Speak Thy Name (The Nephilim Book 3)

by Dana Marie Bell

  “Enough time to get in some GTAV!” Zeke rubbed his hands together. “I’m gonna steal a jet.” Zeke raced out of the room like a little kid, waving his arms over his head.

  “And on that note…” Sasha raced out of the room after Zeke. “Multiplayer, asshole!”

  Now Damien was laughing with his head on the table. “And they wonder why I moved out.”

  Now that they were alone, Sam didn’t know quite what to say, so she said the first thing that came to mind. “I thought they’d be more Candy Crush than Grand Theft Auto.”

  Damien sat back up, wiping his eyes, still chuckling every now and then. “Depends. When they’re home, they relax, play on the console or the PC. Out in the field, they don’t play games. As goofy as they are, I trust them with my life and yours.”

  “I know. I was joking.” Sam bit her lip. “I like them.”

  He wasn’t laughing anymore. “Do you?”

  The way he looked at her had her squirming in her seat. No one had ever looked at Sam like they wanted to eat her up before. She was shy, goofy, air-headed Sam, the one every guy overlooked. But Damien made her feel like more, like for once someone actually saw her and not one of her more attractive friends. Her body responded, the desire rising inside her to do more than simply talk. She wanted to touch him, taste his skin and make him understand just how much she wanted him. She cleared her throat. “Well, yeah. Why wouldn’t I? They’ve been nice to me.”

  “And I haven’t?” Damien winced. “Don’t answer that.”

  She nodded. “No, you haven’t been, but you’re making up for it.” She patted his hand. “Saving my life goes a long way toward that as far as I’m concerned.”

  “Not exactly how I wanted to get on your good side.” He sighed and stood. “Come on. Let’s watch the guys play video games until I have to go.”

  She’d done that with her friends a few times. “I’ll grab some soda, you get the snacks.”

  Damien laughed and followed her lead.

  Chapter 14

  They drove slowly through the sleepy silence of Middletown, past the super stores and the restaurants on 301 and 299 and back into the residential areas. Damien was once again in the passenger seat, his senses open for any hint that Rafael might be somewhere nearby. Gio was in the driver’s seat, Sasha in the back. Dante once again kept his head down, his light show giving the interior of Gio’s SUV a pale blue glow.

  “Anything?” The tightness of Sasha’s voice wasn’t surprising. Rafael was loved by all of them, but shared a special bond with his team members. Damien thought Sasha and Gio blamed themselves for Rafe’s disappearance, even though they hadn’t been with him when he went missing. They still hadn’t figured out how long he’d been gone when they realized he wasn’t there and wasn’t answering their calls. The only thing they could think of was that he’d been kidnapped from the hospital where he worked as a nurse.

  “There’s something, but it feels like I’m being blocked somehow.” Damien frowned in concentration, and the light surrounded him shifted in response. The energy went out, but what came back was warped somehow. “We have to get out and start walking. I might find it easier to focus that way.”

  “Do you need to go blind?” Gio pulled into a parking space not far from where Damien had first started to feel that something might be in the area. “Dante told me what to do if it comes to that.”

  “I hope not. I hate how long it takes to come out of it.” Damien got out of the car, glancing around at the homes that surrounded them. He reached back in to grab his gun, holstering it. He had the feeling he might need it. “If I go blind you’ll have to lead me back to the car. All I’ll see are the shades of people, the light you guys make, and the ick of the Shem. Dante let me walk into a telephone pole once because he thought it was funny. Seth almost skewered his ass for that.”

  Sasha nodded and took the lead. Gio walked right next to Damien, keeping an eye on everything around them but mostly guarding Damien.

  Damien let his senses fly, trusting Sasha and Gio to catch him if he tripped over anything. He followed very faint ping of angel-born powers, leading them down Broad Street to Scott Street to Green Street, past the fire station and parking lots until they were in an area of older homes and quaint churches. They must have walked at least a mile or two when he suddenly got a sharp response, taking him toward one of the older homes. The tree-lined street was so homey and peaceful he couldn’t imagine anything happening other than block parties and barbecues.

