We trudged through the devastated streets in shocked silence, faces stoic. Gray clouds rolled in, hiding the sun and creating a grayish overcast hue. An eerie quiet filled the once-vibrant small town. I had expected to see people cleaning up or scavenging for supplies.
There was no one.
We moved in unison, like a funeral procession, as we passed mounds of wreckage. It was hard to imagine anyone surviving this.
Gloom hung in the air. Everyone felt it.
The long journey was almost over.
It was just as Remi had warned us it would be.
There was nothing left.
We passed by several mounds of bricks where Sanberly High School had once stood. A basketball post was sticking out of one of the piles of bricks. The loose hoop squeaked as it swayed in the wind.
Jo sobbed, turning her head away.
“It’ll be all right, babe. You don’t have to see any more of this,” Dorian said, placing his arm around her shoulder. “We can go back to my place. It’s the closest.”
Hope leaped into my chest. Maybe there were other survivors. “Your house is still standing?”
“Yes, a few other houses in town too.”
“Your house didn’t even get a scratch,” Nacho said. “The first tornado landed a half block down the road and before it reached the house, it jumped. Seriously, it skipped the house. Freaking weird.”
“We need to get to Javi and Neto,” Jo mumbled.
“We’re almost there,” I said, walking faster.
“I think you should rest. It’ll take at least an hour or two to get through this mess, and you’re exhausted. Your brothers will be okay.” Dorian tightened his hold on Jo.
I scowled, fingering the dagger safely hidden beneath my shirt.
Give me one reason.
Just one.
Dorian was the same domineering a-hole he’d always been.
“Jo’s strong, and she wants to see her brothers. Right, Jo?”
Jo looked down, avoiding my gaze. “I don’t know. If Dorian thinks I need to rest. Maybe I should.”
I gritted my teeth. What kind of hold did he have on her? This doormat wasn’t Jo. After Calder, I’d have thought she’d finally come to her senses and see Dorian for who he really was.
My eyes flicked to Calder. He cared for Jo, and he was stronger than Dorian. Surely, he would stand up for her.
Calder’s jaw jutted out, and his eyes glittered as he watched Dorian. He shook his head, but stayed by Tristan’s side.
I let out a frustrated breath and marched to Jo. Threading my arm around hers, I pried her away from Dorian. “We’re not stopping. Javi and Neto need their big sister.”
Dorian’s eyes narrowed. He had opened his mouth to say something when a sharp sound cracked through the air.
“Karenna’s right. We need to keep moving.” Tristan’s sapphire eyes blazed at Dorian. He slowly flapped his wings, showing off their power.
Dorian stared at Tristan’s wings as I passed him with a smug smile. He glared and gave a curt nod. He followed us, staying within arm’s reach of Jo.
It didn’t take an hour. It took only a few minutes until we finally turned the corner into the neighborhood where I’d grown up.
I stopped, taking a sharp breath. My entire childhood had been wiped out.
I blinked taking in the barren street. The oak trees that had lined both sides of the street and created a shady canopy were all gone. The houses were gone. There wasn’t even any debris. It was like my neighborhood had never existed.
“How?” I croaked.
“I don’t know. It’s weird. The entire town is a mess with fallen trees and power lines. And here”—Nacho swept his hand over the desolate landscape—“nothing. Six tornados touched down. I saw it just before we got inside. Maybe it all got blown away? I don’t know.”
“Karenna, I can see it from here,” Tristan said, softly. “Your home. It’s still standing.”
I squinted, looking down the road. A purple dot jumped up and down. Behind it was my house.
“Karenna!” a voice yelled from the distance. “We’re here! Karenna!”
“Is that . . . Aunt Marmie!”
I ran down the street as fast as I could.
Tears streamed down my face as I flung myself into Aunt Marmie’s arms.
I was finally home.
“Karenna, my dear child. Thank goodness you’re okay.” She held me to her chest, rubbing my back as she rocked me. I wept onto her soft body, my arms barely able to reach around her. The scent of cinnamon and vanilla surrounded me. Mom had the same fragrance. I sobbed harder.
“Jo! Jo!” The front door flew open, and two little boys scampered down the stairs.
I wiped my eyes looking down the street at Jo. As if waking from a trance, Jo shook her head and sprinted, leaving Dorian’s side.
When she reached the house, she fell to the ground, catching her brothers. They bawled in Spanish, describing what had happened between cries and hiccups.
Tristan and the others stood back, giving us our space. Calder smiled as he watched Jo with her brothers. Dorian looked annoyed.
“I can’t find Lucy.” Aunt Marmie’s voice quivered. Her short salt-and-pepper hair was damp with sweat. Red splotches dotted her cheeks. “I looked everywhere for her, but then the tornados came. It wasn’t supposed to be like this. I promised Lucia—” She slapped her hand over her mouth, her eyes widening.
