Emma detected the change of pressure when she swallowed. "You said you'd lead us outside. We're going deeper underground."
"I told you we have to travel down before we can head up." The hermit responded, holding his torch. "Have a little faith in me, young lady, I know what I'm doing."
"Young lady?" That left a bad taste in Emma's mouth. "I might not look it, but I am much older than you."
"No you're not." The hermit brushed her off. He turned to the left dipping under an arch with painted horses galloping above them. "Watch your head." The hermit advised. "Stay close to me, the path gets narrow."
Emma kept close to her guide, and as the torchlight faded and her orb diminished, she grew uneasy. What if he's leading me into a trap, and he's in league with the vampires? I've seen that before.
"Why would I ever be in league with the murderous leeches that killed my father?" The hermit turned his head, giving Emma a sharp glance.
"What!? I didn't say-." Emma backed away shocked. "Are you a fucking mind-reader!?"
The middle aged man huffed in exhaustion. "I meant it when I swore I would never hurt you. I need you to trust me. Please, for your own sake."
"I don't have a choice." Emma hissed through her teeth. "Who are you? You're not just a crazy old hermit living in a cave."
"I am not." The hermit admitted. "Come. We're nearly through. Watch your head, once you get through you'll be in a wide chamber."
Emma followed his lead and sensed the space open up around her. It was pitch black where she couldn't see her own hand in front of her face. A cold sweat ran down her spine, and her glyphs prickled. She felt lost and trapped.
"You're safe." The hermit reassured her. "Can you make another light?" Emma took a deep breath and summoned a great orb, illuminating the chamber and revealing its wonders. She gaped, nearly collapsing on her feet.
Emma and hermit stood in a cavern painted with the images of humanoid birdlike figures. It was the first time she saw paintings of creatures other than animals, though one would have easily mistaken them as animal-human hybrids. Emma knew exactly what they were.
"Angels." Her eyes welled . Real angels. Not the pretty men and women in robes with wings and halos. Angels of how they actually looked,at least the choirs more connected to the Earth. Like her brethren, the Watchers.
Emma wandered the curved perimeter of the cavern, gazing in wonder at the angels flying above and around her, careful to avoid stepping on the fossilized bones of birds, rams, and deer. In the center of the chamber, she noticed a darker patch on the ground. Remnants of ancient fire. Emma wondered if this was a ceremonial chamber thousands of years ago . Humanity has always revered my mother's people long before the days they had names for them.
The wall in the back of the chamber drew her attention. Her pupils shrunk , and she approached with her racing heart thundering . The wall was decorated with hundreds of human hand-prints, all surrounding the clawed hand-print of a larger, birdlike creature. Emma covered her mouth, shuddering. An Egrigori. Her kin. Her family.
For all she knew, that could have been her very own mother's print on the wall.
Emma softly touched her palm to the angel's print, closing her eyes, truly connecting with her angelic heritage for the first time in her three hundred and ten years of life.
She heard a still breath and opened her eyes to the hermit standing beside her, his hand next to hers on the Egrigori's mark. His sleeve hung back, revealing the glyphs on his arms.
The same as hers.
"We've got one hell of a family, don't we Em?"
Emma jolted back, staring at the man in stark epiphany and utter disbelief. Her heartbeat nearly broke her ribcage, and tears blurred her sight.
The hermit comforted her in a soothing voice, wiping her tears away. "Now do you believe I wouldn't ever hurt you?"
Emma couldn't speak, eyes locked on the hermit with a shaking hand to her mouth. "You can't be....."
"I am." The hermit gently took her hand in his. "In life my name was Valerius, and I was the son of the human Aurelius and the angel Zaharial, our mother....." Dimples creased on his cheeks when he smiled. "I'm your brother Emma, and I've watched over you since the day you were born. Through your greatest triumphs and hardest times. I was always there to comfort and guide you, though you never knew it. I have never appeared to you in your adult life until now."
Adult life!? Millions of questions raced through Emma's mind, but she only managed to muster out one "Why now?" She stammered.
"Because you needed me." He smiled. "And I wasn't gonna let you stumble around a vampire ridden cave system lost in your fearful thoughts alone. Humans can't normally talk to their guardian angels, let alone see them, but being what you are, what we are, I thought I'd make myself known."
Emma questioned her sanity. Maybe this was a dream or she still lay on the cave floor unconscious from the crash in the head. "You're my guardian angel." Emma rambled. "I have a guardian angel.And it's my elder brother. My brother is my guardian angel. The ancestor of the Belmont Clan. The other Nephilim like me. My brother!" She dug her claws into her arm making it bleed. "OWWW Ow!!! Okay I'm awake! I'm awake! I'm not comatose or lying dead in some weird purgatory.....This is real!...This is real."
"It is real." Valerius confirmed. "Now stop clawing yourself! You'll hurt yourself and your blood will draw in the vampires. Two of them remain and you're in no state to confront them. You took a hard fall back there and if it weren't for me, your injuries would have been far worse, but you are still weakened and not up to your full strength. I need you to stay alive. For your sake and the sake of our family."
