by G. K. DeRosa
Duke barked and wagged his tail back and forth. Traitor!
“Just hurry up.”
The door slammed, the bells clanging together, and I resisted the urge to run after him. Get it together, Liv.
I walked down the first row of snacks, eyeing my options. I decided not to commit until I checked out the entire convenience store. After a few minutes, I had an armful of sweet and salty snacks. I settled down in a corner and popped open the first bag, Duke sitting beside me. His big tongue lolled out, slobber dripping from his mouth.
“Okay, okay, just one.” I threw a chip toward his muzzle and he caught it midair, his jaw snapping shut. He crunched happily and settled down next to me.
Sometimes I was jealous of Duke. His life was so simple.
The rumble of the Harley pulling up the drive sent me racing to the glass door. Declan tugged off his helmet and leapt from the motorcycle, his expression as dark as his black t-shirt. As he stalked up the walkway, I wondered why he even bothered to wear a helmet. Weren’t nephilim practically immortal anyway?
He jerked the door open and scowled. I decided now was not the right time to question his helmet wearing.
“You didn’t find her?”
“No,” he growled.
“Maybe she went out for a walk?”
He ground his teeth together. “Doubtful.” He stomped around the store and grabbed a few chocolate bars before turning back to me. “Come on. I want to go back to her place and look around some more. Maybe I can find a clue as to where she might have gone.”
“Okay.”
The three of us got back on the motorcycle, and Declan tore out of the gas station lot. It wasn’t often he was in a dark mood like this, but I didn’t like it one bit. It reminded me of the fierce angel lingering just below the surface. The one that killed Asher. When he was his fun, bubbly self, it was easy to forget what he really was.
We reached Declan’s mom’s house in no time. He cut the engine, and I stared up at the cute one story home. It was the same powder blue as the row house in D.C. only in much better condition. Apparently the fighting hadn’t encroached on this quiet suburban town.
Declan pushed the picket fence open and parked the motorcycle in the circular driveway. “Come on, get inside.” He rushed me up the porch steps and into the foyer of the quaint home. Once we were inside, he released a sharp breath. “I don’t think we should stay long, just in case my father’s got eyes on the place.” He tilted his head up to the ceiling. “I did a quick sweep before bringing you here and it was clear, but that doesn’t mean it’ll stay that way.”
“You mean you flew?” I pointed out the window toward the gray sky.
“Yes. That’s what these are for.” A brilliant light exploded from his back, and a pair of snow-white wings unfolded.
My breath hitched, and I could’ve sworn Duke’s eyes bulged out too. I didn’t think I’d ever get used to him doing that.
Light crimson stained Declan’s cheeks, and the magnificent wings folded behind his back. “I’m going back up there for another look. Can you check in here and see if you find anything?”
“You’re going to leave me alone again?” I cringed at the whininess in my tone. What was up with that? I could totally handle myself. “It’s just that you said angels could be back…”
He frowned and ran his hand through the dark mop of wavy hair. “No, you’re right. If my father has discovered she’s missing, he’d surely have soldiers out searching for her. We don’t want to risk them finding you instead.”
“What’s the deal with your parents?” The words burst out of my mouth as I lowered myself onto the couch. “I mean, does your dad really care about her? He took the time to hide her when the world went to hell, but then why would she have run off?”
“I don’t know.” He snagged his lower lip between his teeth. “All I know is that I thought she was dead, and now I know she’s not. Whatever the circumstances were for her leaving my dad and me, I have to find out.” He paced the length of the small living room, his tall frame nearly brushing the ceiling fan. After a few more circles, he turned to me. “Okay, quick look around the house and then we’ll go.”
I nodded and rose.
“There are two bedrooms and a bathroom that way.” He pointed down a hallway. “You check those and I’ll take the living room and kitchen.”
I started toward the corridor then turned back. “What am I looking for exactly?”
“Anything that might lead us to where my mom could have gone.”
Sure, easy peasy. It’s not like I was going to find a bus ticket receipt or something. At least this was a distraction from thinking about Asher.
My sneakers sunk into the soft carpeting as I walked noiselessly to the first door on the right. A flowery comforter covered a queen-sized bed with pale pink walls. A picture frame on the nightstand caught my eye. It was the same photo as the one from Declan’s room in his childhood home. I stared at the smiling brunette, and my chest tightened. If my mom were still alive, I’d do anything to find her too. Where are you Mrs.—it occurred to me I didn’t even know Declan’s last name. Did angels even have last names?
I rifled through a few loose sheets of paper on the nightstand—bills from over a year ago when we had electricity and cable. I searched the rest of the room but came up with nothing besides a couple of super cute pictures of Declan as a baby. I tucked those into my jeans’ pocket to tease him about later.
I was about to walk out of the room when a closed door behind the entry caught my eye. The closet. I pulled it open and shuffled through some dresses and jackets. Something against the back wall got my attention. I pushed aside the clothes, and my jaw dropped.
Newspaper clippings, sketches, and Internet articles were taped across the back wall of the closet. Had Declan seen this? I shoved my way deeper into the closet and scanned the images. They were of the angel-vampire war. Most of them were from the beginning, but some must have been underground sources with dates as recent as a few weeks ago. It reminded me of one of those crime boards you saw on police detective TV shows.
