House Of Legions (The Angel Descendants book 1)
Chapter 84 (Clare)

He walked away, joining the others in training. She carried on passing a place which she presumed was a hall, and moved further down into a large lounge area with beige couches. She continued towards a door, still following the voices.

She opened it, barging into an office room, with a round wooden table, and chairs. Around it was people scattered talking and laughing, everybody in the room just looked at her, blankly. A girl whom she recognized, stood up, walked up to her and extended her hand.

"Hi, nice to meet you too, I'm Natarsha, call me Tash"

Clare overwhelmed by the room full of people, "Oh."

She looked at the girl, not knowing what else to say, luckily Nathan intervened, hugging her, "Hey sleeping beauty has finally woke up."

She hugged him back, speaking softly, "You're ok, did you see Calub?"

A young man stood up from behind a chair, he was tall, like way tall, with dark brown straight hair that was gelled in a messy style that enhanced his dark green eyes. He wore a white uniform like the others she saw, he smiled showing off his perfectly straight teeth, "Who me?"

Clare tilted her head, her eyes widened with excitement, "Calub?"

She bumped Tash, "OW, where're your manners."

She ignored her, and walked around the table towards him, "Is it really you? You're all grown up."

She squeezed him tightly, holding him around the waist, getting a good look at him, "Ouch, are you trying to kill me."

She stopped, and standing on her tippy toes started kissing his cheeks, "Sorry, are you ok, gosh I missed you so much, I thought you were dead, or worse, being tortured by a Tempter, thank god you're fine." He nodded gleefully, She wanted to cry, he looked so big, it had been years since she'd last seen him. He was a little boy, now he was taller than her, "Bow to that, I missed you too sis, but you know I was never kidnapped, right?"

Lost and curious Kalbreals eyes were, staring at the floor, planets away. She looked around the room, there were three other people, all wearing white, except for Tash, Kalbreal and Nathan.

She registered what Calub just said, her eyes darted on Nathan, who held a smile, "What's going on, why were we, almost killed yesterday?"

Nathan sat down on a chair, "Yesterday? You mean two nights ago, it's Wednesday."

A tall lady walked in the room, "Clare, come with me." her voice commanding.

Clare shot the lady a defiant glare, but something about this lady told Clare that there was no negotiating. She followed the woman towards the lounge area, "I see you know that your brother is all well." Clare sighed, "Yes, but I don't understand what's going on, did you hear from my father?"

They sat down opposite each other in the lounge. A man came in with a plate of food, it was macaroni and cheese. He left it in front of her and sat down next to the lady, who spoke, "You should eat." Clare looked at the man, "What exactly is this place, House of legions?"

The man said, "My name is Wesley Ravensword," his voice was very deep, he had no specific accent to his tone, "This is Sofia Draiken.

Clare sat up and took the plate of food, she started eating. She was so starved, and to be honest the moment she heard Draiken, she felt relieved, "How are you related to my mother?" The lady and man passed discerning glares at each other, the woman smiled, "Franchesca's my sister."

"Clare I need you to listen to what we tell you before you ask any questions, can you do that," Wesley asked, his tone gentle. Nerves raked her body' her guard going up. A hand touched her shoulder. She looked to her right, it was Calub, his reassuring eyes causing her reluctant nod, "Fine."

"The Legion, is a society of extraordinary Lightwatchers, in 1047, a woman named, Areana Legionnaire founded the first group of legions- A group of Lightwatchers whose abilities exceeded far beyond the others. When they ascended their abilities were multiplied, and they received a gift, called legacies." Sofia continued, "As legions, we are trained in ancient angelic skills, in Elvan and Naturah magic, as well as human martial arts. Over the years our numbers have grown, now we are positioned everywhere in the world. We are the warriors of the light, but known as the assassins."

Calub spoke, "The Garde kill minor demons, but their jobs are mainly to handle disputes amongst the realms and peace treaties, allowing descendants to live among the deceptors. We do the killing, the dirty work, some of the Garde are secretly Legions themselves, working both sides, our informants, like Nathan was, but."

Clare ate another morsel of food, "Another history lesson, so what does this have to do with me,"

Sofia smiled, "When Nathan was young, Lightwatchers started dying by the dozens, so we took help from the Asguardians. They sent their own to stay in some of our faculties, and even the HOL's, but the deaths continued. A war amongst the Lightwatchers and the other realms brewed, blaming each other.”

Wesley interrupted, Clare could see the story got to Sofia, "As a Legion, our work can be dangerous, one night, Sofia was at home, unexpected, an Asguardian named Varemeal snuck into the HOL." Sofia put her hand on Wesley, he stared at her. She faced Clare, "He attacked me, I fought back, but I was drugged with ichor. Too weak to fight further, my eight-year-old boy, Julius, attacked Varemeal, and killed him."

Sofia lowered her eyes, and Calub squeezed at Clare's shoulder, "But not before Varemeal drove a sword through my son's heart. After his death I feared the worst, I got scared and panicked and did what any parent would do in my circumstance."

She paused again, and looked at Wesley, he nodded at Sofia to carry on, "I sent my eldest daughter Natarsha to stay in the Los Angeles faculty, and I took my three-year-old daughter, Clarebella, and eighteen- month-old son, Calubeal, and gave them to my sister to raise as her own."

Clare put the plate down, her eyebrows gathered, her stomach twisting as the taste of food no longer appealing, was she hearing things, no, it couldn't be.

Sofia's voice rose in anguish, "I didn't know that I was putting you in more danger, I swear it, until eight years ago when you killed your first demon. There was something special about you Clare, kids don't ascend so young. I still don't know what it is, but the Angel of war came for you, claiming Metatron had ordered your death. That's when Kalbreal showed up the first time to save you instead and remove your abilities and memories. He told Franchesca to hide you, which she did but my sister had secrets of her own, deadly ones."

Wesley got up, as if the look on Clare's face said something, "I have always loved you, Clare, I sent Phillip and his family as protection for you, all those years, I swear I don't know how they found you, I think your sister and them could know something."

Sofia added, "They are all so secretive but they will protect you with their lives."

Clare frowned, raising her voice, "FIRSTLY, YOU. ARE. NOT MY MOTHER. Secondly, you are lying, if you really were my mother, you would know that one of my abilities is telling when someone is lying." Sofia stared at Clare, tears pouring out of her blue eyes, sorrowfully, "Clarebella please."

The woman walked up to her, Clare put the plate of food down, "Don't you dare touch me," she held up her hands to her chest, "You are not my mother, my mother is dead,..dead!"

Calub whispered, "It's true Clare, I'm sorry, but it's true."

She turned to Calub, he believed it, he really believed it, why, "You can't seriously believe her, when did you replace out?"

"I've known," he swallowed hard, "for eight years, straight after the accident."☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