Tainted Legacy (YA Paranormal Romance) (36 page)

“Do you all eat so much?” she asked with a teasing smile.

Gabe smiled back despite himself. “Probably.” He did not admit to her that he would not eat quite so much if it weren’t for the fact his body was constantly needing to regenerate from one affliction or another these days. He knew that would make her upset and he didn’t want that.

“Are you immortal? Please tell me you’re not some hundred year old man trapped in the gorgeous body of a teenager,” Ava joked, trying to lighten the morose mood.

She only managed to baffle Gabe who looked appalled. “Why would you
ask
that? And if I was, and you’re only seventeen, wouldn’t that make me a bit of a pedophile no matter how young I look?”

“One would think but that always seems to happen in the books that Molly reads,” Ava admitted. “So you’re not?”

He gave her a peculiar look. “No, I’m not immortal and I’m really only nineteen. However, Nephilim are hard to kill and we do tend to live longer. Typically over a hundred.” He gave her a pointed look. “But we do age accordingly. We age well,” he stressed, “but accordingly.”

“Good to know. Did Nephilim used to be taller? In the Bible it states that they were giants.”

Gabe shrugged. “Maybe but I don’t think so. But remember that back then the average man was a whole lot shorter than they are these days. So if a group of Nephilim showed up, they’d definitely stand out.”

“So,” Eva said curiously, “I know you think you have siblings you’ve never met but have you met any other Nephilim?”

Gabe shook his head. “No. There aren’t that many of us.”

“Why not?”

“Well,” Gabe said as he hesitated. A crimson stain appeared across his cheeks. Ava raised her eyebrows. She’d never in the months she’d known him, seen Gabe blush.en pan>

“Demons?” Ava gently prompted.

“Yes,” Gabe agreed, humiliation coloring his voice. “There’s no dilution through the bloodline. But that also means our numbers are pretty low.”

Ava nodded. “That makes sense.”

“Anything else?” Gabe wondered and looked as though he hoped there wasn’t.

“Rafe? Have you always not gotten along? Don’t get me wrong. I think it’s a good thing because it just proves how different the two of you are. How good you are and how…well, how much like Azael he is.”

“If I told you my mother bought me a puppy when I was three, to try to pry my humanity out of me and that a few weeks later that same puppy was in a box next to my bed hacked into a dozen pieces courtesy of Rafe, would that help explain things?”

“Yes,” Ava said, suddenly feeling ill at the thought. Gabe rubbed her back, willing the feeling away.

“I know with unequivocal certainty that if Rafe was capable of using his persuasion on me, I’d have been talked into chopping off my own fingers by now. Or possibly even my own head,”
Gabe told her only half joking. “But you’re right. The fact that we don’t get along, that we never have, it proves how different we are.” He ran his hand across his face, as if trying to wipe away memories. “He always used to think it was because I was envious and maybe I was. I always felt so weak compared to him. But mostly I just felt different. Rafe always complied because he wanted to. I did what Azael asked because he forced me to.”

“That proves there has been good in you all along, even if you’ve had trouble seeing it. It’s been there,” Ava assured him. “After tomorrow, with your father taken care of, you can live the rest of your life realizing that.”

Gabe tensed and Ava felt it.

“You’re supposed to have faith, remember,” Ava gently reprimanded. When Gabe nodded she continued. “You
need
to have faith.”

“That evil will fail and good will prevail?” Gabe asked cryptically.

“Yes,” Ava replied with certainty. “But that does leave the issue of your brother.”

“What about him?” Gabe wondered.

“Will he be coming after us?”

If they did manage to trap Azael, would Rafe still be an issue? Gabe didn’t think so. He had no real interest in Gabe and Ava, other than those that fell under his father’s orders. <’ause I /font>

“I can’t say for certain but if Azael is contained I think Rafe will move on. He’s too lazy to follow through on something that won’t directly benefit him.” He hoped this to be true.

“Is there any defense against him?” she wanted to know.

“None that you would be capable of,” Gabe warned. His stomach tied itself into one giant, aching knot. He did not like where this conversation was headed.

“How do you kill a Nephilim?” Ava pressed. “Besides drowning them in a flood.”

He eyed her warily. “Is this in regard to my brother? Or is this just for general knowledge?”

“General knowledge.”

“
You
can’t.” Gabe’s tone was firm. The last thing he needed was to think Ava was contemplating going after his brother. “And whatever you do, don’t ever look him in the eye.”

“Noted and moving on,” Ave said with a curt nod. “It is possible. Grier said as much.”

Gabe sighed. “Decapitation. Total evisceration. 
Exsanguination.”

“Exsanguination?” Ava asked with a grimace.

For the millionth time Gabe felt ill at the part he had played at pulling someone as sweet and innocent as Ava into this wretched mess. He needed to get her out of it. It was his
responsibility
to get her out of it. It was the only way for him to atone for pulling her in.

