Rise Of The Nephilim

Āmand charged toward Maxine and those surrounding her.

“Get out of my way!” he ordered her protectors.

He landed hard, now face to face with Maxine. His seething rage tensed all the muscles in his jaws.

Maxine stood, almost paralyzed. Although she’d witnessed his fury earlier during the incident with Haman, she had not expected to so soon feel the bite of his venom.

She stared into his intensely red eyes. Her heart raced, though her body remained still.

As if some type of survival mechanism flicked on, Maybie’s face flashed before her eyes, though it was just a face, meaningless and unrecognizable. Still, it was a face that seemed locked in her subconscious, as if fighting to be remembered.

It could have been because Maybie had always been the one person she would turn to whenever she needed consoling. And consolation was what she needed now.

“What have you done?” Āmand screamed as he raised his hand and slapped her across the face, sending her sprawling to the floor.

Her Nephilim brothers and sisters looked away; even Haman felt the slap when it landed.

Maxine lay on the ground, her hand to her cheek, blood streaming down her chin, the taste of raw metal curdled her.

Silent in thoughts and fury, Āmand walked around to Malachi’s body and then over to Balthazar’s, then back towards Maxine. He inhaled deeply. “You have just jeopardized everything we have been working towards for millennia! Now Arcadium will not cease on the destruction of my dominion!”

The Epochs, whom he’d charged with protecting Maxine before the attack, stood side by side, their heads down in shame. They’d failed Āmand, and they knew the punishment for that failure:death.

Āmand lifted off the ground and took flight again. He flew in a circle, looking down at his Nephilim and Epochs, Maxine still lying on the ground with her hand fixed to her cheek, the ground smeared with the blood of both Arcadian and Babylonian, their bodies spread out around her.

With wings, fully extended, razor edges exposed, he swooped down in a slow glide, landing sharply.

He walked toward the Epochs who’d failed him and ran the edges of his wings against their necks, slitting their throats one by one. The bodies fell silently.

Tas! The name screamed in his mind. She would be next to feel the pain of his final judgment.

He ascended again, high above the cavern, his Epoch in tow. Rage continued to race through him as he glided from one cave to the next, plunging and rising to escape the pointed rocks.

“Tas!” he bellowed as he neared the main gate. His voice echoed through the hollows. He circled it, his blood sweltering. Then he landed firmly, his wings rigid, blades at the ready. What he found was the gate, still very much intact, left unopened and unguarded. Tas had abandoned her post. She’d betrayed him.

Āmand closed his wings and crossed over the threshold to the tunnel. He stood there silently, staring into the dark as far as his sight would allow, with anger writhing through him.

~

The Epochs removed the bodies, including Malachi’s and Balthazar’s.

“Sarai, are you all right?” Zeda asked, reaching down to help Maxine to her feet.

“Yes, I’ll be fine.”

However, with her hand pressed against her cheek, it was clear that she’d been in some discomfort.

Haman approached her. She wondered what he would do. He stood in front of her, eye to eye, his sword still marred with blood as he held it in his hand. “I thank you for my life, sister. I was wrong to have doubted you. Will you forgive me?”

Maxine hesitated, her face still throbbing from the harsh blow she’d been given. “Yes, I will,” she said, still with some reservations about his sudden change of heart.

Haman smiled and pulled her close to him in an embrace. Silla, Gaden, Zeda, and some of the others joined in the embrace. Now was the beginning of a real kinship.

Āmand silenced the jovial chatter as he re-entered the cavern. All eyes were firmly set on him. His focus was sternly on Maxine.

Once again, she felt his venom rush through her. Worst of all, she felt as if she’d failed him.

“The celebration is over; tomorrow we continue our training,” he pronounced, before sharply turning and taking flight.