by G. K. DeRosa
She shook her head. “No. He said he’d kill you.”
He lurched back as if he’d been punched in the stomach. My own breath hitched. How could a father threaten to kill his own son?
“That son of a—” Declan bit back the curse with a growl. “All this time he made me believe you had died.”
“How did you find out she was still alive?” I couldn’t help myself; the words just tumbled out.
Declan turned to me, his face blank as if he’d forgotten I was there. “My father told me.” He stood, curling his fists at his side. “When I informed him I didn’t want any part of this anymore, he tried to stop me. He said there was something I needed to know. I blew him off and left anyway. Then he had some nephilim track me down a few weeks later. They gave me a note from my father with my mom’s address. It was meant to be a peace offering.”
“And that’s when you met me?”
He nodded. “A short while after.”
Declan had wasted all that time helping me when he knew his mother was alive. My chest tightened as a flurry of emotions swelled. Why would he do that for me?
Declan’s mother stood and gave me a smile. “My how rude of me, I never introduced myself.” She held out her hand. “I’m Sammarah McGrath.” Her thin dark brows knitted together as she scrutinized me, an odd expression on her face. Then she forced a smile, returning to normal.
“Liv Graciene. Nice to meet you too.” I reached for her hand, but her fingertips slipped right through mine. Declan moved faster than I’d ever seen, catching her before she hit the floor.
“Mom?” He held her in his arms, her face pale against his chest.
I ran to the kitchen to get a glass of water. I wasn’t sure why; it seemed like the helpful thing to do.
Declan carried her down the hallway to her bedroom, and I followed a few steps behind.
“It’s only a dizzy spell,” she murmured, her eyelids fluttering. “I need a little rest is all.”
Declan lowered her onto the bed, the old mattress sinking in under her measly weight. He pulled the covers over his mom and tucked her in, kneeling on the floor next to her. I stared at the glass in my hand, again feeling like I was intruding on a private moment.
“Do you need anything?” he asked. “Water?”
“No, I’m fine, son.” Her eyes moved to me. “You can leave that on the nightstand in case I get thirsty.”
I set it down and walked out of the room to give them some privacy. Walking out into the living room, a million thoughts swirled in my head. The one I couldn’t shake no matter how hard I tried was what kind of a man would kill his own son? What chance did we have against the angels if they had so little regard for human life?
The more I heard about Nathanael, the more obvious it became that he held a high position in the angel hierarchy. Declan had never admitted it, but what if his father was in charge of Arx?
Declan’s elevated voice drifted down the hall. I jumped up and crept back toward Sammarah’s room.
I wasn’t eavesdropping; I was just concerned.
“Forget about it, Mom. We can talk about it later. I shouldn’t have even brought it up.”
“You can’t ask me something like that and not expect me to worry.” Sammarah’s voice sounded like it was on the verge of hysterics. “Did something happen to you?”
“No. It was a hypothetical question. I thought you might know… Never mind. Get some rest.”
The mattress squeaked as he rose, and I darted back into the living room. Grabbing a book off the coffee table, I buried my nose in it and sank down into the sofa.
What had Declan been talking about?
He skulked into the sitting room, his forehead creased with worry. He pushed his dark curls back and slumped down on the couch next to me.
“Is she okay?”
He frowned, his lips turning into a cute pout. “She won’t let me use my angel light on her.”
“I’m sure she’ll be fine. She’s probably just emotionally drained.” I squeezed his hand and gave him what I hoped was a reassuring smile.
“Yeah, I guess.” He glanced down at our entwined fingers and his eyes darkened. “Are you okay with everything?”
I shrugged. Was I over the fact that my best friend was dead? No. Was Sammarah a good distraction? Yes.
“Just because my family drama has taken center stage, doesn’t mean I’m not here for you if you ever want to talk about Asher or your parents.” The sincerity in his eyes tugged at my heart.
