Tainted Legacy (YA Paranormal Romance)

by Amity Hope

  Ava stirred, stretching sleepily before her eyes even opened.

  “Hey, I’m here,” Gabe said in a voice that he hoped was soft and comforting.

  “Gabe!” His name came out of her mouth sounding like a sob. In an instant she had thrown her arms around him, tugging him up on the cushions so he was sitting next to her, wrapped tightly in her embrace. “I was so scared! I didn’t think you were coming back!”

  Gabe assured her that he was fine. For the first time in a long while, he lied to her. He told her Azael believed that Gabe was still following his command. He left all other details of their meeting out of his explanation. Ava was frightened enough. Her body was trembling in his arms. No good would come of her knowing the truth.

  “He agreed to give me twenty-four hours with you,” Gabe explained. “And then we will meet him at your grandfather’s church.”

  “Grier will draw the sigils?”

  “She has agreed to, yes.”

  Ava was searching Gabe’s face and it made him uncomfortable. He tried to smile but wasn’t sure he pulled it off.

  “You don’t think it’s going to work,” Ava finally realized.

  “It should work.”

  “Stop looking away when you say that,” Ava softly commanded. “Tell me you really think your plan will work. Tell me you think we can trap Azael.”

  Gabe closed his eyes, willing the lie to come but it wouldn’t. “I don’t know,” he finally said with a shake of his head. “I really, honestly don’t know.”

  “We have to have faith that it will,” Ava said with determination.

  “Faith? I’m not exactly familiar with the term,” he told he”’t know.r, only half joking.

  “Yes, faith. In a higher power.” Ava looked so certain. As if the faith that she spoke of was absolute.

  Gabe sighed. He felt so defeated but he didn’t want to admit that to this girl who was looking at him with so much hope.

  “Would this be the same higher power that sent his son to save your race? Because he sent the flood to annihilate mine. Somehow I don’t think the same rules apply.”

  “I don’t know, Gabe. I think maybe you’d be surprised. Just try to have a little faith,” Ava entreated.

  He gave her a dubious look.

  “Please, promise me?” Ava begged.

  “Okay,” he agreed with a nod.

  “So what do we do now?” Ava wanted to know.

  “We wait,” Gabe told her. He hated that there was nothing left to do. Their options were so limited. Trying to trap Azael had its own set of unthinkable consequences that Gabe could not dwell on too long for fear of losing his nerve. Those consequences would mean nothing if they failed and were forced to face his wrath. The only solution that was absolute was the one that he had agreed to carry out.

  What little that needed to be done at the moment was something only Grier could accomplish. His subconscious was constantly wandering through his memories and his knowledge of his father, searching for another answer but it seemed to be a futile effort.

  “How are you doing?” Ava asked. “With the sigils I mean. You’re really pale.”

  Gabe shrugged. “I’m fine.” The sigils that glowed throughout the cabin were the least of his concerns.

  “You’re not fine. I know you’re feeling miserable, being here. Should I give you some space?” she asked as she sat back.

  “You make me feel better,” Gabe said as he pulled her back to him so she was resting her weight against him once more. “You are the only thing, in all of my life that has ever made me feel better.”

  “I wish we could stay here like this forever,” Ava told him as she snuggled into his chest. “What if we just never left? What if we don’t go to the church tomorrow?”

  Gabe sighed and explained to her what Azael would do, how he would find a way to draw her out.

  “He would go after oulld dmy family and friends,” Ava said angrily. “He is the epitome of evil, isn’t he?”

  “He is a demon, so, yes,” he admitted without even a trace of sarcasm.

  Ava shook her head. “I can’t think about him anymore. Not right now. Let’s talk about something else.”

  “Like what?”

  “Tell me about you,” Ava requested. “Tell me about the Nephilim.”

  “I’ll try. What do you want to know?” Gabe was not entirely comfortable with the idea. But with their time together drawing closer and closer to an end, he wanted to give her what little he could.

  “Do you all eat so much?” she asked with a teasing smile.

