Inception

by Teal Haviland

  “My book is open to you, sweets.”

  “Sweets?”

  “I thought it would be a little premature to call you love … love.”

  Lucas was flirting, and Gabrielle was enjoying it.

  “Sweets doesn’t always describe my mood, so it may not be an appropriate pet name. And love may be a little pre—”

  “But … I am falling in love with you, Gabby. I don’t see a reason to deny it. Facts are facts. Love is love—love.”

  Lucas smiled his crooked smile, making him irresistible. She abandoned her swing and made her way to the human she too felt she was completely, recklessly, falling in love with.

  “You shouldn’t interrupt your elder,” she said. “Or a lady. I was going to say, a pet name of love may be a little premature, but I like the sound of it anyway.”

  “Oh.” Lucas stood. He placed a hand on each side of her face and caressed her cheeks with his thumbs. He didn’t make a move to kiss her, and she was glad. There was something very important about the moment Gabrielle didn’t quite understand. She felt the connection between them growing, stitching them together as they looked into each other’s eyes. This was one of those moments, a little miracle, she felt people didn’t thoroughly absorb. She was glad he seemed to want to linger in it as long as she did.

  A Frisbee that had lost its way landed at Gabrielle’s feet, moving them back into the world they’d removed themselves from. As Lucas threw it back, Gabrielle looked up and smiled, wondering if it was Yahuwah’s way of getting her back on track.

  “What’s that smile for?”

  She took her gaze off the heavens and let it fall back on Lucas, still smiling. “Oh, nothing … so, back to you being in the hot-seat.”

  “Ahh … yes,” he responded a little apprehensively.

  “I need to know what happened between you and Mara. I want all the details. How you met, things she said, maybe something that happened you thought was off.” Gabrielle didn’t want to come right out and tell him Mara was a demon.

  Finding out a demon was in his life first … then me. That’s a lot to accept.

  She wondered how he’d take the news that he’d … been involved … with one of the Fallen.

  Lucas laughed, but there was no humor accompanying it. “Hmm … I’m not sure where to even begin. The whole thing was trippy, off, like you said.” He took her hand, and they started to walk again. “I met her after school let out for the summer. She’d just moved here from some little town up in Kentucky. I can’t recall the name. She was really cool, at first. And with her being easy on the eyes and possibly fun to hang with, I thought what the heck? Then, after about three weeks of some really hot times together …” Lucas looked at Gabrielle, seeming to realize what he’d just said.

  “Don’t worry. I won’t say I want to hear everything, but I need to. I can handle it.” She smiled at him for encouragement though she hated hearing about him with Mara.

  “Well, I’m sure you get the gist without those details. Long story short, she became strange. She started showing this unusual mean streak, seemed to get pleasure from other people’s pain—emotional and physical. She just generally became—well—evil, or something. She went from wearing bright colors and girly clothes to wearing dark, mostly black clothes. There’s nothing wrong with black, but when it matches the person’s mood, it isn’t quite the same thing as a simple color preference. And her eyes, they were this pretty shade of hazel, but they turned more yellowish-green. When I asked, she said she had contacts, but I didn’t believe her. I sensed something was very wrong, so I made a break from her.”

  Lucas stopped at a bench, and they sat down.

  “But why were you so angry with her when you saw her at school last week? What was that about?”

  “Patience … love.” He said the last word as if he was testing the waters. “I didn’t hear anything from her for a couple of weeks, and then she shows up at my front door. I caught a glimpse of her when I was coming to open it and asked Gran to tell her I wasn’t there. Now that I think about it, Gran seemed leery about answering it herself. I guess she sensed there was something wrong with her before she even saw her. When she opened the door and told Mara I wasn’t there, she shoved Gran across the room and screamed, ‘You lying bitch!’ She just went psycho, like a switch flipped inside her. I think the only reason I got Mara out of the house so easily was because I caught her off-guard. She had to be extraordinarily strong to send Gran flying across the room like that. I guess I should have thought it was stranger at the time, but it still freaked me out.

