26. A new friend?

Niya and others came back to Andino's house and got ready for the meeting. Breakfast was quite silent as Niya was busy thinking about the upcoming meeting, Archie was still in shock of the discovery that Niya was an Angel, William was trying to figure out how he would handle the situation once they reach the palace again because as Prime Minister, it was his duty to clarify the golden clouds hovering over their heads. George and Edward were looking at Niya, assuring her that everything will be alright.

Meanwhile, Andino was trying to find a way to send a message to Samael as soon as possible in regards to the real identity of Niyanica. The only person in that room, who was in a cheerful mood was Mrs. Andino. She was cooking and serving while humming her favorite song, completely unaware of the recent events. 

"Your Majesty, how's the food?" Mrs. Andino asked Niya, looking at her with an adorable smile on her face.

Niya looked at the plate full of pasta and smiled. "It's delicious. I didn't know that people of this planet could cook such delicious vegetarian food." She smiled, putting a spoon full of pasta into her mouth. Its taste was so similar as if it was cooked by her mom.

"I just learned it from a friend who spent 50 years on Earth back in the years 2016 and 2017." Mrs. Andino smiled sadly.

"Where is she now?" Niya asked out of curiosity. 

"I don't know, she came back in 2017 for a day, and then she went back to Earth and never contacted me again." Mrs. Andino smiled sadly while putting some kind of meat on Mr. Andino's plate. Suddenly William's mobile rang.

"I am sorry, it's from the PMO, I have to take this." He left immediately. George and Edward finished the meal and left to check the arrangements of the meeting. 

"Did you say she lived on Earth during 2017?" Niya finished her meal and asked Mrs. Andino.

"Yes." She replied. 

*What if the friend she was talking about is my mom? What may be the odds?*, Niya thought. 

"Niya, I think it's time to leave for the meeting. " Archie, who was sitting quietly till now, finally spoke. 

"One sec, please?" She said in a low tone with pleading eyes and turned her face back to Mrs. Andino. "Do… Do you have her picture?" She asked with a polite smile on her face, trying to swallow the emotion that wanted to burst.

"Yes, yes, I have. It's from our College farewell." Mrs. Andino smiled brightly at the memory.

"Would you mind if I see that?" She asked, controlling her tears as deep inside her heart she knew that her intuition was right. 

"Yes, Ma'am. Please, this way." Mrs. Andino leads her to the last room of the corridor. Archie and Niya followed her quietly. The room was big, full of antique things, golden curtains and white floors made it look ancient. It was very different than the rest of the house.

"There she is." Mrs. Andino pointed towards a huge frame hanging on the wall with a picture of two ladies in light pink gowns. One of them was Mrs. Andino and the other one was none other than Niya's mother, Myra. Niya looked at the picture for a second.

"Mom! She- she is my… mother." She gulped down her emotions and managed to speak a little.

Mrs. Andino looked at Niya with shock all over her face. Archie was looking at the picture while his mind was still processing what was happening around him. 

"You are Myra's daughter?" Mrs. Andino exhaled sharply and said. Niya couldn't manage to utter a single word, a tear slipped down to her cheek and she nodded. Archie looked at her and wiped off the tear before it could fall on the floor. Niya turned her face to see him, his electric blue eyes met her golden browns and she smiled weakly.

"Where is she now? How is she?" Mrs. Andino asked excitedly. 

"She is dead, she died in 2017." Niya replied with a shattered weak voice. Archie put his hand around her shoulder to console her and she brilliantly controlled her tears in front of Mrs. Andino, who was in shock after listening about Myra's death. 

"I'm sorry for your loss. She was the best witch I had ever met. May God bless her soul." Mrs. Andino said sadly.

*Witch? Mamma was a witch?*, Niya thought at the shocking new revelation

"Witch?" Niya gulped down the thump building in her throat.

"Yes, she never told you? She was from the Witch tribe. Your grandma, her mother, the Chief of that tribe is still alive if you want to meet her." Mrs. Andino smiled sadly, looking at Niya's pale face.

"Ye- yeah. I really want to meet her." Niya said, looking at Archie. He nodded. 

"I know their city. After the meeting here, I'll take you to the Diablerie city, the city of Witches." Archie tightened his grip on her shoulder to console her because he could clearly see her inner turmoil in her big golden-brown eyes.

"Excuse me." Niya left and rushed outside the house. Her whole world was turned upside down since the day she arrived on this planet. Her dad was an archangel, her mother was a witch and she was God's heiress stuck between these blood-sucking monsters. All this drama was too much for a seventeen years old girl. She looked at the golden sky and tears started rolling down her cheeks.

"Why you are doing this? Why? You are God and I am your granddaughter, can't you show some mercy on me? It hurts. A lot." She exhaled sharply and started crying like a kid, slowly sitting down with the support of a tree but suddenly someone grabbed her shoulders and hugged her tightly. The movement was so sudden that even though she couldn't see his face, his scent was enough for her to know who exactly he was.

"I don't want to be the heiress of God, I don't want any powers, Archie. Please give my normal life back to me." She said, sobbing in his chest and exhaling his dark attractive scent. 

"I wish I could give you that life again, Niya, but I can't. Just don't cry. I can't see you like this." He said, caressing her silky hair. "You are a warrior Queen sweetheart, you can't be a broken princess." He said, breaking the hug and cupping her face which was now more red than usual due to crying and her eyes had become swollen red. He wiped her tears off.

