The Seer's Lover (The Seven Archangels Series) (14 page)

“But you did this to our family, Dad. Do you hear me? Why couldn’t we ignore what was going on around us? Everyone else does. Good-bye.” Lucas picked up the phone. Fresh tears streamed down his cheeks. He dialed 9-1-1. “This is 410 Maple Street. A woman upstairs has committed suicide, and the man downstairs needs psychiatric help.” Click. He turned to leave when he heard his dad rustling.

“You can’t escape. They’ll find you.” The voice was barely a whisper.

“The police will be here soon, Dad. I’m sure you’ll go to a nice psychiatric hospital where no one will believe a word you say. Don’t worry about me. I will escape.” He walked back over and hugged his dad. “I love you.”

Lucas clicked on the porch light, left the front door wide open, and walked away.

****

Calise knew if she packed her bags and left in the morning she’d be leaving Costa Rica with more than enough of her questions answered. But leaving Lucas was not an option. A few more days. Days she’d spend every possible moment with him.

But she didn’t want to train with him. She wanted to be near him, hear his voice, and let every aspect of him soak into her soul. She was falling in love with him. Her rational mind lost the battle with her heart.

Chapter 10

Shane didn’t want to have feelings for Nara. He wanted to run far away from her and her family, but he felt like a deflated balloon
.
Now Shane knew why transitors let their year simply run out. Like a pothead studying for finals, he possessed zero motivation. He was trapped so far in his head that any action, movement, or response took the utmost of his energy and will. The idea of redemption seemed impossible as did the idea of completely falling and becoming a demon. He
wanted
to cease to exist.

He felt worthless. Invisible.

He wanted out.

Now.

He left the bungalow to sit on the beach alone and let his neurosis fester while the three demons recuperated from the fight. He still couldn’t believe he’d almost come up on the wrong side in a fight against an angel. They were so screwed. The guy was clearly at the top of the angelic food chain while a transitor
was algae. He decided to tell Nara he was bailing so he could eke out the rest of his days until his miserable existence could be erased.

Nara’s chill drove the surrounding temperature around him down ten degrees before he even saw her. He kept his eyes closed, trying to ignore her. The sand squeaked under her feet to make room for her. She sat down next to him. He couldn’t find even the strength to acknowledge her presence.

“What?” he finally mustered.

“Hey, babe.” She tried to touch his stomach playfully with her fingertips. He rolled away from her. “My father has a new plan, and we need you.”

Nara was up to something. But truth be told, he didn’t have the energy to care. Stay. Leave. Did it matter?

She shifted and rested her head on his stomach. He didn’t resist her. She turned toward him and asked, “Do you miss drumming? Do you want to go back to it when we get home?”

He cocked an eyebrow at her. “Really? You’d
let
me leave and go back to the band?”

“No,” she said darkly, “I won’t let you go back. Not without me.”

“Great. Considering all the drugs you could score the band, I’d love to jump back into the whole dating-a-drug-dealing-demon stint. Nah, thanks anyway. Feel free to be on your way, though, and lead your own life with your lovely family. I’m not helping you or your family, but really, good luck and have a nice life.”

Shane looked out at the ocean, his mind shattered. The waves were getting downright vicious out there. He wondered if a storm was coming. He needed space. He took his shirt off, intending to head into the ocean. Maybe the tide would carry him away.

She yanked his arm. “I don’t think you understand. You’re still wallowing in self-pity and regret over becoming a transitor? Well, get over it. It was your free choice. I’m done dealing with your guilt over falling. You were still an angel when that stupid whore, Calise, dumped your ass.”

Shane blew. With one hand tangled in her hair and the other squeezed around her neck, he launched her into a palm tree. He held her there, fingers tightening around her throat. “Her name is not good enough to breach the cesspool of your mouth. Leave me alone, Nara. Now.”

She coughed then tackled him backwards to the ground, pinning his arms down and kissing him. “Make me.”

He got an arm free and elbowed her in the face with a thud. She felt at her cheek and smiled. “You’re kind of turning me on.”

“I don’t want to hurt you, Nara.”

“Too bad, because I want to make hurting you my life’s work. That is, until you realize you can’t live without me.” She approached fast and hit him in the jaw.

