A knife or something sharp was what she wanted more than anything else at this moment, something to wound him at the very least.
The door to her prison—she refused to think of it as a bedroom—slowly creaked open now. Aurora tensed all over, clutching her hands into fists. But instead of seeing a tall figure, a much smaller one entered the room.
Soren.
Aurora didn’t say anything to him. He was like a little deer, easily spooked. She would let him make the first move in the conversation. Soren's eyes were wide, his mouth was set in a straight line. He held a plate and glass in his hands.
“I brought you some water and crackers.”
Though her stomach had long since digested the chips and things she’d purchased on the drive to Seattle, Aurora didn’t feel like eating anything. Being so close to David put her in a constant state of nausea.
“No thanks.”
Soren stopped walking forward and looked uncertainly down at the sustenance in his hands. Now that his purpose of entering the room had been shut down, he seemed unsure of what to do.
Aurora noticed that, every time she saw her son, something within her responded to him. She longed to hold him, to tell him everything would be okay. This was strange because, surprising as it may seem, she’d never been a maternal person. Well, except towards her brother, Danny.
“Why didn’t you want to see me?”
The words jarred Aurora. She wasn't sure how to respond.
Soren set the plate and glass on the ground and was now at the foot of her bed, his arms folded across his abdomen as if he had a stomachache. But she could tell the ache came from something deeper. Something she had done.
“See you?”
“After you gave me away. You didn’t want to visit me or talk to me.”
With every word he spoke, the sharp, burning pain in her chest swelled with more force. “It was a closed adoption. Do you know what that means?”
He nodded slowly. “It means you didn’t want to see me or talk to me…or have anything to do with me.”
Aurora shook her head. “That’s not—”
“It IS true!” he said in an angry voice. “I’m eight years old! I’m not a baby. I’m not stupid.”
If Aurora’s hands were free, she would have held them up in surrender, but all she could do was say, “Okay, okay. I’m sorry. You’re right.” This seemed to shock him into silence. His dark blue eyes—the same color as hers—sparkled with tears.
Aurora continued, dropping the adult-speaking-to-a-child-tone. “I’m going to be honest with you, okay? When I had you, I didn’t know how to take care of a baby. I didn’t know anything about children, actually. I was an only child, and my mom worked her butt off just to try to take care of me, let alone a grandchild. If I had kept you, you would have been that kid in school. The poor kid. The kid who had clothes with holes in them and shoes that were too small. I wasn’t about to ask my mom to help because it was my responsibility. Not hers. And you have to understand…I was a broken person. I had almost no money, no way to provide for you, and I sure as hell wasn’t about to let your dad know about you.”
“But why—”
Her words came out harsher than she meant for them too. “Because he’s evil, Soren. He does terrible, horrible, disgusting things. Has he told you what he is? What I am? Has he told you about what’s going on in the world right now?”
“About Horns and Halos? Yeah.”
“What did he tell you about them?”
Soren half shrugged, his small hand reaching out to pick absently at a thread in the comforter on the bed. “He said Horns are stronger than Halos. And that Halos were weak and stupid.”
Aurora rolled her eyes and snorted. “Did he tell you that because he is a Horn, perhaps?”
Soren went quiet again, his little brows furrowing in thought. “And you’re a Halo?” he asked after a moment.
“I am.”
“So then…what am I?”
This brought Aurora up short. Soren was half human, a quarter demon, and a quarter angel. Did that even have a name?
“Well…” she said, speaking carefully. “I think you are what you choose to be. You can choose the side of darkness and hate and torture.” Soren’s head bowed at this, his eyes on his hands. Aurora continued, “Or you can choose the side of light and strength and protection. I think, in the end, the choice is up to you.”
“So, I have to choose between you and Dad?”
The words stabbed at her.
She wanted to scream at him, to tell him David was dangerous, that he would hurt him. But she knew, during the short amount of time David and Soren had spent together, they’d formed a sort of father-son bond—likely false on David’s part—too strong for her to break with words.
“No,” she said finally. “You have to choose between Light and Darkness.”
Forty-Six
GRAY
Jax brought the plane in for a bumpy landing, narrowly avoiding another aircraft that had likely been halted during the locking of the city.
Turning to face Gray, Jax said, “Okay, this is your show, man. Where to first?”
Gray reached into his pocket and pulled out the address he’d hastily scribbled down before leaving Echo. It was the address he’d found on Aurora’s red and white striped luggage. He read off the words and numbers to Jax.
“Where’s that?”
“No idea.”
“Got it.”
Jax took the paper from Gray and climbed down from the plane. With Gray on his heels, the hulking Halo scaled one of the open jet bridges leading into the airport, striding purposefully forward until they came upon a woman sleeping like a corpse on a bench.
Gray jogged to catch up to Jax. “What are you doing?”
“Looking for—aha!” Bending down beside the woman's discarded purse, Jax rifled through the bag.
“Dude, if you’re looking for money, I have—”
Jax stood up, flashing Gray a smug look. “Cell phone. Why do white people always gotta think brothers are hurting for money?” Gray held his hands up, shaking his head in denial as Jax threw his own head back in a loud laugh. “I’m just messin’.”