"I can't give you what you want but I can promise that I will try my best to make your life better here." He touched her forehead with his forehead and smiled. 

"Liar, saying all this to make me feel good?" She chuckled sadly.

"Yeah, but it did make you feel good! Right?" He chuckled lightly, looking into her eyes.

"I am sorry I didn't tell you about my real identity before but trust me, I found out about this recently and my dad prohibited me to reveal it." She said, hugging him back as his warmth was giving her a strange kind of relief. He hugged her back, putting his chin on her head, and smiled.

"But still, it doesn't change the fact that we are Arch-enemies." He smiled playfully. 

"I mean no harm to you and your world. I promise that I will never hurt your people. Trust me." She said without breaking the hug.

"Hmm I know, I trust you but I don't trust your father, Niya. He is the reason me and my kind and every other demon is suffering here, away from the silver city of heavens." Archie said, breaking the hug and looking into her eyes, peeping into her soul to see her honesty. 

"I don't know what's the matter between you and my father but about one thing I can assure you is that I will never hurt you and your people, I will never let anyone hurt on this planet, I promise." She looked directly into his eyes and said without hesitation. 

"I trust you. We are getting late for the meeting. Let's go." Archie smiled at her warmly.

"But please don't tell anybody about my real identity." She said playfully, walking towards the meeting spot.

"Hmm, that I cannot guarantee." He chuckled playfully, putting his hand over her shoulders.

They finally started to understand each other. They started to trust each other even though this friendship was fragile but Archie and Niya both were ready to take that risk. For Niya, it was easy to accept his friendship without any doubt because she was vulnerable and needed a group of some good friends to shove off her fear and insecurities in this new world, although Archie was her biggest enemy according to her dad but she had immense faith in ‘hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that’.

For Archie, it was easy to accept Niya because somewhere deep inside his heart he had already a soft corner for her way before knowing her real identity, and now, when he knew who she really was, his insecurities vanished instead of increasing. The real problem was not Archie himself but the person who was making him dance on his fingers like a puppet. Lucifer.

***

The meeting went well as Niya explained the development project to the villagers and promised to compensate them before starting the construction work. 

"I promise you, I will never disappoint you guys. The school we are planning to construct here is for your own good. It will be your school. Your children will be able to learn there for free and half of the teachers will be appointed from your tribe only. In this way, your children will get to know the culture of vampires and vice versa. It will make both the communities more cooperative. The hospital will provide you the facilities you never got and the highway we are planning to construct will connect you directly to the mainland without crossing Mount Athos." Niya gave her speech, confidently looking into their eyes.

"The royals and government of Vamp Prime are ready to give you new houses as well as proper compensation. The construction will be started only after settling you down in your new houses in the east, just ten kilometers from your present residence areas." She smiled and looked at their faces, some were happy, some were worried as expected but overall, they seem to accept her proposal. 

"Your Majesty, we trust you. Now our houses, our culture, our children, all are in your hands. I hope you will never let our tribe down." Mr. Andino smiled warmly and she nodded. Every representative member of the werewolf tribe bowed and dispersed. 

"Ohhh, baby girl, you rocked it." William gave her a side hug and Edward and George joined too. She broke the hug and turned towards Archie. "So? I hope I haven't disappointed you." She said in a playful tone.

"Huh! You already disappointed me the day you decided to come here." He chuckled, hugging her tightly. "Well done, little munchkin." He chuckled, placing his chin over her head, sniffing her calm scent. 

"Okay, okay, so care to explain? What is happening here?" William scuffed surprisingly, looking at them. George and Edward were also shocked. 

"Umm, Archie is kind of my friend now. He is in our team." Niya looked at them, nervous to see their reaction. 

"Oh! Oh, really? What about Lucifer, Archie? How will you handle him?" William said in a very dangerous and angry tone as he didn't have a little bit of trust in Archie. Archie looked at him in shock as he didn't expect this question because nobody knew about Lucifer except him and Elena.

"Yes, buddy, I know you are in touch with Lucifer and planning to find Niya's real identity. The day you were talking to Lucifer on that cruise, I heard the whole conversation. " William gave him a deathly glare.

"You are getting me wrong. He wants to kill Niya but I don't want this. I am helpless. I can't fight with the brother who practically raised me. I was just trying to find a way to save her by knowing her identity." Archie explained his side of the story clearly.

"Liar. Again playing those old tricks." William scuffed, looking away and rolling his eyes at him.

"I am not lying." Archie said with a stern face. 

"Lucifer? As in, *the* Lucifer? The devil with the red horns and tail?" Niya asked excitedly, smiling like a kid.

"He doesn't have a tail and horns." William and Archie looked at her and said simultaneously.

"And why the hell are you smiling? We are talking about the Devil, not your favorite actor." William gave her an annoying look. 

"I just always wanted to meet him, I have seen so many movies about him, read many stories." She said, smiling innocently looking at William.

"Niya, it's Lucifer, the real Lucifer. Control your excitement or I'll throw you in the hell within a second." Archie said, looking at her with anger.

"Okay. Okay, but stop fighting. I have an idea to know if Archie is genuine or not." She looked at them and smiled. 

******