Obsidian Souls (Soul Series) (32 page)

“Ma, I can’t eat all of this.”

“Just try, you look like your losing weight.”

I picked up my fork and tried to humor her. I knew she was right. Even my new clothes were starting to bag on me, and I didn’t like her to worry. I wouldn’t mind putting a couple pounds back on so everyone would stop about the weight.

“So Ma, how’ve you and Dad been?”

“Good, Daddy’s diverticulitis was acting up so the doctor has him eating this high fiber diet, but he’s really mad he can’t have his steaks anymore.”

“I’m sure it’s put a real damper on his dinner. He does loves his steaks.” I ate a couple of bites thinking of how I was going to get around to the subject, and I couldn’t think of a good opening, so I just blurted it. “Did Dad ever seem different to you when we were younger?”

“What do you mean?” She stopped and looked at me oddly.

Oh no, please let her not have known. My stomach did a flip-flop, and I was in danger of losing the stew I had just eaten.

“I don’t know, a little funnier, maybe a little crazier sometimes? He seemed a bit more carefree when we were kids, right?” I asked, trying to sound as nonchalant as possible. If she did know, I certainly wasn’t looking for a heart to heart confessional. I hoped see had the sense to not give me all the dirty little secrets.

“Oh yes, I think he was hitting the sauce here and there. He never smelled like alcohol, but he would get, you know.”

I looked up at my middle aged mother’s matronly face and saw a girlish blush come over it, and I would have sworn there was a naïve twenty year old buried under there.

“You mean?” and I raised my eyebrows and she actually giggled.

“He would get in these crazy moods. I didn’t care if it was the booze. He would have these crazy mood swings, and I started to even think he might be an alcoholic. He was always so happy and fun when they hit that I didn’t really want him to stop, even if he was an alcoholic. That sounds horrible, I know, but they were some nights to remember.”

“That’
s a bit too much information Ma,
” I joked with her. I struggled, but kept the smile on my face, to not hurt her feelings, because I knew exactly what had happened those nights. I’d had my own demon experience and I could understand why she hadn’t wanted it to stop. My mother had indeed had sex with the devil, and not surprisingly, he seemed to really do it for her. So now, I at least knew she had probably not even known.

“Was there anything else odd about our family? I remember you telling me about a crazy Aunt Louise?”

“Oh yes, great, great Aunt Louise. She was a bit off in the head. She was living in Germany during World War Two with Uncle Edgar. They were helping Jewish families get out of the country. She used to say that the Nazis knew that they were helping the resistance, but wouldn’t do anything to them because they were scared of our family.”

“Scared of what? Why would the Nazis be scared of us?” I leaned forward, completely intrigued.

“Nobody knew what she was talking about. She was a bit off and had dementia towards the later portion of her life.”

“So you don’t remember anything else?” I slumped back in my chair.

“No, that was it. Why?”

“It was nothing,” I shook my head, “I was talking to somebody about ancestry the other day and it had me wondering is all.”

I moved on to a different subject asking who was doing her hair now, as I flipped through an old photo album. I hadn’t found out nearly what I had wanted to, but I found out enough to confirm that Jack was probably telling the truth. He was my father.

Chapter Thirty-Two

It was late afternoon when I left. I said I needed to leave for some fictitious doctor’s appointment. I literally had to climb up into the massive Hummer. Pulling away, looking in the rear view mirror at my childhood home that had kept me secure in ignorant bliss, a part of me wished I could go back to that place where I knew nothing but my happy delusions of what life would hold. Another part of me, a slightly larger part, was starting to realize the benefits of this new life of mine. I had never known how vulnerable I was before or how naïve. Colonel Custer once said, “It’s not how many times you get knocked down; it’s how many times you get back up.” I might have taken a couple of rough hits, but I kept getting up, and I was tougher for it. I liked the person I was becoming.

Driving back, I had a lot of time to reflect on the future I had always thought I’d live and the reality of what I would have. Kids might not be an option for me anymore, but that didn’t mean that I couldn’t adopt. I already knew who I wanted to be with, and I had a long time to make it work now, much longer than I ever imagined.

Caden had told me to pull up around back and that he would have one of the guys put the Hummer in the garage. I didn’t see any need to impose on them, so I pulled it into the garage myself. It was a good thing to, because it gave me a moment to compose myself before I got too close to the situation. It was early evening on a Tuesday night. The streets were always crawling with people coming and going to all the restaurants in the area right around this time.

I almost missed them, Rufus and his men, but my senses had become heightened to supernatural beings, and I sensed them before I saw them. In a panic, I jumped into the same alleyway I had laid in wait that night that seemed so long ago. Peeking around the corner, I saw not only two men but another five that looked suspicious about a half a block down. My shaking hand dug in my purse for my phone and dialed Caden.

“Where are you?” he answered.

“I’m in the alley way, diagonal from the front door. Can’t you see me?” I knew he had a camera somewhere out here, and I looked around trying to find it.

“They blocked the cameras. Stay there. I’m coming to get you.”

I hung up the phone, and he was already behind me.

“What’s going on?”

“I’ve been calling you for hours.”

I looked at my phone. I was surprised to see there were eight missed calls. “I must have had it on vibrate.”

He grabbed my arm and started dragging me after him.

“Why are you so mad?”

“All hells about to break loose, literally, and I’m spending hours trying to get you to answer the phone.”

“What is going on?” He was dragging me after him in a hurried pace down the tunnel.

