Requiem (29 page)

“
Hey guys!” Beth yelped in
her southern drawl. “Ew. That’s a horrible face,” she said,
mirroring my expression.

Kim pulled a cigarette seemingly from
nowhere, and popped it between her lips. “We were just discussing
how we would use Nina as bait to lure demons,” she said flatly.

Beth’s face morphed into revulsion. “What
class are you guys taking?”

The corners of my mouth turned up, and I
wrapped one arm around Beth’s tiny waist. “Come on. I don’t want to
lose our table at the Ratty.”

The three of us carried our trays the corner
spot, and I couldn’t help but smile when I saw that Ryan’s chair
had been filled. His friends surrounded him with wide grins on
their faces. They all talked and laughed, making the dead silence
upon our approach that much more noticeable.

“
Look who’s back in town,
Babe!” Chad said, standing to greet Beth.

Beth's tray slapped against the table when
she dropped it to throw her arms around Ryan.

“
Hi, Bethy,” Ryan said,
giving her a squeeze.

“
Yay!” Her pageant-smile
stretched to its limit, showing every one of her teeth.

To the others, lunch with Ryan was a
celebration, but as the questions about his last days at war, how
he got hurt, and why he’d waited so long to tell them came, I grew
nervous. So did Ryan.

He stood. “Well! I have to go home…get the
old uniform on.”

“
I bet you look great in
it,” Lisa smiled. “I love men in uniform.”

Kim rolled her eyes. “I’m out, too. Let’s
go, Nina.”

“
Where are we going?” I
asked, looking up at her.

“
Yeah. Where’re you going?”
Ryan said.

Kim tugged on my arm until I stood. “To
class, Detective,” Kim said. “That okay?”

Ryan glanced at me, and then shrugged. “Just
asking.”

Kim gestured for me to follow, and we walked
to the parking lot. She glanced up once, but didn’t stop to explain
why. Her long legs and quick strides had me struggling to keep up,
and I was panting by the time we reached the Sentra.

The light sprinkles still falling from the
gray clouds gently disturbed a large puddle near Kim's car. She
barreled through it, splashing my jeans with dirty water.

“
What’s your hurry?” I
asked, annoyed.

“
I'm taking you to Quincy.
We could talk to my father to see what he knows, and if he knows
what I think he does—nothing—we present my idea to
Jared.”

“
But, I have class!” I
protested.

“
Jared doesn’t show it
around you, Nigh, but he’s desperate. He knows something is coming.
They’re planning something, and we’ve got nothing. We have no idea
how to protect you when we don’t know what we’re protecting you
from.”

“
Demons,” Ryan said. “Isn’t
that all we need to know?”

“
No,” Kim said. “And you’re
not invited.”

“
Well, that’s too bad.
Because I’m coming,” he said. He opened the car door behind the
passenger side, and slammed it behind him.

Kim looked to me.

“
Jared will follow us,” I
warned.

“
So?” Kim said. “He’ll want
to know what my dad has to say…if he says anything.”

I looked around; the Escalade was notably
absent. “I haven’t heard from any of them all day.”

“
Does being in the dark
make you feel better? You should know by now why they keep things
from you.”

“
It’s bad, isn’t it?” I
said, afraid of the answer.

“
Just get in the car,” Kim
said, settling in behind the wheel.

The drive to Quincy was silent, but when we
slowed to a stop in front of a large gate, Ryan and I shared a
collective gasp.

“
This is your house?” Ryan
asked. Staring in awe at the looming mansion ahead.

“
Yep,” Kim said, keying in
a code.

The gate opened slowly, and then Kim
accelerated slowly. The gravel drive crunched beneath the Sentra's
tires.

“
No way,” Ryan said, his
mouth hung open.

“
Yes, way,” Kim said,
turning off the engine.

Ryan and I leaned against our windows,
amazed at the colossal building in front of us. It wasn’t a home,
it was a fortress.

“
If you’re so rich, why do
you drive this piece of shi—,” Ryan began.

