Shadowhunter (Nephilim Quest Book 1) (41 page)

I sat up on the bed. No pain. I stepped down, and to my amazement Daniel did not wake up at the sound of my stepping down. I looked down and understood why. I was not standing on the floor - I was floating at a finger's width above it.

I understood what must have happened.

I concentrated on Elijah's face, and without taking a step I glided to his bedside.

I stood there, not knowing what to do, but then I felt something unfurl on my back. It was a very strange feeling. I could feel a new part of my body that had never been there before. It was like being aware of a new arm, or leg. It was definitely there, and somehow I knew exactly how to use it.

I heard Daniel draw a breath behind me.

"Dana..." he said quietly.

I turned around. He was standing, with amazement in his eyes. He looked wary of me, which was strange.

I, on the other hand, was oddly calm. I listened to the strange sensation on my back, and in my mind, and concentrated. I breathed deeply and slowly, and surrended to whatever was happening.

There, by the bedside of an injured Nephilim, facing another, I turned into one. My wings opened like the petals of a blossom and filled the room with their glow.

"Silver..." I heard Daniel whisper, "you have silver wings!"

I thought about moving my wings, just a little, and a new energy rushed into my body when the wings obeyed. It was as if I was breathing with all my body, not just my lungs. I closed my eyes and enjoyed the delicious feeling of unhindered breathing, the like of which I had never experienced with my human lungs.

I turned and looked into Elijah's eyes, feeling the same surge of compassion as before, when I saw him lying on the floor, only now the emotion was ten times stronger. I bent over him, and kissed him on the forehead. I did not think consciously about what I was doing; it was as if a wordless consciousness was functioning through me. I did not obey it, I was it.

Then Daniel was by my side. He said something, but I could not hear what it was because I was so concentrating on Elijah. I felt my wings spread out around me. Gently as feathers they bent down and matched the shape of Elijah's torn wings, covering them completely, and I bent down as close to his damaged body as I could without touching his skin. I realised that I was humming, but it was not a song, just an unchanged melody that emanated from deep inside me. I wasn't even sure the voice came from my vocal chords - it was more as though the cells of my body were producing the sound from invisible strings inside me, each resonating with their own voice, creating a mesmerising melodic drone like that of a beehive. My analytical mind vanished into the sound and my being spread out to levels I had no words for.

I stayed out of human consciousness for a long time. I do not know what happened physically, but my mind was traveling in odd realms. I could see beautiful colors, mingled with gold and silver. I felt total happiness, yet I could sense sadness, compassion, and fear somewhere underneath. But I was above them, safe.

I saw darker veins of energy. I approached them, and touched them with my mind, and they dissolved, and returned to beauty. I could have stayed there forever; I had never felt anything like this weightless joy before.

Then there was a sliver of beautiful, electric blue, and I followed it with my mind, eager to touch its beauty. It became bigger, and finally enveloped me, and that is when I became aware of my physical surroundings again.

I was still standing at the ward, and Elijah was still lying on his bed. My wings were no longer touching his.

The odd thing was that Elijah's wings were now whole, healed. He was staring at me with unbelieving eyes, which were... fearful? Longing? Daniel... yes, Daniel was there too, holding me, in fact, with his beautiful, electric blue wings.

"What happened...?" I whispered, not quite back in my mind, closing my eyes at the deliciousness of his blue energies.

"You healed his wings," Daniel spoke as if he could not have believed what had happened. "You used the power of your wings, and you healed them."

I moved and Daniel stepped back. I felt as if I was falling, when his wings let me go.

"How...? Where was I?"

"You need to calm down first. Your energies are now so high you could electrocute someone," Daniel stepped even further back.

I wondered why his eyes were so carefully hiding any emotion. I looked back at Elijah, and his eyes were now full of emotion when they locked with mine. There was definite sadness there, and longing. For the briefest moment I remembered seeing a vision of a young, tall, blonde woman, when traveling in the odd realms of the mind, but I might have imagined it.

Then I noticed there were others in the room too. Lilith. Grandma. Somehow Diana had also appeared. Reggie was there, squeezing the old book against his chest, his mouth half open with excited wonder.

