The Nephilim Universe

by L. L Hunter

  “How can you say that when the world is falling apart and the son of the devil is still out there?”

  Melody walked to the bed and took Gabe’s hand in hers. “We need to have hope because without it, what else have we got to live for?”

  ANGEL OF SONG

  Episode Two

  Chapter 1

  Melody had been alive for a few thousand years, and she had seen many a change in the world—some good, some bad. But, as she sat on the rooftop of the hotel looking out over the London skyline, she was afraid, for the first time in her life, of the change that was about to come, a change that her assignment had a hand in orchestrating. She heard a flutter of wings behind her and startled. She hadn’t noticed just how deep a trance she was in until her fellow guardian angels and best friends sat down beside her, bringing her back to the present.

  “How’s it going?” she asked Aria, who was smoothing out the skirt of her ethereal robe and sat precariously on the delicate roof tile of the Gothic hotel.

  “It’s going. That’s all you have to worry about, Mel.” Aria placed a sympathetic hand on her friend’s shoulder. Melody looked back over her shoulder and gave a nervous smile. Another flutter of wings came from the other side of her, and she turned to the right to find Chordelia standing on the head of a grumpy looking gargoyle. Melody let out a big sigh and turned back to watching the city. It was almost dawn, and people were beginning to wake. The emergency services had been running all night, of course, thanks to the demons and Samson. The rest of the Nephilim, as well as Goddess Scarlett and her soulmate Dyston, had already cleaned up most of the aftermath of the battle of Trafalgar square—the crumpled buildings and the burnt-out shells of cars. Now all that was left to do was to wait until the vaccine was ready. After that, they couldn’t do much more.

  “There are still thousands of possessed and tainted souls out there,” said Melody, a hint of concern lacing her voice.

  “I know, but Max and Gabe are still not strong enough,” said Chordelia, leaping from the gargoyle’s head and landing gently beside them and folding up her wings. She sat on the edge of the roof beside Melody. Aria stood and floated down to join her fellow guardians at the bottom of the sloped roof.

  “I want to go out and find Lucifer’s son and his mate, as well as the Angel of Death and the Angel of Fate, and bring them back so they can face justice.” Melody hated not being able to do anything. What was the use of her being on earth if she couldn’t fight demons or protect her assignment? She felt utterly useless.

  “I know, Mel. We all want that, but it would be a waste of energy. We need to be here tending to the wounded and helping Goddess Scarlett and her family,” said Chordelia.

  Melody turned to her friend and rested her head on her shoulder.

  “Why are you always the wise one?” She sighed again.

  “Oh, I don’t know. Perhaps it’s because I have to keep you two from perishing in battle or falling out of the Realm of Fire… and I am the oldest.”

  “Only by a century,” added Aria, taking Melody’s hand and stroking the soft skin of her palm. Melody shivered under the caress. She loved it when her friends brushed her hair or traced patterns on the palms of her hands to calm her. Melody was always the anxious one. She was always the one who sought approval before she did anything. She felt that was her flaw. She needed to be strong and independent, but that was hard when she was so used to following the rules.

  “Argh!”

  Melody froze, hearing Gabriel shout from several floors below. She jumped to her feet and leapt off the side of the roof and onto the small Juliet balcony below. The French doors were open so the angels could come and go freely from the room they resided in. The white curtains billowed in the gentle breeze. Melody stepped through quickly in search of Gabe. She had heard his shout. He’d sounded hurt.

  “Gabe?” she called out. She couldn’t see him in the current room, the bedroom portion of the spacious suite they had rented, but the smashing sound of something breaking in the next room alerted Melody to his whereabouts. She hurried through the double doors, taking out her dagger as she ran. What she saw in the next room gave her pause.

  Gabriel stood shirtless in the middle of the kitchen and living area with his arms in the air.

  “Gabriel? Are you okay?”

  He turned to face her and instantly dropped his hands and put on an awkward smile.

