5

I sat on the plush grey couch and looked around the den room, taking in the coziness of it. It was half an hour after the encounter and life or death fight with that angel, and I think everyone was feeling the letdown now. Not that we could relax that much, but it was worth trying for this little bit.

Chris sat back beside me, breathing a sigh of relief. He'd finally started easing up too now that we were there. At least we were now safe under the protection of the Hawthorne clan.

It was just us and Zane in there for this past half hour. Micah had decided to take Carroll and Sevee outside to talk about everything that had happened right after we'd arrived. It appeared that Carroll hadn't bothered to let Micah know that he'd met up with us when we'd been back at the hotel. For whatever reason he'd wanted to bring us back himself.

Chris had been mad when he heard that, but bit his tongue about it. He'd probably had enough after our encounter with that high powered angel. I personally was a little more than peeved when I'd heard it too. If Micah could've simply teleported us there all along, then the first thing Carroll should've done was call him. At least then we wouldn't have almost been killed. I hoped that Micah would wring him out for everything that had happened.

Zane was looking at the pictures on the walls while he stood near us. Most of them were paintings that depicted various nature scenes. They're were incredibly detailed, reminding me a lot of what he'd paint.

"They certainly have a beautiful place here, and it seems that one of them is quite talented when it comes to art." he commented.

"Yeah, it's beautiful." I agreed. I glanced at his leg, "Are you sure you're okay?"

"I'm fine. I don't feel anything at all from the injury now. Micah's healing abilities are incredible. It would have taken me several days to completely heal such a wound on my own."

"That's an Emerald Seraphim for you, but I'm still pissed over Carroll. He should've at least told him that we were coming. Then maybe we could've avoided that whole fight." Chris complained.

"It is kind of weird. I wonder why he did that." I sighed.

I honestly couldn't make heads or tails of it. What had Carroll thought he was gaining by not talking to his Seraphim about finding us?

Zane turned to face us, "He is a bit of an enigma, but I don't think that it was done with any bad intentions. If anything, I believe that he might have been protecting us more. Perhaps there was more around that hotel then we'd realized. He very well may have believed that if he made any contact, they would find us sooner." he reasoned.

"Lot of good it did him. They sent a high-level angel after us as soon as we left. I'm starting to dread seeing what they've got next." Chris countered.

I shivered a bit as I thought about what had happened out there. We'd almost been killed in that attack, and that angel hadn't been concerned at all about Carroll or Sevee being involved. He'd basically called them traitors. It made me wonder if they'd try to turn on the ones like Micah too.

But Micah had proven that he was much stronger than that angel too. He'd stopped that onslaught of damage with an incredible wave of his power, and it seemed like it hadn't taken him much effort at all.

The nearby door opened as I was thinking about that. All three of us looked over to see Carroll coming in. He wasn't alone either. Another guy was with him. I was certain that he was Carlton Hawthorne, Carroll's twin brother. He had the same eyes and hair, but his build was slightly larger, and he was maybe an inch or so taller. He was also dressed nicely like Carroll, only he was wearing a dark shirt and jeans. I also recognized that he was the voice on the phone before when he spoke.

"You've got to be kidding me! The car's totaled?!" he was fussing. He looked as upset as he sounded.

"I told you that it couldn't be helped. I did try to outrun it, but it ended up being too fast for us." Carroll explained. His tone was still as calm as ever.

"You should've just called Micah in the first place. You know better than to take chances like that. Not only did you put those Shadow Wings in danger, but you wreaked my car in the process!" Carlton went on, still fuming. His arguing with Carroll had blinded him to our presence.

"I promise that I'll get you a new car when all of this is over, and I'll take on the full payment for it." Carroll offered. He didn't sound that sorry for any of what happened though.

"Oh, come on! Aren't you going to take responsibility for any of this? I just bought that car two months ago!" Carlton complained.

Carroll frowned at him as they stopped near us, "You know that I will take care of the car, and I have already heard enough from Micah to feel terrible over the entire situation, but you should watch what you say right now, especially for the fact that you have failed to notice that our company is in here with us." he pointed out.

Carlton immediately froze, finally realizing that we were there.

"Um, yeah. I guess I didn't." he muttered, looking away in embarrassment.

"I'm going to take it that you're Carroll's twin." Zane guessed.

"Yeah. Guess it's pretty obvious, huh?" Carlton responded, "The name's Carlton by the way."

