Chapter 31
Eight months later
Lunchtime in Russia
Nara was not doing well with bed rest and even worse without Shane by her side. Liza kept trying to placate her with words of his important errands and assured her that he called to check in on her from time to time. Nara bought none of it.
Damn this baby. Shane had better be tied to her forever for what she was enduring for him. Weeks and weeks she had kept quiet, resting, brooding. If Shane had gone to see Calise, she’d…
Whore, slut, bitch. Calise needs to die. End of story.
As soon as Nara was able, that would be her first order of business. Thirty-some weeks pregnant, bed bound, and Liza bringing her healthy meals and snacks three times a day. She’d rather be back in the pit. Speaking of Liza, where was her lunch?
“Liza! I’m starving in here. Call the States and have three cases of cookies shipped here immediately!”
No reply.
“What does a girl need to do to get a LITTLE SERVICE around here?” she yelled. “Screw it, I gotta pee.” Nara eased herself out of bed for her third excursion to the bathroom this morning. When she stood up to walk back to her bed, she knew immediately something was very wrong. It felt like a dam broke in-between her legs and fluid followed her back to bed.
Her water broke.
“Liza! Call a doctor! HELP!”
It’s too soon.
No way was she going to endure all this, and lose the baby now. She rolled herself back into bed. Liza ran into the room, took one look at what was happening, and disappeared.
The contractions came in waves over the next few hours. Liza mopped her brow and spoke softly while the doctor made preparations for the birth. “Is the baby okay?” Nara choked out between contractions.
“We’ll have to wait and see,” the doctor said.
There was no soothing Nara who demon-strated and laughed when the contractions were at their worst. Night was falling at the orphanage when she finally pushed out a crying baby girl.
“The baby is healthy,” the doctor said after checking the infant over.
Dripping with perspiration, relief washed over Nara. Not relief that she had delivered a perfect baby girl, not relief that Shane had progeny, but relief that she would now get on with her life. She needed to get back to work.
“Get out,” Nara said hoarsely.
Liza helped the doctor wash and swaddle the baby. Rocking the baby gently, she edged closer. “Don’t you even want to hold her?”
Nara sighed. “Draw the drapes and kill the lights and let’s see what we’ve got here. Human, angel, or my dream come true.”
Liza did as instructed and turned to display the baby to her mother.
Nara hoped but never expected…
The eyes glowed a stunning garnet red under a tiny porcelain face. Tufts of black hair covered her fragile head.
Shane and Nara’s baby was a perfect little demoness.
“Hmm.” Nara patted her quickly on her fuzzy head. “Not bad.” She glared at Liza. “This one, you can hold longer and feed more. I’ll be back for her when the time is right.”
“Where are you going?” Liza demanded.
Nara was already healing, and her pain was abating. She sat on the side of the bed. Good thing demons heal faster than humans. She needed to get Shane back here, and now, and she knew just how to do it.
She smiled to herself.
****
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Calise never wanted to be a mother until she met Lucas.
She wanted his child.
Elated that she was pregnant, he doted over Calise, treating her like a princess as the months passed. He and Stogey moved into her apartment, and he spent every waking moment helping her adjust to her life as a seer. Life became almost routine. They languished in bed for hours, growing more and more inseparable.
He got a job cooking at a local Italian restaurant where his expert pizza-making skills were celebrated. After his weekend shifts, they would meet at the Coffee Trader on Downer Avenue and talk about life. He made her practice ignoring the occasional angel or demon they encountered. They stayed on their guard, but nothing unusual happened.
No Shane. No Nara.
****
To her, life was like floating in a dream.
Until the night he opened up about his past: his hunter parents, his mother’s murder, his father’s withdrawal into himself, and Becca—her pregnancy, her suicide. Days before she was due to deliver, he flung open the door to his past over a decaf vanilla latte.
“I’m sorry to lay this all on you, but you need to know why you—and this baby—mean everything to me.”
