by Rene Lyons
With Sabrina’s blood, he would crack the three stones and lay bare the withered hearts of Balian’s children. Her blood would break the Earth and call forth the demon Balian. With her blood, the blood of the last female nephilim, he would unmake humanity.
Chapter Six
Sabrina didn’t have much to do to prepare to leave for Halifax other than pack her bags. Keys in hand, her fear caused her to hesitate before walking out the door. She must have looked out the window a dozen times to make sure Bryce was nowhere to be found. Not that being inside was much safer. If Bryce wanted to get to her, there were dozens of ways he could break in to her house. Nevertheless, being in her home gave Sabrina a sense of security she was reluctant to give up.
Glancing down at the suitcases at her feet, she marveled that twenty-five years of life could fit in only two suitcases. It proved how empty her life was. No family and friends, she didn’t even have a pet. The die of her empty life had been cast the moment her mother learned what the father of her unborn baby was. Her mind shattered from the impact of conceiving a child with a fallen angel.
As much as Sabrina wanted to learn all she could about her father, part of her had been afraid of where that knowledge would take her. Once she’d pushed aside her fear, her quest to understand who and what her father was landed her right in the center of a world where angels, demons, Heaven, and Hell were all real.
Taking a deep and calming breath, Sabrina opened the door, picked up her suitcases and walked out of her house. After throwing her bags in the backseat, she returned to the house to lock it up. She lingered a moment and stared up at her house, wondering if she’d ever know a normal day again. Not that her life had ever been normal, but it was hers and it was what she was used to. It was the unknown future that terrified her.
In the car, she turned on the radio, hoping the music would drown out her thoughts, which screamed for her to drive someplace far away—where she could start over and pretend to be someone else and put the last years of her life behind her. As much as that thought appealed to her, Sabrina wasn’t the sort to run from anything, which was why instead of heading off to places unknown, she made her way toward Halifax Manor.
“Alone I Break” by Korn was playing. She loved this song. Felt the lyrics were written just for her, given the circumstances of her life. It was dark and depressing and all about life changing and a person tired of being alone. Yes. That’s exactly how she felt.
Sabrina liked to tell people she was strong, the truth was she wasn’t as tough as she pretended to be. There were days when she felt as if her heart was bleeding and her soul was slowly dying. Yet, when she’d been around Seth, that had all faded away. She was—complete with him.
Reaching the tree-lined country road that led to Hawley, she sped up, wanting to get to Halifax as quickly as possible. Though she’d grown up here and loved living here, Sabrina wondered why Seth would choose such a desolate area to make his home instead of Rome, Jerusalem, or some other city with deep religious roots. The biggest draw of Bethlehem, New York was Mathers Museum, which really wasn’t saying much. Woodstock was nearby, but that hadn’t been a popular tourist attraction for years.
Here, lost in upstate New York, the winters were brutal. Other than the myriad camps for Hasidic Jews, there wasn’t a lot to do during the summer months. But then, as Sabrina drove down the road toward Halifax Manor, it struck her that the isolation of the area would be the perfect place for Seth to hide the stone. True, in a big city he could lose himself in the crowd, but there would also be danger coming at him from every angle—equally lost in the crush of population. At least here he would have a better chance at seeing danger.
Seth’s mansion lay just outside the south end of Hawley. It sat on a huge, perfectly manicured piece of property surrounded by an impregnable electrified fence. Cameras prominently stared down at anyone approaching to let people know they were being watched. An intimidating armed guard secured the gate, which was the only way in or out of the property.
Pulling up to the guardhouse, the guard greeted her with a welcoming smile. “Hello, Miss Hart. Mr. Raleigh is expecting you. Go right on through.”
He leaned into the booth and hit the button that opened the gate.
After thanking him, Sabrina slowly pulled through the gate. Though she’d done this same thing last night, today, driving into Seth’s lair had a certain sense of finality she couldn’t explain.
