He was quiet, holding me tighter as he took a deep breath. I relaxed in his hold, resting my head against his chest and listened to his beating heart, which was racing although he didn’t look like he was out of breath or anything.
"Jaxson. Will you talk to me? I can't help you if I don't know what you’re thinking. Please?" I begged, tilting my head to look up at him. He moved just slightly so he could stare into my blue-green eyes, and I saw a flicker of fear in his gaze as he debated whether to tell me or not.
He opened his mouth to speak, but then both our phones rang at the same time, causing us to flinch. I mentally cursed, but moved out of his embrace to retrieve both phones from the nightstand; the ringtones told us it was work calling. For both of us to be called must mean something big was about to go down.
I passed Jaxson his phone and he gave me a quick thanks before we both answered.
"Hello," we both spoke into our phones at the same time.
"Oh, you two are together?" Ethan asked on my end.
I exchanged a look with Jaxson and he mouthed Ethan's name with a questioning look on his face. Ethan had a habit of calling all our phones at once so he didn’t have to repeat information.
I nodded, and put mine on speaker while Jaxson hung up his.
"Yes, we haven't left yet. We were discussing work," I explained, staring into Jaxson's amber eyes. He looked away and his troubled expression made me reach out and slip my hand in his. He met my eyes once more and I mouthed, "Later. No excuses."
He slowly nodded. Then we tuned back in to Ethan's voice. "I tapped into that sleazeball’s phone moments ago. I think I have a clue what Xerxes may be looking for, but I don't want to discuss the details on the phone. When are you guys gonna be here? We're at the office already."
"We're on our way. Just about to leave," I reassured him.
"Cool. We'll see you guys there," Ethan replied.
"Kay." I hung up, looking up at Jaxson, who was frowning.
"For Ethan to call both of us must mean it's important," I pointed out.
"Ya. He probably would have called Michael too, but he only picks up in emergencies or if his brother calls."
"Daniel, right? He looks just like Michael, minus the glasses. I guess that makes sense. Michael missed out on meeting him before they went back to um...Minato was it?"
"Yes, Minato. They're going to head to Heila after they're done with their exam, which should have already happened. They're probably busy now, so if you don't hear from Makoto for awhile, you know why," Jaxson acknowledged, moving over to grab a leather jacket.
I slid my phone into my pocket, walking over to the nightstand to retrieve my hair tie. I gathered my hair up and quickly tied it into a ponytail before walking over to where Jaxson was in order to get my jacket.
Before Jaxson could move to the door, I stepped in his path. "Promise me we will talk about what's going on with you when we get the chance," I urged with a pleading look.
"I promise,” he replied, looking into my eyes. Satisfied with that answer, I took a step forward, fixing his leather jacket before lifting up on my tiptoes to kiss him.
He moaned, his hands immediately landing on my hips as his lips firmly pressed back. We were both out of breath when we finally broke apart and he let out a deep sigh.
"I love you. You know that, right?" he whispered.
I could see the vulnerability in his eyes, which broke my heart. I wasn't used to seeing this side of him. Jaxson was the confident one, always trying to be in control of the situation, rather than letting the situation control him. Right now he was trying to appear strong, but I could tell he was hurting and I could guarantee the others had noticed as well. I just wished I knew why.
"I know," I whispered, claiming his lips once more. I heard the click of the door and the little sounds of footsteps. I pulled back and smiled at Jaxson. "I love you more."
We shared a look before I felt Moonlight's tail rub against my leg. I looked down to see him sitting there, staring up at us with a curious look.
"What's up, Moonlight?" I asked, kneeling down to pet him. Risuki? Why do you look so curious?
"Hmm. You haven't broken anything today. I'm just wondering if you're getting better with your new powers."
I don't know if I should take that as a compliment or not. I rolled my eyes but continued petting him, noticing Michael was back, fully dressed and ready to go. He'd tied his hair back into a low ponytail and wore blue jeans, a white t-shirt, and a black leather jacket. I looked up to see his warm smile and twinkling gold eyes filled with kindness.
"You two ready to go? I'm assuming Ethan called,” he stated.
"How'd you know?" I asked, giving Moonlight one last scratch before I stood up.
