Illumine (9 page)

a bucket just above my head, water dripping from the rim. Wel, at

least explained why I was soaking wet.

I sat up slowly, shivering from the breeze I created with

each move. My clothes and hair were soaked to the bone as if I

had jumped into the ocean for a midnight swim.

"How long was I out?"

He sat down across from me and tossed the bucket to the

side. Within second it had disintegrated into nothing, as if it had

never even existed. "Three, five minutes maybe?"

I nodded absentmindedly as I started to wring out my hair

as best my frozen shaking hands could do. When our eyes met, the

question quietly slipped out of my lips. "What just happened,

Kayden?"

The smug smile I had seen only minutes ago turned

thoughtful, almost pensive. "Are you saying you're finaly admitting

to there being something off?"

My eyes drifted down to ends of my hair. Admitting

something was off would mean he was right. Admitting something

was off would mean I believed everything I had just seen and felt

was off would mean I believed everything I had just seen and felt

for the last few days. The fire, the emotions, the wings. Was it al

real or was he just playing a trick on my mind?

I looked back at Kayden. "What am I?"

The smalest of smiles touched his lips, but his eyes were

shining. Swirls of obsidian and slate weaved in his eyes. "You

should get inside before you get sick. Magical or not, you can stil

get a cold."

I nodded and stood up, shaking my arms of the excess

water drops that clung to my skin. Everything felt so surreal, so

fake, as if any moment I would wake up and find myself stil in bed

shaking from a broken fever and clinging to drenched sheets.

Kayden folowed me inside the house and handed me a

ripped sheet of paper towels to dry off with. I colapsed onto the

nearest chair in the kitchen and took them. My face pressed in

them I made sure to hide the smal prickle of tears that melded in

with the water from my face. This was al real. I couldn't pretend it

was accident or coincidence anymore.

I looked over to Kayden as he leaned against the marble

countertops, his fingers absentmindedly playing with one of the

drawer handles. He seemed just as lost as I felt right now.

"Your kind hasn't existed for almost three hundred years."

His head tilted to face the ceiling. "Funny, I had been thinking this

whole time you were some kind of warlock or under the protection

of one." He shook his head. "Oh how wrong I was."

"What does that mean? What am I, Kayden?"

He didn't turn to look down at me. "You have many

names, but the most common is Nephilim."

names, but the most common is Nephilim."

"I don't know what that means," I brought the paper towel

off my face. My hands rested in my lap and twisted the damp

towel over and over. "I don't know what any of this means."

"It means you're a hybrid. Half-human, half-angel." He

leaned off of the counter and puled out a chair from the table.

Slumping into it backwards he continued. "You're the stuff of

legend. The thing demons would tel their children to scare them

straight. Warlock spels I can handle, warlocks I can handle.

Vampires, faeries, werewolves, other demons I al know and can

handle. But this, I don't even know what to do."

We sat there in silence as I tried to wrap the words around

my head. Half-human, half-angel, he had said. My heart warmed

just at the thought of it, a curious sensation of heat spreading

through every extension of my body.

"We have to play this carefuly," Kayden said out of the

blue. I looked up to find him staring at me intently. "If anyone were

to find out-"

"Who could I possibly tel?" I asked sarcasticaly. "Like my

brother would even believe me if I did. Or Abigail for that matter.

Actualy, she would, you know, after she'd dial the nearest psych

ward."

He frowned. "I'm serious, Essalie. This can't go past the

two of us until I figure out where to go from here." His eyes glazed

over for a second to a thoughtful faraway stare. "There has to be a

reason for this. Nephilim don't just pop up out of the blue."

"This isn't your problem, Kayden, stop treating it like it is.

"This isn't your problem, Kayden, stop treating it like it is.

Everything wil work out." I snapped at him. He wasn't the one

who had to suddenly deal with the problem of setting things on fire.

He didn't have to deal with wings sprouting from his back, at least I

didn't think so. I stood up from my chair the same time he did.

"Have you realy been alive for over three hundred years?"

Pushing his chair in, he nodded absentmindedly. "Longer

than your pretty little mind can wrap around. You're right,

everything wil work out. I'l see if I can find anything in some of the

books I have at home." His lips twisted. "I won't count on it,

though, unless you think stories of an ancient mythical being would

exist in the fine print of a Playboy?"

I made a face just as my eyes spotted the clock hanging

above the door frame. "You should go. Last thing I need is my

brother catching a boy in the house in the middle of the night."

"Personaly, I wouldn't realy cal myself a
boy
," he drawled

with a mischievous smile on his face. "I'm sure he didn't mention

anything about finding a demon in your room now, did he?"

"As a matter of fact, I think he did," I replied and smacked

his arm. The effect was like striking flint; fire marked where I

touched him and spiraled into the air, dying before it hit the ground.

Kayden's arm vanished off in a trail of tasteless smoke. It

reappeared in an instant, unscathed as if I'd never touched him.

"How do you-" I started when I saw headlights beam

through the house. Jayson. My eyes nearly bulged out of my head.

"He's home, get out of here." When I didn't hear the door open I

turned around to burn him out if I had to, only I was alone.

"Thanks for the goodbye."

"Thanks for the goodbye."

The air to my left swirled into a makeshift silhouette of a

head and shoulders. "You said to leave. Or would you like me to

meet your fleshy blood sibling?"

I heard the front door open, feet lumbering inside. "No!

