Rose’s voice disappeared and the light behind Cale faded. Sam now knew Rose had been with her in the form of a bouncing bright light every time Cale targeted her. Her Aunt Rose watched over her, doing her best to protect her from him.
Cale tightened his grip on Sam’s forearm, forcing Sam’s thoughts back to his hard face. Am I the only one who heard her?
“Angeling, your time is up.”
“Wait.” Sam stepped closer to Cale, not showing an ounce of fear. “You called me ‘angeling.’ What is an angeling?” Sam stared into his cold eyes, willing him to answer her. Her skin still emitted a magnificent white aura.
“You don’t know what you are?” He laughed. “Look at yourself, you’re glowing.”
“You’re going to kill me,” Sam said. “The least you could do is tell me what I am before you do it. Let me know what I’m dying for.” Sam tried to follow her aunt’s words and find the light within her soul. She stopped concentrating on Cale’s firm hold and directed her focus within. And then it happened. Her light seeped into him through his grip around her arm, just as he had done to her with his touch. Cale turned robotic. She had turned his power around on him. He was under her control now.
***
“Alea, you’ve been reading that book all afternoon. You look exhausted. Take a break.” Evrik stood behind her and put his hands on her shoulders. Alea closed the Virtus Liber and let him guide her shoulders back so her back rested against the puffy beige sofa cushions. She rubbed her temples. Evrik circled the couch and took a seat on the arm.
Evrik thought about the eighteen-year-old girl, grateful Sam was nineteen. He realized he could have sat next to the girl in class or walked by her on campus. Fortunately, they had figured out why the sanguis demon had come to Baltimore. He was in search of a predestined angel. A girl who had no idea how much danger she was in.
“I think Dray and I found something.” Malachi and Draylan descended from the grand staircase and entered the great room, joining Evrik and Alea. “We did some research online. It seems a human child is assigned a protector, someone who watches over her until she turns eighteen.”
“Do you mean like a bodyguard?” Alea asked.
“Sort of,” Malachi said. “The protector is usually a human, with an ability.”
“Like unusual strength?” Alea sank into thought.
Malachi nodded. “The protector stays with the girl until she’s eighteen.”
“Does she keep the same protector for eighteen years?” Evrik asked.
“From what I read, it depends,” Draylan sliced through the conversation. “The protector is usually someone the girl knows. Bummer for the angeling, because the protector’s identity is kept a secret.”
“Dray, did you just say ‘angeling’”? Evrik asked.
Draylan shot Evrik an arrogant smile. “Well, Bro, after further research on my part, it turns out that a human making her transformation into an angel is called an angeling.” Draylan smiled proudly. “Yup, just some heavenly info I found.”
“Yeah, but does this ‘protector’ follow her around for eighteen years? I think I’d figure out something was up if I moved across the country and someone followed me,” Alea said.
“Oh—I got this one, too,” Draylan said. “If the angeling is in a situation where she has to separate from her protector, another protector is assigned to her.”
Alea tapped her pen on the cover of the book. “So this girl may have had more than one protector?”
“I don’t think that matters,” Evrik said. “If we find the protector, then we can find the girl.” Evrik’s eyes flickered with excitement. “Good work, Chi.”
Draylan cleared his throat.
“You too, Dray.”
“I’m happy I could help and all, but how are we going to go about finding an extraordinary human?” Malachi asked. “It’s not like we have a directory.”
“That was good, Bro.” Draylan curled his arm around Malachi’s shoulders. “You made a joke.”
“Seriously guys,” Alea said sharply. “At this very moment the sanguis demon…Cale…whatever his name is, could be seeking this girl out.”
“Alea’s right.” Evrik’s brows dipped. The situation felt too close to home. “We owe it to the girl to find her and warn her.”
“Isn’t that what her protector is for…to protect her?” Draylan said.
“That’s the problem.” Malachi rubbed his forehead. “I totally forgot. There’s a window.”
“What do you mean?” Alea asked.
