Eden (11 page)

“
Have you heard about
Father Francis?” I asked.

Claire nodded. “He’s home. The first
night was touch and go, and then he came right out of it. His
doctors were amazed.”

Jared touched my hand. Ryan’s eyes
zeroed in on the movement.

“
So,” Ryan said. “I hear
you two skipped town for a while. You’re…tanner.”

“
Yes,” I said, nodding
once. “We went to Little Corn.”

“
Again?” Ryan
said.

Claire’s eyes didn’t leave Ryan’s
face. She watched warily for an expression she didn’t want to
see.

Jared squeezed my hand. “We decided to
get married in the chapel there.”

Ryan nodded. It was obvious an inner
monologue was monopolizing his thoughts. Claire didn’t move. She
waited silently, but I couldn’t decide what she was waiting
for.

“
What’s the rush?” Ryan
said.

“
Didn’t you hear her say
that she’s pregnant?” Claire said with disgust.

Ryan’s head jerked in her direction.
“Yeah? So?”

I shrugged. “We were engaged, anyway,
Ryan. It didn’t make sense to wait.”

“
You’re married. To
Jared.” Ryan’s eyes were wide with shock, his eyebrows as high as
he could push them. Claire’s body was tense, her eyes fixed on
Ryan. In the next moment, a wide grin plastered across his
face.

“
Congratulations, Nigh!
That’s wicked awesome!”

Claire’s blank stare melted away, and
she took a deep breath. She managed a small smile, and then looked
to me. Had I not seen the same pleading expression on Jared’s face
the year before, I might have missed it. She was worried that Ryan
was still in love with me.

“
Thanks,” I said, looking
down.

Thinking back on the past year, the
dynamic between the four of us couldn’t have been more different.
Even so, it seemed every word uttered, every decision each of us
made, led us to this very moment. Ryan looked at Claire with
nothing less than adoration, and Jared reached over, resting his
palm on my stomach.

A knock on the door abruptly disturbed
our sweet little moment.

“
Kim!” Ryan
said.

Her clothes were dirty, hair a mess. A
small brown satchel hung from her shoulder, secured under her arm.
I assumed it was the book. She was forced to keep it with her at
all times. Kim was the only one that could keep the Naissance de
Demoniac safe from Shax and his demons.

She didn’t look like herself at all.
“You!” She pointed to Jared. “You made me a promise, Half Breed,
and you’re going to keep it.”

Chapter Seven

Broken
Promise(s)

Kim breathed hard; her arm
outstretched with a pointed finger just shy of Jared’s nose. The
air in the room was immediately heavy, the hairs on my neck stood
on end. The Others were following her more closely, now, just
waiting for her to make a mistake. Shax was back in Hell where he
belonged, but his failure only made him more determined to have his
property returned to him before Kim and Jared hand it over to the
safety of the Holy Sepulchre Church in Jerusalem.

The constant presence of the enemy had
taken a toll on Kim. The skin under her eyes was a deep shade of
purple. Kim’s typically flippant and impervious nature had slowly
slipped away over the last two years. Her possession as a teenager
had left her with the ability to take power from demons that Hell
didn’t understand, making her the perfect guardian of the
book—until it could be returned to the one place Shax couldn’t
reach. She was just as desperate to free her family from the
Naissance de Demoniac as Shax was to take it from them.

A nurse walked in, momentarily taking
notice of Kim’s curious body language, but quickly dismissed it
when she began taking Ryan’s vitals.

Pulling the stethoscope from her ears,
the nurse seemed satisfied. “Doc said you can be discharged, but
because it’s late, he wants to keep you one more night and let you
go first thing in the morning.”

Kim lowered her hand, letting it fall
to her thigh.

“
Agh….” Ryan huffed. His
expression screwed into disgust.

Claire rolled her eyes. “One more
night is nothing. Quit whining.”

One side of Ryan’s mouth pulled up.
“When I get home, you can come into the apartment, you know. You
don’t have to sit outside in the Lotus.”

“
No, thank you. I can’t do
my job properly and listen to you flap your jaws all
night.”

“
We don’t have to talk,”
Ryan grinned.

Jared stood. “On that note we’ll be
leaving,” he looked to me, “preferably before I vomit cheeseburger
in Ryan’s lap for insinuating anything remotely intimate about my
baby sister.”

Claire was speechless, and I frowned.
“Ryan. Really?”

Ryan laughed hysterically.

Jared promptly led me to the elevator
by the hand. He couldn’t get away from Ryan fast enough. Kim
followed us into the hallway. Jared pushed the button, and then
waited for Kim to speak.

She crossed her arms, already saying
what she had come to say. She watched Jared expectantly.

He sighed. “I need more
time.”

“
You promised. What are
you waiting for, anyway? Nina is pregnant. The prophecy has begun.
It can only go one of two ways now.”

“
I want to take it back to
Woonsocket and spend a couple of days with Father Francis. We could
find a weakness. We could find a way to avoid a confrontation all
together.”

“
That’s reaching, even for
you,” Kim said. Her pale cheeks were turning a soft shade of red.
Kim being upset was so foreign to me that I almost couldn’t process
it.

“
You and Nina just have a
few weeks before summer break. Nina can’t miss any more classes,
and I can’t go without her.”

Kim narrowed her eyes.
“You think I care about classes? This is serious, Jared. You
promised that if I helped you get the book back, you would help me
return it to Jerusalem. You
promised
.”

Jared rubbed the back of his neck,
clearly frustrated. The elevator door opened, and he pulled both
Kim and I inside. An elderly couple walked toward the door. The
older gentleman held up his hand, signaling for us to hold the
elevator, but Jared quickly pushed the button for the doors to
close.

“
Jared!” I said, appalled.
“Remind me why we can’t just let Shax have the damn
thing?”

