Godforsaken: Book 1 (Shade of Light) (12 page)

“Have you come to tell me the tale I have
been witnessing since my creation, Michael?” Samael cut him off
stiffly.

“No.” The newcomer’s voice remained kind. He
lingered for some seconds. “I’ve come to visit my brother. It’s
been a long time since we last saw each other.”

“Almost an eternity, Michael,” Samael
attested, turning to face the newcomer at last. He saw two cold,
blue eyes locked on him. Michael was a little taller than Samael,
and pale white, but the shine of his face in the sunlight could
tempt anybody. He wore white clothes which made him look paler than
usual, and his brilliance under the sun could blind a normal person
looking at him. But not Samael. “Why do I come to your mind only
now, brother? What have I done to gain such an honor?”

“Duty brought me to you,” Michael replied,
stepping toward Samael, who stood his ground like a stone. Reaching
him, he put his hands on Samael’s shoulders. “You were always
emotionless and cold, even towards your brothers,” Michael
announced. “But I don’t get offended, my brother.”

Samael kept silent, staring into Michael’s
eyes with wonder. Perhaps he behaved coldly, but his eyes bore more
life than Michael’s. Receiving no answer, Michael took his hands
off Samael and turned aside to look at the trees and enjoy the
beauty surrounding him.

“I remember this place,” he said, pointing
ahead with a grin. “There is a river over there behind that hill,
isn’t there? And there is a chairlike stone, where Adam used to sit
all day long. He looked so poor in those days.” Michael tilted his
head in displeasure, taking a long pause. Then he went on. “What is
on your mind, Samael? I doubted my ears at first, when I was told
the heir of Eve is alive and that it’s a female.” He peered back
surreptitiously. “It means you were exiled for nothing. The line
hasn’t been cut. I wonder, why did you choose such a life? You
could be in Heaven by now.”

“I daresay you understand everything very
well, Michael,” Samael chortled sarcastically. “Sacrificing myself,
I gave Heaven one more chance to be protected from Lucifer, didn’t
I?”

“Yes, you did,” Michael agreed.

“You followed her, you saw us together and
you doubted if I was still devoted to our principles.” Samael
passed his hand through his hair, and his serious eyes looked
around. “You wonder why I haven’t done anything yet.”

“You did. You told Raphael about her.”

“You’ve got a traitor, Michael. However, you
don’t want to admit it,” Samael said abruptly. He sounded too
confident, as if he knew who the traitor was.

“And you want to prove me it, don’t you?
What if I am the traitor? Hasn’t it ever crossed your mind?”

“You’re kidding with me, aren’t you?” Samael
laughed heartily, but Michael remained serious. “You – the angel
who learned to love the Father first of all – would never go
against Heaven.”

“You’re too certain your theory,” Michael
remarked and exhaled, “but you’re right.”

“I’m always right,” Samael said smugly.

There was a little pause, and the archangel
Michael gazed into Samael’s green eyes to discover any secrets in
them, but soon he was forced to give up.

“What do you need me to do for you?” Michael
asked thoughtfully.

“Just support me when I need it, okay?”

“Deal,” Michael agreed in some seconds. “But
don’t try to fool me, Samael, otherwise you will meet my wrath. I
didn’t allow Lucifer to destroy our Father’s creation,” he said,
inhaling deeply. “Thus be sure, I won’t let anyone else ruin it.
Not even you, little brother.”

“It’s already ruined,” Samael sneered,
giving a dismissive wave. “You were in such a hurry to beat Lucifer
down that you didn’t notice the power he possessed. He’d destroy
everything you see around you in the blink of an eye if I don’t
keep these gates, brother.” With enthusiasm, he opened his arms
wide. “If you don’t stop Lucifer now, then you can never defeat him
again, and you know that as well. You’ve got to run the risk–”

“Yeah, I’ve got to run the risk by trusting
you again,” Michael remarked harshly. He turned around and slowly
walked away into the trees. “We both know who she is, Samael,”
Michael stopped for a second, throwing his last words over his
shoulder. “She can’t live on. The gates of your reign can’t fall
because of her like it happened to Lucifer. Anyhow, you can’t save
her and Eden both, you will have to choose between them. The same
way Lucifer chose between Eve and Hell.” With this, two bright and
smoky wings grew on his back, and in an instant he rose into the
air and vanished into the blueness of the sky.

