The Divine Whisper

by Rebekah Daniels

  “Nope.”

  Sitting down, she looked at everything that she had grabbed and started to open things up. She picked up a piece of the calzone with her fork and was about to put it into her mouth when it was as if the crab Rangoon was calling her. Placing down her fork, she cracked open the Rangoon and the same thing happened. Inches from putting the piece into her mouth, she wanted the peperoni calzone again. Laughingly, she pictured both babies arguing over what they wanted more, but her indecisiveness eventually drove her nuts, and with a shrug, she smeared the crab filling on the calzone and took a bite.

  It was perfect, and exactly what she was in the mood for. She could taste that the calzone was a little old, but it didn’t matter. Could be worse, she thought with a smile, at least it wasn’t centuries old.

  The thought made her start thinking, but she wasn’t sure if she wanted to bring it up. It was nice pretending that everything was normal again. Curiosity won out, though.

  “I have a question.”

  “Okay,” he answered hesitantly and looked up from the paper he was reading.

  “Conner was joking right… when he said that he hadn’t been called ‘boy’ in over three centuries. That was some more weird lingo that you people use, right?”

  Gemariah sighed and leaned forward in his chair and looked to the side. “Well, you might as well find out now,” he mumbled more to himself than to her.

  When he brought his focus back to her, she got a bad feeling that she wasn’t going to like what he had to say.

  “You remember what I told you about what makes a Nephilim?” She did, but he didn’t give her a chance to answer. “Our blood comes from angels, timeless beings. The only way that we die is if our hearts are destroyed. Therefore, age means nothing. We grow until we come of age, and then everything stops. It’s then that we stop aging, heal quickly, get our abilities, and so on. With some people that’s as early as eighteen. With me, I was thirty one.”

  “Yeah, I remember you saying that you were thirty one, but… how long have you been thirty one?”

  He sighed as if reluctant to answer, but went on, “314 years.”

  “What!?! You’re 314 years old?”

  “No, I’ve been thirty one for 314 years. Nicole, I’m 345.”

  Taking a deep breath, she pushed her chair back from the table. She was fully intent on walking away, but it was as if she was rooted to her seat.

  “It’s alright…”

  He tried to comfort her, but she put a hand up to silence him. “Just let me process this,” she said.

  For once, he was smart and kept his mouth shut.

  It took a few moments, but eventually she snapped. “This is ridiculous! And you want me to become like you? One, this is nuts and two… I’m not going to do something that will purposefully make me outlive my children. No way!”

  He started to rub his forehead. “You’re not getting it. Our children will be like me. And, you’re right. There will be no way that you will outlive them without becoming like me. You will DIE during childbirth. I have explained this to you over and over!”

  She got up and walked over to the counter. Keeping her back towards him she asked quietly, “If that happens, will you take care of them?”

  “Dammit Nicole!” She turned to look at him when he slammed his hand down hard on the table, successfully making a Rangoon bounce onto the floor. “Why won’t you see reason? You can be there for them, to see them grow, to raise them into good people, to make sure I don’t screw things up, but only if you let me change you!”

  “Can’t you see this from where I’m coming from? I mean, you are 345 years old. It just seems unnatural.”

  He reared back as if she had slapped him. “Yes, it’s different than what you’re used to, but how can we be unnatural when we’re descendants of entities that were made by the same person that made humans?

  Trust me, it was hard for me to accept it as well. I was raised to believe in many Gods; Odin, Loki, Freya... to name a few. At fifteen, The Godsend Warriors approached me and told me about myself and who I really was. It all made sense after that; my father’s hatred, why I was so different from everyone else. That’s why I keep telling myself that my kids will be different. They will know how special they are every day that I’m there to tell them.”

  She didn’t say anything as she looked closely at him. That was the most emotion and sincerity she had seen from him, and it was humbling to see him like that. Even through all his faults, it was that moment that she knew he would make a wonderful Dad.

  How she wished that she would be there to see it! She might put on a brave front, but her gut made her believe him when he said that she wouldn’t survive the strain of their twins being born.

  Didn’t he get it, though? For a person with so many years on Earth, he was sure blind to what was right in front of him.

  She loved him, and was pretty sure that she had for some time. Fighting it for so long was getting tiresome, but when she was about to open up to him, she discovered that he wasn’t who he said he was. The shock upset her, but his deception was almost as painful.

  Now, he wanted to “change” her. Not because he couldn’t live without her, but because the children needed her. It was understandable, but she needed more. Eventually, the kids would grow and be on their own, but she would still be physically and emotionally tied to Gemariah. Lifetimes of loving someone that wouldn’t ever see her the same way would break her.

  She pictured Gemariah kneeling and telling their children how much they were loved as he wrapped his arms around them. The vision comforted her. Quickly, it changed to a young Gemariah, cold and alone with a father that screamed at him. Not for what he had done, but for who he was, and she thought how lucky her children would be.

  “Wait,” she stopped her train of thought, “you were a Viking?”

  “Norseman, actually. I never did any plundering. I took off on my own before I was old enough.”

