The Protect Her Box Set: Parts 7-9 (16 page)

CHAPTER NINE –
RILEY

I hadn’t said a word since Alice ushered us inside the convent. I wondered if it was possible that a person had too much hit them all at once, and then they simply imploded. My mother, or at least the woman I thought was my mother for the last twenty-eight years, watched me anxiously as Paige and I were deposited into the sitting room. I couldn’t meet her eyes.

Alice pulled both her and my sister with her to the kitchen saying that she needed help with the tea. I had a feeling it was because Alice knew that I felt like I was about to fall apart, and I wasn’t sure what would happen after that.

Two extreme revelations dropped on me in less than thirty seconds. Alice had called me a dark angel. I didn’t even know what a dark angel was, much less what it meant if suddenly I was one. Then there was the fact that apparently Alice was my mother. My mind kept jumping back and forth between these two pieces of information, because the truth of either one was just too big to deal with.

“We should call Klein,” Paige said. She pulled up a footstool and sat down in front me. “Tell him to head this way. He could be useful, and we don’t want him hanging out near Calamata. It’s dangerous there.”

“Sure,” I said. It sounded hollow even to me. “That’s a good idea.” I wasn’t sure why she’d bring up something so benign. She had heard Alice’s words just like I did.

“Then we have to figure out a way to get the relic back from Proctor before he decides to use it for something really bad,” Paige said. “Plus, I need it to take on Eva.”

I grunted. I was going to deal with Proctor soon enough. I just had to get my head straight in the meantime. Every few minutes, it felt like my skin was set on fire. Then as quickly as it came the sensation was extinguished. I had no idea what to make of that or if it was normal.

“Ice skating,” Paige said.

That got my attention. I squinted at her. “What?”

“It was my favorite thing to do when I was little. I was absolutely horrible at it, by the way. The opposite of graceful. My parents would take me the rink and a few hours later we’d go home, and I’d be nothing but a mass of bumps and bruises. But I always felt awesome. Like I had conquered the world. There was something about feeling in control and out of control at the same time when I slid on the ice that I absolutely couldn’t get enough of. I think part of it was the fact that I loved winter too. I didn’t realize until I got my memories back why I’d always get so sad that time of year when I lived on Calamata. There was no snow, and it never got cold enough to freeze the lake, so there was no ice skating. I missed it.”

I looked at her like she was crazy. “Why are we talking about ice skating again?”

“We haven’t had any time to get to know each other like normal people,” Paige said. She shrugged. “We’re always talking about big, scary things. We never got a first date. We cruised right past third base in record time. And I barely know anything about you like the things that you liked to do when you grew up. I think it’s important that we pull some more of that normal, completely boring stuff into our conversations.”

I couldn’t help but shake my head with a small smile. “I bet you had little tasseled pink pompoms on your skates.”

“They were purple,” Paige said. “Purple was my favorite color back then. I had purple everything; purple walls, purple curtains, a purple comforter, purple clothes. It drove my parents nuts.”

And just like that she brought me back to Alice. She must have seen my face fall because she reached out and put her hand on my knee. I felt a dart of energy at her touch, similar to the one that I felt earlier. Something had shifted between us, and there was a bond there now even if I couldn’t see it. I had the sense that I’d be able to find her wherever she was.

That thought caught in my mind. I reached out and touched her cheek. Then I let my hand drift downward along her neck. I saw the goose bumps on her skin that told me that she was reacting to my touch. I didn’t know what I was expecting to see when I brushed aside the collar of her shift to expose her collarbone, but there was something there.

I sucked in my breath. Benjamin had once tried to claim Paige as his by marking her with his symbol. It was usually invisible to the naked eye, and Paige hadn’t known anything about it. During her captivity with Proctor, the mark had been removed so that Benjamin couldn’t trace her and rescue her. Now another symbol glowed there, but it wasn’t the same as Benjamin’s.

Paige looked down, and I heard her small gasp. My fingers traced the small circle that had the appearance of flames around it. Inside the circle was a skull with wings behind it. Benjamin’s symbol had been a red rose with a single white petal encircled in gold. Mine carried a note of menace.

She grasped my hand, and then placed the palm flat against her chest directly over the symbol. Instantly, the darts of energy were back, but this time it felt more like a tidal wave building inside of me. I could feel the rapid speed of her heartbeat battering against the inside of her chest. Her breath came in short gasps, and as I looked into her eyes, I could see that she felt every pulse of the sharp desire the way that I did.

