Alan Price and the Colossus of Rhodes (The Nephilim Chronicles) (9 page)

Chapter 30

Alan felt his feet lift from the
ground. His body sailed through the air once again. The feeling of flight was
short lived as he came down hard on the padded training room ground. Air
escaped through his lungs on the heels of a grunt.

He lost track of how many times she
put him on his back. Sweat beaded down his face in tiny streams as he fought to
regain and control his breathing.

“Do you need help to your feet,
Alan Price?”

Coming from anyone else, Alan would
have thought the question was an insult. However, in the short time he had
gotten to know his training instructor, he knew she was sincere in her
question. “No, no,” Alan said still on his back looking into the bright lights overhead.
“I’ll stay here. The floor is comfortable and you won’t be able to throw me
again if I’m already here.”

A young woman’s face surrounded by
a curtain of long curly blonde hair appeared above him. “Well, we can’t have
you lying down in a fight. I would take it easy on you but what would that
teach you? Our enemies will not hesitate to throw their full strength against
you when the time comes.”

She extended a hand with a smile.
Alan reluctantly took it and shook his head, “I know you’re right, Angel. It
just doesn’t feel like we’ve made any progress the whole morning.”

Alan wiped perspiration from his
face and tried to buy himself more rest time before his instructor would have
him start again. “So you’re not an actual Angel, even though your name is Angel?
You’re a human just like me who was chosen, a…a… Nephiluminum?”

Alan looked at the woman who stood
a head shorter and a hundred pounds lighter than he. Despite the size difference,
Angelica was still strong, fit and fierce. Alan took a deep breath and took a
wide stance, “Let’s do this.”

Alan calmed his breathing and
placed both fists up and close to his face as instructed. Each step brought him
closer to the woman who mirrored his own stance. Alan knew better than to hold
back. He had tried that tactic before, thinking he was faster than her and
could potentially hurt her. The last few hours had proved otherwise. Alan was
already missing the days when he thought he was the fastest horse in the race. Angelica
was equally as fast, much stronger than he was and, to top it all off, she knew
what she was doing in a fight.

Angelica’s eyes blazed with
surprise, then approval. “Good,” she said as she sidestepped his attack and
planted her right fist into his ribs.

Angel caught his kick in the air
and sent her own left leg out, striking his one planted foot steadying him on
the ground. Alan once again found himself falling to the training room’s white
padded floor.

Alan nodded and awkwardly hesitated
not knowing how to say good-bye to a Nephilim instructor. Images of bowing came
to mind.

Alan smiled and struck her fist
gently with his own.

Chapter 31

“While Angel is strengthening your
body and instructing you in fighting techniques, I’ll be here to make sure your
mind is equally strong.”

Alan pursed his lips and
concentrated on answering Arch’s question despite the hunger he was beginning
to feel. It was strange, sitting in the kitchen during mealtime and not eating.
Alan forced his mind from the thought of food and started to speak. “I know
that Angels have chosen a select group of humans to give powers to here on
earth to act on their behalf. I have speed, so do Angelica and that Dominic Drencher
guy. They both have strength as well. I’m lacking in that department as of now.
Oh yeah, and Danielle can heal. That’s it, I think.”

Alan’s interest peeked as he felt
himself lean in closer to the table and chose to ignore his stomach’s protest
once again. “Are you telling me that we are capable of more than just speed,
strength and healing?”

“Well, I’m glad you asked,” Arch
said with a wave of his hand. “It’s lunchtime now, isn’t it?”

Arch gave another of his signature
smiles and ran a hand through his short, greying hair. “Well, that would be
something wouldn’t it?”

“No, I can’t make food appear but I
can make us something to eat.”

Alan did a double take back and
forth between a grinning Arch and a busy kitchen void of any human hands. “Tell
me that I’m not going crazy and that there are things moving in the kitchen by
themselves.”

“You’re telepathic? You can move
things with your mind?” Alan leaned back in his chair nearly tipping himself
over. Realization hit him like a lightening bolt. He grabbed his head with both
hands. “Am I telepathic, too!”

“To answer your question, Alan, I
do not know. Your powers are still manifesting themselves. Telepathy could be
an ability; healing like Danielle's could still also be an option. I’m here to
answer any questions you have and widen your knowledge base on who we are and
the role we all play. The last member of our training team will instruct you on
how to find your abilities and what they are.”

“Hamburgers, with all the fixings.
I love hamburgers.”

Chapter 30

“So when do I get a cool name like
yours?”

“Yeah, Angelica is Angel, Danielle
is Valkyrie, then we have Arch and Guardian. I mean those can’t be your real
names.”

Guardian looked at him with a
measured stare as they walked out of the warehouse and into the afternoon’s
setting sun. The warehouse district was abandoned, leaving the two men alone
and free of any prying eyes. “You are correct; my real name is Jacob Johns.
Guardian is the name I earned when I was chosen. Arch is Aurther Penmore.”

“Great, so when and how do I get my
name?”

The tall muscular man looked Alan
up and down with something similar to disapproval.

Alan nearly recoiled at the stare.
Guardian was nothing like Angelica or Arther. His two teachers before were
friendly and warm. Even while Angel was tossing him to the floor, she had done
so in instruction.

Alan thought about who he had in
his life that could be affected by his enemies knowing his identity. Alan drew a
blank.
Well, I guess there is an upside to having no one who cares about
you.

The judging tone Jacob used was a clear
indication that he was well aware of Alan’s sticky fingers and questionable
shopping habits as well. “Yes, that’s right.”

Alan placed both hands on his hips
and looked to the ground. It wasn’t that he didn’t know the answer to Jacob’s question;
it was that he knew it all too well. “I was alone, scared, freaked out and angry.”

Alan would have rather sat at the
kitchen table hours on end or even been thrown through the air half a dozen
more times than talk about his broken, emotional past. He forced himself to
make eye contact with Jacob. The man was a few decades older than he; despite
this, he rivaled Alan for size. A strong jaw and a scar that ran from the
corner of his left eye to his cheekbone made him look more like a professional
mob enforcer than a Nephilim.

“Yes.”

“What?”

Alan took a deep breath and
approached Jacob.

“Okay, I would say ‘I don’t want to
hurt you’ but you know what you’re doing.”

Before Alan could second-guess
Jacob’s tactics or remind himself how wild this entire situation was, he assumed
the stance Angel had shown him that morning. Fists up, he sent out a strike towards
Jacob’s chest rotating his hips to make sure the full force of his body was
behind the punch.

Jacob shook his head, “If this is
going to work I need you to commit, Alan. The fear, pain and anger, I need you
to experience it all. I need you to be there again. Take yourself back to the
place where you first discovered you were meant for something more than an
ordinary life. Come on, once more.”