Chapter 19

Micah stretched his long well muscled body in the chair he was sitting in and tried to go over the papers on his desk. “Damn it all to hell!” He swore throwing his ink pen across the room. He was not going to be able to concentrate on paperwork today. He walked over to the bookshelf that was the door that hid his office; closed it, and then firmly locked it. Here was the one place he did not take chances.

He walked passed his desk to a mirror and looked at himself for the first time. He leaned over and turned on the lamp to wash away the shadows in the room and doubled over in laughter when he finally saw himself.

He was RED. Even his skin had a tinge of pink to it. Some of the highlights in his fuchsia hair were blue so there were places at the roots of his hair where it looked absolutely purple. When he examined the strands of hair underneath near the nape of his neck the purple was so deep it was black. What he saw in the mirror was equal to a schoolboy's first erection. He'd had about as much control over it too. It should have been shameful. It should have been embarrassing, but Micah was over a thousand years old and never in his wildest dreams did he think to find himself so attracted to a woman! This was before all other things....fun.

He had a need to show her who he was the minute he was close enough to smell the intoxicating fragrance that was her. She smelled like sunshine and vanilla and almonds to him. It was he who violated his council given directives of secrecy first. She knew him. And then he showed her the rest.

“Not elf, Not vampire...something else ...”she had said to him. He sighed. She knows what we are, but has no word for it right now. She is perceptive. She will figure it out. And then what? What would he do? He was beyond killing her the way he had been taught to when anyone threatened to reveal his secrets. She would have to be told soon before she got them both killed with her innocent questions.

He had the word. The name he dare not utter unless he was in the sacred place. The council thought they had tortured and conditioned it out of him. They thought he couldn't remember. But they could not successfully wipe away what he was. What she knew. It could not be taken from him that easily.

He touched the mirror and closed his eyes. He let his energy rise soft within him and felt his power come peacefully to the surface. If any of the council or the ancients called for him now they would think he was napping and the surge of power they would feel coming from his body was nothing more than what he would have during a dream. Centuries of patience and years of practice went into what he did now.

He took a deep breath and his body froze as it stopped in front of the mirror. His spirit passed through the mirror into a garden lush with green trees,flowering plants, crystalline pools, and waterfalls. He immediately drew Dimitri in with him.

Micah was reminded when he had produced a fresh flower for Fran from one that was dead. There were more than flowers here. The rose had only been a touch of what he could do. One day he would have to show her this place.

“Good Morning Dimi.” Micah greeted.

“I told you not to do this Micah. Its way to dangerous for you!” Dimitri scolded.

“You need a rest Dimi. This is the only place you can do that. The Death Watcher cannot breach my fortress.”

“And as I asked you before. What if he comes for me and finds me here with you?”

“We are much more clever, You and I, Dimitri, than that malformed beast! Please my brother give us some credit. The Death Watcher must know of a place to breach it. He does not know this place exists. Only that you disappear from your prison and that at sometime you will reappear there. I've told you a million times. He cannot follow you here. Now go my dearest friend and rest.”

Micah put up his hand and pushed with his energy. Dimitri faded away near the waterfall where lunch waited for him on a blanket. Micah knew Dimitri would eat, swim and then sleep. He did it every time he came. Micah was glad to provide a place where Dimitri could feel whole again....if only for a time. Micah didn't really want company right now, but he could not in all consciousness enjoy this place while Dimitri suffered.

Unfortunately he couldn't get away from Dimitri's happy voice so easily either.

“So you are attracted to her as well?” Dimitri stated too happily. Grinning as a child would on Christmas morning.

“How did you know?” Micah asked. He didn't think the color traveled here with him in this form.

“Have you taken a good look at your eyes lately? If it isn't Fran, you've got it bad for someone. Didn't know maroon was your color.” Dimitri's laughter faded before Micah could respond.

Micah settled himself near a low waterfall that emptied into a small pool of water. Golden fish swam up to its sparkling surface and then back down to its azure depths. Micah looked at his reflection and saw what Dimitri was talking about. His eyes were positively glowing like rubies glittering in the sun. Micah shook his head. Fran had showed him what she thought of him. He was a stunningly beautiful to her eyes. Once...maybe....but now? He thought maybe something was wrong with her vision.

What was between them was odd and still there was a tiny idea in the back of his mind nagging, tingling his senses. Instinct rose within him and slowly the realization shredded the clouds of doubt covering his answer. He understood now what was happening between them....a side effect of being in the sanctuary.

More than imprint like an alpha wolf and its mate. More than bonding like a mother duck and her ducklings. He belonged with her, like Carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen and oxygen making TNT. Like Hydrogen and Oxygen making water. Once Micah and Fran came together they would be something else. Something stronger than either of them could be alone. It wasn't that the council didn't want him to love or even have sex. Vampires did so all the time and no one paid the slightest attention. They didn't want him to bind himself with another and become one with that person.

