The Nephilim: Book One (8 page)

"I got her out of there!"
Mona snapped back.

"Never mind," he growled,
standing and moving around behind the couch, "Sophie," his voice had
softened again, "I don’t want you to be alarmed by this, all right?"

Sophie snorted, "I don’t think
you need to worry about that at this point."

The man placed his hands on her
shoulder blades, and she braced herself for pain, but none came. Where before
even the slightest contact had made her cry out, now the entire weight of his
hands did quite the opposite. Warmth poured over her, and she melted. When he
took his hands away, she rolled her shoulders freely and smiled,
"Wow."

"So you’re...human," Adam
scratched at his chin as he came around before them and dropped into the chair
across from her.

"What? Yes, I mean, what else
would I be?" With the pain gone, Sophie felt a bit freer and screwed up
her face at his comment.

Adam glanced at the glass box then
back to the girls, "That gives me an idea."

***

Even as Michael entered the
elevator he could feel the tension he would walk into twelve stories above.
Something had gone awry, something big. They rarely met in the middle of the
day and never in the apartment. He ran a hand through his disheveled hair,
remembering the satisfaction he’d got when last here. He was almost able to
taste the sweetness of her blood again on his tongue and gave his fangs a quick
lick.

The bell rang and the doors opened,
pulling Michael back into the moment. He’d left the apartment at Mona’s behest,
not really wanting to witness or take part in the aftermath of what he’d done.
It wouldn’t have been like when others changed, he knew, and it would, perhaps,
not even work. But Naomi’s summons was foreboding. Then again, she was like
that and these were unusual times. Perhaps he’d overthought the whole thing.

Simon leaned against the wall just
inside the apartment, his hands shoved deep in his pockets, head hanging with black
hair shielding dark eyes. Michael began to greet him, but Simon shook his head.
So, the situation was that grave.

As Michael scanned the room he
found Grant sitting in a high backed chair, tense and unreadable as always,
gripping the armrests. His only movement came from his fingertips, pawing
gently at the overstuffed material. Rose sat on the couch, her legs crossed,
lips pursed. She stared directly at Michael, but he couldn't tell whether she
was happy to see him or completely furious. Danielle sat beside her, fidgeting
with her hair and bouncing a leg up and down. Nerves always got the best of
her, but then she was new to all of this.

Michael huffed, annoyed by the
silence. "What's going on?" he asked no one in particular.

"She's gone!"

Everyone cringed at Naomi’s voice.
Danielle even jumped up, accidentally attracting Naomi’s irate gaze. The girl’s
lip quivered for a minute before Rose pulled her down again.

Michael noted the missing bodies,
but asked anyway, "Who's gone?"

Naomi eyed him, "Mona, Sophie,
both of them," she snarled the names through grit teeth, "Just
disappeared!"

"Disappeared?" Michael
was skeptical, "Two women just don't disappear. You mean to tell me the
one, two...five of you can't find them?"

Naomi snarled then turned away.
Rose sighed and spoke quietly, "We tried to find the brat, but the book's
not reacting at all. And that bitch ran off last night as well. I had a feeling
she would after the way she was acting. We've looked everywhere for her, but
she’s just gone."

Michael grunted at Rose,
"Mona, you mean?"

"Yes. That bitch."

Naomi cut in, striding up and down
the room, "I should have followed my instincts with that girl. We played
it much too safe with that little princess. I should have tied her up myself
and force fed her."

Danielle perked up slightly,
"But we've got the book!" She held up the leather bound tome from the
coffee table.

Naomi glared at her and she set it
back down. "We get one thing, we lose another! The book's no good to us
without the girl." She rounded on Michael then, "How did she look
when you were here?"

"Tired," he answered
absently, "But not like she could have gotten up and left."

"Well, she did!" Naomi
snapped, “All because you wouldn’t listen!”

“What?” he grimaced, “You were the
one wanted to speed things along.”

Rose laughed quietly, “He never has
been one for knowing when to hold back.”

Naomi took in a staggered breath
and turned away with a huff, "This changes everything. You’ve all got new
roles now, and don’t expect any of this to be easy. I want Sophie found and
brought to me."

"And Mona?" Michael asked
impulsively.

