---Ethan’s POV---
It was only after what seemed a few minutes of pacing in my study on the upper floor that I realized that I had unintentionally missed breakfast. But I couldn’t help myself; after this morning, my curiosity to find out more about Caitlin had peaked and it was as if my personality had split two ways.
The old me, which was curious about who Caitlin really was and why she and Lilith had bonded at first sight. He was still there, but barely hanging on with my robotic self in charge. But outside… I shook my head as I slightly yanked at the ends of my hair when my hands passed through them.
I had been shocked when Caitlin blatantly refused to hear about my past, saying that it was my story to share. The other humans weren’t so noble and had been prying and searching for an answer, something that had unnerved me. I had obviously thought that Caitlin would be the same, lunging for the juicy details of my private life.
It was then that the hidden part of me had roared back to life and diverted Leo’s attention with a decoy, wanting to have some time on my own with Caitlin. My stare had bored down on her, slowly slipping past her defenses and I had caught glimpses of her laughing with her friends, her parents hugging her or just talking to her and a glimpse of her home.
The visions had snapped back before I could decipher it though when Lilith had waved her little hands in front of me, effectively breaking my telepathic connection wit Caitlin as I heard her whine “Daaaad, I’m hungry and if we don’t hurry, Leo and Lilly are going to eat everything!”
I had blinked and blinked again until I had realized that I had been trying to pry my way in Caitlin’s life and memories. My former self had been pushed to the back again when I took control of my heart and mind, reeling them both in tightly.
“What am I doing?” I hissed between my teeth as I mindlessly turned around to walk towards the windows and stare outside for a while. The fact that Caitlin seemed withdrawn after that little scene made me feel…sad. Why would I feel sad?
“Argh! What is she doing to me?” I snarled when every twist and turn of my feet, every path my mind ventured on, all ended the same way; Caitlin being stuck in my mind as if I had branded her image there.
An image of a smirking Deidra wrapped in the arms of that Demon forced itself to the forefronts of my mind, making me snap in anger as I hurled the closest thing I could lay my hands on to the wall.
The small and delicately crafted wooden side table smashed to splinters against the harsh and unforgiving stonewalls. Just like that, the anger faded away as the image of my mate in another’s arms evaporated into thin air. My shoulders slouched as I fell to my knees and held my hands in front of my face.
“Not again. I won’t let anyone get to me again. Never again.” I chanted to myself, shaking with suppressed emotions before I managed to get back on my feet. I couldn’t love someone again. I wouldn’t. I hid those feelings a long time ago and I wasn’t about to let them out any time soon, or ever.
I would just have to make sure that my old self stays locked away, no matter what happens. I would just have to remain completely in control and make sure to Caitlin that whatever this is…..
God, are you even listening to yourself Ethan? She hasn’t got anything to do with it! Grow some balls and live again will ya? My older self seemed to sneer at the thoughts running inside my head. He-I was right but I was too scared to act on it.
I was too scared to love again. My heart had suffered the most under the breaking of the Bond between me and my soulmate and above all, if my soulmate couldn’t love me back, why would anyone else be even possible to do so?
The creaking of the door made me look up to see Lilith glide around the corner and patter towards me on her bare feet. Her previous twinkle in her eyes had been doused and her smile had been replaced by a deep frown.
Unconsciously, I stepped forwards and reached out with my hands to cup her face, noticing that I had kneeled in front of her when she came to a halt. Lilith stared at me with those pained azure eyes before she started sniveling.
“Hey, hey. What’s the matter sweetheart?” I hushed as I quickly scooped her up to hug her close to my chest before I made my way to the large seat behind my desk and leaned back with Lilith in my lap. Instead of replying, she just shook her head and hid her face in my shirt, which worried me.
A hesitant knock on the door made me look up and I became slightly agitated when I noticed that Caitlin stood there, one hand still held up against the door while the other gingerly held the handle, as if she was afraid I would snap at her.
My mind filled with the vision of my face, a scowl etched on it as a hard gleam filled my eyes. Lilith removed her hand off my throat and I realized that she had shown me why Caitlin hasn’t stepped in the room yet.
I gave myself a mental kick and reformed my expression into a tired smile as I motioned for Caitlin to come in. She slowly stepped in the room, as if she was a jumpy prey, aware of the predator lurking in the shadows.
“That’s what happens if you glare at people as if they’re the reason Deidra abandoned us.” My mind offered as an explanation. I shook the answer away, turning my eyes back on my daughter, as she still hasn’t removed her face from the crook of my neck.
“I’m sorry to bother you sir, but Lilith just disappeared without a word.” Facing Caitlin once more, I raised an eyebrow as my curiosity grew. “What happened?” I inquired softly, managing to hold control over myself.
