CHAPTER TEN

SOUL CRYING OUT

As the sun rose to a new day, it's rays of gold, yellow and orange beamed over the horizon as it made it's steady journey upwards. The sunlight glimmered off of the blue lake surface that lay coated under a thin blanket of mist. In the reflection of the water, it looked as though the world were tipped upside down. A light rain had fallen overnight that left the trees and grass covered in tiny droplets of water, replenishing the land. The sun still low, the trees and hills in the distance all just looked like silhouettes against the colours of the rising sun and blue sky. Rising higher, the sun rays lit up the world, the blue of the sky, the green of the earth and trees becoming more vivid as the sun travelled higher in the sky.

Nuada awoke with the beams of sunlight shimmering into his bedroom, dancing across his amber eyes. Stretching his body against the sheets, he pulled them back and stepped out of bed. He quickly showered before dressing in a white tunic and black pants. Slipping his boots on he tied the sash and royal emblem around his waist before heading to the cafeteria for breakfast. Walking along the halls towards the cafeteria he looked out the large bay windows to the view outside. Nuala and Abraham were eating fruit and doting over the oak tree sapling they had planted a few days ago. It had magic threaded into it, and was indestructible. That fact proven when one of the twins tried to pull it out of the ground and eat it the day before.

When he arrived at the training room and started his stretches and practices he was surprised that Avaline wasn't already there. Normally she would show up before him and dance for some time to prepare her body and to connect her soul, as she said in her own words. Her music choice wasn't always to his ears liking. He could see her fluid movements in time to the music, and the way she seemed to feel every note and lyric of the songs. He would often just stand to the side of the room and watch her. Today however she didn't show up to the training room. She had not been at the cafeteria earlier for breakfast either.

Walking along the halls he first checked her room and found that she had indeed showered and changed. Her dirty clothes piled tidily into the laundry hamper, and the water still dripped from the shower tap. Nuada reached in and turned the tap off properly before walking out and down the hallway towards the relaxation rooms the humans enjoyed. There was one room with fitness equipment where they could exercise and watch television at the same time. Nuada thought it incredibly stupid to run on a stationary object, the women agents seemed inclined to do so. He had even seen Liz running on one of these while the twins played nearby.

Not finding Avaline in any of those rooms he headed out into the gardens and came across the demon trying to get the twins to walk. Nuada nodded his head to the demon before turning to walk out further into the grounds towards the forest, thinking perhaps Avaline had sought solace amongst nature, as he himself liked to do often.

"If you're looking for Avaline she's in the library." The demon spoke to him as he walked away. Nuada turned and went to walk back inside. "It's her father's anniversary today." The demon spoke up.

"Anniversary?" Nuada asked with an inclined head as he turned to look at the demon. As soon as he said it though he knew the answer of the question. The anniversary of her father's passing. He had thought Avaline quiet yesterday in training, however at the time he thought it was possibly due to him training her with a staff. She had managed to hit herself in the centre of her forehead four times and the back of her head three times. Now he realised even that was signs that her mind was distant. He nodded again in a courteous nature to the demon, as Avaline had pointed out to do, before turning and making his way back inside towards the library.

As he stood outside the doors leading into the library he could hear the sounds of musical notes floating on the air. The grand piano that stood in the library was being played. He hadn't actually heard it being played before. Musical instruments, especially human kind, seemed trivial to Nuada. The library itself looked alot like the one at the last BPRD headquarters, except that it was larger and off to one corner was the grand piano and a couple of other musical instruments. Pushing open the doors quietly Nuada stepped through and closed the doors just as quietly behind him. Avaline had her back to him and her head tilted down.

