Risen: Beginning of a Legacy

Chapter Eighteen: Evangeline

As she held her hand out to catch the falling snow, Evangeline smiled to herself. Aurelia and Walker had the best flat; on the top floor of a high rise building in the centre of Edinburgh, it looked over quite a view. The sun split the sky and snowflakes playfully chased each other to the ground. Evangeline slipped into an odd sort of tranquillity. Where the soul was utterly quiet. The voices in her head, the worry, the stress; every interrupting thought became hushed, calm.
     She enjoyed the crisp breeze, catching her hair and making it flutter about. The sound of cars and the bustling city melody was far, far below. Breathing out a crystal sphere of air, Evangeline drank in the sunlight, the snow. Then her uncle stepped out onto the balcony beside her.
     'You know, you'll have to talk to me about this at some point.' was his greeting.

     'No, I don't.' she snapped back fully aware of the childish tinge to her words.
     Irritation bristled throughout her entire being, goosebumps erupting up her arms, and not, she decided because of the cold air.
     'This was never going to be an easy topic for us.' he reasoned, leaning against the rail, folding his arms and watching her face.
     'Don't call it a topic.' Evangeline countered; her voice deadly quiet. 'Don't you dare insult me, them, this whole part of my life by comparing it to a topic, like I'm at school!' she snarled, gripping the cold metal balcony railing under her hands.
     'Evangeline...' Luther paused, 'you're right, I'm sorry.'
     'Why now?' she asked.
For a while her uncle said nothing, his sharp eyes watching the snow coming down about them. Evangeline kept her eyes on the horizon. She held tight to the thought that once they had weathered this fight, things would start falling into place.
     'Because I realise now, it is impossible not to see them in you.' he finally offered. His hand came up and cradled the side of her head, turning her face to look at him, she met his gaze reluctantly, 'you are so like them it breaks my heart you never got to meet them.'
     He ran his thumb over her cheek and Evangeline stopped trying to pull away as she saw the sheen of tears in her uncle's eyes.
     'What were they like?' she asked, her grip loosening.
     'Adrianne was fire. Fire and life, she brought people together with her warmth. Granted her feisty temperament occasionally led her into trouble. But her core quality was her determination, the fact she never gave up, it was something no one could extinguish.'
     Evangeline grinned, her mother sounded badass. An Intra Terci Angelus regarded among the most revered Angyali. Evangeline could see clearly how high the bar was set for her own journey.
     'And my father?'
     'My brother...'
Luther let out a laugh; he seemed to be deciding which parts to tell Evangeline. She tugged his arm, met his gaze fiercely and demanded,
     'I don't want a rose tinted eulogy. Just help me know them better.'
Luther laughed and for the first time, in a long time, a content smile crossed his face.
     'My baby brother was an idiot. My one and pretty much only way to annoy him was to remind him that despite only seven minutes between our arrivals, he would always be the baby.' Luther grinned at Evangeline before continuing, 'act first think later; that was Ezek. He was so impulsive; he always got us in heaps of trouble. I remember once, we must have been ten or eleven but he had persuaded me to steal our father's sai blades from his study. We were running about the woodland that backed onto our home. We lived in Greece at the time, stunning, you'd love that part of the world.'
Luther looked out at the skyline and rubbed his eyes. Evangeline waited. Patient, for one of the first times ever.
     'It was about half an hour later that the Guardian Seraph on duty realised we weren't in the house. He came out in a burst of feathers hollering in a fierce ancient language.' Her uncle paused, locked in the memory he was relaying. 'Turned out, the blades were daemonic, curse laced to call out hybrid Horde. Essentially Ezek and I had called near two dozen of the buggers to the edge of our safety barriers.' Luther paused chuckling, 'Father was furious, but Ezek managed to charm him out of his anger. Even as a young child he had a way with words--' Evangeline smiled, waiting eagerly for more. '--When Ezek and me got to Warriod, the pair of us were unbeatable, a complete duo act. You've probably heard of the time students switched the heads of the statues in the academy courtyards?'
     'Yes, apparently the rumours of who did the deed are still not put to bed.' she replied, her smile deepened as her uncle chuckled conspiratorially.
     'Your father concocted that prank.' Luther told Evangeline; the glint of a younger man rich in his eyes. 'First prank your mum, Ezek and I ever pulled as a trio.' He murmured, clearly returning to that moment in his history. 'Growing up so segregated due to our rank and bloodline although no-one knew how high ranking we were and the simple fact our father was an ArcAngelus, made your dad and I so very isolated.'
     Evangeline watched the thoughtful expression flutter over his face. He had explained that although in mortal form when he had conceived his son's, most of their childhood had been spent around immortals. Which Evangeline couldn't even begin to conceptualise.
     A moment or so later, Luther continued on.
     'Until Adrianne, she blasted her way through our metaphorical walls and took tight hold of our hands as we entered the social order you are now a part of.'
     'She freed you...' Evangeline summed up.
     'Yes, Ezek especially. When the two of them were together, the world was brighter, better.'
     In the aftermath of her uncle's admissions, the two of them stood, watching the snowflakes fall for a long time, the sun climbing higher in the sky, until it just brushed the tops of the buildings.
     'Thank you for telling me some stories about my parents. I know deep down why you couldn't share all this with me before. But--' she paused and turned to look up into his strong Warrior face, 'I am still not fully ready to discuss the weight you've just dumped on my shoulders.'
     She moved off, back towards the balcony doors aware he watched her every step.
     'This doesn't change who you are Evangeline, not to me anyway.' he called out as she pulled the door open,
     'Nice sentiment uncle, but it does, once again, change everything.'