Shadows in the Silence
Page 86
“Yes,” I grumbled. “You get a stalker’s gold star.”
“Brilliant.” His gaze shuffled toward both exits of the room. “I love gold stars and being right. Now, before your Guardian rushes in to remove my head before bothering to at least give me a good bollocking, we must move on. You spared my life and I would like to help you. Yes, you might have taken the next most valuable thing I possess, which was that magnificent book, but I have it in me to forgive.”
“I’m pretty desperate, so I’ll take what I can get,” I told him. “How can you help me?”
“Being the collector I am, I also collect information,” he explained. “I like stories, especially stories that happen to have truth to them. I learned a long time ago that you need the heart of a Naphil in order to ascend and so I deduced, since the Nephilim had been exterminated, that one or more were spared. I wanted one for my collection.”
My jaw dropped. “You—what? You have one at your house?”
He laughed. “No, of course not. I found him and realized he wouldn’t fit in my house so I left him where he was.”
My brain grew numb with shock. “You know where the Naphil is?”
“That’s what I’m trying to say, yes.” All the humor washed from his expression and tone. “But I don’t just want you to find the Naphil. Give the beast some mercy. I have seen barbarism, Preliator, but nothing like this.”
My jaw set hard. “That doesn’t surprise me.”
“Another thing,” Stone continued. “Did Azrael tell you what to do with the heart once you had it?”
“He didn’t.” I paused in horror. “I don’t have to eat it, do I?”
“You can avoid that,” he replied. “But you’ll need a ritual out of the compilation of spells from the Antares grimoire your friend Nathaniel copied. I imagine he didn’t quite understand what he had when it came to passages about you. We corresponded more often once he learned you were Gabriel.”
I felt sad at the thought of Nathaniel. “We found you through a package you sent to him. Did you know him well?”
“We’re both collectors,” Ethan explained. “We understood each other. I’d been in contact with him for a number of years. Most of my life, actually. I was sorry to hear of his passing.”
“He didn’t ‘pass.’ He was killed.”
“Yes,” Stone said, voice gentle. “I imagine you’re very familiar with loss.”
I didn’t want to talk about everything and everyone I’d lost so far. “So, you and Nathaniel were friends? I know he kept in touch with psychics and you told me that you’re a psychic.”
“I told you ‘in a manner of speaking.’”
I glared at him. “It’s extremely annoying that you have to give me the most confusing response possible every time.”
“I’m old and bored and running out of hobbies. This is a new one.”
“Who are you, Ethan Stone?” I asked in a very serious tone. “Or should I say, what are you?”
He smiled. “That is the question, isn’t it?”
And then it hit me. “The bloodline in America that Nathaniel told me about…you’re one of the scions, aren’t you?”
His smile widened. “I’m happy to know that I’m not descended from a moron.”
My brain reeled as I circled him, gaping at him, studying him, picking out resemblances in his features that I saw in my own. I saw everything now. This was why Lauren had detected my presence in his psychic signature on the envelope, and why the energy was so intense and violent. She’d had a similar reaction when she used her abilities to sense a connection between myself and the sarcophagus Sammael had been entombed in. only an angel had that kind of power. It made perfect sense for Nathaniel to keep in contact with Ethan Stone, and why he knew so much about our world even though he was psychic. But he was more than a psychic mortal. My power—angelic power—was in his blood.
“How long have you known?” I asked him, still breathless.
“Even as a young boy growing up in Surrey, England, I’ve always known I have abilities that normal people don’t,” he said. “But it wasn’t until my mother introduced me to Nathaniel that I knew what I was. Your angelic blood has flowed through my mother’s side for over three hundred years. Nathaniel had kept track of my entire family tree, since you married a mortal man and bore a child before that incarnation of yours was killed in battle.”
Despite the incredible discovery of one of my descendants, this information stung ripe and raw. I hated thinking about the men I’d loved who weren’t Will. If I’d known how he felt about me, I never would have even considered anyone else. I remembered what Will had told me when he found out Cadan had feelings for me: “For centuries I’ve watched you with everyone but me.” Thinking about his words now made me so angry with myself, but he never told me he loved me until the night after we’d thrown the sarcophagus into the sea. If I’d known…
“Ellie?” Ethan Stone’s voice shook me from my thoughts.
If I’d known and given my heart only to Will, then Ethan Stone wouldn’t be here. His ancestors—my descendants—never would have lived. I couldn’t regret what I’d done that gave life to others. I was the archangel of new life. Nothing was more precious to me. I was more than willing to give up my own to save all life on Earth.
