The Divine Whisper (30 page)

Something wet dripped on her hand and she realized that she was crying.
She was sad for the woman that she never met, and sad for the young boy that had to live through it all.

“Let’s talk about something else,” he said as he adjusted to lean closer to her.
“What are you looking at?”

Nicole felt the hand that was still holding hers tighten marginally, but she chose to ignore it.

“It’s nothing. I was just looking at pictures from the house…” She paused. How should she say it, the house where she was attacked by a crazed maniac and almost lost their babies? In the end she just ended up repeating, “the house.”

She clicked out of the picture of the silver haired man and started at the beginning of the mural pictures.
She wouldn’t show pictures from the house itself, but she thought that it was okay if she just showed him the painting.

The screen became a full view of the basement walls.
“It was amazing,” she exclaimed. “This whole thing was painted by a ten year old boy. He said that it was pictures of things that he saw in his dreams. His imagination is astounding.”

“It depicts the story of the Great Flood.”
Gemariah spoke as if he was in awe, and pointed to the screen at the far left. “You see… On this side, it shows the war in heaven. Supposedly, it was angel against angel. That was when Lucifer and the angels that fought with him against God, were banished from heaven.

That was the start.
After that, two hundred more angels decided to come to Earth and spread the word of the Lord. It didn’t take long for the evils of the world to corrupt their souls.” He moved his finger to touch the second scene. “With their superior abilities granted from the divine, they became monstrous. Soon, their offspring came, grotesque beings that were large, unnatural, and just as mean. The world became a hellish place.”

He moved his hand over to the water.
“You’ve heard the story of Noah’s Ark, right?” At her nod, he went on. “With humanity on the verge of becoming extinct, God decided to flood the earth to kill off all the offspring of the fallen angels and everyone that their corruptness had touched.”

Supposedly, it rained for forty days and forty nights, but there was something God didn’t know.
The only way to kill a nephilim was—”

“Nephilim?”

“A descendant of an angel,” he clarified.

She chided herself for interrupting him.
It was a completely different story; one that she had never heard before. She pressed her lips together to not speak again. She was afraid that if she did, the spell would be broken and he would stop talking.

“God didn’t know that the only way to kill a nephilim was to destroy its heart.
We can drown over and over again, but it won’t kill us.” He quickly looked up and over at her before correcting himself, “I mean, them. It won’t kill them.”

He stopped his story, and looked more nervous than ever.
She wanted to hear the rest, though. It was something that she felt she needed to hear. “What happened then?” she urged.

“The flood killed all of mankind, except for the people that were on the arc.
The nephilim survived but were very weak. After the flood, the Lord sent his most dedicated and fierce angels to dispense of them, one by one. The angels he sent were only on Earth for short stints so their souls stayed pure.”

He stopped talking as if the story was finished, but there was something that was bothering her.
“God sent angels down to kill them when they were most vulnerable? That doesn’t seem very Godlike. What if some were innocent?”

“Look at you.”
He brought his hand up to touch the side of her face and ran it down its length. “Always the fierce protector.” He kissed her forehead as if she were a child and turned back to look at the screen.

“The original nephilim were horrid beings,” he explained.
“Some were said to stand twenty feet tall with extra toes and fingers. Plus, there were the multiple rows of razor sharp teeth with a specific desire for the taste of human. It was as if it were only the evil inside the fallen angels that had been used to create the child. There were no good ones.”

She frowned, still not liking the idea of God ordering the slaughter of so many people.

He saw her discomfort and sighed in exasperation. “Okay. You’ll like this part,” he said.

She looked back at him to listen.

“What if I were to tell you that some were better at hiding than others? There were some that evaded execution by hiding deep inside the Earth where they couldn’t be found. Eventually, they came out and started to reproduce again, but it was at a much slower rate because of their limited numbers.

Lucky for them, and Earth, as generations came, their human side consumed more and more of them till they had just as much humanity in them as any normal person.
They even looked the part to where they were able to walk amongst other people and not draw attention to themselves. The descendants of the ones that survived the flood are said to walk amongst us today. It is said that the ones with the souls that are mostly pure get to live while the others are dispensed of accordingly.”

When she didn’t say anything, he caressed her hand with his thumb and asked, “How does that make you feel that you could be near a nephilim and not even know it?
You could have even talked to one before.”

She giggled and knocked him with her shoulder.
“Very funny. Where did you learn that story anyway?”

He shrugged.
“It was just something I picked up somewhere.”

She smiled and leaned over to lay her head on his shoulder.
“You tell it very well. I didn’t want it to end.” She paused to think, and then giggled once more. “I think if I were to ever have met a nephilim, it would have been Malachi.”

