Rylee screamed and jumped off the sofa. I threw the remote at him, directing it with my powers to smack him between the eyes. He roared and started barreling towards us. Rylee hopped over the back of the sofa and ran towards the hallway. The Nephilim came around the side of the sofa towards me. With Rylee distracted, telekinesis was my best chance against this monster. I tossed him against the built-in bookcases and the shelves crumbled at the force of his body. I left him dazed and followed Rylee into the hallway. The front door burst open and another Nephilim blocked our escape route. Rylee stumbled and screamed.
“Go up!” I pushed Rylee towards the stairs. The first Nephilim was already coming towards us from behind.
Rylee ran up the stairs and into my bedroom. “Lock the door and put the chair under the handle!” I yelled. I ran through the bathroom into the adjoining bedroom to lock the door. I was there just in time. They were in the hallway, just outside the door. I flung my hands out towards them, telepathically picked them up, and smacked them together like cymbals. They dropped over the stairwell and onto the first floor. I slammed the door shut, locked it, and shoved a chair under the handle.
“Kate!” Rylee screamed. She ran through the connecting bathroom and into the bedroom to meet me. Her nails dug into the skin of my arm. I tried to block out the piercing pain of her nails, but my senses were overloaded. “How long ‘til the cops get here?” Tears streamed down her cheeks. “The alarm company has already called them, right?”
“I don’t know?” I yelled over the blaring alarm. The cops would be useless against these two. Where was Alex? Had they done something to him? Panic began to claw away at my heart with the realization that Alex could be hurt. Where was he? I pulled open the closet doors and shoved the clothes to the side. “Hide in here. Snuggle into the corner.”
Rylee’s hand was moist with sweat and shook as I helped her in. She pressed her back against the wall and her hair framed her terrified face. Tears ran from her eyes and a salty bead hung from the tip of her nose. She swiped her arm across her face, removing the tears but not the fear. I started to close the closet doors. Her hand pressed against the door and stopped it. She stepped closer to me; her foot blocked the door from closing. “Where are you going?” she said, her voice laced with panic and fear. Rylee clutched at me as she motioned for me to join her.
I’m so sorry, Rylee. I shook my head as I tried to think up a response. “Uh… I’ll be in my bedroom. We should separate. I’m going to hide over there.”
“No! Don’t leave me.”
“I’ll just be next door. Be quiet and don’t come out.” I shoved her towards the back of the closet. She squatted in the corner with her back against the wall. “We’re going to be just fine,” I said. I slammed the closet doors and raced into the bathroom.
The door to my bedroom burst open. The Nephilim was hunched over and panting. Blood trickled down his head and his claws were clenched tightly at his sides. “You!” he seethed, raising his hand to point at me.
“You.” I pointed at him and threw him against the mural. He crashed into the castle and buckled the wallboard. I slipped the Talon between my fingers and exposed the blade.
The sounds of cursing and fighting came from downstairs; Alex was with the other one. This one was mine. Anger and justice filled my core. The desire to finish this monster consumed me. If I let him live, he would come back, just like Ramel. Next time he could kill someone I love, someone who was helpless against him. It was my responsibility to take care of him. Killing him would save lives.
I waved the Talon slowly through the air in front of me. It felt like a part of me. My powers swelled in me, heating my inner core. The butterfly necklace felt hot around my neck, as if my energy was heating the metal in the necklace.
He pulled a knife from his waistband. “Mine’s bigger.” He sneered and waved the ancient blade through the air.
“I’m stronger.” I stared at his knife and willed my heat to flow through his blade and up his arm. His blade turned red and his eyes wavered. He went from looking at me to looking at his knife, his eyes pools of endless disbelief. He dropped his fiery red knife and lunged towards me. I easily dodged his grasp and threw him onto the floor. The floorboards creaked as he landed with a thud on the area rug beside my bed. His knife flew into my hand, and in a second, I was on him. Using both knives, I sliced effortlessly through the soft skin of his neck. Warmth trickled over my fingers as his iridescent blood flowed from his wounds.
