by Nancy Holder
“And you didn’t feel the need to keep going with your quest.”
“I guess not,” Armand admitted.
“You like the mystical, the supernatural.”
It was a statement, not a question. Armand just dropped his eyes to his cup, wondering if he was about to be scolded.
“You had the misfortune to come up in the church at a time when these things were frowned upon, discouraged.”
“Yes,” Armand admitted.
“You would have done well as an exorcist, or a healer. In this technologically driven world of ours, though, there is very little place for faith, let alone the miraculous.”
“I have often thought that,” Armand said.
“Of course you have, and so you went looking for something more exciting.” He smiled, his lined eyelids crinkling like venetian blinds.
Armand opened his mouth to protest, but Jacob waved him off. “You did not see how you could be yourself inside the church, so you left. It happens to many.”
“I don’t see what you’re getting at,” Armand said. “What I need to know right now is—”
Jacob took a sip of tea, peering through his lashes at Armand. “You have demon problems, yes?”
“Oui.”
“They are getting worse since you have set yourself up as one who can banish them, correct?”
Armand nodded.
“Then you should know they will only get worse. Soon the Dark One is coming to destroy the earth. The demons also sense this, and it makes them both bolder and more afraid.”
“You mean, Satan is coming?” As Armand spoke the name, the tea in his cup froze to ice.
Jacob stared at him long and hard before giving him a tiny smile. “You’re not asking me to explain; you’re asking me what to believe. That, as always, is your choice. But, no, the Dark One is not Satan. He goes by many names, but that is not one.”
Jacob touched Armand’s cup, and the ice changed back into steaming tea.
“I’m not sure that makes me feel any better,” Armand murmured.
“It shouldn’t. Terrible things are coming, and what you have seen is only the beginning.”
“What must I do?”
“You must fight.” Jacob leaned forward and took both of Armand’s hands in his. His grip was strong. His frail appearance was deceiving. Appearances so often were.
“You have been assigned a role in this since before your birth. The powers beyond us always have plans for us. However, you can only fulfill your destiny if your heart is undivided.”
“What do you mean?” Armand asked, even though he was afraid he knew the answer.
Jacob gripped harder, as if trying to press answers into Armand’s flesh. “You must choose. You must follow either the Hebrew God or the Goddess. If you try to serve both, you will not have the focus you need and you will be one of the first to die.”
Armand trembled, and Jacob released him. “Which must I choose?”
“That is up to you, but you must do so quickly and without doubt.” He drank another sip of tea.
“How do I do that?” Armand was baffled.
Jacob closed his eyes, and the expression on his face reminded Armand of the look Pablo had when concentrating especially hard on a distant voice he alone could hear.
“The time is coming when a choice will be presented. Then you must make it, and swiftly.” He picked up both their cups and scooted out his chair. “But now you must go so that you are not missed.”
Armand had so many other questions, but the prophet raised his hand as though to stave them off. Reluctantly Armand stood and bowed.
Jacob bowed back. “I salute you, pilgrim,” he said.
“Would you come with me?” Armand asked him.
“If I could, I would. But I have a battle of my own,” Jacob replied. “Now go.”
Armand left the small house and with a heavy heart turned his steps back to the camp.
He knew something was wrong when he was still about a mile away. He felt as if he heard the whisper of shouts on the air. Pablo, can you hear me? he thought.
There was no answer.
He began to run.
Seattle, Five Years Ago: Nicole and Eli
It was the first day of high school for Nicole Anderson and her twin sister Amanda. Nicole was jazzed! Of course, Amanda was her usual quiet self. It was too hard to tell what went on half the time in her sister’s head.
No big. Life was for living, not worrying. Still, when lunchtime came, she dutifully found Amanda in the cafeteria and sat with her, just like she had promised her mom she would. It was only the first day, and besides, wherever Nicole sat, her best friends, Kat and Steph, would follow.
“So, how’s it going?” Nicole asked Amanda. “Any hot guys in your classes?”
Amanda sighed. “So far, just lots of homework. But I think I’m going to love my math class.”
“Gag me,” Nicole said, grimacing as she slurped her diet soda. “I’d rather take six periods of PE than—”
Whoa.
Across the room the hottest guy she had ever seen was staring right at her. Dark bedroom eyes, long dark hair. Amazing. She let her lips curve into a smile around the straw, realized that was kind of, um, sexual, and made herself look away. She knew how to play the game. She’d been playing it for years.
“Who’s that?” she asked, lowering her voice.
Everyone at the table turned to look, then turned back.
“That’s Eli, Jeraud Deveraux’s older brother,” Kat breathed. “A senior.”
“He’s trouble,” Steph said. “My brother says his family’s into some really weird stuff. Like devil-worshipping or something. But his dad is totally hot, for an older guy.”
Trouble. Nicole smiled. She liked the sound of that.
Across the room Eli Deveraux was still staring at her, and he started smiling too. Even though he was all the way across the noisy cafeteria, she was sure she could see right into his eyes and lose herself in them….
“Nicole! Nicole!”
She jumped and turned to Amanda. “What?” she snapped, irritated.
