Chapter two
The secrets of Robert Westnear
"Secrets are meant to be kept secrets. When revealed, they tend to kill the person learning about them."
"Why didn't Nathaniel see you?" Marissa finally asked, after thirty minutes of silence. Marissa didn't know where Eric was taking her, but she knew she had to go with him. She didn't have a choice. She had no where to go.
"He couldn't see me because he doesn't know about me. What Robert was." Eric explained, "Niphilim. Descendants from the angel Raziel. Who had mixed his blood with man to create an angel hybrid of warriors, to protect humans from evil. Demons, and-well used to anyway- downworlders. You know, vampires, werewolves, warlocks, and etcetra. We're at peace with them since the accords." Marissa stared at Eric, mouth open.
"So-you're saying Robert's-you- are decedents from an angel? That vampires and warlocks are real?" she said slowly. Eric glanced at her and shrugged.
"Pretty much." he responded watching her reaction. Marissa continued to stare disbelievingly at Eric. What he was saying had to be impossible...'Right?' she thought. But a small voice in the back of her head laughed bitterly. 'Robert had secrets I never knew. So why shouldn't Eric be telling the truth? What happened back there wasn't possible and yet, it happened.'
It did.
"Since I knew Robert, I can see you?" Eric nodded frowning, running his hand on his hair.
"Yes. Robert wanted you to see him. Us Shadowhunters are invisible to most humans. Unless they reveal themselves. You see, we have glamours. They make us basically invisible to humans. We walk, and are around you humans all the time. But humans don't see us. We're like invisible protectors.
"When Robert revealed himself, you could see us. You probably ran into some but haven't noticed. We usually have to mark ourselves with a rune to put on a glamour."
"What are marks and runes?" Eric lifted his sleeve of his shirt to reveal the tattooed designs on his arm. Marissa lifted his hand, running her fingers on them. They looked part of his skin. Not a tattoo, but like he was born with them. There was a long scar that ran down his forearm. She wondered how he got it.
"These are called marks. You probably noticed them on Robert, but not till tonight. We mark ourselves with runes to give us protection, strength, etcetra. It helps in battle, or when we have to track demons down. And that scar there-" Eric motioned to the scar that Marissa was staring at.
"This demon almost sliced my arm off back when I was sixteen." Eric told her, reading her mind, "Robert had saved me from getting killed. He was my best friend back then. I've known him since I was born. Our parents were good friends. He was closer to me, than I was with my sister. He was my right hand man whenever we had to get rid of demons."
"Robert never talked about his parents, or his past much." Marissa muttered, not understanding why she was hearing all this from Eric and not Robert, when he was alive.
"He wouldn't." before she could ask what he meant, they were pulling up at abandoned looking graveyard. Eric drove through the graveyard, parking his car in front of the abandoned looking church, and got out the car. Marissa followed suit, watching as Eric pulled a duffle bag out of the back trunk of the car.
"Where are we?" Marissa stared up at the boarded up church. Something weird was happening, it slowly changed to look descent, and a Latin phrase appeared above the front door.
"This is the Los Angeles Institution. Sanctuary for passing shadowhunter. And It's where we live." Eric led her up the steps and knocked on the door, "it's hallow grounds, so demons can't come anywhere near here. It's also the only place in the whole west side of the country to have shadohunters. New York is the main base."
"Why?" Eric opened the door, letting her walk in first.
"Don't know. I guess the clave believes they don't need protection. But we believe they do. And since there's only about five of us stationed here, we don't really count."
*
The inside of the church resembled some kind of institution. There was a corridor, lit by glowing candles, giving the corridor a haunting look. There were three doors, and stairs that led to upstairs. It smelled of incense and tea. The place made Marissa shiver.
"Come on. You must be hungry." Eric said, leading her down the corridor.
Marissa stared at the walls, noticing paintings. She passed one that had an angel, with a sword, standing above a demon. The angel was staring at the demon with a look of ease. As if, the creature was nothing. The demon looked disgusting and dangerous. Screaming in agony, under the weight of the angel's foot.
It was disturbing.
Marissa looked away, as Eric opened the first door, to reveal a large kitchen. It looked like nothing Marissa expected it'd look like. She didn't know what she expected, but it wasn't for the kitchen to look normal. Marissa had almost expected to see a small furnace, and no running water. But the kitchen was just like any other kitchen.
The walls were painted white. The counters were ocean blue tiles, and the floor were wooden. There was a vase of tulips on the island. Matching polka dotted kitchen towels, hanging on the oven door. A book called, "How to Knit Your Own Hat, and Various Clothing" lying on the counter.
