Blood of the Skies and the Shadows - Chapter Twenty Three

Hey everyone, it feels like it's been a very long time! I feel very restless knowing I haven't posted in a while, it gnaws at me grr... Anyhow I hope I can post a few more chapters before I start the third story of the Blood and Shadows series! I will keep fighting^^! So cheer for me! Thanks to all my very patient and loving fans who comment and wait for this annoying author he..he, honestly don't know what I'd do without you guys! Anyway enjoy, chapter twenty-three!

Yours sincerely and with love, Caelia.
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Lexi.
I heaved as I collapsed against Lucian. The only words that sounded in my head were 'You failed'. I wanted to deny and defend myself from my own self yet I couldn't because it had been true. I could do nothing even though moments before I had berated myself for being useless and not being able to help the ones I cared for.

"Child there is no need to be frightened." He crooned. I looked up to meet his worried protective gaze, the one I'm sure he'd reserved his daughter. I pushed away from him, gambling that my knees would be strong enough that I didn't need the support any longer.

"I'm not." I argued stubbornly. My words were harsh and Lucian had no reason to deserve my anger. I instantly felt guilty at the sound of my tone, but what was done couldn't be undone.

"Your hand is trembling." He murmured quietly. I couldn't read his mysterious expression anymore, I was sure his guard was only down temporarily and I was sure I would only ever see what he was feeling if he didn't care I knew. Instead of futilely trying I shifted my attention straight to my hand. The knife's heavy thick hilt was still in my grip. I was stunned silent. He was right. My skin was white over my knuckles with the strength I clasped it with and it was shaking. Hard.

I used my free hand and took my wrist in an iron-lock grip to stop the uncontrollable shaking and sheathed the blade in its cover strapped to my thigh. I turned my head, refusing to meet Lucian's scrutinizing yet worried eyes. The protective gaze I didn't deserve.

I pulled my jacket tighter against me as I realized the dawning morning was slightly brisk and I was only wearing a light nightgown, my brown leather jacket and flats which Lilliana had prepared for me along the way to the balcony, which were now tearing horribly from running and fighting.

"Where are we?" I muttered. I looked around at every place except for Lucian. We stood in a forest. It wasn't as thick as any of the forests in the shadow world but it didn't feel as restricted as a park either. The grounds were uneven and lead up in sort of slope. The trees were tall but thin with deep hunter green leaves. The way the dew hung on the trees and its leaves and the way the dawn's light hit everything, it felt like a winter morning after a storm.

"A forest in Montanna. The closest town is Missoula but we are still a fair way from there. Put this on for now." He threw the black cloak from before my way and started heading off. The leaves beneath his feet rustled as he made his way through the forest. I stumbled after him as I pulled the cloak on. I was going to ask him where we were heading but I just clamped my mouth shut and trailed after Lucian.

After ten minutes of walking up ahead I spotted a large brick building. The type that only appeared in movies. It had the same sense of belonging to another era. Like an old mansion cross castle but you knew it was a school of some sort. As we drew closer to the school it didn't look as old and messy as one thought it would be. It was tidy and neat. No vines grew along the walls, the grass was evenly cut, the white paint on the edges of the window panes weren't peeling or faded. But it was strange, the place had many windows but not a single person appeared in sight. The tall wooden doors looked like that of a church and gleamed as if they had just been polished. Curiosity loomed like mist in my head but I held my tongue. 'Patience' I repeated in my head.

Lucian glided up the steps to the doors and silently I followed. Pulling the doors open he revealed what seemed like a tunnel. The walls were black and slick, made of a smooth dark stone I didn't recognize. The tunnel smelt of rain and appeared damp but it didn't feel humid or stuffy, simply like the scent of a forest during a drizzle.

At the very end of the darkness was a spot of light that barely gleamed. The only reason I was sure there was light was the way the white glow bounced on to the dark walls, encroaching into the darkness by the thinnest of rays. Lucian stalked ahead without a word and warily I stepped into the tunnel. At that moment I felt something strange stir inside me. Not a powerful wave-like the time at Lucian's mansion but instead like a spark of electricity in my mind had been triggered. Instead of brushing it off like last time I opened my mouth.