"Angel intuition,” he teased.
"He means Ezriel told him." Jaxson rolled his eyes and let out a huff. Michael grinned, putting his hands in his pockets as he relaxed against the door frame.
"Ezriel...that's Michael's angel spirit?" I questioned.
"Ezriel is appalled that he wasn't given the opportunity to formally introduce himself. Jaxson, you should apologize," Michael teased.
"Ugh. I don't want to," Jaxson mumbled.
"Stubborn." Michael huffed, closing his eyes. When they opened, those gold orbs were glowing vibrantly and a confident smiled formed on his lips.
"Good morning, Princess of Feminara. My name is Ezriel Moore. A pleasure to meet you," he greeted, bowing his head.
I gawked at him, but quickly recovered. "Uh, morning," I squeaked, my heart skipping a beat. I didn't get why I got all nervous all of a sudden, but I was still getting used to the whole spirit thing.
"MORNING!" Serenity and Aurora greeted, which made me flinch. Then the lamp on the nightstand flickered on and off before it short-circuited; a little stream of smoke filtered out from where the dead lightbulb was.
"Meow," Moonlight announced while he stretched. "Spoke too soon," Risuki teased.
"Oh, that wasn't my fault," I whined. "Serenity and Aurora scared me. It wasn't because of Michael, I mean Ezriel!" I quickly defended, looking at Jaxson, who had a wide grin on his face, then back at Ezriel, who was on the verge of laughter, his shoulders moving up and down as he tried to hold in his snickers.
"Oh, don't blame us. I just came to see who Ezriel was," Aurora huffed.
"He's cute! Can we share him?" Serenity hummed.
I sighed, shaking my head. "No, you can't share Ezriel," I mumbled out loud.
Ezriel laughed. "I'm assuming Aurora and Serenity are your spirits? What race are they?" he questioned, curiosity lingering in his tone as he smiled in amusement.
"Uh, angel...wait. Serenity is an angel, but Aurora... Hey Aurora, what are you?" I asked, realizing I hadn't even asked them what shifter they were. I simply assumed they were some type of angel because that's what my mind envisioned, but I hadn't actually confirmed that.
"I'm an angel, silly," Aurora huffed.
"Me too! Well, you figured that out already. I can heal pretty well, like I did when you crashed into that glass mall sign two weeks ago," Serenity pointed out.
Wait. How are you both angels? I don't really understand. Sure, in the movies I knew there were good and bad angels. Aurora wasn't necessarily bad, but to me, her magic didn't feel warm and fuzzy either. It felt dark and powerful.
My extended silence must have clued Jaxson and Ezriel in on my internal dilemma.
"Are they both angels?" Ezriel questioned.
"Um. That's what they're telling me," I replied, confusion clearly on my face as I frowned.
"Seraphim angel."
I turned to Jaxson, noticing the change in his voice; bright glowing orange eyes met mine as a confident grin crossed on his lips.
"Orange eyes?!" I asked, feeling a little surprised by the sudden appearance of Jaxson’s spirit.
"Good morning, Princess. Ah, did I ever introduce myself? Hmmm. I can't recall." He crossed his arms, looking deep in thought.
"I bet not
." Ezriel laughed. The sound was so beautiful like a church hymn. It helped to soothe my nerves as I relaxed, glancing between both of them.
"Well, that's rude of me. Agni is my name, since Jax's last name sounds weird partnered up with mine. Feel like it diminishes my greatness," Agni hummed. I snickered when, a moment later, Agni rolled his eyes and huffed.
"Let me guess. Jaxson's complaining?" I smirked.
Agni groaned. "You see? It's better when he's asleep. Anyways, back to your question."
Ezriel came over to us and Agni gestured for me to sit on the bed. I did as he asked, knowing we were on a time limit, but didn't want to pass up this opportunity to get to know them.
When Ezriel moved to stand beside Agni, they exchanged glances before they began to explain.
"Seraphim spirits. They're dual spirits that are born at the same time within the host," Agni revealed.
Ezriel nodded. "Twin spirits is the more simple term for them to help you understand."
"Twins? Serenity and Aurora are twins?" I asked with a gasp.
