Dahlia (Blood Crave Series) (15 page)

Dahlia listened in fascination at Greyson’s words. It seemed like he was telling a fairytale of ancient times.

Greyson continued. “Everyone who was casted out began to live comfortably, beyond their means. They took whatever they wanted and didn’t care about anyone else but their own foolish desires. Regardless of what they had, they still had anger toward the one being that took them away from their homes in the first place. Because of
him
, they now had to reside with people that they despised, people that they thought were beneath them, and the reason for the conflict from the start. So Alexander and his comrades took things into their own hands,” Greyson paused as if catching his breath.

Dahlia was unable to stop herself from asking, “How so?”

He made a slightly uncomfortable face then continued. “They created a race of beings to take root in the land and wipe out these hated people, the first inhabitants.”

“What? How?” Okay, this was definitely beginning to sound like some sort of horror story.

He ignored her and continued. “Alexander and everyone were ruthless. Selfish. They wanted those first inhabitants eliminated at all cost. Through the use of their powers, the lapsus created these new beings. These beings did what they were told to do, to an extent, but became too difficult to manage.”

He paused as he licked his lips, his green eyes shining brightly as he stared at her. “And in the end, it was all for nothing. The very townsfolk that they hated were the ones Alexander and everyone else needed in order for them to survive in the end. So to prevent any further killings of the first inhabitants, they set out to destroy the very thing they created.”

Dahlia chewed on her bottom lip as she sat next to him, taking in everything that Greyson had just said. Then she thought of everything since she first met him. “That was a great story you told. Seems sort of out of context, but I gather it’s the root of why I’m here.”

“You’d be correct in assuming that.”

Dahlia turned so she was facing him directly. “Would you mind telling me exactly what it is you are? Because you, Greyson, are definitely not from around these parts.”

He didn’t blink at her comment, green eyes boring straight into hers. “Now what makes you think that?”

She began to feel nervous, her heart rate increasing as she rubbed her suddenly clammy hands together. She took a deep, shaky breath and continued. “You have gifts—”

“Only you would call them gifts.”

“You can show up without me hearing you then flash out without a trace.” Dahlia said this remembering the first time they had met.

“Flash?” Greyson made a face at her description. “I guess you could call it that.”

Dahlia ignored him as she continued. “You can read people’s mind. And according to you, so can I.”

“Yes,” he whispered.

“You know about my scar. Something I’ve hidden from everybody.” She surprisingly reached behind and touched Greyson in the same spot that he had on her the night before. She felt the slight ridge of his scar beneath his shirt as she whispered, still in awe, as she rubbed the pad of her finger against him. “And you really have one too.” She shook her head in fascination.

Greyson quickly grasped Dahlia’s wrist in his hands, almost aggressively, preventing her from continuing her touch. He then seemed to rethink his actions, gently cradling her hand in his, using his thumb to caress the inside of her palm. Her hand tingled where he held her and she looked from where they touched to directly into his eyes. His gaze was so intense that she couldn’t even blink, couldn’t break contact.

“So you know that I’m not entirely…human,” he said rather calmly.

There was a momentary pause as they continued to stare at each other, Dahlia registering his words. It was as if a light bulb finally went off in her head as she finally spoke again.

“Like me,” she whispered back in astonishment.

Chapter 13

The words came out so softly from her lips that it was merely a whisper. she didn’t want to believe it but it was something she knew to be true.

She was finally able to admit it to herself.

“In a way. The lapsus to be exact.”

Dahlia let the foreign word process in her mind. “You mentioned that before. Lapsus. What is that?”

Greyson took a deep breath and then replied.

“
Angelus lapsus
, a Latin term for what we are. What Maddox is. When interpreted in English it means, ‘fallen angel.’ We are the fallen, the lapsus, which were casted out of heaven due to our hatred for the humans that God loved so much. After we lost the battle, God stripped us of our wings and we landed here on earth where we’ve remained ever since.”

“You’re…you’re a fallen angel?” Dahlia stuttered slightly on the words and she looked at him in disbelief.

You’ve got to be kidding me.

Greyson smiled faintly. “Technically, although not the first of them. Alexander was one of the first. In order to keep our bloodline alive they mated with humans to procreate, the very reason that those first inhabitants, humans, were needed. Full-blooded lapsus were not able to mate with one another. So to answer your question, I guess the correct term would be demi-angel or rather, nephilim if you want to get technical.”

“And that makes
me
…demi-angel?” she asked, staring at Greyson doubtfully. She honestly couldn’t believe the words coming out of his mouth, let alone the fact that she was having a conversation about the existence of fallen angels. She quickly looked around the cabin as she searched for signs of alcohol lying around anywhere.

Now would be the acceptable time to drink.

Either Greyson was ignoring her distress or didn’t notice it as he responded, “Yes, Dahlia. Your blood carries the bloodline of the lapsus, the fallen.”

“Should you be nicknaming me, Angel, then?” Dahlia said sarcastically. She shook her head and stared up at the ceiling as she muttered, “What the hell is going on?”

“Look.” The tone in Greyson’s voice caused her to glance over and briefly halt her mini-meltdown. “I know this is quite difficult to comprehend but believe me, it’s the truth. Deep down inside you know this explains a lot of your...peculiarities as of late.”

Dahlia didn’t want to discuss any of her…peculiarities, so she tried to change the focus onto him. “How…old are you?” She eyed him warily, her first guess putting him at around nineteen. If what he was saying were true, then Greyson could be hundreds of years old for all she knew, if his great-great-great-grandfather was around since the beginning of time.

Greyson raised his eyebrows with a slight smirk. “Old enough.”

“So you’re like…super old.”

He winced at her response then looked at her pointedly. “I’m not old. I haven’t even reached a century yet.”

