Forsaken (14 page)

“And you believe her?” asks Ezra.
 

Benjamin shrugs.  “Why not?  She has no reason to be loyal to the fallen.  They failed
her every moment she needed them.  And she seems pretty attached to the kid.”
 

Ezra nods and walks toward me.  “Look at me, nephilim,” he orders.
 

It’s tough to obey him, but I bite my tongue and do as he says.
 

“You so much as try anything I don’t approve of, and I will do to you as I did to
the other nephilim.  Understood?”
 

I nod.  “Go.  The boy needs someone around anyway.  Ben, follow me son.”
 

Ezra walks away and before Ben starts to follow him, he turns around, winks at me,
and mouths, ‘now’.
 

I rush in the room and find Trent talking to someone, but I see nothing.
 

I quickly close the door behind me.
 

“Kay!” He comes running and hugs me.
 

“Hey, bud.  Who are you talking to?”
 

“Sam.  You can’t see him?”
 

I shake my head.
 

“He says he can go now that you are here.”
 

“Can he make it so that I can see him?” I ask.
 

Trent shakes his head.  “He said only I can.”
 

I roll my eyes.
 

“He says you should stop doing that.  He says it’s rude.”
 

“Can he stay?”  I ask, wondering if maybe he can help us.
 

Trent shakes his head.  He looks over where I suppose Sam is.  “He stayed too long.
 He needs to go.”
 

“But—”
 

Trent runs over and even though I don’t see Samael, I know he is hugging him.  I see
Trent nod, and then, he walks toward me.  He holds my hand and walks me over to the
window.  Outside, I see the two Forsaken—waiting.
 

I can hear Trent’s voice in my head.  “Sam told me what to do.”
 

I can feel the wards go up behind me and the wards go down around the window.  I climb
over the window and then pick him up from the other side.  Still holding him in my
arms, I look at the forsaken, nod, and we take off running toward the Otherworld.
 

“STOP!” yells one of the forsaken.  I look to my side and they are both down on the
ground and in pain.  Around us, the fires are burning stronger, as if they are angry.
 I look behind me and see Ezra running toward us.  A long way behind him, I see Benjamin.
 I know that I have to act quickly.  I put up wards, an invisible wall, keeping Ezra
from getting to us, but I know this won’t last.  Ezra will take this down as soon
as he wishes to.  I lean down, put Trent on the floor and take the dagger off my boot.
 When I look up toward the Otherworld, I see Hunter standing there and I feel relieved.
 I know Chase can’t get this far, but he is probably not too far behind Hunter.  I
look at Trent.  
 

“Do you see him?” I ask pointing toward Hunter.
 

“Yes.” He looks so scared.  I can’t even imagine having to deal with this at his age.
 

“He is a friend,” I say, “he is our protector.  I want you to run to him, okay?  He
will keep you safe.  Tell him I’ll be okay.  I’ll be coming right behind you.”
 

Trent’s eyes are wide open.  He nods and runs.  I can feel Ezra trying to take the
wards down but I fight it.  I can see Trent get close to Hunter.  As Trent talks to
Hunter, Hunter stares at me and even though I know things are about to get bad, I
need him to get Trent to safety.  I smile at him and yell, “GO!”  He hesitates, but
then he scoops Trent up in his arms and runs the other way.  
 

As soon as I can’t see him anymore, I drop the wards.  I swing around, ready to fight,
but I can’t.  I’m too weak from the wards.  I fall to the floor, my dagger falling
inches away from me, the increased heat weakening me so much that I can’t even reach
for it.  And then, I see Ezra’s boots by the dagger.  He picks it up, walks toward
me, and that is when I get up.  I feel dizzy and the heat starts to become unbearable.
 I wonder if he is trying to make me human like he did with Samael, so that he can
kill me easier.  I launch forward, ready to take over my dagger, but a scream coming
from one of the lost souls scares me.  Ezra is so much faster than I am right now.
 He moves toward me, but one of the forsaken jumps in front of me, blocking me from
Ezra.  Ezra’s eyes widen in shock at what he sees, and then, he disappears… and I
give in.  I can’t take the heat anymore.  
 

I see flashes…  I see Benjamin carrying me toward the Otherworld and I see the forsaken
protecting us as he does so.  I hear Hunter scream, “NO!” and my eyes close again.
 

I open my eyes again and we are in complete darkness, but I can feel my body cooling
down from the unbearable heat.  I know right away that we’re in the Otherworld.  “Hunter?”
I ask.
 

Hunter is now the one carrying me.  “We are almost back,” he says.  We just need to
find our way out of the darker areas before we can get back.
 

I can hear Benjamin’s voice in the background, complaining about how they would be
back by now if Hunter had listened to him.
 

“Where is Trent?”
 

“He’s right behind us.  Benjamin is carrying him.”
 

“What? No!”
 

“I just saved your ass, sis. Have a little faith,” says Benjamin.
 

“Don’t worry,” says Hunter.  “Chase is right by him.”
 

I close my eyes again. I don’t want to, but I can’t control it.  
 

When I open my eyes again, we’re at Ethan’s place.  I look around and we are all there.
 I can’t believe things were this easy, and that actually gives me a bad feeling…
things are never this easy.
 

I look over at Trent and he is sitting on the couch right next to where I’m laying
down.  He watches Jennifer curiously.
 

“Are you okay, bud?”
 

He nods.  He jumps off the couch, walks over to Jennifer and looks up at her.  
 

“What’s wrong?” she asks curiously.
 

He points at her wings.
 

“Can I touch your wings?” he asks.
 

She nods and kneels down.
 

Before touching it, he says, “The color is wrong.”
 

Jennifer’s expression turns into sadness.  She closes her eyes, but doesn’t pull away.
 

