by KD Knight
"The story is Jane levelled the house," Irianne said as she lifted the cup to her mouth.
All this time, I assumed that Irianne was mixing a remedy for Jane. What she was really doing was fixing herself a snack. I rose to my feet. The aged wood floors creaked as I paced the two-foot stretch between the dining room table and the front door.
"Come, Lisa, let's go," I said finally. "She's not going to help."
Lisa hesitated. She kept her eyes fixed on Irianne, who was still fingering her cup.
"She spent the last ten minutes mixing herself a drink while Jane lay there dying!"
"She has to help," Mark said confidently, "she's not going to sit here and watch someone die. I don't care how messed up you are Irianne, you wouldn't be that inhumane."
"Mrs. Benson," she corrected curtly.
Just as Irianne finished her last words, Jane began to convulse. This time her movements were wilder. Lisa tried to wedge a piece of wood in her mouth but caught a right hook from Jane's flailing arm instead. Jane's eyes opened wide. We watched as her eyes brown turn silver before rolling over.
A tree stump that served as Irianne's bedside table teetered back and forth before inching off the floor and hitting the wall above the blue drum. The kitchen table soon followed. It hovered high in the air before shooting towards us. Mark let out a curdling scream. Irianne's son ran and hid behind her legs.
"Do something!" I yelled to Irianne as I grabbed the table in mid-flight.
"Hold her head in place," Irianne said as she approached Jane, still holding her tea cup. Lisa and Mark held Jane's arms. Irianne held the cup she was drinking from to Jane's lips. The thick brown liquid ran down the sides of her face. Suddenly, the shaking stopped and Jane's body went limp once again.
I set the kitchen table down in its place. "What did you give her?" I asked, breathing deeply to steady my pulse.
"The tea that I took ten minutes to make," she replied. "Before you get too excited, it's not a cure. It's for the shaking. I've been observing her since you arrived. I had to be sure what type of poison she received." She returned to the kitchen. "She's received a high dose of poison introduced directly to her blood stream."
"She was grabbed by a Nephilim," Lisa explained.
"Short, deceptively young appearance…"
"Yes!" Lisa said excitedly.
"His name is Jero. He's a very powerful Nephilim who transmits poison through contact with his skin. It's going to take a lot more than some tea to save her."
"Can you do it?" I asked. "Can you heal her?"
Irianne nodded. "Yes, but I need time and silence. I have a friend who lives on the main road. I need someone to bring my son there."
"I'll do it." Mark reached for the boy who was now desperately clutching his mother's leg.
Irianne packed a few of her son's items into a backpack as she gave Mark the exact location of her friend's home. Mark assured her that her son would be taken care of. The boy mounted Mark's back and within seconds their silhouettes disappeared into the thick woods.
I watched as Irianne rubbed a thick black liquid on Jane's arms and legs. "This will help draw the poison out through her pores. Much of the success of this healing depends on her inner strength and desire to live. I hope this girl is a fighter."
~Boothe~
Chapter Twenty-Seven: My Father
Mark and I decided to give Irianne some space to do her work. Well, the truth is Irianne ordered me out of the room. Apparently, my heavy breathing and pacing was distracting. Mark, being the budding psychotherapist that he was decided to keep me company.
Standing amongst the fruit trees, Mark continued his intrusive questions. What's going on? What's on your mind? Let’s talk. Blah, blah, blah. I ignored him until he asked about my father. I couldn't help the grimace that crossed my face.
"Did he do something? You mentioned that he wasn't a fan of you hanging out with Jane. Is he still giving you a hard time about it?"
"Drop it, Mark."
"It’s your father," he said with satisfaction. "He got on your case about last night, didn't he? You guys had a fight…"
"Mark, that's not what happened."
The throbbing sound in my ear became more intense as Mark continued to press for an answer.
Finally, I snapped. "He betrayed me." Each word sizzled like acid on bare skin. "He's working with Glenroy."
"What! Are you sure?"
"Heard it straight from the horse's mouth." I picked up a rock and crushed them in my palm.
