Broken Faith: Spiritual Discord, 1 Read online

  So until then, I will hold on and silently suffer in this burning fire that engulfs my body.

  Chapter Twenty Five

  Emma

  Rainn tugs on my arm and gestures to the door. I was thinking the same thing: time to go. Harper and Gaige follow us outside. Morning is approaching, and the sound of the first birds welcomes the new day. It is a peaceful sound, a contrasts to the stress in the air inside the cabin.

  “Have you heard from Braylee?” I ask, swiveling around on the creaking porch to address my friends.

  Harper looks at her phone. “Signal’s spotty, but I got a text from her saying the doctors were wrapping Briston’s arm. I tried sending a text back, but it won’t go through. I’ll have to wait until we get back to a stronger signal.”

  “Okay.”

  It is a relief to know that Briston is getting fixed up. The weight of the last few days is dragging my body down, making it hard to function. I feel like I’m walking through thick wet sand as I trudge back to the car on the smooth dirt floor. I lean against the car with a heavy sigh.

  “Tell Braylee we are done here at the cabin and to meet us back at my parent’s house.” Harper and Gaige get in the mini-van as I get in the Accord. Rainn sits shotgun again. She rests her head back against the seat as I drive down the long driveway the leads to the cabin. It’s lined with no trespassing signs and torn yellow tape that flaps around some of the trees.

  “I never thought a time like this would come.” Rainn turns her head to look out the window.

  “Are you talking about the hounds? I assumed run-ins like this happen with you and them.”

  I don’t know the details about when all the hounds, fallen angels, and blood children came to blows, but from what I’ve gathered over the last few days, it’s a common battle.

  “I’m talking about Kayson.”

  The feelings Kayson carries for Sabrina? Of course, there’s something to worry about. Forget the soul-stealing monsters chasing us. Let’s focus on two people who care for one another.

  “It doesn’t seem so bad. Sabrina is a nice enough person.”

  At least when it came to watching over Kayson she was. I’m sure there is more to Sabrina than meets the eye. She’s just unwilling to let anyone see it, because she’s scared. I would be too if monsters like the ones that tore through my backyard tonight were chasing me for a hundred years.

  Rainn lifts her head and turns to give me a look that feels a little condescending. “Sabrina may have once been a nice person, but that girl no longer exists. She will destroy Kayson. Her need to please her master is what fuels her. Unlike Kayson, I know their souls cannot be saved. I just wish he could see that and return to his true form.”

  Why isn’t it possible? Many impossible things have happened over the span of time, why can’t this? I’m no angel, but even I know that miracles sometimes happen.

  “If you don’t mind me asking, why did you fall?” Rainn had said Kayson needed to return to his true form, but what about her? What’s holding her here on earth?

  Rainn turns away from me to watch the thick line of trees as they pass by outside.

  “My reason for falling is very different from the others’.” It is quite clear the fallen angels don’t like talking about their fall, but what good did that do them? I saw what Saja and Hanna did for those ghosts in the house. The angels fell for a reason, shouldn’t they let that reason out so they can fulfill it or move on?

  Before I can ask again, Rainn continues. “The others fell because of love, greed, or like Kayson for a belief. I fell from jealousy.”

  “Jealousy?” I ask with disbelief. How could an angel, a being that so many hoped to become one day, be jealous of anything?

  Rainn nods her head as she looks at her hands with shame. “I was jealous of you. Of humans. I felt as though God showed them more love and compassion than he did us. He gave them a chance to live a life full of love, children, and dreams. I thought this was unfair, and grew jealous. I wanted a child of my own. A being I created from the love I shared with another. I started resenting humans and the fact that we helped them with their dreams and inspired them to fulfill their destiny when we couldn’t do the same for ourselves.”

  I don’t know what to say to Rainn. I can tell she still holds on to the desire to have a child, even though she knows it can never happen. I can’t imagine a life where children aren’t a possibility for me. The thought of children isn’t important to me at this point of my life, but I know one day that I want a family. To not even have that option would be depressing.

