We spent another ten minutes browsing, and I reluctantly made my way to the front of the store to buy three novels before Elly started getting impatient. At our next store, Elly sought out some makeup. She was apparently running out at a drastic rate. Oh no.
Once I decided to choose a sports equipment store as my second selection- I needed another pair of boxing gloves; mine were looking a little worn- the morning turned into more of an errand-run than a shopping excursion, but we still made it really fun by laughing at what the other bought and where she chose to go. Of course, no matter how many side-splitting episodes we had, neither Elly nor I could go ten minutes without looking at the time. Everyone was supposed to meet up at one o’clock, but my friend and I shared the vice of impatience. So at half past noon, we were sitting in my Wrangler in High Point Academy’s parking lot, which was the previously agreed upon location, chosen because it was the simplest for everyone to get to and had easy access to several good restaurants. The plan was to have me drive Elly there, Uriel and Michael to drive themselves, Michael would transport everyone to lunch, and then Elly would leave with Michael when he dropped Uriel and me back at our cars. Then Uriel and I would decide if and what we wanted to do for the remaining time before my curfew- a curfew which Uriel came up with and adamantly enforced, no matter what I said. Looking back now, the whole driving plan seems very complex and could have probably been better, but, oh well.
Since we were early and it was an unusually warm day- I swear, the weather in this state is bipolar; it was warm in November, but it had snowed one day at the beginning of October- Elly and I decided to sit out in the sun and wait for our guys. So I backed up in another parking space, and we got out and basked on the hood of my Jeep.
Elly was, once again, telling me to not judge Michael- what is she so worried about?- when, speak of the devil, Michael called her. “He’ll be here in just a bit,” she informed me after hanging up. I thought about pointing out that it was still really early but decided it would be pointless. We’d just wait for Uriel. Elly continued, “All I’m asking is that you keep an open mind when you see him.”
I heaved a large sigh and told her, “If you like him, then how can I find fault with this guy?”
Seeming satisfied- about time- Elly stopped badgering me. A few moments later, a black Audi zoomed around the corner of the road that led to the school parking lot. “That’s him!” Elly exclaimed in an almost too high pitched voice.
“He’s a speed demon,” I noted with the appropriate amount of respect and approval in my tone. I like a certain amount of speed. Ever since the embarrassing mountain experience, Uriel tended to drive at a civil pace. I love speed, just as long as it’s executed in a car that was built for it. Not some SUV. And yes, I’m thinking of the only time Uriel ever went fast enough to freak me out. Twenty over, I can handle, but more than sixty over, I’m not so chill about.
“Yeah,” Elly sighed happily while watching her guy come at us. “He’s all fast and furious.” Is she drooling?
“Mmm. Hot.”
“The weather?”
“No, the car.” I wasn’t supposed to judge him before I met him, but so far, Elly’s boyfriend got two thumbs up.
“Oh, whatever.” My friend didn’t share my developing fetish for automobiles.
The Audi flew into the parking lot and landed in the space across from us that Elly and I currently faced. Before the engine turned off, Elly had jumped down and skipped over to the driver’s door. When it opened, the boy who stepped out of it faced Elly so I couldn’t see his features. But I could tell he had short blond hair and loomed over my friend’s height of five-six. I quickly realized that Elly’s Michael was not a boy, but a man. From his stature, it was easy to see that he donned the lean muscles that only a man can properly obtain. I also found out that he was not shy with public displays of affection. Elly and he kissed for so long that I began wondering how they could go without breathing like that without passing out. I got a strange feeling in my stomach while watching them- jealousy. I wanted to be kissed like that. I hopped off of my hood and slowly made my way over.