Watching her, Nuada could see that just as how she danced, the way she played the music was just the same. Her eyes closed, her fingers caressed over the piano keys, playing music softly to herself. Every note thought of with meaning. Every note a steady caress. Even though the song held no lyrics, like the songs she danced to, he could feel the emotion in every note that was played, the tempo of which it was played. The way it pierced through him with it's slow melodic phrases. The way it sped up in frantic motion as though the emotions were hurried, before returning to a slow caress. He closed his eyes and thought of a brisk storm. The way the clouds gently would come in, then the wind would batter through, the sky and heavens would open up in a vicious collision before the storm would meet it's end and the clouds would part, returning the world to a gentle calm.

The song ending abruptly, Nuada felt himself hold his breath as Avaline let out a heavy sigh. He thought himself stupid as thoughts rushed through his head uncontrollably. Did she stop because of him? Would she even want to see him on this day of all days? The day her father died. Does the fact he took his own father's life disgust her? She has never acted so, but would today be different? He remembered the moment he took his father's life and his heart shuddered in pain. It would've meant Nuala's death and his own if he had stood down to his father's order. It still pained him to this day that that was the way things ended.

He remembered back to the days of his childhood, before the wars broke out between the races. The way he had looked up and adored his father, the way he had aimed to grow up and be the kind of soldier and warrior his father had been. It had broken his heart to see his father sign that truce. In Nuada's eyes, that had been the day his father, the soldier and warrior had passed away in a sense. Feeling a presence in front of him, Nuada shook himself from his thoughts and saw that Avaline stood directly in front of him.

"I apologize. I interrupted you. The song..." Nuada said with his head down before raising it to meet her eyes again.

She replied with a shake of her head. "No. The song is unfinished. Father never finished it." Her gaze was distant and sad.

Sometimes he found it hard to find words with this woman. She was human, what he had hated for so long. However, she was also uisce cruthú, the water of creation. A being as old as time. When he faced her, he faced a child, a comrade, and an elder all at the same time.

"Your father never finished it?"

"He was interrupted... He never got to finish it... He was a musician. He wrote music. He played several instruments. The piano was his favourite though." Avaline purposefully changed the topic, talking of her father and happier memories of what he did, rather than how everything ended.

Nuada surprised Avaline by reaching a hand to her chin and holding her face, forcing her to gaze directly at him.

"Your eyes are dull, like that time you almost lost consciousness during training that day.. "

"I haven't eaten. I haven't the appetite." Avaline stated and pulled away. She took a couple of steps back from Nuada.

"You need to eat." Nuada stated simply as he took ahold of her hand and made her follow him to the cafeteria. Uninterested Avaline sat down at one of the tables while Nuada went to get her some food. Most of the agents knew it was her father's anniversary, and had remembered from previous years her short temperament and spontaneous outbursts of tears. A few simply nodded when she met their gaze, other's just kept their heads down and finished their own meal.

Nuada selected fruit and some easier "snack" items, as the humans referred to them, for Avaline to eat. He figured that with her not having much of an appetite, due to the past of today holding her in it's grip, she would not have the stomach for larger items. He placed the tray down in front of her and sat across from her as she slowly picked up a couple of items and ate them. He could tell she did so grudgingly. She didn't even glance up to look at him as she did so. They sat in silence. Avaline nibbling at food. Nuada watched her. After pushing the tray away from herself Avaline looked up at Nuada and sighed.

"I can't eat anymore."

With a nod Nuada took her tray and left the bottled water for Avaline to drink. He tipped the remainders of the tray into the rubbish before placing the tray aside and turning back to Avaline. She had already stood and was making her way outside and towards the forest. The eyes of the agents on her felt like tiny piercing daggers. Her senses felt heightened, as though just a drop of a pin could open the flood gates and the tears would fall. She felt a hand on her lower back and turned to see Nuada at her side as they headed into the forest. He lead her to a small clearing at the edge of the forest. Trees loomed overhead of them as they sat across from each other, nestled in amongst the large tree roots. From where they sat they could see the manor in the distance, the lake nearby and the oak tree sapling, in a large space of its own to grow in.

"Would you rather be alone?" Nuada asked. He handed her the bottled water she had left behind in the cafeteria. Taking it Avaline smiled at him and sipped at the water as she leaned back into the tree.

