Empyreal (The Earthborn Series Book 1)

by Spencer Helsel

  be from this century. His clothes were composed of some kind of tunic top,

  or other loose-fitted cloth with a straight collar and ties across his chest.

  The material looked heavy and woven, but shone in the dim light. He wore a

  leather buckle-belt, slacks and boots, with both forearms inserted into some

  sort of metal braces and two others on his shins. The whole outfit was black,

  which was probably why she hadn’t noticed it before. The only ornate part

  was a symbol on his back, embroidered across his shoulders: concentric

  circles, one inside the other, each flaring like fire outward around a central

  ring.

  “We have to go.” He told them. “More wraiths will be coming.” He

  jogged off the way they came. “Come on!”

  Dani and Nathaniel shared the same bewildered look. He just

  expected them to follow? After what just happened?

  He noticed they weren’t coming and paused, turning back with an

  irritated frown, which deepened into a scowl. He re-crossed the distance

  back to them.

  “Look,” he said seriously, “normally this is where someone like me

  would tell you that ‘you should come with me if you want to live’ and I

  would explain why, but we don’t have time for that. We’re exposed out here.

  If you stay, you die. If you come with me, you might live long enough to see

  sunrise.”

  “You expect us to follow you?” Dani demanded. “Why?” “Did you not just see me save you from a pack of wraiths?” Nathaniel had mind enough to ask, “What’s a wraith?” The boy pointed to the grey dust around them. “That.” “That doesn’t answer the question.” Dani told him. “Why should we

  follow you? We don’t know who the hell you are.”

  “I just explained that it’s not important. Now let’s go.” “You need to explain better.”

  His jaw tensed. “Well, I’m not going to and I’m not talking to you.”

  He shot back. “I’m talking to Nathaniel.”

  He was bad-tempered, on-edge and—from what Dani could tell—

  rude, but he saved their lives. That earned him the right not to be cussed

  out, but she wasn’t one to simply follow.

  “You said Nathaniel’s name.” She pointed out, trying to get him to

  tell her at least something. “You know him, but does he know you?” “I’ve never seen him.” Nathaniel said.

  The man with the sword murmured tersely. “Quit asking questions

  and come with me before more of those things find us.”

  “No.” she folded her arms. “I’m not going anywhere.”

  “I’m trying to save your life. Don’t make it difficult.”

  “No, not until you tell me what is going on.”

  He didn’t like her. She could tell and she didn’t care. He shifted his

  eyes to Nathaniel. “Are you coming with me or not?”

  Nathaniel took one look at Dani and shook his head. “I’m with her.

  I’m not going unless you tell us what is going on. Who are you? What were

  those things?”

  The brunette-haired warrior sighed heavily, shaking his head. He

  muttered to himself, “Consarn it, why do they have to be so difficult?” Then,

  as if it were the most normal thing in the world, he said, “My name is Ethan.

  I’m a Guardian Numen and that thing,” he thumbed over his shoulder at the

  grey dirt, “is what remains of a demon called a wraith that tried to kill you.

  Now, I’ve answered your questions, so can we walk and talk? I really don’t

  want to be eaten alive trying to save you.”

  Chapter Five

  Ethan No-Last-Name walked fast for a guy holding a very large sword. Dani and Nathaniel were out of breath from their encounter with the vagrants, but he walked as if he was a machine that wouldn’t wear out. He was fit. Even Dani could tell that through the black get-up he wore. He swung that sword like he knew what to do with it. He carried himself like it, too. He was, if anything, prepared.

  He led them out of the park, his hand never leaving the weapon strapped to his belt. He kept looking back and forth from them to his surroundings, simultaneously making sure they weren’t and that they still followed him. Whatever his reason for showing up, he wasn’t letting them out of his sight.

  They followed, but neither of them spoke.

  Wraiths? Demons? Dani couldn’t wrap her head around it. She knew what she saw was real, no matter how unbelievable. She saw their teeth. She heard their growls. She watched them do things no human being could do. But demons? Demons were real? How did someone even start to come to grips with that?

