Before Jared could finish his sentence, Bex’s fist hurled toward me with lightning speed. My body reacted, and suddenly his fist was in my hand.
“I’m not holding back,” Bex grunted, still pushing his fist toward my face.
Jared’s eyes widened. He tried to talk, but the only result was his jaw flapping about.
Bex relaxed and lowered his hand, and then bent down to kiss my forehead. “She’s been like that for months. You couldn’t tell?” he asked Jared.
“I uh…I could tell something was different. I assumed it was the baby.”
“It is the baby,” Bex smiled. “Bean is sharing angel juice with Nina. I haven’t taken it easy sparring with her for weeks.”
“What?” I said.
“What?” Jared repeated.
Bex rolled his eyes. “Remember that time she threw me on my back?”
Jared’s eyes dashed to mine. “She really did that?”
Bex frowned. “It hurt, too. I just didn’t say anything because I assumed you knew, and this was one of those things you didn’t want to talk about.”
“He is so like that.” Claire said.
Jared was instantly angry. “You were sparring with her on your level? She’s pregnant, Bex. Are you insane? What if you hurt the baby?”
I looked down at my protruding belly and gingerly rubbed it with my fingers. “Bean is giving me abilities?”
Bex shrugged. “Bean’s full-on angel, Nina. You’ve got more power than we do, I bet. That’s why you could hover during your dreams and climb the walls and stuff. You were pregnant then, weren’t you?”
Ryan laughed once. “What? She’s Spider-Man, now?”
“That’s what I said!” Bex beamed. “Love Spider-Man.”
Jared frowned. “You should have said something.”
Bex laughed once without humor. “She’s your Taleh…not to mention your wife. I thought you knew!”
“You didn’t think I’d mention it if I had?”
“No! That doesn’t sound like you at all!” Bex snapped.
“He’s right,” Claire said. “Being forthcoming isn’t your strong suit.”
Jared turned on his heels, crossing his arms. His biceps bulged over his hands. “I guess you knew, too?”
“Obviously not!” Claire said. “It was my idea to punch her!”
“Well, let’s brag about it,” I said flatly.
Silence overcame the room while the new knowledge set in. Jared’s eyes bounced around different points on the floor while his brain processed a million thoughts a second.
A loud bang sounded from across the room, followed by a vibration in the floor. Claire was lying on her back, looking up at Ryan with a shocked expression.
He smiled. “I told you I wouldn’t give up.”
Her face flashed red, and I waited for her to send Ryan flying across the room again. But the flush of her cheeks returned to a warm tone, and her eyes softened. A slow, small smile turned up the corners of her mouth. Ryan, without caution, kneeled beside her. His eyes left hers, and then transfixed onto her lips. He leaned in closer. I waited for Claire to grab him by the throat, or kick him in his nether region, but she slowly closed her eyes.
“What in the hell happened in here?” Cynthia shrieked, slamming the door behind her.
My mother’s surprise entrance took my attention away for only a moment, and when I looked back, I could see a familiar frustration in Ryan’s eyes.
I smiled.
“Someone had better answer me,” Cynthia said.
Realization fluttered in Claire’s eyes, and she glanced in my direction.
“Karma,” I said with a knowing grin. She had made a hobby of interrupting Jared and I when we were falling in love. It was refreshing to see her reaction when the same happened to her.
“Oh, shut up,” she said, pushing herself to her feet. She grabbed Ryan’s hand and helped him to stand. “I apologize, Mrs. Grey.”
“You did this,” Cynthia said. Her words were more an accusation than a question. “I expect everything to be in order by tomorrow morning.” With that, she left for her bedroom.
Claire surveyed the destruction. “It’s going to be a long night.”
“I’ll help you,” Ryan said.
Claire left for the kitchen, and returned holding a large garbage can. She carried it in one hand, picking up the splinters of wood that covered the floor with the other.
“Have fun with that,” Jared smiled, taking my hand. “We’ll be at the oak tree at first light.”
“Oh?” I said with a smile.
Jared glanced at his little brother. “You’re coming, too.”
“I am?” Bex said.
