The Human Side (The Demon Side Series) (11 page)

As the tow truck began pulling away, I noticed the windshield. If either of them had been thrown through the windshield, it would have broken from the inside out. The glass had been broken from the outside in. It became obvious where the glass in Etta’s back had come from. It seemed as if someone had thrown a large, round object at the car.

That didn’t explain how it got in her back. If the glass exploded inward during the crash, the glass should have hit the front of her body, unless she saw it coming and tried to dodge it by clamoring to the backseats. If they saw it though, why not maneuver to avoid whatever it may have been coming at them? None of this seemed to be adding up.

After being cleared to leave, I waited around in hopes of getting Tristan’s story when he finished talking to the officers. As I leaned against my car waiting, another jet-black vehicle pulled up with Logan inside the passenger seat. Logan stepped out of the car, only to hop into the back seat. Tristan spoke to Gabriel and Amy for a moment before taking off. I approached the duo. I had planned on asking all of the questions, but Amy had beaten me to the punch.

“You two better start talking, and I mean right now!” Amy shrugged off Gabriel’s arm as he tried placing it around her shoulders.

Uncertain as to what she might be asking, Gabriel appeared as dumbfounded as me. I knew it would be best to keep my mouth shut before asking her to clarify. Picking up on my queue to keep quiet, Gabriel bit his bottom lip.

“C’mon, Gabriel! Start spilling it. What the hell is going on?”

“Gabriel?”

“Oh don’t play stupid. I heard Ramen boy call you Gabriel. So who are you guys, really?”

“That’s my middle name.”

“Bull. I’ve seen your I.D. card. Benjamin Theodore Harper.” Hearing the name John had chosen for the first time, I burst into laughter. I struggled not to, but the name Theodore always seemed campy to me. His last name, Harper, didn’t help either. The dude had a knack for harping on the rest of us about our personal lives. The timing may have been inappropriate, but after the evening’s events, it became difficult to hold my sanity together.

“And just what is so funny?” Amy turned her anger on me. I attempted to hold a straight face, but the more I tried, the harder I laughed.

“Fine. I guess you don’t want to hear what she had to say before she passed out,” Amy said as she walked toward the van. Her comment knocked the wind and laughter right out of me.

“Wait. What did she say?”

“Oh, now you want to talk? I don’t think so. I’m going to Culpepper Regional Hospital. When you two are ready to be honest, you can find me there.”

“Amy!” Gabriel ran after the van as she pulled away.

“C’mon. We need to find John.” As I walked toward my car, something hit me in the back, followed by a series of pelts.

“You couldn’t give her one night?” Gabriel yelled while throwing a handful of pebbles at me.

“What is your problem?” I asked as I pulled my jacket over my face to block the rocks.

“This wouldn’t have happened if you weren’t so selfish!” he exclaimed as he hurled another handful my way.

“Selfish? Everything I’ve done has been to prevent this!”

“You did nothing but throw her into the fire, so screw you and your self-righteous bull.” Gabriel bent over, reaching for another handful of gravel. Peeking over my collar, I saw an opportunity to end his attack. I intended to tackle him, but the soil beneath my feet gave way and I took us both to the ground.

Delivering quick, short punches to each other, we rolled back and forth over the terrain. Gabriel punched me in my chest, knocking the wind out of me. Taking advantage, he rolled over me. As I gasped for air, something moist splattered on my chin. Looking at my brother as he pummeled the side of my ribs, I noticed the droplet had come from him. He had been crying.

“This has nothing to do with me, does it?” With a right hook, I knocked him off of me and rolled on top of him, shoving my forearm against his throat with enough pressure to stop his impending fist. He knew this move all too well. Had he been an enemy, I might have easily crushed his trachea. But I didn’t want to injure my brother. I wanted to find out why he had snapped.

“Talk to me. Tell me why you’re so upset, Gabriel.”

His body relaxed as he tried to hide his tears. Just as he had knocked the wind out of me, it seemed I knocked the fight out of him. Releasing my arm, I sat next to him in the dirt.

“I want to go home. I wasn’t meant for this.” He sobbed as he sat up.

“For what? We’re just getting to the part you live for—a fight.”

“I’m always ready for a fight, but I’m not for all of this.”

