Seduced by Darkness (The Seduced Saga)(20)

"You're trying too hard, child. Toss the stone sideways and let it find its own path to the water's surface. If you launch the stones into the water, they will continue to sink."

She looked up at him with big blue eyes so like her parents'. So like his son's. "Like this?" She tilted her hand like he'd shown her.

Beleth smiled and nodded, his dark wings unfurling behind him in the warmth of the sun. "Like that."

She tried again, this time skipping the stone twice before it sank. She jumped up and yelped, then threw herself into his arms.

Unaccustomed to children, or physical contact, or hugging, Beleth had to force his body to relax and welcome the child as he cushioned her body to keep her from falling to the ground. She held a hand up to his wings, running one finger over the dark glow of them. "So pretty, Grandpa. Will I get wings someday like you and Mommy and Daddy?"

He ruffled her blond hair and smiled at the child who had stolen his heart. "Someday. When you're ready to become fully Nephilim."

"I can't wait," she said, curling into a ball on his lap and laying her head against his chest. "Someday I'll fly, just like you. Someday I'll be big and strong, just like you."

He kissed the top of her head and enjoyed the smell of sunlight, grass and happiness. "You are already strong. Stronger than all of us, child. Never forget."

This child would surpass them all in power, when the time came. Until then, he would protect his new family with everything in him.

Ana ran a hand over his arm, tracing his tribal tattoos. "Tell me another story, Grandpa. About the Nephilim."

"Another story? Aren't you tired of all the stories? I think I have told you most of them at least twice."

"I'll never get tired of them. Just one more. Pleeease?"

Beleth wrapped an arm around her and leaned against the tree. "Very well. Do you know the story of The Gray Watcher?"

She shakes her head against his chest. "No! What's The Gray Watcher?"

"Many, many moons ago, Nephilim were at odds with one another in a great civil war that lasted generations. Those who were born under the Sign of Sunrise—Nephilim like you, born with the blood of our people—divided against those who were created under the Sign of Nightfall, people like your mother. They fought for centuries, murdering each other in an effort to gain control over all of Nephilim."

Ana squirmed in his arms. "That's not very nice," she said.

"No, it's not. And there was another who thought so as well. You see, all the Nephilim wore their sign colors. Gold and white for Sunrise and dark blue and black for Nightfall. But one Nephilim stood against both groups and declared an end to the fighting. 'People of Sunrise and Nightfall,' he said to the stunned crowds, 'have we not fought enough and spilled enough blood of our brothers and sisters? How long will we continue to destroy other Nephilim before we've had enough?' And as everyone watched, he stripped off his colors and donned gray in a show of neutrality. 'I will no longer align myself with my Sign until this fighting has ended. Who joins me?' And much to the surprise of those leading the revolts, many joined him. And soon, many more, until you couldn't find Sign colors anywhere. He formed the very first Twilight Court, uniting the Sign of Sunrise and the Sign of Nightfall under one rule of peace and prosperity. He was hailed as The Gray Watcher. And over the centuries, as our people have need of one, a Gray Watcher will rise to help the Nephilim bring back that peace. The Gray Watcher isn't one person, and we haven't seen one in a very long time, but the stories remind all Nephilim that we are stronger united rather than divided."

"Like Mommy and Daddy," she said. "They are Sunrise and Nightfall, and they are family. All of us are family."

"Yes, child, that's right. We are family."





TWENTY ONE





My Soul From Heaven





SAM





This look of thine will hurl my soul from heaven

— William Shakespeare, Othello




I COULD FLY.

Really, truly fly.

It was like the dreams I'd had as a child, only so much better. In my dreams flying always felt difficult, like swimming in heavy water, pushing through a boundary forbidden to me. But in real life, in my actual real life, flying felt natural. Freeing. Exhilarating.

Drake taught me, in a much less traumatic way than Beleth had taught him. It had taken a few months of practice, of strengthening my shoulders and back and wings and getting used to the vertigo of being suspended in the sky, but now it was as natural as breathing.

I only wished Luke and Lucy were still here to see this. They'd left with Ocean and the IPI agents shortly after I'd been turned. Once they knew I'd be okay.

The blood took getting used to. Drake and I couldn't feed off each other, now that we were both Nephilim, so we had to hunt. I had no choice. I could no longer live without blood. He had a choice and still struggled with it, but knowing the blood kept him strong and healthy, I insisted he join me in hunting. We still hadn't found the Beast who had killed our friends. We had to be careful—living in a state of constant fear as we struggled to make sense of so much senseless death. But we tried to carve out moments like tonight, moments where we tried to relax, tried to breathe, tried to pretend life was back to normal.