“You don’t want to go there with me.” He massaged his jaw.

“Yeah, I do.” She swung again.

He blocked her and clamped his hands around her wrists. “No, you really don’t. When I transitioned, you said I’d forget Calise. That I’d be free of this pain. You lied.”

“I’m a demon, Shane. If you wanted a girlfriend on the up and up, you should’ve screwed an angel. But I guess if you can’t even get one shitty human to love you…” Her hot breath seared his face more than the sweltering sun.

Shane released her wrists so he could squeeze her neck. She jammed two fingers in his adam’s apple. That forced him to back right off. She coughed. “Wouldn’t want to cut off the blood flow to your little one, now would you?”

Shane pounced and pushed her to the ground. He held his forearm to her neck. “What did you say? Can’t you just get out of my life?” he panted. “Look what I’ve become.”

“That’s mother-to-your-unborn-child, my demon-to-be lover.”

Shane sprang off of her landing in a crouch. He shrunk from her. “You’re saying you’re pregnant. Bull-fucking-shit, Nara.” After everything, this was his worst possible nightmare.

“Oh it’s true, sunshine. I’m late and you’re going to be a daddy. Come and check.”

Heart pounding in his throat, Shane took a few steps closer and held a shaking hand over her stomach.
Two heartbeats—mother and child.

Nara blinked and her eyes became the color of a fiery sunset. “So now, you
are
mine. Say it.”

He had no choice. No way he’d let anything happen to his child. He belonged to Nara now. If she was pregnant, she had indeed won. “I’m yours,” he conceded. “What’s your father’s plan?”

“We’re to sit tight until he’s sure Anna has the angel distracted. Then those seers are dead, and the artifacts can be destroyed.”

Chapter 11

Lucas awoke from a dead sleep to the deafening sound of the surf. He wiped the grit from his eyes and blinked at the slivers of light beginning to blanket his hut. He listened to the monotonous static of the waves while they rushed in, then paused before the water slid back to the ocean where it belonged.

Here, he would never have the slow, peaceful wake-up people imagine when they think of the ocean. He was either awake or asleep with no purgatory, no in-between. For a split second, he had to concentrate to remember the day. Then a crystal clear image formed in his brain.

Cali.
Peaceful and asleep in his hammock. He had two days to teach her how to stay alive. He’d be damned if he didn’t teach her everything he knew. “What the hell am I thinking? I can’t teach her in two days what it took me a lifetime to learn and still not master,” he said to Stogey, who was curled up by his side.

To him, being a seer was a debilitating curse, but Cali seemed to think it a gift. She probably imagined demons were a few bad seeds selling drugs and committing robberies. The girl had no idea. You can’t be afraid of something horrific until you experience it firsthand. Lucas had been so revved up after the years of training that culminated in his first hunt. Then, in the bloody horror of the fight, his mother had paused for one shitty-ass second to check on her son.

And she’d been slaughtered.

He absently fingered the necklaces hanging around his neck, painful reminders of his parents, but things he couldn’t live without.

He rolled out of bed, stretching his sore muscles. He needed a long ride on Gotzone today. God, what he wouldn’t give to watch Cali gallop down the beach with the wind whipping her hair and her head thrown back in laughter.
Why couldn’t life be simple?

Four steps took him across the meager hut from his cot-like bed. He flipped on the light, but nothing happened thanks to his temperamental electricity. With a sigh, he crossed the room to pump the handle on his sink for water. He splashed his face, tossed back a swallow of last night’s leftover tequila, yanked on his shorts and headed for the door. He descended his stairs to the beach and headed for the outhouse next to a perpetually cold outdoor shower he decided to skip. He inhaled the salty air and headed for the beach in his backyard, his demon-free personal paradise. Glancing both ways as he crunched through the cool sand, Lucas realized that other than his resident mooch stray, Stogey, he was alone on this stretch of beach. He stripped off his shorts and shuddered in the brisk morning breeze. He waded into the ocean to wake up. The surf was warmer than his shower would have been.

