Tainted Legacy (YA Paranormal Romance) (32 page)

Gabe had been on the far side of the bed, up against the wall. He gingerly crawled over the top of Ava, careful to not so much as touch her. The dim glow that she had assumed to be moonlight flared, filling the room with a golden haze.

“What,” Ava asked as she rolled over, “is that?”  

“That?” He pointed at the softly glowing inscription on the plum colored wall even as he backed away from it. “It’s called a sigil.”

“A sigil?”

“A seal. Grier’s placed them on all of the outer walls of the house. Each of the archangels has a sigil, or a seal. In this case, I would say they’re being used for protection.”

Upon closer inspection the inscription, which at first had seemed like an ornate, flowing, decoration, did seem more like writing from an archaic language. The writing was in gold and seemed to pulsate. Ava lifted her hand, curious.

“Don’t!” Gabe shouted in warning, leaping toward her but then falling to the floor, hands on his head. A low, pained moan escaping his lips.

“What happened?” she asked, dropping to the floor beside him. Already he was backing away from her, or the wall, or both. She couldn’t be sure.

“Don’t touch it,” he hissed through clenched teeth.

“What? Why not?” she asked. “I already did. What’s going to happen?”

“You did? It didn’t burn you?”

Ava shook her head. “No…but…” Understanding started seeping through her slowly churning brain. “Is that what happened to you? Is the sigil doing something?”

He nodded and held out his hand, palm up. It was full of watery blisters. “I made the mistake of touching the wall earlier. I should’ve known better. She’s put them on every outer wall of the house. I can’t go near them. The closer I get, the more I feel like my blood is scalding its way through my veins.”

“All of the outer walls. So you can’t get close to a door or window,” Ava said, sorting things out. “So you can’t leave?”

He shook his head. “I don’t think she wants me going anywhere.”

“Why would she do that?” Ava asked, feeling her own blood start to simmer. “We can’t be trapped here!”

“
You
aren’t trapped here,” he gently reminded her. “But more than that, I think that if I can’t get out, my father can’t get in. And even more importantly? If the sigils work the way I think they work, they will block him from finding us. For a while anyway.”

“So you think this is a good thing?” Ava asked, taking his hand to inspect his injuries once more.

He nodded. “Yes, I think it’ll help keep you safe. At least until we can come up with a plan.”

“But look what it did to hatafeyou! And why isn’t it healing?” she demanded. “Grier said you heal quickly. Why does this look so terrible?”

“You should’ve seen it when it first happened,” he said, meekly. “Trust me, it’s healing.”

Ava let out a little whimper of disgust. And then she noted something else. “You’re burning up! Is it making you sick? Do you have a fever?” she asked, suddenly feeling frantic because his skin was far hotter than any skin she had ever felt before.

He shook his head. “No. But if you saw into my head before, you saw what the holy water did to me.” He looked away as he said this. “It’s like a burning that starts in your marrow and works its way outward. I’ve managed to desensitize myself to holy water, at least somewhat. But this,” he motioned to the glowing sigil, “is not something I’ve ever been exposed to before.”

“So I need to get them down,” Ava said, scrambling to her feet once again.

“Ava!” he exclaimed. “Leave them! They’re here to protect you as much as they’re here to hold me. Maybe even more so.”

“But it’s making you miserable!”

“Ava,
please
. It’s fine. I’m dealing with it. As long as I don’t get too close, it’s tolerable.”

She looked, helplessly, from Gabe to the wall and back to Gabe again.

“Besides,” he continued, “I’m pretty sure they’re inscribed in Grier’s blood, which make them bound to her. I don’t think the seals are coming down until she’s ready to take them down.”

Grier’s blood? This glowing, pulsating gold substance was the blood of an angel?

“Okay,” she told Gabe as she backed away. “But I’m going to get some burn cream for your hand.”

She left.

He started to follow, creeping out of the bedroom, staying as close to the inner wall as the furniture would allow. She disappeared into the bathroom and swiped some ointment out of the cupboard. When she returned, Gabe was sitting on the sofa, staring at the walls with trepidation.

“What?” she asked. There was a sigil burning brightly but it wasn’t much different than the one in the bedroom.

“You don’t see it?” he asked.

“The sigil?”

“Is that all you see?”

“Is there more?” Ava wondered.

He nodded. “I think this is what would be considered a demon’s snare. When I move around too much, the sigils seem to connect, like an intricate web. The walls are covered in it. The closer I get, the brighter they burn and the more my blood heats up.”

“Why can’t I see it?” she asked, futilely squinting, searching for any glimmer of what he was looking at.

He shrugged. “It’s not meant for you. It’s clearly meant for me. To let me know that I am not getting out of here without Grier’s consent.”

Ava looked toward the invisible cage. “What do you think would happen if you tried to get out?”

He paused for several heartbeats. “One time? I put a burrito in the microwave and forgot about it until it exploded into like a million pieces. When I look at the wall…that’s the thought that crosses my mind.”

