Eden (26 page)

“
Oddly enough, I feel
safer in the dark,” Beth whispered.

Yelling and breaking glass sounded
just around the corner, and I decided to stay put. We waited for
Jared and Chad, but the minutes passed, and I fought away feeling
of panic. I imagined they were fighting their way out of the pub in
that moment, and at any second they would come around the
corner.

The small space between the two
buildings didn’t allow for much light. I felt a chill down my
spine, and the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end. From each
end of the alleyway, whispers floated from the shadows.

I squeezed Beth’s hand. “We should see
what’s taking so long.”

Beth nodded. We took a step, and then
froze. A large man that I recognized from the pub stood in the way,
his eyes bulging black spheres. His mouth moved, but he spoke in a
different language. Something I’d never heard before.

Beth let out a small gasp, and she
took a step back, pulling me with her. A dark, metal side door
opened, and the bartender stepped out. Her expressionless face and
dark eyes signaled that she had shelled as well.

“
Oooooooh sh—” Beth began,
but I pushed her against the brick wall, right beside a
dumpster.

“
It’s okay. Jared and Chad
will be here any minute,” I said. I turned, holding up my hands in
a defensive pose.

The two shells approached me, the
woman with a frightening smile, and knife in her hands.

“
Chad!” Beth yelled.
“We’re in the alley!”

“
Help!” I called. I could
still hear yelling from the sidewalk fight. It would be difficult
for anyone to hear; not that any of them would come to our aid. I
deduced that Jared was dealing with Shells of his own, or he would
already have reached us. The Shells came closer, and I braced
myself.

“
Crap,” I said.

The woman lunged at me, and I dodged.
I kicked, buckling her knee. Her head hit the brick cement wall
just a few feet from Beth’s feet. Beth covered her mouth and let
out a yelp. The bartender regained her feet, blood dripping from
her hairline, and took a step toward Beth. I picked up a branch
beside the dumpster and swung with both hands. The woman fell to
the ground. The knife clanged against the asphalt.

Beth leaned over, picked up the knife,
and held it in front of her, shaking. “Don’t go near her!” she
said. “She’s pregnant!”

The man smiled, and spoke something
inaudible once again. He ran at me, and I jumped over him, letting
him careen at full speed into the brick wall. He stumbled back, and
I attacked. My hands balled into fists, and I punched his face over
and over, and then grabbed his leather jacket with both hands and
threw him to the ground. He grabbed my ankle and yanked, knocking
me off my feet, but within seconds, I was standing, my hands out
and ready.

My senses were heightened again,
signaling that more additional danger was coming, but it was too
late. Someone burst out of the shadows and hooked an arm around my
neck.

“
Leave her alone!” Beth
said, running at us with the knife.

I held out my hand, palm out. “Stay
against the wall, Beth!”

She stopped mid-step, confused, and
then I jerked my head back, hitting my assailant in the nose with
my skull. I turned to see another man, this one skinnier and lanky,
on the ground. Blood was spattered on his cheeks and
forehead.

The larger man came at me with the
branch. I used my forearm to hit it out of his hand, and then
shoved the heel of my hand into his throat. In Claire-like fashion,
I spun around, kicking him in the head. He fell to his knees. I
reared back my hand and punched him with my fist in the jaw,
knocking him out cold.

The skinny man kicked my back, and I
fell to the ground, but caught myself before I fell
flat.

“
No! Nina!” Beth
screamed.

I turned around, and threw every one
of my limbs at him, kicking and punching. We were half way down the
alley before he finally swung and punched me in the face.
Half-surprised that he had landed a punch, half-amazed that it
didn’t hurt, I paused. Taking advantage, the skinny man lunged at
my middle. My motherly instincts kicked in, and rage welled up
inside of me. I moved to the side, and his fist landed against the
brick.

Seeing that he’d left his side open
attack, I reacted, shoving my elbow into his throat, and then with
one hand, I picked him up, and with all of my strength, I cried
out, simultaneously throwing him against the opposite
wall.