After a plunge into the salty water and a quick rinse in his shower, he climbed the wooden stairs of his shanty. Stilts rose out of the sand to support the structure. He found a towel, wrapped it around himself, then brushed his teeth and attempted a quick shave. He dumped the used water out the window, got dressed, and went back outside.

His hammock hung outside under the shade of the blue corrugated roof, tied between the palm trees that surrounded the small, wind-blown structure. Maybe Calise would need another nap today. He could watch over her. He could keep her safe.

Lucas lay down in his saggy hammock to wait for sunrise when he would head to the Howler Monkey Resort. The dog plopped down beside him. Ears back, Stogey leaned his thin, fifty pound, brown body against his master and wagged his tail. The dog nudged his hand with his wet nose for attention. Lucas tried to fall back to sleep, but all he could see was Marla’s mother drowning in the ocean.

His life seemed to be filled with failure—until he pulled Calise from the ocean. Before that, drowning would have given him welcome relief. Inhaling the first damning breath of water would have ended his agony after his mother’s murder. But with his father’s catatonic state and Becca’s pregnancy, Lucas had to be stronger. No, he
was
stronger.

He drifted into sleep, only to wake in a cold sweat, drenched not from his swim, but from the wet, thick coat of fear and regrets he couldn’t wash away. “No!” He woke up and leapt to his feet in alarm.

Calise was sitting on the ground scratching Stogey. “What’s the matter?” she asked. She got up. He checked the perimeter of his bungalow. She came over and took his hands in hers. “It’ll be okay.” He tried to slow down his rapid breathing. She squeezed his hands which did nothing to stop them from shaking. But then he looked at her. Really looked at her. Her sun-bleached hair was tied in a knot with a few loose wavy strands blowing around in the light breeze. Her words brought something to the surface for him, feelings he’d built several layers of a sturdy wall to protect. Emotions he’d pushed down for years bubbled up and to overflowing with the mere thought of her. And with her actual presence, he was lost to her. Her eyes seemed to hold wise understanding and forgiveness of all his past transgressions. Lucas, who barely talked to anyone, let alone let anyone inside his head, wanted nothing more than to sit down and tell Calise his every thought. They had formed a connection he didn’t believe existed. And was terrified of losing. But he’d already lost her before he’d even had her. She needed to return to the States and live a life without him. In fact, for how much he already cared about her, he’d be willing to let her go if only for her to escape his wretched life.

He did everything in his power to push this emotional connection he felt for her back down in his gut and start reconstructing his walls. That would be the only way to love her—to let her go and find happiness with someone worthy of her.

He let out a huff of air. “You’re wrong. It’ll never be okay. Is this what you want? Horrible dreams, a restless life, not knowing if you’ll live until tomorrow?”

Her face was serene. “I’ve slept like crap for years. At least now, the fog in my dreams will have a tangible face. We could all die today, but honestly, I’m relieved. I’m not afraid, Lucas, and right now, I feel like I’ve never belonged anywhere more than I belong here right now, with you.”

She melted his wall in an instant. How could anyone have this much insight to who he really was? If every choice he’d made in this life had led him to having her in his life for a few days, then he’d do it all again. He wanted to tell her he felt the same way, but to what end?
Train her to fight, train her to control her emotions. Then she’ll be walking out of my world.
And he would be alone. Again.

He allowed himself one moment to stare at her and get lost in her eyes. She edged closer.

He forced himself to snap out it. “I’ll get weapons. So we can train.” He went inside his hut and armed himself—Tanto blades in his boots and throwing knives in his forearm straps. He handed her a throwing knife to start.

She shook her head. “No knives. I hate knives.”

“I need to teach you how to defend yourself.”

“I’m a black belt in karate and have practiced kali-escrima and take krav maga classes with my brother. I can defend myself, trust me. No knives.”

He let the words float through his mind, “
Please let me find something not to like about this woman.”
Out loud, he tried to harden his voice. “Fine, show me what you got.”

They made their way to the still abandoned beach, and Lucas pulled out a knife and bent his knees in a fighter’s stance. Calise picked up two sticks of equal size. When he came forward, she landed a swat to his wrist, sent the knife skittering in the sand while simultaneously tripping him. She laid the stick on his neck. “Give?”

Lucas couldn’t help but laugh.