Seraphina: Initiation (9 page)

I climb into bed, pull the sheets up to my
face and roll over. Staring at the cell phone sitting on my
nightstand I feel a lump beginning to form in my throat. I roll
over onto my other side to try and put it out of my mind.
You
moved in with him didn’t you?
The question continues to haunt
me.
I don’t trust him
, Nate’s words from earlier are in my
other ear. I tumble onto my back and face the ceiling, trying to
get my mind ready to sleep. The linens above me form ripples that
remind me of the foam in my lattes. Suddenly, I’m sitting up and
throwing the covers off of me. I have to speak to him.

*

I’m whipping past trees and streets as fast
as my little legs can go before Nate inevitably catches me. I
dressed and snuck out as quietly as possible, but you never know he
probably has a secret tracking device on me or something. My heart
is pounding for reasons I’m pushing out of my mind right now. All
that is keeping me going is the thought of getting to explain
myself to Jack. That and my thoughts of trying to retain my
friendships in spite of all that is happening. My old town is a
blur now as I pass through the streets I once called home. I’m
afraid to stop anywhere on my journey because I don’t want to bring
harm to any more people, so I quickly tread on towards my
destination. I’ve only been gone for a few days and already it
seems different to me. It’s as if there is a cloud around my little
town of Angelica. I slow to a walk as I finally approach the
coffeehouse I miss so desperately.

I stand staring at the brick façade of
Jack’s Coffee Bean. I’ve been so focused on running that I haven’t
even processed what I would say to Jack. My mind is blank as I
continue to gawk at the shop like it’s a painting in a museum, a
figment of my imagination just out of reach. Tears begin to well up
behind my eyes as a memory of me spending my Sundays curled up in
the comfy green chair beside the window flashes before me. Has my
life really changed this much in a week that I’m actually scared to
go inside?

A stir in the store causes my eyes to
gravitate to Jack’s curly blonde ringlets bouncing as he stocks the
refrigerator with bottles. At the sight of him, something inside me
relaxes and I can’t help but follow my feet as I’m being mindlessly
walked inside.

I slowly open the door of the coffee shop
I’ve missed so much. The bell chimes with my arrival and like
clockwork the scent of coffee beans wafts into my nose. Jack stands
and turns to greet his customer. Our eyes meet and suddenly it’s a
week ago. He pauses momentarily looking into my eyes before running
to close the gap between us and pulls me into a hug. I feel his
strong arms wrap tightly around me like he never wants to let me
go. My feelings overwhelm me as the tears I’ve been holding in
finally fall.

“I’m so sorry Jack,” I whisper into his
shirt.

“Shh,” he tells my hair and his hand comes
behind my head to hold me closer to him.

I close my eyes as I lean my head against
his shoulder. I haven’t realized how much I’ve missed him. I used
to see him every single day, he’s kind of become my second closest
friend. I hadn’t realized how not being able to say goodbye had
affected us.

When we finally pull away, Jack takes my
hand like he doesn’t want to be apart from me. He walks me over to
the front door where he locks it and flips the sign to ‘Closed.’
Before guiding me over to my favorite chair in the corner. When he
releases my hand to pull his chair closer, I use the time to slyly
wipe away any trace that I’d been crying. I can’t help but notice
he must be working out as his arms flex while his chair slides
across the floor to me. His muscles have gotten more defined in the
short time I’ve been away. He takes a deep breath before beginning,
“Spill.”

His one word was all it takes for me to
smile again. It makes me believe that no matter what we’ve been
through, I know that I can always count on Jack. “I’m sorry for
leaving so quickly, but I had to.”

“Why, what happened?” he asks grabbing my
hand in his again.

“I was contacted, by
him
…” I let the
sentence drift off because I know he’ll know exactly whom I
mean.

“What does he want from you?”

“I don’t exactly know, he just wants me to
join him on the ‘Dark Side’” I mock the last two words with a deep
Darth Vader voice.

