“How could you not know that?!”
“Because a certain fucking Archangel is a douche that likes to give you information with watermelon sized holes in it.”
“So M-, he, told you about what you are?”
“He told our parents when he informed them of the honor of raising Chosen Ones. They told us when we were informed of our specialness at sixteen.”
I covered my mouth, horrified. I pushed the bile that rose in my throat back down. I had almost killed him.
“Don’t apologize,” he said to me before I could. “It should be me apologizing to you for only telling you half the truth before. I’m sorry I deceived you, but it is not something most Nephilim would believe.”
I couldn’t hold the deception against him. I understood why he had only told me half truth. Even now I struggled to wrap my head around it. If I hadn’t seen the silver around his pupils then shortly afterward watched him succumb to a mortal wound as quickly as any human would my head would not be able to fit itself around what he’d just told me. But everything he said explained all of the things that should have happened that did not. Why the stainless steel knife had affected him so and why I couldn’t heal him.
He studied me intently. “I’m curious about something. How did you come to the conclusion that I wasn’t a Nephilim? And what did you think I was?”
I looked into his eyes and still saw what I became aware of at the restaurant. “Your eyes,” I explained. “I never noticed them before, but at the restaurant right after we spotted the Brethren, they flickered silver for like half a second. It was fainter than with the Brethren, and barely noticeable, I can see why I missed it before, but it was there.”
“You shouldn’t have been able to see that. Just like you shouldn’t be able to recognize a Brethren from the silver surrounding their eyes when they are using glamour to appear human. Brethren and Archangels can don glamour in the same way. Them and us Chosen Ones are the only ones that can see through it.”
“So what are you saying?” I choked out. “That I’m not a Nephilim? That I’m something else? Do you think I’m like you?”
“No, you’re not like me. Your eyes aren’t like mine. There is no silver in them. Only a deep brown flecked with shades of amber and honey. They’re radiant. But a light isn’t shining outward from them on a metaphysical level, which is where the ring that appears silver comes from.”
A tiny bit of my heart contracted at his description of my eyes. It made me want to melt into a pile of girly, swooning goo. But I had to focus on the more serious matter.
“You could be a Nephilim and just be special. I don’t know. But I think it’s time we talked about the prophecy and you told me what you know. I know what he said, but I swear that I will not let him lay a finger on your.” His eyes flashed dark in sync with the words he spoke. It was both a threat and a vow.
“I don’t care about his threat. I’m not afraid to die. Even before hearing the prophecy I’ve always known that fate was eventually going to catch up with me. You are right about the prophecy. I think I should tell you what I know. I didn’t even know it existed until Thursday before last when I told Bennett about being attacked by the Brethren. I thought he would question my sanity, but he didn’t. He knows they still walk the Earth. He said Michael told them of the Brethren and the prophecy the day I was born. He said that the next war that is fought between those above and below will be solely for dominion over humans and our world. Apparently my death is inevitable, but the sacrifice I choose to make before I die will decide the outcome of things. Bennett and Charissa and my parents before they died are the only ones who know about the prophecy. They kept it a secret for fear that if others in The Society found out, they might have tried to kill me to prevent the potential outcome.”
“Did Bennett say that he said anything else about it? Like what kind of sacrifice you would make, how you would die, when this is supposed to happen, what your two choices will be?”
“No, he didn’t. I don’t think he told him anything more. Bennett wouldn’t have only told me half of it and kept the rest from me.”
He grunted. “I’m willing to bet he only told them half of the prophecy and that there is more to it. Like I said, the Archangel isn’t forthcoming with complete details. He likes to paint half pictures to manipulate the outcome of things to the way he wants them to be. We need to find out more about the prophecy. What he told them of it isn’t the whole story and I have a feeling it might explain your uniqueness. And knowing how you are unique might also help you understand more about the choice you are supposed to make.”
“From what you say of the Archangel if there is more it doesn’t sound like he would divulge it.”
“No, but he might not be the only one with the information. What if the Brethren know about the prophecy too? It involves ones side just as much as the other. The Archangel is always talking about balance as his reason for doing certain things and not doing others. He claims that there are these cosmic rules both Brethren and Archangels must play by to avoid upsetting the balance of things before it is time to do so.”
“Let’s say that theory is correct. How do we go about finding out if they do?” It’s not like we could just snatch one off the street and interrogate them or walk up to one and nicely asked them what they knew.
A slow, calculating smile spread across Chase’s lips. “I know you’re off on the weekends, but are you up to see how Chosen Ones work? What I’ve been doing while you’ve been M.I.A?”
A rush of adrenaline pumped into my bloodstream. “I need to go back to my apartment and change, but hell yes, I’m down. Are you?” I eyed the spot on his chest where I’d punctured his heart.
He leapt to his feet from his sitting position on the couch in one powerful, fluid, agile motion. “I need to change too, but I’m as good as new.”
