she yel ed.
“No way!” I cal ed back. I looked to Jared. “She’s not serious?”
Jared tried to subdue a smile. “Of course not.” His attention was diverted from the path to the road. Kim’s Sentra barreled toward us.
The Sentra stopped abruptly, and Kim emerged, slamming the door behind her.
Jared raised his hands. “I know you’re impatient, Kim. We’re leaving next week, okay?”
When she was close enough, I gasped. Her clothes were covered in blood. “Wel , that’s just great, Jared. Unfortunately for my uncle, it’s too little, too late.”
“What happened?” Jared said, equal y alarmed. Bex, Claire and Ryan gathered around.
Ryan grabbed Kim’s arm, but she pul ed away. “Oh my God, Kim. Are you okay?” he said.
Kim didn’t look away from Jared. Her eyes glossed over. “I told you. I told you we needed to get it back.”
“I’m so sorry, Kim,” Jared said.
“Sorry won’t bring him back. I helped you, and when it was my turn, you dragged your feet until someone I loved was kill ed.” She turned and walked toward her car.
“Sunday, Kim,” Jared said, cal ing after her. “We leave Sunday.”
Kim’s arm shot into the air and her middle finger pointed toward the heavens. A moment later, she was gone.
“Poor Kim,” Ryan said. “What do you think happened?”
Claire crossed her arms, watching the Sentra disappear into the distance. “They’re sending a message. If it were demons in true form they wouldn’t have been able to get to him. They must be shel ing.”
“Shel ing?” I asked.
“They’re taking human form,” Jared said.
Ryan nodded. “Like possession.”
Claire frowned. “No, like shel ing. They take over the body for a short amount of time to achieve a purpose. It doesn’t leave the body weakened, and the human has no recol ection or aftershock.”
Jared rubbed the back of his neck. “It’s starting.”
“It sure as hel is,” Claire said, heading quickly toward her Lotus.
“It’s a good thing I was quitting to go back to school, anyway,” Ryan said, fol owing Claire. “If I would have asked for more time off to go to Jerusalem, they would have fired me, anyway.”
Claire put a hand on Ryan’s shoulder. “They were going to fire you anyway.”
Ryan’s head jerked in her direction. “Huh?”
“Because you suck.”
Ryan shrugged off her hand, and then used all of his might to shove her. She didn’t budge, only turning long enough to offer a smal , amused smile.
“I don’t suck. You suck,” Ryan grumbled, climbing into her car.
Chapter Eleven
Last Minute Forgiveness
So much to do. So much, so much. Repetitive grumbling hissed from my lips as I rushed around the house. A week wasn’t long enough to get my life in order. I scrambled around the house, up and down the stairs, trying to maneuver around my growing stomach. It became rounder and ful er every day. As I packed, Agatha worked overtime trying to finish the laundry, and Jared was constantly up and down the stairs, fetching clothes and medical supplies. It wasn’t until he phoned in a favor to a friend for bags of saline, IV tubing and needles, and anticoagulant that I realized I wouldn’t have my baby in a hospital—not even at home. Bean would be born in a dark, timeworn cavern under the city of Jerusalem, away from modern medicine, but just beyond the reach of Hel .
Seven days didn’t seem like enough time, but knowing that demons were shel ing, it was also too long. Anyone we happened upon could try to kil us. Any human was a threat. Beth, Chad, even Ryan or my mother. The thought of my mother as a demon made my blood run cold. She was already frightening enough as a human.
Grant needed to be informed of my upcoming absence, but something kept me from dialing the numbers. Knowing he was an Arch—a fal en one, at that—made me feel uneasy. I had been rude to him, even insulted him at times. Being kept in the dark seemed to be the theme of my life, and yet this time it felt like a violation of my trust by everyone. Not to mention the unspoken competition I felt between us was forever ended. He had won.
Every jab at my expense, every flirtation was only him goading me, and I played into his hand every time. Knowing that made future conversations with him difficult. The urge to admit defeat might come, and that would be the ultimate humiliation. Nope. Absolutely not. Wasn’t going to do it. Jared was his celestial BFF. He could talk to Grant.
“Sweetheart?” Jared cal ed from the hal .
I shoved more clothes into my suitcase and then zipped the lid shut. “In here.”
He chuckled. “I know. Bex cal ed. Grant wil keep an eye on Mom. He said he needs to speak with you.”
“You talk to him. You know the details of the trip.”
“I don’t know the details of Titan. He wants you to go in tonight. I’m going to let Bex fol ow you in while I run to a friend’s clinic to get the rest of the supplies, and then I’ll be by.”
“Jared—”
He pul ed me to his side, his arms surrounding me. It just occurred to me why the temperature of his skin didn’t feel as warm as usual. I was running the hybrid fever as wel . That was one thing I would be glad to have back once Bean was born: Jared’s warmth had always been so comforting. Now that it was gone, I mourned its loss a bit.
Bex burst through the front door and sprinted up the stairs, stopping just short of us.
Jared tensed. “What? Is it Mom?”
“No. Why?”
“Why else would you barge in and run ful speed up the stairs like that?”
Bex shrugged. “I don’t know. I just felt like running. What’s the big deal?”
“The big deal is that at any moment someone we care about could die. Don’t do that to me.”
“Okay,” Bex said, taken aback. “I’m sorry.”
Jared stomped down the stairs and slammed the door behind him. Bex looked at me. “I didn’t mean to.”
I put my hand on his shoulder and squeezed. “It’s okay, Bex. He forgets you’re just a kid, I think. You’re doing great.”
Bex’s half-wounded, half-appreciative smile offered little persuasion that my pep talk did him any good. He waited for me to dress for the office, and then I all owed him to drive the Beemer to Kennedy Plaza.
“You are so much like your brother,” I told him as he opened my car door.
“I wish he’d see that.”
“He does.”
“I’ll walk you to the door. With them shel ing, we can’t be too careful.”
I nodded. Although I felt bad that Bex had to babysit me once again, I was glad he was so close. The sidewalk was an obstacle course, and as usual I didn’t choose the correct shoes. My high heels landed unbalanced on broken cement more than once, and my pregnant body wasn’t in its most graceful state—angel-blood-amped or not. If Bex’s newly thick and bulging arms hadn’t been there to grab me, I would have rol ed both of my ankles at the very least.
“Okay. You made it. I’ll wait in your car for Jared.”
I nodded. “Sounds like a plan, kiddo.”
“Nina?”
“Yep?”
“Think you could stop cal ing me that? I’ll be fourteen in a few weeks, and it’s awkward when people hear you. I look older than you.”