They all waited for Naomi to give
the order as she stared at the floor. She ran a finger over her lips then
smiled, "If you see the traitor, kill her."

Chapter 7

"Are you nervous?"

Adam’s presence beside Sophie was
comforting, if only mildly, but of course she was nervous. She knew he knew it,
but she wouldn’t say. Instead, she shook her head, "Are you?"

"A bit," he sighed.

"But you’re sure about
this?" Mona pressed just as she had back at the little brick house.

"Yes. It’s been quiet since I
left." Adam lingered on the word and looked far out ahead of them into the
gray mist.

Heaven, Sophie thought to herself.
Since he left Heaven. Adam had glossed over it, and, with concern for the
white-haired girl mounting in her chest, she hadn’t probed him, but he had most
certainly admitted to originating from, well, somewhere north of here. And why
would she question, at this point, Heaven’s existence? She’d stepped through a
rift in space and time—nothing was surprising anymore.

But still, she’d been given a
strange task to perform in a strange place. They weren’t leaving the
Transcendental Plane he assured her, despite that that meant little, but were
again peregrinating, or traveling from location to location making just a small
crack in space. Their destination was one of several places where a permanent
access point to Heaven had been established. It didn’t go directly into Heaven,
that would be too risky, but it was important enough to be guarded. The
locations were secret, known through a set of symbolic coordinates like those
he had slipped to her in the library, but he had said ‘secret’ like it meant
something different here. Apparently, Adam had been part of a regiment
stationed at one of these locations. He’d rushed through the explanation,
imparting that they had reserves at these bases, including a serum to
counteract what the strigori venom was attempting to do to Verrine’s body. But
they couldn’t just ask for it.

“Can we go over it one more time?”

Adam nodded, “Of course. You’ll be
posing as a regular human woman.”

“I
am
a regular human
woman,” Sophie reminded him, a slight lilt to her voice.

Adam and Mona traded glances and
then he focused back on her, “Right. So, you’re going to wander onto the base
and pretend you have no idea where you are.”

Sophie’s lip twitched, “I
don’t
have any idea where I am.”

“And you’re going to let them fawn
all over you and ask you questions and you’re just going to tell them you can’t
remember anything.”

“I
can’t
remember anything,”
Sophie said exasperatedly.

“Well, it should be easy then,”
Mona crossed her arms and eyed Adam, “And you’re positive they’re just going to
let her waltz in? Dressed like that?”

Sophie’s clothing was still
bloodstained despite that her body had been healed.

“Trust me. It happened on occasion,
a human getting lost up here. They have little control over their souls when
they face trauma and sometimes go wandering off. They won’t be expecting her
actual body up here, so they won’t check. Interference with passive souls is
supposed to be prohibited, but they tend to get very excited when humans
randomly show up, so they indulge themselves by asking harmless questions
instead of investigating. They like humans since it’s their business to protect
them.”

“It is?” Mona gave him a knowing
look.

“For these ones,” he spoke sharply
then looked away, “At least some of them.”

“Okay, I’m ready,” Sophie broke in,
suddenly feeling the urge to be through with the task. She started to step
forward into the mist when a hand gripped her wrist.

It was Adam, and when she looked
back at him, he immediately released her, shoving his tattooed hands into his
back pockets, “Sorry. I just...it’s going to be fine.” His face was a little
redder than normal and he let himself hunch over a bit. His eyes were battling
to stay on her, but kept finding the floor, and she realized he was telling
himself more than her.

She smiled, “I know.”

They all continued on together
until they could make out the very faintest shadow of a building in the
distance. It was a short structure with a few others surrounding it, very
square and very simple. Unlike the little brick house, it did not remind her of
anything on Earth. Instead, it looked almost like a cartoon, or as if someone
had been told to build a house without having ever seen one. Around the
buildings, a short wall ran, and two figures haphazardly lounged against it.

“It’s a bit more lax than I
remember,” Adam dropped his voice to a whisper.

“Is that...music?” Mona screwed up
her face as she gazed upward, her ear toward the camp.

Sophie began to hear it too, a
far-off, spirited sound, not completely unfamiliar.

“Oh,” Adam had found the sound as
well, “Oh, this is great. They’re having a party.”

Mona snorted, “Excuse me?”