He moved like he was but I still narrowed my eyes at him questioningly.
Heat flickered back at me in his and a different sort of smile slowly crept across his face. This one was wicked and twelve types of scorching. He stepped in front of me then grabbed my hand and pulled me to my feet. He yanked my body against his and circled his arm around my back to trap me there. “If you don’t believe me,” he whispered into my ear, “I’d be more than happy to prove to you that I’m completely healed and can handle intense physical exertion.”
I swallowed. Loudly. My hormones went all kinds of crazy but I forcibly reigned them back in. Down girls, I told them. “That’s alright. I believe you,” I nearly panted from the lack of oxygen getting into my lungs.
He grinned wolfishly then let me go. “I’ll be right back,” he said as he headed into his room. “You’re welcome to join me in here,” he threw over his shoulder before he crossed the threshold.
I forced my ass back onto the couch and ordered my legs to stay put.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Power
Once Chase changed out of the scrubs and into tactical pants, a cotton tee and a leather jacket we took an Uber back to the Sun Dial where his bike was left parked on a street around the corner from it.
Awkward didn’t even begin to describe how it felt when I had to straddle the back of the Ducati in a pencil skirt. I ordered Chase to keep his eyes straight ahead and on the road. He behaved. Mostly.
He waited in the living room while I quickly changed into a pair of tactical pants of my own, boots, and a long-sleeved henley tee.
“Where are we headed?” I asked emerging from my bedroom.
“To Five Points. It’s where I keep spotting them.”
“Spotting or killing?” I asked simply for clarification.
“Spotting for now. You can’t run reconnaissance on dead things. The ones in the city seem to flock to the area at night and I’m curious to know why and what they do when they go there. It’s one place in particular I’ve seen them visiting the last few nights. A club on Peachtree called Fusion.”
I grabbed my boots from where I kept them
by the front door and sat down on the couch beside him to lace them up. “Isn’t that the one that caters to people into BDSM? I heard a lot of kinky shit goes down in there.”
Chase shrugged his shoulders. “It’s your city so you’d know better than I do. I haven’t cared to venture inside.”
I finished lacing my boots. “I’m ready whenever you are.”
He stood and I stood with him. “Let’s go then. We don’t have long before dawn. The Brethren like the daemons aren’t generally active for long past sun up.”
We waited across the street from Fusion’s entrance. It was a Friday night in the middle of downtown so we weren’t the only people milling around. It helped us not to stick out like sore thumbs. A guy of average height and a slender build exited the club. When he looked in our direction from across the street, I saw the flash of silver circling his blue eyes. He took off in the opposite direction from us.
“What do they do with their wings?” I asked Chase as we crossed the street to go after him. The Brethren in the restaurant didn’t have a set either. But the one that attacked me definitely did.
“They’re able to retract them into their shoulder blades.”
“How? They’re massive. At least the wings on the one that attacked me were.”
“The hell if I know. But they can.”
Maybe when we interrogated the Brethren we followed, we could slip that question in too. Them being able to do so defied every law of physics I could think of. It left me curious about how they accomplished the feat.
The Brethren turned the corner and we picked up our pace. We waited until he ventured into a section of Five Points that appeared deserted.
“Stay to the shadows and let me handle this,” Chase whispered to me as if he actually needed to say it. He pulled a long curved blade out of the inside of his jacket. He moved quicker than my eyes were able to track. One minute he stood next to me and the next the silver was burrowing into the Brethren’s side. He twisted it and the Brethren growled in pain.
“I am going to rip you apart Chosen One.” He hissed the title at Chase like the vilest of curses.
Chase looked at him unmoved by the threat. He twisted the blade then yanked it out of his side. A chuck of flesh, muscle and and tissue came out behind it. The Brethren grunted and Chase shoved the blade in his chest. “The next chunk of you that comes out is your heart unless you answer the questions I’m about to ask truthfully. And we both know that I’ll know if you lie.”
“You may as well kill me now,” The Brethren gritted out.”I don’t talk to filth.”
Chase’s wrist jerked, eliciting a sharp intake of breath from the Brethren. “We’ll see about that.”
The temperature around us warmed about ten degrees and a faint glow outlined Chase’s body. It seemed to flow down the length of his right arm and into the metal. It coalesced into the Brethren’s chest. His face contorted in agony and he ground his top molars against his bottom ones.
“Why are there so many of you migrating to the city?”
The Brethren flashed a set of white teeth that appeared much sharper than they had a moment ago.
The temperature ratcheted up five degrees.
“We were told to come,” he breathed out heavily. Trying to answer the question to avoid the level of his agony increasing without giving up any real information.
It didn’t work. The air warmed a bit more. “By who?” Chase demanded.
“I don’t know.”
Chase smiled without a hint of joy. “Not good enough.”
Sweat broke out along my forehead. I felt the sudden urge to pull my long-sleeved tee over my head.
