, I started marching slowly towards the altar. With each step, the white carpet started to bog me down as doubt and fear turned the ground beneath me into quicksand.

Something just felt very wrong, as if I was about to do something that couldn’t be undone. As if what I was about to do was a crime.

Ryan stepped down from the altar and stood at the finish line as to beckon me to make my way to him. The crowd cheered me on with oooohs and ahhhh’s and the bridesmaids nodded in approval of each step. Finally after what seemed to be a lifetime, I made my way to Ryan and into his hands.

I never heard a word the priest said as I was distracted by the growing discomfort in my soul. I kept telling myself that I loved Ryan and that this was the right thing to do, but after everything that had been happening, he didn’t seem real to me. None of this did.

Yet when it came time to say “I do,” I did it without much hesitation.

As we moved closer to the reception I felt less distracted and more annoyed.

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Every guest seemed to be a Mason, or a relative of one, from all over the world. Not that they would ever reveal themselves, but I swear I overheard a few even say they were Illuminati or a Catholic warrior. Many carried the title of diplomat, politician or some title of power. At the reception they greeted me as if I were royalty, some even forgetting themselves and bowing as they walked by.

I felt alone in a room full of admirers and more confused by their presence than ever. I had no idea who they were or how I even knew them.

“Everything is going to be ok,” Ryan assured me, as he gently tried to guide me to the center of the room. It was time for our first dance and he didn’t want to waste any time showing me off as his wife. However, I hesitated slightly before my foot touched the dance floor - I felt a familiar rush through my body. It was familiar and safe and I could feel it coming from somewhere.

I looked up at my groom as he stood there smiling. Maybe it was coming from Ryan after all.

“I will always love you and always protect you,” he said. “Come dance with me.”

I gazed into his eyes as a loving wife should, hoping to find the answers I needed. Everyone told me this was where I was meant to be, but every fiber in my being told me it wasn’t.

“Who am I?” I whispered in his ear. “Who are we?”

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Ryan leaned in and kissed me as he visibly searched for the right answer. Finally, with a deep breath, he leaned in and whispered into my ear.

“You are mine and we are meant to be. Anything else you feel isn’t real. Nothing else matters but this.” In all the lies he told to keep me safe, he sold this one the most because he wanted it to be true.

His answer was vague, but the fact that he was so heartfelt and genuine when he said it made me ease up quite a bit. I wrapped my arms around his neck and finally gave in to the moment. With a sigh of relief I melted into him and finished out the song. I was beginning to become too tired to question anything anymore.

Then, as if a sign from God, out of the corner of my eye I saw Richie and the beautiful brunette walk out to the dance floor.

“Richie,” I gasped, as Ryan guided me into the next song. My heart was racing so fast that I couldn’t believe Ryan didn’t notice.

“Switch partners,” the DJ announced over this microphone.

Every 45 seconds he announced it again until Richie finally became my partner.

“Richie!” I exclaimed as I held out my hand. I guess I expected him to be excited to see me, but instead he

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looked confused and replied, “My name is Daniel. Daniel Reix.8”

He grabbed me and took one step onto the dance floor when that familiar surge of desire and longing stopped him in his tracks.

“I, I…what was that?” he stuttered pushing me away. I pulled him back into me quickly as to not cause a scene and alert anyone who would have taken him from me.

“Just dance,” I said holding on tightly. “I will explain later.”

“I can’t,” he said letting go. “Whatever this is, it’s too much,” he said shaking it off. “Much too much.”

“What’s wrong baby?” his wife asked in a southern accent. We switched partners again. She was the same brunette I saw him kissing on the platform, and she made sure to flash her rather large diamond every time she opened her mouth.

He grabbed ahold of her and started dancing towards the edge of the dance floor. At first he looked as if he was trying to get away, but the more he looked over at me, the more I could tell he wanted answers.

“Baby, would you go and find our table?” he asked, kissing her cheek. “I must find the men’s room.” Reluctantly she let go of him and made her way towards their table.

8 Reix – ‘Ray’

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When the song ended, I let go of my partner and walked towards the back of the room. Ryan had gone off with his father to be introduced to a table full of politicians, leaving me a few moments to escape.

“Who are you?” Daniel asked as he followed me to the dark corner.

“We have done this already,” I said hoping he was just pulling my leg. “You, me, in the back alley of the diner?” I continued. “You were a waiter named Richie at the Union Diner. You don’t remember any of this?”

“I honestly don’t know what you are talking about,” he said, agitated. “My name is Daniel and I am an accountant.”

“And that woman is your wife?” I asked just as agitated.

He shook his head yes. “Of ten years. And who are you?”

“I wish I knew,” I responded and without thinking continued. “I don’t think I am who I think I am.”

“What was that back there on the dance floor?” he demanded. “When I touched you I found myself wanting you.”

He moved in closer to me. “Why do I have this compelling desire and longing around you?”

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He reached up and placed his hand on my heart. The surge that flowed through my body was more intense than I had felt the last time we touched. It was so powerful it caused my heart to skip a beat and him to lose his breath. He leaned in close enough for me to feel his face on mine when Ryan pulled him away from me, genuinely playing the part of a jilted lover.

“What have you done?” he asked me, pushing Daniel into the men in black suits. “How could you do this to me on our wedding day?” He turned and looked at the guards. “You know what to do,” he said as if I couldn’t hear him.

“Do what?” I asked trying to push past him. “Why don’t you want me to know who he is?”

Little did I know, I was speaking loudly enough that the band stopped playing and now the entire room had stopped to watch what was happening. Everyone seemed to be on guard.

“On our wedding day,” Ryan cried as if to throw the attention off Daniel and on to me.

Daniel’s wife stood at the edge of the crowd, crying as she saw the way he kept looking at me. She looked so betrayed and hurt that I couldn’t help but notice her. Then I looked back at Ryan who looked less affected by the whole thing. He was playing the part of a betrayed groom but wasn’t convincing enough to allow me to let it go.

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Daniel tried to fight the guards, but they were bigger and stronger than he was. I could feel his heart breaking as much as I felt my own, as if we couldn’t survive without the strange connection we had. The longer he was in the room, the stronger it got.

Finally I pushed Ryan aside and marched right up to Daniel and the guards. I guess I looked pretty intimidating because they backed off, leaving him alone with me. Ryan and his mother yelled in disagreement, but the men kept backing off more and more.

Daniel lifted his hand and grabbed the back of my neck. He pulled me in to him and kissed me without hesitation. Neither one of us heard Ryan yelling or felt as he tried pulling me away. As a matter of fact, for a moment everyone disappeared from the room, leaving us completely alone in our bliss.

Then I knew, as he knew, who I was and who he was to me.

“Gabriel!” I exclaimed backing away from him.

“No, no, no, no,” he cried, backing further away. “Dammit Eva, how?”

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When I had wiped his memory he became Richie, a waiter and ex-soldier who had lost his memory. One of the nuns at the local shelter in the Toiler District gave him that name because she said he looked like her little brother. After seeing the scars on his back and the exhaustion in his eyes, she assumed he was a soldier who had lost his way. I had no idea what I was doing and stripped him of his wings, leaving him with no new memories. When I found him at the diner, Ryan’s people wiped his memory again and made him Daniel, the husband of Lexi Whitlock, up and coming actress and model. Someone who wasn’t supposed to have any ties to Ryan or me.

Of course in her drunken stupor, Ronni had met them at a bar the night before and invited them as her guests. No matter what anyone did, he and I kept finding each other.

“Dammit Eva, don’t do this to me,” he said walking away. “I was finally happy. I had a good life.”

Then he ran back to me and pulled me into his arms, forgetting that he didn’t want to love me. He kissed me again, more passionately than before and then pushed me away again, like a dramatic teenager.

“Jesus Gabriel,” I said trying to hold on to him. “Stay or don’t stay but don’t do that to me.” I pulled at him some more. “Besides, how do you know you were happy? Your life was made up!”

“But it was safe and it was good,” he said, walking away from me.

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The next thing I knew, reality showed its face again as we realized that everyone had been watching the whole thing.

“I am sorry Princess, but we have to move you again,” Ryan said as he grabbed my arm. “You too Sir,” he said looking at Gabriel. “If you remember, he will find you.”

Gabriel walked up to me and kissed me again. “I am not going,” he said caressing my bottom lip with his finger. “I told you, I can’t do this anymore.”

He walked over to his wife and begged me to make him forget. “Please Eva. I just can’t.”

“I don’t know how,” I said through my tears. “Besides, I won’t!”

Ryan came to my side, so much more understanding than before. “Gabriel, if that is what you want, my men can handle it like before.”

I looked at Gabriel, hoping he would change his mind.

“Please,” I said, under my breath. The lump in my throat started to choke me.

“I am sorry Eva, but it’s not that I can’t, I don’t want to.” He wiped away his tears as he grabbed Lexi’s hand and headed towards the door.

With the slamming of the door, my heart shattered once again.

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CHAPTER 10

Ryan’s demeanor changed after Gabriel walked out the door.

“We must take you some place safe,” Ryan barked as he started dragging me towards the door. “You are not strong enough to face your father.”

“My father?” I yelled as I stopped him in his tracks. “What do you mean my father?”

Realizing what he had said, Ryan adjusted his suit coat and grabbed my hand again. “I meant Samiel,” he said looking towards the floor. “I got caught up in the moment of Gabriel’s presence. It is Samiel we must hide from.”

“No!” I said, digging my heels into the floor. “You meant Hyperian.” I waited for his response while looking around at the silent room.

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“She can’t continue like this,” Alstair interjected with genuine concern, joining us by the door. “You must take her to Maridian Manor. She will be safe there.”

Before Ryan could voice his concern, nameless strangers came forward to agree with the great Alstair Renaldi.

“Hiding her isn’t working anymore,” a witchy looking elderly lady suggested. “Teach her to fight them and end this once and for all.”

“Help her to find her power so she has a fighting chance,” a familiar voice echoed from the door. The crowd parted as I saw Abraxas, and what was left of his men, stagger towards me.

As Ryan lunged towards him, Abraxas tossed away his sword and raised his hands high above his head. “I come in peace,” he said, with his head bowed towards me.

“How are you here?” I asked, raising his head. “Samiel had destroyed you.”

“I am not sure,” he said, straightening up. “I can’t remember much. Everything is blank until I arrived back in Caelum. Renu quickly found me and told me to come find you.”

He immediately softened as he continued. “I realize now that I was fighting for the enemy all along.”

You could see his heart breaking as he took a deep breath between each word.

“Your father has been playing me since the very beginning. Playing us all.”

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I reached up to wipe the gash on his face with a napkin, waiting for him to finish.

“I am so sorry about what I have done to Raphael. I swore allegiance to your father as his General and never saw anything past his laws and orders.” He gently grabbed my wrist, stopping me from touching his face. “I was so angry that you chose Michael over me and I saw this as an opportunity to exact my revenge. I thought I could punish the brothers for taking you away from me.”

“No,” I interrupted as I brushed the front of his shirt. “It is I who should be sorry. I should have been better to you. You deserved an explanation.”

“He should be apologizing,” Ryan barked. “He should be apologizing for all of it.”

“I am trying,” Abraxas answered in a small and injured voice. “I am desperately trying to make up for it.”

“Is that really why you are here?” Ryan demanded as he pulled me away from Abraxas. “Why should we trust you now?”

Abraxas pulled Ryan to the other side of the room, as if I wasn’t supposed to hear. “Your father has told me everything,” he said with a brooding brow. “My allegiance to Hyperian only goes so far. My loyalty,” he said looking towards me, “has always and will always be to her.”

He looked over at me, hoping I wouldn’t hear him.

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“Besides, you need help in finding Michael,” he offered in a more demanding voice. “He has been taken to Vrykola by Samiel and there is no way you would make it there without me and my men.”

I found myself listening hard enough that I started channeling their voices. As if I had super hearing, I could hear every word that came out of their mouths.

“How do we know this isn’t a trap?” Ryan choked as he thrust Abraxas into the wall behind him. “No one has been in Vrykola in over 100 years.” He looked around at the crowd now staring at them. “No one who has lived to tell about it.”

“What the hell is going on?” I demanded as I pulled Ryan off Abraxas. “What do you know about my father?” I asked. “What happened to Michael?”

Ryan shook his head as to try and convince Abraxas to stay quiet, but he insisted on telling me everything he knew.

“Samiel has taken Michael to Vrykola,” Abraxas said as he fixed himself. “With the outbreak, he figured we would not go in to save him any time soon.”

He picked up his sword, and sheathed it as he continued. “Your father is beh…”

“Your father is a story for another day,” Alstair interrupted. “As far as you are concerned, Michael is lost.” He pointed to Ryan as to ask him to grab me. “And you are to start training to fight Samiel and his men.”

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I couldn’t figure out why my father’s actions were so secret. Abraxas was willing to spill everything and if I could just get him alone, maybe…just maybe I could get some answers.

“I refuse to go to some training camp as long as Michael is in danger,” I said, ripping my arm out of Ryan’s hands. “You are going to help me get him back or I will go alone,” I said adamantly.

I looked to Abraxas who stood ready to fight. “Will you join me?”

I knew Michael was one of his least favorite people, but I needed all the help I could get.

He stood proudly while the hairs of his wispy yet pronounced beard trembled as he gritted his teeth.

“If that is your wish,” he grunted.

I stared hard at the unwavering soldier, now regaining a long lost respect for him. His sleek yet muscular stature merely hindered a strong and dedicated spirit. He had so much more to offer than what met the eye and he would die for anything he believed in. His long, golden brown hair sparkled ever so slightly as it danced in the sunlight streaming from the windows across the room.

He wasn’t the tallest man in the room, but he stood high above the rest, elevated by his pride and sense of duty.

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“I know you don’t truly forgive the brothers for their role in my leaving you,” I said, attempting to be at his level. “But I need you Abraxas. I need you to stand with me.”

I turned to Ryan who seemed to be slightly more jealous than he should be. “I need you too,” I said with an outstretched hand. “I can’t find him without you.”

I know it was a lot to ask of them both, but I couldn’t rescue Michael without them.

I was no longer caught in a love triangle. This was a pathetic love crossed mess!

As Alstair started to express how stupid I was for attempting this rescue, I stubbornly disagreed.

“I will go and rescue my husband whether you like it or not. He would go to the ends of the earth for me and so shall I for him.”

Ryan knew there was no stopping me. After everything the brothers and I had been through, he knew leaving either one of them behind was out of the question.

“If we are going to go,” Ryan instructed, “we will need reinforcements.”

“I have 6 Lumenarian’s waiting outside,” Abraxas offered.

“As well as 10 soldiers,” a voice announced from the crowd.

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General Mark Lecroft, of the Catholic Warriors, and his men came forward. “We will serve you as needed,” he assured. “You may use our private jet to go anywhere you may need.”

Alstair still attempted to express his disapproval of all of it.

“This is a mistake.” He stood up on the nearest chair as if elevation would make him heard better.

“The curse is no longer dormant in Vrykola,” he said loudly. “And while you are there fighting a losing battle, we are less ready for Samiel than we should be.”

He pointed towards the windows. “They are coming after the humans,” he said, pleading with me. “You need to learn to fight.”

I walked closer to the man whose emotions obviously ran deep.

“When I find Michael, I will.” I walked towards the dressing room, preparing myself for departure. “Until then, sit tight and know that Samiel doesn’t want you. He wants me.”

I ran quickly to get changed and started out the door with my little makeshift army. Ryan, who vowed never to leave my side, included.