"I felt something back there. What was it?" I asked hurrying after with him but not with haste. I felt a small burst of wind striking my back as I heard the doors creak to a close. He turned to glance at me over his shoulder but didn't stop. He shot me a smug grin and chuckled as he turned away.

"Your manner of patience is something to be questioned." I frowned at his words and smug expression but pushed onwards.

"Yeah I'll keep working on it. But you still haven't answered my question." I muttered as I trudged forward. The light at the end of the tunnel gradually grew but at an exceedingly slow pace, as if the tunnel was in reality at a few miles long. We walked through the dark tunnel with the only sounds there being the soft tap of our feet against the cold stone ground. I didn't expect him to answer but he did.

"ARG. The Academy of Ramiel's Guardians." He said quietly. His body seemed to become rigid with unknown emotion. I couldn't imagine the expression on his face if the emotions weren't hidden behind a cold mask. The name seemed to strike a tentative nerve deep inside me. I was sure it had something to do with my so-called 'bond' with Lucia, but I was skeptical since I still knew nothing about the bond.

"This place is an academy for humans and half humans. It's where people like yourself, born into hunter families, learn how to battle shadows." Each word mortified me. I knew there were other humans that did what I did but they were supposedly rare. Half humans? Hunter families? An academy for learning how to fight shadows? I'd never heard of such a comical thing. Lucian's suspiciously soft jovial laugh broke me from my trance as he continued.

"You would not know because you were raised by shadows." He said simply. He waited in silence, for me to figure it out myself. When it finally clicked I nodded in understanding.

"This place was kept secret in case shadows planned to attack it and all the hunters being trained here." I murmured. I wasn't surprised exactly. I'd been attacked several times myself when shadows found out I was a hunter, a hunter in shadow territory at that.

"Indeed. This academy was built around the mid eighteen hundreds, though its origins trace back to the first rise of hell. The ones in charge of this academy are an association of a sort. The association was created when my father or Jonathan's existence became the salvation to save the human world. Knights who knew of what was to come began guarding him. But other humans started to die around him from attacks by shadows that were being used by demons. Those knights had begun protecting the humans as well. That is how the association came to be." He said. The glow ahead had expanded but it still seemed far away. It was a wonder that shadows like Demetri didn't even know of an association of hunters like me.

"What about Ramiel? How was the Academy created?" I started hearing indistinct sounds in the distance as I questioned Lucian curiously. But I paid no mind reminding myself to be patient as I would find out later.

"Allegedly the academy was founded by an angel and a human. The angel Ramiel was an angel who fought alongside the humans when the rise of hell took place. She was said to have...tolerated humans more than the other angels." Something unguarded twined into Lucian's voice, some forgotten emotion I couldn't quiet pin down, but it was gone, almost as quick as it'd appeared.

"But the angels helped save the human world. I thought they loved the humans like brethren." I wondered perplexedly. If angels didn't like humans, why help save them? And against God's orders?

"Supposedly someone you loved and worshiped created a world for beings you saw weak. Would you let someone who went against your worshiped person's wishes wreak havoc upon everything your worshiped person created and loved? Or would you save it even against his orders?" His sky blue eyes watched me carefully and curiously. My forehead creased as I answered.

"The angels didn't want the earth or the humans God had created to be destroyed and for Lucifer to have enough power to invade heaven again. But they didn't want to rescue the humans or disobey God's demands either, so they merely helped and guided them." I said more to myself than to Lucian. The sounds ahead became more defined but not enough for me to make it out yet. His voice changed as he spoke next, hard and tight and his tone inevitably guarded and harsh.