  “This isn’t where you said the IP address led,” Gio muttered.

  “I said Middletown, not any specific street or building,” Damien replied absently. He was definitely getting a ping-back, a strong one from the house in front of him. The light rippled around him in response to the Shem stench he was starting to see. “This is the place, definitely.”

  “Perimeter check.” Sasha reached in his pocket and pulled out a pair of night vision goggles. Pulling them down over his head, he settled them over his eyes and raced off behind the building.

  “Is this a good idea?” Damien waved to where Sasha had disappeared. “Letting him go alone like that?”

  Gio grunted. “You let Seth fly alone to scout for you, right?”

  “But we’re right behind him in the car, following the flash of his wings.” Damien sighed. “I get your point, though. If anything happens, we’re right here, ready to help.”

  “Exactly. Sasha knows what he’s doing. Let him do it.” Gio crossed his arms over his chest. “Why don’t you see if you can find Rafe’s location in the house.”

  Damien squared his shoulders and stared at the house in front of him. It would be the first he checked with his special sight. “Sure, I can do that. Just keep watch for humans. I’m about to give a light show and I can’t hide it like Seth does.” He closed his eyes, filtering out the fog of human souls, seeing and touching on the good and the bad in each one. Their nightmares barely bothered him, their petty sins mere blips on his radar. They slept soundly in their beds, or watched late-night television. Some lived and loved, some barely lived at all, stuck in their homes, waiting for death to claim them.

  But the house in front of them held no such souls. Instead, it was infested with the stench of Shem, the slimy green miasma practically pouring from the shingles and windows now that he’d let loose. It was a fog that enveloped the house, dripping from the eaves onto the dead grass below. “The place is saturated with Shem stank.”

  “Porca vacca, I can’t see it at all. They really do have Sam’s spiritual Febreeze.” Gio sounded so much like Dante that for a moment Damien almost thought his partner stood next to him. “Can you sense Rafe?”

  Damien scowled, looking for his brother’s bright light shining through the fog, but nothing got through it. He couldn’t even tell if there were any Shem currently inside. The miasma was too thick, their evil blocking even his strong senses. “We’re going to have to break in. I can’t see anything through the fog.”

  “Merda.” Gio shrugged. “Let’s wait for Sasha. I’m not going in without him.”

  At that moment, Sasha came darting around the house. He crossed the street toward them and flipped the goggles off. “We’ve got Shem inside the building. The basement windows are blocked off, so I couldn’t see down there. And I tried to see into the upper windows but there was no way for me to climb up.”

  “How many did you see?” Gio tilted his head from side to side, cracking his neck.

  He must be getting ready to fight. It had been a long time since Damien had worked with a Legionnaire, so he wasn’t familiar with their rituals.

  “Three on the first floor, two in the kitchen, and one in the living room.”

  Gio nodded. “Then let’s do this, but we need to be quiet. No need to wake the humans.”

  Sasha opened his mouth as if to protest, but then he glanced at Damien and nodded. “I think he knows, bro.”

  Damien already had his gun out, the silencer screwed on tight. �
��I’m ready.”

  “Back door on three.” Gio held up his fingers and counted down almost silently. “One. Two. Three.”

  The three of them dashed across the street and into the backyard of the white clapboard house. Gio was the one who opened the back door, using his strength to break the lock without breaking down the door. He simply turned the handle and pushed until he got in with a barely audible cracking sound. The moment he was in he stepped to the side, giving Sasha and Damien room to enter.

  Now that he was inside he could barely see the Shem standing there, their sins rolling like a bad video in front of his eyes. In order for this much stink to accumulate they must have been there for years. How had Piotr and Zeke missed this? It was making Damien gag, for fuck’s sake.

  Gio was fighting hand-to-hand with one of the Shem—

  Warm, so warm, need his warmth.

  —knocking over the kitchen table. “Gio, he’s a Seris!”

  Gio nodded once and kept fighting, dodging a blast of flame that singed his shirt.

