Inception

by Teal Haviland

  “Gabrielle,” she said as she approached. “What a pleasure it is to meet the girl who’s made my grandson beam.” Emma hugged Gabrielle. She immediately liked Emma—very much. She felt an immediate kinship between them.

  “It’s so nice to meet you, too.”

  “Hi, Gran.” Lucas leaned and gave Emma a kiss on the cheek. “I would’ve gone to get this for you.” He took the milk from her and started toward the kitchen.

  “Oh, I didn’t want Gabrielle to be waiting for you.” Emma smiled at her again.

  There was something about Emma that Gabrielle couldn’t quite figure out that made her want to talk to her. Not about Lucas, TV, movies, or news—she wanted to sit with her and tell her about her visions, Javan, the Book, demons somehow becoming more powerful, and the war. Things Gabrielle knew she couldn’t speak of to her.

  “Time for dinner!” Lizzie called.

  They went into the kitchen and sat at a long wooden table. Lizzie had already set large bowls of spaghetti, salad, and a basket almost overflowing with garlic bread on the table. It smelled and looked wonderful. Ben said grace, and after all the food had been passed around, the family and their guest settled into comfortable conversation.

  Gabrielle quickly found out that the twins got their bantering lessons straight from their parents and that she wasn’t immune as a target. By the end of dinner and dessert, everyone was laughing and poking fun at each other. Ben even praised Gabrielle for a few of the zingers she’d thrown out.

  The time passed quickly, and before she knew it, it was almost eight. The twins, Lucas, and Gabrielle cleaned up the kitchen while Emma, Lizzie, and Ben took their coffee to the family room, and Chloe went to her room.

  Lucas whispered in her ear as they stood next to each other drying the dishes Nonie was washing and Nate was putting away, “They really like you. I can tell. Especially Gran.”

  His mouth being so close to her ear, him speaking so breathy and warm into it, made Gabrielle’s eyes close as a sensational chill ran through her body. She forced her eyes to open again.

  “I like them, too,” she whispered back as she regained control over her body.

  She did like them. It had been a pleasant evening full of smiles and laughter. But the good feeling she had with the two families had been interrupted repeatedly throughout dinner by a worrisome one. She continued to feel watched … stalked. She was sure someone, or something, was lurking just on the fringes of her awareness. It disturbed her, but she couldn’t raise her veils to try to discern who or what it might be without putting everyone at risk. Trying to figure it out would have to wait.

  After the dishes were done, they joined the rest of the family to watch another game. Ben, Lizzie, and Emma were on the couch Nonie and Nate had been on earlier, so the teens sat together on the other one. The conversation and laughter continued for the rest of the evening, and Gabrielle was surprised when it was time to leave. She said her goodbyes and thanked Ben and Lizzie, then walked to her car with Lucas.

  “It’s been a really great day, Lucas,” Gabrielle said.

  She leaned against her car, and Lucas stood in front of her, reaching for her hands.

  “Yeah.” He kissed one hand. “It was.” Then the other. “You really do look amazing tonight. I could barely keep my eyes off of you.”

  Gabrielle leaned forward and whispered in his ear. “So … are you ever going to kiss me somewhere closer to my lips again?”

  She barely finished speaking before his mouth was on hers. The kiss was soft but long. Her mind spun, and the warmth flowing through her found very specific places to burn. Gabrielle pulled away, placing her forehead to his chest when she felt herself beginning to lose control as she had that morning. Amaziah’s words of caution repeated in her head.

  “I better go.” She sighed.

  “I guess so.” He was running his fingers gently through her hair, giving her the same raised bumps on her arms she had the first day of her incarnation; this time, it wasn’t from mint chocolate chip ice cream.

  As much as she hated to leave him, she did need to go. Tomorrow was Sunday, the only day of the entire week she would have to herself. She planned to put out more feelers about the Book, and maybe see if she could find out what Javan was up to.