The street was dense with darkness when Lily
lazily opened her eyes and turned over in the bed. She yawned,
reaching for where Samael should’ve been, but the “prince” of her
dreams was gone.

She sat bolt upright, her drowsy expression
sliding off her face. Holding her breath, she looked around in
search of the guy who had come and conquered her heart several
hours ago. She switched on the lantern beside the cupboard. His
shirt and shoes were tossed on the floor, and she sighed in relief
thinking Samael had just gone to the kitchen or the toilet.

Regaining her sleepy look, Lily slid out
under the covers. With another yawn, she stood on her feet, and
swaying, and made her way out of the bedroom.

“Samael,” she called out as soon as she was
out the room, but the house remained silent and dark.
Where
could Samael have gone
?

The kitchen light was off and the bathroom
was empty. There was no sign of Samael in the house at all. Lily
shook her head to fully wake herself up. Her stomach had dropped
unpleasantly as she realized he had left her. But why he had gone
out without his shoes and shirt? She ran back into her bedroom to
check whether she had seen them correctly. Samael’s shirt was still
on the floor.

Lily knelt down and picked it up, bringing
it close to her nose. His smell circled her head and for a moment
it seemed to her that Samael was standing behind her with wide open
arms. She wheeled around and met nobody.

With rueful eyes she came up to the bed and
sat down on it.

“Why did you do this to me?” she whispered
to herself, covering her face with his shirt. Tears burst out of
her eyes. She thought that the only reason Samael had slept with
her was the sex, nothing more. It seemed to be a one night stand.
But he meant more to her.

Lily threw his shirt aside angrily and lay
on the bed, burying her tearful eyes in the pillow.
This is what
rich and handsome guys do to girls
played in her head, like
somebody planted those words into her mind.

Lily muttered something about hating him
under her breath. A muffled thud barked back from the living room.
Lily tilted her head and stood immobilized, her ears straining for
the faintest sound. Somebody was walking around the living room
slowly, trying not to make noise.
Was it Samael
?

With a sickening feeling in the pit of her
stomach, she padded toward the door. She put her ear against the
door for any sound, but whomever was in the living room seemed to
have stopped walking. Nancy had told her that she wouldn’t come
home and would stay at Mike’s.
Had she changed her mind? Or was
it Samael who had come back to her again… maybe for his clothes and
shoes?

But Lily’s heart felt trouble coming from
the living room. She could reach for her cell phone and call Nancy
for help, but neither she nor Mike could come and rescue her soon
enough. Mike’s place was far away, about twenty minutes by car.
There were two options left: first, stay in the room, keep quiet
and wait until whoever was in the living-room leaved, or get out of
the bedroom and figure out what was going on.

Lily stepped back to the jeans she had
tossed on the floor, put them on as fast as she could, and fished
out her cell phone. Texting Nancy that there might be a stranger in
the living room, she put it back into her pocket and reached for
the door again.

No sound came from the other room. Had she
imagined it? No way. It had been clear. Whatever had made that
sound was either gone, or standing still behind the door and
waiting.

Lily couldn’t stay in the room, in the
blackness. Her heart trembled and was ready to burst out of her
chest. She wouldn’t survive the fear she felt now.

Breathing deeply, she tried to relax her
body, and reached for the knob. As she entered the living room her
blue eyes searched around, but the room was covered in darkness. An
average person wouldn’t be able to make out anything. She waited
while her eyes adjusted to the darkness, then padded ahead. Lily
felt a weakness in her legs, but she kept walking slowly, expecting
somebody to leap at her at any moment.

“Anybody there?” Lily called out with a
shaking voice, but her voice echoed through the room before it was
swallowed by the quiet.

The silence didn’t relax her. On the
contrary, she felt as if somebody’s presence was playing a scary
game with her. Lily edged toward the wall on her right and reached
for the switch.

For the first moment her eyes spotted
nothing strange as the light came on, but soon the moment passed.
Her stomach turned to water when she saw a man with curly hair
sitting in the armchair where Nancy liked to sit. He stared at her
with enormous black eyes. He wore a black costume and black tie
with a white shirt.