“All of what, Gabriel?”

“What I’m feeling. I’m scared, Rahovart. I’m scared for you, for Etta, for John, but mostly I’m scared for Amy. She’s so close to it all. What if she gets hurt? Or worse? It may have been her with Etta tonight had she answered the phone.”

“Ah. I understand now. You love her.”

“It’s more than that. Love is just a heavy word people throw around. What I feel is beyond a word. It’s like she’s in my veins. I feel her coursing through me.”

“Going home won’t fix that, Brother. It makes it much worse. Trust me on that.”

“I can’t protect her like this!” Gabriel motioned to his body with disgust. “What can this do against a Demon? Nothing. Why would you choose this over what we were?”

“It is not the vessel in which our souls travel, but what our souls carry with them that gives us strength. We can and will accomplish our mission. Neither Etta, John, or Amy will fall in battle. That I promise you.”

In silence, we sat and stared off in the distance for a few moments. I knew all too well of his fears for Amy. It has been something I’ve lived with every day for over a year. Tonight’s event had increased that fear a hundred fold.

“We should get going to the hospital,” Gabriel said as he stood, dusting off the dirt from his jeans.

“No. First we find John and find out how this happened.”

“But don’t you want to see how Etta’s doing?”

“There’s nothing we can do for her right now.”

“Maybe John is on his way to the hospital now.”

“I doubt it. For him to call us and not be here to protect her tells me something isn’t right with all of this.”

“I’ll try calling him.” Gabriel pulled out his cell phone and dialed his number as we got into my car.

“No answer, but I checked my call log. He called me from the house number.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah. Look.” Gabriel showed me the screen on his cell. John had indeed called from his home phone. Alarms sounded in my head. On the phone, he seemed to be fighting for a breath and barely able to speak. The second the thought fluttered in my head, I smashed the gas pedal into the floorboard.

We raced into the dark Divad home. Gabriel turned on the lights, checking for any sign of John while I rushed up the stairs calling his name. I started searching his room, even going as far as looking under his bed when a muffled noise came from above.

“Gabriel! The attic!” I yelled as I barreled into Etta’s closet. Adrenaline burst through me when the muffled moan increased in volume. Lying against dust covered sheets draping over what appeared to be a stack of boxes we found a semi-conscious John with sword and shield in hand.

“Et…et….”

“She’s fine, John.” Gabriel’s eyebrow shot up at my lie, but he didn’t correct me. “Where are you injured?” Scanning over his body, I didn’t notice any wounds.

“Wi-wing,” he muttered.

As I pulled him forward to check his back, John released a loud cry of pain and then passed out. Gabriel quickly knelt behind him, lifting his shirt to examine John’s wings.

“It’s gone.” Gabriel’s face had drained of all color.

“What’s gone?” I asked in disbelief.

“His wing. The whole thing is gone. It looks as if it’s been cut out.”

“Hold him.” Gabriel and I switched positions. I believed Gabriel’s diagnosis, but I had to see for myself. Where his right wing should have folded into his skin, a large section of flesh was missing, leaving a hole where the frame attached to the shoulder blade. Bruises on his upper and lower body told me he had been held down. The cuts were jagged and varied in depth. The weapon used for the hack surgery left an impression on John’s exposed muscle tissue. The animals cut out his wing with his own Ka-bar. They used a hacksaw where a scalpel should have been used.

“Why only the one? Why not kill him?” Gabriel asked.

“The Demons responsible wanted him to suffer, not die. My best guess is that they knew killing him would draw attention of the other High Templars. However, they still need him out of the way. What better way than to clip him? Without both wings, he can’t flash.”

“We need to get him to the hospital.”

“And say what?”

“And say he needs medical attention.”

“How are we going to explain a panel of flesh missing from his back, not to mention the crater in his shoulder? No. We need to help him.”

“How are we going to fix him? I don’t know a damn thing about these stupid bodies. Do you?”

“No, but I know someone who does,” I said, raising my eyebrow. Gabriel seemed confused for a moment before it dawned on him.

“No. No way. She’s already too close to this. I’m not going to let you drag Amy right into the middle of it.”

“She’s our only option.”

“And what do you intend to tell her about John’s injuries?”

