Fallen 1: Berlin

Chapter XII: Cairo By Night

Berlin's head hammered like an open wound. Everything around him was hazy and the voices were distorted. What happened? He was not a person to have dizzy spells. He had never suffered from human diseases or infections before. His body was designed to sustain any environment whether it was the hottest deserts or the coldest mountain peaks, whether it was acidic oceans or sulfur-saturated atmospheres. So, it didn't make sense to him how he started feeling disoriented after Elise touched his arm. She had touched him a lot in the past and never once had he felt the way he did that night.

What was the matter with him? Was his body finally shutting down after so many years of existence?

Berlin tried to sit up but his body felt like it was dragged across the rails by a train; battered and raw.

"Have you been taking your veggies, Berlin?" A familiar voice came through and Berlin turned his head towards the source, waiting impatiently as his vision cleared at a snail's pace. Cairo was lounging on one of the couches in the room. Cairo was the most conspicuous of the five guardians. His platinum hair glowed eerily in the dim light. He had a glass of drink in one hand while his leg was thrown over the other in a leisure way as if he had nothing to worry about.

"Why the f**k are you still here?" Berlin sat up, groaning in pain because his bones felt as if they were rubbing against each other. "What the f**k happened to me?"

"From my quick analysis, it seems like that Elise chic just woke up your slumbering guardian," Cairo said lightly and sipped his drink.

"Slumbering guardian? What the hell are you talking about?" Berlin growled and took a deep breath.

Cairo grinned and sat up. "Weren't you warned about cussing using that H word? Something was happening with you, Berlin. I saw it at the professor's dinner and I needed to investigate. When I came to your office, I felt something there and tonight I felt it at the dinner as well."

"You were at the professor's dinner? How come I didn't feel you?" Berlin rubbed the back of his aching neck. It felt as if the fires within him were surging and looking for an outlet. It was a nostalgic feeling because it happened when he was still an Elite Guardian but all that stopped when he lost his wings and his divine weapon.

"I was working. So, how did you awaken the slumbering guardian in you, Berlin? Your energy levels are off the charts and this will not only attract Seoul and War your direction but it will call to Bucha, Ottawa, and Nebbie too...just like the way it called to me." Cairo said then narrowed his eyes and asked. "Are you planning on going back home without us, Berlin?"

Berlin didn't even know what Cairo was talking about but it seemed that Cairo understood more about his condition. If it was true that he had somehow woken up his guardian, it meant he was being prepared for something. He wondered if this was the workings of the Power. Could they have at least given him a heads up?

Suddenly, Berlin's head jerked up. "Is Sage alright?"

Cairo looked down his watch and nodded. "I guess, since the party is still going on downstairs...but I'm curious as to why you would ask about your--interesting--P.A. instead of your woman?" he twirled the drink in his hands pensively and Berlin could see the wheels in his head churning. "Why does your P.A. make my guardian react? Is she the reason why yours has awoken?"

Berlin rubbed his hand over his face. Overthinking made his head ache and he didn't need Cairo to add more puzzling facts into it. He didn't have answers to anything that was happening to him but he was too sore to try and figure them out. "I don't have a woman, Cai."

Cairo chuckled. "But she introduced herself to your P.A. that way. It was quite intriguing how territorial females get when they get a whiff of a threat."

"Sage is not a threat and I had planned a long time to let Elise go," Berlin answered in frustration. "And why am I explaining this to you?"

Cairo grinned wolfishly and gulped down his drink before placing the glass on the coffee table. "I am curious about your P.A., Berlin--"

"She is off-limits, Cai." Berlin seethed as the fiery red flames within him crackled against his skin.

"See, that is what makes me all the more curious. Why is it that every time her name is mentioned, you lose your cool? Do you think you will be able to protect her from the others once they get here? She has something that taps into our guardians. Bucha, Nebbie, and Ottawa will notice, so will Seoul and his platoon."

Berlin never thought it that way but now that he looked at it closely, could have War sought Sage out at the Professor's dinner because she tapped into his beast as well? Berlin didn't see Seoul react to her but then again, Seoul never had a chance to be around her. He was busy with the professor.

"If she is somehow responsible for awakening your guardian, how do you think Seoul would react when he learns that your slumbering powers have been jolted to life?" Cairo stood up and stretched his large body like a tiger, the fiery blue veins glowing around his skin. He smirked and said. "I know you f****d up, Berlin, but I will not stand here and allow Seoul to win."