  Gabe smiled back despite himself. “Probably.” He did not admit to her that he would not eat quite so much if it weren’t for the fact his body was constantly needing to regenerate from one affliction or another these days. He knew that would make her upset and he didn’t want that.

  “Are you immortal? Please tell me you’re not some hundred year old man trapped in the gorgeous body of a teenager,” Ava joked, trying to lighten the morose mood.

  She only managed to baffle Gabe who looked appalled. “Why would you ask that? And if I was, and you’re only seventeen, wouldn’t that make me a bit of a pedophile no matter how young I look?”

  “One would think but that always seems to happen in the books that Molly reads,” Ava admitted. “So you’re not?”

  He gave her a peculiar look. “No, I’m not immortal and I’m really only nineteen. However, Nephilim are hard to kill and we do tend to live longer. Typically over a hundred.” He gave her a pointed look. “But we do age accordingly. We age well,” he stressed, “but accordingly.”

  “Good to know. Did Nephilim used to be taller? In the Bible it states that they were giants.”

  Gabe shrugged. “Maybe but I don’t think so. But remember that back then the average man was a whole lot shorter than they are these days. So if a group of Nephilim showed up, they’d definitely stand out.”

  “So,” Eva said curiously, “I know you think you have siblings you’ve never met but have you met any other Nephilim?”

  Gabe shook his head. “No. There aren’t that many of us.”

  “Why not?”

  “Well,” Gabe said as he hesitated. A crimson stain appeared across his cheeks. Ava raised her eyebrows. She’d never in the months she’d known him, seen Gabe blush.en pan>

  “Demons?” Ava gently prompted.

  “Yes,” Gabe agreed, humiliation coloring his voice. “There’s no dilution through the bloodline. But that also means our numbers are pretty low.”

  Ava nodded. “That makes sense.”

  “Anything else?” Gabe wondered and looked as though he hoped there wasn’t.

  “Rafe? Have you always not gotten along? Don’t get me wrong. I think it’s a good thing because it just proves how different the two of you are. How good you are and how…well, how much like Azael he is.”

  “If I told you my mother bought me a puppy when I was three, to try to pry my humanity out of me and that a few weeks later that same puppy was in a box next to my bed hacked into a dozen pieces courtesy of Rafe, would that help explain things?”

  “Yes,” Ava said, suddenly feeling ill at the thought. Gabe rubbed her back, willing the feeling away.

  “I know with unequivocal certainty that if Rafe was capable of using his persuasion on me, I’d have been talked into chopping off my own fingers by now. Or possibly even my own head,” Gabe told her only half joking. “But you’re right. The fact that we don’t get along, that we never have, it proves how different we are.” He ran his hand across his face, as if trying to wipe away memories. “He always used to think it was because I was envious and maybe I was. I always felt so weak compared to him. But mostly I just felt different. Rafe always complied because he wanted to. I did what Azael asked because he forced me to.”

  “That proves there has been good in you all along, even if you’ve had trouble seeing it. It’s been there,” Ava assured him. “After tomorrow, with your father taken care of, you can live the
rest of your life realizing that.”

  Gabe tensed and Ava felt it.

  “You’re supposed to have faith, remember,” Ava gently reprimanded. When Gabe nodded she continued. “You need to have faith.”

  “That evil will fail and good will prevail?” Gabe asked cryptically.

  “Yes,” Ava replied with certainty. “But that does leave the issue of your brother.”

  “What about him?” Gabe wondered.

  “Will he be coming after us?”

  If they did manage to trap Azael, would Rafe still be an issue? Gabe didn’t think so. He had no real interest in Gabe and Ava, other than those that fell under his father’s orders. <’ause I /font>

  “I can’t say for certain but if Azael is contained I think Rafe will move on. He’s too lazy to follow through on something that won’t directly benefit him.” He hoped this to be true.

  “Is there any defense against him?” she wanted to know.

  “None that you would be capable of,” Gabe warned. His stomach tied itself into one giant, aching knot. He did not like where this conversation was headed.

  “How do you kill a Nephilim?” Ava pressed. “Besides drowning them in a flood.”

