by Lisa Hughey
Who was up there and what did they want? The mysterious they. “What do you want from me?” She kept her tone belligerent and her stance combative. Screw these guys. She refused to be intimidated.
She assessed the large open space of the barn, and looked for the best shot towards the open door. Her gaze skimmed the ladder to the loft. Unfortunately the people waiting at the entrance blocked the only exit.
“I warded the barn against intrusion from Archangels. They won’t be able to get through.” An evil voice emanated from the hayloft above.
Who, what, was up there?
Nathan sniffed, and addressed the entity in the loft, “I’ve fulfilled my part of the bargain.” He rubbed his hands with the monogrammed handkerchief.
“Fine. You can go now.” The voice dismissed Nathan. “But stay close. We may have need of your services again.”
“That was not our bargain. And I cannot be away much longer, or I will be suspect. Right now, no one knows what I’ve done.” There was an edge to Nathan’s smile as he looked directly at her. “I am sorry.”
And he disappeared.
Tomasz’s mouth tightened as he said to Angelina, “You have no hope of rescue.”
“You assume I care.” Angelina mocked him. She had to keep her wits about her. Whoever was in that loft had great importance to the Angelic Realm.
She would learn what she could of the entity, and find a way to escape. Never discount the ingenuity of a mother. Once she was free she would report back to the Archangel Council. They needed to know that Nathan was the traitor.
She was a survivor. She would survive this too.
THIRTY-EIGHT
The room felt empty.
Rafe stood in the center of his bedchamber. The cold marble room devoid of any warmth or marker of her presence. The room was empty. The fire in the grate had burned down to mere embers. The blanket lay folded over the back of the chaise where he’d left her. A subtle hint of gardenia lingered in the air.
He turned around in a circle as if he’d made a mistake. But Angelina wasn’t here.
His heart thudded once hard and then rapidly accelerated. The Realm Council had declared a state of emergency. The traitor had to be found and captured. The fate of the Nephilim would be determined later.
There was a lot to address but first they had to get through this crisis.
Rafe turned around in a circle, as if he could conjure her up. Perhaps Nathan had moved her someplace else. Rafe had wanted her close to him but maybe this chamber wasn’t to her liking.
Nathan walked stiffly into the room. “Oh, very good.”
“Where is Angelina Guerisse?” He kept his tone even, and tried for indifference. He did not want to expose her to any censure in the Realm until he could figure out how to gain approval for a relationship with her.
And that shocked him. He hadn’t realized how much she meant to him until Victor had casually mentioned his upcoming ascension and his ability to get away from the human race.
If they could prove the Nephilim were not evil then perhaps a relationship would be possible. Because Rafe realized after the past few days with Angelina that he didn’t want to let her go.
“Gone.”
“Gone?”
“Ah, yes.” Nathan brushed a piece of lint from the back of the chaise, his gaze intent on the velvet cushion as if it held the secrets of the Universe. “She conveyed that she has decided healing is not for her after all.”
Rafe had to focus. His attention had splintered after the word gone. “What in the sweet Cosmos are you talking about?”
“She wanted to go home. No more healing.” He spit out in a rush as if he realized how close to the edge Rafe was. “She rejected the gift, said it was too much responsibility, and she didn’t want it.”
Rafe thought after yesterday and last night she understood how unbelievably strong her power was. White noise crackled in his consciousness, and hazed his vision. She had rejected the gift?
He dropped down onto the chaise as his knees seemed to give out.
Gone.
An odd emptiness spread through him. He’d thought.... He didn’t know what he’d thought but it certainly wasn’t that she would leave. Anger bubbled up within him. It started in his stomach, rose like bile, to eat at his insides, and turn him into a seething mass.
He’d begun to hope that perhaps the human realm was not as bad off as he’d thought. That perhaps there was hope for the human race. But this, this just reinforced every negative thought he’d entertained about the human race lately.
They were bent on their own agendas without a care for the rest of the Earth. So intent on their own selves that they chose individual satisfaction over the greater good. They deserved the problems coming their way. They would not survive with that attitude.
Rafe clenched his fists and dropped his head into his hands. He barely noticed as Nathan slipped from the room. All the turmoil that filled him released in a roar of rage. Damn her. Damn her. And he was damned too. If she rejected the gift, her transition would become void. And he would have to start all over again.
He should worry about ascension and a new transition but his thoughts returned to Angelina. And the emptiness that seemed determined to edge out the rage. His gut clenched, and sorrow ripped through him like a vulture at carrion.
He wanted to howl.
She was gone.
But what about her daughter? Was she so callous? No. That wasn’t right. She wouldn’t do that to Lina. Screw that. He knew her.
She wouldn’t do that. So where was she?
THIRTY-NINE
Rafe. She sent the call out and wondered if he would come. She hoped that Nathan had lied about Rafe’s ascension and his being done with her. She hoped that when she called he would be by her side in an instant. And she needed all the help she could get because if she was right, the presence in the loft might be Remiel.
She waited tensely. But Rafe didn’t come. She was on her own. She shoved her disappointment away. She would have to deal with her emotions later. Right now she had to concentrate on getting out of this.
