Halflings Read online

  She pointed to the door behind her, long hair flowing as she gestured. “Oh, I’m sorry. I thought this was the house where angels live.”

  Will rose slowly. He maneuvered around the table and came to rest less than a foot from Nikki.

  She visibly shrank, dwarfed by Will’s giant stature and his intimidating stare. Her head tipped back to look up at him, and when she swallowed it was clear she’d begun to rethink her head-on strategy. She started to step back, but stopped herself. Or something stopped her. Fingernails clicked her apprehension.

  “What is this talk of angels?” he asked, and threw a glance to the boys, his clear-blue eyes lingering on Mace and Raven.

  “That’s what you are,” she said, voice weak. “If I’ve figured right. You’re guardian angels.”

  Raven snickered.

  Vine frowned.

  “They saved my life when those wolf things chased me, and he called me a daughter of man,” she said, pointing to Mace.

  Will gave him an accusatory look.

  Now, telling her that seemed a silly, melodramatic thing to do. But she was so beautiful lying there on a blanket of forest-green grass. His heart had bumped strangely, even then. In the moments he first looked at her, he knew he felt something for Nikki. In fact, his first words to her, daughter of man, were a warning to himself, emphasizing who she was and all he couldn’t have. He offered Will a sheepish shrug.

  “I’m not an idiot,” she continued. Raising a finger, she poked Will in the chest.

  He scowled.

  She poked harder. Then again.

  Vine laughed aloud but was quickly quelled by the turn of Will’s head.

  Another poke.

  “What are you doing?” Will asked her.

  “Seems like angels would be made of mist or something. You know, I didn’t think I could feel you … Of course, that doesn’t make sense, because I certainly felt Mace in the woods and again on the back of my bike. Oh, and again when I was body slammed in the art gallery. I guess my brain is having a difficult time marrying all the pieces of this monumental puzzle.” Her open hand patted his chest. “You certainly seem real enough.”

  “Do you know a lot about angels?” Will asked, now calm and cool.

  “Not really.” Her head tilted back and forth. “I guess as much as the next person. There are cherubs, those cute little flying babies with wings that don’t seem big enough to carry them, and —”

  Raven’s laughter from the table stopped her. Mace rubbed an open hand over his face.

  “What?” she asked.

  “Cherubs? Do you know anything about spiritual matters, young lady? Have you even read the Bible?” Will’s tone lowered to condescension.

  Her eyes widened. “The whole thing? Isn’t it two-thousand pages long?”

  “Have you read any of it?”

  “No. I’m a realist.”

  Will threw his head back and laughed. “Of course you are. And that’s the reason you barged into my home to announce angels live here.”

  She frowned, obviously offended by the remark. But the giant stared her down.

  After a long time she shrugged. “Okay, I’ll admit I don’t really know much about the Bible.”

  Will gestured to Vine, who stood from the table and retrieved the giant black leather book from the fireplace mantle.

  Nikki followed Will to the table, where he thumbed through soft pages and then pointed down.

  She read. “Oh, I guess cherubs aren’t babies after all.”

  “No, miss. In fact, Lucifer himself was known in the courts of heaven as the anointed cherub.”

  Mace watched the blood drain from Nikki’s face. She sucked a breath. “You’re Lucifer.”

  A storm swirled in his gaze. “I. Am. Not. Lucifer.” His heated voice matched his glare. “And you will not utter that again.”

  “Yes, sir.” She looked at Mace for support.

  He couldn’t help but wonder what she must be thinking right now. Her arrival either jeopardized the mission or was just the break they needed. Nikki was a fighter. If someone — or something — wanted her dead, she’d be smart. She’d accept the fact that half angel beings had her back.

  As the two of them gazed at one another, her features softened. “You’re all angels, though. God’s messengers … right?”

  “Mace is no angel. Though angels do exist,” Will said.

  Thanks, Will!

  Her eyes narrowed. “I would assume one of God’s angels couldn’t lie?”

  “An angel would not lie,” Will said.