"Bingo!" they said in unison, their tones now sounding exactly the same, which freaked me out a little. But...but wait. Why do you guys normally sound a bit different?
"Because it helps you distinguish who's talking," Serenity explained.
"We didn't want to freak you out. Imagine you just learned about our existence, only to start hearing two people with the same voice talking in your head all the time. You would have thought you were crazy," Aurora added.
"She already thought she was crazy, though," Serenity reminded.
"True, but I mean ‘she'd maybe admit herself to a mental institution’ kind of crazy," Aurora defended.
"She probably wouldn't be able to handle us," Serenity whispered as if I couldn't hear her.
"Totally. Our epic twin duality would be too much for her," Aurora agreed.
I sighed. Okay, I got it. Crazy Scarlet wouldn't be able to grasp your dual epicness. Let's continue the conversation.
I noticed the silence in the room, lifting my eyes up to see Agni and Ezriel's wide grins. I groaned. "Sorry. Continue."
"No worries, Princess." Agni winked.
"Seraphim angel spirits are twins that are usually opposites of each other. Fire and ice, wind and sea. Their elements are complete opposites but are incredibly destructive when morphed together. The strongest of their kind are those whose elements are light and darkness," Ezriel explained.
"Seraphim angels spirits are the most unique and rarest of spirits. Generally, it can be cycles, or generations before the next set is born. Their appearance when they shift is exactly the same as what you guys call identical twins. The only difference is the theme of their appearance, one being of light, the other of darkness," Agni continued.
"Wait, so Serenity and Aurora are Seraphim angel spirits? They don't feel like any of the other elements you mentioned so that means they're dark and light?" I pondered out loud, trying to figure it all out. "So Serenity is of light, Aurora is of dark. Identical twins with opposite elements."
"But we're very dangerous when we work together." Serenity hummed.
"Very lethal to tell you the truth." Aurora’s voice held a level of amusement.
"Correct," Ezriel answered my question.
"That's really cool," I mumbled to myself.
"Ah, she praised us!" Serenity cheered.
"Of course she did. We're amazing," Aurora huffed and I smirked, shaking my head.
"You've adapted well to them, I must say," Agni pointed out.
I nodded. "I guess once I realized I wasn't crazy and they were a part of me, it was easier to grasp. It also helped meeting Makoto, who has multiple spirits and still manages to handle it rather smoothly. Well aside from her talking out loud, but that was really cute."
"I think we should be on our way before-" Ezriel began, but just then my phone rang.
I pulled it out from the back pocket of my jeans and answered. "Ethan, sorry we're on our-" I began, but was interrupted.
"Tell Ezriel and Agni to stop holding us up, and good morning, my beautiful Scarlet," Nyx spoke over the line.
A smile formed on my lips at the sound of Onyx's voice. Onyx was Ethan's spirit, but we called him Nyx for short, since he hated being compared to the rock Pokémon, Onyx.
Agni mumbled to Ezriel, "What are the chances that's either Nyx or Cyrus?"
"Totally Nyx. I don't get how he always knows when we take over," Ezriel replied, looking disappointed. I couldn't help but giggle at their conversation, their attempt to keep it among themselves a complete failure.
"We'll be right there. I hope we get to talk soon, Nyx," I hummed.
I could recall how he saved me back in the mall and the concern in those beautiful glowing midnight blue eyes of his. We hadn't had time to discuss all the details regarding his spirit nature, but I did hope we would get some time to talk about it more.
"Of course, beautiful," Nyx whispered.
"Nyx. Can Ethan come back now so we can finish this search? Also, tell Agni and Ezriel to go sleep or something." I held back a smirk at the sound of Cyrus' irritated voice in the background.
"How did you know Agni and Ezriel are in control?" I heard Junho ask, the only one of the males who hadn't been taken over by his spirit.
"Because Nyx only shows up for Scarlet or if one of us is gonna get killed. He especially loves showing up when his so called ‘spidey' senses are tingling, as Ethan likes to call it, and that tells him when Agni or Ezriel are in control and delaying us," Cyrus huffed.
"I'm hanging up, Scarlet. I don't want to hear Cyrus complain. It hurts my ears. Farewell." Nyx sighed before ending the call.