  He eyed her warily. “Is this in regard to my brother? Or is this just for general knowledge?”

  “General knowledge.”

  “You can’t.” Gabe’s tone was firm. The last thing he needed was to think Ava was contemplating going after his brother. “And whatever you do, don’t ever look him in the eye.”

  “Noted and moving on,” Ave said with a curt nod. “It is possible. Grier said as much.”

  Gabe sighed. “Decapitation. Total evisceration. Exsanguination.”

  “Exsanguination?” Ava asked with a grimace.

  For the millionth time Gabe felt ill at the part he had played at pulling someone as sweet and innocent as Ava into this wretched mess. He needed to get her out of it. It was his responsibility to get her out of it. It was the only way for him to atone for pulling her in.

  “Total and complete blood loss,” he finally explained when he realized she was waiting for an answer.

  “Is that even possible?” she wondered, looking horrified.

  “It is. I believe it’s the chosen method of the archangels.”

  Ava remembered the blood that had poured from Gabe at Grier’s hands. Exsanguination did indeed seem like an angelic alternative. She shuddered at the thought. “Those are the only ways?”

  “Impaling the heart, causing an immediate cessation of the heartbeat also works.”

  “So any way you look at it, killing a Nephilim is messy business.”

  “Yes.”

  They sat in silence, the immensity of the situation weighing heavily on both of their moods. Gabe had a choice to make aoict siznd both had treacherous outcomes. He could put his faith, his almost non-existent faith, in a higher power and let that guide him on his almost hopeless path of trying to trap a demon. A path that had such an unlikelihood of succeeding that Gabe was terrified he’d be sacrificing so much for nothing.

  The other choice was equally as unthinkable in its own way. But it was the only choice he knew with certainty that Ava would not suffer. He could make her death swift and nearly painless.

  Ava had told him once that there were some things in life that you needed to get right the first time. There were no do-overs. If ever there was a time in his life to get something right, this was it. He sighed wearily, feeling defeated.

  “I can’t take this anymore,” Ava said as she jumped up.

  Gabe looked at her, alarmed, fearful that somehow she, too, had seen into his thoughts.

  “I thought talking would help but it’s not. It’s only making me think too much,” she quietly explained as she grabbed his hand. “What I really need is a distraction.”

  “What kind of distraction?” Gabe wondered—curious— as Ava led him to the bedroom. She pulled him down onto the bed with her. “Are you asking me to corrupt you?” he teased.

  Ava didn’t smile when she answered. “You could corrupt me just a little. Because if not now, when? I may not live to see next week.”

  It was the truth and he knew he should be appalled. But he wasn’t. He chided himself for being just evil enough not to care.

  Chapter 24

  “I hate this,” Ava said, not for the first time. “I hate this so much. I’m not used to feeling so helpless.” She hated the idea of doing nothing, yet she knew that if she were to try to intervene, she would likely only get in the way.

  “I know,” Gabe agreed. “But this isn’t really your fight. It’s mine. It has to be mine so whatever happens, you need to trust me.”

  She nodded. “I realize we’ve gone over this a dozen times but I just need to hear it once more before we get there,” Ava said. “I know you asked me not to engage in conversation with him. You don’t need to worry about that. I don’t intend to.”

  She had barely slept the night before, only dozing off for a few hours at dawn. Yet, being tired did not even cross her mind. She had no way of knowing that Gabe had not slept at all. Once Ava had fallen asleep, he had simply watched her; not wanting to miss a single second of holding her as their time together came to an end.

  The day was over far too soon. She was sitting on his lap, her arm looped across his shoulder, his arms wrapped tightly around her. She was trying, unsuccessfully, to not appear as terrified as she felt. She was, after all, about to come face to face with a demon. A demon that wanted her dead. Not even being this close to Gabe could completely calm her fears.