  “Good,” she said. “Then tell me what a Halfling is.”

  Chapter

  10

  Mace placed a hand at the small of Nikki’s back. Through her T-shirt she felt heat radiating where he touched her. Once on the back porch he gestured in an arc toward a variety of seating possibilities. She chose the porch swing in the hopes that he’d sit beside her.

  He did.

  “Are the others coming out?” she asked.

  “No.” He set the swing into motion while the inhabitants of the backyard — squirrels, birds, and different types of bugs — began their evening rituals of sight and sound while a million questions bombarded her mind that all seemed wrapped in one horrific truth.

  Something terrible awaited her. Though the three guys and that monster of a man she met inside the house were strange to say the least, there was a bizarre sense of security, an overwhelming feeling of shelter around them. Even Raven, though he was far from safe. In contrast to his ice-cold persona at school, he’d stood white hot at the gallery — in what she was beginning to see as true Raven fashion — too close, too bold, and way too potent. Stealing the air she breathed and touching her bare shoulders without invitation — there was no sense of boundaries with him. That alone was a dangerous thing.

  When her thoughts returned to Mace, the warm angel beside her, she sighed.

  The sun hung low, pressing against a hillside across the valley. Its softening light cast muted colors along the wide expanse of Missouri sky. Pastel shades shifted from pinks and oranges to more dramatic purples and blues, melting together like some great, living, giant piece of artwork.

  “It is,” Mace said.

  Her head snapped to him. “I didn’t say anything.” She inched away. “Do you read minds?” Oh, that could be very bad.

  “No.” He cast a faint smile at her. “Not really. But once in a great while, if I really tune in, I can pick up a thought or two.”

  “So” — she stretched out the word — “you were tuned in to me?”

  He angled to look at her fully. His gaze trailed her face, setting the skin on fire.

  Such intensity hovered in those blue-green oceans, she fought the urge to look away. No wonder he was so perfect. No wonder his skin radiated like sunbeams trapped in flesh. No wonder she was so … so deliciously drawn to him. He was an angel. But she wasn’t drawn to Vine. And she certainly wasn’t drawn to Raven. Okay, there was a tiny part of her, and she wasn’t sure how powerful that part was, that was irrationally drawn to the bad boy.

  “Yes,” he whispered, and she realized he’d been studying her face as well. “I tuned in to you.”

  She pulled in her bottom lip and bit down.

  His eyes dropped to her mouth and lingered. “I’m really sorry about all the trouble we’ve caused you. We’re only here to help. I hope you believe that. If you listen with your heart, you’ll know we don’t mean you harm.”

  “Listen with my heart?” she echoed.

  His brows drew together for an instant. “Yes. Listen with your heart.”

  Her fingers threaded together on her lap. She wasn’t a girl who ran around going after every whim of her heart. In fact, she’d trained herself not to follow that unreliable path and instead listen to her mind. Always. Even when drawing, she studied the subject, then meticulously brought it to life on the canvas. And her paintings were nearly photo-quality images of what she saw. What she saw with her mind.
If she got her heart involved, who knew, the artwork could end up looking like Picasso. No, thanks.

  She couldn’t contain the words anymore. “I know you’re an angel,” she sputtered.

  The muscles in his face hardened like she’d smacked him. “No, Nikki. I’m not.”

  She rolled her eyes on the exhale. “Stop trying to dissuade me.”

  A tight muscle flexed and released as he clenched his jaw, casting a shadow along his smooth neck.

  She ran a hand through her hair. “You guys are beautiful. Look, I’m an artist, so I study people. I’ve never seen more aesthetic faces.”

  “You’re an artist,” he said and his mind seemed to trail somewhere far away.

  “Yes. You already knew that. Remember? Art gallery?” She pointed to the silver dollar – sized spot on her forearm.

  He grabbed her arm. “What happened?”

  “Nothing.” But inside her nerves jumped at his sudden interest. “It’s just a rug burn from hitting the carpet. My arm sort of got sandwiched between you and the floor.”