*****

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When Samiel escaped to Abyssus, he took Michael with him, leaving Raphael and the rest of the siblings to an unknown fate. He knew Michael was the most important leverage he could have on me and he needed to find a way to outwit the Lumenarian King in the war to win my power. With Hyperian threatening the human race, Samiel felt he needed to speed up his timetable.

Lilith, the daughter of the Vampire King and one of Samiel’s faithful, suggested to him that he hide Michael in Vrykola while he plotted his next move.

“He has become more of a distraction for Evangeline and seems to hinder your ability to make your move,” she suggested with a fervent tone.

She looked fondly at the ruggedly handsome prince, with a new found attraction.

“It would cause more trouble for you if you were to kill him.” She looked deep into Samiel’s eyes. She hoped to find some kind of soul still left within him.

“I have no intention of killing my own son,” Samiel said as he sulked in his chair. “I just need him to lure Evangeline out.”

“Besides,” he asked as he sat up quickly in his chair. “Why should I send him to your father?”

He seemed a little disturbed by the suggestion.

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“I have truly no desire to align myself with your father,” he said to his most trusted advisor. “Why would you suggest such a thing?”

He motioned for her to come and sit on his lap.

“Because he has become more of a distraction than anything, and right now you need to retreat and gather your thoughts.” She stroked his hair lovingly as she continued. “Wherever you keep him, Evangeline will find him.”

She got up, walked around the chair and laid her hands on his shoulders. “You would be fighting an angry woman who has come for her husband,” she said in his ear. “You need to be fighting an angel who is willing to find and give up her powers.”

Samiel listened intently.

“The curse has been awakened and our hunger has returned,” she said, breathing air between her clenched teeth. “The best place to hide him is in a place Evangeline would not dare tread.”

In her pride, she underestimated the length I would go to for either of the brothers.

Samiel reluctantly agreed to the idea and sent Lilith and Michael, escorted by Azazel, to Vrykola. I was no use to him without my powers and to engage in any kind of battle with the game changed caused Samiel more heartache than he desired.

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He asked Lilith for assurance that his son would be safe with Emil.

“My father will give it,” she said as she bowed to her King. “I will not allow him to lay a finger on him.”

When they arrived in Dante, the capital of Vrykola, Lilith asked Azazel to meet her father alone first.

“I must meet him alone,” she said sheepishly. This intrigued Azazel, since there was nothing sheepish about Lilith.

With the tone in her voice, Azazel thought maybe she had something to apologize about, but her plan was much more devious.

She picked up the comatose Michael and threw him over her shoulder.

She remembered her father telling her how the curse started, how his punishment was cast by the Cimmerian. She thought just maybe a Cimmerian Prince could cure the curse; but if she was wrong, her father could turn him and she could have her forever Prince.

“There is something that draws me to him,” she said eagerly. “Something that I sense in him, father. He smells…” she dropped him lovingly onto the table in front of her as she inhaled him.

The haggard King waited for her to finish before dragging himself closer to the sleeping Prince.

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“He smells sweet,” she finished. Then she placed her hands on his chest. “But you must ensure me you will take care of him,” Lilith begged. “He cannot die.”

His lies were solid enough to be seen as truth, allowing Lilith to be satisfied enough to leave her Prince behind. She even watched as Emil’s servants brought Michael to his suite, assuring herself that he was in good hands. Her attraction to the Cimmerian Prince made her a little more protective.

Lilith’s gift sparked an interest in the Vampire King as he found himself worried for his children. With the curse awakened, the vampires found themselves in a do or die situation. Those who could not or refused to feed their hunger, suffered a punishment worse than death. Pain and agony engulfed their entire being, with no reprieve. After a week of no feeding, a vampire would go into a hunger-induced coma. Their physical pain would stop, but the emotional and mental pain would become more severe than ever imagined.

Since no other humanoid creatures lived in Vrykola, vampires were left to feed off animals and insects. Those who had remained in Terra, found themselves fleeing to less populated areas in order to save the human race. They were the ones who had a conscious and refused to feed on humans. The one’s who didn’t leave, were abducting the homeless or people who would not be missed.

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Once Lilith left, Emil made his way to Michael’s chambers. He could smell what Lilith had immediately and found himself hungrier than ever. He wasn’t affected the same way as his children and didn’t need to feed incessantly, but Michael made him feel the hunger pains.

However, his attraction seemed to go a little further than that. He found himself lying next to the sleeping Prince, a little turned on by the sight of him. He ran his cold, clammy hands over every vein in Michael’s body over and over again as if getting up the nerve to make a move on him. The more he felt the friction of his skin on Michael’s, the more he shuttered with desire.

Before he knew it, he was leaning in for a kiss.

Michael’s sedation wore off, leaving him foggy and confused. He had no idea where he was and now there was a beast in his face. His voice, dry and defunct from all the torture he had endured, only allowed for him to grunt with a gasp instead of scream.

Taken aback by the scent of Michael’s breath, Emil found himself overcome with a myriad of emotions that intensified the desire. The sweet smell of his Chi drove Emil to the brink of madness.

He flipped himself almost magically on top of Michael, pinning him down with the weight of his decaying body. He leaned in again and spread Michael’s mouth open, dangling his long, yellow fingernails into the back of his throat, forcing Michael to gasp for air. The more Michael breathed, the more Emil drew in the scent of life itself.

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He shuttered with the intensity of a serial killer as he ran his pinky finger down the length of Michaels chest, slashing open his shirt, exposing the Prince’s defined, tan chest and a laceration from belly button to his well-sculpted shoulders.

Emil leaned in and swept his snake like tongue awkwardly across the claw mark, making his way to Michael’s forcibly opened mouth. As Michael choked on Emil’s long nails dangling inside his mouth, Emil inhaled more and more of the sweet aroma he craved.

Emil was completely turned on as he shivered in rapture.

“Your blood is pure,” he whispered as he watched the pulsating vein in Michael’s neck. “You truly are the son of the Cimmerian.”

And with the hunger of a rabid dog, he burrowed his fangs into the side of Michael’s throat and tasted his blood.

After a small taste he released, sucking the rest of the blood off his own tongue.

“Don’t be frightened,” Emil begged as he sat back down on the bed. “I am not trying to hurt you.”

A few minutes went by and nothing happened. The awkward silence became too uncomfortable for Michael to bear.

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“What is it that you hoped would happen?” he said with a scratchy and dry throat.

Emil, in his disappointment, refused to answer. He rose from the bed and slithered his way to the massive mirror across the room and stood waiting for a change.

“But I feel different,” he mumbled to himself. He turned back towards Michael who sat there waiting.

“Don’t I look different?” he asked woundedly.

At first he saw nothing, but then Michael started to see something happen.

Emil’s body started to change first. His shaded and fossilized skin began to soften and find color that only the sun could normally provide. His brittle bones and degraded muscles plumped up to fill out what was once a waif like body. His limp posture straightened into that of a 6 foot man.

His face began to lose the shape of a rat-like beast and took on the beauty of a graceful and handsome man. His high cheekbones and perfectly defined jaw accented the pouty and full lips that desperately tried to cover his canine like teeth.

He was now a beautiful man, but he was still cursed.

He ran across the room, hungrier than ever, leaping over the foot of the large, wooden bed and dragged Michael up the 8 foot headboard. His eyes glowed red as he bared his fangs, dripping with a rabid like foam.

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“More,” he snarled, licking his right fang. “I need more.”

“You promised not to hurt me,” Michael stuttered through his crushed throat.

“You promised,” he said again, forcing his hand to the King’s porcelain face. He caressed the beast until he saw the barbaric look on his face vanish.

Emil released his prey with a sense of remorse he hadn’t felt in a long time. The emotions that he now felt were more powerful than ever before. He could feel sadness, with the pain of a mother who had lost her child, love and attraction like that of a love-sick teenager. He could feel everything as if reinforced with ecstasy.

“What has happened to me?” he cried as he dropped Michael, curling up in his lap. He whimpered like a little child.

“What have you done to me?”

Michael sat in harrowing confusion, silenced by the sight before him. He began stroking the King’s raven hair. “I have no damn clue,” he said to himself. “I have no idea about any of this.”

*****

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The closest portal to Vrykola was in a Romanian castle standing at the highest peak of the Carpathians, deep in the heart of Transylvania. It was Emil’s castle centuries ago and remained empty, becoming a gateway to the other side. Guardians were said to line the bridge from cliff to castle door, keeping anyone from making their way in.

It was the front door to the realm, yet it was a door that had been hidden from Caelum, and there was only one who had the ability to access it.

We booked a flight to Bucharest with little information on where Michael was. Abraxas had been told that he had been taken to Emil and told me stories of his torture but knew nothing more. Ryan begged for me to re-think the plan to go after him, but I couldn’t stand the thought of his suffering any longer.

“I can’t let this go,” I said to Ryan as we lifted the bags out of the taxicab’s trunk. “I have to rescue him. I can’t do anything until I know he is safe.”

“We are no match for hungry vampires,” Ryan worried. “And we have no idea what we are up against.”

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“We have strength in numbers,” I assured him as I walked into the airport. “We will come up with a plan.”

I sat in the airport lounge waiting for Ryan to coordinate with our pilot, watching the people around me. All of them were so oblivious to the world around them - couples sitting right next to each other with their noses in their phones, mothers ignoring their children as they wreak havoc on the poor lonely, old widow who was too tired to shoo them off.

Their existence was pathetic and tragic all at the same time.

“I created a world full of mindless shells,” the familiar voice said from the table next to me. “I honestly hoped there would be more to these mortals.”

There in a business suit, hiding behind last Sunday’s paper, sat my very healthy and smug father.

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I started to get up from my chair when he raised his hand to stop me.

“Why are you here?” I whispered. I didn’t want to alert Abraxas and his “merry men” who sat unsuspectingly in the far corner.

“You aren’t helping me are you?” I asked suspiciously. “You are behind all of this.”

“I am guilty,” he admitted, folding his paper and picking up a glass of whisky. “I am guilty of fulfilling my destiny, that is all.”

He took a sip and moved himself to the chair across from me.

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“You are the key to me doing so. You always have been. I just didn’t know how to make it all work.”

“And now you do?” I asked fiercely.

And why wouldn’t he it? As power hungry as he already was, it would only make sense that he would covet mine as well.

“So then everything you told me before was a lie,” I said with less anger than I should have had. “You were trying to keep me for yourself before Samiel screwed with your plan.”

“Truth is,” he said calmly, “since you came along we have both been slowly losing our powers. We are only halves of a whole and over the centuries our powers began to wane. When you were born I was determined you were the key to fixing it all. You were brought to me and I saw that as a sign, an answer from the Una Vis.” He fixed his suit with a misplaced pride. “It chose me.”

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“But you said you started losing your powers when I came a long,” I reminded him. “Wouldn’t that make me the reason?”

“Even so,” he said, readjusting his thoughts, “you could still be the cure. Whatever you have, I want and I deserve.”

“Even if I knew what it was,” I barked, “what makes you think you could take it?”

I shifted in my seat. “Don’t you think at this point I would do whatever it takes to keep it from you?”

“I won’t take anything from you,” he said with a smirk. “In the end you will give it to me.”

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“How so?” I retorted.

“Because you will have no choice,” he said as he leaned in.

“You can’t take what I don’t have so I will just choose not to figure out what it is,” I said leaning back in my chair to get away from him, tapping nervously on the table.

“Again,” he said, grabbing my hands, “you will have no choice.”

I had hoped that my father would be a typical villain and tell me his well thought out plan, but he was as tight-lipped as a monk sworn to silence.

It never occurred to me that he would go so far as to involve anyone else in all of this. It was a fight between

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myself and the two Kings and I figured they would sit idly by until it just happened upon me.

“Eva,” Ryan bellowed from the doorway. “It’s time to go.”

I tipped back my rum and coke as I looked up to see Ryan waving me towards the door.

When I turned back to the table I saw a confused man in his mid-40s staring at me.

“I’m sorry,” I said getting up from the table. “I thought you were someone else.”

*****

The flight to Bucharest gave me an opportunity to finally rest. I felt like I hadn’t slept in days and my confusion, disbelief and heartache started to get the best

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of me. I had lost Gabriel to a life of mortality and Michael was in the clutches of a contaminated beast; a beast whose curse had somehow mysteriously reawakened itself.

“What if my father had something to do with the vampire curse?”

I asked as I shook Ryan awake, “What if he plans to unleash the vampires on the humans?”

“That is insane,” Ryan answered, rubbing his eyes. “Your father wouldn’t involve the humans.” He knew that my father had a plan for the humans but didn’t want to worry me.

“Oh but he would,” Abraxas interjected from behind us.

Ryan turned around and gave him a death stare. “Seriously Abe?” he whispered.

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“She needs to know,” Abraxas sulked. “Keeping her in the dark will only hurt her and all of us in the end.”

“What are you talking about?” I asked my bickering bodyguards. “Someone really needs to tell me what is going on.”

Ryan adjusted himself in his seat and began to explain.

“We don’t know much about your father’s plan, but we know he has threatened humanity in his plan to awaken your powers.”

I looked back at Abraxas who nodded in agreement.

“Think about it. If the threat is large, your reaction would be larger,” he added. “Therefore, maybe triggering whatever power you have.”

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“I’m not sure it works that way,” I said in disagreement. “It just doesn’t make sense.”

“Well, maybe you are right,” Ryan agreed. “Maybe the vampires are key.”

“Possibly,” Abraxas retorted as he leaned over the back of Ryan’s seat. “But knowing him as well as I do, I don’t think that is his only plan.”

He turned and winked at the woman across the aisle who was obviously eaves dropping.

“The vampires alone can be defeated way too easily,” he said in a softer tone.

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He then waved at the woman who continued to stare. “He knows it requires something much bigger than that to get your attention.”

He sat back down in his chair as I laid my head back on mine. I had a much deeper despair in my gut than before. If I could just figure out what all this fuss was about, maybe I could find the confidence I needed to even understand what we were going through. Maybe then I could make sense of all the suffering my loved ones were going through in the name of Evangeline.

So many people were fighting for a cause they knew nothing about. Yet they believed in me. They believed that whatever I possessed was worth fighting for and I felt like I was letting them down.

If only I knew a way to get the answers I needed in order to make their sacrifices worth it.

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CHAPTER 11

We arrived in Bucharest with no idea what to do next. We had no game plan, no semblance of an idea of a game plan. Nothing.

“I don’t even know how to get where we are going,” Ryan said as he lifted our duffle bags off the cart. “Alstair told me he would arrange a ride but never gave me any information.”

“Try calling him,” Abraxas said, slinging his bag over his shoulder. “There is a fabulous thing I just learned about called cell phones that get us in contact with those we wish to call.”

He semi-aggressively pushed passed Ryan and started walking towards the door. He turned and winked at me as if to egg Ryan on. His soldiers followed, shrugging their shoulders and whispering apologies.

“He is such an asshole,” Ryan mumbled under his breath. “I have been trying to call Alstair ever since we arrived. He won’t answer his phone.”

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I came up beside him to relieve him of my bag. “He’s an Alpha male,” I said tugging at the straps of my bag. “And you are technically married to the women he was supposed to marry years ago.”

“But I am not the only one now, am I?” Ryan asked, annoyed. “He doesn’t need to take it out on me. I was just doing my job,” he said as he tugged back. He swung my bag over his shoulder and stormed out after him.

“To be loved by one is glorious. To be loved by two, flattering. Yet to be loved by so many becomes a curse,” a seasoned female voice in a thick Romanian accent said from beside me.

“Meaning?” I said, never looking to my side.