  “Yeah. Fine.” His face heated with embarrassment as if she had just walked in on a private moment.

  “What are you doing? I heard you shout.”

  “Oh. I’m okay. Sorry. I was just practising my trait. However, my aunt and uncle thought it might be a good idea if we kept up our training since we’ll be away from Michael Academy for who knows how long.”

  Melody let out a relieved, ragged breath as she slid her dagger back into her thigh sheath.

  “That’s a good idea. How’s it going?”

  “Not very good. Every time I try to manifest my power into its physical form, I seem to let out too much and destroy things,” he explained, gesturing toward the light fixture and the TV. Both had been shattered. The ugly glass light fixture and bulb now lay in shards on the carpet below. The TV was an entirely different story. It looked like they were up for a hefty cleaning and damage bill.

  “Oh. Oh no. Perhaps, you should practice outside, or we should find a bigger space with fewer breakable objects.”

  “Yeah. I wish we could go back to Michael Academy. The combat room there was perfect.”

  Melody had an idea. She smiled knowingly and made her way toward Gabe.

  “I think I may have a solution.”

  “Yeah?” She placed her hands on his bare chest. She heard his breath catch.

  “Yeah.” As she was quite a bit shorter than Gabe, she had to get up on her tippy toes to meet his mouth. And when she did, she pressed her lips gently over his, soft as a whisper.

  She then gasped when Gabe’s hands snaked their way around her back, and he tugged her into him. His lips came crashing down on hers.

  “Show me,” he whispered.

  “Okay.”

  For him, she would be brave. For him, she was willing to break a few rules.

  Chapter 2

  Again!” Max concentrated on his trait, on the red energy inside him, and what it could do. He held out his hands and closed his eyes.

  “It isn’t over.”

  Max’s eyes snapped back open, and he looked around for the source of the voice, but he knew he wouldn’t find it in this room. It was an instinct. He closed his eyes once more and concentrated on the power within him, but no matter how hard he focused, he just couldn’t subdue his father’s power. Dyston threw lightning bolt after lightning bolt across the hotel's ballroom, but Max missed every single one.

  “Max? What’s going on? You’re normally good at this.”

  “I know. Let’s go again.” Max shook his head, shaking out the foreign voice in his head and concentrated on Dyston’s hand. A blue-white lightning bolt crackled and fizzled in his father’s hand and then shot across the room like a lasso. Max threw out his hands when the lightning bolt was halfway, and at last, he grasped onto it. Red tendrils snaked their way around Dytson’s lightning, knotting their way up the bolt toward Dyston’s hand. The lightning sizzled and then died and disappeared before Max’s red tendril could reach Dyston’s hand.

  Dyston grinned wildly.

  “That was impressive. Well done, son.” He walked over to his son and placed a hand on his shoulder. “How about we go get something to eat, and you tell me what was bothering you before?”

  Max sighed. “Fine.” He followed his father from the room.

  Samuel had gone back to be with his soulmate, Scarlett’s mother, and Beth had gone back to the palace in Vatican City. Scarlett had booked the entire hotel for them, so there was no one else staying there. Lakyn, Rachael, Gabe, Eden, Asher, and the three guardians were also staying there. Dyston led Max over toward a table in the c
orner at the hotel restaurant. The table was next to a window, so Dyston slid into the window seat so he had a perfect view of the street outside in case there was a threat. Max picked up a menu just to have something to do with his hands. He wasn’t that hungry. He needed to put off telling his father what had happened earlier for as long as possible. He couldn’t tell him that Samson was now taunting him as he’d done with Gabe. Dyston picked up a menu and quickly scanned it.

  “What would you like?”

  “Um… anything. I don’t care.”

  “Max? Are you sure you’re okay?” Something had caught Max’s attention outside through the window. A made-up distraction. Air. A make-believe distraction outside was better than talking about his nightmares. Dyston put his hand on his son’s, and it drew Max’s attention back from nothing outside the window.

