Celestial Beginnings (Nephilim Series) Read online

  With a resounding groan, he left the line, and turned back to see his spot immediately fill. His irritation was building as he walked outside. At least it had stopped raining for a few minutes. He didn’t need that irritant as well right now. Then he saw Gemariah leaning down so he was right in the kids face, still holding onto his arm. “Come on man, let him go. This is bullshit; he’s just a punk kid.” He tried to talk Gemariah down.

  “Not until this kid learns some manners” Gemariah said between clenched teeth, not breaking his stare on the boy.

  The looks he was sending the boy had been known to bring grown men to their knees. Malachi could feel Gemariah’s anger coming in droves. In turn, he tried to send over more calming emotions, but his friend had the frequency blocked.

  “Now what was that you said in there? I hope you’re not fond of that finger you flashed.” He gave the boy a little shake for good measure.

  “What in the hell do you think you’re doing?” They all heard the screech close by.

  Malachi looked over and saw a little slip of a woman running over to them from inside the shop. Man, but she was a tiny thing, 5’4” maybe? There was nothing else extraordinary about her though. She had the classic blue eyes and blond hair, but what couldn’t be missed was the murderous look she was sending them. He then notice what she was holding…a to-go coffee cup…damn the woman.

  When she got to them, she put her hand on Gemariah’s shoulder and pushed. He didn’t move an inch and continued to state at her as if she were an annoying pest. “Let go of him!!” she yelled as she gave a little bit harder push this time.

  Gemariah eventually let go, probably more out of shock than anything. It had been a long time since a human went toe to toe with him, probably never someone so small. He stood up to his full height while scowling down at her.

  Undaunted, she immediately stepped in front of the boy like a mother hen and pointed her finger at Gemariah’s chest. “Don’t try to intimidate me with your size! It won’t work buddy. What do you think you were doing with him?”

  Obviously ignoring her own question for a minute, she turned her back to Gemariah to face the boy. Looking him up and down, probably for damages, she started sprouting off questions. “Are you okay, Jeremy? What happened? Why aren’t you in school?” Obviously she knew him, but before he could give her a single answer, she rounded back around to face Gemariah.

  Malachi was watching everything in amused silence. He didn’t think he had ever met anyone like her before. She was going at a mile a minute and reminded him of a small elf. It was probably all that damn caffeine someone would get by drinking coffee, he thought bitterly.

  “Well, what are you waiting for?” Now she looked exasperated. “What do you think you were doing?”

  Finally snapping out of his stupor, he pointed to the kid. “You need to put that boy on a leash! He pushes complete strangers and throws around lewd gestures as a way of apologizing.”

  The scowl was back on the woman’s face, but this time she turned it in the direction of the boy. “Is this true?”

  All the boy did was shrug and look at his shoes.

  “Apologize!” The word was said with such conviction, Malachi had to bite his tongue as not to say he was sorry himself.

  The boy grimaced in Gemariah’s direction. “I’m sorry you are freakishly big and can’t go in public without people running into you.”

  Does this kid have a death wish?

  Apparently, Gemariah wasn’t going to answer him back. Instead, he took a step toward the boy.

  He didn’t get very far before a resounding thud sounded when a dainty hand was slammed on his chest. A stare down was now initiated between the two.

  Without looking away, she spoke to the boy. “Jeremy, try again. This time say you’re sorry…and do it right.”

  “But Ms. Summers…” was as far as he got before she snapped back at him.

  “Now, Jeremy!!”

  “I’m sorry. I should have been watching where I was going.” He said quicker than Malachi thought anyone could speak.

  Still in a locked stare with Gemariah she told the boy to leave and wait by the corner for her. He was smart and immediately complied.

  Malachi started to wonder if he should leave because he was starting to feel like he was intruding on something personal. In the end he decided to stay. This was getting far too interesting, and he found that he was starting to like the little, strong-willed, slip of a woman.

  “And as for you…” Speaking in a low tone to Gemariah, she finally removed her hand. “What gives you the right to grab him the way you did? Or shake him for that matter?”

  Smiling a little, Gemariah looked the woman from head to toe and back up again. “Listen Tinker Bell, that kid is a menace to society. I was just trying to teach him some manners.” He then shrugged and added, “May I suggest a belt too?”

  Malachi saw the lady visibly flinch when he mentioned manners and cringed at how his friend had said something incredibly stupid. It even sounded dickish to him.

  Before anyone could blink, the woman threw the entire contents of her to-go cup in Gemariah’s face. Luckily it looked like it was an iced coffee, but it appeared he didn’t care. At first, there was the look of shock, but then came the anger. Gemariah opened his mouth to say something, but before he could, she was unleashing her fury.

  “Well, the next time you wanna “teach some manners”, remember that. And know this, the next time you lay a finger on a child out of anger or stupidity, I will find you. Then I will call the cops and have you put in jail. The world would be a better place without a man that gets his kicks from manhandling children, walking around the streets.” She paused to take a breath and Malachi saw the fists clinch at her sides. “I’m shocked at the audacity you have to suggest taking a belt to a child!”