“
The Sentra serves her
purpose,” Kim interrupted.

I stepped onto the gravel drive. It snaked
all the way to the large, detached garage. Her house was bigger
than mine, and far more equipped with security. Cameras were
mounted on every corner, and the black iron fence blocking general
traffic from entering the drive spanned the entire estate.

Two large dogs ran with great leaps, barking
wildly until they reached us.

“
Hey boys!” Kim said,
giving them both loving, vigorous scratches. When the reunion was
over, she turned to us. “This is Zeus, and the little one is
Hera.”

“
Neither of them are
little,” Ryan said.

The dogs led us to the front entrance,
wagging their tails with such fervor, their entire back half
wiggled with the movement.

Kim opened the door, revealing a vast foyer.
A small, round table stood in the center of the room, boasting an
incredible vase that held beautiful, long-stemmed flowers.

“
Charlie!” Kim bellowed
into the air, causing the dogs to bark. “Charlie!” she said again.
Her voice echoed across the marble tile.

Two men entered the foyer, both no less than
six feet, six inches tall. They were nearly equal in their massive
size, and so intimidating that I realized I was unconsciously
cowering behind Ryan.

The largest of the two had a full, brown
beard. When his eyes focused on Kim, he held out his arms, and a
wide smile broke across his face. “Boo Boo!” he said, his booming
voice reverberating throughout the house.

Kim made her way to him quickly, and as tall
as she was, the massive arms that encircled her made her seem tiny.
Kim’s feet came off the ground as the man arched his back, and then
returned her to earth after a few sweet moments.

“
Nigh…Ryan…this is my dad,
Charles Pollock. And this is my uncle Bruce.”

“
Nice to meet you,” I said,
watching as my hand disappeared into each of theirs when I shook
them.

Ryan did the same, but he didn’t seem
intimidated at all.

“
How’s school, Kimmie?”
Bruce asked.

“
I’m not really here to
catch up. I brought Nina to meet you.”

“
Oh?” Charles asked,
suddenly suspicious.

Bruce reached behind him, but stopped,
looking beyond me.

“
Let’s all just relax,
here,” Jared said from behind me. I turned to see both of his arms
outstretched in front of him, his Glock securely between his
hands.

Bruce glanced at Charlie, me, and then at
Kim, grudgingly pulling his sidearm slow and careful from behind
him to the ground.

“
It’s okay, Bruce,” Kim
said.

Jared released the hold he had on his
weapon, and then stood beside me, placing it on the table next to
him.

Bruce pulled another gun from his back,
pointing it at Jared's face, but then his shoulders dropped. “How
many of them are there?” he said.

“
Three,” Claire said. I
turned to see her in the same stance as Jared. “And if you pull a
weapon on us again, I’ll blow your knee cap.”

“
Bruce,” Kim said, shaking
her head in warning.

Bruce put the second gun down, and then
pulled up his pant leg, revealing another gun. He set all three
side by side on the ground, and then stood.

“
You sure you don’t want to
check the other leg?” Claire asked, her weapon still
drawn.

Bruce sighed, and then reached down, pulling
a rather large hunting knife from a holster. “That’s all of
it.”

“
Kim,” Charles said, stiff
and nervous. “What’s going on, here?”

Kim reached out to her father. “Nina is my
friend, Dad. And she’s important. These people are here to protect
her. They’re not here to harm us.”

Charles nodded slowly, and then touched the
arm of this brother. “Easy, Bruce.”

Bruce relaxed, then, and Claire stepped out
of her rigid stance, replacing her gun in its holster.

Jared turned to me. “What the hell are you
doing here?”

“
Don’t cuss at me,” I said,
immediately defensive.

Anger lit Jared’s eyes. “You…you have no
idea how dangerous it is for you right now.”

“
Maybe I would if you would
just
tell
me.”

“
If I told you everything,
you wouldn’t want to leave the house. And I don’t want that for
you,” he said, his eyes dark. “But you can’t do certain things,
Nina, and running off with two humans without telling me where
you’re going is one of them.”