“Obviously you are cursed,” she said, just a little bit annoyed. Her wisdom had been a little lost on me as I stood there in a stupor.

I finally turned to see a tall, lanky gypsy woman, adorned in tight pants and colorful scarves, sternly standing by my side. Her silvery-white hair didn’t match the young, tan face that stared down at me.

She looked no older than 19, yet looking in her eyes I saw something old and wise.

“We must move out,” she said, looking down towards the floor. “We must reach the mountains before dark.”

As I followed her out the door I saw my men standing next to a small, vintage limo.

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“I don’t know how they expect us to all fit in this car, especially if they brought three of their own men,” Abraxas said, leaning against its shiny, tan exterior.

Since he had arrived, I found him to be more smug than necessary.

“That is why we brought two vehicles,” the stoic gypsy woman snarked as she waved to her driver.

He came around and opened the front passenger door for her. “You two can ride with me,” she said as she pointed at Ryan and me. “You are gonna ride with them,” she said, pointing to Abraxas.

“I find him in a manner less inviting for a ride in my car,” she finished as she entered the limo. The back door opened as an attractive, older man leaned out to invite us in.

We rode in silence for a good hour before the gentleman finally opened up.

“I hear you are wanting to enter the Vampir9 Realm,” he said in Romanian.

I don’t know how, but I could understand him.

“That is our intent,” I answered in English.

He seemed to understand me.

“I am not sure that is a wise idea,” he said, glancing behind him to see the lady up front shaking her head.

9 Vampir -Romanian for vampire

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“I’m Vladimir,” he said, reaching to shake my hand. “But you can call me Vlad. And that is Ksenia, the Gypsy Queen.”

The glares she threw him bounced off the visor mirror and struck him with a slap of disgust. It was obvious she wanted to be kept out of the conversation.

“I am her second,” he said, shaking her off.

She pushed a button above her head closing the window between us.

“She doesn’t seem thrilled we are here,” I said, picking up on her vibe.

“It is not that you are here,” he said as he shifted more into the corner of the seat. “It is why you are here.”

I looked up to see Lady Ksenia’s brown eyes still glaring. I knew if I said anything she would be able to read my lips.

“I have come to bring my husband home,” I annunciated. “I don’t believe that is a crime.”

Vladimir nodded his head in agreement. “You are correct Princess,” he said, carefully watching his back. “That is not a crime.”

“But,” he continued, looking out the side of his eyes, “if Emil has him, he is surely gone for good.”

Ryan, who had been staring through the tinted glass at the crimson Romanian sunset, chimed in.

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“Trust me. You don’t want to tell her she can’t do anything.”

“I have not said such a thing,” Vlad said, intently leaning forward as if to defend himself. “I merely state that it is impossible to retrieve him.”

“Again,” Ryan said, still staring out the window. “Don’t tell her anything is impossible.”

Vlad sat back in his seat as if he had nothing left to offer.

Ryan, who seemed a bit discouraged, looked over at me and patted his shoulder. He turned back towards the window as I slid over and rested my head on him, wrapping my arms around his.

After another hour of silence I started to weary of the journey. “Where are we?” I asked as I could see high cliffs to our right and wide rivers to the left.

The sky, now a burnt and crispy merlot color, marbled with the wings of bats and black birds, gave way to the blood moon peaking out of the dense Carpathian forest.

“We are near the Transylvanian border,” Vlad said, rolling down the window. “We will be stopping shortly, for the night.”

“You have got to be kidding me,” I said, sitting straight up. “I can’t wait til tomorrow to get there.”

I turned to Ryan. “I can’t wait another day.”

“Yes,” he said, patting my leg and yawning. “Really, what is one more day?”

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I had nothing to say as I slid across the car seat, glaring disappointedly at him. Attempting to calm myself down, I tried counting the popping sounds made by the tires rolling across a now gravel road.

I rolled down my window before I choked on the tension building in the car.

“I am sorry,” Ryan said, reaching out to me. “I am just not in a hurry to go to Vrykola.”

I grabbed his hand and squeezed it lovingly. “I know Ryan. I really do, but that doesn’t mean we can abandon him there.” I knew what this trip meant for him.

“Honestly, it is safer if left during day light hours,” Vlad said in his defense. “We cannot travel these mountains safely in the dark.”

I understood his point as well, but it didn’t make me feel any easier.

Soon the car slowed to a stop at the end of a road to nowhere, deep in the woods.

“This is where we get out,” Vlad said, sliding past me and out the door. He immediately made his way to the passenger door to assist Lady Ksenia.

“Where the hell are we?” Abraxas asked us as he came to help me out of the limo. “We are literally in the middle of nowhere.”

He yanked me towards him so he could conveniently catch me in a hug.

“You smell absolutely divine!” he exclaimed, smelling the nape of my neck and hair.

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I tried to push him off me, but his grip was strangely strong.

“What are you doing?” I whispered breathlessly.

His demeanor quickly changed as he loosened his grip. “I,I…” he stammered. “I truly have no idea.”

We were interrupted by the sounds of voices coming out of the trees. We looked around to see flashlights and torches all around us.

“Do not fear,” said Lady Ksenia. “These are my people.”

*****

We followed the gypsies a good quarter of a mile into the forest, tripping over rocks in the awkwardly cut path, before arriving at a large meadow.

The moonlight and scattered bonfires illuminated the largest camper park I had ever seen. Those who didn’t have traditional RV’s stayed in old-fashioned caravans or large gaudy tents.

Unkempt, near naked children ran around, laughing and playing way past their bedtime.

Men gathered around the fires, drinking bathtub gin, while the women sat braiding each other’s hair and gossiping.

“This way,” Vlad said, leading us to a large tent at the center of the park. “I will leave you here to clean up and get ready for supper.”

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The vintage tent, adorned with crudely patched calico muslin, Asian carpets and handmade feather beds, gave us a sense of warmth and comfort – something I hadn’t felt in awhile.

“Someone will come to get you in 15 minutes,” he said, closing the curtain door behind him.

I sighed as I dropped my bag at the bed farthest from the door. Abraxas and Ryan had immediately claimed the other two beds as if guard dogs protecting the entrance.

To my left I could see an old, wooden privacy screen with a beautiful, long pleated skirt and a simple, crimson peasant shirt hanging from it. The head-scarves that hung next to it were meant for my waist, ankles and head.

A wash pail sat in the center of the room with jasmine infused, luke-warm water and a rag next to it.

As the men unpacked the weapons from a recently acquired bag, I stripped down to my skivvies and started to wash myself down.

I probably should have been more modest under the circumstances, but I was too tired to care.

Once I turned around to reach for my outfit, they both stole a glance or two. Abraxas, enjoying the opportunity to see me, while Ryan found it more heartbreaking than anything.

As far as he was concerned, his assignment was an opportunity of a lifetime and it was ending way too soon.

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Abraxas, seeing the despair in Ryan’s eyes, acknowledged it by nodding his head and leaving the tent. He knew we needed a few minutes alone.

Ryan, seizing the moment, scurried up behind me and wrapped his arms tightly around me.

“Can we pretend for a few more minutes that you are mine?” he asked as he laid his chin on my shoulders. I could feel his tears drop gently on my skin.

I turned in his arms, holding the skirt to my chest as I had found some modesty.

“I just figured you and I would have had more time,” he said, pulling me close again.

“Ryan,” I started to say, putting the hair behind his left ear.

“Yes,” he said, sadly turning away. “I know. You were never mine in the first place.”

I tried to hold on to him, but he just pulled himself away.

I didn’t chase after him. I didn’t want to make it worse.

“I hate to break up the love fest,” Abraxas said, peaking his head into the tent. “The hospitality brigade is here to bring us to dinner.”

Ryan followed him out, never looking back. I told them to go ahead. I would meet them there.

****

289


I found the crew sitting in a circle of beat up sofas and chairs around a small fire. They were laughing and carrying on as if they had forgotten why we were actually there. I was afraid to join them as if I would remind them and ruin the moment.

“Come take a walk with me,” Lady Ksenia insisted as she quietly appeared beside me. “I am hoping I can spend some time changing your mind.”

“I will walk,” I said following beside her, “but I doubt you will ever convince me not to go.”

We walked about 50 yards until she led me into her oversized, ancient caravan. Moth-eaten drapes covered holes in the 100 year old wood. Her furniture and blankets lay heavy with a thick layer of dust that never moved.

“Please sit,” she said as she went straight for her abundantly stocked bar. “Would you care for a drink?”

Whether it was the poor light of the tiffany sconces or the ambience of the caravan, I could see her age almost instantly.

It was as if her porcelain skin began to wrinkle with each flicker of the candles.

“I will just take a glass of water,” I answered, sitting in a pink, floral high back chair.

“I don’t have water,” she snarked, handing me a glass of whiskey.

She sat down in a chair beside me, leaning back as if she had arthritis.

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“I implore you to think again before you make your journey,” she said, sipping on her whiskey. “No one has ever returned from Vrykola. Emil never lets anyone go.”

“You talk as if you have first-hand experience,” I said, placing my glass on the table beside me.

“I am begging you, please,” she said, holding back tears. “Leave well enough alone. Your beloved is as good as gone.”

I had hoped to get more out of her, but I could see how exhausted she had become.

“I am sorry Lady Ksenia,” I said, rising from my chair. “I just refuse to give up.”

I walked towards the door of the caravan. “I will see myself out,” I offered. I could see her head drop in her hands as I closed the door behind me.

I wandered through the camp until I ran into a group of gypsies dancing around a fire. I could see Vladimir on the other side of the flames with a beautiful, young woman sitting on his lap. When he saw me, he whispered in her ear and slapped her behind as she got up to leave him. He waved me over and asked me to join him.

“There is something off about Lady Ksenia,” I said boldly as I sat down on the log beside him.

“What makes you say that?” he said, attempting to hide his face in his beer stein.

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“I saw something strange when she brought me to her caravan,” I answered as I watched for his reaction. When he kept his poker face, I continued. “I saw her age drastically in the light.”

I sat and waited for him to respond, but he didn’t.

“Why doesn’t she want me to go to Vrykola?” I asked, begging a response.

“Because we are the guardians of Vrykola,” he answered, giving in just a little bit. “We were given the task to protect the portal at all costs.”

“Who gave you that job?” I asked. “My father?” I assumed everyone worked for my father.

“No,” he said, taking another sip of his beer. He swallowed hard, “Emil.”

“You work for Emil?” I asked, a little disturbed.

“Yes,” he said, discouraged. “But not by choice.”

He sighed realizing he needed to tell me why if he was going to convince me not to go.

“We were cursed to watch the portal forever,” he started. “All because Lady Ksenia fell in love.”

He continued by telling me that Lady Ksenia was actually 600 years old. She was the Princess of Brasov, living in the Castle at Bran. She was the only child of King Vladimir of Transylvania, known as one the most ruthless of Kings in Eastern Europe. Known to many as Vlad the Impaler, he lusted for blood and waged war on anyone who disobeyed him.

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“Are you?” I asked, interrupting him. He shook his head in a manor that suggested he might be but never confirmed or denied it as he continued with his story.

When she was 17 years old, her father had declared martial law on the town’s people, starting a small revolution within the countryside. Disgusted by her father’s behavior, she chose to act as nurse to the wounded. She would sneak out of the castle and spend her days with the commoners.

After long days she would sneak into the local tavern to beg a drink or two from the bartender who gladly kept her secret. And day after day she would see a man sitting quietly in the corner, surrounded by women who hung on his every movement.

It wasn’t until the revolution had ended that she actually caught his eye.

“It is strange that he did not see her sooner,” Vlad said as he himself admired her former beauty.

She had gone into the tavern to say goodbye to the good bartender when Emil caught a whiff of her sweet scent.

He looked up between the bosom of a desperate housewife to see her golden locks and pink cheeks staring at him.

Embarrassed, she snuck out the back of the building and attempted to make her way back to the castle, but Emil stopped her in her tracks.

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He was a mysterious and sad man with grotesque looks and a feeble body, but something sparked an interest in her. She quickly became infatuated with him and he soon pledged to take over her father’s kingdom in order to win her over.

Within the week he did so, overthrowing the King, banishing him to the dungeon and marrying his daughter.

Once Emil had her though, he grew weary of just one woman. He had fallen madly in love with her but needed more than she could give. Within 6 months of their marriage he was back in the tavern waiting for the next loose woman.

He wouldn’t let her out of the castle however. She was banned from any male contact as he feared she might stray. He would visit her weekly to dote on her but left her wanting.

Then, one winter night, Emil decided to allow her to attend a solstice ball. He purchased the most beautiful sapphire, silk dress and presented her with more diamonds than one woman needed.

He was weary of his life and hoped a ball would do him some good. But he found himself sulking in the corner, miserable.

Ksenia on the other hand found more joy in that night than she thought possible. She had caught the eye of a local Prince named Erik. His raven hair and boyish smile immediately drew her in. She had forgotten about her husband, losing herself in the moment.

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They danced without a care in the world, promising to see each other as much as possible. She had friends within the staff who she knew would help make arrangements for Erik’s visits.

For a full year they saw each other twice a week while Emil was away with his women. No one, including Emil’s most faithful, let on about the affair.

Then finally on Christmas Eve, Erik made the mistake of showing up unannounced. He couldn’t stand seeing her locked up any longer and made the bold move to rescue her. Sadly it was on a night that Emil decided to steal a moment with his wife and he was quickly caught.

Emil chose not to kill Erik. His rage dulled by his disease, he chose to banish them to leave the castle. He cursed them to wander the earth for eternity, allowing them to never find a place to call home.

He had witches curse them both with immortality and vowed to stand by and watch them suffer their displacement. But they made the best of it. They fell deeper in love, finding joy in their journey. She gave birth to 5 beautiful children and they lived 50 years of bliss.

Then, Emil’s rage finally came to a head. He was being banished to Vrykola and vowed to do so with hostages. He turned Erik and two of her grandchildren, the dawn before his expulsion. Feeling as if they could not live amongst their family cursed, they left with Emil the next day.

Vlad stood up and fixed his pants, motioning for me to walk and follow him.

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He finished the story by saying that she pleaded with the witches to create some sort of talisman that would allow her to enter the portal to Vrykola. Once in hand, she traveled many times to the realm to rescue her beloved. Each time she came back empty-handed. On her last visit she had a run in with Emil. He demanded that she be punished further and forbid her from ever entering the realm again.

“And if she did, was she sentenced to death?” I asked, remembering her anxious plea to not enter.

“No,” he said, chomping on a piece of grass. “But the life of a loved one would be lost.”

“I will not allow that to happen,” I said, stopping him. “But I must try and save Michael.”

He thought about it for a minute and then perked up as if he had an idea.

“You are the Princess of Caelum,” he said, squaring me in front of him. “You have powers she did not have. Maybe you can rescue them all.”

He seemed excited by the idea as he quickly walked me to my tent. “Get some rest Princess. You have a long journey ahead of you tomorrow.”

He bid me farewell as I made my way to my comfortable bed and lay my head down to sleep.

As I rolled over to get comfortable I could feel Ryan slide in the bed behind me. I didn’t fight him. He was safe and he was comfortable and I truly needed that. I pulled his arm over me and drifted off to sleep.

*****

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“You have got to be kidding,” Abraxas said from above us, waking us both up. He kicked Ryan aggressively in the back.

“What the hell?” Ryan sniped as he sat up in bed. “Please tell me what that was for?”

“For being a jackass,” Abraxas said uncharacteristically as he dumped water on Ryan’s head.

“Enough,” I said wiping Ryan’s face off with the blanket. “What has gotten into you?”