“Thank you.” My fingers tightened around his. Talking about them would be like opening floodgates I wasn’t ready to unleash. I was petrified I’d drown in the deluge.
We sat in a comfortable silence until my lids began to droop. I stifled a yawn and sat up straighter.
“You don’t have to stay up with me if you’re tired. I’ll take the couch and you can sleep in the extra bedroom.”
“No, I’m fine.” I rubbed my eyes and turned to face him.
He reached his hand out and tucked a dark strand of hair behind my ear. His hand lingered for a moment then slid down to my shoulder. My pulse quickened at the warmth of his fingers on my skin.
“You’re not fine. You’re exhausted, Liv. Go to sleep.”
“As long as you’re okay?”
“I’m good. Plus I got Duke here to keep me company.”
Duke lifted his head and peered up over the couch. Declan scratched behind his big ears, and he whimpered contentedly.
“Okay, I’ll see you in the morning.” I stood and made my way down the corridor. Glancing back, Declan’s intense gaze met mine. A wave of heat coursed through my body as our eyes locked. All the moisture in my mouth vanished, and I swallowed hard.
I dropped my gaze to the floor, unable to hold contact with those smoldering maroon irises a second longer.
“Night, Liv,” he called out, and I scurried around the corner into the guest bedroom.
I shut the door and leaned on it for a moment to catch my breath. What was that look? Get it together, Liv. I shook my head, clearing my mind of the fuzzy feelings lurking below the surface. I needed sleep; I was obviously starting to hallucinate. I slipped out of my sneakers and jeans and crawled into the bed.
I do not have feelings for Declan. I do not have feelings for a half-angel.
I repeated the mantra until my eyelids grew so heavy I was forced to give up the fight.
Chapter 29
“They’re coming! They’re coming!”
Frantic shrieks echoing across the house snapped me wide awake. I jumped out of bed and raced toward the screams.
In the living room, Declan’s mom, Sammarah, had a hold of his collar and was shouting into his face.
“Mom, calm down. Who’s coming?” Declan’s eyes were wide, his hair tousled. He’d obviously just woken up too.
“Them. They’re after me. They’re always watching…” She buried her face into her son’s chest and sobs wracked her thin frame.
I took a step closer and she spun toward me, wild dark eyes blazing. “It’s not safe. We have to hide—all of us.” She grabbed Declan’s hand and then mine and led us down the corridor.
“Mom, where are you going?”
“They won’t find us. Not here.” She barreled into her bedroom, pulling us along with her and whipped open the closet door. Pushing aside the clothes, she squirmed her way to the far corner. She bent down and shoved two large suitcases out of the way revealing a hidden hatch on the floor.
As she yanked it open, Declan and I stared at each other in shock. Was this where she’d been hiding yesterday when we arrived?
“Come now. There’s no time.” She jumped down the shaft before Declan could stop her.
If someone were coming, Declan would’ve known. Wouldn’t he? His super angel hearing would’ve alerted us, but there was nothing in his expression that confirmed his mom’s panic.
He grabbed my hand and pulled me to the edge of the opening. A ladder disappeared down into
the darkness.
“I’ll go first. Follow me.”
I nodded as he started the descent. Slowly, I climbed down, rung by rung, the ominous squeaking sending a chill skittering up my spine. I wished I’d had my flashlight.
As if Declan had heard my thoughts, he extended his hand and angel light came to life in his palm. He jumped down, and the glow illuminated the dark space. I rushed down the last few rungs and hit the ground with a thud.
What was this place?
Declan moved in a circle, shining his angel light around the secret chamber. Thick black mud made up the walls and floor, the earthy scent filling my nostrils. An old wooden table and chair sat along one of the walls and a metal cot ran along the opposite side. Sammarah’s huddled form took shape in the far corner.
Declan ran to her, sliding down to sit beside her. “Mom, what is this place?”
“It’s my little secret. No one can find me here.” A smile spread her pale lips. “They think I’m gone, but I’m not. I’ve always been right here.”