"I thought you wanted Seoul to win so that you could go home?" Berlin asked quietly. He was not used to seeing Cairo like this and it was a little unnerving. "Shouldn't you be helping him instead?"

Cairo shrugged his shoulders. "I am a conservative kinda male. I adhere to tradition and the only Elite Platoon I know of is ours. I believe that even though you are an asshole, Berlin, you should be the one taking your team home, not some second-class bunch of wankers. I believe in hope, Berlin, and I think this P.A. of yours is giving out that vibe."

Berlin rested back on the headboard of the bed and sighed softly. He was sure Cairo had somehow succumbed to the human alcohol because the words that were coming out from his mouth were very much out of character. He didn't have the strength to stop Cairo if he wanted to go down for Sage. Though the guardian in him always made his presence known, awakening the full limit of his abilities after millenniums of being asleep sure took a toll on his body.

"Get some rest. I'll see you soon." Cairo placed his hands in his pockets and walked out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Don't you think we should go up and check on Berlin?" Sage asked nervously. She didn't know why but every time she saw Berlin she thought he was invincible and that there was nothing in that world that could harm him but when he suddenly fainted, she saw just how human he was. He was working excessively and finally, his body was protesting. She knew that Lucian must have forced Berlin to get an assistant but what happened to him that night only fortified her ambition to become the best at helping him. He needed help but he wasn't the person to ask for it.

"His brother is up there with him. I think we should give them time." Lucian said then turned his shrewd eyes towards the worried Elise. "Besides, she will not let you go up there on your own."

Sage pursed her lips and turned to the flustered Elise. Everyone was buzzing with gossip as to what happened to Berlin. Sage didn't have anything against Elise, especially since she was in a relationship with her boss but Sage didn't like how Elise handle herself. Sage had envisioned Elise to be someone who understood her worth and her position. She looked like she was capable of taking care of herself. Sage could understand why any girl would cling to Berlin's side but it would have only made sense if Berlin felt the same.

Sage wasn't the person to scrutinize how people lived their lives but it was clear as day that Berlin wasn't half as obsessed with Elise as she was with him. On one side, Sage felt sorry for Elise because it could have been that she invested a lot of time in her relationship with Berlin only to be cast aside at the end. On the other, Sage felt that Elise was only prolonging her humiliation because from the little time that she spent in Berlin's presence, she noticed that he was someone who made a decision and stuck to it.

"I think I should go and see how Berlin is doing..." Sage heard Elise mutter to the people she was talking to before she swept the train of her shimmering and elegant evening gown to one arm and made her way towards the entrance of the hall. Sage watched as she was escorted by eyes of envy and some sympathy. It looked like everyone knew about her relationship with Berlin. While some of the workers were rooting for her, others were sneering behind their hands. Sage laid her eyes on the expressionless Nellie who looked sensational that night, standing with a couple of other girls Sage had seen at the office, and Sage couldn't help but notice the calculating stare underneath her seemingly cool demeanor.

Before Elise was about to make it out, she was intercepted by Cairo, Berlin's brother. Sage couldn't see the resemblance between the two men but she felt the same presence as she did when she was with Berlin...though Cairo felt a little more dangerous than Berlin. He was a peculiar man with silver hair and pale eyes. His skin looked like living porcelain. She was envious of his skin routine because it was actually working for him. There was no blemish nor mole on his face. He had the same body build as Berlin and if she wasn't wrong, they were standing at the same height.

Cairo stood out like a sore thumb among them but Sage noticed something else as he bent down and spoke in hushed tones to Elise. Elise's shoulders stiffened and her hands curled into tight fists before she walked briskly around him. A smile of satisfaction settled lightly on Cairo's lips as he took a glass of wine and turned his pale eyes towards Sage. Sage's heart lurched to her throat as she quickly darted her eyes away from him.

Sage noticed that although Cairo appeared normal there was predatory energy around him that made him appear like he was on the hunt. She hoped that she was not the prey because something about him told her to stay the f**k away.

"I'll go and get some snacks," Sage muttered to Lucian and would have disappeared between bodies if Cairo didn't call out her name.

"Miss Hilary." He said, his voice sinking deep into her skin for stopping her motor skills from functioning. "A moment of your time if you please."