A wary frown touched Bex’s face as his eyes darted between Jared and me. I could tell that he was hesitant to be excited. “Why? Isn’t that, like, your breeding ground?”
Jared rolled his eyes. “I want to see what Nina is capable of.”
“Sweet!” Bex said, clapping his hands together once. “You ready to spar, Sis?” His hands rubbed together.
A broad smile widened my face. “Oh. It’s on.”
Chapter Ten
Matches
Jared and I walked upstairs. I went through the motions of my nightly routine in a daze, trying to concede to this new reality. Knowing I had a lot to prove in the morning, it was difficult to sleep. Finally I forced my mind to slow down, and managed to close my eyes for a few hours before the sun breeched the horizon.
Once my eyes fluttered, there would be no falling back asleep; no sleeping in. I was wide awake, and my body screamed to get out of bed and get to the oak tree. I didn’t bother with a shower, knowing I would be sweaty and covered in dust and dirt within the hour. An oversized t-shirt of Jared’s barely stretched over my belly, but it would suffice. I was really showing now, and the thought crossed my mind at how ridiculous I would look, swollen and awkward, while Bex attacked me with gorgeous precision from every angle.
Jared and I met downstairs, where the others were still cleaning. The only person not smiling and joking about the night before was Ryan.
“What?” Jared said, smug. “You don’t think Nina can take Bex?”
Ryan pointed at me, but looked at Jared. “She’s still pregnant.”
Bex laughed once. “Don’t worry. Bean’s tougher than I am.”
Claire thought I should start with Ryan, however. Ryan held out his hands. “What the hell is this? Beat The Shit Out Of Ryan Week?”
“I didn’t think you’d mind, since you’re always insisting upon getting yourself hospitalized,” Claire said.
Ryan’s face screwed into disgust. “That was uncalled for.”
“The truth hurts, baby.”
He smiled. “If you’re going to talk to me like that, you can insult me all day long.”
Claire pulled her car keys from her pocket, and then pulled on Ryan’s hand. “I meant that you’re a baby. It wasn’t a term of endearment.”
“Yeah, right.”
Jared squeezed my hand. “The oak tree it is. Are you sure you’re okay with this?”
“Does it matter?”
“Yes. I would like to see what you can do, though, don’t you?”
I thought for a moment. I had always admired the abilities of the Ryels, but having my own never occurred to me. My damsel in distress days could be over, and I liked that.
“Do I get a shot at you if I beat Claire?”
Jared shrugged. “Sure, but—”
“Then yes.”
Jared pretended to be offended. “That wasn’t very nice, honey. Not nice at all.”
I hooked my arm around his and nuzzled against him as we walked to the Escalade. “A little exploratory domestic violence doesn’t mean I love you any less.”
The Escalade jostled with the uneven ground of the trail that led to our oak tree. Bex and Claire would be careful not to land a direct hit to my stomach, but my motherly instincts were kicking in, and so were my nerves. I kept telling myse
lf I had already done this: Bex and I had sparred many times, and I got the best of him several times. At the time I thought he was taking it down a thousand notches so that I knew I was improving, but now I knew differently.
Ryan, sporting a standard-issue police T-shirt and a PPD ball cap, took position across from me.
“Until I figure out what I can do,” I told him, “try very, very hard not to go anywhere near Bean.”
Ryan frowned. “For the record, I feel like I’m having an out-of-body experience, and the rational me is screaming to kidnap you away from this craziness before you get hurt.”
“We’ll just start slow, and see what happens.”
Ryan winced. “I’m about to fight a pregnant woman. This is wrong on so many levels.”
“C’mon you weenies!” Claire yelled. “We haven’t got all day!”
“I’m not a weenie,” Ryan said under his breath.
“You are if you’re afraid of a girl!”
Ryan glanced at her with annoyance, and I smiled. “You’ll learn whispering doesn’t help.”
“Okay, let’s do this before my girlfriend thinks worse of me.”
“Still not your girlfriend!” Claire yelled.
I bit my lip. “Let’s try this,” I said, shoving Ryan. I used enough strength to push him a few feet away, but instead he flew back, twisted in the air, and then fell, rolling across the ground.
He looked up at me in surprise. “That’s cheating!”