Go!" My voice cracked and threatened to burst as I tried to keep

it low.

"Essalie?" Jayson's voice carried down the halway as I

watched the light turn on. He stepped into the kitchen and flicked

on the light as I stood there. "What are you doing down here in the

dark?"

I held out the paper towel I stil had in my hands. For the

most part it had been reduced to a twisted and shredded mess. "It

was a little cooler down here with the lights off."

He set down two large bags of ice onto the table and came

over to me. His hand pressed against my forehead for a minute. "I

think your fever broke. That's good. Any longer and I would have

had to drive you to Portland."

Too bad a hospital would have done jack-crap for me.

Unless they had a manual on mythical hybrids and weird people.

"I'm actualy feeling pretty good right now. Tired, but good." I

stretched out toward the ceiling and yawned.

"Then get back to bed. Don't push it just in case," Jayson

said and turned me toward the halway for the stairs. "I'm just glad

you didn't have those halucinations like you did when we were

kids."

I'd made it halfway down the halway when I stopped and

looked over my shoulder. "What halucinations?"

looked over my shoulder. "What halucinations?"

Jayson leaned against the doorframe and shrugged, running

his hands through his hair. "You were just a kid but you used to

swear you saw angels." He let out a soft chuckle as he reminisced.

"You even went as far to tel us you saw Dad."

My throat felt drier than a desert. Tears stung my eyes as I

made sure to keep every ounce of emotion out of my voice. If only

Jayson knew just how close to the truth he was.

"Some imagination."

N I N E

Saturday morning was greeted with snow, and tons of it.

The news had talked about only a foot or two at the most but we

ended up with a staggering six feet of pure white fluff. One look in

the backyard told me I wouldn't be seeing anything green and leafy

for a long, long time.

I had stepped downstairs when I heard more than one

voice in the kitchen. Jayson was laughing at something over the

sound of sizzling and scraping of pans.

I poked my head tentatively into the kitchen and nearly

screamed in surprise. Kayden was sitting at the table dressed in a

heavy snow jacket, snow pants and boots, chomping down on a

plate of scrambled eggs coated in ketchup and pepper. Jayson had

his own plate set at the table next to a large pitcher of steaming

coffee, two strips of meat cooking in the pan he was standing

alongside.

Kayden spotted me first. "Hey, look who's feeling better.

Jayson told me you were stil asleep upstairs."

Jayson grinned at me over his shoulder. "It's alive! You

hungry?" He held the pan out to me, the strips of meat smeling

downright revolting. I wrinkled my nose and shook my head as I

wiled myself not to vomit.

Sitting down, Kayden shoveled another forkful of eggs into

his mouth. "What's the matter?"

I glared darkly at the back of Jayson's head. "Jayson

I glared darkly at the back of Jayson's head. "Jayson

knows I don't like fish. It smels worse than dirty gym socks and

spoiled food and-"

"Entrails and coffins and stomach acid?" He offered.

Jayson let out a loud burst of laughter. "He's been making

jokes like that al morning! Between shoveling the driveway and

door out of that crap. Why didn't you tel me about your little

friend, Essie?"

I made sure Jayson was focused on cooking his putrid

breakfast before I spoke to Kayden in a hushed tone. "What the

hel are you doing here?"

"Care for some eggs?" He asked aloud, holding a forkful out

to me. "How'd you sleep?"

"Like an angel."

"Oh the irony," he fought to keep his face straight between

chews.

I reached out to smack his hand but stopped. My fingers

hovered dangerously close to his, smal sparks clicking at my

fingertips. He raised an eyebrow at me, watching to see what I

would do. Would I realy start something with Jayson only a few

feet away from us? I puled the plate of eggs across the table

instead, taking the fork Jayson had laid out for himself and took a

bite.

"You stil didn't answer my question, demon," I whispered.

"Why are you here?"

"Always with the questions," he mocked me with crossed

eyes and puffed out cheeks. "What have I been saying from the

beginning? I'm here to help you."

beginning? I'm here to help you."

"Maybe I don't want your help. Ever think of that?" I took

another bite from his plate.

"I think you need me more than you realize right now."

"I think you're ful of bulshit."

"Was that a quivering lip I saw? Shiver of the shoulders?"

I set my fork down and fought to control the itching

sensation in my palms. If I didn't keep my temper in check the

table would pay for it. "You're lucky my brother's in here or you'd

be reduced to ashes right now."

"Now is that any way to treat a guest?"

"Someone say brother?" Jayson said out of the blue,

bringing the pan over to the table. He looked at Kayden's empty

plate in front of me in horror. "Essie I hope you didn't eat any of

that."

His tone made me nervous. I stared at the plate and back

at Kayden. "Why?"

"Kayden had salmon chopped in those eggs." He looked at

Kayden while he scooped his own strips of the pink meat onto his

plate. "You didn't tel her?"

He shrugged but I caught the smirk he fought to keep off

his face. "She said she didn't need my help." He looked at me.

"Sorry, Essie."

My stomach felt uncomfortable. I tried to keep the image

of dead fish out of my head as I stood up from the table. "You

know what? I'm going to go get dressed and help with the

shoveling outside."

shoveling outside."

Jayson shook his head and swalowed whatever he had

eaten off his plate. "We already took care of it this morning.

Kayden said one of your friends could use a little help in town

though. Abigail, I think?"

"Okay, sounds good. I'l be ready in five," I nodded and