Free Truth in Legends [Part Three of the Thicker than Blood Series] by Olivia Leighton

It wasn't like me to faint, but I had.  When I opened my eyes, I found myself staring into pools of liquid caramel.  Alex delicately stroked my cheek with the back of his hand.  “Hello there,” he said softly and smiled.
     
    When I realized I was lying on the big sofa in Alex's home, I gasped, remembering what just happened.  “That... you...,” I mumbled while attempting to sit up and saw stars again. 
     
    “Easy,” Alex said, gently pushing me to lay back.
     
    “How long was I out?” I managed to ask.
     
    “Only a few moments.”
     
    I turned my head and stared hard at Alex.  He had put his black shirt back on but it wasn't buttoned up all the way – I could still see the muscles of his chest.  He was a fallen angel.  Those enormous black wings... I squeezed my eyes shut.  How could this be possible?  If he had simply told me, I never would have believed him.  “If you are a fallen angel,” I couldn't believe the words coming out of my mouth, “does that mean... uh, that you're a demon?”  I held my breath waiting for his answer, although I was afraid of it.
     
    Alex turned and sat with his back against the sofa.  “No, I'm not a demon.  Although, the man cornering you earlier today was.”  He sighed.  “I suppose I owe you a story.”
     
    I was finally about to get the answers I was after... but in light of the recent revelations – angels and demons – I wasn't sure if I was ready for them.  I wasn't sure I'd be able to sleep again as it was.
     
    “This is all my fault.  Only if you...,” Alex started but didn't finish the thought.  “My real name is Azariah.  A very long time ago, I was one of God's original archangels, along with Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, Jeremiel, Saraiel and Lucifer.”  He paused a moment.  “When Lucifer told me of his plan to take heaven for himself, I didn't think anything of it.  He asked me to join him but I told him he was being ridiculous.  Lucifer had always been somewhat selfish and arrogant.”  The man I knew as Alex stared off in thought.  “I was wrong though, very wrong.  I later admitted knowing Lucifer's plan and I was punished for not reporting it.  They tossed me out of heaven and forward into time.  I found myself in 1463 in what is now Romania.  I was lost.  I had no idea what to do as a quazi-human.  I wandered around for a week when I met the duke of the area I was in and I... convinced him that I was his long lost son.  Over the next year or two, one of my adoptive father's servants taught me about being human; manners and such.”
     
    After a long silence, he continued.  “I owed her so much.  She was so beautiful...,” he shook his head, looking down to the floor.  “I fell in love.  We were married soon after.  I would have done anything for her just to see her smile.  She was bewitching.”  Sadness darkened his features as he looked down.
     
    My stomach twisted in hearing that Alex was married and was so deeply in love.  
     
    “She was a widow and had a son, Peter, that I loved as my own.  We were happy.”  A slight smile turned his lips.
     
    “Until we were attacked by the cruel and ruthless Ottoman Empire.  I was away in France when it happened.  Ilona... she jumped from the window to avoid capture... and died on the rocks below.  I... came home and discovered her body.”  A tear escaped Alex's eye, making a slow trail down his cheek.  He quickly wiped it away and cleared his throat.  “After that, it was hazy... I don't remember much.  Unfortunately, my wrath spawned the vampire legends of today and my adoptive father's name of   Drăculeșt i to forever be associated with my actions.”
     
    Staring at the back of his head, it suddenly all came together.  I gasped.  “Wait... you're...”  Did he mean what I thought?  “Dracula?”
     
    “The simplified version of my adopted name,” he nodded.
     
    “And Vlad the Impaler,” I said almost to myself.
     
    Alex