Sins of the Father (Bloody Marytown Book 1)

by Mansell, Lucie J.

  She offered, ‘If it makes you feel any better, they were stacked against both of us.’

  ‘Not really.’ He shook his head, frowning deep. ‘Did you not know that your… friends were out there?’

  ‘No, I didn’t,’ she replied. ‘I was too busy fighting. I only knew for sure once I saw the bodies.’

  Parker visibly swallowed. ‘There were more bodies?’

  ‘In the woods,’ she told him. ‘The vanguards – that’s what we call those types of demons – must have sensed them coming. They were afraid. That’s why they fled.’

  And while she would have liked to have taken credit for what transpired in those woods, Martha knew that she was just not that scary. Not when the odds were so stacked against her. Looking back on the sequence of events, Martha really had to give Stefan his due. That male knew strategy like the back of his hand. While others, upon sensing that their protégé was in danger, might have simply jumped into the fray, he instead led his brothers into the woods behind the lines of the attacking vanguards and ambushed them from there. Thus ensuring that none of them escaped. It was as smart as it was impressive. And what Stefan probably dreamed about in his sleep.

  Seeing the pensive confusion which furrowed Parker’s brow, she asked, ‘What are you thinking?’

  ‘I know that the things that attacked us – those vanguards - were demons,’ he said. ‘I have to admit, I can’t help but wonder what the hell your friends are, given that demons are so afraid that they run away.’

  ‘They are…’ Martha tried to think of the best way to describe them. ‘They’re warriors. Stefan and all of his brothers were born and raised to fight demons on the mortal plane. It’s who they are. It’s what they are here to do. They’re scary for the same reason they’re so good at it. Because they’ve done it for a very long time.’

  ‘They’re not human either, are they,’ he stated, rather than asked.

  ‘No, they’re not,’ she confirmed. ‘At least, not completely. They have humanity written into their heritage but they would never consider themselves as such. It’s… complicated.’

  ‘Do they have something as simple as a name?’ he pushed, seemingly clutching for whatever answers he could understand. ‘What would you call them?’

  ‘Personally, I call them by their actual, individual names,’ Martha stated. ‘But then, I don’t really like labels. If you’re asking about what they would call themselves as a race, then I suppose that the name nephilim is appropriate. At least, that’s what their elders call them. They are the result of the Sons of God laying down with the Daughters of Man… Or something archaic like that.’

  ‘Okay…’ Parker seemed to let that sink in. Martha was not at all surprised by his next enquiry. ‘So, where do you fit into all of that?’

  ‘I am just me,’ she said, being as honest as she felt she could. ‘I live amongst them and I fight alongside them. Some think that I deserve to be there, others don’t.’

  ‘And what do you think?’ he asked.

  ‘I think that I’ve worked really, really bloody hard to get to the point where I can consider myself good enough to be accepted by them. I don’t consider myself their equal. Perhaps, I never truly will. But my life with them is not the same as it might have been if I had been able to just stay here. I have a reason to get up in the morning, to feel like the things that I do actually make a difference. I see the bigger picture now and it’s terrifying but I feel like it’s my duty to step up and fight for what I believe in. I don’t get to enjoy the luxury of being normal anymore….’ She stopped, sighed, shook her head. ‘Not that I ever was normal, was I? Christ, I’m sorry, Parker. You really didn’t need to hear all of that.’

  ‘No, it’s alright,’ he assured her. ‘It doesn’t matter to me. None of it. Ultimately everything that I saw tonight only freaked me out because it doesn’t freak me out. I’ve been through a lot of shit and seen even more of it, working at MPIA. Knowing that you have survived and can handle some of the worst stuff I’ve seen only makes me think that you’re even more incredible than I knew.’

  Martha raised an eyebrow in his direction. ‘You really think that?’

  ‘Yeah,’ he stated, as if it were not something that even needed to be debated. ‘I always loved you because you were different, Martha, not in spite of it.’

  Once again, she did not know what to say to that so she simply did what she did best when she felt overwhelmed. She said nothing, letting a slightly uncomfortable silence fall between them that she didn’t know how to fill because she suddenly felt acutely aware of what Stefan had bluntly stated about her personal feelings. She was not ashamed that her humanity made her emotional in a way that he or his brothers would never understand. However, she had to admit that he had a point. She was not there to reconnect with her personal history. She had been granted a chance that many amongst her peers had long craved and she could not been seen to squander it. Stretching, she rolled her neck and stated, ‘I think it’s time to call it a night.’

  ‘I’ll go make up the spare bed for you,’ Parker said, getting to his feet. ‘Amanda brought all of your things. I’ll take your bag through. Room and bathroom are at the end of the hall.’

  ‘Thanks,’ she said and let him go, feeling deflated. He was such a good man, a wonderful friend. She was lucky to have him back in her life in any capacity, but when she looked at him and when they were alone together, she could not help but want more, could not help but ponder whether it would it really be so bad to reconnect even if she could never allow herself to get so involved that her other commitments suffered. For they had never simply been just boyfriend and girlfriend. Michael Parker was her best friend and she wanted that back. She wanted him back.