“Declan, I think you need to come in here.”
He was at my side in seconds. “What did—” His eyes went wide as his gaze followed mine. He ran his finger over the images, his jaw practically unhinged.
Below all the articles were handwritten notes. Some had names and others just a series of lines and arrows. None of it made any sense.
“Who’s Nathanael?” It was the name repeated most on the wall schematic. “Angel of fire?”
Declan cleared his throat and shifted his weight from foot to foot. “Nathanael is my father.”
My eyes ran over all the black and white typography until it blurred. “Your dad is one of the head angels?” All the air rushed out of my lungs, making my head spin. According to these articles, he was one of the angels who led the war on the vampires—and caused the near annihilation of the human race.
He nodded, refusing to meet my eyes.
“How could you not tell me that?” I forced my voice to stay calm when I really wanted to curse at him. Sometimes I wondered if anything true ever crossed his lips.
“What’s the point? So that you’d hate me more?”
“You can’t avoid telling me things that you think I’m not going to like. It’s still lying!” I crossed my arms over my chest, trying to hold the anger in.
“I’m sorry, okay? I told you I’m not proud of who I am. That includes my father.”
Just great. Not only had I managed to make friends with a nephilim, but I had to pick the son of one of the men responsible for all of this destruction.
Declan glanced back at the wall and rubbed at his scruffy chin. “It looks like she’s been tracking him from the start.”
Okay… I guess our lying conversation was over.
“Do you know what this means?” I pointed at the mess of lines and symbols on post-it notes.
“No.”
Next to it was a
page torn out of a book. I squinted to get a closer look at the tiny writing. No wonder I couldn’t make it out; it wasn’t in English.
“Do you know what language this is?”
Declan scrutinized the page. “It looks like ancient Aramaic, but that language has been dead for centuries.”
“Well whatever it is, it seems pretty important to your mom.” It was highlighted in neon yellow and circled about a hundred times. “Did you find anything in the rest of the house?”
“No. You definitely hit the jackpot over here. I checked the other bedroom too, and it was empty.”
“So now what?”
“Now we fly.”
Chapter 28
Glorious wings extended out behind Declan’s back emitting a soft glow. His head tilted up peering into the darkening sky, and I dipped my head back to follow his line of sight.
“What are you looking at?” There wasn’t a thing up there besides thick gray clouds.
“Just making sure the skies are clear.” He turned around to get a hundred and eighty degree view, giving me a close-up of his wings. A hint of silver threaded through the feathers along the edges, and my fingers ached to touch them. Before Declan, I hated wings. Their incessant droning signified war and destruction, but on him it was different.
Before I could stop myself, I gently ran my hand over the velvety feathers. It was like sinking into a fluffy cloud. Declan shuddered, a slight groan escaping his lips.
“Sorry,” I muttered, snatching my hand back.
He turned around and regarded me with smoldering irises. “No, don’t be. It felt good. Really good.” He gave me an indulgent smile, and his dark brow rose into a mischievous arc. “You ready?”
Sure, just give me a second for my lungs to start working again. I still couldn’t believe I’d agreed to this. About a million butterflies fluttered to life in my stomach. “Okay, ready.”
He took my hand and spun me around so my back was against his chest. “Now put one foot on each of mine.”
I held onto his arm for balance and did as instructed. His other arm slid around my waist pressing me into his body. My stomach wasn’t the only organ fluttering now. I didn’t know what to do with my arms so they hung awkwardly at my side.
“Here we go!” Declan bent his knees and pushed off the ground.
The earth fell away, and my stomach dropped. My breath hitched as the cool night air whooshed over my skin. My hands shot out to grab a hold of something and ended up clasping onto Declan’s arms encircling my waist. His magnificent wings flapped noiselessly, glowing in the periphery.
I hazarded a look down, and my pulse spiked. The cute blue house got smaller and smaller until it looked like nothing more than a tiny dot amidst the greenery. My head spun, and I squeezed my eyes shut.
“You okay?” Declan asked, tightening his hold around my torso.
“Yeah,” I rasped out.
“Don’t forget to breathe. It’ll help.”
A smile cracked my lips and for a second I tried to enjoy the feeling of weightlessness as we soared higher into the sky. The further up we went the easier it was to forget everything below.
Declan tilted his body forward so we were almost parallel to the ground. My toes curled in my sneakers struggling to hold on. The ground zipped by beneath us as Declan flew just under the clouds. His gaze was set to the tiny houses and streets below. I squinted to focus, but at this height it was useless. I couldn’t make out a thing.
My foot slipped off of Declan’s, and I had to bite back the scream that threatened to peal out.
“If you’re not comfortable, you could say so,” he whispered into my ear, his warm breath sending a chill up my spine.
“Huh? No I’m—”
“You’re practically cutting off my circulation with your nails.”
I glanced down at the red half-moon marks covering his arms. My fingers were so tightly clenched around his forearms, my knuckles were white. “Oops. Sorry.”
I relaxed my grip and struggled to slow my racing heart.
“Here, maybe this will be better.”