My personal pity party abruptly ended when Elly’s boyfriend broke the kiss and looked up at me with a warm smile. I started to return his countenance but mine faltered. I actually think I stopped breathing when I viewed his face. My earlier assumption of age had been correct. Well, I had imagined eighteen or nineteen. But this was a man. Some part of my brain- a very, very far and small part- was preoccupied with the fact that he could easily grow a full beard. But I couldn’t acknowledge the thought, because all I could think about was the man’s eyes which were holding my own, and all I could focus on was the chill I felt running down my spine. His eyes were light blue- their color made me think of a winter’s frost. Hence my chill. (You try looking directly into this guy’s eyes and not shivering. I dare you.) It was like looking at an ice storm. Sleet fell from his eyes into mine. Even his warm smile wasn’t enough to raise the temperature of my emotions.
All of these attributes would not have stopped my breath if they hadn’t been accompanied by his scar. The scar that had been so distinct running from his right eye to beneath his shirt color on the first night I had seen him. Without that scar, I would not have recognized the frosty eyes that now held none of the malevolence they had that night so many months ago.
His smile never faltered, though I knew he had to have noticed my now slightly less than friendly mood. “I’m Michael,” he introduced and held his hand out. I hesitantly took it and when I did, I was abruptly nauseated. The memory of how he had looked at us before- and how awful my nightmares had been later- made my body physically tense up with undue fear.
I did a double-take of my reaction.
I don’t get scared from bad dreams, and this guy seemed very nice and casual and not at all hateful. Why was I acting like that? Pull it together, I reprimanded myself.
“Keira,” I told him in a forced, unwavering voice. Then I couldn’t help it. “Would you mind if Elly and I have a second? I need to ask her something.” My mother would have been appalled at my manners, but I simply had to talk to Elly.
“Not at all,” Michael replied. He didn’t seem to take my request as a rude one. In fact, his friendly expression never changed. I was definitely overreacting, but I couldn’t stop myself.
Elly gave me a look but stepped aside with me anyway. She knew she had to explain. Once we were a few feet away she began her whispered justification. “I knew you’d recognize him, and so did I when I saw him again after we had dinner in the summer.”
“He looked so evil,” I broke in. The man from the restaurant and the one standing a few steps from us seemed like complete opposites.
“Yes, well, do you remember you said that maybe he had just had a really bad day?”
Now that she mentioned it, I did remember saying something like that. I nodded.
“Well, he was having a really bad day. And he came to my school on the first day after it had let out and apologized for looking at us like that because he could tell he’d kind of freaked both of us out and explained everything. He was really sweet and sincere and we hit it off. We’ve been going out ever since.”
Like I couldn’t have guessed that last part. “He apologized to you?” I felt like my brain was really slow.
“Yeah. And he wanted to apologize to you, but I told him I’d do it for him.”
This I comprehended. I would have remembered her talking about the guy from the bar. “Well?”
“I never got around to it?” she offered in an even quieter voice.
“Elly,” I chastised.
“I told you about Michael,” she tried to defend herself. “I was going to relay his apology, but then I thought you’d gawk at our age difference.”
I glanced over at Michael and remembered that I had been struck by his mature appearance. “How old is he?”
Elly’s eyes shifted to the ground. “Twenty mhmnonmm…” she murmured.
; “What?”
She sighed. “Twenty-seven.”
I felt my eyes involuntarily get bigger. “Elizabeth Ruth Johnson!” I exclaimed in a stage-whisper.
“Well?” She still looked a little embarrassed- as she should. I thought about how this was the first long-term relationship Elly had ever had. Then I remembered that they had had sex.
“That’s illegal,” I accidentally said out loud, forgetting to whisper. In my peripheral vision I saw Michael’s head jerked up.
“A little louder, Keira. I don’t think the police station down the street heard you,” Elly angrily whispered at me.
“We’ll talk about this later,” I told Elly, and then turned back to Michael.
The skepticism must have still been on my face. “Is everything alright?” he asked Elly. I searched for something in his voice that would give any insight as to his personality, as in if he was the creep I had imagined, but I couldn’t find anything incriminating. His voice was light and rich and smooth. I loosened up a bit.