“She is only protected until she starts to physically change. From the time she starts her change to when she completes the full transformation, she is vulnerable. The angeling stage only lasts a few weeks.” Malachi stared at his friends’ anxious faces. “The protector can’t do anything to save her during that time frame.”
“Why?” Alea asked.
“She has to be totally pure, without the influence of the supernatural world. If her protector were to try to save her during this period, the angeling could be rejected from the divine for not being clean of all impurities. No abilities. Only the purest can assist her. That would be the angels, and they usually don’t intervene.”
“And if she’s rejected?” Alea asked.
“I don’t know. It’s never happened. An angeling is either killed by a demon or…”
“She ascends as an angel,” Alea finished.
Malachi nodded in agreement.
“You can bet Cale knows all of this.” Alea stood up quickly.
“Where are you going?” Malachi followed her.
“To try and create an elixir. We’ve got to find her.”
“If Cale is here, it means the angeling is about to go through the process,” Evrik said.
“Or she’s already started going through the change,” Malachi added.
Alea moved quickly, getting ready to hurdle the steps.
Draylan spoke up. “Um, sorry to crash the party, but I think we need to consider Sam.” No one said a word. Draylan wavered. “Sam’s best friend's a skin-walker.” He hesitated again. “It would explain why Evrik was attracted to a human in the first place. I never could understand why, Bro.”
“No. No. No. No.” Evrik’s words shook the walls. He glared at Draylan. “She’s past the age. Don’t you think I’ve already thought about Sam? With Cale pursing her, Chase being her best friend and her involvement in our world. Sam would be the logical answer, but it can’t be her.”
“I’m just sayin’.” Draylan stepped out of Evrik’s path, palms raised. “I—I could be wrong.”
Alea took her foot off the step and moved next to Evrik. “Evrik, Draylan could be right. It makes sense. I think we just didn't want to accept it.”
Evrik shook his head back and forth in denial. “No. She’s not eighteen. It’s impossible. She would have already gone through the change.”
“Evrik—Cale went after her. He wanted her for some reason.” Malachi touched his friend’s shoulder. “We could be wrong, but if we’re right, we can warn her. Get her somewhere safe until her transformation is complete.”
Minutes of silence went by before Evrik spoke again. “If Sam is the angeling Cale came for, then one of two things will happen—Cale will kill her and she will be taken from me, or she will complete her change and she will be taken from me.” He swallowed back his sick feeling. “Either way, I lose her.”
“Look,” Malachi said, joining Alea on the staircase. “I’m going to access Sam’s birth records, do some digging into her past. Evrik, something’s not adding up. There are too many coincidences surrounding Sam.”
Evrik exhaled. “Let me know as soon as you find out anything.”
Malachi nodded. “Evrik, we’ll figure this out. Either way, together.”
CHAPTER 16
Cale Ember had appeared to her as a stranger on the dark streets of Baltimore and again the next morning on campus. Sam had been drawn to him. Something about his touch made her want to please hi
m. Now she knew why. His touch made his victims want to be his in every sense of the word—seduction—a woman would do anything for him. But now it was different. Sam had turned his ability around on him, gotten him to tell her everything about who she was. She wasn’t just a human. She was powerful, and soon she would be immortal.
Sam stepped out of the woods onto the asphalt pathway leading back to the dorms and ran her fingers along her skin. It was soft and pearly—an illuminating, iridescent gem. She resembled a bright white star. She felt absolutely wonderful.
Even the uncomfortable bumps on her shoulder blades didn’t bother her. She felt her back. Both bumps were larger. Sam made a mental note to wear baggy shirts until her transformation was complete. Wow—it was so much to process. Was she really changing? Had her conversation with Cale really happened? It seemed impossible. But what else would explain the changes she was going through? What else would explain how she felt and looked? If anyone saw her, what would she tell them?
Her eyes slid over to something moving. Someone approached. She recognized him immediately.
“Are you okay?” Chase asked worriedly. His eyes widened. He stared at her skin. “Wow—you look, beautiful.”