My ears picked up the sound of feet on the floor moving in our direction from the kitchen. I pulled back my hand, and the sensations were gone. Paige let out a deep sigh that seemed tinged with regret. “I guess that’s that then,” she said.

“Did you feel anything like that…before?” I wasn’t sure that I wanted to know the answer. Paige had no idea how long Benjamin had marked her as his mate, but I had a sense it had been for quite some time based on Benjamin’s reaction to losing her. I shouldn’t keep comparing myself to the bastard, but it was hard not to. Benjamin was the archangel in charge on the earthly realm at the moment. I guess if I was an angel now that made him my boss. That wasn’t happening.

“Never,” Paige shook her head vehemently. “I didn’t choose that before, and you know that. This is different.” She looked at me and then put her hand on her collarbone where the symbol was hidden from view again. “If this means what I think it does, I’m proud to have it. If you want me to wear halter tops for the rest of my life to show it off, I will.”

I reached over and cupped her chin. Everything was crazy in my life, but Paige made me feel like it would all be okay. “That’s not necessary,” I chuckled. “Sometimes we might be places that would be cold, and you’d need a jacket.”

The rattle of a tray caught my attention, and Paige stood up and turned around. Her cheeks burned red as if we had been caught necking. Alice stood there with a teapot. Joanna stood next to her holding a tray of cups. I wasn’t going to call her mother again. Their deception felt like it was ripping me apart because it made no sense.

I smelled the soothing aroma of Alice’s Dragon Jasmine tea. My sister brought up the rear. Everyone commented about how Gabrielle and I looked like each other, right down to the unusual color of our green eyes. I had many questions about this clearly strange relationship between the women in front of me.

Alice moved into the room first and set the teapot on the coffee table. The tray of cups followed. Then the three women settled into the remaining chairs. Paige returned to the footstool. I would have offered her my lap but didn’t figure that Alice would appreciate that. At the same time though, I wasn’t sure that I cared.

Alice began to fuss with the tea pouring it into the cups and handing them around the room. I knew that it was just a matter of time before this little charade of perfectly relaxed visiting shattered into a million pieces. I decided that I wasn’t interested in waiting for whatever song and dance they had prepared for me.

“So, what am I supposed to call you both now?” I asked. “Am I supposed to call you Joanna now? And switch to calling Alice Mom?” I looked at Joanna. It would take a long time before I wouldn’t think of her as my mother.

“I am your mother,” Joanna said. “That hasn’t changed.”

“Nothing has changed,” Alice said. Her face was unreadable. The woman was cool as a cucumber. “We had no plans ever to tell you the truth, but clearly events have forced our hand. In order for you to understand, you needed to know the truth. Otherwise, I see no reason for anything else to change.”

“Are you serious?” Paige interjected. She sounded angry. “It changes everything, and I’m pretty sure that Riley had a right to know a long time ago.”

“It’s okay, babe,” I said. “I can’t wait to hear this twisted tale.”

“There’s nothing twisted about it,” Alice said. “I chose this life of service, and Joanna and her husband weren’t able to have children of their own. They took you and Gabrielle and gave you the home that I couldn’t provide. I trusted her implicitly with the ones I held most dear. She never disappointed me. You grew up healthy, and relatively happy, all things considered.”

I glared at my sister. It made me feel somewhat better to hear that she was my sister. At least that part wasn’t a lie. “So you knew about this?”

“Not until after you started showing signs of being a necromancer,” Gabrielle said quietly. “Mom told me the truth when you came here to train with Alice.”

“Why would she tell you and not me?” I was angry, and at the moment it was directed at Gabrielle. I knew that was wrong, but none of this made sense. I wondered if it was possible that my life would ever feel normal or sane again.

“Riley, that was a long time ago,” Alice said. “It was for Gabrielle’s protection and also for yours in case something happened to me and Joanna. Someone had to be ready to guide you. We couldn’t risk leaving the possibility open that something like this would happen, and you’d be alone.”

“You mean, more alone than I already was?” I wanted to lash out at her. I thought about all the time I spent with her over the years, and the almost year that I lived here and saw her every day. Never once did she let on that there was anything more to our relationship. Even after my mother died five years ago, Alice never said a single thing to the contrary. It didn’t make any sense to me. For years, I felt abandoned by my father. It turns out that all along I had been abandoned by my mother too.

