by S. J. West
“Lilly,” my dad says, “maybe we should go into the living room and tell Caylin what we know. It's time.”
I feel my mother nod her head against my shoulder, but she doesn't act as though she plans to let me go anytime soon. I hear her sniff just before she forces herself to pull away from me. When she does, I immediately feel guilty for walking into the house with the intention of getting into an argument with my parents about Aiden. My mother looks like she's just been to Hell and back. My heart sinks because I feel sure my window of opportunity to see Aiden might be shut for a while.
A fact I'm not sure I can live with.
My mother takes my hand with one of her own, and we walk to the living room where Aunt Tara and Uncle Malik are waiting for us.
“Where's Uncle Malcolm?” I ask in worry because the last time I saw him he was facing off with Baal, and I know he should be here too.
“He's taking the children to Abby and Sebastian's house while we talk,” my mom tells me.
“I'm here now, dearest,” I hear Uncle Malcolm say from behind me towards the front entryway.
I phase over to him and give him a big hug.
“Did you beat his ass?” I whisper to my uncle.
I feel Uncle Malcolm chuckle beneath me.
“I would have if he hadn't run away like the coward he is,” Uncle Malcolm whispers back.
“Group hug!”
I look down and see little Mae standing beside us with her arms lifted up expecting to be included in the hug.
“Mae,” Uncle Malcolm groans in exasperation as I let him go. He bends down and picks Mae up in his arms, sitting her on his hip. “I told you that you needed to stay with your big sister, Abby.”
Mae sticks her bottom lip out in an effective pout.
Uncle Malcolm reaches up and pokes her bottom lip back in with his index finger, which just makes Mae giggle.
“I'm taking you back,” Uncle Malcolm tells her. “And don't follow my phase trail this time. Understand?”
Mae's little shoulders slump, but she reluctantly nods her head.
Uncle Malcolm phases to take Mae back to Abby, and I phase back to my mother's side.
My parents and I sit on the couch, one on either side of me like they can protect me with just their physical presence. Aunt Tara sits beside my mom holding her free hand. I know my mom and Aunt Tara have been friends their whole lives and have been through it all side by side. They've always had each other’s backs when their lives took an unexpected turn for the worse.
Uncle Malcolm phases back to the living room.
“Hopefully, your daughter will stay put this time,” he says in mock agitation as he comes to stand by Jess and Mason who are directly in front of us.
“Is there a female on this planet you don't attract?” Aunt Tara asks him.
Uncle Malcolm smiles at her. “Well there's you,” he points out. “Though, I do seem to recall how you couldn't keep your eyes off of me during my performance at Lilly's bachelorette party.”
Aunt Tara just rolls her eyes at Uncle Malcolm, and I realize I have no idea what they're talking about.
“Well, considering what you were doing up on that stage to my best friend, who wouldn't stare?”
“Could we not drag up old business?” My dad practically begs. “I think we have more pressing matters to attend to right now.”
“I agree,” Jess says, looking as confused as I am by the turn of the conversation, “but I think I need a detailed explanation about this subject later.”
Jess looks back at me, and I can tell she really doesn't want to say what she needs to tell me.
“I know you saw Mason and me talk to your folks on your fifteenth birthday,” Jess says to me. “And we decided then that we wouldn’t say anything until there came a point where you needed to know that information for your own safety. I think we're all in agreement that the time has come for you to understand why we've been so protective of you the past few years.”
My mom tightens her hold on my hand, and I wonder if it's to give me part of her strength or if she's doing it in an effort to draw strength from me. In the end, it doesn't really matter. We both need each other.
“When Gabe's power was first awakened, it was during an attack by Baal.”
“Who is Baal exactly?” I ask.
“He's one of the seven princes of Hell.”
I look at Uncle Malcolm. “Is that what you meant about him licking his wounds? Were you talking about the fight with the vessels when the Tear was sealed?”
Uncle Malcolm nods. “Yes, that's what I was referring to.”
“All of the princes, including Lucifer,” Mason says, “have been lying low since then. We've been able to keep tabs on all of them except for Lucifer. He hasn't shown his face since that time. We're not sure where he is.”
“I think he's biding his time until Jess dies,” Uncle Malcolm says in all seriousness.
Jess looks saddened by this and I know why. Neither Joshua nor Leah were allowed to tell me much about the fight between the vessels and princes of Hell, but Leah did slip one day and tell me Jess and Lucifer had formed a friendship of sorts with one another. It was a relationship that ended in Lucifer threatening to kill Jess the next time he saw her. Apparently, Jess still had feelings for Lucifer but whether or not the reverse could be said was unknown.
“In any case,” Jess says to me, “during Gabe's altercation with Baal, he saw Baal's future...and he saw you.”
“Me?” I ask. “Gabe saw me in a vision about Baal's future?”
Jess nods. “Yes.”
“And what was I doing?”
I see Jess look at my parents as if silently asking their permission to continue.
“She needs to know as much as she can,” my dad says.
“In the vision,” Jess tells me, “you were holding a baby.”
