Blood of the Pure (Gaea) (38 page)

A small, warm hand was gently placed over my head, but for a moment I couldn’t even tell if it really was my head he was touching.

“Mari? Mari! Can you hear me?”

His voice came to me from very far away and my mind couldn’t tell if I was dreaming or wide awake. Part of me insisted I was responsible for the concern in that child’s voice, and my heart stirred telling me that I didn’t want to be the cause of his pain.

In what felt like an inhuman effort, I blinked, trying to make sure my eyes were really opened and, bit by bit, light started returning to my sight. The first thing I was able to focus on were his silver eyes, brimming with unshed tears, and then his smile of relief as he noticed I could see him.

I looked around to see we were in what looked like a dark, narrow alley. And the surface under me was cold and hard.

I raised a hand, unsure I could do it, and stared at it, doubting it really belonged to me.

I understood my brain had completely shut down, leaving me deaf, blind, mute and unfeeling, except to him, and ran a hand through my face, strangely wet by tears I didn’t remember crying.

As my mind became more aware, I was finally able to sort my thoughts out and recall the latest events, which lead me to sit up too fast, making me dangerously dizzy.

“Take it easy,” Lea admonished me, holding me with his gentle but surprisingly strong hands. “You can’t just stand up like that.”

“What happened? What’s going on?”

“If you think you can stand, we better get going. We can talk on the way,” he told me and I looked around once more, feeling confused. The last thing I clearly remembered was standing by the sidewalk, waiting to cross a street, wishing the traffic light would change, and then ... then the world had stopped!

“We’re near a church and a subway station. Master brought you here because it’s safer,” he clarified, answering my silent question, and I leaned against the cold, damp wall to push my stiff body up until I could stand on my two legs. “Come, this way,” he encouraged me, and I tried to follow him as fast as I could, taking into account my knees kept buckling with every step I gave.

I could still feel the cold touch of his skin against mine, which made my stomach fold into a dozen knots. My chest hurt from the effort of having to breathe, and the evening light that poured all over the main street temporarily blinded me again.

Lea walked ahead to guide me, constantly turning back to make sure I followed. His head looked like a wind vane, turning and peering in every direction, suspicious of everyone and everything, his quick small steps tense and alert. And, when we finally went down to the subway, he stood upright beside me, trying as he could to support me.

The dim lights of the underground brought some measure of relief to my throbbing head. I convinced myself as best as I could that I was feeling better and wasn’t, in any way, going to attract any unwanted attention by falling or fainting in front of all those people.

As soon as the subway car doors closed, Lea sighed in relief, releasing part of the tension he’d accumulated, looking visibly tired. However, we didn’t talk. The subway cars ran packed at that time of day, masses of people entering and exiting at every station, and all I could do was pull Lea into a corner, holding him against my legs so that he wouldn’t be stepped on or dragged away by the human torrents.

When we finally reached our destination and went back to the surface, the sun had already begun setting, the cool air making me shiver, but I was practically back to my usual self.

Fortunately, we didn’t have to wait long for the bus. I gave Lea his ticket and watched as he passed it through the machine; and couldn’t help feeling sad as I recalled the curious happiness that had beamed on his face when he’d done the same exact thing just that morning. Once more, in just a few hours, everything had changed. And now Lea wasn’t smiling anymore, nor did he look like an excited child, and Gabriel wasn’t with us.

Lea took a seat near the window, just like before, and turned his attention to the progressively darker world outside. I knew immediately his attempt to avoid my questions for what it was. But right then I just couldn’t spare him. I needed answers, bad! And the time we’d spent in silence up until then had only granted me enough time to calmly review all that had happened, giving me the chance to picture half a dozen or so worst case scenarios.

“Lea?” I called him and he clearly hesitated before turning to face me. “What happened back there?” I asked, going straight to the subject, and my question was so predictable that he didn’t even think before replying.

“What do you think happened?”

It was almost like we’d practiced those lines for some kind of performance. I, too, had expected his answer and had decided to, from all the possible explanations, offer him the one that frightened me the most.

“We were attacked ... something attacked us.” I speculated. He watched me over his sunglasses, his silver eyes too serious and observant, and I knew he was trying to ascertain up to which point I’d be able to handle the truth. “One of you, a
Deiwos
, attacked us,” I clearly put it and was glad to hear how firm my voice had sounded.

He seemed bothered by my ability to frankly say it, which was on its own a dreadful confirmation.

“That’s right.” He confirmed it, releasing me from his evaluating gaze, and my heart jumped into a frantic run. Another one. Sure, I didn’t expect them to be the only two
Deiwos
walking the Earth but did they all have to cross my path?

“Why? Why did he attack?” I questioned and Lea sighed.

“Because that’s how it works. I can’t really talk about that,” he added and I couldn’t help feel frustrated for having reached his can’t-talk-about-it limit so soon. So I looked for another question.

“What did he want?”

“He came for my Master,” he whispered heavily, looking outside apprehensively, as bright lights ran outside his window. I didn’t need to see his face to know that Lea was worried about him.

“From which caste?”

“Mazzikin. But his magic was really strong.” A former angel, I thought. I still couldn’t understand. What could make an angel do something that would end up turning him into something like that?

“Did he went to kill him?”

“There’s no other way. If he didn’t, he’d follow us home,” he explained and his defensive tone didn’t go unnoticed.

“I could ask if there are more, but I’m sure there are,” I guessed and he kept silent. “Are they going to attack us, too?”

