Airel (26 page)

Chapter IX

Eagle Idaho, Present day

Giddy, unnatural, overpowering, wonderful joy! Only the act of watching someone squirm in their bonds with a look of raw hatred on their face could bring these lovely emotions to bear. 

Stan glowered back at her. He grandly produced an enormous Cuban torpedo from his coat pocket, felt its moist firmness in his fingers and sniffed it. Snipping the end, he lit it with a match. Smoke billowed up in his face. Stan looked like a ghost in the pale light of the single bulb. 

Stan stood in his own garage this time. It struck him that he didn’t know how long it had been since he had been home.
Home?
His suit was tattered, his fingernails dirty. He couldn’t remember his last shower. He didn’t care. He had walked out of his old life—and his new one, far more exciting, meant he had to give up certain things to get what he wanted. He licked his lips.

Kim was bound to a wooden chair with duct tape. She had a strip plastered over her mouth as well. Stan looked at her with mild interest. She didn’t know where her best friend was, he knew that. But he had other plans for her. Bait. White female bait.

The peace that killing brought him could only last so long. He needed more; the bloodstone demanded more. 

Kim was looking at him with big round eyes. No tears. No downcast obedience. Just hatred. 

“We’re friends, aren’t we Kim?” He stared at her with wild bloodshot eyes. “Yes… yes, I can see that you agree. Good, good… I knew you, of all people, would understand.” Stan let his words reverberate in the silence. Then, as if remembering something, he ran from the dimly lit garage into the house.

He returned with a video camera in his shaking hands. “You wanna be in a movie? I know you do. Every girl your age wants to be a movie star.” His voice pitched higher in excitement as he set up a tripod. After a few tries he successfully mounted the camera and turned it on. 

“Say ‘hi,’ Kimmy.” 

Kim sat frozen.

“Good… very good. Kim, you get to be…
helpful.
You get to help me find your little friend. Won’t that be nice!”

Mental gears were grinding in his head, and he slipped into a stupor momentarily while everything got sorted. When he came out of it he was addressing the audience in the camera. “My old friend!” Stan exclaimed in a joyful voice. “It
has
been too long. I’ve got a prize for you here, a token of my love, if you will.” He descended into crazy laughter. “I’m—” he hacked out a further giggle, “I’m not asking for a lot. All I want is a little fair trade.” He sang out his next words from behind the camera: “I—just want—to trade! This for that.” He took another long draw on the torpedo as Kim squirmed in the chair. 

“Or I could just kill her.” He laughed again, but then he got serious and began to gesticulate. “If you decide not to give me the girl, I will kill this one and ship her piece by piece to her mother.” He was twitching. “But no more secrets about the plan!” He lowered his voice to a whisper and came close to the camera, still behind it.
“You know where to find us, slave. You have twenty-four hours.”

Stan turned off the camera, picked it up, and walked out of the garage, turning off the single light as he went. Kim was alone in the dark. For the first time since she had been kidnapped, she let her guard down and allowed herself to cry. Tears dripped down over the duct tape gag and collected at the tip of her chin. 

Stan listened, just on the other side of the door. He suppressed a giggle. He could skip down the sidewalk chasing after the ice cream man, he was so ridiculously happy.

He went to his study and began to scratch out a wretched note:

Dear fools,

Play this tape on the news tonight. If you do not, I will kill this poor helpless girl—and you will be all responsible. If you refuse to
OBEY,
everyone will know you are the ones who killed her. 

Stan’s the Man

Chapter X

Somewhere in the Mountains of Idaho, Present day

I was sitting reading when an overpowering fear stole into me. Something was seriously wrong, but I couldn’t put my finger on
what
. I closed my eyes and tried to think of what to do. Far in the back of my mind I could hear
She
whispering, but I couldn’t make out the words. 

“Come on, what is it?” I was shaking now, cold and scared. But what was I scared of? Then it all hit me. The feeling, the smells and the sounds. 

“KALE!” I screamed. A minute later Kale burst through the door. 

“What? Are you okay?” 

“Kim! She’s in trouble. He has her.” I could not place a name but his face loomed in my mind. “We have to hurry, he’s going to kill her.”