“Angel fire is lethal to the Fallen. It was specifically created as a means to swiftly exterminate you. For good. If I let it incinerate your heart, your essence won’t just be sent back to hell. It will be incinerated along with your corporeal form.”
The Brethren’s eyes finally widened with fear. “I swear I don’t know who gave the order. Word came from high up and has been trickling down. I’m just a foot soldier who does what he’s told. I’m not important enough to ask questions or for things to be explained to me. But those who are important enough will be at Fusion tomorrow night to celebrate something big that just happened and to talk strategy. It was going to be a closed event but more than a few complained it wouldn’t make for much of a party so now they’re letting humans in too for entertainment purposes.” He looked at Chase pleadingly. “Let me go Chosen One.” He said the title with much more deference this time. “I won’t talk. I swear. I could even act as your mole. Your eyes and ears on the inside.”
Chase smiled and it was unlike any other I’d ever seen cross his face. It was devoid of all warmth, all charm, and all light. It was a cruel, frigid, ruthless kind of smile that was more akin to a predator flashing his teeth before he obliterated his prey. “That’s a tempting offer except you said yourself you’re just a foot soldier ignorant of any useful information.”
The glow was no longer faint. It blazed with as much fury as the invisible heat turning the atmosphere around us into a furnace. The Brethren opened his mouth to scream in agony but the sound didn’t make it out before he ignited in blue-white flames. They flickered out just as quickly as they’d appeared. The air immediately cooled. The spot where the Brethren had stood was completely empty except for a pile of ash that the returning wind was already starting to scatter in different directions.
I touched the back of my hand to my mouth, blinking in rapid succession as my brain tried to process that what my eyes witnessed had not been some illusion.
Chase took a step toward me and I instinctively took a step back. He tucked the curved blade away then stilled, holding his hands up in a non-threatening display.
“On my life, Alex, I would never hurt you.”
The phrase on my life is what shook me free of the terror, born from a place of innate human survival instincts kicking in, that seized me. If he packed that big of a punch then when I thrust the knife into his heart earlier in the night he could have stopped me long before I ever came near enough to puncture his flesh. Before my hand ever moved into position to do so he could have reduced me to nothing more than a pile of ash like the one being carried away by the wind. But he hadn’t. He’d stood there and allowed my hand to inflict mortal harm on him. So yeah, logically, I knew he would not hurt me and that I had nothing to fear from him but still… the part of me that overrode the rational section of my brain and functioned purely out of self-preservation shrieked at me to get as far away from him as fast as I could.
I inhaled deeply then exhaled slowly. It took repeating the action three times for my heart to begin to slow and my limbs to stop wanting to shake. “When you said you inherited all of the abilities and powers of an Archangel I guess you weren’t kidding.” I almost asked him what else he could do then decided I’d rather not know.
“The sun is about to come up. Let me take you home?” he asked softly and soothingly. Like I was a frightening animal backed into a corner and he was trying to smooth over my ruffled feathers and get me to come out of it.
“Okay,” I said and shook my head after a beat. “Okay.”
He kept his distance as we walked to his bike. He got on first and didn’t comment when I slid onto the back but left a couple of inches of space in between us. We rode to my apartment in silence. When we got there he cut the engine and jumped off before I did. He spun around and stepped in front of me just as I hopped off the bike. His hands gently grabbed my waist and guided me back to a sitting position. He took a step closer to me, wedging my legs apart and settling his body in between them. His eyes bore into mine.
“Alex,” he spoke softly, almost whispered. “I’m serious. I would never ever do anything to hurt you. I know what you saw freaked you out but you don’t have to be afraid of me. Ever.”
He moved his hands to cup my face then kissed me. Slowly, deeply, thoroughly. My lips parted of their own accord and drank him in. The
lack of oxygen starting to make my vision blur and my lungs scream in protest is what finally made me draw back. His hand still cupped my face as sapphire eyes searched mine for understanding and acceptance and maybe something more that I wasn’t yet ready to consider too closely. “Okay?” It was an insistence, and a plea and a demand all rolled into the singular word.
Something in me caved at the open vulnerability in his expression, an aspect of him I’d never seen before. I rested my forehead against his.
“Okay,” I breathed into his mouth because he was kissing me again before I got the word out good.
We made plans to meet the following night and go to Fusion. Neither of us were stupid. The Brethren had only divulged the information about the gathering to lay a trap for us to spring. The Brethren probably thought that he would live. That he would feed Chase the information, then offer to be a snitch as a bargaining tool to escape with his life, only to double cross him by warning the Brethren that he would show up. Unlucky for him, but lucky for us, Chase had killed him and the Brethren at the club the next night would be none the wiser when we showed up pretending to be nothing but a couple of people looking for a good, albeit kinky, time.
Craved: A Chosen Ones Novel Page 15