Kim shot a sharp look in my direction.
“Because it gives him tremendous power, power that someone from the
days of Jesus was so afraid for him to have, they risked taking it
from him. Now that your fathers have pissed him off, if we hand
over his bible, the first person he’ll annihilate with that power
is you.”

Jared squared his shoulders and
lowered his chin. “I understand that you want to return the book
and why. Trust me, I do. But when we…once we do this, Kim…it can’t
be undone. I will never get this chance again.”

Kim matched his glare. “Then get it
done.”

The elevator door slid open, and Kim
walked into the main lobby of the hospital. She didn’t say another
word, and she didn’t acknowledge me at all.

Jared and I walked to the Escalade in
silence. Both of their arguments made sense. Who could disagree
with either side when they both wanted to protect someone they
love? My first inclination was to insist Jared hold up his end of
their bargain, but protecting me meant protecting our child. Bean
was my first priority.

Jared seemed even more conflicted than
I. He was a good man, and going against his word clearly bothered
him. He was right; we needed to search every clue—every figurative
and literal meaning of every paragraph of the prophecy. Forcing
Heaven and Hell into a war was a last resort, and we couldn’t be
sure unless we explored every option.

I slept fitfully that night, dreaming
about wars and demons and of Bean. My brain ran incessantly, stuck
in a pattern of scaring myself awake, and then falling back asleep,
only to imagine a new frightening scenario. In the hospital, in St.
Ann’s, in the Loft, we fought the demons over and over, but every
dream ended the same: Bean would be in my arms one moment, gone the
next. Panic would take over my every thought, but we all knew it
was too late, and nothing more could be done. Desperation would
plague me as I insisted Jared figure out a way to find and save our
baby, and then unbearable sorrow when I realized it was over…and
then my eyes would open.

“
Nina,” Jared whispered,
following my name with smooth, short phrases in French. For
whatever reason, French always seemed to comfort me, and Jared
could sense that. His fingers combed through my hair, and his lips
grazed the edge of my ear.

The sun cast shadows on every wall of
my bedroom. I blinked, trying both to clear my vision and remember
what day it was, reminding myself that what seemed like a lifetime
of heartbreak was only a dream.

Jared kissed my cheek, and I turned to
face him. “That was a rough night,” I said. A tear fell from the
outside corner of my eye, down my temple.

Jared used his sleeve to wipe the wet
line away. “I noticed.”

I looked out the window. “You know
what will make me feel better?”

“
What’s that,
sweetheart?”

“
Training.”

Jared nodded. “I thought you might say
that. When do you want to start?”

“
Tonight, after I put some
time in at Titan. Is Bex busy?”

“
I don’t think so. I’ll
ask him, but he’s always up for some sparring with you.”

I forced a sleepy grin. “You should
cut in once in a while. I’m sure I bore him to death.”

Jared smiled. “We’ll see. I’m going to
whip up some blueberry pancakes.”

“
I’m going to whip up a
lather in the shower. Do we have salsa?”

Jared’s head jerked back a bit. “I
think we have some left, yeah. Why?”

“
I’m going to dip my
pancakes in it.”

Jared wrinkled his nose and stuck out
his tongue. “So hold the maple syrup, then?”

“
No, I want the syrup,
too,” I said, ambling to the bathroom. I didn’t look behind me to
see what revolted expression was on Jared’s face, but he didn’t
move from the bed until I turned on the shower.

He was probably beyond disgusted, but
it did sound good. What wasn’t appetizing about fresh, spicy
tomatoes, cilantro, onion, blueberries and pancake batter soaked in
maple syrup? My stomach growled. I was suddenly
ravenous.

I rushed through my morning routine,
and yanked on a Brown University pullover hoody and a pair of
jeans. The button was being stubborn, so I sucked in. When I still
couldn’t get it buttoned, I lay on the bed. Coupled with sucking
in, I finally got it fastened. I made my way down the stairs,
uncomfortable and stiff.

“
We need to do some
shopping tonight instead of sparring,” Jared said, joining
me.

“
We can do both,” I said.
“Just don’t take me to a maternity store. I’m not ready for that
yet.”

Jared shrugged. “Fair enough. I just
want to make sure you’re both comfortable.”

I made a show of looking around the
room. “Did you eat my salsa pancakes?”

Jared laughed once. “Absolutely not.
Cynthia beat me to the cupboard.”

“
She’s making
pancakes?”

“
No, and she’s not serving
salsa, either.”

I frowned. “I sort of had my heart
set.”

Cynthia’s high heels clicked against
the tile as she brought in a tray and set it on the table. She
placed an empty plate in front of me, and then sat a tall glass of
an indiscriminate frozen cocktail on the plate. She added a bowl of
fresh fruit, a bran muffin, and a slice of tomato.

“
What’s in the glass?” I
asked.

“
Fresh fruit, yogurt and
peanut butter.”

“
That sounds awful,” I
groaned.

“
But salsa pancakes are
appetizing?” Jared said. I shot him an annoyed glare.

Cynthia nodded to my breakfast. “It’s
quite good, I assure you. I can’t do this every morning. I happened
to have a cancellation, but I do expect you to eat
well.”

All expression left my face. “You
know, don’t you?”

Cynthia offered a small smile. “I know
everything, Nina, dear. Now, feed my grandchild. I’ll see you at
dinner.”

She untied the strings of her apron
and hung it over a chair, clicking her heels to the
foyer.

I stared at the concoction in the
glass. “I officially believe that I will never know what to expect
from my mother.”

“
That makes two of
us.”

I drank the PB and Fruit
smoothie—which was actually quite tasty—and gathered my things for
class. Jared walked me to the Escalade, but I put my hand on his
arm before we left the drive. “I almost forgot. I have to stop by
Titan and speak to Sasha.”