Shock filled his eyes. I stood up, straddling him, and listened to him gurgle as his blood poured from his throat.
“Kate!” Alex gripped my arm. “Are you okay?”
“Yes. Yes,” I whispered as I watched the Nephilim bleed to death on my rug. His fingers clutched at his throat and his eyes slowly turned from obsidian to dull gray. “I’m gonna be sick. Get rid of him.” I pushed past Alex and ran into the bathroom. As I heaved into the toilet, I tossed the knives into the trash can beside the toilet. Police sirens were in the distance.
“Kate,” Rylee whispered behind me. “Are you okay?”
I looked over my shoulder. Rylee trembled behind me. She grabbed some toilet paper and blew her nose and wiped her red, puffy eyes. She turned to the sink and washed her hands. I shoved the knives deeper into the trash can while her back was turned. The police sirens were getting louder by the second. They would be here soon. I wiped my mouth and threw the toilet paper into the trash can.
“Yeah.” I grabbed some toilet paper and tried to clean the blood off my hands without her noticing.
She pressed lightly on my back. “Did you hurt yourself?”
I tossed the bloody toilet paper into the toilet and flushed it. “It’s just a little cut.” I flexed my hands and went to the sink to wash away the evidence. How was I going to explain his body?
“What happened?” Rylee asked. Her worried face stared at me in the mirror. “Why’d he leave?”
He didn’t. I killed him. She walked into my bedroom. I followed. He was gone. The area rug was gone. No blood stained the carpet. Thankfully Alex got rid of him before his blood saturated through the area rug and left proof of tonight’s death. A cold breeze blew through the window. “He must’ve jumped out here,” she said as she closed the window and locked it.
I should have told her not to touch the window, not to destroy our attacker’s fingerprints, but there were none to ruin. He had not left any. “I don’t see him,” I said. I looked out the window onto the roof of the screened porch. “He must have jumped down.” I ran my fingers over the window and completely contaminated the crime scene.
“Hello! Hello!” A voice yelled from the front door. “This is the police.”
Rylee darted out of my bedroom. “We’re up here,” she yelled. “We were attacked. He’s gone.”
I headed straight for the alarm pad in my parent’s bedroom and turned off the alarm. My ears still rang even though the shrill buzz was silenced.
“Are you okay?” The female officer asked me as I joined them in the hallway. Her hand rested lightly on her holstered gun. The outline of her protective vest was visible through her shirt. The younger officer looked around and walked from room to room. I assumed he was clearing the floor.
The thoughts and emotions that filled me were bizarre. A strange sense of peace, calm, and justice consumed me. I’d fought off an attacker before, but it had never ended in death. This was my first kill. I never imagined myself killing another being, but I had no other choice. There was no other option. I did what I had to do.
“Miss, are you okay?” she repeated.
I couldn’t waste my time worrying about that right now. Right now I had to worry about explaining what happened, and the truth was not an option. “Yes,” I replied. I did my best to appear shaken up. I tried to match Rylee’s nervous demeanor.
“I’m Officer Rivera. My partner is Officer Evans. Can you tell us what happened?” She spoke calmly and her eyes had a beautiful sparkle to them. She appeared
so professional in the uniform with her weapon and hair pulled in a tight bun, but I could tell that a fun and lively person smiled at me behind her working facade. Once again, here’s someone who’s not all that she seems. I was only seeing one side of Officer Rivera. What side of me would people eventually see?
“All clear up here,” Officer Evans said as he joined our small group in the hallway. Combined with his height, his broad shoulders, and the protective vest beefing up his torso, he was an intimidating man.
Rylee spoke, her voice rushed and panicked, “He attacked us. Then we ran up here. I hid in the closet.” She pointed to the bedroom at the end of the hallway. “After that,” she shrugged, “I don’t know.” Rylee pointed to me. “Kate…”
Officer Rivera looked at me again. I swallowed hard. Not talking would definitely make me look guilty of something. I pointed to the room beside us. “He attacked me in my bedroom,” I mumbled as I tried to think of what I should say. I knew I needed to look scared and overwhelmed. The devil is in the details. Keep it simple.
