A Monster Inside - Book of the Amulet - ITV's Jekyll and Hyde

6 - Evelina

"Do Hydes feel pain?" The question that Lottie had asked caught Louis off guard. They still remained in the same spot that they were in and had been telling each other stories to pass the time. It wasn't like they were going to get out soon. Though she still hadn't told her father of her brother's disappearance. He should know; it's his son for God's sake. But how could he, or both of them for that matter, do anything stuck in here?

"Surely you know. Or has my daughter become so innocent she doesn't let her Hyde out?"

"I would, but", Lottie started quietly. "Tenebrae...got rid of her". Louis just sighed. Another one of his children hurt by Dance.

"You know of the Lapida Drakos?"

"It's the Hyde Sword, isn't it?"

"Is that what you're calling it now?" Louis chuckled. "I was going to use it to kill Dance, you know. I was... centimetres away from slicing his windpipe open".

"Why didn't you?"

"Because your mother made me see how it wouldn't change anything", he answered, trailing off slightly at the end of his sentence. "She was my humanity Lotts".

"What was she?" she asked, and Louis looked quite confused at her question. "Tenebrae would only allow monsters into their ranks so... What was she?"

"A seraph", he started, then hesitated slightly. "An angel". A smile crept across Lottie's face at the thought of her mother being descended from Heaven, and the fact that her demise meant she was back with all her brothers and sisters, like she wanted to be now.

"You think it's cliché?"

"What is?"

"A demon falling in love with an angel".

"You are no demon, father".

"No, but I'm halfway there", he whispered. "And that's all that counted to Heaven".

"How could she be on Earth? Angels cannot leave Heaven without being cast out from it". Louis's face was a picture, and by the time he could answer she knew. Her mother had cast herself out of Heaven for him.

"She was everything I wasn't. She was... the Jekyll to my Hyde".

:/:

Tenebrae's UK Division
Location: Private
3rd January 1990

"Go on then. Do it", Dance calmly exclaimed, holding no attention to the blade at his throat. It burnt the skin on his neck and he could feel his blood surfacing and spilling from the tiny slit the Lapida Drakos made. Louis's golden eyes glared at him. He was wearing a hooded, grey cape, loose cotton trousers and a black, crew-neck T-shirt. He was ready. One bite of this sword and he would be lying dead at his feet. All the lies and secrets would roll away quicker than the demon blood running from his throat. But then there was her. He could feel her ice-blue eyes staring at him in disbelief. He didn't want to look around; her face would only be one of disappointment.

"Lou, I know you're upse-"

"He's lied to us, Evelina. He's just using us to get to Charlotte. Our own child isn't safe when he's alive".
He could feel her hand on his shoulder, making his grip on the blade stutter slightly. She spun on her heels to face him. Evelina Jekyll was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen; so beautiful in fact that it broke him a little bit to see her hurt. The thought of him not being able to protect his wife, his light, burnt away at him slowly, like a candle to parchment.
He had met her on a busy street in London. Her eyes were what he saw first; pale blue, like the waves lapping on the sands of a beach, framed by curled eyelashes. But there she stood in front of him now and they were greyed. She wore a simple, black, shift dress, which contrasted with her pale skin and fawn coloured hair that tumbled down her shoulders. On her ring finger was her wedding ring, burnished gold and crowned with a clear-cut diamond. But the one thing that you saw first were the billowing, pure-white wings sprouting from her back. They were long, spanning from head height to sweeping the ground, and were feathered like a dove's.

"But where else can we go? We won't be accepted anywhere else, let alone liked".

"We'll find somewhere. Just not here", he retorted, switching his gaze from Dance to her and back. "Where the Hell's my daughter?" he shouted at Dance, but he didn't answer.

"She's here", Evelina said calmly, and he looked to see a small figure peeking from behind her wing. Dark hair curled around her jawline, and two sympathetic, emerald eyes looked at him. She was the mirror of her mother; same porcelain skin and cheekbones. "Lou, this is her home, do you want to take that away from her?"

"Why are you taking his side over mine? He is a liar; I'm your husband".

"I never said I was taking anyone's side. You know what those men did to my father, how can I trust them? How I could I live among them?" Louis sight dropped to the floor, he knew she was right. Angels gained their powers as soon as they became adults, and then they would sacrifice themselves to ascend to Heaven. Her parents had done just this and left her alone as a infant. But, they took two vessels, two humans that gave them permission to possess to look after her until she could join them. The vessels were the only family she knew, so she thought of them as her parents. It lasted, for a while, and she had kindness etched across her heart. But in the eyes of the public, her 'parents' were monsters for giving themselves up to the supernatural. It was a time when MIO was only in its juvenile years, and they knew that these vessels could become a threat to London, so, in secret, the Government ordered their firing squad. Bang, bang, two bodies on the floor. And Evelina never wanted to see a human again, because, at only seven years old, she was the one who had to put the cartridge into the gun that killed them both.

Louis had gone deadly slightly, but he didn't lower his blade.

"Pappa?" a tiny voice whispered. He looked over to Charlotte who held out her hand and, sighing softly, dropped the sword to his feet. Evelina nodded towards him and picked the Lapida Drakos from the floor. With a slight smile on his face, he knelt down and took Charlotte's hand into his own.

"So then, Pappa, you staying here?" Dance hissed.

"I'd shut the Hell up if I were you, Dance. Or next time it won't be just my husband sticking that blade in your throat", Evelina retorted calmly. Dance scoffed, and slunk away without another word.

"Look", she lulled, facing Louis. "I trust Dance as far as I can throw him, but where else can we go? Where else can we raise our, um, child-ren". Louis eyes widened slightly, his smile spreading across his cheeks.

:/:
"Dad?" he heard and it knocked him from his daydream. "Dad, what the heck is this?" Lottie was looking in front of her, eyes disbelieving. He looked to the same place she did and, instead of the long corridor that was there before, there was a tall wall blocking their way. It was smooth stone with no way of scaling it and no way through it.

"We're too late".