The Rising

by L F Seitz

  “This time, we’ll change it up,” Micah said while he moved the knife board out of the way, as well as the furniture, to open up the living room.

  “What do you mean?”

  It was too late for questions: he was already charging at me with his knife held high. I dodged to the left, tripping him, and came around with my blade to his black. That was the end of one defensive movement, or at least, it used to be. His elbow suddenly came back and hit me in the face. Black stars littered my vision as I staggered, falling to the ground.

  “What the hell?” I demanded, looking up as he came at me again.

  Micah’s face had twisted into someone I didn’t know: cold-blooded. His blade sailed toward me with no sign of stopping, and I ducked to the side at the last minute. I launched my fist over and hit him in the neck. He shifted to the side, giving me room to tackle him to the ground and get the upper hand. I wrapped my arm around his neck, putting him into a chokehold and squeezed. His head fell forward and I thought he was passing out, but then it snapped back and hit me in the nose. I cried out and let go, pain spreading through my face as my nose gushed blood. He flipped around while I was distracted, grasped me by the neck, and pinned me to the floor. His knife was already at my throat, and he was relentless as he cut at the skin above my collarbone. Fear hit me as his hooded eyes held mine. He wasn’t going to stop until one of us begged for it to end. It wasn’t going to be me.

  I gripped his wrist and twisted. He grunted but didn’t let up on his blade. My body was pinned and had no other way to attack, but Micah’s efforts inspired me to act. I moved into his blade, absorbing the pain as I slammed my head against his. My vision darkened, and I gagged on the blood trickling into my mouth, but I managed to knock him off me. He jumped up, staggering back as I managed to get to my feet.

  I couldn’t let him win. I refused. I charged, crashing him into the wall using my right forearm to pin him at the shoulders. I captured his wrist and slammed it against the wall as hard as I could, forcing him to drop it. The victory was short-lived as he swept my legs from under me with his, forcing me to lose my hold on him. He gripped me by the hair and shoved me to the ground. I smacked my forehead against the concrete, ramming the memories of Laylah to the front of my mind. Micah pinned me to the floor, his hand in my hair as he pulled me up and held his knife to my throat.

  “You should buy a girl drink first before pulling her hair.” The fire in my blood crackled as the words fell from my lips.

  “Are you conceding?” Micah leaned forward to hear me, which was his mistake.

  I slipped my hands up around his head, snagged his hair, and slammed his head into the floor. I twisted, knocking him to the ground and straddling him. As I Gripped his neck with one hand I plucked up my blade from the floor and poked the tip at his sternum. Hard enough to draw blood.

  “I win,” I said. One of us was going to go unconscious if we fought any more. “Whether you concede or not, I’m done.” “Then you haven’t really won, have you?” He asked.

  Blood covered the whole front of my shirt, as I still straddled Micah. His body lay wheezing beneath me as he caught his breath, his chest rapidly rising and falling. Dark thoughts I’d long forgotten from the curse of Asmodeus’s blood made my head spin as we held one another's gaze. Micah's tongue traced his lower lip as his eyes dipped taking me in as I sat ontop of him, and I found myself biting my lip with the sudden intimate moment. Then I realized what I was doing, and fell off of him onto the floor. I definitely had a concussion. I crawled to the bathroom to check my throbbing nose. When I looked in the mirror, I nearly gagged.

  “Fix it,” I said with a squeal. I turned to Micah with my crooked nose, tears wetting my face. He’d definitely broken it, and seeing it only made it worse.

  Micah still laid on the floor, lost in thought as he turned to me and rolled his eyes. I gave him a vulgar gesture as he flipped over and crawled to me. I sat against the sink, tears streaming as he assessed the damage he’d done.

  “Put your legs straight out,” he said, motioning me to hurry up, “and your hands down on your thighs.”

  “Why?” I asked as he swung his leg over my legs, pinning my hands between me and him.

  “Easier to restrain you,” he said with a smirk. “This isn’t my first time fixing a broken nose.” He was enjoying this way too much.

  “You’re such an ass,” I said, which only made him laugh.

