On silent feet, I padded toward the kitchen. A room where I could see better would help. Uncertain, I hesitated in the shadows next to the kitchen doorway. Yes, I would be able to see better in there—so would anyone else. Inching forward, I peeked one eye around the doorway.
The side door stood open. The door I distinctly remembered dead bolting when I came through it with the food. I slid back into the shadows and inched toward the stairs. My cell was in my room. Victoria was upstairs too. Maybe we could barricade ourselves in her bedroom while we dialed 911.
I started to take another step toward the stairs, but froze, not even breathing. Someone, something, was in there with me…
The blow came out of nowhere, sending me crashing into the far wall of the living room. The crack of drywall registered before the pain that lanced through my head and back. I didn’t have time to analyze whatever injuries I might have. A scream ripped through the air from upstairs at the same time whoever it was pounced on me.
In the light from the kitchen doorway, I only had a split second to see a man’s face, eyes glowing a feverish purple, before fangs flashed at me. Too terrified to move, it took me a second to realize he was gone, lying on the floor on the other side of the room. Between us stood the dark skinned man from the cemetery. He held a glowing white staff, streaked with green, which seemed to be pure energy.
“What the hell are you doing here?” I fumbled for his name, trying to remember it.
“Keeping you alive.” He didn’t take his attention from the guy on the floor.
“Why am I not surprised to see you here, Rowen?” the downed guy snarled and leaped to his feet.
For the first time, I got a good look at his face. My breath left in a gasp as fear locked my muscles down. It wasn’t exactly a man’s face. There was something vaguely animal in the features and there was no mistaking the fangs. I hadn’t imagined those.
Rowen shifted his stance. “I protect my own. You should know that.”
My muscles began to tremble even as my mind tried to concoct a reasonable explanation. There wasn’t one. The…what was he? Monster? Vampire? Whatever he was, he advanced across the room.
Rowen didn’t budge. “You are foolish if you think you can best me, demonborn.”
Demonborn? Yes, because demons made so much more sense than vampires or monsters. I almost snorted at the absurdity of it. The demonborn hissed like an angry cat. An extremely large, pissed off cat. Did lions hiss? Because if they did, I imagined it would sound like that.
Another scream echoed down the stairs. It snapped me out of the rambling fog trying to take over my brain. Victoria! She may be older than me, but somehow I was always the one to protect her, not the other way around. Her scream cut through my mind and shredded my heart. I turned and bolted for the stairs. I didn’t care what these things were; they were not taking my sister from me.
I reached the top of the stairs in time to have another…demon…stumble against me, nearly knocking me back down them. A man grabbed me by the front of my shirt as the demon thing tumbled past with a massive wound gaping open in his neck.
Shirt-grabber hauled me up onto the landing and pulled me toward my room where sobbing whimpers told me Victoria was hiding. Not happening. I dug my heels in. Thrashing in his grip, I kicked and hit with everything I had, only vaguely aware of the feral sounds coming from my mouth.
Unfortunately, none of my efforts seemed to have any effect on him. His fist, still wadded in my shirt, twisted the fabric so tight I couldn’t slip out of it as he held me at arm’s length with ease. He didn’t seem to have to strain to hold on and keep me at bay at the same time. I stared wild-eyed at the face at least a good foot or so above mine. His eyes glowed gold in the semi-darkness but his face seemed normal. No demony-vampire look to it. In fact, he looked familiar.
“Victoria, run!” I shouted, desperately hoping she would listen to me. There was a tree at the corner of the house she could shinny down if she escaped out my window and onto the roof.
The muscles in the man’s chiseled jaw flexed as he glared at me. Without even acknowledging my efforts, he started into my room again. Furious I couldn’t stop him and terrified for Victoria, I twisted and sank my teeth into his rock hard forearm. The hiss of air he pulled through his teeth gave me some satisfaction. It didn’t last. His other hand clamped down on my jaw, forcing my teeth apart. Once free of my teeth, he took my upper arm in a vice grip. I kicked him again, this time in the knee. It didn’t do any good. If only I didn’t keep my nails so short, then I could have tried clawing the crap out of him.