  Thinking of Javan reminded her that she needed to see if she could get more information from Lucas about Mara, but it was too late to do it now. Gabrielle ran her hands slowly up and down his chest, feeling how solid with muscles he was and his heart beating steady and smooth. She wondered what it would feel like to do the same thing without his shirt, which sent a fresh flash of heat through her. She shook the thought out of her mind. Once again, being in human form was proving to be a challenge for her self-control.

  “You okay?” Lucas asked.

  “Yeah,” she laughed, “I’m great, actually.”

  “See you Monday?” Lucas kissed her hands again and then her forehead.

  “Definitely.”

  He kissed her gently again before she got into her car and pulled away.

  Gabrielle made it only a couple of houses down before she lifted the veil in her mind and felt the full intensity of being watched. There was no mistaking someone was out there. When she looked in her rear view mirror, she knew why.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  GABRIELLE ~ OLD FLAME

  A couple of houses down from the Daniels’ home sat a black Mercedes. Javan must have been using a glamour, or she would have visually seen him.

  Great … more surprises.

  Gabrielle reached the top of the street and turned the corner, parking as fast as she could. Before Lucas had even closed the door to his house, Gabrielle was manifesting near the Mercedes. Everything around her was unmoving, except for Mara and Javan, as mortal time was suspended.

  They stepped out of the car at the same time. Javan’s black clothes matched his hair, his bad-boy demeanor enhanced by a faint scar that ran jaggedly from his left ear across part of his jaw line and faded at his Adam’s apple. Gabrielle was sure his striking looks, added to the attitude, would have human girls falling all over him. She was also sure he enjoyed it excessively, and she hated thinking of what he might be doing to them.

  “Intimate little evening you had tonight, babe. Not to mention the fun you had today. Who knew you would enjoy … playing with the likes of humans. Really, Gabrielle, I expected much more from you.” Javan slowly, deliberately, walked toward Gabrielle.

  “Then I guess that gets us closer to even since you more than let me down decades ago, Javan. What do you want?” Gabrielle motioned for him not to come any closer to her. He smiled and complied.

  “There was a time you couldn’t wait for me to be near you. To caress and kiss you similar to how that boy was moments ago. Only, I must say, you seemed to derive much more enjoyment when I was doing the touching.” He shot her a knowing, evil grin.

  Gabrielle’s heart sank from seeing what Javan had become. She had a hard time accepting that the demon she saw before her was the angel she had cherished for so long. She didn’t understand what had happened to him, but it didn’t matter. He was her enemy now.

  And I am his.

  Gabrielle hardened herself. “I wouldn’t be so sure of that, Javan. What do you want?” She was already beginning to feel the effects of the bad karma she had handed out earlier, and if things escalated with Javan, it would soon be a bigger problem. She needed to put an end to this quickly. She wasn’t ready to do battle with him, not yet. She needed time to let what he had become sink in so she could handle what she would possibly have to do to him.

  Mara remained behind the open passenger door. She was beautiful, her chartreuse eyes emphasized by the black hood of her sweatshirt resting just above her brows. The effect drew attention to the intensity of her glare. She didn’t make any movement toward Gabrielle, but the demon didn’t take her eyes off her, either.

  Mara looks like an evil version of me.

  Javan began to pace slowly in fr
ont of Gabrielle.

  “What do I want? I want a lot of things, Gabrielle. Or should I call you Gabby, too?” He cut his eyes at her. “I want to rule over humans. I want dominion over Heaven, Earth, and Hell. I want Yahuwah, and Ramai to fall on their knees before me.” He stopped pacing and stood in front of Gabrielle. She thought she saw the harshness of his eyes soften slightly. “I want you, Gabrielle.”

  His tone was kind, and she thought she heard sincerity in it. The pain of no longer having the love they once shared closed in around her, making it hard to breathe. Gabrielle noticed Mara flinch at his last statement, and she wondered how close the two demons were.

