Unable to talk, Evren nods his head as best he can. I hold him there just a moment longer, delighted in the fear I feel radiating from him. Before unconsciousness takes him under, and my own urge of bloodlust makes me change my mind, I release him. Emery is standing quietly in the corner. When I nod my head for him to approach, he gladly obeys.
“You will follow the human girl tomorrow. I want you to report everything she does, along with any information she might offer to you or her friends around her.”
Emery bows in acceptance. He then surprises me by lifting his head.
“I don’t mean to question you, Alpha, but why are we following the human and trying to capture the vampire? We know where the angel is hiding, why aren’t we attacking them?”
I regard Emery with disdain as a low growl rumbles through my chest. How dare he question me? Emery bows his head again in submission. He knows he’s crossed a line. “Will you not follow my orders, Emery? I have no problem replacing you as Beta.”
“No—no, Alpha, I will follow your orders. I am…merely curious.” Emery continues to bow his head, unwilling to break his submission until my anger has somewhat subsided.
Should I stoop to explain myself to him? It is no one’s place to question me save Lucifer himself, and since I am Alpha, my orders will be followed until revoked by him.
My Master’s orders run through my mind as I regard my Beta. As a leader, you must sometime share your plans with those that follow you. If you continue to hide your purpose, then those that follow you will lose focus and will no longer trust you. You must learn to choose when to hide your intentions and when to reveal them.
“Rise, Emery.” I give the command to my Beta, tired of his show of submission. “To answer your question, I do have my reasons for not attacking the angel and vampire just yet. When I went to speak with the human girl, I recognized a scent I haven’t crossed in over twenty years. If this angel is the angel I think it is, I have a special plan for him.”
“What angel do you believe it to be, Alpha?” Emery asks hesitantly. He should be cautious for continuing to question me.
“This angel fell the same day I did. I offered to let him join us, but he refused. Even though he was disgraced and cast away, he still refuses to see the weakness that plagues the Assemblies. I am going to prove him wrong, give him one last chance to join us, and if he refuses, I will tear him apart myself.” A pleasing shiver runs over me at the thought of his flesh and bone tearing and crushing in my clenched jaws. I begin to feel the urge again. Maybe I shouldn’t offer Kayson a final chance of redemption.
I shake the thought off. I may still get that satisfaction if he refuses me—which would be a mistake on his part. The Angels of Heaven are weak, and anyone that wants to return to that weakness deserves nothing better than death. Death is better than weakness.
“Emery, you will follow the human girl.”
I turn to face Evren, hardening my voice to show my agitation at his previous failure. “You have one last chance to prove your worth. You will follow the vampire again, and this time, you will bring her back to me.” Both Emery and Evren bow in submission, accepting my orders without further questions.
When I turn to peer out the window, a small whimper escapes past the doorway that conceals the little old lady. If she’s lucky, when this is all over her life may continue. That is if she doesn’t die from the fear first.
My vision of the shed is obscured because of the high fence surrounding the property. It doesn’t matter. I can still hear and sense what is going on. If these little bothers think they can outsmart me, they are so poorly foolish. I laugh a deep throaty laugh at the thought.
Chapter Fifteen
Emma
I drag a chair out away from the table and plop down in exhaustion. Dawn is beginning to break, and the bright light of morning stings my eyes. I don’t know what else to say to Briston, who continues to gawk out the window. Ever since he saw Sabrina’s speed as she zipped around me to get to the shed door, he’s been unresponsive. He’s been staring out that window with wide eyes for almost an hour.
I lay my head on the table and resist the urge to bang my forehead against the hard wood. In an exhausted moan, I plead with Briston again to talk to me. “Briston, come sit down.”
He doesn’t move for almost a minute, then he slowly starts to back away from the window.
“This has to be a dream. I’m dreaming aren’t I?” When Briston turns around to face me, the disbelief I heard in his voice is also written all over his face. “Emma, tell me I’m dreaming.”
“If you were dreaming, I would tell you that this was in fact a dream because that’s what you would want to hear. But unfortunately, B, this isn’t a dream. You have to believe that.”
I run my hand over my face. Man it is going to be a long day. Glancing at the clock, I groan. My first class starts in two hours. There goes that power nap I had planned.
“I told you I wasn’t lying last night.”
“Yeah but talking about it and seeing it are two totally different things.” Briston collapses in a chair, in a daze. “So this is really happening, isn’t it? There’s a vampire and what, an angel, in your backyard.”
I nod my head before rolling around my neck to loosen the kinks. “This is really happening.”
With a new found confidence, Briston comes alive. “Then we have to do something. We need to call the police, or the swat team, maybe the military.”
“Yeah, and why we’re at it, why don’t we send a prayer up to Heaven and tell the other angels to go ahead and take our names off the guest list.” I can’t help the irritated tone to my voice. It’s a sad side effect to me being tired.
“What do you mean?” Briston asks, not getting my sarcasm.
With annoyance, I snap, “If we turn an angel over to the authorities, what do you think they will do to him?” A look of realization crosses over Briston’s face immediately. He knows all too well what I’m talking about.
