Chapter 1
Thunder rumbled distantly as the clouds darkened and lightning flashed against the grey canvas of the sky. Rain started to pelt down; big fat drops down the glass windows turning the landscape outside into watercolours. Friday nights were the busiest as everyone rushed to drink away a week of work but today was even busier than usual due to the storm, everyone was inside and, by the looks of things, filling their bodies with whatever poison they could get a hold of. I eyed the clock for the fourth time in ten minutes, drumming my fingers against the wooden bench. A man spilled his drink further up the bar to my left, I realised a sigh as I picked up the cloth and walked over to wipe up the mess. The man was young, most likely in his early twenties and gave me a sheepish look. He wasn’t bad looking if you were into the surfer, blonde hair, blue eyes sort of guy but… I must have grimaced because he quickly looked away. Feeling bad, I moulded my face into an almost smile. He must have read into it thinking I’m interested because he asks, “Can I buy you a drink?”, his tan face; from days most likely spent in the water and the summer sun flickering into an easy smile. My finger brush against the metal of the knife at my side checking its secularly at my side before leaning my hands on the bar. I almost groan but manage to instead pull my lips upwards, more of a flashing of teeth than anything “sorry I’m not into surfers” I say. I don’t wait for his reply before walking back to the end of the bar scowling and pouring myself a drink. I throw the drink back, burning my throat before it reaches my stomach, causing me to grimace at the taste. From the other side of the bar my friend Nina shakes her head in disbelief before getting back to work. Even from here I can hear her flirting with the costumers and flashing her jealously white teeth at them, I nearly roll my eyes. Many of the young men in the room liked to flock over to her even for a little to nothing recognition, her dark beauty alluring them into her trap. She was beautiful in ways many people found hard to imagine, her perfect dark skin a shocking contrast to the smooth silk of her white hair and her steel blue eyes. She was my best friend and maybe only friend, maybe because her and I were very much the same in certain ways. We both new many things and nothing about each other, that was one of the best things about her. I didn’t feel the need to spill my whole life’s secrets to her and in return neither did she. We both sensed the darkness rippling below the surfaces of our skins and the steel behind our words. A few minutes later she stalks towards me “I just don’t understand you Fiadh” she says almost with pity. “Why don’t you take anyone up on their offers? You’ve got enough secret admirers and all attractive enough” she says. “What was wrong with surfer boy over there? You looked like you wanted to rip his head off with your teeth” she says with a little laugh. Shrugging my shoulders, I suddenly concentrating on the cloth still in my hand as I religiously scrub the bench in front of me. “Don’t you deserve a little fun after all you’ve been through. Besides its nearly break” she says before walking back to the cash register. My eyes follow her, her back now to me. I wondered if I was being paranoid as I analysed what she said and the hint in her words. I frown, no she couldn’t be referring to that, no, not when I hadn’t told anyone not my own twin brother or even her. Shaking off her words I went back to drumming my fingers on the bench and gazing at the storm outside.