Abraxas shook himself back to normal, rubbing his head in confusion. “I really have no damn clue.”

He walked out of the tent as I got dressed into a warm pair of pants and thigh high hiking boots. We were going to be going deep into the mountain, so I put on a parka and angora gloves.

“It is a 5 hour journey to the castle,” Vlad said as he met us outside the tent. “The road is treacherous and long so we will take these.” He pointed to a slew of all terrain vehicles.

“We will double up per vehicle and ride out in an hour.”

I saw Lady Ksenia come across the camp, dressed equally as warm as I.

“She is not coming with us is she?” I asked Vlad. “Is it necessary that she does?”

“She has the key to the portal,” Ryan answered. “It is only fair we take her with us.”

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“But I don’t want Emil to know of her involvement,” I said worried. “If she just gives me the talisman, I will treat it as if I took it from her.”

“She won’t allow you to go to the castle alone,” Vlad said welcoming her into his arms. “She will lead us to the portal.”

After the men loaded the ATV’s and we ate our last good meal, we started out on our journey with Vlad, Ksenia and five gypsy men in tow. Riding to the top of the meadow, we made our way to a crude road that led through the forest. We rode under the protection of the vegetation for more than three hours until we reached a very large cliff that spanned a quarter of a mile across. The only way across it was an old, wooden bridge that hung loosely a mile above a cold, icy river. The rope that held it together lazily dangled and frayed haphazardly from beginning to end.

It was obvious that we would have to walk from this point forward.

“The soldiers will carry the load,” Ksenia said, stepping cautiously onto the bridge. “Take only what is necessary and allow only three people on the bridge at a time.”

And we did, three by three, make it safely across the rickety old bridge.

We hiked our final lap of the journey, hugging the cold, black cliffs as our trail narrowed under our feet. The castle, which we could see a half of a mile ahead of us, had been built into a large ravine with our only access being the cliffs. Centuries of severe weather had eaten away at the trail, leaving no more than a foot’s width to trample.

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Finally the death-defying course ended at a very long and broken stone bridge. Large, marble gargoyles lined the bridge from the entrance to the center where you could see a large, wooden gate with a crest that looked to be sealing the door. The castle, which lay on the other side of the bridge, looked abandoned and cold. Nothing looked as if it had been touched in centuries.

“That is the portal to Vrykola,” Ksenia said with a quivering lip. “I urge you to change your mind.”

She knew to ask was futile as I gently shook my head no.

“Then I shall go with you,” she said, taking off her parka. The blistery gusts of wind and large snowflakes melting on her skin didn’t seem to phase her. “Maybe, just maybe I can bring them home too.”

I walked up to her, grabbed her and held her as close as I could. “We will bring them all home.”

She hugged me for a second and then pushed me off, getting back to business.

“Your soldiers and mine must stay behind,” she said, unzipping Vlad’s parka. “You may only bring two with you.”

“Does that include you?” I asked her, a little bit worried. I needed at least Ryan by my side.

“No, you may bring two of your own,” she answered, wringing her hands. “I assume it will be these two,” she said, pointing to Abraxas and Ryan.

“Why can’t my men come?” Ryan asked, annoyed. “There is strength in numbers.”

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“In Vrykola the more you have the stronger their hunger becomes,” she said, putting her pack on. “You cannot have all that chi feeding their aggression.”

“She’s right,” I said, standing beside her. “But I will be taking Ryan and Abraxas.”

With it settled who would stay and who would go, she asked her men to take the soldiers back to camp.

She turned to the bridge again and walked ten paces, then dropped to one knee.

As if her presence brought them to life, two of the gargoyles stood on their hind legs, flapped their wings in an upward motion, levitating them just slightly off the bridge floor. Their eyes glowed orange as they wrapped themselves in their stone wings and landed in human form on two very large feet.

They towered 8 feet tall above us.

As their eyes glowed they began speaking in unison, in a dialect that included a clicking of their tongue. As with the other languages I had recently heard, I could soon understand them.

“You are not to enter, Princess Ksenia,” they demanded over and over. “You are forbidden from being here.”

She pleaded with them to let her enter to no avail. It was time I give it a try.

“I am requesting access to your portal,” I said, stepping in front of her. “I am Evangeline, daughter of the Lumenarian King, Princess of Caelum. You will let us pass.”

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I was hoping my title actually was good for something.

After a few moments of silence…they began clicking again.

“We have no reason to refuse you,” they responded as if confused. “We cannot tell you not to enter.”

And with that all gargoyles came to life, flying above and away from us. The two that had found human form stood aside to allow us to enter.

Ksenia rose and made her way to the gate, removing a large, porcelain medallion from under her corset. Placing it gently in the crest, she backed away, waiting for the portal to open.

“Are you ready for this?” she asked as the door started to glow. Its bright, orange rays started to blind us. A gust of wind blew us back as it began to open. You could feel the blistering heat of the realm seep through to our side.

“Now I know why we don’t need a parka,” Ryan said sarcastically, holding on to me. We could slowly feel our feet sliding backwards.

“No shit,” Abraxas said, wielding his sword. “Are you sure we aren’t entering hell?”

“Closest thing to it,” Vlad answered, grabbing on to his Queen.

Then with a bright flash of light we were pulled in to the other side.

*****

301


The other side of the portal landed us on the other side of the bridge. Very different from our side, the bridge was intact. The gateway, which was now shut, kept us from returning to Terra. The medallion however, lay loosely in the crest, as if it had melted through to the other side.

Ksenia grabbed it, placing it back into her corset for safe-keeping.

Above us was the castle as we had seen it from our side. Except now we could see the glow of lights in each window. As dark as Vrykola always was, we could see our way clearly with the light of the moon.

“We must get off the bridge immediately,” Ksenia warned as she scurried quickly towards the shore. “Something doesn’t feel right.”

I had never been to Vrykola, but I could sense the same thing.

“I am assuming we need to make our way to the castle,” Abraxas said, walking ahead of us. “I suggest we head on over.”

He started up the trail as if he knew where he was going.

I stopped as I heard noises in the woods around us. I motioned for everyone to stop and listen.

“Maybe it’s just a deer,” Ryan said, coming closer to me. “They do have wildlife here right?” he asked, afraid if he was wrong.

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“With the curse activated, there should be nothing moving out here,” Ksenia said, worried. “With no humans to feed on, the wildlife would have been all but eaten.”

“Shh,” Ryan said as he heard another noise. “There is something out there.”

Suddenly, out of the trees came a threesome of vampires, two males, one female, naked, wandering as if drunk or on some kind of drug. They stumbled right past us as if we weren’t even there. Then finding a clearing up ahead, the two males immediately attacked each other in what seemed to be a rough sexual advance as the female stood and watched. Then, shortly after she joined in. The next thing we knew, they started biting each other, drawing blood and wailing like a bunch of wounded wolves.

“There is something really wrong,” Ksenia said again. “Maybe we should turn back.”

“We can’t,” I said, pulling out my sword. “We need to move past them and carry on.”

“They are almost rabid,” Vlad said as if to admire their rendezvous. “Its uncharacteristic though, I will give you that.”

“Come,” Abraxas said as if he had found another way around. “There is an entrance to the underbelly of the castle.”

We followed him in to the darkest part of the castle, agreeing to split up and search for our loved ones.

Ksenia took Vlad who stayed glued to her side and Abraxas followed Ryan and me towards the stairs.

303


“Is that music I hear?” Abraxas asked, creeping a few steps ahead of us. “I swear I hear music.”

I listened intently as Ryan ran ahead to get a closer listen. “It sounds like club music,” he added quietly. “I swear it has the same beat.”

I started to hear what they heard and sure enough it was mixture of club and techno playing very loudly.

The staircase we were on led us to a grand foyer, empty of people or real furniture. The walls, adorned with old, faded, velvet wallpaper, clashed with the floral rug that barely covered the center of the room. A square birch table made centuries ago, served as a pedestal for a lonely, silver candlestick and a poorly melted candle. Five solid oak doors lay wide open to expose five very long and mysterious hallways. The 6th door, broken into two French doors on the wall opposite of us, served as a barrier between us and the hideous music.

We started to creep across the stone floor, praying our echoing footsteps couldn’t be heard, when we heard a door swing open down one of the hallways. Another set of naked vampires came stumbling out incoherently.

Ryan and Abraxas both came rushing at me, accidently slamming me up against the wall. Ryan caught my head with his hand just before it met the hard surface.

With both men pinning me up against the wall, I could barely breathe.

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“You both are going a little overboard,” I said, pushing them off me and brushing myself off. The vampires never heard us and I knew we weren’t in any danger. I realized that the castle was hotter than it was outside and I decided to strip a layer or two off in order to not continue sweating.

As I stripped to my wife-beater tank top, I could see the vampires turn around and come towards us.

“Now we need to hide,” I said, moving behind the closest door. Ryan and Abraxas started after me when I motioned for them to find their own door.

As the vampires entered the foyer I could see the female stop and look as if she could sense something. She was so delirious however that she could barely see enough to recognize that we were there.

But the male definitely could feel something.

He kissed her on her cheek and pushed her towards the far hallway.

“Run and hide. I will catch you soon,” he said, slurring in Romanian.

She didn’t question as she ran away laughing like a sick hyena.

Meanwhile, the male put his fangs away and stood waiting for us to surface.

Before we stepped forward however, I could hear Ksenia’s voice echo out of the hallway behind me.

“Erik,” she said, coming out to the foyer. “Erik is that you?”

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The man whipped around, teetering on his uneasy feet.

“Erik,” she said, running up to him. “It’s me. It’s Ksenia.”

He stood unsure of himself or the woman in front of him. He had blood dripping from the corner of his mouth and his blue eyes were severely glazed over.

“Ksenia,” he stuttered as he tried desperately to see her.

She badgered him with questions, hoping he was coherent enough to answer.

“Where are Miranda and Klaus? What has Emil done to you?”

He teetered some more and desperately tried to answer.

“I do not know,” he said as if he could not find the answer.

I came out from behind the door and approached the couple.

“May I?” I asked Ksenia as I reached out my hands. I had cured Raphael of his ailments once and I thought just maybe I could help Erik clear his head.

I placed one hand on his chest as I placed the other one on his head. He started to pull away from me when he caught a whiff of my scent. It was enticing enough for him to remain in my grasp long enough for me to do what I needed to do.

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I closed my eyes and imagined the toxins in his system being drawn out by my hands. And as I did, for a second I could taste the feeling of euphoria that he had felt while in his stupor.

It was the most incredible feeling in the world. Then in a split second it was gone.

He became lethargic almost immediately, but his mind was clear enough now to understand what was going on.

“Ksenia,” he said, recognizing the woman behind me. “Ksenia you have come.”

She took a scarf off her waist and tied it around his mid-section as he became instantly aware of his nudity.

“My love,” she said, landing in his arms. “I have found you.”

She laid her head against his naked chest as if to hear his heart.

“It beats so weakly,” she said sadly, looking back at me. “Can you not cure him of that?”

I knew nothing of the vampire curse or how to cure such a disease. I didn’t know how to fix him.

“Maybe we should move into a more secure place,” Abraxas said, looking at all the ominous hallways. “We are definitely bound to be caught sitting around here.”

Erik, who now had his wits about him, led us to an empty room close to us.

When we entered the room he plopped down into a crooked, old chair, placing his tired head in his hands.

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“Please,” she begged me. “Please help him. You have to cure him for me.”

As quickly as he had exhausted himself, he began to show his vampire hunger.

He jumped out of his chair and made his way toward me quickly.

“Your blood,” he said, craving more than my chi. “There is something amazingly sweet in that blood.”

His fangs came out as he lunged.

Ryan and Abraxas both stopped him with their fists, flattening him to the ground.

I knelt over him, knowing that I could not cure him. But, without thinking, I took my thumb and pricked it on one of his fangs, allowing the blood to drip between his pale lips.

“What the hell are you doing?” Ryan said, pulling me away. “Are you insane?”

“Just wait,” I said, pulling back. “Give it a minute.”

When he awoke a few minutes later, he was a totally different man.

“I do not feel the hunger,” he said, checking to see if his fangs were gone. He became worried when he realized they were still there.

“What are you doing?” Ryan chastised as he lifted me off the floor. “Why would you feed him your blood?”

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“I don’t know,” I said, sucking on my finger. “I guess I thought it could work.”

It did work but not in the manner we had hoped. It was not a cure. What it did do was cure the hunger and the need for fulfillment. He was as normal as a vampire could ever get, as if I put the disease in remission.

“Tell me where Miranda and Klaus are,” Vlad said as if he was ready to rescue them both.

Erik picked himself off the floor and grabbed onto Ksenia for support.

“Miranda and Klaus left us long ago,” he said, pulling her towards him. “Last I knew they had escaped to Terra.”

“They couldn’t be,” she said, pushing him back. “I have lived 600 years and have never seen them.”

He rubbed his head as if to try and remember something different, but he kept coming up with the same thing.

“They are gone,” he answered. “I am sure of it.”

I was more than happy with their family reunion, but I found myself in a hurry to find Michael. I could still hear the atrocious music and was determined to follow it.

“I have to go,” I said to Ksenia who was back in the grip of her lover’s arms. “I have to go find Michael.”

She hesitated for a moment, as if to contemplate leaving us behind, now that she had found Erik. I could see the turmoil as she silently made whatever choice she felt she had to make.

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She leaned in to Erik with a lingering kiss saying more than she could have with words.

“You are going with her, aren’t you?” he asked, knowing what she was about to say. “We have come this far. I can’t let you.”

I knew at that moment she had chosen to stay behind and help me, but not before sending him away.

She walked over to Vlad who had perched himself by the door.

“I need you to take him back to Terra,” she said, wiping away her tears. “Cross through the portal and head back towards camp.”

He too didn’t like her request.

“You came to find Erik,” he said frantically. “Please don’t overstay your welcome.”

She started to walk back towards Erik when Vlad stopped her.

“Ksenia,” he started to say.

She whipped around with a demanding presence and barked at the man before her.

“Father,” she said firmly. “This is what I wish.”

“I knew it,” I said under my breath. “He IS Vlad the Impaler.”

But the time for chatting was over. If we didn’t get moving, we were sure to be discovered.

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“They may never know you are here,” Erik said, putting on some clothes he had been given. “Everyone is in the state I was in when you found me.”

“Yeah, about that,” Abraxas said, replacing Vlad at the door. “What were you on?”

“Cimmerian blood,” Erik responded with a bit of a lingering craving. “It’s like euphoria, lust and hunger magnified by 1000. I couldn’t resist any desire or craving I may have had.”

“Michael,” I whimpered, running my fingers across my cold, steel blade. “It’s time to go.”

We left the safety of the small, empty room and promised to get Vlad and Erik safely to the bridge. In this place 12 eyes were better than 4. Erik, knowing the ins and outs of the place, started to lead us in a direction that should have gotten us out of the castle undetected.

That’s if they hadn’t known we were already there.

Sure enough, as we crept into the grand foyer, the French doors flew open.

I turned to Ksenia who had shielded her love and demanded that she take Erik and Vlad and run.

“You need my help,” she said, pushing Erik into Vlad’s hands. “I will stay and help you.”

“No,” Ryan said, pushing them towards the far hallway. “You worry about you now. We are not his enemy yet.”

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She hesitated for a second, but her father, knowing the kind of wrath they could incur, grabbed her and headed away from us.

“We will wait on the other side,” she said, turning around and running after them.

The music, which had stopped moments before, allowed for us to hear the whispering coming from inside the walls. Through the doorway I could hear the sounds of moaning, wailing, laughter and even a low growl.