He dragged me into the room while I continued to fight with everything in me. I had to save Victoria. Ignoring me, he reached down, grabbed my sister by the upper arm and hauled her up next to him. Wearing nothing more than a cami and a pair of sleeping shorts, she looked especially vulnerable next to him. Victoria didn’t protest, in fact, she looked ready to faint.
I didn’t stop my fight, as he started for the stairs. With a curse, he released me for a split second. I spun to bolt away only to have his arm circle my waist and yank my feet off the floor. I found my back crushed against him as he dragged us down the stairs. The new hold didn’t stop my struggle, it just made it more futile than it already was. When we reached the living room, I saw Rowen facing off with three more of the demon guys and froze. What the hell just happened to my life?
The guy who held me spoke for the first time. “Get these two out of here; I will take care of those.”
In the light spilling out of the kitchen, he didn’t look much older than me, maybe somewhere around twenty-five or twenty-eight, but the hard face and the confident command in his voice belonged to someone much older. I knew where I had seen him before. He was the guy staring at a grave in the cemetery, the one who’d glared at me. The demons in the living room backed up a step, eyeing him warily.
Rowen glanced at us, his bald head glistening with moisture in the dim light. “I can handle them myself, Caius.”
“Agreed. But I’m only here to help you with that,” Caius nodded at the three demons who edged back a little more, “not to babysit.”
I gave him an affronted look. Babysit? I was a freaking adult, even if barely. It wasn’t exactly the time to worry about it, but I tried to wrench my way free anyway.
It did no good, so I turned my attention to the bald man in the middle of my living room. “What the hell is going on?”
“I told you I wasn’t lying. I told you it wasn’t safe here for you anymore. This is why.” He glanced at me, and Victoria who only seemed to be on her feet with Caius’s support. “I can’t force you to come with me. However, I can’t promise to be here next time this happens, either. I can’t spend all of my time lurking around here. I ask once more for the chance to prove my words.”
“You mean go with you.” It wasn’t a question.
“Yes.”
One of the demon guys tried to take advantage of Rowen’s distraction. A quick, but furious fight ended with the demon guy dead on the floor. Witnessing violence up close and personal in my own house left me feeling slightly faint. I took a couple of deep breaths; I didn’t have time to pass out.
Fear kept adrenaline pumping through my veins as I tried to figure out what would be the best decision. Obviously, there was a hell of a lot more going on than I’d ever dreamed. And just as obvious, was the fact I was no match for it.
In the end, it was looking at Victoria’s terrified face that decided me. Whatever was going on, it appeared Rowen was right about us being in danger here. I couldn’t refuse to go knowing next time Victoria might not be so lucky. If I agreed to go, I knew she would follow me.
“Fine.” Resigned, I blew my hair out of my face and looked up at Caius. “You can put me down now.”
He released me, practically dropping me on the floor. At least I landed on my feet. I moved quickly to support Victoria so he wouldn’t have to. Being shorter, I was able to tuck my shoulder easily under her arm as I wrapped
one of mine around her waist. Caius strode away without another glance.
Rowen gave the floor to him and rushed to us. “Come, we must hurry.”
I pulled Victoria along as I walked into the kitchen and headed for the door wondering where we were going. Rowen surprised me by pulling me back into the doorway along with Victoria.
Confused, I said, “I thought we were leaving.”
“We are, hold still.”
The house began to waver like I was seeing it through heat waves. “Whoa, what’s happening?” Panic edged my words.
Victoria’s breath hitched, her pupils dilated with fear.
“Don’t be afraid, this is perfectly normal,” Rowen said in a soothing voice.
I wasn’t soothed. Neither was Victoria, especially when the house completely faded from view and a large room started to take its place. My sister’s fearful whimper helped me pull it together. One of us had to keep our wits. The strange dizziness that had affected me in the hospital when I first saw Rowen, hit me. Rowen’s steadying hand on my arm kept me from falling out of the doorway.
