by Emery Skye
He whispers into my ear, "Don't ever do that again." The faint whisper caresses my ear and a wave of euphoria shoots down to my toes, causing them to curl.
Hunter.
He releases me when Caity clears her throat.
I look over my shoulder. "Pierce," I say.
"I told you to keep your vile hands of her, Daniels," his grey eyes assault Hunter from across the room. His blond hair doesn't look much better than Hunter’s. His eyes are glossy with dark bags. He and Hunter both look exhausted.
"Relax, meathead. No harm done," Hunter says cockily and takes his seat.
"My name isn't meathead," Pierce growls.
Hunter's eyebrow rises as if he finds something funny.
Guess Pierce is back to his not-so-composed-self.
"Lexi, can I talk to you?" Pierce asks me.
"Umm..."
"No way," I hear the peppy voice of my other friend and watch Beth enter the room wearing bell-bottom jeans that hide her feet and an oversized neon-yellow crop top revealing a sculpted belly.
Her curly brown hair bounces wildly around her face. "We agreed that when Lexi woke up, we would all talk to her together."
"Beth?" I ask, totally confused.
"With all due respect, fiend, she's been my best friend for over five years," Pierce tells her and clenches his jaw.
Hunter jumps up and my eyes travel the length of his body from his toes to those piercing blue eyes that I often swim in.
"You will not speak to her like that! I've had enough! We don't treat your kind with such disrespect and will not tolerate it from you!"
"That's because your kind has no reason to treat us with disrespect."
Before Hunter can respond, Beth says, "Ha! You can't be serious. You've done nothing but cause problems for us!"
"Everyone, please," Caity stands by my side. "Lexi, doesn't need this right now. We are all her friends."
Thank you, Caitlyn. Finally, a voice of reason. "I think we should let her rest. She did just wake up," she adds.
My head jerks up. So much for being the voice of reason. "No way! No way! I don't need rest. I need answers and I need them now! Someone tell me what the hell is going on!"
"Calm down," everyone says in unison. I shrink back from the song my friends start singing that consists of: breathe, calm down, relax, etc.
I examine the room and the faces of my friends. They are each so different and yet, the look they wear is similar; it's a look of fear.
"What?" I snap. "I'm fine. Someone tell me what's happening."
Caity begins. "Over some breakfast, then. You must be starving." I open my mouth to object. "Take it or leave it."
She smiles proudly. "Now, let’s let Lexi get changed.”
Hunter is the last one to stand as she ushers everyone out of the room. "You too, Romeo," Caity declares. Hunter's cheeks flush the lightest color of red.
"What my Pj’s aren't good enough for you?" I ask, my tone soaked in enthusiasm.
A deep chuckle emanates from Hunter's chest; at the same time, Caity sighs dramatically.
I throw on clothes that I find in the modern, sleek dresser. The clothes I found are my own: the jeans, the thermal, but they fit differently. Everything is too big and baggy. Nothing is comfortable anymore.
I rush to breakfast and find myself walking down spiraling hallways like I'm in a sort of clown house. As I make my way down the empty beige hallways, I pass by multiple doors, all the same boring color. Everything's the same dull color. It's a color that reminds me of the sand on the beach, only there's no sun to offer it warmth.
"In here," Caity says from inside a room to the left that I about passed right by. Sitting in the middle of the room, is a large wooden table that puts any table I've ever seen to shame. It's the size of a large oak tree and I'm sure, even heavier. Only, it's sporting a deep chestnut color. There's a chandelier with limbs like an octopus lighting the large room that makes the giant table look small. I don’t see bulbs or candles.
Beth says, "Creepy, I know," jerking me away from my bedazzled thoughts.
"Umm..." she catches me speechless. I don't think creepy is quite the word for it, but it's definitely a sight.
"It's not creepy," Caity cuts in, sounding more cross than usual.
"Well, it's not natral," Beth retorts.
Natral? What’s that?
"Are you really telling me what's natral and what's not?" Caity asks in a gravelly voice.
