Nephilim Falling (Trenton Investigations)

by Felicia Beasley

  “I want to help, I do. But you know I can’t skip. If my parents find out, they’ll kill me. Literally.”

  She’s a bit melodramatic as well.

  “Please?” I stretched out the simple word and fluttered my eyelashes, kind of like one would if they had a foreign object in their eye. Maybe if I seemed pathetic enough, she’d give in. “I’ll do anything.”

  She chewed her bottom lip and looked like she was contemplating my offer of total submission to her will. There were a lot of things she could ask that I wouldn’t be happy doing. Like doing her chores or painting her toenails.

  Feet are gross.

  “I don’t know, Lexi. I have that Calculus test today.”

  “You can retake it.”

  “Not if I skip.” She whispered the word skip as if she were paranoid that someone would hear her and turn her into the KGB of public education.

  “Wes will call us in. He does great voices.”

  Elena smirked. “I bet that’s not all he’s great at.”

  “I thought you were all about the new kid?”

  I didn’t speak his name. In fact, I’d done my best to not even think of him. It hadn’t worked. The bastard had followed me into my dreams last night.

  So when that little bit of hope stirred in my gut that maybe Elena had already moved on, I didn’t ignore it. I just wasn’t sure if I was hoping it was true because then I wouldn’t have to see him again or if that stupid, girly part of me that I try to shove down a hole was happy that Lucas would be available.

  Not that he’d have any interest in me.

  “Wes is yummy, but I meant for you.” she said, dashing all of my meager hopes.

  My face heated up and I avoided looking at her, ignoring the teasing in her eyes.

  She knew about my little infatuation with my brother’s sort of ward. Wes had been nineteen when Damian had brought him home, malnourished and skittish. It had taken six months for him to stop cowering whenever Damian entered the room, expecting a sharp word or studded whip.

  But with me, he’d been different. I was his life preserver, the safe port in the storm.

  I think it was because I’m little and appear non-threatening.

  He didn’t learn I had teeth until later.

  In three years he’d morphed into a new person. A cocky, shameless ass wrangler. Damian and I had stopped trying to remember his booty calls’ names. It wasn’t like we ever saw them a second time.

  I was still the person he felt safest with. Platonically safe.

  Lucky me.

  He always flirted with Elena when she came around. She always shot that shit down. She was a good friend who wouldn’t purposely cause me pain. Another reason to stay the hell away from Lucas.

  “What are you going to tell Wes?” she asked, trying to poke more holes in my argument.

  I hadn’t thought of that. It’s not like I could be honest. He would go straight to Damian and tattle. Not because he wanted to see me in trouble. He was just protective.

  “I’ll tell him we couldn’t wait to see the Jonas Brothers movie.”

  She giggled. “He won’t believe that.”

  I shrugged. “If I say Coraline he’ll try to come with. He’s allergic to boy bands.”

  Elena sighed. I could tell I was close to demolishing her resistance. One more push and I victory would be mine.

  “I’d owe you one. Just imagine what you can get me to do in the future.”

  “Karaoke night?”

  I groaned. Leave it to her to pick something that terrified me.

  She giggled again. “I’m kidding.”

  Thank the gods. Anything would be better than standing up in front of strangers trying to croak out some top 20 hit.

  “There is something, though.” She licked her lips, a hyena cleaning up after a meal.

  I’d been played. Bait me, hook me, and then reel me in.

  I fell for it every time.

  “What?” I asked, caution tinging my voice.

  “Lucas asked me out a few days ago, but my parents said no.” She rolled her eyes. “I’m seventeen, and they still treat me like I’m ten.”

  “You want me to cover for you?”

  She gave me the kind of smile a cat gives a canary before devouring it. “Something like that.”

  I narrowed my eyes. “Spit it out, Lanie.”

  “I want you to chaperone.” She did finger quotes around chaperone. “They said it’d be okay if it were a group thing.”

  “Three’s a crowd, hun.”

  “You know Garrett? Tall, blond, built like a Mack truck?”

  Yeah, I knew him. His face resembled something that had been hit by a Mack truck, too.

  “What about him?” I already knew where she was going with this, but I wasn’t going to make this easy.

  “He likes you. He’s been asking me to set the two of you up for months. He’s a really sweet guy.”

  “I’m not interested,” I said curtly.

  “Give him a chance. He’s hilarious and likes Final Fantasy almost as much as you.”

  “I’m sure he’s splendid. I’m still not interested.”

  She frowned. “When did you become so judgmental?”

  There was nothing wrong with Garrett. As captain of the school’s hockey team, he was one of the cool kids. He might not have the looks that dropped panties, but he had the personality. He wasn’t the typical jock type, either. He liked Pokémon as much as he loved sports.

  And he could tell a story that would have your sides aching from laughing so hard.

  I won’t lie. I’d noticed the not-so-subtle glances he threw my way in class. It was flattering he even noticed me when no one else does.

  Which was why I was going to stay the hell away from his human ass.

  “I don’t date. Anyone.”

  “Then don’t think of it as a date. It’s just four friends hanging out, seeing a movie, stuffing our faces with cheap Italian food.”

