Chào các bạn! Vì nhiều lý do từ nay Truyen2U chính thức đổi tên là Truyen247.Pro. Mong các bạn tiếp tục ủng hộ truy cập tên miền mới này nhé! Mãi yêu... ♥

Chapter Forty-Seven | Family

⊳⊱ ♕ ⊰⊲


In only a few minutes, Elijah was in a completely different part of the world. He and everyone else rematerialized from the vermillion smoke back to their normal selves, and as he glanced around the courtyard of an old but clearly well-taken-care-of castle, he frowned. Was this where his family lived? Was this where he once lived?

The demon lifted his hand to his face and touched where his wounds had been, but they'd healed during the journey, and so had his wrist.

He followed Zoe when she nudged him; he held tightly onto Haru's hand and walked through the entrance into a large foyer connected to an entrance hall. The walls were dark, and the marble floor was white; the smell of sage, roses, bergamot, and sandalwood struck him. The scents seemed familiar, as did the old crystal chandeliers and rib-vaulted ceilings. But staring didn't stir any buried memories.

"Edwin," the dark-haired man called once he took his blazer off.

Moments later, a butler stepped into the hall. "Yes, Sir Zalith?"

Now Elijah knew both their names. Alucard and Zalith.

"Could you take Jake into the west lounge?" Zalith asked.

"Of course, sir," the butler said.

Jake looked a little disappointed but followed the butler through the archway on the left, disappearing deeper into the castle.

"Are you going to send people to the lab out there?" Zoe asked as both her dads started leading the way into a lounge on the right.

Neither of them answered her.

"Please?" she insisted irritably.

Zalith looked down at her with an irritated frown.

Zoe lost her attitude and adorned a sullen expression. "We have to help them."

"We'll get around to it," he grumbled.

They headed into a room connected to the huge lounge, and when Elijah stepped in, he stopped for a moment to look around at all the weapons and trinkets on display. There were cabinets full of objects that he could practically hear the power emanating from. Wall mounts held rifles that looked hundreds of years old, some held swords, daggers, and strange-looking knives, and one glass cabinet contained a massive variety of plants, herbs, crystals, and all kinds of things he'd only seen in alchemy stores in the underground cities.

"Sit," Zalith said to Zoe.

The girl obediently sat in one of the seats at the table.

Elijah watched both her dads sit, so he pulled out a seat for Haru and himself and sat, too.

"Zoe," Zalith then said; he was speaking calmly but he was clearly very angry. "This is your last chance to explain to me what exactly it is that you've been doing for the last week."

Zoe looked a little horrified and shifted her sights to Alucard, probably hoping that he might make things easier for her, but he looked furious, too, and turned his head away from her. With a despondent pout, Zoe lowered her head and started crying, holding her rat-dog close. "I-I...I was looking into El'Vorian Horizons because I wanted to show you that I could do Lucian's kind of work—"

Zalith sighed deeply.

She continued, "I was investigating Doctor Harris when I met Elijah. I...got a little in over my head and they caught me. I was in Harris' trunk when—"

"Zoe..." Zalith scolded.

Her pout grew. "When Elijah chased him down and...killed him. We met by chance—I didn't even know who he was back then, just that he was one of Lyca Corp.'s illegal experiments."

Alucard raised an eyebrow. "You've been looking into that, too?"

She nodded. "Sorry. I just wanted to help."

Both of them sighed.

"Continue," Zalith then said.

Zoe glanced at Elijah. "Well...Elijah said that I wasn't safe anymore because they'd seen my face...and seen me with him, so Jake and I went with him to find Haru."

Zalith scowled furiously. "So you just took off with a stranger?!"

"I-I wanted to go with him because I wanted to see what I could learn from him," she told him.

Elijah wasn't sure whether he should say something or not. He felt a little bad that Zoe was getting scolded despite the fact that he was the one who made her go with him, but she just admitted that she wanted to go, so anything he said probably wouldn't help.

"And what did you learn?" Alucard asked irritably.

Zoe shifted her gaze to him. "We...learned a lot," she said warily. "We...well...please don't get mad at him, but we were the ones who found that lab out in Osamore...and I told Lucian."

Alucard rolled his eyes hard. "And of course he didn't tell us that part."