“You don’t think I look strange?” She half-smiled. She could hardly convince herself what was happening, so how was she going to explain this to Chase?
“You’re breathtaking.” He mirrored her smile. Chase materialized next to her, running his fingers over her radiant face. “I have never seen you look more beautiful than you do right now, and I’ve always thought you were gorgeous.”
Sam’s pearly cheeks blushed. “Thank you.” She pushed her sleeves all the way up so she could watch her skin glow.
“I was worried about you. I overheard your conversation with that guy on the phone this afternoon. Am I too late? Did you meet him already?” Chase’s forehead lined with worry.
“He’s gone. The guy I was talking to is gone.” Sam turned to face the trees. She didn’t want to tell Chase about Cale. He would be so angry with her. It didn’t matter that Cale had seduced her, taken away her free will. Chase would never forgive her for betraying him.
“Who was that?” Something broke Chase’s focus. She heard the dip in his voice.
She turned back and noticed him staring at her back. Sam wondered whether he could see the bumps.
She rotated back around to face Chase. There was no way around this. She had to tell him. Chase was persistent. He wouldn’t give up until she told him. “His name is Cale, the guy from outside the bar. Remember, the guy you growled at when you were a pit bull.” She laughed, hoping he would stop questioning her. It didn’t work.
“What did he want from you?” he said, not amused. He looked more frightened than angry.
“He wanted to kill her,” Evrik said, appearing from behind a large oak tree. He saw Sam glistening under the stars and stopped short. “Wow, you’re even more magnificent than I could’ve imagined. It’s almost painful how beautiful you are—emanare.”
“What did you say?” Sam looked over her shoulder so she stared directly into Evrik’s beautiful green eyes.
“You look beautiful.” He advanced.
She shook her head. “No—the last word.”
“Emanare. It’s Latin. It means ‘to flow from.’ Angels are said to be divine beings, or emanations.” Evrik lessened the space between them. He moved his hand over her arm, skimming the rays of light emitting from her baby-soft skin.
“So you knew about me? I mean, before now.”
“I just learned about your destiny.” Evrik gazed at her in awe. “We did some research and connected the dots. At first I thought it couldn’t be you, you’re nineteen, but then Malachi looked up your birth records. You aren’t nineteen, you’re only eighteen.”
Sam shook her head. “That can’t be. I have a copy of my birth certificate.”
“I don’t know why you were led to believe you were nineteen, but it’s true. Malachi showed me the proof.”
“So then the change happens at eighteen? Cale conveniently left that part out.”
“I’m sorry you had to find out this way.” Evrik touched her cheek lovingly. “Two weeks ago, when you reached your eighteenth birthday this was all set in motion…and now—”
“I’m changing.” Sam’s eyes skipped over to Chase. “You haven’t asked me why I’m glowing, or even what Evrik and I are talking about. Why aren’t you more shocked?”
“I suspected,” Chase said.
“For how long? Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I didn’t know for sure, well, until now. You’re lighting up the forest.”
“Cale could have killed me tonight.” Sam stared at Chase angrily.
Evrik’s face hardened. “Chase, what is she talking about? You knew she was meeting him and you didn’t protect her?”
“I couldn’t, even if I wanted to. She has started to change. She is glowing, and look at her back.” Evrik spun Sam around and gently lifted up the back of her shirt.
“Unbelievable,” he mumbled.
“Is something wrong?” Sam whipped her head around.
“You’re not just any angeling.” Evrik drew in a deep breath. “You’re special. Your wings—you have more than two.”
“What?” Sam said, completely wide-eyed.
Chase strode over to her. After a quiet moment of gazing at her back he said, “Yup, he’s right. There are two bumps on your shoulder blades—two tiny bumps about six inches below, and two more below them. They form two perfect rows of three.”
“So, I have six wings. What type of deformed angel am I?” She reached back, attempting to feel the four other bumps.
“You’re a Seraph,” Evrik said. “The highest class of angel. Seraphs are said to have such an immense light that anyone who looks at them will ignite.” He ran his fingers over her bumps, tickling the velvety tuffs of her premature feathers.