She felt his body stiffen before he spoke, “Why Malachi?”

“Because he’s so big.”

“Hey,” he said, clearly offended.
“I’m just as tall.”

“No you’re not.
Almost… but not quite.”

“Yes, I am.”

“Okay, Babe.” She reached over and patted his chest. “Whatever you say.”

“You’re a little twerp, you know that?”
He reached over as if to tickle her, and she giggled when she sat up straight to move away. Her attention was brought back to the computer and she clicked through more pictures. “I want to show you my favorite scene,” she said before stopping on the one with the angry, silver haired man.

He stiffened once more and looked at her sharply.
“Why is that your favorite?”

She smiled wistfully and gestured to the screen.
“When I look at this, I see a man standing up to the other man that’s harming the woman and child. “It’s as if he is pointing and yelling at the man to stop.”

“Do you want to know what those people represent?”
His voice was hesitant, but there was a coldness that hadn’t been there before.

“You know?” she asked.
“Of course I want to know.”

She saw the tick in his jaw, and wondered if it had been something she said that made him mad.
“You don’t have t—”

He didn’t let her finish, but instead pointed to the silver haired man.
“This man is supposed to represent Ramiel, one of the two hundred angels that fell from heaven to spread the word of God. He was special though. He was a member of the Grigori, the Eight Choir, and volunteered to go to Earth.

At one time, he was the angel that greeted souls once their body’s had died.
He was gifted with the ability of divine sight, and could show them anything they wanted to know about heaven. Supposedly, he was one of God’s most trusted angels.

The Grigori were said to be the only angels to truly understand humans and could spend large amounts of time with them and keep their divinity.
Because of that, many of them volunteered to go to Earth and counsel about the Lord. Ramiel was one of them.

Their ability to avoid corruptness was greatly mistaken.
Ramiel soon started to use his ability of divine sight to torture people. He showed people their worst nightmares or what he could, to gain what he wanted. Out of everything, there was one thing in particular that he became known for.”

He stopped talking.
She could tell that he wasn’t comfortable, but she felt as if she needed to know the answer. Swallowing hard before speaking, she looked up at him and asked, “What was that?”

Decision made, he looked right into her eyes and stated, “He’s known for tempting mortals into moral guilt, specializing in domestic violence.”
When he brought his attention back to the computer screen, so did she. “He’s not telling that man to stop, he’s encouraging him.”

“He looks so mad though.”

“I don’t know. All I do know, it that he’s not a good person. He’s among the worst of the fallen angels.”

“Why do you talk about him as if this wasn’t years ago?”

He frowned as if it were obvious. “Angels don’t die of old age. They can only be killed by the sword of arch angel or by God himself. It is said that God will banish them, but won’t have them killed for the misuse of free will he grants everyone on Earth.”

“But he had all those nephilim killed,” she pointed out.

“Yes, but he didn’t create them.”

They were both silent and lost in thought.

There was a breeze that came through the open window and slammed the bedroom door. Both of them jumped in surprise, and she started to laugh. He laughed as well, but there was a definite tension in his, like it was forced.

Getting up, he walked over to the door to open it, propping it open with a book so the wind couldn’t take it again.
When he was done, he turned to her. “I have a few things I need to get done, I’ll be back later. Enjoy your work.”

“Oh I will.
Thank y—”

He didn’t even wait for her to finish, before walking away.
Once again, she sat there and wondered what she had done wrong.
What a confusing man
, she thought as she looked back down at her computer.

CHAPTER 14

“Freedom!” Nicole yelled when they got out of the doctor’s building.

He shook his head and laughed at her outburst.
“Should I get you some war paint and a battle ax?” he teased.

The smile on her face didn’t waver.
“Yes! Except he yelled that right before getting decapitated, so maybe that’s not the best movie to reference,” she pointed out, thinking of the movie Braveheart.

“Very true.”
He opened the car door for her. “What would you like to do, now that you can leave the house?”

“Anything!
Everything!”

“Within moderation.
You can still go back to the bed if you overdo it.”

“Don’t be a buzz kill.”
She smacked his chest with the back of her hand before getting in.

He smiled and found that he had been doing a lot of that lately.
They’re relationship was confusing at best, and kept changing with her moods, but at least they got along. Once in a while, he would say something he shouldn’t, and she would get mad, but it never went as far as her hating him. He guessed that after ten weeks under the same roof as him, any person could get used to his charismatic personality. Most days, they got along, played around and teased each other. He would definitely put her in the category of being a friend.

That was a good thing since he still planned on putting her through the change.
There was one thing standing in his way, though… her verbal consent. She knew nothing about him or the life that he led. He had hoped that when he explained about the fallen angels, she would have had a different reaction. He saw the disgust on her face when he explained about Ramiel. How would she feel when he explained that his blood was running through him, their children, and that he wanted to put it in her? She could very well spit in his face for even considering it.