The look on Declan’s face nearly broke my heart as he peered up at me. His mom had completely lost it. Where was the sane woman we’d met last night?
I circled the room, Declan’s angel light providing a dim glow that illuminated the dank space. As I neared the wooden table, a stack of papers caught my eye. I flipped through them as Declan attempted to calm down his mom. He was whispering to her now, his palms glowing with healing angel light.
The pages revealed more scribbles, similar to the ones I’d discovered in the closet yesterday. We should’ve known there was something wrong with her when we’d found those. But she’d seemed so normal.
Soft footfalls drew my attention. Declan’s mother was draped across his arms, a peaceful smile gracing her delicate features as he carried her to the cot. From up close, the resemblance between her and her son was more obvious. Not only did they share the same raven hair and dark eyes, but Declan’s nose and cheeks were simply a more pronounced version of his mother’s.
“She’s asleep,” he whispered over her still form, his voice gravelly as he moved beside me. I’d never seen this side of Declan before. A part of me liked this new vulnerable side, but the other just wanted to see the happy, joking one back.
“Should we take her back upstairs?”
He shook his head. “The shaft is too narrow for my wings. It’d be hard to get her back up the ladder without waking her.” He turned and walked to the corner, lowering her onto the cot and covering her with a blanket.
He appeared over my shoulder as I rifled through the notes. “What did you find?”
“More of the same. Not much of it makes any sense to me.”
He picked up a few pages and scanned them. “It looks like more Aramaic.”
“Shouldn’t you be able to read that, you know, as an angel?”
“First of all, I’m a nephilim. Second of all, I was born in the 21st century not in the first.” He smirked and for a second I got a glimpse of the old Declan. “If I went back to the tower, I could find someone to translate it. I still have some friends there.”
I shivered at the thought. “Maybe we can just ask your mom about it?”
The tendons in his jaw twitched. “Didn’t you see her, Liv? I don’t know what they’ve done to her, but she’s not in her right mind. All of this could be a bunch of insane scribbles for all we know.”
“But the Aramaic? Don’t tell me your mom would’ve written those?”
He blew out a frustrated breath. “No, you’re right. She wouldn’t have.”
I stared at the scrawled writing, willing it to turn into something legible, but no such luck. “So now what?”
“I don’t know. I’m hoping my angel light will help, but I’ve never tested it out for mental illness.”
“Are you sure that’s what it is?” I drummed my fingers on the wood table.
“No. I’m not sure about anything, but what are you thinking?”
I gulped. “The augmentation ray and the weird way Asher was behaving before—” I cut myself off before I started getting choked up. “What if the angels did something to her?”
He shook his head. “No way. There’s no way my father would’ve let them hurt her.”
I opened my mouth, but then snapped it shut. His father had threatened to kill him. Why would his mother be any safer?
“You’re wrong, Liv.” He stepped closer, his wide shoulders bearing over me. “Maybe he never loved me, but I know he loves her.”
“Okay.” I raised my hands up. “They’re your parents so I guess you’d know.” Or was he just too blind to see what a monster his father was? I yawned and glanced at my watch. Not even five in the morning yet. “I’m going back to sleep.”
“Right.” He sat on the chair and flipped through the papers as I walked toward the ladder. “Hey, Liv…”
“Yeah?”
“Maybe you should stay down here, just in case.”
“You think your mom was right about the angels coming?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know, but I’d rather not risk it.” He stood and grabbed a few blankets from the pile by the cot. Arranging them along the wall by the table, he patted the ground when he was finished. “Sorry for dragging you into this.”
I sat beside him, my back against the cool dirt wall. “If you’re apologizing for this, then I guess I have a lot to apologize to you for.” I was the one that made him come to Arx with me in the first place. He’d killed vampires and angels for me. Even Asher’s death was partially my fault. I slid my hand in his. “I suppose we can call it even.”