“No! No,” he reassured me, looking at me with an urgent expression, his small hands now cold, firmly holding mine. “You don’t need to worry, Mari. No one will hurt you! You’ll be safe in Lewisham.” He was trying too hard to make me believe it, and I frowned. He’d also said something like, hadn’t he? That leaving that area wasn’t safe.

“What do you mean? Why am I safe back at home?” I asked and Lea released me, averting his gaze once more.

“Master raised a barrier around the whole area of Lewisham. Nothing comes in or goes out without us knowing.”

“Barrier?” What was he talking about?

“Yes. It forms a kind of border around the areas you frequently go to and the closest areas. It couldn’t be a real barrier, because if it were, not even Human Beings would be able to cross it. So it just keeps out all ... non-Human beings. It basically serves to conceal that piece of land, making it so that other
Deiwos
won’t even be able to perceive its existence.” Although all that information had the clear intent to appease me, not knowing why, it only made me even more irritated.

“And since when has that barrier been there?”

“When I got here Master had already raised it. I suppose it was one of the first things he did.”

“I really … dislike that idea!” I confessed, frowning, and Lea looked up at me unable to understand.

“Why? It keeps us all safe, including your friends,” he argued and with reason, I had to admit.

Recognizing the street we were turning to, I stood up and pressed the request-stop button. Lea followed my example and we waited for the bus to come to a stop to get off.

The night silence surrounded us as soon as the bus disappeared up the road, and the cold air made me stick my hands in my pockets. My chest still hurt whenever I took a deep breath, but everything else had gone back to normal. The cold wind lashing at my face seemed to make my thoughts clearer and I knew exactly why the idea of that barrier displeased me so much. After all, it was as if, once more, he was protecting me, doing something for me, making me feel as if I owed him something in return!

As soon as I opened the front door, Lea rushed inside, rubbing his hands together and breathing on his small frozen fingers.

I didn’t waste time looking for him. I knew he still hadn’t return. The house was silent and, as usual, I couldn’t help notice the extreme difference his absence made. I could hardly believe I’d lived my whole life immersed in such a calm environment!

I went upstairs trying to silence the small and annoying voice inside my head that kept wondering if he’d be able to defeat that
fallen
angel, and opened the door, stopping to look back at the small boy who, as always, had silently trailed behind me.

“I need some time alone, Lea,” I told him and he stared up at me, his silver eyes, now released from the sunglasses that had hidden them all day.

“Why? Are you angry at me? Did I say something wrong?” he fretted in a single breath and I smiled for his benefit, caressing his soft, black hair.

“No. Nothing like that. I just need some time to think ... to put my thoughts in order, to go back to my own world for a few moments. I can’t ... I don’t want to get used to yours,” I told him and Lea lowered his head, looking dejected, but didn’t say anything else.

I closed the door behind me, feeling bad for his sad expression, but knowing I had done the right thing. Sometimes, more so of late, I’d find myself thinking that all the craziness around me was normal; forgetting that, not very long ago, none of those things or strange creatures had existed in my life, the life that I wished to recover. Above all I couldn’t allow myself to be dragged into other problems, straying from my own objectives.

I took a deep breath and dropped like dead on my bed.

Besides, what good would it do worrying about those kinds of things? This creature that attacked us was his problem, not mine. That barrier, too. I would put them both in the same bag, with all the possible demons that might show up from then forth with the intent to kill him.

And maybe he’d really die, I thought, and I would be free from that Contract. And the problem with Steph would simply go away.

Feeling too tired to even change, I told myself I should get some sleep. But my eyes refused to obey, my brain too agitated and alert. Annoyingly, I found my attention wandering towards the other rooms, outside, looking for a sound, anything that would tell me he was back. I severely reprimanded myself for behaving as if I were expecting his return, and turned to the other side.

Before I knew it my mind was once again deeply engrossed in conjectures and hypotheses, which annoyingly left me too anxious to sleep. Defeated, I decided to get up and occupy myself with other things. I turned the computer on and went about replying to my mother’s e-mails.

Everything was fine in Paris and she missed me beyond words. She wanted news about Gabriel and me. She insistently asked if I hadn’t forgotten to pay the bills and if the money she regularly transferred to my bank account was enough. She still didn’t know exactly when her flight back to London was for the Easter holidays, but she was anxious to see me soon. As an attachment there was a photo of her, sitting in a sunny, bright terrace of a coffee shop. Her smile was radiant and I was happy to know she was really doing OK. The name of the photo was ‘Saturday’s Breakfast’ and I downloaded it to my computer archive, where I usually kept the photos she’d started sending with every e-mail.

On a new window I described our tour day in London. I risked confessing that Gabriel knew very little of the city, not knowing exactly what kind of memories she had of a cousin that never existed to begin with. In the end it was a little like writing an essay for English Literature and I made sure to put in a little bit of everything, especially lots of fun and amazing things, to wrap it all up with a happy ending, where we’d supposedly sat somewhere nice to have something to drink. I didn’t add any photos, but shared my plans for the next day, which included going to the supermarket. I could easily compile all those e-mails and write a fiction novel about the life of a girl that had never existed, I thought. And so, my attempt to keep my mind otherwise engaged was quickly frustrated.

The sudden change in the air made me jump from the chair. The intensity and pressure were so strong that, unwillingly, I even forgot to breathe for a split second, before darting out the door. I almost collided with Lea, standing in the corridor, as if he’d stayed there since I’d practically closed the door in his face. His silver eyes, wide open, looked up at me in a mix of surprise and fear, but I didn’t even give him the chance to speak.

“Mari! Wait!” I heard him call after me as I flew down the stairs followed by the urgent sound of his bell.