Kristie Cook - Purpose

“So what changed? Why did you decide to break that obligation?” I asked.

Rina shook her head. “We have not broken the obligation. We have not revealed their existence. When the Daemoni went underground, humans felt safer and became complacent. We have just reminded humans there could be a possibility of their existence. You see, over the last century, with advances in science, humans have lost their belief in, and therefore, their fear of the creatures we know as the Daemoni and evil in general. They only see evil in each other, perpetuating wars among themselves. With this loss of fear has also come a loss of faith.”

Rina stopped and looked again as though she worried for humans.

“You’re an excellent writer and your readers want to believe your characters are real,” Mom said, picking up for Rina. “For them to believe the good ones are real, they must also believe the bad ones are, too. You’ve made humans more aware of the possibility of their existence. They can better protect themselves, by increasing their faith.”

“You see,” Rina said, “the Daemoni truly desire to take control of the world and rule over humans. They are growing restless and angry with their limitations and are preparing to fight. The union of you and Tristan has exacerbated their anger. We believe you have changed over so soon—so young—because we will need as many generations of Amadis daughters as possible. The Angels are preparing for major war. Our hope…our plan…has been that your books will help prepare the humans. The humans will need their faith and knowledge of how to protect themselves as spiritual warfare will re-enter their realm in the near future.”

“Why don’t I just write our story—mine and Tristan’s—then,” I muttered. I meant it rhetorically, not at all desiring to tell the whole world about us.

“I hoped you would say that,” Rina said, smiling. “You, of all people, could write it so people think the story is fiction, but it seems like it could be very real.”

I stared at her in disbelief. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Tristan shaking his head slowly.

“I wasn’t serious!”

“But it is something to think about,” Rina said, a gleam in her eye.

“I think I’ve done enough damage already. It was risky to write those stories. Now the Daemoni feel justified in killing us.”

“Any risk is worth saving humans,” Rina said pointedly. “But the Daemoni really do not have Provocation because we did not break the obligation. We did not really expose them. And, now that we know Tristan escaped, we believe they used Provocation as an excuse to come after you. If they could get you, they could get Tristan back.”

“They’d already planned it before I escaped,” Tristan said. “That’s why I made the move when I did, because she was in danger.”

“Yes, they have been discussing this for some time. They have been giving me ultimatums to make her stop since she wrote her second book,” Rina said. “But they knew they did not have real Provocation. They were empty threats. If they came after her at all when they still had you, it would be to have you both. So the books were really irrelevant to their desire to attack her. They served as an excuse.”

“And I wouldn’t have known they were lying,” I said. “I would’ve fallen for it. I did fall for it.”

“Yes, we know we made a mistake in not telling you sooner,” Rina admitted.

“So why couldn’t anyone tell me? Why has Mom always had to keep this from me? I’m twenty-seven years old and just now learning who I am and what it means!”

Rina sighed. “I understand your frustration and I appreciate your patience. There were many reasons for your not knowing the whole truth. First, there was a trace of doubt about the power of the Daemoni in you—enough doubt that we had to be cautious in protecting our secrets. Second, our secrets are always kept hidden until the woman goes through the Ang’dora. We all lived normal, human lives until then.

“You, however, are unique. You had powers before your Ang’dora, so you knew something was different from a young age. For the rest of us, our mothers left us to return to the Amadis just before they changed over and we continued living normally until our turn came. You, however, saw and understood that your mother does not age. Sophia was so concerned for your safety, she would not return to us when you became too old for her to look like your mother. Then Tristan came to you and you deserved to know at least some of the truth so you could build a solid relationship with him. So, you actually knew more than any of us did before the Ang’dora.

“Finally, as your gift of writing became apparent along with your interest in creatures you thought were mythical, we knew you could serve a great purpose. You would not have done so well if you knew it was not fiction, no?”

“No, I might not have written them at all,” I admitted. I thought I’d been creating—and losing myself—in my own world.

“So we still could not tell you everything, even when you already knew so much.” Rina placed one of the books she’d been holding on the table between us and slid it toward me. “Read your history, Alexis. You will learn everything you have been waiting to know.”

I picked up the heavy book. The title was embossed in gold on the cover:

The History and Life of

Alexis Katerina Ames Knight

“It will give you the insight you seek,” she promised.

I ran my finger over the title and then opened the cover. The inside cover depicted a family tree—well, more like a vine—starting with someone named Andrew at the bottom and ending with Dorian at the top. Holy crap!

“Mom…you’re a twin?” I’d never known that before. She’d never mentioned it once, not that she had a brother and definitely not that she was a twin. But depicted on the family vine next to her leaf was another—Noah.

She and Rina both looked a thousand years old, full of a thousand years of heartache, as they both nodded. I opened my mouth to ask what happened to him, but Mom gave a nearly imperceptible shake of her head. Rina stared at the flames in the fireplace, though she didn’t seem to actually watch them. Her mind was far off, lost in distant memories. I’d brought up a difficult subject. Noah must have met a terrible end and I had inadvertently brought it to the forefront of Rina’s mind.

I wanted to tell her I was sorry, to hug this woman who always displayed control and power, but seemed so despondent and broken now. But my intuition told me the best thing to do was to simply give her a moment of silence. So I returned my attention to the book and became engrossed in the first couple of pages, which were about Andrew, a fallen Angel, his twin children, Jordan and Cassandra, and a potion that forever altered our DNA. Tristan tapped his finger on the page.

“They used a similar potion to create me,” he murmured.

I flipped the pages and saw text only partially filled the heavy book. The majority of the pages were blank. I looked questioningly at Rina, who seemed to have recovered from the pain inflicted by the reminder of her son, her attention returned to me.

“The rest will fill in as you go through your life here on Earth,” she explained.

“And when the pages run out?” I asked.

“That is when you either die or ascend,” she replied.

“Ascend?”

“When your purpose is fulfilled here and your daughter is ready to take over as matriarch, you will ascend to a different place, joining our ancestors and the Angels in the Otherworld.”

“Assuming I have a daughter,” I muttered.

“I know you will,” Rina answered confidently. “We do not yet know the purpose of Dorian’s lone arrival. But the messages I have received from the Angels indicate there will be another Amadis daughter. This is something we will need to discuss with the council. As you know, our very existence relies on a girl in the next generation.”