Acacius chuckled as he made his way off the property, it was all for show. Inwardly, he was disturbed, he couldn't shake off the feeling that he knew that maid from somewhere, she felt so familiar. He had run his eyes over her before she had run out of the room, there was nothing exquisite about her so he couldn't have wanted to add her to his collection of the extraordinary. He was widely known for collecting exquisite and unique creatures, the paranormal society thought he collected them for their beauty. He grinned wickedly, they couldn't be farther away from the truth, he collected them for power and revenge.

Acacius as a young angel had experienced firsthand how ruthless archangels could be; he had been left on the streets of New York shattered and broken for daring to disagree with the archangel ruling over the region. It had taken him years to heal and for his wings to grow back after he had been rescued by Brian and that had given him time to brood and by the end, he had wanted revenge. Brian had warned him against it telling him it was foolish but what did the weak angel know, hiding away in a little town pretending to be royalty.

Acacius had pursued his vengeance and in so doing had brought trouble upon not just himself but on Brian and his family causing them to flee with their young son. Illium, he thought the name fit the boy to a tee, his wings were unmistakenly light blue, and he would have been a sensation only if he would embrace his true self and not been a fade(angel living amongst humans).

He despised those who will not embrace their true self, that was not Acacius Mccain. He wanted power, he wanted to become an archangel too, and he never wanted to be helpless again. That Ethan's girl had escaped him, he thought as he wondered why he was suddenly thinking about her, he had not in years. He had spent time and money looking for her yet she had eluded him. When he couldn't find her, he had considered the notion that she could have gotten herself killed, after all, she was such a young thing. Shaking his head, he shook himself out of the reverie, it would come to me, he thought.

He tossed around all night as sleep and peace still eluded him, he still couldn't shake the feeling that he knew the girl. He had felt a strange emotion at the sight of her; an emotion often described by mated angels but that he had not yet had time to pursue. No, not time, he had not wanted to feel the emotion, he wanted power above everything, not love, no, that would be a weakness, he thought as sleep finally won him over.

Even as he slept, he could find no peace, he dreamt of a girl with green eyes whose black tresses were styled into a messy bun at the top of her head. In his dreams she eluded him just as Ethan's daughter had, every time he caught up with her, she somehow escaped his grasp, and each time she escaped, his soul sighed. He woke up disoriented, not knowing what his dreams meant so he resolved to visit Ophelia; a seer in the paranormal society as soon as possible.

There were people in the paranormal society who still lived by the old ways, he had embraced civilization but he still believed that dreams had meanings which is why he would be going to Ophelia. He wanted to know the meaning of his dreams as soon as possible, he didn't like the feeling the dreams left him with.

OPHELIA

She had been beautiful once, had been allowed to roam free, had lived like every other angel. Heads had turned when she passed by, they had called her Jendayi then. That was a long time ago, she had lived in the mountains long before the first men had settled below the mountains and made their home. She had lived up in the mountains with her 8 sisters, her parents, a brother, and three male cousins until the winter her gift had been discovered.

Yes, she was the seventh daughter, bound to serve the rest of her life as a priestess to an otherwise forgotten deity that her family still believed in. Her visions had come the winter the new settlers had become curious about what was up in the mountains. Their curiosity has torn her freedom from her. She had had terrible dreams. At first, they had been dismissed as nightmares but as they persisted and as rumors flew around about the coming of a fight, she had seen them for what they truly were; they were premonitions.

She had seen her only brother and favorite sibling; Isidore die and one week later, his funeral pyre had burnt. Isidore whose name meant a strong gift had ventured down the mountains despite the rumors and her many warnings, his mauled body had been brought back by scouts who had gone out to look for him after he hadn't returned. As she had cradled her brother's body in her hands refusing to believe he was gone, she had screamed for hours as she remembered her dreams.

The villagers had tried to wrench the body from her grasp while her parents had said words of comfort they couldn't bring themselves to believe. No one could fully understand her reaction; she had seen the attack happen in one of her dreams. She had seen the animal with the aura of a man stalk him quietly in the snow before attacking. Isidore never saw it coming, he had been struck before a scream left his throat, she had seen his blood turn the snow red.

For weeks after his funeral pyre had burnt, she had dreamt of him, she would wake up wishing that the events of the past weeks had been a dream and Isidore was safe in his bed. She would jump off the bed going to the room he had shared with her three male cousins only to find his bed empty. After she had done that a few times, her family had started to worry but nothing could have prepared her for what happened when they knew the truth about her gift. Yes, her gift, she would never admit it was more like a curse to her.

It didn't take the villagers a long time to realize that those who lived below the mountains weren't entirely humans. Battles were fought and lives were lost on both sides until eventually, they had made peace. By then, her gift had become well known, her family had declared her a Pariah and the villagers didn't want anything more to do with her. They said she was death walking amongst them.

Even the children had avoided her by then, it didn't matter whether they believed her evil or not, they were all terrified, she had become a Pariah; an outcast. Even those who remembered her as Jendayi; the sweet child with shiny red hair and green eyes had refrained from defending her as she had been sentenced to a life of solitude and silence. She had been confined to a hut on the far side of the woods to live alone, the only time she saw the villagers was when those who needed her services came to her discreetly.

But she had seen centuries come and go and now; only a few paranormals remembered her and visited her. She had watched enough funeral pyres burn over those centuries, even those of her two younger sisters and that of those who had come from them, and yet she had stayed alive. It was as if her existence was a punishment for a crime she must have committed in a previous life. She no longer went out into the village; they had not wanted her when she was sweet and beautiful, they wouldn't want her now that she was wizened and looked more like a crone.

She had even craved death, had given up on the pleasurable things of life a long time ago, she had prayed and wished her powers away, even if only that would mean she would be able to join her family who had never loved her in the after-life. Yet, seasons changed but her visions never stopped, even now, she still bore the burden and it was the only reason she was awake tonight visiting the past.

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