They all looked at me with round eyes. Like they were... scared of me? Only Diana was looking at me with a wide smile, clearly liking what she saw.

"Oh stop it, you!" I tried to say lightly, but my voice shook. "I seem to have become Nephilim, then. But it's not like you weren't expecting it, and it's not as though you've not seen one before!"

"Oh we've seen Nephilim before. But we haven't seen one like you before. You should not exist," Grandma said with amazement in her voice. "In the Nephilim world you should be a genetic impossibility."

"Great. Are we going to start talking in riddles again?" I sighed.

"No riddles any more, dear," Grandma decided. "But food. You need to eat a lot more now that you have your wings. Come, let's go to the cafeteria."

My stomach growled loudly and Diana stifled a giggle. I smiled back at her, and suddenly felt like a normal teenager again, feeling giddy and light - and hungry. I was glad she was there. It made me feel less spaced out, less different.
 

"Would you withdraw your wings before we go, dear?" Lilith asked, "they are quite a sight, and might scare some people."

I had not really even looked at my wings, and peeked over my shoulder, and then up. Way up.

"Oh... Oh wow..."

They were beautiful! They were huge, their tips brushed the ceiling, and they were white and silver. Strong pulses of silver liquid pumped in the see-through veins. They glittered in the light.

"I look like a Christmas angel!" I laughed, still feeling giddy with the high energies I had experienced, and Diana giggled in agreement.

"Well, it's not Christmas now, so close them." Grandma sounded surprisingly grandmotherly.

"It is to me..." a quiet voice said in my mind.

It was Elijah's voice, but I did not see his lips moving. Surprised I looked into his eyes again. They were full of wonder and that inexplicable longing I had sensed in him.
 
And then I saw Daniel's eyes, which were carefully emotionless.

I had no idea what had caused his aloofness. I would ask later.

"Let's go eat!" Diana opened the door to the hallway. "You must be famished."

She was right.

CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE

53. Beautiful Evelyn Harper

William Donnelly had been quite happy with his work in his London bookshop. He enjoyed arranging his bookshelves alphabetically, listing each author on a separate list with the correct shelf location, keeping statistics of the books he had sold, and serving his regular customers. He ordered special books just to please his academic clientele, and was well appreciated for his expertise.
 

He had managed to build a good reputation as a man of letters, whose passion was books. Even to an extent his clients thought he kept his little bookshop only as a hobby, to be around his beloved books, and to fund his own research.

They were right. But they did not know how expensive his research was for him. He had to buy very rare books and manuscripts, which were often hidden in monasteries, or in private libraries whose owners knew their value full well. He was up to his ears in debt, and saw no way out of his predicament, other than selling his pricey books. And he could not force himself to do that.

William Donnelly was at his wits' end. Another letter had arrived from his major creditor, demanding payment in quite impolite terms. He had no idea how he could ever pay the sum he owed. He had even received pre-payments from his customers for books he had not yet bought – and now had no money to buy either.

Then came Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee. On 21
st
of July in the year 1887 Mr. Donnelly was standing near Westminster Abbey in order to see the arrival of the Queen. She arrived in an open landau, but much to Mr. Donnelly's disappointment she did not wear a crown. Instead she wore a bonnet. But no one could deny the sight was magnificent – the handsome Indian cavalry, the Queen's cream-colored horses – the guests... such a fine spectacle!

He tried to distract himself from his gloomy thoughts by joining the cheerful crowd. Suddenly someone stumbled against him. He turned and saw a young lady who was about to fall to the ground. She was clearly fainting. He had no other option but to grab her and hold her up – the throng was such that he could not do much else.

After a while the lovely young woman came to. She stared at him with her beautiful golden eyes, not knowing for a while what had happened to her.

"I am so sorry," she blushed, "I fainted! I hope I did not do any harm?"

"Oh no, by no means, I am happy I managed to catch you before you fell to the ground, Miss...?" Mr. Donnelly stammered.

