The Divine Whisper (42 page)

CHAPTER 23

Gemariah didn’t wait to pull into the garage, but instead jumped out of his truck and ducked under the still opening door.
The moment he got the door to the house open, he yelled out, “Nicole!”

Something was wrong.
He knew it when he was at work and he couldn’t feel her anymore. Ever since they were connected, she was always there at the back of his soul, but it suddenly felt as though she had been ripped out of him.

Ever since he felt the withdrawal, he had been trying to contact her, first by projection and when he wasn’t getting any response he tried her phone, with still no luck.
He felt sick with worry.

“Nicole, are you alright?”
He heard Alex and Isabella crying, so he knew that Nicole wasn’t far, but there was still no answer.

He started to run, but came skidding to a halt in the kitchen.
She was standing at the counter with a glass full with a brown liquid in her hand. “What’s going on?” he asked cautiously.

She raised her eyes toward him, and he was taken back.
The spark that was usually there was gone.

“What happened? It was like you disappeared.
I can’t feel you anymore, so I got scared something had happened.”

She rolled her eyes.
“Don’t be so dramatic. All I did was put up a block.”

“Block?” he asked in shock.
“I thought you weren’t interested in blocks. I didn’t even know you were learning how.”

“It just shows you that we don’t know each other very well after all.”

She took a sip of her drink as if what she had just said wasn’t crushing him.
One of the babies cries then turned into a high pitched wail. She cringed and gestured upstairs with her glass. “You need to do something about them. They won’t shut up!”

He looked at her like she had grown a second head.
That wasn’t like her. Something was off about everything, but he couldn’t put his finger on what. He turned and walked towards the nursery. Cautiously, he walked in, and then rushed to the cribs when he saw it was all clear.

First, he scooped up his little girl then his boy.
Immediately, their cries turned to whimpers.

“Hey there.
Don’t worry, I’m here. Is Mamma acting funny?” He cooed down to his children. They needed cared for, but something was happening with Nicole that he had to figure out. He needed reinforcements.

Trinity, I need help.

What is it?

He gave her credit.
Her answer was almost instantaneous. That was a woman that heard the word help, and didn’t hesitate.

Something’s going on with Nicole, but the babies are crying and need someone.
Could you get here as soon as possible?

What do you mean ‘something’s wrong with Nicole’?
What’s wrong with her?

He didn’t feel like explaining and wasting precious time, but it was her best friend, and he figured that he would probably be the same if something was up with Malachi.

I don’t know yet. She’s standing in the kitchen, but I can’t feel her. I just need you here, please.

Fine.
I’ll find someone to cover for me, and I’ll be right over.

He brought the babies to the changing table.

She’s not answering me!! She always answers me, even if she’s busy!

He looked up in exasperation.

I told you something was off!
Please get here.

On it.

He took the next few minutes tending to the children, and he placed them in a crib together once they had calmed. When he was ready to leave, he looked up and was startled to see Nicole leaning against the door frame, glass still in hand. Was that hard liquor? She never touched the stuff. What the hell was going on?

“They keep crying,” she said and almost sounded disgusted.
The moment she spoke, they started to scream again.

“They’re babies.
They’re supposed to cry.” He reached down and tried to comfort them, but it didn’t work.

“Not that fucking much.
They’re not happy. Maybe you should put them out of their misery. I even know where a pillow is that you can do it with.”

If she wasn’t standing in front of him right then, he would have never believed that it was her.
“Please tell me you’re joking. Then I’ll tell
you
that your sense of humor sucks.”

She shrugged and turned to walk away.
Over her shoulder she hollered, “Just saying… It would make life so much easier.”

He shushed the babies one last time to try and quiet them, but they wouldn’t settle and he still had to leave.
It was hard to walk away, but he knew they were safe where they were, outside their room, he wasn’t so sure anymore.

Walking out, he looked closely in every room until he walked down the stairs to find her standing in the living room.
Her back was toward him and she was looking down at her hands. Her shoulders shook and when he realized that she was crying, he rushed forward.

The moment his hand touched her skin, he pulled back as if he were burned.
That wasn’t Nicole, and it had to be a really powerful demon to stay in that much control for that long of time. Everything from the day started to fall into place.

Before he had a chance to do anything, she spun around and stabbed something into his side.
He staggered backwards and looked down to see the handle of one of his own kitchen knives sticking out of him. Every time he moved, he felt the tip scarped against the bottom of his heart, and he realized how lucky he actually was.

“Damn, I thought I grabbed one long enough.”
She sneered and started to slowly circle him like a predator zeroing in on its prey.

He grabbed the handle, pulled the knife out, and gasped at the pain.
Keeping the knife, he grasped it in his left hand while he pulled his ax free with his other. He tried to stay upright, but until he healed, the wound made him somewhat slouch. “You ready to go back where you came from? You fucked with the wrong nephilim.”

“Actually, I’m quite ready, but He won’t take me.
Something about being soiled or some shit like that.”

“Wow, you talk too much.”
Gemariah didn’t understand what he was saying, but didn’t care. Instead, he was trying to figure out how to get the demon out of Nicole without hurting her.

“I see the wheels turning up there.
Is the precious Gemariah going to have to stoop down and hurt the one he loves? Does he have it in him? I must say. I’ve swayed many people to harm their children or love ones, but never like this. I must admit, it’s rather fun.”