"What did he say?"
I turned to face him. His small dark eyes glared at me. Mark was right about one thing; it felt good to get some of this off my chest. But how much information is too much information? Do I tell him about my blacked out birth certificate? Do I tell him that the man who raised me is involved in what's going on with Jane?
Thankfully, I didn't have to resolve this dilemma, at least not right now. Here comes Lisa to save the day.
There was a desperate and tense aura about Lisa as she charged forward. When she arrived at our position, she was winded and flushed. She bent over taking several gulps of air before staring at us with wide, frightened eyes.
"They're coming!"
"Calm down, Lisa." I gripped her shoulders. "Who's coming?"
"Fifteen, coming this way. They're coming for Jane." Her voice trembled.
"And whoever else stands in their way," Mark added.
Lisa estimated that we had between fifteen and twenty minutes before they reached the compound. Of the fifteen people, she could tell that ten were Nephilim, three where Normals (no doubt Corrupts), and two were Ancients.
"What's the plan?" Mark paced back and forth, tugging at the scanty hairs on his slender chin.
"Well, we know what they're here for. I can keep them busy. Hopefully, it will to give Irianne more time to heal Jane." I said.
"You are not doing this alone," Lisa reminded. "We're in this together." She elbowed Mark.
Mark rolled his eyes. "The drama never ends," he grunted. "I'll help too."
I looked at the newly formed soot-coloured clouds that hung over the surrounding woods. "Are you sure you two are up for this? Confrontations can take a bad turn very quickly."
"We're with you. Hundred percent," Lisa said reassuringly.
Together we headed for the forest. The forest was dense, except for a small clearing. The dark sky coupled with the forests thick branches made it look like dusk. We approached carefully. One by one, the Nephilim soldiers emerged from between the trees.
The clouds cast a hazy hue over the forest, shading the group that stood before us. Normals, Nephs, and Ancients stood together in army formation. Like obedient foot soldiers, they stood in rows as they swayed on the balls of their feet. The two Ancients stood at either end. The burly Ancient on the right was Damien. His face bore a long scar that extended from his jaw to his cheekbone, a little token and warning from our last fight.
I stepped forward and scanned the group for the familiar freckled face of Marcus. "Marcus isn't here," I whispered.
"Maybe it's not him," Lisa whispered back. "Maybe he's not behind this."
I reflected on our conversation the night that Jane was attacked, I knew it couldn't be anyone else.
"He's hiding like a coward. He won't fight if he can have someone fight for him," I replied.
"I did not come for a fight." A raspy voice spoke from the right side of the formation. I located the speaker quickly. He was a husky man with a thick build. His unkempt beard started from just under his crimson eyes.
"What's your name, big man?" I asked, looking straight into his wide red eyes.
"There must be a way to handle this civilly," another voice said, this time from the left. Our heads moved swiftly to a Nephilim woman with a head full of fiery red hair. She wore a thick coat that was out of place in the tropical climate.
"Just give me what I want then everyone can go home and relax," another voice said. "Your lives can go back to
normal, like Jane never existed."
"I want to speak to the person in charge," I said, looking to Damien. "I want to speak with Marcus."
"If you don't want to give me what I want, then step out of the way so that I can get it myself," a tender voice called from back of the formation.
"This is really creepy!" Mark whispered.
"It's like they are all speaking for someone. Like they’re being used as a mouthpiece," Lisa added.
Marcus.
"Trust me, it's to your benefit to cooperate," a different voice spoke. "You can't beat all of us. We will destroy you and your friends, then take Jane anyway."
"This is bad," Mark shook his head slowly. "This is really bad."
"Boothe, think about this logically, are you all willing to forfeit your lives, three lives, for one girl? Doesn't that seem like a hefty price?" another voice asked.
"You're right. Three lives for one is a hefty price. How about you step out of the shadows so I can talk to you face to face, maybe strike a deal."
"You must think I’m stupid!" one said to the rear followed by a few hisses and grunts from the crowd.
Damien growled loudly.
