Nephilim Rising
Angelic Hosts Series, Book 4, Episode 19
The finale…
All of Paris lay before them, a grand buffet of light and sound. With the wind whistling past their faces, Blanca and Antonio stood on the observation deck of the Eiffel Tower. She pulled her dark blue coat tighter around her body and adjusted the multi-hued scarf tied around her neck. Even with her winter clothing, it was a bone-chilling cold. Completely different from what she was used to in Texas. Next to her, Antonio seemed unfazed. His jacket was half-zipped, but the leather was a good barrier to the wind. Sensing her need, he put his arm around her shoulders pulling her close. Blanca leaned into his chest, his natural warmth radiating into her cheek.
He was at peace for the moment, but thoughts of what awaited them in the future weighed heavily upon his mind, the least of which was his father’s funeral the day after their return to San Antonio. After that, he had no idea what to expect, but he knew no matter what, he was not alone. He looked down at the beautiful young woman snuggled within the protection of his arms.
“Aren’t you going to take a picture?” he asked. Around them, tourists were facing away from the view to take selfies.
Blanca shook her head. “I don’t need a picture to remember this. I’ll never forget tonight. It’s so beautiful,” she sighed. “I don’t get why people can’t just enjoy the moment while they’re in it instead of taking pictures to look at later.”
He smiled. His lady was right. People didn’t realize that while they tried to capture a moment, they were really missing out. “There was a kiosk on the ground as we came in. It has all kinds of postcards and stuff.”
She nodded. “I’d like to pick up a few, maybe bring some back for my coworkers. That is, if I still have a job. But even if I don’t, I want to give them something from my trip. Still don’t know how I’m going to explain my absence.”
“It’s been three days, Blanca. I’m pretty sure by now they consider that job abandonment.”
The thought made her cringe. She hated that she’d left without a word, but how do you tell your boss that you’ve been chosen to be part of an ancient prophesy and are now a supernatural key to God only knows what, and you have to fly off to Paris to meet the second coming? Had it not happened to her, and someone else came to her with that story, she would’ve laughed and asked how much they’d been drinking.
It was only yesterday that the reason for this trip was revealed to them. What shocked her was that the explanation didn’t come from the archangels, but from Sophie.
The group rendezvoused again, this time at a park near the child’s home. While Nanette Fairchild and Cecilia’s adoptive mother, Charmaine Bertrand, enjoyed a chat on a bench, the children played on the swings, two invisible angels pushing them high. When they saw Gabriel leading Antonio, Blanca, and Berto into the park, they jumped off the swings, running full tilt at them.
Gabe held out his arms, expecting the two girls to plow into him for a hug. Instead, they ran past him.
“Berto!” they yelled, each wrapping their arms around his waist.
Surprised to be the object of their attention, Berto pulled his hands from the pockets of his jacket and patted both their heads. Gabriel ignored the snickers from Camael and Rafael who came up behind the girls.
“Looks like you’ve been replaced, Gabe,” Cam laughed. Then he took command of the situation. “Sophie, Cecilia, if your moms see you hugging a strange man they’re going to flip. Come now, behave.”
They both pulled away reluctantly. But Sophie moved to Blanca’s side and took her hand. “Mademoiselle Blanca?”
Blanca’s brown eyes met Sophie’s inquiring gaze.
She knelt. “Yes, Sophie?”
“When I’m older,” she began, then seemed to be searching for the right words. “When I turn twelve, I will be coming to live with you and my guardian. Oh, and Ceecee will too.”
Shockwaves ran through her as Blanca tried to process her words. “I don’t understand, Sophie. You have a family here. Why would you be coming to live in Texas?” she asked. She was still stuck on the part about her living with not only her, but Antonio as well. What did that mean?
The child patted her hand. “It’s okay. It’s really hard to understand, I know, but when I’m twelve and Ceecee is fourteen, we’ll be coming to live with you. That’s when it all begins.”
“But what about your parents?” she asked. Looking over the child’s head, she glanced at Antonio who shrugged, and then at Camael whose expression she could not discern.
Sophie took Ceecee’s hand and led her away back to Camael’s side. She looked over her shoulder at Blanca. “They’ll be in heaven then. Au revoir for now, Blanca. Au revoir, Berto,” she said, smiling at Blanca’s brother.
The blond angel walked back to the swings with the girls leaving three stunned humans behind. Blanca straightened and looked from Rafael to Gabriel.
Rafael glanced back at the two mothers, Nanette and Charmain, still engaged in a lively conversation. The women laughed as friends do, unaware of events unfolding around them.
