THE LIGHT IN THE DARKNESS - BWS

fourteen

My ears were ringing. I could see William's lips move but his words sounded faded, as if I were underwater. My chest rose up and down fast to the rhythm of my jerky breathing.

'You are the Nephilim, Charlotte', he'd said. It simply couldn't be true. I couldn't be part Angel. Because that would mean that one of my parents was an Angel, and I would have known that fact. I would have known if one of my parents was a celestial being, directly descended from God. But deep down, I believed that what William had said from the beginning of our conversation was true. I couldn't tell why, I simply— felt it. Were my parents even my real parents? Was it possible that I had been adopted? The thought made me shiver. No, I looked too much like them. I had been told my entire life that I had the green eyes of my father, and the smile of my mother. I even had the exact same hair as my mother, long locks of golden-brown curls.

Although the facts were right in front of me, I couldn't accept them. Because that would have shattered my entire world. I suddenly stood up, clueless to what William had been saying while I was lost in my thoughts. He was up as fast as I was, and looked at me as if I was a lost puppy.

"I know this is a lot to take in, Charlotte," he sympathized. I lifted my head to meet his gaze.

"Do you really?" I retorted with a scoff. "You just told me everything I believed in was a lie, and I'm supposed to— what? Believe you blindly? I don't know you, why should I? You're a—" He looked at me with challenging eyes. I stood my grounds. "You're a vampire, a creature driven by blood, why should I believe anything you say?"

His features suddenly darkened. His jaw clenched and his lips became a thin line.

"If I were the monster you seem to think I am, your body would be drained of its blood by now."

He had a point, and I wondered to this point why he needed me alive. Did he want to open the Gates himself using my blood? No, he would have done that a while ago if that were the case, plus, he sounded too protective for that. It sounded as if he wanted to keep it closed. But why?

"Why am I still alive?"

I didn't realize I had thought out loud until the expression on his face changed again. The look he had now was screaming that he was wondering the same thing himself.

"Because you might be the last heir able to seal the Gates forever," he answered and my heart skipped a beat. His words echoed in my head in a broken loop. No, I didn't want anything to do with this. I wanted my life back, I wanted to forget about all of this, about even meeting him. I wanted Dee, and Rick, the only two beings I knew could bring me comfort.

I didn't answer, and turned on my heels before walking towards the entry door. I had barely managed three steps before William was in front of me.

"I only lied to you once," he said, blocking my way to the door. "When I told you there was an emergency at the hospital when we were having dinner together— everything else I told you is the truth." My eyebrows arched and then furrowed. That wasn't true. He told me he was a hunter when we met. No— he actually never said that. I did, and he never confirmed it, he simply let me believe it. "When I said I couldn't let you leave now, I wasn't lying either."

My body froze at the sound of his words. The finality in them made me shudder. He really wasn't going to let me leave.

"You can't keep me prisoner," I blustered, my hands shaking with a mix of fear and anger. "People are gonna notice I'm gone and—"

"I'm not keeping you prisoner," William cut me off. "I'm asking for your help."

I couldn't help the ironic chuckle that escaped my lips. He was asking for my help? By telling me I couldn't leave? What exactly did he want from me?