Sage groaned softly and turned to him before forcing a smile catching Lucian inching away into the shadows. She didn't want to make a scene in front of all those people especially since they didn't know her and now that Cairo was talking to her, they were curious as to who she was. "How is Berlin doing?"

"He will survive. He is an old soul. He can even outlive the end of the world." Cairo smiled darkly at her and sipped his wine.

Sage took a deep breath because she was not prepared for Cairo's smile. It was as if time had stopped yet the world was still spinning. She felt the spin and would have felt lightheaded if she didn't quickly look at a spot just above his shoulder. "He has been working too hard, it is not surprising that his body could no longer take it. I take that Miss Ferry went upstairs to take care of him?"

"Why would you allow that to happen?" He frowned at her pensively.

"Excuse me?" Sage asked in confusion.

Cairo sighed and muttered softly almost to himself. "She doesn't know it yet." In a louder voice, he said. "Miss Ferry left for the night. There was nothing she could do for my brother."

Sage couldn't just shake the thought of Berlin having such a witty brother. "I never thought Berlin to have a brother. You don't resemble each other at all."

Cairo chuckled and yet again, his voice made her skin creep with goosebumps. "There are five of us. Berlin is the oldest. He has another brother and two younger sisters."

"Oh?" Sage exclaimed in surprise. "I never imagined..."

"We can't say that were are close but we protect our own when the need arises. What about you? Do you have any siblings?" Cairo asked Sage.

"No, I don't have any siblings. It's just me and my mother now." Sage said and cringed slightly when she heard the sadness in her own voice. She didn't want Cairo to think about it too much so she quickly asked. "So, your parents must have traveled around to name you after such amazing cities."

Cairo smirked and swallowed the remainder of his drink before he extended out his crook towards her. "Actually we were all born in different cities. Berlin, Bucharest, me, Ottawa, and Nebraska."

Sage looked reluctantly at the extended hand and although she didn't want to be in his company, she was very drawn to Berlin's past. She slipped her slim hand around his and felt how warm and hard Cairo's arm was. It was comforting in a way and so far, he was just good company. "Those are very unique names. I envy your parents."

"Why is that?" Cairo led Sage towards the snack table where several workers were chatting idly and when they saw them approaching, they moved a little to the side while chattering hushedly to themselves.

"Oh, she's Berlin's new P.A.? She is beautiful."--"The president has always favored Berlin so he always gives him what he wants."--"From what I heard, Berlin is the president's love child. Of course, he has to treat him well if he doesn't want that information to leak."

Sage wanted to roll her eyes but she couldn't because of her image. Berlin wasn't the president's love child, he was the president! Sage wanted to scream out but she recalled how he emphasized that he didn't want people to know who he was.

"They have traveled the world. I have only been to the corners of this city. I have never had the opportunity to travel anywhere else." Sage said as she reached for a cheese ball and bite into it.

"So much is happening right now so believe me when I say you will be traveling a lot with Berlin," Cairo assured her. "And how did you meet Berlin?"

"Ah..." Sage's cheeks turned pink as she turned back to the platter of cheese balls. "It wasn't a pretty sight. I keep wondering how he would want me to work for him after what I did."

"Tell me that you somehow kicked him in the nuts." Cairo teased and Sage's face felt warmer than usual.

"No, it's nothing like that? Why would I do something like that?"

Cairo shrugged his broad shoulders and looked a little disappointed by her answer. She could sense the love-hate relationship that he was talking about.

We can't say that were are close but we protect our own when the need arises.

She recalled how he intercepted when Berlin was about to collapse. She could tell that Cairo genuinely cared for Berlin even though he was thinking about kicking him in the nuts.

"The first time we met I accidentally messed up his car as I was crossing the road and the second time, he saved my face from a box file," Sage said.

"Huh..." Cairo scoffed softly. "So, that is how it works?"

"Sorry, how does what work?" She asked him.

Cairo turned to her and Sage was exposed to his slow intent grin that was spreading across his face. She took a deep breath as Cairo reached up and placed his cool palms against her hot cheeks.

"Breathe, Sage. You'll pass out if you don't." He told her.

Sage took another deep breath but she couldn't tear her eyes off Cairo's. She noticed that his palms got warmer against her skin and saw how his eyes suddenly flared into life! How could eyes do that? It must have been a trick with the lighting in that place.

