Dark Cotillion

Six

"Gabriel was in his twenties when Sonnellion decided that he needed to die for being different. I had gone through it already, Vampires Mature at twenty. Beal was getting ready to mature, although we didn't know it at the time. We were all pretty close to the same age, a few years apart, being part of that group your father plucked from the waves.

"I think Sonnellion was waiting to see when Gabriel started the Maturing. He didn't like the Angel, much as Chiron doesn't like you. He didn't have a reason, except that he was different. Of course, hate doesn't need a reason to exist.

"One night, the three of us, plus Pendragon and Vishnu, played a practical joke on Sonnellion. Turned out, the Demon didn't have his brother's sense of humor. He was furious, I mean furious, more enraged than you can imagine. We rushed for the safety of Lucifer's house after the joke fell flat. We all made it too. Sonnellion lodged a formal complaint with Lucifer because we didn't have a Council back then. Lucifer inflamed matters by saying something about 'boys being boys.' He would punish us, but only to the extent that such an offense would allow. Since I can't remember the joke or the punishment, I'm guessing neither was bad enough to leave the impression that the following week did.

"We thought everything was good. We were punished and life continued to go on. About a week later though, Sonnellion stood up in the middle of dinner and walked out. He just left, vanished. He returned the following morning, begged his brother's forgiveness and was of course, welcomed back.

"During his absence, he had created a weapon, a sword. A big, unwieldy thing that had more brute force in the tip of it than should be placed in any weapon, it had only one purpose, to cleave. That night, we all did our usual stuff. Gabe and I were farming, working at picking the harvest. We never saw Sonnellion coming. He hefted the sword and smashed it into Gabriel's skull. It severed the head at the neck. I ran off, I had to get help. I had Matured, but that didn't mean much to us back then. Lucifer and Beezel were the protectors of all, not our own powers.

"When Lucifer returned, Sonnellion had broken open Gabriel's skull. He had pulled out the brain and taken a large bite of it. It is the first time any Overlord killed. Lucifer didn't give him time to react or to think, he just lashed out. One minute, Sonnellion was there, the next, Sonnellion was dead. Lucifer and Beezel worked all night to save Gabe. We are immortal, but there are things you can do to us that leave a permanent mark, and this was one of those things.

"Gabriel healed; it took forever though, even with the Demons helping it along. Since then, Gabriel has not been able to feel anything. Not physically anyway. His everyday world is as lost on him as it would be to a blind person in a room full of light, because he cannot feel, does not have the ability to sense touch, and he has chosen to be celibate. And much like my curse, he does not seem able to heal the damaged portion of his brain that is affected."

"I guess he really means it when he tells me to heal the others first," I gave a loud, long, sigh, and looked at Anubis. "Does it hurt to become mortal?"

"Not really, you won't even notice it until you stop healing at your normal speed."

"Or die."

"It won't come to that." Anubis stood up, stretched, and refilled his glass. He came back with both bottles and set them on the table. "Furthermore, your metabolism will change a bit. Anything you imbibe will stay in your system longer. Best to get sloppy drunk tonight, tomorrow, we'll know if you're mortal when you wake up."

"How will my waking up prove whether I'm mortal or not?"

"If you wake up with a hangover, we'll know you're mortal. If you don't, then at least for the time being, you're still in the realm of the immortal."