Rebirth - The Beautiful Fallen (27 page)

             
But Zane’s reply to my question immediately pulled me away from any of these thoughts.  “Not at all.  He killed them himself.”

             
“Wait a minute.  Are you saying your own father killed your brothers and sisters?” I asked in disbelief.

             
“Indeed.  Because they weren’t strong enough.  That’s how it is with the ones like myself.  When we’re born from one like him, we’re expected to be strong, and that’s that.  So when we reach a certain age and have had our wings for a while, he comes to us and tests us.  Either we fight back and pass, or we die.” Zane told me.

             
I just stared at him, hardly believing what I was hearing.  Their own father hunted them down and killed them?  “But that doesn’t make any sense.  If you weren’t taught to fight or anything, how could you have begun to stand a chance?” I wondered out loud.  I’ll admit now that this bothered me on a much deeper level then even the thought of those angels hunting us did.  But then again, I also knew what Chris had kept telling me too.  It wasn’t only those angels and creatures that we had to keep watching out for.  We also had to be careful of our fathers as well, considering that they could just turn on us.

             
“Well, there are always ways to learn how to fight.  My own was actually from my mother’s older brother.  You see, I am just about as old as Christoff when it comes down to it.  He has me beat by probably sixty or seventy years, but that’s close enough.  And like his mother’s family, mine also figured out fairly quickly that I was not to be a normal baby.  My mother herself was a young girl of maybe thirteen or fourteen years of age from what I came to know.  From what my uncle told me when I awoke as a Shadow Wing, she began telling her mother that something was coming into her room at night and raping her in her bed.  Her parents even tried to keep an eye on her during the night, and witnessed one of the attacks.  And when she turned up pregnant with me about five months after that started, her mother and father figured out the awful truth to my origins rather quickly.  But they also knew there was nothing they could do about it either, for there was no such thing as abortions back then. 

“Of course, when the girl died when right after I was born, her father was ready to kill me.  But he was stopped by the Fallen who created me.  Quite violently as a matter of fact.  He ended up killing him and my grandmother, then issued his demands to my uncle about my becoming strong enough to face him, or he’d return and destroy the rest of the family as well.  Needless to say, my uncle took heed of his words, and taught me how to fight in hopes of achieving revenge against the creature and saving what was left of the family.  I can honestly say that he was the biggest reason that I survived that first initial fight with my father.  I managed to stand up to my father and actually somewhat win, and my prize was being able to live for another day.” Zane explained.

              The story itself was a little more than horrifying to me.  Not to mention the visions I was getting with it.  Chris had taught me how to close that channel in my mind a few weeks before, but I’d reopened it to see just what Zane was talking about.  And everything he’d said was very true from the past.  In the visions was a young teenage girl in a house that looked like it may have been from the Victorian Era of England.  She was very beautiful, with light green eyes and curly long hair that was a black as a raven’s wings.  But she was also very troubled.  Night after night, she was being visited by a very dark figure, who would appear at her bed and proceed to rape her.  She couldn’t move, or even scream when this happened.  All she could do was lay there and cry as he had his way with her.  Even her parents were powerless to stop the attacks, although they began calling on their priest and church for help.  But nothing they did could stop the dark predator from attacking her, and the pattern continued for several months like that.

That was, until one dreary fall day.  That was the day that the girl came to her mother and showed her that her belly was growing.  She was pregnant.  Within a few months, she would give birth, and die of hemorrhaging as soon as the baby came out.  I saw her mother screaming as her father pushed her aside and held up a knife up above the newborn baby boy, but he was suddenly and violently stopped by the dark shadow, which had appeared out of nowhere.  There was so much violence in that room after that.  Blood covered the floors and walls as they were torn apart by the shadows themselves…

It was right after this happened that I saw a young man of maybe sixteen or seventeen come rushing into the room.  He stared in horror at the scene, then ran over and grabbed the crying baby from the bed to take him out.  But as he did, the shadow appeared in front of him, and turned into a more human like form.  The Fallen it became was very menacing.  He was very tall and wore dark clothes, with piercing red eyes and long black hair that was tied back behind him.  He told the boy to make sure he took care of his son now, and that he’d better make him strong, or else, he’d come back and kill them and the rest of the family that was left.  And precisely twenty years later, that’s exactly what he did.  He came back, and nearly killed Zane that first time they fought.  And when Zane managed to win, he laughed in his face as he told him that he’d let him live.  Apparently, he’d come back several times since to continue this pattern as well.

             
Zane just smiled at me gently as I sat there.  “So you can see it now.  Well, that’s what it is for the ones like me.  Unfortunately, there aren’t many choices but for us to be strong.  Of course, it also gives me a bit of an edge against Christoff too.  I never underestimate anything out of sheer force of habit.  Although I do admit that when I train with him and Will, I do tend to be lazy anymore.  It’s just a bad habit I’ve developed in the last fifty or so years.” He admitted.

             
For a moment, I debated about what to say to that one.  After all, I remembered Chris’s words very well.  Even though he considered Will and Zane as friends, he also would never put it past them to turn on us for purposes of power.  “But you wouldn’t turn on us, right?” I finally asked.

             
“Not at all.  I never would do anything to hurt those I consider friends, even if he doesn’t like it.  Power plays are one thing, but finding allies is a complete other.  And I happen to enjoy the position I’m in now in my life.  It’s quite comfortable for me.” Zane replied.

             
By then, the waiter was coming back with our drinks.  But he looked a little bit odd this time.  His eyes looked a little darker, and he certainly wasn’t acting half as nervous as he had when we’d first sat down.  “I’m sorry, but it’ll be a few more minutes on the salads.” He told us in a deep, low voice.