Finally, the weird heatwave things faded away. Putting a hand on the door frame, I looked around. The room was larger than I first thought and filled with freestanding doorways in every color and style I’d ever seen and many that I hadn’t.
***
“Holding on to her was like holding on to a pissed off badger. A clawless, but not toothless, badger.” ~Caius
Chapter 4
Rowen walked away from the doorframe. We followed with hesitant steps, the plush carpet soft under my sock covered feet. It was strange because though I had never seen this room, I felt instantly familiar with it. As if it was some half-remembered place.
“This is called the Incoming Room. Any doorway or natural arch in the mortal world can access it.”
Mortal. The word sounded strange in my mind. According to Rowen, Victoria and I weren’t mortal. Thanks to our father, we were half angel. If Rowen could be believed. At this point, I had little reason to doubt him. If only it could have been my mother who was the angel and not my errant, absentee father, then I would probably still have her. I doubted angels died of cancer.
We walked through another doorway into an even bigger room. This one was crowded with wooden cubicles and desks, with a big open area on one end. People sat behind the three wide windows spanning one wall. The crush of black-cloaked people moving through it nearly overwhelmed me. More than I could count moved past the windows, some picking things up, others dropping off. A steady stream came through a door in the windowed wall, carrying items out to the various desks.
Along another long wall, a bank of about two dozen or so elevators dinged regularly, spilling more people into the room or taking them away. The last wall held several doors that looked like they led to offices. It all reminded me of an unusually large, overly busy bank.
Rowen indicated we should follow him. Victoria glanced at me, worry plain on her face. I shrugged. What else could we do? We were here now and it wasn’t exactly safe at home.
I was the first to move, my steps quiet on the plush carpet as he led us past the offices to what looked like a small conference room at the far end. A man with short, blond hair and blue eyes, and a woman with a distinctly Middle Eastern look both stood as we walked in. Neither appeared any older than Rowen.
Rowen motioned toward the two, “This is Alaric, Head of the Reapers. And Aaminah, Head of the Guardians.”
“Have a seat, there is much to discuss,” Alaric said as he took his own advice and settled into a chair at the table.
My head was still reeling from their titles. This was actually happening. I flopped into one of the chairs, too overwhelmed to try and be graceful, though I was careful to keep my face neutral, my façade firmly in place. Things always went smoother when other people thought I was fine. Victoria, always the proper one, sat carefully in her chair, trembling hands folded in her lap.
Rowen started to pull another chair out when Alaric cleared his throat. “I do not think you need to stay. Aaminah and I can handle this. This is our job, after all, not yours.”
“On the contrary,” Rowen sat in the chair, “this particular job belongs to me as much as it does to you, given the circumstances of the situation.”
“What circumstances require your presence?” Aaminah asked with her hazel eyes narrowed.
Alaric flicked a warning look at Rowen before saying, “He only means their…heritage.”
“I am not sure what that has to do with him.” Aaminah gave Rowen a disapproving look. “However, if you are willing to allow him to sit in on this, then I will not speak against it.”
I couldn’t help noticing the tension in the room and got the feeling the two Heads didn’t care for Rowen much for some reason. The undercurrent made me wonder, but I didn’t get much time to dwell on it since Alaric interrupted my musings.
“You two are quite the anomaly. Rowen has told you of your heritage?”
We both nodded as Aaminah picked up the thread of the conversation, “A highly volatile situation. According to all of the laws and restrictions, you two should not exist. News of Elijah’s transgression swept both the Heavens and the Hells. The Heavens sensed a child of angel blood born in the mortal world some years ago. Elijah was caught trying to sneak a newborn girl into Midtween, the fool.” She frowned and shook her head as if unable to fathom such an act. “Once he realized he’d been caught, he disappeared taking the child with him. We were unable to locate either of them. A year later he showed back up alone, claiming the child died. No one in the Heavens could sense a half-angel child in the mortal world anymore. He was promptly banished for his crime. Now, we discover the child didn’t die, she was in the mortal world the whole time and there are now two. What to do with you has left us struggling for an answer.”