That wasn’t true.
His Nicole would never spit in his face. Leave him… yes, yell at him… oh yeah, but she would be too proper to spit. Either way, there was no doubt in his mind that she wouldn’t be happy.

Walking around the car, he got in and smiled as if he hadn’t been thinking of their volcanic future.
“How about ice-cream?” he asked. “You can get extra chocolate syrup.”

She didn’t look as happy as he thought she would be.

“What?”

“Have you looked at me lately?”
Oh shit
, he thought. This was a can of worms that he always tried to keep closed.

“I’m swollen all over.
I can’t breathe half the time. I can’t sleep, and I have to pee
all
the time. All because I’m as big as a house,” she whined.

“Don’t be ridiculous.” He paused as he backed out of his parking space, but continued once they were on the road.
“Maybe a RV, but not a house.”

He got smacked once again, but at least he had her laughing.

He drove to Freezer Boys, an ice cream shop that had almost any flavor you could think would go good together, and ones that you didn’t. It was perfect because it was turning into a nice day outside, and once they ordered from the window, they could sit in the sun. He never had too much of a preference, but he knew that she would enjoy it after being stuck inside for so many weeks. To be truthful, he never had slowed down long enough to sit and eat ice-cream.

As they were standing in line, Nicole was looking down and gently caressing her belly.
He maneuvered himself behind her, and started massaging her shoulders.

“Mmmm.
That feels good.”

“Enjoy it while you can.
I’m keeping track of all the times you get free massages and you’re going to return the favor tenfold when the babies come.”

He felt he shoulders jerk when she let out a tiny laugh, and he continued.
“Just think how long you’ll be rubbing my back… my feet. Make sure you get the toes real good, on top, underneath, in between.”

She laughed louder and swung her arm down to pinch his thigh.
“Don’t gross me out before I’m about to eat.”

“Ouch!” He jerked his leg out of her crab like grip, and rubbed the sting away.
“You’re awfully violent today.”

“I can’t help it.
You speak and it brings out my fierce nature.”

He couldn’t see her face, but he could tell that she was smiling.
He chuckled and went back to massaging her shoulders.

Hearing someone quietly singing, he glanced over at the line next to them, and saw a gentleman, possibly in his late fifties, early sixties.
It looked as if he was singing to the woman next to him, and she had a small smile on her face as she listened. Intrigued, Gemariah stretched out his senses and felt a mixture of respect, caring, humor, and romantic feelings coming from both of them. By the rings on their fingers, and the comfortableness around each other, he could tell that they were married, and for quite a while too.

Suddenly, the man pointed off into the distance, and said, “Fountain.”
The woman looked to where he pointed, smiled, and repeated, “Fountain.” Turning towards each other, they kissed.

It was a simple kiss that didn’t last more than a second, but the impact it had on him was astounding.
He wanted that. He wanted the simple tradition that would mean nothing to other people, but would mean the world to someone else. Looking back over at Nicole, he hoped that that would be them someday.

“What are you thinking of?” he asked after another minute of silence.

Her shoulders slumped before she spoke. “The babies. The doctors didn’t seem to have high hopes for our daughter. After seeing her today on the ultrasound, I can see why. She’s so tiny.”

“She’ll be okay.
If she has my strength and your will, she’ll be fine.” He was concerned too, but kept it to himself. With all the strength that he could, he tried to project to his daughter. He said the same thing that he always did.

Stick it out.
Stay strong. Soon you will come out, and everything will be better.

It was true too.
As long as his little girl could make it out, she could be healed of anything that was wrong with her. That was, if Malachi’s healing would work on her.

“I hope you’re right.”

“I know I am.” He moved his hand down to her belly.

“No don’t!”
She knocked his hand away and cringed.

Gemariah started to panic.
Maybe they shouldn’t have gone out. It was too soon. “What’s wrong? You okay?”

Her eyes shot daggers at him.
“Your son is going to be a soccer player. If your hand goes even near him, for some reason he likes to demonstrate that fact… hard.” She tried to hold her glare, but couldn’t help smiling when she talked about her babies. “I swear, one day, he’s going to break a rib.”

“Wow.
That bad?”

She answered with a shrug.
“At least if he’s kicking at me, I know he’s not kicking at her.”

The person in front of them got their ice-cream and left the window, putting them in front.
By the time they got to the window, both of them already knew what they were going to have. Gemariah let her order first, and while she was explaining, in great detail, the extravagant bowl of ice-cream she wanted, something hard made the sound of a thud right next to his head.