  We sit in silence until we finally reach my parent’s driveway. The destruction in the backyard is even more horrendous than it was when masked in the darkness of night. The smart thing to do would be to clean it up before my nosey neighbors had the opportunity to see it, but I am too tired. The big clean-up will have to wait.

  The problem still remains of how to tell my parents. How does one go about explaining where a good-sized shed has disappeared to? I don’t have the money to replace it, and even if I did, I would have to buy it from another hardware store and have it brought here. Mr. Towly would surely say something to my parents the next time they visited him at the hardware store.

  Before I get out of the car, I see Harper pull in behind me in Briston’s jeep. She stopped to return her mother’s mini-van before her parents woke up. I’m sure she didn’t want to explain the late-night borrowing of her mother’s car without permission.

  Braylee pulls in behind Harper. Chase gets out of the car first, with a big bandage wrapped around his head. His arm is wrapped too—but not in a big, awkward cast like Briston is wearing when he gets out of the car, supported by crutches. The poor guy looks horrible. I run over to his side and give him a hug. He hugs me back tightly, and for the first time in front of our friends, we kiss. It’s not a deep, passionate, sweep-me-off-my-feet-kiss, but more of a gentle loving kiss. Braylee “awws” behind me, as the others whistle. I smile against Briston’s lips and feel him do the same.

  We make our way inside as Braylee makes mocking smooching kisses followed with a flurry of I told you so and it’s about time comments. I smile to myself, thankful for Braylee and the others. I admire Braylee’s attitude of living in the moment and not fretting over past events. She never hangs on to the negative things. She keeps moving forward and living life to the fullest. Unlike me, who is worried about what will happen next.

  I get Briston settled on the couch, and collapse on the floor beside him. As the minutes tick by, my body’s desire for rest becomes stronger.

  Braylee plops down in my dad’s recliner, rubbing her belly. “Who’s hungry? I’m starving.” A loud proclamation of agreement fills the living room as the others agree with Braylee. “Emma, why don’t you go round us up some food?”

  “Why me?” I ask.

  “Because you work at a café.” Braylee states this like it makes perfect sense.

  “I’m a waitress, not a cook.” Even if I was a cook, there is no way I am going in the kitchen to make breakfast for everyone.

  Braylee waves me off. “You have more insider training than we do. It only stands to reason that you should go whip us up something fabulous.”

  I go to argue with Braylee, but Rainn jumps to the rescue. “I’ll go cook. I’m good at making omelets.”

  We all look at the Rainn with surprise. “You cook?” I ask.

  “Of course, we don’t live in caves and dine on the air. Even in Heaven we enjoyed a good meal.” Rainn makes her way into the kitchen to start preparing food.

  I let my head fall back against the floor as I look up at the white spackled ceiling. My thoughts stall out as my mind goes numb. I feel the heaviness of sleep start to take grasp on my mind. Just before completely losing conscious, Braylee slaps her hands together, making me jump.

  I give her an annoyed look as she starts to ramble. “Well that was some party last night, huh? Gotta say, my views on life are starting to change just a bit. By the
way, Emma, thanks for that.”

  I roll my eyes and drop my head back against the floor. “Oh yes, it was all my idea to invite an all-out war to my backyard. I’m just disappointed I didn’t think to hire a catering service.”

  “The least you could have done is popped some corn. Next time, babe, next time.” Yeah, what about next time? We all know just because the hounds are gone for now doesn’t mean they won’t be back. Falon had made that clear before he left. He was coming back for the angels with no doubt. The thing no one knows, was if he was coming back for me and my small gang of friends? He really doesn’t have a reason to, but would that stop him? Nothing stops evil from going beyond necessary limits to get what it wants, and we had made ourselves a nuisance. The only thing we can do is prepare ourselves the best that we can if that does in fact happen. Good thing Chase is a swordsman. We are going to need any advantage we can get.

  When Rainn yells from the kitchen that the food is ready, I debate whether or not to make the journey to get some food for my rumbling belly. I start to get up when Gaige gives me a helping hand. When I stand, the world swims for a moment.

