Celestial Beginnings (Nephilim Series) (34 page)

It was then that it hit Malachi.
“The dreams. They were before.”

“Exactly, Terah very well might be right, but you two somehow found each other before that day.”

Malachi let out a breath; relief flooding in. “Thanks man.”

“Hey, who do you think you’re talking to?
Anything for love.”

Gemariah walked away and Malachi’s relief quickly turned to resentfulness.
This still didn’t change anything. Even after Azazel was gone, he had plenty more enemies that would love to use his weakness against him. Therefore, he still had to walk away.

As he made his way to Hugh’s room, he remembered what had been revealed tonight.
Obviously, Azazel has been using Masters to hurt Trinity, otherwise he would not have known so much about them. He knew someone had been pumping information to Masters, but he didn’t know who; until now.

He entered Hugh’s room.
It was empty except for the boy in the bed. Looking down at him, he looked so much smaller than he remembered. With all his bravado, it was difficult to picture him as this young of a boy.

Just to check, Malachi placed his hand above Hugh and tried to concentrate.
Almost immediately, the power was blocked out. He couldn’t even get in to see the extent of the damage. That was the thing about champions. The only way to make sure they weren’t influenced by evil, was to leave out the aspect in them that makes them susceptible to powers. To block out the evil, good also had to be shut out.

He then did the only other thing he could think of.
Placing his thumb on Hugh’s forehead, he made the sign of the cross and repeated the prayer all nephilims in the path of good are taught. “May God be with you, look over you, and protect you in all things.”

After one last glance at the kid, Malachi exited the room and almost ran into a petite woman holding a coffee.
Looking down at her, he saw her bloodshot eyes and watched the way the coffee cup shook in her hand.

“Excuse me.”

“No, I wasn’t watching where I was going.”
She looked toward the room then back at Malachi. “Do you know Hugh?”

“Yeah, um…Trinity Bradshaw, the teacher also involved in the attack, wanted me to check on him.
I’ve met him a couple times, he’s a great kid.”

“He is, isn’t he?”
She looked forlorn when her gaze went back to the entrance of Hugh’s room. Visibly shaking herself, her attention was back on Malachi. “How is Ms. Bradshaw? I’m sorry I haven’t been over to see her, it’s just…”

“Don’t worry about it.”
He waved off her concern. “She’s going to be okay…thanks to Hugh. Are you his mother?”

“Yeah.
It’s just the two of us. He’s all I have.” The last part was choked out, and she put a hand over her eyes. Quickly taking it away, she once again tried to compose herself. “I’m sorry. I have to get back in there.”

“Of course, don’t let me keep you.”
Malachi turned and whispered a special prayer of his own for the boy to make it. The world was a better place with him in it, and wasn’t that the whole point behind champions?

Gemariah had Trinity waking up by the time he got back.
He stood back…distancing himself, and Tori came to stand next to him.

“The doc came in while you were gone.
He mentioned sending her for a MRI in case the CT missed something, not liking that she still hadn’t woken up. Hence, the reason she’s now awake.”

He just nodded and looked on.
Watching as Trinity scanned the room until she caught sight of him, he didn’t budge. Standing with his hands behind his back, he gripped them tightly together, as if holding himself back from going to her. He tried his best to appear impassive when he finally glanced away.

Terah sat on the bed beside Trinity.
“How ya feeling, Rin?”

“A little better.
I’d just like to go home.” She sighed. “I would love just to soak in a hot bath for a while.”

“I’m sorry sweetie.
You have a severe concussion. I don’t think they’ll let you go home quite yet. Plus, they still have to splint your arm until the swelling goes down.”

She closed her eyes and laid back onto the bed, obviously not too keen on staying any longer.

“Yea, it’s a real bummer.
If only someone were here that could help with that little predicament.” Gemariah looked pointedly at him.           

Malachi pinched his lips together before addressing the room. “I can’t, too many questions on how she recovered so quickly. It’s all documented.” He answered curtly and looked at everyone besides her. “Plus, this is new to her. It might be too much for her to take in right now.”

“Can I be the judge of that?”
Trinity snapped, obviously not liking being talked about.

Malachi looked stone faced toward her.
“Isn’t it? Come on. As you can tell…we’re different. This doesn’t freak you out a little…the knowledge that someone can heal with only their hands, or alter how people feel? What if one of us can see the future? How would you feel then?”

Gemariah jumped up.
“Shit Malachi! Why don’t you announce it to the world? Lower the fucking volume a little.”