“Who is up there?” Angelina asked Tomasz.
“Someone who will help us,” he said.
“Then what do you need me for?”
“To heal us.”
Rafe had explained that Tomasz had recently transitioned after his father was killed in the fire. And he was now their family’s healer. “But you can do that, can you not?”
He didn’t answer her question. “My daughter will not grow up persecuted and afraid to reveal her true nature.”
There had to be some other reason why she was here. She placated. “But why am I here?”
And he still did not answer her.
“The Nephilim are born with an odd defect. Their bodies are unable to clear cholesterol properly.”
She needed to keep him talking so she could try to contact the Realm Council. Since Rafe didn’t answer maybe Nora or Victor or Michael would. She mentally called to them while keeping the conversation with Tomasz going. “I noticed that there was an excess of cholesterol in the blood of the people I healed.”
“I, we, attempted to create a breed of chicken that didn’t cause high levels of cholesterol, but unfortunately the experiment went wrong. I don’t know what happened.” His shoulders slumped.
“You created a hybrid chicken with Archangel DNA.”
“It was supposed to make the animals stronger.” Tomasz looked miserable. All the fight seemed to deflate from him. “But the experiment failed.”
“I know why.” Angelina figured the longer she stalled the better chance she would have and perhaps the more information she would be able to gather. “The H7N1 virus attaches to the specific Archangel DNA associated with the modified chickens. So it only attacks the Nephilim.”
“Why did I survive?”
“Your Angel DNA is different from that of the Nephilim.”
Tomasz thumped his chest with his fist. “So I kill
ed my wife?”
She didn’t answer. He didn’t really want to know. “Why did you torch the farm?”
“We knew there was a problem when the chickens took ill. Within a week, the chickens were all dead and the workers too. An incendiary heat was the only way to completely eradicate whatever killed them.” Tomasz put his hands on his hips.
“We?”
But Tomasz didn’t answer, his gaze trained on the sunlight streaming through a hole in the wood.
She would try again in a little bit. “Why here?”
“Because our small village has a high concentration of Nephilim. After they survived the flood, they settled here and inter-married with the local population.”
“Why now?”
His gaze splintered to the loft for just a moment. And she was pretty sure, somehow, the Grigori or Remiel were involved.
“The Nephilim have grown large enough in number to be a viable portion of the population. It would not be easy to wipe out their numbers this time around.”
“Have you thought about appealing to the Angelic Realm Council?” Angelina tried desperately. Knowing that the presence in the loft might be against that.
Tomasz snorted. “They won’t help us. They tried to kill all the Nephilim before.”
“I know, but--”
“You know nothing,” he roared. “Their kind have been persecuted since their conception. The Angelic Realm has no tolerance for those unlike themselves.”
But Angelina remembered Nora’s worry and concern. “I believe they would listen.”
“And if they didn’t?” Tomasz paced, his boots clumped on the hard-packed dirt floor. “What happens to our families then?”
Something rustled up in the loft.
A mouse scrabbled along the edge of the wall, scuttling through the straw, until it disappeared into a small hole at the corner of the barn. Outside chickens clucked in the morning air, and the cool breeze swept through with the scent of fresh laundry and warm apple pie. Normal everyday scents and sounds swirled in the air, but underneath she sensed a menace that wouldn’t let her relax.
Tomasz shook his head. “I will not take that chance.”
“What do you want from me?” Fear curdled in Angelina’s stomach.
“Already, you are a legendary healer.”
Maybe. “I wasn’t able to save your wife.” She couldn’t help but point out the obvious.
“You tried?” The question seemed pulled from him as if he wanted to know but wasn’t sure he could bear the answer.
“Of course,” she said gently. “You should trust the Archangels. The Realm Council sent me to heal the people in your village.”
His face was fierce. “You will save my daughter.”
Tomasz shoved Angelina onto the stack of hale bales in the center of the room. Like her throne. The little girl slipped in through the barn doors.
Angelina’s small glimpse outside showed that she was in the barn of the farmhouse where she and Rafe had spent last night. The crowd of people had grown bigger.
When the little girl saw Angelina again, she whimpered and hid behind her father’s leg. “I examined her yesterday. She is fine.”
“Heal what causes the cholesterol to clot in our blood.”
“Why don’t you do it?”
“I’ve tried.” He shook with emotion. “I don’t have that kind of power.”
Angelina examined the little girl. “This isn’t about how much power you might have. She has nothing wrong with her. She doesn’t have the defect.”
Tomasz slumped.
“Let the others in.” The command came from above.
“What...you lined up a bunch of farmers for the blood scrape?”
“Interesting terminology.” Tomasz smiled evenly. “Yes.”
“All those people?” She could either pretend she had no idea what he wanted or cut right to the point. Without Rafe to siphon off the extra energy, she was doomed. “It will kill me.”
He shrugged. “I don’t think so.”
Angelina looked at the long line of people. Panic beat at her chest with uneven thuds. She had to come up with a more viable solution. She refused to die. And Rafe hadn’t answered her call. “This will go faster and work better if we both do it. Let me teach you how.”
