3

The hotel remained quiet as we walked down the long hallway on the fifth floor. It was almost two thirty in the morning, and there was no sign of anyone else being awake. No one staying there aside from us had any idea of the danger that had just been eliminated, although I didn't think that was unusual. Up until I'd met Chris, I'd never known about any of this either.

I was pondering the situation we were currently in. Meeting Sevee Renaldi was a shock. Of all these clan Nephilim, I hadn't expected it to be another Renaldi with Carroll. He didn't look much like Michael either, especially with those green eyes, which seemed like such a contrast to the light blue ones that Michael had.

But there was also something very odd about Sevee. Something about him felt different from any other Nephilim I'd met so far. He'd also called himself a mixed breed. What was that supposed to mean?

We finally stopped at door 536. Sevee pulled out his smart phone and used an app to unlock it.

"He's probably not gonna like me waking him like this, but apparently this whole thing is pretty important. Besides, it's not like we haven't heard about that redemption thing that's been going on too. I'm willing to bet that this has something to do with it." he quietly surmised.

"I wouldn't doubt that you've heard about most of this. You are a Renaldi, and your family is known as the top protectors among our kind. But I must ask you, what did you mean earlier when you called yourself a mixed breed?" Zane responded.

"Just what I said. I'm only half Nephilim. My mother is one, but my father is something else entirely." Sevee explained.

"What is he?" I probed.

Sevee grinned, "He's a fox."

"A fox?" I repeated, now thoroughly confused. How could a Fox have a kid with a Nephilim?

Zane immediately understood what he was talking about, "Ah, you mean one of those from beyond the Veil. That's interesting that he would come to be with a Nephilim. I don't believe I've heard of such a thing happening before."

"Yeah, it's been an interesting story for a while now, but we'll talk more about it later. Right now, it's better for us to get inside before anything else decides to show up." Sevee responded. He then escorted us into the room.

This room was much larger than ours had been. There was a tiny den room and a small kitchen area that led back to what was probably the sleeping area. Sevee headed back there, flipping on the light.

"Hey Carroll, you need to get up. We've got some serious company." he called.

We heard the sound of bed springs moving, "Sevee, do you know what time it is?" a male voice responded. They sounded half asleep.

"Yeah, I know, but this is important. I've got some Shadow Wings out here that have been looking for you." Sevee informed him.

The person immediately got up when he heard that, coming out with Sevee. He was the same one that I'd seen down in the lobby and in that vision; dark hair and pretty emerald eyes, now dressed in a dark robe.

This was Carroll Hawthorne.

Carroll seemed incredibly surprised to see us, "So, it is true. They've been guided to find us." he said in quiet disbelief.

"I told you that they don't always lie. You all never listen to me." Sevee complained.

"You're Carroll huh? It sounds like you knew that we'd be coming." Chris noted.

Carroll let out a tired breath, rubbing the back of his neck as he walked over to us, "We had heard of the possibility from one of the Fallen Ones. I believe his name was Jade. At least, according to our Seraph." he explained.

"Yeah, that would be right. He's my father and the one who told us to come and find you and your family." Chris confirmed.

"It makes sense now. I thought you looked slightly familiar. You have some of his features, and at least one of his eyes." Carroll responded. He his attention turned to me, "And you are the one that has caused all of the panic in those who know about you, or rather, the one who is now growing within you."

"You know about the Seraphita too?" I guessed.

Carroll smiled at me, "I had heard the rumor, and I can certainly tell now that it's true. There is a tremendous power inside of you, and I am well aware that Shadow Wings are said to not be able to have children. Even we are capped at certain numbers. To defy what is considered nature, even in our world, has to be from powerful means."

He speaks so eloquently, I thought. It was even more than Zane. I wondered if he'd had a similar upbringing.

"So, what now? We've found you, so what is it that you and your clan are supposed to be doing with this?" Chris spoke up.

"Well, that may be a bit tricky. I don't think that it's really for us to take care of most of this, although we will be assisting. I think that it may be more up to our Seraph, Micah." Carroll admitted.

"Micah." I repeated softly. The name felt so inviting for some reason when he said it.

"Yes. He is our leader. But for now, I can go ahead and make sure that everything is going okay. It may at least put minds at ease." Carroll offered.

"You can, huh?" Chris sounded a bit suspicious.

Carroll didn't seem worried about it, "You could say that we are healers by trade. All of the Hawthornes are born with that. It's part of the Emerald Flame. I have the ability to sense the progress of an unborn child simply by touch. It may be better now if I can feel what's going on in there. From what I've heard, all of this has started fairly recently, yet I see that she's already getting some size to her." he explained.

"This is true. It seems to be going fairly quickly, and it's been worrisome." Zane agreed.

