Inception (The Reaping Chronicles, 1)

by Haviland, Teal

  “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 front 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.

  “I’m sorry, Gabrielle. Where was I? Oh, yes.” She cleared her throat in preparation to continue. “We were married just after he turned twenty. Almost a year later, Lucas’s mom, Hannah, was born. She was the most beautiful baby; her eyes were so blue. The color of Lucas’s, actually. We loved having a child and would have had many more, but it wasn’t in Yahuwah’s plan. We watched Hannah grow into a beautiful young woman and had many happy years, but I was always watching for something else—the danger I knew we were all still in. The problem was that I didn’t ever know what I was protecting Mason, and Hannah, from to begin with. Was it another human or group of humans? Was it demons? Or was it the Dark Lord, himself? It was very tiring, always being suspicious of the people who came into our lives, constantly looking over my shoulder, reading too much into coincidences. But having Mason and Hannah made it all worth it.” She smiled at Gabrielle. “I wouldn’t change a second of it. At least until …” Darkness washed over her expression. “Until they were taken from me.”

  Gabrielle waited for her to continue. She was paying close attention to what Emma was telling her, sensing it would all tie together, somehow, with what was currently happening—and what she’d seen fragments of in her dreams.

  “Lucas,” Emma continued, “was only three months old when it happened. My Hannah and her husband, Stephen—Lucas’s father—were only twenty. The same age I was when I had her. It was in this very room that I found them. There was no blood … only death. I don’t know how he took their lives. He could have done it in many ways because, although he was in human form, he was certainly not one. His speed and strength would have given him away even if I hadn’t sensed he was once brethren. He must have sensed the Divine blood in me and thought we would be many against him at any time if he didn’t leave, so he did. He thought he’d accomplished what he’d set out to do when he came here—destroy Mason Hunt and any of his descendants. But he didn’t leave before I was able to strike him, and I left him with an ugly reminder of his supposed victory.

  “What he didn’t know was that the child he killed, also three months of age, wasn’t Hannah and Stephen’s baby. He was a neighbor’s child, left with us for a few hours while they went out. Lucas had been safe, all along, with me. An hour earlier, I left with Lucas to have his pediatrician look at a nasty rash that covered his back. A rash that had disappeared completely by the time he was examined. I’ve often wondered if it was a Divine way of getting him to safety.”

  Gabrielle felt tears beginning to burn her eyes. The sadness was for Emma but also from the realization of the danger Lucas was in.

  And he doesn’t even know.

  “I fell on my knees that night and prayed harder than I’d ever prayed. Pleading with Yahuwah to guide me in how to keep Lucas safe, to prevent that … thing from finding out that, ultimately, he’d failed. I didn’t know if I should stay here and believe Lucas would be safe or if I should flee with him. My answer came the next day. A new family moved in across the street, and a man came over, concerned by all the police cars and news vans that had converged on our street. All of them were coming and going from our house or yard. He was let through the police line after explaining he was a pastor and offered his assistance to anyone who may need it. The policeman informed him of what had happened and told him about me and the state I was in—which, as you can imagine, wasn’t very good.

  “When he walked in and looked at me with little Lucas in my arms, I saw what I thought was recognition in his expression. But I knew I’d never seen him before. He came to me and held out his hand, which I felt compelled to take. He walked me into my bedroom and closed the door behind him so no one would be able to hear. He told me that he had a dream the night before, but it was unlike any dream he’d ever had. It seemed very much real. In this dream, an angel told him he would need to help Lucas and me. He was shown our images and charged with being there for us in any way he could—to guide Lucas as he grew.”

  Emma stood and began pacing the room.

  “So, I got my answer. Obviously, if I was meant to leave, this man, who had just moved in across the street, wouldn’t have been told to take care of us. I told him all I knew. He knows my origins and has kept it a secret all these years. Lizzie is the only other person who knows. Even Lucas has no idea.”

  Gabrielle tensed with a sudden, horrible realization.

  “Wait a second, Emma. Lucas has your blood in him, too. He’s also your blood descendent.” Gabrielle was standing now, walking cautiously over t
o Lucas.

  “Of course.” Emma responded, confusion in her tone.

  Oh … all of this makes so much sense, now.

  “Emma … don’t you see? When I pause time … it doesn’t affect angels.”

  “But Lucas isn’t an angel, Gabrielle. He’s—”

  “A human, with Divine blood,” Gabrielle interrupted. “He’s a quarter angel …essentially … he’s Nephilim.”

  Chapter Thirty-one

  Mara ~ Temper, Temper

  Javan and Mara left Gabrielle standing on the street and went back to his loft. He was visibly agitated, so Mara waited to say what was on her mind as long as she could. When the door to the loft closed behind them, she turned to Javan.

  “What did you mean back there when you told Gabrielle you wanted her? If you think I’m going to play second to her, if you manage to get her to join you, you’re wrong. I’ll—”

  It was startling how fast he moved even for a demon. Before Mara could react, Javan pushed her up against the wall, his hands clasped dangerously tight around her neck. She could barely breathe, but she knew better than to fight back—he was far stronger than she was.

  “You’ll what?” he asked through his teeth. “What, exactly, is it that you think you can do to me? You have no power, or authority, over me. It’s the other way around. Do you need a reminder of that?”

  Mara felt Javan’s grip tightening; her vision was disappearing. She was about to pass out when he released her. She sucked in several sharp breaths, struggling to get air into her aching lungs. Javan walked to the kitchen and poured himself some whiskey. Mara weighed her options for her next move, knowing she was in dangerous territory. If he kept drinking tonight, she would need to find somewhere else to be. He was testy and mean enough without liquor coursing through his veins. Alcohol only made him all that much more intense.