He had another command word now. One that he would use when he brought Fran here. Experience had taught him not to say it now. He needed to research and find out what it would do to the both of them. How kind of the council to provide him with the most extensive library ever collected for his work.

Micah looked down into the water and studied his face of shame. He examined his extended canines...she had seen through all of his masks; the one deliberately forced on him and the one he created for the council. She loved what he loved most about himself. He smiled broadly and said the one word he did not dare to say anywhere else.

“Nephilium.” He commanded. He arched his back bowing his spine forward and then rounded his shoulders backward and pressed his shoulder blades together. Then waited. The wings spread. Shivered. And then settled behind him. He sighed with relief.

This is what Fran knew but could not name. This is what she sensed about them both. This is why she was naturally offended by Vampires. She didn't know what she was feeling was not fear. It was revulsion. Most often vampires were viscous and cruel. Most often she was right in her assessment. She was naturally repulsed by the potential evil that resided within them all. It was also why she did not want to give up Uriel's Protection. It was her birthright to wear it. It was unsafe that she had given it up. Uriel's Protection did not belong in the hands of a vampire or one who loved them. It rightfully belonged in Fran's hands....the hands of a Defender.

Nephilium were the children of angelic males and human females. He was from the house of Nahriel. Fran by the looks of her was from the house of Zothiel....long considered a powerful match among the Nephilium. Micah had been born to defend right. Justice. Good.

The Etruscians when they had seen the golden scroll marking of the divine on his face, his white hair, and golden tipped white wings had thought him a god. They called him Tivir. The Celts called him Aenghus, the Hindu called him Kamadeva, the Greeks called him Eros.

That was before the council. That was before they turned what was once holy into an abomination that no god could love. That was when they tortured him but could not understand that the separation from his purity was more torture than the harm could ever bring upon his body. That was when he gave in and did what they wanted knowing that no god could ever love him for being what he was now, or forgive him for what he had been forced to do.

Micah stood up, spread his wings, leaped high into the air, and with one strong stroke he was sky born. This is what they tortured him within an inch of death to forget. And although his mind was damaged, his back couldn't forget the weight it was used to carrying. His hips could not forget to balance his body another way. His hair couldn't forget the breeze as it whipped through his trailing locks when he flew. His body remembered when his mind could not and it caused him to ask silent questions of himself. And later on to find the answers.

As the air tore past him lovingly caressing every part of his body, his spirit relaxed as it always did. Flying had always been everything to him. He soared through the sky speeding past mountain tops, descending on valleys and gliding across oceans letting his finger trail in the water. He flew over Dimitri happily splashing in the water, playing with his favorite otter, and settled back onto the ground. It was time to get back. He dare not stay for long. He had accomplished what he came to do. Micah shivered his golden tipped, blood red feathers...wings followed hair...who could have known? He chuckled to himself. And unconsciously combed his hands through the feathers making them lie flat.

He knew the council was proud of their smug assertion that he had more insight to accomplish their goals because he was a vampire. They didn't understand that what they feared and hated the most about him, had been the very thing that helped him be their best servant. Now he was their most trusted adviser. A liaison to their beloved Ancients. A man to be feared, even among vampires.

He walked over to the pool where he last saw Dimitri to wave goodbye but Dimi was already sleeping naked in the sun on the cool grass. He could stay in this place as long as he liked. Dimitri needed sleep. He could get back to his place of limbo any time he pleased by himself. He only needed guidance coming here because it belonged to Micah alone.

Micah left quietly without waking him. When he returned to his body, only a minute had passed. He settled behind his desk again to work sorely missing the natural feel of the wings at his back. He was calmer now, but when he swiveled his desk chair to the mirror again and saw that his hair was even a darker red than before he could feel the tension ease back. It was a characteristic of Nephilium. They were brightly colored like the signature bands of a rainbow. Not exactly this bright...Micah smiled to himself, but the Nephilium were a stunningly beautiful presence when they gathered together. He wondered mildly what color Fran would be. That much was a matter of genetics rather than house. Laughter had sometimes brought roses to his cheeks. He never thought anything about it and it went away after a few minutes. But this! He shook his head turning his body and staring at the astonishing image before him. This would mean obliteration if he couldn't change back to the pale, lifeless, vampiric color he was before. As a prince of the night he was already dead; the council couldn't exactly kill him. No one would ever see the old man when he looked like this. He felt too alive...too happy....too in love....and that was the problem.

Author's Note

*This is my first time writing for others to read, so please feel free to comment and/or critique. All feedback welcomed!*