“You are not going in there,” Ryan said as he saw me take a few steps forward. “We need to just go.”

He looked back at Abraxas who was now down on his knees, grasping his head and writhing in pain.

“Abraxas,” I heard him say as he ran to his side. “Abraxas, you gotta get up.”

I should have looked back. I should have tried to help. But the sight now before me kept me from seeing anything else.

I ran into the large room, not even bothering to see what else could be around me.

In the center of the room, slumped in a cage, was a very weak and almost comatose Michael. Seven large needles, attached to very long tubes, came out of each arm, his thighs and the side of his neck. Seven naked vampire guards stood holding the other ends of the tubes.

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In front of these guards stood lines of lethargic vampires waiting for a taste. These grotesque creatures had grey skin and fragile hair that lay limply over their desiccated muscle and bones. None of them said a word, shuffling wistfully towards the blood.

Yet once the blood touched their tongue, they immediately started to change. Their bodies plumped up as their muscles filled in the loose and now tan skin. Their hair found a shine as it flowed perfectly down their shoulders. Their once languid nature was replaced with an animalistic craving or lust.

Whether male on male, female on female or male on female, whoever stood in their way was immediately attacked. They would start biting and scratching, drawing blood all while they revved up their sexual libido. They fornicated aggressively with no release, which became frustrating for most. They would start beating their partner until they would start to try again.

“Oh to smell a scent so sweet,” I could hear a deep voice say behind it all. “A smell like no other I do say.”

From behind the cage came the King, the creator of them all.

“Emil,” I gasped. I backed up with my sword quivering, hoping Ryan was behind me.

When I turned and looked I found him with Abraxas in his arms.

“What is going on?” I asked, looking between the two men. “What is wrong with Abraxas?”

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“By now he should be well into his transition,” Emil said, clasping his hands with joy. “But without this Cimmerian blood he will feel nothing but misery and pain.”

“And this is so much better,” I said, looking around at the rabid animals surrounding me. “This is your idea of a life?”

Emil pushed aside a soulless man as he placed his finger under the end of the tube. He brought the blood-covered appendage to his lips, sucking off every last drop.

He shuddered as he answered. “To feel nothing but sorrow and emptiness for centuries is far worse than a heightened hunger and lust for the world.” He slithered past me, making his way to Ryan and Abraxas.

“My daughter Lilith must have turned him before she sent him to you,” he said, proudly patting the ailing Abraxas’s head. “She had mentioned to me she had been given a new pet. Maybe it was his angelic blood that allowed him to fight it off longer than we had expected.” He pulled open Abraxas’s eyelids and then placed a kiss on his pursed lips.

“If he had turned before you arrived, you may never had made it here,” he said with a smidge of disappointment. “But oh well. You are here and we will now have to deal with that fact.”

Abraxas finally awoke, jumping out of Ryan’s grasp. Ryan, who grew more and more concerned with the situation we were in, now rushed to my side.

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The situation was obviously about to get much worse than either one of us had hoped. Abraxas, who didn’t like Ryan much and hated Michael more than anyone, was now a monster who could exact his revenge. We were two living creatures with more than enough Chi to feed most everyone there.

“Your blood,” Ryan whispered, remembering what it did to Erik. “Maybe you can offer it as a cure.”

I looked over at Ryan like he had lost his mind. “I am not about to turn myself into a blood bank,” I said, pointing to Michael. “We need to find a way to get out of here.”

Emil had led Abraxas to the front of the line in order to give him some of Michael’s blood.

“Eva,” Ryan begged. “You can’t let Abraxas turn into one of these monsters.”

I knew he was right, but I didn’t really want to open up that can of worms. If he knew my blood could render the curse dormant, he may wish to drain me dry too.

But maybe, maybe I could get him to agree to exchange some of my blood for Michael’s life.

I almost took too long to think about it.

“Wait!” I exclaimed as the blood nearly entered Abraxas’s mouth. “Try my blood instead.”

Emil stopped, looking at me from over his shoulder. I could see the wheels turning in his head.

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“You are of Lumenarian blood,” he said, bringing the tube back up to Abraxas’s mouth. “You are of no use to me.”

I took a few steps closer and begged him again to stop. “But I am not.”

I grabbed his arm and forced him to turn around. “I am of both blood lines. I can give you all a chance to live without hunger or pain.”

I could see Michael start to stir in his cage. Ryan, who Emil had forgotten, found his way towards the back to find a way to pick the cage lock.

I took out my sword and ran my thumb across the blade, slicing the skin open and exposing a few drops of blood. Abraxas, who was now listless and peaked, stumbled towards me. “Help me,” he mouthed as he fell to his knees.

I took my thumb and placed it between his lips, dragging the cut across his teeth. I could feel him suck as my finger started to pulsate in pain. The longer I left it in his mouth, the more he tried to drink.

I watched over Emil’s shoulder as Ryan ripped the needles out of Michael’s arms. None of the vampires already treated noticed and the ones standing in line were too tired to care. The guard’s only job were the tubes and they stood there none the wiser.

Abraxas found a new lease on life as my blood started to change him. He soon shook off the miserable feelings he had recently felt and rose to his feet.

Emil, who had watched the transformation, found himself completely overjoyed by my blood’s ability.

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“A Princess for a Prince,” he said, turning towards the cage. It was then he saw it was empty.

He whipped back around, screaming at me, when the strangest thing happened.

The whole castle shook, rumbled - turning the floor into a horizontal slip and slide. Plaster from the ceiling broke off in large pieces, landing on the naked vampires below.

Emil used bodies as a shelter, weeping like the coward he was. Abraxas, who now had his senses, grabbed me and dragged me around to Ryan and Michael.

“Heal him,” he said, pushing my hands to Michael’s bare chest. “Heal him so we can get out of here.”

The castle walls stopped shaking for a few seconds, allowing Emil and the other’s to get their footing.

“I can’t do it here,” I said, watching the vampires now realize we were there. “We need to get out of here.”

I could see a door to the far left of us. I had no idea where it led, but it could be shut long enough to give me time to heal him.

Abraxas and Ryan grabbed Michael by each end and ran towards the door as fast as they could. I trailed behind with a sword in each hand, threatening to use it on anyone who got in my way.

Two feet before we hit the door, the castle started shaking again.

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Ryan dropped Michael’s feet as he scrambled to open the door. I ran past them to hold it open as Abraxas dragged himself and his cargo through. As soon as he made it over the threshold, he placed Michael on the floor so he and Ryan could hold the door while I did what I had to do.

I got down on my knees, placed my hands on his chest again, begging for this to work. My powers were still so sporadic that I was afraid nothing would happen.

“Please get better,” I said as I reached down and pulled his head into my chest. I couldn’t seem to get past the fact that I had missed him as much as I did.

“Please!” I yelled as nothing happened. The castle again stopped shaking.

“Come quickly!” I heard Ksenia yell from the other end of the hallway. They had doubled back when the earthquake hindered their escape.

Erik ran over, reached down and picked Michael up, slinging him over his shoulder.

Abraxas and Ryan, who still held the door, waited until we made head way then let go and followed us.

When we made it outside we stopped fast in our tracks.

The sky, which was always dark in Vrykola, was now an electrified orange. It was as if someone had plugged the atmosphere up to a battery for charging. The clouds slammed together, creating a lightning storm above us that shook the ground below with each thunderclap. The electrified air caused our hair to stand on end and our teeth to chatter incessantly.

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We could see the bridge was a short distance from us, but the now shaking ground was making it impossible to move.

Then, as if someone was pulling a slider switch, I could see snowflakes from the other side penetrate this realm.

“Oh my god,” I said, catching a snowflake in my hand. I knew exactly what this meant.

Soon the ground stopped moving, allowing us to make headway towards the bridge. A small faction of vampires followed, but it seemed the commotion outside seemed more of a priority for Emil and the others.

Once we made it on the bridge, the vampires quit following us.

“Wait a minute,” I said to Ksenia as she began to put the talisman into the crest. It was still warmer on this side of the gate and I needed to heal Michael before we went any further. The earth moving had caused structural damage to the bridge, which prevented the vampires from following us so I knew we were safer here.

Erik placed Michael down on the ground so I could try once again. But once I touched him I realized it was already to late. Michael was dead.

“You can still fix him,” Ryan said, trying not to panic. “You can bring him back.”

Knowing more about me than I did at this point, he did everything to reassure me of my powers.

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I looked up at him with tear-filled eyes, knowing there was some truth in what he said, but my emotions were getting in the way.

And then another quake started, threatening to destroy the bridge.

“Now dammit, do it now,” Abraxas said, grabbing the key from Ksenia.

I reached down and placed my hands on Michael, screaming at the top of my lungs.

“Please,” I cried, “Please wake up!”

I bowed my head for one last try then looked up to the sky and sighed. “Please,” I said under my breath. “I can’t lose you too.”

Lightning began striking around us. Not because I was working miracles but because it was the next step in what was happening around us.

The realms were colliding. The barriers between Vrykola and Terra were disintegrating and we were at ground zero.

Suddenly, a large bolt of lighting struck right behind me, drilling a hole all the way through the stone. I could feel the heat on my back as Michael and I were thrown forward. Michael landed against the stone wall with his back against the portal frame. Abraxas, who had opened the portal, now started pushing everyone through to the other side.

I stood up as I saw Michael gasp and open his eyes.

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I started to run towards him, but lightning struck again, this time right in front of me, launching me backwards and right through the hole in the bridge. Michael, who was attempting to get to his feet, was pushed backwards through the portal.

I reached my hands out to him, screaming his name as I saw he again had wings, which opened to catch the wind. He was trying to come back through the portal to catch me.

But with the final bolt of lightning the portal was blown to bits and the gargoyles, now launched off their perch, grabbed each of the survivors and flew them into the forest. Michael included.

As for me, I found myself falling slowly to the icy waters a mile below me.

The last thing I remembered was the feeling of the water tearing through my back.

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CHAPTER 12

Michael fought the Gargoyle’s talons vigorously, but the determination in which they gripped his shoulders made it impossible to break loose.

He could see me as I fell, feeling completely helpless and devastated. He had seen me battle with my mortality and win more than once, but doubt of my survival grew strong in him.

The more distance they put between him and me, the more hysterical he got.

“We have to go back!” he exclaimed, as he was dropped to the ground in the middle of the Gypsy camp. “We have to go back and find her.”

“We can’t go back,” Ksenia warned. “Something is happening there and it is too dangerous. Vrykola seems to be colliding with our realm, and when that happens, this place will be crawling with vampires.”

“Then I will go myself,” Michael said as he stormed across the camp. “I can’t just leave her there.”

Vlad ran to Michael’s side. “By the time you get there she will be gone,” he said, pulling at Michael. “The current in that river is too strong and she will have been carried miles away.”

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“Then I will go miles down river to find her,” Michael said, breaking Vlad’s grip. “I can’t…” he started as he flickered his wings.

Two Gargoyles landed in human form in front of the men, signaling their willingness to help.

“I will follow them,” Michael said, standing with them. “Maybe with their help I can find her easier.”

“Wait,” Ryan bellowed, running up beside them. “Take me with you,” he said, tucking a blanket under his arm. “I can help you.”

“It’s not safe,” Michael said, patting Ryan on the shoulder. He may have been a demi-angel, but demi-angels did not have wings. To Michael, Ryan would be more of a hindrance than help.

“But, I could use your sword,” he said, pulling the blanket out from under Ryan’s arm. “And this blanket.”

Ryan reluctantly handed Michael the sword, hoping he could find some reason to be needed.

“We will be gone by the time you get back,” Vlad interrupted. “It is not safe to stay here any longer and we cannot stay to assist you.” He looked back towards the gypsy crowd. “You will have to find your own way.”

“Then we will stay here at the camp,” Ryan said, trying so hard to be brave. “We can wait for you.”

“Vlad is right,” Abraxas said, joining the conversation. “It is not safe. The best thing we could do is to find Renu. He can tell us what we need to do next.”

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“You can help me by finding my brothers and Uriel,” Michael said, gathering himself up. “I need them now more than ever.”

“Consider it done,” Abraxas said, putting his arm around Ryan’s shoulders. Ryan pushed him off and stood there in silence.

“Are you sure you are going to be ok brother?” Michael asked as he embraced Abraxas. “Has her blood cured you enough to stay normal?”

“I find myself struggling,” he said, stepping back, “but whatever she has done seems to keep the symptoms at bay.”

“We will be ok,” he assured Michael.

“Then good luck,” Michael said as he launched into the air. “When I find her we will meet you back in Heaven City.”

As he flew away, Abraxas tried to coerce a grieving Ryan into leaving the camp. “There is nothing else we can do,” he said, patting him on the back. “She wouldn’t want us to do anything but what we were tasked to do.”

Ryan watched Michael fly away, fighting the tears he could feel welling up. “No one can survive that kind of fall,” he said, biting his lip.

“But she is NOT just anyone,” Abraxas reassured him. “If anyone can survive something like that, it is Eva.”

They walked away in silence to pack their things and leave quickly for Caelum.

*****

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“Michael!” I screamed, baring my eyeballs and choking for air. For a split second I felt myself rise above the water and then get pulled back into it. As I did, I found myself looking out of what looked like a tank. A tank filled with crystal-clear water and the faces of elderly women who were holding onto each one of my arms. On the outside I could see warped images of large stone pillars and other round pod-like tanks hanging from the dark rock ceiling.

As I was yanked back down, I had no time to hold my breath and felt the water rush into the deepest ends of my lung cavity. My chest, caving in from the pressure of the drink on either side of me, barely survived the ordeal. If it wasn’t for the young beautiful woman that rescued me, I know I wouldn’t have survived. Pushing away her long blue hair, she leaned in, locking her lips onto mine. As she did, I could feel her suck every bit of water out of my lungs, drying them out instantly. After releasing the liquid death from her mouth, she reattached herself to my lips. Yet this time she blew a warm, calming and dense air into my lungs.

As she let go she put her hands on my chest, smiled and said, “Breathe.”

Holding my breath in fear, I shook my head no.

In my frenzy I could see her entire body in front of me. She wasn’t just a woman at all. Attached to her very muscular humanoid body were long, flat, fin like legs that churned the water beneath her. Scaly and luminescent, they accented the long and webbed fingers attached to her flat, paper-thin hands.

“Breathe,” she said again, smiling slightly.

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I finally gave in and took a breath, realizing that I wasn’t drowning.

And then I could hear voices on either side of me speak in a singsong manner. “It’s time to remember,” they sang over and over again, until I found myself drifting off to sleep.

*****“She’s not here,” Michael said as he swooped in and out of every inlet and crevice along a five-mile stretch of the river. “I can’t find her.”

He would land every so often to kick over some broken branches or dig in a deep puddle of frigid mud.

“I need to find her!” he yelled to the Gargoyles that silently flew by his side. “You have to help me find her!”

He waited for them to answer, but neither one of them gave him any indication they knew what he was saying. Back and forth they followed him until the sun gave up on him.

Realizing there was nothing more he could do there, he stopped on a large rock, overlooking a frothy white waterfall. “I don’t understand,” he whispered, falling to his knees. He was exhausted still from the ordeal he had just endured and now, felt helpless as he couldn’t find me.

“I don’t know what to do now,” he cried, dropping his head in his hands.

The Gargoyles landed on the rock beside him, turning into their human form. They tried to comfort him, each putting a hand on his shoulders, until one took the blanket and wrapped it around him.

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“Just stay and wait,” he said as he tucked the blanket under Michael’s chin. Michael looked up at the towering man in shock.