Trinity adjusted herself and winced at the pain.
“Ok, yeah. This is all a little out of the ordinary.”

Malachi visibly scoffed at the term “little”.

“But… I also know that Tori can fix almost anything with an engine and can drive them even better when someone needs her. I know Terah has a heart of gold and feels she has to help as many people as she can.” She was going through his team one by one, and using her fingers to tick them off. “Gideon puts up a hard exterior, but really cares underneath it all. Gemariah is an excellent chef with a good heart, but is a womanizer to the core.”

“Hey!”

Trinity didn’t acknowledge Gemariah’s objection but kept on speaking to him. “You…You think it is your job to take care of everything and everyone, and you never ask for help. That shows how incredibly stubborn you are, as well as being the most selfless person I know.”

“I consider all of you my friends.
So – my friends have a few extra qualities that I’m finding out about. They are irregular and I would love to know how it’s all possible, but right now I just want to go home.”

He watched as Trinity choked out the last word, and sagged farther onto the bed before looking directly at him.

Malachi was lost in the same violet eyes that have drawn him in for the past months.
“Maybe I can take a look. I won’t change anything too significant now; just enough so you can go home. Understand?”

She nodded and watched as he made his way over to her.

“Lay back.”
He was brusque and quickly turned his attention away. “Someone got the door?”

When he turned back toward her, he held his hands over, only for her to grab one.
The contact took him off guard and he quickly pulled his hand away in self-preservation. Even though there was only a second worth of contact, he could still feel the warmth spreading from her touch. Any longer, and he knew it would of been his undoing.

She put her hands back at her sides, and he tried to ignore the way her eyes started to water.

“Will it hurt?”

Her question was choked, and her hurt caused Malachi not to trust his voice in return, so he gave a quick shake of his head.

Shutting his eyes, he focused on her injuries.
Looking in depth, he was surprised to see freshly healed areas, as if it had been in the last few hours. She was healing herself? Granted, not nearly as fast as him, but quicker than any normal human. Good God, what had he done to her?

He left her body without fixing anything.
There had been no need, because her major injuries were already in the healing process.

“You should be fine.”
Malachi didn’t want to discuss what he had seen just yet. “I can’t do anything for the arm right now since the x-rays have already been taken, but nothing should keep you here much longer.”

“That was quick.”
Trinity sounded astounded.

When she looked at him expectantly, he just shrugged.
“I’ll go get the doctor.” He turned to leave the room, but was stopped when Trinity spoke up to get his attention.

“Wait!”
She reached out to grab his arm, but quickly brought it back in to herself. “What about Hugh?”

“That’s in God’s hands now.”
With that last remark, he turned and walked out of the room.

Chapter
17

Something was wrong with Malachi.
Ever since she had woken up in the hospital he had been aloof and downright cold towards her.

He was driving her home in Gemariah’s truck, and it felt like an entire universe separated them instead of the actual two feet.
He wouldn’t look at her. All he did was stare out the windshield and the only movement she saw was the occasional tick from his jaw.

He was pissed!

There was only one thing she could think of why he would be mad at her, and it was one of her biggest regrets of the night.

“I’m so sorry that I sent Gideon away!
It was stupid, obviously I see that now.” He didn’t even acknowledge that she had spoken. “Come on Malachi! You have to talk to me eventually.”

When she reached over to touch his arm, she tried not to feel too hurt when he jerked away.
Who was she kidding, the reaction hurt like hell! He remained silent till they pulled in front of her house. He shut off the car before he finally spoke. “Get out.”

Dread filled her when she thought he was just going to do a dump and drive.
That was until, she watched as he unbuckled his seatbelt and got out of the truck himself. She watched as he stood and waited for her but this is where she drew the line. He won’t say anything to her, when all she wants is for him to wrap his arms around her and warm up the bone deep cold that has seeped into her body. Now, he thinks he can order her around like a dog? He’s got another thing coming.

Looking put out, he eventually walked over and opened her door.
“I said get out. I need to get you settled, let’s go.” He wouldn’t even look at her for heaven’s sake!

“I’m sorry, when did I become your lap dog?”
She watched as his nostrils flared, and praised the lord that she got some sort of reaction from him.

“Please.
Can we go inside now?” He spoke through clenched teeth as he gestured toward the house, but it was an improvement at least.