He rolled to the ground, and didn’t
get up again.

Beth ran to my side and threw her arms
around me. I could hear her heart thumping against her chest, and
she could barely catch her breath.

Jared and Chad rounded the corner,
both disheveled. Jared’s terrified expression melted into relief,
and his shoulders fell.

Chad’s eyes were wide, his breath
labored. “Beth!” he cried, jumping over the bodies in his
way.

Beth released me and ran into Chad’s
arms, immediately breaking into loud sobs. It was then that Chad
noticed the limp bodies on the ground, and his eyes met mine. “What
the hell happened?”

Beth held up her hand, palm out.
“Don’t say it,” she said, sniffing. She wiped her nose and took a
step toward me. “I love you, but please don’t tell me how you did
all of that. I honestly don’t want to know.”

“
Well, I do,” Chad
said.

“
It’s better that you
don’t,” Jared said, shouldering past Chad. He reached for me, and I
fell into him. “Every last one of them shelled. It took forever to
get out the door.”

“
It’s a shame, but we’re
not going to that pub again,” Chad said, shaking his head. “It’s
been taken over by misfits and criminals.”

“
Where’s Claire and Ryan?”
I asked.

Chad rolled his eyes. “Cleaning up. I
think they’re enjoying themselves.”

We walked around the corner to find
Claire standing alone, her arms crossed. Ryan grabbed a man twice
his size and head-butted him.

“
The PD will be here any
minute,” Jared said.

“
I know,” Claire said.
“But I find him strangely attractive right now.”

Jared rolled his eyes and led me to
the street, and Beth and Chad followed. When we reached the parking
lot, Chad took a deep breath. His hands were trembling, as were
Beth’s. I felt so sorry for them. They didn’t deserve to be dragged
into our mess.

“
Beth,” I said. I licked
the blood from my bottom lip. “We’re going away.”

Her eyes shot up. “Again? But, you
just got back.”

“
I need you to cover for
me at Titan. Work under Grant. We’ll be gone for the
summer.”

Beth left Chad and wrapped her arms
around my neck, squeezing me tight. “I just need to know one thing:
Are you going to be okay?”

I smiled. “Yes.”

She nodded, taking a deep, cleansing
breath, and straightened her shoulders. “I’ll take care of
it.”

“
I know you
will.”

Chapter
Sixteen

Direct Flight to
Hell

My hands shook. The seat belt clanged
as I tried to buckle it for the forth time. Claire was two feet
away, stuffing her carry on in the overhead bin. Jared was outside,
directing baggage and making doubly sure the preflight check had
been carried out at least three times. Bex’s deep voice hummed from
the back as he joked with Ryan. His nervous energy was evident in
his tone, and even though he was trying to play it off, it was
there.

The sun had set, and because of an
earlier light summer rain, the tarmac glistened. Jared was pointing
in every direction, answering questions, his expression severe. I
was glad that he was able to burn off some of his anxiety by
choreographing our departure.

“
Oh, for Pete’s sake,
Nina. Here,” Claire said, snapping my seat belt closed.

I sighed, and nodded in thanks, and
she left me for Bex and Ryan. I rested my head against the seat and
took a deep breath. My nerves seemed to take a back seat when I
watched Jared work outside, so I tried to keep my concentration on
the window.

A dark figure approached Jared. Kim.
She was unhappy, and when I realized she would ride with us for the
duration of the trip to Jerusalem, my anxiety level doubled. We had
all abandoned her. She was left to fight alone, even after she was
promised for some relief. She had helped us, and we turned a blind
eye while she lost sleep and her uncle. I was afraid of what she
would have to say to me. And she had plenty of time to either let
me squirm, or call me out.

She held out her hand. With the
abilities Bean had given me, I could hear her dry voice.

“
The book.”

Jared put the Naissance de Demoniac in
her grasp. “I know you don’t believe me, but I am
sorry.”