Zalith sighed once again. "Continue," he mumbled.

"Um...well, after that, we went to find another doctor called Ronan. He was the man who organized transfers at the labs and stuff. He told us that Haru was transferred to a place called The Spear, which...Elijah learned was over The Ice Wall." She looked at Alucard. "He can do that...thing that you do to learn what people know."

"What thing?" Haru questioned.

"Um...." She looked at Elijah.

The demon glanced at Haru. He wasn't sure whether it might make him uncomfortable or feel disgusted, but he wasn't going to lie. "Eating people's hearts."

Haru grimaced. "Like...in one bite?"

He frowned and set his eyes on him. "No."

"Two?"

Elijah sighed. "However many I feel like," he mumbled.

"Anyway..." Zoe then muttered sadly. "We realized that we'd need a plane, and Jake knew some stuff about where to find a pilot, so we went to Nefastus and found August. He flew us over The Ice Wall, and when we found the lab, we snuck in pretending to be captured subjects. After we found Haru, Elijah wanted his file so that he could find out about his family and stuff...and that's when we found out that he was Xaiden," she explained. "After we got out and into the forest, we couldn't find August, but then those hellhounds turned up...and so did that guy."

"Maverick," Elijah said.

Zalith frowned strangely. "Do you know who he is?"

Elijah shook his head. "He was with a woman, though...when I saw him in The Darkness."

"What did she look like?"

"Black hair, red eyes, and sharp teeth."

Zalith scowled irritably and looked at Alucard, who looked confused.

"My...aunt?" Zoe questioned unsurely.

Elijah frowned, too. Aunt? Was Maverick...his family, too?

"Why is he still alive?" Alucard asked Zalith. He then looked at Elijah. "Do you know what he wanted? Why he was out there in the first place?"

"I think he's working with Lyca Corp.," Elijah answered. "When I saw him in The Darkness, he was begging that woman to let him find me himself—he called her his mother, too. They knew I was killing doctors, and she seemed afraid that I was getting closer," he explained. "And then when he found us in the forest, he told me that he wanted to consume me."

"And they were using his DNA to make these chimaera things," Zoe added. "It's all in his file, which we downloaded to my phone. Maybe...there's more information in there?"

Alucard held his hand out across the table. "Let me see."

Zoe handed him her phone.

Elijah then remembered the photos he saw in his file, and it made him feel nauseous. He'd only just found his family; what if what Alucard saw in there changed the way he saw him? What if it made his family feel sick?

"Are you okay?" Haru asked quietly, nudging Elijah's arm.

He took his eyes off Zalith and Alucard and looked at him. "Yeah."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm fine," he said with a slight nod. But then he heard Alucard mumble something, and when he looked at him, he saw him showing Zoe's phone to Zalith...and they both had conflicted expressions on their faces. He was beginning to feel nervous, and that mixed with his nausea made him feel as though he was going to throw up. "How did...how did Lyca Corp. take me?" he asked them.

Zalith and Alucard took their eyes off the screen and glanced at one another with the same sullen expression.

"Idina, the woman who was a surrogate for us, was attacked while we were in Ascela," Alucard started, giving Zalith the phone. "Ysmay...who Maverick has clearly been led to believe is his mother, tore you from Idina's body while you were still a foetus." He glanced at Zoe and said, "That was when we found out that you had a twin. We created you and gave you the ethos of a Numen we defeated a long time ago; while in utero, the ethos must have been a little too much for you and Idina, and we assume that some of that ethos broke off and created Zoe. The very fact that you eventually crossed paths probably had something to do with the connection this gives you."

Zoe adorned a look of adoration. "We're twins?"

Elijah frowned again. "Why do I have white hair, then?"

"Because of the Numen ethos," Alucard told him.

"Wait, so you gave Eli actual Numen ethos?" Haru asked. "You're talking about the gods, right?"

Alucard nodded.

"But...doesn't Numen ethos destroy non-Numen bodies?"

"Yes," Alucard said. "But we all have Numen blood because I'm a Numen, and Zalith is a DemiNumen."

Elijah started piecing it together. Zoe was connected to an Ancient, he was connected to an Ancient, and the Ancients were very old beings, right? Numen were old—they had to be if they were gods—and Zoe mentioned multiple times that her family were very old. "So...you're the Ancient I've been trying to find?" he asked.

