At that time, he didn’t think of how Nicole would feel; the destruction of a house that she had come to think of as home. He got a good idea when she walked in and gasped.
She started to run past him towards the broken vase on the floor, and he reached over to stop her. Wrapping an arm around her upper body, he pulled her so her back was pressed against his chest. “I’ll buy you another one,” he said when she tried to break free.
“I don’t understand,” she exclaimed. “What happened?”
Before he could answer, Conner let out a harsh laugh. “I see I’m not the only one with a temper in the family.” He moved to look around the corner into the office, and Gemariah clenched his teeth at what he could see. He had taken his arm and dragged it across the top of the desk, successfully scattering everything onto the floor, and then put his fist through the wall. The room was where he had been when he got the call, so it had gotten the brunt of his wrath.
“Nice,” Conner said with a grin.
He wanted to kick the shit out of the guy just to wipe the damn smile off his face, but he brought his focus back to Nicole. She was looking at him with an expression of betrayal. “You did this?” she asked in shock.
He wasn’t going to lie. It was a part of who he was. He would never in a million years hurt her, but inanimate objects were fair game if he was mad enough. Letting her go, he didn’t break eye contact, so she could see the truth. “Yeah.”
She turned away from him and knelt on the ground to pick up the broken pieces of the vase. “I got this the other day at a second hand store. It had a picture of Hercules on it, and it reminded me of…” She broke off with a sigh, but quickly recovered. “That’s how I thought of you… strong and unbreakable.”
“Unlike that vase,” Conner stated like the smart-ass he was.
That little shit, Gemariah thought! He would be lucky to leave the house in one piece if he didn’t shut his mouth. Refusing to acknowledge the remark, he focused on Nicole. “I will not feel guilty for this.” he stated firmly. “Maybe another day, but not tonight.”
He waited until she had all the pieces picked up and placed on the counter before he finally asked the question he had been repeating in his head for the last hour. “What the hell happened tonight?”
When Conner and Nicole only looked at each other and no one started to speak, Gemariah lost it. “I don’t care who the hell tells me, but someone needs to start talking!” When that didn’t work, he roared, “Now!”
The sound was so loud and fierce, both of them jumped back in surprise.
It was Conner that started first. “You have to ask her.” He gestured towards Nicole. “I don’t know why she went to the park to begin with.”
“Park? What park?” Gemariah directed his attention back to Nicole. “I thought you were going out with coworkers.”
She stared at her hands as she picked at her nails, but he did hear her mumble, “I lied.”
Breathe in…
Breathe out…
He had already figured as much, but it was still jarring to hear the confession from her own lips. Walking to the counter farthest from her, he leaned against it and crossed his arms over his chest. All he could think to ask was, “Why?”
Immediately Nicole went into defensive mode. It was what she did any time she felt strongly about something. Placing a hand on her hip, she pointed a finger at him and asked, “Do you even know how lucky you are?”
He wasn’t sure what direction she was going with that, but he kept quiet so she could explain.
“The only biological family I ever had didn’t want me. They treated me like I was an inconvenience. They used me as a slave and thought of new ways to torture and torment me every day. All the time, they would remind me that I was nothing but a paycheck. It was the only reason they had me. For crying out loud… my mother named me Nickel, so I would never forget it, but a nurse at the hospital took pity on me and changed it to Nicole.
One day, it got so bad that I almost died at the bottom of the stairs. By the grace of God, a concerned kid that I went to school with came by to check on me and heard everything that went on in the house. She called the police and my parents went to jail. Years later, they got out and never even thought to come for me. They were finally rid of me. Living with them was hell, but it still hurt to know that I wasn’t wanted.”
Gemariah was in shock. He guessed that she had had a troubled past, but he didn’t know how deep it truly went. Before he could say anything, she gestured wildly with both arms toward Conner and continued. “Here is your own flesh and blood. He went out of his way to find you.”
“That’s not confirmed yet.”
“Oh please… Anyone could tell by looking at the two of you that you’re related. Same build, similar features, same eyes… Hair color is a little off, but is still close enough. You’re both stubborn, you’re both conceited, and you both open your mouths before thinking. I don’t need a blood test to know that he’s telling the truth.”
“Okay, so we now know how you feel about Conner… and me as well apparently. You still haven’t told me what you were thinking tonight.”
She took a moment to compose herself after her tirade before going on. “Your brother came to find you, and you blew him off. I didn’t understand why. You both were so tense and talked about things I didn’t get. Whenever I tried to ask you about this stuff, you blew me off, so I decided to ask him.” She looked him in the eye the entire time she spoke until the end when she nodded towards Conner. There was no remorse. She wasn’t ashamed of her decision and he knew that if she could do it over again, she would.
“That still doesn’t explain why you went to that park.”
Conner’s voice took him by surprise. He was paying such close attention to what Nicole was saying that he had almost forgotten the other man was there.
She looked towards Conner and sighed before saying, “I knew that you were following me.”
Conner looked confused. “Tonight?”
