Dark Nephilim (Always Dark Angel Book 2)

by JN Moon

  The others looked at each other uneasily. Nikki spoke to us all. Contrary to Trish, her hair was purest white. They all looked like vampire warriors from the future, which I guess they were, an alternative dystopian future that I had no desire to stay in.

  “I know what you’re thinking, they’ll need help. As I see it, they need the help of a necromancer, and there’s not many of them left.” Nikki paused here, her eyes scrunched as she thought. “We do know of a few, but they are dangerous and erratic.”

  “You’re world is dangerous and erratic, I don’t see what choice we have,” I said softly. I was less concerned than them about these blood angels. Heck, I’d drink them before they could kill me. Maybe that would get me killed, but I’d rather that than die on my knees.

  “But first, tell us of your world, tell us everything,” I asked. “How long has it been like this? The drones, the blood angels, the curfews?”

  Their daggers caught the gleam of that meagre candlelight in the basement of the building. Kyle was a towering figure, but he had gentleness about him. None of them had a mean streak; they were tired of this exhausting existence.

  One of the female vampires spoke in answer to my question. “It has always been like this for us. I was made vampire, like Kyle and Trish and Nikki sometime in the last two decades. Those of us with family that are still alive, very occasionally we look on them but we cannot seek them out fully. There is too much danger for them and us. What else do you want to know?”

  I nodded as I took in her information. “In my life I live well as a vampire, I have sources of income and a place to live, as does Marcus. We even have an app to trace evil doers, we collect their digital information and those of their acquaintance. Under normal circumstances, though to be honest I haven’t had many of those, we have no threats.”

  They looked astonished. “We don’t have money in this age. There is no need, everyone does what their talent, or passion draws to them to. Everything is on a credit system—food, housing, entertainment. Everyone is registered,” Anne continued.

  “As we are not on the radar so to speak, not being human, we have to live out here. Everything is controlled, every person accounted for. The humans live well. About thirty years ago, society changed. Living was too perilous. Blood angels were growing in number, most die at their hands, some are changed. The governments made a decision; humans would strive to be better, to do what their talents possessed, and not to labour for money or materialism. Living so close to death daily inspired a new world order. But with that came control. Money is only available through criminal means, bartering is the only real form of currency now.”

  Marcus and I were silent for some time. It was an apocalyptic nightmare. As Anne had said, living in such close proximity of death had made the authorities re-examine human existence but it also gave people less control.

  Marcus asked, “The drones? So many...”

  “They are mainly for human protection. blood angels do on occasion go into the city. They used to go in day or night. Policing that with people is too heavy on manpower so they developed drones with the capability of firing. They obviously monitor the mortals, but I do believe in the main it’s for their protection,” Anne answered. “Either way, you cannot sustain a population that turns entirely into vampires—hybrid or otherwise.”

  As she finished, as if on cue we heard the screeching again far off in the distance of one of those creatures. It sent shivers down my spine and a hush fell over us.

  “They are a hybrid of our species, can’t they be reasoned with?”

  Nikki resumed the tale, “It’s said that in the beginning they were reasonable and lived alongside other supernaturals. But over time they chose to breed. We don’t know how that’s possible, but they did so between themselves to keep their blood line pure. In short, they’re interbred, much like the aristocracy of the past. And like the aristocracy, madness reigns. They cannot be reasoned with now, because they have no reason.”

  “And Orion?” Marcus murmured. “Does anyone ever speak his name? If he’s alive, we may be able to reason with him?”

  “We know the name, the tales. We know he originated here in this city after a battle of demons. We know nothing else. Understand every night for us is a battle of existence. It’s already late now,” Kyle added hastily.

  “We have to hunt, so we’ll take you with us. We only talk when we need to. When we’re out, everything is monitored. The old ways still hold, we try and only take the evil, and after curfew, it is mostly only the malevolent mortals that are out there. This tiny city has a strong population of blood angels. If what you’ve told us is true, that would be the reason why. We stay out of the city, especially tonight,” Anne whispered.

  “But you said you hunt before the curfew, is that because of us arriving here?”

  Kyle nodded and they readied themselves to leave.

  Marcus and I were stunned with the revelations of where we had ended up but we’d been through enough crazy already and so prepared ourselves for what the night would bring. A more sinister part of my nature revealed that I wanted to see these blood angels for myself, and even try to reason with them. I wasn’t afraid of them and I could sense that neither was Marcus. But more importantly, once we had the lay of the land so to speak, we would need to find a necromancer or the like and get through that time loop. And that in itself raised a thousand questions.

  But for now, we headed off towards the city and I saw that Kyle, Trish, and the others, like us headed for the many parks that small city has. There were less drones this far out, the odd one here and there and we heard it long before seeing it and by then we had all taken shelter. Whispering I asked them, “Why hasn’t any of our kind created something to block the drone’s detection, or signal? I know this can be done; something to do with frequencies?”