“Wait for what?” he asked, hunkering down onto the rock.

He didn’t answer, standing again in silence and pointing at the pool of water below them.

“For what?” Michael said again, defeated. He didn’t get an answer so he did what they said and he just sat and waited for whatever it was he was supposed to be waiting for.

*****“Eva,” a tender voice said behind me. “Come pretty girl,” she said again.

Her voice sounded like an aria sung by a chorus of angels, with a hint of soul as a resonating undertone. When she called my name again, I tilted my head just enough to see the most dazzlingly delicate woman standing above me. Her long, golden locks, tucked neatly over her right shoulder, glistened in the sunlight, highlighting her peacock colored eyes. Her lips were the most perfectly tinted fuchsia and hung lusciously over her flawlessly straight, white teeth. Her touch was as gentle as she was splendid.

“You are truly the most exquisite creature I have ever laid eyes on,” she said as she picked me up and put me on her hip. “One day men will be cursing their brothers to have a part of you.”

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“How is she…?” I started to ask myself. I couldn’t understand how this woman was carrying me, but then she walked by a set of windows, which threw back the most shocking reflection.

I couldn’t have been much more than 5 years old and this woman who was holding me so affectionately was a woman I hadn’t seen in a very long time; someone who had been ripped from my memory long before I had been cursed to Terra. Now, I could remember her as if she had never left me. Her name was Seraphine and she was my mother.

I caressed her face as a small child would, but with the intensity of love and respect only a woman could give.

“Mother,” I said in a meager voice. “I have missed you.” She went on as if she heard nothing, carrying me outside the castle.

She put me down on the beryl-tinted grass and started picking the coral dandelions that surrounded us. Then we started running around, giggling and twirling, as mothers and daughters should do, our wings carrying us inches off the ground.

I let go of her hands as my wings dragged me away from her, putting a bit of distance between us.

I nodded to her as if I wanted her attention and she landed on her feet, looking up at me in acknowledgement.

“Show me,” she said, clasping her hands.

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My little body shivered with excitement as small planets started materializing in my hands. As each one would appear I would throw them in the air above me and summon another one. It wasn’t until I was done that she noticed I had our solar system flying above me.

I bared my pearly whites as I clapped my hands in excitement. Then with the point of a finger, I put the sun exactly where it should be.

“Fascinating!” she exclaimed as she plucked me out of the air. “Truly fascinating!”

I don’t think she thought it was more than an illusion, until I waved my hands and made the planets move closer to earth.

I pointed to the sky hoping she could see what I had done.

Sure enough you could see the planets above us had actually moved closer to earth. Mars looked larger than the moon as it hovered playfully above us.

“Oh my,” she said, putting me on the ground. “I think it is time they go back where they came from.”

I looked up at the little planets above me and wished them away. The sky above us cleared and things went back to normal.

I giggled again and ran, as fast as my little feet could take me, into the tall grass of the meadow. I looked behind hoping to see my mother behind me, but she was gone.

I turned around 3 times looking for her but nothing brought her back.

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The next thing I know, I am tucked in a dark, cold crevice overlooking a strange city below me. I am completely naked and scared with no voice or ability to express my fear. As I looked down at my hands and feet, I can see that I am still a little child. I realized then, I was in another memory.

“She is here,” I heard a booming voice say below me. I can feel the presence of something around me, urging me to go towards the voice. As I did, I found myself in the arms of a large yet comforting giant.

As he tucked me into his large fur jacket, I found myself someplace else again in yet another memory.

This time I am sitting on a large wooden table, in what looked to be the council chambers. My long, raven hair had been pulled into two perfectly threaded braids, which hung loosely over my red and blue velvet robes. I could see my mother in the corner of the room as my father and King Samiel were sitting together watching the display in front of them.

I had created a gaggle of little people who were now running around me on the table, confused and scared. They were no more than 4 inches tall and were like no other species my father had created. Created by a child’s imagination, they had the face of a cute little bear and the body of a human.

“What are those?” Hyperian asked, picking one up in his hands.

“Looks like a new species to me,” Samiel said, looking down at them. “A strange one at that.”

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“What else can she do?” my father wondered as he started pacing. “We need to find out who she is or what she is.”

“I know who she is,” my mother said as she came to the table. “As far as I am concerned she is my daughter,” she said, playing with my hair. “Until someone comes forward and claims her, that is exactly what she will be.”

King Hyperian never refused her anything she wanted. And now, even as he hesitated, he found himself giving in.

“Fine, but I must call upon the oracles first,” he said, staring at me. “There is something more to her than just a lost, little orphan. I can feel it.”

“As can I,” Samiel said, rubbing his arms. “I feel weaker around her.”

My father had felt the same way, but did not want his brother to know it. He knew Samiel had been in a state of unrest and any sign of weakness was a danger to him and his throne.

“Let her be,” my mother begged the Kings. “Let her be a child and you can have your meeting with the oracles later.”

I ignored the conversation, turning my attentions towards the little animals I made appear on the table before me. Elephants and giraffes and an ostrich ran in between my legs. I hadn’t spoken to anyone since they had found me, but I found myself giggling and playing with my new little friends.

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“No,” my mother chastised before either man could bring up the oracles again. “Leave her alone.”

She picked me up off the table and carried me towards the door. “She is something special, yes,” she said, holding me close. “She is my daughter and I will name her Evangeline.”

As she whisked me out the door I found myself further in my timeline.

The next memory brought me to what amounted to be only a week later and now I looked to be 12 years of age. I grew at an extremely rapid rate, which now made my father more nervous than ever. My mother on the other hand, grew quickly and deeper in love with me, sticking by my side every second, teaching me to adapt. By now, I could talk and through some unseen magic was more educated than anyone who had already lived.

“I am taking her to the oracles Seraphine,” he demanded as he confronted my mother. “No child, Lumenarian or Cimmerian has ever grown this fast.”

“And yet you were born a man,” Seraphine reminded him. “Could she possibly be a sign from the Una Vis?”

“We are the sons of the Una Vis and it’s only children,” he said with a morose sense of pride. “Surely they would not send a child to replace us.”

“And maybe that is exactly what they would do,” she said, closing the door to the veranda so I wouldn’t hear them argue. “You were given a chance to do something great with this world and you chose domination and punishment.”

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She looked back at the innocent pre-teen standing in the middle of the room.

“Her innocence is what can save us. It allows her to hold all the power and know nothing of abusing it. She is definitely a sign from the Una Vis. I am sure of it!”

“Which is why I must take her to the oracles,” he demanded. “I need to know who and what she is.”

I walked out onto the veranda and stood next to my mother, placing my hand in hers.

“Let him have his answers,” I said sheepishly. “The truth won’t hurt me. It is he that will not accept the truth.”

“So you know why you are here?” she asked.

“I do,” I said, looking towards him. “But I do not know how to explain it to you.”

I grabbed his hands, holding on to each of them tightly. “Find your answers Father. Seek your truth. But do not hate me for it.”

“Of course not,” Hyperian said with false certainty. “What would I hate you for?”

I closed my eyes and sighed. I remembered the feeling I had when he said those words to me. I remembered knowing that life would never be the same after we met the oracles.

When I opened them, I was not on the veranda. I was back in the river in Transylvania, trapped under a 6-inch sheet of ice.

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Michael, who hadn’t given up the search, looked below his perch to see me beating on the ice above me. “I see her!” Michael yelled as he stood up. “I can see her!”

He flew down to reach me, beating on the ice as hard as he could. His angelic strength, coupled with the anguish he felt should have allowed for him to smash right through it, but something was keeping us apart.

“Hold on,” he said, holding back tears. “Please Eva, hold on!”

He struck the ice over and over again to no avail.

“I have my powers back,” he said, standing up. “I can blast you out of there.”

I kept hitting the ice hoping I could break through. I felt the cold water pushing against my chest cavity once again and the pain was becoming too much to bear.

I could see his body through the frigid distortion, calling out to him with the last bit of air I had in my lungs. I could see him rear his hand back as he was attempting to blast through but before he could, I felt myself being ripped back towards the bottom of the river.

“No!” he screamed as a dark light shot from the palm of his hands, shattering the ice. I could see him far above me, but he could not see me. The water, pitch black and full of angry vegetation, kept him from locating me. He dove in after me, swimming frantically, trying to the follow the bubbles I expelled as I disappeared.

However, before he could go any further, he was stopped by a very stoic, very beautiful mermaid.

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“Go back to Heaven City,” she said as she breathed warm air into his exhausted lungs. “Go back home and help your friends. She is not your concern right now.”

Before he could respond, the mermaid launched him out of the water and into the bitter air.

“You won’t find her here again,” she said, popping out of the water. “Your friends need you now.”

Michael knew not to ignore the words of an oracle and as much as he wanted to follow her back to wherever they took me, he knew he had to do what she said.

“We will release her when the time is right,” she assured him. “For now she needs to know.”

*****I gasped for breath as I found myself busting above the water in the tank that held me once again. I didn’t understand how I could get from where I was to Transylvania so quickly, or understand where I was. I tried to get my bearings and focus on my surroundings, but the women around me tried desperately to keep that from happening.

“She is fighting it for some reason,” the young mermaid said from behind me. “It is as if she doesn’t want to remember.”

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“Everything we are giving her was stripped from her on more than one occasion on many different levels,” the older and wiser mermaid replied. “This is a lot of information to inject into someone’s clouded mind. It is not that she doesn’t want to remember. We are pulling these memories out of her and that can be very painful.”

I turned to involve myself in the conversation, but I was met with the lips of the younger woman who breathed air into my lungs again. This time it felt as if she had injected me with a sedative, causing me to drift off to sleep. As my head fell back, they drew me back into the tank and deep into memory overload.

*****I woke up to find myself in the land of dreams I had visited so many times before. A land I would forget about over and over again. This time, however, I was dressed in a see-through black chiffon evening gown with a plunging neckline and bells attached to my ankles. The clouds painted the sky periwinkle as the sun smoldered towards the horizon.

“Eva,” a familiar voice said from behind me.

“Michael!” I exclaimed as I whipped around. He was the one I had always seen before.

But when I turned I saw the faceless man I had seen for so many years in my dreams.

“Eva,” he said. “Wake up and find your way to me.”

As he came closer I could see his face start to form and it was then I knew - the man in my dreams wasn’t Michael. It had been Gabriel all along.

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“But,” I questioned out loud, “this isn’t right! Michael is the one I saw in my dreams.”

With his final step he reached out and coaxed me into his arms as he had done all those times before.

“I swear it was Michael all this time,” I said, holding him tightly. “I am sure of it.”

“And there were a few times where it was him,” the young mermaid said as she appeared in the pond next to me. “But most of the time you were dreaming of Gabriel.”

“I don’t remember a pond here either,” I said looking down and pushing Gabriel away. “This just doesn’t seem right. None of this is how I remember.”

“This is exactly how most of them happened,” she said, sitting up on the side of the bank. “Samiel manipulated you into thinking all of your dreams were about Michael. He did everything he could to keep you away from his youngest son. If you had found Gabriel first you would have messed up his entire plan.”

I looked back at him, realizing that he was oblivious to our conversation. “You have to find me,” he said as he did many times before. “I won’t give up on you.”

“Which is what?” I asked her, getting back to our conversation. “What is his actual plan?”

She fell silent as she beckoned me to come closer with the wave of her index finger.

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“Is it a secret?” I asked, bending towards her. Just then she reached up and grabbed the back of my shoulder, pushing me head first into the water. I didn’t have time to swim, struggle or scream. Before I knew it, I was in a different memory, watching it unfold through a younger version of myself. It was no more than two weeks since I had played with my little creations in the council chambers and I looked more like that of a 16 year old girl.

“Who is she?” my father asked as he watched the oracles pull me into their tank. It was an odd tank, suspended off the ceiling of an onyx grotto, attached only by the granite walkways that spanned the length of the cavern we were in. Hundreds of tanks, made up of a strange, pliable cocoon-like material and glass, just like the one I was in, hung from the walkways, with large tubes escaping the bottom of each one and out the side the wall of the cavern. The water, which reeked of low tide and sea salt, convinced me we were somewhere close to the ocean.

The older looking mermaids, with their wrinkly skin and shiny, long, silver hair, pulled me deeper into the water. They were the seers, the ones who could find the truth, the wisest of their species. Once their hair turned gray they took a vow of silence, knowing that connection to the outside world could corrupt their visions. It was the younger more virile mermaids with their long, blue hair and youthful faces that were left to relay any messages the wise ones would have. They were the messengers and the ones most would see.

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Hyperian, being the almighty King, and his brother Samiel were the only ones privy to such a spectacle. However, with my mother’s insistence, her presence was allowed on this one occasion. Her fear for my safety and her distrust for my father’s intentions caused her to refuse to leave my side.

“Well?” my father asked impatiently.

“She is the embodiment of the Una Vis,” Anyak, the young messenger began. “She is the one who carries the power of both sides. She has come to right the wrong done when the two of you were created.”

“Meaning what?” Samiel asked nervously. “She is here to kill us?”

“She is the one who will unite the two halves of Una Vis, to make it whole once again,” she said as her eyes fluttered. The vibrations from the water began to flow through her.

“She is the one who will set this world right again,” she said almost redundantly. “She is here to do what you could not do.”

“What does that mean for us?” Hyperian asked, joining in his brother’s panic.

“It means, when the time is right, she will absorb all the power of the Una Vis, rendering you powerless,” Anyak said. “This is her ultimate power.”

My mother paced frantically, realizing what this could mean for me. She knew my father and Samiel were not willing to lose the power they had and by being the means to their end, I was surely in danger.

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“We must be done,” my mother said as she started pawing at the water. “It is time for you to give me my daughter.”

“We are not done,” Anyak said as she gently placed her fin like hand on Seraphine’s arm. “There is more.”

Her eyes began to flutter again as she continued.

“She will find the one who will give her the seed of a new beginning,” she said with a little convulsion. “He is a Cimmerian and the son of the other.” With her eyes closed she pointed at Samiel. “With this seed and it’s innocence, she will ensure the fate of Caelum and the fate of mankind.”

“My son?” he asked. “Which one?”

She ignored his question and moved on. “She harnesses the power each one of you possess, with a stronger intensity than either one of you have ever had. If she chooses a path of darkness then she can destroy you. If she chooses a path of flawless morality, she will refuse power and see her abilities more as a gift. She will use them with intentions of love and unity.”

“Can we stop her from taking our power?” Hyperian begged. “How do we keep her from taking what is not hers to take?”

“You have no right to stop her,” Seraphine argued. “You can’t if she IS the Una Vis!”

“She is more like an empty shell,” Anyak answered. “She must absorb the entities known as the Cimmerian and the Lumenaria in order to truly become the Una Vis. Until then your power is still yours and you are safe.”

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“But I have been weaker since she has arrived,” Samiel interjected. “She must be draining us.”

“How do we stop her?” Hyperian demanded again.

Anyak paused, allowing her eyes to flutter as she listened to the vibrations around her. It seemed to go on for more than 30 seconds before she responded.

“Everyone has a choice to fulfill their destiny if they so choose. If they choose not to, the outcome will not be what was intended. If she chooses to complete her task, you will lose. However, if she chooses not too, she can give that task to someone else and they can make it their destiny.”

She jumped up and grabbed Samiel’s arm. “She must choose to give it away. It is not something that can be taken from her.”

Immediately the wheels started spinning and both brothers began plotting against me. Seraphine, watching the evil unfold, jumped in the tank to save me, but got swept up in the violent swirling of the water.