  Dani wasn’t particularly religious. She never really went to church. Most girls she knew went part of the time, at least for their quinceañera or Christmas Mass. Dani never felt the need. And though she wasn’t particularly religious, she definitely didn’t remember anything about that in Sunday school.

  Her world had gone upside down.

  They crossed into the neighborhood after a few minutes. Ethan glanced back at them again, staring suspiciously at her.

  “I don’t like this.” Dani whispered to Nathaniel.

  “Tell me about it. Did you see those things?”

  “No, I mean him.” She tipped her chin at Ethan. “I don’t trust him.”

  “Why? He saved our lives.”

  “I’m not so sure. You’re telling me it’s a coincidence that this guy just happens to be walking by when we get attacked? That’s not at all too convenient?”

  The thought hadn’t occurred to him. “Maybe we ask him what he was doing there. He could give us some answers.”

  “We tried, remember? He’s not in a very talkative mood.”

  “He might talk to me. He knew my name.”

  That was true. He knew Nathaniel, but Nathaniel didn’t know him. Why? Was he there for him? It fit her theory that Ethan hadn’t simply been in the neighborhood with a five-foot-long demon-slaying sword, but it didn’t explain who the hell he was, what was going on, or why the hell he dressed like that.

  Nathaniel picked up his pace, walking ahead of her. “Hey, Ethan, slow down!” The man with the sword ignored him. “Hey! Slow down a second!”

  “We don’t have a second.” He snapped, crossing the street. They followed. “We’ve got to keep moving. If they have your scent, more will be on the hunt.”

  “More wraiths, you mean?”

  “Yes.”

  “More demons?”

  He nodded, not looking back. “That is what I said.”

  “And they’re after us?” Dani asked, joining Nathaniel’s side.

  Ethan didn’t answer her. He just kept walking.

  “Hey, I’m talking to you!” Ethan reached the street corner. She snatched him by the arm, spinning him around. “I said I’m talking to you!”

  “And I’m not talking to you.” He shot back.

  What’s his problem? “If I’m in danger, then I deserve to be told why. Why were they after us? Why did they try to kill us?”

  Ethan’s jaw tensed visibly, his eyes flicking to Nathaniel and then back.

  “And why the hell do you keep talking just to him? You won’t speak to me. What’s going on?”

  “It doesn’t concern you.”

  “Those things concern me. They tried to kill me!”

  “No, they tried to kill him!” He angrily pointed to Nathaniel. “You were just in the way. My job is to make sure they don’t kill him, which means I don’t have time to explain myself to some mundanus!”

  She blinked “What is that supposed to mean?”

  Ethan sighed heavily, shaking his head. “Nothing.”

  “No, not nothing. Mun-what? What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “It’s not an insult.” Ethan told
her. “It’s what we call people like you.”

  “People like me?”

  “Mundani. Normal people. That’s what I mean by people like you: a mundanus. It’s your average, every day, run-of-themill human being.” He looked at Nathaniel, completely ignoring her. “Look, I don’t want to do this here. It’s not my job to babysit. I could tell she was a friend and I didn’t want her to die, so I saved you both. I couldn’t wait until you were alone like I planned. The wraiths forced my hand. But the truth is I came to get you. And now we have to go.” Finally, he looked back at Dani. “I did you a favor. I got you away from the wraiths and their hunting ground. Once we leave, his scent won’t be on you and they won’t come after you anymore. You’re safe and you’re welcome. Now go home.”

  Rude, she thought, but didn’t get up in his face again. He earned that much from her.

  “‘We leave’?” Nathaniel was confused. “You mean me and you?”

  “Wait, wait, you’re taking him?” She looked at Nathaniel. “You’re taking Nathaniel? Why? Where?”

  “It’s none of your concern.”

  “Stop telling me what’s my concern!” she snapped.

  Nathaniel stepped in beside her. “Dani is my friend, which means it is her concern. At least, it is about this.”