---Caitlin’s POV---
I shrugged in reply to Ethan’s question, shaking my head afterwards. “I have no idea. One moment Lilith was asking me to go on a walk with her on the grounds and the next she grabs her head, says that you’re not feeling well and then she was gone sir.”
My eyes kept looking somewhere under his, avoiding a direct gaze. Although I protected my mind, Lilith had pointed out that even though my past was shielded, didn’t mean that Ethan wouldn’t notice. He could still sense that something was there, but hidden, and that would cause questions to be asked, questions that I didn’t want to answer.
Everything would be easier if the others thought I was human. My eyes flashed towards Ethan’s face as he groaned to himself before shaking his head. “I can’t belief that I forgot that my daughter is an Empath. I’m sorry my dear.” He apologized, rubbing his hand soothingly over Lilith’s back. She just shook her head and kept her face hidden from us.
A thought sprung to mind and I frowned slightly, looking down at my feet. If Lilith was an Empath, that meant that- My chain of thought was broken by Ethan clearing his throat, saying, “Is something wrong Caitlin?”
I shook my head slightly, mumbling, “Just a thought.” Ethan leaned back in the seat and slightly lifted Lilith as he crossed his legs before settling her down again. “Please share.” He added when I remained silent. Waving a hand towards Lilith and him, I revealed, “I couldn’t help but wonder if that’s the reason that Lilith was supposed to be so…empty, devoid of life. I can imagine that you were too.”
My eyes widened slightly when that last part slipped out of my mouth, since I wasn’t supposed to know anything about Ethan’s past, but here I am, hinting that I did know. Lucky for me, Ethan didn’t seem to realize as he sat back with his mouth hanging open in shock before he seemed to recover slightly, shaking his head.
“I-I…never thought of that.” He uttered silently, his facial expression growing sad as he looked down at his daughter. “I-if I had known…” He trailed off, looking away from both Lilith and me, staring of in the distance. I remained silent for a moment, not knowing what to say.
Eventually, the silence was really thick in the room, so I said cautiously, “Well, I’m sure that whatever happened to made you feel that way, and in turn Lilith, wasn’t your fault.” Ethan didn’t react, just stared outside for a while longer before he slowly nodded his head and glanced at me. “Thank you. You can go.”
I nodded and took the two steps back to the room but halted when Lilith whispered, “Stay.” Looking back, I noticed that she slightly peeked from under her father’s arm and looked from me to the seat in the corner, as if silently asking me to sit down. Looking for confirmation by glancing up at Ethan, I walked towards the seat and looked around in the room before my eyes fell on the bookshelf next to me.
“May I?” I asked, pointing at the books. Ethan seemed slightly distracted as he looked at me before snapping out of it, “Oh. Uhm, yes, of course.” I slipped one of the books out between its brothers and sisters and flipped it open, using it as an excuse to remain in the room without feeling uncomfortable.
Inside however, I was thinking; what happened with Lilith and Ethan made my resolve strengthen that their souls were pure and worth saving. Although it was the reason that I had been kicked out of my own real, I decided to give them the same courtesy as I did with another vampire a few months prior my exile.
You see, as an Angel, you can choose who you protect, hence the name Guardian Angel. Humans believed that Guardian Angels were a separate kind of angels but they were wrong. Every angel could pick his or her charge, even multiple charges at once. The angel felt when their charge were in danger and could appear by their side to help them through their ordeal.
Normally, the more problems a human, vampire or whatever the charge was had, the stronger the angel had to be. Since I was an interbreed between a Seraphim and a Virtue, which were both very strong Angels, I guessed that I could protect both of them with minimal effort.
My eyes flicked out of the book and landed on Lilith. She needed the protection the most though; Ethan could handle himself for a while longer. Lilith was now sitting up in her fathers lap and looking at his fingers, which rapidly flew over his laptop on the desk.
Choosing someone as your charge, your protégé was a draining task; the angel had to connect with their charge on a emotional en mental level and offer them a feather of their own wings without them knowing. I knew that Lilith would instantly know who the feather came from when her father realized it was the feather of an Angel, but she would have touched it by then, forming a trinket that she could wear on her all times.
Focusing on my wings, I started going over each and every feather that was there. I quickly skipped the down feathers, because Lilith needed more protection than comfort. My mind altered between the large flight feathers on the very edge of my wings or the slightly smaller ones in-between. Making my choice with the smaller ones, I looked in the book whilst focusing on making the feather appear above Lilith and Ethan’s head.
A snap of light filled the air, filling every crack and corner with blinding light and the shocked exclamations of Ethan combined with the slight scream of Lilith before it disappeared as quickly as it came.
Slowly swirling down, the white feather showed its blue glimmer as it danced through the air before landing on the desk before a shocked Ethan and Lilith. I myself was shocked as well, but not for the same reasons as the others.