"I'm probably not the best company if you want to leave." She spoke up. She kept her eyes closed as she drank back more of the water, savouring the feel of it slick down her throat.

"Perhaps you would prefer the demon for company." Nuada said misreading the meaning of what she had just said. Avaline seemed to pick up on it and opened her eyes to look across at him.

"Red would want to get me drunk to drink away the pain. I'd rather feel it than drown it. I just feel like I'm not exactly the best company to be around right now. It has nothing to do with who I am with." Avaline tried to explain. Nuada seemed distant in his own thoughts.

"Perhaps I am not the best company for you to be around today." Nuada spoke up. Still distant in his thoughts.

"Why do you say that?" Avaline asked before realising the answer herself. With a sigh she sat forward and tapped Nuada's leg to get his attention.

"I don't see a heartless killer when I look at you, and I won't hold you at bay because of it. If anything, I understand why you did what you did. I can't say I agree with it though." Avaline said softly. All Nuada could do was nod his head. He was still distant in his own thoughts, but had not moved to leave, which Avaline saw as a good sign.

"Your father was a proud warrior. I didn't recognise him in the end. I remember when he fought at Oileán Thúr Rí." Avaline stated as she stared at the lake in the distance. The wind causing ripples to dance across the waters surface.

Nuada looked over Avaline as she sat before him. At first, he felt irritated that a human would speak of his father at all, but then, he remembered the water of creation flowed in her. It's physical being, it's memories, everything it was, was now her. "I was but a child when my father fought in that war." Nuada stated. He looked over at the young woman that sat before him. She had saved his life, for that he was indebted to her, but he also had to admit, she filled a void in him that Wink's death had left behind. She was a welcome training partner, and much better at conversation than Mr Wink ever was.

They sat in silence for a moment before Avaline spoke up again, as though she were speaking to herself, Nuada recognised these moments.

"History repeats itself often. To create technological things to further the world. To think beyond a person's own ability and create something from that. Your father had the army created, but it lacked empathy and it was utter carnage. Now, humans are using all natural resources to create technological things to make their lives easier. They'd be alot easier to kill now. Fat, lazy..." Avaline cut herself off when she realised she was rambling and heading into a full fledged rant.

Nuada felt a chuckle rumble low in his throat and found it an almost foreign behaviour for himself. "Are you not supposed to dissuade me from my hatred towards humans?" He asked. Avaline could've sworn it almost sounded teasing the way he spoke.

"May I ask you something?" Avaline spoke up after another long moment of silence.

Nuada nodded in reply and sat forward to listen more intently. He could see the sad distant gaze in her eyes. The colour itself had changed to a dark turquoise colour.

"You've lived for so long. How do you let go of memories that hurt?"

Nuada noticed her lower lip quiver at that question and knelt closer to her. "I do not have an answer for that." He replied, trying to think of words, but not being able to.

"You have a spell then?" Avaline asked half jokingly, half hopeful.

He reached out a hand to her cheek and held it there, as he had done when he wiped his sister's tears away. Avaline leaned into the touch with her eyes closed and reached up a hand to hold his in place.

"I still remember the sound of my father swinging from the ceiling. The sound of the sirens of the ambulance when they took his body away."

"Have you no other family?" Nuada asked as he sat closer to Avaline.

The colour of her eyes swirled to the colour of deep navy, midnight seas, the kind that would drag a ship down in seconds if it didn't obey the rules of the ocean.

"My mother killed my father. She had taken a lover and didn't want to sign simple divorce papers. If she hadn't been so proud and just put her signature to paper my father would still be alive." She gritted her teeth and squeezed her eyes shut. Nuada kept his hand to her cheek as she held onto it tight. He watched as she seemed to lean into his touch and take deep breaths in to calm herself.

