The Nephilim Universe

by L. L Hunter

  After class, Max ran to meet Gabe outside of his next class. He knew Gabe had Nephilim History with Melody now, and so did he. So he waited outside the door and had arrived just in time to see Melody and Gabe walking hand in hand down the corridor towards him.

  He studied the two lovebirds and instantly felt a pang of jealousy, but he quickly pushed it away.

  “Hey, Gabe, Melody.”

  They looked up at the same moment and smiled when they saw him.

  “Hey, Max. How’s it going, mate?” said Gabe, slapping him on the back when he got close enough.

  “Good. Guys, I need to ask you something.”

  “Sure. Should we take our seats first?” said Melody, nodding toward the classroom, which was now empty of students from the previous class. Max took a look around. He would have preferred they talk in a quieter place, but he nodded as there were no other students around, and they were early.

  “Sure.”

  They took their seats at the side of the classroom near the stained glass windows. Gabe and Melody sat together, and Max sat behind. Gabe and Melody turned around to face him.

  “What do you want to ask us?” asked Melody. She peeked at Gabe and gave him a wink and smile. Max was envious of them. He took a deep breath and confronted them with his theory.

  “I want to talk to you about soul bonds.”

  “What the heck are soul bonds?” asked Gabe, scrunching up his nose in confusion.

  Melody knew instantly what Max was referring to. She sat up straight and tensed. So this is what she was afraid of.

  “Soulbonds are the bond between two souls, soulmates. When an angel meets their other half, their matched soul, the bond is meant to be instant. You’re meant to know.”

  “What happens if that doesn’t happen straight away if the feeling is not instant?” Max’s heart raced a million miles an hour. He was afraid but curious for the answer. He tapped his fingers on the desktop anxiously.

  Melody glanced at Gabe, then turned and looked out the window.

  “Mel? What’s wrong?”

  Melody got up from the desk and walked to the window. A rainbow of sunlight washed over her face, turning her skin red and green and gold. Gabe thought she looked more beautiful than ever.

  “Soul bonds don’t happen for guardian angels,” she began. “We’re not supposed to fall in love. When it does happen, it is extremely rare and…” a tear rolled down her cheek, and a sob escaped. She covered her mouth and turned away from the boys.

  “Hey, it’s okay.” Gabe rushed over to her and stroked her back in soothing circles. But she took a step backward. “Mel?”

  “Falling in love…” she sobbed harder but powered through her tears. She had to tell him. She had to break the news. Max wanted to know the truth, so it was time Gabe knew too. “Falling in love is forbidden for a guardian. Especially falling in love with your assignment. It can only end badly.”

  “What do you mean? Badly how? Melody, please!” Gabe took a step toward her, but she took another step away, trying to keep some distance between them.

  “I am immortal, Gabe. Guardian angels are immortal. Nephilim aren’t. When you die, I will live long after without you. But there’s more. There’s a deeper, darker reason why we can’t fall in love.”

  “What is it? Tell me.”

  “I don’t know. I’ve never known—that’s the problem. No one knows why. We’re just told that under no circumstances can we fall for our assignments—or anyone.”

  “Then how do you know there’s a deeper meaning?” asked Max.

  “There is one person who might know. I’ve heard a rumour of a human scholar, a Michaelite, who has researched the bond between a guardian angel and their assignment and why they don’t have soul mates.”

  “Okay. Great. We need to speak with them,” said Gabe. “Where are they?”

  She sighed. “I’ve looked into this myself. They are here in London. Right here at Michael Academy.”

  Max and Gabe looked at each other with glee. “Who is it?”

  Melody turned away from the window and started toward the door. “I wouldn’t bother. They won’t tell you.”

  “Melody? Where are you going? Wait!” Gabe ran after her, but Melody turned a corner and was gone in the blink of an eye when they reached the door.

  The classroom began to fill up. Several students gave Gabe a dirty look as they pushed past him in the doorway. He walked slowly back to his seat and slumped into it.

  “What are we going to do, Max?” he said.

  “We have to find this Michaelite scholar. We need to find out why guardian angels can’t fall in love or don’t have soul mates.”

  Their professor walked into the classroom then. “Good morning, lads and ladies. Open your textbooks to the chapter on Michaelites. Today we’re going to look at the relationship humans have had with Nephilim over the years.”

  An idea formed in Gabe’s mind. He turned to Max.

  “There’s only one Michaelite here at Michael Academy. Wanna bet they are the one Melody was referring to?”

  Chapter 19

  Gabe and Max anxiously waited out the rest of class, and as soon as the bell rang, they bolted from their seats and ran toward the principal’s office. Gabe’s grandmother was the only Michaelite at Michael Academy. She was a principal, so that meant she was also a scholar. As they ran down the corridor toward Mrs Abigrine’s office, Gabe remembered she had warned him not to use his trait and act more human. Was there a deeper meaning to her words?

  They turned the corner of the last corridor of the maze that was Michael Academy and spotted Miss Abigrine coming out of her office. She locked her door and walked down the corridor while reading from a file in her hand. It looked like a student file. They stopped in front of her.

  “Miss Abigrine… I mean, Grandma. I need to speak with you.”