“I barely touched you.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
Ryan pushed himself to his feet, and then jogged back to me, a bit shaken. “I can’t let two girls kick my ass in one twelve-hour period.”
“Bring it,” I said, crouched and ready.
Ryan swung and missed a dozen times before I tried punching him. My fist caught him in the gut, and he landed nearly in the same place as before. He stood up, but then doubled over, trying to catch his breath. He took a step, and then bent down again, holding up one finger.
“Sorry!” I called.
“My turn!” Bex said. He wasted no time, and I could see in his eyes that playtime was over.
He lunged, and I moved. Blocking each of his punches, I used Claire’s leg sweep, knocking him to his feet. He jumped up, missing the first punch, and then landing the next. It stung, but it felt like I had accidentally walked into a door instead of the full power of a Hybrid pounding into my jaw.
“Oh!” Jared yelled. His hands were on his head, his fingers intertwined. He hated this. He had spent his life protecting me, and now that we were married and I was pregnant with his child, he was allowing me to be a guinea-pig-slash-punching-bag.
“You okay?” Bex said, breathing hard.
I frowned.
“Oh, God, I’m sorry, did I hurt you?” Bex said, lifting my chin to see the damage.
“Again,” I said, squatting defensively.
“No!” Jared yelled. “No, we’ve seen what she’s capable of. That’s enough.”
I shook my head. “I’m fighting a thirteen-year-old, Jared,” I said quietly. “I wasn’t trying that hard.”
Bex crouched. “That’s insulting.”
He lunged again, and although our movements would have blurred to the human eye, I had no trouble keeping up. Each move Bex attempted seemed nearly in slow motion. Within seconds, Bex was in the air, and then flat on his back.
“My turn!” Claire said, pulling on fingerless leather gloves.
I steadied myself. Claire had always frightened me. Bex, I had sparred with before; I was familiar with his moves. But it had been months since Claire and I had practiced together, and I was unfamiliar with her strategy. Still, I didn’t want to make Jared worry, so I planned to step up my game a notch. I couldn’t let Claire punch me. Jared would feel guilty enough. Not to mention that even though she loved me now, Claire been waiting for this moment a long time.
She glared at me from under her brow as she always did to intimidate an enemy. That part I was familiar with. She would not hold back, and she wasn’t afraid to hurt me.
This was going to suck.
Bex helped Ryan to Jared’s side, and Ryan fell onto his knees, sore and demoralized.
“Get her, Nigh!” Ryan yelled.
“Hey! Whose side are you on?” Claire said.
I focused. Claire Ryel was the best of the best. Demons feared her. She was Earth’s deadliest weapon, undefeated by anyone she’d ever come up against, and I was about to deck her. Once Claire returned her attention to me, I swung. Claire took the punch, and it almost knocked her off her feet. She looked at Jared, rubbed her cheek, and smiled with bloody teeth. “She hurt me!”
I didn’t let my guard drop for a second, knowing Claire was too competitive to quit. Her ice-blue eyes sharpened and her vicious glare targeted me. “I love you, and I’m sorry for the ass-kicking that’s about to commence.”
“No, you’re not.”
“You’re right. I was just being polite.”
Knowing that she had watched me wait to be attacked with my last two opponents, I took the first shot. She dodged, but in the next moment, my foot connected with her chest, and I sent her flying forty feet into the one muddy section of the entire field. She emerged, wet, dirty and pissed off. She flung her hands outward, letting the excess mud spatter to the ground. “You really went there, didn’t you?”
I smiled. “I did.”
She sprinted toward me and grabbed my shirt. I was soon in the air, but landed on my feet — just short of the mud.
“Nice try,” I smiled.
Claire was unhappy. She tried repeatedly to push, shove, throw, and punch me into the mud, but I either blocked her or put her there instead. After half an hour, her platinum hair was tangled and brown, and we were both filthy and panting. She more than I, but coming into contact with someone covered in muck made it impossible to emerge unsoiled, and Claire was definitely a full-contact adversary.
“Enough,” Jared said, walking out to meet us. He wiped a chunk of mud from Claire’s face. “You’ve made your point.”
