Eden

Claire’s blank stare melted away, and she took a deep breath. She managed a smal smile, and then looked to me. Had I not seen the same pleading expression on Jared’s face the year before, I might have missed it. She was worried that Ryan was stil in love with me.

“Thanks,” I said, looking down.

Thinking back on the past year, the dynamic between the four of us couldn’t have been more different. Even so, it seemed every word uttered, every decision each of us made, led us to this very moment. Ryan looked at Claire with nothing less than adoration, and Jared reached over, resting his palm on my stomach.

A knock on the door abruptly disturbed our sweet little moment.

“Kim!” Ryan said.

Her clothes were dirty, hair a mess. A smal brown satchel hung from her shoulder, secured under her arm. I assumed it was the book. She was forced to keep it with her at all times. Kim was the only one that could keep the Naissance de Demoniac safe from Shax and his demons.

She didn’t look like herself at all . “You!” She pointed to Jared. “You made me a promise, Half Breed, and you’re going to keep it.”

Chapter Seven

Broken Promise(s)

Kim breathed hard; her arm outstretched with a pointed finger just shy of Jared’s nose. The air in the room was immediately heavy, the hairs on my neck stood on end. The Others were fol owing her more closely, now, just waiting for her to make a mistake. Shax was back in Hel where he belonged, but his failure only made him more determined to have his property returned to him before Kim and Jared hand it over to the safety of the Holy Sepulchre Church in Jerusalem.

The constant presence of the enemy had taken a tol on Kim. The skin under her eyes was a deep shade of purple. Kim’s typical y flippant and impervious nature had slowly slipped away over the last two years. Her possession as a teenager had left her with the ability to take power from demons that Hel didn’t understand, making her the perfect guardian of the book—until it could be returned to the one place Shax couldn’t reach.

She was just as desperate to free her family from the Naissance de Demoniac as Shax was to take it from them.

A nurse walked in, momentarily taking notice of Kim’s curious body language, but quickly dismissed it when she began taking Ryan’s vitals.

Pul ing the stethoscope from her ears, the nurse seemed satisfied. “Doc said you can be discharged, but because it’s late, he wants to keep you one more night and let you go first thing in the morning.”

Kim lowered her hand, letting it fal to her thigh.

“Agh….” Ryan huffed. His expression screwed into disgust.

Claire rol ed her eyes. “One more night is nothing. Quit whining.”

One side of Ryan’s mouth pul ed up. “When I get home, you can come into the apartment, you know. You don’t have to sit outside in the Lotus.”

“No, thank you. I can’t do my job properly and listen to you flap your jaws all night.”

“We don’t have to talk,” Ryan grinned.

Jared stood. “On that note We’ll be leaving,” he looked to me, “preferably before I vomit cheeseburger in Ryan’s lap for insinuating anything remotely intimate about my baby sister.”

Claire was speechless, and I frowned. “Ryan. Real y?”

Ryan laughed hysterical y.

Jared promptly led me to the elevator by the hand. He couldn’t get away from Ryan fast enough. Kim fol owed us into the hal way. Jared pushed the button, and then waited for Kim to speak.

She crossed her arms, already saying what she had come to say. She watched Jared expectantly.

He sighed. “I need more time.”

“You promised. What are you waiting for, anyway? Nina is pregnant. The prophecy has begun. It can only go one of two ways now.”

“I want to take it back to Woonsocket and spend a couple of days with Father Francis. We could find a weakness. We could find a way to avoid a confrontation all together.”

“That’s reaching, even for you,” Kim said. Her pale cheeks were turning a soft shade of red. Kim being upset was so foreign to me that I almost couldn’t process it.

“You and Nina just have a few weeks before summer break. Nina can’t miss any more classes, and I can’t go without her.”

Kim narrowed her eyes. “You think I care about classes? This is serious, Jared. You promised that if I helped you get the book back, you would help me return it to Jerusalem. You promised.”

Jared rubbed the back of his neck, clearly frustrated. The elevator door opened, and he pul ed both Kim and I inside. An elderly couple walked toward the door. The older gentleman held up his hand, signaling for us to hold the elevator, but Jared quickly pushed the button for the doors to close.