"It may need to, considering everything that's been happening. But for now, let me see what I can tell you." Carroll responded. He gently laid a hand on the bulge of my belly and closed his eyes. I could feel a slight warmth under that hand and the small glow returned. Apparently, this child wasn't trying to reject him. After a few seconds, Carroll opened his eyes and removed it, "This is a bit unexpected." he commented, sounding puzzled.

"You don't make it sound good." Chris pointed out.

"I wouldn't exactly call it bad, but it was different. From what I felt, there is going to be accelerated growth with this child in the womb, and it is out of necessity. However, on the same token, it's also taking some time as well to develop because it doesn't want to rush things. There's apparently a sense that if he comes too soon, it may mess up his plans, although he wouldn't allow me to know what they are." Carroll explained.

"It talked to you?" Sevee asked.

"More or less. It is a boy too. That is the gender that was chosen beforehand. Also, he allowed me to sense some of his thoughts. Even in this new fetal stage, his mind is very sharp from his soul, and he's very powerful. He's actually used that power to negate a darker power that was given to her at one point. There's almost nothing left of it." Carroll admitted.

All three of us stared at him. This Seraphita was completely getting rid of Will's power inside of me? That was a bit scary.

"So what happens when it's all gone? That was what saved me before." I managed.

"You have nothing to worry about. He's replacing that with his own to both keep you stable and make you stronger. But what's interesting is that I've also sensed him doing the same remotely with his father." Carroll continued, looking at Chris.

Zane looked at him as well, "Have you been able to sense any difference?" he asked him.

"I'm not sure." Chris admitted, "I've felt strange since all of this began, but I didn't realize that it was because this Seraphita was breaking my connection to Will."

"Ah, I see now. You're speaking of the child born to the Darkest One. I'm not that surprised. If anything, this Seraphita will try to break those ties in order to protect his parents. But also, I have the feeling that it may desire to purify all of those like you as well. That may be part of the reason he's chosen this path. If the Shadow Wings are to be spared, then it will have to be proven that they are not a threat and perhaps can even break the connections that were once established by blood alone." Carroll went on.

Sevee shook his head as he leaned back against the nearby wall and listened, "Sounds to me like it's got some pretty big plans here. A lot could go wrong." he noted.

"Yes. There's much risk with all of this, but I believe that it is part of the reason that she's been brought to us. Jade must have realized this as well, or else he would not have contacted Micah and given those clues as to how to find us." Carroll reasoned.

Chris agreed, "Jade's an enigma most of the time. Trust me on that one. But it doesn't surprise me either that he'd do something like this. For as much as he doesn't like that his connection to me might be broken, he doesn't want to see me killed either."

"Yes, I think I could see some of that. At least with the few Grigori that I've gotten to meet in the last few years. They tend to be quite protective of their children when they can be." Carroll agreed. He stopped as he realized something, "I do apologize, but it seems that we haven't gotten any of your names yet. That feels bit rude on our part."

He'd again caught me off guard with how he spoke, but I managed to look past it.

"Oh yeah, I guess we haven't done that. I'm Ariana Benson." I introduced myself.

"Chris Liam."

"And I am Zane Hedel."

Sevee perked up a little, pushing away from the wall, "Hey, did you say your name is Zane Hedel?"

"Yes. It's always been. I've never bothered to change it." Zane replied.

"Okay, I know that this is gonna sound weird, and you don't have to answer me if you don't want to, but did you ever live down in Miami?" Sevee probed.

"I have lived down there off and on throughout my life. To be honest with you, I've lived for over three hundred years now, and I move around quite often for the purpose of hiding, so I have been almost everywhere at some point." Zane explained.

"My, my. If you don't mind my saying so, that's a long life for a Shadow Wing." Carroll commented.

"Actually, Chris has lived much longer than I have. He's the oldest aside from Will." Zane informed him.

"Hey, back to my point." Sevee interrupted, "When you lived in Miami, did you know a girl named Mia Renaldi?"

Zane froze as he heard that. It seemed that Sevee knew Mia. I supposed that would've been pretty obvious, considering the fact that he was a Renaldi, but for him to be asking this, he must've also been aware of the past between her and Zane.

Zane managed to find his voice, "Yes, yes I did." he confessed.

"So, you are the same guy. Now it all makes sense." Sevee sighed, leaning his hand against the side of the nearby chair and letting out a long breath.

"You know Mia, though I'd guess that you would. You are from the same family." I noted.

"Yeah, I'd say I know her." Sevee agreed, "She's my mother."

We were all staring at him now. He was Mia's son?!

Zane finally broke the awkward silence, "That's why I thought you looked familiar. I can see some resemblance between you and her." he said. He didn't seem upset over this new information, which I took as a good sign.

Sevee chuckled, "Yep, I've heard that one more than once in my life, but it's all good. I have a twin sister too, and she looks more like Mom than I do, although we do have the same hair and eyes." he told us.

"I see. I'm going to take it that you all had heard at least something about me from her." Zane noted.