  “Anyway, I tackled her with so much force that it sent both of us back through the open door. We ended up on the porch and almost down the stairs. I got up and told her to leave and not to come back, or I’d call the police. Then, I went back in and closed the door. She laughed this wicked laugh. Seriously, Gabby, it was more like a cackle. It gave me chills. I heard her outside talking to herself and laughing that laugh for several minutes until she finally left. That first day of school was the first time I had seen her since.”

  “That certainly explains your hostility.”

  “There’s more. That day you saw her with me and got upset, that was the creepiest. I didn’t tell you about it before because I thought you would think I was a loon.” Lucas paused to consider his words. “It’s hard to explain. And it might all just be in my head.”

  Lucas went on to tell her what had happened, and Gabrielle listened carefully. By the time he’d finished, she determined he hadn’t made the connection that Mara was more than off.

  “I bet the Mara you met originally is still in there, just pushed so far down she can’t get out. Possession is more common than people think, and it’s very powerful. A demon can be sneaky in its possession, only come out from time to time, or it can be all-consuming and just take full control abruptly. It sounds to me that, for Mara, it’s the latter. I can help her, if it’s Yahuwah’s will.”

  “Why wouldn’t it be? Why would He want someone to be possessed?” Lucas asked in a baffled, almost angry tone.

  “Lucas, you have to have faith He has a plan even when you don’t think His hand is in a situation at all. He knows everything that’s happening. Well, with the exception of some things He agreed with Ramai to be in the dark about, but that’s a story for another time. But if it isn’t His will, He intervenes or uses it to His advantage. It all works out in the end, as long as the person has faith.”

  “I get the faith thing. Really, I do. But if you’re right and she is possessed by a demon, it just doesn’t seem to be fair. She seemed like a decent girl—a little loose, maybe, but who am I to judge? She wasn’t alone in fooling around while we were together. But other than that, she seemed really decent. What made me any better? Why’d she get possessed and not me?”

  “Lucas, you didn’t know her long, and I don’t know her at all. We don’t have enough information about her to understand if she was somehow inviting a demon into her life. Even if she didn’t know what she was doing. A lot of times, that doesn’t even matter. If a demon wants to possess a human, there isn’t always a way to avoid it.”

  “I’d still like to see her okay again—to be a normal teenager.”

  “I believe the use of normal and teenager together in the same sentence is what is called an oxymoron—isn’t it?”

  Lucas shot her a playful warning glance. Before Gabrielle could get two steps away, she was lying on the ground with Lucas on top of her, tickling her sides as she laughed and begged for mercy.

  Mercy came as his warm lips pressed firmly against hers, and she surrendered to him without protest. She didn’t know if she could resist if she wanted to.

  As the sun reached its rays out to touch their skin one last time before it fell asleep for the night, Gabrielle felt Lucas press his body hard against hers like he was trying to melt into her. She was glad it was getting dark. There was nothing except how he made her feel and how she made him feel in return.

 
The images flashed so quickly she almost didn’t pay attention. When they came the second time, they weren’t as fleeting. She sucked in a sharp breath as the vision, full of screams and terror and death, played out in her mind. Gabrielle sat up so quickly she nearly threw Lucas to the side, leaving him scrambling the rest of the way off her. He knelt next to her with a stunned expression.

  “Gabby! What’s wrong?”

  She didn’t answer. She couldn’t. The vision was vivid, playing in front of her like it was on a movie screen.

  “Gabrielle! Please! You’re scaring me!”

  The panic in his voice broke through her concentration as she tried to figure out how she might be able to stop the vision from happening. As the images in her mind faded away, she focused on Lucas. He looked at her with wide, expectant eyes—desperation dominating his expression.

