CHAPTER ||
~oOo~

Though prayer had helped, bits of Evil still had leached onto her the night before. She had collapsed onto her bed with exhaustion, and dreamed of monsters. The face in the crowd had been clinging onto the tree branches with its talons, upside down like a bat. It's wrinkly blue skin was decaying and infested with maggots, and its smile at her revealed rows of yellow, sharp teeth. It was a nightmare come true. But it's eyes struck her most. Such a vibrant beautiful blue, the color of the ocean. But she knew better that it was only a reflection of the hottest flames in Hades.

Sunlight streamed into her room, but the absence of the singing bluejays outside informed her that she was still dreaming. When she moved, the bite marks burned with pain. Wincing, she sat up and opened her eyes. A Son of Iiblis stood at the end of her bed. His beauty caught her off guard, sharp features, golden hair, and hazel eyes. He was dressed in black robes, but this wasn't what made her cautious. He was smiling at her, a smug and sneaky grin.

"I wasn't aware..." she glared at him, "...that you Abominations were able to enter dreams."

He let out a rumbling laugh, never taking his eyes of her. "Not enter, but create. We Abominations, " he pronounced the name teasingly, "...as you call us, can do more than you could ever imagine."

Her gaze trailed down to the ring on his finger. A star, etched into obsidian. The Head Son. This was the most valued leader in Hades, and his lineage trailed back to the first born Son of Adam, the murderer. This man, was a descendant of Cain.

"No 'Hello', or kindness from a High Priestess?" he gaped, joking. "Show a little respect. We're both royals, no need for the informalities, my name is far to complicated to speak in full, but a peck on the cheek would certainly do."

Royals? The man is a lunatic, s he thought.

Vaya was already cautious in proceeding to rid him, but she remembered the Stories of Old. When Cain had killed Abel, the innocents blood had been fed to the earth, contacting Elyon tha , to his God. Abhorred by his punishment, Cain tried to reason with God. Because he did not willingly face the consequences, Elyon placed a mark upon Cain, a shield of protection so no harm or death would come upon him before his penalty was up.

Despite the warnings, Cain had produced children through a desert Nomad woman, but because he crossed his boundaries with the intimacy of the innocent, the mark fell upon his sons, who were quickly claimed by Satan. The Sons became immortal, and were influenced b , , real power over them other than the somewhat fatherly way he raised them in Hades.

The Head Son was the firstborn of Cain. And his name was Enoch.

" , E , " , " ' in the cities causing turmoil to innocent's? Doing something that might bring joy to that devil father of yours?" she spat out.

In a flash, he had crossed the room, and had his hand wrapped around her throat. So deathly quiet, he whispered. "That t hing... is not my f ather," h e said. "Make sure to know that, High Priestess."

She didn't cower or flinch, even though fear roared in her blood. She glared at him. "Why have you come here?" she smacked his hand away. "You know what? Don't answer that. Your job is to torment servers of Elyon. It's what you do for fun, no doubt, but why here?" Vaya asked. "Why in my dreams?"

Hurt flashed in his eyes, and for a moment her body shuddered in confusion of why such a creature could be able to experience such an emotion. His gaze softened once he saw how she gripped the covers of the bed.

"I did not come here to torment you, though I did come here in anger. Do not think that I am evil just because of the person I was raised by, My Queen."

Her temper flared. "Do not call me that! I refuse to be exalt " she began to yell and stepped forward in opposition.

" E xalted instead of thy High and Mighty God, y es, yes. I see that you've become quite a head straight fanatic in your years of servitude, instead of a free willed, yet faithful Saint of Elyon."

Some of this, oddly struck true to a part of her, but she didn't let it show. "You talk recklessly against The Maker " she accused, pointing a finger at him. " And disrespectfully to one of his Servants."

He smirked. " Queen..."
"And blasphemy against me!" Now she felt pathetic.

Enoch stood very close to her, as she kept up her scolding. "You are merely a young twenty one year old girl with no idea what her future has instore for her," he leaned in and whispered, "One of the perks of being Head Son, you get into a lot of ancient secrets."

"Why should I trust you? You've killed millions through the years..." "I have killed no one in my lifetime."

She squinted as she studied him. "You serve him willingly. If you were n ot e vil, I am sure that a person would of done something about the situation if they were thousands of years old."

"I have never served him willingly. The chains he had bound to my father, are the same he has bound to me," he sighed. "I never saw my real father pass through the gates of Hell, but when I would look up, I never saw him enter Heaven. As long as his penalty lasts, I am imprisoned."

She let out a laugh, but there was no humor in it. "You seem to have a lot of freedom for someone so ' bound'. "

The High Priestess struggled to strike yet another one of his nerves, and this had only little effect. He seemed determined to convince her he was truthful.

"I have my ways of going about, but you forget that this is in a dream, not in real life," he shrugged.

Right then, she noticed something about Enoch. Unlike demons and Sons of Iiblis she had seen in visions before, no Darkness clinged to him. Even though he glided in the obsidian robes draped over his shoulders, no glinting red eyes looked back at her as Vaya's gaze roamed his figure.

"Enjoying the view?" a smile tugged at his lips.
She stood up, and faced him squarely. "You need to tell me, why are you really here?"
The Head Son bit his lip and glanced at the clock on the wall. "Vaya, you are in grave danger..." "What else is new?" she scowled.

He shook his head. "You need to listen and believe me. Today or tomorrow, you will be given the chance to leave this place. You need to take it. My Master is planning something. He has been for years, but its rolling into action now. The demon, yesterday, you saw it didn't you?"

She backed away in suspicion. "How do you know about that?"

"It is my brother, Jarach. He has been corrupted, but he is one of the many spies my Master will send until he chooses an assassin. He sought to kill you at birth, but you lived," he said in a rush. "You have been in his way for years, and he will kill you now because The End has begun."

. . " W h e n ? "

" N o w , " , " , ' me, I assure you that," Enoch explained.

"Why are you telling me this?"

His eyes were a reflection of the purest sky in all the earth when he smiled. "I have a humanity. This is my chance at forgiveness."

But the mood quickly changed as dark clouds formed at his feet, swallowing him up, and her mind began to fade as her conscience drifted back into reality.

"I say to you today, Vaya Renes, if you do not leave this place before the Full Moon of Fate, your body will be desecrated before the world, and thrown into the Pit of Chains just as all the sacrificed Saints before you," he proclaimed.

He looked at her with such compassion before he was surrounded in the Darkness, and bright sparks flew across the room.

"If Elyon can still hear me " he began before he was engulfed in soft flickering flames.

But the echo of the dream sounded in her mind as she woke up to the singing blue jays of the White Mountains pack in Lucrosif, Utah.

And his promise was clear just like the still small voice of God.

"I will be praying for you..." ~oOo~