“Don’t talk like that! You have no idea how it was.”
Ke-sar laughed bitterly. “You’re right, I don’t. Because I don’t do love, Anahit. It’s something succubi and incubi should steer clear of. It never ends well and we don’t have time for the drama.”
The succubus sighed heavily. “Nevertheless, what’s done is done. There is someone who can show Sophie how to deal with her new powers.”
The incubus wasn’t sure he really wanted to hear the rest of it. “You’re insane.”
“I’m going to ask for Lilith’s permission to bring him here.”
“You don’t know what you’re doing. An angir into our own home?”
“Yes. It’s time for Sophie to meet her real father.”
Ke-sar shot her one last glance before shaking his head and turning to leave. There was no way he could reason with her. He used to like to work with Anahit. They had made a great team for centuries, choosing their mortal lovers carefully as to bring the strongest and most talented cambions into the world. Anahit would seduce only those men whom she considered worthy of her attention, take their seed, then pass it on to Ke-sar, who always went for kind and intelligent women whom he knew would take good care of the little cambion when he or she was born. Incubi and succubi couldn’t have their own children, not in the usual way. Because they had been created to be demons of lust and nothing more, they were all infertile. Fortunately, they had found a way around it and managed to create their own army of cambions when they decided to go against the forces of darkness. But now, Anahit had betrayed everyone’s trust, and Ke-sar had no intention to team up with her ever again. He’d rather work with Nyame. As unhinged as she was, she would never get involved with an angir. He slammed the door behind him without a second thought.
?
“Mortals call them angels.”
Sophie was staring at Anahit as if she were from another world. She couldn’t believe that the succubus was there, right in front of her eyes, after she had been looking for her for days. Not only that, but they were having this conversation in Anahit’s room, in Meridies.
“I know. Tarini told us about them. Angels… angirs… same thing.”
“Yes.” Anahit bit the inside of her lower lip. She hadn’t expected this meeting to feel so awkward and uncomfortable. “Well, ‘angir’ is just an old term for ‘angel’. We, succubi and incubi, have been around for so long… sometimes it’s difficult for us to keep up with the changes. In language, culture… you know what I mean…”
Sophie didn’t say anything, and Anahit’s shoulders slumped imperceptibly. What was she trying to do, anyway? Bond with her daughter? Sophie wasn’t her only child, but she was the only one that mattered. The one Anahit had actually wanted. The one whose small nose and heart-shaped face reminded her of her old lover.
“So… you’re saying that my real father is an angel.” Sophie ran her fingers through her long, wavy hair, mercilessly pulling at the knots that dared stand in her way. “That’s what you’re saying, right?”
“Yes.” Anahit sighed and regained her straight posture. “The new sigil surrounding your initial one is the proof, as well as the change in your aura and the intensity of your powers.”
“Wow.”
She had nothing else to say. Sophie couldn’t remember the last time she had been at such a huge loss for words. She had spent the past week fantasizing about finding Anahit and bombarding her with questions, demanding answers and explanations, screaming at her in anger and telling her just how selfish and unfair she had been, and now all those things were gone and what was left was curiosity.
“Of all the things my mind was able to come up with… I’m the daughter of an angel and a succubus. I wouldn’t have thought of that in a thousand years.”
“You really are special,” said Anahit. “I knew it the second I saw you in class at the introductory course, but I had no idea your unique descent would make such a huge difference. You see… the angirs have always been a distant race that never cared much about anything, humans and demons included. They live in their own world, fairly isolated from what happens down here, and they like to keep it that way. The Pantheon has never agreed to their position towards humanity, and that’s why succubi and incubi carry a deep, silent disdain for them. They are just as powerful as any demon, succubus or incubus, but they refuse to use their abilities in any way. They never get involved.”
“I thought angels were supposed to be the good guys.”
“They’re neither good, nor evil. They just… are. They’re neutral.”
“So… how did it happen? How did you meet him?” She hesitated before asking the next question. “What’s his name?”
Anahit swallowed heavily, then her lips curved into a bitter smile. “Raphael. Even though they never get involved, angirs often come down to Earth and walk among mortals. That’s how we met.”
“Did he know who you were?”
“Of course he did. I told you: angirs are neither good, nor evil. They’re not our enemies. Mortals have come up with weird stories and myths about angels and demons. They couldn’t have gotten things more wrong. Anyway, I was on the field looking for someone worthy to become your father and, as fate had it, I met him. I guess I wasn’t thinking… I could have spent as much time as I wanted with him, then carried on with my life, but I wanted to be able to keep something from him. Angirs are such volatile beings… I knew what we had wouldn’t last.”
“So you gave his seed to Ke-sar and that’s how you had me.” Sophie couldn’t help the smile which was slowly forming on her lips. “You didn’t do it only because you and Ke-sar had to provide the Academy with a new cambion. You actually wanted me.” Her heart grew in her chest despite her trying to keep the unexpected enthusiasm in check. “You wanted me.”
“Yes, Sophie. I wanted to have a child with Raphael. I wanted you.”
Sophie looked into Anahit’s icy eyes. It was as if she was seeing the succubus for the first time. Anahit had been so cold and indifferent towards her, had never treate
d her differently from the other Lure Academy students. It was nice to know that her birth had meant something to someone and hadn’t happened just because it was convenient to the Alluring Ones and their battle against demons. She didn’t know what else to say, so she remained silent for a long time, simply studying her mother’s sharp, yet delicate features, her long hair and translucent skin. There was still so much she didn’t know about her.