  Italian food? Elena hated all things noodle. She must have been desperate.

  “I agree to this horrible idea, and you drive me to the school?”

  She hugged me, squealing in delight. “Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. It’ll be fun, I promise.”

  Yeah, like getting a root canal fun. At least they give you drugs for that.

  Chapter 6

  Elena drove under the speed limit the whole time. If she’d just stepped on the gas, we’d have been there in less than twenty minutes. It was an hour later when we pulled into the parking lot.

  Elena’s Mazda Miata stuck out amidst the pristine luxury cars. I didn’t understand why anyone would give a fifty-thousand dollar car to a teenager.

  Did they like just setting their money on fire?

  I stared at the school building as I got out of the car. It reminded me of Hogwarts.

  Students milled about the campus. We hadn’t completely missed lunch time.

  The girls were dressed up like extras in a Britney Spears music video and the boys looked like posh little assholes.

  “Where do we start?” Elena asked.

  Elena and I split up to cover more ground

  I asked dozens of kids about Terrance. The few who recognized the name told me he kept to himself. A quiet guy with no enemies but no friends, either.

  None of them had realized he was missing.

  I finally struck gold when I noticed a pretty brunette eating by herself.

  It wasn’t the downcast eyes or the sullen aura that made people keep their distance that drew my attention. It was the itch on the back of my neck that told me she wasn’t human.

  What were the chances she didn’t know my lost nephilim.

  I approached with caution, not wanting to spook her. She looked up, red, puffy eyes focusing on me. I could see the apprehensive tension through her body.

  She knew I wasn’t a mundane, either.

  “Hey,” I said softly. “Are you, uh, okay?”

  She shrugged, clearly not in the
mood for a little small talk.

  I decided to cut to the chase, then.

  “Do you know Terrance Smith?”

  She nodded.

  “Do you know where he might be?”

  Her eyes were glassy with unshed tears, and she swallowed sharply. “Don’t you think if I knew where he was I would have said something?”

  Good point.

  “Are the two of you close?”

  She gave me a look that told me she thought I was an idiot. I’m not very good at ferreting information out of people. I’m not a people person. Blame the social anxiety.

  “When did you last talk to him?”

  She scrunched up her nose like she had just caught a whiff of rotten meat. “What are you?”

  There was disgust in her voice, underlined with fear. She knew what I was and didn’t want to give information to an enemy.

  “I’m a friend.”

  “Friend? I don’t know you. And Terrence sure as hell didn’t know you either.”

  Between my demon-blood setting off her alarms and my piss-poor people skills, I was getting nowhere.

  Where was Elena when I needed her? She could charm the pants off an ogre.

  “No, I don’t know him personally but his parents are paying me a lot of money to bring him home.”

  She laughed. It came out shrill, like a cackling witch. “Now I know you’re full of shit.”

  I gestured around. “If they can afford to send him to a place like this, they can afford my fee.”

  She shook her head. “Terrance is here on scholarship. His mom works in the office.” She narrowed her eyes at me. “Besides, what are you, fourteen? Do you think you’re Veronica Mars or something?”

  I wish I was that cool.

  “Something like that. Look, do you want to find Terrance? Help me out here.”

  “Of course I do. I love him,” she yelled, drawing the attention of those around us.

  I waited for everyone to return to their regularly scheduled program before responding. “I’m not your enemy.”

  “I don’t know you. Why should I trust anything you say?”

  “Because when you love someone you do whatever it takes no matter the risks to protect them.”

  She studied my face for a long time, her expression growing darker by the second. I worried she’d yell again.

  Instead she nodded. “What do you want to know?”

  Elena interrupted before I could respond.

  “Get anything good?” She extended her hand to the girl. “I’m Elena. Pleased to meet you.”

  The girl didn’t shake her hand but also didn’t scowl at her like she had me.

  Progress.

  “Lilly.”

  “This is Terrance’s girlfriend. She was just about to tell me everything she knows,” I said, trying to get things back on track before the lunch period was up.

  “I don’t what I can tell you. We were supposed to meet up at the theater on Friday. He never showed. I thought he blew me off. Went to his house the next day and his mom told me he hadn’t come home. They thought he was with me.”

  “Could he have been with someone else?” Elena asked.

  “He didn’t have anyone else. Besides if he were okay, he’d have come home by now.”

  If he’d been human, I could have entertained the possibility that he ran away or something.

  But a nephilim? Nephilim are in the same boat as me. They had to be careful lest the sentinels got a wind of them.

  My gut was telling me that this was no angsty teen acting out. I just hoped there wasn’t a body at the end of this search.

  I asked all the questions I could think of and while Lilly was more forthcoming than before, I still didn’t have anything to go on.

  “Can I see your phone?” I asked.

  She handed over a brand new iPhone. I wasn’t jealous. Not one bit.

  I struggled for five minutes trying to figure out how to put my number in the contacts before Elena took it from my hands and saved me further embarrassment.

  “Call me if he contacts you,” I said after Elena had given her back her phone.

  “He’s dead, isn’t he?” There was no emotion in her voice.

  It was kind of heartbreaking.