“They are strategically surrounding the place. I was waiting to find your location before making our move.”

“How many are there?”

“Right now there looks to be about fifty.”

“That many?” I said a bit of panic now creeping into my voice.

“That’s not the
problem. I can handle fifty Drauths. There’s been some talk that they might have demons with them.”

“What does that mean?”

“I can take anyone of them down if it was one on one combat, but if there’s more we might have a problem.”

We reached the bar before I could ask any more questions. All the guys were there and I didn’t want to repeat what he had said. They probably already knew, but I didn’t want to give it any validation by acting panicked. I’d already done that in the past and regretted it. I wanted Caden and his men to walk out there feeling as confident as they could.

All the guys were sitting in the main bar room when we entered.

“Did you get Metulla on the phone?” Caden asked the moment we came in.

“Yes. He said he’s sending guys over now to evacuate the streets. He’s going to say a gas main broke,” Joey said.

“How long?” asked Caden.

“Ten, maybe twenty minutes.”

“Is everyone ready?” Caden asked the guys.

“As ready as were going to be,” Alex replied and the rest of the guys either nodded in agreement or said yes.

He turned toward me. “I want you to go downstairs and wait for me until I come for you.” He tried to walk me in the direction of the elevator, but I dug in and wouldn’t budge from my spot.

“Absolutely not.”

“I’m serious.”

“And so am I.” I stood ramrod straight, ready to fight this battle to the bitter end.

He motioned me over to the side and I followed him not wanting to have this fight in front of the guys.

“Please, do this for me? I don’t want them anywhere near you. The idea of what they would put you through is already killing me.”

He was as close to pleading as I’d ever seen him since we met. I’d never heard him say please before and I started to cave slightly, but I just couldn’t do it. I couldn’t let him go out there alone. I didn’t even know what I was capable of, but what if whatever help I could offer was the difference between life and death for him?

“I’m not letting you go out there alone. This isn’t just your fight, and I’m done letting other people fight my battles.”

“This goes way deeper than you. This has been brewing for centuries.”

“I know that, but I’m part of this. They are coming for me. They made me involved whether, I wanted to be or not. I’m not hiding.”

He smiled a bittersweet smile.

“I wanted you to be tougher so that I knew you would be able to handle yourself if I wasn’t around. I guess it makes sense that you wouldn’t be satisfied sitting on the sidelines anymore. I don’t like, it but I’ll respect your choice.”

As much as I could see he hated the idea that I was going to go out there and face them with him, I could also see the respect shining in his eyes. Caden wasn’t the type of man that would ever be able to be with someone that couldn’t hold their ground. Maybe for a while he could make it work, but the strength of his personality would eventually bull doze over someone weaker, whether he meant to or not. I didn’t want to be that type of person. The kind that let their lives be dictated by someone else. Whatever mistakes I made in my life, I wanted to be my own. I wasn’t willing to live with anybody else’s choices.

“Caden, the cops are out there clearing the streets,” Alex yelled from the window across the bar room where he stood.

Caden nodded and looked back to me. “I need one promise.”

“What?”

“If it gets ugly, you leave. You switch on your glow and get out of there.”

“No, I won’t…”

“This is nonnegotiable. You either agree, or I swear I’ll lock you in the apartment.”

I nodded, knowing he was serious and would do exactly that. I had no plan on leaving him, but if it made him feel better, I’d agree. I knew I was lying, but sometimes lying isn’t such a bad thing.

“There is a bank account in the name Giselle Franklin at Santander Bank. There is a license and passport with that name in locker three hundred and eighty-five at JFK airport. This is the key.” He pressed it into my hand with a wad of cash. “Keep this on you. It’s enough to get you out of the country. There’s enough money in that bank to keep you comfortable for the rest of your life.”

I raised my hand to object, but he stopped me.

“It’s to give you options. I’m not telling you to hide. I’m giving you time to regroup if you need. That’s all.”

“Okay.” I took the key and the cash and stashed them in the inside pocket of the parka jacket I was putting on. Unlike them, the cold still affected me.

Caden touched my face and gave me a look I would remember for the rest of my life, for however long it might last. I could read it in his eyes. He loved me. Whatever motivated him to do the things he did, I still hadn’t a clue, but I knew, then and there, he loved me every ounce as much as I loved him.

“Everybody ready?” Caden asked the guys.

“I’m coming,” came the gravelly voice of Charlie from the kitchen. He walked out finishing the last bite of a Philly cheese steak. “I thought I was going to get a really good last meal. I mean, it’s not bad, but it’s not exactly surf and turf. And I never thought I’d have to cook it for myself!”

I smiled at him and he returned the smile back. “I hope they feed you better than they fed me, but from the looks of it I’d say no,” he said to me as he came to stand with us. I couldn’t help but laugh even with everything going on or perhaps in spite of it.

“Are we going out there and kicking some ass or what?” Charlie continued to the group.

“Let’s go see what they’ve got,” Caden agreed, but in a more solemn fashion.

Chapter Thirty-Three

Caden took the lead as we walked out to meet them. Somehow, I found myself in the center of our group, surrounded on every side by one of the guys, and I knew it wasn’t an accident. Sizing up the scene I saw the street didn’t have a pedestrian left, but Rufus’s men more than made up for it. There had to be at least a hundred of them slowly surrounding us. The initial fifty to seven seemed like wonderful odds now. Rufus emerged in the center of his men, but didn’t take any steps beyond his row of men in the front. Obviously, still not secure even with a group this large.