With an odd grunting sound, Gideon jolted and captured my wrists, removing them from his person. “We’re okay, Riley. We heal quickly.”
“There was so much blood!”
“I’m fine. We’re all fine.”
We! Of course.
Lurching to my feet, I scrambled over the coffee table to reach Noel, and he caught me before I fell on my face. His alabaster skin was nearly translucent, his colorless eyes dull like cement. Worry feasted on my fears, and I yanked his white shirt up and traced the fading pink lines where his chest had been torn to shreds.
“You were bleeding.” I shoved away from Noel and tumbled into Jai’s lap, my hands hovering over the thick bandage wrapping his shoulder. “You were hurt.”
Calloused fingers caged my hips, and my throat swelled as I fingered the edge of the gauze. “We’re okay. It’s just a scratch,” Jai said.
“But, but—”
Noel petted my head as Jai directed my trembling hand to his chest. His heart pounded under my palm, steady, strong. “You feel that? It means I’m okay. All right?”
Nodding, I slumped to the side, collapsing into the couch beside Jai. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”
“No, no, no. You didn’t do anything wrong, sweetheart.” Noel sat on my other side and rubbed my arm. “Actually, you did exceptionally well. We’re so proud of you.”
“Proud? But this is all my fault!”
Gideon scooted forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “No, this was our fault. We left you alone under the assumption the wards would protect you from supernatural forces. We never thought the danger would come from your world.”
“I’m going to end your asshole roommate’s pathetic, mortal existence.” Jai took my legs and propped them on his lap, his fingers tense on my calves.
“But—”
“We wanted to respect your request for space, but in doing so, we left you vulnerable. We failed you, Riley.” With a shake of his head, Gideon severed eye contact, scratching at his bare chest. “This is on us. We’re so sorry.”
His self-loathing hurt my heart, and I reached for him, huffing in annoyance when my arm fell short. “You didn’t fail me. You found me. You saved me.”
“Actually, it was you who saved us.” Gideon shifted from the couch to the coffee table, his knees brushing mine as he took my outstretched hand. His voice took on a serious note, and my spine straightened. “Do you remember what happened?”
Yes, I did remember, but my memories made very little sense. I didn’t know if I could trust my memory. “I borrowed your angel powers again, didn’t I?”
“Borrowed our—” Gideon started but was immediately interrupted by Jai’s incredulous, “What?”
“Again?” Noel grunted.
Talking at once, they fought for my attention, and I tripped over my words as I rushed to explain. “W-well, erm, I mean, like, I-I kind of, um…”
Gideon held up his hand, and the room quieted. “Firstly, it is impossible to borrow our angel powers. There is no connection between Guardian and ward that could allow such a thing to transpire. Secondly, please explain what you mean by ‘again.’ ”
It was an order disguised as a request, and I fidgeted with the hem of my shirt—well, Jai’s shirt; they had a knack for dressing me in clean clothes while I was unconscious. Nerves ate away at my stomach as my fear returned. Would they be angry? Would they turn me into the police for attacking my roommate?
“It was an accident. I didn’t mean to, but I was just so angry.”
“Deep breaths.” Noel rubbed my back, his breath warming my scalp as he kissed the top of my head. “Just tell us what happened.”
I scrutinized the dirt under my fingernails, too ashamed to face them. “I hurt Brian. It’s why he left me in the woods. He was mad and wanted to teach me a lesson.”
Noel snarled wordlessly as Jai released a string of colorful curses, but Gideon tapped the underside of my chin, directing me to meet his gaze. “How did you hurt him?”
His gaze penetrated me to my soul, and I could deny him nothing. The truth poured out of me in a rush of word vomit. Brian’s insults, my overwhelming anger, the burning in my chest and the power explosion. I told him everything leading to Brian abandoning me in the woods—well, almost everything. I didn’t mention Bethany or our conversation; that would stay between us for now.
“I didn’t mean to attack him, I promise. But he called me a… a… and I was so angry. I couldn’t control it.”
“Oh, baby, it’s okay. Everyone loses control, sometimes.” Noel comforted me as Jai tugged on my shirt to get my attention.