“What are you saying?” Amanda demanded.
“What do you mean?” Nicole grabbed a french fry off Amanda’s plate, swabbed it in her ketchup, and ate it.
Amanda batted her hand away. “Just now you were staring at Eli and you were saying…something. I couldn’t understand you.”
“It sounded French,” Kat said, stealing a french fry from Amanda too.
“I don’t speak French,” Nicole said, annoyed with all of them now.
“Are you on drugs?” Amanda cried. “I am so telling Mom—”
“I am not on drugs,” Nicole said.
“And if you’re so hungry, why don’t you eat your own lunch?” Amanda continued.
Nicole glanced down at the table and realized she hadn’t eaten a thing. How did that happen? she wondered briefly. She crammed a bite of turkey sandwich into her mouth and washed it down with the rest of her soda.
Then the bell rang. As everyone scrambled, she looked over toward Eli.
He was gone.
When they got home, she was big-time going to lecture Amanda about distracting her when she was in flirt mode.
Finding her a boyfriend would do wonders for my love life, she realized. A second later she dismissed it. They had only one class in common, and after today they didn’t even have to eat lunch together. I so should have been an only child. I’d be great at it.
Nicole fidgeted through the rest of her classes. She couldn’t stop thinking about Eli. There was something so powerful about him. She closed her eyes and envisioned his broad shoulders. She imagined what it would be like to run her fingers through his dark hair and kiss him.
Her algebra teacher droned on and on, and Nicole started checking out. It was her last class of the day and she was hoping that she’d be able to catch a glimpse of Eli before he left campus.
Eli.
So gorgeous.
> Eli.
So dangerous.
Eli.
That name didn’t seem to suit him, though. There was another.
She was standing in the back of a different class, his class. She could see him staring out the window. Was he thinking of her?
Can you see me?
Suddenly he turned around and looked right at her, right through her. Her skin felt as though it were on fire. It was all so…familiar.
The bell rang and she snapped awake. For a moment she was disoriented until she stared down at her piece of paper. There she had written “2x + y = Eli.”
She blushed and scratched it out quickly before stuffing her notebook into her bag. She was going to have to move fast if she hoped to see him before he left school. Everyone else had filed out by the time she made it to the door. She ran so hard right into a broad chest that she had the wind knocked out of her. She looked up and melted into Eli’s eyes.
“It’s you,” she whispered.
He looked a little puzzled, but he nodded anyway.
His eyes were more intense than she had even imagined them. So very Deveraux.
She brushed the thought away. Of course, he was the first Deveraux she had actually met. She had seen his younger brother, Jer, but only from a distance. Amanda had made Mom drive by his house when they were twelve.
Oh, my God, was Amanda crushing on Jer?
“You want to go somewhere?” Eli asked.
“Anywhere,” Nicole said.
They started walking toward the student parking lot, and Nicole found she couldn’t take her eyes off him.
“Nicole, I’ve been looking for you,” Amanda snapped, running up and grabbing her arm.
“Not now,” Nicole said through her teeth, shaking her off. “Tell Mom I’ll be home late.”
Amanda was pissed, but Nicole didn’t really care. Amanda was always pissed.
A minute later Nicole was seated in Eli’s low-slung black Corvette, and all thoughts of her sister vanished.
He drove her to the park by the library. Pine trees swayed in the autumn wind. They got out and walked a short way on the gravel path, looping past the statue of Chief Seattle, not speaking. He stared at her the entire way. She stared back.
Finally they stopped and Eli wrapped his arms around her. When his lips met hers, her body jolted as though shot through with electricity. He must have felt it, too, because he pulled away and again gave her that strange look she couldn’t quite fathom. Everything about him seemed so right, so familiar.
“Do you believe in reincarnation?” she asked.
He shook his head.
“I don’t either, but I feel like I’ve known you for a very long time and l—”
She stopped short as she realized she was just about to save “love you.” She shook her head to clear it. No way was she saying that before he did, and especially not the first time they hung out.
He was staring at her in a way that made her feel dizzy, off-kilter. He had mad flirting skills.
“And what do you know about me?” he asked.
His eyes seemed to trap her. Her heart pounded. She knew she wouldn’t want to deny him anything. He leaned closer to her and squeezed her tightly.
“You’re trouble,” she said. “That’s what I heard.”
He laughed, and kissed her long and hard. He used his tongue. She had never done that before, and she thought her legs were going to collapse out from under her.
He was a senior.
“What else?”
“Your family is into weird stuff,” she gasped as his lips trailed down her throat.
“And?”
She shook her head, not sure what he was looking for.
“Your friends didn’t tell you anything else about me?”
“No.”
He pressed his lips to her ear. “They didn’t tell you I was a warlock?”
“No,” she whispered.
“They should have,” he said, the fingers of his left hand caressing her throat.
Okay, that was weird. Weird that he should believe it, or say it, she didn’t know which, but weirder that she should believe it. Then and there, she knew it was true.
The wind kicked up, pitching bits of gravel against her shins. She should leave, she should run as far away as she could, as fast as she could. She didn’t want to, though. And somewhere deep inside a voice urged her to stay, that it was okay, that she knew him.