  “You’re distracted today, son. You can talk to me, you know.”

  “I know. It’s nothing. Don’t worry. I’ll have the blueberry pancakes.”

  “Sure. I’m getting the bacon and egg roll. Want a coffee or tea?”

  “Tea, please. Earl Grey.”

  Dyston signalled for the waitress, and she came over quickly. While Dyston ordered their food, Max took out his phone and scrolled through his contacts. His thumb hovered over Eden’s name. He glanced at his father then back at his phone. His father was too nosy. He had to finish his training with someone that wouldn’t keep asking if he was okay. He opened up a text message and typed a note to his cousin.

  Max: You free? Need to talk.

  Her reply came back within a few seconds.

  Eden: w/Ash at Covent Garden. Come meet us.

  Max didn’t know London that well, but he knew Covent Garden. It was a popular hangout spot for young adults on the weekend. It was also a hotspot for souls, and since arriving in London, he had reaped many souls from there. He knew that’s where he would find Eden and Asher even before she’d texted him. He stood from his seat.

  “I have to go,” he told his father.

  “What? Where are you going? What about breakfast?”

  “Sorry. I’m going to meet Eden and Asher. Be back later.” Before his father could protest, he walked out of the hotel.

  It was nine thirty in the morning, and the air was cool against his skin but not too cold. It was almost summer, so Max only needed to wear a light jacket. He only felt the temperature when he was corporeal. He wanted to stay corporeal for the moment so he could distance himself from Abraham and Samson. But the son of the devil and the Angel of Death could still find him, just not as easily as when he was in his reaper form. Besides, he had to help his cousin and his family fight. He had to give his blood for the vaccine so they could save the innocent people who had been possessed by the tainted souls Abraham had set free.

  As he walked down the street toward the nearest train station, he contemplated switching to his incorporeal reaper form of smoke and light and teleporting himself to Covent Garden, but that would mean he would be visible to Samson. Samson still had Benjamin’s map. Anyone with angel blood could appear on the map, but only if they used their trait. It was a very rare and precious relic—and dangerous in the wrong hands. He and Gabe had been warned over and over of the dangers of trait use. They were only to practise under the roof of a building that was warded, so they were hidden.

  Max sighed. Train it was.

  As he made his way to the underground railway network, he thought about Gabe. He wondered where he was.

  Chapter 3

  This is amazing!” Gabe exclaimed. He couldn’t believe he was flying over London and in the arms of his guardian angel. Melody held Gabe’s waist tight but not so tight that he was unable to breathe. He didn’t have his wings yet, so Melody had to carry him. He couldn’t wait to get his wings so he could do this.

  “I know. It’s the best part about being an angel,” said Melody. “That and being able to save people.”

  “What about having a trait? I love having the ability to suck electricity from any power source.”

  Melody opened her mouth to answer but couldn’t. What would she tell him? What would he think when he found out she didn’t have a trait? Would he think of her as a lesser guardian angel? That was another one of her weaknesses. All the other guardians had developed their traits long ago. Aria had an affinity with babies and children. She knew whenever a baby was born, and she helped to nurture them through gestation to birth and all through until they turned eighteen. Chordelia had Foresight. She could see the future. Both their traits made them the perfect guardians. Melody either had not developed hers yet, or she had been created without one. But it was unheard of to be created without a trait. She swallowed the lump in her throat. She had to tell him. She couldn’t keep anything from him.

  “I… I wouldn’t know. I don’t have one.”

  Gabe turned a bit to look at her. “You don’t have a trait?”

  “No.” They dipped lower and ducked left to avoid colliding with the Big Ben clock tower. The clock chimed as they went past, the bells pulsating through their bodies.

  “Shit!” Gabe exclaimed.

  “Sorry.”

  Melody dipped lower still until they skimmed the top of the River Thames. Gabe reached out and ran his fingers through the water. It was the most amazing feeling.

  They eventually came to land on the top of Westminster Abbey.