“Yes, everything’s great,” Elly told him. We walked back over, and Elly reclaimed her position beside him. “I have to confess something though.” She looked at her beau and admitted, “I never told Keira you were sorry for the misunderstanding that night. Sorry.”
“No matter.” Michael fixed his blue eyes on mine. “Keira, I apologize for the way I acted. I should have never made you or Elizabeth feel uncomfortable. It was not my intent to behave in such a way, believe me.” And I did. I found myself wondering at how I could have made such a big deal out of the situation. I had nothing against this man.
“Apology accepted.”
“Thank you.” He broke eye contact.
“No problem,” I mumbled.
After a few minutes of talking, I decided I liked Michael. And my friend was practically high with her infatuation. Overall, I thought Elly had found a charming guy. I glanced at my phone, and Elly asked, “When’s yours coming?”
“It’s one minute till one so he’ll be here in one minute.” She and Michael gave me almost identical questioning looks so I told them, “He’s always right on time; it’s kind of uncanny how he does it.”
And what do ya know? Uriel’s Escalade came around the same corner Michael’s Audi had. I couldn’t help but be aware of the driving differences. Uriel had to have been going the speed limit then, even though I wasn’t in the car with him, he still wouldn’t go much over. But I had to admit, he was the smoothest driver I had ever ridden with. Somehow, he made the bulky SUV glide into the lot and then into a space a couple down from mine. I walked over slowly, remembering Elly’s frolicking earlier, and greeted Uriel when he opened his door. He was glowing more than usual today, I noticed. He tended to do that whenever it was a nice day out. He gave me a peck on the cheek and again I got a pang of jealousy at how Elly had been welcomed.
My pang was replaced by curiosity soon enough. “Hi Odeda. Hey boys.”
Odeda, Zev, Azra, and Dagan were all in the Escalade. “Hey Keira,” they chorused.”
“No offense, but what are you all doing here?”
Uriel took over. “Everyone had things they wanted to do today, and so they tagged along and are going to use the car while we’re on our date.”
“Oh.” Azra was in the process of getting out of the passenger’s side to come around the front and Odeda was sliding out of the back door on the car’s right- I could tell from the way Dagan and Zev were bickering in the backseat that they wanted to sit in the front instead of stay with each other- so I assumed everyone was playing musical chairs. “Well have fun,” I told them. Then I turned to Uriel, took his hand, and began guiding him around the back of the car. “Come meet Elly and Michael.”
Odeda was closing her door on the passenger side and Azra was about to hop into the driver’s seat when Uriel and I came into view of my old and new friend. Suddenly, I felt Uriel’s grip on my hand tighten and he stopped walking, pulling me to a standstill. I looked to his face to figure why he had gone so rigid. “Amir,” he cursed under his breath. “Azra,” Uriel called more loudly through his teeth. Uriel’s face was uncharacteristically alert. He was glaring at Michael, I realized. But why?
“Yes-” Azra answered as he came to stand alongside Uriel. He didn’t ask why Uriel had called him, like I expected, but once he saw Michael, he didn’t take his eyes off my new friend and assumed the same expression Uriel had. Azra reached back and lightly tapped on their car. The rest of Uriel’s family got out and appeared to take to Michael the way the first two had.
Looking to Elly, I saw she didn’t know what was happening either. But Michael did. He rapped his arm around Elly and looked very possessive but not entirely concerned. He was calm while taking in the five people beside me who were clearly not happy to see him.
Then Elly spoke. “Ralph?”
I wasn’t the only one who had been caught off guard that Elly, who had to my knowledge never met Zev before, knew his common name; the rest of Uriel’s family seemed surprised that he was acquainted with my friend as well.
“Hey Elly,” Zev greeted without taking his eyes off Michael.
I turned back to Elly and asked her, “How do you know him?”
“We work together,” she said absent-mindedly. She began looking from Michael to the others with the same unintelligent expression I was sure mirrored my own.
Uriel shifted by my side and stepped one foot in front of me so I was almost completely blocked from Michael.
Elly recognized the tension and asked the question I had wanted but couldn’t seem to form. “What’s going on?”