Like the first time she heard it, his voice was still an aphrodisiac to her. He rubbed his necklace between his thumb and forefinger like he always did when they were together, as if it would ward off all the evil around them.
She stared at him. He wore perfect fitting jeans and a Violent Femmes t-shirt from the concert they saw at SummerFest. His tousled hair made him look like he just rolled out of bed after a good lay and his penetrating eyes bored into hers. “I understand, Lucas. After everything you’ve been through, I can’t complain about anything. I went from thinking I was crazy my whole life—to meeting you—becoming a seer—having you help me adjust to this life… I love you, Lucas. One day at a time, together…we can do this together.”
When she spoke to him, he had a way of making her feel like she was the only person on the planet, and what she said might change the course of history.
Even at this late hour, the place bustled with activity. The door jingled and warm summer air breezed in, as people came and went. Flyers in a rainbow of colors dotted the walls where people were trying to sell a couch or find a roommate, and the papers blew up in the draft whenever the door opened.
“My parents fought demons all their lives until it destroyed them. I don’t want that for us. I want us to be safe. But Cali, I don’t know how to keep us safe and that scares me to death.”
He was trembling and holding her hands across the table when her first contraction hit.
The baby was coming.
Now.
She clutched her stomach. “It’s time.”
He spilled his coffee when he lunged for his cell phone to call Ellen, their obstetrician. She and Calise’s parents met them at Saint Joseph’s Hospital.
Hours of labor easily forgotten the moment Ellen handed her the baby.
We have a son. I gave birth to Lucas’s son.
No moment in her life ever mattered more than handing the man she loved his first-born child to hold. She memorized his face. He bent over her and carefully extracted the bundle. Watching a large, strong man cradle someone so tiny and perfect melted her. No artifact in the world could have been handed to Lucas that he would have handled with greater care, than his son.
His eyes glassed over as he examined the ten fingers and toes. A wide smile lit up Lucas's face. Then, he kissed his son on the forehead. “Bienvenido, hijo. Que Dios te bendiga y le protégé.” Welcome, my son. May God bless and protect you.
She cried tears of happiness and let them flow freely because the three of them were together. Ellen and her parents hovered behind Lucas vying for their turn to hold the infant. This is the happiest moment of my life.
Her mother fished in her purse. “Honey,” she said to Calise’s beaming father, “I forgot the camera in the car. Will you go and get it?”
“Sure, babe.” He winked at his daughter before he left the room. “I’m so proud of you, Kiddo.”
“Thanks, Pops.”
The instant the door clicked shut Ellen ordered, “Donna, get the lights. I have the shades.”
“What are you guys doing?” Calise asked weakly from her hormonally induced state of bliss.
The instant the lights clicked off she knew. The three of them crowded around the baby. Calise strained to see until Lucas held the baby up. His eyes glowed just like Ellen’s and much stronger than her mom’s.
Lucas and I gave birth to an angel.
Ellen sprang into action. “Ok. I’m going to get angel guards on duty. I need to call my contacts and tell them there has been another angel birth.” Ellen lurched into overdrive.
“Ellen. Chill.” She laughed. “It’s all good. Go do what you need to do.”
Ellen hurried for the door of the room and with one hand pushing down the handle, she said, “I forgot to ask, what’s his name?”
“Michael. His name is Michael.” The name just came to her.
Ellen’s eyes caught Calise’s mother ever so briefly.
She looked to Lucas for his approval. “Hola, Miguel. Soy su padre.” Hi, Michael. I’m your dad. He kissed him again on the forehead, rocking him gently while the baby slept.
Ellen looked at her friend with love. “Appropriate, Calise. Very appropriate.”
The telephone next to the bed rang and Lucas jumped. “Who even knows we’re here?” he wondered.
“Maybe it’s my brother, Dean,” Calise suggested.
“Would you mind?” Lucas said handing Michael over to her mom.
She rolled her eyes. “Finally!”