Adam smiled and shook his head,
“Every now and then the bases would throw themselves get-togethers. Especially
when they’d become interested in certain human things,” he looked thoughtful
for a moment, “They especially enjoyed doing Christmas once.” Sophie watched
him reminisce then come crashing back into the present, “Anyway, this is
perfect. They’ll be paying even less attention, and the commanders are likely
gone.”

Sophie took a deep breath, “Okay,
this is it.” She stepped forward quickly, so as not to be stopped again, and
found herself free of the mists almost immediately. She bit her lip and
squinted as she walked toward the buildings and the figures there, fighting the
urge to glance back at the safety of where Mona and Adam hid.

She began to make out the
characteristics of the two just to the side of the only break in the wall. A
tall man leaned with his chin against his chest and one foot crossed over the
other. Dark hair obscured his face and he appeared unmoving. Beside him, atop
the wall, a woman was sprawled out with her eyes closed and mouth hanging open.
If Sophie hadn’t thought better, she would have sworn the woman were asleep.

Yet, neither moved as she took
another step in their direction. Of course, they weren’t looking at her, or
really anywhere. She glanced about for other guards, but this seemed to be it,
and she cleared her throat timidly.

The man shifted but was otherwise
unaffected.

Sophie furrowed her brow and spoke
in a delicate whisper, “Um, excuse me?”

“What’d you say, Ariel?” mumbled
the man without raising his head.

The woman grunted, “I didn’t say
nothin.”

Sophie balled her fists and placed
them on her hips. This really was ridiculous. “That wasn’t her, it was me.”

The man lifted his head, drowsy
eyes beneath a fall of black, curled hair. When they focused on her, they
widened, and he pushed himself up to his full height. In a swift motion, he
took up a long spear that had been sitting camouflaged atop the wall and
leveled it at her, its massive axe blade falling inches from her chest.

“Demon, demon!” the woman’s voice
called out as she suddenly thrashed against the wall, losing her balance and
falling off on the far side. Without hesitation, she popped back up and tried
to throw herself over the stones but slammed into an invisible barrier, falling
backward. With a little screech, she scrambled to her feet and hurried around
and through the opening in the gate, coming up beside the man and going for the
sword strapped to her side.

“Stop.” The man held out a hand to
the woman, the other holding his halberd aligned with Sophie’s heart. “This is
not a…” his voice quieted and he narrowed dark eyes at her, cocking his head,
“I’m sorry, what’s your name, darling?”

Sophie glanced down at the halberd
then back up at him. He smiled, full lips on an angular, hard-set jaw adorned
with the dark stubble of a few day’s neglect, and drew back the weapon. She let
out a short breath and searched her mind. They’d come up with a pseudonym for
her, but what was it? Her heart raced and her mouth went dry. “Sara.” That had
definitely not been it.

“Ah,” the man gestured to her,
“See, Ariel, this is not a demon, it’s a Sara. Or, as you’d more likely call
it, a human.”

“No,” the woman’s jaw dropped and
her whole, round face lit up, “Well, hello, you cute thing!” She reached out
and pat Sophie’s head, her green eyes sparkling from below heavy, cat-like
lids. She had dark skin and a wide, rounded nose with a mane of untamed
brunette hair. She and the man wore the same outfit, a pair of black pants and
a light gray, high collared jacket with a line of thick buttons up its middle,
but it fit her differently, tight against her full hips and exposing an inch or
so of her stomach. She wore the jacket closed to her neck and it stretched taut
across her breasts as opposed to the man whose top four buttons were undone
revealing the tanned, olive skin of his chest.

“Hi,” Sophie swallowed hard and
tried to smile.

The man replaced his halberd onto
the wall, “I bet you’re a little confused as to where you are.”

“Yes!” Sophie responded a bit
louder than she intended then quickly dropped her voice to a hush, “Um, yeah, I
just kind of was here suddenly.”

“Let me guess,” he squinted at her
and placed a long finger against his lips, “Car accident?”

“What?”

“Wait, could you please just,” he
twirled his finger, and she spun around slowly as directed.

“Hm, perhaps someone stabbed you?”
he asked offhandedly, his voice low and thick.

Sophie stuttered a moment, “I, uh,
I don’t know what you mean.”

