Inception (The Reaping Chronicles, 1) (30 page)

Chapter Forty-seven

Javan ~ The Devil’s Own Self

Javan lay on the couch for an undetermined amount of time—his thoughts far away. He supposed he had nothing to lose by trusting Cecily, and he didn’t have any other leads on the Book right now, anyway. He would have to deal with Mara, though. She’d already demonstrated her jealousy. Having Cecily help him would involve a lot of contact between him and the Qalal. It would take only moments for Mara to notice the attraction he had for the vampire.

I need a shower
,
he thought, pushing his deliberations to another time. After allowing the hot water to soothe the aches in his body, Javan dressed and left his loft. He didn’t know where he was going, just that he needed to get out for a while.

Although he was enjoying the time away from Mara, he wondered where she had gone for so long. They hadn’t been apart much since she’d joined him, when they met in Santiago, Chile.

He’d been wandering the world, hunting down leads about the Book. It was after another dead end and his efforts to find a new lead when they crossed paths. At the time, Mara was using another body. She had chosen one belonging to a woman married to a powerful Chilean politician and was having quite a good time with it—sleeping with politicians and foreign dignitaries, then blackmailing them for her, or the husband’s, benefit. She probably would have insured his being elected president had she stayed. Javan chuckled quietly. The politician’s wife must have seemed quite different after Mara left her body if she’d survived the departure. A human body so thoroughly taken by a demon for such a long period of time rarely did. If she had survived, she would’ve been clueless about what had happened.

Javan and Mara sensed their shared origins, and he told her what he was searching for. He was surprised when she told him she wanted to join with him. Mara never told him why, but they’d looked for the Book together ever since. All he knew was as soon as he told her
why
he was looking for it and who he felt he was destined to become, she asked if she could assist him. He would be extremely powerful one day. Surely Mara sensed that and wanted to rule by his side.

That place will be Gabrielle’s.

After searching for years with no luck, Javan felt drawn to Nashville. Since seeing Gabrielle, there was no doubt why he was being pulled here. He would always want her near. She was a craving.

Javan had been surprised to see Gabrielle’s energy coming from the other car that day. Part of that surprise was from knowing Yahuwah had allowed her to be incarnated for more than the few moments her duties might call for. But mostly, it was because he never imagined Gabrielle could be the angel Mara had run into. He could tell when Gabrielle saw him that she was also surprised. But then, sadness took over her expression; there was no delight in her eyes when she recognized him. Instead, he saw confusion and pain that quickly washed away her shock. He couldn’t show her how glad he was to see her. His hatred for Yahuwah, who took him from her, dominated his expression. The entire experience, and thinking about the jeopardy his love was in every moment she was in that human body, made Javan angrier at Him, reinforcing his desire for vengeance. Gabrielle was his.

Fallen or not.

He’d hoped, even if it was foolish, she would want to be with him if they ever crossed paths again. He hadn’t expected both of them to be in human form for their first encounter since he’d fallen. He longed to see her as she was created. She was beautiful in her human body, but she was glorious as she was meant to be—a Divine angel.

What could have prompted Gabrielle to leave Heaven to be here—with humans? Her job? He knew things had been getting increasingly difficult for her before he fell, but what she could hope to accomplish escaped him. Javan felt a flood of anger and jealousy as he considered the next possibility.

Lucas
.

The new thought interrupted the direction of the other, and he felt his scowl deepen. He shook his head to remove the image accompanying the human’s name—the one with Gabrielle in Lucas’s embrace.

He’s just a
human
. What pleasure could she derive from him?

Javan considered the possible explanations why Gabrielle would come here because of Lucas. He couldn’t come to any satisfying conclusions. She hadn’t been cast out of Heaven. That was made clear two nights before when she paused time outside Lucas’s house.

Something tugged at the fringes of Javan’s memory.

There is something about that street—that
house
.

It was a feeling he hadn’t been able to shake since he and Mara waited for Gabrielle that night. Something his gut was trying to tell him. The unfailing memory of an angel was one of the casualties of his fall, and now there was an annoying blank chasm in his mind. Sometimes, Javan wondered if there was a block in his mind that was put there intentionally. There were—
certain
—angels, Fallen and Divine, who could do something like that.

But for what purpose?

His attention that night had continually strayed to the house Lucas later entered. Whatever his mind wanted him to remember wasn’t ready to step out of the darkness it hid within. Javan sighed. He rubbed his temple with his finger, trying to will the images forward—beckoning to them to step into the light of his consciousness. Again, they disobeyed.

But the teasing memory did assist him with one thing—it gave him a direction for the moment, and a direction had been evading him since he left his loft. He turned his car around in the middle of the road, ignoring the oncoming traffic, almost causing an accident. Car horns blared in protest, and he caught more than a couple of middle fingers. Javan chuckled humorlessly as he accelerated, screeching the car’s tires.

Almost instantly, he heard the siren. He looked into his rearview mirror to see flashing lights. Javan let out another sigh. He would have to take care of this in his own way. He didn’t have a license or any other form of identification, for that matter.

He looked around for somewhere that would allow the least amount of eyes to witness what would happen. The sun was falling deeper into the horizon, so the world of shadows would gain its stronghold quickly.

The time of day is on my side.

He let his eyes linger on the car behind him for just a moment. There was only one person in the patrol car. He grinned as he spotted a suitable location and made a right turn down an industrial road. It was almost barren of people as their commute to get back home from work had begun long ago. Javan pulled into an empty parking lot behind the building.

The patrol car pulled in behind him. The officer began to gather his things and opened his door. As he crouched slightly behind it to use as a shield, he put his hand on the gun at his waist. Javan felt another arrogant chuckle.

