The Watcher's Guild: Sweet Nephilim Ch. 19 Pt. 1

Hey all,

Well, how about that?  Amaris has finally met another of her kind.  Will she find out what her role in the Lord's army is?  Or is this just an opportunity to get to know some other angels?

I guess we'll find out.  And as always, enjoy!!!!

The Watcher's Guild: Sweet Nephilim

~~~~***~~~~

Chapter Nineteen

Getting To Know You, Getting to Know All About You

“A Nephilim.”  Amaris barely breathed the words, so awed was she.  “You’re like me.”

Hayyel snorted.  “Not exactly like you.”

Eran chuckled.  “I can honestly say there is no one like Amaris.”

She tossed him a chiding glance.  “It’s just…I thought our kind was rare.  I never expected to meet another Nephilim.”

Orifiel shrugged his massive shoulders.  “It is true, there are not many of you.  Only twelve live in the United States.”

“Not any more,” Hayyel disagreed.  “With Amaris here, we have a baker’s dozen.”

The men all laughed, but Amaris only smiled, still caught up in the idea she’d met another Nephilim.  “How old—”  She hesitated a moment before blurting out, “—how long have you been a Nephilim?”  She shook her head again, frustrated at her inability to express her thoughts.  “I mean, how long since you knew you were a Nephilim?”

The younger man grinned at her.  “In human years I am two hundred and thirty.  I spent all but twenty-five of those knowing I was a Nephilim.”

“You’re two hundred and thirty years old?”  Amaris stared at him.  “But you were twenty-five when you…emerged?”  At his nod, her brows furrowed.  “You were a year older than I was.”

“Before you came,” Hayyel reminded her, “I was the last Nephilim to emerge.”

Eran touched her shoulder gently.  “Remember what I said before.  I think it was the attack that brought on your emergence early, little angel.  It can happen that way sometimes.  Too much stress or fear and your angelic instincts take over.  You protected yourself the only way you could.”

She nodded.  She’d been stressed all right.  More like terrified.  Before Eran had appeared and made everything start to make sense.   He’d been the one who’d truly done the protecting.  Turning back to Hayyel, she smiled.  “I’d swear you weren’t a day over thirty.  I guess we don’t age either if we’ve been given the immortal gift?”

“Nope.  I’ll look like this for a long time.  It’s only when we pass several millennia that we start showing our age.”  He elbowed the big man next to him.  “Like Orifiel here.  Getting gray, old man.”

“I can still take you,” the older angel growled, his eyes alight with humorous promise.  “I could at the beginning of your training, and I can now.”

“You’re his Guardian,” Amaris realized.  “You trained him?”

Hayyel laughed.  “I haven’t been in training for many years now, but yes, Orifiel was the angel who first took me under his wing.”

They all groaned at the pun.

“Yet I was never able to teach him how to tell a joke.” Orifiel shook his head sorrowfully.

Amaris wasn’t done with her questions.  “So you were Hayyel’s Guardian, and now you aren’t?  But you both live here in the forest?  Together?”  Hope rose up in her.  Maybe Guardians kept close to their Nephilim even after the training was finished.  But Orifiel’s next words squashed that hope.

“I was.  For two decades I taught him, showing him how to fight and how to obey our Lord’s commands.  But once the training was done, we both had our own duties to attend to, so we went our separate ways.  We saw each other frequently over the centuries since our duties often dovetail.  We happen to be together now because of the damage being done to the forest and creatures in this area.  We’ve been working together to fix it.”

“Little angel,” Eran’s whispered words were meant only for her.  Somehow he always knew her heart. “Do not worry so.  We have many years before that comes to pass.”

She met his gentle gaze, knowing that if they were parted, a piece of her—her heart—would go with him.  And that thought was enough to make her want to cry.  There was no way she’d be able to walk away from her handsome guardian.

“Amaris?  Are you all right?”

Hayyel’s questioning voice brought her out of her dismal thoughts.  She gave him a bright smile.  “Yes.  Of course.  I was just thinking about the future and what it will hold for me.”

Orifiel chuckled.  “Your future is one we all think about, little Nephilim.  Once you emerged, you set the whole angelic world back on its heels.”

Amaris frowned.  “Me?”  She thought about his early words.  How they’d been waiting for one such as her.  Eran had spoken of that too, just after he’d brought her to his aerie.  “I know there aren’t many female Nephilim, but surely there are better things for all the angels to worry about?”

“You don’t understand, Amaris.”  Hayyel smiled, but his eyes were serious.  “You are the first female to emerge in over a millennium.  We’ve been waiting a long time for you.  For the prophecy to come to pass.”

She heard Eran hiss in irritation behind her, but she barely acknowledged it.  What the hell was her Nephilim brother talking about?  How could she…plain old Amaris Dover be an answer to any prophecy?

“Hayyel.”  Eran’s commanding tone made the other man’s wings droop a little.  “This is not the time to speak of that.”

“But…”  Orifiel’s eyes narrowed.  “She doesn’t know?”

Eran’s lips thinned, but instead of answering, he turned away from the older angel and took Amaris’ hand.  “I came here to see if young Hayyel would like to spar with my trainee.  We have until about four o’clock to—”

“S-Stop.”  Amaris was disgusted to hear the tremor in her voice, but she wasn’t about to let Hayyel’s words go.  “What is he talking about?  What prophecy?”

“I said this was not the time, Amaris.”

She rolled her eyes at his listen-and-obey-me tone.  Like that was going to stop her.  “If you think I’m going to spar with anyone without understanding what you all are talking about, you have another think coming.”

~~~~***~~~~

Finally... Maybe we'll get to the bottom of what the prophecy is all about.  I've been wondering about that since the first chapter!  Hopefully all will become clear next Sunday. 

Until then...

Hugs,

CJ England

Follow Your Dreams
http://cjengland.com/luckbealady/luckbealady.htm

http://cjengland.com