by Sabra Kay
“Calm down. We want you here, tonight.”
“Tonight?” Luz's words suddenly came to me. Dark of the moon.
“Tonight.” His voice had a hint of exasperation. “Oh, and Grace? My last name is Gibson.”
“I don’t give a fuck what your last name is. How do I know anything you're telling me is true? How do I know she's okay?”
“Sweets, tell her you're okay, would you?”
I heard rustling and then Sera's voice. “Grace, are you coming? They said you're coming.”
Her voice was strained, higher pitched than usual, but it was her, and she sounded okay. My legs went weak, and I once again collapsed onto the chair. Chuck stood over me.
“There. She's fine, for now. Here's what you're going to do. You're going to get in your car and drive south, to the address I give you. You wanna bring your buddy Chuck along for the ride? Go for it. The more, the merrier. You want to pull any bullshit, like calling the cops or assembling more of your so-called elite CDT members? You won't like what happens. I promise you that. We've got your girl; we've got your people.”
I glanced at Chuck. He was nodding, motioning like he was holding a pen and paper.
He mouthed, where?
“Give me the address,” I said.
“I'll text it to you.”
“Fine.”
“You better get going. The clock is ticking.”
There was a moment of silence. There was no oxygen, no sound, no anything.
“If you cooperate and don't fuck around, no one will get hurt.”
“Fine, yeah. Whatever, just don't hurt her, don't hurt them.”
“Pack a jacket, Grace. The desert gets cold.”
The line went dead.
Chuck and I looked at each other.
He sucked in his breath through clenched teeth. “I'm killing that shithead first.”
I nodded.
***
“We have to get going. We have to get going.” Turned out I’d repeated this about ten times while Chuck massaged his temples.
He shook his head at me. “Grace, go smoke a cigarette. Please.”
I blinked. “What?”
“We can't shoot out of here like we're on fire. That's how we'll get our asses handed to us and end up hoping someone smarter will come to save us. No, we need to take a few minutes. Think. Get grounded.”
“Get grounded? This isn't fucking yoga class, Chuck! Sera's life is on the line. We gotta go now.”
“Grace. I hear you, I do. I'm not saying let's go get a massage and enjoy a leisurely lunch. I'm saying we can't go off half-cocked. We need to think, assemble a team, we're in over our head if you couldn't tell.”
“Fine, I'm going to smoke, you do what you gotta do.”
The phone buzzed in my hand. “Darah.”
“Good, tell her to get over here.”
I nodded. Chuck grabbed his coat and left the room as I picked up the line.
“Dare?”
“What the hell? Are you okay? What's going on?”
“No, not okay. I—”
“We’ve got shit going on over here, so if I cut you off… we've lost contact with the team.”
“Yeah, I know.”
“What?”
“I'm in room 418. You need to get here now. Bring your laptop.”
“I can't leave—”
“Now, Chuck's here. He's waiting for you. This is not a drill.”
I hung up. She would be here in minutes. 'This is not a drill' had always been code for just do it, no questions.
I stood on the balcony smoking, my mind whirling with questions. Why? Why did they want me? Why did they take Sera? I couldn’t figure it out.
I felt frustration at my father and Miles for not being transparent. I felt impotent. Suddenly finding out I had powers but no skill to use them intentionally or precisely made me a liability. That's why I’d ended up unconscious in a guarded room at the Grove. Had my father not withheld this information from me, if he’d helped me control my power and hone my skills, I would have been an incredible asset to the CDT. What had Miles said? It wasn't part of the plan? What plan, exactly?
I put out my cigarette and went back inside. I put a pod in the coffee maker and waited for it to brew.
When the coffee finished brewing, I set the hot mug on the table. I was still traumatized after getting dosed by my boss, but I’ve found that persistence is the key to getting past these things. My love for coffee trumps all, I thought.
My gaze fell on the second ceramic mug. Why not try? I had nothing better to do while I waited for Chuck to come back.