  When my head clears, I thank Gaige and turn to help Briston up. But he’s asleep. I cover him with a blanket and head into the kitchen.

  We all sit around the table, eating Rainn’s delicious omelets. Rainn answers all the crazy questions my friends throw at her with a kind smile. I’m glad to see that she is going to be welcomed without any problem. I quit listening to the conversation as my head droops over my plate, my fork hanging in the air. Putting my fork down, I mumble that I’m going to bed, before leaving the table.

  And wouldn’t you know it, just before my foot lands on the first step of the stairs, there’s a loud knock at the front door. Who in the world could that be? I drag my body over to the door to open it. When I do, adrenaline I didn’t know I had left, pumps through my body.

  “What are you doing here?” My voice is heavy with menace, but I don’t care.

  “Hey there, little sister. Pleasure, as always.”

  Tate shoves past me and throws his duffel bag to the floor. He does a quick scan of the house, probably scoping out his next items up for grabs. “What happened to lover boy over there?” he asks, pointing at Briston, who’s still sound asleep.

  How can he think I’m going to just stand here and act all chummy with him? “I said, what are you doing here?”

  Tate continues to ignore my question. “Where’s mom and dad?” He looks in the kitchen where all my friends are assembled. When he sees Rainn a new spark of light flickers in his eyes. “Who’s she?”

  I walk around my brother to get in between him and his view of the kitchen. “A friend. Mom and dad are gone out of town.” I narrow my eyes, “Now answer my question, what are you doing here? There’s nothing left for you to take. You took everything the last time you were here, remember?”

  Tate smirks at me. “Last time I checked, you aren’t the police or mom and dad.” He walks past me toward the kitchen. When he does, he shoves me hard to the side with his shoulder.

  Anger boils through my veins. I know my face is beet red, I can feel the heat warming my skin. “You’re not welcome here, Tate. You need to leave.”

  Tate swivels around to glare at me. “How cold of you, Emma. You’re just going to throw your big brother out in the streets with nowhere to go?”

  I step forward, getting in his face. “When my so-called brother is a big ass like you, yeah.”

  We stare each other down. I don’t know what he’s thinking, but my thoughts are swirling with hurt and anger. Do I like treating my brother, who I once admired, like this, no! But him being here isn’t a good thing, for me or my parent’s.

  The others come out of the kitchen after hearing the big commotion. When my friends see Tate, their jaws drop. Braylee is the first to comment. “Well look who it is. Prince John himself. Here to take more gold from the poor?”

  Tate glares at her. “Shut it, Braylee. And if you don’t shut it, one day someone will shut it for you. It may just be me.”

  I grab Tate by the shoulder and swivel him back to look at me.

  With my fists tight with anger, I make my voice firm. “You will not threaten my friends like that, Tate. Now, I’m going to ask you to leave one more time before I call the police.”

  Tate regards me with surprise. “Someone’s stepped up in size since I left.”

  “Yeah, well I kind of had to since you left with everything we had and tore mom and dad’s hearts apart.”

  Tate rolls his eyes. “Quit being so dramatic, Emma.” My anger boils even higher. Rainn steps around Tate to come between us.

  She sticks out her hand in a kind offering. “I don’t believe we have been introduced, I’m Rainn.” Tate looks around Rainn at me for a moment, before smiling and shaking Rainn’s hand. When he does, his face relaxes and the strange look I saw in his eyes earlier returns.

  “I’m Tate.” Tate keeps Rainn’s hand in his as he continues to look at her. Wonder fills his expression. I step around to the side so I can see Rainn’s face. She’s smiling at Tate with kindness. How can she show him kindness after the crap she just heard?

  “It has been a rather long night for us all. Emma, I’m sure your brother can stay for the time being, until he can find a better arrangement.” I look at Rainn with annoyance. Who does she think she is, offering to let my brother stay here? She doesn’t understand the hurt he has caused me and my family.

  With my adrenaline coming back down, my tired body starts to shake from exhaustion. Giving in to that exhaustion, I reluctantly say, “Fine,” through clenched teeth.