  Gabe patiently went over the plan one more time. “Grier has already placed the sigils in the church. She carved them with a special blade. Once the etchings are set, she traces over them in her blood. That’s where she is right now. When I was with Azael last night, I agreed to hand you over to him. That’s why he was willing to give us twenty-four hours. He’ll meet us there. As much as I hate it, we will essentially have to use you as bait. With any luck, he’ll walk into the church, into the trap. The plan is simple. The question is whether not it will work, meaning whether or not it will hold.”

  When Ava didn’t speak after several long, drawn out moments Gabe dared a glance at her.

  “What aren’t you telling me?” she asked.

  “What do you mean?”

  “You won’t look at me. It’s like you’re hiding something.”

  “What would I be hiding?” Gabe asked, trying to look at her this time. He couldn’t. His eyes slipped away from her face.

  “Gabe?” Her voice had taken on an edge of something that went far beyond simple concern.

  “We must go.”

  Ava startled in Gabe’s lap at the sound of Grier’s voice. “I wish you would use a door,” she muttered.

  “I have no use for a door. Are you ready?” She directed this question to Gabe. He shook his head and closed his eyes. He would never be ready for what he knew was to come.

  Ava slid her fingers under his chin. He opened his eyes to meet hers. “Have faith. Remember? You promised me.”

  He nodded because he could not speak.

  “How are we getting there?” Ava asked. “I don’t have my car.”

  “I need a car as much as I need a door,” Grier reminded her. She reached for Gabe and Ava, grabbing each of them by an elbow. In the next breath they found themselves in a dilapidated church that Ava vaguely remembered from her childhood.

  The pews had all been pulled out. The inside was covered with years of dust and grime. The bare walls looked desolate. They stood in the middle of the building, in the nave. The doors leading out into an unkempt lawn on one end, the single step leading up to the altar on the other.

  “Where’s the demon’s snare?” Ava asked, her eyes searching for it.

  “We’re standing in it,” Gabe told her in a pained tone.

  “Grier!” Ava cried as she took Gabe by the hand. She pulled him to the front of the church, up the step so they were near
the altar. “Is that better?”

  Gabe nodded but refused to meet her eyes. He was afraid that if he did, she would be able to see inside of his soul…if he had one. He did not want her to be afraid. He did not want her to know what he was about to do.

  “I don’t see it,” Ava told Grier who had joined them.

  “It is not meant for you to see,” Grier explained. With a wave of her hand a bejeweled blade appeared in her palm. The stones were unusual vibrant shades of violet and cerulean. Ava wasn’t entirely sure that they were even from this world.

  “Come here, Ava,” she commanded. “I need to mark you as a precaution. Azael may still be able to take you if you are marked with my blood but it will make it harder for him.” She reached for her hand but Ava withdrew.

  “Wait!” she said, turning to Gabe and finding herself folded in his arms. She knew once she was marked, if it were enough to keep Azael away, it would make Gabe miserable, at the very least. “When this is over, promise we’ll be together.”

  “I promise to love you forever,” he said instead. He was trembling as badly as she was. If he could only hold on to hy h>

  “You love me?” Ava asked, feeling needy and childish that she was asking for confirmation here and now when so much was at stake.

  “I love you more than you can possibly imagine.” He leaned forward and kissed her then. Afraid his words would give him away.

  “Ava, he is here,” Grier grimly announced. “I can feel him. I need to mark you now.” Grier took the blade in her hand and swiped at her fingertip. Golden blood began to swell and a droplet fell to the floor.

  Gabe was the first to let go. He gently nudged Ava toward Grier. Grier handed Gabe the dagger. She quickly marked Ava with her blood, smearing it on the back of her neck and across her palms. Ava had been expecting this. She knew it was just a precaution. One that Gabe had begged Grier to provide. Ava had been surprised that she’d relented as she did not have explicit permission to help in this way.

  “Finally, we meet!” Azael boomed as he strode into the center of the church.

  Immediately, the floor beneath him began to blaze allowing Ava to see for the first time the etchings that she knew Grier had so meticulously carved into the floor. A circle enclosed a hexagram, two interlinked triangles. An archangel’s sigil was etched into each of the six tips and the sigil of the archangel Gabriel was at the center.