Emanare (Destined, #1)

by Browning, Taryn

  “You’re wrong. Evrik and I belong together. Don’t touch Lauren. She’s innocent,” Sam yelled at Nieander, even though he wasn’t within physical proximity anymore. Her thoughts suddenly switched. “Evrik, I have to go. I can’t be with you anymore. I don’t want you.” Using her tiny stature, she wiggled out of Evrik’s hold. He stopped running, along with the others, and let her go.

  “What’s she saying?” Draylan shouted. “Get her under control.” Draylan shook Vicky off his back and she landed in the road on her butt.

  “I don’t know,” Evrik answered. “He’s done something to her. It’s like he’s in her head, controlling her mind. She’s confused.”

  “I don’t want to be with you anymore. You mean nothing to me,” Sam shouted at Evrik.

  “Evrik,” Alea pleaded. “Don’t listen to what she’s saying. It’s not her. She loves you. It’s Nieander’s influence.”

  Chase transformed back into himself, totally naked. Alea threw his shorts at him. He slid them on, paying no attention to Ann and Vicky’s wide-eyed expressions.

  “Samantha, calm down. We love you. You’re okay. You’re with us. We’ll get Lauren back together.” Chase tried to take hold of Sam’s arms, but she shoved him backward.

  A car sped by. Sam spun around and jumped onto the curb, darting into a nearby alleyway. Evrik and Chase followed. She noticed her wings now extended out past her body. They had grown at least two feet since she’d last looked.

  Sam fell to the ground. Her knees smacked the pavement. She couldn’t figure out what was real. She felt as if she wanted to be as far away from Evrik and Chase as possible, yet it broke her heart to think those thoughts. Her mind ripped in two. She hated them, yet loved them more than life itself. The conflict within her became too hard to bear. She needed to escape from her own consciousness. Her blood was alive and on fire, battling.

  Alea joined them in the alley. “Evrik, there’s something seriously wrong.”

  “Help me, please,” Sam said in a voice lower than a whisper, using all of the strength she could muster to get the words out. She could no longer fight Evrik. He wrapped his arms around her, cradling her on the crumbling, pebble-filled asphalt.

  “I don’t know what’s real anymore. My heart—and my mind hurt. What’s happening to me? I would rather die than speak these words to you.” Tears hit the pavement, creating specks of black on the faded gray asphalt.

  “Alea, what’s happening to her?” Fear consumed Evrik’s words. He held Sam tighter and stroked her sweat-soaked hair.

  “I don’t know. She’s in conflict. It seems as if she is torn between you and Nieander.”

  “How can that be? She loves me. What would she want with him?” Evrik said.

  “Evrik, I honestly don’t know, but I can feel her inner struggle. There’s something inside of her, a part of her genetic makeup that yearns to go with Nieander. I can’t explain it,” Alea said.

  “Please try to focus on us.” Evrik rocked her in his arms.

  “Please stay with me,” Sam quivered through chattering teeth. Her blood felt like ice water.

  Stroking her head, Evrik tried to soothe her. “I’m not going anywhere. I’ll always be here.”

  Sam found it difficult to put words together coherently; letters seemed to jam into strange groupings. She felt as if she were playing Scrabble with only consonants.

  “Evrik—look at her wings. I think she’s taking full form, making her transition,” Alea said.

  “What does that mean?” Chase shouted. “Is she leaving us?” Chase dropped to the ground, clutching Sam’s hand. “Sam—wait. You can’t leave me.”

  CHAPTER 33

  “Stay with us. Concentrate on my hand on your hair,” Evrik insisted.

  Sam tried desperately to concentrate on Evrik, but her thoughts became wild and incoherent. Nothing made sense. For what seemed like forever, she sank into her own mind, trapped in a maze of confusion. She could no longer hear or feel Evrik. She couldn’t even process his existence. Is this supposed to make leaving easier?

  Flashes of color and shapes appeared out of the blackness. Every so often, an event or person from her life would materialize before her eyes. She reached for them, but they disappeared just as quickly as they appeared. It was like her life was being erased. Everything she knew was being taken from her.