  Sasha had a blade in his hand, fighting with the second Shem—

  Life force, I need it, Nephilim is best.

  —who parried with his bare hands. A Legionnaire, then, and one Sasha could only knock out unless he figured out the Shem’s weakness. All Legionnaire’s had them, even Gio, but none of them divulged them. Only Gabriel, and maybe Gio’s mother Theresa, would be privy to Gio’s.

  Damien decided to take care of the Shem in the living room. He edged his way past the combatants until he could make his way into the dining room. Beyond, was the living room, where the third Shem was pulling a sword out of thin air. Another Knight, one who would give Damien a run for his money.

  Damien moved as silently as he could. Now that he had the Shem in his sights he wouldn’t lose her.

  Feeding is fun when the prey tries to escape. The teenager, barely old enough to shave, struggled against her grip. He screamed as she exposed sharp black teeth.

  Now that he’d begun to see her sins he couldn’t lose her no matter where she went in the house. She couldn’t hide from the eyes of a Malachi on the hunt.

  He slid along the wall, watching the Shem as it started to move toward his companions.

  I hate teaching those fucking assholes. It takes all my willpower not to change in front of them, feed off the nearest kid giving me lip, but I have to earn money, have to make a living in the human world until Shemhazai’s dream comes to fruition. But I’ll mark Kenny for death. He’ll be delicious, even if I have to fake mourning and give grief counseling afterward.

  He kneeled and took aim as the Shem started toward the dining room.

  One shot between the eyes and the female Shem was dead, the darkness seeping out of her along with her life force. He ignored the body as she thrashed around in the throes caused by the holy water in her system.

  At least she didn’t explode. He hated when they did that.

  Damien stood and headed for the stairs, certain there was a Shem hiding in one of the bedrooms. He could still hear fighting coming from the kitchen, so he had to be careful. He couldn’t distract Gio or Sasha. He had to take care of the ones upstairs on his own.

  Swallowing down a sudden bout of fear, Damien cautiously made his way up. He had no idea if any of them creaked, so he did his best to tread lightly. He could barely make out the shapes of two Shem on the upper floor, but both signs were weak, barely there. He couldn’t see any sins coming off of either of them.

  Could they be young? If so, taking them to Gabriel might not be a bad idea. They might be cleansed of the Shem taint before the hunger truly took hold, making them into Nephilim. If they hadn’t yet fed, they might be able to be saved. The fact that they already had a faint Shem signature made him think they were young teens, maybe tweens. If so, he couldn’t kill them, only incapacitate them. So when he hit the landing, he was fully expecting to find himself fighting teenagers.

  What he found instead were two small children, no more than four or five, staring up at him with big, frightened eyes. “Are you the bad guy?” the boy asked in a terrified voice.

  “You’re glowing,” the girl whispered, eyes wide in fright.

  Damien eyed them cautiously. Chameleons were rare among both Shem and Neph, but they were angel-born capable of changing their shape, mimicking others right down to their aura. If he was being fooled, he’d be dead before backup arrived.

  Of course, Chameleons were extremely rare, so to find two of them in one room? What would the odds be?

  “Mister?” The young boy, still covered in Shem stench, tugged on Damien’s coat. “Momma said to hide up here. She said there was a bad man outside.”

  The girl, the older of the two, nodded her head so hard Damien was surprised it didn’t fall off. “And she told us not to talk to strangers, Nate.”

  “Sowwy.” The little boy took a step back and stuck his thumb in his mouth.

  Fuck it. If they were Chameleons, he’d pay for it later. He knelt down so that he was on their level rather than towering over them. “No, I’m not the bad guy. I’m here looking for my friend, Rafael.”

  The two children looked at each other, but didn’t speak.

  “Do you know him? He has dark, almost black hair, dark brown eyes, and tan skin?”

  “He sang away my boo-boo,” the little boy whispered.

  Oh, thank fuck. “Is he here?”

  The little girl’s shoulders slumped. “I think Daddy keeps him in the basement.”

  Damien holstered his gun. “What are your names?”