“You did good. That guy’s an asshole and deserves to get thrown against a wall every now and then.”
Their nonchalance sent my panic skyrocketing. “I could go to jail! If he goes to the police—”
“And what?” Jai squeezed my knee with a chuckle. “Tell them you tossed him across the room without even touching him?”
Well, when he said it like that…
My mouth moved but no words formed, and Gideon cautiously squished my hands. “Riley, listen to me. I know this is confusing, but believe us when we say that there’s no way you’re going to jail. If Mr. Mason even thinks about reporting you, we’ll take care of it. If anything, he’s the one who should be reported to the police. He abducted you from your dorm, threw you in a trunk, removed your clothes, and left you in the middle of the woods in winter. Those are chargeable offenses.”
“I don’t want to talk to the police.” Nothing good ever came from tattling; I’d learned that lesson early on.
“Riley—”
I cut Noel off, my jaw firm. “I’m not reporting him.”
Shoving my legs from his lap, Jai stood and paced along the length of the coffee table. “You can’t just accept shit like this, Riley! You let him get away this, and he’ll think he’s invincible. He’ll do worse.” His gaze shot to Noel. “Abusers always do worse.”
Noel avoided eye contact, fretting over my hair instead. There was a story there I was not privy to, but I doubted they would explain if I asked. Instead, I scrubbed my face with my palms and blew a heavy breath through pursed lips.
“I’ll ask for a room reassignment. If I’m not around him anymore, the problem’s solved.” I crossed my arms over my chest stubbornly, and Jai threw his hands up in frustration.
“Gid, tell him!”
“It’s Riley’s decision, not ours.” Gideon and Jai engaged in a silent stare-down, and eventually, Gideon won.
Jai growled and tossed himself back on the couch. This time, he didn’t touch me, and I left him to his sulking as Gideon cleared his throat.
“I do agree with Jai. I think you should report Brian; he should be held accountable for his actions. But the decision is yours.”
I hated disappointing them, but rocking the boat always led to worse things. “I’ll think about it,” I hedged, then promptly changed the subject. “You said I couldn’t borrow your powers. But that doesn’t make any sense. My hands were glowing!”
“I know. It was awesome!” Noel squealed, taking my hands in his. “You lit those hellhounds up. You did amazing.”
“Amazing? He almost got himself killed!” Jai’s outburst made both Noel and I jump, and I cowered into Noel’s side. “You threw yourself in front of a fucking hellhound. Are you suicidal or something?”
Wrapping an arm around my shoulder, Noel jumped to my defense. “He was brave.”
“He was stupid.” Jai’s eyes flashed dangerously as he jabbed my thigh with his index finger. “You don’t just toss your life away like that.”
“Gideon was going to get hurt. What was I supposed to do?”
“Not jump in front of a hellhound as a human sacrifice, that’s what!”
I wasn’t an obstinate person, not really, but my anger burned away my instinct to submit. “I couldn’t just stand there and do nothing!”
“If it saves your fucking life, you will.” Jai invaded my space, his fury almost pa
lpable, and I stiffened when his fingers circled my throat. He didn’t choke me, but his grip was firm; there was no ignoring the touch. “You sit on the sidelines while we—”
“Why is my life more important? I’m not going to just sit there and let you die for me.” I couldn’t back down, not after all this. “You said we were friends, and friends protect each other.”
His ferocity softened, and his thumb smoothed circles over my jugular. “Riles, you don’t get it. We’re your Guardians. It’s our job to die for you.”
Ouch! My chest ached at the reminder. I was nothing more than an assignment to them, a responsibility. As a child, they’d been my only constant, the family I never had. And as an adult, they became my friends. I thought, maybe, I was more to them than simply a job. I was wrong.
Pushing his hand away, I curled up and hugged my knees to my chest. “Well, it was more than that to me.”
Jai scratched his head, yanking his hair and messing up his fauxhawk. “Gates of Hell, someone else talk to him. I’m fucking this up.”