“You shall not interfere,” Anyak scolded as she grabbed for the drowning Seraphine. “You cannot interfere or it will cost you your life.”

She lifted her up onto the walkway as Seraphine sat drenched in salt water and her own tears.

It was then Hyperian decided to seek the help of a dark magic, wiping my memory of whom I was and what I was to become.

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“If she can’t remember, she cannot use it against us,” he muttered into Seraphine’s ear. “She will be safe as long as she thinks she is simply our daughter,” he assured her. “I cannot take the risk of her fulfilling her destiny.”

The memory of our visit to the oracle ended with the vision of my distraught mother shying away from her manipulative husband. She knew this wasn’t for my sake and that he had a greater plot in mind.

I soon found myself sitting in front of my mother who was attempting to perform her own magic. It was a couple days later and she was doing everything she could to protect me from my father and Samiel.

“I have to find a way to keep them from taking your memories away,” she said as she stroked my arms. “You have to be who you are supposed to be. You must keep your identity.”

“You were told not to interfere,” Hyperian scolded as he burst through my bedchamber doors. “Seraphine, you must stand down.”

“I know what you are trying to do Hyperian and it cannot be done,” she said, standing between me and her husband. “She is special and deserves to live life on her own terms.”

She wouldn’t buy into her husband’s concern and knew that she was to be my only ally. Samiel had figured out that the seed Anyak had talked about was a child and he knew whoever possessed that child would have an upper hand on me and my power. So with both of them plotting against me, I needed all the power I could harness. If my father made me forget, I could not defend myself.

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“Stand down,” he barked again, losing his temper for the first time towards his precious wife. “If you do not, you will suffer the consequences.”

My mother, who had been shocked by his demeanor, gasped as she fell slightly backwards.

“You cannot challenge me on this Sera,” he said, using his calm voice. “I promise you when this is done, you can keep your daughter for as long as you want her. If I do not do this, she will destroy us and you will lose her forever.”

“She will not choose that path,” Seraphine responded. “I see a purity in her like no other. Her innocence will protect us.”

“I cannot take that risk,” he said, pushing her aside. The sight of me made him crazy and he could see nothing but the end of the threat.

She grabbed me and ran towards the balcony outside my room. Soldiers had blocked the doorway and she knew she had to get me out of there.

“Wait,” I said as I stopped her on the other side of the threshold. “We don’t have to fly.” I wrapped my arms around her neck and whispered in her ear. “Think of a place you want to go and I will take you there.”

“Home,” she said passionately. “Let’s go home.”

Before I could get us out of there I could hear the blade leave the sheath at my father’s side. I hesitated when I should have fled, but I didn’t think he had it in him to do what he did next. My thought processes did not manufacture that kind of evil.

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The next thing I knew he oscillated the sword, cutting through both of my mother’s wings. I whimpered as I felt her go limp, screaming in pain.

My father, realizing what he had done, ran to her and plucked her out of my arms. “Look what you’ve made me do,” he chastised his bride as he stroked her face. “You made me hurt you.”

“I will heal her,” I said, trying to push through him. “Please let me help her.”

“No,” he said, changing his demeanor. “She must go away.” By cutting off her wings he had made her mortal and the only thing he knew to do was to send her to Terra. He couldn’t and wouldn’t kill her and he knew he had to keep her as far away from me as possible.

He wiped her memories and gave her to the soldiers who now whisked her away. “Give her a good life with good memories,” he said dejectedly. “She deserves the best.”

He turned back at me with a new found anger in his eyes. “It is time to deal with you,” he said, grasping my hand firmly. I could have vanished and saved myself but at that moment I didn’t have the will or the energy. He had taken the only person I had ever loved away from me and I felt as if I had nothing left.

It was then that he stripped me of all memory of myself, my purpose and the one I had once called mother.

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CHAPTER 13

The oracles did not give me a break as they kept battering me with more memories. Over and over again they would show me things I already remembered, making sure I could see every last detail. It was important that I remembered everything.

Meanwhile, Michael made his way back Heaven City, as instructed, arriving at the Maridian Manor. He didn’t know where else to go and hoped that he could go there for some answers.

*****Maridian Manor was one of the oldest buildings in the city, with ties to the Vatican that ran deep within its corporate structure. It was home to the Archbishop of Heaven City and a common meeting place for all the cities secret societies. Constructed in the mid 1800’s, it was once the largest building in the city. And now, this 78-room mansion stood nestled between two skyscrapers and a parking garage.

The sacred land that surrounded it, with a cemetery that housed the cities elite and a small and private parish, was protected by an 8 foot tall cast-iron fence and a gate that was manned at all times.

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Its supernatural properties included a protection spell as well as a beacon only angels could see. Since this Archbishop arrived 20 years before, the manor had also become a safe haven for supernatural refugees and those whose mortal lives were disrupted by the memories of their hidden past.

*****When Michael arrived, he was hoping to find Ryan and Abraxas and answers as to what he was supposed to do next. Now that I was nowhere to be found, he didn’t know what to do with himself. He had consumed himself with the very essence of my existence, and now he couldn’t seem to think for himself.

But, as he entered the Manor gates, he found so much more than he had expected. Renu had come to Terra, bringing with him the rest of Michael’s siblings. He and some loyal soldiers had rescued them from the castle dungeon and had brought them to Alstair for help. Raphael, who had sustained most of the torture from his father, looked in good health as he was now a mortal.

“What has he done to you?” Michael asked, embracing his oldest brother. “How has this come to be?”

“My wings were torn to shreds, leaving me nearly lifeless,” Raphael answered his concerned brother as he led him towards the front door. “In order to rescue me, Renu did the only thing he could think of and I thank him for it.”

Raphael turned and waved to Uriel, who stood at the doorway waiting for a turn with her brother. As soon as she had permission, she ran into her big brother’s arms.

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She held Michael as tightly as she could for over a minute, happier than ever to see him. “I’ve missed you,” she said, stroking his face and kissing him. “When I found out where they had taken you, I thought you were gone for good.”

She looked him up and down, checking for any marks or damage. When she was done, she grabbed him and hugged him again.

“Wait, where is Gabriel?” she asked as she released him, pushing him aside in order to look behind him. “Why is he not with you? Is he alive?”

Her excitement grew into fear when she realized I wasn’t with him either.

“Where is Evangeline?” she exclaimed.

“Gabriel is alive and well,” Ryan answered for the brother now gritting his teeth. No matter what was going on, someone always brought up Gabriel and Michael was getting really irritated by it.

“He gave up a long time ago and is now living as a mortal,” Ryan continued. “He made Evangeline turn him so he could move on.”

“Move on from what?” Uriel asked, a bit irritated. “What the hell does he need to move on from? Evangeline?” She started getting more upset by the thought, walking towards the gate. “You need to bring me to him immediately.”

“He doesn’t want to be found,” Ryan said, jumping in front of her to stop her. “He wanted to just live a normal life.”

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“Unacceptable!” she exclaimed as she started dragging Ryan to the front door. “He is not a normal person. He does not get to make that choice! You will take me to my brother at once.”

“Does he not?” Michael asked, stepping aside to let her through. “Why can’t he walk away from it all? Eva chose me over him or he would have stayed.”

“It doesn’t matter who she chose,” Ryan added. “Gabriel chose to walk away. Maybe we should respect that!”

“No,” Uriel said, chomping at the bit. “He wasn’t thinking straight when he made that decision. He shouldn’t have left like that. I need to bring him back.”

Renu, who heard the commotion outside, came to the doorstep to stop it.

“In due time,” Renu interjected, calling them all back. “What has happened to your brother is unfortunate and Uriel should get to the bottom of it.” He turned inside the door and pointed behind him. “We must first discuss what is happening out there.”

“Out where?” Michael asked, looking behind him and then following the crowd into the building. “What did I miss?”

“The colliding of the realms,” Alstair offered, ushering them into the next room. “As of right now we have witnessed barriers between two of the realms collapse.”

What we had seen in Transylvania was the colliding of the Terra and Vrykola realms. With these barriers gone, Emil and his vampires would once again be free to roam and feed on any living mortal.

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“We have determined that Magras is no longer hidden as well,” Alstair announced as he sat at the head of the large table in front of them. “The leakage of magic that we are seeing since this morning suggests the witches are here.”

“Leakage? What leakage?” Raphael enquired.

“We are seeing black holes pop up all around the city and dark matter oozing through the streets,” Alstair continued. “Our scouts have also told us that they have seen this magic affect the mortals, causing a strange sickness in all those it has touched.”

“How can this be?” Renu asked, cupping his hands. He knew the magic of Magras was built on the remnants of a Cimmerian magic, but he was not aware that it was so toxic when used on mortals.

“It is almost as if it has mutated,” one of the Mason scouts announced from the corner of the room. “As if they have their own well of left over magic and it has turned rancid and harmful.”

“Who is behind this?” Michael asked as one of the last men standing, tapping on the long, antique, mahogany conference table. “My father?”

“No,” Renu answered, shaking his head. “Only Hyperian could do something like this. He is the only one with that power, except for Evangeline and she wouldn’t do anything like this. Besides,” he said, leaning forward, “she is missing.”

“She is not missing,” Michael barked. “The oracles have her and they are not letting her go anytime soon.”

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The silence that fell over the room was heartbreaking, as no one had anything wise to offer. My absence in spite of everything that was happening caused the most panic. They knew they couldn’t win a fight without me and honestly had no idea what to do next.

“Maybe this is a good thing,” Ryan said, breaking the tension in the room. “She is safe with the oracles and we can concentrate on this problem without having to worry about her.”

“But she is the only one who can fix it,” Renu barked. “She is the only one who can fix all of this.”

“What makes you think that?” Alstair asked. “She really hasn’t proven herself much has she? How do you know she is capable of anything people say she is?”

Renu stood up in my defense, a little too offended by the snide remarks and wanting to set the record straight. Tension was getting high in the room and talk of my not necessarily being worthy troubled him.

“Because I am one of the few that remember what she really is,” Renu boldly responded. “I know what she is truly capable of.”

“So there is nothing we can do but sit and wait for her return,” Uriel said, standing up and collecting herself. “So, in the meantime I demand that Ryan take me to my brother. We need him now more than ever.”

“I don’t know how safe it is out there for any of us,” Alstair said, wringing his hands. “Not only do we see a threat from the vampires and dark magic, but you still have Hyperian and Samiel out for your heads. You must consider staying here and staying safe.”

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“Then he is not safe out amongst the mortals either,” she contended. “I will find him and bring him back here where he will be safe.”

“He IS a mortal so they won’t find him,” Michael bickered back. “He is just as safe as the rest of the unsuspecting humans out there. He is FINE!”

“Actually,” Alstair interjected sheepishly. “He may be mortal, but we never re-wiped his memories. His memories are like a beacon and he will be found quicker than we will.”

“And knowing him, he is going to start sticking his nose where it doesn’t belong and get himself caught with no way to defend himself,” Ryan added. “Uriel might be right.”

“Suit yourself,” Michael said, pushing away from the table. “In the meantime I am going to try and find a way to hurry things along with the oracles.”

“You can’t find them. They find you,” Renu intervened. “Unless you are the King, they will not come to you.”

“Fine then,” Michael said, stealing Uriel’s seat. “I just wish I knew what to do with myself in the meantime.”

“Why are you so upset?” Uriel asked as she knelt down beside him, calming herself down with a sigh. “Don’t you want Gabriel home safe?”

Michael dropped his tired head into his hands and leaned dejectedly on the wide arm of the chair.

“When he is around, I lose out, every time,” he said, looking at her out of the corner of his eye. “And right now I am just too damn tired to fight it.”

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She stood up and leaned into her brother, grabbing the back of his neck. “Your personal reasons for not wanting our brother here cannot outweigh concern for his safety,” she whispered. “We have lost so much already. I will not lose him.”

She kissed him on the cheek and left him to wallow in his misery a bit longer. “You have until we get back to snap out of it,” she warned.

“I will go with you,” Abraxas said, welcoming himself to the conversation. “If the vampires are out there, you will need me more than ever.”

The blood I had given him had cured his craving but not the hunger that left him with the strength of 10 men. Vampires did everything over the top, and fighting was one of those things. Yet, being in control of his cravings, he would be a step ahead of them all.

So with him in tow, Uriel and Ryan left the manor in search for Gabriel.

The men continued to look for solutions to this infiltration, hoping to find a resolve as quickly as possible. The scouts hadn’t called in any attacks by the vampires, but they knew it was only a matter of time.

What they weren’t counting on was how quickly it would come.

It wasn’t two minutes after Uriel had left that she and Ryan came running back in the door. Her hair was covered in debris as she held her hand over a gash on her right arm. Ryan, who was completely out of breath, had blood dripping off his sword.

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“You have to help,” Uriel said as she ran into the room, bursting through the wooden French doors. “I don’t know how they have found us.”

“Who found us?” Renu asked, drawing his sword. “Alstair, you said we were safe here,” he said, turning to the Mason leader. “Who has found us Uriel?” he asked, turning back towards the Cimmerian Princess.

Alstair bolted out of his seat, confused and unsure of the situation.

“I don’t…I…” he started stuttering.

“The vampires,” she said, pushing Michael out of his chair. “The vampires are here and they have Abraxas.”

Without batting an eye, the entire room ran to the front door and out into the courtyard, prepared for battle. They weren’t worried about their own safety, as they knew one of their own was in danger.

As they whipped open the gates however, they found Ksenia, Erik and Vlad standing in front of them.

“We came to warn you,” Ksenia said fiercely. She pushed through the crowd, demanding that they shut the gates. “We know the vampires are only after one thing,” she said assuredly. “Emil has sent them for Evangeline.”

Erik came towards Michael, begging for his forgiveness.

“I wasn’t in my right frame of mind,” he said, reaching out his hand. “I am so sorry for what every single one of us has done to you.”

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Michael harbored no ill will towards Erik or any of the vampires for what had happened to him in Vrykola. Emil was the one to blame for all of it.

“Of course,” he said, clasping Erik’s hand. “No harm.”

“Why Evangeline?” Ryan yelled over the sound of car alarms and screams down the street. “What do they want from her?”

“Her blood,” Vlad offered, moving closer to the conversation. “Emil has sent them here for her blood.”

The threat posed by the Kings was now complicated by the threat Emil brought to the table. He had seen what my blood could do and now that the barrier was gone, he chose to take it by force. He started out a pawn in my father’s game but decided to take advantage of the freedom that he had.

Emil and his children were merely supposed to threaten the mortals, but he wanted so much more.

*****The spell that was cast upon me centuries ago, caused me to forget who I was and who I was supposed to become. Keeping me in the dark about my origins allowed for the power inside me to lie dormant and therefore virtually nonexistent. Since my father wanted that power and was the only one who truly knew how to bring it out of me, he set things in motion to do so.

You see, the spell could only be broken by a great selfless act, something that required great sacrifice on my part without any concern for myself, or consequences of my actions.

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Samiel tried getting it by manipulating me, by using his sons against me. He thought that true love would prevail in allowing me to break the curse.

My father on the other hand knew it required so much more. I was sent here to protect the universe; to restore balance and unite the Dark with the Light. I had to sacrifice myself for something greater than myself. That, as my father realized, was the human race. I would break the spell that kept me from my power by saving the human race.

What better way to test that theory than to open up the world to a chaos the mortals truly couldn’t understand, inviting dangers they would never be prepared for.

*****The oracles soon changed their tactic as they decided to show me visions of the present day. It was as if I was looking through a one-way mirror, a barrier that looked like glass, watching everything going on in real time.