As she drove down the long road that led to the manor, she remembered trying to get a peek at the mansion as a kid. She never knew her father had once lived here, nor that Seth had called Halifax home since the night he’d died. All anyone knew was that Halifax was shrouded in mystery, and the fact that the manor couldn’t be seen from the main road only added to its enigma.
Besides the electrified fence, a tall line of trees further shielded the manor, which was set far back from any public roads. In the winter, after the leaves had fallen off the trees, the gothic mansion could barely be seen and only from just the right angle. During the summer, it was impossible to see.
Instead of going around to the side of the mansion where the entrance to his offices was located, Sabrina parked her car near the front entrance. By the time she turned off her car and stepped out, the front door was open and the tall, skinny butler came out to greet her.
“Good morning, Miss Hart. It’s nice to see you back so soon. I’m David, Mr. Raleigh’s butler.”
Sabrina returned his greeting, finding it odd Seth hadn’t been the one to meet her. A knot of dread settled in her stomach at the thought of his absence. “Is Seth here?”
“No, I’m sorry, Miss Hart, but Mr. Raleigh was called away on unexpected business.” Her disappointment must have been evident because David offered her a sympathetic smile. “It was unavoidable.”
She was sure it was. Given what Seth was, she was sure he had all sorts of secrets he had to keep and mysterious business he had to see to. “Do you know when he’ll be back?”
“Not before tonight, I’m afraid.” He peered around her, looking back toward her car. “If you’ve brought luggage with you, I’d be happy to carry it up to your room.”
The man was rail thin and looked frail enough to be blown over by a strong breeze. The last thing she wanted was for him to go hefting her heavy bags around. “No, it’s okay. I can carry them.”
David protested until Sabrina relented. She followed him into the main entrance, stunned speechless by the opulence. She was almost afraid to walk on the pristine white marble floor. There was a huge marble statue of a towering warrior-angel, a sword gripped in his hands. It wore armor engraved in Aramaic.
The statue made her think of her father. This was what he had been—a glorious warrior of Heaven. He and Seth were beautiful and fierce warriors who had been chosen by God to fall to Earth. It was all so unbelievable, yet the truth was all around her. It flowed through her veins.
“Follow me, Miss Hart. I’ll show you to your room.”
By the time they trekked up the stairs and traveled down the endless corridor, she felt as if they’d walked a mile. The butler, obviously used to traveling through the massive house, wasn’t even winded. Having lived a hard and impoverished life, Sabrina wasn’t about to pretend the finery of Halifax didn’t intimidate her. She openly gaped at the artwork on the walls, the Persian carpets covering polished oak floors. The furniture alone looked like it belonged in a museum. It all had her feeling extremely crude and out of place.
At the end of the long corridor, David opened the door and stepped aside for her to enter. He made a grand sweeping gesture with his arm and announced this was to be her room. Sabrina inched into the sunlit room and did her best to hide her awe but knew she failed miserably.
The room was done up in rich earth tones, giving it a masculine feel. Heavy furniture lined walls decorated with priceless art and ancient weaponry. A delicate mural depicting three warrior-angels fighting three demons covered the ceiling. Because of the mural and the
masculinity of the room, Sabrina assumed this was Seth’s chamber. She dismissed her assumption after inching fully into the room. Why she knew this wasn’t Seth’s room she couldn’t say. It was just something she knew.
Maybe it was the tiny frisson of electricity that ran up Sabrina’s spine when she noticed the oil painting that hung over the fireplace. Her heart slammed painfully against her ribcage as she stared up at it. Though she’d never seen that face, she instinctively knew who it was and it sent her emotions into a tailspin.
Her feet carried her across the room as if they had a mind of their own. The closer she got the more details of the picture jumped out at her. Every nuance of his features was so like her own, it scared her. Scared her because she knew whose face she was staring at and the emotions it pulled from her rocked her to her soul.
“This is him, isn’t it?”
