Redemption: The Evolution of Grace: A Nephilim Urban Fantasy (Grace Gamble Trilogy Book 1)

by Sabra Kay

  Sera screamed.

  Flat on my back, I stared at the brutish lump of mindless flesh towering over me. He grinned as Rachel gasped and moaned, gloating over the suffering he had just caused her. I struggled to pull myself up, to try to knock the gun out of his hand, but couldn't. He fired a second shot, then pointed the gun at me. Clearly, he hadn't heard shithead's orders not to kill me. I met his dull brown eyes. You fucker.

  I rarely used my supernatural skill of guilt-inducing persuasion on anyone but found myself wishing in the moment I had honed them. As I stared into his eyes, I willed him to drop the gun, to turn around. Uncertainty clouded his expression. He was weak-minded. That much I could tell, but he had his orders and fought me none-the-less.

  The slugs writhed under his clothes, sensing the hold I had on him, and his eyes became fierce once more. He leveled the gun at my head, and I squeezed my eyes closed, feeling panic, rage and desperation burn through my veins. In my core, I felt excruciating pain, like I was being poked with a hot iron right in my solar plexus. The pain took my breath away, and a wave of white-hot pins and needles swept across every inch of my skin. Pressure built in my midsection, and electricity flowed through my veins.

  “Get the hell away from me.” I dragged my fingers across the air in front of me, as though I was raking my fingers across his face.

  His face filled with shock as suddenly, the guy flew like a rag doll, tumbling head over heels and crashing against the stone fireplace in the master suite on the other side of the room. I sat up just in time to hear the car engine start. Shit! He's got her, and he's as good as gone.

  I jumped up and bolted for the stairs. Gregory was shoving Sera into the backseat. He slammed the rear passenger door and fired off a couple of lazy shots in my direction. He ducked into the front seat, and the driver squealed off. My body still burned, but there was no pressure, no energy, no power. I rushed to my car and screamed out of the driveway, stomping the gas pedal to the floor of the car, my knuckles white on the wheel.

  The chase was useless, though, and within seconds I'd lost sight of them. I slammed my fists on the steering wheel and brushed the tears of frustration from my eyes. I was useless. I couldn't protect her. Now she was gone.

  Chapter Ten

  Sera was gone, Rachel was dead. The guards, dead. Fucking Gregory bastard Blaine had winked at me as he’d hauled Sera off into the night. What was happening? How... why had he taken her? Adrenaline coursed through my veins. I remembered the man, the thug who nearly shot me, flying like it was nothing, sailing through the air on a telekinetic wave. That had been me. I had done that. My body still burned and ached from the discharge of power from my body. I had paid enough attention at the academy and had a rudimentary idea of the how and why of the power, but this was nothing like what I'd heard about in school.

  But there was no ignition. Maybe Chuck was right. Maybe it had just been a cambion losing control that night.

  I realized I'd swerved into the opposite lane. I was bordering on hysterics. I needed to think, to decide what to do next. I should have called the police immediately. What made me think I could catch them on my own? I pulled out my phone and started to dial 911 but ended up dialing Darah instead. This was a Nephilim issue, not something for the regular folk. This was a blatant attack by a known cambion.

  “Hey, what's up?” She answered, her voice groggy.

  “They got her... I went back... Gregory, the Blaine kid... Rachel's dead...” My words flew out in breathless bursts.

  I choked back vomit.

  She immediately shot to attention. “Wait, stop. Hold on. Breath sweetie, okay? Take it slow. They got who?”

  “Sera. I went back to the house, I saw a car, I got a bad feeling, so I went back. The guard was there. They came through the door.”

  “Who? Who came through the door?”

  “Some... I don't know. But then I went upstairs, and they already had her. He did. Gregory.”

  “Gregory took Sera. Kidnapped her.” She spoke in a calm, firm tone.

  “Yes. Yes, and he had men with him, and Rachel got shot. I tried to follow, but I lost them. Jesus Darah, I need help.”

  “Okay, okay. Are you still there?”

