Cas leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “Are you dumb? Or just incredibly naïve and stupid? Can you imagine the effect it would have on humanity?” I opened my mouth to argue, but he spoke over me. “It would be devastating. Societies would collapse, there would be mass suicides, murders, and wars. Especially since not one Earth religion ever got it all right. The truth, well, what we know is represented in so many ways in so many religions. There would be chaos. Humanity needs to be protected from that.” His dark eyes bore uncomfortably into mine.
I tried to hold his gaze, but I had to look back at Sir Phillip, who nodded. “It is as Cassiel explained. We are comprised of members from all planes of existence, both human and supernatural, sworn to secrecy and the protection of humanity, even from itself, to a certain extent. Everyone who works for us knows the truth. And now, so do you. It goes without saying, you cannot repeat any of this outside of these walls.”
I raised my eyebrows at him. “Oh yeah, cause I’m dying to go and shout all this out on a street corner. Maybe if I’m quick, I’ll get committed in time for lunch.”
Sir Phillip gave me a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. “It is a lot to take in, and I realise it’s hard to understand that everything you’ve been told about Heaven and Hell is a lie. That’s why I’m glad Samuel is here.”
I heard Sam groan quietly next to me.
“Sam? Why?”
Sir Phillip glanced over at him. “As I said, the majority of people who work for the church are supernatural beings themselves. Samuel, would you mind demonstrating for Miss Matthews, please?”
It wasn’t really a request. Sam squeezed my hand before letting go and standing up. He moved behind the sofa to a space on the carpet and began to strip. As much as I’d wanted to see him naked tonight, I hadn’t planned on doing it in some old, creepy guy’s office with my ex looking on. Well, maybe Cas being there could have been quite fun, especially with how he reacted to me kissing Sam earlier. I could quite enjoy making the bastard jealous again, but definitely not the creepy old guy. When Sam got down to his underwear, he paused and glanced over at Sir Phillip, who nodded at him. Sam locked his blue eyes with mine, and then his body began to change. I jumped to my feet and stared in horror as fur began to grow, first on his chest then spreading down his legs and along his arms. His face was covered last, and by then, that was already changing shape, his mouth and nose pushing forward to form a muzzle as his teeth lengthened. He dropped to his knees, his legs and arms contorting to form four powerful legs. A tail rose behind him, and a growl came from his mouth as the transformation completed. I gaped, not realising I was backing away until I collided with a pair of knees and nearly landed in Cas’s lap.
He sighed with exasperation. “For pity’s sake, Faith. It’s just Sam.”
I jerked away from him and looked back at the very large, very real wolf that stood in front of us. With a movement that made me jump, he suddenly sat down and raised his hind leg to scratch behind his ear. I smiled slightly at the very domestic gesture and walked slowly, very slowly, around the chair. The wolf stropped scratching and sat very still. I edged forward, reaching out tentatively. His white fur was thick and warm, and he had grey over his face and legs, which deepened to black along his spine. I met his eyes, and familiar blue pupils gazed back at me.
“That’s... insane... amazing…” I glanced up at Sir Phillip. “So what are you? A demon?”
He laughed, though there was no warmth in it. “I am not, though I am amused that was your first assumption. I am a witch. A human descended from a bloodline that runs back to the beginning of the human race, when a group of angels came to Earth and damned themselves by mating with human women. Many of the stronger, more deformed offspring were slaughtered, but those that were more or less human remained and were permitted to survive. As a result of our angelic blood, we can manipulate the energies of the Earth, giving us abilities you humans would call magical.”
“Okay, now we have witches too. Are there... a lot of you?” I kept running my hands through Sam’s fur. It was lovely and thick, and I had a sudden urge to curl up with him and fall asleep. It was easier to pretend he was just a cuddly dog, and it had been a long night.
“Yes. All humanity has the ability to manipulate the energies of the Earth, but most don’t believe in it. Those who do are more powerful than others. We invite the ones that excel to join the Concordia, and also to keep an eye on their less skilled or experienced brothers and sisters to make sure they aren’t endangering themselves or anyone else.”