  “On the count of three, OK?” Micah held my head between his large hands. His thumbs pressed on the bridge of my nose. “One.”

  There was a snap and a rush of pain as he pushed it back into place. I screamed as I squirmed. All he did was laugh. When I thought it was over, he clutched my face, and a blue light blinded me. A second later, the pain was gone, as was the light. He sat beside me on the bathroom floor.

  Taking in the large blood stain on my shirt again, I snorted. “You did more damage to me than I did to you. You’re very passive-aggressive toward me. What did I ever do to you?” I pouted.

  “I just have thicker skin. Plus, you’re a baby,” Micah said shrugging, and I shoved his shoulder.

  “I won fair and square,” I said as I squinted at him. “Don’t lie.”

  “Well, you said you were done, whether I conceded or not, so I gave up,” he said.

  I went into the kitchen for a bottle of water and tossed one to Micah as he flopped onto the couch. He caught and drank it without missing a beat. I twisted the cap off my own bottle as a knock sounded at the door. I nearly squirted the water all over the place as I jumped at the sudden noise. I glanced at Micah, who already had his blade out. He was thinking the same thing I was: no one knew I lived here. If it were Nephilim, they would have first notified Micah before showing up, so it had to be someone or something else. Did you tell someone? I mouthed to him. He shook his head, and a knock came again. I moved to the door and looked out the peephole. It was Cindy.

  I turned to Micah as I recalled the large and frightening blood stain on my shirt, and began to panic. It’s a human, but my shirt? I mouthed, yanking at the blood-soaked fabric. Micah looked around for a moment before pulling off his own gray shirt and tossing it to me. I gave a shooing motion, and he hurried into my room. My fingers shook as I tugged mine off and threw his on. It was snug and sweaty, but it would have to work. I whipped my shirt across the apartment, hoping she didn’t mind the mess, and opened the door, forgetting the chain lock as it clanged.

  “Hey Lamia, it’s me,” Cindy said through the crack.

  “Hey! I didn’t know you knew where I lived,” I laughed.

  “We dropped you off that night after Clayton’s basketball game, remember? I read the mailboxes and spotted your name.” She smiled and then shrugged. “Anyway, I wanted to check on you. I’ve been worried sick.”

  “Come in,” I offered reluctantly, knowing my apartments current state would defiantly require explaining. All the furniture was still in the corner, and the knife board sat out with knives still in it. She started at the knives, and my pulse quickened again.

  “That’s just a hobby I picked up.” I tried to laugh it off, but she still showed concerned. “I was working out, so I moved all the furniture. I was just about to move it back.” I fiddled with my fingers as Cindy said nothing and continued scanning the space. “So how you been? You want some coffee?” I asked, gesturing to the coffee pot. She shook her head and smiled. I didn’t know what else to say. I mean, I was happy to see her, it’s just, the timing was wrong.

  “No, I just came over to see you, make sure you were OK. Where have you been? I was worried since I stopped seeing you, and when I asked your department manager, he said you just stopped showing up to work. That’s not like you.” She sounded worried, her eyebrows angled up in the center of her forehead.

  What was there to really say without sounding like I was lying? The truth wasn’t something I could tell her. “I’m just changing, going in a different direction. I don’t want to work there anymore,” I
said. It was the truth, though vague. I could sense Cindy noticed the ambiguity, too.

  “Well, how are you paying your bills?” Cindy took a step closer to me, and I swear I was sweating more now than when I was working out.

  “My ... boyfriend pays for them. I’m going back to school.” I noticed Micah’s duffle bag still sitting out, and it would be one less thing to come up with an answer about if I just said we were together. That was true, in a way, but this lying through my teeth was going to get me tangled up sooner or later.

  Cindy raised her eyebrows. “You have a boyfriend now? Who is he?”

  “He’s just a guy, handsome, tall, you know.” I chuckled, rubbing the back if my neck.

  “A bad boy?”

