by Sammy King
“We can’t guarantee that Travis won’t be attacked again, we can’t guarantee anything Mae. Abaddon is strong. He is evil. And this is a very bad situation. But what I can guarantee is that Kade and I will protect you and the boys as we have throughout the years. Ada has more power than ever before and I know that she and Travis have an unbreakable bond. She will be able to protect him better than before. I can’t tell you what is going to happen. And I’d be lying if I didn’t say that there is going to be death and there is going to be change.” Merza said stepping towards Mae and taking her hands.
Mae looked up and sniffed, she nodded her head.
“I fucking hate this” she spat with a throaty growl.
Merza nodded and took Mae into her arms. Mae continued to blink away her tears. Ada could feel the fear that flowed through her. She knew that no matter what words Ada spoke it wasn’t going to ease the tension that was building in Mae’s heart.
“Ada, I have cast a protection spell, the Werewolves are in place and the Shapeshifters will remain” Merza said turning to her.
“Nothing will be able to get in here that you haven’t invited, so you and the boys will be safe now” Ada said as she gently touched Mae’s arm.
Ada and Merza gave them all a hug goodbye and assured them that they were only a phone call away. Or in Travis’s case a word away. By the time Ada got home, her eyes were heavy and the exhaustion of not only being pulled out of a sleep in the middle of the night, but the events had caught up with her. Just as she was about to fall asleep she heard a familiar voice in her mind.
‘Thank you Ada, your healing meant a lot. Not to just me, but to Mum as well. She is scared. But she trusts you, Kade and Merza’ Travis spoke.
Ada smiled and sent a feeling of love back to him.
‘Woah what was that?’ he asked.
‘My love’ Ada said sleepily.
‘Oh, I like that’ Travis said.
Ada smiled again, closing her eyes and sending more of the same feeling to him as she drifted off to sleep she heard Travis moan in pleasure in her mind.
Chapter Three
“Somewhere between raising hell and amazing grace, is a place I keep finding myself” Big and Rich.
Ada didn’t feel like she had been asleep very long when the incessant knocking woke her. She rubbed her eyes and stretched reaching for her phone to check the time. She was surprised to see that she had been asleep for seventeen hours and looking out the window she could see it was dark. The knocking continued, Ada sent her feelers out, it wasn’t Kade, but she knew the energy. Wearily she dragged her body from bed and yawned as she swung the door open to see Travis standing there, his hand poised ready for the next bout of knocking.
“Travis” Ada said.
He had never been to her home before, Ada didn’t realise he even knew where she lived.
“I’m sorry for coming over unannounced Ada” he said, his whole demeanour seemed skittish. She could feel the nervous energy oozing from him.
“Is everything alright?” she asked. She began to silently cast protection barriers over herself and over her home.
Something in the way Travis was behaving was making her nervous. He stood in the doorway fidgeting with his fingers, his eyes moved from side to side as if afraid of something. Ada sent out a message to Kade and felt the instant calm wash over her that told her that her message had been received. Ada spotted from the corner of her eye movement at the edge of her house.
Slinking along the front fence was a wildcat. It connected eyes with Ada, its eyes a dark green, she watched, holding her breath, her hand hovering over her amulet ready to cast a spell to rid the property of the cat, when it nodded its head and its face faltered. It was the face of her parent’s closest friend and her protector Frankie, he was a Shapeshifter. He was never far from Ada, as his duty in life was to protect her. The future Queen of the Witches. Ada let her breath out slowly and turned her attention back to Travis. She took his hand and pulled him inside.
“Ada, I feel weird, I feel empty” he said as she closed the front door behind him.
Ada guided him to the couch and sat beside him.
“What do you mean you feel empty?” Ada asked confused.
She hadn’t had a lot of experience with Demon toxin, but she had never heard of anyone feeling empty after the release of the toxin.
“Well I can’t communicate with you anymore” he said as tears welled in his eyes as he looked at Ada.
Ada frowned and shook her head, looking at the time on her phone.
“No you won’t be able to, it’s been more than twenty four hours since I healed you, my energy will have left your body” she said.
“That’s right and without you there, I feel empty. I don’t know why, I don’t know how, but it’s like within that healing you did something to me, something that changed me. All day I’ve been able to feel your dreams, to hear your dreams, to feel the small smile on your face when something good was happening, feel your heart race when you were afraid. But then suddenly the clock ticked over and wham you were gone.” Travis shifted on the couch and fidgeted with his hands looking down at the ground. “Ada when you healed me, you took a piece of my heart and for twenty four hours you gave me some of you, but now it’s gone and I feel like I’ve lost you.”
Ada shook her head; she was confused, she didn’t know how Travis was able to experience her dreams. It should have only been that they could share communication. He shouldn’t have been able to sense what she was feeling. Ada hadn’t experienced any feelings of romantic love before in her life, she had, had boyfriends and sexual encounters but she couldn’t say that she loved anyone enough that she would feel lost without them.