  “No, I tried to chase. I'm down the road. I lost them.”

  “Okay. I need you to drive back to the house, now. I need you to wait there for help, can you do that?”

  “Yes. I can do that.”

  “Be careful, Grace. Stay in the car. Wait for us, okay?”

  “Okay.”

  I threw my phone down in the seat without bothering to hang up, turned the key in the ignition, and once again, swung the car around. I didn't speed this time but just focused on keeping my eyes on the road. I tried not to think about the fact that Gregory was taking Sera farther and farther away from me. I tried not to think about how scared she must be.

  I told her I wouldn't let anything bad happen to her. I promised her.

  I had to make it right. I had to find her. I would follow orders and wait for Darah and her team, but there was no way I wasn’t going after her. No way in hell.

  I sat in the car, staring at the SUV parked behind Rachel's car. She was up there, on the second-floor deck. I'd got out of the car, ran up to the second floor, and checked Rachel for a pulse, but I’d known as soon as I saw her sprawled on the ground, blood pooled around her head… I’d known there was no way she'd survived that second shot. I slammed my head down on the steering wheel, hard.

  I shouldn't have left. I should have stayed. I told him I would stay. I told him I would keep an eye on things.

  I left and ducked into Sera's room. I knew I shouldn't touch anything, but I stepped lightly and grabbed Rex Bunny off the bed. When I found her, she would want him. I tried not to dwell on the ridiculousness of the idea that I would be the one to find her, but everything in me said it was so.

  How long till they get here?

  Why had I agreed to wait? I should have been driving around, looking for them. But where? I knew roughly where Gregory lived, but he wasn’t stupid enough to take her there. Anyone but her... He was so smug. But why spare me? Why not take me out, too? I was a witness. If he'd killed me, there would be no lead, no way to know it was him. He had to know I'd talk. He had to know the CDT would be all over him.

  What was the game? What was the motive?

  I went back to sit in my car and reached in my purse for a cigarette. My hands shook as I lit it. I looked down as I replaced my lighter and saw the package Luz had made for me. I reached for the delicate pouch, closing my hand around it, feeling the energy pulse through me. I took a couple more deep drags, filling my lungs with smoke, using the cigarette to calm my breath. Someone once told me that smoking a cigarette was like a meditation. It forced you to slow down, breathe in and breathe out. Was it unhealthy? Yes. A poor coping mechanism? Sure. But in this moment, it was exactly what I needed. I tossed the half-smoked cigarette out the window and looked again at the pouch before tucking it into my shirt.

  Chuck pulled up with someone I didn't recognize, probably one of Darah's team. He came around to the driver's side and leaned in.

  “You okay, kid?” He spoke softly.

  I shook my head and looked at him, tears streaming down my face. “I'm going to kill that fucking bastard, Chuck. I'm going to kill him.” I angrily wiped the tears from my cheeks and stared straight ahead.

  “I know. I know. Ethan's on his way. So's Darah. Miles and a couple of others on the investigative team will be here shortly. Did you get a good look at the car?”

  “Black sedan. Pretty sure it was a BMW, but not positive. No plates.”

  He sucked in his breath. “How many times did you say you were followed?”

  I turned my head slightly in his direction. “Just the once, walking home from Harry's.

  “And you saw Gregory near Harry's the other night.”

  “Yeah, and he was in the bar a couple nights before that.”

  Chuck pulled at his be
ard and squinted. “If I didn't know any better, I'd say he was toying with you. Baiting you.”

  I thought about what Gregory had said. “I don't get it. And he had every opportunity to take me out, Chuck, but he didn't. Why leave a witness?”

  He grunted, pondering the question himself. “I don't know. I don't know.”

  Darah arrived with Miles right behind her. Chuck took a step back while one of the investigators took my statement.

  “Why did you leave again?”

  “I was going to stay the night, but Rachel said it wasn't necessary. To go ahead and go home.”

  I left out the argument. It was meaningless. The memory of it was a punch in the gut, though. Poor Rachel, just trying to protect the child she loved, the child she was raising.

