Chapter Five
Chapter Five
Tarek
Pompeii
79 A.D.
It was a bloodbath, plain and simple. It was destruction after destruction, the air filled with red.
“Please,” I begged. “Mom. Dad.” Did I even have parents? That was an unanswered question. Why did my hands feel so warm? And why did I feel my blood in my veins as if They were speaking to me, moving through me? Communicating with me. “Please.” Tears burned my cheeks. “Please, just…help.” I raised my hand to the Heavens. Raised it so high my shoulder burned. My arm refused to come down.
I needed a savior.
And I had none.
People ran around us, and the mountain continued to erupt and billow smoke until I saw red.
So much that I couldn’t fathom it.
Where were my parents? Where was I?
The tears continued to burn my cheeks. They pressed a scar of trauma against my skin that would never go away until I saw her.
I inhaled.
The air was full of smoke. It was messy and burned my throat, but I knew I wasn’t gone yet.
Her eyes were full of joy and happiness, and her soul…somehow, I could see it. I could see the blue through her chest, and I knew.
She was good.
I knew it was good.
And I knew…
I would survive this, for whatever purpose it may be. I had no more fear, no more doubts. I reached out my hand. Even at eight years old and with no memories, I reached for my angel.
And she held on.
So much was going on around me. There was so much fire, so much destruction, so much I couldn’t comprehend. And then I saw him.
He was clothed in wings of white and gold, dripping with black and white blood.
His gold armor glistened, and he ripped his giant helmet from his face and slammed it against the now-crumbled concrete.
A warm hand grabbed mine. She leaned down, and I saw that her eyes were green, and her hair was black. She squeezed harder, then pulled me to her side. “Don’t be afraid, little one.”
“Who are you?” I asked.
“Eva. Or you can call me by the name given to me by the Creator. Eve.” She smiled again. She looked so pretty with her dark cloak—it had a tree clasp made of real gold around the front. And her skin seemed to glow. “We’re going to save you.”
“Who?” I asked, looking around.
She reached for another person. Someone I’d been running after in order to get free. The girl had weird dark hair and light eyes.
Eve pulled her into our embrace. “All of you.”
“You can’t save us from this,” the girl whispered and started crying so hard I was afraid she would choke. “Only we can save ourselves. Only we get a few days. Only we know what happens—”
“Shhhh.” Eve held her close, pressing the pretty girl’s face to her chest. “I save to provide, I save to forgive myself and others, and we save.” She looked up. “To protect the world.” A tear slid down her cheek. “We save because, what’s the point…in abandonment or surrender in this life or the next?”
All I remember is Eve’s smell and the girl’s. I remember the way the girl stared at me with hope in her eyes.
Hope.
Destiny.
Life.
The man with the armor had a terrifying, deep voice. He looked at us like we were abominations—as if we shouldn’t exist. “Do not make me destroy you, vampire!” He yelled it so loudly I covered my ears and screamed.
But the girl, the one who looked about my age, grabbed one of my fingers and then another until we were holding hands, listening to him yell.
I was finally at peace. I was myself. I was here with someone who understood the confusion of being lost, isolated, and abandoned in a burning city.
In a life that didn’t make sense.
“One day,” she whispered in a shaky voice, her face covered in ash. “I’ll tell you.”
“What?” I said right back, my lips trembling, my blood boiling to a degree that made no sense, and my teeth elongating as if I needed to eat when I had no idea what I even ate to survive. “Tell me what?”
“It’s a prophecy. I’m confused. I can’t say.” Her frown proved it. “All I know is…savior. A savior. You’ll see things, you’ll hear. Don’t be afraid.” She pulled me into her arms and gripped me so tightly I lost my breath, then whispered in a strong voice, “Fear is not welcome here.”
Eve stood between us and the menacing man. Her eyes were closed like she was sad, but I thought she was praying, begging, doing anything she could.
To save us. To save more. To become… I slowly frowned. To become.
Dead?
To live out her future.
I touched her hand and whimpered again.
She was killing herself and knew it. For us.
“Cassius, most of them are innocent. Will you destroy them? The children? The mothers? The grandmothers?”
“If I let one go free, one infected with the blend of angelic and demon blood, the end could be catastrophic…”
“Then choose, Cassius,” Eve said in a challenging voice. “Choose who goes free, save a few. All I ask is that you save some.”
“You misjudge our relationship, vampire,” he hissed as if he might kill her at any minute. Even his hands flexed like he was ready to strangle her. The air took on a bitter taste, and he hesitated. I’d never seen an angel before, but I imagined hesitation wasn’t a normal thing for them. “Only you would ask this of me. Notice how the rest of the Council members have already fled the city. Yet here you stand.”
She lifted her head, her green eyes locking with his. “Here I stand.”
“Damn it, woman.” He screamed it so loudly I quickly covered my ears and then wanted to cover my eyes for a few brief seconds. He stood tall and stared her down, his expression unreadable. Then, within seconds, a sliver of humanity seemed to slip through. He broke their connection, and his gaze landed on me.
I wonder how it burned, knowing you had to make a choice.
I kept hold of the girl’s hand, squeezing it too hard but needing the comfort.
And I kept watching Eve’s face to see what would happen.
“I have…” the tall man started. “Less humanity left than you think.” His eyes welled with tears. “I will fall. Do you understand, Eve? I will fall. For them, I will fucking fall!”
“Then fall,” she said in a calm voice. “Fall for the Creator, fall for us. But mainly, fall for them.” She pointed at us. “Fall for the children. Fall for what you believe in. But, Cassius, look at me right now.”
His eyes locked with hers. “You will regret it if you do not do this. They are children. They are immortal children. They are special, and they are the reason we are here. We save them, and we save the world from darkness, don’t you see?” Tears of red ran down her face. “We fall for them? We fall together. We go to the Underworld, we meet Anubis, we rest. But who’s going to save them? We are both hero and destroyer. We were given one task since the Fall. So, if we fall with them? So. Be. It.”
“Twelve,” he choked out. “I will save twelve.”
Eva bowed her dark head. “Thank you, Cassius.”
As she walked away from him, he whispered, “This will not be forgotten…daughter of Lilith and son of Enoch.”