Dark Calling (18 page)

“Here you go.”  She hands him a plate.  He frowns down at it.  There is fruit beside the bagel.  The bagel is plain.  No butter or cream cheese. 

She sits beside him, crossing her legs under her
and digs into her fruit.  She wa
s right, Nick realizes.  He is definitely intrigued seeing how much she likes her fruit.  She makes a hushed sound of enjoyment with every bite.  He picks up a piece of kiwi.  Places it on his tongue.  Decides it’s not bad.  It’s sweet and tangy at the same time.  It reminds him of Keely.  He picks up a piece of watermelon.  He’s had watermelon plenty of times, but he thinks it tastes better today.

Keely sneaks peeks at Nick as he eats the fruit on his plate and seems to like it.  She smiles behind a chunk of banana.  Juice runs down his chin as he takes another bite of watermelon.  She wants to wipe it for him.  It’s the second time toda
y she has wanted to touch him.

“T
his is actually pretty good, h
e
says as he rubs the back of his wrist across his chin.

Keely smirks.  “Really?  Hmm.” 

He raises his eyebrows.  “I can admit when I’m wrong.  Which I was.  But not about the milk or vegetables.  Just the fruit.  And this bagel is awful.”  He laughs, dropping it back to his plate.

“And all this time you went through
life thinking you didn’t like fruit.  You had no idea what you were missing until you tried it.  Don’t you feel so cheated?”

She’s only talking about fruit, but Nick relates it to much more than that.  Their kiss last night replays in his mind’s eye.  A year he spent watching her.  Never talking to her.  Now, after only a few days
with her,
Ni
ck knows he
never
wants to
go back to that.
  “Yes.  I really do.”  They finish their breakfast and Nick decides it’s time.  He needs to
talk to
her. 

“Keely, I have something I need to tell you.”  Her body stiffens, but she nods.  “I think somebody I trust may be a traitor.  A spy for your father.  I first suspected it when your house became tainted.  Then again when the Susurro Demons
showed up here immediately after
.  Then yesterday, when you were attacked at school, I confirmed it.  Somebody let Apophis know you were in that bathroom at that exact moment.”
  His eyes brush
over her face
trying to read her expr
ession.

“I called him.”

“I know.  I saw the text.  Keely, you can’t be that careless again.  I know yo
u thought it was your mom, but it was a really stupid move.”

“I knew it wasn’t my mom.  I called and left a message on her phone while you were sleeping yesterday.  I was trying to set up a place to exchange myself for my paren
ts.”  She stares at her hands.

“No you didn’t.”

She looks at him.  “Yes, I did.”

“No.  You are not possibly that stupid.  You could not be that big of an idiot to try and trade yourself to the people that want you dead!  And behind my back.  I am your Guardian.  I am here to help you.”

“I am not an idiot, you jerk.  I didn’t know what else to do.  And I planned on telling you.  I was just trying to get it arranged first so you couldn’t tell me not to.  Anyway, I learned my lesson.”  She touches her neck.  “And to think, my father claims he doesn’t want me dead.”

“What?  Did Apophis say that?”

“No, my D
emon dad did.”  Her tone is still snippy though his has softened.

“When did you talk to your dad?”

“Last night.  Right before that—thing—attacked me.”

“Here?”  Nick stands, startled.

“In my dreams.  I’ve seen him twice now when I sleep.  Asmoday too.”

Nick paces i
n front of her, his hands in his
hair.  “Why didn’t you tell me?”  He sits back down.  “I need to know everything he said to you.  Everything they both said to you,” he says before she has a chance to answer him.

“The first time, he—my father—said that he would give me whatever I wanted, a
nd that place was my real home.”

“What place?”

“I don’t know.  It’s a house I think.  Everything i
s really pretty and old, but it’s
sparse.  I’ve only seen the bedroom and dining room.”  She closes her eyes as she tries to remember.  “That could be all
there is to it, but I had the feeling of it being much bigger.  Like they were only allowing me to see a piece of it.”

Nick nods.  “What else did he say?”

She tells him everything she can remember about both dreams, leaving out the part where she nearly kissed her brother
.  She’
s too embarrassed
about
that.  Doesn’t want Nick to find her appalling.  “Oh, and Asmoday told me that the crawling sensa
tion in my veins is because my Demon blood sings to his D
emon blood.  Is that true?”

Nick’s mouth falls open with a pop.  “Oh, Keely.  Is that what you thought?  Of course it
’s what you thought
.  I am terrible at this.  I should have explained it better.”  He shakes his head.  His expression is
unreadable.  “You do not have D
emon blood.  I don’t know why he told you that.
Other than he’
s a liar.”

“
Well, he didn’t say
D
emon
blood, b
ut
my father is a D
emon.  Th
e King of Demons.  I must have D
emon blood,” she murmurs, not understanding.

