Atonement (Heaven Sent Book 1) Page 18

  “No, I didn’t feel like eating after the news of the Pit,” Kelly answered.

  Gen had to ask her, “Why have you never talked about Jared in all this time?” Gen paused before continuing, wanting to be gentle. “Here you are wearing the ring he put on your hand, despite telling him you’d find a way to remove it.”

  “Once it was apparent he was gone,” Kelly answered. “I mean really gone. I guess I assumed he went looking for Gabriel. That somehow, he was okay because they were together. Believe me I know how stupid that sounds.”

  “It’s not stupid and it may have been correct,” Gen told her. “If Gabriel, Jared, and Dmitri are together, even in the Pit, they are better off for it.”

  “I remember,” Kelly said as tears filled her eyes. “I remember feeling like there was no room for grief, that I wasn’t entitled to it.” Gen heard the quiver in her sister’s voice and was crushed by it.

  Gen swiped at her own eyes as Kelly continued. “We hadn’t been serious for that long, my time with Jared was special but short, so I held on to the happy memories and hoped he’d come back one day.”

  “Of course you were entitled to grieve,” Gen told her, emphatically trying to reassure her sister. “I’m sorry if my grief made you feel differently.”

  “No, it didn’t.” Kelly answered. “I guess I just needed to hold on to the happy memories, that’s what allowed me to move forward. What about you Deb? How did you make it through losing Dmitri?”

  Deb appeared dumbfounded. “What do you mean? I was obviously upset to lose a friend, but that was nothing compared to what you and Gen were going through.”

  “A friend, you’re referring to Dmitri as a friend?” Kelly asked.

  “Well yes, a friend, a colleague, fellow brethren in arms, what would you call him?” Deb asked.

  “Um, I don’t kiss my brothers-in-arms,” Kelly told her. “Not that the thought of kissing Antonio disturbs me on any level.”

  Gen smiled using the moment to push her guilt away. “I’m sure it doesn’t.”

  “What are you talking about? I never kissed Dmitri,” Deb told them.

  Gen and Kelly exchanged a look between them before Gen spoke. “Deb, not only did you tell both of us you kissed Dmitri, but I saw you, down by the river.”

  Deb shook her head back and forth. “I don’t remember what you’re referring to, but I’m certain you must have misunderstood whatever you saw.”

  Gen saw the distressed look on Deb’s face and chose not to push the subject further. Instead she blurted out, “I kissed Gabriel last night.”

  “I knew it!” Kelly yelled as she slammed her hand on the kitchen counter. “Spill it, I want to know every sordid detail.

  “Kelly!” Deb exclaimed “Not appropriate.”

  “Why not?” Kelly answered. “It’s not like sleeping with her husband after forty years would be an unforgiveable act!”

  Gen and Deb couldn’t help but laugh. Despite the grueling day, it was nice, Gen thought, to relieve the tension with some humor.

  “I kissed him. The minute he got close enough, I launched myself right into his arms, knocking us both to the ground.”

  “Nice!” Kelly shouted as she held her hand up to Gen for a high five.

  “Next time I see Jared, I’m doing the exact same thing!” Kelly told them.

  As if on cue, a soft blue light swirled around the room and Jared appeared in the kitchen no more than five feet away from them.

  Gen watched Kelly push her seat back and run right into his arms. Jared wasn’t thrown off by her actions, he caught her with ease, whisking her up into his arms for a passionate kiss. Just as Gen was about to motion for her and Deb to leave the kitchen, Jared pulled back and placed Kelly down on her feet. Despite it being Kelly’s idea, Gen thought her sister was the one who looked shell shocked, not Jared.

  “Hi,” Jared said as he looked down into Kelly’s eyes.

  “You should take me somewhere, like right now,” she told him.

  He laughed. “I would like nothing more, but that’s not why I’m here, luv and unfortunately, I’m unable to stay more than a few minutes.”

  “Why are you here?” Deb asked.

  “Why are you only able to stay for a few minutes?” Gen asked

  Jared ignored their questions and looked at Gen. “I’m so sorry about everything that’s happened. We had no idea how much time had passed since we’ve been gone.”

  Gen nodded. “Thank you. I’m sorry too.”

  “Who’s we?” Deb asked.

  Jared looked over at Deb. “Me, Gabe, and Dmitri,” he answered.

