“Why would you say that?” I asked, sitting up.
“Georgiana, your life would be infinitely simpler if you’d never even met me. You would have been able to fall in love with…the boy without complications. You would be happy.”
I shook my head. “My life was never supposed to be happy. If I’d never met you, I probably would have died that day in the cafeteria or the time before that with the drylock. If you weren’t around, if you weren’t in my life I would already be dead, ten times over.”
“What I’m trying to say is I’m a complication. The fact that we…love each other is a complication.”
“Things happen, Michael, all the time. I don’t know why they do, or how, but they do. And more times than not, they happen to good people. I don’t regret falling in love with you, I just don’t like how complicated it is and has to be. I don’t like the fact that you are so close but I can’t have you. And part of that is my fault, hell more than part. It’s just not fair and I want to know why it has to be this way.”
“Αγάπη, calm down.”
My jaw snapped closed. I hated when he called me that, it was cheating. I glared at him. He looked down at my bare feet. I’d managed to change while Max talked at me about my destiny and how I was screwing it up. He hadn’t touched bare skin yet. He made sure he didn’t while his arm was resting over my ankles.
But now he looked like he was contemplating it.
“Michael…”
“Why’d you do it?” He looked up at me. “Why’d you sleep with him?”
That was the first time he’d asked me that. I blinked at him.
“What?”
“Why did you do it? Was it pity, spur of the moment, love? Why did you do it?”
I stared at him. “There’s no easy answer for that.”
His hand grabbed my ankle. Don’t lie to me. Why did you do it?
Stop it, Michael.
You wanted to talk about this before. We have time. Tell me.
I couldn’t come up with anything and I tried not to think. But I went over everything before hand. I started with the moment I told my brother I wasn’t going to Formal.
I stared at Michael while the night played out in my head.
Everyone had tried to get me to go but it was Michael’s note that finally convinced me to do it. And then Aidan showed up at my door, dressed in his tux. The night fast forwarded to the conversation I had with him in the lobby. I stopped it the instant he said what I’d wanted to hear from him and from Michael.
I told you I loved you, I still do. I wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize…Ana, I’d wait for you forever if I have to.
That was it. I’d wanted someone who was willing to wait through everything. Someone who wanted me forever and wasn’t afraid of waiting and dealing with the few bumps in the road that came along.
Michael closed his eyes and his face looked sad. I read in his mind that he understood now.
All you had to do was stay. I said to him. That’s all. He was willing. You…let your ego get in the way.
He looked up at me, his eyes full of tears. If I’d stayed…
I would have given anything to be with you. I was at the point that I didn’t care what everyone else thought. It didn’t matter anymore. I just wanted you. But I had to settle.
It sounded horrible. It really did, that I had settled with Aidan. But I had fallen for society’s idea that he was right for me, he was the perfect match. And I loved him, I really did. But I didn’t want perfect, I wanted normal yes, but not perfect. Michael was…hostile, volatile, dangerous. That’s how society viewed him. But through my eyes, I didn’t see any of that. I saw the guy who patched me up after I tore stitches, the guy that stayed up all night to talk to me, the guy who comforted me after my cat was murdered. The guy that defended me time and again.
The Michael I saw was my definition of perfect. No one else’s.
Michael’s face crumbled when he heard all of that. He looked tortured, agonized as he finally figured it all out. Why I kept asking him to come back, how much it hurt me that he wouldn’t. His would-be sacrifice was in vain because what I was willing to give him, he’d forced me to give someone else, someone I’d settled for.
He moved quickly, coming up from the end of the couch. His mouth connected with mine and the room detonated with emotion. I loved him, I wanted him. He loved me, he wanted me. And as it had been with seeing him for the first time after separation, the dreams never did him justice. He felt so good, he tasted and smelled so, so good. He kissed better than I remembered. Shock seemed to strike me, like lighting. All my limbs seemed to turn to rubber, I knew what I wanted and at this point in time I was going to do everything in my power to get it. There was more urgency in his kisses than in mine. But I couldn’t seem to care. The world seemed to spin, everything turned upside down, but nothing seemed to matter.