She loved Travis, this was true, but that was because they were the same age, they grew up together. They had spent countless hours playing games, he spent hours in awe of the magic she would conjure up and they would spend days in the woods playing with the various other Paranaturals who lived there. But she could never fall in love with him. Although human’s and Paranaturals were able to exist in harmony with one another and some did fall in love, Ada knew this wouldn’t be the case for her. A human and a Paranatural could never have a family together; they could never continue the lineage. It just wouldn’t work.
“I’m sorry Travis, I didn’t mean for that to happen, I actually don’t know how that even happened. You need to understand that for Paranaturals healing comes a part of the territory. Witches heal using sexual energy, my Father uses his blood to heal, which too gives the receiver great pleasure” she took Travis’s hand in hers and when she looked at him, she could sense the overwhelming feelings he held for her.
“Your right, I’m being silly, this couldn’t work. Your so much greater than us, Abaddon said that yesterday, it’s true” he said standing up abruptly.
“Travis no, please, sit down” Ada said, pulling on his hand until he was seated again. “That’s not true what he said. Yes we have powers, we are different, but that doesn’t make us greater. It’s just makes us different.”
“Ada I love you” Travis said.
Ada looked away, she didn’t know what to do and she didn’t know how to show him that this wouldn’t work. At the same time she didn’t want to hurt Travis. They had grown up together, played together, but she was immortal, she would never grow old, he would one day grow old and die and she would continue to live. If she gave her heart to a human it would just end in pain.
“Travis, I care about you so much. But please you need to understand, I’m immortal. You will one day die. You will one day want children, you will grow old and I will still be young. I can’t give you children. If we were to start a relationship now, it would be purely one based on sex and I know that human’s value that and don’t get me wrong I like sex, a lot, but there is more to a relationship and now especially with a war that may come” Ada said, holding his hand.
Travis nodded and continued to look down at the ground seemingly lost in an
interest in his shoes.
“I’ll ask your Father, I’ll ask him to make me a Vampire, to make me immortal” Travis said, looking at Ada with hope on his face.
Ada shook her head.
“Travis you don’t want that. You don’t want a life of having to drink blood, a life that never ends and a life where you can no longer eat the food you love, a life where the sunlight can kill you” Ada said frowning.
Travis frowned at her as he abruptly stood.
“I’ve got to go, I do love you Ada” he said as he left her house, slamming the door behind him.
Ada stood and looked out the window watching him hurry down her driveway just as Kade began to walk towards her door. Kade took his hand and tried to stop Travis, but he continued to brush past her Father and down the road with his hands shoved in his jean’s pockets. Ada opened the door to Kade who looked as confused as she was.
“What was that all about?” he asked.
Ada shook her head and ran her hand through her hair.
“It’s a long story. Thanks for coming over, he was acting really out of character. I think it’s sorted for now” she said as they walked into her house.
Kade followed Ada into the kitchen as she flicked the kettle on to make herself a cup of tea, her mind reeling over Travis’s confession. She could feel his love, she could feel his pain at her rejection and as much as she tried to shake it off she couldn’t help but feeling the stirring of her own heart reaching out to him.
“Have you spoken with the Aje Authority?” Ada asked absently, her mind still on Travis and his strange behaviour.
“Yes, I had a meeting with them just before I came here. Apparently Abaddon escaped with the help of someone, possibly in the Authority over eight weeks ago” Kade spoke.
Ada shook her head, as she poured the steaming water into her cup and took a spoon from the drawer.
“Eight weeks ago? Why the hell didn’t someone say anything?” she said.
Kade shrugged his shoulders when she turned and sipped at the steaming tea, feeling it warm her to the core.
“I don’t know. They don’t know who let him out, but the Authority is in disarray, which is worrying enough, but now with Abaddon threatening war, this makes it worse.” Kade said running his hand through his dark hair.
Ada agreed; they didn’t know who they could trust in the Authority, they obviously had a rat in the ranks, but who, it could have been anyone.
“There aren’t any Demon’s in the authority is there?” she asked.
“No, not that we know of, I’m about to head into the office and go through all the personnel files to try and get some insight to who it could be. But off the top of my head I really can’t tell” Kade shook his head and ran a hand over his face. “This is going to be a trying time, it’s going to be hard, we don’t know who to trust Ada and I need you to be careful, I need to you to be guarded at all times. Your Mother is going to be busy with the Authority and you are the future Queen of Witches, we need you”
Ada stepped forward and wrapped her free arm around Kade’s waist giving him a squeeze.
“I promise I will be careful. I have the protection spell over the house that Mum put over and one over me, plus I have the amulet”
Kade nodded and kissed Ada on the top of the head, before leaving for the door. He looked like he wanted to say more as he opened the front door, but changed his mind, she wondered if it had anything to do with Abaddon and her Mother seeming to know each other more. Ada couldn’t settle her mind. She couldn’t help but feel that there was something really bad about to go down. She couldn’t put her finger on what it was, but it made her nervous. Ada looked around her house and sighed.
“Well standing here feeling anxious isn’t going to fix anything” she sighed as she started to wash dishes.
Chapter Four
“Arms wide open, I stand alone. I’m no hero and I’m not made of stone. Right or wrong, I can hardly tell. I’m on the wrong side of heaven and the righteous side of hell.” Five Finger Death Punch.