A few years ago Briston’s Aunt Sara, who’s a big-wig researcher from L.A., came to visit Briston and his family after years of no contact. She just showed up with no warning. Sara is vicious and only looks out for herself and how to get her mark on the name of science.
Before her arrival, Briston and his family had recently rescued a freaky looking kitten off the side of the road. It was an odd-looking animal, with ears like a bobcat, the color of a normal tabby house cat, but with big paws like a mountain lion. It was very peculiar-looking, which is why Briston called him Nadir, which means rare. As soon as his Aunt Sara laid eyes on the kitten, the poor thing didn’t stand a chance. Sara had her eyes set on the cat and never took her focus off him.
The night Nadir disappeared, we knew what had happened to him. Sara had only been gone for a few hours when Briston’s little sister, Tori, noticed the cat was missing. A search had been orchestrated, but Briston and I knew it was pointless. After a few calls to Sara with no answer or calls back, our suspicions grew. Briston had then gone to the internet to research the laboratory his aunt worked for. Fear gripped us both as we looked at animal right pages that had footage of what the laboratory was doing behind closed doors. The videos weren’t of cute little hamsters in happy cages with the logo ‘we take care of our animals’ below it. Instead, it revealed mice with funky long ears and a deep hollows in their backs. A tag on the cages stated the mice had been mixed with different DNA before their birth. It’s amazing what scientists will do to invent something new or learn about something they don’t understand. They’re like psychos with a license.
Briston and I tried to convince his parents his aunt had taken Nadir, but they refused to listen. Their reasoning was, why would she take it? She had plenty of research animals at her disposal; she didn’t need to steal some common cat. I don’t know if they ever came to terms with the truth, but considering she hasn’t spoken to them since, I would like to hope they did.
“Okay, the authorities are out of the question.” Brist
on runs his hand over his face, clearly exhausted himself. He glances back out the window for a moment before looking at me with desperation. “Then run Em. Run and leave them behind. You don’t owe them anything, why protect them?”
“I can’t run, B!” I can’t believe he would even suggest such a thing. Briston’s always had my back on the craziest of schemes. If I wanted to face it, he would have my back no problem.
“What if I did turn my back and leave without looking back, then my parents come home and their house is infested with these hell hounds? Huh, what then?” I shake my head, the answer is clear. “I have to make sure they get moved safely and that Falon guy leaves with them. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if something happened to my parents because I chose to ignore some overwhelming problem. Don’t you think they’ve been through enough of that?” The sting of my brother’s betrayal bites at me.
“I know, Em, okay, I just don’t want to see you get hurt.” Briston lays his hand over mine, and gives me a deep look. I feel a fluttering in my stomach, not nearly as bad as the one that mamboed there earlier when Kayson was near me, but there nonetheless.
Pulling my hand away, I clear my throat. “I’m not going to get hurt. As long as Kayson and Sabrina leave and the hounds follow, we will be safe. If I have to help them with that, then I will.”
“I’m not just worried about the hounds.” Briston’s voice is so low I can barely hear him.
I sigh. It’s one of those dreamy sighs that I normally keep hidden from Briston but I can’t seem to hide this one. Kayson is dreamy and it’s hard to hide. “I’m safe with them. Kayson won’t hurt anyone, and he won’t let Sabrina hurt anyone either.” I don’t mention how I know this. Briston would flip out if he knew that Sabrina had attacked me the first time I entered the shed.
“I trust him.”
Briston’s tone becomes a little bitter. “You don’t even know him, Emma. How can you trust him?” I’m shocked, to say the least, when I hear Briston’s tone. He’s normally a nonjudgmental guy.
“I don’t know how to explain it, B. There’s just something about him that is so gentle and trustworthy. I feel calm around him.” Yeah, if calm involved a heartbeat that made your chest feel like it was going to explode, I was totally calm around Kayson.
In one last ditch effort, Briston grabs both my hands, drawing me toward him. “Please, let them handle this on their own. I don’t want anything to happen to you.”
I grip his hands tighter, trying to reassure him. “If we don’t help them, who will?” Jokingly, I shove his shoulder. “Besides, you don’t want God watching you turn your back on one of his fallen do you?”
“That’s what worries me.” Briston looks down at the table with defeat. He probably knew from the beginning that I would never give up and run, no matter how hard he pleaded with me. I’ll give him props for trying though.
“What worries you?” I ask.
“The angel. He fell for a reason, Em. What if he’s not who you think he is? He could have fallen for killing children for all you know.”
I shake my head, immediately dismissing his guess.
“He told me why he fell, B. He fell because he lost his faith. There were some issues that he didn’t agree with, and no, he wouldn’t tell me what. When he challenged those problems, he fell.” I still couldn’t imagine what that was like, having a piece of you stripped away, like his wings had been. What would that be equivalent to for a human? Legs? Arms? Fingers?
“And you believe him? That easily?” There it was again, that hint of jealousy in Briston’s tone.
What is up with him? Hesitantly, I answer him. “I do.” Briston doesn’t seem to like my answer, but he doesn’t say anything. I squeeze his hands again before rising from my seat and stretching. Man this day is going to suck, my muscles already ache and the day has barely started.
