Seraphina: Initiation (17 page)

“Hey…” she yells.

“Beat it Blondie!” I sneer through clenched
teeth as I stalk my way to the back. She looks around nervously
like she’s waiting for back up before opening her mouth to speak
again. “I SAID GET OUT OF HERE!” I whip around as if my glare could
turn her to ash and she frantically runs into the kitchen to head
out the back. I turn back to Jack’s office my face red with anger,
my fists clenched, and my teeth grinding against each other. Once
I’m approaching I start to make out voices, he’s not alone. I don’t
care, I think as I lean back and kick his door in. It smacks
against a filing cabinet making a loud thump and all three of them
look up to take me all in.

“Hey Baby,” Jack calls to me from behind his
metal desk as if he were expecting me. There is no mistaking my
face is fuming with anger! Is he serious right now? “Come have a
seat, we are almost done here,” he states indicating the black
leather couch before him. I can tell from his eyes and his
nonchalant attitude, he had everything to do with this. My anger
gives way to confusion and I finally take a look around. That’s
when I allow myself to feel around the room. It’s cold… too cold.
My senses are going haywire once again and I look up to the two
goons on either side of him and their eyes are all red. They look
like he possessed them from the gym, they are built like body
builders and they are wearing obnoxious white tanks and basketball
shorts. Jack hands one of them an envelope, “Give that to him,” is
all I hear before I’m walking inside the room. My rage is out of
control as I walk up to the desk and with one swing throw all the
papers off his desk, in a whirlwind of loose leaf they scatter
before falling to the floor. All three eye me curiously waiting for
my next words.

“Jack, you have five seconds to run…” I
surprisingly calmly state to him.

“I take it the honeymoon is over then?” His
eyebrow raised and he seems to be sizing me up. Inspecting me like
it’s the first time he’s actually seeing me. My eyes bore into him
seeing the intensity written all over his face until he turns to
goon numero uno and orders, “Grab her.”

His goons take a step towards me and I grip
the side of his metal desk hearing a creaking under my hands. They
are once again glowing in anger, I lift them to face each of the
gym rats and spread out my fingers in a nonverbal sign that says
stop. They pause tilting their heads looking at me curiously before
I pulse with energy and blast them into the two corners they came
from with all the anger burning inside me. Once the limp bodies
have slung to the floor and dissipated further into the ground.
Jack looks at me surprised, finally climbing to his feet.

“Sera… I’m sorry, I’m just trying to keep
you safe!” he starts to reason with me with his hands up showing me
no harm. Finally witnessing the power of what I can do has shaken
him slightly.

“Jack! What did you do to me?!” I scream in
pure fury, “Why can’t I remember anything?!”

“How…” he begins to ask coming around the
desk.

“WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME? YOU ASS!” I scream
again when he doesn’t answer my question.

He comes closer testing his limits as he
raises his hand to push my hair behind my ear, “I was just trying
to protect you,” he whispers near my face and I slowly fall into
his trance again. “Jack…” I whisper softly as I feel the warmth of
his hand on my ear. The memories of my dreams of us rolling around
in bed together cloud my mind again. My happiness, the feeling of
home, of safety.

“Yes Baby,” he responds coming closer to my
lips now.

“I have to say…” I breathlessly state before
my eyes flutter open to his again pausing to make sure he’s paying
full attention to me now, “I hate your stinking guts!” I push him
away from me before bringing my arm back and punching him across
the face. He collapses to his knees taken completely by surprise at
my strength, his hands gripping his jaw as he looks up at me. “I
can’t believe you Jack, How could you? I hope you rot in the Hell
you created for yourself!” Those blue green eyes appear wet and
something in me breaks. I never thought this is how Jack and I
would end. A part of me still believes it’s not over. But I turn
away from his face and walk calm and collected back out the front
door. I never looked back, not once. I make it to my car before I
burst into tears. I put the car in reverse and I glance back about
to put the petal to the metal again when I see a black shadow jump
down from above. I almost hit him when I recognize the blue eyes of
my Nate. I hit the brakes just in time and he calmly walks around
the car and climbs inside.