“It’s not just a job to us, Riley.” Noel’s hand snaked around my ankle as his chin dug into my shoulder. “You’re our boy. You’ve always been our boy.”
“What they mean to say,” Gideon interjected, “is that we are here to protect you. Not the other way around. We are trained to fight creatures you’ve never dreamed of, and when you put yourself in danger…” He drifted off, tugging on his ear. “You honored me with your sacrifice and courage, but never do it again. Please,” he added as an afterthought, and I pouted.
Would they have stood by and done nothing? No! How could they expect me to hide while they sacrificed themselves for me? What kind of friend would that make me?
“I’m not making any promises,” I muttered into my knees, and Gideon fought a smile, his dimple ghosting over his cheek.
“Sass.” Jai pinched my side, and I yelped.
To save me from Jai, Noel bundled me in his arms and plopped me on his lap, his arms encasing my waist. Jai rolled his eyes at the embrace, but Gideon’s mouth thinned in displeasure. I should have been embarrassed, but my emotions were too raw. I ducked my head under Noel’s chin and soaked up his affection.
“I still don’t understand what happened. With the hellhounds, I mean.” I chewed the inside of my cheek until I tasted copper.
My angels sobered, backs straightening, eyes wary. I reacted in kind, stiffening in Noel’s arms.
“What?” I asked.
“Well, we’ve wondered…” Gideon fingered his earlobe again. “Ever since you were attacked on Halloween, we suspected that there was more to you than meets the eye.”
He paused, awaiting a response, and I licked my lips, my throat desert-dry. “What do you mean?”
“When the demon fed from you, you were glowing,” Noel said.
“The demon must have—”
“Demons don’t glow, Riles,” Jai said. “Angels glow. Fallen glow. Demons, humans, other spirits, they don’t.”
“You were glowing, just like you glowed tonight.” Noel kissed the side of my head, above my ear.
“What do you mean?” I echoed.
Gideon leaned forward, preparing to say something important I probably didn’t want to hear. But I had no say in the matter. The truth was there, staring me in the face, and I couldn’t run from it, not anymore.
“It means, Riley, that you’re not quite as human as we were led to believe. It means you have angel blood in your veins.” He placed a massive paw on my knee, his stare boring into mine. “You’re not human, little one. You’re Nephilim.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
“Nephilim? That’s crazy.” I scoffed at the outrageous claim, waiting for them to agree, to laugh it off as a mean joke. But no one laughed. Three serious expressions stared back at me.
Nephilim? I recognized the term from Ms. Janet’s Holy Bible, but the Bible’s description vastly differed from me. They were supposed to be giants, and I was the farthest thing from. I had spent my entire life being unremarkable. And now, they wanted me to believe I was some angel-human hybrid?
I couldn’t be Nephilim. Yet I wasn’t human, either. Who was I?
“You’re Riley,” Noel answered what I thought had been an unspoken question. “You’re still you, sweetie. You just have some extra special genes running through your veins, that’s all. You can throw douchebags against walls and barbecue hellhounds.”
“I did that? That was me?” Three heads nodded, and I pressed my hand to my racing heart. “How?”
“You’re Nephilim, born of a human, sired by an angel,” Gideon said. “Normally, your abilities should have appeared sooner, but given your personality and your history, it’s possible your angelic maturity was stunted.”
Noel covered my ears with his hands, as if it actually deterred me from hearing him. “Don’t use the word stunted. It’s so negative.” He removed his hands and smiled sweetly. “You’re just a late bloomer.”
Gideon exchanged a confused look with Jai before nodding haltingly. “Right. Sure. I only meant that you came into your abilities later than expected, which was why we weren’t sure about your heritage until tonight.”
“What does this mean? Like, for me and my life?” I reached for Noel, and he twined our fingers instantly, grounding me. He understood what I needed without me having to voice it.
“It means you’ll have girls flocking around you in the hundreds to experience your electric fingers.” Jai wiggled his fingers in my face as Noel and Gideon cringed. I didn’t get the joke, and Jai’s chuckles faded. “It’s gonna change everything, Riley, but we’re gonna be right here to help you through it.”