“I need to go get ready to leave. Will you be okay?” I start making my way to the stairs, but Briston practically cries out for me to stop.
“Wait! You’re just going to leave? What if, I don’t know, what if the vampire gets all blood crazy and kills everyone in the neighborhood?”
“Well then, I’ll count myself lucky I wasn’t here.” My smile is wide as I look at Briston. “But I don’t think that will happen.”
“And why not?” Briston asks.
I point to the window. “It’s daylight.” I chuckle as Briston looks at the window with unease again.
“I still don’t think it’s a good idea for you to go.” Briston says.
“I know, but I really don’t have an option. I could miss class but I have to go to work. The bills don’t just stop because I’m having an off day.” Although I wish they would. Staying her with Briston sounds delightful compared to going to the greasy café. “If I’m going to work, I might as well swing by my class on the way.” Before Briston can continue to argue with me, I turn to the stairs.
After showering and finding some clothes of mine that are hung up in the back of the closet, I set off downstairs. I pick up the bag I packed as I’m walking out the door, and sling it over my shoulder.
Briston is waiting for me at the foot of the stairs. He’s sitting on the last step, wringing his hands.
“What’s wrong?” I ask, passing him to toss the packed bag on the sofa.
“Nothing.”
I glance over at him when I hear the hard tone set in his voice. He’s flexing his jaw, while purposefully choosing not to look at me.
I don’t give him a choice. I kneel down before him so he has to look at me. “Don’t lie to me B, please tell me, what’s wrong?”
Briston looks up to meet my eyes. His soft brown eyes are filled with sadness. “Emma, it’s just—”
Briston’s cut-off by a soft knock on the door. My stomach instantly plummets as I look at the door. A small shudder runs over my body as I remember opening that door to find Falon on the other side.
“I’ll get it.” Briston says as he rises from the stairs and walks over to the door with a set protective determination. When he opens the door, annoyance instantly laces his voice. “What are you doing here, Tori?”
Briston’s cute little nine-year-old mini-me is standing at the door with her arms crossed over her chest. A cute little smirk crosses her pretty face. “I knew I would find you here. Mama said you were probably over at Gaige or Chase’s house, but I knew better. Once I saw Emma’s car in the driveway last night, I knew you’d come running for her.”
I laugh out loud at Tori’s boldness. Her curly blonde hair, which I have been jealous over since she was born, bobs around her head as she gives Briston a little head wave. Her brown eyes, which match Briston’s perfectly, glim with mischief.
“Up to no good are you?”
Briston, who has momentarily gone pale, gives his sister a suspicious look. “Have you been talking to Braylee?”
Pulling a perfect Braylee, Tori places her hand over her chest and gasp with shock. “Why would you think that?” She places her tiny hand on her hip. “You don’t think I have a mind of my own, Briston Lee Davis? Do you think my nine-year-old brain is to naïve to notice the way you look—”
“No Tori, I don’t think that.”
Briston cuts Tori off with a little unease. I wonder what she was going to say?
“It’s just every time you talk to Braylee you go all—”
Before he can finish his statement, Braylee steps out from behind a bush. Why is she here?
“The end of that statement better be filled with nothing but compliments.” Braylee gives Briston a smug smile, then pushes past him and into the house. “We aren’t interrupting anything are we?” she asks me, not pausing for an answer as she walks into the living room. Her bright green eyes slowly sweeps the room, looking for evidence of mischief.
“Bray, what are you doing here?” I ask, exhausted. As much as I love Braylee, I don’t need her banter this morning. What was she even doing up this early? Bray is normally a nooner. I also have
her safety in the back of my mind.
Braylee cranes her neck to look out toward the kitchen before turning back to answer me. “I was on my way home, after spending hours discussing something with our other friends…friends, you remember those?” I cut my eyes at Braylee, but she continues without pause. “Anyway, when I spotted your lovely car parked here, with Briston’s jeep parked behind it, I became a little suspicious. If I recall right, you said you had to work last night.”
Placing her hand over her forehead, she continues with a false dramatized voice. “Am I losing my mind? Oh dear, what other things have I believed were true but really aren’t. Whatever shall I do?”
A very small chuckle escapes me as I regard my red-headed friend. She sure can be a dramatic little thing.
“I did have to work last night, but some things came up. I had to call in.”
As soon as the words leave my mouth, instant regret sets in. And right on cue, Braylee drops the helpless act and out comes the devilish side. “Things came up, huh? What kind of things are those?” Braylee winks at Briston, who scoffs.
“Get real, Braylee. You know that wouldn’t happen.” A hint of something lies in Briston’s voice, but what is it? Disappointment? Disgust? “We’re just friends.”
“Yeah, but who’s choice is that?”
Briston gives Braylee an outright warning look before opening the door wider, gesturing to where his little sister is still standing. Something’s strange here, and I’m going to find out what it is, whether it’s from Briston or Braylee. But not today. Today is already jammed and I have to leave. Luckily, Briston beats me to my exit line.
“Now that you see nothing underhanded is going on, you can be on your way. Emma was just about to leave.”
Braylee turns her calculating eyes back to me. “Where are you going?”
Broken Faith: Spiritual Discord, 1 Page 13