“Something you want to tell me?” he calmly
states… too calmly.

“I took care of it,” is all I can respond as
he notices the tear marks down my face. He listened to me the
entire way home about the striped dress, a vague description of my
dreams, and how I knew it had to be Jack. He seemed especially
pleased when I told him that I punched Jack in the face. I think he
might be a little jealous.

By the time we pull up into the house I can
tell there is something on his mind. I’m about to climb out of the
car when he grabs my arm to stay, “Sera, I know I haven’t been the
easiest guy to live with. I’m over protective and over bearing, but
please don’t keep leaving without telling me,” he states softly
looking out the window at the vast forest about our home, “You
don’t know what you put me through when I notice you are missing,”
he finally looks at me now letting his hands fall to his lap, “We
promised to be a team and yet we have both still been playing solo.
I want to change that—I’ll tell you my discoveries if you tell me
yours and when you’re leave the house—consciously that is.” He
smiles and my heart sinks, he’s right. We’ve both been acting like
we are alone in this.

“I’m sorry,” I admit looking down at my
hands holding my keys.

“Team?” he offers holding out his pinky
finger for another promise.

“Team,” I smile looping my finger inside his
once again.

***

We make it inside and I find myself yet
again admiring Nate as he builds the fire working with such grace
even in the simplest tasks. I hope that one day I’ll look like
that. Climbing to his feet, he grabs something off a side table
beside the window. Looking closer, it seems to be a bottle of
wine.

“I thought we’ve been through this? Alcohol
has no effect on me anymore,” I flirtatiously tell him.

“I’ve researched some and
this
is my
own personal recipe, I think you’ll like it,” he responds as he
begins carefully pouring me a glass. I take a sip as he sits down
on the sofa beside me. It’s delicious, I’ll give him that. We sit
side-by-side staring into the flames of the fireplace before I
break the silence.

“Okay, so Team right?” I reaffirm and he
smiles before nodding, “So, what kind of research have you been
doing in that office of yours? I mean you’re always in there! What
the hell could you possibly be doing?”

“At first, it was a way to research
you
. What you are, what you could do, if there were others
like you… things of that nature,” he admits running his fingers
through my hair.

“Me?! What did you find out?” I can tell he
had more to say, but I couldn’t help but cut him off.

“There is no research in the world that can
tell me anything more about you. You are the only one of your kind
as far as I can tell.” I try to hide my disappointment, but then I
notice the way his voice lowers towards the end of his statement
and it leaves me wondering.

“I feel like there is something you want to
say but aren’t…”

“There is something I just want to make you
aware of…”
I knew it!
My senses have been extra accurate
lately, especially when it comes to Nate.

“Go on…” I take another sip of wine.

“Well, we said that you are probably more
Angel than Human now, right?” he struggles out the words like he
doesn’t know how to tell me. I nod taking yet another sip, “So,
that means you can’t do some things that Humans can do.” I think
he’s getting more and more cryptic as he continues.

“Nate…
Team
remember?!” wiggling my
pinky for emphasis. He smiles quickly before it disappears
completely.

“Sera,” he sighs before giving in and just
gets right into it, “Female Angels can’t reproduce. Only God can
create more Angels. I don’t think you can bare children,” he pauses
waiting for a reaction, but I don’t seem to give one right away.
Maybe it’s the wine or maybe it’s the mental picture of my future
family being ripped apart inside my head. I sit up and turn to look
at him with a blank stare. “I’m sorry Sera, I’m sorry if I took
that from you.” He whispers putting a hand on my back with his face
plastered with internal pain and guilt.

“Wow…” is all I can get out as I turn away
still processing this. I somehow feel like something else has been
yet again taken from me without my knowledge. “It’s not your fault
Nate. Without your actions I wouldn’t be here today. I guess there
is always a price to pay when you cheat fate.”

“That doesn’t bother you?” he asks knowing
the inner desires of my heart full well. I look at him as his blue
eyes are searching my face for a clue into how I’m really feeling,
Him and I for eternity? I can deal with that
.