Sam yanked her sweater down and spun back around. “But you didn’t burst into flames when you saw me.”
“You haven’t taken full form. You’re only a seraph-angeling, not a full-fledged angel.” Evrik scanned her from head to toe. She guessed he was checking to make sure she was okay. “What happened tonight?”
“Cale called me.” Sam shuddered. “He wanted me to meet him here in the woods after dinner. In the same spot where we met last night.”
Chase stepped in front of Evrik, confronting Sam. “Last night. You met this guy last night?”
“He’s approached me a few times,” she said nervously. Chase was going to blow a gasket.
“What?” Chase’s mouth dropped open and his eyes narrowed into slits.
“I’d just woken up from my nightmare of almost being killed by the Kavari leader,” she tried to explain. “I went outside to get some air, and Cale showed up. He led me into the woods. I didn’t want to go with him, but I didn’t have a choice. You’ve got to believe me.”
“God, Sam—why did you go with him?” Chase rubbed his forehead with the tips of his fingers, visibly furious. “Two guys aren’t enough for you,” he shouted.
“Cool it, Chase.” Evrik placed his hand on Chase’s shoulder. “It’s not what you think.”
Chase knocked Evrik’s hand away and stepped up to him. “Well, then, maybe you should fill me in, since you seem to know so much.”
Evrik did his best to explain. “Remember when I told you there was a sanguis demon in town?”
Chase nodded. “Yes, a person doesn’t forget that kind of thing,” he said sarcastically. “You said he was dangerous. You feared for Sam.”
“I never told you what he could do.”
Chase waited.
“He seduces women,” Evrik finally said.
Chase’s eyes bulged. He shot Sam an angry glare. “He seduced you? How?”
Evrik spoke before Sam could answer. “When he touches his prey, his blood seeps into his victim’s bloodstream, putting her under a type of hypnosis. The woman experiences f
eelings of lust and wants to please him.”
Chase’s eyes jumped to Sam and back to Evrik. “So you’re saying that this sanguis demon, Cale, seduced Sam?”
“He lured her out of the bar Friday night. What we couldn’t figure out is why he wanted Sam. She’s human. Most sanguis demons only prey on demonic females. They don’t have any interest in humans. Not to mention, he’d be taking a huge chance entering our world, especially knowing he could be seen by a Lightwarrior. He was here for a specific reason.”
“And Sam’s not just any human. She’s an angeling, and a high-class angeling at that,” Chase said.
“Exactly.”
“So he’s the one who removed her memory?” Chase asked.
“No, he doesn’t have the ability to remove memories. We don’t know who took Sam’s memory,” Evrik said.
“Sam—did he hurt you?” Chase gave Sam the once-over with his eyes.
“No. He tried. He had a knife and a grip on my arm, but then I suddenly felt very powerful. I wasn’t scared of him.” She took a breath. “Somehow I knew he couldn’t hurt me. Then from somewhere deep within, I started to glow. I seemed to have turned his ability around on him. He wanted to please me, not the other way around. I asked him what I was. He told me, and then he left.”
Chase sank into a concentrated stance. “Back up to the part about him seducing you.”
“Chase, it was out of my control,” Sam argued, stomping off in the direction of the dorms.
Chase quickly stepped in front of her. His posture stiffened. There was no way around him. “What happened last night? You said he lured you out here into the woods, but for what?”
She covered her mouth, fighting tears.
Chase removed her hand. “What happened, Samantha?”
“He was trying to get close to me,” she yelled at him. “Apparently, there’s a small window of time from when I begin my transformation to when it’s complete that I am vulnerable to be killed. Like I said—he was trying to get close to me. I assume it was to make me feel comfortable with him so that he could kill me when the time came. I guess that time was tonight. I don’t know for sure. But I’m fine.” Sam extended her arms, showing Chase she didn’t have a single mark on her. She lowered her voice. “There. Are you happy now?”
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