"What do you want?" Eric asked opening the refrigerator, his head disappearing behind the door.
"Uh-whatever's fine." Marissa replied, sitting down on a stool. She didn't feel very hungry. Just exhausted, and maybe in shock.
"Huh. Well all we have is some old take out Chinese food from last week..." Eric appeared holding a box, sniffing it cautiously. He held it out to Marissa, uncertain. "Does that smell good?" Marissa took it and sniffed it.
"Seems alright." she shrugged staring down at it. It looked like chow mien. She hated Chinese food.
"Huh." Eric pulled out two similar looking boxes, closing the refrigerator. "Selena was suppose to go shopping for groceries yesterday..." Eric muttered, taking forks from a drawer, and handed Marissa one. Marissa stared down the food, and pretended to eat it. She felt a little guilty for wasting the food. Eric was wolfing down his food, making Marissa wonder how he had time to breathe.
"Dis is da best Chidnese food adround here." Eric told Marissa, his mouth almost bursting with food. He swallowed, wiping his mouth. "Nothing like this place in New York, that's owned by these werewolves, but man-this is some good egg rolls." Eric continued to scarf down food, till he noticed Marissa not eating.
"Hey. What's wrong? Is it the chow mien?" he asked frowning, taking the box, staring down at it. Marissa shook her head, sinking into her chair.
"Why didn't Robert ever tell me about any of this stuff? About you? Why are you acting like his death was nothing? What am I suppose to do?" She asked in a rush. Eric frowned, placing the food on the counter.
"Robert never told you because he's bound to the Grey Book. Us shadowhunters takes an oath to never tell a human about us. If we break even a simple oath we die. Robert never told you. So he wasn't breaking anything.
"Robert couldn't tell you about me. That'd be part of the oath. His death does mean something. He was my best friend since birth. But he's a shadowhunter. We die in battle to protect humans, fighting demons. You humans might not understand, but we're a warrior race. Robert died a warrior." Marissa felt insulted. Eric was talking to her as if she was an ignorant little girl. She knew she had offended Eric, but didn't apologize.
"Why aren't you dead from revealing all this to me?" she asked instead. Eric shrugged.
"You already saw what happened. You already know about us now. And you're here because they're probably looking for you now." Eric had taken the chow mien from Marissa and started eating it.
"The demons from the hotel?" he nodded, swallowing before talking.
"They're looking for you now. This is really the only safe place to keep you."
"Why would they be looking for me? I never knew anything about Robert being a shadowhunter!" Marissa cried, pounding her fist on the island. They didn't say anything for a few moments. Marissa could feel herself crumbling. The walls that stopped her from completely break down were falling. The realization that Robert was never coming back.
"They want the key of worlds." Eric told her, looking aggravated.
"Excuse me?" Marisa watched Eric throw the empty Chinese food boxes away.
"The key of the worlds. Robert was one of the few people who protected it. And know where it resides. It's this key that can help you move through worlds easily. Anytime you want, and whenever you want. Demons want it and knew Robert knew where it was.
"They tracked him down. They wanted to know where it was but he lied. When they realized he lied they came to kill him at his own wedding. They think you know where it is." Marissa closed her eyes, and shook her head.
"I don't know anything." she whispered weakly, opening her eyes to see Eric looking at her.
"I know. Robert told me you didn't." he replied quietly, "He knew they would come back to find him. He told me about the key, the demons, and you. He was worried about you. I didn't believe him. The key was never spoken of, so how could it be real? But I know Robert would never lie about something like that." Marissa could feel Eric's eyes watching her but she refused to meet his gaze. All she wanted was to fall asleep, to forget that day even happened, for a few hours. To think clearly, and process everything Eric was telling her.
"I'm sleepy." she suddenly said, changing the subject. Eric gave her a long look, before leading her into the corridor up the creaky staircase. Marissa followed Eric not believing she could feel so heartbroken.
"I'm sorry you had to find out like this." Eric was staring at Marissa with a look filled with regret. They had stopped at the third door, in the hallway.
"Better to know now than later." she tried to laugh but it came out as a choked cough. Eric stepped closer to her and wrapped his arms around her.
She didn't know how much she needed to be hugged, but the moment Eric did, she sobbed. The emotions from that night rushed her, crashing over her. She couldn't stop, and buried her face into Eric's shoulder. Eric let her, holding her tightly, not saying anything. Marissa cried like she'd ever cried before. It literally felt as if her heart was broken in pieces. It hurt so bad, and the tears kept falling. She kept cried for her dead fiancé, herself, their ruined wedding. And most of all, she cried for his secrets.