When she opened her eyes again the colour had returned to a swimming turquoise colour of tranquil waters. Nuada was surprised at this. He could feel the grief seeping off of her just a moment ago but she seemed to have swallowed it back. With a heavy sigh a smile came to her face. Avaline took Nuada's hand away from her cheek and held onto it with both her hands, resting on her lap.

"I'm not sure what is harder. To lose a family member, or be forced to leave one behind."

Nuada had been told by Johann Krauss that Avaline was special to the government and her death had been faked. After hearing of her father's death, he had thought she had no family left. She did not speak of any other family members.

"I have an older brother. He looked after me, after everything happened." Avaline closed her eyes, her heart feeling heavy again. Nuada seemed to sense this and squeezed her hand.

"Why do you not speak of him more often?" Nuada asked. "Has he passed also?" Nuada sensed her sadness.

"No. Last I heard he had married and started a family of his own. He became like a father to me after dad passed away." Looking up, Avaline noticed Nuada's browline raise at the word 'dad'. He often did that when she used "human slang".

"Dad is short for father... Human term of endearment..." Avaline tried to explain.

"How old was he? I mean, to take on that responsibility for a human boy... Aren't most thinking of themselves and the latest sexual conquest?"

Avaline raised an eyebrow at that. Nuada was used to this, she normally made that facial expression when he was grouping humans under a label.

"Eight years older than me. At the time he was 18 when dad passed away. He had just left to start college and his own life. He came home to look after me. He tried, bless his heart he tried. But I realised that caring for me was interfering with his dreams and life, so I suggested private boarding school. I went there, he went back to university, and I'd spend holidays with him. I didn't like being a burden to him..."

Nuada nodded in return and once again the pair returned to just sitting in silence. Avaline turned her head to look out at their surroundings. Nuala was sitting over the oak tree sapling once again. Stroking the grass around it gently.

"Will she be okay?" Avaline asked.

"I honestly do not know." Nuada replied. With a heavy sigh he continued. "Miscarriage is very uncommon amongst our people. In fact, this would be the first I know of. That is why it is so difficult for her to come to terms with it. I am not sure if she ever will."

Suddenly the siren and red light started blaring across their surroundings, letting them know of another attack on the human world. Nuada was first up and held his hand out to help Avaline up which she accepted as they made their way inside.

A Wendigo attack, in the daylight. They were getting brazen and seemed to be growing in numbers. It was strange, werewolves in a pack, they could understand. However for such a solitary creature in the past to be roaming in packs, and varying in transformations, this was something unheard of. It also made them very unpredictable creatures to deal with.

It was a strange feeling to be out in daylight on a hunt, especially in an urban setting. They came up to an old abandoned warehouse alongside a pier. It looked as though even setting foot in there would cause the entire place to collapse down on them. The sheet metal that surrounded the original brick building lay tattered and were rusted to a rich orange colour that blended with the colour of the orange bricks. Even the concrete walkways and supports of the building lay cracked and shattered into large pieces. Parts of it falling into the water nearby. Nature had slowly tried to take over the building, with plants and trees growing up through the wreckage.

Stepping carefully through the wreckage they separated into teams. Red, Nuada and Avaline alongside one agent. Abe, Harriet, Johann and two other agents followed suit in a final team. They all kept in contact via headphones where Avaline was able to relay each team members position in relation to other life forces she felt. She could sense the Wendigo, there were six of them spread out, stalking the agents. It seems they had realised they were being hunted and decided to lead the BPRD into their own trap. As they continued through the building, Harriet was amazed at the information that Avaline was picking up on. That she could tell where exactly in the building everyone was, she would even tell someone off when they went astray. Hearing a noise to her side Harriet turned down a corridor away from where Avaline was leading her.