Her eyes bugged out from his response. “Then how do you look so young?” She eyed him doubtfully, not believing a word he said.

This was unreal.

“Our angel blood keeps us aging at a slower rate. The same will happen with you when you turn eighteen. After we hit maturity, twenty years may pass but it will only look as though one year had.”

Dahlia’s eyes bugged out at his response as she realized that in a mere few months, she’d start aging at a snail’s pace. Then again, she didn’t know her real birth date so it could happen at any moment. She stayed quiet as she freaked over this new development.

Greyson spoke up as if he hadn’t just shocked her with his revelation and continued with his story. “The first angel casted out of the heavens differed from the rest of us. In actuality, he started the whole conflict and the rest simply followed. Alexander told me that he was powerful and angry, no
furious
, toward the mortals that God loved so much.”

“Alexander told you?” Dahlia stared up at him incredulously. “Don’t tell me he’s still alive and kicking?”

He chuckled lightly. “No, I’ve never met Alexander. But as
angelus lapsus
, before they pass on to the other side, they have the opportunity to leave behind their memories and experiences to their offspring. As such, Alexander did that with his son and so on until it resided in me. Of course, the memories aren’t as clear as they’ve become blurred throughout time, and I may not have lived their lives, but I feel like I’ve felt every moment of it.”

“Wow,” Dahlia sat stunned by what Greyson had just said. If she were truly a fallen angel herself, perhaps the reason she had no memories of her life was that her mother or father hadn’t wanted to pass on their experiences. Dahlia shook her head, saddened at the thought as she tried to brush the feeling away. She asked another question instead.

“This first angel that was so furious at the humans. Is this the devil we’re talking about?” She thought back to her Sunday school lectures at the orphanage with all the Bible stories told. Dahlia gave Greyson a hesitant look at the thought.

“The devil. Satan. Lucifer. That is the name that humans gave him but in actuality, I have no idea what his name truly is. No one knows who he is or where he is. His name was kept secret from anyone but the first fallen angels. That’s the one memory Alexander kept from me. But if that’s what you want to call him, then yes.”

Dahlia’s mind flashed to the man in black that she’d been seeing in her dreams. Could he be the first of the fallen angels?

Satan?

“Anyway, he was so angry that he created an army of immortal beings that fed on the blood of humans as retaliation.”

Her mind conjured up the description that Greyson was giving, unable to believe what he was saying. “Vampires? Do you mean
vampires
?” Her voice began to sound more frantic as she went on.

Greyson shrugged in indifference. “If you must call them that. They are rather termed, lamia, the blood-devouring demons that were created by the devil himself.”

“Lamia.” For some reason the word gave Dahlia pause. Greyson’s description of the lamia drinking blood made her uncomfortable, as it was eerily similar to her own fascination with the substance.

But apparently she was a
fallen angel
so what did it matter?

“One lapsus in particular,” Greyson started as he continued to weave his story. Dahlia had to remember that lapsus meant fallen, describing these angels. “They didn’t take too kindly to the creation of the lamia, the demon vampires. He hated them, as much as he did humans, maybe more. You can imagine that he was the first to jump on the bandwagon to eliminate all lamia when they uncovered the importance of keeping the humans alive, in order for their bloodline to live on. So he devised a plan to wipe them all out.”

“All of the lamia?”

“Yes. Alexander and the rest of his fallen comrades helped kill them all.” Greyson commented faintly as his thoughts were drawn back to a time that he wished he could forget. Images that Alexander passed on to him as if they were his very own, forever embedded in his mind.

Screams were heard everywhere, the guttural cries of lives simply being reduced to nothing but dust. A war had broken out between the demons and fallen angels, the lapsus having the upper hand by attempting to murder all of the lamia while they slept during the day.

At their most vulnerable time.

In the chaos of things, I stood utterly still, tightly clutching the stake in my hand. I had just killed a lamia, staked her right in the heart. Her black eyes had flung open as she looked up at me accusingly at my betrayal, crying out in agony. We stared at each other for what seemed like hours, but merely seconds, before she finally closed her eyes. Giving her last exhalation of breath, she instantly decomposed before me.

I looked into the now empty casket and clenched my jaw as I turned away, ready for my next kill.

We wouldn’t stop until they were all dead.

***

Greyson shook his head as he tried to clear the memory away. He lifted up two fingers. Clearing his throat he continued, “All but two of the lamia died. They somehow managed to escape, but not before locking up Merrick permanently as punishment. He was the one who started it all.”

“Merrick,” Dahlia said the name slowly, trying to piece together everything Greyson had just said. “So Merrick was the one who killed all the vampires—sorry, lamia—and now he’s stuck somewhere trapped for all eternity?”

“Yes.”

“This is all a good thing, right?” Dahlia looked curiously up at Greyson. “I mean, these lamia or vampires or whatever you call them, were killing humans. Them being wiped out benefits everyone. And the fallen angels were once angels so technically they’re the good guys?” She continued before Greyson could even answer, tapping her finger lightly against her cheek as she wrinkled her brow. “Except for that Merrick fellow who seemed to have enjoyed killing a little bit too much. He rubs me the wrong way. But, he got his punishment from the surviving lamia, like you said. Why are we having this conversation then?”

Dahlia felt restless and attempted to get up from her seat but suddenly stopped as Greyson grasped her wrist tightly and looked up at her piercingly. “Because not all angels are good and Merrick is a prime example for what he did. And although I can’t say much about the lamia since I haven’t personally met any, I’d guess that not all of them were bad either.”

He let go of his grasp of her and Dahlia rubbed her wrist gingerly as she gave Greyson a hard stare, settling back into the couch. “You didn’t have to do that. I wasn’t running away or anything.”