“She wants the truth from us. That’s what we’ll give her.”

“But you heard Father. We can’t—”

“Father said we can’t say a word to Etta. He never specified that we weren’t allowed to tell someone else. Now call her.”

“It’s that loophole type of thinking that always gets you in trouble, Rahovart.”

“And the type of thinking that gets us out of it as well, Brother. Call her.”

Chapter Fourteen

Gabriel seemed hesitant, but gave in and called her. I sensed his nervousness as he started the conversation by asking about Etta. “That’s great news,” he said. Relief swept over me when a small smile cracked on his face.

“What did she say?” I wanted every detail right that second, but he only lifted a finger motioning me to wait, then turned his back and walked over to the opposite end of the attic. John released another moan, directing my attention away from Gabriel. John attempted to push himself upright, and I rushed to his side. His lids flickered as he became conscious. I tried to stop him, but unaware of his condition, he pushed me away and leaned back against the wall.

“Mother fu-ahh!” he screamed.

Having my own wings stripped once, I knew all too well the pain he felt, although I couldn’t imagine how it must feel to have one actually dug out. As if a blistering cold blew over him, his body shook. His fingertips and lips faded into a bluish hue. Fearing a drop in body heat due to blood loss, I ripped the sheet from the stack of items and draped it around him.

“Thank….”

“Shh. Don’t talk.” I crouched down in front of him.

“He’s awake?” Gabriel asked as he came up to my right.

“Partially. So, is she coming?”

“Yes. She’ll be here shortly.”

“And what of Etta?”

“They have her in surgery to remove the glass. The doctors say she’ll need quite a few stitches, but should make a full recovery in no time.”

As I released a sigh of relief to the good news, I silently thanked Father.

“What hap…happened to her?” John interjected.

“She’s safe, John. Don’t worry about her right….” I trailed off as I noticed an overfilled box next to Gabriel, a picture of Lucifer sticking out. I stole the picture from some cult members during my days as a Demon. Digging through the box, I found most of my belongings I had thrown in the garbage the day I left Etta to return home to Heaven. Only two things were missing…the note Etta had left for me before she had been taken to Hell and the note I’d written inside the sleeve of a CD.

“No. Tell me she didn’t find them.” Certain they had to be in the box, I dumped the contents on the floor and searched frantically.

“What are you doing?” Gabriel asked as he knelt beside me.

“Look for a piece of lined paper and the sleeve to this.” I showed him the CD case.

“Why?”

“It’s not the feathers. It’s the notes and this crap.”

“You’re not making any sense, Rahovart.”

“When I went back to Hell, Etta left me a note here in the attic. Before leaving I put it in my sword’s sheath and left her a note and a feather as well. Hers must have fallen out before I took off. I never meant for her to find my note or this box.”

“Are you kidding me? Why would you be so stupid?”

“I needed to leave a piece of me behind with her. I couldn’t just leave her.”

“This is what I’m talking about…your selfishness. It’s always been about what you want. Will you never learn?”

“I don’t need a lesson from you right now. I need you to help me find and destroy them!”

Gabriel sifted through the items on the floor. Picking up the mock rendering of Lucifer, he examined it.

“Is this what they think he looks like?”

“You wouldn’t guess half the stuff they believe.” I grabbed the picture and threw it in the box.

“And what about this? Oh my!” He flipped through a graphic pornographic magazine from under a pile of knick knacks.

“Just look for the notes,” I said, snatching the magazine from his hands.

“People really do that stuff?”

“Among other things.” I found his naïveté regarding human species amusing.

“Man, no wonder Amy wants to wait. She’s probably terrified I may want to do that to her.”

“You’ve talked about that with her?”

“It came up.” Gabriel’s cheeks turned a bright red.

“Oh yeah? How did that come about?”

“The human body does strange things with no warning during certain activities.”

“Ah, you were getting it on, and Mr. Happy popped up.”

“Do you have to be so crass? It wasn’t like that. I simply kissed her, and she kissed me back. Next thing I know, my hand traveled where it shouldn’t have. Being the sweet innocent girl she is, she stopped it, and we discussed her strong beliefs in virtue and waiting for marriage, which I agree with whole heartedly.” Gabriel pulled a small black velvet box from his pocket.