Gray moved closer to look at the screen on the phone. “It’s locked.”
Jax picked up the woman's hand and pressed her thumb to the home button. The screen opened.
"Phones have fingerprint scanners now?" Gray asked in awe.
Jax snorted. "Where've you been, man?"
Gray shrugged. "Fighting fires?"
"Fighting fires under rocks?" Jax said as he plugged Aurora's address into the navigation application and made a comment under his breath about how far away it was. “Oh damn. 19% left on this battery. Better truck it.”
“How the hell are we going to get there?”
Jax flashed him a mischievous look. “By stealing a badass car, of course. Perks of the apocalypse.”
Ex-fireman and ex-military man ran full out through the Seattle airport, bypassing the few souls that had been locked while sleeping in an uncomfortable airport chair. As Gray and Jax searched the roads for a car worth stealing, they suddenly morphed into two youngsters who’d been transported into a Grand Theft Auto video game.
“Which—?” Gray began.
“That one.” Jax pointed at a diesel truck pumped full of expensive upgrades.
Having lived in New York City most of his life, Gray hadn’t cared much about cars and never planned on owning one. Taxi cabs and the fire engine had been all he needed.
So, he didn’t know the names of all the after-market products on this giant truck they were now climbing into, but he knew it had a pair of tires the height of the roof of a regular car. When Jax turned the key left in the ignition, a massive plume of black smoke erupted from the back of the truck.
“I was going to suggest a sports car,” Jax said, “but then I figured this would be better for plowing down Horns and beasts.”
“Good thinking.”
The carnage in the streets quickly turned their joy ride into a funeral procession. The Horns and beasts had figured out that the humans were tucked safely away in their beds, their souls locked and untouchable. Unfortunately, only doors and bed sheets protected their bodies.
Piles of burning corpses flashed by their windows. Horns dressed in gray robes threw men, women, and children into the flames, making Gray’s stomach turn with sickness. It looked like a scene from a zombie film. Only worse. Because the Horns knew exactly what they were doing. They just didn’t care.
Jax let out an audible growl as he slammed his foot down on the accelerator and plowed straight into a group of beasts, flattening them with the massive tires of the stolen truck. “Take that, you evil son-of-a-bitch.”
Gray felt like he was in a morbid virtual reality game as Jax made sure to hit every last Horn and beast with the monster truck, their bones crunching beneath it. By the time they made it to Aurora’s old apartment, the tires were caked with a sludge Gray didn’t care to examine as he jumped out of the vehicle.
One of the human bonfires had been set right in front of the apartment building. The familiar smell of burning flesh made Gray’s stomach turn.
Then all senses temporarily shut off when he realized the Horns were burning people from Aurora’s building. Windows were open, and the half-human, half-demons were chucking out bodies that twisted sickeningly as they splattered onto the pavement below.
Jax cursed, and Gray charged forward, in search of apartment 317. If Aurora wasn’t there, he had no way of knowing where else she might be. His heart panged painfully against his sternum as he scaled the stairs rather than waiting for an elevator. As a firefighter accustomed to climbing skyscraper buildings, this short ascent felt unnaturally long.
Two floors up and he was racing down the long stretch of hallway, making note of the numbers on the doors. Jax wasn’t far behind him, but it was apparent agility wasn’t his strongest asset. Endurance and strength likely took the cake there.
Number 317 rose up to meet his eyes, and he slammed to a stop.
The door was ajar, which could mean either Aurora had been in such a hurry to get to her family that she hadn’t bothered shutting it…or it could mean something much more sinister.
Gray had little time to consider the options as he shouldered open the door and entered the living room of the small apartment, crux in hand.
Aurora’s scent washed over him, and for a split second his heart lifted because he thought he was going to see her there.
But the room was empty, save for mismatched furniture and picture frames everywhere. Unable to stop himself, Gray halted at a table running the length of the back of the overstuffed couch. It held frame after frame of pictures of Aurora, her mom, and her brother. She’d spoken of them often, but she’d never shown Gray a photograph or even really explained what they looked like.
Picking up one of the frames, he smiled in spite of the immediacy of danger and carnage around him. It was a simple photo of the three family members, taken at a studio with a plain white background.
The three of them sat close together with Daniel in the middle. It was clear her brother had special needs by the distracted way in which he looked up and away from the camera, his cloudy blue eyes bright with laughter. Aurora’s arm encircled him, and it looked like she was tickling his side in an attempt to make him smile. His wide open mouth, turned up at the corners, indicating her success.
Any time Aurora had spoken of her mom—Anne, he thought her name was—Gray pictured the woman as an older version of her daughter, with blonde hair and dark blue eyes. Judging by the woman in the pictures, though, he realized he’d been pretty far off the mark.
Anne Coel looked almost nothing like her daughter: red hair and hazel eyes, though he thought he could see a little bit of her in the delicate swoop of her nose and the poutiness of her mouth. Aurora must have inherited the bulk of her features from her angel father, which made sense given the simple yet stunning level of her beauty.