“Obviously,” Alaric said, “it was decided that you both should come here, to Midtween for now.”
Victoria swallowed and I could tell by her expression that she felt like she’d done something wrong by merely being born, which kind of pissed me off. I shot Alaric a glare. “What do you mean ‘for now’?”
“I simply mean, we are not entirely certain where you belong, where you will eventually reside. It is absolutely forbidden for an angel to lay with a human and has been since before the veils came down some ten thousand years ago. Yet, your father has done just that.” Alaric shifted as if uncomfortable with the whole thing. “All of the reapers and guardians have traces of angel blood, from the time before the ban. However, to have two people who are half angel is…”
“Completely unheard of since that time,” Aaminah finished for him. “That said, leaving you in the mortal world would be unconscionable. We cannot force you to stay here. You do need to be made aware of the dangers should you decide to return to that world, though.”
“I’m pretty sure we are aware of those.” My voice was barely more than a whisper.
Alaric sighed. “Yes, it is a shame you experienced that so soon. With such a high concentration of angel blood, you will be hunted. Young demonborn are quite fond of the high that consuming angel blood brings. In addition to that, you will mature into your mid- to late-twenties and then you will stop. You will be immortal in the respect that old age will never visit you, though you can still be killed. You will need to move about every ten years, or so, on that side. Given the nature of mortals, I think it is safe to say you would better off hunted by a demonborn than falling into the hands of mortals who realize you do not age.”
“There is one more issue.” Aaminah folded her hands on the table. “Living in the mortal world does expose your human side to the frailties of mortals, eventually making you susceptible to certain human diseases. You may live for several hundred years there before you fall to such a thing, but you should be aware it can happen.”
I was still having trouble wrapping my mind around the idea that my father was a freaking angel. That I was half angel. I didn’t feel pa
rticularly angely, but then I had no idea how it was supposed to feel.
Alaric nodded and said, “Something about the human blood in reaction to the mortal side of the veil. If you live on this side, you will be able to visit the other side without the ramifications. It is only an issue if you live there permanently.”
“So basically, this side is the fountain of health,” I said with more than a little sarcasm in my voice.
“I suppose you could view it that way, Josephine.” Alaric frowned as if uncertain how to take my tone.
“Jo, I don’t like to be called Josephine,” I snapped, not really caring how he took it. All I could think was if my father was an angel, then how in the hell could he leave my mother to raise two children alone? How could he abandon her? Leave her to die?
Shoving away the thoughts, I focused on the two people across from me. “So say we decide to stay, then what?”
Aaminah shifted in her chair as if uncomfortable, glanced at Alaric, then back to me. “Then we have to decide what to do with you.” Her gaze settled on my sister. “I can sense you have the right disposition to be a guardian, Victoria. As the head of such, I extend an invitation to join our ranks.”
Victoria glanced at me, then back to Aaminah. “What is a guardian?”
The woman smiled, she seemed much more welcoming toward Victoria than me. Story of my life. “We work to save lives. To use our energy to bolster that of the dying. If there is enough energy left in the dying, giving them some of ours can sometimes help keep them off the reaper rolls.”
“What about, Jo?” Victoria turned worried eyes my direction. I read the concern on her face. It was easy to understand where it came from. I never fit in anywhere or connected with anyone, except Mom. Where would I go here?
Rowen spoke up, “Jo will be a reaper.”
I gave him a disbelieving look. A reaper, me? Could I face death day after day? It wasn’t my plan for my life. None of it fit the dreams I had for myself. But honestly, who could dream of this anyway? Despite my misgivings, it felt more right than anything I ever considered, which didn’t make sense. Then again, this whole day didn’t make any sense.
Unveiled (Raven Daughter Book 1) Page 3
