All We Know Is Falling: Fall With Me: Volume One (31 page)

He shook his head. “I just come down here sometimes. It’s quiet.”

I know I haven’t seen him down here. It had to be somewhere else. So I just asked. “Do we know each other? You’re an antichrist, right?” If I had my aura reading on I’d know for sure what he was.

“I am. But I don’t think we’ve met. Are you from Kansas too?”

“California.” My eyes widened. “Kansas! I was there when everyone got called down here. I stayed with a couple of Made along with way too many of our siblings. Do you know the Made?”

His smile widened. “I’m married to one of them. The other is my wife’s best friend. Shiloh and Faith.”

I must have seen him in some of the pictures around the house. I know that I never saw him in person.

“I remember Shiloh lighting up one of our brothers. It was awesome,” I laughed.

“Sounds like her. What did the kid do?”

“He got a little handsy with her. And mouthy.”

His eyes narrowed. “Handsy, huh? My wife is one to defend herself. So I’m almost surprised he didn’t get worse.”

“She also didn’t let him have any of the cookies she ordered when we got pizza.” Me and Walter got his share because we were quiet.

He laughed. “That definitely sounds like her.” He paused before he said, “Okay, I have to ask, why the Hell are you covered in paint?”

I looked at myself and remembered. “Oh, well my friend decided that we needed to play in art class. I wanted to change before I went back. There’s a bitch in my last class that will take any ammo she can use against me.”

“Why would she do that?”

“Dunno. She’s evil.”

The Sage leaned forward and spoke to the man. “She tripped her in the parking lot of her school. Made her cut her leg open. Lots of blood.”

“Really?” the man looked annoyed. Then he stood up. “That’s not very nice at all. I don’t know you very well but I really don’t like the idea of someone picking on one of my little sisters.”

“For a decade, by the way,” The Sage added.

“A decade? Well that cinches it. Shiloh is taking her brother out for lunch, so I’ve got some time. How about we go have some fun?”

I smiled. “What do you have in mind?”

He shrugged. “Not sure yet.” He held his hand out, “Luc.”

“Aurora. Or Rory, if you like,” I took his hand and shook it.

“Alright then, Rory. Where to?”

I wrapped my energy around him and then we were standing in the girl’s bathroom. Thankfully it was empty.

“What now?” I asked as we started walking out.

“Well, I could make myself go unseen, but then where’s the fun in that? I need a pass to be in the school since I don’t exactly look like a teenager.”

“Not really. How old are you?”

“Just turned twenty-seven.”

“Ah. So you’re already done aging. I’ve got a few more years. My mom is over two hundred and she looks twenty-two.”

“Our sisters that I live with do too. I think girls just reach maturity faster.”

We walked towards the main office and chatted more. He was quite interesting. I bet he had some stories to tell. But we had things to do, so it would have to wait.

We walked into the office and I asked for a pass. “This is my cousin from Russia. Say hi, Demetri.”

Luc hid a laugh and looked to the secretary. “I am Demetri,” he said to her in a very convincing accent. It was almost impossible for me to not laugh. But I held it together.

The woman behind the counter was staring at Luc in almost a gross way. I could almost read her thoughts and I really didn’t like them. “Hi, sweetie. What brings you here?”

“I am Demetri,” he said again.

I patted him on the shoulder. “He’s here to talk to my history glass. Our great-great-great grandfather knew Nicholas II.”

“Ah,” the woman nodded, not knowing who the Hell I was talking about. She scrawled his name down and handed him the tag.

He put it on his chest and smiled. “I am Demetri.”

“Yeah you are,” I said. “Let’s go.”

Once we were in the clear, both of us broke down laughing. Once we recovered I said, “I think she would have bought anything you said. You deal with that a lot?”

“Yeah. Shiloh doesn’t like it. She gets a little jealous,” he smiled.

“What now? What do you wanna do to Kenna? You have any powers that might be useful?”

“Nothing. Just teleporting and the invisible thing.”

My forehead creased. “Nothing else? Not even aura reading?”

He shook his head. “Nope. You?”

I chuckled. “I got a little more than most get. I read auras and I can track corruption.”

“Oh, cool.”

“And I have wings.”

His eyes widened and he slightly cocked his head. “What was that?”

“Wings…I can fly.”

“Wings? Like Fallen wings?”

“Yeah. Any child of a Fallen can get them. It just doesn’t really happen. Ever. Mine are blue.”

He looked like he didn’t know what to say. He was clearly shocked that I had them. So I guess it was even more rare than I thought it was.

We started walking to the gym and when we got inside, the class was doing laps around the room. Hale took no time at all to hone in on us and break away from the group to greet us.

“Who’s this,” he said while looking Luc up and down.

“I am Demetri,” my brother smiled.

I giggled. “It’s okay, Luc. I know him.”

“Oh,” he went back to speaking normally. “I’m Luc Bishop. You?”

Hale narrowed his eyes at Luc. “Hale Wyatt. How do you know Rory?”

I held my hands up. “Calm down. It’s not what you think.”

“I’m her brother. And I’m married. So…”

Hale relaxed his stance. “Another brother? I take it on your father’s side?”

“Yeah,” I chewed on my lip. “I told you I had a lot of siblings.”

“I thought maybe six or seven, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it was really 53.”

Luc turned to me, “Did he count? Maybe I shouldn’t be surprised he knows just how many.”

Hale’s face sank. “You say that like it wasn’t a joke.”

Luc and I exchanged a look and I said to Hale, “Need to know. Remember?”

He rolled his eyes. “Yes. I remember that you’re trying to keep me in the dark about you.”

“For your own good.”

Luc gave me a sympathetic look. “God, I remember when I was you.” He leaned into my ear. “It doesn’t last. The worry, the pain. None of it. But sooner or later they always find out.”

