Jason squeezed his eyes shut. “The SUV. It must have a GPS tracker or something. How could I be so stupid as to take it?”
I shoved aside the covers and got out of bed. “What about Nancy? Where’s Nancy?”
“Here,” she whispered from behind Jude. “I can assure you the cloaking spell is working. I can’t sense you anywhere.”
There was a loud banging sound—someone knocking on the door. “Police! Open up.”
I hurried over to Jude. Jason was right at my heels.
Nancy looked towards the door with wide eyes. “What if it is the police?”
“No way,” said Jason.
The guest room was on the first floor of the house. It opened into the living room, which was where the front door was located—where they were knocking.
“So, I shouldn’t answer it?” said Nancy.
“Absolutely not,” I said.
“We need to get out of here,” said Jason. “Is there a back door?”
More pounding on the door. “Open the door, or we will break it down.”
Nancy looked in the direction of the pounding. “There’s another door in the kitchen.”
“Let’s go,” said Jason.
We all moved together, as quickly and as quietly as we could, maneuvering around the furniture—hulking shadows of couches and chairs.
The kitchen was silent except for the hum of the refrigerator.
Nancy pointed out the back door. “Right there.” She ushered us forward.
“No, Nancy, you need to come with us,” I said.
She shook her head. “This is my home.”
“They’ll kill you,” said Jason. He was already across the kitchen, heading for the door.
I grabbed Nancy by the arm. “You’re coming with us. We’re not leaving you—”
There was a thud that emanated from the kitchen door.
We all stopped short.
Then another thud, this one accompanied by a splintering noise.
They were at this door too, and they were forcing their way inside.
Jason turned in the direction of the living room, then back to the door.
Nancy pointed. “The basement.”
There was a door across from the stove.
She ran over to it and flung it open.
There was nothing inside but darkness.
Another bang at the door.
We scurried into the basement, carefully making our way down the steps.
It smelled musty and dank down here.
At one point, my hand brushed a cobweb.
I recoiled, wiping my fingers against my pants.
We couldn’t see anything when we reached the bottom of the steps.
We all moved together, holding onto each other as we moved further into the room.
Above us, we heard a deafening cracking and crashing noise, followed by a loud thud.
They’d broken down the door.
The sound of dozens of footsteps hurrying into the house.
I felt Chance’s hand in the darkness. He reached up for me, and I grabbed him. We held hands.
We didn’t move.
We listened.
“Azazel Jones, show yourself!” yelled someone.
They had moved further into the house. Now they were in the living room. We could hear creaking noises as they ascended the steps to the top level of the house.
Jude’s voice. “It’s only a matter of time until they find the basement. We need to go up now. We might have a chance to slip out while they’re busy. You guys run. I’ll create a distraction.”
“You create a distraction, you’ll probably get yourself killed,” said Jason.
“Does that matter?” said Jude. “Zaza needs you to take care of her. Chance needs you. And if they come down those steps, they’re going to kill her. I can’t let that happen.”
“Jude, no,” I said. “We’ll all run.”
“Let me do this, Zaza,” he said. “Besides, who says I’m going to get killed? You guys wait at the edge of the road, down there in the tree cover? I’ll be there in ten minutes.”
Jason sighed. “What kind of distraction we talking about?”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
~jude~
When I was sixteen years old, I was napping upstairs when I heard my mother screaming, “Mark my words, Azazel! The power you have together. The power! It will strike men mad!”
I got up out of bed and ran down to see what the problem was. My mother did scream a lot. She was a passionate woman, and a lot of things upset her.
As I came down the steps, I saw Azazel for the first time.
She and Jason were running across the street. Running like they were on fire.
But I still remember how beautiful Azazel looked. There was something in her expression that I found captivating. She looked so determined and strong.
I had to know her.
When my mother became concerned that “the abomination,” as she called Jason, was still alive, and she wanted to hatch a plan to get rid of him, I inserted myself into her plans as best I could. I wanted to be near Azazel. I wanted to talk to her. I wanted to know everything about her that I could.
She was my first friend.
She was my first love.
By some strange twist of fate, she was pregnant with my child.
I would do anything to save her. To save them both.
That was what I thought about when I burst into the living room in Nancy’s house, yelling, “You looking for Azazel?”
All the men turned to look at me, several swinging flashlights into my eyes.
“Where is she?” said someone.
“I can take you to her,” I said. “She’s not here. She and her lover Jason are off together somewhere. They do that, you know.”
“Where did you come from?” said another of the men. “We just finished searching the house. It’s empty.”
“I was hiding in a closet.” I pointed to the guest bedroom. “In there.”
“Miles,” said a voice. “Check the closets again.”
A man approached me, and I felt the cold press of the barrel of a gun against my chin. “I don’t believe you. She’s in this house.”
“I swear she’s not.”
“You wouldn’t give her up,” he said. “I know who you are. You’re the father of that demon spawn she’s got growing inside her.”
