Lailah (The Styclar Saga) (20 page)

“But why would they want to do that?” I said.

I could feel an unsettling feeling rising inside me; was Gabriel half of an Angel Pair, and if so, where was she?

“In the beginning, only one Angel Descendant was conceived at a time, not linked to any other. But as time moved forward, Angel Descendants began to fall, choosing to exist on Earth as mortals—and to die.”

“But why?” I asked.

“Parted from Styclar-Plena in order to carry out their tasks on Earth, they grew weary. It was at the loss of so many that chose to fall that Orifiel decided to pair up the Angel Descendants. So although Angels had the duty, and to a degree, the burden of sustaining our world so that others could exist in paradise as they had once before, in return Orifiel gave us something none of the Arch Angels possessed: the immediate connection to another via an all-encompassing love, a love that bonds the two souls together for eternity. It no longer mattered how long they spent away from our world, as long as they had each other, their lights continued to shine brightly. These Angels then worked up the ranks, put in place by Orifiel, together.”

I looked at Gabriel, saddened. He didn’t love me after all; he was fated to someone else. I didn’t want to ask him about her; I couldn’t bring myself to.

“And you were an Angel of Death?”

“Yes. There are nine different ranks of Angel, all of which are tasked with continuing to collect the pure energy of souls from Earth, but in different ways. Some Angels are messengers, visiting Earth and influencing mortals to make the right choices, to find their grace, so that when the time comes their energy is pure and an Angel of Death can collect it and move it across the dimensions,” he explained.

“What if a person’s soul is not pure? What if they are bad people?” I asked.

“If the soul is tainted, it is darkness, not light, that leaves a mortal’s body. Styclar-Plena was born from light, and light is what keeps all its inhabitants living a pure and beautiful existence. We have no use for dark souls. Their energy exists on the Earth until the scavengers appear and snatch it for the third dimension.” He raised his eyebrows, waiting for my reaction.

“The third dimension?” I stared back at him, bewildered.

“It is believed that Orifiel’s passing between the dimensions created rifts. The more that Angels moved between our world and this one, the more fissures formed, creating a passageway between Earth and another dimension which sits on the opposite side of our own. We call it the third dimension; mortals on Earth call it Hell. It’s from the third dimension that Pureblood Vampires have emerged.”

I tried to understand. “Did they already exist in … Hell?”

“We don’t fully understand how they came to exist. I was taught that when the dark souls left a human body, they would linger and then move toward an opening. Orifiel, during his investigations, followed one and watched as it levitated over a black crack in the atmosphere. He believed it to be a doorway to the third dimension. The more the Angels visited Earth, the more these cracks appeared. At first it didn’t seem to have an effect on anything, but during the time when so many Angel Descendants fell, Orifiel lost track of them on Earth. They were separated from Styclar-Plena and had become mortal, so they became lost. There were rumors that some of the fallen Angels had passed through the doorway, to the third dimension, but Orifiel couldn’t determine if that was the case.”

“But how could Angels, beings born out of light, exist in darkness? Wasn’t it the darkness that began killing your world in the first place?” I pressed.

“They were fallen. They had lost their light and gifts when they fell; they became mortal. But their souls were still created and born out of light. If they did move across, who knows what would have become of them. Soon after this, Orifiel learned of new creatures—terrifying, dark, and evil—which were crossing over to the second dimension and existing on Earth. The Arch Angels watched over them and observed them killing mortals using their fangs to bore into human flesh and drinking the blood until the mortals were empty. What was even more disturbing was that these humans didn’t release any light or dark energy, so it was as though these monsters were consuming their souls along with the blood.”

I shuddered as Gabriel continued.

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

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

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

“And what of these scavengers?” I asked.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

FOURTEEN

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

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

“I’m not really in the mood.…”

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

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

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

Gabriel raised his eyebrows.

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

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

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

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

“Lailah, I have to leave.”

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

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

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

“All of them?” I stifled in disbelief.

“All of them.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

“What do you mean?”

Was this what he had been keeping from me?

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

My stomach tied into a nervous knot.

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

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

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

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

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

“And what of the others?”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I moved another pawn. “Well, I—”

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

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