  “You can’t have me, Javan. We can’t be together, now. You knew that when you made the decision to rebel, to fall.”

  “Unless you join me.” Javan moved closer to Gabrielle and put his hands on her arms.

  The dark feeling it caused surged through her body and made her stomach churn. She felt sick.

  “Imagine, Gabrielle, how it would feel to be together again. You could live without all the rules that restrain you. I could still be your Reyah … and you could still be mine.”

  “Get your hands off me, Javan. Unless you want things to get really messy.” Gabrielle glared at him. If he didn’t take his hands off her quickly, Lizzie’s dinner was going to revisit her for sure. “Seriously … your touch isn’t pleasurable anymore, Javan. It makes me feel vile.”

  She saw his eyes harden again, and he let her go. He took a few steps back and stopped.

  “If you joined with me, Gabrielle, I assure you my touch would bring you deeper ecstasy than you ever imagined possible.” He smiled and glanced back at the demon behind him. “Just ask Mara.”

  She heard Mara snicker.

  Guess that answers that question, she thought with disgust.

  Gabrielle felt her stomach toss again as it threatened to unleash its contents.

  “You basically have two choices … Gabby. Stay on the side you’re on, and die. Or take your place with me, and live. I’ll give you some time to think about it, my sweet—angel. But not too much. Time is running out for your God—and your kind.”

  Javan made his way back to his car, and both he and Mara disappeared behind the dark tinted glass.

  Gabrielle didn’t know how long she stood in the street, but when she finally moved, she realized she was trembling. She turned to walk to her car, needing the time it would take to get back to it on two human feet. She glanced at Lucas standing perfectly still in his doorway, mid-turn, about to close the door behind him, and worried about the danger he was now in.

  And it’s because of me.

  As she turned her attention back to the road in front of her, she thought she saw a shadow move past the window next to Lucas. Gabrielle stopped abruptly. Her mind sprinted through possibilities of who, or what, could be moving in Lucas’s house.

  Nothing should be.

  Gabrielle made her way up the sidewalk to the brick bungalow and cautiously walked up the porch steps. Carefully, she inched around Lucas and stepped into the family room. The decor was cozy and in deep, rich colors. It reminded her of the way an English manor would be decorated, only more relaxed. It felt very comfortable even though she was tense.

  “Hello, dear.”

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  GABRIELLE ~ THE NEPHILIM

  Gabrielle jumped at the sound of the voice. She looked over to see Emma, sitting in an overstuffed chair located in the far front corner of the room, smiling at Gabrielle.

  “Emma, is there something you need to tell me?” Gabrielle’s mind swiftly jumped from one possibility to the next. There could be only one answer to explain this though. Gabrielle was wide-eyed, stunned.

  “Isn’t it obvious?” Emma got up, walked to Gabrielle, and touched her cheek with her hand. “I have Divine blood. There would be no other way I could be talking to you like this.” Emma gestured to everything suspended in time. “Is there?”

  Gabrielle was really getting tired of surprises.

  “Of course not,” she said through an exasperated sigh and walked to the closest chair, one at the dining room table, and plopped down on it. “You’re not one of the Fallen. I can tell that much.” She studied Emma, realizing little things that she should have noticed earlier. Like the way her eyes sparkled with a light not quite human, or how warm her touch was, or—more than everything else and completely obvious to her now—the melodic tone to her voice. She finally relaxed and smiled at Emma, ready to ask the question she wanted and needed to know. “So what happened? How did you come to live as a human?”

  “No, Gabrielle. I wasn’t cast out of Heaven by Yahuwah or sent here as a punishment. I was an angel, though. I chose to live as a human, but I still have my memories of my time as an angel. A few other things stayed with me, as well.”

  “Well, I guess that explains why I wanted to bare my soul to you back at the Daniels’ home. I felt the kinship between us. Why did you give up living as an angel with Yahuwah to be here?”

