Creatura by Nely Cab

question?”
    “Anything.” He silenced the roar of the engine.
    “Well, I was wondering,” I started, “you know how you and your mother have these… these… gifts?” I found no other way that best described their abilities.
    “Right?” David waited for me to go on.
    “Are your brothers also gifted?”
    “I was wondering when you were going to ask me about them.” The corners of his mouth pulled up. I could tell he liked that I took interest in his family.
    “Where to begin?” He lay his head back on the seat. “My brothers are unique. They co-exist, and, when I say ‘co-exist’, I mean one cannot live without the other—literally. To be quite frank, they are inseparable. They are the best of friends. They were great warriors at one time. Even in their early teen years they showed prowess and valiancy in battle. They were born with the gifts of healing and inherited a fair amount of my mother’s empathy.”
    “Were you a warrior too?” I could imagine him on a horse, but not with a weapon.
    “Yes, I too had to join in battle at certain intervals in my life. But those times are gone and, thankfully, I do not have to do so anymore.”
    “So you killed people?” I was shocked.
    “That’s what war is about isn’t it? I’m not proud of it, Isis. The uprisings were inevitable and so was my summoning to defend our creed. War is never easy, but one must stand along the sides of his brothers to protect each other’s lives. Those were very trying times.”
    “I understand,” I said staring at my feet. I couldn’t believe what I had just heard him admit to. I just couldn’t imagine him slaying anyone. He, who was a proper young man—a gentleman, a deity, and yet still just a boy.
    “What about your dad? You don’t mention him much.” I noted.
    “My father is,” he hesitated, “ . . . a well respected individual both here on Earth and Caelum. He is accredited with being the first engineer. Invention and technology are his magnum opus. He is the one responsible for gifting the caveman with the first wheel, if you can believe that.”
    I laughed along with David not knowing if he was serious. At this point, I believed everything he said.
    “Wait a minute,” I suddenly had a thought. “Just how old is your father?”
    “Ancient. We’ve lost count, actually. He’s as old as time itself, but not as old as Deus.”
    He noticed my mouth drop open, in disbelief. With a curved lip, he continued.
    “On another note, my father is also an entrepreneur, a warrior, and a politician. He is of the first generation of deities, the Primitus.”
    David gazed out the passenger’s side window to view the front door of my house. He must have been worried that Claire was aware that we had not yet stepped out of the vehicle.
    “Isis, do you remember how I told you I was going to tell you why I was here?’
    “Yes and you did: To figure me out.” I straightened out my dress skirt. “And I’ve kept my end of the bargain; I haven’t returned to Somnium.”
    “Right.” He bit his lip. “There is one other thing that drove me here besides that,” he said, scrutinizing me. “The reason for the bickering between my mother and brothers and me.”
    “To be honest, I’ve been questioning the disputes silently, as a matter of fact.”
    “Yes, well, I am going to have to hold that reason back from you for now because I fear it may affect your judgment of me. Rest assured it’s nothing of which I am ashamed. I would just rather keep it to myself.” His eyes shifted to the house again.
    “That only makes me think that you haven’t been completely honest with me, like you promised. If you don’t plan on telling me, why bring it up? It makes me doubt you.”
    “My intention was not to place distrust in your hands, but to have you clutch the sincerity that I have to committed. I have told you once and I will repeat it: I will never lie to you. I want you to know me for who I am and not what I am. I want to