Michael and his siblings joined Renu, Ryan and the gypsies as they fought against the fanged creatures that flooded the streets of Heaven City.

Swords and wings against brute strength and fangs should have been an unrealistic scene to mortal bystanders, but they stood watching as if audience to the making of a fantasy fiction film. Those who were smart enough to realize what was going on, still found themselves hiding in plain sight in order to capture it all on their phones or tablets.

Within minutes, the fighting could be viewed via the Internet - all over the world.

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I could taste the blood of the angels as they were cut by shards of glass or pieces of car doors that the vampires had used to turn into makeshift swords.

Local businesses shut down as windows were smashed and mortals began rioting in the streets.

“I have to help them,” I cried out as I hit the barrier in front of me. “You have to let me out of here so I can protect them.”

“You cannot go anywhere until we are done,” the young mermaid announced.

“Anyak,” I said as I turned to look at her. “I remember all I need to. It is time for me to go.”

“No,” she said, pointing in front of me. This time I could see Gabriel slumped over in a large bathtub of cold water; a bottle of whiskey in one hand and his phone dangling in the other.

His tear stained face and chapped lips indicated that he was in more pain than one could seem to bear.

In the last second before his memories were to be wiped, he chose to remember. He knew that no matter what he did, he would always find a way back and it was causing him more pain by doing so than if he would just give up and give into it all.

When he made his choice, he knew it was time to send his beautiful wife on her way.

“I can’t escape what is meant to be,” he said, kissing her on the forehead. “I am not your Daniel and I cannot keep living a lie.”

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He pushed her away slightly, watching her cry while she tried to understand. “I assure you, I am not the Daniel you knew last week. I wish I could give him back to you, but unfortunately he is gone.”

He asked that they wipe her memories instead, allowing her to be at peace with knowing that she had in fact lost Daniel a short time back. Gabriel could never be what she wanted him to be and he knew as long as I was around, I was always going to find him.

Now, as he mourned the life he could have lived with her, he found himself mourning the loss of me even more. He was convinced that I had gone back to Michael.

“Why wouldn’t she?” he slurred out loud as he took the last sip in the bottle, wiping tears from the bottom of his nose. “I told her I didn’t want her. It was only fair that she went to someone who did.”

“He needs you,” Anyak said, holding my hand. “You are the one he is meant to be with. You are a destiny he cannot deny.”

“But I thought we could choose whether or not we fulfill our destiny,” I reminded her. “We don’t have to do what we were set out to do.”

“Or are we?” she answered with a loaded question. “Have you been able to escape him? Do you want to?”She reached down and placed her hand on my stomach. “Should you?”

“But what about Michael? What role does he play in all of this?” I asked, completely missing her point.

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“He is as important to you as Gabriel is. He too is part of your destiny,” she said, keeping her hand on my stomach. “But he is NOT your soul mate.”

“Oh my god,” I said, finally getting what she was saying. “I am pregnant?”

She took her hand away and nodded her head.

“The seed,” I added, remembering. “I am carrying a Cimmerian’s seed.”

“But I have been with both brothers,” I said, aghast. “Who is the father?”

“One has a daughter and the other a son,” she said, answering my question semi-cryptically.

My eyes widened as I realized what she was trying to say.

“I am pregnant with twins,” I answered for myself. “And each one has a different father.”

“What?!” I exclaimed as I finally processed it.

I could see Gabriel jump, splashing water everywhere as if he heard me.

“Eva?” he whispered. “Is that you?”

“You can hear me?” I asked, coming closer to the glass.

“I can hear you,” he said a little louder. “Where are you?”

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“I am here!” I yelled, trying to get his attention. Anyak looked at me quite surprised. She had no idea how it was that he could hear me.

“Eva,” he said, now looking down at the water in the tub. “Speak again so I can hear you.”

The more I spoke the more he realized it was coming from the water. He could see the vibrations of my voice in the ripples of the water, tickling the inner parts of his thigh.

“Gabriel!” I yelled at the glass. He jumped back, dropping the whiskey bottle as he saw my face flash in the water below him.

“Eva!” he gasped. “Where are you?”

“Enough,” Anyak said, moving me on from this vision. “You are not supposed to be able to connect with the real world.”

“Or Am I?” I retorted.

As Gabriel started yelling into a bathtub full of water, Anyak demanded the wise ones to take me away to visions of the past, visions that were far away from him.

The more visions and memories came, the more I felt myself fighting against them. I had enough of strolling down memory lane and I really just wanted to move on with my life. The oracles were getting frustrated with the lack of control they had over me now and I began to get annoyed with the fact that I couldn’t seem to leave.

As they released me from underneath the water, I felt myself float to the top of the all too familiar tank.

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“I have had enough Anyak,” I announced to the confused messenger. “I think it is time to leave now.”

She ignored me for a moment so I grabbed her, trying to get her attention. Just then the water began to vibrate and then swirl uncontrollably. As I reached for the side of the tank I felt the water start to drag me down.

She reached over and kissed my lips, filling me up with air once again.

As I went under I found myself in a vision I hadn’t expected. It was from the day I arrived into Melody’s life. I found myself lying on the bed, watching Alstair and his men set the stage I had woken up to. I could see them carrying off the body of the real Melody, who had successfully taken her own life. As her replacement, they were attempting to change everything so it matched me.

Then it fast-forwarded to the moment I walked into Gail’s salon. There I was walking to the chair as I stopped to look around me. I hadn’t noticed anything the first time this happened but now someone caught my attention. Sitting in the chair next to me was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen.

The more I looked at her the more I realized I knew who she was. As I paid attention to the sound of her voice and the movement of her lips, I reassured myself I was right. When I heard the hairdresser call out her name, Sara, I burst out in tears.

“Mother!” I exclaimed to what I figured would be deaf ears.

“Eva,” she said as she turned and smiled. “My beautiful girl. I knew you would find me.”

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“But I didn’t find you,” I said, remembering that I never had this conversation. “I walked out of that salon never knowing you were there.”

“So find me now,” she said, leaning back while the lady brushed her hair. “You must find a way to release yourself from the oracles clutch and find me.”

“Am I in danger?” I asked, scooting towards the edge of my seat. I could feel Anyak trying to break through my vision, but the strength of power coming off my mother seemed too strong for them.

“Samiel has corrupted them and now they hold you hostage,” she warned me. “He has changed his plans and needs you out of the way for awhile.”

“I don’t know how to break free,” I said like a scared little girl. “How? How do I get out of here?”

Before she could answer me, I could see the vision around me start to crumble. “Mother,” I cried as I reached out for her. Her magic although powerful, was now too weak to keep us together.

“Wake up and find me,” she said as she started to vanish. “Go to the Greenbriar Estate outside the city. They will know where to find me.”

The surge of magic I could now feel in my body was more painful than anything I had ever experienced. It shot through me like a bolt of electricity, launching me out of the tank and towards the cavern floor.

Seconds before I landed 80 feet below the tank, I found myself hoisted up by the momentum of my wings flapping behind me.

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“I am free,” I thought as I flew towards the back of the grotto. I could see the entrance dimly lit in front of me - calling to me.

I know my mother had told me to find her, but I was determined to find Gabriel first. I had to show him I was ok and tell him the news. Michael deserved to know as well, but I had to make sure Gabriel would leave his mortal life and be with me. He was the one who would need more convincing.

But as I flew through the grotto door, I found myself standing in front of a stove in the kitchen of a beautiful home somewhere outside the city limits. Looking through the vast wall of windows in front of me, I could see Heaven City’s skyline peaking through over 100 acres of trees.

My mother sat silently in a chair across the room, reading her book as I stirred a pan of scrambled eggs aimlessly.

“God you are beautiful!” Gabriel said as he came up behind me.

I looked down to see his arms wrapped around my very large stomach. The apron that covered it, bounced with the kicking of little feet.

“I am?” I asked as I tried to get a grip on my surroundings.

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It wasn’t like the other times I appeared in a different life. I remembered who I was and Gabriel was exactly who he should be. Michael, who came out of the room to my left, smiled as he picked up the newspaper and joined my mother. My memory was completely intact up until the moment I remember leaving the grotto.

“How did I get here?” I asked Gabriel as I dropped the spatula and turned around. “How much time have I lost?” I rubbed the stomach trying to guess how far along I was.

“What do you mean?” he asked in a loving tone, pulling me as close as he could. “We have been here for months now.”

“But the oracles and the vampires waging war…” I started to say. “My father…your father!”

“We won that war baby,” he said worriedly, pushing my bangs behind my ears. “You defeated our fathers and we were able to live here peacefully while our babies grew inside of you.”

“And he is with us?” I asked, pointing towards Michael. Apparently I was carrying his child too, but I did not see him living with us as if we were one big, happy family.

“Of course he is!” Gabriel exclaimed, picking up the spatula and stirring the burning eggs. “He wouldn’t leave you and his child.”

I put my hands to my face and let out a little scream. “AHHH,” I growled as I squeezed my face slightly and released, slapping my thighs. “Oh you are good!” I bellowed as I looked up at the ceiling. “You are very, very good!”

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My mother caught wind of the conversation and came to Gabriel’s aid.

“This isn’t one of your father’s tricks,” she offered, leading me to the living room. “You are safe now. We all are.”

As I plopped myself into the antique winged back chair, I looked up at her in dismay.

“Then why don’t I remember winning a war?” I looked out towards the sea of trees trying to remember something. Just a little smidge of something would make this feel more real.

“What you went through was too tragic for you to remember,” she assured me. “When you absorbed the power of the Una Vis you literally vanished. It wasn’t until weeks later that we found you deep in the forests of Caelum. You had no memory of what happened to you or any of us.”

“But I don’t remember anything before 10 minutes ago,” I uttered. “Don’t you think I would remember the last few months?”

“No,” she said, rubbing my shoulder. “We have this conversation every so often. It is as if your memory resets.”

Every part of my body wanted to reject what was going on. I had been down this road before and every time I found out I had been duped into following a different path. Yet, it felt real enough as I felt the babies kick and move inside me. The knowledge that we won a war started to make sense to me, and the idea of a happily ever after with the two men I loved was more inviting than it should have been.

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And finally, why would my mother be involved in this? Up until now, I didn’t know she existed and Samiel had no knowledge of the life she was placed in. If this were a trick of the oracles, now under his control, she wouldn’t have been here.

“Wow,” I said, shaking off the doubt. “It really is over.”

“Yes!” Gabriel chanted as he and Michael came to my side. “Its finally is over!”

They lifted me up off the chair and hugged me as tightly as they could without hurting me. “I love you,” rang in both ears as they set the scene for a strange family sitcom. As cornball as it all was, it felt good and good was something I really desired.

I went back and forth, arguing with myself over whether or not I should trust where I was. Do I fight this and find out what is really going on or do I give in and realize that things are exactly the way they should be?

“What the hell,” I said to myself, completely letting go. I finally had everything I wanted and could find no immediate proof that any of this was a fake. So, I walked towards the kitchen, rubbing my enormous belly and humming a made up lullaby.

“Who wants pancakes with breakfast?” I called out as I reached in the cabinet for a mixing bowl.

****

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Truth is, I should have listened to my gut. Because, instead of patiently waiting for my special blueberry pancakes, my mother was actually hiding out in a root cellar beneath an artist colony outside the city with a bunch of her fellow witches. As a mortal she found herself drawn to witchcraft and found herself to have a natural talent. She had become a well-known artist who practiced white magic. Her life had been perfect up until now. When my memories of her surfaced, the spell on her had broken and she began to remember everything. Now that she remembered, she knew she would be one of Hyperian’s next targets.

Gabriel, who snapped out of his drunken stupor, decided to leave his home to search for me. He could feel that I was in danger and made it his mission to rescue me. However, he had no idea what was going on outside his apartment and walked right into the midst of a riot. Mortals were taking advantage of the mayhem in the streets and looting every empty house and business they could find.

He tried to ignore what was going on, hoping that it was something he would escape in a block or two. But as he moved forward he found himself walking into bigger problems.

Stepping off the curb and into the streets, Gabriel found himself in the middle of a gunfight between a group of amateur bank robbers and the police. Shooting back and forth aimlessly, none of them had any regard for passersby’s.

And as shots rang out, Gabriel, whose mortal body couldn’t move him fast enough, was struck twice. Once in the leg and the other in the left side of his stomach.

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He collapsed in the middle of the street, with no one coming to his rescue.

“Evangeline,” he called out, hoping I would hear him. “Please!”

As the shooting finally halted, with all the robbers shot dead, one of the Policeman ran to his side, immediately putting pressure on the stomach wound.

But Gabriel wouldn’t notice. He had already lost too much blood and was beginning to fade. “I’m sorry,” was the last thing he said before he passed out.

Across town, Michael and his siblings, along with Ryan, Abraxas, Renu and the gypsies, were successfully waging war against Emil’s strongest, while flanked with creatures turning rabid before their very eyes. They were mindless mortals who had been touched by the leaked magic, which now oozed from each and every dark corner, stripping them of their humanity and unleashing their animal instinct on the world.

The only causalities they suffered were those of the mortal Masons who were just too weak to fight against these creatures. Alstair, who had done his best, was sent back to the manor in order to protect him. He was ordered to take the brave and injured Raphael back to the manor with him.

“We need you both alive,” Renu said, pushing him back towards the gates. “You must try and find a way to track down the oracles. We need you to find Evangeline.”

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As each angel was struck, they would quickly heal, battling two or three vampires at a time, but as time went on, they found themselves becoming exhausted, sustaining more injuries than they would have hoped. Yet, they fought on, killing vampires and zombified mortals as quickly as they were created.

And I, completely engrossed in my happily ever after, lay face down in the same tank I had been held captive in, forced to live in what could have been a possible future.

The oracles hadn’t created a new life. They just showed me what could take place. Each person has more than one possible future and they showed me the one I would most likely appreciate and therefore keep me pre-occupied. I was the one who decided to let it be real. I am the one who chose to let go and live in this potential future. I was the one who was unknowingly abandoning everyone.

The world was going to hell as my friends and loved ones fought MY enemies. They were sacrificing themselves for me and the belief that I was something noble, something great – something worth fighting for and yet here I was choosing to stand in the comfort of my future, my kitchen - making pancakes, sipping a glass of milk and ignoring the obvious.

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TO BE CONTINUED…

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About the Author

E.S. Mercer is a self published author and poet as well as a professional photographer and amateur artist. Formerly of the United States Air Force, E.S. worked as a Television and Radio Broadcaster, eventually turning her sights on print news. While in college, E.S. fell in love with creative

writing and soon started her journey with poetry and short stories, which were published in a few college journals. After school she chose to continue her perfecting her creative writing skills and self published her own Poetry book, Love, Hate and Self-Loathing. E.S. became inspired with the idea to write a novel after writing one of her poems, Requesting Your Fancy, in a darkest time in her life. Overcoming a lot of adversity in her own life, she created Evangeline's character as a way to find the strength in herself. This blossomed into a story that took on a life of its own and E.S. has never looked back since.

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GLOSSARY

Samiel: ‘Sah-meye-el’Hyperian: ‘Heye-peer-eon’

Noita: ‘No-eee-tah’Noami ‘No-ay-mee’

Lumenaria: ‘Loo-men-ahr-eea’Caelum: ‘Sail-um’

Cimmerian: ‘Sim-mare-euhn’Ksenia: ‘Cuh-sen-iuh’

Aiyik: ‘I-yeek’Atra: ‘Ah-truh’

Una Vis: ‘Ooona-vee”

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Art & Photos

The Children of Caelum