Ethereal

Chapter 24

"Emilia." Acacius looked up joyfully when he heard me approach. "I wasn't expecting to see you so soon."

I shrugged, trying my best to ignore the tight knot that had formed in my stomach. I decided I wouldn't tell him that my mother was missing, locked away in a cell, there was little he could do to help. I didn't want to upset him for no reason.

"Well, I don't really know anyone here besides you." I told him, sitting cross legged in front of his cell. He came to sit opposite me, though he was frowning.

"Regardless, everyone here knows who you are." He replied.

"They do?" I was surprised.

"Of course, there are few secrets in Caelum. I am sure that everyone was shocked to hear of a grown Nephilim, let alone one that was allowed to live as a citizen of Caelum." He explained. "No one ever expected that to happen, for there to be a new addition here."

I nodded. "I guess that's never happened before. But... I guess there's another reason I came to see you. I was just wondering... if I could speak to you about Lori?"

"Of course. What would you like to know?" He seemed eager, leaning towards me slightly, as much as he could when restrained by the bars anyway.

"Everything." I replied. "How you met... how you fell in love."

"It's complicated I suppose. I enjoy being on the Earth, if I have free time then that's where I spend it. I came across your mother in a bar, with a few of her friends. Samantha and Evelyn, I believe?" I had never heard of either of them, how much of my mother's life before me did I not know about? "I couldn't stay away from her. I knew it was wrong of me... I just couldn't help myself. She was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. I had to speak to her, and to my surprise she wanted to speak to me too."

"Were you together long?" I asked.

"A few months." He told me. "I hoped I would be able to stay with her, that the council would never find out. It worked for a while, but there was always something missing. I planned that we would never become intimate, it was most difficult for Lori – I couldn't tell her why we couldn't do the things she wanted. I couldn't say no to her, I was weak. I tried... desperately, to keep my angelic form hidden. To keep the light within me. But it is impossible. I restrained it enough to keep her alive but of course there were consequences. You've seen them for yourself. And then the fire broke out."

"How did you get out without her noticing?" I asked.

"Right when it happened, she was mesmerised by the light. She couldn't look away. I carried her to safety and alerted the authorities. She didn't want to be separated, but I could see the damage that had already been done. She could barely speak. I told her that I had to get something from our hotel room, she couldn't walk to follow me. I left, I flew away. I didn't look back. I could only hope that she had been taken care of, that she wasn't too damaged." He sighed, and squeezed his eyes shut tightly. "I stayed away for as long as I could. I knew that my presence would only hurt her more, and I couldn't hurt her. I love her, leaving her was in her best interest."

"Where did you go?" I asked softly, noticing the distress on his face.

"I spent a few years in America, the further away I was from her, the less I was tempted to check up. I couldn't stay away forever though. I returned five years later. I had to know that she was okay. And she was at the time, she seemed relatively sane, happy. Perhaps the most shocking thing though, was when I saw you by her side."

I breathed in a quick gust of air. "You saw me?"

He nodded. "I knew of course that the probability of impregnating a human was high, but it hadn't truly occurred to me that Lori would have a child... my child. You looked almost exactly like me, I kept my distance, neither of you could have seen me. But I had to know... to see if you were a threat. But you weren't, as far as I could see you were human, not displaying any extraordinary abilities. You hadn't hurt anyone. I thought perhaps that not all Nephilim came out bad, so once I was sure you weren't going to be a danger, I left again. I couldn't let my return tamper with your happy life. You're the reason I had the motivation to stay away. I always kept tabs on the news in Entilin though, making sure there were no stories in the area that pointed to your existence being a danger. That was always my biggest concern. If you had been dangerous, I would have dealt with that, turned myself in."