  “Lucas … I’m sorry. I just had a powerful vision, and it took me by surprise. I saw …” She wasn’t sure how to tell him or even if she should.

  “What, Gabby? What did you see?”

  “It was you. You, Nate, and Nonie. You were being attacked.”

  “What? By who?”

  Lucas began to calm slightly. Maybe he didn’t think what she saw was as alarming as he’d thought, but it was. He just wasn’t thinking about the right kind of attacker or, in this case, predator.

  “The appropriate question is by what, Lucas.”

  He looked at her, puzzled. She could tell he was losing patience with her as she began to get lost in the vision again when he let out a huff. She looked at him for a moment longer and hoped he would be as accepting of this information as he had been about her.

  “Lucas, you’re really going to have to have an open mind about this and trust me when I say there are things that people don’t believe exist but are quite real.”

  His head moved quickly in an exasperated nod.

  “You were being attacked by the Damned, Lucas—by the Qalal.”

  Lucas’s expression was one of confusion. She realized he didn’t know them by the name she gave.

  “Humans call them vampires.”

  CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

  GABRIELLE ~ THE FANTASTICAL WORLD

  “Vampires?” Lucas asked in disbelief.

  Gabrielle nodded, knowing he’d have a hard time wrapping his mind around this. It was enough for him to accept angels and demons, but now, he was faced with something he probably never considered possible.

  They had barely spoken as they walked back to her townhouse, both deep in thought about her vision. Once inside, they went straight into the kitchen and sat at the counter bar. When Lucas spoke, he seemed to be in a trance, his tone flat and distant.

  “Blood sucking, red eyed, incredibly strong and fast, burst into flames in sunlight, stake through the heart, sleeps in a coffin—vampires.”

  “I’ve never known any who actually sleep in a coffin, and they don’t burst into flames in the sunlight, but other than that, yes. However, they are called Qalal, and they don’t exist for the reasons Hollywood would have you believe.”

  “I hope you’re going to enlighten me, then. If I’m going to be scrapping with them, I need all the information I can get.”

  “Qalal exist for one reason; they don’t value human life. They are those of your society who choose to murder or commit suicide. Hollywood has one thing right—they are damned. Their punishment isn’t turning into a monster with an insatiable urge for blood for eternity, though. It’s living that eternity with the absence of Yahuwah’s love and Light. It might not sound bad, but it leaves them an empty shell. Nothing, not even the blood they crave, ever satisfies them. The longer they go without Grace, the more they realize what they have forsaken. If they choose to take human lives, it becomes harder to deny their thirst the longer they live by that choice. As their craving worsens, the absence of Yahuwah’s love and Light is felt more profoundly. It becomes a miserable existence, but they don’t realize how bad it will get until it’s too late.”

  Lucas went to the refrigerator and got them Cokes, handing one to Gabrielle as he asked a question. “What happens if they don’t kill people?”

  “Unlike the Fallen, they have the opportunity to earn redemption. If they prove they value human life by not killing or turning humans, they can regain their soul. It takes a very long time to convince Yahuwah of their sincerity, though. Most give into their urges. But some attain redemption. If they do, they become Guardians—protecting and guiding humans. They aren’t quite angels, and it isn’t how humans typically exist in Heaven, but it allows them to ascend, and it beats Hell or remaining Qalal.”

  “How do they survive if they don’t drink blood?”

  “There isn’t anything they can’t eat; they just don’t want anything else. Animal blood helps dull their desire for what they really want, but the craving for human blood is severe. To refrain is agonizing, especially at first. Eventually, if they are able to keep from giving in to their wantings, it gets easier.”

  “So, why can’t they go into sunlight if it doesn’t kill them?”

  “They can but usually don’t. The sun represents the Divine light of Yahuwah, hence something they are not allowed to enjoy. It drains their energy. Pretty quickly, actually. It leaves them in a drug-like stupor for days, and it takes a long time to regain their strength. When they do go outside in the day, it’s usually only so for short periods of time.”