"You didn't learn the first time?" I drew my finger down my face replicating his scar. "Anytime you are ready, Damien. Anytime."
"To be honest, I'm insulted," a voice said from the rear. Instantly, the familiar voice captured my attention. "We've spent so much time together, yet you show me no respect."
"I recognize the voice, but it can't be…it's impossible." The fragrance that soured in my nostrils was one I had smelled on many occasions. "You're a lot of things but I didn't take you for stupid."
"Boothe, who is it?" Mark asked.
The row of militant followers parted like the Red Sea, giving her clear passage to the head of the formation.
"Nadya?" Lisa and Mark gasped in unison.
"I knew all along you were evil," Mark continued. "One person can't be that sour all the time."
"Oh, sweetheart," she stepped towards me. "You really didn't know. I think your relationship with that soon-to-be-dead girl has warped your senses." She ran her hand over my shoulder and down my arm, fully dilated with blood.
I dragged my arm away. "Don't. How? Why?”
"Let me help you." She looked Lisa up and down through the corner of her eye. "I stumbled into your underworld by accident a long time before I met you. I was instantly in love."
"You've got everything. I can't see what they offered you that you didn't already have." Lisa asked.
She looked into my eyes and smiled wickedly. "They gave me power. Being a part of this group means that I am in control of anything and anyone."
"It's a false sense of control. In the end, you are not the one in the driver's seat. They are using you, Nadya. They've taken advantage of your weakness!" Lisa reasoned.
"I am not weak!" she hissed in return.
"You really think they are going to allow a Normal rise to the top of the ranks?" I asked, pushing Nadya away. "Normals are pawns to them. They corrupt you, use you, and then throw you away. That's how it works."
"No one controls me!" Her nostrils flared as she shouted. She took a few deep breaths and forced a small grin. "This is getting boring. Where is Jane?"
At the sound of Jane's name the crowd perked and began to shift as if they were eager to launch into the attack.
“Nadya, you know this is wrong.” Lisa said stepping forward. “They are going to hurt her. Underneath that hard façade there has to be some compassion.”
Nadya swallowed hard, then looked up at the dark sky. "Looks like it's going to rain. I spent a lot of time on my hair and make up. Let's hurry this up." She looked over her shoulder to the group of hungry soldiers that stood behind her. "Damien, get rid of them."
He looked at her briefly, but surprisingly he didn’t move.
"That's an order, Damien!" she shouted.
Damien held his position. The hair on his face stood on end. No doubt he wanted to rip me in two for what I did to his face. So, why was he holding back?
Nadya continued to shout commands. There were a few growls from the crowd and what sounded like muffled laughter, but no movement.
"Nadya, you suck at this control stuff," Mark snickered. "Maybe you should try something else. You could be the Nephs’ receptionist, take their calls and bring them coffee. That'll get you real close to the head guy. Maybe then they'll promote you to wiping his…"
"Shut up, Mark!" she screamed. "You will listen to me you overgrown piece of…"
"Calm down, gorgeous," Marcus called from the back of the formation. "Don't chip your nails."
He walked through the crowd slowly while adjusting his cuffs on his denim jacket.
"Finally decided to come out from whatever bush you were hiding in," I said as he stood before me.
"Why Boothe, did you miss me?" He donned a twisted smile.
"Something like that"
Marcus let out a hearty laugh. "When we came up with this plan, none of us counted on you becoming so attached to the girl."
I had waited for the moment when Marcus and I would come face to face so that I could make him pay for everything he did to Jane. Right now was not the time. I had to control myself, buy Irianne more time to heal Jane.
"What plan?" I clenched my fists tightly.
"Don't play dumb, Boothe. You know exactly what plan I'm talking about."
"The plan to get Jane."
"Good. Now that we are past playing dumb, we can move on to more advanced and interesting topics." Marcus and Nadya looked to each other and smiled wickedly. “Mark. Lisa. I am sad to report that you've been suckered, ‘hoodwinked,’ I think they call it," he said with a short laugh.
"What are you talking about?" Lisa looked to Mark and then to me.