“Jared!” I said, appal ed. “Remind me why we can’t just let Shax have the damn thing?”

Kim shot a sharp look in my direction. “Because it gives him tremendous power, power that someone from the days of Jesus was so afraid for him to have, they risked taking it from him. Now that your fathers have pissed him off, if we hand over his bible, the first person he’l annihilate with that power is you.”

Jared squared his shoulders and lowered his chin. “I understand that you want to return the book and why. Trust me, I do. But when we…once we do this, Kim…it can’t be undone. I wil never get this chance again.”

Kim matched his glare. “Then get it done.”

The elevator door slid open, and Kim walked into the main lobby of the hospital. She didn’t say another word, and she didn’t acknowledge me at al .

Jared and I walked to the Escalade in silence. Both of their arguments made sense. Who could disagree with either side when they both wanted to protect someone they love? My first inclination was to insist Jared hold up his end of their bargain, but protecting me meant protecting our child.

Bean was my first priority.

Jared seemed even more conflicted than I. He was a good man, and going against his word clearly bothered him. He was right; we needed to search every clue—every figurative and literal meaning of every paragraph of the prophecy. Forcing Heaven and Hel into a war was a last resort, and we couldn’t be sure unless we explored every option.

I slept fitful y that night, dreaming about wars and demons and of Bean. My brain ran incessantly, stuck in a pattern of scaring myself awake, and then fal ing back asleep, only to imagine a new frightening scenario. In the hospital, in St. Ann’s, in the Loft, we fought the demons over and over, but every dream ended the same: Bean would be in my arms one moment, gone the next. Panic would take over my every thought, but we all knew it was too late, and nothing more could be done. Desperation would plague me as I insisted Jared figure out a way to find and save our baby, and then unbearable sorrow when I realized it was over…and then my eyes would open.

“Nina,” Jared whispered, fol owing my name with smooth, short phrases in French. For whatever reason, French always seemed to comfort me, and Jared could sense that. His fingers combed through my hair, and his lips grazed the edge of my ear.

The sun cast shadows on every wal of my bedroom. I blinked, trying both to clear my vision and remember what day it was, reminding myself that what seemed like a lifetime of heartbreak was only a dream.

Jared kissed my cheek, and I turned to face him. “That was a rough night,” I said. A tear fel from the outside corner of my eye, down my temple.

Jared used his sleeve to wipe the wet line away. “I noticed.”

I looked out the window. “You know what wil make me feel better?”

“What’s that, sweetheart?”

“Training.”

Jared nodded. “I thought you might say that. When do you want to start?”

“Tonight, after I put some time in at Titan. Is Bex busy?”

“I don’t think so. I’ll ask him, but he’s always up for some sparring with you.”

I forced a sleepy grin. “You should cut in once in a while. I’m sure I bore him to death.”

Jared smiled. “We’ll see. I’m going to whip up some blueberry pancakes.”

“I’m going to whip up a lather in the shower. Do we have salsa?”

Jared’s head jerked back a bit. “I think we have some left, yeah. Why?”

“I’m going to dip my pancakes in it.”

Jared wrinkled his nose and stuck out his tongue. “So hold the maple syrup, then?”

“No, I want the syrup, too,” I said, ambling to the bathroom. I didn’t look behind me to see what revolted expression was on Jared’s face, but he didn’t move from the bed until I turned on the shower.

He was probably beyond disgusted, but it did sound good. What wasn’t appetizing about fresh, spicy tomatoes, cilantro, onion, blueberries and pancake batter soaked in maple syrup? My stomach growled. I was suddenly ravenous.

I rushed through my morning routine, and yanked on a Brown University pul over hoody and a pair of jeans. The button was being stubborn, so I sucked in. When I stil couldn’t get it buttoned, I lay on the bed. Coupled with sucking in, I final y got it fastened. I made my way down the stairs, uncomfortable and stiff.

“We need to do some shopping tonight instead of sparring,” Jared said, joining me.