I faintly heard someone knock but I didn’t do anything about it. I was too focused on Michael and his skin against mine. But then the knocking grew too loud for either of us to ignore. Michael growled and drew back, his eyes locking on the door and the intruder behind it.
I closed my eyes and tried to sort out my own thoughts from his. He was angry, upset that someone had interrupted us. I didn’t want him to be angry so I opened my eyes and touched his face, drawing his attention back to me.
He looked down at me, his anger quickly turning to love as our eyes connected.
Don’t be angry.
His eyes traveled down to my mouth and he swallowed.
Why is there always someone interrupting us?
Luck of the draw.
His mouth quirked up in the corner. He sat up and pulled me up, draping my legs across his lap.
“Come in,” he finally said.
A young woman walked into the room and stopped when she spotted us on the couch.
“I’m here to offer my services.”
I was confused but Michael rolled his eyes.
“You’re not needed. You can go.”
“But sir—”
Michael interrupted her. “I said go.”
“As you wish.”
She turned and left the room. “What services was she offering?”
“Some of the Coven like their blood…fresh.”
“Oh…oh. You mean she…”
“Yes.”
“I thought humans weren’t allowed in Vampire Domain.”
“She’s not human. She’s a Conduit. It’s a species whose blood can be anything you want it to be.”
“That’s…gross.”
He smiled. “Only you would think that was gross.”
“No,” I shook my head, “I’m sure tons of people think that’s gross.”
His smile dimmed a little. “There are a few things we need to talk about.”
“Ok,” I said, reaching out and taking one of his hands.
“While we are here, you are sure to hear some—stories about me. Most of them are horrible, but knowing my uncle and some of the other Coven members they won’t be afraid to tell you the truth about me. I’ve tried to protect you from my past while keeping you informed of it. I just want you to be prepared for what the others might tell you.” He paused, rubbing his eyes with one hand. “I want you to remember that it was a long time ago. I was a different person then, things were different.”
“I know that.”
“Good, now we need to talk about Max.”
“What about Max?”
“How long have you known him?”
I thought for a moment calculating the years. I was hard to determine because it felt like he had been with me forever, only leaving me when Luke had shown up.
“As long as I can remember, he was constantly around. My parents thought it was normal to have imaginary friends when you are young. I would bring him up occasionally and they would just nod and smile. After I reached a certain age, my parents informed me that I was too old to have an imaginary friend. On Max’s last visit he told me he was going to be gone for a while, possibly forever. He told me it was possible I would never see him again.”
“So you didn’t think he really existed?” I shook my head. “Do you know what he is?”
“I thought he was a figment of my imagination. But didn’t you call him something earlier? What was it…?”
“Nephilim.”
“What exactly does that mean?”
“It’s what a child is called when a fallen angel mates with a human woman.”
“I’ve heard of fallen angels before, but aren’t they supposed to be bad?”
“Some believe that, yes, however, not all of them were completely horrible. Some were cast out because they committed mortal sins. Max’s father was one of them.”
“What did he do?”
“Olivier fell in love with a human woman, put her before God. So when the war in Heaven happened, he sided with Lucifer in hopes of being able to stay with her forever. She turned out to be Max’s mother.”
“What happened to her?”
“She was destroyed by one of Olivier’s fellow fallen angels. There is a decree by God that if a child of a fallen wishes to, they may try to redeem their fallen parent. Most of them are assigned to be guardians to people who will one day affect the fate of the world. They only guard these special people.”
“There is nothing special about me, Michael.”
“You don’t think so?” he said, squeezing my hand. “You are the first child born to a Slayer who did not mate with someone within the Slayer race. It’d never been heard of before you came along. Some thought it impossible.”
“What about my brother? He has the same parentage, but I don’t ever remember him having an imaginary friend.”