  A buzzing in her ears echoed loudly and returned to a soft hum over and over again, a lawnmower staring up and shutting down. The intense humming turned into a searing pain, creating a stabbing in her temples and bringing waves of fuzzy black and white dots before her eyes, resembling the static of a television screen. She began to retreat into a foggy opening within her mind, somewhere quiet, dark, and less painful.

  Just when she thought she couldn’t take it any longer, Sam saw a light through the haze. She stood with her wings extended and began to walk slowly toward this infinite light. She noticed her Aunt Rose waiting for her in front of it. A smile stretched across Rose’s flawless face. She still looked eighteen, just like Sam had remembered her. Rose reached for Sam to join her.

  Sam noticed her feet were bare and she wasn’t in the clothing she’d had on just moments ago. She was dressed in a white eyelet cotton dress that flowed around her knees. A sweet breeze kissed her legs and thick blades of bright green grass tickled her feet. Moving through a green meadow, surrounded by miles of rolling hills, the cloudless blue sky arched over her, and a fiery sun sent reassuring warmth down around her.

  Sam stopped walking. She knew she had to go, but something held her in place. Sam touched her beautiful pale pink wings and noticed her skin emanating the most magnificent glow. The pain in her head had dissipated. Thoughts of Nieander were gone, but she didn’t want to continue forward.

  Then it hit her. Sam knew why she was so reluctant to walk toward Rose’s welcoming light. It meant leaving Evrik, Chase, her mom, and everyone else she cared about. Stability started to emerge within her mind.

  “I don’t want to go. I’m not ready,” Sam called out.

  “Come to me, Little Dove,” Rose sang.

  “Are you going to take me? I don’t want to leave the human world. I have so many people who love me,” Sam pleaded.

  “We all do. But we have a job to do.”

  Sam took hesitant steps in her aunt’s direction. She knew she had a duty to fulfill, but her heart was breaking. Living immortally without Evrik would be a lifetime of torture. Only steps from Rose, Sam ran to her, like she was eight years old again. Her aunt embraced her.

  “I’ve missed you so much,” Sam cried, wrapping her arms around her tightly. As she touched Rose’s perfect pale pink wings, she noticed Rose’s wings were longer and fuller than her own new wings, only Rose had two wings, not six.

  “I’ve missed you too, Little Dove.”

  “I feel like there are so many things I left unsaid and undone. I didn’t even get to say goodbye to Evrik, or Chase, or Mom. My last words to them were in anger and confusion. Nieander was controlling my mind. I don’t even remember if I told them I loved them.” Sam cried into her aunt’s loving arms.

  “Unfortunately, we don’t get to choose when we are taken. No matter what you do, you will never feel as if you’ve left everything complete. I had twelve years to plan, and I wasn’t ready. You will never be fully ready. That is why it is just done, decided, for you. Trust me…it gets better. You can keep a watch over the ones you love. We are very lucky that we come from a family of protectors.” Rose stroked her hair. Sam remembered in her childhood, when she was hurt or upset, her aunt used to twist her long blond locks into a French braid. It would make everything better, but this time things couldn’t get better. This wasn’t a scraped knee or a bruised elbow, and a boy hadn’t made fun of her twig-thin legs on the playground. Sam had a fractured heart.

  “My good friend has been taken to the Infernus. Nieander has her. If I’m not there....” Sam broke off and shook her head, composing herself. She spoke more calmly. “Who is goin
g to save her? She’s innocent. Lauren doesn’t deserve this. She was taken because of me.”

  Rose smiled warmly. “Then it’s a good thing you haven’t fully changed. You can still go back and save her, but I warn you—Nieander and the other Angeli Casi are very dangerous. Don’t underestimate Nieander. He doesn’t give up on what he wants. I was able to remove his persuasive thoughts from your mind and help you find your inner light this time, but the next time…”

  “What does he want from me? He called me his Angelus Consort? He said I belonged with them.”

  “Be careful. If he succeeds, the future of angels will be drastically altered. It is up to you to complete the change without his influence. Only Gabriel will be able to embrace you as a truly divine being.”

  “You mean the Archangel Gabriel?” She remembered what Evrik had told her. Archangel Gabriel had created his race to segregate demons from humans, banishing demons to the Infernus. She and Evrik were connected. They were both guided by the great archangel.

