He swallows heavily, his adam’s apple visibly bobbing in his throat. “Light nephilim, who descend from the angels remaining in heaven, are responsible for helping lost souls make their way to the afterlife. Dark nephilim, who descend from fallen angels, protect the mortal realm from demons that have escaped hell.”
“How noble you make my death sentence sound,” Donovan grunts, scowl in full force. “What he’s leaving out is neither of us have a choice. It’s do what the angels tell us to do or be killed by said asshole angels. Also, the likelihood of a dark nephilim living to their full 250 some odd years is pretty much zilch. Nope. As soon as I get my diploma, I’m out on my ass in the real world,” he says this with finger quotes, “to hunt down every pissed off demon that has crawled or conned their asses out of hell and send them back until one of them lucks out and kills me. Now, can we please get back to the boring bullshit that is homework?”
My heart feels heavy for him, and I sadly reflect on the irony that’s my freakish healing, since demon hunting, I guess, isn’t a witch thing. I bite my lip, attempting to absorb what’s been so casually thrown at me.
Everyone is quiet after Donovan’s outburst, and I feel compelled to do something about it. I turn to Kaleb and slyly ask, “So instead of a life coach, you’re like Felix’s afterlife coach?”
The pun gets the desired effect, and the air fills with gasps of wounded groans-- even Donovan gives me a head shake and a pained half chuckle. I grin, pleased with myself.
“That one cuts deep, pretty girl,” Felix yells from the den. He wandered over to watch television, his ghost status making him exempt from the demand of homework. “I’m so proud.”
“Thanks, Casper,” I chuckle.
I try to work on my essay, but I can’t help but think of lunch and all the half answers I got. I look at Nolan who’s bent over his textbook, bouncing a pencil against his mouth, and remember a strange distinction he made earlier. “What the hell did you mean by living vampire?”
“What?” Nolan sputters, rightfully surprised.
“At lunch today,” I elaborate, like I didn’t ask this right out of the blue. “You said you’re a living vampire instead of saying vampires are alive.”
“Uhhhh,” he stalls and trades glances with the rest of the guys, proving I’m on to something.
Instead of waiting for Nolan, I stare down Kaleb determined to get a real answer. He looks at Donovan who drops his pencil and scrubs at his face.What does he have to do with this?
“I’m not letting this go, so spit it out.” I point a finger around at them. “You all started this. Before today, the only thing I knew was ghosts were real.”
Lies!Oh, how I lie, but I’m not ready to share the truth about myself. I may feel surprisingly comfortable around these guys but that doesn’t mean spilling my tragic past yet-- or possibly ever if I can get away with it.
Kaleb sighs and meets my eyes. “You’re right. There’s a distinction, because there are undead vampires as well.”
“I knew it!” I hoot, which is probably the wrong response considering they all look at me like I was dropped on my head as a child. “I just meant that the myths exist for a reason, right?”
Nolan groans and drops his head into his hands, apparently deciding not to contribute to the discussion.
“Yes, some of the myths are true,” Kaleb continues carefully. “You see, one of the ways demons can enter into the mortal realm is by making pacts for host bodies. Since vampires aren’t human, their constitution is strong enough to still hold some semblance of self, though extremely warped by the influence of the demon. However, the process of the possession does use up all the life energy of the host body, killing the vampire. The demon then uses their own magic to keep the body functioning past death. The vampire gains the power of immense speed and strength, as well as an ageless immortality, and in return, the demon gets a sustainable corporeal form. Their magic does have to be replenished, which is why undead vampires must consume great amounts of blood to sustain themselves.”
“So, likeBuffy the Vampire Slayer?” I question skeptically, which earns a snort from Felix and a groan from Donovan.
“They don’t turn to dust when you kill them, that’s for damn sure,” Donovan grunts.
I whip around to look at him, my eyes huge. “You have to hunt undead vampires, too?”
“Possessed by demon does fall under the umbrella of hunt down and kill all demons that I mentioned earlier,” Donovan declares sarcastically. “And yeah, they’re huge pains in the ass to kill since they can only be put down by sunlight, fire, decapitation, and a weapon blessed by a powerful witch-- and witches don’t really give a whole lot of shits.”
“Why the hell not?” I counter, surprisingly outraged. “You told me they’re the guardians of the realm? Demon possessed vampires sound kind of like something the realm needs protection from.”
Donovan shrugs wearily, his heavy shoulders falling in a resigned defeat. “Fucked if I know. Witches police supes, but they don’t mix with us. I guess since dark nephilim deal with demons, they don’t see it as their problem?”
“That sounds stupid and lazy,” I fume, folding my arms over my chest.
“Get no argument from me,” Donovan responds, rubbing his eyes.
“Alright, simmer down, Xena, warrior witch,” Nolan laments, looking up at me between his fingers. “The important thing to take away is I’mnotundead, and therefore not a tool for great evil.”
Felix sucks in breath and then speaks in a stilted William Shatner voice, “Too easy. Must resist… calling Nolan… a tool.”
His joke breaks the tension, and I sigh in defeat. “Fine, I’ll lay off for now, but know more questions are coming.”
“I wait with bated breath,” Nolan mutters sarcastically.Guess talking about some of his kind being undead abominations makes him a bit testy.