  “You’re right, and some years ago some were able to do this, but they adapted them and update them constantly. Our predicament prevents us. Had we more money maybe we could try?”

  They definitely needed to improve their situation, but I thought it best not to state the obvious. I was new here, so I may have not fared better if I were them. But this was a miserable existence.

  We came across a gang of men doing some kind of shady business deep within the park, and slowly we crept forth, circling out to surround them. In the distance, I could hear that infernal buzzing of drones and I knew then that if I had to stay here I would make it my life’s mission to get rid of those things.

  As we approached and stayed hidden in the parks tree line again I heard that screeching sound. “Why do they do that? Surely, they don’t want to announce their presence. That’s just dumb!”

  “They don’t think like us. They’re removed and see themselves as top of the food chain. Governments cannot contain or control them; their will, their survival, predatory instincts are above anything. Usually they wail when they have caught someone, a wail of victory.”

  I wasn’t impressed and my stomach churned at that thought. They sounded primitive, but by announcing where they were, that could help Marcus and me. He looked at me and a slight grin upturned his lips as if he had the same thought.

  “Their confidence in themselves, having none to challenge them helps us, gives us the advantage,” he offered.

  Peering out through the trees, I heard the faintest sound and looked up to see a shape. Like giant bat type wings circling and then it shot off. A lump came to my throat, and I remembered the size of the children- how their features had seemed too big for their stature. I guess they’re all grown up now.

  There were four criminals, nothing unusual about them, but Nikki raised a hand for us to stop. Here in this time, these vampires would determine what crime was going on, in case they could gain from it. The crime, not unusual, was drugs and a vast amount of money was being handed over. We pounced and within minutes, we were satiated and they were dead.

  We picked up the money and searched their belongings. Their phones wer
e different from what I was used to.

  “Leave the phones!” Trish whispered urgently. “Every phone, including these, have tracking devices. It’s too risky to use.”

  I couldn’t believe it! I would have no phone. That is living in the dark ages.

  Marcus muttered to me, “I don’t want to wait in the dust here anymore.”

  Before we could do anything, Anne whipped out a scalpel and took hold of one the criminal’s right hand, making a clean incision between the thumb and finger. Trish was alongside and holding up a small transparent plastic bag. With tweezers, Anne produced a tiny chip and popped this in the bag. They did the same with all the others.

  “We’ll have to dispose of the bodies, otherwise these are useless. We have a place to do this.”

  We hadn’t realised just how organised these dystopian vampires were, and we hadn’t noticed that Nikki had slipped away and pulled up with a car.

  “It was theirs,” she said indicating to the criminals. “I found it by their scent. C’mon, let’s get the bodies in.”

  We couldn’t go with them, as there wasn’t room, but decided we would go back to their hide out. We would need a chip if we wanted to get around without those drones shooting us.

  “Will the drones sense we’re not human?”

  “Fortunately, they’re not that sophisticated yet. Kyle is our tech expert. He’ll take these to friends, they’ll alter them, and then you can use them,” Anne explained.

  “What’s the price?” I asked.

  “Freedom of course. Take us with you. If you don’t, we won’t help you, and you won’t get anywhere fast without these. Remember, humans know of our existence, that’s why every single human has personal security and why every single human is chipped. It’s done at birth. The drones can detect you fast. But with these...” Kyle held the plastic bag of ID chips from Trish. “With these, you’ll have an easier time, you’ll be accounted for.”

  “So, these chips don’t hold facial recognition tech?” I asked.

  “Wear a hood and don’t look up much. In the main they just register your details, address, function, age and there’s no alarm unless you have a criminal record. Or, unless you don’t register at all- but you know that from earlier!”

  “But they were criminals. I’m sorry to fire fifty questions at you!” I asked.

  “Criminals usually have the cleanest tags. We all have ex criminal tags in us. You still need to use the precautions and avoid the city centre especially after curfew. But you’ll get by with them.”

  All I could think about was getting back to my own time, where we didn’t have surveillance on this epic scale and masses of the crazed beasts flying around.

  We met back at their hide out, minus Kyle and Nikki who were busy burying the dead and altering the new tags.

  They seemed calmer now and the night was still. No sirens, no wails from the winged demons, just silence.

  “How did you all come to know each other?

  Trish answered, “We came to find each other quite easily, you know yourself it’s a small city, and to survive we have to stick together. We have other friends, contacts but it’s best to stick in small groups to avoid detection.”

  “Do you always kill your prey?” I tried not to sound judgemental or shocked. I couldn’t judge them anyhow after the amount I had killed, that was something I was fairly good at blocking from my mind most of the time. Tonight brought it home, now I was able to control my emotions. A long time coming, that.