“Okay... so, my mother?” I wasn’t sure I was liking where this was all going, and to be honest, I wasn’t entirely sure I believed a word of it. He reminded me too much of the shrinks I’d seen in the past.
“Your mother is a witch, yes. She is fairly powerful, but not exactly in the top ranks. She specialises in ancient religious relics, which are often imbued with enchantments, spells, curses, and so on. She works to ensure they don’t fall into the hands of humans. Same for ancient documents that might attract too much attention. She is very good at her job. In the past, things have made it into museums and collections that should never have come to light. Thankfully, the Catholic Church doesn’t like anything that contradicts its monopoly, so they are also a handy accomplice, even if they aren’t actually aware that they are.”
“So, if all she was doing was archaeology, why would someone have taken her?” That was the part I just couldn’t work out.
Sir Phillip shrugged, an oddly casual gesture for him. “To be honest with you, Miss Matthews, I have no idea. Rose had her own projects running alongside those I gave her. There is the possibility she discovered something others wanted to acquire. Knowledge, or an artifact maybe. But without knowing more, I can’t give you any answers. May I ask what she has told you? When did you last speak to her?”
I sighed and came back to the sofa. Sam followed me, resting his head on my knee.
“I haven’t spoken to her in a while, bar a few text messages. She rang me earlier, I mean, last night, and left a message saying she had to go away tomorrow... today. She sounded strange, I don’t know.”
Sir Phillip gazed at me, his steely grey eyes hard under his bushy white eyebrows. “Anything else to go on? It doesn’t seem like much. You’re her daughter, surely you know more than this? Even about her current work projects.”
He didn’t seem happy with me, and his tone was really starting to annoy me.
“You know what? No, she doesn’t tell me about her current work projects. To be honest, we barely speak at all, really. Now she’s missing, and apart from all this churchy mumbo jumbo bollocks, you don’t seem to know shit! So don’t come across all preachy to me!”
He didn’t respond, just looked at me. I wondered whether he was trying to decide what to say, attempting not to lose his temper, or just shocked. By the way Sam and Cas acted around him, I bet he didn’t get spoken to this way very often. I took a deep breath, trying to tamp down my anger. Plus, he might, like, turn me into a frog or something.
“Look, sorry. It’s been a long night and I’m worried about her. On the phone message, she told me not to come to the house. I thought that was weird, but that’s all I know.”
He nodded. “Of course, Miss Matthews. I apologise if you felt I was in any way blaming you, that was not my intention. And you are correct, it has been a long night. Samuel, perhaps you could shift back now please.”
Sam made a quiet ruff noise and headed behind the sofa. I avoided looking at him as he got dressed again, as his underpants lay on the floor in shreds.
Sir Phillip sat quietly for a moment, tapping his fingers together and looking at each of us in turn. Finally, he turned to Cas. “Cassiel, I’m assigning your team as a security detail to Miss Matthews until this matter is resolved.”
I jumped to my feet with a loud, “What?” just as I heard Cas say, “Sir, no, we can’t…”
Sir Phillip glared at both of us. “I believe Miss M
atthews may need looking after. We don’t know the circumstances of her mother’s disappearance yet, so I think it would be safer for her at your house with you watching over her. I will dispatch a team to her apartment in the morning to make sure it has not been tampered with, and to pack some clothing for her for the foreseeable future.” Cas sat down heavily, his lips pressed in a thin line. He looked pissed, but nowhere nearly as much as I was.
“With all due respect, Sir Phillip. There is not the slightest fucking chance of me staying in a house with Cas, or with Sam either, seeing as we’ve only just met, and to be honest, I don’t trust any of you as far as I can throw you. I’ll be staying at my own place, and you can call me there to update me on what’s going on with Rose.” I stared down at him, watching as his face tightened. Clearly, he wasn’t used to being spoken to that way. He stood too, and while he wasn’t much taller than me, his presence seemed overbearing, and I felt my indignation crumble under his iron gaze.