Out of the corner of her eye, Sabrina saw David set her bags down near the bed. “I think it would be best if Mr. Raleigh…”
Sabrina swung around and pinned David with a glare. “Please, David, just tell me. This is my father, isn’t it?”
From his nervous look, Sabrina thought he was going to run from the room rather than answer her. “Yes. That’s Daniel.”
“Oh God…”
Her father. The man in the painting was everything and nothing that she’d expected. He was beautiful and perfect and had a fierce edge to him that bespoke of his warrior’s soul.
Sabrina reached out to the painting, as if touching it would be touching her father. She didn’t fight the tears that gathered in her eyes. They slipped down her cheeks as she drank in the sight of her father. Behind her, she heard David leave, allowing her her privacy. How long she stood before the painting, she didn’t know. By the time she turned away, her tears were spent and she was shaking uncontrollably.
Dazed, she looked around the room and spotted a closed door. Opening it, she was grateful it was a bathroom. Going to the sink, she stared into the mirror above it. Though she’d spent twenty-five years staring at her face, she only just now recognized it. She only just realized how little she looked like her mother. If the painting was accurate, she was the spitting image of her father.
She found it strange that she resembledsomeone she’d never known, yet who was so much a part of her. Daniel was in her blood and her soul. But most of all, he was in her heart.
After washing the tears from her face, Sabrina felt better in control of herself. She returned to the bedroom and dragged her bags up on the bed. Since she felt presumptuous unpacking her clothes, she rummaged through her bags and pulled out her toiletries. She brought them to the bathroom and did her best to fix her appearance. She didn’t want to look like she’d had an emotional meltdown.
With hours to spare before Seth was supposed to return to the manor, Sabrina crept from her room and made her way back down the long corridor. She hesitated at the stairs, listening for voices coming from below. Hearing nothing, she proceeded down the stairs. Her stomach rumbled painfully since all she’d put in it all day was a cup of coffee.
Sabrina was relived to hear David’s voice coming from the kitchen. He wasn’t alone. The woman with him was lanky, had her gray hair pulled back in a loose bun and was wearing a blue housedress with a white apron over it. She had a familial look about her, as if she’d spent hours baking cookies or stirring stew.
“What in God’s name took that man so long to get her here?”
David shrugged and shook his head. “You know he couldn’t force her.”
“Who said anything about forcing the girl?” She stamped her foot. “But by God, if he had, this whole thing with Mathers might have been avoided.”
“What’s done is done, and all they can do is find a way to stop him before he makes a nuisance of himself.”
The woman slapped her wooden spoon on the counter. “He comes from bad stock.”
“Don’t I know it,” David agreed. “I went to school with his father. Never did like him. The mother was nice though. I always thought her death was a shame. If I remember right, the younger son didn’t even attend the funeral.”
The woman nodded. “It was scandalous.”
David waved a hand through the air. “It was better off that way. He was a mouthy one—like his father. No doubt he would have caused trouble if he’d come.”
“And now look, it’s the older being a bother. Seth has enough to worry about without adding Bryce Mathers to the mix.” Sabrina was about to sneak away but the woman spotted her in the doorway. “Ah, there she is, and so pretty too—just like Seth said.”
Sabrina, unused to compliments, blushed hotly as she inched into the kitchen. David, whose back was to her, turned and smiled. “That she is. She looks exactly like Daniel.”
“Of course she does.” The woman gave her a wide smile. “I’m Francine. I’ve been here since I was a girl. I adored your father. He was a good man.”
“I can’t believe I went my entire life without ever knowing anyone who knew my father and now I’m surrounded by people who did. It’s mind-blowing.”
Francine ushered her farther into the kitchen and sat her at the table. “I’m sure it’s all very overwhelming for you. In time you’ll settle in and things will take on a normal feel. Isn’t that right, David?”
David was nodding furiously. “Absolutely.”
Sabrina shook her head and shrugged. “I don’t think I’ll be staying here for too long.”