  “We’re practising inside Westminster Abbey?”

  “Yes. We need space and protection, and this place offers both.” Gabe watched as Melody walked along the rooftop over to a secret hatch. She lifted the hatch and beckoned Gabe to enter.

  “Come on.”

  “And we have to enter this way? Why can’t we just go through the front doors?”

  “Because it’s not open to the public right now. Besides, I love this place when it’s empty. It has a different kind of vibe than when it’s filled with people. I like the echoes it makes and the solitude it provides.”

  “Okay, then.” Gabe didn’t really want to go into a huge cathedral when it was closed, but he had to get a handle on his power before he hurt someone.

  They entered the hatch and found themselves surrounded by darkness. There was a ladder that descended deep into that darkness. Gabe stared down into the gaping black hole and suddenly felt afraid.

  “Um… do we really have to come this way? It’s so dark. There could be bats or demons down there.”

  “Oh, sorry. Here.” He blinked, and there was light. He looked to Melody and found her holding a bright golden light. When his eyes adjusted, he saw it to be her dagger that was illuminating their path. He smiled.

  “Awesome. Your dagger glows.”

  “It lights up when I tell it to. I can order it to do whatever I want.”

  “Whoa. Cool. Can you make it kill?”

  “If I wanted to, but I am a guardian angel. I was created to protect, not harm.”

  “I know. I meant demons.”

  “Oh. Then yes. I can order it to kill demons.”

  They descended the ladder in silence, and Gabe used the silence to wonder why she thought he’d implied she wanted to kill. Something was bothering her, and he was going to find out what it was.

  The ladder wasn’t as long as Gabe had expected, and soon, he found himself touching solid ground. Thank goodness. Something was unsettling about climbing an old rickety ladder down a narrow dark tunnel. When Melody landed beside him with a soft thud, she led him toward a door, the light from her dagger illuminating their path. A spacious room with enough light streaming in from the windows set evenly amongst the rafters was on the other side of that door. It was hard to believe they were in the upper portion of Westminster Abbey.

  “Whoa. This is so cool!” said Gabe, gazing around at the space.

  “It is and completely warded thanks to the Michaelites. So it’s safe to train here.”

  A little while later, Melody had Gabe stand at one end of the attic-like room while she stood beside him.

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nbsp; “I’m going to damage something,” he said, sweeping his hands through his black hair and wiping his sweaty palms on his pants.

  “No, you’re not. Concentrate on releasing a little bit of your energy at first, then increasing it each time. That way, you’ll get used to the strength of your power and what it can do.”

  “Okay. I don’t know if this will work, but I’ll try. I wish we could try in an open space, though.”

  “I know, but there’s no place outside that is warded and protected from Samson.”

  This seemed to give Gabe motivation. Melody watched as Gabe set his feet apart at shoulder width, rolled back his shoulders, and with determination in his eyes, held out his hands and let out a small green spark.

  Chapter 4

  Covent Garden was a bustling and colourful mall situated underneath a massive arched glass roof. As he walked amongst the other young adults and people, Max knew what the allure was. Buskers strummed guitars and sang their songs while unicyclists juggled pins high above their heads on the paved square. The aromas of different types of food instantly made Max hungry. He checked his phone and then the location of the Apple Market archway in the middle of the mall. Next to the archway was where Eden said she and Asher would meet him. So Max made his way through the mall toward the red arch.

  Covent Garden was situated on several levels and was the typical indoor-outdoor market you found in cultural cities around the world, like Sydney, Melbourne, Seattle, or Amsterdam. Finally, the red Apple Market arch came into view, and Max picked up his pace. He found Eden and Asher standing beneath the arch chatting. Eden was scrolling through her phone, probably looking at social media.

  “Hey,” Max said as he approached. Asher was the first to look up, and he gave a wave and smiled before gently nudging his girlfriend. Eden looked up from her phone and smiled. She slipped her black phone into her jeans pocket and stepped in to hug her cousin.