Heavenly Blood

24 - Alec

I stared at the two strangers in front of me. The only familial tie I could see was in the man in his eye colour. Alice had never spoken about her parents in any of our past lives together. Nor had Max for that matter. I pulled my eyes away to look at my sister, she too gob-smacked but there was a glint if another emotion in her eyes. Recognition.

I turned back to them. The woman seemed to sense my disbelief and touched her partner's arm. They sat down in the chair, gesturing for us to do the same. Max easily took a position adjacent to them, though her shoulders seem knotted. I gritted my teeth and sat next to my sister, their eyes all watching me. I couldn't believe what was happening.

"What...what do you mean....in-laws?" I asked finally.

The woman placed her hand on her partner's knee, "This is Curtis. I'm Isla.....Alice is our daughter."

"What?" I breathed.

"Alice was the first born Angel," Curtis said, "She is over a seven hundred thousand years old...." he looked at Isla, "We fought hard against God to not have her killed. Consequently we left Heaven during the fall."

"But Alice said..."

"Alice doesn't know." I turned to Max, "And nor do you."

"What the hell..."

"Do you remember the story I told you? The one about the first vampire and Angel relationship?" Before I could answer, she continued, "It was you and Alice."

I threw the chair back, storming into the middle of the room to observe the three of them. I ran my hand through my hair, my wedding band cool against my scalp. I looked at it, twisting the band between my thumb and finger. The anger building within me. I now knew how Alice felt in every new life.

"Someone start fucking explaining!" I screamed, "The doctor said I would get answers. Give them to me!"

Isla swallowed, "When we fell we hid. We stayed away from all life. You see, Curtis and I were rather high up in Heaven's ranks. The Host was originally drafted in to find us and bring us back, as well as destroying Alice. She was new, unpredictable. She should have been impossible." The woman signed, "We tried so hard to keep her under our eye but she was stubborn and sly and she escaped....where she met you."

I clenched my jaw, "What happened?"

"The rest of the legend is true," I looked at Curtis now, "You were dying and she healed you."

"How?" I breathed.

"If you are asking if she donated her blood, she did," Isla shot back, "The first time unwillingly but after that she understood that it healed you so she yielded."

"Unwilling...Oh god."

Part of me didn't want to listen any longer. To hear how I mutilated the woman I love, forcing her to consent to my appetite. The feeling of a suppressed memory rose within, a feeling of an unrelenting hunger joining it. I knew this was part of the memory. I looked at Max. She shifted uncomfortably under my gaze. She knew about this. She was there and played witness.

"What happened?" I whispered.

Curtis was the one to answer, "We don't know the extent of your relationships that is what you are asking. Honestly I'd rather not think about you and my daughter doing anything. But you were together nearly have a century...then you got caught."

"The Host found us," Isla continued, "We managed to give them the slip but we couldn't find the two of you, but they did. They took you. They..."

"They tortured you." Max's voice was shaky as she spoke, "I was one of three Ambassadors. One angel, one demon, one vampire. I was chosen because of my relationship to the two of you...I was made to watch for days. Fuck. Alec you have no idea what it was like to listen to you screaming as she attacked you. Even if you weren't strapped down to a board, you wouldn't have fought back against her. You tried so hard to reason with her, to talk her out of it. But the drug was too strong. Then she started hurting herself to make things emotional..."