Realization struck… Ramiel.
“You’ve got to be shitting me!”

Nicole smiled, but it didn’t look anything like the smile he had come to want so much.
“You finally figured it out. Took you long enough.”

There was no getting out of it without hurting her.
He knew he hadn’t been safe. There were too many signs around him, not to see it.

“To be fair, I would have had it where you two never met.
I tried to kill her off years ago. Her parents were some of the easiest I’ve ever manipulated. Sometimes, they did things to her on their own without my interference. I was like a proud papa watching them. Needless to say, she fought me every step of the way, and even ruined a few set-ups I had going on by being the good Samaritan social worker she was.”

Ramiel spat out the last part, but Gemariah couldn’t be more proud.
She had been fighting by his side the entire time, and neither of them knew it. Without warning, Gemariah swung the ax, and when Ramiel was busy dodging the blow, Gemariah slashed the kitchen knife down and drew blood.

Nicole staggered back and grabbed her arm to put her hand over the wound and stop the bleeding.
Her head snapped up and tears were in her eyes. “Gemariah, how could you? I thought you loved me.” She sounded too much like Nicole and in his confusion, he lowered his guard.

It was a big mistake because Ramiel took the opportunity to clock him one in the chin.
The impact was harder than he had ever been punched before and he was literally lifted off his feet before he came crashing back down five feet from where he had been standing.

“I’m disgusted with you.
You had so much potential. You could have stepped up with me and we would have ruled, but instead you decided to play Susie Homemaker.”

Nicole, or rather Ramiel started to pace once more.
“Now your brother… he had potential, but now he’s paying for your stupidity.”

“What the fuck are you going on about?” Gemariah said as he slowly got back up.
He tried to discreetly look around for the knife he had dropped when he hit the floor.

“You stuck your nose where it didn’t belong, which put a big target on your back, along with your little bitch and brats.
Except, I had other plans for you, so you got lucky. Your wayward brother on the other hand…” He shrugged, as if it were no big thing. “He was not so lucky. I offered him up instead.”

Gemariah had been digging for weeks, but couldn’t find any evidence to support Conner’s story about being his younger brother.
That all but told him it was true. “Why would you do that?”

He laughed.
“Don’t you see? I wanted to see you fail. I almost had you too. All those thoughts you were having about killing your own children, about wrapping your hands around the bitch’s neck and squeezing until you broke it… those were me.”

“You never almost had me.
I would have left before I hurt any of them.”

“So you say.”
He opened his arms wide. “Are we going to do this or not? Or do you just like listening to me talk?”

Gemariah heard the words, but all he saw when he looked at the person he had spent years hunting down was the woman that had taken his heart.
How was he going to do this without hurting her?

He thought back months earlier to when Trinity had been possessed.
The circumstances were obviously different, but he had also been hesitant to do what needed to be done then as well. Tori hadn’t thought twice and stabbed her, but Trinity quickly healed and it was as if it never happened.

He reminded himself that she couldn’t die unless he was killed, so the only way to protect her was to fight.
Hopefully, when it was all over, she would forgive him and understand why he had to do it.

He lunged forward and brought the
ax down, but Ramiel quickly leaned out of the way. Without giving him time to recover, he spun and brought the weapon around to try and slice through his midriff. When that missed as well, Gemariah kept swinging, but every one missed its mark or was blocked. It was as if he knew every move that Gemariah would make, before he made it.

Eventually, Ramiel’s movements became slower and less precise.

“What’s wrong, Old Man?
Can’t keep up?” Gemariah spat.

His eyes flashed, and on Gemariah’s next swing, he grabbed the handle of the
ax to block the blow and swung out his leg to trip Gemariah.

He fell backwards, and Ramiel followed him down.
They both hit the ground hard, but it was Gemariah’s head that bounced against the floor. Everything started to become blurry, but he fought off the feeling.

Ramiel still had a hold of the handle and started to push down until the spike on the back dug into his skin over his heart.
They both fought for control, but with Ramiel’s superior strength, the spike was slowly lowering into Gemariah’s chest. He felt it crack through his rib cage, and knew that he had been beaten. Once he died, Nicole died, and more than likely their children next. The thought made him press harder, but he couldn’t remove it.

“This ‘Old Man’ is about to make it so you’re no longer a problem of mine.
Any last words?”

Gemariah thought of Nicole in that moment.
Yes, he wanted to tell her so much. He wanted to tell her that he loved the smell of her hair on the pillow next to his, and the way she warmed her feet using his in their bed. He wanted to tell her that he loved her with every breath and every heartbeat, but it would be a cold day in hell when he said it all to Ramiel.

It wouldn’t have mattered anyway, because Ramiel quickly said, “Like I care if you do or not.”

His body tensed and he pushed down, but was stopped by an invisible force. He tried three more times, but they all had the same result.

“Fucking Bitch!!”

It was then that Gemariah knew Ramiel’s hold on Nicole wasn’t as strong as he originally thought. She was in there, and knew everything that was going on. There was no doubt in his mind that she had just saved his… no, their lives. It was time for him to return the favor.

Without moving his body, Gemariah jerked his head up and crashed it into Ramiel’s.
The fallen angel reared his head back and blood went flying. The thought of it being Nicole’s blood just enraged Gemariah even more.