He punctuated his promise with a squeeze to my neck, and I blinked away the burn in my eyes. “So, I have superpowers, too?”
“Damn straight.”
“Powers manifest in different ways for every Nephilim, usually based on parentage,” Noel explained. “We don’t know who sired you, so it’ll be guesswork in the beginning. But based on the physical appearance—”
“We don’t want to make assumptions,” Gideon said with a meaningful look, and Noel nodded.
“Right. We’ll just take it one day at a time.”
They were keeping things from me again, but maybe it was for the best. My head was close to exploding already, and we’d hardly started the conversation.
“My sire? You mean, like, my father? You don’t know who he is?”
Abandoned as a baby, I’d never known who my parents were. The only clue I had of my past was a blue hat embroidered with my name. Riley. It was the only piece I had of the parents I never knew. They never wanted me or loved me, but they’d named me. It had to count for something.
Disappointment snuffed out my last remaining hope as Noel shook his head. “It was the first thing we searched after the demon attack, but…”
Biting his lip, he fell silent, like he’d said something he wasn’t supposed to. I tugged on his hand. “But what?”
“We’ve been unable to locate your genealogy record,” Gideon said.
“Are they hard to find?”
“No,” Noel said.
Jai finished his sentence, “That’s the weird part.”
I looked to Gideon for a better answer, and he splayed his hands. “History and genealogy records are freely accessible in the Archives, but yours wasn’t among the scrolls. We searched the sealed scrolls with the help of an old friend, a Cherub, but we haven’t found a trace of it.”
“Was my record mislabeled or misplaced?” It wouldn’t be the first time my paperwork was lost in the shuffle—social workers lost my papers all the time.
“It’s possible,” Gideon said, but his expression belied his words.
Noel smoothed his palm over the back of my hand, shaking his head in doubt. “Cherubim are meticulous.”
“I said it was possible not probable.”
“We’ve lied to him enough, don’t you think?” Jai’s hand remained on the back of my
neck, his thumb massaging my tense muscles. “Just tell him.”
“Tell me what?” Irritation scratched my veins, making my skin itch. “Please, tell me. I want to know who I am.”
With hands clasped between his knees, Gideon wet his lips and sighed. “Angels are not infallible, but a mistake on the Cherubim’s side is unlikely. It’s more plausible that your record was removed purposefully. Perhaps it was placed in another location or destroyed. We don’t know.”
“Why would anyone take my record?” Sure, being half angel was kind of crazy, but I didn’t think it warranted such extreme actions. “Why would they destroy it?”
“We don’t know what’s happened to it. All we know is that it’s missing. And honestly, this isn’t the first fishy thing we’ve come across since we were reassigned to you,” Noel said.
My frustration mounted, but Gideon spoke before I could voice it. “Let’s not exaggerate.”
“It’s not an exaggeration, Gid. Someone’s fucking with us,” Jai said.
“Okay, I didn’t mean to start some conspiracy theory.” Noel smacked Jai’s leg. “I just meant—”
“If the Council knew what Riley was and didn’t tell us, they were fucking with us. If the Council didn’t know when we were reassigned, then someone else is fucking with them. If no one in all the realms knew what Riley was, then his record would be in the damn Archives where it should be.” Jai slumped into the back of the couch, pointing his finger accusingly into the open air. “Someone is fucking with somebody, but we’re the ones getting shit on!”
“As usual, your imagery is astounding,” Gideon deadpanned. “But Jairus is, to a certain extent, correct. There is someone out there who wanted your identity and possible abilities to remain dormant and secret. I intend to find out who.”
Once again, there were forces beyond my control dictating my life, and I hadn’t even known. My heart plummeted. Would I never be free?
“Maybe they were trying to protect him,” Noel voiced tentatively. “It might have been for his own good, like a new system put in place to protect the remaining Nephilim.”
Wait, what?
“Why do Nephilim need protecting?” My voice cracked, and I was instantly smothered by comforting hands.
Revelations: Fire & Brimstone Scroll 1 Page 25