Alucard nodded. "That's what some people have come to call us."

He began to feel confused again. "Then how did you lose me? You're basically gods, right?"

Both Alucard and Zalith became sadder.

"Ysmay is the leader of the Diabolus, a very old cult that decided to back and hide behind Lyca Corp.," Zalith said as he put the phone down. "These people have resources, and they know things about this world that few others do. We suspected that she was hiding beyond The Ice Wall, where we have little to no presence. It would appear that our suspicions were correct, though," he said, tapping Zoe's phone. "She took you out there, and you were raised in a small facility...with Maverick. Even as a child, though, you were very uncooperative; demon children have strong connections with their twins, and Ysmay presumed that you were seeing glimpses of the outside world through Zoe.

"Ysmay altered your memories in an attempt to sever the connection, and it worked...but clearly only to an extent; you ended up finding each other eventually. You were transferred to a larger facility once you were a little older, where Ysmay ordered the doctors and scientists to find a way to take the Numen ethos from your body. Their early experiments led to them extracting one half of the ethos...the angel half. They couldn't contain it, though, and it escaped. They have no idea where it is, and neither do we, but recovering it won't be hard now that you know what happened."

Elijah thought to himself for a moment. He didn't remember being raised alongside Maverick, but maybe that was why he seemed familiar when he first laid eyes on him. And the fact that his memories had been altered made sense. Was that why he sometimes felt like he knew someone or someplace but couldn't quite recall how or where?

Alucard started looking through Zoe's phone again. "It looks like the plan was to take the Numen ethos and give it to Maverick," he said, glancing at Zalith and Elijah. "I think...that must be what he meant by consume you, and that's probably why he was so desperate to find you."

With an uncomfortable frown, Elijah tapped his fingers on the table. "What about my wings? I saw pictures of me with six, but now I only have one. Is he trying to take them for himself, too?"

"Not likely," Alucard said, looking up from the phone. "Once a demon's wings are severed, they hold no ethos. They do, however, contain DNA, which, like Zoe said, can be extracted and used." He looked at Zalith. "We've seen these chimaeras before."

Zalith nodded. "In Damien's castle."

"Who's Damien?" Haru asked.

"The Numen we defeated and took ethos from," Alucard answered.

"Can Maverick even absorb that ethos?" Zalith asked quietly.

"I don't know. There's no connection between Sinclair and Damien, and I don't think Everston is connected to him, either."

"Who're Sinclair and Everston?" Elijah questioned. He wanted to make sure that he had all the answers.

"They're the two people who Maverick's true mother asked to create him with. But when he was born, there was...something wrong with him. We could all tell by his aura and the way people and creatures acted around him."

"He was created to lead an operation in Celitrianas, another world much like ours," Zalith said. "But after we decided that we couldn't use him for the operation, his mother, Varana, suggested that she put him out of his misery because his life would be nothing but endless suffering for himself and the people around him. We didn't want that, and it wouldn't have been fair to keep him locked away for everyone's safety. Varana put it off for a few days, though, and she must have sent him away before telling us that she killed and buried him."

Alucard leaned closer to Zalith and quietly suggested, "Do you think they're trying to use the DNA from his wings to make it possible for Maverick to absorb the Numen ethos?"

"Maybe," Zalith said with a sigh.

"Does Lucian know?" Zoe asked sadly.

Instead of answering, though, Alucard adorned an irritated scowl. He got up, and everyone watched him as he silently walked towards the door. When he pulled it open, a kid with blue eyes and white hair, which was styled and undercut, stumbled in.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?!" he exclaimed angrily.

His voice was familiar, and Zoe nor Zalith looked very happy that he was there. That kid was Lucian, wasn't he?

"What have I told you about eavesdropping, boy?" Alucard scolded him, watching as he stood up straight and composed himself.

Ignoring Alucard, Lucian glared at Zoe. "You told on me?" he questioned, clearly aggravated. "Are you six years old?"

Zoe looked like she was going to cry again. "They said I have to be honest."

Alucard closed the door and then grabbed Lucian's shoulder. "Sit down," he grumbled, escorting him over to one of the empty seats.