“Nice looking family,” Jax said from behind Gray. “But we don’t really have time for that, man.”
“Yeah, sorry.” Gray placed the frame back on the table and turned to move towards the hall that likely held the bedrooms.
Three plain doors lined the hallway, one for each of the family members, Gray assumed. Quickly turning the knob and swinging open the first one, he knew immediately this had been Aurora’s room. Her color scheme was black and white, which seemed to make perfect sense given the clinical way she saw the world.
The room was empty.
Gray itched to enter in spite of that fact. He wanted to know who Aurora had been before he’d met her. He wanted to see if she’d always been so strong and immovable. But he knew there wasn’t time for this. So, he moved forward to the next room.
Judging by the blocks and toys piled in one of the corners, the second room belonged to Aurora’s brother. Also empty.
“Third time’s the charm, I hope,” Jax said as they both traveled to the final door.
Gray reached out to grasp the knob when a crash sounded in the living room. Jax was quick to act, already disappearing back down the hallway to investigate the source of the noise.
The overwhelming smell of sulfur announced the presence of demons. Hand tightening on his crux, Gray moved to follow after him when he heard breaking glass from within the room beyond the closed door behind him.
Retracing his steps, he flung open the third door. Thick curtains had been torn halfway down and hung open around the shattered windows through which three beasts had entered. One had already claimed the body of Aurora’s brother, lifting him up and over his shoulder.
A blinding panic and the fuel of hatred propelled Gray forward. One of the beasts hovered over Aurora’s mom, his claw-like hand grasping her arm.
Gray aimed a well-placed punch to the beast’s jaw, tearing at the stitches cementing his mouth shut. He let out a rattling gasp as his bloodied mouth opened, torn skin dangling like a pair of morbid earrings.
The beast wasn’t able to revel in the freedom for long as Gray shoved his crux deep into his abdomen. The vile creature’s eyes rolled up and back, exposing only the whites as he collapsed.
The other two beasts had made it to the window, each of them carrying one side of Daniel like a rag doll. The queen size bed was a barrier between them and, thinking quickly, Gray threw his crux end over end at the beast holding Aurora’s brother’s left side. It embedded itself in the beast’s chest.
Weaponless, Gray moved around the bed towards the final beast, still holding Daniel. He seemed privy to the knowledge that the number of obstacles between him and Gray were enough to buy him a handful of seconds, which he used to break off one of the large shards of glass still stuck in the window.
With a wicked grin, he placed the sharp point of the glass to Daniel’s chest, right over his heart.
Gray stopped in his tracks, holding up his hands to communicate he wouldn’t move forward if the beast stopped.
“Okay, okay.” His voice shook from anger and fear. “Don’t hurt him. Please. Just—just put him down.”
The beast’s eyes shone with amusement.
“You don’t have to do this,” Gray said, barely louder than a whisper. “You don’t have to be evil like all the rest of them. You can be good again. Just…put him down and—”
But there was no reasoning with a beast. The demon blood had poisoned his body and infiltrated his mind. Trying to talk sense to him was like trying to talk down a charging rhino.
With a surge of energy, Gray moved to leap forward, to tackle the bastard. But the beast was faster, shoving the shard of glass into Aurora's brother's chest.
Then a red flower bloomed across Daniel's white shirt.
Forty-Seven
AURORA
The slightest smell of sulfur and the feel of slick sweat jolted Aurora awake.
Hot breath bathed her face, and she yanked at the ties binding her wr
ist on instinct, forgetting they were there for a moment. That was, until she reopened the scabs on her skin.
The weight of David on top of her made it difficult to breathe. As she had each time he’d attempted to touch her, she took in a deep breath, preparing to let out a loud scream.
Not that anyone could hear her.
This time David was ready, slapping a hand over her mouth as he fumbled with the buckle on his pants. Up until this point, everything he’d done to her had been over the clothes. It seemed now he wanted to change that. And Aurora was not about to let that happen without a fight.
David had her legs pinned between his knees so she couldn’t kick him. And, of course, her hands were out of commission.
So, she proceeded to buck wildly, twisting and writhing. If he was going to force her to do this, she was going to make it as unpleasant as possible.
He growled in annoyance and, rather than say anything, his hand arched back and came down hard across her face. She sucked in a breath of shock and pain, her face stinging from the impact.
Past memories of David hitting her, kicking her, grabbing her flooded her mind, making her sick.
How had she ended up here again?
How had she let that happen?
She’d promised herself never again. Never again would she let a man treat her like he had. Yet here she was. Tied up, pinned beneath him, taking his blows.
Again.
No, she thought vehemently. You aren’t going to get me under your control that easily.
David had managed to get his pants off in the time she took to process what he’d done and come out of the shock of it. His hands moved to her hips, clutching at them as he ground his crotch against hers.
She bucked and writhed again. And then he slapped her. Then punched her with a closed fist.
Then again.
Again.
And again.
And again.
But she continued to fight back, not giving up as she had once upon a time. She thrashed like a fish thrown out of the water onto the floor of a boat, refusing to stay still enough for David to savor her.
Echo (The Halo Series Book 2) Page 24