  Those comments took all the humor away from the situation for Malachi. He immediately looked to his friend to gauge his reaction, but his friend was frozen in place with a look that could shatter stone.

  Malachi finally stepped forward and spoke up. “Hey, let’s all calm down, okay?”

  “Don’t even get me started on you! You’re no better. You stood here and did nothing!” She looked at him and pointed.

  Finally Gemariah spoke up, but in a whisper. “You don’t know me.” Looking pissed off, he continued a little louder. “You don’t know anything about me! So get back on your high horse and back off!!”

  “With pleasure.”

  Malachi watched as she started walking to the corner where the boy was still waiting for her.

  “Ms. Summers?” Gemariah hollered out, using the name she was addressed before.

  She quickly spun around and placed her hands on her hips. “What?”

  “The belt I mentioned was to hold his pants up. Maybe he might act more respectable if he dressed the part.”

  She pursed her lips and turned back around. Without saying a word, she started to walk away.

  Malachi looked over at his friend that looked as if he were going through an internal struggle. “She didn’t know.” He reassured Gemariah.

  “Of course she didn’t know; no human does.” Gemariah shrugged like her words didn’t hit a little too close to home, but he knew they did. He also knew that his friend and closest team member was now thinking about his own demons, or better yet, his own fallen ancestor.

  Gemariah got the pleasure of having Ramiel as the fallen angel that was his ancestor. Ramiel is known to have the personality of a tornado; care free one minute then horrifically angry the next. This is very similar to Gemariah’s personality, and therefore he is always concentrating on the differences between the two of them. One of Gemariah’s worst fears is that he will turn into someone as evil as Ramiel.

  It’s always a fine line that nephilims walk. They’re all preprogrammed to be evil because of their lineage. Most can’t fight the urge, and it is forever a balancing act for the ones that chose the path of light. This was God’s gift to
all, no matter who you were, free will. Therefore, even though it is told that all nephilims are evil, in reality, some chose to fight the good fight on the side of the Lord. It gets easier for nephilims the more generations that pass because of the increase in humanity to the bloodlines.

  Anyway, ever since he fell from heaven, Ramiel has caused havoc and destruction wherever he went. He has been known to quote the saying “misery loves company”. One of his favorite pastimes is to corrupt families, often with the moral guilt that leads to domestic violence, including children.

  This is why Gemariah is so shell shocked. Malachi knew, at that moment, his friend was comparing himself to the elusive fallen one.

  While they were standing there, Malachi wondered if they should leave or try again at the coffee house. Out of courtesy, they should probably go, but he was starting to get a little on edge without his caffeine.

  While contemplating this, he couldn’t help notice that the woman from before and the boy known as Jeremy, were now arguing. It really looked like she was ripping him a new one. All at once, the kid turned and walked away, and the woman was left standing there with her head bowed. Just then her head snapped back up and she squared her shoulders. Then, to his astonishment, she turned around and started walking back toward them.

  “Heads up G, she’s coming back.”

  This immediately made Gemariah stand at attention and turn around to watch her approach. When she stopped in front of the two of them, Gemariah crossed his arms over his chest and scowled down at her.

  Clearing her throat, she glanced away before looking back at them. “I have it on good authority that you two dropped these in the store earlier.”

  When she was done talking, she held out two wallets. Hot damn, but they were theirs. They were both so caught up in what was happening that they didn’t realize they were missing.

  They each grabbed their own wallet from her hands. Malachi immediately put his in his back pocket, but Gemariah looked inside his to make sure everything was there. When Gemariah opened his mouth to say something, she beat him to the punch.

  “Good day.”

  With nothing but those two little words, she turned on her heel, and walked away.

  What the hell was that?

  Chuckling at his friend’s words, Malachi spoke out loud. “I’m not exactly sure, but I do know you have your wallet back and I still need coffee. Let’s go!”

  Chapter 3

  Malachi couldn’t believe it. A full day had gone by and there was no call to say he was needed to come into work or go on a mission that night.

  He knew of the meeting that was planned for the next morning though. There was no way he could break free that long. Apparently there had been elevated conflict on the east side of the city. The meeting tomorrow is to discuss the strategic maneuvers to observe for a possible demon entity.

  Today though, was different. Besides the whole situation at the coffee shop, today was kind of a mellow day. He tried to relax and do nothing after Gemariah left, but that never works out well for him.

  Gemariah stayed just for a little bit longer, but Malachi could tell that he was still going over everything from this morning. More than likely, when he left, he would head home to cook something up. Cooking is his way to unwind just like working on his motorcycles is for Malachi.

  That is precisely what Malachi did too. It had been a long time coming since he managed any time for them, therefore it didn’t take too long to end up in the garage.

  Nephilims always needed an outlet. It is what helps to keep them sane. They all had the deep down urges of their demonic sides and found that it’s easier to suppress them when they have a specific thing to focus on. His is the inner and outer workings of the bar and shield motorcycles. When the urge to possess and turn rears its ugly head, he works on his bikes to diminish it.

  They have been his saving grace. He has two different ones and when he needs to be somewhere else other than the real world, he comes to his garage. The black Springer is for his every day driving, but the Knuckle is his baby. His mood is what determines what bike he messes with that day. With being as distracted and worn out as he was today, he didn’t want to get near the Knucklehead.