“Nonsense,” Francine huffed. “This was your father’s home and now it’s yours as well. Daniel wanted it that way. You belong here.”
You belong here. Never did Sabrina think to hear those words. They stabbed through her brain, nearly bringing tears to her eyes again. She’d never belonged anywhere, always living in someone else’s house or off someone else’s charity.
“My mother never told me he’d lived here.” She managed to control her emotions and swallow down her tears. “This is Seth’s home now, not mine. I can’t see him wanting me to move in like I own the place.”
Though she laughed lightheartedly, inside Sabrina was dying for Francine to be right—that this was where she belonged. Pain—sharp and intense—cut through her. She wished to God for just one moment with her father. Just one. That’s all she wanted, a single moment with him. But she’d never get that, and all the praying and wishing in the world wouldn’t make it so. Being here was the closest she’d come to him, and that had to be enough.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t.
Over the next few hours, Francine and David kept her company. They showed her around the mansion and told her enough about her father for Sabrina to feel a hint of a connection to him. At the moment, it was enough.
After a huge meal—Francine certainly loved to cook—Sabrina went up to her room. Once she’d stared long and hard at the painting of her father again, she braved the process of unpacking, though she couldn’t help but feel presumptuous by doing it. If Francine hadn’t threatened that if Sabrina didn’t unpack her clothes, she would, Sabrina wouldn’t have done it.
With her clothes folded neatly in drawers and more hanging in the wardrobe, the room didn’t seem so strange and unfamiliar.
“What took you so long to get here?”
Sabrina jumped at least a foot in the air. She spun around and saw Seth standing in the doorway. She hadn’t heard the door open, yet there he was—all six feet of him filling the space and making her suddenly as hot as if she was standing on the sun.
Seriously, did the man have to be so gorgeous? He was devastating to her senses. All he had to do was walk into a room and she melted. It was sad, really, given that she was way too old to react to him this way, and yet she couldn’t help herself. Hell, she’d finally had an orgasm. A mind-blowing one, in fact. She figured she could forgive herself for acting like a young girl crushing for the first time.
“So long? I got here at like ten this morning.”
He took her hand, his thumb rubbing over her knuckles. “You
should have been here earlier, Sabrina.”
She loved the way he said her name. His accent caused him to roll the “R” in a way that sent chills through her. “I shouldn’t have come. I have no right to burden you.”
“Burden me?” The smile that curled his lips drew her attention and had her remembering the feel of them on her skin. The pleasure that coursed through her at the memory made her breathless. “This is where you belong.”
Having gone a lifetime belonging nowhere, hearing it said twice in one day actually had her feeling as if it were true. In an effort to distract herself from the intensity of Seth’s stare, Sabrina waved her hand through the air, indicating the house. “I still can’t believe my mother didn’t tell me that this was my father’s house.”
An unreadable look passed over Seth’s face. “I was chosen to become a Seraphim the day he was killed.”
Sabrina never knew the details of her father’s death, only that he’d died before she was born. She’d always been curious about how he’d died but had no one to ask. She’d made the mistake of questioning her mother once. Her mother had ended up doing a month-long stint in the psycho ward. Sabrina never asked again.
“Come with me.”
Seth put his hand out to her and everything around her seemed to fade away. Nothing else mattered but Seth as she slipped her hand in his and he curled his fingers around hers. He smiled as he tugged her out of her bedroom. He led her silently into his room, which was located directly next to hers.
After Seth pushed open the door, Sabrina followed him inside. The delicate aroma of patchouli assailed her as her eyes adjusted to the dim lighting of the room. Only the dancing flames in the fireplace broke the dark.
Once her eyes adjusted, Sabrina saw the room was as dark and mysterious as the man who occupied it. Black furniture lined walls covered with gothic art. A massive bed dominated the room, which had a few ancient-looking wooden chests scattered around. Heavy black curtains covered the windows. One set of curtains were slightly parted, revealing the window had been bricked closed.
