Dark Dreams Ch. 05

It was night and they had been driving for hours. As soon as she got into his Porsche, they had sat in silence, Alexander working on a plan and Zara, absorbing what Alexander had told her. She had many more questions for him, but the grim set of his face, and the music set on loud was clearly meant to discourage her.

She had napped after a while, consumed by dreams of demons with fiery eyes, and a nameless, faceless ghost pursuing her. She awoke to silence. Without opening her eyes fully, she had the unabashed opportunity of staring at her companion. In the street light, his dark hair glimmered. It had a slight curl and was messy as if he had kept running his hands through it. His eyes looked like a deep lake in the moonlight. His face looked weary but determined and calculated.

She wondered what lay beneath the surface. It was difficult enough for her to understand normal males that were human, so demons were completely beyond her. She longed to ask him why he was protecting her. All that feeling between them, she wondered if any of it was real. She realized she was no closer to knowing him then the first day she saw him. She knew what he was now, but that was it.

As she was lost in this realization, an amused half smile formed on his face.

"See something you like?"

Zara was startled and then blushed heavily hoping the streetlights were dim enough to hide her face.

"I um... just woke up."

"I know." He said. "What were you thinking about just now?"

"I was thinking about how I don't know you at all. Actually wondering what I'm doing here with you and why you would help me."

He smiled again. A crooked smile. He looked different to her without his suit. He was dressed in jeans and a dark t-shirt. He looked younger. He seemed less perfect. That made him more beautiful to her.

"You do know me. You must partially trust me, or else you wouldn't be here with me. But then again I've always had a way with the ladies."

She looked at him darkly. "Seriously, you need to stop that fake charm thing."

"It isn't fake." He pretended to be hurt. And then his face grew serious.

"I guess it wasn't all fake. The Council ordered me to keep an eye on you once we knew your identity. Well actually it was more than that. I was to gain your trust and assess your powers so we could see what to do with you. Since I am the youngest member of the Council, the duty was best suited to me. I thought it would be easy, but when I saw you, I felt drawn to you. It was a strange feeling." She sensed his confusion. He looked at her, his eyes searching.

"If Kayden finds you he will use you to his own ends. I can't let anything happen to you and if the prophecy is true, he will have all the power enough to destroy the Council and basically enslave all humans."

"Oh." Zara sank back into her seat. She felt slightly sick. In spite of it all she noted the protective way he had said he couldn't let anything happen to her. She still had many questions.

"How do they know I'm the one from the prophecy?"

"The wording of the prophecy is in an ancient demon language. It's only accessible to the head of the Council. He along with the oldest demons left interpreted it and came to the conclusion it meant you. They knew this for a while but decided to let things be. Until Kayden came along. He captured one of the scholars and tortured the information out of him. That forced us to take action and find you before he did."

"Wow. So I'm screwed either way. Either be taken by you people or be captured by Kayden. And anyway, how does my 'power' or whatever work?"

"I don't think anyone knows that. Kayden will try a number of things to get it out of you. Turning you into a demon will be the nicest of those things."

She sunk back into the chair thinking about everything he said. She turned to the window feeling an involuntary shiver run through her body.

"We are nearly there." Said Alexander, breaking the silence. "Look, I am going to leave you for a few days. I need to see what exactly is going on with the Council and whether they have any news."

"Where are you going to leave me?" She asked.

"I have to leave you with someone I trust. That is not alone and not with the Council either. I don't know what they will do to you."

She sat forward in her seat as they turned into a suburban area. It was filled with beautiful homes. The kind you see in the movies with the perfect families and the white picket fences. They stopped outside a modern looking white house. It had a wonderfully tended garden lit by the headlights as they pulled into the driveway. They stopped. She sat rooted to her seat, hesitant to find out who or what lived here. Judging by the previous company Alexander seemed to keep, she was apprehensive.

Alexander came around and opened her door helping her out. He held her arm and walked her, a tad bit forcibly, to the door. He rang the doorbell. A boy of about eight with curly red hair, freckles and glasses opened the door.

She was wholly unprepared for what happened next.

The boy broke out into a huge smile shouting, "Uncle Alex is here!" And jumped on Alexander who lifted him up into a hug.

Zara was in shock. Alex was now walking in holding the boys hand.

"Where's your mum, Princess?" Alexander was now asking an adorable six year old girl, ruffling her strawberry blonde curly hair.

"They are in the kitchen. Mum made us your favourite. I helped with dessert." She proclaimed proudly.

A dark haired woman of about 35 now walked out of what looked like the kitchen. She was very beautiful.

"Alex, you're late but just in time for dinner." She scolded, but warmly.

Her eyes flickered to Zara and Zara noticed the surprise in them before she quickly smiled warmly again and greeted her.

"Alex, you didn't say you would be bringing company.'

"Charlotte, this is Zara, a friend of mine, and Zara, this is Charlotte, my sister."

Zara greeted Alexander's sister. She could see the similarities now in their aristocratic features and their blue eyes, although hers were slightly lighter. She was a tall, slender woman, who moved gracefully, as they walked to the large kitchen.