“So my father?”

“That’s irrelevant,” Alice said.

I was on my feet in an instant, and I knew by the gasps of shock that my wings had made an appearance again. But I didn’t care. I felt like I had been led like a horse to water with this stuff. I never had a choice. There were no other options. It was as if I had been on a collision course with death and mayhem since the beginning.

Alice was the only one in the room who didn’t flinch. She blew on her tea and took a sip. “We’re not going to get anywhere if you don’t calm down.”

The woman was infuriating. “I’ll calm down when I feel like somebody’s telling me the truth, the whole truth! I feel like my whole life has been a lie.”

“It is clear to me that your whole life has been structured in a way to make sure that you arrived here because this is what you were always meant to be,” Alice said. She put her cup down and pointed at my chair. “Now sit down. Enough of this.”

I sat down because I couldn’t think of anything else to do. Then I wondered if I had the ability to read minds. That would come in handy and skip a lot of the bullshit. I thought hard about trying to get inside Alice’s head. It didn’t work.

“Gabrielle, why don’t you go lie down before you fall down? You’ve been through an ordeal. My room is at the top of the stairs.” Alice pointed at the staircase behind her.

I saw Gabrielle look between me and Joanna. Then Joanna nodded in agreement. “It’s okay. Go.”

“I’d suggest the same for you, Joanna,” Alice said.

Joanna shook her head. “I don’t think I could sleep even if I tried. Besides, we both owe Riley an explanation. Then he can decide what he wants to do next.”

I knew what I was going to do next regardless of what they told me. That checkbox had Bruno Proctor’s name all over it.

“Drink your tea, Riley. You’ll find that it has a calming effect even on those of your kind,” Alice said.

My kind.
I had changed party lines, and I still didn’t understand how or why.

I forced myself to lean back in my chair. Paige scooted the footstool closer to my chair and leaned against me. It felt good to have her close. I was certain it offered a more soothing reaction than the tea.

“Let’s hear it,” I said. “This had better be good.”

CHAPTER TEN –
SISTER ALICE

It all started for me when I was eleven years old. That isn’t uncommon I discovered later. When a human reaches a certain age of maturity, if they have any supernatural inclinations, those usually begin to manifest around that time. The signs were so subtle that I didn’t notice them really. Feeling a breeze when there was none. Hearing noises when I was alone. Feeling like there was someone watching me in my dreams. These were things thought that could be easily explained away.

I ignored the signs even as they became more prevalent. The events occurring on my peripheral vision didn’t feel threatening, and it didn’t take too long before I was acclimated to these things as a regular way of my life. Of course, I know now that all of these things meant that I was sensitive to the going-ons on the other side of the veil. I was at least somewhat conscious of the beings that existed in our world that didn’t truly belong here.

My teenage years began just the way that they should have and were nothing extraordinary. I had an active social circle, got good grades, and was involved in extracurricular activities. My closest friend lived next door, and she and I slept over at each other’s houses at every opportunity. There was little about me that Joanna didn’t know. I never told her about the other things that swirled around me. It didn’t seem relevant or prudent, and selfishly I thought that it was like my own little secret. It was something that marked me as special. I felt a profound certainty that this ability would guide me in my adult life to my true purpose. In the meantime, I was in no hurry. Boys, clothes, and hanging out with my friends was all I cared about.

As I explained all of this to the small group gathered in my convent’s sitting room, I could see by Riley’s expression that he didn’t believe me. He had never experienced any interaction with me that I would call care-free by any means. I learned discipline, control and maintaining a certain level of detachment because I had to, and those things along with my life’s decisions led to a seriousness that never left me. How could it not? I have chosen a path that took my children out of my life. That was a decision that I would settle up with God when the time came, and, in the meantime, I wouldn’t apologize for it. I had done what I felt was necessary.

These were things that I didn’t tell Riley. Not yet, and probably not ever. I was certain that he would hate me enough the way it was now that he knew the truth. Forgiveness wasn’t something that was a natural part of Riley’s nature, not that I expected it in any case. Hopefully, he would give it to me someday, and Gabrielle as well. That would send my soul to its final resting place in peace.

I moved my story along quickly to the part that I knew that they really cared about. It was the question of what changed that forced me to confront the things that I had ignored. What tied me and Joanna together in a bond that would carry into adulthood?