  He carefully placed her arm across his lap and gently rubbed his fingertips around the wound. “I hurt you. I’m so sorry.”

  She should say something, but the velvet feel of his hands trickling over her skin stopped the words.

  His head bent, and he lifted her arm to his lips and dropped a kiss beside the wound.

  Well now.

  Nikki faced forward as he released her. She tried to give her attention to the surroundings, but everything around dulled to black and white and Mace was the only color. Too much color! Too much that didn’t make sense about all of this …

  Listen to your mind, not your heart. “This can’t be real.”

  He offered a noncommittal lift of his brow.

  “I mean, I know it’s real. I know we’re sitting here. But I grew up believing in the things that were scientific, concrete.” Still nothing from Mace: she was pretty sure he was giving her time to wrap her mind around it. “So, it just has to make sense scientifically, that’s all,” she said, half statement, half question. Nikki tapped her cheek while she scanned her memory for anything able to help connect the dots. “Okay, let’s think about the rainforest. Scientists are always finding new species of insect in the rainforest, right?”

  “Uh, if you say so.”

  She gave him a fleeting glance and wondered if he was holding back a smile. “They are always finding new bugs. So, that’s it.”

  “Are you suggesting I’m an insect you’ve discovered?”

  She fought the eye roll. “No. But those bugs didn’t just appear one day — they’d been there a long time, but no one had discovered them. You’ve been here all along, but you just hadn’t been discovered yet. And now that I’ve discovered you … well, it makes all this make sense.”

  His eyes twinkled with amusement. “That really makes you feel better?”

  No, it didn’t.

  “Let me get this straight. You’ve discovered a new species of insect.” He leaned slightly closer. “That would be me. And you’re gonna name it what? I’d go with Angelicus Protecti.”

  “I can handle it if it’s supported by science.”

  “What about having faith, believing in something you can’t see or label or name?”

  “I believe in science.” She’d never known how final, how closed those words sounded. Science was all about discovery, ideas, hunches. Yet, right now it was both her crutch and her lifeline. “Sorry if you don’t like it. That’s just how I am.”

  “Nikki, were you drawing before we found you in the woods?”

  The total subject change surprised her, and it took a moment for her mind to catch up. She’d expected him to argue and try to sway her, not change gears. She found herself a little disappointed. “Um, in the woods, yes,” she said. What else could she say? I was drawing, and, by the way, your presence in my life is making me question everything I’ve ever known. Beautiful sunset, isn’t it?

  He set the swing into motion. “Maybe you’re a Seer.”

  “A what?”

  “Someone who sees things.” His brow furrowed in thought. “A Seer sees into the realm of the supernatural. It’s kind of like being able to look through walls, only the walls are the dividing lines between realms.”

  Well, that makes it clear as mud.

  “For instance, a person can’t see an angel’s wings unless they are able to look at them in the Spirit — unless they are able to look at them through the heavenly realm. If you’re a Seer,” he went on, “you might not be in as much danger as we first thought. Maybe Raven was right. You aren’t who we’re here to protect.”

  “If I was a Seer, wouldn’t I know it?”

  “Not until you embrace it.”

  “Whoa, whoa.” She made the time-out sign with her hands and forearm. “Did you say angel wings?” Of course angels would have wings. That made sense. But Mace, Raven, and Vine didn’t have them … Her head hurt.

  He gave her a cautious look, as if he were afraid she’d lose her mind soon. “As I was saying, maybe we’re not here to protect you. Maybe you just keep stumbling into the line of fire. In fact, I hope that’s the case.”

  That rush of cold again, like tiny claws scraping from her scalp down her neck and back. “Why?”

  “Because if you’re the one we were sent to protect, the enemy has targeted you.”

  What’s a girl to say to that? She tried to take it in. “So, it’s good to be a Seer?” Please, please give me some glimmer of hope. I’m drowning here. Then she remembered his earlier words. “Wait, did you say I see the supernatural realm?”