"Ladies," Hunter cuts in.
The anxiety of getting answers is like envisioning the light at the end of the tunnel.
I hope it's not the headlights of a semi-truck.
"Will someone please tell me what’s going on?" I holler.
Three pairs of eyes fall on me with sympathy. "Of course," Caity says as sits at the table.
"Please, everyone, sit," Caity requests and looks around the dimly lit room. Slowly, as if there’s a snake under their chairs, Pierce, Hunter and Beth all take a seat. Pierce and Caity sit next to each other on one side and Beth and Hunter sit on the other. Divided seems like the only way these four can be in a room together.
THIRTY-NINE
"Where should we start?" Caity asks.
The tick-tock of the clock and the slow inhale and exhale of my friends fills the room.
I wish I could breathe as easily.
"Is my brother," I catch myself, "is Chase still alive," I ask them and hold my breath, awaiting the answer.
I don't know which is better or worse. If Chase is dead then what’s left of my brother is dead too. At least if he's dead, then I know he's at peace.
I watch as the eyes at the table take on a beady quality.
Finally, Hunter says, "We don't know. We didn't find his body, but he was a vampire in his Transition."
I nod. "That means what?"
"Normally, when a vampire is in Transition, the body will disappear to the Master. However, sometimes not. It depends if the Master put a call on it. Or Chase could still be alive," Hunter says.
"In other words, he could still be out there?"
"Yes," Hunter tells me solemnly.
"Why don't you start with your story," I suggest to Caity, seeing as she hardly fits the puzzle as a sweet little Irish girl going to high school. Oh please, I bet my teacher's probably a fairy or a gremlin, or something equally trippy.
"Of course," she glances at Pierce and he nods. "Pierce and I are Angel Hybrids or Nephilim," she says the words slowly, as if there’s a bomb nearby.
"O…kay. Where have you so-called Nephilim been the last couple weeks?" I must address my feelings of abandonment. They both disappeared when my life imploded.
"I’m so sorry, Alexis. You have to understand that things are far more complicated than anyone thought. I left after being injured badly. Pierce wanted to go back, but we were, well, detained."
"What happened?"
"Chase. The night you and Pierce went to dinner, Chase found you, but I beat him to Saxy’s," she smiles wide.
Hunter shifts. His posture is rigid. Finally, his eyes meet mine. The second those blue pools come to me, they devour me greedily and I dive willingly.
"You said you're a hybrid," the words slip off my lips.
Pierce leaps to his feet. "You did what?" he shouts at Hunter. The area between Pierce’s eyes is lined with tiny wrinkles as his brows draw together. He clutches the table.
Hunter remains seated, but I notice, his fists are clenched by his sides.
"Calm down, meathead." Hunter reaches into his back pocket and pulls a vile of liquid out. I catch the movement, no one else does.
"Hunter," Beth whispers with an air of caution.
Anything is liable to make this room explode.
"What's wrong with that?" I ask.
Hunter pushes Pierce’s buttons no matter what he says or does.
Hunter cuts in, "We were attacked by Hordes. There was nothing I could do. She had a right to some answers. I didn't tell her everything," he bre
athes deeply.
"Damn straight, I have a right to know," I agree.
"Maybe if you hadn't known about this world, you never would've almost died!" Pierce snaps.
"It would've come eventually, regardless," Hunter tells him.
"I'm pretty sure it was your sister who led her into a dangerous situation," Pierce retorts.
Sister. Oh shit.
"Hello, I'm sitting right here, and I already apologized for that," Beth pipes up.
My eyes snap back and forth between the three of them.
"Enough," Caity says. I’m suddenly a little sleepy, like my body weighs more. Everyone’s faces draw down. Caity’s doing her feel-good mojo thing. Dammit.
"Can't you see, this is too much for Alexis," Caity tells them, with an inch of irritation. She’s totally ignoring that I'm sitting right here. I hate when people do that.
"I ask the questions and only the person I ask can answer. Got it?" I tell the four hybrids. They are ready to leap across the table and kill each other.