  And that thought well and truly terrified her, enough to push her personal feelings down where they could no longer be intimidating. She hated doing it, for it was a long time since she had allowed anybody to treat her like a china doll, least of all herself. Usually, she would face her fears head-on but, in this scenario, she was certain that that would not be the best course of action. She had subjugate her feelings or embrace them. There was no in between when it came down to her relationship with the man she was staying with. There couldn’t be.

  Resigning herself to her decision, Martha found her feet and left the lounge, switching off the single lamp. The bedrooms were through a door at the back of the kitchen. Martha did not feel as awkward as she probably should have, walking through somebody else’s home but that did not surprise her. She couldn’t exactly put a finger on why she felt so comfortable and safe inside the walls of Parker’s home. Given the calibre of her enemies, the residence of a mortal, human man should never make her feel either thing but it did. It always had.

  She suspected why but it made no sense to her.

  Heading down the hallway, she ignored the first door on the left, knowing full well that it was the owner’s bedroom and not wanting that image in her head. She found him in what was to be her room, throwing a couple of pillows onto the small double bed.

  Martha took a moment to gaze around her new abode, not really surprised that it was sparsely furnished with bedside tables, a dresser and a closet but little else besides a small reading lamp and chocolate coloured curtains which matched the red and brown bedcovers.

  It was all that she needed. For now.

  But her mind was focused upon something else. Something she felt that she needed a definitive answer to. Saying his name to get his attention, she then asked, ‘Have you had magical warding put on this building?’

  He laughed softly, ‘Yeah. Why, does that surprise you?’

  ‘You’re a null,’ she pointed out, as if he did not already know his own skill level.

  ‘I spend a lot of my days investigating the kind of thing that doesn’t really give a crap whether or not I have mystic or magical abilities.’ He shrugged. ‘Besides Olivia did it. Neither her nor Walsh were happy about me not being protected at home and they’re both very insi
stent.’

  And very smart, Martha thought. Simply because he was a null that did not mean that he could not be a target. If she were to objectively look at the MPIA team she had met so far in the way that something without a moral compass might, she would have considered him the weak link. That would be a mistake, Martha herself knew, but on paper he would seem vulnerable. And still she found herself wondering, ‘Has anything ever tried to get in here before?’

  ‘Not here,’ he responded.

  ‘Where?’

  ‘That’s… not really my story to tell. All you need to know is that everybody who works for MPIA has protective warding on their house to prevent them from being targeted by any nasty that might decide to follow us home. It’s now standard practice.’ He paused and cocked his head to the side. ‘I can’t say I even really think about it much. I mean, I know that it’s there but it’s not like I can sense or feel it so I sort of forget about it.’

  ‘Do you mind if I take a look?’ she asked, out of politeness.

  He shrugged again. ‘Be my guest.’

  Martha closed her eyes and focused, letting her psychic defences fall away. Magical energy was not her forte but she had sensed the warding on the summoning circle, inadvertently impressing the same practitioner that had warded Parker’s home, so she was somewhat confident that she could sense it here too. She just needed to focus and give a little of herself in the process.

  Her own personal energy flowed from deep within her, passing through her skin like it was inconsequential. Martha felt the protective spells almost instantly, like a buzzing of energy a layer above her skin, mingling with her own and creating heat, like the balmy rays of a sun. It simultaneously warmed and made her shiver and she, nervously, opened her eyes.

  And gasped in astonishment. ‘Oh my… Wow.’

  Hidden from the naked eye were hundreds of ancient runic symbols, written in something far more primal than manmade paint. They dotted the room, as she imagined they likely dotted the entire apartment, shimmering gold like an ethereal mirage on the walls, door and window. Even the ceiling emitted that beautifully mesmerising hue. Stunning. Olivia was very talented.

  ‘You can see it?’ Parker asked, though not in surprise, more in interest.

  ‘Yeah,’ she marvelled, looking around the room. ‘It’s actually quite beautiful.’

  ‘If you say so.’

  ‘Oh, I wish you could see this.’

  Parker did not say that he wished it too and she did not apologise, mistakenly thinking that she had said something insensitive. She had known Michael Parker long enough to know that, as much as he respected his psychic or magical friends, he would never envy them their individual gifts because he had seen what being different had been like for her as they were growing up. He never craved the attention that she had gotten and that hadn’t changed.

  Nevertheless, she offered out her hand. He laughed softly and took it, even though they both knew that even by proxy he would not be able to feel what she felt. He simply did not have it in him. But that did not mean that she would not try and share the experience.

  Standing directly in front of her, Parker was close enough to make her skin twitch. Not his fault. It was simply the result of having her psychic defences down and their deep, emotional connection. He looked down at her now, blue eyes letting her know that he enjoyed that she had reached for him, of her own accord and not hesitated or frozen the way she had every other time they had made physical contact.

  Martha knew that she was never going to be able to explain why she sometimes did that and it seemed to be a conversation that he did not need them to have. She had been hurt, so very badly, but never by him. He had mourned and missed her and was now more than prepared to respect her boundaries but more than that, he understood why those boundaries were in place. He knew her pain, had seen her new life in all of its brutality and still accepted her because of who she was, not in spite of it. That was something worth being happy about.