I sit there and just stare at Jess. What exactly do you say to that? Gabe had a vision about me and a baby I haven't even thought about having yet.
“And what happened to Baal in the vision?”
Jess looks at my mom. My mom nods.
“He was killed by someone.”
“Who?”
“We have an idea, but I would rather not tell you who we think does the deed in the end.”
“Why?” I ask.
“We want to try something with you, and we don't want you to have any preconceived pictures in your head beforehand.”
“Try what?” I ask, not exactly liking the worried look on Jess’ face.
“We want to take you to the inner realm we vessels can make when we're all together. Then, Gabe will show you your future, and hopefully, we can all see it at the same time without him having to pass the information along second hand.”
“What's an inner realm?”
“It's a pocket of space which doesn’t exist in this dimension,” Mason explains. “It's basically an alternate reality the vessels can control.”
“Can you travel to other realities through it?” I ask.
Mason's eyes narrow like he's thinking hard about the question. “You know... I never thought about it, but, theoretically, I suppose you could.”
Jess and Mason exchange a brief glance that seems significant, but they don't find it necessary to clue us in on their silent exchange.
“When do you want to do this?” Uncle Malcolm asks them.
“As soon as possible,” Jess answers. “Let me contact everyone first though. I know Chandler is busy recording his new album, and JoJo is busy with fashion week in New York. Faison has Zack running around like a crazy man getting things ready for their wedding this Saturday, but him I can grab at a moment’s notice. Faison can just get mad at me for abducting her fiancé. Gabe, Rafe, and Leah I can gather up easily.”
“Just let us know when, Jess,” my mom says.
Jess nods. “I will. And I promise it will be soon. The more information we have the better.”
“So, why exactly was Aiden there when Baal at
tacked Caylin?” My dad asks in a disapproving tone of voice. “Has he been following her?”
“No,” Uncle Malcolm says quickly, as if he's taking up for Aiden, “I had him and Andre Greco switching off to keep tabs on Baal. The boy needed something to do to keep his mind off of things.” I see Uncle Malcolm glance in my direction briefly. “Since he finished the other project I gave him, he needed something else to occupy his time.”
“Well,” Aunt Tara says with a relieved sigh, “I'm just glad he was there. There's no telling what that spawn of Satan would have done to Caylin otherwise.”
“You’re still wearing the anklet JoJo made you, right?” Jess asks me.
“Yes, you told me to never take it off and I haven’t. What’s it supposed to do?”
“JoJo made one for all the Watchers and you,” Jess tells me. “It prevents the princes and Lucifer from killing you with their archangel power. We’re really not sure if they can kill you or not since you’re a quarter archangel, but we thought it was better to be safe than sorry.”
“So Aiden has one?”
“Yes,” Jess reassures me. “He has an anklet too.”
“Aiden understands this doesn't change anything, I hope,” my dad says to Malcolm, but I feel sure he wants to make sure I grasp where he stands on the subject of Aiden's presence in my life too.
“What happened changes everything,” I say, somewhat surprised I'm able to find my voice and speak up to my father.
I look over at him and see the steely set of his gray eyes. I feel pretty sure we're both looking at a mirror image of stubbornness.
“You're not eighteen yet,” my father says, like this should be reason enough to keep Aiden away from me.
“How is six more months supposed to change anything?” I ask, feeling the pain and frustration I've suffered through during the past three years rear its ugly head. “Why don't you trust me to know what's best for me?”
“I do trust you.”
“Then why don't you trust Aiden?
“I have no reason not to,” my father admits. “So far he's done exactly what we've asked of him.”
“Then why can't we be together!” I say, my voice louder than I had originally planned but getting my point across effectively. “If I wanted to date a boy at my school, would you be placing the same restrictions on him that you do Aiden?”
“That's completely different,” my father says, as if the two shouldn’t even be compared.
“How?”
“Aiden has a past you don't know about,” he tells me in a clipped voice.
“And one you can't forget about?” I ask, not understanding why my father is so worried about Aiden’s past. “Or can you not forgive him for it? Even God forgave him. Why can't you?”
“Caylin,” my mother says in a voice filled with a warning that I’m going too far.
“I can't live like this anymore,” I tell him, not even trying to stop myself from crying because all I can think about is how Aiden felt in my arms. I will not give him up so easily, not without a fight.
“You'll do what we say,” my father tells me, no bargaining in his voice just fact.
I sit there silently fuming and crying.
“No, I won't,” I say with a firm shake of my head.
“Yes, you will,” my dad says. “If you care about what we think at all, you'll abide by our rules!”
“Brand,” my mom says, the same warning in her voice that she had for me is now for my father.
“It's what we agreed on, Lilly.”
“I didn't agree to it. I've just been living with it because that's what you wanted. But, I'm not doing that anymore. I'm tired of living without him!”
“Don't raise your voice to me,” my father says on the verge of losing his own temper, something that's never happened before with me.
“I'm old enough to make my own decisions, and there's nothing you can do to stop me from seeing him!”
I phase to my room then and collapse on my bed in tears.
I hear heavy footsteps run up the stairs.
