Out of Reach (6 page)

Grabbing a bottle of water from the fridge,
I head toward the only piece of furniture at odds with the decor
around it. The recliner has been the only contribution I’ve made to
the apartment over the last three years. It’d been easier when I
first moved to San Diego to purchase a furnished penthouse. Three
years later I still haven’t gotten around to redoing the place.
Setting the water down on an end table, I ease my aching body into
the black leather Lazy Boy. I flip the leg-rest up, lean back, and
sigh; I’m finally able to relax.

My cell phone goes off in my pocket and I
fish it out as quickly as possible.

“Hello.”

“Kade, I’m afraid the trip to London was
futile. Makeen and Rashid didn’t find anyone that can help us,”
Adil tells me, an air of defeat in his voice.

Sitting up, I lean forward in my chair and
rest my elbows on my knees. I run a hand through my hair and ask,
“What are we going to do? There’s only a few weeks left before the
deadline.”

“This time I’m not sure how it’s going to
turn out, my friend.” Adil’s admission of the cold, hard truth
we’ve all been fighting against the last few years sends a chill
down my spine. “In the end we’re going to have to try and do it by
ourselves. It’ll take everyone; we need to prepare. I expect you
and Z here within two weeks.”

I sit dumbfounded for a moment while the
essence of what he’s saying sinks in. Then I see red.

“You can’t be serious!” I yell at him. “It
can’t be done without angel blood.”

“We can’t just sit back and do nothing,
Kade—we’re out of options and out of time,” he replies, his temper
rising to meet mine.

“Out of
options!
” I scream, completely stunned.
“
We have Gwen!
She’s untried, yes, but she’s our best option!” I shift in my
chair, uncomfortable.

“Kade, I won’t risk the life of an innocent.
It’s safer for us to try this on our own.”

Jumping to my feet I begin to pace in front
of the windows overlooking the city. “She’s Nephilim, and powerful.
I’ve seen—”

Adil cuts me off before I can finish. “What,
Kade? What have you seen? A long time ago she might have
telekinetically moved an object. But what’s she done lately?”

I hold my tongue, refusing to answer the
rhetorical question.

“Nothing and you’ve been tracking her for
what, a decade? She can’t help us, Kade, and I won’t put her life
in danger needlessly.”

Hanging up on Adil I shake my phone in
frustration, as if through the inanimate object I might be able to
shake some sense into my brother. Too amped up to sit still, I toss
the thing onto the couch across from me and step outside onto the
balcony to clear my head. Full of anger and humiliation in equal
parts, I grip the rails of the balcony with both hands and bellow
my rage to the stars.

After all these years, the
bitter sting of my brother’s disbelief still cuts me deeply. I let
loose a bark of laughter so tinged with contempt the sound scares
even me.
Apparently I’m not as immune to
it as I thought.

“Gwen.” I whisper her name into the night.
Squeezing my eyes shut I remember my jubilation at her discovery.
It had been over a hundred years since anyone had seen a Nephilim
perform a feat like she had. It took us years to track down when
exactly the angel bloodlines became so diluted that Nephlim no
longer possessed any of the old powers. It was not a contingency
any of us had planned for, but in a mere three weeks this
unforeseen complication could very well be the doom of us all.

Damn the angels, and damn the Sylph,
too.

The current crisis is their doing and stems
all the way back to the Creation. In the void, before time even
began, there were angels, there were demons, and there were the
Sylph. We Sylph chose to reside mostly in our incorporeal essences
during this period in order to distance ourselves from the glory of
the angels and the whining of the demons.

The focus of everything changed, however,
when He came down and created Earth. We were eager to explore this
new playground, and mankind was a novelty we all wanted to
experience.

Now, the angels and the demons were the
first to grow bored and return to the heavenly realms and whatever
it is that occupies their time there. But the Sylph, who enjoy
chaos and delight in destruction, were enamored with the humans.
They were beings we could so easily manipulate and pollute. We
wrought famines, plagues, and wars across the earth. Through
whispered suggestion, we turned brother against brother. Vast
empires were created and destroyed upon our whim.

Our influence over His creation was not
viewed favorably, though, and, after a time, the angels returned to
deliver His justice. Even the mightiest among us were no match for
their righteous anger.