"I had planned to leave tomorrow and return back to my city but now that my brother is sick, I will have to stick around and see it through. I can only leave when he is better." Cairo removed his hands from Sage's cheeks and placed them in his pockets then turned his eyes away from hers. The jerking of his cheeks told Sage that he was gritting his teeth.

Cairo appeared thoroughly distraught about his brother's health. Could it have been the first time Cairo had seen Berlin in that state?

"Berlin is the strongest of us all. He is the one who keeps us together so seeing him like this is a little uneasy for me." Cairo replied as if he read her mind. "It has never happened before."

Sage gave him a nod. "I think Berlin would love having family with him at this time."

Cairo chuckled lightly and reached forward before slipping a loose lock from Sage's face to the back of her ear. "You are so precious that I am tempted to devour you."

Sage swallowed hard and took a step back. Devouring her had different meanings in different contexts. It took looking up at him to know exactly which devouring he was talking about. "Devour--how could you say that to a person you just met?"

"You are so serious," Cairo said then looked down at his watch and said. "Looks like it is past my bedtime. We will be seeing each other a lot so you better get accustomed to my...savage personality. Goodnight, Miss Hilary." He leaned in and placed a kiss on her cheek unexpectedly making Sage give out a mewling sound of shock.

He didn't wait to see her expression and disappeared behind the wall of people while everyone else muttered among themselves at what they had just witnessed. Sage felt as if she was about to pass out with embarrassment as she made her way towards the restrooms.

Her face surprised her because her cheeks were rose pink and her eyes wide and sparkling. Her hands trembled as she opened the faucet and allowed cold water to gush out before she splashed some on her hot face. As she reached for the paper towels, the door swung open and Nellie strolled in. She reached for several paper towels and handed them to her.

"Are you okay?" Nellie asked in concern.

Sage gave a small nod and accepted the paper towels before she dabbed them on her face carefully so as not to ruin her makeup. "Yeah."

Nellie smirked as she crossed her arms and leaned her hip against the marble sink counter. "So, that is how you got the P.A. position. You are totally f*****g Berlin's brother."

"What?" Sage turned to Nellie in utter shock.

"I didn't think you had it in you but I can say that the quiet and innocent ones are always the wild cards. It was so obvious with you two there, not being able to take your eyes off each other." Nellie said with a scoff.

"I'm not going out with Cairo, Nellie," Sage assured the other woman.

Nellie rolled her eyes. "I didn't say you were. I said you were f*****g him. You don't necessarily have to go out with him to f**k him. I'm not judging you girl--but you can drop the innocent act now. We all know your not. You know, at first, I actually thought you go to that position because of hard work but with the way Berlin has been fussing with you, not to mention giving you access to his accounts and places that others only dream of, I knew something was off. I wouldn't be surprised if you were mixing the brothers up--"

"Nellie! You are crossing the line. Look, I don't know what I did to make you hate me but I will not stand here and allow you to slander me. I have no relationship whatsoever with either Cairo or Berlin so just lay off my case." Sage exclaimed.

Nellie's mouth quirked on one side as she straightened and allowed Sage to pass around her then said. "Just so you know, opportunists don't last that long in our company. If you came thinking you would get it easy to the top, you have another thing coming."

Sage didn't want to hear anymore so she went out.

"Hey, I was looking everywhere for you--what happened?" Lucian frowned when he saw her sad face.

Sage tried to smile. "I'm a little tired. I think I'm going to turn in for the night."

"Oh? Let me call Shel to come and--"

"No, no, no. I'll just grab a cab." Sage said as Nellie stepped out of the restroom and eyed Lucian and her knowingly before she walked away.

"Did Nellie say something to you? It is still early, why would you want to leave?"

"No, I just feel a little overwhelmed and I need to go. Good night." Sage turned away and walked briskly not giving Lucian the chance to stop her.

"Sage!" She heard him call but she quickened her footsteps.

Luckily there were several cabs loitering outside and she was able to get one quite quickly. She entered the cab and took a deep breath to try and calm her hotwired nerves. How could people think of such a thing about her? She had just met Cairo that evening but suddenly she was sleeping with him and that was the reason why Berlin was treating her so well. She felt so angry because she was not the kind of person but she had heard about large corporates having such rumors. She just hoped Berlin didn't hear of it because she didn't want him to feel bad about it.