don’t crave this monster? I’m constantly drawn to him, aware when he’s near and when we touch...it’s like fireworks.
“You turned them down?” I ask, tilting my head in confusion. The way Nos and Griffin spoke makes it seem like they wouldn’t be the type of people to take rejection well.
“Yes, in a sense. I am a different kind of monster. I am not merely a shifter or a made creature like vamps, or born of nature like the fae...I am other.”
“Fate Chosen,” Griffin spits, making Nos sigh and nod.
“I was chosen, it is true. They call us mystics, where only one of us occur in the world. For example, the gods or monsters you read about are Fate Chosen. For there is only one of us, ever. Therefore, I simply could not sit on the council. It would not be proper, I have no people to govern and I never wanted to. I hate politics, it’s why I live in nature. It might be brutal and bloody, but it is consistent and honest.”
I guess I could understand that. Leaning forward, I peck his lips in thanks for explaining. “So the council?” I prompt, getting back on track.
“Are not people you want to fuck with, vasculo. Every legacy, lore, and monster in this world is theirs to call and control. They are the law and you do not fuck with them, ever. To deny them...” Griffin shakes his head and I turn in Nos’ lap to see him.
His shoulders are tense again. “Like you did,” Nos points out and Griffin freezes, then the room turns icy and it’s like the light is being sucked into the fallen. Shadows swirl and stretch out of him, filled with rage and hate, before he sucks in a breath and they disappear just as easily as they came, but I shiver from the memory.
“You denied them?” I question, which is probably not the smartest move, but I don’t fear Griffin, even as much as he would like me to.
“All fallen have, that is why they are fallen,” Nos comments and Griffin spins, and his eyes flash as his bares his teeth, with a knife held in his hand and pointing at Nos.
Moving to block his view of my god, I draw his anger to me. “What are you? Angel?” I inquire softly.
“Nephilim,” he snarls, turning back to the food and giving us his back once again.
“Half human, half angel?” I muse, trying to remember the term from stories I’ve read and see in films.
“Sort of,” Nos murmurs in my ear, and I watch Griffin as he speaks. He ignores us completely, like he doesn’t care what we say, but I know that isn’t true. “Angels are naturally occurring species, and contrary to popular belief, nephilim are not the natural mix of humans and angels. They can’t biologically have children, but a long time ago one angel—”
“A crazy fucking bastard,” Griffin adds and Nos nods.
“A crazy angel, heartbroken after losing child after child, came up with a plan. He took it to the council who turned him down. He retreated to the wilderness of Siberia and built a compound there. The council thought nothing of it and left him alone in his grief and madness, but he didn’t stop his vision. He kidnapped human women from all around the world with a naturally occurring gene that he deemed necessary to carry an angel baby to term. He recruited...some angels, shall we say, and they experimented. By the time the council found out what they were doing, it was too late. Hundreds, if not thousands, of women had died in child labour but the crazy angel had done it. With help from science and some stolen fae magic, he managed to create half human, half angel babies, the nephilim. He had them of all ages, and he was training and raising them to be an army. They were brutal, unforgivable killing machines. Assassins. Warriors. All of the darkness, none of the light.”
Nos stops again and I’m entrapped in the tale. “The council raided the compounds, and they had a vamp wipe the memories of the humans they could save, and then they sent them on their way. The angels involved were sentenced to death, including the man who started it all—Gabriel.”
I suck in a breath. “What happened to the children? They were innocent,” I defend and he sighs again.
“They were, but the council still deemed them unreliable and...well, monsters. Abominations against the creator’s and fate’s vision for