Overshadow

by Brea Essex

  “Well?”

  “Okay, okay, I feel a little different. Like strange, but in a good way. I feel… stronger.”

  He nodded. “I told you.”

  I gave him a withering look. “Are we really going to do ‘I told you so’s’?”

  A short laugh escaped his mouth. “No. There will be time for ‘I told you so’s’ later.” He stared at me for a moment. “There’s something I need to try.” His hand encircled my wrist and he pulled me closer to him. He smoothed my hair back from my face. “You loved me first. Just forget about my brother.”

  I sucked in a breath, breathing deeply of his scent of sunlight and salt. How had I never noticed how he smelled like the ocean? I stared into his crystal eyes, feeling as though I were drowning in them. What had I just been talking about…? “I-I…”

  He placed a bronzed finger softly against my lips. “Shh… don’t fight this, my sweet Rae.” He leaned down and his mouth replaced his finger.

  I melted against him, my arms automatically reaching up to wrap around his neck, threading my fingers into his hair. I think I stopped breathing as I kissed him. I staggered backwards, running up against the wall. He pinned me close, trapping me in his embrace.

  Something seemed wrong. I struggled to pull loose from the pleasantly mind-numbing fog clouding my brain. Logan, a voice whispered in the back of my head.

  I pulled my hand free of his hair. Hauling back, I slapped him across the face as hard as I could. Palm stinging, I attempted to shove him away from me.

  “I’m with your brother!”

  Andrei leaned back. “Not technically.”

  “I thought you were good now!” I shouted. “Get away from me.” I struggled against him, but he wouldn’t budge. I started to panic. Had he been fooling me this whole time? Was he just pretending to be good so he could get me to trust him again? How could I have been so blind?

  Growing desperate now, my mind reeled while I tried to figure out a way to escape him. He was infinitely stronger than me, and Logan wasn’t around this time to save me. A crackling energy formed around my palms. I didn’t stop to question it. I pushed him once more, putting all my force behind it. He flew across the room and crashed into the opposite wall. He collapsed to the floor, taking my chair with him. He stared up at me, looking stunned. Sparks still shot around him, but they quickly diffused. I stared down at my hands in frustration and amazement. Little sparks of white-hot energy still crackled, but they didn’t burn me.

  I looked back at Andrei, who was pulling himself to his feet. “Don’t shoot. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean anything by it.”

  The energy disappeared from my palms. I clenched my fists at my sides. “I’m not afraid to fight you, Andrei. I refuse to be scared of you anymore. Kill me if you want. I’m not going to help you.” Truth be told, I was beginning to feel afraid of him again, but I couldn’t admit that.

  He held his hands up to ward me off. “No need to fight. I don’t want anything from you. I want you. All of you. That’s all.”

  “How do I know that you’re not just trying to manipulate me into helping you?”

  “You don’t know. But I need you to trust me.”

  “Why? You’ve kidnapped me, held me captive, starved me, and tried to kill me.”

  “I would never truly hurt you, Rae. You know that I only did all of that at my mother’s orders.” He approached me cautiously. “I love you, Raena.”

  “You don’t know what love is.”

  “And you do? You had feelings for me once, before you decided to abandon me for my brother.” He leaned close. “Tell me you didn’t feel anything when we kissed.”

  I took a small step back, then cursed myself for showing weakness by retreating. I thought about it for a moment. I had felt something when we kissed, but it was nothing like when I kissed Logan. Confusion filled me. How could I claim to love Logan, yet enjoy kissing Andrei?

  I looked Andrei directly in the eyes. “I didn’t feel anything.”

  He reeled back as though I had slapped him again. “You lie.”

  “I’m not.” I was determined to stand my ground.

  “I know you lie. I can tell.” He reached up and ran his hand across my cheek. It took all my willpower to not lean into his caress. “I can see it in your eyes,” he said.

  If I pulled away or even looked away, then he would definitely know I was lying. I remained silent instead.

