House Of Legions (The Angel Descendants book 1)

Chapter 42 (Liam)

Liam frowned as a figure announced itself next to him, “I wasn’t expecting you here so soon.”

Kalbreal appeared from the air itself, sitting directly next to Liam, who had remained on the other side of the Bayou where Alexa had left him. The night sky still, windless, regardless of the invisible and protective shields lifted. He was watching the activities that were taking place across the Saltril lake, just to keep tabs on Clare. He wanted to make certain she was safe before he left, and get his fill of her presence.

He sipped from the bottle of cognac he had brought with him, to quench his thirst as he watched the ceremony. First, he eavesdropped on Alexa and Clare’s conversation, which really rallied him in the wrong way, for reasons he didn't want to admit. And then Clare’s loss of control. When she screamed, he hated that nobody even held her, or consoled her, that made him glow. He decided to loosen his mind, as his brother Kole, solemnly would put it.

He should’ve insisted Jullie be there, she would’ve known what to do, he was on his third bottle, when he was now interrupted.

Kalbreal’s face was faint, he wore dark stone denim and a cream loose linen shirt which was opened to the chest, revealing his chest.

Liam knew that look, there was something wrong, but Liam was not one to really care much, so he took a swig of his cognac, and Kalbreal scowled. He was not amused by Liam’s lack of compassion, clearly daunted by something, and that almost brought a smile to Liam’s face.

He knew Kalbreal better than he would openly admit, even to himself. The Angel was not easily swayed, his suspicion was confirmed by Kalbreal’s voice, it, was too soft, not crowded by his conceitedness, “Ceremonies are not my thing.”

“The rare few things we have in common, cognac.” He held it up, a bottle of Camus.

Kalbreal took it without a thought and gulped quarter from the bottles half in one go, “Deceptors, they do make a good drink.”

Liam slanted his mouth into a weak smile, “And food too, what’s up with you.”

He tried to keep his voice neutral, he was pretty versatile with all his years of speaking. When there were things to do he knew how to get it done, but now Kalbreal needed him, no matter how much he hated the annoyance of the Angels’ constant uninvited arrivals.

Liam felt sorry for him, there was distress in his eyes, and Liam knew it wasn’t good for anyone especially now.

Kalbreal drank swig after swig of the Camus. Liam considered reminding the Angel whose stash he was drinking, but then again, what better way to seek some satisfaction for his brother’s recent incompetence.

Kalbreal’s quietness gave him a chance to check what was happening with the ceremony. He stood up from the old wooden bench and walked a few steps to the lake.

Liam’s eyes darted across x-raying his vision to see what was happening parallel from him, “The ceremony has started.”

“Armatos is here, his son is ascending tomorrow.” Another Angel Liam thought like he hadn’t had enough on his plate already. He kept his back faced to Kalbreal, he’d known him long enough to know that Kalbreal was not one who you fooled easily but then neither was he - “Oh, when did he arrive?”

“First light, apparently, why cause so much attention, he could’ve been more discreet.”

“That’s going to be all over CNN.”

Kalbreal got up off the bench and walked toward Liam, “UFO’S,” he muttered, taking another sip of Camus.

Liam figured he wasn’t getting it back by the looks of it, “Aliens and flying saucers, I wonder what’s next, you never could put anything past them.”

Kalbreal shook his head, “you would think by now they would have figured it out, it could never be more obvious.”

Liam turned his attention to Kalbreal when he came shoulder to shoulder with him. Liam was two inches taller than Kalbreal but much less bulky, but older by at least a few thousand years, “There’s a reason why we have named them deceptors.”

Kalbreal looked up into the night sky and laughed, “I would drink to that, except, do you have another?”

Liam could see the worry in Kalbreal’s eyes. There was a lot on the young winged warrior's mind, a small part of him wanted to grab the Angel and see his thoughts, soothe his horrors, but he knew there was no good going to come from it, especially if Clare was still in danger. He hadn’t found out exactly why yet, but he didn’t blame Kalbreal, regardless of his part in this whole mess.

Armato's was an older Angel, you never knew with him, and he did not hold favour on the deceptors either, so from what Liam gathered, Angel’s arrival seemed to stem from more than just the ascending of his son, “No, but I’m sure there’s more at the manor, why don’t you get it.”

“Not so fast, what’s going on with Clarabella, have you met with her yet.”

He faced the lake and looked from far, but he didn’t extend his eyesight to see what lay in the distance, instead, he just admired the fire which mirrored on the lakes waters and the reflecting stars which dusted with glitter on the calm surface,

“No, you know my track record when it comes to the opposite sex,” Liam said, as he willed himself to stay calm, from hearing her full name spoken from Kalbreal’s lips, “I was hoping you’ll be more informative.” Liam flexed his jaw muscle, hating the sarcasm in his own words, and continued, “When I agreed to help Franchesca, I didn’t consider you to have an interest in Clare, my interest is in her protection.” For now, he thought.

Kalbreal nodded, “Tomorrow, as we agreed, I’ll be here but I need time to think. Clare is safe for now, there’s much more happening here, like the deaths of the Lightwatcher’s, it has scarred even Asguardians. Now that Armatos is here I have to keep him away from Clare.”

This peaked at Liam’s curiosity, but he didn’t show any of it, not even a brief flicker, “Why, are you afraid he might try to harm her?”

“My fears are much worse, than her death.”

Liam wanted to push further, but he had to have patience, he knew Kalbreal did not like to be pushed around, “Did you hear about Calub?”

Kalbreal’s tone was dry, “Yeah, she knows too, I suspect she’d want to get right to saving him.”

Liam laughed mildly, “She can barely swat a fly, I wonder how she would be if she was raised as a Lightwatcher all her life, she is already a fascination.”

Kalbreal didn’t respond straight away, but Liam caught his jaw tighten, from the corner of his eyes and his throat glitch, but Kalbreal refrained any eye contact, instead, he looked straight ahead, “Yes, she would have been dead, if it was left, Kadreal was the one who tried to kill her all those years ago.”

“Kadreal!”

Liam was about to say more when he remembered something, and instead, he kept quiet, his eyes darted for a second to catch a glimpse of Clare, but was filled up with what was happening on the other side, something wasn’t right.

Kalbreal shouted, in agreement to his own instincts, “You need to go, now, GO.”

Liam closed his eyes he knew the risk of what he was about to do but this was the most sensible option.