Overrun we were rounded up and shackled
together, like beasts of the field. Desperate to escape our fate,
many tried to shift from corporal form back into our essence of
flameless fire. Such attempts proved futile. So we waited,
helpless, as the angels wielded their mighty power to enact our
punishment. Straight from the earth they pulled every kind of
precious element to spin spherical prisons as delicate and
beautiful as blown glass, but as hard as iron and impossible to
break. A sphere was cast for each Sylph and his essence was trapped
within.

When the task was nearly complete, twelve
Sylph were separated from the others. We all thought they would be
put to death, an everlasting example to the rest. We were
wrong.

The twelve were offered a pardon, their
eternal freedom in return for one commitment: They must swear to be
caretakers of the Sylph spheres, ensuring they stayed hidden away
from human hands. For should a human lay hands upon a sphere, the
Sylph essence inside would be released, becoming bound to the human
until the Sylph had wrought three acts of power.

Faced with eternal servitude and
imprisonment, no price seemed too great, and every one of the
twelve agreed.

I was one of the twelve.

Huddled together we waited for the angels to
keep their word and release our bonds. When the last of the Sylph
had been imprisoned, the spheres were divided among four angels
and, before our very eyes, they were flown off, scattered to the
four corners of the earth. Only then did they release us.

With a single mighty sword stroke, our
chains were abolished, but in the same instant I felt myself being
ripped apart.

Screaming and writhing on the ground I
glared at the angels, eyes filled with vile hatred as my very
nature was stripped away.

We were imbued with a human-like compassion,
a sense of decency and morality none of us had ever known before.
My essence became charged with a different kind of power, lighter,
stronger somehow. It felt completely foreign and, truth be told, it
would take us decades to fully grasp the nature of it.

When convulsions no longer wracked my body
and pain receded from my limbs, I stood. The angels all around us
were chanting. Outwardly I looked no different, but at my very core
I no longer resembled my Sylph brethren. Nor did I resemble the
angels ... or the humans.

I was other.

We were all other.

Frantic, I began to spin about, casting my
gaze to and fro, looking for something familiar to latch onto for
perspective. Then, above the sea of noise, the clear voice of Uriel
rang out. With an air of authority, he called to me by name. My
brothers he named as well, one by one, as they rose to their feet.
A new name for a new creation.

“Kaden, my companion. Adil, who is
judicious. Basel the brave. Nabil, who is noble. Zafir the
victorious. Fadil of generous spirit. Arif the knowing. Halim the
gentle. Aziz, full of power. Hashim, destroyer of evil. Makeen the
strong. Rashid, full of integrity.”

With incredible eloquence, he then charged
us: “Fate is in your hands, to you twelve the Sylph are entrusted.
You will ensure they bear the full measure of their punishment,
maintaining the sealing done here today. Forevermore you will guard
mankind with the means at your disposal to avert catastrophe from
Sylph influence. Wanderers, forever you shall be.”

A light breeze dries the cold sweat upon my
brow as I look out over the city. That faint touch breaks hold of
the waking nightmare I’ve fallen into. My knuckles are white with
exertion, my grip on the banister uncomfortably tight. It takes
serious effort to relax my fingers enough to let go. Straightening
up to my full height, I turn and walk back inside the penthouse,
slightly more somber. With the deadline weeks away and Adil
unwilling to utilize Gwen, I truly don’t know what we are going to
do and I fear the outcome.

Rubbing a hand against the
stubble covering my jaw, I continue to think. It’s way past time to
call Zafir and give him the run down. Moving across the living room
I bend down and retrieve my phone off of the couch. I notice a text
message I’d missed earlier when I was outside on the balcony. The
message is from Adil. Bile coats my mouth as I read his
note:
Do not bring the girl with
you.

Pushing a hand through my disheveled hair I
dial Zafir, silently fuming.

“To what do I owe the pleasure of your
call?” Z answers jokingly.

“Wanderer business,” I reply curtly.

Dropping the humor from his voice he asks,
“What gives?”

“Makeen and Rashid’s lead was bogus,” I tell
him.

“Shit! What are we going to do, Kade?” Z
asks.