“Hello?” Lucas answered. “Hola, Tía. The baby is here! What?…When? How long have you been looking?” Lucas glanced at Calise. “No, I can’t come. Who’s Raphael? Didn’t you hear me? Cali just had the baby and…” His shoulders slumped. “He’s been helping you?”
Calise’s anxiety swelled. No way he’d leave her? Not now with the baby here.
“What bible verse?” Lucas heaved a sigh. “Okay. Yeah. I’ll let you know…Sure I’ll tell her. Adiós.”
Calise and her mother stared expectantly at Lucas while he slumped into the closest chair.
“Alejandro’s gone. Anna’s dead. And your ex-boyfriend witnessed the whole thing. He’s been helping Carmen search for Alejandro for months. Now, she’s in an all out panic because Shane left, and Carmen wants me to come and unearth our family’s remaining artifacts. She also says congratulations.”
Calise held her breath.
“Don’t worry. I’m not leaving you. Not now.”
She exhaled. “Maybe we could all go in a few weeks?” she offered.
“You can’t go anywhere. It’s way too dangerous. Michael must remain hidden,” her mother said.
He nodded. “I agree with your mother. Carmen has handled everything down there without me for many years. She’ll figure out what to do.”
“What about your family’s artifacts? Can she move them somewhere safe if Alejandro isn’t around to protect them?” Calise said. Extreme exhaustion hit her hard.
He sighed. “I hid them with Alejandro. Carmen doesn’t know where they are.”
Her mother got between the two of them. “You can go, Lucas. This sounds important. I won’t let anything happen here. Ellen and I will stay with Calise twenty-four seven. Even I understand the importance of safeguarding your family’s artifacts.”
He came to Calise’s side and knelt beside the bed.
She started crying all over again. “Please don’t go, Lucas. I need you here. Michael and I need you here.”
“I’ll do whatever you want, Cali.” His hoarse voice wavered.
She watched her mom cradle the new life. She thought about Ellen and then grasped the necklace Lucas had given her like she’d seen him do a hundred times. A small shard of wood contained in glass had intertwined their lives. “I’ll be fine. This is bigger than just you and me. When will you leave and how long will you be gone?” She was starting to do that highly unattractive lip quiver where her whole face turned a blotchy red.
“I’ll leave tonight and be back before you two come home from the hospital. I’m going to protect us and find a way to keep us safe. Don’t you understand? I don’t want to have regrets—regrets that haunt me. I want to spend time with you and Michael in peace, so he can really get to know who we are. I don’t want to live in constant fear and hiding. I want the three of us not just to be in each other’s lives, but to be a part of each other’s souls.
"Time passes so quickly and I know my father had so many regrets on his death bed, too late. We worked constantly to ward off evil and escape danger, but in doing so we sacrificed bathing in each other’s goodness and cherishing the times where we were afforded a bit of safety. I will not do that with you and Michael.
“We will make each other a priority above all else. Work, commitments, friends, and life’s headaches will be waiting for me tomorrow. Today and forever, I want to love you. Both of you.”
He kissed her and held her while she cried.
Her mom brought Michael and handed him to Lucas. “I’m going to find your father and give you two some privacy. After that, I’m going home to pack a bag so I can be by your side until Lucas returns.” She smiled and Calise saw the angel within her that had always been there. Maybe her love for her family overshadowed her angelic duties, but the angel was always right there, and now Calise could really see her.
“I love you, Mom,” she called.
“I love you, too.” She shut the door behind her without a sound.
He called the airport and booked the next flight out. They had precious little time together as a family. He crawled in bed with her, and they adored Michael.
She yawned. “Have the nurse bring in one of those bassinets for the room. I’m not letting him out of my sight.”
“No problem. I have to go.” He cradled her face in his hands then ran his fingers down her cheeks. “You are so beautiful and so strong. Thank you for this precious gift, our son. Oops, I almost forgot.”