I stared at the mug and began breathing deeply, inhaling and exhaling fully, concentrating on it, visualizing the mug moving across the desk, then visualizing it rising from the table. I shook my head and scrunched my eyes shut. Stupid! That's not how it works.
I focused on my belly. I recalled the way it had felt when I had launched that thug that had helped Gregory abduct Sera, the one that had pointed his gun at me. It was like a fire in my belly, a ball of it. It radiated out. I closed my eyes and visualized a ball of fire in my belly, then stopped, eyes popping open.
No! I'm not trying to set anything on fire. I just want to move the fucking mug.
I thought of Gregory's face, heard his laugh. Thought of my father and his lies. Thought of Miles drugging me and covering shit up. The tiny pricks began to make their way across my flesh, but after a moment of focusing on my anger, they were like waves, pulses of electricity. I stared at the mug and sent the built-up energy toward it.
When the mug shattered, I flinched. It broke into two large pieces, and a few smaller chunks of ceramic hit the wall next to the desk. I sat for a moment before moving to pick up the broken pieces. That wasn't what I had wanted to do. I needed time to work on my skills. But there was no time.
The room phone rang. I jumped at the unexpected noise. Why would anyone contact me on this phone? I picked it up.
“Hello?”
“Miss Gamble?”
I recognized Claire's voice.
“Yeah, hi Claire.”
“Is ...everything alright?”
“Yeah. Why?”
“Staff let me know there was a disturbance centered in your room. I just wanted to make sure everything was okay.”
Yikes. The last thing I needed was to get banned from the Grove. I wasn't sure exactly what kind of alarm went off, but obviously, someone had noticed what I'd done. There’d be no more of that here.
The door to my room opened slowly, and I feared the guards' return, but it was just Darah and Chuck. I straightened myself and looked at the broken ceramic in my hand. How would I make them believe me?
“I got rid of your babysitters, sent 'em on a mission. We need to dial shit in quick. I've brought Darah up to speed.”
He stared at the broken mug in my hand. “What happened there?”
I didn't waste words. “I was working on controlling my telekinetic abilities.”
Darah's eyebrows shot up, but she said nothing about it. “I have the laptop. Why did I bring it?”
I thought for a moment. We didn't have time, but this needed to happen if they were going to trust me.
“Darah, I know you don't want to get in trouble, but I need you to try and hack into my files and Sera's files, can you do that?”
Chuck shook his head. “We don't have time for that shit.”
“I know, I know. But this is necessary, please. You've got to trust me.”
“Look, kid. I'm not going to screw around. The truth is it's hard to trust you. You've not been a shining example of rationality or reliability. That's not meant to be personal. It's just facts and consequences.” He shrugged.
His words stung, but I didn't take them personally. He was right. I nodded. Darah looked at him, then me, and gave a crooked smile. She sat at the table and opened her laptop while Chuck looked on, visibly irritated but saying nothing.
“Truthfully, I'm not much of a hac
ker, but lucky for you, I don't need to be. The whole system is so old, so outdated, it's ridiculous. Not a lot of security. Minimal skills will get me in through in less than ten minutes.
“Good, try. Anything you can find. Bonus if you can figure out how any of it ties to Billy Blaine or his asshole kid.”
She winked and smiled and said nothing, fully concentrating on her task already. That's why I love her.
“Chuck, while she's doing that, let's think about who we're taking with us, and what we're taking with us,” I said.
He put his hands on his hips and stared at the ceiling. “As for who, what do you mean? Who else is there but us? As for what, I've got a fucking arsenal up on the seventh floor. No shortage of firepower. Luz is on her way with boosters of all kinds. Everything she can think of that might help on such short notice, but we have no idea what we're walking into.”
“Okay, well, I have some thoughts on that. Why don't you head up and grab what you think we'll need as far as weapons.”
Chuck stood, staring at me. “Kid, this is crazy. This whole thing is. Especially asking Darah to hack into classified files, that's a good way for her to lose her job.”
