Fallen Angel

Chapter 3: Brannon

What did I know about Emily Feldman? Almost nothing. We had one class together which was vampire history, an important subject because they were the dominant dark being in this dimension. But Luca, he had at least one other lesson with her that I knew of, dark arts history.

Taking a careful glance at Luca, I said nothing for now. We were at my father's office, sitting in the reception area like we were on death row. It was almost accurate. Igor was in my father's office, he'd gone in there to discuss something important which was kind of his way of cooling my father down before I went in and put my head on the chopping block.

The door swung open and Nick waited, holding it open for us. He looked just as impressed as Igor had when he arrived at Emery's office. His son getting into trouble was almost a daily occurrence.

My father was standing at the window, looking over his world. The first layer of the underworld was like an evil version of autumn. A floor of brilliantly coloured autumn leaves with long and lanky black trees that housed the souls of those who should never be allowed to return to the surface.

"Thank you Igor."

"My lord."

Igor stood and tipped his head, walking to the door. He offered a sympathetic smile and passed us without a word said.

"Take a seat." My father said calmly as Nick closed the door.

Luca and I looked at each other as we sat in front of my father's desk. It was like the calm before the storm. Nick moved to the mantle, leaning against it as he waited for my father to begin. With one turn my father looked at us and smiled. My mother always said that I would be a wise man if I learned to be wary of the devil when he smiled.

"Please, regale us of today's incident."

"Okay so I was in the library and I was trying to find a book about deities."

"And why would you want that Luca?" my father asked as he sat on his seat. His gaze was still out to the land, watching as some of the demons tended to the trees.

Luca looked at me and I half rolled my eyes. Now we were about to get into more trouble.

"Just learning about Bran, you know?"

"Not really." My father gestured to me and to my sister as he turned back "They are deities, there is little else to know about them."

I looked at my sister Delaney who was sitting on the edge of his desk eating a lollipop. She wasn't allowed them because they filled her full of sugar and sent her a little troppo for a few hours. With our mother heavily pregnant and having to deal with her, our other sister who was going through a selfish stage and my daily visits to the head mistresses' office, a hyperactive child was not what she needed. But Delaney knew how to twist our father around her little finger and could get anything she wanted, just by batting those long lashes and giving him a sad pout.

"So tell me Luca, what did you want to know about Brannon that you could not ask me about?"

"Oh." he said softly. "Well so maybe I wanted to know how to detect him when he's ghosting."

"Just maybe?"

Luca rubbed his hands over his jeans, my father waited patiently for the answer.

"Okay so I did want to know."

"And why is that?"

"So we'd know how Emery can find him."

My father leaned back on his chair with a restrained smile, his fingers tented in front of him as he looked from Luca to Nick.

"And you were in the library hoping to find something that would tell you this?"

"Yes." He nodded, looking down to the floor. "I was told about a book that was in the restricted section, that it would give me a better insight. So the gate was open."

I looked at my father who offered nothing, not even a drop of emotion. The gate to the restricted section was always locked in school hours and for it to be open meant that something was wrong. Yet my father looked as if there was nothing untoward about the statement.

"Well it looked closed but the locks were sitting on a bench beside it. It was really obvious that it wasn't locked, so I went in. When I was wandering through the aisles I felt something really strange. It was kind of like what it feels like when Bran ghosts and takes me with him. All kind of tingly and weird. It kind of creeped me out so I left, thought I'd find Bran and ask him what it meant. I was walking out of the restricted area and Emery walked into the library. She didn't really see me, just some big mouth told her that someone was in the cage."

My father's eyes shifted to me, no doubt wondering what my part in this farce was.

"So you escaped and then what?"

"She thought it was me because she saw me at the library doors, gave chase until she caught up with me and Bran near the lockers."

A piece of paper was pulled across the desk, my father lifted it and held it out, casually looking at it.

"And tell me why this girl, this Emily Feldman has lied for you. What interest was it of hers to pretend that you'd been there for quite some time?"

Luca shrugged. "I have no idea. Bran asked her but she just said it was for no reason."

No one in our world did anything for no reason. The piece of paper was let fall to the desk as he turned to face us.

"Igor sensed something different about her, what species is she?"

"Uh, vamp maybe?" I offered.

"A vampire." He said dryly. "That's the best you can come up with? Did you not hear the part where I said that Igor sensed something different? A vampire is not different, they are common. Use your brain Brannon, knock the species off a list of possibilities."

I nodded, thinking of what she could be. She looked human so that ruled out five of the seven dimensions, Earth and Faelen remaining as possible dimensions. Emily wasn't lycan, they had a wet dog smell to them and she did not smell at all. In fact, there was almost a negative void around her. That was curious.

"So she can't be human. There might be a chance that she's an elf or a fae but I'm not really sure about it. She doesn't smell like a lycan."

"Which would leave what as an option?"

"A witch."

Witches were unstable at the best of times, I'd had a few run ins with the ones that hung around the underworld. They weren't supposed to be here, this wasn't a place to hang out and socialise. The gates of hell were open for the dark beings to move around the Earth with ease. Like Luca. He couldn't go out into the sun that rose and set on Earth but in the underworld, the red sun did not harm him.

"But do you believe her to be a witch Brannon?"

I shook my head, feeling the disbelief flow through my mind.

"It just doesn't sit right. She's always been way too calm, too quiet. It's really easy to miss her in the room if you're not paying attention."

"She just blends into the background?"

I looked up at my father, nodding with a lot of worry.

"And what being do you know does that?"

"An angel." I whispered.