If the woman wanted to depend on herself, and go off on her own, Avaline wasn't about to risk the rest of the team because of her, so she kept quiet rather than yell at Harriet to turn back and cause worry amongst the team. There was more things to worry about. Two wendigo stalked her, Red and Nuada from behind. Avaline motioned to Nuada where one was, she motioned to Red where the other was. Closing her eyes she focused on two more stalking Harriet on her own. With a sigh, she let her conscious get the better of her and she ran to help Harriet. She must've turned off her earpiece. Johann and Abe had managed to shoot one wendigo with enough silver bullets to subdue it long enough to decapitate it themselves. Red and Nuada were busy battling their own wendigo's by the time Avaline had reached Harriet. She was on the roof of the building itself with two wendigo circling her, arguing over who could have the first bite.

Using her power over wind, Harriet whiped up pieces of shredded sheet metal in spinning tornadoes before sending the metal flying at the wendigo, completely decapitating one of the wendigo. The other one seeing this, dodged the metal flying at it and dove at Harriet pushing her flat onto her back. Realising that this woman had to chant to bring up her power it went to bite her in the throat. Avaline picked up her kopis sword and threw it, stabbing the wendigo square in it's back before it could take the fatal bite. Running up she dove over the wendigo, pulling the sword out and swinging it down, stabbing it a second time in the side. Squealing in pain the wendigo pushed her aside and put space between itself and the two women.

Suddenly the whole building quaked as Harriet started to chant, calling on the power of earth to shake the building and make the wendigo lose it's balance. She had hoped it would stumble backwards and fall off the side of the building.

"You're going to bring the entire building down on everyone." Avaline yelled. Harriet ignored her and continued to make the building quake. It's already fragile concrete supports cracking under the pressure. Realising Harriet wasn't about to listen to her, Avaline spun her sword and cracked Harriet in the back of her neck with her sword handle. By now the others had left the building, and even the remaining wendigo had scattered running into nearby desolate warehouses. Harriet spluttered before she turned and started chanting again, this time calling upon a gust of wind that swirled around the roof of the warehouse where they stood.

The others were about to run after the fleeing wendigo when suddenly a shadow overhead caught their gaze. They looked up to see a wendigo dive off the roof of the building into the nearby water. It's head soon popped up and they watched as it paddled to the other side of the bay. The others watched helpless as a smaller shadow, Avaline, fell backwards. She hit the roof of a smaller building, the fragile sheet metal giving way under her. She hit the concrete with a hard thud face first, before her body gave way to gravity and slipped over the edge into the nearby water. The sheets of metal falling over Avaline's body as they sunk through the depths and came to rest at the bottom.

Within moments of her body slipping into the water Nuada was at the water edge. The sight of her body falling and crumpling to the ground hit him hard, and he felt as though it was he himself that had fallen and suffered. He dove into the water and pulled back the sheets of metal before coming to Avaline's supine frail body.

The water was like a cocoon around Avaline as she lay looking up. She could see the water surface, from where she lay. Only a few metres above her. The sunlight glimmering and dancing across the surface. She closed her eyes and focused her energy past the water, focusing on her comrades, hoping they were safe and that the wendigo hadn't attacked. Her eyes shot open and she blinked as she saw Nuada swimming towards her. She struggled to get the sheet metal off of herself. Nuada quickly helped get the metal off, he could see the fear in her eyes as she gripped onto his arm with her free arm. She wanted to cry out to the others, realising they couldn't sense the wendigo creeping up on them.

Closing her eyes to refocus herself she could sense the wendigo closing in on the others. She could sense they were in part still human, but for the most part, there was something otherworldly flowing through their veins. She could see the blood pulsating through their bodies, she was drawn to it. It was almost as though she could hear their heartbeat beating a dull thud in her ears. Focusing solely on the blood of the wendigo to separate them from her comrades she felt a wave wash over her as suddenly she was surrounded by a dead silence. She could feel the dust and sand of the ocean floor, gripped in a tight fist. The dull thud of the wendigo heartbeat had stopped. She couldn't sense them at all.

Pulling the last of the sheet metal off of Avaline, Nuada picked her up gently in his arms as he swam to the surface and climbed out of the water. Tenderly holding her to his body he could feel her broken bones healing beneath his touch. She opened her eyes and looked up at him as he carried her over to where the others were standing over corpses. It was the last of the wendigo that had attacked. They lay dead and still, staring blankly at the sky overhead.