  “I should be in shock right now, but after everything I’ve learned, this seems tame.”

  “Stop trying to change the subject!”

  She sighed and looked at him with as much remorse as she felt. “For me, the subject is closed.”

  Without another word, he angrily scooted his chair back, stood, and left the room.

  ******

  Nicole awoke two nights later after having a disturbing nightmare. Everyone she knew and loved had changed. No longer were they the caring people she had come to love, but had transformed into her father, her mother, previous foster parents, adults that had constantly showed their disdain for her throughout the years. Her children… her little boy and girl had the faces of kids that would torment her in the homes that she had had to live in.

  Every face represented someone that didn’t want her around, and could care less if she was no longer in the world. She knew that it was a dream and it wasn’t real, but it still shook her to her core.

  Covered in sweat, she kicked off the covers. The action caused a pain to spread through the swell of her stomach, and out of habit, she put her hand there for comfort. Unlike all the previous times before, the pain slowly increased instead of dissipating. When it got strong enough to make her gasp, she felt it slowly start to recede.

  Once the pain had gone completely, she let out a breath that she hadn’t realized she was holding. She then moved to prop herself up on a pillow, and when the breeze from the ceiling fan hit her, she remembered how she was covered in sweat. Even her legs, she thought, when they rubbed against each other.

  She was shocked at how much was down there, but then flew into full panic mode. Reaching over, she clicked on her bedside lamp, and threw back the covers. The initial reaction to the sight of her wet pajama bottoms was relief that it wasn’t blood, but then quickly turned to worry when she realized how early it was for her water to break.

  She was only thirty one weeks along, and was supposed to have another nine weeks to go. Her little girl was too small, to survive be
ing born that early.

  Tears started to swell in her eyes at the thought, and she moved to try and get out of bed. Quickly, she was slammed with another pain and it caused her to lose her footing and fall to the floor. The pressure was much more intense than the one before and she let out a cry when it felt like she was going to be ripped apart.

  The door slammed open and she saw the silhouette of Gemariah standing in the doorway. Breathing a sigh of relief, she reached out. “Gemariah,” was all she could say before the pressure increased to its peak.

  “Shit!”

  The voice wasn’t Gemariah’s, and she was a surprised to see Conner step forward and kneel beside her. “What? How?” she gasped.

  “Everyone’s on an assignment. Gemariah called me to stay here until he got back.” He must have seen her disbelieving face, because he added, “Trust me, he was not happy about the idea, but everyone was needed, and he had no choice.”

  At that point, she didn’t care who was there with her, there was only one thing on her mind. The pain was dwindling, but it was still too intense to form a complete sentence. Instead, she gasped, “Hospital… now!”

  “Right.” He picked her up with an arm behind her back and one under her legs.

  The movement made her pain spike once again and she screamed.

  “Shit! Shit! Shit! Okay. Hold on.”

  Conner ran down the stairs, successfully jarring her the whole way. Instead of yelling out, she bit her lower lip and dug her nails into his back where she was holding on. To give him credit, he never stopped her even though she knew that she had to have broken skin.

  Placing her gently on a bench seat inside an old pick-up that she was assuming was his, he buckled her in and ran to get in on the driver’s side. Once he got the truck started, he quickly backed out of the driveway and placed his phone to his ear.

  After a minute, a string of profanities left his mouth, before he hit a button on his phone and put it back up to his ear. After another minute, he roared and threw his phone against the dash. When it broke into a few different pieces, he yelled and hit the dash.

  “Okay, I give,” she panted. “What’s wrong?”

  He gestured to the spot where his phone hit the dash. “Gemariah! He wasn’t answering, and now I have no way of getting a hold of him. If anything happens to you before he can get there, I’m dead.”

  “Well, then we’ll be in the same boat.” At the glare he shot at her, she nodded. “You’re right… bad joke.”

  The truth was that she was scared out of her mind. She thought that she was going to have more time, and the night kind of snuck up on her. All she wanted right then was for Gemariah to be there and hold her, but it looked as if she wasn’t going to get that wish either.

  “I thought nephilim could talk to each other telepathically.”

  “Don’t you think I’ve been trying? It won’t work. You have to be close to the other nephilim, and we are anything but close.”

  “You’re brothers, right? How much closer could you get?”

  He gestured out with his hand. “You would think that would be the case, but it’s not.”

  She felt a deep pressure start to expand through her back and move forward to her stomach. She gasped, “Try again. You can do it.”

  It was all she got out before the pain became so intense that she could no longer hold it in. She grabbed onto his arm, arched her back, and screamed toward the roof of the truck. She screamed out her pain, her loss, and her weakness because she knew that she wouldn’t survive the night.

  CHAPTER 18

  Gemariah had a weird feeling that something wasn’t right. He couldn’t put his finger on where it was coming from, but it wouldn’t leave.

  Everything had gone right for the night. After much digging, they were led to the location of an elite trafficking holding area. Apparently, the string of convenient store robberies that Terah and he had put a stop to some months ago was a ploy to bring the brave and heroic into their mists.