My formerly pure white with a shade of blue feathers had apparently been marked by the chains; strokes of pitch-black marred the white, making me think about the feathers of a Blue Jay, only that the blue color was an illusion.
Ethan slowly leaned forwards, his eyes bulging as his mouth fell open before he hesitantly lifted the large feather in the air. Although I had given Lilith a smaller flight feather, it was still distinctively larger than any feather that would come of any type of bird. If Ethan would place it against his arm, the feather would reach from his fingertips down to the pit of his elbow.
He held the feather against the light, his eyes gliding over the markings and the color. By his actions, I knew he immediately recognized it as a feather of an Angel. By holding our feathers against the light, it would become see-through and illuminant. Light in a solid form, because we truly were creatures of light.
“T-This…c-can’t be…” Ethan managed to stutter in a shocked tone as I did my best to look as equally shocked as well. Wouldn’t want him to become suspicious. Lilith leaned forwards in her father’s arms and stared at the feather in wonder and adoration. “What is it daddy?” She asked softly, almost whispering.
Ethan’s nostrils flared slightly as he mulled things over, before he looked at the doors. As if Ethan’s gaze summoned him, Leo pushed the doors open and walked inside, stopping at the sight of the large feather. “Holly sh-“ Ethan snapped his gaze at Leo before glancing down at his daughter.
Leo smacked his hand over his mouth to stop himself from cursing, still staring in awe at my feather in Ethan’s hands. “Bloody hell, that’s an Angel’s feather! Where did you get that?” He exclaimed loudly once he was over his shock. His nearly shouted words was followed by thudding footsteps and a few seconds later, the room was filled with people, all of them staring in awe at the feather.
“It fell on the desk. There was first a bright light filling the room, preventing me to see anything and then it was gone, and this feather twirled down.” Ethan replied, fingering the feather delicately, as if it was a fragile piece of porcelain. Leo nodded slowly and wiped his thumb and forefinger around his lips in thought before pointing at the object of their curiosity.
“It’ s not yours though.” He stated, looking at Ethan who simply shook his head. “No,” He replied, “If it was, the feather would have changed, according to the legends.” Leo nodded slowly as Nicolas stepped forwards with a frown on his face. “What legends? And what do you mean by ‘the feather would have changed.’ Feathers don’t change.”
Ethan looked up after carefully placing the feather down. “There are records of Angels sending one of their feathers down to those they choose to protect. It is a very valuable gift, and one should feel honored to be chosen as that Angel’s charge.” He explained, intertwining his hands as he looked at Nicolas in thought.
“To answer your other question, once the chosen touches the feather, it should change into a form that makes it easy to carry around. May it be a trinket, a necklace, a pair of earrings…j-just like that.” Ethan gasped in shock as Lilith had reached forwards to glide her little fingers over the feather.
It hummed at her touch and became cloaked in a azure light before it was replaced by a small necklace in the shape of a silver feather. Lilith stared at the necklace in shock before gingerly holding it up. “Is it…for me?” She asked, raising big, questioning eyes towards her father.
He replied by picking the necklace up and clasped it around her throat before leaning back to look at it. The silver feather rested just in the small pit at the bottom of Lilith’s throat, glistening slightly against her skin in a mysterious light. Ethan leaned back in his seat and lifted his eyes towards the ceiling as he muttered, “Thank you.”
Lilith whispered it too, but the glance she shot towards me made me smile; she knew it was from me. I barely moved my head in a near invisible nod and smiled again as Ethan sat back up straight and smiled at everyone in the room, his normally gloomy expression brightened, as if a weight has lifted off his shoulders.
---Zadkiël’s POV---
“Did you feel that?” I asked to the others, spotting them a few miles behind me as they hovered in the air. Their wings silently pushed the air away, allowing them to stay in the same spot as I twisted around to watch their expressions.
Nathaniel’s face gleamed with hope as he nodded. “That was Caitlin’s energy. She truly is on this planet.” His face slowly turned to a miserable one as he sighed, “But how are we going to find her before anything happens? This planet is enormous!”
I sighed and shook my head slightly as he and Gabriël flew closer to me. “I don’t know. All we can do is focus and try to find the spot where she landed. We can go further from there.” Nathan nodded dejectedly before we swooped down and landed, pulling our wings back and hid them from sight.
Gabriël glanced at Nathan and sighed slightly before patting him on his back. “We’ll find her man. But you must know that she can never return to our realm. And you can’t remain here, you know that.” He added when Nathan opened his mouth to protest.
It was true; only the Fallen could stay for a prolonged time out of our realm. The other Angels had to return after their task was completed. Those were the rules.
And it seemed like Nathan was trying to find his way around them.
Hope you like it ^-^
The action is starting soon :D I'm just working out some issues between Ethan and the others :p
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