2

“Are you understanding me now, human?”

Gia. Her big brown eyes were staring at me, lifeless. My only friend, all I had. Gone. Happy birthday to me.

“Take him,” I heard the creature order and suddenly I was being swept up into someone’s arms. As I was dragged from Gia’s home, I looked into her eyes until I could no longer see her.

The sound of her body breaking echoed through my mind. I was so far gone I didn’t even realize air was whipping around us. I blinked and saw clouds around me. Sky…I was flying.

“Sleep,” whoever held me said, and darkness surrounded me.

I opened my eyes to a dark room. The scent of musty, moldy, dustiness filled my nose and I sneezed.

“Awake, finally.” The creep who was in Gia’s home stepped forward. “Life means very little to me. I understand humans have guilt, a conscience. This is something my kind don’t possess.” He tilted his head, his red eyes narrowed. “You got your friend killed. Tell me something, Ezra, how many more will have to die for your stubbornness?”

I didn’t know what they wanted from me. I’d tried to save Gia, I thought…no, I was playing games.

“I lied.”

The creature hummed. “Yes.”

“Not about what you think. I don’t know who you’re looking for, I don’t know anything about whatever this is.”

The creature lifted his gray hand and long black nails scraped over my cheek.

“All these years, you never realized you were protected? How any who dared trifle with you was lost to this world. How anyone who slighted you disappeared?”

The prickle on the back of my neck, the feeling of never being alone.

“There it is.” The creature smiled, razor sharp teeth and a tongue as dark as night. “You knew.”

“I felt?—”

“Something.”

I nodded. “But I never saw who it was. I don’t know who it is.”

“Hmm.” He stepped back. “Perhaps that is true.” He ran his fingers over the stone wall of the room, and the sound made my teeth rattle. “Whenever you were in need, he’d show.”

“Sometimes after. He never showed himself.”

“By that logic, he should be protecting you now…where oh where could he be, little human?”

It was a good question. I sure could use some saving right about now.

“I don’t know,” I whispered in defeat. I couldn’t give him what he wanted which meant my life wasn’t of value and I knew death would be greeting me soon.

“Then let’s get his attention, shall we?”

I snapped my gaze to him as he lunged for me, tearing me from the ropes I’d been tied down with.

“What are you?—”

With me clutched in his grip, he crashed through the window, and once again I was flying up, up, up. The night was freezing. I looked down and could see all the Christmas lights getting farther away.

“Will he save you, little human? Will he finally show himself to rescue you from death?” the creature growled in my ear. “Let us find out.”

Suddenly, I was freefalling through the clouds, icy wind cutting at my skin. I wasn’t sure if I was screaming because all I felt was pain, fear, and alone.

The lights came closer and closer and I braced myself for the end. I didn’t want to see it. My life wasn’t grand enough for it to flash before me. With my eyes closed I fell…until I wasn’t.

Warmth surrounded me, the cold melted away, the fear was gone. I blinked my eyes open but couldn’t see anything, just whatever was surrounding me. Black wings. My finger brushed over one and it was like petting a rich leather jacket.

It was as if I was floating and I sighed in relief. Then my body jolted and I gasped. Another slam, then I was tumbling and rolling onto the cold ground.

“No more hiding, Senon!” I turned my head and saw the creature; he wasn’t looking at me but something behind me.

What I saw could only be explained as extraordinary. A man, with golden hair, glowing honey brown eyes, a body I swore was chiseled from my wet dreams, and the largest black leather wings I’d ever seen…okay, I’d never seen leather wings before but these were magnificent.

“You dare take what is mine,” this man…no, my protector shouted. Even in anger it was musical, I could listen to him forever.

“It is not him I seek, Senon, but you.”

“You die this night, Diabolus. To Hell I shall return you.”

Like rock hitting rock the two collided above me, battling in the air. I rolled as far from it as I could. I knew in my head I should take the opportunity to run, but my heart was keeping me rooted to the spot. If this Senon guy died, the demon creature thing would kill me anyway. But as I watched the two of them tear each other apart, something bloomed in my chest. Senon was going to win.