The shadow of pain crossed his features. “I believe I know who has her. How do you know she is in danger—can you feel it?”

“Yeah! It’s as if I’m right there with her. Please, we have to do something.” I tried not to panic but the feelings of fear and worry were powerful. 

I gathered myself together a little and asked, “Who is he?” 

“His name is Stanley Alexander. He is the reason I took you; or as I like to see it, rescued you. He was watching your house, stalking your family. If I had not stepped in to save you, you would be dead now.”  

My heart crashed. An icy wave washed over me and I gulped, trying to keep things in check. I wanted my voice to be small as I said, “Is he Michael’s father?” I knew the answer. 

“Yes. Stanley is in the Brotherhood.” 

I recalled what I read about them and shuddered. 

“Okay, you have
got
to tell me what’s going on! No more secrets, no more mysterious ‘you shall know in time’ crap. I need to know who you killed in that theater and what I am,
really.
Am I one of the Sons of God? Am I related to this Kreios? And why is all this happening to me?”

“I know you’re confused, Airel.”

“Please, we need to go save Kim, can’t we leave now?” 

“Airel, you have to know what you’re getting into, there is more you must understand. May I start from the beginning?” Kale inhaled deeply as if to prepare, and I sat back down—I had stood up during my tirade and didn’t remember having done so. 

Kale began. “You are a descendant of Kreios. He is your grandfather. Great to the tenth, at least. You, as well as all of your ancestors on your father’s side all the way back to Kreios have within your genetic code the gift of the abilities you’re just beginning to see. These gifts lay dormant, however, until triggered directly—spiritually—by contact with one of the Brotherhood.”

He stopped. I nodded for him to continue. “It’s like a switch. It’s off until you happen to meet the wrong person in the supermarket. Then you begin to manifest supernatural abilities. That’s why you don’t have any relatives with these abilities. They’re only awakened in adolescence. Once you pass into adulthood, the chance is gone forever.”

I thought back to my dad and everyone on his side of the family. I couldn’t remember any weirdness happening with them. 

“You are a Daughter of God. The last one was Eriel, in the line of Kreios. I know this is quite a lot to take in, but you need to understand: our time is running short.” He paced the room.

“Tell me about that night in the theater.” I wasn’t completely sure I wanted to know, but my mind was driving me forward, hungry for resolution. I had to know or I would go crazy.

“The man I killed was one of the Brotherhood. He was latched onto you strongly. I had to kill him before he killed you. You see… they know when someone is turning. They can feel it; sense it. Once you started to get sick, it was like blood in the water.” He paused and reflected. “There are laws of the land for a reason, Airel—but the letter of the law is dead. It’s not always an act of evil to take a life. Especially in cases like this. These do not understand reason. They do not understand our ethics. They only understand violence. Death. Destruction.”

I nodded again, knowing there was more; almost ready to beg for it.

He looked deeply into my eyes. “The Brotherhood is not just some criminal underground.
They
are the real half-breed. Part human and part demon. Every man has a demonic counterpart, a Brother. That is what makes them so very strong. Being in proximity to any member of the Brotherhood will drain you—they feed on your power; and if you engage them in a long battle you will be defeated. You see why, now, as soon as I discovered he was one of the Brotherhood, I had to kill him quickly. No time to wait. Not even if the movie was interesting.” He smiled, and the smile was true, honest. 

“I understand. So you’re like my advisor, my guardian?” I asked.

“Yes. I am a servant of El—God. We have been fighting the Brotherhood for thousands of years. I am here to train you, to help you. I would have liked it to have happened under better circumstances. But this was the best I could do. I have tried to give you every good gift since you fell into my hands.” 

“Now it seems that Mr. Alexander has found a way to draw you out, and I must leave the decision in your hands. If you want my counsel, it might be better to allow her to die than to give yourself up—you’re more extraordinary than you realize. We cannot lose you, Airel.” 

I flushed with anger at the thought of ever abandoning my best friend in her hour of greatest need to the whim of some lunatic. After all, to what purpose had God gifted me so radically? So that I could lay it down when it was most needed? I didn’t yell at Kale though. I held my anger in check for once. “I don’t care if you can’t lose me. I can’t lose Kim! I understand what you’re saying, but I can’t just stand aside and let Kim die because I’m ‘so important.’” I took a few deep breaths. 