  We stared each other down for a few moments. Neither of us gave up. Finally Andrei dropped his hand and backed away. “Fine. Don’t admit that you have feelings for me.” He turned and paced away. “I know you still do, despite everything. I’ve apologized again and again. I don’t know what else to do.” He stopped and faced me again, his eyes clouded with pain. “I could give you everything. Don’t you understand that? What do I have to do to get you to love me? I’ll go straight up to the gates of Heaven and let the avenging angels rip off my wings and take my powers. I’ll live on earth as a mortal. Do I have to get down on my knees and beg?” He knelt before me and took my hand. “Please, forget about my brother. I’ll find a way to break the spell on him if I can, to turn him back to the person he was. Just promise you’ll be with me.”

  I was stunned. Tears began to form in my eyes. How could I say no to that? “Andrei, please get up.”

  He remained on the floor. “No.” He bent his head over my hand and kissed the back of it softly. His black wings appeared. He dropped the glamour that allowed him to appear human. “From this day forward, I pledge myself to you. I cast aside all other bonds of loyalty. I renounce my allegiance to Asura and Lucifer. I will follow only you, Raena.”

  The air shimmered around us. I looked about, trying to figure out what had just happened. “Andrei, what did you do?” I whispered.

  “Just say you’ll have me,” he replied just as softly.

  “Andrei…”

  “I don’t mean like that. Even if you never love me the way I want, I will still love you. Just say you’ll accept my service.”

  “Then you’ll get up?”

  He nodded. “Then I’ll get up.”

  It looked like he was giving me no choice. “Fine. I accept your service.” The air that had been shimmering around us was almost palpable. A silver glow formed, lightening until it nearly blinded us.

  As I watched in amazement, Andrei’s wings began to lighten imperceptibly. My eyes grew wide. “Andrei, your wings…”

  He glanced back at them. “They’re lighter.” He stood up and went over to stand in front of my wall mirror. His wings were now an extremely dark grey. They were quite a bit lighter than the black they had previously been.

  “Do you know what this means?” he asked.

  I shook my head. He wasn’t looking at me. He still stared at his wings in the mirror. “Uh… no.”

  He faced me, eyes shining. “It means I’m free.” He strode over to me and threw his arms around me. It was considerably different from his earlier embrace. This felt more friendly, less romantic.

  “You’ve set me free,” he whispered against my hair. “Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome? I didn’t do anything.”

  He leaned back and grabbed my shoulders. “Yes, you did. You accepted me when no one else would. You believed in me… you believed I could be good, what I once was.” His eyes searched my face. “My mother was right. You are the child of the prophecy.”

  “I thought your mother lied to you.”

  “Well, she did,” he admitted. “About a lot of things, anyway. But apparently not about this. Only the child of the prophecy could have set me free.”

  “I don’t understand. I thought you redeemed yourself.”

  “I did, sort of. I guess you can say that I started the process when I first chose good. By believing in me, accepting me, you freed me from the influence of my mother and the Morningstar. Now I can begin the process to fully redeem myself to the Creator.”

  “How do you do that?”

  “I ha
ve no idea. But the point is I’m free to find out now. It’s all because of you.”

  This time I walked away. I sat on my bed. “I don’t think it’s because of me, Andrei. This was your choice. And to tell you the truth, I wasn’t even entirely sure what was going on, or even if you were able to be good when I said I accepted your service — whatever that’s supposed to mean.”

  “But despite your hesitations, you still accepted me. I guess that’s the key. You chose to accept me for what I am, exactly as I am. It’s what the Creator would do, what He would want. This is why you must be the child of the prophecy.”

  “Look, I don’t claim to be anything like your Creator. I don’t even understand who or what He is.”

  “He’s your Creator too, not just mine. And it’s okay if you don’t understand Him. I’m not sure anyone is supposed to. As to being like Him, no one expects that, least of all Him.”