Trinity slowly lowered herself from the truck, trying to be careful not to bump her bad arm.
Her pain was slowly starting to return from whatever Gemariah did earlier, and the thought terrified her since Malachi had refused to stop and fill her prescription for pain medicine. A little help down would have been nice, but she knew it wasn’t going to happen from the man that couldn’t stand her touch at the moment.

When they got to the front door, Malachi unlocked the door and let them in.
Walking inside a familiar environment caused all the exhaustion to finally hit her. She felt like she could lie down and sleep for days, but first, she needed a shower…badly. It was hard to believe that the attack only happened hours ago. She could still feel the grime from Seth’s touch and could still see the dried blood around her nails, hers or Hugh’s, she didn’t know.

She stood at the bottom of the flight of stairs that stood between her and her hot shower.
There was no way she could tackle those by herself. Turning, she found Malachi putting her stuff down on the end table and she cleared her throat to get his attention. “Could I get a little help, please?”

He looked to her, then to the stairs, and back to her again; probably trying to judge if she could make it on her own or not.
Screw this! She didn’t need him. Taking a deep breath, she grabbed onto the railing with dear life, and hauled herself up to the first stair. Yep, pain was definitely coming back, she thought. On the second stair, she faltered a little and wobbled backwards. For a moment she thought she was going to fall, but two hands grabbed her hips to stable her.

She didn’t even want to look at him right now.
This was too much! He was pissed off and being a jerk about everything. Yes she screwed up, but dammit, she needed him now more than ever; not as a body guard, but as the man she loved.

Trying to cover up the sob that forced its way out, she made a small coughing noise and prayed he didn’t notice.
Her head was bowed down so he couldn’t see her face. On top of everything, now she couldn’t keep her emotions in check. Man, she couldn’t wait for this night to be over.

“Don’t.”
His mouth was pressed against her hair and caused the single word to be muffled.  Before she had time to think what she wasn’t supposed to do, he was lifting her in his arms and easily striding up the stairs.

Trinity didn’t fight it.
This is what she needed at the moment, so she rested her head on his shoulder while she was swept off her feet.

He didn’t put her down until he reached her bathroom and placed her in front of the shower.
Reaching over, he turned on the shower just short of scalding; the way she liked it. While the water was warming up, he unhooked her arm brace so he could slide her shirt off. He was being very careful, but when the shirt was pulled from her, her arm was accidently bumped and she hissed through the pain.

His gaze immediately shot to her face? “Hurt?”
He actually looked surprised. Hello…broken arm.

She bit her cheek to stop the smart ass remark and nodded instead.

“Since when?”

“The car.”
She spoke quietly, afraid to wake the sleeping bear.

Frowning, he examined her arm.
“If I fix your arm, you can’t go back to the doctor like they told you to do.”

Part of her wanted to yank her arm away and tell him to take his offer and shove it where the sun doesn’t shine.
That would be for how he’s treated her tonight. Another part of her wanted the connection with him, even if it was fleeting. She sucked it up and chose to go with the latter.

“Please.
It is starting to hurt quite a bit.”

Biting her lip, she watched as resolve crossed his face before determination.
He wrapped his hand around her bad arm, right over the break, and she clamped down harder to silence any noise she might have made from the pain.

She watched as Malachi’s hand started to glow a spectacular gold color, and warmth started to seep into her skin.
She actually felt the bones in her arm correcting themselves. It was not a painful feeling, but still different none the less. The whole process only took a minute, but when he let go, her arm was pain free. She held it up in amazement, rolling the wrist and rotating her arm to see everywhere.

“Turn around.”

The comment brought her back to what was going on. The fact that she was standing, half naked in her bathroom that was already starting to steam up, finally crossed her mind. The effect was instantaneous. Her breathing deepened and she looked at him through her lowered lashes. When she took a step towards him, he put his hands up and took a step back.

“Don’t.”

There was that word again. It must be his favorite one tonight.

“Turn around.”

Grudgingly, she obeyed, but also leaned in to shut the water off.
Fine, he was bent on healing her wounds, but she wasn’t about to let all her hot water run out in the process.

She winced when the tape pulled at her skin as he removed the bandages on her back.
She heard him suck in a breath, right before his hands were on her. The feeling was expected on her back, but what she wasn’t expecting was the warmth to spread throughout her body. The pain in her ribs vanished as well as the constant ache in her head. Looking down, she witnessed firsthand, the small scrapes and bruises on her hands and arms vanish. This was all a little much to take in, and she swayed before catching herself on the bathroom wall.