“No, I don’t think I could go back to the
way things were before either,” I have to look away shyly as I
admit this to him. I don’t know why admitting my feelings make me
slightly nervous still. Maybe because once they are out there,
someone can try and use them against me. He smiles putting his arm
around me pulling me into a side hug. I smile to myself still not
able to look at him before thinking out loud, “Why me?”

“What do you mean?” he leans toward my
ear.

“Why me? Of all the Humans in all the world,
why me?” I clarify finally turning slightly to meet his eyes. He
smiles as he responds to my questions without missing a beat.

“I have no idea,” he sighs before
continuing, “But, maybe it has something to do with those hazel
eyes of yours that change with your mood, or the fact that the red
of your hair brings out the color in your cheeks, or, maybe it
could be because I feel your emotions stronger than I can feel my
own, it could even be that the curve of your body fits perfectly
into mine, but …then there’s the way your eyelashes seem to go on
forever, like your legs. It’s even in the way your fingers fit
perfectly into mine… it’s like we belong together.” He finishes as
his fingers play with mine in his lap accentuating his last point.
Flattered and completely satisfied with his response I turn my
silenced face back towards the fire and take another sip of
wine.

After a few more sips I begin to feel a
little dizzy and I can’t seem to help the giggle that escapes my
throat. Nate looks down at me curiously before smiling and bringing
me closer to whisper, “Told you so!”

It just makes me giggle louder and I have to
change the subject, “So what else do you research besides me?”

I feel him clench up underneath where my
body meets his. I think he was hoping the subject was changed, “Uh,
well, I’ve been keeping track of the disappearances, break-ins and
such.”

“Any findings, Sherlock?” I pry deeper, even
with a little wine in me; my mind seems to be on point.

I watch as his jaw muscles clench before he
responds, “The disappearances have stopped completely last
week.”

“Well, that’s good!” I mutter taking a sigh
of relief.

“No, I don’t think it is…” he leans up from
the couch causing me to have to sit up from him. Leaning his elbows
on his knees he begins again, “It’s getting closer, Sera. I can
feel it. The amount of evil has doubled in this town. They have the
numbers they need and they are just waiting… waiting for
something.”

“For what?” I ask the universe, but Nate is
the only one that responds.

“I don’t know, it’s the strangest thing it’s
like the whole town of Angelica has this cloud over it. Like the
evil is so overwhelmingly present it’s causing this smog.”

Why didn’t I see this before? If only I
wasn’t so consumed with what was going on with me I could see what
was building this entire time. How could I have been so unfocused?
The lack of sleep, the drama with Jack, it’s just what he wanted-
he wanted me to be distracted. He wants me to die. Little does he
know that’s not going to happen.

“Nate…” I whisper and he turns to look at me
from his position of staring into the flames, “Are you scared?”

“No, the worst things I could ever have
imagined already happened to me. I’ve had to watch you die, I’ve
lost my position in Heaven, and I had my first –and last– fight
with you. I have survived them all, nothing scares me anymore.” He
tells me pulling me back into his arms again. I close my eyes
feeling his body heat against my bare arm.

“Whoa, you sure do have a way with words
there pal,” I joke playing with his fingers in front of us again. I
feel him smile behind me even though I’m facing the fire. “You know
Nate, I really mean what I said before. I don’t think I could go
back to the way things were. I always felt like I didn’t belong,
like this world was somehow wrong for me. It’s as if I was born to
be an Angel.” I place the empty wine glass on the table before
turning back to face him, I want him to see my face as I tell him.
“You gave me life, Nate and I can never blame you for what I’m
missing out on if I had stayed human, because what you gave me is
so much more. I was in a really bad way for a while and the only
thing that kept me going were those dreams I had, those dreams of
you
.” I see him open his mouth to butt in but I put a finger
up, “Now, I know you had nothing to do with that, but it’s all
relative.” I take a deep breath forcing back tears, maybe the wine
is making me a little emotional. “What I’m trying to say is… you
saved me in more ways than one. You…gave me something to live for.”
I finish my long-winded explanation in a whisper because I can no
longer keep the coming tears at bay. I blink and begin to feel one
trace it’s way down my cheek.