"How do I explain this?" Marcus glanced up at the dark sky. "Boothe has been helping us this whole time."
"Help you? Never! Don't believe anything this dirty Neph has to say," I spat. I was hard to not lunge at Marcus. I wanted to pummel him.
"Normally, I would agree with him; trusting me is always a big mistake. Boothe can attest to that. But this time, you'd be proud to know that I am telling the truth," Marcus boasted.
"I would never work with you!" I barked.
"Not intentionally," Marcus agreed wickedly. "Let me ask you this, do you think it was an accident that Jane was accepted in Kingston Academy? Do you think it was an accident that you, of all the people available were the one chosen to protect her?
"What are you trying to say, Marcus?"
"What I am saying is that you were the perfect person to pull this off. You two have so much in common. We knew that you would be the one to get her to lower her guard. Once her defenses were down, we would step in. Things didn't always go according to plan, but…"
"Coy asked me to protect her. That had nothing to do with you," I grunted.
"Oh, but it had everything to do with me. Dr. Christopher Coy answers to me. I told him to get Jane into the school. He was acting under my orders when he insisted that you protect her."
"You kidnapped Tanya to get to Coy," I said with new clarity.
"Love is a very powerful weapon," Marcus replied. He looked up at me from the corner of his eye. "Isn't that right, Boothe?"
"I knew that out of all of us, you would be the one to crack her, to keep her confused and off-focus. We had hoped that with her out of focused she would be easier to pick off. She proved more challenging that we expected. So I asked this lovely lady," he gestured to Nadya, "to arrange for Jane to be visited by a special friend."
"You didn't need Nadya to hire Jero," I said.
"True." Marcus nodded slightly. “I could have easily done it myself. But I wanted my princess Nadya to get her hands dirty. Nothing beats hands-on-training father always says.”
"Nadya hired that Neph to poison Jane?" Lisa widened her eyes in shock. "I am going to enjoy taking you down!"
"Whatever. When you
're ready I'll show you how it's done," Nadya shot back.
"That brings us here. Wow, I feel so much better getting that off my chest. There’s really something to this honest thing. I can see why you Eshkars are so into it." Marcus sighed. "Boothe, I've wanted to burst your bubble for a long time."
"You're going to regret this, all of it." I said stepping forward. Blood pulsed through my body like a well-fed flame. It was getting hard to hear above the sound of the raging blood.
"Before you attempt to ripe me to pieces, there's more. I told you last night that I would tell you what happened to your biological parents. Since you've brought Jane, I'll keep to my word. It's a long story, so I will give you the abridged version. Your adopted father, Henry Boothe, was involved in the cover up of a very dark little secret. As you have heard, the secret is about you."
"I'm going to have arthritis by the time you get to the point," Mark interrupted.
Marcus shot Mark an annoyed glance.
Marcus took a deep breath and continued. "Your mother was an Eshkar, but your father was not. I'll give you one guess. Hint, he was not a Normal."
"Boothe's real father is a Neph?" Mark asked with an awkward chuckle. "That would make Boothe a Neph too. We know that's not true, right Lisa?"
"Right," Lisa said confidently.
"He's not a Nephilim," Marcus added. "He's something else entirely. He's just enough of an Eshkar to not set off Lisa's alarm, and just enough of a Nephilim to make him fun."
"This is low, even for you, Marcus," I shot back.
"I can see that you're having difficulty believing me. Would it help if I told you about your parents? I'll assume from your violent expression that the answer is no. But because I am having such a good time airing your dirt, I'll tell you anyway. Hasani Boothe, your biological father's name is…" Marcus stared at me intently as he performed a drum roll with his fingers. "Aramos." He stretched out each syllable.
"Lie!" I shouted between my clenched teeth. I felt my blood begin to boil. There is no way my mother would ever get involved with a dirty Neph, not to mention Aramos, the pureblood leader of the Neph clan. Never.
"Oh, don't worry, Aramos is my father, too. That makes us brothers." His smile widened with each word. He was enjoying this.