If looks could kill the floor would burst
into flames, as he’s unable to meet my eyes. “Sera, I’ve sensed a
weird shift in things. It’s multiplying and it’s way angrier than
before, the spirits are even more excited and they aren’t keeping
quiet. Have you watched the news lately?” he asks me finally
showing me the blue green eyes I’ve missed. I shake my head in the
negative, I’ve kind of been on hiatus in my little love cabin.
“Well, humans have been noticing more and more paranormal activity.
It started with strange things around people’s houses, shadows
moving, weird noises, break-ins around town, but now they are
reporting people missing out of their beds, husbands that never
came home from work, a ton of people from all over the tri state
area –gone. Poof –straight up missing out of nowhere.”

I’m staring at him shocked. I thought my
staying away would protect these people, but now all I can think
about is checking on Amanda and my parents, “I had no idea…” I
begin but lose all momentum as the gravity of his words sink
in.

“When you went missing, I thought…” he
breaks off like he can’t say the words.

“Oh, Jack!” I blurt out before pulling him
into another hug. “I had to leave, Lucifer told me he would kill
everyone I loved if I didn’t obey him! He said he would make me
suffer until I come crawling back to him.” I spill my guts into his
ear trying to make him understand, trying to take back the pain
I’ve caused him.

“I know,” he starts before pulling away,
“You could have called, you could have told me you chose
him
,” he states his face growing angry.

“I’m sorry Jack there was like no time, it’s
not like I have a frieken half-Angel manual here! I’m kinda flying
by the seat of my pants!”

“Sera, a phone call takes two seconds,”
throwing up a peace sign for emphasis.

“Jack,” I whisper before looking up at him
again, “How could I have possibly found the words to explain
that
to you?”

He returns my stare before his face finally
begins to loosen up. “Why did you come here today?”

“I had to see you, I had to explain that I
didn’t mean anything by it.”

“Is that all? Or is it because you might
have missed me?” he smirks.

“Oh get over yourself pal, Puh-lease,”
rolling my eyes dramatically.

“Admit it, you miss my psychic charm! Maybe
my coffee? A Panini perhaps?”

“Maybe,” I finally laugh breaking the last
shred of oddness between us.

“Well, I can’t disappoint the lady,” he
replies hopping to his feet and heading over to the counter. I
laugh climbing up after him and following him to the register.

Admiring him as he makes my latte the
special way only he can before he turns around and hands it to me
over the counter, just like old times. Smiling up at him, I almost
want to believe it’s a few weeks ago and that things might have
turned out different.

I’m about to take a sip of my coffee when an
explosion of glass shatters onto me. I automatically duck into a
defensive stance to escape the rain of glass as my eyes dart around
for the culprit. All my senses are on alert, I’m preparing to use
my new training to kick some ass when I see Jack being thrown back
over the counter. Jack skids to the floor in front of me before
jumping back to his feet like a cat. I scramble back to my feet and
turn around to lock eyes with a very hostile Nate. My heart
drops.

“YOU!” Nate yells over me, pointing at Jack,
“You told her to come here?!”

“NO! Nate! I came here myself! Leave Jack
out of this!” I scream trying to stay between the two as Nate walks
determinedly around the corner of the counter.

“Why don’t you let her make her own
decisions!” Jack yells defiantly.

“Jack! Will you please?” I snicker over to
him before turning back to Nate, “Nate, I just came here to talk to
Jack, I’m leaving now, come on.” I walk forward to take his hand,
but he shrugs me off.

“No! I’m going to take care of this guy once
and for all,” he half tells me, half taunts him as he continues
walking past me.

“NO!” I scream scrambling to get between
them again.

Jack holds his ground as Nate approaches him
and goes in for a swing that Jack nimbly ducks away from.

“NATE!” I scream again, trying to reach for
the arm he is pulling back once more. I miss and it swings towards
Jack’s face once again. It misses and catches the side of the
espresso machine. It slides off the counter like it weighed nothing
before shattering to pieces.