“Your dad is the De
mon King because he rules over D
emons.
  Watchers were the A
ngels dispatched to watch over Earth.  More specifically, the hu
mans residing on Earth.  These A
ngels, they saw how beautiful man’s daught
ers were.  There are no female A
nge
ls
so they were captivated by
them.  They became obsessed, watching them day and night.  One by one, the Watchers fell to Earth until there were nearly none left.  They fell not because they loved, but because t
hey coveted what man had.  Their jealousy was their
down fall.  They willing
ly
chose to turn their backs on God.  They married and mated with the women.  Some say they were the descendants of Cain.  Anyways,
their children—who were all also male
, twenty-two in all
—were giant hybrids, standing seven to ten feet tall.  I’ve been told that Goliath was one of these children.  They were giants, but they were beautiful.  All were blond haired and blue eyed with ivory skin as smooth as porcelain.  Their only flaw was six toes on each foot.  They were also evil, selfish monsters.  They grew so big that the village could no longer feed them.  So these giants raped the women, killed the human children and men
,
and ate them.

“
God saw what was ha
ppening.  Saw the monsters his A
ngels had created.  So he flooded the Earth to rid it of the g
iants
.  When they died, the giants joined Lucifer in H
ell where they became known as D
emons.  But God
gave the A
ngels another chance to rejoin him.  All did but
one.  One refused God. 
He banished the first Watcher A
ngel that made the decision to fall
,
the one who refused his forgiveness.  Banished him
just
like he banished Lucifer
. 
As punishment, God named your father
the King of Demons.

“Your fathe
r, Keely, was
a Watcher.  That isn’t D
emon blood that
runs through your veins.  It’s A
ngel blood.
  You are the only
living female human
with the
direct blood of a fallen Watcher
that we know of
.  That is why you are so special.”

Keely stares at Nick in stunned silence.  Her lips move with the many questions she has, but nothing comes out.  Instead, she finally says, “That’s why he’s always so bright.”

“What do you mean?” Nick asks her.  His voice is carefully controlled.

“Both times he was surrounded by a bright light. 
Like, it was coming from him.  From inside of him or something. 
I
t made it hard to see him.”  She bites her lip.  “
I’m confused.  Is my father bad then?”

He leans forward.  Runs his hands through his dark hair.  “Never doubt that Keely.  Never trust him.  Never underestimate him.  He is bad
, just as bad as Lucifer
.  He will use you.  He will hurt you if he
has to, if he
wants
to.
  You don’t spe
nd that much time living among D
emons and have a good side.  Please trust me on this.  Trust that God knew what he was doing.”

For some reason, Kee
ly had found it easier to accept when she thought she was
a monster.  A D
emon child.  Now she’s
believed to be
the only
surviving
daughter of an Angel.  Watchers are A
ngels.  Who
knew.  “Oh.  Oh.  Watchers are Angels.  Watchers are A
ngels?  Then Bryon is
…
?”

“Not an A
ngel.
Descendant. 
Genus Lapsis. 
When an A
ngel falls in love, is granted permission from God, it’s a whole different story.  So a very long time ago, a Watcher fell in love with a woman and many, many generations later, Bryon was born.  He has the blood of a Watcher, same as you, only with God’s blessing.”

“And you’re a Guardian.  So does that mean…?”

“That me
ans some time back, a Guardian A
ngel fell in love and years and years later, I was born.”

“Oh my God.”  It’s Keely’s turn to pace the room now.  She walks back and forth, chewing her lip.  Tries to comprehend everything he has told her.  This is just too much.  “So, just because God wasn’t asked first, my father had creepy giant children and was sentenced to Hell?  That seems a little extreme.”

“
God has
a plan.  You can’t just go against
God and expect no repercussions.
  They fell as Angels and mated with human women.  Two totally different species.
”  As if just remembering, he adds,
“
Also,
we’re not sure how many daughters the Demon King fathered.  Police records indicate there were twenty-two including you, but we haven’t been able to confirm that
.  T
he sperm bank burnt down, destroying the records, and we assume any of his leftover
donation
.  W
hen the Watchers fell, there were twenty-two
of them.
  Twenty-two giant hybrid sons by twenty-two fallen Watchers.  Now
your father had
twenty-two daughters
—
daughters that were supposed to be impossible to conceive.
 
I think that is more than coincidence.”

“Asmoday said I had the potential to change everything.  What do you think he meant?”

“I don’t know, but
you cannot trust him.  He’s a D
emon.  You may share a
father, but your mothers are very different. 
He was born of Hell and is as dangerous as they come.”

“I don’t really feel that way when I’m around him.  I know I should be afraid of him, and I start out that way, but then I’m just
not
all of a sudden.”  Her cheeks turn pink with heat because she knows why she doesn’t fear him.

“He can charm you, Keely.  He can take the form of anything or anyone.  He can be whatever he thinks you want him to be.  Be very careful.  As long as he only comes to you in your dreams you shoul
d be all righ
t, just
don’t agree to stay.
  Do you understand?”

“What will happen if I do?”

Nick’s e
yes lock with hers.  “I’m afraid
you might not
come back.”

Eleven:

Nick stares at the speckling of hair on the backs of his hands until his vision blurs.
  He is so absorbed in his thoughts that he doesn’t hear the knock at the door.  Doesn’t feel the shift in the couch as Keely leaves his side to answer it.  It isn’t until Lila is standing in front of him, hands on hips, staring expectantly that he focuses on his surroundings.

“What are you doing here?” he asks slowly.

Lila squints at him.  “Well, I’m so happy to see you too.”