Heaven, Hell, and Earth

Chapter 61

It was light that woke Alastor the next morning. A very bright and warm light, one that made him momentarily think that it was sunlight peeking in from the window. But then he remembered none of the bedrooms had windows and his eyes flashed open in a panic. But he was quickly filled with relief when he saw that the light was only coming from Charlie who had spent last night sleeping next to him in her bed.

He recalled how he had woken to this many times as a boy. He'd be sound asleep for hours then early in the morning or in the middle of the night, a light would wake him and there he would see a little girl all aglow like a star. He had often find it fascinating how she was capable of such thing and wondered how it worked and why it happened only at certain times. Or at least he thought it only happened at certain times. She never really told him anything about what caused her to glow and how many times it had happened.

He wondered if she had grown out of it but this morning had confirmed that she had not. Nothing had changed. Things were just the same as they were before.

But no, no they weren't exactly the same. He had not woken up next to a little girl this time, but a young woman. A young woman who truly did look like a being that came from the heavens. Hair as gold as the sun, skin as fair as the moon, and eyes, face, and smile as dazzling as the stars. Her warm body, her sweet scent, and her hour glass figure. Indeed she was no child anymore and he certainly did not in any way view her as a sister.

He never did. Not back then and especially not now. Since the moment he became aware of her existence, he had always wanted to be with her. As a boy that's all he ever wanted, just to be in her presence and to be by her side. He was content with that. Then she left the bureau and suddenly he felt like a part of himself was missing and before he knew it. He wanted her to come back more than anything in the world, so he kept sneaking out in order to see her and over time he found himself wanting her as a man wants a woman. Sometimes that want would be so strong that he could hardly stand it.

But at the same time, he was scared to death to ever touch her in that manner. Scared that those specific sights, touches, smells, and tastes would trigger all that evil in his blood and he would lose control, and then he'd hurt her in the same way his father had hurt his mother. He'd lose her forever.

He slowly lifted the sleeping Charlie into his arms and held her close. Losing her, that was what he feared most. That was the one thing he could never recover from.

"I wish we could just run away." He thought. "Run away from everything. Run away from all the evil monsters and corrupted human beings, run away from a world that won't accept us and forces us to hide, run away from the curses that our fathers left us with. We could just spend our lives traveling, seeing the world, and I'd take care of you. I'd give you everything and ask nothing of you. All I want is to just be with you and make you happy."

He looked down at her lovely face, carefully brushing fallen strands of blond hair from her forehead.

"But I know that's not the kind of life you would want and if we did leave, it would break Solomon's heart. I couldn't do that to him or you."

He hugged her one last time then carefully laid her back into bed. Afterward, he covered her up with the blanket and quietly left her room, returning to his own. He had just closed the door when someone came knocking. It was Angel.

"Angel?" He said, confused. "Is that you?"

"Of course it's me. Who else would it be?"

"Sorry, it's just that you never get up before ten if you can help it." He chuckled.

"Well I've got big news. News so big that I couldn't sleep in and had did get up at the crack of dawn."

"Alright, what's the big news?"