Mylek was once a commander in her own troop who decided he wanted to have some of the things humans enjoyed on Earth. When he was refused by Yahuwah, he rebelled and was cast from Heaven. It had been close to a thousand years since she’d seen him, and the only reason she recognized him was from his energy. Even now, it was strong.
He continued his approach but waved the other demons off. As he drew closer to her, he moved more slowly, cocking his head as if trying to remember who she was.
“Mylek, it’s Gabrielle. I mean no harm to you or any Underworlder tonight.”
Mylek paused, and after several moments, she saw a strange smile cross his face—strange because it must have been some time since his face pulled the muscles of his mouth in the directions it was now attempting. Though it seemed genuine, it also appeared strained. He straightened, leaving the stance of a predator and adopting a friendlier one.
It was something Gabrielle hadn’t expected.
“Gabrielle. You may not believe it, but I’m glad to see you. It’s been so long since I’ve seen any of my former brethren. I didn’t think I ever would again.” Mylek clasped his hands in front of him and let them rest against his body. It was a gesture she knew well, any angel would. “If you aren’t here to hunt any of—us,” he said, and Gabrielle noticed he almost choked on the last word, “then why are you here? You have to admit, your approach was confrontational.”
“It’s not my intent, but I have limited time, and this was the best way.”
“Maybe I can …” Mylek paused, “help.”
“I’m looking for Javan and a human. Javan is camouflaging, and I have to find them—now.”
Mylek scowled, and Gabrielle could see him clench and unclench his fists.
“Javan, huh? He’s caused me a bit of trouble since he’s fallen. Arrogant ass.” Mylek started walking toward her again. He stopped in front of her and looked her hard in the eyes.
“I think I know where they are. Word down here is he’s going to obtain the Book of Barabbadon. Tonight. He’s recruited an impressive amount of Shadow Worlders and Underworlders, and some are helping him now.”
Why would he need Lucas to get the Book?
“Where are they, Mylek?”
“New Orleans, near one of the Gates of Hell.”
“I know where that is. I have to go.” Gabrielle began to ascend, and as she did, she called back to Mylek.
“Thank you … old friend.”
“Maybe I’ll be a new friend,” he said before she completely ascended.
Gabrielle arrived near the Gate in New Orleans and began to search. She had a good chance of finding them now that she knew where to look. She flew in a circular pattern about a half a mile wide using the Gate as a central point, causing a substantial disturbance in the air as she flew as close to the ground as she could without being seen. She was about to abandon the area and look further out when she noticed several different energy signatures.
She’d seen those energies together before … in her vision. She recognized three of the four moving swiftly north. She turned her attention to the energy fading on the ground.
Lucas.
His energy was faint. She made her way to him, terrified of what she’d find. Her heart plummeted. He was lying on his side, motionless. His heart was beating slowly, and it was steadily growing weaker.
Gabrielle descended and scooped Lucas up, not caring if there were human eyes to see the expanse of wings or the glow of energy. All she wanted was to hold Lucas and try to save him.
‘Amaziah! I have Lucas. He’s dying, Amaziah! Please, help me!’
He was with her immediately along with several others.
‘Amaziah, please help him. Is there anything we can do?’
He reached out for her to hand him over, but even as she did, she could tell his body hung too lifeless.
She’d failed him.
Gabrielle grew angry as her arms emptied Lucas into Amaziah’s outstretched ones, hearing the last beats of his heart as she did. Gabrielle remained motionless. She was stunned to a point that she felt nothing but numbness that seemed to filter slowly into her entire being.
Amaziah held Lucas for a long time without saying anything. She managed to choke out a question even though she felt no life left in her to do it.
‘What is it? Why are you looking at him as if you’ve never seen a dead body?’
‘Have you not noticed, Gabrielle? His soul hasn’t left him. He’s not dead.’
‘That’s not possible. I heard his heart take its last beats as I placed him in your arms.’
As she said the words, she heard Lucas’s heart beat again, but there was something different about it. She waited, and it beat again.
‘He’s still alive! Help him!’
Gabrielle moved closer to Amaziah, but he moved back as she did.
‘I want to hold him. Why are you keeping him from me?’
He hesitated before he answered, and she noticed the others had backed away from them.
‘You’re right, Gabrielle. He is still alive. But not like he was before.’
‘What do you mean, not like before? He’s either alive or not alive. There is no in between.’
‘What happened to him?’
‘I don’t know. I found him on the ground and came straight for help. No one else was around, at least not by the time I reached him. What are you getting at?’
‘As you can hear, his heart is strong, and he breathes.’
‘Yes. Which means he’s alive.’
‘What else have you noticed?’
Gabrielle studied Lucas for several moments.
‘Nothing, Amaziah. I don’t want cryptic enlightenment, either. Please, just tell me what you think is going on!’
‘Lucas breathes and his heart beats, but there’s an abnormal amount of time between either breath or heartbeat.’