“Not just tonight.”
“What!?!” Gemariah was livid. “You knew that you were being followed and didn’t tell me?”
“That’s impressive.” Conner went on, ignoring his outburst. “I’m notorious for my tracking. You shouldn’t have been able to see me.”
Nicole’s cheeks became a muted pink and he knew that she liked the compliment. Damn him!
She addressed Conner first. “Most of the time, I sensed that you were there and when I would look, you would disappear behind something. No big deal, just intuition.” She then turned back to Gemariah. “And I didn’t tell you because I knew that you would do something stupid like get rid of him. I knew that he was warning you about something that day, and every time that I saw him, I had the feeling that he was there to watch over me. If you weren’t there, wasn’t that a good thing?”
Gemariah uncrossed his arms and took a step towards her. “You are too trusting,” he complained. “What if you were wrong and he was biding his time before he struck? You should have said something.”
“Um… ‘He’ is right here,” Conner tried to interject.
They both ignored him as if he wasn’t and went on with their discussion.
“Well, at first I thought he was following you, but then I saw him when you weren’t there, so I knew it was me that he was following. I already told you, I didn’t feel as if he was a threat.”
Groaning, Gemariah ran his hands through his hair before locking his fingers behind his head. He turned around to put his back toward her until he could control his thoughts. He had been followed—while Nicole was around—and he didn’t even know it. How the hell was he supposed to protect her if he missed something as simple as a tail?
Taking a deep breath, he composed himself and turned back around. “Okay, so, tell me what happened tonight,” he ordered.
If it was possible, she looked even more uncomfortable than before. “Well…” She paused to look down at her hands… again. At the rate she wa
s going, her nails would be down to nothing before the end of the night. “I had this idea. He tried to warn you about something, and he was following me. I thought that… I thought that if I put myself in a dangerous situation, he would show himself so I could talk to him.” The last part was rushed, as if to quickly get it out.
What the fuck? He wanted to yell. He wanted to tear the cabinets from the walls and demolish the room they stood in. Hopefully then she would see what he was feeling.
Breathe in… one.
Breathe out… two.
To hell with it.
“What the hell were you thinking!?!” he roared. “Can you even hear what you sound like?”
She winced and placed a hand on her stomach. “I already told you what I was thinking, and yes… now that it’s said aloud, it does sound a little crazy.”
He heard her, but he was too busy concentrating on her movement. He pointed to her stomach and asked, “What was that?”
“Nothing.” She quickly pulled her hand away. “It was nothing.”
He didn’t say anything as he looked her over. She just got off bed rest not too long ago, and then she had a night like she had. He thought back to her reaction. It was definitely a wince. “Shit!” He quickly moved toward her. When he was within arm’s reach, she flinched back but he didn’t hesitate to scoop her up into his arms. Looking into her surprised eyes, he scowled. “Don’t ever pull away from me again. I might have a temper to rival the best of them, but never against you. Do you understand?”
She immediately softened in his arms. “Sorry. Old habits.”
“Never with me. Never again.”
“Okay.”
He started to walk out of the kitchen with her in his arms, and went into the living room to lay her on the couch. When he didn’t feel Conner follow them, he hollered, “Get in here boy. I want you were I can see you.”
“Boy?” he scoffed as he walked into the room. “I haven’t been a boy in over three centuries.”
He shot him a look that said, “Shut the hell up” before looking down at Nicole. She had a confused expression on her face, and he thought it best to change the subject. “Was it a kick or a pain?” he asked as he kneeled next to the couch and placed a hand on her belly.
When she didn’t answer right away, he growled, “and don’t even think about lying to me. You’ve done enough of that tonight to last a lifetime.”
“A pain,” she said quietly, but quickly added, “It just started tonight and it’s not that bad.”
“It probably started after the demon threw her to the ground,” Conner said as he was examining their DVD collection. He sounded so nonchalant, as if it was something that happened every day. To people like them it was, but not to Nicole.
It was all too much, he thought, and he didn’t know how much more he could take. He had almost lost everything and what had he been doing? Watching TV and sitting on his ass, that’s what.
He stood and walked over to the fireplace. He needed to be away from her in case his destructive nature kicked back in, but close enough to see her every reaction. “Now,” he said as he crossed his arms over his chest. “Tell me everything.” He nodded towards Nicole. “You first.”
She took a deep breath, and started to explain how she drove into the city, and stopped at the park. She then went on to explain how she waited and even called out for Conner.
There was a scoffing noise and he looked over to see that Conner was shaking his head with a look of irritation.
When Nicole said something about a man under a tree, Gemariah returned his focus to her.
She went on to describe her fear and how she tried to run away only to be stopped by another man. Gemariah bit the inside of his cheek to stop the string of curses he wanted to let out. The pain helped to dim his anger. He lightened up when the coppery taste of blood reached his senses, but bit down even harder when she said that they were planning to take her.
“That’s when Conner threw something and killed the one walking behind me.”
Gemariah looked to Conner to see that he was cleaning under his nails with a point to one of his throwing stars.