I direct my attention to Caity, "and, no more feel-nice voodoo. Got it?" I point at her.
She doesn't dignify my comment with a response.
They nod, but I notice a few eye rolls.
"Finally," I inhale deeply. I twiddle my fingers under the table. Now is the time to get answers and my mind is blank. Maybe it's because they're shooting darts through my thoughts with their evil eyes.
"First, you're all hybrids?" They nod. "Caity and Pierce are angel hybrids. That doesn't sound too bad." Caity smiles sweetly. "Chase called Hunter a Cambion," Hunter's eyes widen at this bit of information. "Hunter," I say clearly. "What's a Cambion?"
He sighs and Pierce's lips form a sly smile. "A Cambion is a demon hybrid.”
Okay, so, I'm no supernatural genius, but that doesn't sound like such a good thing.
"What's that mean?" I ask. Silently I’m begging he'll tell me everything.
"Remember when you asked me about the hybrids?" I nod. "Remember how I told you that most of them are not good guys?" I nod again. "Cambions are not good guys," he says simply.
Pierce interjects, “For once, I agree.”
“Hold on. When you say Cambions are not good guys, does you mean like Paris Hilton isn't a good person? Or like Hannibal Lector isn't a good person?”
Hunter’s eyes narrow. I lost him.
Hunter’s description’s too vague. Call me crazy, but I'm going to need more to go on.
"That's not fair," Beth slams her fist on the table and it rattles. Note to self: Beth is stupid strong.
"How do you fit into this?" I ask Beth.
I’m examining the puzzle my mind's created. Not a clear image yet…
"I'm a Cambion too," she tells me. "Hunter's sister."
Holy shit on a stick, if I would've been drinking liquid, it would for sure be shooting out of my nostrils.
Beth ignores my baffled expression and continues, "And, yeah, naturally Cambions are more drawn toward darkness," she twists her mouth, "but that doesn't make them dark. We still have our humanity, too, Lexi." She tips her head in a hoity-toity fashion towards Pierce.
"Okay. How are Cambions bad guys then?" I look to Hunter, but Caity answers.
"If I may," she begins oh-so diplomatically.
"By all means," Hunter replies.
She turns to me, her thick red mane, twisted into a lose braid, falls over shoulder. The green headband she's wearing shines in the overhead "lighting."
"Cambions are not bad guys, per se. However, more of them are bad than good. Every hybrid carries their other half inside them and must learn to control that half. For me," she places a hand above her heart, "as an angel, I have an inclination toward the good. I want to help people," she smiles sweetly.
"Do all Angel-Hybrids want to help people?"
Beth snorts, and Caity frowns at her.
Caity continues, "Not necessarily. Often, they do.”
"So, not all angels are good," I ask, naïve to the whole supernatural world.
Beth snorts again and a muscle bulges in Caity's neck. She is mad, mad, mad.
"Not by a long shot," Beth says.
"And Cambions," I look toward Hunter and Beth.
"Cambions are the same. We carry the half of our supernatural parent and have a higher inclination to fall into darkness. However, we can choose light," Beth explains and this time, it's Pierce who snorts.
You'd think we were a bunch of pigs with the direction this breakfast is going.
"It's much more difficult for us and the more powerful our demon parent, the harder it is," Hunter tells me, wearing a faraway look.
"Why don't you tell us who your demon parent is?" Pierce asks Hunter, oozing cockiness.
"Why don't you tell us who your angel parent is?" Hunter counters and effectively whips the smile from Pierce's lips. "Relax, freshy," Hunter tells Pierce.
"What's a freshy and will someone tell me what’s the significance of the parent with you two?"
"A freshy is someone who recently Transitioned," Beth explains.
"And?"
Beth's eyes roll. I'm wearing on her patience. Normally, she's easy going, but right now, she's not doing so great at guiding me though Supernatural Candyland. I move two steps forward and four back. This shit is going to take forever, especially with all the side bickering.