Officer Rivera extended her hand towards my room. “Can you show me?” Her voice was soft and gentle, the way someone would speak to a victim not a suspect.
We crossed the threshold into my room. “He broke through the door and came at me,” I said.
“What happened to the wall?” Officer Evans pointed to the buckled wallboard. His radio crackled. He fiddled with the nob.
I sucked in a deep breath of air. “He threw me against it.” I knew they would never believe I threw a huge man against the wall hard enough to dent it.
Officer Rivera gently touched my arm. “Maybe we should call an ambulance?” Her brown eyes darted between the buckled wallboard and me.
Officer Evans spoke up, “Maybe you should sit on the bed.”
“No,” I shook my head. “I’m fine. I’m not in any pain. My butt hit first.”
Officer Rivera narrowed her eyebrows and then asked, “What happened after he threw you against the wall?”
“I guess he heard your sirens because he went out the window.”
They both simultaneously looked at the window. “But it’s closed,” Officer Rivera said.
“We closed it,” Rylee said. She put her nail in her mouth and started chewing on it. “I’m sorry.” Tears formed in her eyes again.
“We didn’t think about messing up the crime scene,” I shrugged apologetically.
“She’s in shock,” Officer Rivera said to Officer Evans. Shock? I’m not in shock.
“Where are your parents?” Officer Evans asked. He stepped closer and gripped my chin. His breath blew into my face as he studied my eyes.
What the? I shook free of his hold. “I’m not in shock,” I said defiantly. “My father is on a business trip, and my mom is out. I’m sure the alarm company has already called her cell.”
Rylee sniffled. “She threw up right after we were attacked.”
I glared at Rylee. They didn’t need to know that. I didn’t throw up because I was in shock. I threw up because I made my first kill. It was messy. It was easy. It shouldn’t have been easy.
Rylee grabbed her phone. “I’m calling home.” She headed down the stairs. “If I scream, come running.”
“Did you recognize the man? Do you think you could sit with the sketch artist and compile a drawing for the police?” Officer Evans asked.
I nodded. “I didn’t recognize him, but I can sit with a sketch artist.”
“You can look through our books,” Officer Rivera said. “That may be helpful.”
I smiled and nodded. “Of course, anything to catch this monster.” Playing the role of the helpful victim was part of my modus operandi. I had no idea where Alex took the Nephilim, but they were gone for now. And he was dead forever.
“Let’s call your mom and she can meet us there,” Officer Rivera said. “You girls can ride with us in the police cruiser.”
Rylee yelled up the stairs, “My parents are on their way. Can we ride with them to the police station?”
Officer Rivera looked at me. “Does that sound good to you, or would you rather ride with us in the cruiser?”
Hmm… Let’s see, leave a crime scene in a police cruiser or drive to the police station with a friend’s parents. “I’ll go with Rylee,” I said with a smile. Did she really think she needed to ask? “I’ll go call my mom. She can meet us at the police station.”
I went into the bedroom and grabbed my stuff. I stared at the spot on the floor where a few minutes ago I’d killed a monster. I could still see the terror on his face as he gagged for breath. The sulfurous fumes of his blood still lingered in the air. No one else seemed to notice the stench. That was good. I didn’t have to account for the smell.
The house phone rang. I picked it up and held the receiver to my ear. Mom’s voice trembled as she spoke, “Kate, are you all right?”
“Hi, Mom. Yes, I’m fine.”
“I’ve been calling and you haven’t answered.”
“I didn’t hear the phone. The alarm was deafening.” I dug my thumb nail under the nails of my other fingers as I talked.
“What happened?”
“A guy rushed in and then kind of rushed out. I think the alarm scared him off. The police came. You’ll have to meet us at the police station.”
Officer Rivera looked at me, then the wall, and then back at me. I knew I’d have to explain the wall damage to Mom and Dad, but Mom didn’t need to know about that until she could see that I was safe.
