Celestial Beginnings (Nephilim Series) (36 page)

She was stunned into silence, and eventually sagged onto the back of the couch.
He watched as she shut her eyes and took several deep breaths.

“Say something.”

She opened her eyes and glared in his direction. “What would you like me to say? I’m on the fence here, Malachi. On one hand, I want to believe you, but on the other, I want to call the closest mental institution so they can give you your own nice little padded cell.”

Malachi pulled up the stool so he could sit and face her.
“Why would I lie to you?”

“I don’t know.”
She shook her head, but he noticed her eyes starting to tear up.

“Just let me tell you my story, okay?
Then I will answer any questions you have.” He grabbed her hands that were in front of her, and was relieved when she didn’t pull away.

When she nodded her acceptance, he began slowly.
“My great-grandfather was one of the original fallen angels. He, like the rest of them, took on his human form to be able to mate with a human female. Because of this, my grandfather, Isac, was conceived. He was a nasty excuse for a man, pure evil. They say he was twenty feet tall and could knock down trees with just a swipe of his arm. Some reports say that he had an extra row of teeth needed to crush the bones of the victims he chose to eat. Somehow, I think that might have been a myth made up to scare children.”

“Anyway, he made it to be 2,047 years old before he was shoved into a volcano out of spite.”
Trinity’s eyes grew to the size of half dollars at his statement.

“Who would do something like that?”

“Do not have pity for that man. All nephilims were born evil, but some were worse than others. Reports say that he was one of the worst ones out there. Many people wanted to have the chance to off him, but apparently it was my grandmother, also a nephilim, that had the privilege.”

At her scandalized look, he jumped to explain.

“Yeah, what a great family tree I have.
I guess he over powered her one day and raped her. That was why she did it, but it was also how my mother was conceived.”

He tried to keep his emotions controlled, but it was always hard when he talked about the woman that gave birth to him.
There was always mixed feelings when it came to her. Something must have shown on his face, because she squeezed his hand, letting him know that she was still with him.

I’ve been told that Leah, my mother, was a kind-hearted person.
She was still taller than most humans at 13 feet, but lived in the mountains so she wouldn’t have to try and blend in with a town’s population. Researchers have done studies on why some second generation nephilims were not as evil as the first, and they’ve chalked it up to the human genetics were slowly taking over. They were still just as strong and just as fast, but smaller with smaller aggression levels as well.

Trinity spoke up in a tiny voice.
“You said your mom passed away. How old was she when she died?”

He didn’t look up at her, but stared at their clasped hands.
“4,375.” He noticed her subtle flinch but chose to ignore it.

“How long are you going to live?”

“Until God seems fit to take me, just like everyone else.”

“You know what I mean.”

“We can only be killed when our hearts are destroyed. My mother stayed away from civilization, so she stayed alive the longest.”

“We?
Who’s ‘we’?”

He inwardly groaned, not wanting to get to that part yet.
“My team, we belong to an organization that has numerous nephilims all over the world, fighting against all things evil.”

Her eyebrows came together.
“So…you don’t work for a protection agency?”

“Yes, but not in the way you’re thinking.”

“You mean the way you lead me to believe?” She was angry for his deception and he couldn’t blame her.

“Yes”

“Was anything you told me the truth?” With this, she tried to pull her hands away, but he wasn’t letting go.

“Yes!
I tried never to outright lie to you if I didn’t have to. I am still the same person you fell in love with, and I was not lying when I told you that I loved you.”

“Ok, and how many women have you told that to in all your, what is it, 328 years?”

“One, two as of last night.” He was not going to lie to her anymore. “I was twenty and thought the sun rose and set around her. Now I know that I was being young and stupid, because I can never remember feeling this out of control with her. It feels like I’m spinning at warp speed with nothing to hold onto. All it takes is one look from you to make my heart speed up. That’s how you make me feel.”

She gave one of her shy smiles he loved so much, and took a deep breath before returning her hands to his.

“I need to know. When you say, evil of all kinds, what do you mean?”

He hated to inform people about that.
This is one of the situations where the saying “ignorance is bliss” is actually true. Deciding he had already gone so far, he couldn’t stop now. “There is a war of good versus evil going on as we speak; God and his army, Satan and his. You’ve probably heard all about it in church, but it’s no joke. Demons of all forms terrorize mankind in the hopes to turn people over to their side; it’s the whole “evil breeds evil” thing. They possess people or corrupt souls that were already close to crossing over. Sometimes they even cross over and change forms to blend in and cause havoc that way. The corporation I work for assigns nephilims on different missions to prevent this as much as possible.”

“Wow, there are so many questions to that.”
She thought for a minute. “So all your team members are nephilims too? How old are they?”

He laughed.
“Let’s just say, I’m the baby of the group.”

Her mouth formed a perfect “O” until it transformed to one of confusion.
“No offense, but how did you become head of the group, if you’re younger than everyone else. Wouldn’t age be a factor in that?”

“They like to have an exalted nephilim as leader of the groups.”
The bitterness was not something he could hide. He liked being head of the team, but sometimes wondered if he really deserved it, or was it just his DNA.

“How is that different?”

“An exalted one has one parent that is a nephilim and the other is an angel or a demon. Only Gideon and I are exalted.”

“Why is he not in charge?
Once again, no offense.” She added quickly.