  “Yes, Gabriel is also a Seraph, a divine Seraph. The Angeli Casi may be Seraphs, but they are also demons. Gabriel has taken a special interest in you and blessed you with great abilities.”

  “I can block things, like Evrik’s mind control and Cale’s ability to seduce,” Sam paused, collecting her thoughts. “And my intuition—I feel things. That was how I knew Lauren had been taken by Cale. I felt her fear.” Her aunt nodded patiently. “My skin glows, like yours. The light is my power source. It comes from deep in my bones and emanates out of my skin, protecting me from harm; it’s impermeable. It acts as a good night light when I’m in dark and dingy tunnels,” Sam said matter-of-factly. “And my favorite ability is that I can fly. My wings may not be fully developed, but I can fly.” Sam paused in thought. “That may just be because I have six wings. I guess having four extra wings kind of gives me an advantage, but I have a feeling I’m going to go through a lot of shirts.” Sam glanced back at her shoulders, remembering how her shirt ripped when her wings spread. Her dress already had six holes, made especially for her.

  Rose laughed, but her laughter sounded more like a melodic arrangement. “Your wings will stay pretty well hidden, that is, until you need them. If you need them, they will spread for you.”

  Sam took a step back, again observing her aunt’s beauty. Her aunt had always been pretty, but as an angel, she was absolutely breathtaking. Her hair was the same color as Sam’s. Her thick blond curls flowed around her shoulders, cascading down her back and resting lightly on her extraordinary pale pink wings.

  “I will make Archangel Gabriel proud, Aunt Rose,” Sam whispered.

  “I know you will.” Rose stroked Sam’s hair one last time. “Tell your mother thank you for telling you about your destiny. She never expected her daughter to become an angel. It skips a generation, but you were born one of a kind, to a father who has Seraph blood.”

  “But my father is human,” Sam stuttered, confusion washing over her face.

  “The father who raised you is human, but your biological father is not. Your real father is a fallen angel.”

  Sam shook her head. “That can’t be right. Mom would have told me. All these years, there’s no way.”

  “She didn’t know. They erased her memory.” Rose’s eyes were warm and sympathetic.

  “They?” Sam shuttered. She feared Rose’s answer, but deep down she already knew the truth.

  “The Angeli Casi,” they said in unison.

  “Nieander, Donovan and Kinsley,” Rose added.

  Sam froze, expressionless. It made sense. It explained the struggle she felt inside—why Nieander’s influence was so overwhelming, why she had a natural gravitational pull toward him, and the reason she felt so easily swayed to leave Evrik. A shiver ran through her body at the realization that she had evil blood. This also explained why she was a Seraph. As Malachi said, there had never been another occurrence of a Seraph being born into a human family.

  “Who is he?” Sam demanded. “Who is my father?”

  “Donovan.”

  Sam stood in silence, trying to process what Rose had just said. Donovan was evil. How could her mother have gotten involved with demon royalty? She had so many questions. It suddenly felt as if someone were gripping her heart, squeezing it until it drained of blood. She remembered Malachi’s words, “Kinsley is Donovan’s son. He is said to have a human mother.”

  Sam gasped. “Malachi told me he has a son. A son who was born to a human.” The air cleared, and darkness lightened to beige. She was somewhere different, in a bedroom with oatmeal-colored walls, white furniture, and bold floral drapes. She cringed against the shriek of a raven’s caw. A set of twins had just been born. One ripped from trembling arms, the mother’s face hidden behind a dark curtain of feathers. Charcoal wings cradled the tiny bundle.

  Sam stumbled back. “The vision of twins in Nieander’s eyes—one was taken by something with charcoal wings. At the time, I thought it was a raven. I heard a raven’s caw, but it wasn’t. The wings belonged to a fallen angel. It wasn’t just a nightmarish vision, Aunt Rose, it was a memory.”

  “Kinsley is your twin brother.” Rose’s voice fell. It obviously pained her to disclose the truth.

  For eighteen years Sam had a brother, a twin, and never knew it. Sam should have felt angry and hurt, but instead an oddly satisfying ripple coursed through her dormant blood. Her blood had just woken from eighteen years of slumber.