I grinned at the phone, shaking my head in amusement. Then I rose and faced Ezriel and Agni, who were patiently watching me.
"Thank you two for giving me a little more info about myself. I really appreciate you both making an appearance," I acknowledged. Agni smirked, then stepped forward and swiftly gave me a peck on the lips, which caught me by surprise.
I blushed, slowly lifting my hand to press my fingers to my lips as if it would preserve the simple kiss.
Ezriel sighed. "Can't you keep your lips to yourself? You just love teasing the Princess, don't you?"
"You could just admit you want to be like me when you grow up," Agni chuckled.
Ezriel rolled his eyes, but had a small smile on his lips. "Just be lucky I can tolerate you."
He took a step forward, reaching out and gently grasped my free hand. He raised it up till his lips pressed firmly to the back of my hand, making me blush harder.
"Ohhhhhhh, so romantic!" Serenity squealed.
"Very angelic of him," Aurora commented.
Ezriel lowered my hand before letting it go, returning to stand next to Agni.
"We'll see you soon, Princess." Ezriel bid farewell with a serene smile.
"Don't destroy too many things," Agni teased. I wanted to reply, opening my mouth to speak, but they both closed their eyes and when they opened them, both Jaxson and Michael had returned.
"Why does he always kiss her? Agni?!" Jaxson huffed. Michael chuckled quietly, walking over to me and slipping his hand into mine.
"Is Agni ignoring you again?" I asked, grinning at Jaxson's frustrated expression as he lifted his hand to ruffle his black locks.
"Yes,” he mumbled. Michael and I exchanged looks before we both burst out laughing.
"Let's get going," Michael encouraged. I nodded, holding my free hand out to Jaxson. His eyes met mine and after a few seconds, he sighed. A small smile formed on his lips as he reached out to grasp my hand.
I smiled back at him as he took a step forward to stand on my right side while Michael was on my left. I quickly looked at him and saw his radiant smile as he took a quick sneak peek over at Jaxson. He looked satisfied that Jaxson wasn't as troubled as before and I mentally thanked Agni and Ezriel for their entrance.
As we headed towards the door, I thought about how I hoped to get t
o learn more about both of them while we tackled the next series of crimes I knew were on the horizon.
I guess I’d have to wait and see.
"So Xerxes is hiding somewhere and is using his lackeys to find some crystal that's not the Stone of Awakening?" I asked nervously.
I sat in between Junho and Ethan to the left side of Kendrick's desk while Jaxon, Michael, and Christian sat opposite of us on Kendrick's right side.
We were in Kendrick’s office, reviewing the new information Ethan had discovered. Since the explosion, we'd yet to return to a normal schedule, instead getting called for case after case each day since. I was actually impressed that it was almost eleven in the morning and we hadn't received another case yet.
Cece and Vinzent were on a different case, both of them being so busy with multiple assignments that I hadn't had a chance to see my best friend and her 6'7” lover since our hangout with Makoto.
I fixed my glasses for the tenth time, realizing I had to stop looking so nervous in a room full of investigators more experienced in sensing deception. I didn’t want them to know I was hiding the fact the Stone of Awakening was in my heart and couldn't be removed.
I noticed Ethan was staring at me. He reached out and placed his hand on mine, squeezing it gently.
I gave him a quick glance and he simply smiled. He must have thought I was still dealing with some PTSD from the aftermath of my encounter with Xerxes. To be fair, Winterlya had stated I could experience some symptoms of PTSD after my fatal experience.
"Apparently. They're talking in an Asian language, but I have no idea which one. They're definitely talking about a stone, but it’s not the Stone of Awakening," Ethan spoke up, squeezing my hand again gently. I squeezed back, taking a calming breath to help slow my rapid heartbeat. I need to stop acting like I'm guilty about something.
"Or..." Serenity hummed.
"She's not gonna tell them yet. Look how nervous she is, and they aren't even talking about the pretty red gem that just so happens to be in our host's heart," Aurora pointed out.
Neither of you is making me feel any better right now. I did understand that I had to tell them. I just needed the right moment. Or an opportunity that wouldn't be weird or sudden.
Visionary Awakened (Paranormal INC Series Book 2) Page 3