  Tate looks from Rainn to me with a bit of apprehension. He quickly recovers and masks his face again with annoyance. I guess the Rainn trance is over.

  “I’ll be in the shed.”

  Panic crosses everyone’s face, except for Rainn. “Why don’t you stay in the house? I was just in the shed and the heat is not working. It’s very cold out there.”

  Tate shrugs his shoulders and makes his way upstairs to his old room. My mom and dad had kept most of the stuff he didn’t take with him or put in the shed in their place. His old bed is in there since it wouldn’t fit in the shed. I’m sure he will be just fine in there. Once I hear his bedroom door shut, I look at Rainn, waiting for an explanation.

  “What?” She asks, not understanding my questioning glare.

  “What was that?” I ask.

  Rainn still doesn’t seem to comprehend. “What was what?”

  “How did you get Tate to calm down like that? Can you use persuasion like Sabrina?”

  Rainn shakes her head. “No. He was just responding to my pure nature. I could feel a great deal of depression and anger coming from your brother, Emma. Whatever happened to him, it was not his fault. There is more going on inside of him than meets the eye.”

  Kayson had said something similar to me when I told him my brother’s story. It still doesn’t erase the pain. “Well, what do we do now? If he sees the mess in the backyard he’ll flip.”

  “We burn it.” Braylee is standing off in the corner, sipping on a glass of OJ. Once again, I envy her sense of calm.

  “What do you mean we burn it?” Harper asks.

  Braylee shrugs her shoulder, placing her glass of juice down. “Simple, we pile everything up and burn it. Then we call the fire department and say we woke up from the smell of smoke. That not only alleviates Tate, but also your parents. You’ll have a solid excuse. What with the fire department and wonderful neighbors we have around here as witnesses and all.”

  Braylee’s solution sounds solid, except for the fact that the firemen will investigate. “The fire department can usual pinpoint the cause of a fire, Bray.”

  “They can, but will they go through all that trouble for a small shed fire? Plus, our dear Rainn already sparked a reason. She said the heater was out. That alone gives us a good seed to plant in the minds of everyone. Besides, what other option do you have?”r />
  She has a point. I don’t really have another option. Mustering up as much energy as I can, which isn’t much, we set out for the backyard to clean up the mess the spiritual war left us with. Grumbles of exhaustion come from everyone as we start cleaning up. We are all tired from the lack of sleep, and would like nothing more than to see this day end.

  It doesn’t take us long to pile everything up. Chase sets the fire, which takes some time since we don’t want to use gas or any kind of flammable liquid to help ignite the fire. Arson would be quite evident then. Then we wait for the blaze to get going before calling the fire department. When they arrive, what’s left is a pile of burnt lumber and blackened metal.

  I let Braylee tell the story to the fire fighters as I stand off to the side to call my mom. The phone only rings once before mom picks up.

  “Are you okay, honey? Mrs. Moore called me and said the fire department is at the house.” My mom’s hysterical voice pushes my guilt meter up. I already felt bad enough.

  “I’m fine mom. It’s the shed. I don’t know what happened. Briston, Harper, and the guys came over last night to watch movies. We fell asleep and woke up to the smell of smoke. By the time we called the fire department the shed was in a blaze.”

  “I’m glad to hear you are okay, but why were you at the house again? Is everything okay?”

  Oops. Overlooked that small detail.

  I look at Harper in a panic. What do I say now? I shiver as a gust of cold wind runs over my body. “The heat in my apartment went out. I came back over here.” I thank the angels that are watching over me for giving me a little push.

  “Okay, honey. I wish I was home. Maybe I can see if your father can leave sooner.”

  “There’s no need for that mom. Everything’s fine here, honestly. I know you guys need the money.” And my parent’s coming home right now is the last thing we need.

  “I know, but Mrs. Moore told me about a strange girl roaming the area. I’m worried about you.” Of course my mom has heard about all the weird crap that’s been going on around here. Good gossip spreads like a wild fire, no matter who you are or where you live.