"What happened?" Nuada asked, still holding Avaline tight in his arms. He could feel she had completely healed but was still trembling, he wasn't sure if that was due to the cold or shock her body had just been put through.

"They just fell to the ground. We will have to take them back to headquarters and do an autopsy to find out what killed them." Johann replied.

Most of the BPRD knew of Avaline's healing capabilities and although shocked, hadn't worried when she had collapsed into the water. What had surprised them though was the Prince's reaction and sudden bolt into the water to help her. What also surprised them also was the fact despite her telling him, he insisted on carrying her back to the truck and placed her gently into a chair. He kept a close eye on her until they returned to the BPRD and even insisted on her going to the infirmary for a final check up.

Once Nuada was happy with the doctor's check over of Avaline he offered to make sure she returned to her room safely. Avaline however was more interested in how the wendigo had died. Nuada himself also was curious, so the pair made their way to the room where the autopsy was taking place. It was a large room, they had decided to keep all the bodies in one room together.

"All the wendigo died the same." Johann Krauss told them as they stood at the doorway.

"And how is that?" Avaline asked.

"Their blood. It's solid."

"How? What?" Avaline asked again. Harriet stood nearby, also curious as to how the wendigo had died.

"Their blood. It's like sand or dust. There's no moisture whatsoever. It's just... red dust..." Johann himself had the paper stated the test results. He also had cut into one of the wendigo himself just to see the result. Red dust flowing out of the wendigo's wounds whenever they cut into it.

Avaline remembered to the moment before the dead silence while she was underwater. She had heard their heartbeats, she could feel the blood pulsating through the wendigo. Then the silence came and she felt dust. She had thought she had just grabbed dust from the ocean floor. Suddenly, the realisation hit her, she had done this. She didn't want to believe it. She had turned blood to dust. Falling backwards she found Nuada was right behind her and he picked her up in his arms again. He nodded his head to Johann before turning and taking Avaline back to her room. Once in her room, rather than lay in bed she ran to the bathroom, grabbing a pot plant on the way.

Nuada followed with a bewildered look on his face as he watched Avaline pour the dirt from the pot plant into the sink and turn the tap on, mixing water with the dirt to make a muddy paste.

"What are you doing?" He asked finally.

She looked up at him with a look he could only describe as intense fear. Her breathing becoming more erratic as she turned her attention back to the mud and closed her eyes. She focused on the mud, the water flowing through the dirt. She could see the different beads and droplets of water dancing around the particles of dirt. She heard Nuada gasp to her side and opened her eyes to look up at him. She then turned her attention back to the sink. Placing her hands into the sink she grabbed a handful of dirt, completely dry, not a single bit of moisture in it.

"You told the water to leave it?... You made the water evaporate?" Nuada observed in wonder, and slight horror.

He was at her side as she stuttered and tried to find words but couldn't. He helped her stumble and sit into a nearby chair and debating calling the Tinman or someone else for help. Instead he sat on the floor beside the chair Avaline sat in and just held her hand as she struggled to catch her breath.

"I'm scared." She finally managed to whimper out.

She had tears in her eyes and turned her gaze to Nuada. "The water of creation being, when it last, visited..." Avaline started as she looked up at Nuada. "It said it wasn't finished with me. It said it had one final test for me."

Nuada looked over at Avaline surprised. He remembered the being saying she had passed all the tests. It had mentioned three tests at the time.

"Do you think this was it? To be able to do something like that?" Avaline asked. Her chest heaved as she struggled to catch her breath.

"I am unsure." Nuada started. "That seems more like an ability though, not a test..." He stated. "Maybe, the way you deal with this, is the final test?"

He placed a hand to her cheek, it seemed to calm her he realised. This time however, she didn't take ahold of his hand in hers. She just stared blankly at the dry dirt as it fell from her hand to the floor.