"Our family...?" Emma blinked dazed.
"Your bloodline and mine." Valerius clarified. "Your descendants wait outside with our mother who is damn near worried to death about you, but my bloodline searches the caves with your vampire thrall as his guide in the darkness. He will protect you, he is ready." Valerius smiled."You're doing great."
"Great in not passing out?" Emma remarked giddy. "Or great in not losing my damn mind discovering the crazy old cave hermit is actually my guardian Angel half-brother?"
"Well...those too!" Val laughed. " I meant great in being his own watchful guardian . You've done amazingly in protecting him all these years. Now it's his time to protect you. Have a little more faith in him than you did with me, will you?" He winked.
Bones and rocks crunched beneath Valerius's feet as he stepped away, his torchlight slowly faded into mist. "Once you step outside this cavern, follow the passage on your left and do not diverge from it. It will take you to the surface. "He smirked. "Be sure to keep a look out for a lost child up ahead."
"Wait!" Emma followed him. "You said you'd lead me out!"
"I just told you the way out Em." Valerius cocked his brow. "I don't need to hold your hand any further."
" You said you'd stay with me!" Her chest shuddered and teardrops wet the ancient floor. "Please! Brother!" She clutched his hand. "Don't leave!"
"I never left you, dear one." Valerius squeezed her hand in assurance. In the fading light, Emma felt arms wrap around her pulling her into a warm embrace. "I'll always be with you, little sister, even if you can't see me, and I will always watch over you. That was my oath when I became your guardian angel, and I've stood by it since the day you were born, through every hardship you've ever been through."
Val stroked her cheek, wiping the tears from her eyes. "I love you, and I am so proud of you. Watch over our mother for me. You know how she overworks herself sometimes." The torchlight vanished, and Emma found herself alone in the hall of angels.
She collapsed to the dusty floor, crying in raw emotion.
"Emma is that you?" Wind stirred and footsteps followed behind it. Vance's eyes caught sight of her."Emma!!"
"Vance!!" Emma exclaimed relieved.
The vampire swept over to her, kneeling down. "Are you hurt!?" He checked her over, prodding her limbs touching her head and smelling the blood caked in her hair. "Damn! Remain calm Em, we'll get you out of here!"
"Did you find her?" A voice called, and the ground crunched beneath running footsteps.
"Richter!" Emma wobbled on her feet and embraced the young Belmont when he met her. They hugged each other tightly beneath the painted wings of their ancestors. "Thank goodness you're all right."Richter was unashamed to cry. "We followed you all the way down! Vance picked up your scent and tracked it through the caves. Emma!" He touched the back of her head. "You were bleeding."
"I was." She touched the spot and felt her hair caked with blood. "I'm not now."
"Emma for God sake you left a blood trail all the way to this cave! It's a damn miracle no other vampires tracked you down."
Maybe not, maybe it was someone watching over me.
"And it's a good thing I'm not hungry." Vance joked. "I certainly would've found you faster. Being as cumbersome as it was keeping this hormonal meatbag from knocking his head at every turn, I'm glad we found you."
"Me too. Never thought I'd see a Belmont and a vampire working together."Emma chuckled, unable to laugh harder. It still hurt her chest. "Ow." She grunted.
"What's wrong?" Richter's eyes welled in concern.
"I banged myself up pretty hard when I fell. Broke my legs, my left arm, and cracked a rib. Now I'm sore as hell."
Richter gaped in disbelief. "Then how the hell are you even standing!?"
"I heal very quickly." Emma explained plainly. "But it takes a lot of energy for my bones to mend themselves at such an accelerated rate, and it makes me exhausted. Also hurts like a bitch. I'm starting to feel it now the adrenaline's wearing off." Her chest ached as she sighed. "I'll be no good fighting any foes creeping our way."
Vance supported her as she wobbled. "You only focus on walking on your two feet. Let us deal with the vampires should we meet them."
Richter unfurled the vampire killer. "I can handle them. You'll be safe."
"I know." She leaned against Vance, looking up at the angels on the ceiling. Richter finally noticed them from the glow light of his torch. "What the hell are those?"
"Angels." Emma answered. "Our ancestors."
"Fuck, we need to get you to your sister, you hit your head too hard."
"I'm not being loopy. Those are angels." Emma clarified. "Real angels. See the big clawprint surrounded by human hands? That's a Watcher's hand if I ever saw one. Could be her's, y'know, the Mother of the Belmont Clan." My mother. Emma smirked proudly.
"Yes. Zaharial. I know the story." Richter sighed. "The Belmonts are descended from the last Watcher. We can talk about fairy-tales later. Lets get you out of here."
Emma sunk, but Vance kept her straight and standing, rubbing her shoulder in assurance. She took one last look around the Hall of Angels, surprised to see the other handprint remain next to hers on the wall.