“Brand,” I hear my mother say outside my door. I know she must have phased there to beat him to my room, “let her have a moment to herself. And… I think you and I need to have a talk before you speak to her again.”
“You know I’m right,” I hear my father say. “She’s not ready for Aiden.”
My mother sighs. “Maybe it’s not her who isn’t ready. Maybe it’s us.”
“She’s only seventeen.”
“And we’ve raised her to be a strong minded, extremely rational young lady. I know it’s hard, but maybe we should consider the fact that she’s old enough to decide the course of her own life now. We’ve led her as far as we can. Next Fall she’ll be going off to college and will have to make her own decisions about a multitude of things. I think it’s time we trust her to know what’s right.”
“I do trust her,” and I can hear that my father is telling the truth. “I just don’t trust him.”
“Maybe I can shed some light on Aiden,” I hear my Uncle Malcolm say, joining the conversation. “I know my initial reaction to him was violent, but even I can’t complain about how he’s behaved the past few years. He’s done everything we all asked of him. He may not be the person you would have picked for her to be soul mates with, but you could have done a lot worse. Hell, when I first heard what Gabe saw, I thought she might end up hatching out a little Baal with the baby thing and all.”
“Malcolm,” my mom says as if the mere idea of such a thing is ludicrous.
“Weirder things have happened in this family, dearest,” Uncle Malcolm says in response. “Anyway, if you want my opinion, the boy isn’t a threat to Caylin. He may be one of the few people who can actually help her through what’s to come.”
There’s a heavy silence outside my room before I hear my dad finally say, “I’ll think about it. But right now, that boy isn’t to come near her. Is that understood?”
“Let's look at our options,” I hear my mother say to him as she walks away from my door.
I hear them all walk down the stairs together. My heart aches inside my chest so fiercely with disappointment I’m finding it hard to take in a steady breath. I love my dad. I would do almost anything for him. But, staying away from Aiden won't be one of them.
After a while, I’m able to pull myself together enough to think rationally. With a grim determination, I sit up on my bed and wipe the tears from my face. I stand up and try to think of where Aiden would be at that exact moment.
Leah’s words to me on my last birthday resurface in my mind. She told me then that Aiden liked to go to Jess and Mason’s beach house in the Bahamas when he wanted to be alone.
I take in a deep breath and phase there.
The sun is just setting on the horizon forming a brilliant light show in the sky mixed with streaks of red and orange hues. The rhythmic sound of the surf rushing up onto the shore keeps time with the oceans internal metronome. Aiden stands on the wet sand at the edge of the incoming waves just staring out at the sunset.
“You shouldn’t be here,” he says in disappointment without turning around. “I don’t think your parents would approve, Caylin.”
I want to say something. I want to tell him everything that happened back at the house but all that comes out of my mouth is a sob. I know he’s right. Disappointing my parents isn’t something I want to do but letting them make my decisions for me where he’s concerned isn't something I want to do either.
Aiden turns to face me at the sound of my cry. He immediately walks across the short distance separating us and brings me into his arms.
He doesn’t say anything, just holds me and lets me cry.
After all my tears are spent, I simply bask in the comfort of feeling his arms around me and mine around him. For so long, all I wanted was for this to happen. How could I possibly give up being with the man I love for another six months? How could my father ask me to suffer like that if he truly loved me?
/> “It’s not your parents’ fault,” Aiden tells me, smoothing away the hair that’s matted against my exposed cheek from so many tears. “I’m not sure I would want a child of ours dating someone like me either.”
I raise my head and look up at Aiden. I see the doubt of his self-worth in the depths of his blue-green eyes, the same color as the ocean we’re standing by.
“How can you say that about yourself?” I ask, seeing only perfection in front of me where others, even Aiden himself, see damaged goods. “What have you done in your life that could be so terrible?”
I see Aiden swallow hard, and it takes a few seconds for him to answer.
“I’m not sure I’m ready to tell you just yet,” he admits. “I would rather have you get to know me as I am now before you learn about the things I’ve done.”
“Nothing you could say would make me care about you any less.”
Aiden smiles but it’s not one of happiness. I can tell he liked hearing me say what I did, but he isn’t so sure I’ll feel the same way after he tells me the story of his life.
“You need to go back home,” he says instead, not willing to divulge the secrets of his past to me just yet. “I don’t want them to get upset with you. We’re so close to having what we both want, Caylin. I don’t want to screw it all up, not now.”
I lay my head against his chest and tighten my hold around his waist, unwilling to give him up just yet. I close my eyes and listen to the steady beat of his heart realizing its rhythm is in complete sync with mine. When I open my eyes again, I find that Aiden has phased us to the front porch of my parents' Colorado home.
“Why did you bring me back here?” I ask him, feeling my heart sink into a pit of despair because I know I’ll have to let him go again.
“Because you belong with your family right now. They only want to do what’s best for you.”
Aiden kisses the top of my head and takes a step back from me.
“Thank you for bringing her home.”
Aiden and I both turn our heads to see my dad sitting on the porch swing to the far left, watching us.