"Carlton. You know, you two look a lot alike." I told them.

"Yes, for the most part. But trust me, we act nothing alike." Carroll assured me.

Carlton huffed walking over to us, "Moving on, I'm gonna take it that you're the three Shadow Wings that we've been hearing about. At the risk of sounding bad, I didn't get your names yet." he went on.

"Chris Liam." Chris responded. He didn't bother moving to greet him.

"Always the polite one." Zane muttered, trying to be a little more friendly, "I'm Zane Hedel, and this is Ariana Benson."

Carlton stepped over to get a closer look at me, "You're the girl huh? Should've known though, considering how much power I'm feeling from you."

"It's that obvious?" I asked.

"The child is very powerful, even though he's nowhere close to being born yet. For the ones like us and many other creatures, your presence will be quite easily sensed now." Carroll assured me.

"You seem fairly certain that our kid's a boy." Chris noted.

"Trust me, I've seen enough to know. As I've stated before, it's a talent that I possess." Carroll reminded him.

"Carroll's probably the best in our family aside from Micah to tell something like that. I guess you could say that it's something he got to inherit." Carlton added.

I believed that. It seemed like Carroll had known a lot of what he was talking about with this pregnancy so far.

Micah came in as we were talking, though he made sure to address Carroll and Carlton first. Maybe he'd overheard most of their argument.

"I trust you're being civil now." he said to them. His tone sounded a bit sterner.

"We're always civil." Carlton countered, "I'm just saying that Carroll was an idiot to do what he did and he owes me a new car."

Micah sighed, then turned his attention to us, "I hope that you all are comfortable here now. I realize that you had a rather disastrous trip." he continued, effectively changing the subject.

"You could say that, but I don't get what you're expecting to do with keeping us here. You know that angel attacked your own Nephilim because they were trying to help us." Chris reminded him.

"I'm well aware of that and so are they, but at this time, we all know the risk and reward in seeing this through." Micah assured us. He studied me as he continued, "There will be a little more time before this child is born, and I have no doubt that there will be more trouble. For that, I'm sending for the other two Seraphs to remain here as well, along with a few of the Nephilim from their families. We won't be taking any more chances."

Not taking any more chances.

His words echoed in my mind as the night began to fall. Things had been settled more now, and we had our own rooms in the large house. I couldn't stop thinking about how nice ours was, just like the rest of this place. High class furniture, nicely decorated, and even an attached bathroom.

But most of all, there was that air of light that seemed to radiate throughout the entire house. It was a light that I hadn't really known before. I reasoned that it was because of the holy power that lived there. Chris, Zane and I definitely didn't come from anything like this.

Chris stood near me, drying his hair with one of the burgundy bath towels. He'd decided to get in a shower right after we'd gotten up there and settled in. I had the feeling that it was more so that he could make himself relax after everything that had happened.

"Two more Seraphs are coming here. Nothing like high class protection." he was saying.

"They're scared of what's coming. Even they think that they might not be able to stop some of these things that are coming after us." I responded, crossing my arms over my belly as I looked outside from the window. Micah had had Carlton run out and get me some maternity clothes shortly after our talk with them. I admit that I was glad of it. My other clothes were definitely not fitting right now.

"They probably need to be. Everything from all three realms is probably gonna be after this kid." Chris reasoned as he slipped on his black tee shirt.

"Wow, thanks for the positive thinking." I muttered, looking out of the window again.

I knew that he was right, but I didn't like admitting it. The thought of things wanting to kill the baby growing inside of me was horrifying. Even though I knew that he was harboring a very powerful soul, he was still my child. He was the child I never thought I'd be able to have.

I heard Chris sigh as he walked over to me, "You know we'll do everything we can to protect him." he whispered as he wrapped his arms around my shoulders.

"Do you think that we can do enough?" I asked as I closed my eyes and leaned back into his embrace.

"I don't know, but I'm not going to let my son be killed."

"You really feel like you accept all of this now?"

Chris smiled, "I never said that I didn't. It's taken some time for all of this to sink in; but I don't care where he came from. He's still ours, and we're not going to let anything hurt him. I'll die before I let that happen." he swore.

I knew that he meant every word of that. I'd seen how protective he was of me and our child. He was right too. This was our child. It didn't matter how he came about. He was ours, and we weren't going to let anyone or anything hurt him. Turning around, I wrapped my arms around his shoulders as he kissed me.