“I know it's crazy, but please. You just have to trust—okay, maybe not trust me, but I'm begging you. There is more going on here than you know. A lot more. I need the truth.”
“It can't wait?” Chuck asked.
I shook my head. I was being stubborn, and as Gregory had said, the clock was ticking.
“Just my two cents, but I say we call Ethan and bring him with us.”
I shook my head. “That's nuts. Not to be mean, but what good is he going to do?”
“Holy shit, Grace.” Darah's voice was unusually quiet.
“I wasn’t trying to be mean—”
“No, come here for a minute.”
I moved behind her and peered at the screen. “What do you got?”
“A few things, babe.” She called me babe when I was losing my shit. When I needed to be brought down from the ledge.
“Okay, I don't really know what I'm looking at.” I squinted at the screen, trying to comprehend what I saw.
She swiveled to face me. “We all owe you a huge apology, for starters.” She looked pointedly at Chuck.
Chuck sat on the edge of the bed. “Let me be the judge of whether I owe any apologies. I stand by what I said earlier.”
She took a deep breath. I read a little more of what was up on the screen and felt my heart start to race. “What the fuck does that mean, Darah? What the fuck?”
“Okay, sit. Sit down, let's talk this through.”
I did as she instructed.
She scrolled, read, clicked and typed while I struggled to stay calm. “Okay, so your Dad was working with alternate DNA. With Cambion DNA. He created a kind of genetic therapy cocktail to, I don't know, inject you? Or there was some stuff done in utero? Oh wow, Jesus. Hold on.”
“What? What do you mean Cambion DNA?” My voice sounded squeaky; it didn't even sound like me.
She looked me in the eye. “You're a hybrid.”
“A fucking what?”
“A hybrid. Your dad somehow, I don't exactly know how, but he, uh... he used some other DNA. Some, from a, you know, a demon. So yeah, you're a hybrid.” She cleared her throat.
The color was gone from her face.
I looked at Chuck. He chewed the corner of his lip and squinted while he took in the information. Meanwhile, I felt my entire world crash around me. Everything I knew was a lie.
Darah continued. I had to give her credit. I'd have expected a normal person to jump up, snap that laptop shut, and get the hell out of dodge. But not her. She just kept going.
“And, so yeah, you have some significant powers, like if you combine the two, the result is hardcore. But then he created something to subdue... Okay. There's more. Shit. He… I don’t really know how to say this… he harvested your eggs. And... Okay. Shit.”
“What? What did he do with my eggs? How the hell...”
I thought of the “procedures” he'd told me I needed as a teenager. I thought about the time I injured my knee and needed surgery. I thought about the time he told me I needed to be put under for a biopsy. I never really questioned it.
“There's something else.”
“There can’t be.”
“I'm just going to come out and say it. Sian Cole was treated at your father's lab for infertility treatments seven years ago. Your father used your eggs to create embryos to use for IVF treatment. According to these records, Seraphina is biologically your child.”
***
“You've got to be kidding me,” I said quietly. “Demon DNA. My eggs. I'm a...” I swallowed the lump in my throat and covered my face. My body was numb.
“I'm not kidding. There's tons of data in these files, babes, but we don't have time to pore through it. We've got to go.”
I shook my head. “I can't be here.”
“Be where?” Chuck asked.
There was another knock at the door. Darah rose to answer it.
“Be where?” Chuck repeated.
“Anywhere. Here, home, this world. I shouldn't exist. I'm an abomination.” I looked at him, then away.
I felt like I was dying, right there on the spot. Everything I thought I knew about myself, even the bad things. I drank too much. I was irresponsible, I was a slob, I was hateful and selfish. None of that compared to knowing I was one of them. I felt the urge to fling myself right off the balcony. Get it over with.
Harry and Luz stepped into the room, but Chuck waved them off. “Not a good time. I need a minute with Grace.”
They exchanged a concerned look, but both turned heel and backed right out the door.
We were alone.