“Never mind,” he waved his hand at
the air, “This is just a dream, so you may as well enjoy it while you’re here.”
With a grand gesture, he offered her his arm.

Sophie gently took his elbow,
fighting the urge to look back into the mists for her friends.

“You mean we’re taking her inside,
Sraosha?” The woman called Ariel popped up on Sophie’s other side

“Of course!” he smiled broadly,
“We’ve got to report this to the datha right away. And get someone to take over
our post.”

“Yes!” Ariel jumped in place and
clasped her hands in fists before her then shot a shrewd look to Sraosha,
“Anything to see Tabbris, huh?”

He took in long breath through his
nose and started walking toward the building, “Ah, yes. But first, some fun.”

The music became louder, a mix of
horns and thumping drums, and Sophie could see the brightness of the lights
shining from below the double doors ahead of them. There were voices too, all
jumbled together with raucous laughter. The sounds could not have prepared her,
however, for what she saw when the doors were opened.

Music and lights hit her and she
would have stumbled backward if she hadn’t been linked arm in arm with Sraosha.
It was loud, incredibly loud, and bodies were flying everywhere, men and women
both somersaulting and tossing one another through the air. Despite the force
with which they were propelled, they landed on their feet and returned to an
anxiously waiting partner to continue. They shouted wildly across the room,
cheering their counterparts on and clapping in rhythm with the music. These
were angels.

After the initial shock, Sophie’s
senses allowed her to focus on the individuals and specifically their fairly
militant clothing, though starkly different from Sraosha and Ariel’s, about
half of them wore. Regardless of gender, khaki, button up shirts with matching
ties and wide-legged trousers were the outfit of choice for many, and only a
few had succeeded in keeping the corresponding khaki hats on their heads as
many laid strewn about the floor. The others were dressed less soldierly, in
high-waisted pants or knee length, billowy skirts and short sleeved blouses,
leaving little to the imagination as they flipped through the air.

“You caught us on a good day,”
Sraosha spoke into her ear above the ruckus, “We won the war!”

“What war?” She looked over at him
and, with a wide an unapologetic grin, he shrugged. He too was suddenly dressed
as the others in khaki from head to toe, and a quick glance at Ariel proved she
had somehow also changed. “How did you?” she pointed at them with her mouth
hanging open.

Ariel shrugged and grabbed her
hand, repositioning her finger to point at herself and Sraosha laughed, “Dreams
are unpredictable, Sara.”

Sophie’s clothing had been
replaced. She had felt nothing, seen nothing, but there she stood, suddenly and
inexplicably adorned in a navy blue and white polka dotted dress that fell just
below her knees. Before she could ask for an explanation, Sraosha had guided
her out onto the dance floor, holding both of her hands in his and began
pulling her toward him and twirling her away in time with the music. Ariel was
beside her, a grin plastered across her full face, and she too was dancing with
another, a woman in red and white stripes. Sophie’s breathing quickened as she
stumbled slightly and then was caught. She growled to herself, how was she
letting this happen again?

“You’re not too bad,” Sraosha
shouted to her over the music.

Sophie offered him a weak smile
before he reached out and grabbed her hips, lifting her up. She flailed,
snatching at his shoulders as he raised her above his head. The angel laughed,
letting her down, and she grabbed handfuls of his shirt, shaking her head.

“Are you all right?” he managed
between barely stifled guffaws.

Sophie released him, taking a sharp
breath, “Uh, bathroom. Please.”

“Oh, yes, you might think you need
that.” He directed her to a hall jutting off from the main room, and she went
down it. As she reached the door marked ‘Dolls’ she glanced back and could see
she’d stepped out of his line of sight. Biting her lip, she tiptoed past the
bathroom entrance. A corridor ran left and right at the hall’s end, and she
slipped around the corner unseen.

The walls here were stark white and
lit by a glaring source. The sounds of the dance hall were muffled into near
silence, and even Sophie’s footsteps sounded distant as she made her way down
the narrow enclosure. Predictably, when she glanced at herself she was again
adorned in her bloodied shirt and jeans. That room, she could only presume, was
somehow enchanted, and she was glad to be out of it. As she came to another
corner and turned, she saw Adam passing into one of the rooms off of the hall.
She quickened her steps and turned into the room, her mind reeling, “Oh, Adam,
am I glad to see you.”