Trent reaches for her wings and the color starts to fade from black to white.  We
all gasp and that is when Jennifer opens her eyes.  She looks to the side and has
the same reaction as we all had.  Scared, she looks at Trent.  He smiles at her before
he comes to sit next to me again.
 

Ethan and I look from one another and I know what he is thinking.  I look over at
Trent.  “Can you do that again, if you want to?” I ask.
 

He nods.
 

“Can you show us?  Can you do the same to his wings?”
 

He nods.  He walks over to Ethan and does the same.  Once Trent pulls away, Jennifer
wraps her arms around Ethan and they are both are in tears.  
 

Trent once again comes back and sits next to me.
 

“Do you feel different?” I ask Ethan.
 

“I—I fell like I got it all back… all abilities… everything.”  He looks over at Jennifer.
 “Do you?”  Unable to speak from the shock, she continues to stare at her wings and
nods.  When she looks back in our direction, I see that she is still crying.  Ethan
moves his hand toward her and wipes her tears away.  “You—We deserve this.”
 

When I look at Trent, I see that he is now staring at Steph.
 

“Do you want to change hers too?” I ask.
 

He shakes his head.  “Not now.  Sam says the man is coming for her.”
 

“Sam is here?” I ask.
 

“Not anymore.  He said he shouldn’t be here long.”
 

I hear Benjamin swear.  “He knows… he knows I helped.  Please ward this place.  I
beg you.  Please don’t let him take her.”
 

I look over at Trent.  “Can you help me with the puzzles?” I ask.
 

He smiles and within seconds we have the wards up.  All while Hunter watches us, and
smiles.
 

Once everything is ready, I look over at Benjamin and sigh.
 

“What?” he asks.
 

“You didn’t happen to grab my dagger before you took me out of Hell, did you?” I ask.
 

“Can’t say that I had the time to,” he says in a cold tone.
 

I take a deep breath knowing that what is done is done.  I go over to the room and
grab another one of the other daggers and it feels so unfamiliar… everything about
it feels odd.
 

Back in the living room, we can all feel when the demon is outside, but that is not
for long.  We have no doubt he’ll be back and we know we can’t keep the wards up forever
either.  Sooner or later, we’ll have to come up with another plan.
 

“Trent should rest,” says Ethan.  “And so should you.  Jennifer and I can take up
the wards for a while.  Once you get some rest, we will figure out what to do.”
 

I stand up and see the look on Benjamin’s face.  He looks pale and scared… he looks
human… and he has yet to leave Steph’s side.
 

I take Trent to the room and when I come back out, Hunter is gone, along with Benjamin.
 

“They wanted to talk,” says Steph.
 

I start to walk outside, but Steph stands in front of me.  “Please let them.  It’s
important,” she pleads with me and I can’t say no.
 

I take a deep breath.  “Okay.”
 

“You do know that the Academy will want Trent just as much as Ezra, right?  Especially
with his gift.”
 

“I know.  We’ll make sure they can’t get to him.”
 

“You can’t hide within wards forever,” she says.
 

“I know, but we’ll find somewhere safe.  We could maybe build our own place with the
same security as the academy.  We could bring my parents and Kim could maybe help
with the wards.”  I gasp.  “My parents!  Ezra is going to go after them!” I panic.
 

“We got it under control,” says Ethan.  “Chase went for them and Xavier is helping,
at Hunter’s request.”
 

I feel like I can breath again.  I look outside the window and wonder what in the
world Benjamin and Hunter are still talking about.
 

HUNTER
 

“I need to talk to you,” says Benjamin.
 

“We have nothing to talk about.”
 

“You’ll want to hear this.  It’s about you and Kayla.”
 

“Ugh.  Fine.  Talk.”
 

“Outside.”
 

I let out a growl and follow him out.
 

On the front porch of the house, he shows me a small bottle that has a drop of a clear
liquid inside.
 

“What is this?”
 

“This is a tear catcher.  I want to make a deal with you.  I want Steph protected
from my father.  If you can guarantee her protection by the other fallen, this is
yours.”
 

“I can’t speak for them.  And I have no clue what a tear catcher is… what’s in there?”
 

“Do you know Lilith’s story?” he asks.
 

“No.”
 

“They say that Lilith was Adam’s wife before Eve.  Lilith refused to be submissive
to Adam, and so, she left the Garden of Eden and swore never to go back.  Angels were
sent to take her back, but she refused.  One of the angels made a deal with her where
if she allowed him to collect one of her tears, he would help her get away. She mated
with him, and when he became a fallen angel, she cried, and that was when he collected
the tear.  As promised, he helped her, but even though she escaped from her life,
she wasn’t able to escape from the curse that the other angels placed upon her.  This,”
he says as he shakes the bottle, “is Lilith’s last tear… one tear from the first of
God’s creation who switched sides between good and evil.  For you, this is mortality,
but it also has the power to make any being human.  I’m offering you a trade where
there are no hidden clauses on my side of the deal.  You talk them into helping me
protect her and this is yours.  This will turn you mortal.  That is what you wanted
all along, right?”
 

I laugh.  “And you have been just carrying that around all along?  Just in case?”
 

“In a way,” he says.  “I knew that you or Kayla would need it eventually.  I just
needed to figure out what I wanted in return.  Then father told me about the kid and
I thought I would maybe use it on Trent as a last resort.  I thought that it could
keep my father from being able to use him to destroy everything, Steph included.  But
it would be such a waste being that there is only one of these.”
 

“What changed?  You could give it to Trent now and not need our protection.”   
 

He shrugs.  “He knows I helped take the kid.  He’s going to come after Steph one way
or another.”
 

I nod.  “I’ll talk to them.  Give me the bottle.”
 

He shakes his head.  “No.  You’ll have to take my word that it is yours once they
agree.”