  Rose grasped Sam’s hand, forcing Sam back into her gaze. Her words were no longer serene, but stern. “Sam, the father whose blood runs through your veins may have plotted your destiny, but you are proof that evil is a choice. You represent all that is good, unlike Kinsley,” she hesitated. “You are nothing like him.”

  Sam’s eyes welled with tears. She loved the father who raised her, but strangely longed for the father who had created her. And Kinsley—she had a twin.

  “I have to leave now. I’ve already said too much. I love you, my Little Dove.” Rose brushed a kiss across Sam’s forehead and turned to float away, circling gracefully over her shoulder and moving effortlessly toward the light. She sailed forward. Her feet appeared to be skimming the tips of the lush grass.

  “Sam,” Rose called. “Take care of your mother. Her fall wasn’t an accident. She’s going to need your support.”

  “What happened? How did she fall?—And how did she become pregnant with Seraph twins? Why would my mother be involved with a fallen angel?” Sam shouted, but her aunt had disappeared into a cloud of white. It was as she had expected all along. Her mother had been in such a rush to tell her she was an angeling. Sam had an eerie feeling it had to do with her father, Donovan, the father she now wanted desperately to meet, the father who had made her a Seraph. And Kinsley, Sam gulped back a knot in her throat. She wanted to meet her brother.

  Rose’s voice rang through her ears. “Trust that you will find everything you are looking for. Believe in yourself and your archangel. As long as your aura is open, he will guide you. And remember—I will always be with you. Don’t stray from what you know is right, no matter how tempting it may become.”

  Sam closed her eyes and felt herself lift off.

  CHAPTER 34

  Sam opened her eyes. She lay in her bed in her dorm room. The sun shone through her window. Relief washed over her. She flipped over, feeling for her wings. They had rescinded. All that was left were six small nubs covered with tiny, furry feathers. She remembered what her aunt had told her. They would stay hidden until she needed them again.

  Sam rose from bed and changed out of her old clothing. Her jeans were filthy from the tunnel, and her shirt was hanging on by cotton threads after ripping along her back. She looked into the full-length mirror, imagining the beautiful sleeveless dress she had worn in the meadow, with perfectly placed holes for her wings. She still couldn’t believe Gabriel had given her her unique angeling gifts. With the imminent threat of evil, Sam knew, whatever was on the horizon, it was life-altering. Someh
ow Sam, the Lightwarriors, along with Chase, and even Vicky, would be instrumental in ensuring that evil didn’t prevail in their plan to alter the angel race. And one thing was for sure…she was determined to find out the truth about her father and brother.

  She glanced over at Lauren’s side of the room. Feelings of sadness tugged at her heart. Sam tried to imagine Lauren was at Ryan’s. This was the reason her bed was still made. She didn’t know what she was going to tell Ryan or Lauren's parents about her disappearance.

  Sam walked into the bathroom. Immediately, the connecting door to Ann and Vicky’s room flew open.

  “Lauren, you’re back,” Vicky shouted. She gasped. “Oh—shit.” Vicky looked as if she’d seen a ghost. “You’re back.” She smiled happily and then composed her reaction. “Where the hell did you go? There are two broken-hearted fools wallowing in their sorrows as we speak.”

  “Evrik and Chase?”

  “Who else, unless you’re trailing along another pair of love-sick idiots?”

  “Oh—” Sam sighed. Of course, they thought she’d made her full transformation. Sam had assumed the same. “And no, Vicky, there are no other guys,” Sam responded. “I can’t seem to manage my feelings for the two guys who are already in my life.”

  “I know. Are you forgetting I can read your mind?” Vicky smirked.

  “How’s Ann?” Sam was relieved to see Ann’s mattress no longer on the floor and her side of the room back in semi-perfect order.

  Vicky waved Sam into her room. “She doesn’t remember a thing. Ann actually thinks she went to class yesterday. You’d think nothing could take away the memory of eating a rat.” She shrugged. “Alea and I even cleaned her side of the room for her. We figured she would freak if she saw the dump site she’d created. Anyway, Evrik’s good at planting memories. Obviously better than I am at taking them away.”