“My dear, perhaps you do not understand the gravity of the situation. If your mother has been taken, it will be for something of major importance. Therefore, I would hazard a guess that if she does not have or cannot tell them the information they require, the people that have taken her may use you as leverage to force her to talk. I do not think you are obtuse enough to not comprehend what I mean. Besides caring for your general well-being, I also do not want to add to my agent’s vulnerability nor to the chance that she may then give away information that could compromise our mission here. Therefore, you will stay with Cassiel and his team, and they will protect you until this situation is resolved. If you do not agree, please remember that we do not fall under mortal jurisdiction. We can and will restrain you by force.”
I opened my mouth to argue, but then I felt Cas grip my upper arm tightly. “Oh, please give me a reason to restrain you.” He grinned darkly, and I glared up at him.
“If you drag me anywhere, it’ll be with me kicking and screaming,” I snapped. His grin widened, and he stepped closer to me. I jerked backwards. “Fine. I’ll go.”
He smiled pleasantly, as if I’d just agreed to meet him for lunch. Wanker. Sir Phillip also smiled in an annoyingly patronising way. “Good. Cassiel, I will keep you informed of the progress of the investigation.” Cas nodded and began to usher me out of the door, Sam following close behind us.
I paused for a moment and looked back into the room. “Sir Phillip? The magical abilities you spoke of... how did Rose get them? Did she learn them?”
Sir Phillip was just sitting down at his desk. “Magical abilities pass down through sacred bloodlines. Your mother is also descended from angels, though abilities do take a lot of study and practice to master. In short, no. Only faint magical remnants can be picked up by humans, even with decades to study. As you were adopted, it’s highly unlikely that you possess any significant magical ability. If you were by some small chance a descendant, then we have powerful charms set upon the front door which would have alerted me to it. They were not activated.”
I took a disappointed breath. It had been a long shot, after all. “Thanks, I just wanted to know for sure.” That I wasn’t anyone special, I silently added. Not that I was surprised. Why would I be?
Chapter Six
FAITH
I stayed quiet all the way downstairs and out to the bikes. Sam’s VW camper was pulled up next to my bike, but I ignored him as I climbed on and fastened my helmet. He sighed and got into the van.
“See you at home,” he called over to Cas, then he pulled out of the driveway and disappeared. Starting the bike, I swung it around slowly, waiting for Cas. He was looking at me with a weird expression.
“What?” I asked.
He shook his head. “Nothing, doesn’t matter.” Sliding his helmet on, he gestured towards the road. “We live closer to the coast, so we’ll cut onto the bypass near the bridge. It’s a bit of a drive.”
“Well, especially if you ride like an old lady,” I muttered.
“Oh really?” Cas laughed. “Well then, I can’t let that slide. Come on, Peaches. Make sure you keep up.” He revved the engine and took off in a shower of gravel. I followed him, keeping pace as we tipped and turned around corners, drove down smaller streets, and sped along larger ones. He glanced back at me as we approached the bypass, and I lifted a hand to wave at him. He answered by revving his bike again, and I did too, though I dropped back a little to create some distance between us. Not too much though. He turned off down the slip road to the long bypass that would lead us to the coastal road, and I indicated to do the same as he looked back to check I was following. He faced forward, and at the last moment, I swung back across the lanes, away from the slip road, and across the bridge. I opened the throttle, and my Softail zoomed away from the city, leaving Cas heading in the opposite direction.
He didn’t catch up with me on my way home, but I took a roundabout way to get there just in case. He’d never seen my current apartment, but I wouldn’t put it past him to be able to find out somehow. That organisation he worked for seemed pretty well funded, and I bet they had a lot of fingers in a lot of pies. It would be a cold day in hell when I went home willingly with Cas Hardy again.
The sky was growing light as I pulled up outside my apartment, and there was already traffic on the streets as people started their daily commutes. Stashing my bike securely in the lockup across the road from my building, I climbed the stairs slowly, still processing everything that had happened, trying to decide what to do next.