“Adil wants to try and perform the spell
ourselves.”

“What!
Has he lost his mind?”

I hold my tongue, unwilling to speak ill of
my brother but my heart agrees with Z.

“It can’t be done. It’s an angel spell for
crying out loud. We have to have angel blood to seal it ...” Mid
tirade Z pauses. I can practically hear him thinking through the
phone and catch snippets of his thoughts as he mutters to himself
on the other end of the line.

“We’ll take her with us, that’s what we’ll
do! When do we have to be there, Kade?”

“Now wait, I’m under strict instruction not
to involve Gwen.”

“This is horse shit! I say we take her and
show them all what she can do.”

And that’s when the elephant in the room
finally sits his fat ass down on top of me.

“That’s just it,” I concede. “She’s never
shown a hint of power in the last ten years, and I don’t know what
it would take to bring it out of her again.” The defeat in my voice
must be audible even to Z, who backs off.

“Z, we have to be there within two weeks.
Start boxing up the spheres we’ve found for transport. I’ll be in
touch.” Without allowing him a chance to respond, I end the call.
Setting the phone down on the end table, I reach for my bottle of
water and take a long swig. I drop into the recliner once more and
stare at the backdrop picture on my phone. It’s a shot of the three
of us: Gwen, Melanie, and me, taken at the beach last summer.
Staring at Gwen I whisper softly, “You are extraordinary. I need
you to own it.”

I fling my stuff to the passenger’s side and
settle into the driver seat of my car. Melanie has already left.
After starting my car, I wave goodnight to Kade, who always waits
to be sure Melanie and I get out of the parking lot safely. Locking
my doors and engaging my seat belt, I pull out of my parking space.
I wait a few seconds, giving Kade time to clear the exit before I
do likewise. The outrageous rumble of his bike can easily be heard
over my stereo as he races off into the night. The fact Kade
prefers motorcycles to cars never ceases to make me laugh. Sure
he’s strong enough to handle one and, physically, he doesn’t look
out of place riding them, but it’s so contradictory to his
personality. Kade, the nerdy chemist, who is about as calm and
reserved as it gets, riding around on a noisy hog like a wanna be
rebel. Thank God he doesn’t have a posse or any group insignia
leathers; I don’t think I’d be able to keep a straight face in his
presence.

Quickly, before hitting the interstate, I
scroll through my iPod, looking for just the right playlist for the
drive home. I want something with a little energy and simple lyrics
so I can sing along. I have random eclectic taste in music and go
through phases. Some weeks I listen to nothing but classic 80s and
the next its top forties. Tonight I can’t decide so I put my iPod
on random shuffle and let it surprise me. Now that my music dilemma
is settled I can enjoy the drive home. This time of night there’s
little chance of traffic so it should be pretty fun, and I love to
drive. When I’m alone, the drive home only takes about twenty
minutes or so. It’s closer to thirty if I’m being careful and
diligently following all the traffic laws.

My interior lights give off
a friendly blue glow that totally contradicts my current mood and
begins to annoy me. Reaching up, I hold down the ambiance lighting
button until the color rotates from blue back to orange.
Perfect, a loud angry color is just what I’m
feeling right now.
The ability to change
the interior lighting on a whim is one of my favorite features
about the Mini Cooper. The other is probably the secret storage
compartment located directly above the glove box. It’s great for
storing emergency items I don’t want Melanie to find, like
sunglasses or lip-gloss. The Mini is also a ton of fun to drive.
Having only driven four cylinder commuter cars most of my life, I
never understood the driving experience. So when I started at
Preston-Ward and began making a decent salary for the first time, I
decided it was time to retire my old car. Several weeks of careful
research were dedicated to looking at safety ratings, gas mileage,
and prices. I created a list of the best all-around cars to go and
check out at the dealerships. I never made it. Passing a dealership
one day after work, I saw her. Gunmetal grey with black bonnet
stripes, sitting sleek and glossy in the center display window, and
putting off just a little bit of attitude. Normally I would say
love at first sight is total crap but now I’m not so sure; it might
be true when it comes to cars. It was certainly true for me and
almost three years later my love affair is still going strong. And
the driving experience ... let’s just say I finally understand what
all the fuss is about.