pluck the flower from the ground, she brought it over to the vampire and held her hand over his shoulder. “For you.”
He turned, holding onto both it and her hand as he did. He said nothing, no words were needed. Koios leaned forward and kissed Anahita on the lips, feeling her power, her light, and refusing to be burned by it. He was a part of her. Light in his dark so that he could not be fully dark ever again.
Her wings spread out behind them and wrapped the two in order to create a light proof place. “Trust me,” she whispered by his ear.
“Always,” he replied.
The ground fell away beneath them as Anahita took to the skies. She flew away from the sun, keeping Koios in her shadow the entire way so he would not burn. Through the trees, over streets, uncaring of who or what might see them in the wee hours of the morning. They landed outside of the church they had first met at and Anahita brought him inside.
“You saved me.” She raised an eyebrow. Koios relented. “Again.”
This time she smiled. “What else could I do? I save pure souls. There was no way that I could ignore yours. Besides, I needed to save you.”
“Why?”
“Because you’re the one I love.” She leaned forward and the two embraced again. “This is the last peace we will have for a while.”
“We fight Diu tomorrow, don’t we?”
“I’m afraid so, yes. We need to strike before he can muster all those that he has sired.”
Koios laughed. “I don’t believe it. I just started a war. A war between heaven and hell.”
She hushed him with another kiss. “Just for today, forget about the war. Forget about the ten years that have passed. Just be James.”
“I can’t be James,” he told her firmly, “Just as you can’t be Brigett.” His voice softened as he continued on. “I can be Koios for you though.”
“And I can be Anahita.”
The angel and the vampire fell asleep in the choir loft that morning. The organist who came by later never saw them as he practiced playing a requiem mass that he would be playing on the weekend. It served a triple purpose that morning, though he never knew about the others. He played for practice. But he also played for the loss of a love that once was there between two humans. It was a Lover’s Requiem.
VIII- Quaestionis
He awoke not long before the sun sunk beneath the horizon. From his spot in the shadows of the church’s loft, he sat and watched the last rays hit Anahita from the opening that was left in absence of the stained glass. Her wings weren’t pulled back for once, but rather open and soaking in the warmth before the cold of the dark night.
Koios turned his attention to his other senses. There was no one else in the sanctuary aside from them. There were no other heartbeats that he could discern with his ears. Smelling the air only showed him that some places needed to be dusted more than others, and the corner where he was sitting was one of them. There was no taste of blood in his mouth. He left the rest of that thought alone. There was no time to go hunting tonight. Perhaps if he ignored hunger long enough, it would go away and he would not need to. Touch only showed him that he was sitting on stone and it was beginning to become painful.
Darkness became a shroud around him and the angel as the sun finally disappeared, taking warmth with it, but leaving safety behind. He stood and walked to the edge of the window, looking down at the ground below. The glass shards had been cleaned up, leaving nothing but this hole as a sign of his passing. He could see and hear children below, running around. Their faces were obscured with paint or masks and bodies hidden beneath layers of clothes in order to ward off the chill of the night as they moved from house to house, ringing bells and knocking on doors. Parents with flashlights stood at the ends of the driveways, lending more light to the already bright night.
Before this year, he had loved All Hallows’ Eve more than anything. It was a shifting in the natural order of things, when dark became more active than day. When night was not feared. And it was so very easy to eat his fill on this night. Now, staring down on them, with an angel next to him, it felt different. He couldn’t say how, it was so subtle. Something about being able to protect them.
Shaking it, Koios tried to clear his head. Where were these thoughts coming from? He was still a vampire. That was prey down there, and easy pickings at that. He should be down there with the rest of his court, engaging in the fun they had every year. He should be there with Diu…
Diu. That name again. Latin for day. He was anything but. It also meant for a long time. That fit better.
He snorted and stopped thinking altogether. There was nothing to be worried about now. One goal and one goal only: stop Diu from killing others.
“Are you ready?” Anahita asked him quietly, still looking out at the world.
“Yes.”
She looked at him. “Truly?”
“Yes,” he told her again.
“Is this the last of our hauntings then?”
There was a smirk on his face as he looked over at her. “I haven’t heard your word for our dates in a long time.”
“I hope that you’ll be able to hear it many more times in the future.”
“That will only happen if we both survive and manage to see each other again. And, as I am a demon in a man’s body,” the grim face and voice was back, “I doubt that will happen.”
Anahita only nodded, not knowing what to say. Anything that she said at that point would only sound like a lie to him. “Where will he be?”
“Diu?” She nodded again. “Out in the city. He and the court will be together on this night. It’s the one time we can all travel as a group and not be noticed.” He looked back out of the window and down at the children wandering around once more. “I never thought I would say this, but for once I’m praying again.”
“Oh?”
“I pray that we find Diu in time so that we don’t have even more carnage to deal with tonight. There is enough done in his name already.”
“I have said it before. You are a good man, Koios.”
“Good demon, perhaps. But no man.”
“Be that as it may. You are none the less.” She turned from the window and began to walk towards the stairs that lead down from the choir loft and out into the church. “Shall we go then?”
“Yes. I will need to eat tonight though. If I’m going to have strength to face Diu and the entire court, I will need blood.” He paused in his words as he saw the look of horror on her face. “I’m sorry. But I need to.”
“On who? There are only children out tonight!” Anahita nearly yelled at him
“You have not seen me feed before, angel,” he growled out at her. “I do not take from children and I do not kill them. I never let my demon out to reign over me completely until two nights ago. I might have killed that, but that was it.”