Blood of the Pure [COMPLETE]

Chapter 9 - Part 2

Part 2

The sound of a small bell woke me up and I instinctively pulled away, urgently looking for the threat's origin. I froze in place when I saw him sitting up, surrounded by the blanket. The eyes that stared at me were Human in shape but still silver in color, and the bandages around his naked torso were drenched in blood.

My heart jumped, making me react, although I still kept my distance.

"You shouldn't be sitting!" I said urgently. "Your wound ..."

"It doesn't hurt anymore," he simply answered. His voice was a child's voice, but his tone was far from childish.

"But," I started, confused.

"I heal fast. At least faster than you Humans," he added, contempt clear in his voice, and I was forcibly reminded that that child was nothing like me. "I still haven't healed completely, though." He pressed his bloodied bandages. "But tomorrow there won't be even a mark."

I swallowed hard. Although I was considerably frightened and knew he'd just tried to harm me, facing that child was nothing compared with the pure horror that took over me every time I was near Gabriel. Next to that child I could easily maintain control over my own body and thoughts.

"Your name is Lea?"

"Suileabhan," he corrected me and I was sure that it wasn't the first time I'd heard it.

"And you're that ... black cat?"

"It's my other shape," he simply explained.

I took a moment to digest it. "So, since the beginning that cat was you?" He tilted his head to one side, his silver eyes locked on me, and seemed puzzled by my question. I sighed understanding his silent answer, and took a sweaty hand to my face. The small cat I'd carried in my arms, the kitten that had slept in my bed, hadn't been a cat at all. "What's your true shape?"

"This is my primary shape. The shape my Master gave me," he answered with unmistakable pride in his child-like voice.

"Master?"

"You call him Gabriel."

My heart stopped for an instant. All that was needed was the simple mention of his name and the symptoms were immediately back.

"He knew who you were? Did you come with him?" I asked, trying to remain logical, and Lea shook his head.

"No. My Master evoked me once he was released. I waited a very long time for it to happen," he answered with a small smile and I felt a heavy weight on my chest. It was clear that child adored him. How could he have done something like that?

"How long is a long time?"

"Hmm ..." he mused taking his index finger to his lips, as if he was making some mental calculation, and smiled as he reached an answer. "Eighty Human years? More or less, I guess."

"Eighty years!" I retorted incredulously. "He was Sealed for eighty years?"

The boy lowered his gaze, looking sad, his skinny shoulders slanting down.

"A very long time, all alone in the darkness where there's nothing. No sound, no cold, no heat. I thought ... I thought I'd never see him again," he told me, his voice filled with pain, and I was speechless for a moment.

Darkness and nothing else? I couldn't imagine it. I remembered him standing still under the pouring rain, his face turned upwards towards the sky. At that time I hadn't understood what he'd meant when he said he was simply feeling. Eighty years of feeling nothing, seeing nothing, hearing nothing. I saw him as he slowly savored his food. If what that child said was true, those were things only Gabriel could probably truly appreciate. Usually people only valued things that they'd lost. That's what he'd told me.