"Do you really think we can protect him? If they can get past three Seraphs, then what kind of chance will we have?" I asked as we pulled back.

"I don't know." Chris admitted, "I guess we'd die trying. But we're not gonna think about that right now. Let's get downstairs and see if anything's going on."

I agreed, kissing him one more time. At least this gave us a little bit of private time to be close like this. We both needed this intimacy after all that we'd just been through.

The two of us entered the hallway and looked around. The house calm and peaceful, which put us at ease. At least nothing else was coming after us right now, not to mention we felt safer knowing that there was a Seraphim staying there.

Chris and I heard the front door closing as we got to the landing beside the stairs. I stopped with him, seeing two people stepping into the foyer. They were a man and a woman who appeared around our physical age. The woman was on the petite side, very pretty with long honey blonde hair. Even from a distance, I could tell that she had two different colored eyes. One was blue while the other was brown.

The man beside her was very good looking. His hair was jet black hair, making his light green eyes look vibrant in contrast. He was also fairly tall, with broad shoulders and a medium build. Both were dressed casually, though their clothing was also on the nicer side.

I had the distinct feeling that the girl was another Nephilim. The guy wasn't really human either, although I couldn't quite place what he was. The odd thing was that both of them looked familiar, even though I was certain that I'd never seen them before.

Chris held my hand as we walked down the stairs. The two looked over at us as we did. It was the woman who spoke to us first.

"Oh, hi. Um, do you know if Sevee is here?"

"I think he still is, but we haven't seen him for a while. I'm gonna guess that you two are from his family." Chris answered.

The guy nodded, "You'd be correct. We were supposed to be coming here with Malakai, but beings we were closer, we decided to come ourselves. Of course, that's also for the fact that we'd heard Sevee was here." he explained.

Malakai. That was right. He was the Seraph that headed the Sapphire clan.

"Oh, you mean your Seraph, Malakai?" I asked them.

"Yes. Hopefully Sevee's still here. It's been a while since we've seen him, and that worries us sometimes. He has a bad habit of getting into trouble." the girl admitted.

Well, I thought, I'd better not mention what happened earlier to her.

Chris glanced at the doorway leading to the den, "Like I said, I think he's still here. He didn't say anything about leaving anytime soon, although we didn't see him with Micah earlier." he told them.

"I wouldn't be that surprised if he skipped out when he learned that we were coming. He does have a bad habit of avoiding me at times." the guy admitted, looking amused at his own words.

The girl realized that they still hadn't introduced themselves, "I'm sorry, we've been really rude. My name's Mia Renaldi, and this is my husband, Sean."

My heart skipped a beat when she said that. I couldn't believe the luck that we'd been having. Of all the Nephilim to show up first, they would have to be Mia and her husband. I was getting to see the girl that Zane had once loved, and the man that she'd ended up marrying after he'd left her.

Zane was right about how he saw her too. She was very beautiful and seemed very sweet. But their presence worried me too. I doubted either of them knew that Zane was there, and obviously this marriage and her children meant that she'd moved on from him. What would happen once they inevitably met again? Did Mia even know what Zane was now?

Sevee came into the foyer as Mia spoke. Although he acted casual, I got the sense that he was startled to see his parents there.

"Hey, I didn't think you two were coming here." he said as he walked over to them.

"We were debating on coming since Michael's already been called, but then we heard that you were here. Are you trying to avoid us again? We haven't seen or heard from you in over a month!" Mia complained.

"Sorry. I got really busy, and I did tell you that I was staying with Lenore so that we could have more time together with Sage." Sevee defended.

Mia didn't buy that one, "I know you were doing that, and she already told me that you'd left the other day to visit with the Hawthornes. You could've let us know that too."

"I just forgot. That's all." Sevee responded.

"That's a rather convenient excuse Sevee." Sean commented.

Sevee wasn't giving up, "Aw, come on. You know I'm not trying to avoid either of you, and neither is Seraphina. I was just checking out what's been going on here. I'm gonna guess that you both know about it now too."

"Yes, we did hear about it. It's been quite an intriguing turn in all of this." Sean agreed.

Mia nodded, looking at my belly with a gentle smile, "I hope you don't mind, but I'd love to touch your belly." she requested.

I returned her smile, feeling more at ease now, "It's okay. I don't mind." I assured her.

The familiar warmth greeted her hand as she gently touched the growing bulge of my belly. Like the others, she was being accepted.

"This brings back a lot of memories." she whispered.