Gabrielle hadn’t thought too much about it, happy to believe he might survive, but more than a minute passed before she heard his heart pump again or his lungs moving air.
‘He’s been bleeding from his neck. It’s stopped now, but it’s fresh.’
She was almost amused by his observation. ‘No, it’s part of his costume. It’s fake blood.’
‘Gabrielle, I know the difference between fake and life-giving blood. So do you. Accept what has happened. This blood is real.’
Gabrielle moved Lucas’s head so she could see his neck. She stared at the puncture wounds next to the ones Nonie had created. The other set was definitely the real thing.
‘He’s Qalal. But why does his heart beat at all? Qalal don’t breathe.’
‘I know. I’ve never known of a human being bitten and not turning or dying. Take him home. He’ll be better off with you and Emma looking after him. I’ll post some of your comrades around the home for protection so you can tend to him without worrying about another attack.’
He placed Lucas back in her arms, and she looked at his face. She wondered what was happening to him now and what was going to happen to him later.
‘Go now, Gabrielle. I’ll be back to you soon, I promise. This won’t take long.’
Amaziah and the others were gone before she could reply, although really, there was nothing to say. She made her way back to Emma’s home, looking at Lucas’s face the entire time. He hadn’t moved at all in her arms, except for an occasional rise and fall of his chest, too far apart to be humanly possible.
She couldn’t believe how rapidly everything went wrong. She was almost to Emma’s when he tried to say something. It was barely a whisper, but she thought he said her name and then the word why. A few moments later, she heard him say, “How could you, Gabby”?” It didn’t make sense to her.
Maybe he was wondering how she
could have stopped watching for trouble, why she let him be taken, why she wasn’t there to protect him. She didn’t know, but she was happier than she could have ever imagined being just because he said those few words. If there were words, there was a Lucas, and no matter what happened to him or what he became, she loved him.
When she entered the living room, she found not only Emma but the entire Daniels family, minus Chloe. Gabrielle scanned the room and realized she would be rather awe inspiring to everyone except for Emma, so she manifested her human form.
“Emma, get me a glass of water and some warm clothes for Lucas. I want every human in this house to make sure they have a cross in their hand or around their neck at all times.”
She looked at Ben, Lizzie, Nonie, and Nate, who all shared stunned expressions with a look in her eyes and scowl that said now, and everyone went out the door except Lizzie. Gabrielle stared at her to see why she wasn’t listening.
Lizzie must have understood. She reached her hand under the neck of the sweater and pulled out a cross that hung on a short chain.
“Never take it off.”
Gabrielle moved through the house toward Lucas’s room, laid him on the bed, then grabbed an afghan and covered him. Lizzie entered the room right behind her. Gabrielle heard Emma come in and place the items she’d requested on the nightstand.
“Gabrielle, what’s wrong with Lucas?” Emma asked.
“I’m not sure,” Gabrielle responded as she was getting Lucas situated. “When I found him, he was alone on the ground.” She turned to face Emma, placed her hands on her arms, and moved to sit on the end of the bed. “There’s a problem, but we don’t know what to make of it yet. So please, try to stay calm. Amaziah has sought council. Until we know, we have to take precautions.”
“Precautions?” Emma looked at Gabrielle and then to Lizzie, who was rubbing the cross between her fingers. She looked back at Gabrielle and then back at the cross.
Lizzie stopped playing with the pendant. Both women understood at the same time. Lizzie let out her breath hard and put her hand to her mouth as she stared at Lucas.
Emma sat on the edge of the bed. Tears began to spill from her eyes as Gabrielle held her. They stayed like that until they heard footsteps near the room.
Ben, Nate, and Nonie entered, took one look at the scene in front of them, and immediately thought the worst—that Lucas was dead. They didn’t know that death wasn’t necessarily the worst thing that could have happened to him. Lizzie shook her head and hushed them with her finger before they had a chance to say anything. Everyone looked at her, waiting for an explanation. She motioned for Lizzie to take her place next to Emma and stood to face them while she explained what she knew.
“I don’t know everything that happened tonight. But at some point,” she said, speaking through a knot that had been in her chest since she realized that she was purposely distracted by Cecily, “Lucas was attacked by a Qalal.” The room was silent. She knew she couldn’t offer them much more, but she continued talking for lack of knowing what else to do. “There’s something wrong, though.”
Nate spat out a sarcastic snicker. “Like there isn’t something already very wrong about this?”
“Nate Daniels!” That was all Lizzie had to say.
“Of course, Nate, that’s wrong enough. But the real questions are: Why is his heart still beating? And why is he still breathing?”
Nonie stepped forward and walked over to Lucas. She stared at him for a moment before she spoke. “What normally happens?”
“Normally, if the person isn’t killed, their heart would completely stop beating from the infection, their breath would cease, and they would become a Qalal. That’s it. No other variation has ever happened.”
“So what?” Nate asked as he joined his sister. “Lucas is going to live through a vampire attack?” Nate smiled and looked at Gabrielle. “That’s good, right?”