Ada looked around her home that was now sparkling; the afternoon light was high in the sky and flooding through her windows. She hadn’t meant to spend all day cleaning, but she couldn’t shake off the anxiety. Not only had Travis been acting out of character for a healed human, but something just didn’t feel right. Like on queue her phone buzzed, causing her to jump with a small squeal. Ada went to the kitchen counter where she had left her phone, banging her knee on the stool, she swore under her breath and reached for the phone just as it stopped ringing. She looked at the number, but didn’t recognise it.
Ada reached out her feelers to attempt to ascertain who the number belonged to, but it wasn’t anyone she knew. She frowned but just assumed that it was a wrong number and didn’t think any more about it. Ada giggled as her stomach let out a large growl.
“I guess I’m hungry” she said opening the fridge to see what she could make for dinner, looking at the vast emptiness within, she decided that she had best go and do some groceries.
Ada grabbed her keys and headed to where her car was parked. As she reached it, she could see the small wedge of paper that was tucked under her window wiper. She opened it up, looking around to see if she could see who had left the note. There was no one obvious, she couldn’t sense Frankie anymore and assumed that he must have gone home. Ada frowned as she read the note, feeling a sense of dread wash over her. Ada dropped the note on the ground as the silent scream fell from her lips. Ada was frozen; she didn’t know what to do. With shaking hands she picked the note up from the ground where it lay, going over the words again.
‘Ada, your Mother is in safe hands my love, time to come find her. If you dare to. But first you best tell your Father, my nephew, that his wife is her rightful place and will make a beautiful addition to my family. You’re Angel, Abaddon’
Ada shook her head, croaking out a cry, as tears began to flow down her cheeks. Why would he take her? She asked herself. What purpose could she have for him? And what the hell did he mean she is in the place where she belongs? Ada had to get to her Father; she had to let him know.
His bond was obviously strong with her Mother and the chances were that he already knew, but Ada needed her Dad. She needed his protection; he needed to reassure her that they would find her Mother. That Merza would come home, alive, safe and well. Ada shoved the note in her jeans pocket and swung the door of her car open, revving the engine and speeding out of her driveway.
She didn’t notice the man watching her; she didn’t notice the smile that covered his face, the joy he took in causing chaos. If she had noticed him, she would have seen the resemblance to Abaddon, she would have seen that there standing watching her was the secret Nephilim. She would have seen the secret son of Abaddon, the son that was never known to exist. The man who threatened to destroy all of humanity for the love of his Father.
Ada pulled into her Father’s driveway at break neck speed and saw the crowd of Paranaturals that were assembled at the property, walking in and out. She noticed that many of them were with the Aje Authority. And the realisation struck her that her Mother’s kidnapping had already been reported. As she pushed through the throngs of people, she called out to her Father. Ada found him sitting in his darkened office, his head in his hands. Ada could feel his anguish and pain, she could feel his fear but they weren’t the emotions that scared her, what scared her was the immense anger that bubbled under the surface. As she entered the room, Kade looked up, his eyes welling with tears and shook his head.
‘She’s gone’ he spoke to her mind.
Ada shook her head. In two steps she was at her Father’s feet and had wrapped her arms around his waist as she tucked her head into his chest. She allowed her tears to flow freely, as they fed on each other’s sorrow and healing and supported one another. She reached into her pocket and pulled out the crumpled note, and handed it to Kade.
“It was on my windscreen” she said.
He frowned as he
read it, standing up abruptly.
“Fuck” he screamed an ear piercing roar, causing the Werewolves that roamed the property to howl and other’s to stop and stare.
Kade handed the note to Frankie who read it.
“What does he mean that she is in her rightful place?” Ada asked.
Kade instantly tensed his jaw and she felt his arm tighten against her waist. Ada stared into his eyes and saw them flash a brief glimpse of red.
“Dad what does he mean?” she turned to look at Frankie, who quickly dropped his head to the ground.
“I don’t know Ada. I don’t know what that means” Kade said after clearing his throat.
Ada knew he was lying as she pushed away from him with a frown.
‘Please child. Don’t push it. All the questions will be answered. Just not right now’ he spoke into her mind.
Ada felt tears spring to her eyes, when movement behind her caught her attention. She turned to see a woman in her early fifties with mousey blonde hair and dark eyes walk up to Frankie. She looked Kade over, concern etched into her face.
“It’s Abaddon” Frankie said to the woman.
Ada recognised her as Karla; she was a Paranatural investigator, a human.
“You have human’s working on this too?” Ada asked Kade, unsure whether she could trust even the human’s.
She knew they were at threat with Abaddon loose, but she just wasn’t sure who to trust anymore, humans, Paranaturals, Angels. They all seemed as corrupt as one another. Even her own Father was lying to her. Ada suddenly felt alone. Kade reached up and stroked her hair, trying to calm the bubbling fury that he could sense building and threatening to erupt.
“We need all the help we can get. The Authority is a complete mess; we don’t know who we can trust. Your Mother was supposed to be protected and now Abaddon has her.” He said shaking his head.
“We are going to do our best to find her, but we need your help Ada, you have the closest bond to her. You have the amulet. You have the ancestors connected to you.” Karla spoke gently.