"I'll bet." Sevee said, standing back and watching.

"I hope he hasn't been offending you too much. Sevee's always had a bit of a superior attitude at times. Unfortunately, it's something that most with fox blood are born with." Sean told us.

"I had a feeling about that one, but it's not that big of a deal. I've met some Shadow Wings that act just like him." Chris assured him.

Mia was studying him as she stood near me, "You're Jade son, right? You look a lot like him." she noted.

"I'm going to take it that you've met my father before." Chris noted.

I had the sense that he didn't like her comment, but Chris had never liked admitting that he favored Jade a lot in his looks. He'd made no bones about it before when we'd been living with Zane and Will and one of them would try to point it out.

Mia didn't seem to notice this, "Only once, and it wasn't for very long. But from what I've heard, he seems to get involved in a lot of dealings, if you want to call it that."

"I believe it. There's not much that Jade doesn't know about in all of the worlds. He actually makes it his business to know." Chris told her.

Sevee decided to speak up again, "You know, there is something that I think we should tell you both too, since you decided to come here."

Mia and Sean looked at him.

"What is it?" Mia asked, sounding curious.

Chris easily caught onto Sevee's train of thought, "Not to pry, but I have to ask; back when you were a teenager, did you know a guy by the name of Zane Hedel?"

Mia froze. I saw Sean tense up a little too.

"Yes, I did." she answered after a moment of hesitation, "Did you know him too?"

"I still know him. He's been a friend of mine for a long time, and he mentioned you to me a few times back then." Chris told her.

"I see." Mia looked down, "I never knew what happened to him. He had to move about six months after we met, and I never got to see him again because I moved to Maryland with my father shortly afterwards."

"I'm going to take it that you've been in contact with him since then to suddenly bring him up like this." Sean noted.

I looked at Chris, "Are you going to tell them?" I asked quietly.

Mia tilted her head, "Tell us what?"

"It's your call if you want to, but I think you should." Sevee told Chris.

"Yeah, I guess it is." Chris lamented. He looked back at Mia and Sean, "Actually, I still know Zane. He's here in the house with us."

"Here?" Mia managed.

"He wasn't human either. Somehow I don't feel that surprised." Sean sighed.

"No, he's never been completely. He's a Shadow Wing, just like us." Chris confirmed.

Mia stared at us. It appeared that she'd never even suspected the truth about Zane.

Sevee continued the conversation, "From what I got to hear from Pop when I called him about two weeks ago, he left because he was afraid of his father hurting you back then, and he couldn't tell you the truth because he didn't know what you were at the time. But I've seen him too, and he is here. I just didn't tell him that you'd both be coming because neither of you let me know."

Sean looked amused, "I see. This is rather interesting. It seems that you've always had a talent for attracting those who aren't human to you Mia." he teased.

"Very funny." Mia muttered. She seemed to be thinking all of this over, "It does make sense though. He didn't have a family, even though he looked like he was around my age, and he had a lot of money too. It was more than he could ever really explain."

"Yeah, he told me before that he never felt that comfortable about lying to you, so he just avoided some subjects. To be honest with you, I don't think that he's ever really gotten over you. He might lie and claim that he has, but I've always known better. He's just had to accept that you're taken now." Chris told her.

"I understand. It's not like I've ever truly forgotten about him either. I do love Sean very much, but Zane was my first love, and no girl can forget about that." Mia confessed.

I noticed her briefly look at her right hand. She was wearing a pretty ring with a pink diamond in the shape of a heart. A memory briefly flashed in my mind of Zane giving it to her as a parting gift. She'd never taken it off, even though she'd been happily married for quite a while now. Zane's memory had always remained buried somewhere deep within her heart. I couldn't help thinking that Sean must have been a good man to accept that part of her, although I wondered how well this meeting may end up going between them.

At the time, we all became aware of someone coming to the top of the stairs. All of us looked up to see Zane standing there. Apparently, he'd been on his way down there for something, perhaps even to find us, but he'd stopped dead in his tracks when he realized who was down there with us.

After a long moment of staring back at him with wide eyes, Mia's expression softened and she smiled at him.

"Wow, you haven't changed at all." she commented with a nervous laugh.

"My God, is it really you Mia?" Zane responded, hurrying down the stairs to face her completely.

Mia nodded, the grateful smile still on her face as she hugged him, "Yes, I'm still the same Mia, even if I do have my wings now. But I never thought that you were a Shadow Wing. It's so good to see you again though, and know that you're okay." she admitted, pulling away to face him.