As fists and claws ravaged them, each impact was like thunder, and nails sparked against flesh brightening the sky. They flew so high I could no longer see them, but the sky lit up from the storm their fight caused. Drops of rain fell and suddenly more.

Crashes, flashes, a storm covered the entire town, and I sat and waited for my protector. I knew he’d return. The constant in my life, my silent knight.

A loud whistle from above forced my gaze skyward. Something was falling…fast. I stood and ran to get out of the way but when it hit it rocked the ground and I stumbled.

I spun around, there in a heap of skin and bones was the creature. A quiet thud sounded behind me and I smiled.

“You won. I knew you would.” I turned and finally faced my protector.

He looked at me with warm eyes. Like a force was tugging me, I fell into his chest and almost cried as he wrapped his arms around me.

“More will come, we must go, Ezra. Hold on tight.”

There wasn’t anything in this world I wouldn’t do for my silent knight.

I knew I was flying but this wasn’t a flight of fear, it felt like home and dare I say it…love.

We landed on the roof of my building to the sounds of people laughing and the aroma of spices filling the air, and I was released.

“Ezra Acker, you are home but it is not safe for you here. Diabolus was only one and?—”

“One what?”

He cocked his head and regarded me with clear confusion. “A demon.”

“You say that like I’m supposed to know what he was?” And holy hell, he really was a demon?

“How could you not tell? He was gray and looked nothing like a human…and he flew.”

I chuckled and gestured toward his whole body. “You flew, are you a demon?”

“I am part demon, part angel, but more unique than Nephilim.”

He was so honest, and I realized he’d answer all my questions. “What is more unique than a Nephilim?”

He cupped my cheek and smiled. “I will answer all your questions. First, gather all you need—essentials only.”

“Where am I going?”

“With me.” That was all he said. As if that would be enough and I’d willingly just go with him. Spoiler alert, I willingly went with him.

It took me fifteen minutes to get my things together and then we were flying again. So strange how I felt no fear in his arms hundreds, maybe thousands of feet from land.

I watched Christmas lights become less and less. Festive colors replaced with miles of trees and snow. I didn’t want to shout and ask questions so I blindly trusted him.

We landed on the lip of a cliff and I gasped when cold air rushed around me as he stepped away.

“We are here.”

“No, we are on a mountain…I’ll die here.”

He chuckled and waved his hand over a part of the rocky mountain and it quietly crumbled away revealing a door.

“Come.” He took my hand, and I followed him across the threshold.

Whatever I thought I would see when I walked inside a mountain, this wasn’t it.

The scent of cinnamon and sugar tickled my senses and warmth encased me. A crackling fire off to the side was contributing to that. Tucked away in the corner was a Christmas tree but there was also a fully lit menorah on the mantle. This was a home, and I swore I’d see a grandmother walk out of the kitchen with a freshly baked pie any second.

“Wow,” I whispered.

“Do you like it here?”

I nodded and moved further into the space. The couch screamed comfort, the blankets and throws called to me, and the smells made my stomach rumble.

“You are hungry.” Senon raced toward the kitchen; the place was open concept so I could watch.

“Is this where you live?” I asked as I plopped my bag and backpack on the floor.

“I have lived wherever you have been. This is what I created for when you finally joined me.”

Suddenly all the questions that had been swirling around my brain began to bubble.

“Why haven’t you shown yourself to me until now?”

“It wasn’t needed. Tonight you would have died had I not, all the other times that was not the case.”

“But you said this place was created for when I joined you, how was I ever to do that if you didn’t introduce yourself?”

“It would have happened soon, Diabolus pushed the timetable up by a few years.”

“Years?” Okay, I didn’t mean to shout but Senon didn’t even flinch when I did.

“Sit.” He motioned to the breakfast bar. “I will cook you a meal and tell you a story.”

I did as instructed and gave Senon my complete attention.

He started cutting up vegetables and without looking up, told me the story of how he became my knight and why I never knew my parents.

“It was December twentieth, two thousand and three?—”

“That’s when I was born.”

He nodded. “Yes, don’t interrupt or this will take forever.”

I mimed zipping my lips.