The truth of the matter was that ultimately, it was my own naivety that almost cost me and Joanna our souls. She had convinced me to try playing a Ouija board with her, and we snuck down into my basement so that we could light some candles and make the whole scene that much spookier. I had no idea that doing so would be like sending a homing beacon out to every demon in the vicinity. It wasn’t Joanna’s fault. She had asked to do something that teenagers did all the time. But it was different for me. I didn’t even know what a demon was, but after that day, I never doubted that evil existed in the world.

“What happened?” Paige asked. It was the first time anyone had spoken since I started my story. She maintained her physical contact with Riley’s knee and upper thigh. I had to keep myself from admonishing her about the overtly friendly touch. No matter what I thought about their relationship, it was clear that Riley had chosen his soul’s mate. I didn’t need to see the brand on her collarbone to know it for truth. If it wasn’t there already, I had no doubt that it would be soon. Leave it to my son to pick the most difficult path to love. I had done everything I could to sway him from that path, and it had made no difference.

“A man appeared out of nowhere and saved us,” I said. “When the demons appeared around us, I thought that I was going to die. Joanna still bears the scar of that night.”

Joanna pulled up the sleeve of her shirt. There was thin white scar that ran from her elbow up the back of her left triceps.

“You always said that you escaped out the window and were able to outrun them,” Riley said. He looked accusingly at Joanna. “You said the scar was from the broken glass of the window when you crawled out.”

“It was from a Tiphon demon,” I said. I tried not to sound defensive. “I didn’t know that demon officials train them to snuff out psychics, mediums, and sensitives who use the Ouija to connect with the other world and kidnap them. Then they use them for their own evil whims. Being tethered to a demon official is nasty business.” I couldn’t help my shudder. “Its talons are laced with poison, just like its teeth as you know.”

I saw Paige shudder now. I recalled that Riley said something about Paige being attacked by a Tiphon demon when he met her. If he hadn’t interfered, she would have been dead or worse. I met his father the same way. The irony of that wasn’t lost on me.

“Why make up the elaborate lie and still tell me half the truth?” Riley said. “This was all to hide the fact that you had help getting away from the demons?”

“It was your father that was the one who helped us, which I’m sure you have already surmised,” I said. “As part of his ritual of passage into adulthood, his tribe sent him out into the world to track and kill as many demons as possible. He was to return home in a year’s time and assuming he had achieved the minimum number of kills then he would be ushered into the beginning stages of tribal leadership. His was an ancient bloodline that had stood against demons for centuries. He needed to prove himself worthy.”

Riley wiped his face. “This tribe was the Hopekee Indians. You acted like you didn’t know anything about my tattoo when it appeared. So was that another lie? I know that he was from the same bloodline as Eva’s Protector.”

I couldn’t hide the shocked expression from my face. “What?” My mind raced, and suddenly that remaining piece of the puzzle fell into place. I had never been told anything about Eva or the Protector, and I guessed now that it was by design. For the first time, I felt the stirring of anger.
Would it have made any difference in any of my decisions?
I had to assume no.

“Let’s just say that I’ve been all over the place and found out all sorts of things since I left here,” Riley said. “But this isn’t about me. At least, not yet. Please, continue.” He had leaned forward now, and I knew that it was because as blasé as he wanted to be about everything, he had always keenly felt the absence of his father in his life. That made two of us.

“His name was Viho. He told me when the time came, and I was old enough to learn how to defend myself against the demons that would come for me, I should visit him and his tribe,” Alice said. “He also made Joanna and me promise that we would never use a Ouija board again. It was from him that I learned the basics of the world on the other side of the veil. We kept in touch over the years, and when I turned eighteen, I knew that I wanted to learn everything I could about this other world. My path began to solidify the day I decided to go to the Hopekee.”

“I went to college,” Joanna said quietly. “I met Frank, who you knew as your father. Alice dove into this scary, surreal place, and while I didn’t begrudge her decision, I knew that wasn’t the life that I wanted. I had tried every day after what happened in her basement to forget about it. I wanted a normal life.”

I looked over at my friend. Friend was an inadequate term. She was my sister. Because I loved her like a sister, I understood that what she had been party to over the course of our friendship was unfair and wrong. It wasn’t her world. It was meant to be mine. So I wished her well when she went out into the normal world to explore it with innocent eyes again. The future held something different for me though.