My ears prickle to the jingle of the doorbell which signified someone entering the bar. A particulary loud grumble of thunder and close flash of lightning has me snapping my head to the door. A stranger entered ducking under the doorway to avoid clipping his head as his coat dripped with rain. The man seemed to tower over most of the people in the bar and I estimated him to be at least a few inches over six foot even with his head tucked down into the collar of his trench coat. He wore indistinct clothing, a black trench coat and black pants with sturdy practical looking boots, and black leather gloves all of which were thoroughly soaked as they left a trail of water on the wooden ground though he seemed to not take notice. His short black hair gleamed with water that now dripped down his face. As he prowled towards the counter, the crowd seem to split down the insides maybe sensing that this was no ordinary man. He din’t take notice of the fact the bar had turned silent before he reached the cash register, starting a conversation with the Nina. The crowd seemed to start talking again and storm outside rumbled making it hard for me to understand what he was saying. She winked smiling like a Cheshire cat as she eyed him like her next meal, the man either didn’t take notice or ignored her despite her unusual beauty and preceded with his questions. The dim light and the man’s high collar made it hard to make out any distinguishing features as I peered over from my spot. There weren’t that many strangers in the town, everyone new everyone so strangers were always a curiosity. The young men around Nina seemed to be eying the man suspiciously, probably looking at his tall mysterious profile and scared he would take her from them. I continued wiping the bench down before I noticed Nina pointing in my direction a wild gleam in her eyes. Seriously? My shift was nearly over, I only had ten minutes left and I was definitely not in the mood for serving someone or for making small talk which she was definitely hoping I would do. The man turns following Nina’s finger in the direction I am standing, his green eyes widening in surprise as our eyes lock. He freezes his body stiff as he takes me in, I curse under my breath, unlacing the apron from my neck and waist. He’s back. Nina must see the shock and horror on my face because she puts a hand on the man’s arm turning his attention back to her as she subtly motions her head to the back door. I mouth a “thankyou”, as I creep to the back door of the bar. I hoped the loud voices in the bar, masked the sound of the door creaking as I slipped out back. I release a sigh my heart thundering in my chest as I sag my head resting into the door for a moment while I gather myself, unsheathing the silver dagger from my side. I straighten turning towards the alley, I sensed rather than saw as I nearly walk past him, his black clothing and hair blending into the darkness of the alley his panther green eyes the only thing stopping him from becoming shadows incarnate.
“Hello, sweetheart” he purrs from where he rests against the brick wall waiting for me. His gloves are missing, and I take in the sparks dancing off his fingertips. “Missed me?”. His eyes dance with amusement as I whirl around in surprise forcing my body into a swagger while I mould my face hiding the emotion rippling below the surface behind a smirk. I try to ignore the rain that quickly soaks through my clothes and silently pray that my teeth don’t start chattering. He remains still, in a way someone only immortal could achieve as I walk towards him dropping into a mock bow my eyes trained on his.
“Prince.” I drawl. “or should I say your highness”, as he steps off the wall his eyes are ice as he closes the distance between us. Straining my head upwards to meet his eyes, I once again realize how truly tall and powerful he is. Standing at least a head taller than my already fairly tall height his shoulders are broad making me feel tiny. Even from beneath the thick trench coat I can see he has been staying in shape, his shoulders and chest showing the results of hours of hard training and fighting.
“Nice to see you still want me to warm your bed, little Nephilim” he says with a smirk. He is trying to rile me up on purpose.
“Nice to see you still have a flair for the dramatics”, I say gesturing to the sky. “And if I remember correctly you were the one who wanted me to warm your bed” I say with a dark smile. He looks me over with those too green eyes before once again locking eye contact “If we’re still strolling down memory lane, I happen to remember how you begged me to fuck you” he says nothing human in his eyes, every inch of immortal arrogance showing through. I snarl, the leash on my anger realising as I stepped towards him, moving faster than any human could as I swing my knife hand at him slicing where his guts should be. The combination of his centuries of training, Nephilim speed and knowing me so well has him slipping away from the knife. He grabs my wrist as he swerves slipping behind me and twisting my wrist so that the knife is aimed at my own throat. Trying to control my breathing taking shallow breaths aware of the cold blade beared at my throat. It lies close enough that a sharp intake of breath would mean slitting my own throat. “Such anger” he whispers trailing his fingers down my cheek, the electricity flowing through them enough to remind me of his power but not enough to hurt me. He releases my throat as he drops my hand lowering the knife, taunting me, playing with me. He wants me to attack him again. If he really wanted to kill me I would be dead, I knew that. No, he didn’t want to kill me. No, not yet anyway. The real question was what did he want? Swerving out of his grasp, I sweep his legs causing him to thud to his knees as I spin around him, knife now bared at his throat. I can feel how heavily armed he is beneath the coat, a living armoury yet he doesn’t make a move towards the hidden blades within reach up his sleeves. He isn’t fooling anyone; we both know the only reason he is still on the ground is because he is allowing it to happen. He knows that I haven’t got the guts to kill him. Yet. He laughs coldly causing the knife to slice a thin line across his throat “Looks like you have learnt some new moves, Fiadh”. He says making it very much not sound like a complement as he holds his hands in the air in surrender.