“Are you okay?”
His voice was rough, but he quickly removed his hands.

“Yeah.”
She whispered back. “How can you do that?” She had wanted to ask that question the moment she found out about these “special abilities”, but something was always more pressing at the moment. Sure she was curious, and it was a little nerve wrecking finding out something that monumental, but it was still Malachi.

Instead of answering her, he reached around her and turned the water back on.

“Get cleaned up.”

That shower looked so inviting. She was no longer in pain, but was still bone weary tired and knew nothing would be better right now than stepping in. Well, maybe one thing…

“Care to join me?”
She spoke in the sultriest voice she could muster and flashed him an inviting smile. This wouldn’t be anything new for them after sharing quite a few showers, but she needed him to forgive her and maybe hold her for a while.

The comment seemed to have the opposite effect on him, and he treated her to a long, drawn out sigh.
“Could you just do what you’re told for once?” He barely looked at her as he spoke, and then turned to walk back into the bedroom.

When he walked out, Trinity was crushed.
Only one thought was going through her mind.

Please don’t leave me.

Fighting back the tears, she removed the rest of her clothing and stepped into the shower. The water felt phenomenal, helping to wash away the residual stiffness from the night’s events. She scrubbed her skin to the point where it was turning a bright pink, and washed her hair three different times, until the water ran clear and not a muted pink. 

She got out the moment the water started to turn cold.
Not knowing how long she had been in there, she figured Malachi wouldn’t be waiting for her any more. She dried off and wrapped the towel around her until she could find some clothes.

Squaring her shoulders, she resolved to stop moping around and do what needed to be done, on her own.
She hasn’t needed anyone since she was ten years old, why should now be any different. Time to take care of herself again, she thought. Opening the door, she marched into her room, only to stop in her tracks when she saw Malachi sitting in her chair with his head in his hands.

“I figured you’d be gone by now.”
Trinity spoke as she made her way over to her dresser.

“We needed to talk.”

“Oh! Now you want to talk?” Who the hell did he think he was? She gave him no slack and kept pulling out clothes to get ready for bed. If he wanted to talk, why not all the other times she had tried earlier?

“I figured it would be fairer to you, if you knew what was going on.”
He showed no signs of being effected by her outburst.

“Fine!”
She turned toward him and crossed her arms in front of her chest, noting that she was still standing in only her towel. “Start talking.”

Standing up, he dropped his hands in exhaustion.
“This isn’t working.”

“What’s not…our talk, you trying to be a jerk, me…the list is endless!”
Trinity visibly swallowed. “You mean us?”

He sighed and ran his hands roughly through his hair.
By the looks of it, it hadn’t been the first time. Staring at the ceiling, he finally answered her. “We can’t be together anymore. There are too many factors, stuff you don’t even know…”

“Then talk to me dammit!
Tell me!” She yelled and finally got him to look at her. She felt like the world was coming down around her. This couldn’t be it.

“It’s complicated.”
He looked like he was going to say more, but shook his head instead.

“How do you know?
You haven’t even tried to tell me anything.”

He started to pace back and forth.
“Don’t you get it? I’m not good for you!” His voice was now close to yelling along with her.

Unbelievable!
That said, she eliminated the distance between the two off them and grabbed onto his arm to stop his pacing. Her grip got tighter, instead of releasing him, when she felt his flinch. “Let me make that decision! And for crying out loud, stop acting as if my touch repulses you!”

All of his attention was now on her.
“Dammit Trinity, I can’t let you touch me!” He tried to pull his arm free, but she was not letting go. Finally, he stopped and slumped his shoulders in defeat. “I wouldn’t be strong enough to stay away from you if I let you touch me. That is the thing I look forward to every morning when I wake and miss it when you’re not around. It’s addictive.”

She didn’t even give a second thought to stepping forward and wrapping her arms around him.
His body stiffened, but at least he made no attempt to pull away. “Please talk to me.” She whispered into his chest.

He ran his fingers through her wet hair, before gripping onto the strands to pull her head back so she could look into his face.
“You are a stubborn woman, you know that?”

Trinity ran her hands up and around to rest on his chest.
She had to let him know. “Then it’s only fitting that I fall in love with an equally stubborn man.” She spoke softly to him, hoping not to scare him away.

“Stop.”
He pulled her away from him and tried to turn away. “You can’t love me.”

“Of course I can, and I do!”
When he tried to pull away from her again, she grabbed onto his shirt and wouldn’t let go. “Dammit, stop turning away from me!”