“I was summoned by your mother.” He held up a finger when I opened my mouth. “Her name was Sylvia and she was a Great Divine. They are the ones who control the heavens. She fell in love with a human man, your father, Arthur Acker. You were not to be born, for none of the Great Divine had ever bore a child. There was no way of knowing what you’d become.”

He poured oil into a skillet and I lifted my jaw from the counter.

“Your father was killed before your mother was even showing her pregnancy. Demons, in force, came for him in the night. Sylvia was devastated and the Divine Kingdom feared what your birth would cause. War perhaps between good and evil, nobody knew. So it was ruled that you would not be born.”

I gasped but he went on as if he hadn’t just told me the goodest of good were okay with killing me.

“Your mother wouldn’t hear of it, so she fled the kingdom and summoned me.”

He sighed and looked right at me. “I don’t belong to either the divine or the demons yet I am both. The only one of my kind. Your mother believed I’d want to protect another unique being. I could not have refused her if I wanted to for she was a Great Divine.”

I smiled, and he placed chicken in the oil.

“She stayed with me until your birth and told me to watch over you forever without fail. Protect you silently, only to reveal myself when you were of a certain age. On your day of birth she brought you to a church.”

“She’s alive?”

He shook his head. “No. She lingered, unable to part from you. I warned her to flee because I could not protect both you and her. But she stayed, and Abaddon found her, and killed her.” His light brown eyes glittered with the promise of tears. “He was sent by the Great Divine to locate and kill you. Sylvia wouldn’t give you up and therefore, she died.”

“Geez.” I swallowed and stared at the wooden bar under my fingertips. That was a lot.

“Sylvia named you Ezra Acker, giving you your father’s last name, and I was afraid that was how they’d find you. They never did. It wasn’t until you were ten and bullies tried to hurt you and I removed them that a tendril of awareness began to spark.”

“They were kids and you?—”

“Protected you. It was…is my duty. Any who touch you must perish.” Again, he held up his hand to stop me from interrupting. “Abaddon can track evil, so those who harmed you would hold your divinity. All Abaddon would need to do was search their memories and find you, but if they were dead, he couldn’t.”

“So not some sort of love lust or anything.” I chuckled nervously.

“No. But I do love you, Ezra Acker. You were eighteen, you were running late for work and stumbled over an open drain. Inside you found a litter of kittens, drowning and hungry. You scooped them up, spent the last of your money and got them food and things to clean them. When they were fine you dropped them off at a shelter and lost your job for that.”

I could feel how wide my eyes were. I remembered that day. I knew I’d get fired from the bowling alley, but it was fine, it was a third job I was already having trouble keeping.

“And that’s when you fell in love with me?”

“I’d never felt such a feeling as I did that moment. All I ever did was what I was ordered to do. I looked at you as a job. Until that night. And every day after, I watched you give more to this world than this world gave to you.”

He leaned over the counter and cupped my cheek in his warm palm.

“I can see the Great Divine in your eyes.”

“My silent knight.” I laughed.

“Is that what you call me?”

“I never knew who, but I knew someone was watching over me, quiet and valiant. Yeah, that’s what I call you.”

“I like it.”

I sighed and sat back. “But this Diabolus was looking for you, not me.”

“Yes. As I said I am unique. One of a kind some would say. Abaddon is my father and my mother an angel, I do not know her name. I was born both in lava and water, in light and darkness. Touched by the Great Divine and cursed by Hell itself. Abaddon wants me to sit at his side knowing it would bring war to both good and evil…much like you. But I never will. Diabolus thought if he brought me to him, it would give him all the riches he could ever want. He didn’t realize you are more valuable than me. He only knew I cherished you and protected you.” He chuffed.

“Funny if you think about it. Diabolus had a chance to hand you over to Abaddon but didn’t realize the treasure he held.”

My mind was reeling. He loved me, his mom was an angel, Senon’s dad killed my mom, who was a Great Divine, demons are not only real but they tried to eviscerate me… Do I have magical powers?

A plate was placed in front of me full of seasoned chicken, veggies, and fingerling potatoes.

“Wow that was fast.”

Senon shrugged. “I have a way of speeding things up.”