Ava swung around to tell him that was not funny and this was not the time for jokes. The somber look on his face as he gazed at the cage assured her he hadn’t been joking. Instead, she sat next to him, taking his injured hand in hers and spreading the burn cream on it with her free hand.

“How many of you are there?” she asked.

“Nephilim?” he shrugged. “Rafe is the only other one I know but they’re out there. In fact, I’m sure I have more siblings than I can even fathom. Azael has always alluded to it but I’ve never gotten up the nerve to ask. Or maybe I’ve never wanted to know. Not if it meant being the biggest failure in the family.”

“So how does that work? Does he just kidnap women and force them to have children?”

“No,” Gabe said with a harsh laugh. “Not my mother anyway. She chose her path. She had no reservations about having a child with a demon. She was well rewarded for providing Azael with us and that was all she wanted. His wealth. From what little I know, I think it’s hard to carry a Nephilim to term. He got the children he wanted. She got the money, the house and whatever else she wanted. Don’t confuse my mother with a saint, held against her will. As far as I can tell, she, at least, was a very willing participant.” He paused, lost in thought. “But I think it must have worn on her after a while. I don’t know if her conscious got the best of her or if Rafe did something so truly horrible that she realized how potentially evil we could become.”

“So she hurt you…and Azael killed her?” Ava thought that was what she’d seen but the memory was clouded with blood and agony. She fought not to shudder at the memory. Instead, she wanted to hold on tightly to Gabe and make that gruesome day disappear for him forever.

“Yes.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. She wasn’t really my mother. Not in the sense you’re thinking. She produced me and that’s about all I can say about that.” Gabe yawned and he looked surprised at doing so. “That r soer. Not ineaping must be some nasty business.”

Ava thought of how the blood had started to flow and how his body had convulsed and she couldn’t disagree. “You’re tired.”

“Yeah,” he said. “I think I am. Usually I just sleep out of boredom but…I’m actually tired.”

“Come on then,” Ava said, rising from the couch, trying to pull him along with her.

“Ava, no,” he said decisively.

“Gabe, yes,” she said, just as stubbornly. “We’re both exhausted. It’s a big bed. Besides, I’ll feel a lot safer if you’re with me.” It wasn’t a lie and he sensed that.

“Are you sure?” he asked, but he was already getting to his feet.

Minutes later they were nestled in. She scooted over to him. He let out a resigned sigh.

“Do you not want me near you?” she asked.

“Ava, what I want and what is right are almost always entirely different things.”

“You’re fighting to keep me alive. You went against your family trying to do it. You’re willing to deal with the sigils making you miserable because they keep me safe. I could go on but the point is, maybe you made mistakes in the past—”

“‘Mistakes’ does not even begin to describe some of the things I’ve done,” Gabe admitted, his voice bursting with tension.

Ava put a finger to his lips. “It’s all in the past. You’re making the right choices now. I
need
you. I need you to be here for me and to not check out on me.”

“I’m not going to check out on you,” he assured her. “At this point, I’m pretty sure I’d do just about anything for you.”
I’m just afraid it won’t be enough
, he thought.

“Hopefully Grier will come back to us with something.”

Gabe slid his arms around Ava. She didn’t hesitate, she curled right into him. She felt safe with him. He was not going to let her down. He wanted to be able to promise her that but he was desperately afraid it was a promise he could not keep.

“Grier’s stronger than either Rafe or me. But I’m afraid even she is not an equal to my father.
If
she’ll even help us,” he growled in frustration, realizing and not caring that the sound was not entirely human. “We are completely powerless against them.”

She put a soothing hand on his shoulder. He fought to not hold on to her any tighter, for fear of breaking her.

“Gabe,” Ava said softly. “If we can’t overpower them, then we need to find a way to outsmart them.”

Outsmart a full blooded angel
and
a full blooded demon?

“Right,” Gabe said.
As if we have a snowflake’s chance in hell at doing that.

Chapter 22

“I don’t have the luxury of moping around, wallowing in my remorse and torment. Time doesn’t allow it.” Or was it his demon blood that would not allow it? Would not allow him to bask in a few moments of self-indulgent compunction? No. He wouldn’t think of that. What was done was done. It was in the past.  Ava had said so. But her future was delicate and must be prepared for with the utmost prudence and discretion.

“That does not explain why you are sleeping in her bed.” Grier had not been pleased to find them together.

“Because the kitchen floor was hard,” Gabe replied. He sighed. “Look. I get it. You hate me. I mostly hate me. But somehow, some way, Ava has found it in her heart to
not
hate me. Can you at least get the information I asked for? Can you find out if what I am asking will work?”

He had been exhausted the night before. Ava had fallen asleep in his arms and he was absurdly proud of himself for the amount of restraint he had shown. He had never slept, actually
slept
with a girl like that before. It was oddly…amazing. And he wanted to smash his own head into the wall because he was thinking of
that
when he should be thinking of his plan.