A Court Of Thorns And Roses

Chapter Text

I walked into the Novak Institution's main office. A quiet female secretary sat a desk, writing notes. She looked up at me.

"Hi, I'm Cesario Novak, and I'm here for the tour," I stated, smiling awkwardly.

"Alright, I'm gonna need you to wait here while we get Oriel on the phone," she picked up a landline phone and dialed.

A few seconds later, an average height angel walked in with a mastiff at his side. The dog was massive, up to my hip in height. The beast turned its attention to me, ambling over and sniffling my jeans. I stepped back, a bit nervous.

"Alessandro is a good dog; he doesn't bite," the angel said warmly, and I immediately felt relaxed as he continued, "I keep him around as a therapy dog. After my wife died, I got him as a puppy. He's been with me for fourteen long years."

"He's beautiful!" I stroked the huge mastiff's back with a gentle hand, "we really didn't have dogs growing up."

"Oh, your fear is understandable," the angel stuck out his hand to me, "Oriel Novak, and you must be Cesario. I remember when you were born. And then when Lucifer stole you from your crib."

"Sir, I assure you, it wasn't like that. Lucifer feared my safety. Being archangel spawn tends to put a target on your back," I shot back, my feathers puffing out under my jacket.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I don't have kids, so I don't know. My wife and I couldn't conceive. She had a uterine deformity. Couldn't ever get an egg to latch to her uterine wall," Oriel looked down at the ground, "anyhow, I'll summon your cousin to give you the tour, and then you and I can speak."

"Which one? Seems to me that my uncles can't keep it in their pants," I asked, seriously intrigued.

"Saraqael's eldest son, Sev, will be doing the tour. He's a bit older than you," Oriel pulled his sleeve back and exposed a bracelet, "Sev Novak to the main office, please."

Oriel and I sat in silence for a while. Alessandro dropped down on my foot, sighing in the way only dogs can. A few minutes went by, and a tan angel with a full tattoo sleeve on his left arm entered the office. He was my height, and he was much more muscled than me.

"Sev, this is Cesario. Be careful with him," Oriel said before going back to his office.

Sev turned to me, "what up, cuz?"

"What is up?" I stated, confused by this teen lingo.

"Let's get this bird in the air," Sev grabbed my sleeve and dragged me through the hallways. He stopped at an interior courtyard, "this is the Court of the Novak."

"What make it so special? It's just a courtyard with statues," I looked around.

"Look at the statues. It's the eight archangels, including your parents. Both of them. Their insignias are plain to see. They occasionally teach here, as well as their kids. Of course, something like this was commissioned before the scandal of your birth," Sev ranted enthusiastically.

"My birth was considered scandalous?"

"Well, yes, technically. Archangels don't lay with one another. It was a surprise, a big one indeed. Gabriel was shunned by his brothers, and Lucifer took you to a remote farm. And then things died down and got better. Michael prefers to not talk about it, but it's fascinating how a family can turn on each other like that," Sev continued on.

"That's highly offensive," I hid a snarl in my voice, "you wouldn't know what that was like. I wanted to be with my mother. I couldn't!"

"Whoa, I'm sorry," he said softly, "didn't mean to upset you."

I stormed off and found myself in the bathroom of the third floor. There was a bunch of guys smoking cigarettes and sipping gin. They all had vibrant makeup on. I was taken aback by all the guys hanging out.

"Hey, kid, you wanna join in?" a guy in all black asked me.

"I think I'm okay," I turned to leave.

"Don't let us scare you now. We might end up being your only friends, halfbreed!" one of them shouted after me.

Reviews

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Your story is continuing quite well.

Just make sure to infuse your story with settings and description. Too much dialogue, while setting up the charcterisation through conversation, has the adverse affect of slowing down the pace of a story and thereby endangering the reader to becoming bored.

The theme of your story is very interesting. Keep on writing your chapters!

[Lonely Shadow]

Thank you!

[lildexty]

I really like how your dialog flows and sounds natural. the chapter was really interesting an engaging!

[Lonely Shadow]

Thanks a bunch!