“He was probably assigned one but once they found out that he didn’t have any trace of the Slayer gene, they abandoned him to his own fate. I know it sounds cruel but I’m sure your brother’s destiny isn’t as big as yours. You carry both genes. That’s what sets you apart from your brother.”
“But I’ve never shifted before.”
“You’ve shifted before,” Max said from the direction of the door.
Michael and I looked over to where Max was standing. I looked surprised while Michael looked somewhere close to agitated. Max, however, ignored Michael and continued his story while walking over to where we were sitting.
“You were young when you did it, sixteen months I think. Sebastis was just born and you saw him do it. You’d been trying to do it all day since. You would get this funny look on your face. When your parents went out and the baby sitter got there she was in for the shock of her life. Sebastis was sleeping and the sitter was putting you down for the night. Your face scrunched up and the sitter thought you were doing something else so she went to get stuff to change you. She came back only to find a panther in your bed, she freaked out and called your parents.
“When they got home they had her memory changed and yours along with it. They knew you were special. That’s when you got me. I was told to stay and watch over you, guard you and give you advice when you needed it. I was to stay until you came of age to get a Guardian. But I stayed longer than I was supposed to.”
“Should I even ask why?” I said.
“I became…attached. And I heard rumors of a Vampire prophecy. I wanted to protect you from the fate it told of but…it appears you’ve grown an attachment of your own.” Max stared at Michael with a murderous glare. “If I knew it was you they were talking about I never would have left her alone.”
I heard the door open and Luke walked in. “It wasn’t your decision to make, Max.” Luke closed the door with a loud click. This was starting to become a party. Luke took a few steps in and stopped, looking from Max to me. “I found him in your room one day while you were at school. I told him his assignment there was long over and it was time for him to move on. I was your Guardian for about two years when this happened. By that time he should have been long gone.”
I looked from face to face while they were looking at each other.
“Well, that’s just fascinating,” I murmured.
Michael squeezed my hand. Shh, if you want to hear the rest.
“Why are you here, Max? Really,” Luke commanded.
“I was sent back. Apparently the powers that be thought she needed more guidance than what she already had.”
“So where are your wings?” I asked abruptly.
All three of them looked at me. Max spoke after a few moments of uncomfortable silence. “What kind of question is that?”
Michael snickered and Luke tried to hide his smile.
“It’s a fair question, I think. If you are part Angel, where are your wings? Aren’t they supposed to come standard with you people?”
Max gave me an irritated look. “You can’t see them unless I want you to.”
“Well, why don’t you want me to?”
“Georgie, just let it go.”
“Max, just show me. How hard is that?”
“Georgie—”
“Max.” I interrupted.
“He can’t, not around Vampires,” Michael said.
I looked at Michael but he wasn’t looking at me. He was watching Max who was staring right back at him.
“What?” I said.
“The light and energy it takes to manifest them would blow the…damned straight back to—”
“Hell,” Max interrupted. “The power of the light cannot be witnessed by one of the damned.”
“Hell?” I asked. I was trying to limit my responses to one word, I don’t know why but that was the limit that I could get out at the moment.
“It’s where the first Vampire came from. When the Fallen were banished from Heaven, Lucifer created, or raised, the first Vampire. It was to do his bidding for eternity, helping to corrupt man against their God.” Michael took a breath. “The history is a little fuzzy on the time frame but Judas was a descendant from the first Vampire and Lucifer himself.”
“Wait, the first Vampire was female?”
“Female Vampires are considered to be the most fearsome, the most ruthless.”
I studied his face. He was refusing to look at me even though he was telling me the story. He was worried I would view him differently.
Michael. I squeezed his hand. Michael.
He still didn’t look at me. I reached out with my free hand and touched his face. He finally looked at me.
“There’s something else, isn’t there? I can see it, in your eyes. Tell me.”
“Judas is his Uncle, the man you met today,” Luke said.