Lily leaned against the wall and stood there
immobilized, unable to utter a sound. Her throat dried up, turning
her speechless. For a second she thought that her heart would stop
as she saw those two black eyes that were shining in the light. The
man was very handsome, but his expression was full of malice. He
was like a beautiful devil walking on earth.

“Who are you? What do you want?” Lily
managed to say with a trembling voice. She was stuck to the wall
like discarded gum, almost forgetting to breathe. Her mind seemed
to stop working, and her feelings betrayed her. “If you want money,
it’s in the bedroom,” she pointed to the right, “take it and get
out, but please, don’t touch me.” All those words she had heard in
films before, and upon finding herself in a situation like this,
they instinctively came out of her mouth.

“Please, calm down,” the stranger raised his
hand in the air. “I’m not here to rob you. I won’t touch you
either.”

“Then why are you here? What are you looking
for here?”

“You are Lily Cage, aren’t you?” The
stranger asked quietly.

“Yes, do you know me?” she asked, the fear
within her squeezing at her throat.

The stranger inhaled, and his eyes found her
with some kind of gracious expression in them. Lily peered around
quickly, trying to find the shortest way to escape, but the nearest
door was her bedroom and it would be no help – it was a dead
end.

“Come,” the man said, and motioned to the
chair next to him, “take a seat, dear.”

“Not until you tell me who you are and what
you want,” Lily insisted.

“Okay.” A cold smile briefly curled over his
lips. “My name is Beelzebub. I’m some kind of–” he paused, then, as
if he didn’t know how to present himself without being strange or
scary.

“What?” Lily pressed.

“Some kind of angel,” Beelzebub went on
boldly.

“What?” Lily's surprise was obvious. She
gawked at him. “You’ve got to be kidding me,” she smirked.

None of Beelzebub’s face muscles twitched.
With a sharp look, his eyes followed Lily, who in turn seemed to
find humor in his words.

“It’s impossible,” Lily convinced herself,
chortling. “Angels only exist in books,” she said, remembering
Nancy’s words.

“I know, it’s a shocking thing. But you’ve
got to think straight and accept the truth. As such, you’d better
take a seat and listen to me. Please,” he said, and pointed to the
chair again.

“But it’s insane,” Lily muttered, dropping
her eyes downwards to the floor. “How can you prove it?”

“I needn’t prove it. You know, I’m right.”
Beelzebub leaned back into the armchair, crossing his legs. “You
saw Samael, you know he isn’t an average man, don’t you?”

Lily froze. She recalled the wings she saw
on Samael’s back the day they met in the club, and the dreams with
Samael as an angel. She felt a tremble in her legs. Shock ran its
way through her whole body. The wall kept her from tumbling to the
floor. She leaned against it and slid down to the parquet.

“Yes, you saw his true colors, didn’t you?”
Beelzebub sounded confident. “But it seemed crazy, and you acted as
though you didn’t believe it. I would do the same if I were a
human, don’t worry.”

Lily glanced up obliquely. “Did he send
you?”

“Not exactly.” With a wave, a pack of
cigarettes and a lighter rushed out of Beelzebub's pocket
autonomously. They hung in mid-air in front of him so he could
reach for them easily. It was obvious he did it on purpose to prove
to Lily that he was not a typical human. With a distracted look,
she followed his motions. “I came to rescue you, dear,” he said,
lighting his cigarette.

“Rescue me from whom?” Lily asked rapidly,
gazing at the smoke filling the room. Then she found his leering
eyes.

“From the life you’re living now, Lily,” he
said with a mystical voice. “Didn’t you ever notice there is
something strange about you? The life you’ve been living isn’t for
you, do you understand me?” Looking on her confused expression, he
didn’t let her say anything. “Listen, Lily. It’s hard to explain to
you the things you’ve got to know. We’d better go together, and I
promise I will show you everything.”

“No,” Lily begged off at once. How could she
trust a stranger with some insane theory about angels? She used her
strength to pull herself up, struggling to her feet. “I will wait
for Samael. Once he comes back, we’ll decide all of this together.
You said he’s an angel too, didn’t you?–”