  He gestured, encompassing everything. “Around us, around this natural earth, another realm exists. Not only does it exist, but it’s in constant motion. Things that happen here are affected there. It is written that ‘Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.’ It’s not talking about the place of heaven. It’s talking about the heavenly realm. The supernatural realm. We call it the midplane.”

  “Uh huh.”

  Frustration furrowed his smooth brow. “You believe a house full of angels live here, but you don’t believe there is a realm from which they come?”

  She pressed her hands to her eyes. “Okay, sorry. I just … This all weirds me out a little.”

  “Nikki, this is the real world. You can pretend it doesn’t exist — most people do — but it doesn’t alter the truth. You saw the hell hounds in the forest.”

  Her eyes widened. “Hell hounds? That’s what those things were? Hell hounds?”

  He nodded.

  Nikki ran her fingers through her hair as she shook her head. “No, that’s what you think they are. I didn’t grow up believing in stories about hell hounds and some misty realm we can’t see.”

  “Mist? The same mist you thought angels were made of?” he asked.

  She released a tiny smile. “I see your point. But somehow this conversation turned to me, and I want to know about you. Mace, you’re an angel. Just admit it.”

  An unexpected veil of sadness hooded his features. “There are two classes of angels: heavenly and fallen. The fallen are one-third of the angels, those who were cast from heaven with Lucifer.”

  “So, you’re a heavenly angel?” she asked.

  “No.”

  She swallowed, and a big part of her wanted to clamp her hands over her ears and beg him to stop. Instead, she pulled a deep, calming breath.

  “Heaven’s angels are mighty warriors who battle evil continually, not guys like me who end up attending high school. They’re massive in stature, precise in purpose, and driven beyond human understanding. They’re perfectly fashioned weapons who don’t know defeat. A heavenly angel can never retreat and carries the scars of many battles.” He looked away. “I’m no angel. I have no right to enter the great hall of the chosen, where the martyrs rest beside warriors. I’ve no place in that kingdom.”

  Her internal alarm beg
an ringing. Two classes of angels. And he wasn’t in the first class, which left the fallen class. Whether she believed in all this stuff or not, having a house full of fallen angels trailing her couldn’t possibly be a good thing. As she was about to confront him head on, however, she looked into his eyes and saw … purity. And that purity just didn’t fit with the whole follower-of-Lucifer thing. “I can’t believe you’re a fallen angel. I don’t believe it.”

  “I’m not.” He laughed, but there was no humor in it. “I don’t fit there either. That’s why we call ourselves Lost Boys.”

  “When I walked in, I heard Will say Halflings.”

  “Both terms mean the same thing. We’re the offspring of fallen angels and human women. Our ancestors were of the fallen.”

  She shook her head, relieved. “But that’s not bad. So angels fell in love with humans. Is that so wrong?”

  Mace went rigid. “They didn’t fall in love. They were sent for an evil purpose. Yes, they saw that the daughters of men were beautiful, but there was no love involved. Lucifer planned to mar the bloodline — if fallen angelic blood mixed throughout the entire world’s population, there would be no way for God to fulfill his promise through a purely human vessel.”

  “So, Lucifer tried to trick God?”

  “Yes,” Mace said.

  Nikki stared at the appearing stars — at whatever was supposedly up there. “This is a lot to absorb.”

  “It’s too much to absorb, actually. Come on,” he said, and gently began to tug her to her feet. “You’ve learned enough for tonight.”

  She wouldn’t budge that easily. Nikki dug her heels into the porch floor. “I want to know more.”

  “And I said, you know enough for tonight.”

  She pulled from his grasp and crossed her arms defiantly. “I’m not leaving.”

  “It’s gonna get lonely out here.”

  Nikki huffed and decided to try a new approach. She gazed up at him. “Pleeeeease?” She batted her eyes as insurance.

  Mace’s resolve crumbled and he sank onto the swing. “One more question, then we’re done.”

  “Why would the enemy — whoever that is — have me as a target? And how did you get here? And what about your parents? Are they like you?” she asked.