"No matter the breed, when someone first Transitions, it's more difficult for them to control themselves," Caity looks sympathetically in Pierce's direction.
That explains so much. "Now I get why you've been acting like such an ass," I say. Pierce's face sours, while Beth smiles wide.
"Next question," I announce before another fight breaks out. "How do I fit into this?"
Curious glances flicker around like the flare of a candle in wind. Tension fills the room quicker than a horse can jump a fence.
"We're not sure," Caity answers.
"What aren't you telling me?" I ask them, after noticing the signs of holding something back.
"You're an enigma, Lexi, and both the Cambion and Nephilim councils are on lockdown with the latest attacks," Pierce tells me.
"So, we don't know what we should do," Beth adds.
"But we do know, that we can't take you to our community in case..." Caity pauses.
"In case, you're not one of us," Beth finishes.
My stomach drops. It feels like there's a gaping hole where my heart once was. Not even my friends know where I belong. Not to seem overly pathetic, but doesn't anyone want me? Won't I ever find my family? Won't I ever have a place I can call a home?
"What attacks?" Whatever attacks Hybrids can't be a good thing. I chose to focus on this.
Hunter's been silent for this portion of the conversation.
"The Hybrid communities aren't desirable to Full-bloods and sometimes, the communities are found and ravaged," Caity explicates.
My eyes widen. "Can't someone call the hybrid police or an army or something?" It makes sense to band together against that type of threat. "It's sort of important that we figure out what to do with me, don't you guys think?"
All four heads snap toward me and I'm rethinking my mood choice. "Shit. Are there supernatural police?"
Caity answers. "Yes, well, no. The Keepers, they oversee many different things."
"Okay, and..."
Beth says, "One thing they're in charge of is preventing the intermingling of the races."
Pierce continues by waving his hand around the table, "This...is illegal."
"What do you mean?" They can't be serious. My friends aren't allowed to be around each other? How will I ever see them if that's the case? My heart aches.
"Breed intermingling is strongly discouraged," Caity says again with a frown.
"We shouldn't even be here with them. We're risking ourselves and other Nephilim," Pierce says to Caity with a knitted brow.
"We didn't exactly have a choice," she whispers while looking out the corner of her eye to Hunter and Beth.
Her voice carries.
"What are you saying, she's a Cambion?" Pierce retorts and grips the armrests so tight, his knuckles blanch.
"We don't know what she is, but we know she's not a human since she lit up like a light bulb," Beth snaps back with clenched fists, "and, last time I heard, that wasn't a very human thing to do!"
Hunter stares right through us into the hallway behind me. I'd love to know what he finds so fascinating over there; we're about to have world war three right here.
"Isn't there a place we can all go? Isn't there a place for all Hybrids to be together?" Normally, I'm not the one to suggest a let's-grab-hands-and-sing-all-my-sisters-and-my-brothers solution, but come on, this is ridiculous.
Don't these guys know how old-school segregation is? For real. So stupid.
"Lexi, don't say things like that," The blood drains from Caity’s face.
"I'm gonna have to agree with Red on this one. Lex, that type of talking is dangerous. Even if there are and I'm not saying there are, it would be too dangerous to go. The Keepers would imprison anyone involved and trust me, Hybrid prisons aren't nice like human ones."
The fact that he called a human prison nice is disheartening.
"So, what do we do?" They each look from me to each other.
"You'll come with us, of course," Caity says with a small smile.
"Like hell, ya little elf," Beth glares in her direction.
"She will come with us!" Pierce growls.
Hunter jumps out of his chair. "I'll never let that happen."
Well, there's no reason for me to say anything. These guys clearly got the convo covered. Aw, shoot.
Heat builds in my core. I’ve had enough. I'm right here and I'm sick of not knowing everything that’s going on. I hate this! They're all my friends. Why can't everyone shut up! The fire's blazing. My muscles are tensing. My vision's fading. The weightless feeling is starting.
"Stop!" Caity shouts and they all stare at me.
When did I stand up?