  “Oh … I think you’re closer to understanding my reason than you realize.” Emma motioned to Lucas and sat in the chair across the table. “I fell in love with a human. Much like I expect you are with my Lucas.” She smiled at Gabrielle, reached across the table, and took her hands in her own.

  Gabrielle nodded her head.

  “If you’re the Gabrielle I’m thinking you are, I’m honored to be in your presence and frightened by the things I imagine could have brought you to the decision to be here. Are you Gabrielle, The Angel of Karma?”

  Gabrielle nodded again, then filled Emma in on the reasons she decided to live as she was and all she knew of the Book of Barabbadon. When she finished, Emma looked tired and worried. She stood and walked over to Lucas, looking back at her once she reached him.

  “Who was the demon you spoke to outside?”

  Gabrielle smiled weakly, not wanting to dwell on thoughts of Javan any longer. “That was Javan. My former Reyah.”

  Emma knew what it would mean to lose a Reyah and let the subject drop, changing it quickly to a new one. “I have to tell you, Gabrielle, I liked you already as Lucas’s friend, very much.” She smiled, then turned her attention back to Lucas, studying his face as if it was the first time she’d ever seen him. “Even though we’ve just met, I had a good feeling about you. I’m sure that was me sensing our kinship, too. But now I’m very concerned about his safety. You know the danger he’s in because of you.” She turned her full attention to Gabrielle. Her expression clearly showed her fears and that she had more to say. “But he already was … because of who he is.” A tear spilled free of her eye and fell down her cheek.

  “What do you mean?” Gabrielle waited as Emma regained control of her emotions.

  “I’ve already told you how I made the decision to become a human because I fell in love with one, but there’s more to it.” Emma paused, seemingly trying to decide where to begin. “There’s a prophecy. You, and every person who believes in Yahuwah, know of it. Most of the rest of the world does, as well. The prophecy of the coming of the Destroyer and the Great War coming to an end.” She sat back down at the table with Gabrielle, her expression stoic as she continued.

  “As an angel, I’d just risen in rank within the Choir of the Powers and was sent to protect Mason, Lucas’s grandfather, who was just a child at the time. I wasn’t told much at first, except his bloodline would play a role in the coming of the Destroyer. I didn’t know if that meant his lineage would be positive, or negative, toward this prophecy. And it didn’t matter. It was what Yahuwah requested of me, so it’s what I did.

  “Over time, after Mason grew into a man and I had some interaction with him as a human myself …” Emma paused. “I’m sure you’ve come to realize when you choose to take human form, you also take on their emotions, desires, and tendencies.”

  Gabrielle nodded.

  “Well,” she continued, “to get to the point, it was while I would visit him in human form that I fell
in love with him and he with me. After that happened, it was impossible to deny what my heart wanted, and I asked Yahuwah to grant me life as a human so I could be with Mason. He did as I asked, but only if I agreed to retain my memories of my life as an angel so I could remember Mason’s importance. That way, even though I no longer had most of the abilities I once enjoyed, I could still do what I was able to in order to continue to protect Mason, along with the new guardian assigned to him. I agreed, of course, and began my life with him.”

  Emma excused herself and returned a few moments later with two glasses of sweet tea. “I was getting thirsty and thought you might be, too.” She handed Gabrielle the glass. After taking a long drink, Emma continued her story.

  “For a while, everything was just as I’d imagined it would be. Mason was nineteen, almost twenty, when I started my permanent human life with him. He had no idea about my origins, and I had no intention of telling him. Even though he was a believer in Yahuwah, the human mind finds a great deal of difficulty wrapping itself around the reality of Heavenly creatures or anything else they may consider fantastical. I didn’t want him to be driven away from me because of his possible inability to believe me. So I kept it from him.” A distant look came over her. She smiled, losing herself in thoughts. Gabrielle didn’t cut into her attention to the past.

  Memories are all she has of him now.

  Several minutes passed, and Emma came back to the present.