Gabrielle raised her brow and shook her head. “We just don’t know. But with his heart and breath being so slow, it isn’t a good sign he’s going to come out of this unscathed.” Gabrielle was about to say more, but she sensed Amaziah manifesting in the next room. “Amaziah’s here. Maybe now we’ll have an answer,” she said as she looked toward the door.
Amaziah came into the room and walked over to Emma. She stood quickly, throwing her arms around him. “Amaziah. Please help him.”
He moved her back from him slightly and smiled.
“This is something no angel can fix, Emma … I’m sorry.”
Emma sat back on the bed again, and a fresh stream of tears ran quietly down her cheeks.
“What did you find out?” Gabrielle asked.
He nodded to the Daniels family, then turned his attention back to Gabrielle.
“It’s a mystery. Yahuwah knows why he wasn’t killed and why he’s not a Qalal, but not what he will become. That remains to be seen.”
“What do you mean? How can He not know?” Gabrielle sat next to Lucas. She looked at his face. He seemed so peaceful. She couldn’t imagine anything bad was going on beneath his skin—behind his eyes.
“His blood isn’t completely human. It’s part Divine. That’s why he wasn’t killed and why his transformation to a Qalal appears to be only partial.”
“Of course.” Gabrielle stood and walked to the window, raising the blinds. “A Qalal can’t kill an angel or turn them. I hadn’t thought about that.”
Emma spoke, and Gabrielle could hear the hope in her voice when she did. “Then he’ll be okay?”
“Emma,” Amaziah began, “he’s still mostly human. Just how human he remains—we can’t calculate. Yahuwah did not create whatever it is that Lucas will become … which is why even He isn’t sure what Lucas is now. As hard as it’s going to be, we have to wait and see.”
“How long?” The desperation was heavy in Emma’s voice.
Gabrielle closed her eyes to fight back her own tears. She’d messed things up so badly. She should never have chosen to live among humans. This was all her fault, and she couldn’t change any of it.
“We don’t know that either. His body will change, but because of the circumstances, the changes will be very different and may take longer than what’s normal in these cases. Or it may be more brief in its duration. Patience—”
“Amaziah, if you say patience is a virtue, I’ll do anything I can to make you regret it.” Gabrielle didn’t turn to look at her friend, but she felt bad as soon as the words escaped her lips. He was so good to her, and all he was trying to do was comfort everyone the best he could.
She felt his energy draw closer to her until she knew he was right behind her.
“I’m sorry, Amaziah. I didn’t mean to—”
“I know, Gabrielle.” She felt his hands on her shoulders, and she couldn’t hold her tears back anymore.
She turned and buried her face in his shoulder, crying harder than she ever had before. The tears weren’t only for Lucas or their love being in peril but also for her shame. She’d fallen so far. Not like Javan. Not like the thousands of others cast from Heaven, but she’d fallen in her own way. She was so far from what she’d intended that she wasn’t sure where she was going anymore or if Heaven would lend a hand to help her redeem this mammoth mess she created.
She just wanted to cry. To not be strong for herself or anyone else. To feel all her pain, all her shame, all her fears—feel it, and somehow come out the other side with the answers to the problems she faced.
So that’s what she did. She cried into the shoulder of the angel who’d been there through it all and still held his arms out to her. She wasn’t sure how long she wept, but when she let go of Amaziah, the only person left in the room other than Lucas, who still lay just as he did when she put him in bed, was Emma. She had pulled a chair from the front room and was sitting in it, sta
ring at Lucas.
Gabrielle looked into the face that was her friend’s. He smiled warmly at her, and she hugged him tightly. “What would I do without you?”
She felt him chuckle quietly.
“Let’s not find out.” He held her a little longer, and then he made her look at him. “You’re being too hard on yourself, Gabrielle. This isn’t your fault.”
“But it is. If I’d stayed and kept watch over him like I was supposed to, this wouldn’t have happened.”
“But it would.”
Gabrielle looked at him quizzically. “What do you mean?”
“Your vision. The attack on Lucas was going to happen. There were things done by Lucas or the twins, maybe even you, that changed the how of it, but the result was the same.”
“So no matter what I would have done, Lucas was going to be attacked.” Gabrielle paused for a moment to let that fact sink in. “Then what was the point of Yahuwah putting me in his life to protect him?”
“Lucas’s real need for protection and guidance is just beginning.”
“The choice he has to make,” she murmured. The battle for Lucas’s soul, for the existence of every living thing, had begun tonight. And it was her job to help him make the right decision. Maybe, she was the only one who could.
As she watched his resting body, struck by how frail and precious human life truly was, she prayed his love for her, their love for each other, would be enough. If it wasn’t, hope for every living thing was lost.
Chapter Seventy-nine
Gabrielle ~ Awakenings
Two days passed before Lucas began to move, and even then, he didn’t wake.
Gabrielle stayed with him continually, pausing time when she needed to work. No one could predict how Lucas was going to act when he woke, and she didn’t want to take the chance of someone getting hurt.
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