"This is my kids, Heather and Fred." Charlotte introduced.

"Zara, why don't you go freshen up? Kids, please show Zara around the house."

She followed the gorgeous little girl and her brother, leaving Alex and his sister in the kitchen alone.

Charlotte immediately pounced on her brother.

"So big bro, I don't see you for months, and now you bring home a girl? I can see now why you were so busy." She teased with a twinkle in her eye.

She stopped, however when she saw his grim face.

"It's not like that Char. It's got to do with the Council. And Kayden. "

Her eyes clouded over and her face hardened.

"Are you in danger? What does Zara have to do with it?"

"I will tell you later. But I really need your help protecting her. I can't trust anyone else and I have to leave her alone to go back and get news."

"You know you don't have to ask."

They ended the conversation as Zara walked back in. Charlotte led them to a dinner table and they had a sumptuous meal.

Zara was surprised at how Alexander was a different person. 'Uncle Alex' as the kids called him, was very different from what she knew. The cold hard façade was lowered and beneath that there was warmth and humour. The chemistry wasn't gone though. It was evident when she passed him a dish and their hands touched, or the feeling she got when his eyes met hers. She felt as if through everything that had happened, the whole demon thing, this was what was the most unreal.

After dinner they sat in the living room and talked. She learnt that Charlotte's husband had passed away a few years ago from cancer. She was a doctor and it was how they met when he first got diagnosed. They tried in spite of everything to make a life together, but two years ago, he lost the battle. A few hours and cups of hot chocolate later, Zara was incredibly sleepy and was led to a charming guest room.

Alexander returned to the living room after bidding her goodnight and Charlotte, after putting her kids to bed. He told her everything that had occurred and got ready to leave.

"Alex, look after yourself. " She warned.

"Of course Sis. I left you extra ammo in the weapons room. There are also those knives you like."

She laughed. "You sure know how to make a girl happy. Speaking of which..." Her eyes drifted to upstairs. "You like this girl." She stated it as a fact, not a question.

"I hate putting you in danger, and I wouldn't, but I can't just leave her. You know what they would do."

"Yeah I do. Anyway it's school holidays and the kids are leaving for their grandparents place, which I'm sure you already thought about." She said of the kids' regular visit to her late husband's parents.

"I will be back soon. Thank you." He gave her a brief hug and left swiftly.

It was early morning, and Zara once again awoke up to unfamiliar surroundings. This time it was a sunny bedroom decorated in pale yellow and splashes of blue. She woke up and taking some of the clothes Alexander had got her, showered and went downstairs. She found Charlotte in the kitchen.

"Good morning. Made you some breakfast."

She was reading the newspaper and pointed at a stack of pancakes.

Zara laughed. "What's with you and your brother and feeding me?"

"I'm just following his strict orders about taking good care of you, and frankly you could do with some more food," She said, eying her slender frame. "Oh and Heather picked those for you." She said pointing at some flowers in a glass.

"They are lovely." She smiled smelling the fragrance. "Where is she and Fred?"

"Their grandparents picked them up for a visit a little while ago. "

Zara thought about how it must be to grow up without a father. At least the kids had a loving family. She thought back to her own childhood as she poured syrup on the pancakes. She couldn't remember when her mother actually cooked, let alone served her breakfast. She didn't know her own grandparents.

She looked up from eating the last pancake to find Charlotte staring at her.

"Alexander said he will be back in a few days. He told me everything. I'm really sorry about you finding out like that and having to just leave everything."

"It was quite a shock. I'm still kind of dazed. You know all about demons?" Her curiosity as to the siblings' relationship was aroused.

"Yeah." She said. "Alex and I are really close, since we were kids. Our parents were, well, not really parents. Alex was the one who looked after me."

"Alex is older than you?"

"Hey, you're not supposed to ask questions about my age." She joked. "Yes he is. I'm forty this year and Alex is seven years older than me. It's the demon thing. It stops the aging process when you turn, leaving you at your ideal age in terms of strength and power. That makes him about twenty-five. It's quite a knock to my ego, but no matter his appearance he will always be my big brother."

"So how did he tell you what he is? How did you accept it?" She knew she was getting too personal now. "I'm sorry if it's personal. It's just unbelievable to me. "

She smiled at Zara warmly. "I don't mind at all." She stared out of the window at the garden and her eyes grew distant.

"When he turned, I was ten and he was seventeen. We had just lost both our parents. I didn't know he had turned at the time. He had just finished school and he fought hard to be granted custody of me. He moved us to another town and looked after me, working many jobs. All day and night shifts. Eventually through sheer determination, he got enough investors to start his own small company. It grew quickly through his hard work and intelligence. He put me through college and med school. He is all I have.

Eventually a decade ago, I put a lot of the strange signs of his together. I was thirty and a doctor. He was supposed to be nearly forty but looked twenty-seven at most. Besides not aging, he didn't sleep. There were many other things. I think I just knew and had known since he turned, but I didn't want to question or believe.