  Gabrielle stopped talking, letting the information find its place in Lucas’s mind. He didn’t say anything for several minutes, and she imagined he was trying to get a handle on his ever-changing reality.

  “What else exists that most people don’t believe in?”

  “Do you really want to know, Lucas? I’m not sure you’ll believe me if I tell you.”

  Lucas didn’t answer right away, then nodded reluctantly.

  “There are all kinds of fantastical creatures people don’t think literally exist. There is what you call werewolves, but they aren’t what you think. Then, you have fairies, dwarves, goblins, and numerous nature spirits. The—”

  “I think that’s enough for now,” Lucas interrupted. Gabrielle wasn’t surprised. He seemed to grow paler with every word she spoke. “Go back to the werewolves. You said they aren’t what I think, so what are they?”

  “Werewolves are actually shape shifters. They can shift into any animal form they want, but wolves are the traditional choice. Shifters are a very old variation of humans, but they live far longer. In their case, the dog years comparison you use for how fast a dog ages compared to a human would be reversed. You age at a much faster rate than they do. I know one shifter, Grayson, who looks like he’s about your age, but he’s actually one hundred and eight.”

  “You actually know a werewolf? Have had conversations with it?”

  “Not it, him. I interact with many Shifters. I have relationships with many who live in Enchantment and Shadows. There are times I call on them to assist me in my work, and I have close relationships with some because I’ve worked with them for so long.”

  Lucas slumped into the counter more, looking tired and worried, but Gabrielle could tell he wasn’t ready to stop the conversation. She could almost hear his mind racing through the information, trying to seek answers to all the questions he had.

  “Back to the vampire attack you saw in your vision—what do you make of it?”

  “That’s perplexing, because out of all the Shadow creatures, I have the least amount of contact with them. But usually Qalal operate very discretely. As a whole, they stick to a few strict rules. An attack like I saw in my vision would be surprising.”

  “What can we do?” Lucas’s concern was written deeply in the furrows between his brows and the frantic look in his eyes.

  “Well, first I’ll meet with their Elders and confront them with my vision to see what I can find out. It could be they, or a rogue coven, are planning something. I may not find out, though. They can be deceitful, but they know it would be a very bad i
dea to lie to me. It might turn out that they have no knowledge of anything concerning the vision. If the latter is the case, I should have their assistance in my search for who these particular Qalal are.”

  Lucas squinted at her. “Why would they want to help you?”

  “Refraining from killing or turning humans isn’t the only way to help themselves regain their souls. You could say they score additional points if they assist me when I need them. They’ve helped countless times in my work. That, and they’re aware of my abilities, so they’ll be wary of crossing me.”

  “In your work?” Lucas raised his brows. “How?”

  “I’ve been given the power to use those that live in Shadows and Enchantment at my discretion in order to deal with—certain—situations.”

  “That doesn’t sound pleasant.”

  Gabrielle smiled. “It’s not. But that’s the point.” She paused. “We need to begin preparing for the attack.”

  “When will it be?” There was a frantic edge to his tone.

  “I don’t have the specific date, but we should have some time.”

  “How do you know?”

  “The attack was outside, and I saw heavy snow falling. So, unless everyone goes on a ski trip, or there’s some crazy weather in Tennessee at the end of September, we have time to prepare. And to hopefully get more information.”

  “You’re sure about the snow?”

  “Yes. But premonitions and Knowings aren’t absolute. The result is usually unavoidable, but how it happens, and even when, can change.

  Lucas focused past Gabrielle to the kitchen cabinets, but she knew he saw nothing except the scenarios he was creating in his mind. After some time had passed, he turned his head slightly. He looked into Gabrielle’s eyes, his own pleading with her before any words escaped his lips. When they did, they came out in a faint whisper.

  “Gabby, you have to help us. Please.”

  She took his hand between hers and moved as close to him as she could with the counter still between them.