  “I’m Nate.” The little boy picked up a blanket. “Can we go see the singing man now?”

  “Nate!” The little girl hissed. “We’re not allowed in the basement. Remember how much trouble you got in? Daddy spanked you so hard you cried.”

  Nate held his blanket tight. “It hurt.” His glowing eyes filled with tears. “I don’t like the basement anymore.”

  “But if the singing man is down there, he’ll help you, right?” Damien looked at the young girl. “What’s your name, sweetheart?”

  She scowled at him, pushing Nate behind her. “Elsa.”

  Damien smiled. “Would you two like to come with me and find the singing man?”

  Elsa looked around, as if looking for comfort. She seemed terrified but determined to protect her little brother. “Daddy will get mad again,” she whispered, barely audible over the sounds of the fighting downstairs.

  “I promise, Daddy won’t be mad.” Mostly because Daddy would be dead. He’d have to figure out a way to protect these kids from seeing their parents’ bodies. “And we’re going to help the singing man go home.” He tilted his head. “Would you like to see where the singing man lives?”

  Nate inched closer to Damien. “Will we see the angel? The singing man said the angel would make my tummy stop hurting.”

  Damien closed his eyes. Damn, so young to feel the Shem hunger. It must be the thickness of the miasma they lived with that had brought it on. “Yes, the angel can take it away.”

  He opened his eyes just as a knife slashed his sleeve. “You can’t take Nate!” the little girl screamed.

  “I was going to take you both.” Damien stood and backed away, pointing his gun at the little girl.

  The little boy threw himself in front of his sister. “Don’t hurt her!”

  Damien lowered the gun. “I won’t, so long as she doesn’t hurt me.” He put his gun in his holster, but kept his hand on it just in case. “I give you my word.”

  He ignored the pain in his arm as the two whispered to each other. The wound wasn’t deep, barely bleeding. He could probably slap a Band-Aid on it and be done.

  Downstairs was silent. The fight was over. Looking down, he noted only the glow of his brothers. The Shem were dead.

  Damien let his power slip away.

  “How come you’re not glowing anymore?” The boy cocked his head curiously.

  “Because the glow helps me see things others can’t, but
I don’t need to see them anymore.” He smiled, hoping he looked reassuring rather than scary. “Now that I’ve found my friend I can be happy again.”

  “You’re not happy when you glow?”

  Not usually, because it meant he was in a fight or about to be in one. “Sometimes I am, sometimes I’m not. Are you happy every time you smile?”

  They both seemed confused by that. They huddled together and whispered to one another, in that way kids did when they didn’t realize the adults could still hear them.

  “Momma said not to trust strangers.”

  “I’m not a stranger. I’m Damien, and I’m a friend of the singing man.” He hoped that worked. He had to get these kids out of this stench permanently.

  The boy glared at him. “Okay. But if you hurt my sister I’ll kick you in the weenie.”

  It was all Damien could do not to laugh. “Yes, sir.” Damien held out his left hand. His right was still clutching his gun. “You two ready?”

  The girl took his hand, then held hers out to her brother. “Let’s go, Nate.”

  Damien led them to the stairs, where Gio and Sasha were waiting. Their light dimmed now that he’d turned off his vision, but it was still enough to see them through the Shem stench. “These two are Nate and Elsa, guys.” He spoke softly, hoping not to spook the children. He was certain now that they weren’t Chameleons. The girl had pulled a knife from thin air, marking her as a Knight. “They told me that there’s a singing man in the basement. He took care of one of Nate’s boo-boo’s.”

  “Did he?” Sasha smiled at the children while Gio crossed his arms, studying them closely. Sasha held out his hands. “Wanna show me where he is?”

  “Are they friends?” Elsa was staring right back at Gio and Sasha.

  Nate hid behind his sister, clutching his blanket and trying to suck his thumb at the same time.

  “Guys, these are my friends. This is Sasha—” Sasha hopped up the stairs and bowed to Elsa, who giggled, “—and this is Gio.”

  Gio uncrossed his arms. “I like your blanket.”