The door isn’t going to help you … either is the gun.

“Step out of the car with your hands in the air!”

Javan did as he was instructed, allowing the officer to feel he had the situation under control. The officer slipped out from behind the door of his police cruiser and continued toward him, barking another demand.

“Slowly walk to the back of your car and place your hands on the trunk with your legs spread.”

Once again, he complied, smirking at thoughts of the fun he was about to have.

Javan couldn’t see, but felt the officer getting closer. He shut his eyes and concentrated—feeling the features of his face begin to distort and move into beastly contours and angles while he released his glamour just enough to get the result he wanted.

This was Javan’s preferred method of dealing with humans—terrify them to the point that he sent them to a place in their mind that made it basically shut down. Javan thought of the fragility of the human behind him—so sure of himself with his training and gun under his hand. Guns couldn’t do anything to Javan except force him to find a new body. But the officer would never get the chance to use his weapon.

Depending on the individual’s fortitude, what Javan was about to do could leave the person who witnessed it in a state ranging from severe shock to complete detachment from the world around them. They might recover from it and think it was just an awful dream, or it could drive them over the mental edges of sanity.

Death is another possible outcome.

A cruel smirk reshaped his mouth.

The hands of the officer began to pat him down. When he was satisfied Javan had no weapons, or anything of interest, he stepped back.

The sound of his voice was more relaxed as he spoke again. “Sir, I need to see your driver’s license and insurance.”

“Of course. It’s in my car. Is it okay if I get it now, officer?” Javan used his most soothing, sincere voice.

A completely unguarded human mind is the most fun to fuck with.

“Just move slowly.”

“Yes, officer.”

Javan did as he was instructed and carefully moved his body off the trunk of his car. As he made his way around the bumper, he slowed his movements.

“Officer, what am I being pulled over for, anyway?” Javan began to turn his body slightly toward the man, his head following slowly so his face was the last thing to be seen.

“You’re kidding,
right
?” The officer asked and then continued, not waiting for an answer. “Sir, you almost caused at least three accidents back there when y—” he was unable to finish.

The officer now saw the face of the man he was addressing—realizing it was no man at all. Javan saw terror swell in his eyes, the color draining from his face. The officer was trying to say something as his lips moved reluctantly, but he appeared to be unable create a coherent thought to form the words. Javan wondered if the human even had breath in his lungs to push words out of his mouth.

Javan glared menacingly into the man’s eyes, speaking to him in his mind, creating images of the monsters of his childhood and adult nightmares. He could almost see the man’s mind trying to make sense of what he saw in front of him, trying to figure out why he heard a voice echoing in his head that was not his own. Javan smiled enough to let him see darkened, jagged teeth. The man flinched but couldn’t seem to will any other movement from his body, his hand still on his gun. As Javan had suspected, he wouldn’t have to defend himself from the threat it posed—this man was far too stunned to do anything. The officer, still staring, growing increasingly distant from what he thought was reality, fell to his knees.

A feeling of triumph rushed through Javan from the power he had over this human. He’d take so much pleasure in the moment every living thing, including his former brethren, fell to their knees before him.

What will be most satisfying is Yahuwah bowing to me.

He was pulled from his musing by the sound of the officer hyperventilating. Javan scoffed and turned to get back into his car, leaving the man on his knees. Just before he pulled away, he looked to see if he had attempted to move at all. Javan smiled.

The man
had
moved—he had placed his gun under his chin. Javan heard the shot as he turned back onto the main road and huffed out a snide laugh in satisfaction.

“Guess you were one of the weaker ones.”

Javan sat in his car in the same spot on Haber Drive as he had two nights before while waiting for Gabrielle. He’d been fixated on the bungalow house Lucas entered for at least thirty minutes. Still nothing broke through his subconscious.

What the
hell
is it about that place?

He heard voices across the street and let his attention divert toward the sound. The people Gabrielle had been to see last weekend were coming outside. Two of them, who Javan guessed were the mother and father, carried out trays with food as a small child dragged a large quilt behind her. Two more, the teens, carried out a full pitcher, plastic cups, and plates.

After spreading the quilt on the grass under the sprawling branches of a big oak, they sat in a semicircle and began to eat. The sound of the door opening at the house Lucas lived in pulled Javan’s attention back to where it needed to be. An older woman with white hair turned to pull the door closed behind her.

Javan watched as she crossed the street and joined the others under the tree but became distracted with a feeling he knew all too well—someone with Divine blood was close. Carefully, he looked around at his surroundings, then up toward the sky. When he couldn’t find the source for what he was feeling, he directed his attention back to the oak. Everyone seemed to be truly happy. Javan shook his head and smirked.

“Ignorance is bliss.”

He never understood how people could be so stupid not to notice those of the Underworld and Shadow World they shared space with.

Although he thought he checked thoroughly, he was distracted once again, still sensing there was someone near. He shifted and looked around again—nothing. His real concern was Gabrielle. If she were going to join the festivities, he would move on. He wasn’t powerful enough for a confrontation with her, not yet. But more than that, he was hoping not to cross paths with her again until he figured out how to make her want to be with him again. Judging by her response the other night, she would more likely kill him right now than take him back.

I don’t ever want to see that look of sadness and disgust on her face again and know it’s because of me.

The feeling remained steady even after fifteen more minutes had passed. Whoever was causing it wasn’t moving around, making him wonder if he was being watched. He would have let it go if it weren’t for a new feeling.
I’ve crossed paths with whoever this is before, and it’s definitely not Gabrielle.