“Eli?” she whispered, although the name still didn’t seem right to her.
“Yes?”
“Are you bad?”
“Baby, I’m the worst,” he purred.
And even though she knew she should run away, Nicole found herself tearing off his clothes instead.
A week later, “I made you something,” Eli said as Nicole slid into the ’vette.
Nicole eagerly took the box from him. She hadn’t seen him at school since he had dropped her off at home that first night, and she’d begun to panic, wondering if he had dumped her. He had called fifteen minutes ago, and she had had barely enough time to throw on the sexiest outfit in her closet.
She turned the box over for a moment and stared at it before she opened it up. Inside was a silver bracelet with a symbol burned into it. It looked like a star with a twisty circle in the middle. “You made this for me?” she asked in amazement.
“Yes.”
She looked at the symbol more closely. “It looks like the tattoo you have on your chest,” she exclaimed, blushing. Twisty circle, star.
He nodded slightly.
“What does it mean?”
He cleared his throat. “It’s for protection. Put it on.”
She did, and it fit snugly around her wrist. “It’s beautiful. Thank you so much.”
“You’re welcome,” he said.
She kept staring at the bracelet. “I—I was beginning to think you didn’t want to see me again.”
He laughed, deep in his chest. “No, I’d like to see a lot more of you. Like, all of you. Again.”
She blushed again. Every time she tried to recall that afternoon in detail, it was fuzzy, as though she were seeing it through someone else’s eyes.
“So, protection from what?” she asked, quickly changing the subject. And that made her think about what they’d done….
What did we do? Did we do it? She couldn’t exactly remember.
It was his turn to look uncomfortable. “Oh, a lot of things.”
“Like what?” she pressed.
“Mostly it is supposed to protect the wearer from possession. But, you know, I just think it’s a cool symbol. If you don’t like it, no big, I can get you something else.”
“Possession?” she asked. “Like, being possessive?”
He stared at her. Her lower belly tingled. Her cheeks burned. “You know exactly what I mean.”
She started to shake her head, but he caught her chin and held it.
“You’re the one who asked about reincarnation. That’s basically a myth. But possession…it can happen. It does happen. So…wear it.”
“Um, I—”
“Wear it. Or don’t,” he said suddenly. “If you don’t like it. Or me.”
He grabbed at the bracelet, but she was quicker, snatching her hand away. “No. I love it, really. Thank you,” she said.
“I’m just messing with you.” He laughed, all seriousness gone. “If you don’t like it, I’ll get you something else.”
“No, I do love it.” And I love you. Oh, Eli, I shouldn’t, not yet, but I do….
He nodded and started the car. She didn’t know why but she couldn’t shake the feeling that he really did take it all very seriously. She closed her eyes and leaned her head back. Her body was blazing. She was sure he knew it.
“Tell me about being a warlock,” she said.
“Maybe I will. If you’re good,” he replied.
He was exciting, dangerous, and passionate. Over the next several months she pushed him to tell her more about magic,
and she had the feeling that he humored her. He showed her his ritual knife and he lit a candle with his finger.
She tried to do that on her own. Tried to make shadows glow in a darkened room. She thought she made a needle swing on a piece of thread, but she wasn’t sure.
Then, one night in his basement, while they were making out, she felt the room grow warmer.
“Did you do that?” she asked him, and he kissed the tip of her nose.
“Don’t tell anyone,” he made her swear. “Not your friends, or your sister. No one.”
And she didn’t.
Mumbai: Philippe and Anne-Louise
The whole city felt wrong to Philippe. He paced the small hotel room and waited for Anne-Louise to return. Ever since the swami’s disappearance, and likely death, everything had felt…off balance.
Suddenly the door opened and Anne-Louise rushed inside. Her face was chalk white, and she started grabbing up her things.
“Allons-y,” she said in French. Let’s go.
“What’s wrong?” he asked her.
“There’s a Deveraux in the city.”
His blood turned to ice. “Why? Which one?”
“All I know is that it wasn’t Jer,” she said in clipped tones.
“Eli, after Nicole? Who else is left? Their father is dead.”
“Philippe, je ne sais pas.” I don’t know.
“We could fight.”
She kept packing. Ten minutes later they were downstairs and mingling with the Bombay crowd. Car horns blared; the crush of people was nearly stifling in the humid, pungent air.
Magical energy pressed in around him—dark and powerful, with a distinct feel of Deveraux to it. He let Anne-Louise lead the way while he concentrated on deflecting it, camouflaging them from its attention.
But the magic got stronger, and darker. It lay like a wet snake along his skin. Anne-Louise looked at him over her shoulder, and he nodded, once. She felt it too.
At the next busy intersection, she stopped.
“We can’t outrun him,” she said.
“Then let’s confront him out in the open,” Philippe said, still unsure which Deveraux it was. If it was Jer, he might be a friend…but that one was so changeable, it was difficult to know.
“Sanjay Gandhi National Park is a few blocks away,” she said. “It’s the largest urban park in the world.”
