Gods and Mortals: Fourteen Free Urban Fantasy & Paranormal Novels Featuring Thor, Loki, Greek Gods, Native American Spirits, Vampires, Werewolves, & More (168 page)

“
W
e’re here
,” he whispered.

His muscular arms wrapped me tightly and I felt safe tucked in his embrace. I had expected he would release me when we got here, but he didn’t. With my eyes still closed, all I could do was enjoy the moment. I could feel his firm chest rise and fall as his breathing synchronized with mine. The beating of our hearts was all I felt as neither of us moved. I couldn’t look up, an overwhelming shyness struck me.

“You’re safe,” he finally whispered, breaking the silence. “You can open your eyes.”

After I nodded, he let go. Michael and I stood outside Fashion Wear. It was the strangest feeling to be in one place one minute and somewhere else the next. All was peaceful in contrast to what had happened inside the store. The bright, almost full moon lit up the empty parking lot, overpowering the streetlamps. It was dark and I had lost all sense of time. “What time is it?” I asked in panic.

“It’s 9:30,” he said.

“How could that be? I was gone for a long time. What day is it?” I asked frantically.

“Don’t worry, Claudia. In previous times, you entered Crossroads by yourself through your dreams. This time I took you. When an alkin or an angel brings you to our world, you return at the same time you entered.”

Although I knew he wouldn’t lie to me, I stood there in disbelief. “Oh…wow…okay. I need to lock up.”

“Already done while you were resting. And don’t worry about the storage room. Caleb put it back to normal, as if nothing ever happened.”

“Oh, thank you,” I said, impressed and dumbfounded, and perplexed by the idea that the storage room was back to normal. “I almost forgot. I need to call my mom and Patty.”

“Yes, of course but,” he was hesitant. “Vivian texted your mom and Patty for you. I hope you don’t mind,” he said as he handed me my cell phone.

“Thank you. I should thank Vivian,” I said. Then I thought, How did Vivian know to text my mom and Patty? Then I remembered telling Michael earlier. I looked at my text messages and read out loud, “It’s my mom. She texted, glad you got home safe. Patty texted, thanks for locking up, and I owe you one.” I relaxed knowing they were not worried about me. If they knew what I had been through, would they believe me? I couldn’t even comprehend it myself, let alone believe what was in front of my very own eyes. I looked up at him, waiting to see what he would say or do next.

He smiled. “I should get you home,” he said, starting to unchain the lock on my bike.

I couldn’t recall if I had told him the combination to my lock, regardless I was more occupied by feelings of embarrassment knowing that he knew I rode a bike to and from work. It seemed childish, and I didn’t want him to perceive me as one.

“How did you know the combination to my lock?” I asked, my eyes widened in surprise.

“I just know, and no, I’m not a mind reader. Why did you pick ten, two, and six?”

“It’s my birth date, October 26,” I mumbled, embarrassed to confess that I used such an obvious number.

“That’s next Saturday,” he said with enthusiasm.

“Yeah, but I really don’t want to turn eighteen.”

“Why not?”

“I think of it as more responsibilities, and plus I want to be a teenager as long as I can. You can’t get this youthful feeling back later on…I mean…that’s what I think.” I quickly diverted the attention back to him. “Since you know my birth date, how about yours?” I asked.

He paused, appearing uncomfortable with my question. “I don’t know,” he said finally.

I should have stopped asking further questions, but I wanted to know more. “You don’t know, or you don’t want to tell me?” I asked carefully.

“No, I don’t know. Birthdays are not of importance to us. We don’t celebrate birthdays,” he said, and looked away.

“Then you don’t know how old you are?” I asked, not fully convinced he was telling me the truth.

“No,” he said.

My heart sank, hearing that he didn’t know his age or his birth date. Not that it mattered, but I was just glad he didn’t look much older than me.

“I know one thing for sure; the alkins’ ages vary, up to the late twenties.”

“You are all so young,” I said, thinking that was a dumb thing to say.

He gave me a look that said he wanted more explanation.

I had to think fast since I didn’t know what I was talking about. “I meant…well… I thought the angels might look ancient or something.”