“You are not an abomination. You are Grace Gamble, you are my partner, and you are basically the kid I didn't get to raise because I was too much of a drunk-ass loser.”
He closed the distance between us and sat next to me on the bed. “And I love you, kid. That’s a fact.”
I looked up at him, tears rolling freely down my cheeks. “Love me? I'm a fucking monster, Chuck.”
He shook his head. “No, you're not. Your DNA is irrelevant. You could sprout an arm out of your forehead right now, but that won't matter to me, and it won't matter to the people who love you.” He laughed. “Maybe Harry. He might be put off by the arm. I dunno.”
I shook my head. I couldn't accept his words.
He put a hand on my shoulder. “I'm going to level with you. This isn't going to be easy, but for now, you gotta stuff this down and let it go. Get into it later. We gotta go take care of business. There's no time left.”
He hugged me. I let him. Then he opened the door and let Luz, Harry, and Darah inside. They were quiet. Harry was pale, and Darah was uncharacteristically quiet. I couldn't believe she was still here, but then again, it was work. She needed to help get Sera and get our people. Her people.
Luz laid her hand on my shoulder. “How are you, Grace?”
“I'm losing my mind, but other than that, great. Thanks for asking.” I knew I sounded sarcastic, but it was a stupid question.
I remembered her words, though. I also remembered the way she'd looked at me. Had she known, somehow?
“Sorry, Luz. I'm out of sorts.”
She cocked her head and smiled. “Out of sorts is an understatement.”
Chuck nodded in agreement.” What’s in the magic bag?” He asked.
“I have some of the usual. Fire protection, protection from influence, boosters to give you more strength and energy. And for you, Grace, a special booster to call on when you need it. For extra luck when things aren't looking so good, okay?” She smiled, an effortless, cheerful grin, despite the darkness of the situation.
“So what you're saying is use it when I'm getting my ass completely kicked and I’m about to lose hope?”
“Exactly.”
“Great, thanks Luz.”
“Grace, now is no
t the time for you to falter. Now is the time for you to draw on your strength and trust that all will be as it should be.”
“What does that mean, exactly?”
“You'll figure it out.” She spoke casually, like I was getting ready to go shopping without a list, not trying to save a child. My child.
“I need a plan, Luz.”
“No, plans won't work. There is no plan for this. You could make one. You could bring the entire CDT, but it would do no good.
She leaned over and pulled something from behind her chair. A large fabric bag. “Here, for you.” She pulled something out of it, a carved stone on a long cord. “Put this on now.”
I did as she asked and took the bag. “Thank you, Luz. I still don't know what the hell I'm doing.”
“So, what else is new? Forget what you know.”
I sighed. “I wish I could forget what I know.”
“You've denied parts of yourself for so long. That will always end in disaster. Acceptance is how you'll get through this.”
Chuck's head popped up. “That's right. Acceptance.”
“What world am I in right now? Don't you guys get it? I'm not supposed to be here.”
It was all hitting me now. And yet here they were, going on like they didn't just find out I was the spawn of evil.
Luz clucked her tongue. “If you weren't supposed to be here, you wouldn't be here.”
“You guys are crazy.”
Darah broke in. “I've got Ethan coming. He's bringing a couple of guys he knows. Big guys.”
“What? I know Ethan is Sera's dad, but don't you think it's unwise? He's not trained. He doesn't like guns, and he's not even in the CDT. Not to mention he’s a bit pissed off with me right now.”
“There are things you don't know about Ethan, babes. He's one of the most powerful Nephilim I know, well, next to you.”
My heart sank. But I wasn't just a Nephilim anymore. I felt my identity was canceled out by what I'd learned. Knowing Ethan was powerful didn't really blow my mind. It made a lot of sense. He was brilliant and talented. Strong. He probably had powers he didn't know he had. Or maybe he did but didn't want to be used for them. The joke was on him, though.
“No wonder your father used you two,” Chuck said. He'd come back from his room with guns, knives, ammo and a fresh thermos of coffee. “Do you think he knew about Sera?”