Zane looked down as he held her hands, "I'm sorry that I was never able to tell you the truth about all of it, but I'm glad to see that you've done so well too."

"I'd hope so. I've done my best to see to her well-being." Sean spoke up, standing back a little with Sevee.

Mia let out a soft sigh, "I guess this would be a good time to introduce you. This is my husband Sean, Sevee's father." she explained.

I could definitely see the resemblance between the two as they stood side by side. Although Sevee did have a lot of Mia's features, he had Sean's build and eyes.

Sean seemed to study Zane as they faced each other, "You know, I had almost given up hope that I'd ever get to see you in person, though I did suspect that you were not human either from what Mia had told me about you. But I never imagined that you'd be a Shadow Wing. It's rather incredible to think that such a thing could happen under this clan's noses, though apparently much did back then." he commented.

"Perhaps so, but the circumstances were quite different then too, as I'm sure you're aware." Zane replied.

"I am, and I will admit that I am no saint either. I've simply been lucky enough to be accepted into this family despite my own sins, and I've been lucky enough to call Mia my wife." Sean went on.

Mia frowned at him, "Don't be like that Sean. Even if there was something before, it's been a very long time and I'm still married to you. I'm just glad to see Zane again as an old friend." she told him.

"I know, and I'm sorry if I'm coming off as rude, but I do think he understands my feelings towards this." Sean apologized.

Zane agreed, "I do, and I would never blame you for it. However, I can assure you that I would never try to take her away from you. I lost my chance a long time ago. Honestly, I'm quite happy that she has you. I prefer seeing Mia happy in her life then living in the past."

"Well, it sounds like you two are getting off to a decent start, even though you're both even tempered enough to keep the animosity down." Lennox commented as he appeared beside me.

"Oh!" Mia took a step back.

Sean didn't move, only smiling like he was amused, "It seems that there's another one too, although you're only in spirit. I didn't think that Shadow Wings hitched rides in each other's bodies, especially one carrying a Seraphita child." he commented.

"It's a long story." I sighed, crossing my arms over my belly.

"This is Lennox Basilisk. Unfortunately, we lost him recently in what I suppose you could call a very unpleasant situation." Zane explained.

"Just go ahead and play it down as usual." Chris complained.

Zane ignored him, "Lennox was offering a merger with Ariana before all of this, but the Seraphita's soul rejected him to an extent. It seems that it wants to integrate him into them instead." he went on.

"I see. Well, I'd say nice to meet you, but you did startle me." Mia admitted.

"Sorry. I suppose this is becoming a bad habit while I can still do it." Lennox apologized. He didn't sound that sorry.

"So how much longer do you have like this?" Sean asked him.

Lennox become a bit more solemn, "To be honest about it, my consciousness is already beginning to slip away. The integration is starting, and I'd imagine that within the week I will be no more in this form."

I felt sad as I heard that. Lennox was about to be gone for good, at least in this life.

"Do you think we'll know that part of you when the baby's born?" I had to ask.

"Perhaps, but I don't mind too much. It will be nice to start life anew and joined with a Seraphita. It's better than keeping all of the bad memories I have, and I'll still be close to you and the others here, so it'll be good." Lennox answered, sounding a bit more matter of fact.

At that time all of us became aware of a powerful presence appearing behind us. Turning with Chris and Zane, I saw a man standing there. He was very beautiful, dressed in blue with white-blonde hair and sky-blue eyes.

"I apologize if I startled all of you." he said, giving us a friendly smile.

Mia stepped over and hugged him, "A little bit, but you were really quick getting here Malakai."

So this was the last Seraphim of the clans. No wonder he felt so powerful.

Chris was studying him, "You're the last one. I'm gonna guess that you have the same teleportation talent as Micah." he surmised.

"I do, and I suppose that calling it a talent would fit, although I'm sure you've seen that even the Fallen have the ability to do so. Kinsley has also used it to come here as well with the two he's chosen to bring." Malakai explained.

"Kinsley's here too?" I perked up.

I immediately wanted to see him again. Kinsley had been the most constant in my life by from their side. In fact, he'd been the first real savior to me and the others.

"He is." Malakai confirmed as he flashed Mia a gentle smile, "But for now, I believe that it would be in all of your benefit to come with me. There is much to discuss and not a lot of time."