“Promised my mom what, Aunt Marmie? What’s wrong?” I followed her gaze to Tristan and the other angels behind us.
“They’re okay, Aunt Marmie. They’re the good ones. They helped us get back home. We wouldn’t have made it without them.”
“Yeah, they’re cool,” Nacho said.
Aunt Marmie looked nervously at Tristan and the others. “Thank you for bringing them home safely. You didn’t have to.”
“We wanted to,” Tristan said.
“That wasn’t the only reason, was it?”
I did a double take. Why would Aunt Marmie ask that unless . . . ?
Before Tristan could answer, Val jumped in. “We’re here for Blaze.”
Aunt Marmie rubbed her hands over her purple housedress, something she always did when she was anxious.
“He’s not here,” she finally blurted.
Aunt Marmie knew Blaze!
“You know him? Did Dad tell you about him?”
“I . . . ” She looked at the angels and then at me. “It’s hard to explain. I’ll let your parents tell you themselves.”
“They left a video?”
Aunt Marmie placed my mom’s smartphone in my hands. “Yes. I haven’t seen it. I got a text from your father just before the electricity went out and the tornados hit. The phone was in a safe in their bedroom closet. It should still work.”
“Do you know what’s in the video?”
She shook her head. “I haven’t seen it yet.”
I stared at the phone, warring voices going through my mind. I wanted to know what my parents had hidden from me and why? Where had they gone? Had they known about the angel attack, and if they had, why had they left us? I wanted answers, yet a warning voice told me there would be no turning back, and with the answers there would be pain.
I sat on the edge of the sofa in the living room. Nacho was with Tristan and the other angels in the kitchen, giving us privacy. It didn’t matter. They would be able to hear whatever my parents had to say.
“I’m right here with you,” Jo said, placing her hand on my knee.
“So am I,” Dorian’s smooth voice said over hers.
I groaned, wishing I could find a way to kick him out of the living room. But Javi and Neto clung to him and Jo, whimpering whenever either of them left the room.
“Okay, let’s do this.” I punched Mom’s password into the phone.
I opened the video and pressed play. Tears filled my eyes when my parents’ faces filled the tiny screen.
“Karenna, if you’re seeing this, things didn’t go as I had hoped they would,” Dad said, his face looking solemn. “This is the hardest thing we’ve ever had to do. Please know that your mother and I love you and your sister very much.”
“And we hope you can understand and forgive us one day,” Mom’s voice croaked.
Dad placed an arm over her shoulders, pulling her to him. “This is hard for us to explain, but I guess by now, you know the world is not what you thought it was. There’s no easy way to say this, so I’m just going to spit it out. We’re Nephilim.”
I gasped. What did that mean?
I felt the dagger pressing into my stomach. Was I . . . and Lucy . . . ? Were we Nephilim too?
“That doesn’t mean you’re bad, despite what you’ve read,” Mom said, wiping her cheeks. “You’re good girls. The very best.”
“Over the past few years, we’ve been preparing for this event. I’ve been working with Blazael. He goes by the name Blaze.”
“And we did help him,” Mom jumped in, her voice sounding desperate. “Tell them, Marmie. We’re not like the others. We wanted Remi to prevail.”
Dad turned to Mom, kissing her forehead. “It’s okay. They’ll see that.”
He whispered something in her ear. She nodded, wiping a tear from her cheek, then he turned back to the camera and continued. “We knew a war was coming, and we had plans for all of us to stay together, but then Ari found us.” He looked down and muttered, “Somehow he found us.”
Mom placed her hand over his, patting it. “We had no choice, Karenna. He threatened you and your sister’s lives. We made an arrangement to spare you, and we . . . we . . . ” She wept into her hands. “I can’t say it.”
Dad squared his shoulders and looked straight into the camera.
“We joined Belial.”
I nearly dropped the phone.
This was not happening.
My sweet parents, who’d never bring harm to anyone, sided with the enemy.
Images of the destruction I’d witnessed flew through my mind. The tunnel fire in Vegas, the apartment fire, the black marks along the highway.
I wanted to be sick.
The sound of glass shattering followed by someone whisper-shouting, “Tristan!” came from the kitchen.
“I can’t watch this anymore,” I said, putting down the phone.
Aunt Marmie blew her nose into a tissue. “Have faith, dear.”
Jo picked up the phone and held it to me. “You won’t know everything until you finish watching it. You can do this.”
I stared at the device that had ended everything I’d known about my life. I wanted to throw it on the floor and crush it to oblivion with my foot, but then I’d never know why my parents would even think about joining a group of angels hell-bent on destroying innocent people. My hands shook as I started the video again.