Before I could object, Declan scooped up my legs and shifted his arm behind my back, cradling me into his chest. My arm snaked around his neck, my fingers digging into his shoulder.
“Better?”
As silly as I felt being carried like a baby, I had to admit it was better. “Yeah, thanks.” With Declan’s strong arms wrapped around me, hundreds of feet in the air, I felt the safest I had in awhile. “So do you see anything down there?”
“No. I was hoping I’d catch some nephilim soldiers scouting the area, but there’s no one.”
“Well keep looking. Now that I’ve gotten the hang of it, flying’s pretty amazing.”
“I’m glad you’ve gotten the hang of it.” He shot me a smirk before returning his attention to the ground.
My fingers curled into his shirt, but I wasn’t scared anymore. My breathing returned to normal, and I took in the rolling terrain below us. I’d never been on an airplane before and if we weren’t in the middle of an apocalypse I could see enjoying this sort of thing. Everything was so quiet and peaceful up here.
I lost track of time, my head buried in Declan’s chest, breathing in the calming lavender scent of his t-shirt. My stomach flip-flopped alerting me of our descent, and I snapped out of the peaceful haze. Inky darkness covered the land; only Declan’s wings provided us with a warm glow.
“We’re going back?”
“Yeah. There’s no one out here. If anyone had been looking for Mom, they’re long gone now.” The tendons in his jaw tightened, and his lips pressed into a thin line.
“You’ll find her, Declan. I know you will.”
His enormous wings flapped faster as we dipped toward the ground. I wrapped both arms around his neck as the wind whipped dark strands of hair across my face.
It was full night when we reached the small blue house. Declan lowered me onto the porch, and my knees wobbled for a second. He grabbed my hands to steady me, eyeing me with those mesmerizing maroon irises. His snow-white wings encircled him in a heavenly glow. He was beautiful.
“You okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. It must be the sudden change of altitude.” My head spun, and I clutched onto Declan’s forearms. “Whoa. Sorry about that.” I glanced up, and his mouth was inches from mine.
I licked my lips, my throat suddenly dry.
The air crackled, invisible sparks filling the space. My fingers tingled from the heat emanating from his skin.
He dipped his head and slowly closed the distance between us.
My lips parted, glancing up at hooded eyes under a curtain of dark lashes as I inched closer.
The front door creaked open, and we jumped, Declan pulling me behind him. A familiar brunette peeked through the crack in the door, her eyes wide.
“Mom?”
The woman pushed the door open the rest of the way and squinted, her gaze running up and down the big nephilim standing in front of me. “Declan, is it really you?”
Declan’s chest heaved, and he sucked in a breath. “It’s me, Mom.” He released me and pulled her into an embrace, nearly knocking the door off its hinges in the process.
“Come in, come in children.” She eyed the dark sky then ushered us inside.
Duke trotted out to greet us as soon as we entered. I gave him a quick pat, relieved he was okay.
Declan’s mom looked to me then back at Duke. “I was wondering where he’d come from.”
“Mom, where have you been?” Declan sat her down on the couch. His eyes never left her as if he were scared she’d disappear if they did.
“I’ve been right here.” She pointed at the floor.
“Mom, it’s been ten years. What happened? Why did you leave?”
I suddenly felt like I should be anywhere but here. This wasn’t a conversation that should be had in front of a stranger. I slowly backed up out of the living room, planning on hiding out in the extra bedroom.
“Liv, stop.”
Declan’s voice halted my feet, halfway out of the room.
“I want you to be here for this. Maybe it’ll help clear things up.”
Um. Okay. I nodded and sat down on the chair across from Declan and his mom.
Declan squeezed her hand, his eyes intent on her face. “Please, Mom, tell me what happened.”
The lines around her dark eyes deepened, and her lower lip trembled. “It wasn’t my choice.” A tear rolled down her cheek, and Declan swept it away with his thumb. She drew in a breath and began once again. “I don’t even know where to begin.” She pressed Declan’s hand to her cheek. “I overheard your father talking to Cassiel one night; they were planning this war all those years ago. The vampires had to be stopped, but the price the humans would pay was clear from the start. I begged Nathanael to reconsider, but he said there was nothing he could do. The plans had been put in motion, and it was only a matter of time. The more I learned about their mission, the more sure I became of how wrong it was.” She paused, wringing her hands together.
Ten years ago—the angels had been plotting this war for that long? But how was that possible if the vampires attacked first?
She looked up at her son. “Your powers hadn’t even surfaced yet. To me, you were just a little boy—a human like me. When your father wouldn’t listen to me, I ran with you. We didn’t make it far.”
Something flashed across Declan’s dark gaze. “The road trip? To Disney World, when I was nine?”
She nodded and ran her hands over her damp cheeks.
“I remember we got into a car accident on the way and had to turn back.” He furrowed his brow, sitting forward on the couch. “I never got to see Mickey.”
His mom pursed her lips. “It wasn’t an accident. Nathanael sent nephilim after us. They ran us off the road and nearly killed you. When we got home, your father banished me. If I ever tried to see you, he said he’d—” She choked back a sob.
“He threatened to kill you?” Declan hissed.