He laughed. “You have a funny imagination, but you have to remember that we are not angels. We are alkins. There is a huge difference.

“I’ll keep that in mind,” I said, thinking I should just keep my mouth shut for a bit.

He began to chuckle, and I found myself staring at him. I studied his features and wondered to myself how it could be possible that someone of such perfection was in my presence. “Let’s get going,” I said, breaking my gaze.

We started heading the opposite way. Having been so caught up in my observations of Michael, it appeared I had lost my sense of direction. “Where are you going?” I asked, looking confused.

“I thought we’d take a shortcut.” He tilted his head back toward a different direction.

“I never knew there was a shortcut,” I said, taking several steps closer to him.

“That’s because you probably never looked for one, and it is right through that park.” He pointed this time toward a dark path.

I’d seen it before, but I never knew it was a shortcut. It was frightening, nowhere I would go alone, but I had my guardian angel to protect me, so I had nothing to fear. Unexpectedly, he linked my left arm through his right arm and pulled my bike along by gripping at the handlebar. I tensed up a bit and my hands felt tingly when I realized I was touching his bare skin. We headed toward the park, and I was amazed to find that it wasn’t as dark as it seemed. Instead, it was magnificent. The reflection of the moonlight bounced on the lake.

“Look!” he said, pointing toward the lake. “Do you see the two swans gliding toward each other?”

I squinted to see where he pointed, but I couldn’t see what he was seeing. “Where?” I asked. “I don’t see them.”

He pulled the kick stand down from the bike, moved closely behind me, and bent down to my level. I could feel his breath against the side of my face. Chills ran down my back, making me breathless. As his right hand intertwined with mine, he slowly guided my hand, then my index finger, to the location of the swans. “Right…there. Can you see them now?” he asked, turning his head slightly to face me.

Overwhelmed by his closeness and still breathless, I turned to speak to him. Our lips almost brushed together. I looked up, and our eyes locked for just a second before he dropped my hand and turned away. I could tell from his body language that he felt uncomfortable. Feeling embarrassed by what could have happened, I turned to look at the swans. They met beak to beak, creating a heart shape in the space between them.

“Look, Michael, that’s so romantic. I’ve never seen such a sight,” I said excitedly, hoping to make him feel comfortable again.

“Yes,” he agreed, as his eyes gazed into mine so intently that it made me speechless. It was moments like these when I couldn’t believe he was real, standing right in front of me.

“Even animals are allowed to feel love and give love,” he said sadly.

In that moment, I felt his pain, but what did he mean by his words? I wanted to reach out to him, to comfort him, but could I? Although I knew that he couldn’t show human emotions toward me, instinctively I showed mine. Unsure of what his reaction would be, I reached out and placed my hand on his shoulder. Slowly our eyes connected and there was no need for words. In an effort to lighten the mood, I did what I did best and started asking a bunch of questions. We continued to move forward, but this time we didn’t link arms. Instead, I walked beside him as he continued to pull the bike along.

“The snake or the fog thingy, or whatever it was, spoke to me, didn’t it?”

“Yes. She had the ability to turn into whatever you fear the most.”

“Well, she was right on target,” I said, still confused about what had happened to me. “I thought I was delusional.” Then I suddenly remembered she had a name. “Why did you call her Julia?”

“You remember her name?” He sounded surprised. He paused and looked like he was searching for words. “Julia was a friend, a long time ago. She was one of the alkin officers. She turned her back on us and became a fallen.”

“Oh,” I said in surprise. “What did she mean by blocking your passage?”

“She had the power to confuse the location of where someone is. I couldn’t find you. Luckily, Vivian is a locator, and she has the power to pinpoint the exact location. It took her a while, but she finally managed to bypass Julia’s block.”

“Wow,” I said. “I’m grateful that you made it in time. I thought I was…dead,” I said, trying to choose my words carefully so I wouldn’t make him feel guilty.

“Claudia, you don’t need to worry about her anymore,” he said tenderly. “Her life was taken by me.”

“How did you kill her? I mean, I tried to hurt her with my flashlight, but it went right through.”

“When she struck or defended herself, she needed to take on a solid form. That was when she was most vulnerable. I had to wait for that precise moment to quickly drive the sword into her heart.”