  Miss Abigrine looked up in surprise and stopped in her tracks. “Oh, Gabriel, Max. You startled me. What can I do for you?”

  “Can we talk in your office? It’s important and probably shouldn’t be overheard by other students.”

  She looked at each of the boys and back at her closed door. “All right then. But quickly. I have work to do.”

  They walked back to her office, and she shut the door once they were inside.

  “I was actually going to find the guardians.”

  Gabe hesitated, hovering above the chair before sitting down opposite his grandmother. “Oh? Why do you need to talk with Melody and Aria?” He was suddenly a little afraid and a whole lot curious about his grandmother’s motivations.

  Miss Abigrine hesitated before speaking. Finally, she folded her hands in front of her on the desk and met her grandson’s gaze.

  “As you know, I am a Michaelite. Our job is to research angels and those with angel blood. My passion project, my assignment or mission, if you will, has been to research guardian angels. Now, it’s no coincidence the guardian angels are here.” Her mouth twitched into a smug kind of smirk.

  Gabe clenched his fists, suddenly feeling very protective of Melody. “You brought her here, to earth? To Michael Academy?”

  “Yes. That’s correct.”

  “Why?”

  “To test my theory. I’ve been writing a book about the bond between a guardian angel and their assignment. And there is something, one thing in particular, that fascinates me above all else.”

  “What is that?” asked Max.

  “Why guardians don’t have soul mates. Now, other theories have been that guardian angels don’t have a soul, but I believe they do. It’s just that their souls can’t be bonded to another individual.”

  “Why can’t they be bonded?” said Max, pressing on. They were so close to finding out the truth. There was a reason he didn’t feel anything toward Aria.

  “Guardian angel’s souls are unique. They are made from pure energy, light, and matter. They can’t fall in love because they were created for one purpose only—to guard Nephilim and humans.
”

  “So, what happens if they do fall in love?” Gabe asked.

  “Then they can no longer be a guardian angel. So they also give up their immortality.”

  Gabe and Max now understood the reason behind Melody’s actions and why it had been so hard for her to admit the truth. Gabe stood.

  “Thanks for your help, Grandma.”

  “You’re welcome.” As Gabe walked to the door, his grandmother’s next words gave him pause and made the blood chill in his veins. “I would walk away from her now, Gabriel. By falling in love with your guardian, you have given her a death sentence. A guardian angel works their whole life to protect others. To throw that all away would be the greatest sin.”

  Gabe ran from the room and stormed down the corridor. He didn’t look back once, at his grandmother or Max. He made his way to the rooftop.

  Chapter 20

  Gabe knew he would find her there. The rooftop was Melody’s favourite place. It had the most amazing view over London and was home to some pretty cool, but slightly creepy gargoyles.

  Melody sat with her brilliant white wings folded behind her as she gazed out over the skyline of London. Her light brown shoulder length hair was tussled gently by the breeze coming off the Thames. He didn’t say a word. He just gently made his way down the roof shingles and slid down to sit beside her. He dangled his feet over the edge and held onto one of the gargoyles for support.

  “You shouldn’t be here,” she said, after about a minute of them sitting together in silence.

  “I know. But I came to tell you that I know the truth. I know why you’re so afraid of falling for me.”

  She turned to face him, her eyes still glassy and red from tears.

  “The scholar you were talking about is my grandmother. She told me about her research and that it’s because of her that you’re here.”

  Melody wiped her eyes and nodded. “It’s true. She asked me to come and protect you. In exchange, I would let her research Aria, Chordelia, and me for her book.”

  “She told me why you can’t and shouldn’t fall in love with anyone.”

  She sniffled and then reached over and stroked his cheek with her thumb, tracing the contours of his cheekbone and the corner of his mouth. She pulled her hand away and looked back out over the city.

  “I wasn’t meant to fall in love with you. But it happened. And now it’s too late. I can’t walk away now. I can’t do anything but be doomed to live out the rest of my existence as a human.”

  “But are you doomed?” Gabe said, smirking a little. He hoped and wished and prayed that she would stop being so hard on herself and give in and be with him.

  Melody studied his face and longed to kiss him and touch him again, but she couldn’t. She stood and unfurled her wings.

  “Gabe, you don’t understand. My whole life, I have had a purpose. We were created to protect our assignments. We cherished our immortality because it meant we could protect and save many humans and Nephilim. And now, I have nothing. No purpose. And I will lose my immortality. It won’t be long until it’s stripped away and I am left behind as a shell. A mere human.”

  Gabe felt his heart breaking in his chest. Tears poured from his eyes. He stood and slipped a little, almost losing his balance. Melody reached for him and grabbed him just in time before he slipped off the roof and plunged to his death.

  They stood close enough so that their hips were touching. He looked into her eyes.

  “Isn’t that enough? Isn’t sacrificing all that for love worth it?”

  Melody did love Gabe, but she knew this life wasn’t for her. It ripped her heart out to have to do this. But she couldn’t stay. She flapped her wings and took Gabe into the air. They landed safely on the front steps of the Academy. Once Gabe was safely on the ground, she stepped back from him.

  “You’re not planning to leave, are you?”