  “I don’t know. If he’s alive, I’ll find him,” I promised.

  A foolish promise.

  Chapter 7

  Elena had neglected to mention that the double date she had roped me into was tonight.

  When she had dropped me off, she’d told me to be ready by six, blown me a kiss, and driven off before I could argue.

  You would have thought that would have been enough time to get ready, but here I was less than ten minutes before they were due to pick me up still debating whether my hair looked better up or down.

  Someone whistled at me from behind. I jumped. No one else was supposed to be home.

  I turned to find Wes leaning against the door frame, a smirk on his lips.

  He had recently gotten his own apartment and no longer lived with us. Didn’t stop him from being around constantly. At least I didn’t have to hear his name being moaned every night anymore.

  “You look better,” I said.

  “So do you,” he said, an amused twinkle in his blue eyes. “What’s the occasion?”

  I glanced down at what I was wearing. Three hours had passed before I had made my final decision on my outfit.

  The winner was a black skirt two inches too short and a blue blouse with a dangerously low neckline. The rest of the time I’d had left was spent painting my face up like a clown. I had even used the previously untouched perfume Wes had given me last Christmas.

  Even though I’d rather gouge out my eye then go tonight, I refused to look like a slump on my very first date.

  I still felt like a stranger in a strange land.

  “Double date with Elena.”

  He frowned. “Does Damian know?”

  “I’m eighteen.”

  “And live under his roof. His house, his rules.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Funny how you never needed permission to chase tail.”

  He gave a short laugh. “That’s different.”

  “How?”

  “I’m a guy. I can take care of myself.”

  I gave him a dirty look. Why did no one believe I was capable of handling my own business?

  “Stop being misogynistic.”

  Wes shrugged. “Don’t get pissed at me for being concerned.”

  I walked over to my nightstand, opened the drawer, and took out an unopened condom wrapper. Then I flung it at his head.

  “He knows. Gave me this and told me to have fun.”

  A lie. Damian had no idea I was going out tonight, and I doubted he’d be too pleased. He hadn’t given me the condom either. A joke from Elena that was too funny to throw away. Damian probably would have preferred me coming home pregnant than have the birds and the bees talk.

  Wes glowered. “Sex isn’t a game, Lex.”

  I laughed. Like huge belly laughs that left me gasping for air. He stared at me unamused as I wiped the tears from my eyes.

  “Says the man allergic to monogamy.”

  He stuck his tongue against his cheek. “You’re not me, sweetie. You’re too emotional for casual fucking.”

  “Because I’m a girl?”

  “No, because you care too much. You want to make everyone around you happy, even to your detriment.” He gave a resigned sigh. “Just be careful, okay? You aren’t the only one trying to stay hidden, and you won’t be the only one to get hurt if someone finds out the truth.”

  He wasn’t saying anything I didn’t already know. I mean, jeez, I’d been friends with Elena longer than I’d known Wes and there had been no slippage.

  “Maybe you just don’t know me that well. I’m more of a love ‘em and leave ‘em type.” I gave him a cocky smile. “Learned that from you.”

  “I do know you.” His voice was soft. “You’re a bad liar.”

&
nbsp; “Keep telling yourself that.”

  I stuffed the condom that I had no intention of using into my purse and gave him a pat on the arm as I flounced by, faking the perk in my step. “Don’t wait up.”

  He grabbed my arm before I could get far. The scent of sandalwood and the rain forest invaded my nose. He pulled me close and whispered in my ear.

  “He hurts you; I’ll kill him.”

  I shrugged out of his hold and smiled sweetly. “I’ll be a good girl, I promise.”

  “There’s not a lot of people I care about, so don’t take any chances.”

  I winked. “That’s what the condom is for.”

  I ran down the stairs, grabbed my coat, and was out the front door before things could get even more awkward.

  I crossed my arms across my chest and bit my lip as I waited for Elena and the boys to pick me up. I tried to push away my intrusive thoughts, but all I could think about was Wes.

  Was he just concerned I’d make stupid choices or was it something else?

  Was he being protective or possessive?

  It wasn’t the cold that made me shiver.

  Chapter 8

  Squished in the backseat with Garret, an impenetrable cloud of pine, leather, and oranges warred for dominance of my olfactory receptors. I’m pretty sure both boys had been a little too generous with their cologne.

  After awkward hellos, silence had descended upon the inside of the lime green, four-door Volkswagen. Lucas drove, white-knuckling the steering wheel as if he were afraid any loss of concentration would be the death of us all.

  He’d been tense the moment I entered the car.

  “Lex?” Garret touched my shoulder, drawing my attention away from the stressed nephilim.

  I tried to give him a reassuring smile. It wasn’t his fault I’d rather be anywhere but here.

  “What’s up?” I asked. Even small talk would be preferable to the silence.

  Garret was far from what you’d call classically handsome. As the star player of our school’s hockey team, his nose had been broken a few too many times. Bushy, unkempt eyebrows framed squinted, dull brown eyes. His thick, dirty blond hair needed a cut about three months ago. He made Hagrid from Harry Potter seem small. The better to squash his opponents on the ice.