“I’ll meet you at the police station. Love you.” I hit end and tossed the phone onto my desk.
“Are you ready,” Officer Rivera asked.
“Yeah.”
We stayed at the police station for several hours. Rylee and I looked through many books, but we never saw the man who attacked us. I felt stupid looking through the books for a picture I knew wouldn’t be catalogued, but this was part of keeping up the façade. I couldn’t tell the police I’d already killed the man or that his picture wouldn’t be in here because he was a Nephilim who’d never allow himself to be captured by police in the first place. Alex and Nick were right. It didn’t take long for me to cross the line, to have to lie and deceive those I care about.
Mom freaked when she saw my mural. She wanted to take me to the ER and have my back checked out, but I finally convinced her that was unnecessary. Guilt knotted in my stomach as I saw Mom’s tears well up in her eyes, but I couldn’t come clean. She could never handle the truth. She’d never believe it anyway. After I finally convinced her that I was fine, she went to bed.
I sat on my bed and waited for Alex to show up. After a few minutes, his face appeared at my window. His hand swiped along the alarm sensor. I unlocked the window and he climbed in.
His arms wrapped around my waist. I pressed my head to his chest and breathed him in. He smelled so fresh and pure. Peace flooded my senses. The warmth from his hands against my back relaxed me and melted away the tension that I hadn’t even noticed I was carrying.
“Are you okay?” He pulled away and took my face in his hands.
“Yeah,” I nodded. “I killed him.”
“That took courage.” Alex took my hands in his and examined my palms. “Did you cut yourself?”
“No, just a few scratches. Everything happened so fast.” I sat on the edge of the bed. “What took you so long?”
“There were four of them. While I was busy with two of them, the other two attacked the house.”
“Four? I only saw one at school.”
“Well, there were four… a team. I’m glad there weren’t more.” He inhaled deeply and exhaled in a loud sigh.
“What’d you do with them?”
“Cloaked them and took them to the other side. No one will find them. The scavengers and osotos will deal with their bodies.”
“Hiding evidence… one more reason to know how to get to the other side without a portal.” Relief flooded me. I’d never have to worry about someone finding them and having to
answer for their deaths. “Is that how it works? Take any damning proof to the other side where no one can find it.”
“Usually,” His eyes brightened at my joke. “We find that’s the best way to get away with murder.”
My teeth dug into my bottom lip as I smiled. All this deception, all this thinking ahead and plotting how to avoid detection, I realized it would never end. I would forever be on my guard. Using the other dimension to hide evidence made sense. “Do you think more will come?” I pressed my fingertips into my forehead and closed my eyes as I waited for his response.
“Don’t know. Let’s hope this was a scouting team. Hopefully they didn’t pass on your location to anyone.”
“I really shouldn’t have taken off my necklace the other night.” I looked into his eyes.
“No, you really shouldn’t have.” A pleasant smile graced his face. “But you know that now. You won’t ever do that again.”
I chuckled. “For sure.”
The window opened again and Nick waved for us to join him outside. Alex and I crawled through. We cloaked ourselves and stood on the roof of the covered porch. My heart twisted as I stared at him. I hadn’t seen him since he found out about my dreams. He’d left me when I made myself vulnerable to him and now he was back. I wasn’t emotionally ready for this. I wanted to run into his arms, especially now that I believed he did love me. He loved me, but it was his love for me that made him walk away. Did the dreams seal my fate, or did I have control over my future?
“Alex told me about the attack,” Nick said. “I’m glad you’re safe.”
“Thanks,” I said. Of course he’d come when he heard about the attack. He probably feels like he has to support me.
“Alex and I are in the midst of an argument,” Nick said. “We both have different theories concerning your future. And we credit different reasons for the quick progress and development of your skills. ”
“For example,” Alex spoke up, “you noticed the cerberus’s shadow in Asheville, your power surges are incredible, and tonight you killed that Nephilim without hesitation. Your skills are impressive.”
Symbiosis (Scintillate Series Book 2) Page 19