I licked my lips. “Maybe I’m sick of her pretending like there’s nothing between us. Maybe I want her to pay for jerking me around.”
“Tell us where she is,” said the guard.
“Like I said, I’ll show you,” I said. “You’ve got to take the gun away from my face, though.”
“Gibbons!” yelled a voice. “They’re running. I can see them.”
The guard cocked the gun at my face. “You were trying to give them a head start, weren’t you?”
My heart began to thud in my chest, double time. They were going to kill me, weren’t they?
Shit. I wished I’d had a chance to just touch her one last—
The gun went off.
* * *
~azazel~
I heard a shot.
I looked over my shoulder and saw that men were pouring out of the house.
They could see us.
“Jason,” I said.
He shot a glance backward. “Shit.”
The men were shooting.
Jason stopped short, clutching his waist. He’d been shot. “Keep going,” he gasped.
“Daddy?” said Chance.
I scooped Chance into my arms. “Daddy’s fine, Chance. He heals.”
Chance squirmed. “I’m too big to be carried!”
I clutched him tight, and I ran, picking up my feet.
With Nancy trailing me, we swerved into the nearby tree cover.
Jason had hit the ground. Flat on his belly, he was shooting at the oncoming men.
I could see them falling, one after the other.
Jason wa
s a good shot. He’d get them. But he was all by himself, no one helping him.
I set Chance down. “Nancy, take Chance. Go to the spot at the end of the driveway to wait for Jude, okay?”
She looked at me incredulously. “Azazel, you’re the one they want.”
I was already aiming my gun. “Jason needs me, okay?”
I squeezed off a few shots, taking down two or three men.
But Nancy caught me by the arm, ruining the next shot I made. “You can’t let them hurt that baby. Jason can take care of himself. Come on.”
“No,” I said, shaking her off.
“If they catch you, they will destroy the child,” she said. “You have to protect him.”
“I will,” I said.
“No,” she said. “Azazel, this is bigger than you think. This child is an important child. Now, let’s go.”
I turned back. The men were advancing on Jason, but over half of them were dead.
He was still shooting.
I let Nancy pull me into the woods.
We ran, tripping over roots, dodging branches and thorn bushes, careening around the trunks of trees.
At our backs, the sounds of shots emanated through the air like thunder.
Eventually, we made it to the end of the driveway, the place we were supposed to meet up.
We waited, crouching behind a row of briars, all of us breathing hard.
The shots continued.
We waited.
I looked up at the stars through the thatch of tree branches. I could only see tiny pieces of the sky. But up there, everything was so beautiful. There was no violence or blood.
Still, we waited.
I got a cramp in my legs, so I settled down on the ground, sitting Indian style.
“Zaza,” Chance whispered. “I have to pee.”
“Hold it,” I said.
“I’ve been holding it,” he said.
“He can go over there.” Nancy pointed to a spot a few feet away from us, still behind the briar patch.
I nudged him off to do his business.
And still we waited.
The shots went on. And on.
I don’t know how long we hid there.
I know it was a long time, because the stars moved. The sky shifted.
Several eternities later, the shooting stopped.
And still we waited.
Finally, Nancy touched my arm. “We need to go, Azazel.”
“No,” I said. “Not without Jason.”
“I know you don’t want to hear this—”
“And Jude,” I said. “Jude’s supposed to be here too.”
“I don’t think they’re coming.”
“They have to be coming,” I said. “You don’t understand. They’re immortal Nephilim. They can’t be killed. They heal. They’ll be here.”
“But there are bullets laced with an herb, aren’t there?” said Nancy. “You told me about them.”
“They didn’t use them last time,” I said.
“That doesn’t mean they didn’t use them tonight.”
Chance tugged on my shirt. “Are we leaving without Daddy and Uncle Jude?”
“No,” I said. “No, sweetheart, we…” But maybe I was being an idiot. Maybe… I shuddered.
“Azazel,” said Nancy. “If they’re all right, they’ll catch up with us. We need to leave.”
I shook my head slowly. “No. No, I have to see. I have to be sure what happened.”
“You can’t go back up there,” she said. “If they’ve killed them, then it could be a trap.”
She was right, damn it. But I couldn’t leave without knowing. If Jason was gone, really gone, then I needed to see it. I needed to look at his body and be sure he was never coming back. I couldn’t run off and hope he came after.
The not knowing would kill me.
“Jason can’t die,” I whispered. “Jason doesn’t die.”
“All right,” said Nancy. “Maybe we can wait a little longer.”
So we waited.
The stars shifted even more, and then the sky started to lighten.
It was dawn. The night was over.
Neither Jason nor Jude had come back.
I was going to have to face it.
Chance had fallen asleep. He was curled up on the leaves, and he looked so peaceful and small there.
But I shook him awake. “Chance.”
He opened his eyes. “Where’s Daddy?”
I gulped. “I think we’re going to have to go on without him.”