Then a thought occurred to me that should have been obvious. “Will you help me?” For a moment, as silence filled the gap between us, I wondered if he would. 

Then something else crossed my mind. “Kale, what’s Michael’s role in all of this?”

Kale stood like a statue, looking at me with clear hazel eyes. He did have beautiful eyes—sometimes. “Do you really want to know?” 

He didn’t need to say it. I knew what he was going to say, and yet I couldn’t believe it. Michael loved me; he couldn’t be in league with his father. “I don’t believe it. He… he…”

“Loves you? No. He doesn’t. He used you and now he’s gone. He left last night. And I let him. If we do not confront Stan, he will come to us. Do you not see, Airel? Michael is part of the Brotherhood. He was sent to your school to get close to you, to find out if you were really what they thought you were. He is the reason why you were awakened—the day he came into your life was the day your old life ended.”

Chapter XI

I could not feel my legs as they ran. My arms flailed at empty air. I was swimming in grief, running blindly, my vision blurred and became kaleidoscopic with my tears. This just couldn’t be. I found myself in Michael’s room and I landed on his bed, which was unmade and still carried his lovely scent. But he was gone. 

I saw a note on his pillow and reached for it, stretching and swimming through the comforter. I couldn’t even ask why. I looked at his handwriting and started to cry again. The words, the feelings. I had fallen for all of it. The love of my life crumbled to pieces, into meaninglessness. He had been planning on leading his demon father right to me—or maybe he had even planned on killing me himself. I wiped my tears away with the back of my hand and looked at the note, the only piece left to me; the only evidence of the love that never was. 

Dearest Airel,

I am so sorry if I ever hurt you. I have to go, and by now you know why. If I could change who I am I would; but I’m in too deep. Run, Airel. Run! Please!

Michael

I burst into deep heavy sobs and fell back on his bed. My hands shook in anguish as I crumpled into a ball. How could he do this to me? Didn’t he know how much I loved him? Didn’t he know that I would die for him? But he had told me to run. Was I supposed to run from him? Like this was some sick game?

I couldn’t think; it was all so wrong. I shivered in remembrance of his gunslinger eyes, those painfully blue eyes,The whole time I was falling in love with him, and he was encouraging me in it, he was thinking of how best to kill me. This was a game I had never played before, one I never wanted to learn, and one I was determined never to play again.

A hand touched my shoulder. Kale sat next to me. He pulled me into his arms. And in his arms I found my solace, my thoughts appropriately turning to destruction and fury. But that fuel was quickly spent, burnt, and I fell into despair. All of it was accompanied by a maelstrom of tears. The man I had loved to hate was now my only friend. The man I once loved was now my worst enemy. My body shook, wracked in spasms of pure white grief. I sunk low. I reached out looking for
She.
She
could have told me;
She
could have warned me, and none of this would have happened. 

I screamed to her in Kale’s arms, “Where are you?! Talk to me! Why?! Why didn’t you tell me!” I screamed until my voice gave out.
She
was there, and just as Kale had taken me in his arms,
She
did as well. Her warm wings covered me and I let everything go. All my emotions, hurts, and fears fell from my heart and soul, and I cried like I’d never cried before.

I was rebirthed in that moment. That’s the only way to describe it. I had to be cut so deeply that I felt my own death was imminent. 

I saw clearly that everything from my birth to the day I had been kidnapped had been planned—foreseen—and provided for. There were no accidents, no coincidences; right down to whomever I met and what school I went to. And then, from the expansive view of my lowest moment, I could rest in the fact that there was a purpose for everything.

I had never asked for it. But there I was. I didn’t know what the end would hold for me, but I had to try. The pain of losing Michael threatened to crush me, but I understood now that I had never lost him. I had only lost who I thought he was. Simply knowing that I
could
love so deeply helped me begin to work past the pain, in a way. It would be a long, long journey, and I knew that my confrontation with Michael would be telling. 

I didn’t want to think about what could have been. It wasn’t
Why
, but
What
. What was I supposed to learn and would I become a better person for it or let the pain and loss consume me?