“I don’t have time to go into everything that happened to me during my time with the Hopekee. I lived with them for eight years, and I think that if fate had not intervened, I would have continued my life there with them and Viho and never thought another thing about it. The elders taught me many things, and I soaked it all up like a sponge. In the meantime, Viho was traveling his own path and was being set-up to soon take over the leadership of the tribe. He was young, but he had a way of bringing people together. He believed in continuing the traditions of the tribe that included bettering the world and making it safe for everyone.”

“But obviously fate did intervene,” Riley said. “Considering you’re now a nun, and I was raised to believe that someone else was my mother.”

“I will tell you the whole story about me and Viho someday if you really want to know,” Alice said. “For as strange and terrifying as the world was around us, Viho and I had a very normal courtship and marriage. We loved each other. We were happy to start a family. Everything was as close to idyllic as it could be. Things changed when I found out that I was pregnant with you.”

“So I changed the course of everything just by being conceived. That’s exactly what somebody wants to hear.” Riley’s tone was sarcastic, but I knew that it hid a deep hurt. Riley had never felt as if he belonged anywhere. He was a man who had straddled two worlds but was part of none long before he was consciously aware of it. Now, he faced being an outcast yet again. My heart ached for him, but I still had hope. He loved, and as long as he was capable of that emotion, there would always be hope for him.

“Viho was like any other man in the world. He wanted a son and an heir to carry on his legacy and his family’s bloodline. He was overjoyed and waited impatiently for your arrival. But then the dreams started.”

“What kind of dreams?” Paige asked. I knew that of everyone in the room, she would be able to understand Viho’s plight better than anyone. She had a goddess haunting her dreams now, but Viho’s visions hadn’t been as cut and dry.

“In them, he would meet with a council of his ancestors, and they told him that his son was destined for darkness. That he had to be prepared for that day and to be ready. They said that his son, our son, would be something that had not been seen on earth since the beginning of time.”

“Well, geez, I’m surprised they didn’t tell him to kill me,” Riley said. His words sounded as if they stretched into a tight rope.

“They did,” I said softly. “But I wouldn’t have allowed it even if Viho had seriously considered it. And I want you to know that he never did. Not once. That council convened in his dreams night after night for months. Viho never relented in his affirmation that fate did not dictate someone’s right to live, especially his kin. It was horrible to watch as his health slowly deteriorated. It was as if they intended to wear him down. But he dug in his heels the closer we got to my due date.”

I saw tears glistening in Paige’s eyes. Riley’s face was unreadable. I felt Joanna’s hand touch mine. I squeezed it briefly and then let go. I needed to get it all out. It was as if I were releasing a poison from my veins in being able to finally speak it all out loud.

“Viho couldn’t be certain that the council wasn’t visiting others in the tribe in their dreams as well. I couldn’t tell you even now if it was hysteria brought on by severe sleep deprivation or if there was any truth to his suspicions. But I humored him just in case it was the latter and made plans. We knew that we would need to hide you and Gabrielle both. If someone came for you, she could be hurt in the crossfire, and we couldn’t have that.”

“So you run,” Riley said gruffly. “You don’t give up. You don’t give your family away.”

I took a deep breath.
Did he think that I hadn’t gone over that decision with an anguish that took my breath away and made me want to curl up in a little ball each and every day?
“Viho convinced me to go away for your birth. We used the excuse of some tribal business to leave as close as we could to my due date, and then we used magic to induce your birth. Joanna came to be with me, and the original plan was that she would watch over the two of you until Viho determined it was safe for you to return.”

“So what happened?” Riley was eager for the end of the story now.

“On the way back to the reservation, we were attacked. Viho was weakened by his lack of sleep and physical deterioration. Still, he was able to distract them to allow me to escape. I couldn’t go back to the reservation. I had no doubt that they waited for me there. But Viho had thought of everything. It was the worst case scenario. He sent me to the Sisters of St. Joseph, and I became Sister Alice.”

“Who attacked you?” Riley’s voice was harsh.

“You think it was demons, don’t you?” I said with a short bark of a laugh. “That would make sense. But it was one of those rare coalitions that occur when angels and demons unite.”

“Angels were in on it too? Why on earth would you become a nun?”

“I had to become someone else, and the church had access and information on all kinds of mysticism and goings on both here and on the other side of the veil. It wasn’t that strange to become interested in that sort of thing here and have access to that information. I was able to keep an ear to the ground so that I’d know if there were any threats to my children. And you were safer with Joanna in the normal world than they were with me. I hid in plain sight.”