  I stared at Andrei. “None of this makes any sense. What exactly is this prophecy? How do you know that I’m the person who it speaks of? Why would your Creator pick me when I don’t even know anything about Him?”

  “He works in strange ways. I’ve found over the years that He chooses the most unlikely people, or creatures. As to you being the one the prophecy speaks of, I know it’s you. It tells of a female Nephilim, and you’re the only one to come along in centuries. Trust me, I’ve been watching very closely.”

  “Because you wanted to kill her?”

  “No! I wanted to be redeemed. I wanted to be forgiven for my treachery and to be returned to Heaven. I’ve regretted the part that I took in the Great War for centuries. Each and every day of my existence, I prayed to the Creator, hoping he would still deign to hear me and send the instrument of my redemption.”

  “Couldn’t He have redeemed you Himself?”

  “Yes, of course He could have. He had offered us a choice. He always allows free will. Unfortunately I took the wrong path. So He provided an alternative way. I had already rejected the first path He laid out for me. Through you, He’s giving me another chance. I just have to work harder for it.”

  “So what exactly is this prophecy you keep talking about? I know you said something about a female Nephilim, that’s apparently me. But what exactly does it say?”

  “I’m not sure. I’ve never heard the whole thing, but I think you’ve done it. At least you’ve set it into motion by helping me.”

  “So what’s the next step?”

  “Well, we have to get Logan back to himself.”

  “Even if it means he and I get back together?”

  “Yes,” he replied quietly, “even if it means that.”

  I shouldn’t have brought it up, but I had to know he was truly on my side. “Then what?”

  “I’m not entirely sure. I know we have to defeat my mother.”

  “How do we do that?”

  “I have no idea. But I think between the three of us, we can do it.”

  “Three?”

  “You, Logan, and me.”

  “What good am I?”

  “What? What do you mean, what good are you? You’re the instrument of the prophecy. You’re way more powerful than you think. You just threw me across the room with lightning. That’s supposed to be my power. I don’t know how you got it.”

  “Yeah, about that… how did it happen?”

  “I just said I don’t know. Usually, we all have our own unique powers. Judging by the lightning and the gold light you said you previously used when you tried to heal Logan, it sounds like you somehow got both of our powers.”

  I hadn’t thought about the fact that the golden light that surrounded me when I tried to heal might somehow be associated with the golden light Logan could control. “Why didn’t I think about that before?”

  “What?”

  “The golden light. It really is the same as Logan’s, isn’t it?”

  “Well, yes, I believe so.”

  “So what is it?”

  “I don’t know. I think it has something to do with the archangels.”

  “Is that what Logan is?”

  “I don’t know. Our mother never told me who Logan’s father is. Only she knows.”

  “But it’s possible? That he’s an archangel?”

  He hesitated. “Again, I don’t know. The archangels are secretive. They’re held to a higher standard than the other angels. They always have been. But I suppose it would be possible. Does it really matter?”

  “Would it help us defeat your mother?”

  “An archangel’s power? I’m sure it would. They’re more powerful than the other angels and certainly more powerful than the devils. But even if he isn’t an archangel, I’m sure we could take her down.”

  “How do we do that anyway?”

  “I’m not going to lie to you. It will be extremely dangerous. It’s entirely possible that one of us — or maybe even all of us — could lose our lives in the process. But if it rids the world of her, it would be worth it.” He eyed me. “We need to teach you how to fight.”

  “Logan already started teaching me.”

  “Oh? I’m assuming this was before?”

  “Before he turned all evil? Yes. It was when you were trying to hunt me down.”

  He winced. “How many times do I have to apologize for that?”

  “You don’t anymore. It’s forgiven.”

  “Good.” He relaxed. “So what did he teach you? Any offensive tactics? Sword fighting?”

  “Umm… he taught me some karate.”

  “Like defense? That’s not good enough. We need to get you on the offensive. We need to start your training.”