I confronted him about it. He told me everything and said he understood if I never wanted to see him again. I could never do that and I told him. I got married to Charlie soon after, introducing Alex as my younger brother." She smiled at this. "He always found our house a home. I wasn't happy when he joined the Council and they were never happy about me knowing everything, but somehow we had a life. And good times." She looked at frames on the mantle of them holidaying together.

"How did he change? What happened?"

Charlotte's eyes immediately grew stormy and her smile was gone. She sighed. "It's not my right to tell you that. I'm sure he will tell you that himself soon."

Zara sensed how she had deeply overstepped some bounds and apologized hastily.

Charlottes smile reappeared. "It's alright. He likes you, you know. You are the first girl he has let me meet since he was about sixteen."

Zara blushed. "It's just out of necessity. I think I've just caused a lot of problems."

The conversation then turned to easier topics before Charlotte left for work.

Alexander entered the dark, elegant building with a sense of foreboding. He flew to Europe to meet the Council immediately. It was situated in Rome. Only one of the Council members lived there. They all flew in for meetings. The building was richly decorated and lavish. He went up to the top floor where there was an elegant huge room, where meetings took place. There was a heavy table in the shape of an arc, with 13 grand chairs placed around it. They faced a bank of seats in a semi circular shape, where demons not on the Council could sit in on meetings or raise issues.

Today was a closed meeting however. He was once again in a suit. He took his place in a chair toward the right end. The other Council members were already there, with Dimitri at the centre of the arc. Dimitri was a white haired man, with harsh features and watery, blue eyes that were arctically cold.

"Now that our final member is here, we can begin."

He looked harshly at Alexander, as they proceeded with the formalities.

"Now, honoured Council members, we are here today on an urgent, rather disturbing matter." He emphasized the word disturbing staring at Alexander pointedly.

"Ten short years ago, on the escalation of his powers, we invited a demon to join our Council. It was an appointment that would be historically unheard of due to his youth. But, the Council placed faith in him, and disregarded our inhibitions, never imagining there would come a day, just ten short years later, we would regret that decision. "

"Get along with it Dimitri. What did you call us here for? I understand you have lived a long life, but that's no need to waste our time." Sabina, one of the two female members, and the only demon who could stand up to Dimitri clucked impatiently.

Dimitri stared coldly at her, but continued faster. "Alexander is that demon. And..." He paused dramatically to Sabina's annoyance. "He has betrayed us in the worst of times, in the worst way. With Kaydens growing power, we cannot afford for hasty decisions like his to be allowed. I have received reports from our field agents, that he has taken the girl from the prophecy and hid her, disobeying Council orders to bring her to us."

"Is that true?" Galen, another member of the Council asked calculatingly.

"Let him speak his part." Sabina interceded. "What say you about this matter Alexander?"

"Dimitri, your field agent, Mercedes tried to capture and turn the girl herself in order to use her powers for her own ends. I merely protected her, what I was told to do. She would have turned the girl in to Kayden had he offered her enough."

Dimitri grew angry. "Nonsense. She wouldn't do that. She reported that you developed feelings for the girl and on reminding you to bring the girl to us, you grew vicious, attacked her and left."

"Never mind all the technicalities. Where is the girl now? Why did you not bring her here? Has she shown any powers of any sort? Has Kayden tried taking her?" Felipe another Council member asked.

All the members stared at him expectant at his answer. He assessed the answers to those questions. Why didn't he just hand Zara over to them? They wouldn't let her go to Kayden, and that may mean killing her themselves if they couldn't use her as a tool for their own side. At the thought of that he grew cold. Not physically, but he felt as if there was ice running through his veins.

He wouldn't let that happen to her. He thought about her smile, her voice and her touch. He shouldn't feel this way. He knew that. He wasn't going to deal with that now. But despite his feelings, whatever they were, he couldn't let that happen to her.

He had sat in on, and been a part of harsh Council decisions. They had sent many demons to hell, and the odd human who decided to use demons for their own ends, abusing the power, but he had never sent an innocent human to death or worse. He evaluated his options and worked out how he was going to get out of this. With both Kayden and the Council against him. What was he thinking?

"She hasn't shown any powers yet. I will not bring her here and I think it's a mistake to do that. Kayden hasn't tried yet, but I have reports that his army is gathering numbers. They are turning humans furiously, to increase their numbers as well as winning the support of lower demons who feel ousted by our own side. They may not be powerful, but there are a lot of them."

Dimitri however was outraged by the first part of his response. "You are in direct contravention of the Council. I hereby put forward that you be stripped of your rank and relegated to the existence creed of a lower demon."

The Council murmured in response. There were no assents, but to go against the Council-head without just cause was treasonous and dangerous.

"Do you accept that ruling Alexander?" Sneered Dimitri. He had been looking for a way to drive out Alexander for a while. He was too independent and powerful. And dangerous.

Alexander saw his only option clearly. His mouth curved into a defiant smile. "I do not accept. I would like to challenge for the position of head of the Council." At that loud shouts and responses broke out.

After they subsided, Sabina, who was second chair on the Council, looking noticeably pale said softly. "Very well then. It is your right. We shall fetch the battle knives. The audience will be sent for immediately."

To be continued...