  “Nathaniel, you don’t understand. Not yet. If you did, you’d know that what I’m doing is what’s best for you both.” He stepped past Dani. Nathaniel was taller, but Ethan was such a powerful presence. When he spoke, his voice was magnetic. “There is more to you than you know; more than you could possibly realize. You’re not just some kid living in a hell-hole of a foster home.”

  “You know about my foster home?”

  Ethan nodded. “Yes. You weren’t born to be just another statistic that the human race failed to help. Even before you were born, your name— like so many others—was written in a book that holds thousands of special people. You are destined to live in a place far brighter than this one. You were meant to join us: the Numen. The Earthborn. We’ve been waiting for your powers to manifest and for you to see the world as it truly is; to be able to come to us. Now you have. And it is time.”

  Ethan placed a hand on his shoulder.

  “You have power, Nathaniel. You may not understand it, but you’ve started to show it.” He held up Nathaniel’s right wrist. “Do you see this?”

  “What? My arm? I don’t see—.” He stopped.

  Just below his wrist, on his forearm, a small band of skin changed color. It was darker, starting at the joint and lacing up his forearm. It was like a birthmark, but Nathaniel didn’t have a birthmark. And this was much more intricate. The skin looked tattooed with Henna; dozens of interlocking marks creating a band up to his elbow and back.

  “I’ve never seen that.”

  “It’s your mark.” He told him. “We call it a halo. Every one of us, every Numen, has one. It manifests with our powers as a sign of who we really are.”

  “But I don’t have powers.”

  “You do. Or at least you will, with training.” He insisted. “That’s why those wraiths came after you. They can sense what you really are. They can smell your Numen side. You saw them, didn’t you? You saw them for what they really were? It’s called seeing through the veil. No mundanus could ever see their true forms.”

  Nathaniel shook his head, unable to take it all in. Dani could see the billions of questions in his eyes; too many to ask and too many to answer.

  “You’re part of a greater destiny.” Ethan told him. “You can’t stay here. You will never be safe in Los Angeles or any city on Earth, but I can take you to a place where you will be. I can help you to understand and teach you to fight back.”

  Nathaniel traced the mark on his skin with his thumb. He shook his head and looked to Dani. “What about her? They’ll come after her.”

  “They don’t want her.” Ethan assured him, giving Dani the first sympathetic look. “No offense. And they’re dead. They couldn’t tell a soul if they wanted to, so she’s safe. And like I said, once we leave, your scent will disappear. Then the veil between the worlds will affect her mind like it has countless others. She will forget what happened.”

  “Like hell I will!”

  “It’s inevitable.” Ethan promised. “The veil keeps the supernatural hidden from humans. Even those that have seen monsters rarely, if ever, believe what they’ve seen. Once Nathaniel is gone, you won’t remember this. You’ll convince yourself that it’s all a fantasy. You will tell yourself something to explain his disappearance and you will never question it. That’s the power the veil has on mundani.”

  “I could never do that.” She insisted. Nathaniel was the only friend she had. “I wouldn’t.”

  “It doesn’t matter. He can’t stay. If he’s going to survive, he has to leave.”

  Nathaniel didn’t like the idea any more than Dani. “I have to leave?”

  “Yes.” Ethan pursed his lips, nodding. “I’m sorry, but for people like us, it is how our destiny plays out. We can see the monsters. Dani can’t. We don’t belong in this world, but she belongs here, living her normal life. You have to accept that.”

  Nathaniel shook his head. He didn’t want to leave her. “But she’s my friend.”

  Ethan put a hand on his shoulder again. “It’s for the best.”

  This was insane. There was no way it could be true, could it? But those things—wraiths, whatever—came after Nathaniel. They attacked him. They tried to kill him and they would have if Ethan didn’t show up with his sword. Nathaniel was the target. Monsters and demons and whatever else were after him. He could see what they really were—.

  “I could see them.” She said.

  Ethan turned back to her. “What?”

  “The wraiths—those homeless guys—I saw them turn into freaks. They had sharp teeth, white eyes, and ran like dogs. I thought you said munwhatevers can’t see them.”