“I don’t think I have enough power for that.”
“You have more power than you realize. And you can do as many as you can do, and stop when you get tired. But if I have to try, then so do you. We’ll get farther together than I will get on my own.”
He stared at the hay for a tense moment before he nodded abruptly. She filled him in on how to repair the liver, and clean the blood. When she had finished, a hopeful light bloomed in his eyes.
“Is that really all we have to do?”
“That’s it. But I have one more demand. I want your word you will start a dialogue with the Angelic Realm.”
“You aren’t in a position to bargain.”
“It’s the smart move to make.”
“Fine.”
With his acquiescence, Angelina wanted more information. And this was bothering her. “Why now?”
“The time is ripe for the Nephilim to rise.” He still hadn’t mentioned Remiel. She wanted confirmation that Remiel lingered in the loft. “And because Raphael knows of the Nephilim’s existence, our timetable was moved up.”
Tomasz sent his daughter out, then gestured in welcome to the people outside.
The barn began to fill with people. Old, young, men, women, they came and came.
She looked into the desperate gazes of the people in the barn, and understood they believed she was their only hope.
“They aren’t supposed to know we are healers,” she said quietly.
He countered, “That is the least of my problems.”
“This will take some time.”
The group converged on her. At once they started to speak. “Me first.” “I’m higher ranking.” “I’m first.” “Me.”
Their intensity overwhelmed her and, unable to stop the reaction, she shrank back onto the hay bales, into the shadows of the barn. She had no idea what would happen if they all touched her at once. She wondered momentarily if this was what it felt like to be gang raped. That was essentially what they planned. They wanted to rape her abilities. And oh, sugar, she wished she hadn’t put it in those terms for herself. She’d just freaked herself out without the help of the people looming over her.
“Stop,” Tomasz shouted.
Yeah, who would think this guy would be her savior. Sweat broke out on her forehead and slicked her upper lip, from nerves, because heaven knew it wasn’t that hot in the barn. Her heart thudded in her chest, trip-trip-trip, and little pinpricks of light flickered in her vision.
“One at a time.”
“By rank,” a tall man said quietly. “That makes the most sense.”
“Get in line by your standing in the community.” Tomasz ordered.
Angelina’s mouth went dry at the line. She had healed Nathan’s little girl. She could do this. She could. And she would.
And suddenly a calm settled over her. She could do this. She would do this. Cowering would get her nowhere. She had the power. And she had the desire. Resolutely Angelina straightened her shoulders. And she had no intention of dying. She had children to look after.
“I’ll need time between each one to recover.”
The tall one stood over her and she remembered what Rafe said about regular healer Angels needing to touch at the heart nadis. Sweat limned her palms as she shakily reached toward his chest. “Put your hand over his heart nadis and watch what I do,” Angelina directed.
What if she couldn’t do this? She braced to take the negative energy into her and recycle it, for the clogged feel of his blood and the choked inability to breathe. Reflexively Angelina squeezed her mind closed as tentatively, slowly she placed her fingertips on the cold shirt over his chest. And Tomasz did the same.
“I can’t feel anything
,” the man rumbled with disgust.
“You won’t feel any different. Give her a second.” Tomasz cautioned. His voice was hard as acrylic. If she didn’t heal the guy soon, she was in trouble.
With trepidation, Angelina slowly opened her senses. Suddenly a flood of information spewed through her brain. The man’s blood was thick with cholesterol. Hemoglobin and plasma glugged through his veins as she mentally imagined sweeping through his blood with a brush.
The obstructions chugged through his body, caught in her mental brush, weighed her down, and slowed her responses. With determination, she sped faster through the blood cleaning. If she could just get out of the morass of his blood she would feel better.
Once his blood was clearer, she repaired the internal organs through his body, then yanked her hand away from the big man’s chest. She fell back against the haystack chair, and imagined the cholesterol dissolving and flowing away from her body with a hiss.
The guy stood. “Thank you, Angel.” He bussed her cheek.
“Why don’t you all just go on Pravachol or one of those other medicines?” she gasped, and barely held back a moan of discomfort.
“Traditional Statins don’t work on their physiology,” Tomasz muttered and shook his head as if trying to clear it.
Angelina hoped by talking she could divert her mind from the long line of people waiting for her. How would she ever heal all these people? One at a time. She clasped her hands together to circle the energy in a loop through her body. With each rotation she felt a little better.
The next guy threw himself down next to her and reached eagerly for Angelina.
“Not yet. I need a few minutes.” She flinched. “My body needs time to recover.”
He nodded and sat patiently while Angelina cycled the energy through her body. As if he couldn’t wait any longer, the guy grabbed her hand, and shoved the palm flat against his chest. “Please.”
Without the time to prepare, she was thrown into the morass of his bloodstream. She’d already managed to dissolve the gunk from the last guy, but her defenses were low. Angelina swallowed back bile. Nausea threatened to erupt from her body as the healing assaulted her senses. She concentrated on the cholesterol flowing through his body. He was not as affected as the first guy, but the build-up of plaque and fat was still fairly high.