He sat up, his eyes wide. “Is he dead?”
“I don’t…” I felt a lump rise in my throat. “He’s not here, sweetie.” I was going to start crying, and I didn’t have the luxury.
“Azazel,” said Nancy, touching my arm.
“What?” I wiped at the tears that were forming in my eyes. Couldn’t she see this was tough for me? We’d go soon enough, but first I needed to try to pull myself together.
“Look.” Nancy pointed.
The sun was coming up behind him, and he was dragging himself along like a zombie, barely shuffling to put one foot in front of the other. There was blood all over him, and his shirt was soaked with it.
But I didn’t care.
I leaped to my feet and ran to him. “Jason.”
He fell into my arms. “They’re all dead, Azazel. Every single one of them.”
I knelt down on the driveway, and we both slowly lowered to the ground. I cradled him. “You’re hurt, baby.”
“Fucking leaf bullets,” said Jason.
“And Jude?” I said.
Jason shook his head.
A jolt went through me. Jude was gone. He’d given his life for me. For our baby. And he was never even going to see his son.
Tears sprang to my eyes again.
Jason coughed in my arms.
I turned back to him. I rested my forehead against his. “I thought I lost you.”
“No way,” he said. “Not ever.”
We clung to each other.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
eight months later…
~azazel~
I woke up with a start and sat up in bed, taking in the hotel bed where I was sleeping.
It was empty.
My heart pounding, I looked around the room.
And then I saw Jason, standing near the window, holding Hunter in his arms.
He turned to look at me. “You okay?”
I nodded. “I just… I didn’t know where you were for a minute, and I got scared.”
He came over to the bed and sat down next to me. “He was getting fussy, and I know sometimes he calms down if he gets rocked. I didn’t want to wake you up.”
“It’s okay,” I said, reaching for the baby. “Is he hungry?”
“He’s asleep,” said Jason.
I lowered my arms. “Oh.”
Jason gave me a wry grin. “I’m sure he’ll wake up and be hungry again soon enough.”
Right. He was a baby after all. It was what he did. He got hungry. He screamed. He made messes in his diapers. And we dealt with all of that as best we could while trying to stay under the radar, out of sight of Imri’s people.
Jason slid his forefinger underneath Hunter’s hand. Hunter’s fingers were impossibly small next to Jason’s.
“He’s so tiny,” Jason whispered, echoing my thoughts.
“I know,” I said.
Jason looked down at Hunter’s small fingers, bemused. “Was Chance ever this small?”
“Yeah,” I said. “I mean, I think so. I was distracted a lot when he was small.”
Jason raised his eyebrows. “Because of me.”
I shrugged. “It was my fault too.”
He looked back at the baby. “It’s not just that he’s small that gets me. It’s that he’s so perfect, too. All of the perfect, tiny detail. He’s… he’s amazing.”
I couldn’t help but smile. “I know.”
Jason was grinning too.
We
smiled at each other as we sat there on the bed, both of us just grinning like idiots.
I reached over to touch Hunter as well, to run my fingers against his soft baby skin. Everything about him was too wonderful to even explain. I couldn’t believe he’d somehow come out of my body in all his tiny wondrousness. He was basically the neatest thing on earth.
Hunter stirred in Jason’s arms, puckering his tiny lips, sucking at the air.
Jason laughed softly. “Wait for it. In three seconds, he’s going to wake up and start bawling.”
“Give him to me,” I said.
Jason shifted him into my arms. He bent down and kissed Hunter on the top of his head.
Hunter’s eyes opened. He was too little to be able to focus on anything, so he didn’t spend much time looking around. He simply screwed up his face and started to scream.
I fumbled with my shirt and moved him to my breast. “Hungry, little one?” I crooned.
Chance rolled over on the other bed in the room, making noises.
Jason got up and went to him.
I struggled to force Hunter to understand that there was a nipple in his mouth and that he actually wanted to suck on it more than he wanted to yell.
By the time he figured it out and was quiet, Jason was pulling the covers back up over Chance and stroking the little boy’s hair.
I propped myself up against the headboard of the bed and shut my eyes. Jesus, I was tired.
Jason got back into bed with me. He kissed my temple. “I wish I could help with this part.”
I shrugged at him. “Formula would just be a hassle, babe. This is easier.”
“Is it really easier for you?”
I tickled Hunter’s tummy. “It’s nice. It’s…” I snuggled into Jason.
He put his arm around both of us. “I love you,” he whispered. “I love all of you.”
I smiled, my eyes closed. “I love you back.”
We were quiet for a little bit, just enjoying the closeness.
Jason rubbed my shoulder. His voice rumbled in his chest. “That’s what I wish I could have understood, you know?”
“Hmm?”
“Back when I first found out you were pregnant, when I was so upset about all of it. I wish I could have understood that none of it would matter. That I’d love all of you so much that it would wipe away all of the weirdness I was feeling.”
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