I take a step forward again when I hear
Jack, “As much as you would love to keep her in a bubble, things
are coming for her that you can’t control.” At the sound of his
words Nate flips over a table that goes flying into the corner
holding my favorite chair. Feeling helpless, I finally get in
between the two and spread my arms out as far as they will go. Nate
is pushing against my arm trying to close the gap between him and
Jack, but I refuse to falter. Jack is screaming things to
antagonize him into doing something, but I begin to zone them out.
My eyes are closed and my mind is focused. They need to stop
fighting now, I think to myself as my hands begin to swell with
power. I feel them glowing and growing as the two boys finally hush
their arguing. Once silence fills my once happy place, I open my
eyes to see both Jack and Nate encased in their own transparent
bubble. Finally content, I walk over and pick up my coffee from the
counter and finally take a sip as they both stare at me. Jack is
wide mouthed and Nate just has a frown on like a child that has
been put in time out.

“You guys are ridiculous, you know that?” I
begin my long-winded reprimand, “I owed Jack an explanation and as
much as you hate it, me and Jack will always be friends.” At the
sound of ‘friends’ Jack winces, but I pretend not to notice as I
carry on, “And Jack, Nate is always going to be in my life as well.
There will be no more fighting over me, no more arguments, no more
discussion about this and if you even think about tearing each
other up I will walk willingly into a pit full of Demons unarmed
and alone, is that understood?” I knew I had them both at my own
self-harm. It’s the one thing they both have in common, their love
for me. I take another sip as I wait until they both nod in
agreement, Jack was first then Nate reluctantly second before I
close my eyes and relax my mind as I release them from their
bubbles.

The air in the coffeehouse is thick with
unspoken agendas, but we stand here in awkward silence until I
speak. “Nate, Jack said there is a ton of weird happenings going on
around here.” I try to change the subject to something useful.

“What kind of weird happenings?” show-casing
his protective side.

“Break-ins, abnormal amount of missing
persons, ghost sightings… that sort of thing,” Jack informs him
unable to look at him.

“What do you think is going on?” I ask them
both before taking another sip of my coffee. No one answers so I
continue, “Well, this was informative.”

“I don’t want to discuss strategy in front
of one of
them
.” My head automatically whips to Nate, I
don’t think I’ve ever heard him talk with such disgust before.

“That’s it!” Jack yells pulling his sleeves
up preparing for a fight, “Let’s settle this once and for all!”
Nate clenches his fists, all he needs is one word from me and Jack
is toast.

“Cool it! Both of you! I will walk the Demon
Plank!” I roll my eyes. It’s like dealing with children.

They both look away from each other like the
thought alone will cause them to act. Jack begins to pace back and
forth while Nate seems to look amused leaning against a back of a
chair.

“Okay, can we get back to the matter at
hand?” I try yet again.

“Something is happening, I can feel it.”
Jack informs us still facing the broken front window.

“This town is not my concern,
she
is.” Nate informs him looking at the floor.

Jack whips around, “You think it’s the town
that they are getting worked up about? NO! What ever is happening
is coming for HER!” Jack screams pointing his finger at me still up
on the counter. I pause with my latte still at my lips and process
what he is saying, he’s right. It’s
me
they want. Nate knows
too I can tell by how his face changes to one of fury and he has to
look at his feet again.

“Do you have any idea what they are
planning?” I finally find the balls to ask.

“I didn’t tell you, but the break ins were
all hunting stores,” Jack whispers unable to meet my eyes now,
“People missing, they are now armed… he’s building an army
Sera.”

My coffee falls to the floor as my whole
body goes numb. I think on some level I had put two and two
together already, but I was trying so hard to suppress it.

“We got it from here,” I hear Nate state
coming to my side offering me a hand to get me down from the
counter.

“I can help! I’m here for her too!” Jack
screams waking me out of my trance and I stare at him before
finally responding.

“Jack, I don’t want you involved.”

“I’m already involved! I was involved the
moment you took a step into my store!” he pleads with me his eyes
full with a mixture of hurt and determination. Staring into those
gorgeous blue green eyes my heart breaks a little when I realize
just how much he cares and I know he’s not going to give up that
easy. I know that to protect him I must keep him away from this. If
anything should happen to Jack because of me—I don’t know what I
would do.