  “Training in what?”

  “Weaponry.”

  “Why do I need a weapon?”

  “You need to know how to fight. You may have to face Serafina someday, or even worse, my mother. Self-defense isn’t going to be enough. You need a blade.”

  “What kind of blade?” I asked suspiciously. “I don’t want a blade.”

  “My mother is a weapons master. She led the charge against Michael and the Creator’s army. You don’t want to face her without some sort of edged, extremely sharp weapon at your disposal.”

  I gave in. “Fine. Give me the weapon.”

  “It doesn’t work like that. I can’t choose the blade for you. That’s a personal choice.”

  “I don’t know anything about weapons! How can I choose?”

  “I didn’t say it was your choice. The blade chooses you.”

  I was pretty sure he’d lost his mind. Weapons didn’t have a mind of their own. “How exactly does that work?” I asked skeptically.

  “Close your eyes.”

  Of course that was my first order. I complied. “Now hold out your hand,” Andrei continued.

  I did as he said. Nothing happened. I cracked one eye open and stared at him. “I think something’s wrong.”

  “You weren’t concentrating hard enough. You have to visualize the weapon.”

  “I thought you said the blade chose me.”

  “Just close your eyes again.” I closed them. “Now concentrate on a sword. Any sword will do this one time. After this, you can picture your specific weapon.”

  I thought about the first sword, or rather, swords, that came to mind: Logan’s katanas. I thought about how he had looked when he was fighting with them… when he was himself.

  “Concentrate harder,” Andrei instructed softly.

  I doubled my efforts, thinking about the way Logan moved with his swords. Finally I focused on the weapons themselves. I felt a weight in my outstretched hand. “You can open your eyes now,” Andrei said.

  I did so and looked down at the blade that appeared, glowing in my hand. The hilt was wrapped in black leather. It was golden, and the blade silver with symbols etched on it. To my untrained eye, it was virtually indistinguishable from one of Logan’s blades. I smiled softly in satisfaction.

  I looked back at Andrei. “I did it!”

  He stared at the
weapon in my hand. He looked upset. “I thought…”

  “What?”

  “Never mind.” He looked up at me. “So, a sword like my brother’s. That’s new. Usually everyone has their own unique weapon.”Sarcasm colored his tone.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing, I just — I just thought… when you started shooting lightning, that it meant you were leaning toward choosing me. That even though you threw me across the room, our kiss meant something to you and helped you connect to your powers. Now I see you standing here with a sword practically identical to Logan’s… maybe I was wrong.”

  I felt bad, but I hadn’t given him any indication I was going to get back with him… had I? “Look, you said yourself that we don’t choose our weapons ourselves, right? The lightning was just coincidental. I didn’t control that any more than I controlled what sword I ended up with.” I didn’t want to tell him I had been thinking of Logan with his swords. “I also can’t control the golden light that seems to appear whenever I try to heal.”

  “Wait… what?”

  “I’ve tried to heal Logan before. I think I even succeeded briefly. Whenever I try, this golden light appears around my hands.”

  “Just like my brother’s.”

  “Yeah, I guess.”

  He turned and began to pace. “How is this happening? You should be gaining your own powers, manifesting your own sword, not just the same as Logan’s and mine. I bet you could conjure up a broadsword or slip into someone’s dreams right now!”

  “Do you want me to try?” I asked hesitantly.

  “No, I don’t want you to try. Don’t be ridiculous. I just don’t understand how you have the same powers as us, but no others.”

  “Could it be transferred by kissing?” Stupid question, I knew, but it was the only explanation I could think of. I had kissed both Andrei and Logan.

  He stopped pacing and laughed at me. “Of course not!”

  I shrugged. “Just a suggestion.” At least I distracted him from his pacing. “So, how do I get ready to face your mother?”

  He grabbed my chin and tilted it up so I was looking directly at him. “Do not underestimate my mother. She will kill you, given the chance.”