  “And what made you go back?” The investigator peered down at me through my open car window.

  Miles stood nearby, arms crossed. Darah and another member of the team were going through the house. The coroner we had on our payroll had arrived to remove the bodies. A large portion of the CDT budget was used to pay off cops, coroners, and ER doctors. Chuck stayed nearby, quietly supportive, ready to come to my aid.

  “I had a bad feeling. I saw a car go by, and I didn't see anything weird about it, anything unusual, but it triggered a feeling in me that I needed to go back, so I did.” That was the truth.

  “Okay, so let me get this straight. You saw Gregory, Billy Blaine's son, and he had Seraphina, and he left with her, along with another man. Is that correct?”

  “Yes.”

  “And the other man, the one we found in the bedroom with the broken neck. What happened to him?”

  “I,” I stuttered, “Well, I... I'm not totally sure. There was so much going on.”

  I gulped. There was no way to explain what happened without sounding like a lunatic and creating problems for myself. I knew that to be true.

  “And you confronted the cambion, you say?”

  “Yes.”

  “And he was armed, and his man was armed. But they didn't shoot you.”

  “That's correct.”

  He huffed and scribbled something on his metal clipboard.

  Miles continued to stand with his arms crossed, but at that last part, his expression changed. I could see wheels turning in his head. I wondered what he was putting together. Whatever it was, he wasn't sharing it with me.

  Miles pushed the investigator aside so he could speak to me. “Did the cambion say anything to you?”

  “No. No, he didn't.” I lied, I wasn't sure at the moment why I lied, but I knew it was the right thing to do.

  “Okay, Grace, I want you to go home and get some rest. Or, better yet, head to the Grove, get a room there. It's on us.”

  “But Miles, I have to help find Sera. She's family, don't you get it?”

  “Gamble, I am giving you direct orders. You have a choice. You can follow those orders, or I can terminate you, and you won't be anywhere near this case or any other case, ever. Period. Your choice. I want you off this property. I want you to report to me tomorrow. Is that understood?”

  He didn't wait for a response. He waved his hand at me in dismissal and followed the CDT agent over to where Darah was. She'd glanced over at me a few times, but there was no time to talk. Chuck pulled the handle on my door and held out a hand, ready to lift me out of my seat.

  “C'mon kid, I'll drive. Let's go.”

  He pulled me up and walked me around the car to the passenger seat. I slid in, and Chuck shut the door. I looked up at her bedroom window, the fairy lights still glowing in the window. Goodnight Moon still in her reading tent. Where was she? Was she hurt? What were their plans for her? There's no way this would end well, I had to find her.

  ***

  Chuck drove us straight to the Grove. We were silent for most of the trip back. No music, no questions. I had plenty of thoughts to keep me occupied. I'd pushed Sera out of my mind as much as I could. I had to because as soon as I went there, the anguish paralyzed me.

  My mind kept going back to the moment before Gregory's thug had been launched across the room so hard he’d put a hole in the wall and broke his neck. I’d felt something.

  Power.

  It was like a tingling ball in my solar plexus exploded, sending a wave of energy out of my body and straight to the threat. I'd felt it before, but that time, it had burned.

  “I need to talk to Ayana.”

  Chuck looked uncertain. “Why?”

  “Because something happened that night, and she knows more than she's saying.”

  “I don't think so. Remember, I was there.”

  “Yeah, I don't really remember. Neither do you. Where did you get most of your story from that night?”

  “Get my story? Kid, we went to the warehouse, you were a little buzzed. We went in, and Cervantes gave chase. Ayana and I got him and started the ritual. You and Mina were wrestling with the chick. She was feisty. Then we got hit, hard. No warning. A bunch of Cambions and another possessed blew in and kicked our asses. Mina got hurt. You checked out. The rest burned, probably because one of them didn't know how to control their powers. End of story.”

  “But that's not what happened.”

  “Kid, that's what happened. I admit it's fuzzy, but Ayana confirmed what I remember. You yourself said you don't remember, so you can't exactly say it's not what happened.”

  “What about Mina?”