  Martha tucked herself in against his body, her ear pressed to his chest and let him wrap his arms around her and simply hold her for a while. It made her laugh softly to discover that she found the sound of his heartbeat fascinating, unable to recall the last time she had heard the pulse of another mortal being but took some comfort in the knowledge that it must have been his. In that moment she decided that it did not matter what any other being thought. Her old personal connections were more than a distraction. She needed them as much as they needed her.

  If it were possible, maybe she could find a balance. Maybe her new life didn’t have to jar with the old. Martha would never shun her humanity when she was legitimately half human. Nor would she shun the people who loved her for who she was, in favour of obligation to those who admired what she could be. Stefan and his brothers were as equal a part of who she was however and for the first time, she not only wanted both of her lives, she believed with all of her heart that maybe, just maybe, she could finally be allowed to have them.

  Chapter 30

  Martha had no idea what time it was when she eventually woke the next day. In Parker’s home. In her own bed. Even though it technically did not belong to her, she was so warm and snug that she had claimed it as her own. And didn’t want to leave it ever. Or any time after that.

  Eventually, she admitted defeat and pulled back the covers, yawning and stretching. As she rolled over, she noticed something sitting on her bedside table that had not been there before; a piece of paper that had been folded into a tent with her name written on the facing side.

  Somewhat intrigued, she sat up and reached over, bringing it onto her lap and opening it up. It was from Parker, who apologised that he had to go to MPIA to officially begin his next twenty-four hour shift and stated that there was something for her in the kitchen. Giving in, she climbed out of bed and made her way down the hall, surprised to see a small pile of things for her on the breakfast bar. Apparently she had been bestowed with many gifts as she slept.

  The first thing that she came across was another note, also from Parker, which said that the keys were from him, so that she could let herself in and out of the apartment but the shoebox sized postal box that had been left outside of their door with her name on it, he proposed, was from one of her very tall friends. He signed the note off with a little kiss and suggested that she call him on the number that he had written on the bottom of the note when she finally managed to wake up and get, what he referred to as her gorgeous arse, out of bed, which was really rather cute and, as it turned out, a hint about one of the things that was in the box.

  Martha wasn’t all that surprised that Parker had checked the contents, given that the only people who knew she was staying with him were her sister and Walsh. He was looking out for her safety. What did surprise her was that Stefan, or somebody ordered by Stefan, had come into Marytown to leave her a gift. However, it transpired that it was not at all a token of affection but supplies that he had thought that she might need. Practical and efficient and so very Stefan.

  Included was a mobile telephone which she did not need to switch on to know that it would come complete with a number that she could contact him on. That he was resorting to them using technology to keep in touch told her that he was either keeping tabs on her or he was concerned that they might not be able to communicate over the distance between them any other way. It was probably both. She wouldn’t be surprised if it was chipped with a GPS tracker. Also in the box was a small plastic debit card that had her name on it for an account number that she had never used before and another note that told her that it had been set up for her so that she could buy any ‘human essentials’ that she might require during her stay in Marytown.

  The difference between the two notes made her shake her head. One so formal and the other so friendly. It was a stark reminder of the differences between the worlds in which she dually inhabited. Bridging such culturally gaps felt absurd but if she was able to, then Martha would definitely try. There had to be a way to bri
ng balance to her life and it seemed logical to start by doing what she came here to do.

  Switching on the phone, she waited until it booted itself up and then punched in the number that Parker had left for her. It answered on the third ring, his tone formal and enquiring, reminding her of how it had sounded over the intercom when she had first gone to MPIA to let him know that she was back in town. She smiled and said, ‘Hello, it’s me.’

  ‘And she’s finally awake,’ he responded. ‘I was beginning to wonder when you’d call.’

  ‘You didn’t need to leave me in bed all day.’

  ‘I know but you looked so peaceful. I didn’t want to disturb you… Wait, hang on,’ he said, the other side of the line going silent for a moment. As she waited, Martha picked through the items in her care package, finding it remarkable what Stefan considered essential supplies. In reality, it resembled a little survival kit and the only thing she found of any real interest was the phone, debit card and a small handgun, for while she did not usually like firearms, and it would most likely remain stored away, it was nice to have one simply in case of emergencies.

  ‘Sorry about that,’ Parker said as he came back on the line. ‘Maxwell’s in the office until five. He’s asked me to pass along his formal invitation for dinner tonight.’

  ‘Does formal invitation mean that I can’t turn him down?’ she asked, when honestly she had been waiting for something like that. Given everything that she had been doing with his staff since her arrival, it was somewhat inevitable that the director would want to eventually meet her.

  And maybe hand her an invoice for the wrecked MPIA company vehicle.

  ‘It means that he wants to give you his welcome back to Marytown speech,’ he said. ‘It’ll make things a lot smoother going forward. And you’d be doing me a pretty big favour.’

  Damn it. Clearly her friend was not above using emotional manipulation to get something that he wanted and she did not want to deny him but said, ‘What about the summoning circle? Isn’t that something that we should really be taking care of first?’