  “I’m sorry, Gabe. I thought I could do this, but I need more than love. I need a purpose. And if I am not a guardian angel and haven’t immortality, I am nothing. I will always love you, but I can’t be with you. I’m sorry.”

  She stepped forward and kissed him once more, then flapping her wings, she took off into the sky. Gabe stayed there watching the sky for signs of Melody until it got dark. When the street lights turned on, and the stars came out, he walked hesitantly back inside.

  Chapter 21

  Max could find no signs of Aria at dinner, or in the library, or in the courtyard. Melody was gone too. Since Miss Abigrine’s revelation about the guardian angels, Max had come to terms that Melody’s trait was simply wrong and Aria wasn’t his soulmate. Her soul tracker ability must have been pointing to someone else nearby, or she simply hadn’t known how to use it yet. He was relieved, but disappointed at the same time, about Aria not being his soulmate. He wondered where the guardians had gone. Had Aria gone to help her friend in need? Had they gone back to the Realm of Fire? Had they been assigned to someone else?

  There were a million questions floating through his mind, ones he knew might never be answered. He drifted off to sleep that night with thoughts of Aria, of Melody and Gabe, and of love that could never happen. His thoughts soon turned into dreams, though. So he let them take over.

  * * *

  Enormous storm grey wings spread out, and she turned to face him.

  Eden smirked. “I always knew my wings would be pretty awesome,” she told him before flying over to fight a hoard of demons.

  Gabe was there, as well as Asher, and they too had wings. Max looked down at his hands and at the red sparks that came from his fingertips. He looked back up at the army of demons and spotted a familiar face amongst the crowd.

  “Abraham?”

  “Little Blackbell, care to join me? Together, we can rule the underworld.” Abraham laughed his chesty, gravelly smokers cough and turned to whisper in the ear of a demon. He then gave Max a wink, and the next thing Max knew, he felt the most intense pain he had ever felt in his life. The pain consumed his body. He cried out and collapsed to the ground.

  * * *

  He woke up in a cold sweat panting hard. What did that dream mean? Eden and Asher had wings. So did Gabe. Abraham was working with the demons. Had he turned evil again? And why was Max in so much pain? Dreams always meant something. They were prophetic, so he knew this was a sign of things to come. He didn’t like the prospect.

  He lay back down and tried to fall back to sleep, but after those terrifying images, it was impossible. He glanced over at his bedside clock. It was a little after four in the morning. He had a few hours before breakfast and before he could tell anyone about the dream. He was too tired to transport himself into someone else’s dreams right now, so he got up, pulled on sweatpants, and made his way to the training room.

  Whatever was coming, he knew he had to be ready.

  ANGEL OF NIGHT

  Episode Three

  Chapter 1

  It had been one week since Melody left, and Gabe thought of nothing and no one else. He became zombie-like, floating through day-to-day activities like a ghost, barely taking in anything. He didn’t listen when people tried to speak to him, only offering up the odd “yes” or “okay” to make it seem like he wasn’t a complete ghost.

  Two weeks later, Eden, Asher, and their friends had had enough and decided to stage an intervention. They walked into combat class one afternoon and surrounded Gabe, who was throwing small daggers at a dummy on the other side of the spacious room. His friends watched as Gabe threw the daggers, one after the other, into the dummy with fervent determination. Eden stepped up beside him.

  “You know, if you concentrate a bit more, you’ll hit your target.”

  Gabe didn’t even look at her as he walked to pick up his daggers. Most of them had sailed past the dummy and either lodged themselves in the wall or hit the floor.

  “I’m not trying to hit my target.”

  “What did that dummy ever do to you?” Asher joked, laughing. Gabe shot him an icy glare. Asher put hi
s hands up in defence. “Sorry, mate.”

  Eden sighed. “Gabe, enough. It’s been three weeks. You have to snap out of this.”

  “No!” Gabe shouted, stunning everyone. There weren’t many students in the room at that point, but those nearby stopped, looked at him, and quickly walked away.

  “I’m not going to until Melody comes back.” He turned back to face the dummy, but this time, he dropped the handful of daggers. They clattered and clanged into a pile near his boots. He then held up his palms and shot massive green lightning bolts at the dummy. The dummy, which was made of plastic, immediately melted under the intense heat, and soon, Gabe was left with nothing but a steaming pile of melted plastic on the wooden floor.

  “Whoa. Dude!” exclaimed Eden. “Okay, someone got up on the wrong side of the bed… again.”

  She walked up to her cousin and went to take his arm to lead him out of the room, but as soon as she got close enough, Gabe turned on her and held up a palm. Green electricity sparked from his fingers. Eden stepped back, backing into Asher.

  “Gabe?” she said, her voice shaking. She suddenly felt wary of her cousin.

  “Leave me alone,” Gabe warned and walked over to grab another dummy from the edge of the room and dragged it into the middle of the floor. Asher took Eden’s hand and began to tug her out of the room.

  “Come on. Let’s go. Let’s leave him alone for a while.”

  “But he’s hurting.”

  “I know, but he’s too dangerous right now. He’ll hurt you.”

  “He’s my cousin, Ash. He’d never hurt me.”