“I’m…not…finished with…her yet,” Claire breathed.
Bex had been laughing uncontrollably since the first time Claire found herself in the mud, but with one glare from his sister, the laughter silenced.
“Okay,” I said, breathing hard. “Now you?”
“No.”
“No?” I said.
“Chicken!” Ryan said.
Jared frowned. “We’ve seen what we need to see, and I don’t want you to get overly tired. You may have angel blood running through your veins, but you’re still human. Until we know for sure how your body will handle the stress, I don’t want to push it too far.”
I nodded. “You’re right. I can throw punches at you anytime.”
Jared laughed, and then put his arm around me as we walked to the Escalade. He was thoroughly enjoying my new Yes, Dear attitude. The truth was I couldn’t live with myself if something happened to our baby.
Ryan took off his coat and draped it around Claire’s shoulders, and then used his hand to scrape the rest of the mud from her face. She was never happy to lose a fight, but the excitement we all felt for this new development was evident in her eyes. “I want a rematch after Bean is born!” she yelled.
“No way!” I called back. I looked to Jared. “She’s not serious?”
Jared tried to subdue a smile. “Of course not.” His attention was diverted from the path to the road. Kim’s Sentra barreled toward us.
The Sentra stopped abruptly, and Kim emerged, slamming the door behind her.
Jared raised his hands. “I know you’re impatient, Kim. We’re leaving next week, okay?”
When she was close enough, I gasped. Her clothes were covered in blood. “Well, that’s just great, Jared. Unfortunately for my uncle, it’s too little, too late.”
“What happened?” Jared said, equally alarmed. Bex, Claire and Ryan gathered around.
Ry
an grabbed Kim’s arm, but she pulled away. “Oh my God, Kim. Are you okay?” he said.
Kim didn’t look away from Jared. Her eyes glossed over. “I told you. I told you we needed to get it back.”
“I’m so sorry, Kim,” Jared said.
“Sorry won’t bring him back. I helped you, and when it was my turn, you dragged your feet until someone I loved was killed.” She turned and walked toward her car.
“Sunday, Kim,” Jared said, calling after her. “We leave Sunday.”
Kim’s arm shot into the air and her middle finger pointed toward the heavens. A moment later, she was gone.
“Poor Kim,” Ryan said. “What do you think happened?”
Claire crossed her arms, watching the Sentra disappear into the distance. “They’re sending a message. If it were demons in true form they wouldn’t have been able to get to him. They must be shelling.”
“Shelling?” I asked.
“They’re taking human form,” Jared said.
Ryan nodded. “Like possession.”
Claire frowned. “No, like shelling. They take over the body for a short amount of time to achieve a purpose. It doesn’t leave the body weakened, and the human has no recollection or aftershock.”
Jared rubbed the back of his neck. “It’s starting.”
“It sure as hell is,” Claire said, heading quickly toward her Lotus.
“It’s a good thing I was quitting to go back to school, anyway,” Ryan said, following Claire. “If I would have asked for more time off to go to Jerusalem, they would have fired me, anyway.”
Claire put a hand on Ryan’s shoulder. “They were going to fire you anyway.”
Ryan’s head jerked in her direction. “Huh?”
“Because you suck.”
Ryan shrugged off her hand, and then used all of his might to shove her. She didn’t budge, only turning long enough to offer a small, amused smile.
“I don’t suck. You suck,” Ryan grumbled, climbing into her car.
Chapter Eleven
Last Minute Forgiveness
So much to do. So much, so much. Repetitive grumbling hissed from my lips as I rushed around the house. A week wasn’t long enough to get my life in order. I scrambled around the house, up and down the stairs, trying to maneuver around my growing stomach. It became rounder and fuller every day. As I packed, Agatha worked overtime trying to finish the laundry, and Jared was constantly up and down the stairs, fetching clothes and medical supplies. It wasn’t until he phoned in a favor to a friend for bags of saline, IV tubing and needles, and anticoagulant that I realized I wouldn’t have my baby in a hospital — not even at home. Bean would be born in a dark, timeworn cavern under the city of Jerusalem, away from modern medicine, but just beyond the reach of Hell.
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