A small smile curled his lip, and his fingers tightened around mine. “Get some rest. I’ll keep watch just in case.”
My lids were already sagging. I leaned my head against Declan’s shoulder and drifted off to sleep.
The crackle of crinkling pages drew me from a fitful sleep. My neck ached as I sat up and took in my surroundings. Oh right, secret underground room. Declan sat in the chair beside me, poring over the sheets scattered across the table.
“Did you get any sleep?” I asked.
He turned, dark shadows under his red-rimmed eyes. I guessed not.
“No. But I think I’m starting to get this.”
I glanced over at the cot where his mother still slept peacefully. I stood and joined him beside the table. There were five stacks of papers now and some passages were underlined in red. “So what did you figure out?”
“I found this upstairs.” He pulled a thick leather-bound book from under the table. Frilly golden script lined the cover.
“What is it—Aramaic for dummies?”
He cracked a smile. “Kind of. I used it along with my very basic knowledge of Aramaic as well as my more vast understanding of Latin to decipher some of the passages she’d highlighted.”
“And?” I bounced on my tiptoes.
“It seems all of this had been prophesied hundreds of years ago.” He pointed at a rather long passage. “The rise of the vampires was foretold here, along with the resulting war that would ensue. They knew it would nearly wipe out mankind.”
“Seriously?” I bent down to get a better look. Not like it helped because I still didn’t understand a thing.
“It was supposed to be a cleansing of all the evil on earth. The humans that survived were the ones deemed worthy enough to repopulate the world.”
“What?” This was some crazy cult-like babble. How could they exterminate the whole human race like we were just collateral damage?
“At least there’s talk about survival and moving forward.”
“Does it say how we’re supposed to do that with the angels and vampires still roaming around?”
“I haven’t gotten quite that far yet.”
“Declan?” A quiet voice called out from across the room.
He shot up from the chair and raced over to the cot. “Mom, how are you feeling?”
“I’m just fine, son.” The crazed look in her eyes from earli
er was gone. She scanned the room and frowned. “What are we doing down here?”
“You don’t remember?” He sat beside her and held her hand.
She shook her head, a vacant look in her eyes.
“You woke up in the middle of the night and brought us down here. You said ‘they’ were coming. Who were you talking about?”
Her lip quivered, and she glanced up at me as if searching for an answer. “I don’t know.” She sucked in a breath. “Sometimes I lose time. I forget…”
“Do you know what all this is?” I motioned to the stacks of paper. I knew I shouldn’t intrude on this family moment, but I couldn’t help myself.
“My work,” she muttered.
“Is that why you left dad? You’d figured out what was going to happen.”
“Yes.” She clasped her other hand on top of Declan’s. “I found most of it in Nathanael’s library; the rest I pieced together myself over the years. I tried to warn people, but no one would listen. I spent a few years in an institution because of it.”
I suppressed a gasp. This poor woman had been through so much. Could any of this be true? Considering the source, it seemed unlikely.
She sat up and cupped Declan’s cheeks, and my heart clenched as memories of my own mom flooded my thoughts. I wrapped my arms tight around my torso, holding myself together.
“Declan, there’s still hope,” she whispered. “There’s a way to end all of this.”
“What? How?” My heart slammed against my ribcage, a sliver of optimism unfurling in my chest.
She straightened her back, her dark chocolate eyes intense. “Everything that has happened was foretold. It was part of a bigger plan that I have yet to make sense of, but there is a solution.”
“What kind of a solution?” asked Declan. He sat at the edge of the cot, his knuckles white from gripping his knees.
She stood, shaky at first, and marched to the table. Flipping through the pages, she pulled one out of the stack and held it up. Declan and I both rushed to her side. She ran her finger over a section that was underlined and dotted with question marks. “This.”
I inched closer to the yellowing page, but couldn’t make a single word out of the strange letters. Declan moved next to me and peered at the foreign words.
