***
“There is a reason so many entities are trying to tear you apart,” Adacio answered calmly.
The sigils dimmed slightly and the voices fell back to small whispers. Adacio took another step back. The sheer electricity of their combined energies radiated like a heatwave he couldn’t bear to be too near.
“Whatever you do, do not let them.”
Isabella released Dean, her topaz eyes searching his face. Her cheeks had reddened at Adacio illuminating her feelings for him. Were they so obvious to everyone but him? She blamed herself.
“Do you notice that you feel different around Isabella?” Adacio asked.
Dean took Isabella's hand, gripping it firm but gentle. He regarded the man who only cemented his suspicions, all this, it was much bigger than he initially realized. The attacks, the awakening powers, whatever was coming for them, it wasn't going to stop.
"I won't. But what do they want from us?"
He flitted his gaze back to her, sensing her worry. He lifted his free hand, caressed her cheek. "Yeah." It didn't matter if the demons or vamps wanted to tangle with him, that was a given, he's a hunter. But Isabella wasn't in that life, until... They met.
Had he brought all this to her?
"What do they want?" What did they want with her? She was a good person, too good for him even.
Isabella traced her fingers over Dean’s hand, holding his gaze with her own. Adacio observed them quietly, his countenance falling slightly with sadness for just a moment before reverting back to its stoicism.
“Isabella is the Doppelgänger of a once extraordinarily gifted priestess,” Adacio finally said. “She was a healer, many years ago...”
He stepped closer, and the sigils that surrounded the pair brightened, almost as if in warning. Isabella noticed what Adacio was attempting and nodded, letting Dean’s hand slip away from hers to step away from him and begin exiting the circle that enclosed them.
As she did so, the sigils dimmed, and the voices quieted the further away from him she got. They followed behind her in a trail beneath her feet, glowing when she stopped at the edge of the circle. She turned to look at Dean, then back at Adacio, who watched her expectantly.
“It is said that her blood contains magical properties which cannot be replicated...” Adacio continued as she hesitantly stepped outside the circle.
The moment she did so, the sigils, voices and light that accompanied them all vanished. Isabella gasped at feeling the intense whoosh of energy dissipate into the atmosphere.
“Your blood, Isabella, is said to be the purest—a holy water—being the descendant of a healer. You were given the name God’s Favorite for a reason.”
She furrowed her brows.
“So why are so many vampires after me?” She asked. “Vampires are virtually indestructible.”
Adacio stepped in front of her, towering above her like a dark steeple. He held a hand to her cheek, hesitating as if anticipating pain in doing so, for her cheek did glow when his fingers were near.
“Your blood would make them invincible.”
“How do you know this?” Isabella questioned him.
The corners of Adacio’s lips twitched upward slightly, and he looked over her head at Dean.
“What do you know of doppelgängers, my son?” He asked, testing the extent of the hunter’s knowledge.
Dean caught that look before Adacio could mask it with stoicism, it seemed the apple didn't fall far at all. He narrowed his eyes slightly when Adacio mentioned Isabella being a Doppelgänger of a priestess, shooting his theory of her being a reincarnation out of the water.
Doppelgängers depending who you asked were believed to be bad omens, death, evil twins, or even the result of nature trying to re-balance itself among other things. Either way, it meant she was a construct out of something otherworldly.
But evil, no, she definitely wouldn't fit the bill, he'd seen evil, she was far from being someone's bad twin.
Her blood could be used in spells, powerful stuff too in the hands of someone who knew what they were dealing with. It'd explain why she was being targeted.
When her hand slipped from his, it snapped his attention back to them. What was she doing? Could these sigils protect her not only from Adacio but from anyone with malicious intent? It'd be stupid to put her safety on magic when it was the very thing getting her in trouble. He didn't trust it, why would he start now?
Her blood. Like his own... It had power. Could give an immortal that extra boost. He raised his own hand, staring at it. Shit. His blood wasn't normal either. Sure, it wasn't pure, not by a long-shot, but it certainly gave him an advantage over most people.
He turned his hand into a fist, hell no, the vamps were already a pain in the ass to deal with. It only meant he had to keep fighting in order to protect her. From them, and anyone who'd even think of coming near her.
He needed a plan.
His gaze shot back up to Adacio. Tsk. Questioning him, now, really? "What do you know of the bastards coming after her? Gotta list? We can't stand around here talking Monsters 101 when we don't know just how much time we have left."
If she's tethered to someone they could be using that link to track her now. He wasn't about to wait for the enemy to come crashing through.
“I-I need to rest,” Isabella muttered, holding a hand to her head that suddenly began to throb. “This is too much for me right now.”
Adacio nodded, stepping aside and she started walking away. She paused when she stood next to him and caught his steely gaze, her brows still furrowed inquisitively. She remembered a legend that she had read, maybe in her great-grandmother’s journal, about a sacrifice that would be made. As if asking Adacio silently if it were true, he held her stare, equally as grave.
“I’ll be upstairs, Dean,” she said softly, almost sadly, and left the room.
When he was sure she had gone, Adacio turned back to his son. The sigils had disappeared completely and the voices dimmed to a faint hum, but the power that radiated from the gold etching in his heart still buzzed.
“The two ancient royal families are in a feud for her blood ever since she was discovered,” Adacio informed him, though he was sure he already knew that much. “The Italians have successfully awakened Maria—that is, Isabella’s ancestor—and will be coming to collect Isabella next. If what they’ve said is true, sacrificing Isabella to merge their souls together will give Maria her power back one hundredfold, and they will use her to gain invincibility.”
Adacio paused, his eyes traveling upward as if trying to see through the ceiling to where Isabella had gone.
“The seal over Maria’s crypt cannot be broken by any vampire, witch or human, she made sure of that,” he continued. “So even if they have Isabella, they can’t release Maria. The only way that crypt can be opened is if you, the Nephilim, open it.”
Isabella sat at the edge of her bed, fingering through the pages of her ancestor’s diary. She wondered if Aleksei could provide her with any further insight, and she opened her mouth to call for him, but decided against it. She let them be. She had brought enough upon them for the day.
As she fell back against the bed, her eyes cast to the marble ceiling. She held the journal to her chest and sighed.
“Tell me what to do, María...” Isabella murmured in frustration as she closed her eyes. “How do we stop this?”
When she opened her eyes, her blood turned cold and was so frightened, the scream that tried to erupt from her throat instead became trapped there. Hovering above her was the face of a handsome young man, though his eyes were glowing blood red and his fanged teeth were bared in a wicked grin. He held one finger to his mouth and the other overs. As he stared intensely into her eyes, his pupils dilated, and hers reflected this.
But when Isabella blinked, he was gone. She sat up, confused, and scanned the room, but there was no sign of him. A soft knock at the door broke her concentration.
“Isabella? It’s me, Selene.”
*
Dean watched her for a long moment, nodded at her words. It further proved how un-used to the life she was. For him, just another Tuesday. "Yeah." Still, even if he hadn't met her, wouldn't she have to face it eventually? Less protected at that.
He couldn't regret any of it.
"The Italians..." He'd seen them, or thought he saw them doing some sort of ritual. It was too messed up.
Her sacrifice... for more power. Because the vamps didn't have enough already. Shit like this was why he enjoyed putting an end to them. The next bit of info turned his blood to ice.
Once they had her, they'd want him next.
And they'd use her against him, like something out of a comic. Those bastards would capture her and torture her, just to get him do what they wanted. He could see it unfolding.
"If they can't get Maria, they can't complete the spell." He peered at the demon king, a meaningful look in his eyes. "I know what we gotta do but you're not gonna like it."