Page 1 of Ramiel

Chapter One

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IT WAS ALMOST MIDNIGHT, yet hot air drifted around Caterina as she gazed up at the stars.She’d fallen into the habit of lying on her back on the roof of her caravan years ago.Her great-grandmother had told her that her destiny lay in the stars when she was young.Everyone knew Granny Blaze had the sight.She’d proven it far too many times for anyone to discount her talent.

“When will my destiny arrive?”Caterina murmured.She swept her senses out and scanned the area.She detected her family and friends in their caravans that had been moved into a protective circle.Three people were standing watch, making sure danger wasn’t approaching.Caterina’s special skills would give them an edge to pick up on intruders, but she couldn’t stay awake all night long.

It was her usual bedtime now and she yawned widely.They would have to move from the campsite they’d been using soon.The animals were getting scarce and edible plants were harder to find.Of Romani descent, the Blaze clan had been traveling performers for two-hundred years.It wasn’t in their nature to settle down in one place.

Charms on her bracelets and anklets jingling merrily, Caterina swung herself onto the ladder to descend just as gold light flared in the sky.Her head tilted back in awe as she watched the comet descend.Her uncanny hearing caught the murmurs coming from the lookouts.

“Another meteor,” one of her cousins muttered.“Granny was right.This one is a lot closer than the others.”

“I’m glad we left New York,” another lookout said to herself.“All those red comets last November were a bad portent.”

“Is this a good omen, or a bad one?”the final guard said to himself.“I’m sure Granny Blaze will know.”

Caterina watched the gold comet fall somewhere to the north and shivered.It was too far away for her to see or hear the impact, yet it had affected her anyway.Climbing down to the ground, she touched the back of her head, feeling a bit weird.Something had just changed, but she had no idea what it was.

Rounding the caravan, she squeezed through the narrow gap between the next vehicle and opened her door.She wasn’t at all surprised to see her great-grandmother waiting for her inside.Her talents had already given her the heads up that a visitor had arrived a couple of minutes ago.

In her eighties, their matriarch was wrinkled and shrunken, yet her mind was as sharp as ever.She pinned Caterina with her dark stare and gestured for her to sit down on the bench seat on the other side of the tiny table.

“What’s wrong, Granny?”Caterina asked, sliding into her seat.Everyone in their clan wore the traditional colorful clothing of their ancestors.Their European accents were fake after living in the US for so long.They only used them when dealing with outsiders.

“It’s time, my dear one,” the mystic said.Her pure white hair was tied up in a loose bun, making her olive skin look even darker.

“Time for what?”Caterina asked uneasily.

“It’s time for you to seek your destiny,” was the cryptic response.

A chill worked its way down her spine.“I thought you said my destiny lies in the stars,” she said.

“It does,” her great-grandmother agreed.“You saw the gold comet?”Caterina nodded.“Seek it out and your fate will be revealed,” the oracle told her.

“Can’t you just speak plainly for once?”Caterina asked in mild exasperation.“What does a comet have to do with my destiny?”

Granny Blaze leaned forward and dropped her voice, even though no one was close enough to overhear her.“The Mad Prophet has spoken true, dear one,” she divulged.“The red and gold comets herald the arrival of alien warriors.I’ve seen your destiny entwined with one of the aliens who will arrive in a gold comet.I foresaw this shortly after your mother died.”

“That was eighteen years ago,” Caterina said just as quietly.“Why didn’t you tell me about this sooner?”

“Would you have believed me?”Granny Blaze asked wryly.

Caterina couldn’t really believe this conversation was happening at all.“When am I supposed to leave?”she asked, hoping for a reprieve.

“You need to go now,” the matriarch said in an implacable tone.“You must leave quietly and without being seen.Don’t draw attention to yourself or allow strangers to see your talents.Avoid people and run as fast as you can if you see anyone with red-tinted eyes.”

“The Mad Prophet said the aliens with red eyes are all in Manhattan,” Caterina reminded her.“We’re hours away from them.”

Hesitating, the mystic seemed to be fighting a battle with herself before she spoke again.“I’m forbidden from telling you much, dear one,” she whispered.“But know this; one of the aliens with red eyes is your father.He was released from his world for one night to impregnate a female.He chose your mother.”

Caterina’s shock couldn’t have been more profound.“I’m not human?”she asked in horror.

“You’re half human, a cambion,” her great-grandmother explained.“That’s why you don’t have the same heart defect that killed your mother and grandmother.”

Sorrow that she’d lived with ever since she was five years old returned at the mention of her mom.Now twenty-three, she still longed for the mother she’d lost so long ago.“Why do I have to find the alien that came with the gold comet?”she asked, wanting more answers before she would commit herself to anything.

“All I know is that your destinies are linked,” the seer said.“Pack some clothes and supplies, then go,” she ordered.