  “No, more like a good guy. He’s the one who encouraged me to go back to school,” I said smiling. I should give Cindy credit where it’s due. I just recently started becoming closer to her, and she cared enough to go out of her way to come here. She was a better friend then I ever was, coming to check on me like this when we didn’t even have each other’s phone numbers.

  “Thanks for coming to check up on me,” I said quietly, my emotions bubbling up. “I missed you, and I’m sorry I never said anything, I’ve just been ... caught up.” She held her arms open for a hug, and I took it, taking in all the love I could get. With everything that had happened up until this point, it was nice to have a bit of normalcy in this sea of paranormal.

  “Lamia, is that a knife?” Cindy asked, pointing at the blade on my side.

  No, it’s actually a can opener. “Yeah, but don’t worry, it’s harmless when holstered,” I said, with a half-hearted laugh.

  “This only makes me worry more,” Cindy said. “I’ve never see you like this. I mean, a knife-throwing board? And carrying one around on your hip. Are you all right? Has something happened?” She was good at observation, but that only made things more difficult for me. What the hell was I supposed to tell her that wouldn’t get her mixed up in all this, yet be enough to help put her mind at ease?

  “Listen, I’ll tell you what happened.” I said, stalling for time. “I got mugged about two weeks ago, around the time I stopped coming to work. They were about to kill me when my boyfriend Mic– Matt, Matthew saved me. So now we live together, and I’m going back to school for self-defense and maybe security, but I’m not sure exactly what I want to do yet.”

  Fear and concern moved across her features while she listened, but when I spoke of school, she smiled and nodded.

  “I’m so glad Matthew was there to save you,” she said, hugging me again.

  “I’m a lot stronger and smarter about stuff like that now than I was before. Matthew has been helping me a lot.” I shrugged, and she seemed content. Right now, though, Micah was still hiding in my bedroom, and I needed to get her going home. “Thank you for stopping in, but I was just about to get dressed and head to school.” I gave a sympathetic look.

  “Oh, of course, well, can I have your number?” she asked. “I don’t have to drop in like this; I know it’s kind of rude.” She handed me her phone as we walked to the door, and I dialed in my number. It would be nice to stay in contact with her, even if I stopped working at MedTech.

  “It was really nice seeing you again,” I said. “Tell Clayton hello for me.”

  “Oh, of course! Maybe sometime I’ll call and see if he wants to talk to you. He asks when he’s going to see you again,” Cindy said as she walked into the hall. It was a good feeling to see her excited by the thought.

  “Maybe I’ll stop by after school sometime.”

  “Yeah, just let me know. See you later, Lamia.” She walked toward the stairs. I leaned out and waved.

  I shut the door, sighing as I rested my forehead against it. I didn’t like having to lie to Cindy, especially since she’d come all this way just to see if I was OK. I turned around to see Micah standing in my bedroom doorway with his arms crossed. A new shirt on, a disapproving look on his face.

  “It’s dangerous to be her friend,” he said.

  “Yes, I know that, Micah, but I didn’t tell her anything, so it’s fine,” I argued. I rubbed my neck again as it began to ache. I was starting to get stiff.

  “Even when she is oblivious, it is dangerous to be friends with a human. What if they do find out and tell someone, and they come snooping?”

  That sounded like a stretch when it came to Cindy. If anything, I’d scare her away. Though I thought about what she might say to the police if she found out, and it made me laugh. She had a bunch of knives and was working out a lot, so I’m afraid she might be in a cult or something. Honestly, what did Micah think she could say to the cops to make them come looking around? “You really think anyone would believe her?”

  Micah tensed up suddenly, which irritated me, given we were having such a good morning. She was just a human – nothing threatening about that. No fangs or claws I needed to worry about.

  “You would be surprised at how many would believe her,” he said. “Or some demon finds the connection between you two and uses her to get to you. Kidnaps or even possesses her.”

  “OK, Micah, I get it,” I snapped. He was being a jerk again, and I wasn’t in the mood for it.

  “You won’t see her anymore?” he asked.

  I glared at him. “Is there a rule that says we can’t be friends with humans?”

  “Regardless if there –”

  “No,” I said, giving him a pointed look. “She is my friend, and I’m not giving her up.”