  Of course once he got in the garage, Malachi lost track of time and spent longer in the garage than he planned on. This wasn’t an unusual occurrence, but he was still shocked at the time tonight. It was just about 1opm and he still hadn’t eaten anything. That’s what actually drove him out of the garage, his growling stomach.

  Heating up some leftovers was perfect for him tonight, he thought. No fuss…heat and eat.

  Wanting to just kick back and unwind, he decided to eat in the living room. He quickly scanned his recorded list to see what he had, but nothing stood out. He finally landed on the History channel. That was something he liked to watch every once in a while to see what they got wrong. There was always something, he thought.

  After eating a generous portion, he took his plate to the kitchen but decided to relax a little more before going to bed. It didn’t take long and he was starting to feel a little euphoric, lounging in his chair. Pretty soon he was struggling to keep his eyes open. He remembered listening to the television talk about the gladiators in Rome when he relented and let his eyes shut for a moment.

  When he opened his eyes again, he was in a bedroom and lying on his back in an enormous bed. It was hard to find one he could fit into comfortably and this one did that and more.

  Then it hit him. This was the same room his dream took place in last night. The same cream sheets as well as the same dark mahogany bed. As much fun as last night had been, he needed to wake up early. He didn’t have time for this; he needed to be refreshed in the morning for work. All day yesterday he dragged his feet and didn’t have the same sharp focus he normally did. He was hoping to not have a repeat of that tomorrow.

  He shut his eyes and tried to will himself to wake up. That was when he felt the slightest movement from the other side of the bed. Turning his head to the right, he finally saw her.

  She was lying on her side, facing him. With her hair pulled back he could see her entire face and neck, and all of her characteristics that had started to fade in his mind throughout the day, came back with phenomenal clarity. Man, but she is beautiful, he thought.

  He knew that if he wanted to get out of here, he should just leave well enough alone, but for some reason, he couldn’t. His hand slowly inched toward her face and very lightly, he ran his finger from the top of her cheek and stopped at her chin.

  Before he knew it, he was staring into the most vivid violet eyes he could ever remember seeing. Amazingly, she then smiled at him; not just a grin, but one that didn’t stop until it reached those amazing eyes.

  What happened next, surprised him, but at the same time made his heart feel as though it could beat out of his chest. She reached up and cupped the hand that was still touching her face and whispered, “It’s you.” Moving his hand around to her mouth, she then kissed the palm and gave him another heart stopping smile after removing their hands.

  He needed to be careful and remember that this was just a dream and not reality. If he got too caught up in this fantasy, he was scared that he wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between the two and then he might never want to leave.

  He attempted to lighten the mood a little. “Miss me?”

  “Maybe a little.” Her smile turned into a smirk.

  Malachi took the hand that was still being held by hers, and turned it around to grasp her wrist. Slowly, he started to pull her towards him.

  “What about you, did you miss me?” She was now turning the tables back on him.

  “Maybe a little.”

  Did his voice always sound so gravelly, or was it just him?

  He finally glanced down at what she was wearing and had to swallow the lump in his throat. “You look awe inspiring. Is this for me?” Malachi focused on the skinning silk straps that he would love to pull down her arms with hi
s teeth. Then his eyes traveled all the way down to the hem of her nighty, noticing how it barely covered what he desperately wanted to see. He had seen more elaborate negligees from previous women, but this one on her, made the others pale in comparison.

  Before he had been done talking, she started to blush and Malachi knew the answer.

  She’s blushing? Imagine me, dreaming up a woman that blushes. Maybe my subconscious has a thing for the shy ones, he thought.

  “Doesn’t matter. You could look amazing in anything. Remembering you in your t-shirt and flannel pajama pants still makes my blood boil.”

  “Really?” Disbelief rang in her voice.

  He finally had her close enough where he could put their foreheads together. His lips were just inches away from hers when he whispered, “Really. You looked good enough to eat.”

  His words had his desired effect. When she immediately shut her eyes and let out a low groan, he knew she was recalling when he did just that.

  He couldn’t stop himself, if he wanted to, from kissing her at that exact moment. This wasn’t one of those, cherry pie, nice but ho-hum, kisses. No, this was amazing; fireworks going off, never want it to end kiss.

  Malachi had their bodies pulled so close together that he could feel her erratic heartbeat mixed with his. This fueled his desire even more and made him realize that they both were still wearing too many clothes. She must have agreed, because she had already started to peel his shirt off him.

  Once they managed to get him undressed, he grabbed her again to resume their kiss. This time his hands started caressing her body. He was learning all the different sounds she made while his hands explored…his own little symphony.

  His mouth made its way from her mouth to her ear, then her neck. Finally he was where he wanted to be. When he reached her shoulder, he took the strap to her negligee between his teeth and pulled. He must have tugged harder than he thought, because immediately the strap tore free from the material. Oh well, same end result, he thought. Making his way to the other shoulder, he was betting that if he did the same thing she would let out that sexy little yelp again. He bit down, pulled, and smiled about being right.