He fished around in his jeans to remove a box—small, black, and velvet. He knelt by her bedside on one knee and snapped open the box. “Calise Rowe, I love you and refuse to imagine even one day of my life without you, or Michael. I was going to ask you last night, but… Will you marry me?”
Her life had been so orthodox and boring until she met Lucas. With him, she had been brought to life, and found love worth fighting for as well as the strength to be strong for things that were more important than herself. Her childhood selfishness turned to selflessness. Lucas and Michael were the most important things in her life. Her whole body flushed with warmth at the love she felt for them both. I’m a mother and soon to be a wife.
“Of course, Lucas. Te amo.”
****
Her mom called. She was on her way back to the hospital. Ellen had requested that three angels come as soon as possible and guard the door at all times. Lucas kissed them both and left, promising to send in a nurse with a bassinet so she could get some sleep when her mom returned.
Calise snuggled with her baby boy. He was utter perfection. His breathing came in soft, adorable pants and she reveled at the miracle of all his working parts. His eyes blinked slowly open and she could see Lucas splashing in the surf in his ocean blue eyes. She rubbed at a bit of redness between his eyebrows. She licked her finger but it remained. He had a small angel’s kiss birthmark. How fitting. She lifted him to her and inhaled his scent. He smelled like lavender and powder. He squeezed her pinky finger and they stared into each other’s eyes. His skin was so smooth and new that it felt like cashmere. She stowed him snugly under the crook of her left arm and let the peace of the moment consume her.
So this is how it feels.
The bond between them was strong and immediate. She counted his perfect fingers and toes knowing she would do anything to protect him for the rest of his life. He completed her in every way and she ticked off in her head all the things she needed to teach him.
Trust.
Honesty.
Wait, is that inbred in angels?
Sense of humor.
Love of adventure.
Someone knocked softly on the door. She clutched Michael to her chest. “Who is it?”
“It’s the nurse with the bassinet you asked for. Is this a good time?”
“Sure.” But her mind panged with something familiar. That voice.
When the door opened, Nara’s aura entered the room before she did. Black wisps of ice cold smoke jutted out like fingers reaching out and paralyzing Calise.
She opened her mouth to scream and found everything frozen. She couldn’t move. Fear radiated through her and every hair on her body stood at attention trying in vain to help. Pressure on her chest allowed breathing only in the form of quick intakes.
“Hey, Calise. Long time no see. Hm, hm, hmm. What have we here?” She snapped them into darkness and her blood red eyes closed in on Calise as every sympathetic synapse in her body fired to move. To no avail. Still paralyzed.
Nara inched forward and turned her attention to Michael.
Calise’s brain screamed, “NO!”
“Ah. An angel for the seers, huh?” The lights returned. “He’s cute. Your sister-in-law will enjoy torturing him, I’m sure of it.”
Calise must have heard her wrong.
“Oh yeah, did you know? Liza is a demon. She works for me. If I kill you now, Shane will know it was me. But don’t worry, I’ll get to you. Right now, I want to hurt your boyfriend. Did he tell you he killed my mother? Well, you can tell him that the next time he sees his son, his son will be a fallen angel hunting seers alongside me.”
Understanding flooded through Calise. Squeezing her eyes shut, she saw Liza as the demon she always was, enjoying the daily torture of Dean and her own child. What did Nara mean, Liza worked for her?
Nara pried Michael out of her arms as tears streamed down her cheeks. Nara took her baby with Calise powerless to do anything to stop her.
“This is your punishment for Shane. If you do so much as cough near him ever again, I’ll kill Lucas. Don’t cross me. I don’t lose. Say bye-bye to mommy.” Nara picked up one of Michael’s arms and roughly waved it at her.
Calise was so far beyond pain. Her brain and body were being crushed.
“You must be exhausted, dear. You need some sleep. Nighty-night.”
Calise managed to utter one word, in a whisper of a breath. “No…”
Then Nara opened the door and disappeared.
Calise, overtaken by her power, fell asleep.