"We did. She actually mentioned it to us a long time ago. Dad knows about it too, but I don't think it's ever really bothered him. But she only met Dad by chance, so I guess he's counted himself as lucky to have her. At least that's what he's always said." Sevee explained.

I held my head as he spoke. All at once, I was starting to feel the fatigue setting in.

Chris noticed it too, "Hey, I think this is enough for tonight. Ariana needs to rest." he said as he held my shoulders.

"Yes, of course. I'll give her my bed for the night. It may be better if you all stayed here with everything that's going on. We'll be sure to leave first thing in the morning to get her to Micah." Carroll agreed.

Chris seemed suspicious, but he didn't say any more. He simply agreed and led me back to where I could lay down.

I held onto his arms as I laid there, "Hey, you're not going to leave me, right?" I quietly confirmed.

"I'm not going anywhere. Just get some rest and I'll be here when you wake up." Chris promised, giving me a gentle kiss.

I closed my eyes, allowing sleep to overtake me. I was so tired all at once. Laying my hand over my belly as I drifted off, the last thing on my mind before I fell into that sleep was the child growing inside of me. He was a boy. At least, according to Carroll. But what would happen once he was born? Was it really going to be that easy for him to save our kind, or were things only going to get harder?

I drifted in the darkness of the dream world for a while, but eventually, I opened my eyes in my dream and saw that I was standing in a room with a large glass door about two feet in front of me. The door seemed to lead to another room that mirrored the one I was in. Candles were glowing around me, casting shadows off the walls. My belly felt warm, and looking down, I could see a glow coming from there. A protective feeling was emanating from it.

A darkness rose up from the other side of the window as I stood there. It quickly morphed into Saffron's form.

"Ah, I was able to call you in, despite the one who now resides within you." he said, giving me the same smile that he always did. He looked a lot better than the last time I'd seen him. Though he was dressed in black like always, and even had his wings out, he looked like he'd healed completely.

"Where am I?" I asked him.

"Think of this as a type of meeting place in Purgatory. It's not something that's always needed, but in this case, it's better to be safe than sorry. At least it will allow me to be close enough to know my own reactions to this power." Saffron explained.

He was worried about what might happen if he got too close. That explained this strange door between us.

"I guess I can get that one, but why did you call me here? Is it because of what's happening?" I continued.

"Not really." Saffron answered, "I was more than interested in seeing this, and I wanted to speak to you about what may be coming for you. I'm already taking my own steps here and I believe that Jade is as well. For as much as it may pain us, we do want to see this redemption through for our own reasons. Personally, I'm sick of this existence of being stuck down in the Abyss because of how I am considered. I want freedom, and this child may give it to me."

"Freedom? But don't you already have some it? It's never seemed like you've had a problem coming to me when you were set free before." I pointed out.

"You are thinking of a different kind of freedom my dear. What I speak of is much more. But for now, let us leave it at that. Instead, I will go into the fact that I simply wished to see you and make sure that you survived intact."

"Wow, thanks for the confidence." I muttered, crossing my arms with a slight pout.

Saffron laughed, "It's all in respect. However, I cannot come close to you as of right now, so this is the best way. For now, I expect that you will cooperate with those around you. No matter how much I loathe that Seraphim you must go to, it has to be. It's the only way to keep those who would be our enemies at bay until the time comes." he informed me.

"You're thinking the same as Jade then?" I guessed.

"You misjudge him, as many do. Trust me, I know Jade far better than anyone else in this existence, and I can assure you that he's looking out for you now, just as he's always done with Christoff. Both of us just need the time to adjust ourselves to the Seraphita's presence. Once this is done, then we will return to your side and help defend against the ones like Judiel." Saffron promised.

My eyes widened as he said that. That was right. Judiel and those Angels had tried to attack us before and more than likely were going to try again with all of this.

"Do you think he knows about this?" I dared ask.

"Trust me darling, he knows all about it, and he will make his moves to prevent this child from being born. For that, it is best to remain with the Hawthorne clan. Micah will make sure that no harm comes to this unborn child, for he will understand just how important this boy is to the war between our worlds." Saffron assured me.

I was about to say something to that but was interrupted by the long chiming of what sounded like a grandfather clock off in the distance.

Saffron looked away for a moment, then back at me, "Looks like my time is up for now. You must awaken and leave where you are."

"But what about you? If you can get back now, are you going to attack me too?"

"I have no plans on allowing that to happen. You and this child are far too important to my goals. But I'm sure that we'll be seeing each other soon enough."

With that, I was waking up. It took me a moment to place that I was now staying in there with Carroll Hawthorne, but my mind was on the conversation in that dream. I had no doubt that Saffron had been there, and he'd been telling me a little bit about what was coming. But one thing would continue to nag me as I moved my hand down and felt the growing bulge of my belly.

What was Saffron planning when he said his goals?