  “Mundani can’t.” Ethan frowned, dropping his hand from Nathaniel’s shoulder. “No mundanus can see a wraith’s true form. The veil stops them.”

  “Then why could I?”

  His frown deepened. For the first time, he actually really looked at her. His honeybrown eyes narrowed in suspicion. “You couldn’t have seen them. That’s impossible.”

  “I did.”

  “Then you saw through the veil briefly. It’ll become difficult remember them. The details should start becoming blurry.” The last part sounded like he was trying to convince her, not explain to her.

  She shook her head. “Nope. Trust me: something like that is hard to forget.”

  “Describe them again.”

  “Long teeth growing out of their mouths like something straight out of Hell, puss-white eyes, and they growled like dogs. They could run like them, too.”

  “How did they smell?”

  “Smell?”

  “Yes. How did they smell?”

  Dani thought about it. “They stunk, but not like people do. I don’t know. They smelled like…like rotten eggs or something. It was disgusting.”

  Ethan’s eyes weren’t narrow. They were wide. “Impossible.”

  “What’s wrong?”

  But he didn’t answer. Instead, he shook his head. “Zounds!”

  “I’m sorry?”

  He snatched Dani’s right arm, pushing back the sleeve. “Impossible!” he stuttered over his words. “That’s sarding impossible! There is nothing…it has never happened...your name wasn’t in the book!” “What? Ow! Hey! Stop! You’re hurting me!”

  Ethan shoved her shirt sleeve up to her elbow. Dani realized what he was looking for: the same mark Nathaniel had. A halo.

  But her forearm was bare. Just normal brown skin. He visibly relaxed when he saw her arm. He stopped rambling. Shaking his head, he took a calming breath and dropped her arm.

  “Is everything okay?” Nathaniel asked, unsure of what just happened. “What’s going on?”

  “I can’t explain.” Ethan said slowly, unsure
. His brown eyes met Dani’s. “You’re not gifted, that’s for sure. I don’t know how you saw them.”

  “Gifted?”

  But he wasn’t answering. He kept talking to himself. “I thought maybe you might be a Tuatha De Dannan or Fomorian or something, but clearly you’re a mandanus…”

  “Um, hello?” she waved her hand in his face. “You’re rambling.”

  He shook it off, as if it were silly. “Sorry. I was talking to myself. I can’t explain it. You shouldn’t have been able to see them or remember them. And you definitely shouldn’t be able to smell the brimstone.”

  “Brimstone?”

  “Rock sulfur.” He explained. “We call it brimstone. Hell is caked in the stuff. All demons smell like sulfur.”

  “But I could smell them.” Dani insisted.

  “I know. I can’t explain. Only a Numen should see them, but you’re a—.”

  He stopped. He’d been staring at the ground, trying to think, but something caught his attention mid-sentence.

  Dani took a step back. The last time he got that look, he raved like a lunatic. “What is it?”

  Ethan reached out and, gently this time, took her left arm. He raised it up and pulled back the sleeve. Dani looked down.

  There, clear as could be under the street lamp, was a dark-brown, intricately woven ring on her arm; starting right below the wrist and looping up her forearm.

  Her eyes narrowed. “Is that a…?”

  He dropped her hand. “A halo.” He stuttered. “You—You have a halo.”

  “What does that mean?” She caressed the mark on her skin. It was smooth to the touch, as if it’d always been part of her, but she had never seen it before. “Why do I have this?”

  Ethan didn’t speak. He wasn’t relieved like with Nathaniel; explaining her destiny and about her greater purpose. He was silent. Speechless.

  Even Nathaniel was confused. “Ethan? What does that mean?”

  He rubbed his jaw, walking away in a dazed trance. She could hear him muttering to himself, but she couldn’t understand it. They were words she never heard.

  “Zounds…” he murmured, “…what in bloody hellfires…?” It was like cussing, but they weren’t words she recognized.

  “Ethan, what does that mean?” Nathaniel demanded again. “Talk. Speak English!”