He moved back and I stared at him. But he looked to Hale. “I take it you’re the boyfriend?”

“No,” I said in an annoyed voice. “Apparently it’s okay to make out all the time but a commitment is out of the question.”

Luc laughed again. “Wow, I really remember what it was like to be you. My wife pulled the same stuff before we were together. Silly little reasons to not just give in.”

“Well,” Hale said. “I think my reasons are justified. And, by the way, Rory you are the one who initiated two of the three times.”

“But you went with it.”

“How could I not!?”

“Hey,” Luc narrowed his eyes. “That’s my little sister. Watch it.”

“Sorry,” Hale sighed. “It’s just rather difficult to do the right thing when what I want to do is so much easier. And Rory has issues too. Whatever she isn’t telling me about is also keeping her from wanting to be with me. We are at an impasse.”

“I see,” Luc said. “I wish you luck in your troubles—”

Kenna and the group circled the room. When she walked by she looked at me and laughed. “Jeez, Flynn. Try to put makeup on and miss? It won’t hide the ugly, ya know.”

Hale took a step forward but Luc put a hand to his chest to stop him. “Excuse me,” he smiled. “Do you have a name?”

“Kenna,” she smiled back, looking dopey as she stared at Luc like he was God. If only she knew…

The rest of the class slowed down to watch the show. Maybe they were hoping to see the fight that never happened.

“Kenna,” Luc said. “Rory is my little sister. And I don’t like when people hurt my sisters. So we’re gonna play a game that my friend taught me. She’s really good at reading people and I picked up on a few things.”

He crossed his arms and glanced her up and down. “So, let’s begin. It’s pretty clear by your unprovoked attacks that you hate yourself. Why else would you need to try and make other people hate themselves too? Because you think that it might make it better if there were people worse off than you. Now,” he put a hand on his chin, “to why you hate yourself. Judging by how you even managed to make gym clothes look slutty I’d say that you need male attention. So I’m guessing that your dad isn’t in the picture. He might have left when you were a baby but I think that you were a little older. It would explain why you need to feel like you’re wanted. Because he didn’t want you. You know that you weren’t enough to get him to stay that that is exactly why you hate yourself. You don’t think you’re good enough. And funny thing is, in your attempts to make yourself feel better, all you did was make people hate you. You became what you thought you were. And it’s almost a shame. Just because no one wants you doesn’t give you the right to hurt others. It won’t bring your father back. And maybe, just maybe, he saw what you were and decided he didn’t want to be around for that. How funny would that be?”

There was pure silence for about two seconds before the class erupted into cheers and clapping. Kenna stared back at them, wide eyed and in shock that this was happening. She ran out of the room and not a single person went after her. Not even her friends.

I looked at Luc in awe and joy. “You are amazing.”

“I am Demetri,” he said in the accent again. He was skyrocketing to the top of my favorite people ever list.

The kids broke up and went back to their walk while Jenna came into the room. She looked me over and opened her mouth to comment. But then she saw Luc. “Who might you be?”

Damn it…

“Luc. I’m one of Rory’s brothers.”

“Yup,” she said in a small voice. “You look just like your dad.” She blinked a few times and dismissed the class. We only had five minutes ‘til the bell was going to ring.

“I’ll change and meet you outside of the locker rooms,” Hale said to me before leaving with the class. Luc and I were left alone.

“So,” Luc put his hands behind his back. “Not your boyfriend?”

“No,” I looked to the doors that Hale walked past. “But there are one too many things in the way. He’s human,” I looked back to Luc.

He had nothing but understanding on his face. “And you don’t want to watch him die one day.”

I nodded. “They’re so fragile. I just don’t think I can lose him.”

“Back when I first met Shiloh, she was a human. Faith too.”

I almost gasped. “What? How? How did you get to keep them? What did you do?”

His face was almost emotionless. “I asked our father to help me. I asked him to make Shiloh immortal. I didn’t know what Made demons were. That they even existed. Then he popped up one day and changed her. And Faith. But it wasn’t free. We paid for it. And the price was high. I almost lost my family along the way.”

“But wasn’t it worth it? You get to keep her forever.”

“Of course it was worth it. I would have given anything for her. I still would. But I didn’t ask Shiloh if she wanted this life. Thankfully, she’s happy. Everything comes with a cost. Especially something you ask our father for.”

I couldn’t do that to Hale. I couldn’t just drag him into this world. He deserved to get to stay human. Have a normal life like he should.

“I don’t know what to do. I love him. But I can’t watch him die. All I want is to keep him.”

“I understand how you feel. I remember what it was like to feel the ticking clock.”

The next question I had was a hard one to ask. “What would you do if you were me? Since, you kind of were. What would you do if she stayed human?”

He took a few moments to answer. “I’d stay with her for the rest of her life. And when it was over…” he didn’t say more.

“You’d watch her die? Have children that would follow?”

“What other choice is there? If you love them then you can’t avoid the pain. I’d want to have as much of her as I could get. Keeping a distance in your relationship wouldn’t make his death any easier. All it would do is make you regret not making different choices. I think if you love him, and if he loves you, then you should enjoy every second that you have because there aren’t many. Don’t give yourself regrets that you have to carry for eternity.”

“That’s not the only problem. Now he doesn’t want to be with me. He thinks he’s bad for me. It kills me to hear that because I know I’m so much worse.”

“Being what we are doesn’t make you a bad person. If he loves you then he won’t care what you are.”

“Did Shiloh?”

“At first. But she was scared for another reason. A very bad man brought her to Hell when she was human. Kept her there for long enough for the agony to set in. She was scared that she would go back to Hell if she were with me. But it didn’t take long for her come around. She loved me and she realized that was all that mattered in the end.”