Читать книгу Return Of the Fallen - Rita Vetere - Страница 9

Chapter 5

After tracking the Symphonic disturbance through a bitterly cold night, Raziel crouched in the shadows of the alley where he had taken refuge. An icy wind ripped through the stained and dirt-encrusted coat he now wore. Anyone looking at him would have seen only a destitute mortal indistinguishable from the homeless men he had witnessed earlier on the frozen streets of this place called Toronto.

He fixed his gaze on the eighth floor window of the rundown building directly across the road. His sharp eyes detected slight movement at the curtain and the momentary appearance of a woman. It was from her the jarring dissonance emanated.

She had spied him lurking in the alleyway, but his appearance must have caused her to dismiss him, for a moment later, the curtain stilled and she disappeared from view.

Shockingly, now that he was in proximity to it, Raziel recognized the dissonance as being Nephilim in nature. As far as he knew, no Nephilim had walked the Earth for many centuries. Not since the destruction of Atlantis and the annihilation of its inhabitants had a member of the fallen race been detected. And yet, there was no mistaking the soulless vibration emitted by the offspring of an angel and a mortal. She was one of the race he had assumed to be extinct, and the thought jolted him.

The memory of the great slaughter rose in his consciousness like a red tide, causing an involuntary shudder to run through him. The extermination of the fallen race, both before and after the great flood, counted among the most vicious of the angelic wars. The subsequent destruction of Atlantis and its doomed inhabitants following the re-emergence of the Nephilim on Earth had been equally brutal. And now, one of the fallen race had turned up again. It boded ill.

Distraught, Raziel debated the wisdom of sounding an alarm and invoking angelic intervention, but he could already envision the celestial uproar when it was discovered this Nephilim had existed on Earth undetected for years. Raziel was the only remaining Watcher. He should have sensed her presence the moment she had entered the world, yet he had detected nothing until now. For this, he had only himself to blame. Had he been attending to the Symphony, had he not withdrawn from civilization to such a dangerous degree, he would most certainly have detected the dissonance caused by the return of one of the fallen before now.

No, he would not sound an alarm. He was capable of dealing with the matter himself, before another celestial got wind of it. His instinct, however, cautioned him against acting hastily. Better to watch and wait for the time being, at least until the Nephilim emerged from the building, so he could deal with her without attracting attention. Although the matter was urgent, Raziel refused to act on impulse. It was bad enough he would be forced to kill her, a task that went completely against his gentle nature. The law, though, was unquestionable with regard to the fallen race. They were not permitted to live. If he took care of her himself without involving other celestials, he could at least grant her a painless death and put an end to the entire matter without instigating a celestial storm.

His decision made, Raziel sat with his back against the cold wall, oblivious of the extreme temperature, making himself one with the frozen ground. Through half-closed lids, his gaze remained riveted to the building where the Nephilim was ensconced, in anticipation of her exit and the act he would be forced to carry out.