If I called the police, what would I tell them? That I’d waited this long because my ex-boyfriend showed up with a mate who could turn into a wolf and then told me that my mother was a witch? They would have me committed before I could say straitjacket. I sighed, pushing open the fire door to the corridor where my front door was. Maybe I should just do some research on this Concordia thing. Rose might not even be missing. She might have been attacked or something and just left. Maybe she went to the conference in a hurry and didn’t go back for her stuff first.
What the...?
I stopped a few metres from my front door. It stood slightly ajar, like someone had pulled it closed but not hard enough for it to latch. The lock was slightly dodgy, so I had developed the habit of always checking that it was properly closed before I left. I reached into my pocket and took out my knife, pushing the door open slowly. It swung inwards, and I stepped into my apartment, listening for any sound of an intruder. It was silent. Stepping carefully, I checked every room thoroughly. It didn’t take long, since it only consisted of a small hallway, bedroom, bathroom, and a slightly larger room that had a small kitchenette and a rather worn sofa. My TV and media box were still in place.
In fact, everything was as I’d left it, though had I called the police, they might have believed someone had ransacked the place—I wasn’t the tidiest person in the world. To my eye, though, there were small details that were wrong. The battered old trunk I used as a coffee table was straight on to the sofa. I usually had it at an odd angle, otherwise I always walked into it when I went to sit down. The empty cans of Diet Coke were still on top, but the pizza box from the night before was on the floor.
Someone had definitely been here, and they had been searching for something. I shivered at the thought of someone going through my stuff. Quickly rechecking the rest of the apartment, I shut and locked the door. After a moment of staring at the back of the locked door, which someone had already got through today, I went to my bedroom and started pushing at the heavy wardrobe. Luckily, it slid fairly easily along the laminate floor. The chest of drawers followed, then the chest, which I filled with books. As a last-ditch effort, I grabbed my weight set from the living room and hoisted the whole lot on top of the chest.
The sun was finally up when I checked every window and pulled all the curtains closed. I stripped off my leathers, donning an oversized Nirvana T-shirt, and plugged in my phone before I climbed into bed. I could barely keep my eyes open, and I knew I needed sleep before I did
anything else. I slipped the knife under my pillow and lay staring at the ceiling for a few minutes before admitting defeat and rolling over to grab a couple of the sleeping pills from my bedside table. They might not keep the nightmares away, but they’d knock me out pretty damn quickly, and right now, that was what I needed.
The sun was high in the sky when I woke to the sound of banging and yelling on my front door. I sat up and squinted at the brightness that invaded my otherwise dark room from the edges of the curtains. I squeezed my eyes shut again, but the banging continued. Rolling over and grabbing my phone, I saw I’d managed about three hours of sleep. I stretched and hauled myself off the bed. As I got near the door, I recognised Sam’s voice.
“What do you want?” I yelled, pausing in the hallway.
“Faith, is that you?”
I rolled my eyes. “No, it’s my landlord kicking me out cause of the nutter who’s banging on my door and disturbing my neighbours,” I called, moving closer to the door. There was a short pause.
“Sorry. Would you open up and let me in then?” He sounded somewhat contrite.
I cocked my head and thought for a moment. “Is Cas with you?”
“No. He thought it would be better if I came on my own.”
“Fine, hang on.” I sighed with relief and began shifting the furniture away from the door.
“Are you okay? What’s all that noise?” Sam shouted. I managed to move everything over enough to unlock the door and let him squeeze in. He stood in the hallway, surveying the furniture towers, and grinned at me. “Expecting a siege?”
I gave him a shove in response, then stepped past and locked the door behind him. He followed me into the kitchen, and I switched on my coffee machine, needing a serious caffeine boost.
“I’m impressed,” he remarked.
I looked at him. “With my coffee machine?”
Nephilim the Awakening (Wrath of the Fallen Book 1) Page 6