So, magic is real.

I tucked into the meal, surprising even myself with how I could eat after having all this information thrust upon me.

Once I was done, I sat back and realized I was alone. I slipped off the stool and meandered around the large space.

There was a corridor on the opposite side of where I was standing, and I made my way down it. I passed a bathroom that was insanely luxurious. A clawfoot tub, ivory and gold settings, a large window overlooking a forest—which, weird since we were inside a mountain.

“Senon?” I called out when I reached what appeared to be the master bedroom.

“Ezra.” Drying his wet hair, he entered the room from a door off to the side. “Apologies, I tried to tell you I was going to wash up but you were absorbing everything I had told you.”

“I have so many questions and?—”

“I imagine you do.” He motioned toward a sitting area hugged by enormous bay windows.

I sat in one of the plush chairs and he did the same.

“Where are your wings?” I couldn’t believe I’d only just realized they weren’t on display.

“They tuck away when I am not in need of them.”

I nodded, that seemed reasonable. “So, the powers of good and evil both want us dead?”

“In a manner of speaking. My father would much rather I sit beside him but he is not a stupid demon. He realizes I could and would never. He would rather I die than fight on the side of the Great Divine.”

“And would you fight beside the ones who helped murder my biological mother?”

Senon sat across from me, his gaze boring into mine as if I truly were as precious as he claimed.

“No. Perhaps at one time I might have but, Ezra, understand something. I am born of darkness and light. When I kill I do it without remorse, and yet I warm at the sight of a man rescuing kittens.”

I chuckled. “You’re an enigma.”

“Perhaps.”

“Off topic…what’s with the Christmas tree and the menorah?”

Senon smiled so brightly my heart practically burst with how gorgeous he was.

“You celebrate both. You are Jewish, your father was and when Sylvia gave you his last name it was to honor that. But many foster families you have been with celebrated Christmas. During the holidays in twenty ten you claimed how you loved both Christmas and Chanukah.”

Damn…he really had been watching me.

“That’s maybe sweet, maybe stalkerish.”

He didn’t say anything after that, simply watched me, waiting for what I’d do next I supposed.

“Senon—”

“I love my name on your lips.”

Okay, cue heavy blushing. “Senon.” I smirked. “Where do you stand now? What happens to us next? Can we fight and win and simply live our lives…well, can I live mine because you’re likely immortal.”

“I stand beside you, Ezra. Sylvia called upon me and I answered. I do not regret that choice. We always fight. Humanity does it every day. Why is today or tomorrow any different?”

“Um.” I laughed nervously. “We fight to keep our electricity on, not to survive demons from Hell tearing our skin off to wear as a cape.”

Senon furrowed his brow. “That is a very dark visual.”

“I need to know what’s next.” I sighed, all the adrenaline from earlier washing away, and sadness over the loss of my only friend returning. “Gia died for me, Senon.”

“Yes, I am sorry for your loss.”

His eyes were filled with sincerity and deep in my bones I wanted to curl on his lap and let him console me. But I couldn’t. I had to sit with all of this and really let it sink in.

“I’m tired.”

“Of course.” He stood. “You can have this room. I will stay in?—”

“No way. I’ll take another bedroom if there is one or I’ll sleep on the couch.”

I could see he wanted to argue but he acquiesced and led me to a room across the hall.

“You are safe here, nobody can invade this sanctuary.”

I wanted to ask more, like how, but I truly was exhausted.

“Good night, Senon.”

I shut the door and starfished on the bed. I hadn’t even checked out the room, I just let sleep consume me.

When I woke, I wasn’t sure if I’d dreamed everything but as soon as I sat up and surveyed the gorgeous room—definitely not my bedroom over the Mexican restaurant—I knew everything really did happen.

To my left, on a sun yellow chair was my backpack, and my duffle was on the floor beside it. Senon must’ve brought my things in from the main area of the house.

I needed a shower, clean clothes, to brush my teeth, and then something to eat…and coffee, for sure coffee. Then I could address the fact demonic and divine beings wanted me dead.

By the time I left the bedroom Senon was placing coffee, scrambled eggs, bacon, and cut fruits on the table.