Chapter 4

“Oh god...” the words slipped out of her mouth unbidden. She could see now
that her newfound friends were not human.

The words of the thought reverberated in her mind, not human. Astrid and
Blake had grown more angular, even paler, their eyes were like black holes
that sparkled. And classically, she could see the points of their teeth
indenting their lips. Evelyn and Christina were lithe and muscular, even
standing still Cecilia could tell that they were able to move in ways she could
never dream of; they now also had cat’s eyes, vertical pupils and almost no
whites to them. Leigh and Edan had changed the least, but they exuded
electricity, and she knew she would get a majorly strong shock if she
touched them. Also, they did not blink.

“Humans have long had stories about us: Vampires, wizard/mages, people
who turn into animals,” began Blake.

“But they never knew how true those stories were.” Finished Leigh, “we can’t
expect you to understand right away, but please, just get this much: we’re
not evil, we’re not monsters, the Gods put us on this earth for a purpose,
just as they did with humans.”

“Unless we’re incredibly off course,” Christina added, “You’re not as shocked
as you think you should be about this, you’re entire life you’ve been
obsessed with fantasy stories. I bet you loved the Matrix.”

Cecilia widened her eyes, they weren’t off course at all. And they knew it.
She found all this remarkably easy to accept, she was calm... Too calm
almost.

“I shouldn’t believe you, it’s too weird,” she said, “But I do, and I’m a part of
something here the same way you are, aren’t I? I don’t know how I know,
but I’m sure.”

The others looked at each other, with almost impalpable excited smiles, and
Evelyn motioned with her hand, “You need to meet Samhael.” the werecat
said.

“Wait, you mean...” her mind flashed back to the stories her grandmother
had told her about the angel of death.

“Yes, he’s been around literally forever. The real one, and you need to meet
him.” Edan said.

“Now guys, you know I’m not sure about this whole-” she started, cut off by
an old black man that looked like a jazz musician with a lit cigar in his hand.

“Hello Miss Cecilia. I’ve been waiting to meet you, I would be Samhael, the
Angel of Death. Pleased to make your acquaintance.”