  “Not at all. But we wanted their chips, and without their chips—even had we managed to extract these from them whilst keeping them alive—they would be detected, and in that, so would we. As it goes, you needed these ID’s. So long as you’re not actually picked up by the authorities, you’ll be alright and no one in the authorities will be wiser. As for the criminals, their families, friends, they’ll be too scared to report it, seeing as though they’re felons. They’ll assume the blood angels have them, and that would pose an investigation into their families, their friends and so on.”

  Marcus asked, “So we can’t go into the city without the chips?”

  “What happened to you last time? In the city, drones monitor everyone; they scan for ID chips. If you don’t have one, they assume you’re a criminal, since you aren’t registered. The penalty is death, or worse, prison. If your ID matches their database, you’re clear. If not, well...you know that already.” She paused here. “Before this, the blood angels would roam the streets. They managed somehow to blend in, at least in the darker hours. They left carnage. Everything went bat-shit crazy. Military were deployed but even they couldn’t cope with the amount of deaths. Tagging became compulsory.”

  “What a messed-up world, all because of one hybrid! We’ll still need to access the time loop. You spoke of a necromancer, or someone who can help us enter it. We have experience of time portals, but this is different. I want to see if those strange vampires still appear, or if we need something to help get us through it!” Marcus sounded as determined as me to get out of here and get the boy back.

  “There are some that might be able to help. We can ask. Our world is a tight community so someone is bound to know someone. Necromancers tend to hate our kind and on paper, they look like model citizens, but I suspect there’ll be some who will find this too interesting to resist. Night is nearly over, we would be better off going tomorrow at early evening.”

  Kyle and Trish came back with our tags and a needle to inject them in our hands. It wasn’t particularly painful, but I was keen to see just what information these held before injecting it.

  They produced a hand-held device and held this over the chip. There were names, dates of birth, addresses, and occupations. Under Legal Information there was nothing—meaning we had no criminal record—and a general health status. It was creepy, but it had to done. I’d get it out afterwards, and I ensured they didn’t put it too deep in our hands.

  And so, we were ready. We chatted to them about their civilisation. How people no longer worked in jobs to pay bills. Obviously, there were people who were happy with less demanding work and found their pleasure in other ways, but society was encouraged to find a meaningful outlet for work. How far you progressed and what contributions you made determined your status. Wealth was no longer the driving force and living to work, to pay bills, and accumulating stuff was an archaic system. It seemed that as death was so close in everyday life, living took on a new meaning and was celebrated more. But we would still change it, if we could.

  As Kyle and the others settled down to rest after the night’s hunting, I took Marcus aside. I needed to speak to him in private. We wandered up out of the basement and found a small, dusty room at the back of the building.

  Pulling the amulet out of my pocket, I said, “Maybe Jamie can help? He said he’s been to other realities with Emidius. It has to be worth trying. But I need some privacy.”

  “Sure, I’ll watch out for you. You think maybe he can get us back? I hope so; this time is crazy!”

  As Marcus stood on look out, I held the strange amulet in my hands, grasping it and concentrating on Jamie, as he had told me to do. I had to feel him here, feel his presence in the room. Seeing his gregarious smile in my mind, happiness swelled throughout me. My mouth curve up instinctively. He was a good friend. For a split second, I saw him before me and opened my eyes but then he was gone. Hollowness replaced warmth and happiness. I knew then I could not reach him, at least not yet. I refused to believe that time stood in our way since time is a human concept and Jamie now travelled beyond human conceptions.

  Marcus turned around from the doorway, “I felt warmth for a moment.”

  “I’ll try again, but not right now. We need to get that time loop anyway.” Putting it back in my pocket, we went down to the basement to join the others who were sleeping amongst the dust.

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  About

  JN Moon is a new author who has currently written three books in her first Urban Fantasy Series. She writes Paranormal Thrillers/ Urban Fantasy.

  She can be found wandering in nature, reading or upside down.

  Not that she thinks she’s a vampire bat, she enjoys aerial arts.

  And likes hanging upside down... She’s also an aficionado air guitarist.

  She lives with a myriad of animals and loves nothing better than talking to like-minded souls so get in touch. You don’t have to like hanging upside down, but it helps...

  Email: alwaysdarkangel@hotmail.co.uk

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  Author Notes

  I got the idea of a dark nephilim whilst listening to a particular song, and then spent weeks researching the nephilim in old texts online. I did a lot of thinking on my commute, I knew his name would be Marcus and he would have slate grey eyes. When I researched nephilim, they were recorded to have grey eyes. Not that really existed, but it’s fun to imagine. I’ve always loved mythology and as a kid was entranced by films like Sinbad and Jason and the Argonauts.

  A celestial creature, the nephilim falls from grace. After centuries of fighting evil he succumbs to temptation and wonder...for Marcus the consequences are dire but we’ve all done that, though not literally! With my research obviously nephilim were not recorded as drinking vampire blood, it was said that if an under-worlder tried to drink the blood of a fallen angel this was the most heinous crime, so turning this around, I was excited to explore this as a story.