Quickly looking up, he saw a throwing star sticking out the side of the building, less than a foot from where his head had been.

He spun in the direction it had come from, successfully blocking the path to Nicole.
No matter how hard he looked, he couldn’t pinpoint the exact source. He wished that it had happened any other time, because then he might have had weapons and be able to stop the person once and for all. As it was, he only had one priority at the moment, get Nicole out of harm’s way.

“We have to go.” He quickly grabbed her arms and spun her around in the direction of the car.

“What’s going on?
What was that?”

She kept asking questions even as he kept moving her away from the building.
The questions aren’t what bothered him, but how she tried to turn around and look at him every time she asked one was hindering them. “I just need you to move. I will explain everything in the car,” he exclaimed.
Well, as much as he could anyway
, he thought. He knew that she hated being told what to do and how to do it, but thankfully she trusted him enough to keep moving.

He kept looking back and still saw nothing.
When he turned back to look at his truck the last time, he saw a man he didn’t know, learning against the side. The stranger was tossing up something that glinted in the sun before it fell and he caught it in his hand. Gemariah could almost guarantee it was a throwing star.

Immediately, he reached for his
ax and felt nothing but denim. Cursing himself, he pictured it lying on the floorboard in the back of his truck. By the knowing smile on the man’s face, he knew Gemariah was unarmed.

Using his body as a shield once more, he quickly pulled Nicole behind him.
“What do you want?”

“Now, I’m hurt,” the man said with a smile.
“Don’t you recognize me, big bro?”

His voice had a heavy accent as if he had just come to the United States.
The air around him screamed nephilim, and the blessed star that he was carelessly flinging around made him nervous. With paying so much attention to the man’s hands and trying to estimate his next move, it took a minute for his words to sink in.

“What are you talking about?”

“Okay, sure. I might take after Dad more than you, but that’s just a guess since you killed him before I got a chance to meet him, and Mom... well, we both know what happened to her.”

Gemariah felt Nicole’s grip tighten on the back of his shirt.
It might have been because of shock, or that she felt his urge to launch himself at the man. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. I don’t have a brother.”

“Sure you do.
Twelve years younger, stronger, faster.” He leaned to the side to look at Nicole and winked before adding, “better looking.”

“You’re insane.”

He raised one shoulder in indifference. “Aren’t we all? Just a little?”

Without warning, the man straightened, and Gemariah went on full alert by hunching his shoulders, prepared to attack.

“Jeez. Jumpy much?” He showed the throwing star, and moved his arm to slide it into a back pocket, proclaiming that it was, “a show of good faith.”

“Think about it, big brother.
Did you check for yourself to make sure that both babies had died?”

Gemariah thought back to that day.
Truth be told, he didn’t. He trusted the word of the nursemaid. “I didn’t need to. They were both blue… both dead.”

“Errr” He made the sound of a loud buzzer.
“Wrong. As it turned out, the nursemaid had struck a deal. If the babies survived birth, she got to raise them as her own, just as long as she made sure no healer was summoned for our mom. She was a good enough homemaker, but once I found out what she had done, I left.”

Gemariah felt a rush of emotions.
Anger at everyone involved.

“So I’m just supposed to believe that my long lost brother came to find me and instead of coming to say hello, he decided to throw weapons at my head.”

“Oh please. I was just testing your reflexes. The Great, Gemariah Slater. You’re a legend with warriors and women. I already saw for myself the woman side, but you haven’t done too many warrior things lately. I was making sure that you hadn’t gone soft. If I wanted to kill you, you wouldn’t be standing there right now.” He nodded his head to gesture at the ground.

Gemariah felt his body start to relax slightly, but he didn’t move from in front of Nicole.
“If I’m to believe you,” he asked, “why wait all these years to find me?”

“Oh Big Brother, you flatter yourself too much.
I was on an assignment when you got in the way and blew it all to shit. I decided to follow you after that.” The man leaned back against the truck again and crossed his arms over his chest. He looked almost… annoyed. “I had heard all the legends about you, so imagine my disappointment when I found out how boring of a life you truly led.”

Gemariah ignored his last comment, and instead focused on something else he had said.
“Assignment? What region do you work for?” he wondered.

He let out a loud and booming laugh.
“You think I would work for those jokes? The Godsend Warriors? They’re nothing but glorified heroes that are fighting a losing battle.”

Gemariah sucked in air.
“You fight for… for him?” How could he say Satan with Nicole not thinking he had gone crazy? Lucifer? Beelzebub? The lawless one? Ruler of darkness? The list was endless.

“I fight for myself, but I see the outcome of everyone else’s struggles.
Your numbers are slowly dwindling, and you don’t even know it.”