“She knows things,” Rafael said. “She knows them even before we do.”
“But…” Blanca sputtered.
Antonio laid a hand on her cheek. “We’ll deal with it when the time comes.”
Berto watched the girls now happily swinging once again, Camael standing behind them giving their backs a push. “How can they just go back to playing? It’s like they didn’t just drop a bomb. I don’t get it.”
Gabriel slapped the younger man on the back. “Welcome to our world, Berto.”
From that moment, something inside Blanca shifted. It was a realization that despite all efforts to exert some semblance of control over her life, she’d been fooling herself. There was no control, only a reaction to events as they played out. Instead of being freaked out, she was oddly calm about it all. She decided then she wouldn’t keep fighting the current but would instead just flow with it.
It was in that very spirit she now enjoyed her date with Antonio.
“There is one other thing I’d like to do while we’re here,” she said.
“Oh, yeah? What?”
She turned slipping her arms around his neck. Big brown eyes gazed into his blue-green ones. She smiled, feeling that ooey-gooey sensation that always came when he looked at her in that special way. He knew what she was thinking, but he was going to make her say it.
“Kiss me.”
A slow smile spread across his face. As he leaned down bringing his lips within a breath of her own, he whispered, “I thought you’d never ask.”
It was sweet, passionate, and it sizzled through her body, all the way down to her toes. Somewhere in all the supernatural chaos, she’d found love and she wanted to savor every single minute.
Antonio peeked at her from beneath his long lashes. Her eyes were closed. She looked so beautiful with a blush on her cheeks and his kiss still on her lips. His heart swelled, so overwhelmed was he by these feelings. His back twitched. Alarmed, he pulled Blanca into a tight hug and forced all his concentration on the emerging situation. His wings were trying to pop out! Fold away, fold away, fold away, he chanted inside his head. Cracking one eye open he noticed a bluish-green feather fluttering down landing in Blanca’s hair, tickling her cheek.
Before he could remove it, she reached up to brush the object away. It got caught up between her slender fingers.
“Oh, it’s a feather.” She stared at it. “Pretty, but where did it come from?” She looked up and around. “It’s nighttime. I don’t see any birds.”
Antonio shrugged. “Probably nests in the rafters.” He felt his wings shrink back up inside and breathed a sigh of relief. He still couldn’t get used to them and he had apparently not yet learned to control this unexpected sign of excitement. It was the main reason he’d slept on the floor last night tucked away in an extra comforter and pillow. He knew he would need to tell her, and soon, but not yet. It was embarrassing and weird, and he just wasn’t ready.
“I guess I got my first keepsake from this trip.” She took his hand. “Let’s go hit up that kiosk and I believe you promised me dinner.” She tucked her newfound feather into the pocket of her coat and tugged him along. “Get a move on, soldier. I’m starving.”
Down the elevator they went, passing through the gate and out onto the grounds. They stopped and purchased a few postcards and Blanca added an Eiffel Tower keychain for herself. As they left, gift bags in hand, a group of tourists came straight at them. Antonio kept Blanca close to his side as the loud, giggling group of college-aged revelers passed. One bumped his shoulder and he turned to say a few choice words. The words died on his lips.
Antonio stared, horrified. He recognized him right away from the image in the seer’s basin. The blood froze in his veins. The man was tall, muscular, with wavy, golden hair and bright blue eyes. He wore a dark suit and had a shiny gold ring with one bright, star-shaped diamond on his pinky finger.
The man nodded, and with a sly wink, spoke in a low, unconcerned tone, “Excusez-moi, gardien de la clé.” (Excuse me, Guardian of the Key.)
He moved on, whistling an off-key tune, leaving Antonio staring after his back. As he watched the man disappear into the crowd, he felt Blanca tug at his hand.
“What part of starving didn’t you get? Come on, ‘Tonio. Let’s go. The night is still young and so are we. Let’s enjoy it while we can.”
He let himself be carried along, but he couldn’t stop looking over his shoulder, foreboding chilling him to the bone. She was right about one thing. They would need to enjoy themselves while they still had time. Everything would change in the blink of an eye…now that Lucifer was freed from his pit.
I hope you’ve enjoyed the first 4 books in this series. Book 5, Lucifer’s Game, is being written and will debut here first before publishing. Be sure to continue to keep up with me on my substack where I’ll be sharing more stories (Check out Accidentally, On Purpose and A Cell in San Antonio)! Also, check out my other books (genres range from romantic suspense to steamy crime to sci-fi/horror) on my website.
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