“We can do both,” I said. “Just don’t take me to a maternity store. I’m not ready for that yet.”

Jared shrugged. “Fair enough. I just want to make sure you’re both comfortable.”

I made a show of looking around the room. “Did you eat my salsa pancakes?”

Jared laughed once. “Absolutely not. Cynthia beat me to the cupboard.”

“She’s making pancakes?”

“No, and she’s not serving salsa, either.”

I frowned. “I sort of had my heart set.”

Cynthia’s high heels clicked against the tile as she brought in a tray and set it on the table. She placed an empty plate in front of me, and then sat a tal glass of an indiscriminate frozen cocktail on the plate. She added a bowl of fresh fruit, a bran muffin, and a slice of tomato.

“What’s in the glass?” I asked.

“Fresh fruit, yogurt and peanut butter.”

“That sounds awful,” I groaned.

“But salsa pancakes are appetizing?” Jared said. I shot him an annoyed glare.

Cynthia nodded to my breakfast. “It’s quite good, I assure you. I can’t do this every morning. I happened to have a cancel ation, but I do expect you to eat wel .”

Al expression left my face. “You know, don’t you?”

Cynthia offered a smal smile. “I know everything, Nina, dear. Now, feed my grandchild. I’ll see you at dinner.”

She untied the strings of her apron and hung it over a chair, clicking her heels to the foyer.

I stared at the concoction in the glass. “I official y believe that I wil never know what to expect from my mother.”

“That makes two of us.”

I drank the PB and Fruit smoothie—which was actual y quite tasty—and gathered my things for class. Jared walked me to the Escalade, but I put my hand on his arm before we left the drive. “I almost forgot. I have to stop by Titan and speak to Sasha.”

“Oh, yes. To banish her to the file room.”

“Her ridiculous crush is costing me money,” I grumbled. “She hired a cal igrapher to write names on the new client packets!”

Jared made a strange face, unsure how to react, and then turned the wheel toward Titan. I practiced what I might say to Sasha during the drive.

Part of me wanted to smash all of her hopes and dreams like she deserved; the other insisted on breaking it to her gently. By the time Jared pul ed up to the curb, I had given up on my dastardly plan of revenge, instead settling on a gentler speech. That decision put me in a less than amiable mood.

“See you soon,” Jared said, kissing my cheek.It took some doing to find Sasha, but after looking everywhere else, I headed to the file room in the basement. The room was missing several lights; the only one ful y lit was blinking. I stepped in, the concrete echoing under my feet.

“Sasha?”

I slowly walked down the aisle, looking to each side of me.

A smal , muffled noise came from a dark corner of the room. The hair on the back of my neck stood up. I was alone, but something was inside that room with me.

I took a breath, and then walked as quietly as I could to the end of the aisle, turning toward the noise. A dark, huddled figure was slumped with its back turned to me. In the failing light I could see it shivering.

“H…hel o?”

The figure froze. Adrenaline seared through my veins. Immediately every move, every act of defense I had learned replayed in my mind. My hands bal ed into fists, and I braced myself for a fight.

“Go away,” Sasha hissed. She gasped, and her body shivered again.

Every taut muscle in my body released, and anger served as an outlet for the adrenaline. “What the hel are you doing down here?”

Sasha turned, wiping her eyes. “Peter said Grant was out for the day, and that I needed to straighten up down here until you came in. Does he think I’m stupid?” She stood. “Why would I want to work for someone that doesn’t appreciate me, anyway? I wouldn’t. I am far too talented to be sentenced to the file room.”

“Sasha. You misused company resources.”

“It was approved!”

“You’re an intern. Interns don’t hire cal igraphers or order cappuccino machines.”

“Grant loves cappuccinos!”

“Then he can buy one for his office.”

“He’s the CEO!”

“No,” I breathed. “He’s not. Report to Peter when you’re finished with the file room so he can give you a list of new duties. You wil work in Peter’s department, now, so he is your immediate supervisor, and he wil handle your evaluation. If you need anything, Peter wil be happy to address your concerns.”