“
I believe you.” Her voice
was tired. Any sign of the Kim we once knew was as nonexistent as
our former life. She took the book and held it to her chest, and
then pulled a cell phone from her pocket. As she walked to the
steps of the plane, I heard her sigh.

“
Dad. I have it. We depart
in ten minutes.” She clicked the phone shut.

I wiped my moist brow.

“
What’s your deal?” Bex
said, tapping my shoulder. “You sick? You look sick.”

“
I don’t feel
well.”

His eyebrows turned in, deepening the
same line that gave away Jared. Bex sat in Jared’s seat, and patted
my hand. “You have Kim, the human demon repellant, three hybrids,
and a cop/ex-special forces guy on this plane. Not to mention
you’re kind of a badass yourself these days.”

“
Bex,” I
warned.

“
Sorry. Don’t tell
Mom.”

Kim boarded the plane. Her clothes
were stained and wrinkled, hanging from her gaunt body. The dark
circles under her once-soft brown eyes appeared like purple bruises
on her ashen skin. She only carried the book in her hand, and the
phone in her pocket. No luggage, no carry-on. She had one mission,
and one mission only. Nothing else mattered.

Her eyes met mine, and she froze. Ryan
passed my seat, and approached her. They traded glances, but no
words were spoken. Ryan kissed her bony cheek, and she let her body
weight lean against him. He supported her weight for a moment, and
then squeezed her tight before letting go. She used the seats to
support her weight as she approached me.

“
Hi,” she
rasped.

My eyes filled with tears. Nothing I
would say would be adequate. I didn’t deserve to talk to
her.

Bex stood, and then helped Kim into
the seat he occupied. She turned to face me, and her chin lowered.
“I don’t blame you.”

I pressed my lips together in a hard
line. An apology seemed insulting; I could barely look her in the
eye.

“
I don’t. I just wanted
you to know that, you know...in case we crash and burn in a few
minutes.”

I stared at her in disbelief, and then
the corners of her mouth turned up, and she winked and
left.

Settling back into my seat, I took a
deep, not-so-relaxing breath. The small crowd loading the plane had
dissipated, and Jared made one last sweep of the plane before
boarding.

“
This is it,” Jared said
to us all. “From the moment we depart until we land, it’s out of
our hands.”

I reached out to him, and he grabbed
my hand, sitting in the seat beside me. He kissed my fingers, and
closed his eyes. I waited for several moments, but he stayed still
and silent. I turned to see Bex and Claire, eyes closed. Bex’s lips
moved in prayer.

Guilt washed over me. They didn’t need
to be on the plane. Bex didn’t, either. If Hell pulled a fast one
and the plane went down, we were helpless to stop it. I knew they
didn’t question their presence, though, but that only made me feel
worse. It was all of us, or none of us, and the display of the
lengths our mismatched family would go to for each other brought
tears to my eyes.

Jared wiped the tear that raced down
my cheek. “Ready?”

I nodded, forcing a smile. “I was born
for this, right?”

“
We all were.”

The engines whined, and the plane
wheels began to roll. The wing lights blinked against the fuselage,
casting a red glare at half the time of my heartbeat.

“
Try to relax,” Jared
whispered. His voice held no conviction. He knew they were just
words.

We all waited for our impending death,
knowing our chances plummeted the second the plane was in the air.
The flight to Jerusalem was long—too long to cope with constant
fear that every jostle or noise would signal our fall from the
sky.

I turned to look at my family. Claire
and Ryan were in deep, quiet conversation. Bex sat next to Kim,
chewing his pinky nail, and Kim stared blankly ahead. The engines
whined as the wheels rolled forward. The pilot taxied on the
runway, and after a short pause, the plane surged forward. The
sudden acceleration of the aircraft pressed my back into the seat.
I closed my eyes, trying not to feel every flaw in the runway, or
the wind resistance against the wings. My new abilities were
exciting, and at times had saved my life, but for the first time, I
wished for the aptitude to turn them off.