“Apparently we are no longer welcome here. I think we should go.” I couldn’t tell what emotion Michael had in his eyes, but they never left Uriel and the others. It was like a staring competition had silently gone underway.
Then Azra spoke to him for the first time. “What makes you think you’re leaving?” His voice was calm and casual, but there was definitely an undertone I had never heard him use before. He directed his words only to Michael. “We have you easily outnumbered.”
Outnumbered? For what?
“Perhaps,” Michael allowed. “But you can’t interfere with free will. And Elizabeth chooses me.”
What the-
“How clever,” Azra replied, still sounding casual with the smallest hint of- what was it?- provocation, like this was some routine conversation between old rivals. “To use the girl’s name like that instead of saying what she really is to you. Amir.”
I stood there dumbfounded, but Elly spoke the questions I could not. “Michael, what is he talking about? Why did he call you that?”
Michael looked away from Azra. “I’ll explain everything later, sweetheart.” Azra snorted- another sound I had never heard from him before. Michael continued without hesitating, “Do me a favor and take my car back to my place and wait for me there. I’ll be along shortly.”
“You don’t have to go, young one.” Azra spoke to Elly in a persuasive voice with none of the threat it had held against Michael. “This man is not who you think he is. Come with my family and me, and we’ll explain everything and give you protection.”
“Protect me?” Elly was thoroughly confused. That made two of us. Michael took her face in his hands and, gazing deeply into her eyes, he asked her, “Do you trust me?” She nodded without a second’s thought. “Good. Now go, Elizabeth. Do what I said.”
I had kept silent throughout the whole scene and I still couldn’t think of anything to say while Elly took Michael’s keys and drove off. Once she was out of sight, Michael- or Amir- or whoever he was- turned back to Uriel’s family. “What do we have here?” he asked, taking in the sight of all of us. Then his scrutiny narrowed in on me, and I was shocked to see his frosty eyes were no longer amiable. “This girl isn’t Nephilim, so what use is she to you?” he asked Uriel in particular. No one answered, so he spoke to me directly. “My dear, you must be confused.”
Uriel snarled, “Don’t talk to her.”
It was a frightening noise to me- I’d never heard Uriel sound so unfriendly- but the man across from us only momentarily reacted. A glint of challenge crept into his eyes, and I found myself picturing these two blond gods battling in the heavens. Great bursts of lightning being let loose and deafening booms of thunder being heard by those poor and fortunate souls below on earth who were timely enough to witness the magnificent sight. But the spark of aggression quickly faded, taking with it my disturbing and wondrous vision.
In fact, Amir now appeared to be rather amused with Uriel.
I was confused and finally found my tongue, recalling what he had just said about me. “Nephi- what?”
Amir’s eyebrows lifted in curiosity as he perceived me. “You mean to tell me you do not know?”
Well, obviously. “Know what?”
Amir tisked. Turning to Azra, he lightly scolded, “You hypocrite. I was supposed to tell my plaything what I am, but you and your little family are allowed to keep a mortal? That’s not fair.”
Uriel stepped forward, but stopped when Azra told him to wait. I had to readjust myself so I could see everyone again.
Amir smiled wickedly and faced me once more. “Why don’t I shed some light on the situation for you? I can feel you inner pandemonium from here.” He angled his head indicating the others. “Your peers are Nephilim- the spawn of a son of God and a daughter of man. They’ve lied to you from the first moment you met them, and they never told you who or what they really are.”
I looked to Uriel for some sign, but he couldn’t seem to bring himself to look at me.
Amir went on. “You see, back when the earth was still young, creatures from a world that you cannot see or imagine came to this one and lusted after the women of your kind. They couldn’t help themselves because, as they were beings of pure evil, their sins controlled them. Your kind would call them demons, but I’m not into labels-”
“I thought demons were supposed to be little creepy, flying creatures,” I interjected. There was no way any girl would sleep with a horned, slimy thing like that.
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