Malachi sighed.
“It’s not for his lack of trying, but it’s because he has a demon for a parent while I have an angel. The people in charge consider him a more volatile risk.”

“Your father was an angel?”
She asked in definite shock.

“Yeah.
I don’t remember him. He met my mother when he saved her from a pack of wolves one day. They saw each other here and there after that. He never stayed long enough on earth to be overly corrupted. Anyway, she became pregnant with me. When I was five, she gave him the option to finally stay with them or not to come back.” Malachi shrugged his shoulders, trying to show indifference. “He chose heaven.”

Trinity’s voice was entirely sympathetic as she reached up to caress his face.
“Malachi, I’m so sorry.”

“Don’t be.
I don’t even know his name. All he told my mother was that he was a prince in God’s army, and his name was not important. She was okay with that, so whatever.” He shrugged again. “Plus, who wouldn’t choose heaven if given the choice?”

“Me.
Not if my family was somewhere else.”

He gave her a small smile.
“That’s nice, but you have no idea. I heard it’s very alluring.”

“How did your mom take it when he left?”

Malachi tried to pull away, but it was her this time that held onto him.

“What happened?”

“She didn’t take it well.” Closing his eyes, he tried to fight the memory. “She snapped and decided to raid the nearest village, killing as many people as she could. Eventually they stopped her though. Once they got her unconscious…”

“They burned her.”
She finished his story and looked utterly taken back.

“How did you know that?”
He looked at her warily.

“I dreamt it.
I was hiding behind a tree next to the village.” She pulled her hands away to bury her face in them. “That was one of the worst ones.”

Malachi stared in disbelief.
She had mentioned this in the hospital, but it wasn’t the same as her describing actual events from his past. Snapping out of it, he grabbed onto her and pulled her up as he stood. He then turned around so he could sit and place her on his lap. She wrapped her arms around him and buried her face in his neck. “I’m so sorry you had to go through that. It was awful.”

“Yes it was, but it was a long time ago.”
As the silence stretched on, he hoped she wasn’t remembering all her other dreams and realizing that they were all his memories as well. Unlikely, he thought. It wouldn’t be long before she caught on. He found himself feeling utterly exposed. She now knew more about him than anybody ever has, and probably ever would.

She sniffed into his neck.
“Do you have a sword?”

Damn!
“It’s called a falchion, a cusped falchion to be exact.”

She said nothing, but gripped him tighter.
Dammit!!

“How is this possible?”
Her voice was so muffled by his neck, he almost didn’t understand her.

“Terah thinks it might have to do with…”
How was he supposed to tell her this? She could hate him. Sure he saved her life that day, but at what cost?

“What?”
This had her sitting up to look at him.

Malachi sighed in resignation and proceeded to tell her about what was discussed in the hospital; the river, his essence, her and him being connected…everything.

“This is insane.”

“I wish I could tell you it was, but there are things…”

“What sort of things?”
Her voice was filled with wonder and mixed with a little bit of panic as well.

“There are times when you talk to me with your thoughts.”
Malachi rushed on to clarify. “It hasn’t happened that often. I usually can only do it with the other nephilims I’m close to, but I can hear you as well. Not all the time, just when you had unknowingly addressed a thought to me.”

Trinity gaped at him, but then he heard it.

No you can’t.

He looked at his lap and started to play with a stud on her jeans.
“Yes I can.” He mumbled, not wanting to upset her, but still needing her to know.

“Holy shit!
That’s kind of an invasion of privacy you know?” All he did was purse his lips, still not wanting to look at her. It took a minute, but he felt the aggression slowly melt away from her. “Do you do it on purpose?” Her voice was considerably more controlled.

“Never!
It’s just as if you were talking to me.”

“Wow!”
She breathed out. Trinity sat for a moment, deep in thought, then she laid back against his chest. “It’s a lot to digest, isn’t it?”

He wrapped his arms around her and held on tight.
He was glad that she finally believed him, but this next part was not going to be easy for her to hear. Once everything was laid out in front of her, she would finally understand why she was better off to steer clear of him. “There’s more.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me.
What more could there possibly be?” She asked in a sort of comic disbelief.

“It’s important.”

The tension was back in his body, and she must have caught on because she quickly sobered up. “Okay.”

“There were around two hundred angels that “fell” that day with my great grandfather.
Out of all of them, he was one of the worst, defied God the moment his feet touched earth. It was even said that he defeated the archangel Michael in a fight. No one beats Michael, that’s how strong he is.”

“Was, how strong he was.
You talk as if he’s still around.”

“No, I meant what I said; because he is, Trinity.
That’s why I was raised into a life of constant combat. I’ve been training, since I was found at the age of five, for the day that I go up against him. Trinity, his name…his name is Azazel.

She immediately pushed up and off of his lap, and he let her go without a struggle.
Obviously she needed space, but he was not expecting what did happen. She rounded on him and snapped. “If this is your idea of a joke, Malachi, you have a twisted sense of humor!”

He stood up right in front of her and grasped her upper arms.
“It’s no joke, and everything he’s been doing to you is my fault. Obviously, he knows we are connected and he’s tormenting you to get to me! It was him that blew up the fucking bridge you were on. I have no doubt that you were the sole purpose for him doing it, knowing that I would be there! I’m also pretty sure that it’s been him working the puppet strings on your old friend, Masters. Someone had been leaking information about us to him…”