“What are you doing here, Casimir?” I hiss “Why did you come back?”.
“Why don’t you let me up so we can talk civilly?” he purrs making me swallow the wave of anger at his absolute arrogance. I debate for a moment whether or not slitting his throat would be worth it. It wouldn’t kill him, his magic healing him too quickly for him to bleed out. However,it would sure as hell hurt like a bitch. Finally, I release him, after concluding that it would be too much of a mess to clean up later. He gets up slowly, rolling out his wrists than his shoulder and his neck before turning to face me. He stands a little too close for comfort but I don’t step back not wanting him to know the effect he has on me.
I crane my head looking up at him as I meet his eyes “please, do go on”. For some reason I suddenly feel like bursting into tears and collapsing into his strong arms. My throat tightens but I swallow the lump willing the tears away. I would not cry not in front of him. What looks like pain flashes through his green eyes, as his mask of arrogance slips but it’s gone just as soon as it came, as he slips the mask back on. He hadn’t aged a day since the last time I had seen him two years ago but somehow, he looked different. Still the unfairly attractive early twenty-year-old looking male, with a body most men would kill for and green eyes that weren’t quite of this world but… different. Almost tired, harder. Changes that if I admitted, reflected in my own eyes. I wondered what he had been doing in hell in the two years since I had seen him. His skin was more tanned than last time I had seen him, and he had somehow managed to put on more muscle. The rain caught gracefully on his eyelashes emphasising their length, only he could make being drenched in rain look so… so… seductive. His lips looked unbearably soft and I imagined tracing my finger over them remembering what they had felt like on mine. I realise a little too late I am staring when he raises an eyebrow.
“So here I am minding my own business, when my father calls for me with a specific task in mind”. The mention of his father, of Lucifer makes the hair stand up on the back of my neck. “He tasked me with hunting down a Nephilim in a little town with quite a familiar name” he goes on “I racked my brain, why did this town sound so familiar?”. He looks at me now “I think you know why it sounds so familiar, don’t you?”. I shake my head, why would Lucifer want to hunt me down? “Something interesting I did learn was that the Nephilim was a male.” The world around me freezes as my heart beats rapidly in my chest, no he couldn’t know. How did he find out? “The girl at the bar was sweet enough to tell me about your brother Fiadh”, he steps close to me his chest mear millimetres away from mine but I’m hardly processing the world around me as I try and process this information. “You didn’t tell me you have a brother” he growls into my throat softly baring his teeth. “Now why would my father know about your brother but not you?”.
“I—I don’t know what you’re talking about” he has already read the shock through my body, I’m not convincing either of us. His eyes flicker red for a few seconds before switching back to green as he tries to get a hold of his anger. No, he was annoyed because I’d never told him, I ahd kept it a secret, something like satisfaction must show on my face because he snarls. “You and I both know what I’m capable of, so I’d start giving me some answers, maybe starting off with this—this brother of yours” he spits brother as if in disgust. I sheath my knife at my side.
“No” I say as I defy my every instinct as I turn my back and walk down the street alley. The ground is slick with rain and I focus on not slipping over as I make my way to the main road. The rain starts to pelt down harder and the ground shakes as a large bolt of lightning flashes through the sky making me smile. So much anger huh? It’s quite fitting I think, the clouds pouring down on us, the gods didn’t hold off then so why now. I can feel the anger simmering behind my back as I hear a crack and some particularly vicious swearing, I’m not yet sure if the crack came from the wall or the male. What I did know was that he wouldn’t follow me, not yet.