“We had no intentions of staying with him,” Dad continued. “When war was imminent, we left. We knew they’d come after us, but not you.”
“We’d do anything for you,” Mom said. “We love you. Please stay safe. Listen to Marmie.”
“And Blaze,” Dad said. “He’ll be angry. Rightfully so, but once he’s thought this through, he’ll see our side of it. I’m sure. When it’s time, you’ll need to—”
“Karenna!” A voice yelled from outside.
Aunt Marmie grabbed my arm, knocking the phone out of my hand. “That’s Lucy.”
“Karenna!”
“Lucy!” I leapt off the sofa, making a mad dash out the door.
I jumped off the porch and froze.
It’s him!
Longhorn Cap Guy!
He stood with his feet spread and wings wide open. Scruff lined his cut jaw. His honey-brown eyes blazed with fury. My eyes dropped to the sword strapped to his side.
“Where’s Lucy?” I demanded, not caring that his fingers curled over the sword’s hilt.
“I’m here.” A voice chimed, hidden behind his wings. Lucy’s checkerboard sneakers peeked out from underneath.
“Blaze, what are you doing?” Tristan bolted out of the house, his feet not even touching the steps. The others were close behind.
“The question is, what are you doing here? You were supposed to keep watch over her. You’re supposed to be with Remi,” Blaze snapped.
“We did our job. Was this why you asked Tristan to do it, so you could kidnap little humans?” Val snapped back.
“Lucy, are you okay?” I asked, wondering how I was going to get to her.
“I’m fine,” Lucy said. “Move. I want to be with my sister.”
Blaze frowned, hissing over his shoulder. “I told you no. We can’t trust her.”
“Yes, we can! She’s my sister!” Lucy cried.
“Move, Karenna!” Nacho roared as he charged off the porch, whipping out his gun.
In one smooth motion, Zac flicked his wings and whirled into the air, knocking Nacho to the ground. He snatched the gun and pulled Nacho to his feet, holding his hands. “I can’t let you do this.”
Nacho fought against Zac’s hold. “I thought you were on our side.”
“He’s our friend,” Zac said, tightening his grip.
“Then why is the other one ready to take him down?”
Nacho flicked his head, gesturing behind him. Jo’s eyes darted from me to her brothers, who were clinging to her legs. Dorian’s panicked eyes peeked from behind the trio. Calder stood at attention on the bottom of the porch steps, wings spread out, blocking anyone who tried to get close to them.
“Look, this is getting out of hand,” Tristan said, looking surprised at Calder’s stance. “Zac, let him go, and Blaze, release Karenna’s sister.”
“No.”
There was a sharp silence as the angels turned to Blaze, shocked by his defiance.
“Blaze, Tristan is a throne. He’s given you an order,” Calder said, breaking the silence.
“Is he?”
Tristan’s head snapped back as if he’d been slapped. His reaction was surprising and confusing. I thought he hated being angelic royalty.
“How dare you.” Calder’s voice shook. “After he took great risk for you, you question—”
Tristan raised his hand silencing Calder. He looked to Val and Zac. Their circlets shimmered, making it clear the path Tristan had chosen.
He turned back to Blaze, clenching his teeth, his blue eyes cold. “You want to follow the old ways. Fine. Zachriel, order Blazael to release the girl.”
“I can’t,” Zac said softly. “We all heard the video, and I trust Blaze.”
Tristan’s eyes widened. “You don’t trust me?”
“Not right now.” Zac’s eyes darted to me nervously. I cringed, realizing what this was about. Zac didn’t trust me, and because of what had happened in the cabin, he couldn’t trust Tristan.
“Not right now? What does that even mean?”
“It’s what I’ve been telling you all along,” Val snapped. “You can’t pick and choose when you want to lead and when you want to play human boy toy.”
“I’ve already explained that,” Tristan snapped back.
“Yes, but what you say is the opposite of what you’re doing,” Zac said.
“You’re supposed to be my friend, and you too.” Tristan glared at Blaze.
“I am and always will be,” Blaze replied.
“Then trust me, friend.”
Lucy’s feet dashed back and forth, looking for a way out. Blaze moved with her, blocking her way as he and the others argued with Tristan. I fingered the dagger, calculating the distance from me to Blaze.
One shot. That’s all I need.
Nacho was able to injure Ari, and this dagger could kill an angel.
Nacho caught my eye. As if reading my intention, he nodded.
“Go for it,” he mouthed.
“Take care of her,” I mouthed back then lunged at Blaze.
In the split second before the dagger plunged to his chest, Blaze’s eyes locked with mine. His reaction surprised me. It wasn’t shock or anger. He was impressed.
A sudden gust rushed between us. I blinked as the dagger descended.
It plunged into Tristan’s body, ripping his flesh.