Because he was. Happy, that is. The young lady was quite beautiful – pale creamy skin, amazing yellowish brown eyes, and beautifully coiffured, thick hair that brought to mind fields of wheat. She was quite tall, and he was quite short, but it did not matter. She blushed and managed to make him feel like a medieval knight who had just saved a damsel in distress.

"Evelyn Harper," the young lady extended a dainty hand and he almost did not dare to touch the fingers.

"William Donnelly, at your service, my lady," he bowed.

"Not the William Donnelly who specializes in ancient myths, and has a bookshop?" Evelyn exclaimed.

"The very same," he bowed again; cheeks slightly blushing because of being called the William Donnelly.

"Such a glorious coincidence!" the young lady's smile made Mr. Donnelly's heart miss a beat. "My brother has antiquarian interests, including the acquisition of rare books. He would greatly appreciate your advice and would pay you well for your services. Indeed, he has intended to contact you for some time. How would it be if I invited you for afternoon tea as a thank you for your gallantry today, and you could discuss my brother's requirements with him then? Shall we say next Tuesday?"

"Indeed, I would be honoured."
 

Mr. Donnelly could not believe his luck. He almost fainted when he saw the address on the pretty visiting card that Miss Evelyn Harper gave to him. Her family clearly had a lot of money.

Next Tuesday, dressed in his very best and spruced up in a way that his shop clients would not have recognised, he lifted the
 
gleaming and ornate door knocker at that imposing address. A thin, very pale butler escorted him in. Mr. Donnelly couldn't quite decide his background - his hair was very shiny and black, and his skin an odd pale yellowish color. For a while he thought he might be Chinese, but his features were Mediterranean. Before Mr. Donnelly could make any more observations about him, the butler was leading him into a drawing room on the ground floor and announcing his name.
 
Mr. Donnelly briefly noticed that the house was a small palace
 
– there were statues, paintings, marble, gold, embroidery, and tapestries... and many of those were in the entrance hall, so the rest of the house must be even more magnificent. He was certain the tapestries were originals and centuries old.

Miss Evelyn Harper rose to her feet. She wore something light-colored that flattered her lovely form and her wonderful blonde hair was lifted into a high knot and dressed in curls on the forehead. Her beautiful golden eyes smiled warmly at Mr. Donnelly.

"How glad I am that you found time from your busy schedule to come and visit us," she said to her guest with a voice that rang like silver bells, and he could only bow and mutter compliments.

"Please, do follow me. My brother will arrive shortly."

And arrive he did – Mr. Donnelly did not know how to show his respect for this impressive man. He was very tall, had broad shoulders and black hair, and the same golden eyes as his sister. His movements were so fluid he seemed to be gliding through the air. He did not shake hands with Mr. Donnelly, but simply presented himself from across the room as Cain Harper.

Mr. Donnelly could not help but notice that the body temperature of the siblings was quite high, but they did not seem to be ill in any way and they were not perspiring at all. They discussed matters in an educated manner, and seemed to know a great deal about Mr. Donnelly's line of expertise, which was ancient myths and cuneiform script – a writing only a few could translate as yet. Mr. Donnelly was most impressed with the fact that a young woman such as Evelyn Harper was so well educated in ancient knowledge and could talk about it with the confidence of a distinguished scholar.

Cain Harper explained to Mr. Donnelly that he had come into possession of old manuscripts relating to his very field of study. He told Mr. Donnelly about some clay tablets that he had bought. They were from Mesopotamia, and written in cuneiform. An expert had told Mr. Harper the tablets were about the Annunaki, the gods who had created humankind. Would he be interested in reading and translating them? Any costs would be covered, of course.

The cuneiform tablets themselves would have been enough, but the sum Mr. Harper offered to Mr. Donnelly almost made him weep. Never had he imagined that luck as great as this would arrive so suddenly and in such measure.
 

He tried not to show his emotional turmoil, whilst he pretended to consider the offer.
 
He asked a few deliberate questions in order to give the impression that he wanted to be sure the work matched his scholarly ambitions. After this he accepted, of course, and left his generous hosts with lavish hopes for fruitful cooperation in this exciting task.