  Micah didn’t reply as he fell into his old habit of becoming disconnected. Maybe I raised my voice a little too much on that one. I walked to the fridge for another water to drink and let the coolness of it clear my head.

  “I understand where you’re coming from, and I see what you’re saying,” I said softer this time. “But I am going to be friends with her, all right? Going from not having people care about me to having people around is nice, and I’ll be careful and cautious. I’m not letting her go. Sorry.”

  After a moment, Micah exhaled loudly, pushing his fingers through his white hair. “I’m Matthew, I assume,” he said, heat crawled up my neck as I recalled what I'd said. I called him my boyfriend. “Do I look like a Matthew?” He gestured to himself, and I smirked, relieved he was not upset about the fake connection I made between us.

  “Would you have rather me use your real name?”

  I thought about what Cindy said as Micah and I sat in the quiet. It had been nearly a month since I consistently went to work. I had completely forgot about my bills and how I was going to pay them. The headache slowly moved in from the back of my mind as I rubbed my temples. “On a serious note, maybe I should return to work. I have bills to pay,” I groaned. I might have enough saved up to just make the payments on everything but water. Crap. I groaned as I leaned against the kitchen cabinets. I was a complete idiot for forgetting.

  “Being Nephilim is a 24/7 job. You can’t go back to work; you don’t have time,” Micah said as he filled our mugs with coffee from this morning. He started to ramble about security jobs in the Nephilim, teams that consist of five or six people and are used for many different things. He explained how all Nephilim are trained to fight, but not all work security or on assignment, but given he was my guardian I'd be working with him, in his security team. Then he started chastising my fighting abilities and how much work I needed, saying there was no way I could go back to working if I wanted to be ready for my new job, working security with the Nephilim.

  “Are the Nephilim going to pay me money now, then?” I asked.

  He was only about a foot from me now. The smell of sweat mixed with vanilla emanated off of him. I turned away as my face grew hot, realizing I still wore his shirt. I was definitely going to keep it. Micah put our coffees in the microwave to warm them up a little.

  “They don’t begin to pay you until after your first year of probation, usually, but I can talk to Jimiah, since your circumstances are unique,” he said as he blew
on his coffee then took a sip, his lips curling gingerly over the rim of the mug.

  “Then how am I supposed to pay for this?” I asked, indicating the apartment. “I’m lucky the landlord is late in sending me my billing envelope or I’d be in deep crap.” The panic was apparent in my words as the realization set in. What if I got evicted?

  “Calm down, Lamia, I took care of it,” he said, a grin playing at the corner of his lips. “I mean, you should have at least noticed the heat is back on.”

  The thought of Micah just paying my bills almost made me want to cry. I couldn’t believe it. I actually didn’t notice the heat; I mean, I slept like a rock every night because of his lengthy trainings. I always woke without the covers on. “Why?”

  “Because you are helping me, so I’m helping you. And also, because I can. Besides, after everything settles from this invasion with the underworld, the Nephilim told me they’d be giving you living quarters, and it’ll be paid for. You’ll only be living here for another month.”

  I tried not to stare too long as I admired him for his generosity. He might be a jerk sometimes, but he did many things for me I probably still don’t even know about. Paying bills and getting me free living were just the tip of the iceberg.

  “Thank you,” I said softly, touching his arm for a moment, relishing in the heat of his skin, and the slight tackyness from drying sweat. Micah stilled but I stepped away before he could grow uncomfortable with the contact. It was bold, but I needed to touch him, and I needed him to understand how much it meant to me.

  We both fell into the silence after that, I stared out into the living room as I ran away with my thoughts. Cindy thought more of me than I gave her credit for. I should have been kinder to her. That’s why I can’t stop being her friend: this is the start of something great. Then there’s Micah, my closest friend and trusted ally. Despite his hard, unfeeling façade, he cares about me. He took a chance on me even when I thought I was doomed. Cindy and Micah are the reason I wanted to fight for the angelic part of me. I wanted to fight for the two of them, the people who meant the most.