“Yes! One of those,” Nicole exclaimed and pointed to Conner’s hand.
When everyone stayed silent, Conner looked back and forth between them. “Oh what? Am I finally in the conversation?” He stood up from the wall he was leaning on. “Are you all caught up? I wasn’t paying attention.”
“She had just gotten to the part where you killed someone,” Gemariah said with exasperation.
Conner shrugged. “What? I thought he was a demon. That was a little disappointing. Got him in the jugular. Usually when they catch fire, it burns off the blood. Now I have some disinfecting to do.”
Gemariah brought his head down to massage his forehead and hopefully deter the headache he felt coming on.
“That does it! What is going on?” Nicole burst out. “Nephilim, demons, fire combusting from wounds, arms burning away, yellow eyes, forked tongues, long claw like fingers—” she gestured towards Conner before adding, “—centuries old…”
Gemariah swung his head in the direction of Conner and growled in frustration. “What the hell happened tonight?” he asked the same question he had before.
Conner held up his hands in surrender. “Don’t look at me. I was just there to stop her from being taken. The second man was a demon. She probably saw those things from him.”
“Arms burning away?”
“Oh. Well there was that…” For the first time, the boy looked sheepish. “I hardly ever miss, but tonight I did. I got him in the arm, chopped it clean off.”
“Where is he now?” Gemariah knew as well as any trained nephilim that an amputated limb wouldn’t send a demon back to hell. It had to be a mortal wound.
“Got away.”
“What?” Gemariah raised his voice and took a few steps toward Conner. “How could you let it get away?”
“Excuse me. It was then that she decided to run.” He pointed a finger at Nicole. “It was either go after her or go after it. I chose to go after her to bring her back to you, and what do I get in return? Pepper sprayed and interrogated, that’s what! I’m not even going to go into what her bringing me out in the open and telling them my name has done to me. People of the lowest form know how to get a hold of me, and now I have to worry that former clients have turned head hunters. All of this because I was protecting her.”
“Why?” Gemariah stepped even closer and lightly shoved the other man in the chest. “Why do you even care so much?”
He didn’t push back or get in Gemariah’s face. In fact, he did the opposite and took a step back. Shaking his head, he sneered up at Gemariah. “If you have to ask that, you’re dumber that I pegged you for.” Without another word, he side stepped Gemariah and walked to the front door. Quickly, he opened it and left. The door slammed shut so hard that Gemariah wasn’t surprised if it splintered the frame.
“So it’s all real?”
Nicole’s panicked voice brought his attention back to her, and he sighed.
With a new sense of resolve, he squared his shoulders and walked over towards the coffee table and pulled it in front of the couch. When he sat down, it put him at eye level with her.
“This is not how I wanted you to find out.”
“No! This is where you tell me that my imagination is running away with me and we both laugh it off.”
He could, but eventually it would come up again, and sooner or later she needed to know. He needed her to agree to the change before the twins came or the chances she would make it through the birth were slim.
When he looked at her, he knew regret showed on his face, but there was no other way. The way she viewed the world was about to change drastically.
“Do you remember that story I told you about… the one with the fallen angels, their children, and the flood?”
“The one you told me after you saw Shane’s painting? Vaguely, yes”
“Well,
Shane actually turned out to be a Seer. He can just see the past so far, but with training he’ll be able to have more control over what he sees. He’s been found a good home to help him with that.”
When she just looked at him, he went on. “Anyways, the story that I told you was all true. The children that survived the flood, the angel strike, all of it. Because of the increased humanity, the offspring… the nephilim… had enough control over their dark sides to choose to fight for the light and against evil.”
Yes, his answer sounded right out of a textbook, and by the confused look she was giving him, she thought so to.
With a groan, he tried again. “Basically, demons exist. They can take the form of anyone and possess people with dark enough souls. The descendants of fallen angels are still walking around today, and do their best to send all of them back to where they came from. I know all this…” He forged on with a now or never mentality. “I know this because I am one… a nephilim, not a demon.”
He was rambling. He didn’t think that he had ever rambled before in his life, but he also never had to explain what he was to anyone before.
Her face was unreadable.
“Say something,” he urged.
Even after his prompting, she still stayed quiet. She licked her lips and finally turned to look at him. “Umm… I think I’m going to go.” She slowly swung her legs over the end of the couch and started to slide forward. “Not for forever, just for a little while.” She was talking slowly, as if waiting for him to strike out. “Maybe you should see someone in the meantime,” she continued, “like a professional.”
She didn’t believe him, and that wasn’t unexpected, but he still stopped her from getting off the couch by putting his hands on her shoulders to urge her back. “Wait! What if I can prove it? Well, technically I can’t, but I can have someone come here that can, and that you trust.”
The last word was said with so much distaste that he couldn’t hide it. She had showed such utter lack of trust in him in just one night. It would have been nice if she could have believed him, if only just a little.
“Who?”
“Trinity.”
The Divine Whisper Page 28