  Grudgingly, Gemariah admitted that without the helpful information from Conner, they probably would have never found the underground tunnels that led to the warehouse. Apparently, having a cutthroat Nephilim-for-hire around comes in handy when needed.

  Once the warehouse was located and infiltrated, dispersing of the two demons and corrupted souls was simple. He had kept his eyes peeled for a one armed demon, but it wasn’t anywhere to be found.

  Everyone knew that the fight with the trafficking operation was far from over, and its ties to the demonic world ran deep, but they all considered it a small victory when they freed a fifth generation nephilim, a seer, and shockingly enough, a champion.

  Champions were known to have short lives because they always had a deep inclination to do good, and their souls were so pure that they couldn’t be corrupted. The only problem was that divine abilities couldn’t be used on them either. That meant that if they were caught up in something and got hurt, they couldn’t be healed. Luckily, the one they rescued was escaping with only a few scrapes and bruises.

  Gemariah looked on with approval at how smoothly everything had worked out for them during the mission, but the longing to go after more of the ones responsible for the new trafficking outfit was an itch that he couldn’t get rid of.

  His arm was nudged with an elbow and he looked over to see Gideon standing next to him. “You mind telling me what got into you tonight?” Gideon sneered.

  “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

  “You’re usually more level headed and easy going than you were, but tonight you acted like… well, like me. Should I be worried that you’re trying to take my place as the crazy one?”

  Gemariah thought back to when they entered the warehouse, and he could see where Gideon was coming from. He hadn’t waited for the order to move, and he had gone after everyone that was putting off a negative vibe without question. All he could do was look on and shrug. “I had my reasons.”

  “Care to share, so I don’t end up on your short list?”

  “Nicole. I did it for her.” At Gideon’s confused look, he decided to explain in further detail. “Everyone used to say that I was the one to fear because I had nothing to lose. I found that they were all wrong. It’s wrong to fear the one with nothing to lose when it’s the person that has their world threatened, you need to worry about. These people went after Nicole and my children, and now I have a score to settle.”

  “Man, falling in love is a bitch. I think I’ll stick with my whiskey instead of the water you and Malachi drank.”

  “I don’t believe in love,” Gemariah said as he turned his head, but Gideon had already walked away.

  Gemariah…

  He turned to look around the building, but didn’t see anyone trying to get his attention.

  Gemariah…

  The projection felt off. The feeling he got wasn’t what he got from any member of his team and those were the only people that could project to him. Well, Trinity could as well, but it felt and sounded definitely male.

  Deciding to go check it out, he approached Gideon and Malachi, but they hadn’t tried to get a hold of him. He stood there silently, and waited for whomever to try again.

  “You okay?” Malachi asked as he carefully approached Gemariah, but he held up a hand so Malachi would keep his distance. He didn’t want anything interfering with the projection.

  For fucks sake! Gemariah!!

  “Conner?” Gemariah said out loud at the same time that he projected.

  Holy Shit, it worked! Listen… West Memorial… Nicole… Labor… Bad… Need you…

  The longer the projection went on, the more broken up it became. It was as if the signal was too weak, but Gemariah got the point.

  He didn’t wait to explain, he didn’t even pause in his running when he knocked down people on his way out. There was one thing on his mind, and he had to get to her. He would never forgive himself if he wasn’t there when she needed him the most.

  Damn
woman for not listening to him all those times that he begged her to change. Not only was he going to lose her, but his kids were coming too early. At least Malachi would be…

  Shit, he thought as he pivoted to turn around. Malachi doesn’t even know what’s going on.

  When he looked behind him, what he saw made him screech to a halt. His entire team, his family, Gideon included, were racing after him.

  He turned back around and ran to the truck. When he tried to get behind the wheel, Tori pushed him over.

  “Where we headed?” she asked as she started the ignition.

  “West Memorial Hospital.”

  Without another word, she sped off with him and her in the cab while Gideon and Terah were crouched in the bed. All the while, Malachi was tailing them on his bike.

  “What’s going on? Why are you all here?”

  “Are you kidding? One of our own rushes off and we follow. You would be the same way. It’s what we do.” After a short pause, she asked, “Nicci?”

  He swallowed the lump in his throat before he could speak, but a quick, “Yeah,” was all he could get out.

  The drive was quick, and he thought that Tori probably broke the sound barrier with how fast she drove, but it still felt like an eternity. He knew something was off about the night. He had felt it in his soul, but had ignored it. He should have figured it out. Isn’t it reasonable to think that someone would know when their own soul mate was about to die? Because he knew that was exactly what she was.

  They pulled outside the Emergency Room, and they all unloaded. A hospital employee tried to stop Tori with a hand on her arm to tell her that she couldn’t park where she had, but all he heard before the sliding doors shut the outside world out was something involving a spleen being pulled from his body in a way that didn’t sound appealing if he touched her again.

  He didn’t stop to wait for permission. After he shouted out Nicole’s name so they knew where he was headed, he wrenched open the doors that blocked the waiting room from the exam rooms. He could feel that she was close, and he followed his gut.