"Correct. Anyhow Ramiel who was forced to see humans as the same by her divine siblings was said to have been reluctant. Because she is the Angel of Thunder who resides over true vision and joy. Her twin however is the Angel of Temperance, Cassiel." I almost felt my feet set into the stone ground beneath me. But I forced my feet one in front of the other, though it felt like I was walking through wet cement. His name sent trickles of electricity attempting to ignite in my veins but I compressed it indignantly and listened.

"Cassiel is the angel of tears and solitude. In legend angels were created in pairs, twins. And no matter what one angel may reside over the twin angels would always love and understand each other. Cassiel is said to be isolated even among angels. So Ramiel, upon seeing the strength in the humans' love and joy sent her twin down to the human world and took away his powers. She hoped he would let down his guard and see the beauty of loving others. It was then said that he fell in love with a mortal..." He paused and took a deep breath. I thought his hands were trembling imperceptibly but I couldn't be sure because of his sleeves and the darkness. I wasn't very attentive to his actions because I was focusing on my own.

I continuously repeated in my head that this was legend. And it might not have been real. But logically I knew most legends were immersed in truth. Shadows had proven that. And I knew this had to be true because I had some kind of bond with that mortal. I had seen her memories, distorted but still hers.

I felt my nails digging into the palms of my hands. The brisk morning suddenly turned into a winter storm. His flow of words continued as I could do nothing but listen.

"Ramiel had not foreseen this and could do nothing but oppose her twin's love like her other brothers and sisters in heaven. Legend does not tell of what became of Cassiel or his mortal lover except for the great sorrow that presided in the heavens afterwards. But there were whispers." He halted to a stop and turned his head slightly to look at me. His pale blue eyes darkened and seemed to lock my eyes to his. Never letting go. His cold mask didn't fade or even subdue in the slightest but it had been peeled back just enough to let something flash across his face. Empty despair.

"The mortal woman sent to hell's flames as punishment and the angel who loved her overwhelmed with grief locked himself away and gradually lost his sanity." Beyond the gut-wrenching pain roiling, I could feel it, somewhere deep inside me something died. I didn't know why. And I didn't want to know. Maybe the truth would do more harm. I wouldn't be able to take it. Whatever had happened in the end, I didn't want to find out.

Seeing the expression on my face must've broken Lucian out of whatever trance he was engulfed in because his eyebrows rose and his eyes widened with shock. He quickly gathered himself and a slow sensuous smile spread across his aged face. He lifted his hands and lifted the silky black hood that rested lightly on my shoulders and back over my head. The silence was deafening, except for the faint sounds of swords clashing, guns firing, voices calling, but it was not the same sound of battle.

"But they are merely whispers. Nothing to wallow in. Not a single soul knows of what happened in truth, only the angels know that." He patted her shoulder, abruptly turned and started forward again. The turmoil inside me had settled but I could still feel something dead in me. Like hope that had shriveled in deceit and darkness. I followed numbly, refusing to comprehend why that turmoil was even there.

"In the end legend says Ramiel, driven by guilt of how she could not do anything to save her brother's love, sought the association of hunters. She gifted them with magic in their weapons and spells so that their protection abilities would strengthen. She created this academy with wards against demons, shadows and even angels and told the association to protect human life and love." He finished.

"Ramiel was guilty she didn't save the human her twin brother fell in love with and even opposed their love, even though she knew humans brought joy and love and weren't as weak as they appeared. She wanted to right the wrong she'd done to her brother in building the academy." I said blindly. I felt Lucian's gaze on me as he came to another stop. As I looked up from the cold ground I noticed we were at the end of the tunnel. For a moment the blinding light hurt my eyes enough that I covered my eyes with my arm, but then it subsided.

"You're an excellent observer but some emotions cannot be described with mere words." He whispered, his voice was tinged with sorrow. Actually surprised I glanced at him. But did not find anything but a cold mask. He stared ahead, so I followed his transfixed gaze. The faint sounds had become distinct and I could see why it hadn't sounded like battles though weapons and voices called.

"Welcome to the Academy of Ramiel's Guardians."