I vaguely remembered the sound of her cry, a painful screeching noise that I heard before I fainted. I felt so bad, but I was glad that he made sure she would never hurt me again. I didn’t know what to say to console him or if he even cared that he had lost someone who was once an old friend.

Suddenly, my mind focused on what Margaret had said about Isaiah’s descendants. She said we didn’t need to worry about the one because it was slim chance to none that the one existed, since they were sure they had taken all the forbidden children. Although I was not even in a position to question her, I couldn’t help myself as the thought of “what if” crossed my mind. “Hypothetically, what will happen if the fallen find Isaiah’s descendant?”

“The fallen cannot kill the one. The one must give one’s soul freely. When the soul is released by the hands of fallen, this will allow the gates of the Halo City to be opened. There will be war, and humanity will be in danger.”

“Ohhh,” I said quietly. “How will you know that the one is Isaiah’s descendant?”

“It is said that the one would possess a special birthmark. However, any descendant of Royal Council members would possess this special birthmark. Only the Royal Council, Margaret, Agnes, and Phillip know what it is.”

“Why only them?”

“It is to protect the one. If an alkin decides to become a fallen, this information would fall into the wrong hands. Knowing what the birthmark is for sure would trigger the fallen to search every single human being on earth. Imagine what that would be like. Remember, they need the one in order to enter the Crossroads to Halo City.”

“I see your point,” I said, feeling goose bumps. “Why can’t the angels come down here and find the one, if the one does exist?”

“Angels are not allowed to intervene with lives on Earth anymore; however, the Earth angels that already exist in your world can, but they are limited. Their primary roles are to help humans, guide them, and protect them. We’re not allowed to be down here. It is one of the Ten Divine Commandments. The angels lost that privilege when they—” he was hesitant to say the last couple of words—“created us.” His tone was soft, almost shameful. “Anyway, Margaret said they were sure they had taken all of them, so we need not worry.”

Satisfied with his answer, I asked another question that needed further explanation. “Why was Halo City created?” I wanted to hear his side of the story.

He took a deep breath. “We didn’t want to leave your world, nor did we want to exist in what you call Heaven. They didn’t know what to do with us, so we made an agreement with the Royal Council. We would be allowed to stay at the Crossroads in Halo City. Phillip, Margaret, and Agnes were assigned to guide us and mentor us to be more like angels rather than humans.”

“Do you age in your world?”

“Alkins remain the age we were when we entered Halo City, but the Twelve can be whatever age they want to be.”

“What you are telling me is that you’ll be young forever, and forever you will stay at Halo City?” I asked, amazed that such a thing could be true.

“Forever young,” he said. “Some may think it is a curse, and some may think it is a blessing.”

“Which do you think?”

“I thought it was a curse at first, but now I don’t know anymore. It doesn’t matter anyway. It’s not like I can do anything about it,” he said.

“How did you get to Halo City? Did they come down to Earth and just do their magic thing, and you’re gone? Or, did they kidnap you? There are so many of you. How?” Trying to be sensitive and choose the right words, I stumbled on my questions.

“When the Royal Council knew of our existence and realized there were so many of us, they thought about cleansing the Earth and starting over again. Since flooding was used once, they contemplated earthquake or fire.”

“Apocalypse,” I whispered and gasped at the thought of what could have been.

“Yes,” he nodded. “The end of the world.”

“But why? Why couldn’t we exist together? Isn’t the Earth big enough?” I asked.

“It isn’t about space. The alkins would overpower humans. Eventually humanity would be lost.”

I soaked in his words, speechless, but Michael continued. “The Royal Council couldn’t come to terms with what they thought was in the best interest for all, so they sent the Twelve Angels to search for us. They appeared in our dreams and took us. They stopped searching when they thought they had taken all of the forbidden children.”

“Does the Royal Council know you are down here with me?” I asked.

“Phillip has contacts with the Royal Council. I don’t know what he tells them, so I don’t know if they know I’m down here or not. I don’t ask too many questions because I don’t particularly care for them. Don’t get me wrong. I respect them, but it doesn’t mean I have to agree with everything they did.”

“You don’t like them?” I asked.