Lucian pouted and slumped down. His eyes immediately met Elijah's, and he glared at him as if he was trying to read him.

Elijah scowled back at him.

"I think it would be within our best interests to recover both the angel half of your ethos and your other wings," Zalith said to Elijah. "We can't let them achieve whatever they're trying to do. The last thing we need is another cadejo outbreak...or worse."

Lucian shifted his scowl to Zalith. "No, we're not changing the subject right now. Why is it that no one told me I have a brother?"

"No one told me I have a brother, either," Zoe mumbled despondently.

"Because we thought he was dead," Alucard snapped at him. "But of course, your deranged mother fucked us yet again."

Lucian scowled furiously and went to get up—

"Lucian!" Zalith shouted angrily.

With a glower and a pout, Lucian crossed his arms and remained in his seat. He still looked furious, but Elijah could see sadness in his eyes.

"Sorry, Lucian," Zoe mumbled.

He rolled his eyes in response.

Elijah wanted to know more about every situation that had been brought up, but he was starting to feel overwhelmed again. Despite the fact that he was learning the things he wanted to know, it was all a little much right now. Numen ethos, his family were Ancients and gods, the man who was hunting him down and haunting The Darkness was actually his cousin, Zoe was his twin sister, a whole half of him had been torn away and was lost somewhere in the world, and he needed to find his severed wings before Maverick and Lyca Corp. could achieve whatever all of their experiments had been for.

He was about to ask why Lyca Corp. kept taking lycans and demons despite only clearly needing him, but he knew that it was because they needed them to create more chimaeras. His DNA was the key, but they needed bodies, right? The thought made him feel sick. How many children had died because Lyca Corp. had tried manipulating them using him?

Alucard then sighed deeply. "I'm sorry, Lucian. We're all just very stressed and confused right now."

Lucian didn't reply, but some of the anger and sadness left his face.

Zalith then looked at Elijah. "I can't describe how happy I am that you're safe and finally home," he started. "If you're comfortable, you're more than welcome to stay here as long as you want; we have plenty of room for you and Haru. We'd love to finally get to spend some time with you and get to know you."

Elijah looked down at his bloody hands. He'd waited a long time for this moment, and he didn't feel the need to decline. His instincts told him that he could trust these people and knowing that he'd get to stay somewhere secure with Haru made him feel a lot better. But there was a small part of him that worried...what if they lost him again? What if something happened and they weren't there for him?

He wouldn't rely on them like that. He'd relied solely on himself for as long as he could remember, and he was sure that wouldn't change until he saw that Lyca Corp. could never reach him there. However, the thought of being able to sleep without panicking about being discovered was a comforting one. Maybe he could stop running. Maybe now was the time when his real life actually started.

That small part of him would always remain cautious, though. It was burned into him at this point.

"You're also welcome to our food, and we'll get you clothes and everything else you need," Zalith added.

Elijah nodded slowly.

"Zerenity and Zacaeus are likely to come home within the next week or so, too," Alucard said. "They're your older siblings. I'm sure they'll want to meet you."

He wanted to ask just how big his family really was because it had to be if Zoe didn't suspect they were closely related after working out that he was connected to an Ancient, but he'd just learned an incredible amount that he was sure anything else might overwhelm him too much. He'd ask when his older siblings arrived. One thing he needed to know, though, was: "Are we safe here?"

"This is probably the safest place you could ever set foot in," Zalith said firmly. "We'll keep you safe."

Elijah nodded again and gripped Haru's hand under the table. He wanted to put Lyca Corp. behind him, but he knew that it wasn't over. Maverick would keep coming for him, and so would the detainers. If there was a way to stop them, he wanted to find it, but first, he needed to put an end to whatever they were trying to do with his DNA. He needed to find his stolen wings and the ethos that had been taken from him.

For now, though, he wanted to breathe. He wanted to enjoy his freedom with the man he loved, and he wanted to get to know the family that he'd been torn away from.

He'd have to face them again someday soon, but Lyca Corp. had already taken so much from him. He wasn't about to let them take this.




End of book one.


⊳⊱ ♕ ⊰⊲


Bạn đang đọc truyện trên: Truyen247.Pro