  Chuck sighed. “She's gone. Left town. She might have moved East to be with family. I didn't want to say this because I didn't want you taking it on, but since you insist on not letting this go…” He cleared his throat and glanced over at me. “The surgeons had to sew her face back together. What was left of it. That possessed nearly ripped her throat out. Grace, she's not coming back.”

  My heart sank/ Poor Mina. I closed my eyes, trying to conjure up memories of that night. The woman, no, two women. There were two women, the possessed and a Cambion. They went at her face. But then what? I had to talk to Ayana. Thinking back to the Karen case, there was something in the way she had looked at me, something in her tone of voice. I knew she wasn't my biggest fan, but still. I couldn't shake the feeling there was more to the story, especially after tonight.

  I had power. Some nephilim still did. One of the reasons the CDT existed was to track neph for this reason. Power could be misused, which would result in all types of disaster, both for humans and neph. My entire life, I’d believed I had nothing in the way of power, outside of some minor Jedi mind-trick bullshit. In fact, my Father and Dr. Beth had emphasized for years that I was “highly unremarkable.”

  We pulled into the parking garage of the Grove, and there was Harry, pacing, and smoking. I jumped out of the car and ran to him. He wrapped his arms around me, enveloping me as I fought back sobs of pain, fear, and frustration.

  “Let's get inside, Chuck said. “It's going to be a long night.”

  It had already been a long night. A long day. I was exhausted, with the adrenaline high from earlier fading fast. My body ached from head to toe. Harry gently brushed the side of my face that had made contact with the deck and kissed my forehead before leading me inside.

  I walked through the rotating doors, and despite the level of fucked up I had going on, the familiarity was reassuring. A stout woman named Genie was manning the front desk. She was no-nonsense and didn't ask questions, which was why she'd kept the job for over twenty years. I walked through the lobby, stunned and weary. I had dried blood on my face and a limp. I held my side, which still ached and sent stabbing pains along my right side every time I took a breath. She nodded at us and returned to her dog-eared novel.

  Luz was waiting for us when we got to Chuck's room. She motioned me to sit next to her.

  “Oh, Grace. Hold on.”

  She left the room and returned with a warm cloth and a jar of homemade ointment.

  “Does that feel better?” Luz handed me an ice pack and started tweezing the deck splinters out of my face while applyi
ng the healing salve.

  I wanted to ask her if it was made with crystals and positive affirmations, but I bit my tongue.

  “There, that will help you heal.” She smiled at me but there was concern in her eyes… and something else.

  Judgment? She wrinkled her nose just slightly as she worked on my face.

  “Bastards. I want to kill them all.” I muttered under my breath. “Why had they taken her? Why Sera?”

  Chuck said nothing at first. He rubbed his chin thoughtfully then looked me in the eye. I met his gaze briefly then pulled out my phone, checking to see if I had any texts. Just one from Miles.

  You need to report to my office, first thing in the morning. No excuses. I expect a full report of the last twenty-four hours, an explanation as to why you didn’t immediately report your knowledge of the initial attempted kidnapping, and a breakdown of any contact or encounters you’ve had with cambion over the last 14 days.

  I sighed. As if tonight hadn’t been stressful enough.

  “Grace, we need to talk.” I looked up and saw Chuck mouth something to Harry and Luz, something I didn't catch.

  I felt my phone vibrate slightly and saw a notification for a text from Ethan. I'd missed three calls from him, as well. The blood drained from my face. There was no way I could talk to him now. What would I say? What could I tell him that would make what happened okay? Make it make sense?

  “Grace?”

  “Yeah. We can talk.” I wondered what Confucious had to say about this situation. I had a strong feeling I wasn't going to like it.

  “We'll go get a snack.” Luz motioned Harry to follow her out of the apartment.

  A snack sounded good. I waved at Harry as he made his way out the door. He smiled half-heartedly and closed it behind him, leaving me with my mentor.

  “I need a cigarette.” I reached for my purse. We could talk on the balcony.

  “Nope. Chuck laid his hand on mine. Your smoke can wait.”