“Total and complete blood loss,” he finally explained when he realized she was waiting for an answer.

“Is that even possible?” she wondered, looking horrified.

“It is. I believe it’s the chosen method of the archangels.”

Ava remembered the blood that had poured from Gabe at Grier’s hands. Exsanguination did indeed seem like an angelic alternative. She shuddered at the thought. “Those are the only ways?”

“Impaling the heart, causing an immediate cessation of the heartbeat also works.”

“So any way you look at it, killing a Nephilim is messy business.”

“Yes.”

They sat in silence, the immensity of the situation weighing heavily on both of their moods. Gabe had a choice to make aoict siznd both had treacherous outcomes. He could put his faith, his almost non-existent faith, in a higher power and let that guide him on his almost hopeless path of trying to trap a demon. A path that had such an unlikelihood of succeeding that Gabe was terrified he’d be sacrificing so much for nothing.

The other choice was equally as unthinkable in its own way. But it was the only choice he knew with certainty that Ava would not suffer. He could make her death swift and nearly painless.

Ava had told him once that there were some things in life that you needed to get right the first time. There were no do-overs. If ever there was a time in his life to get something right, this was it. He sighed wearily, feeling defeated.

“I can’t take this anymore,” Ava said as she jumped up.

Gabe looked at her, alarmed, fearful that somehow she, too, had seen into his thoughts.

“I thought talking would help but it’s not. It’s only making me think too much,” she quietly explained as she grabbed his hand. “What I really need is a distraction.”

“What kind of distraction?” Gabe wondered—curious— as Ava led him to the bedroom. She pulled him down onto the bed with her. “Are you asking me to corrupt you?” he teased.

Ava didn’t smile when she answered. “You could corrupt me just a little. Because if not now, when? I may not live to see next week.”

It was the truth and he knew he should be appalled. But he wasn’t. He chided himself for being just evil enough not to care.

Chapter 24

“I hate this,” Ava said, not for the first time. “I hate this so much. I’m not used to feeling so helpless.” She hated the idea of doing nothing, yet she knew that if she were to try to intervene, she would likely only get in the way.

“I know,” Gabe agreed. “But this isn’t really your fight. It’s mine. It
has
to be mine so whatever happens, you need to trust me.”

She nodded. “I realize we’ve gone over this a dozen times but I just need to hear it once more before we get there,” Ava said. “I know you asked me not to engage in conversation with him. You don’t need to worry about that. I don’t intend to.”

She had barely slept the night before, only dozing off for a few hours at dawn. Yet, being tired did not even cross her mind. She had no way of knowing that Gabe had not slept at all. Once Ava had fallen asleep, he had simply watched her; not wanting to miss a single second of holding her as their time together came to an end.

The day was over far too soon. She was sitting on his lap, her arm looped across his shoulder, his arms wrapped tightly around her. She was trying, unsuccessfully, to not appear as terrified as she felt. She was, after all, about to come face to face with a demon. A demon that wanted her dead. Not even being this close to Gabe could completely calm her fears.

Gabe patiently went over the plan one more time. “Grier has already placed the sigils in the church. She carved them with a special blade. Once the etchings are set, she traces over them in her blood. That’s where she is right now. When I was with Azael last night, I agreed to hand you over to him. That’s why he was willing to give us twenty-four hours. He’ll meet us there. As much as I hate it, we will essentially have to use you as bait. With any luck, he’ll walk into the church, into the trap. The plan is simple. The question is whether not it will work, meaning whether or not it will hold.”

When Ava didn’t speak after several long, drawn out moments Gabe dared a glance at her.

“What aren’t you telling me?” she asked.

“What do you mean?”

“You won’t look at me. It’s like you’re hiding something.”

“What would I be hiding?” Gabe asked, trying to look at her this time. He couldn’t. His eyes slipped away from her face.

“Gabe?” Her voice had taken on an edge of something that went far beyond simple concern.

“We must go.”

Ava startled in Gabe’s lap at the sound of Grier’s voice. “I wish you would use a door,” she muttered.

“I have no use for a door. Are you ready?” She directed this question to Gabe. He shook his head and closed his eyes. He would never be ready for what he knew was to come.

Ava slid her fingers under his chin. He opened his eyes to meet hers. “Have faith. Remember? You promised me.”

He nodded because he could not speak.

“How are we getting there?” Ava asked. “I don’t have my car.”

“I need a car as much as I need a door,” Grier reminded her. She reached for Gabe and Ava, grabbing each of them by an elbow. In the next breath they found themselves in a dilapidated church that Ava vaguely remembered from her childhood.

The pews had all been pulled out. The inside was covered with years of dust and grime. The bare walls looked desolate. They stood in the middle of the building, in the nave. The doors leading out into an unkempt lawn on one end, the single step leading up to the altar on the other.