             
Zane looked at him for a moment, as if he was studying him.  But then, he just smiled back at him as though nothing was wrong.  “That’s okay.  We don’t mind.” He said.

             
The waiter nodded, then walked back.  I looked back at Zane.  “What was that?” I asked quietly.

             
“Don’t worry.  It’s nothing that could hurt us.  And it’s not angelic either.  I suppose even talking about him stirs things up anymore.” Zane said.  I didn’t miss how his eyes narrowed slightly as he said it though.  Obviously, he didn’t like what had just happened here at all.  But he was going to downplay it on my behalf.  I’d found that all three of them were good at doing that when it suited them.  Again, it was that protective big brother complex in my mind.

             
Thankfully, our dinner seemed to go by smooth enough.  But I still felt uneasy.  That waiter was watching us now.  And he seemed to be doing it very closely.  A few times, I noticed Zane glance over towards him and nod.  It was almost like they were talking through telepathy.  I wanted to ask him about it, but found that I just couldn’t bring myself to.  A part of me just didn’t want to know what was going on yet.  So instead, I tried to act like nothing was wrong and held onto my pendant.  I felt it get warm a few times in my hand, a sign that Saffron was with me.  He may have even been aware that something wasn't right there.  I wondered if he’d speak to me in private when he had the chance.

             
As the waiter brought us back the change from the bill though, Zane grabbed him by his wrist.  “By the way, why hijack this one?  Does he need to speak to me about something?” he asked him.

             
The waiter looked at him for a moment, his darkened eyes almost smoldering.  “Go out to the alleyway leading to Jefferson Street.  He will speak with you there.  And bring the girl.” He ordered.

             
And with that, he pulled back his hand and walked away.  I watched him for a moment, then looked back at Zane.  “Will he be okay?” I had to ask.

             
“He’ll be fine.  In fact, I look for the one inside him to leave in the next few minutes, considering he was only being used to deliver a message.  I apologize Ariana, but I’m going to need you to accompany me out of here now for this meeting.  I don’t think that I need to tell you that not doing so could bring a lot more trouble.” Zane told me.

             
I nodded, although I couldn’t deny how nervous I felt inside about this.  Just what was calling us out?  I had a bad feeling that it had something to do with Zane’s father.  And with what I saw before, I had no doubt now that he was extremely dangerous.  Possibly even more so then Jade.  In a way, I was kind of cursing my luck now.  Just why did all this dangerous stuff always seem to show up when all I wanted to do was to go out and enjoy my life a little?  Why me?

             
“Don’t worry darling.  He won’t hurt you.  And if this one lets him, I’ll personally rip his head from his shoulders once I get out of here.” I heard Saffron say.  I could feel the pendant’s warmth as he spoke, but it didn’t glow this time.  He was being incognito now.

             
“I get it.  And I’ll watch what happens with her.  I know better than to not take your threats of harm seriously.” Zane said quietly.

             
“You’d better.” Saffron said.  And with that, he was gone again.

             
Zane let out an exhausted breath, standing back up and helping me out of my seat.  “Come on.  Let’s get going.  I don’t want this to run into total nightfall, and it’s already starting to get dark.” He said.

             
The two of us walked out of that restaurant rather quickly.  I followed Zane closely, trying to discreetly watch the faces around us.  But everyone looked the same.  Still, I couldn’t help but feel nervous about what was about to happen.  Had Zane’s father really called on us?  He seemed like the most likely candidate for this.  After all, we had been talking about him before that happened.  It only made sense.

             
The place that the man had been talking about wasn’t that far from the restaurant, or even our home for that matter.  The alleyway itself was pretty long, and lined by buildings with no visible windows on either side of it.  Even the doors that opened into it weren’t really used anymore, considering that many of the businesses there had vacated decades before.  Walking in there, there was only the occasional dim light and signs lighting the shadows.  I could hear our footsteps echo in there as though we were walking right into a cave or something.  Moving myself closer to Zane, I couldn’t help but shiver slightly.  It felt colder there.  And I didn’t think it was just from the darkness.

             
Zane looked around for a moment.  “All right.  We came.  Now show yourself.  Hiding is an annoying habit you’ve picked up as of late.” He called.

             
Near us, the shadows began shifting and melting into a shape that eventually formed into a man.  Dressed all in black, his piercing red eyes practically glowed in the semi darkness.  I felt my breath catch in my throat for a moment.  It was him.  It was Zane’s father.

             
“You’ve gotten rather cocky as of late.  You’ve even allied yourself with that one’s son.  Did you actually think that I wouldn’t call back to you again if you did that?” he asked him.

             
“Not at all.” Zane replied.  “I knew it was coming sooner or later.  You never let me go that long.  But this is very soon considering it all.  You typically give me a good fifty years after you come after me.  That’s always been your pattern before.  Why so suddenly change it?”

             
“I think you know why.” The demon said, looking behind him at me.  I felt frozen to the spot as I stared into those red eyes.  In fact, my soul itself began to feel cold from it.  And for the first time, I considered that perhaps Jade wasn’t that scary to me after all.  This one seemed far more menacing.

             
“Ah, I see.  So you knew about her.  Or you must have at least heard recently.” Zane said.

             
“Indeed.  The rumor of another being born, and being the child of one who has apparently made a name for himself in Hell now.  It was enough for me to decide that perhaps it warranted a closer look.” The demon said. 

             
I froze as I felt something coiling up my legs.  Looking down, I realized that it was the shadows.  They’d come to life, and were quickly wrapping around my lower legs.  It kept me bolted there to the spot.  Beside me, Zane gave him a dirty look.  “You realize you’re playing with fire here.  I won’t let you close to her.” He said, picking up a nearby pipe.  It quickly melted, then formed into a long flaming black spear.