“Brilliant.” His gaze shuffled toward both exits of the room. “I love gold stars and being right. Now, before your Guardian rushes in to remove my head before bothering to at least give me a good bollocking, we must move on. You spared my life and I would like to help you. Yes, you might have taken the next most valuable thing I possess, which was that magnificent book, but I have it in me to forgive.”
“I’m pretty desperate, so I’ll take what I can get,” I told him. “How can you help me?”
“Being the collector I am, I also collect information,” he explained. “I like stories, especially stories that happen to have truth to them. I learned a long time ago that you need the heart of a Naphil in order to ascend and so I deduced, since the Nephilim had been exterminated, that one or more were spared. I wanted one for my collection.”
My jaw dropped. “You—what? You have one at your house?”
He laughed. “No, of course not. I found him and realized he wouldn’t fit in my house so I left him where he was.”
My brain grew numb with shock. “You know where the Naphil is?”
“That’s what I’m trying to say, yes.” All the humor washed from his expression and tone. “But I don’t just want you to find the Naphil. Give the beast some mercy. I have seen barbarism, Preliator, but nothing like this.”
My jaw set hard. “That doesn’t surprise me.”
“Another thing,” Stone continued. “Did Azrael tell you what to do with the heart once you had it?”
“He didn’t.” I paused in horror. “I don’t have to eat it, do I?”
“You can avoid that,” he replied. “But you’ll need a ritual out of the compilation of spells from the Antares grimoire your friend Nathaniel copied. I imagine he didn’t quite understand what he had when it came to passages about you. We corresponded more often once he learned you were Gabriel.”
I felt sad at the thought of Nathaniel. “We found you through a package you sent to him. Did you know him well?”
“We’re both collectors,” Ethan explained. “We understood each other. I’d been in contact with him for a number of years. Most of my life, actually. I was sorry to hear of his passing.”
“He didn’t ‘pass.’ He was killed.”
“Yes,” Stone said, voice gentle. “I imagine you’re very familiar with loss.”
I didn’t want to talk about everything and everyone I’d lost so far. “So, you and Nathaniel were friends? I know he kept in touch with psychics and you told me that you’re a psychic.”
“I told you ‘in a manner of speaking.’”
I glared at him. “It’s extremely annoying that you have to give me the most confusing response possible every time.”
“I’m old and bored and running out of hobbies. This is a new one.”
“Who are you, Ethan Stone?” I asked in a very serious tone. “Or should I say, what are you?”
He smiled. “That is the question, isn’t it?”
And then it hit me. “The bloodline in America that Nathaniel told me about…you’re one of the scions, aren’t you?”
His smile widened. “I’m happy to know that I’m not descended from a moron.”
My brain reeled as I circled him, gaping at him, studying him, picking out resemblances in his features that I saw in my own. I saw everything now. This was why Lauren had detected my presence in his psychic signature on the envelope, and why the energy was so intense and violent. She’d had a similar reaction when she used her abilities to sense a connection between myself and the sarcophagus Sammael had been entombed in. only an angel had that kind of power. It made perfect sense for Nathaniel to keep in contact with Ethan Stone, and why he knew so much about our world even though he was psychic. But he was more than a psychic mortal. My power—angelic power—was in his blood.
“How long have you known?” I asked him, still breathless.
“Even as a young boy growing up in Surrey, England, I’ve always known I have abilities that normal people don’t,” he said. “But it wasn’t until my mother introduced me to Nathaniel that I knew what I was. Your angelic blood has flowed through my mother’s side for over three hundred years. Nathaniel had kept track of my entire family tree, since you married a mortal man and bore a child before that incarnation of yours was killed in battle.”
Despite the incredible discovery of one of my descendants, this information stung ripe and raw. I hated thinking about the men I’d loved who weren’t Will. If I’d known how he felt about me, I never would have even considered anyone else. I remembered what Will had told me when he found out Cadan had feelings for me: “For centuries I’ve watched you with everyone but me.” Thinking about his words now made me so angry with myself, but he never told me he loved me until the night after we’d thrown the sarcophagus into the sea. If I’d known…
“Ellie?” Ethan Stone’s voice shook me from my thoughts.
If I’d known and given my heart only to Will, then Ethan Stone wouldn’t be here. His ancestors—my descendants—never would have lived. I couldn’t regret what I’d done that gave life to others. I was the archangel of new life. Nothing was more precious to me. I was more than willing to give up my own to save all life on Earth.