“
I’m sorry,” I huffed. “I
thought you’d just follow.”

“
Oh,” Jared said, taken
aback. “You did?”

“
Oh, Christ, let’s hear
what Kim has to say and get out of here,” Claire
snapped.

I peeked at our audience, embarrassed about
the outburst. “Sorry,” I said, clearing my throat.

“
The book,” Kim said to
Charles.

“
Kim!” Bruce said. Charles
touched his brother’s arm, and Bruce immediately
silenced.

“
They know,” Kim
said.

“
You’re the son of Gabriel,
aren’t you?” Charles said, in awe.

“
One of them,” Jared
answered.

Bruce’s face turned red. “Thief. If he
wouldn’t have taken the damn book none of this would be
happening.”

Claire took a step forward, and Jared
gripped her shoulder. “You call my father that again,” Claire
seethed, “and it will be the last words that come from your
mouth.”

“
They're going to help me,”
Kim interceded.

“
What?” Charles said,
confused.

“
Jared promised to help me
return the Demoniac to the Sepulchre in Jerusalem.”

Charles' eyes darted to Jared. “Is this
true?”

“
Yes,” Jared said. “I need
time to study it, but after that, you have my word.”

Charles took a step back, and then walked
several steps away with Bruce right behind him. They conversed in
low whispers, and then returned.

“
We can't trust them,”
Charles said, finality in his tone.

“
None of that matters,
now,” Kim said. “We’ve all got some history, here, that’s apparent.
But we need to focus on the problem. Dad, Nina is the women in the
prophecy in the Naissance de Demoniac. Does that mean anything to
you?”

Charles’ eyes shifted to mine, and then he
scanned me from my hair to my shoes. “No,” he paused. “Who is
she?”

Kim turned to me. “I told you. We’re not
allowed to open the book. He knows nothing.”

“
Is that why you came
here?” Jared said, livid. “I could have told you that! If Charles
knew anything, Gabe and Jack wouldn’t have taken it in the first
place!”

“
It was worth a try,
because our next option was the last resort.”

“
What are you talking
about?” Jared said.

I looked at the crowd of people around me,
feeling the negative, hostile energy in the air. It was in that
moment that I recognized we had finally come to the last leg of the
journey. Getting the book back into our hands had always been the
only choice, which was why Gabe and Jack had come to me with the
answers at night.

“
I have to distract Shax
long enough for you to get the book,” I said softly.

Jared turned to me, his eyebrows squeezed
tightly together. “Are you serious?”

“
No, Jared, she’s trying to
be funny. Of course she’s serious,” Kim said.

“
Bad idea,” Ryan
said.

I reached out to to him, touching his cheek
with my fingertips. “It’s the only way you’re going to get the
book.

Jared glanced at Claire, and then back to
me. “We’ve been trying to get the book to save you. It doesn’t make
sense to put you in danger in order to get our hands on it.”

“
This is stupid, let’s go,”
Claire said.

Kim held up her hands. “Wait. Just wait. We
all know she doesn’t have much time left.”

Kim saying aloud what everyone else knew—and
had hoped to keep from me—felt like a bittersweet release, but the
siblings' expressions were ashamed.

Jared’s eyes hit the floor.

“
Did I miss something
here?” Ryan said, shifting his weight. For the first time since
we'd arrived, he seemed uneasy.

Kim’s eyes met mine. “Both sides are
talking. You know too much, Shax wants revenge, and you pose a
threat to Hell just by being alive. We could pluck out your uterus
today and they would still end your life to prevent a miracle. You
are going to die, anyway, Nina. It’s time we resort to desperate
measures.”

“
Christ Almighty,” Charles
whispered.

The air was absent of sound. Everyone’s eyes
were on me, but I couldn’t reply. I could barely breathe.

“
I’m not going to let that
happen, Nina,” Jared said. “We can figure out another
way.”

“
Is it true?” I said,
looking up at him.