  “Is Dmitri here?” Deb followed.

  Jared looked down before answering. “No Deb, I’m sorry he isn’t. He had to stay behind and cover for us. We’ll have to tell him when we get back how long it’s been.”

  Jared cleared his throat and looked at Kelly. “Schlosser is after all three of your charges.”

  “Yes, we know,” Kelly told him “We’ve been able to piece that much together as we walked through Gen’s remembrance of her encounter with Gabriel last night.”

  Jared shook his head. “I was tailing Schlosser in front of Sophia’s house, but he never went inside and then I lost him. I’m sorry, I have to get back.”

  Kelly leaned in and hugged Jared. “If you must go, please be safe.”

  He wrapped his arms around her just when a burning light escaped a small space between them. Jared pulled back immediately and gazed at Kelly’s left arm.

  Her mark, an anchor, turned white hot and Gen asked her, “Which charge is that, Kell?”

  “It’s Gerry,” she answered without taking her eyes off Jared.

  “You need to go,” Jared told Kelly. “That’s Schlosser. Be careful, he’s not just powerful, he’s unstable. The essence he absorbed is not intended for the vessel of an earthbound demon, he’s not meant to wield it.”

  Before Gen or her sisters could follow up with further questions Jared used his powers to leave the kitchen much the same way he arrived, in a swath of blue light.

  Kelly turned back and looked at her sisters. “Are you ready?”

  “What are we walking into?” Gen asked.

  “Gerry is back in the hospital, triple bypass surgery,” Kelly answered.

  Deb added, “We need to be prepared for anything and stay open to one another.”

  “I’ll have Xavier stay connected to me,” Gen told them. “That way he can inform the others while we’re there.”

  Retrieving weapons, the three of them orbed from the kitchen to the hospital in unison.

  “Let’s go kick some demon ass!” Kelly hollered.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  Kelly heard the beeping of machines as she entered Gerry’s dimly lit hospital room. He looked tired, in and out of sleep as he struggled to get comfortable. There were multiple lights on his machine that were blinking, but no alarms were going off. A nurse was busy typing information about his vitals into a portable laptop strapped to a tall adjustable table on wheels.

  There is no sign of a demon here, at least not in Gerry’s room, Kelly informed her sisters knowing they were checking the intersecting hallways to be certain.

  Deb entered the room as the nurse made her way out. “So, he’s okay then?”

  “From what I can tell,” Kelly told her. “He seems to be resting as comfortably as one can in a hospital bed.”

  Gen arrived last. “I don’t sense a demon anywhere near here, Kell.”

  “Yeah, well that’s what happened the first time my mark went off for Gerry. He wasn’t in danger from demons then either, he just needed help finding aspirin and a phone to call an ambulance.”

  “Hmm, strange,” Deb commented. “We obviously don’t always encounter demons when our marks go off, but …”

  “But what Deb?” Gen asked.

  “Well, Jared seemed to almost send us here. I guess it could have been coincidence, but he seemed certain this would be Schlosser.”

 
“True,” Kelly agreed. ”Since Jared has once again disappeared, I’m at a loss as to what we are supposed to do here.”

  “Are you guys sure Gerry’s okay?” Gen was looking at Kelly when she asked the question. “His eyes are open and he’s staring right at you?”

  Kelly looked over at the bed, Gerry was in fact staring up at her. She stepped a few feet to her right and his eyes followed. “Oh crap” Kelly said out loud. “Can he see us?”

  Before anyone could respond Gerry slowly shook his head up and down in the affirmative.

  “Oh boy,” Deb said before taking a step away from the bed.

  Kelly could see Gen step forward. “Gerry can you hear me?” she asked, but Gerry didn’t acknowledge Gen, he kept his eyes firmly on Kelly.

  “Ok, well he can only see you apparently,” Gen said.

  “That’s not making me feel better,” Kelly uttered quietly.

  Deb asked, “What do we do? Are we on the verge of being exposed?”

  “I don’t think so,” Gen said.

  “I don’t see how we can be exposed when we aren’t in human form,” Kelly replied.

  “Does he have psychic abilities?” Deb asked. “Sometimes people open to the supernatural can pick up on us.”

  “I doubt it, this guy is as straight and narrow as they get,” Kelly answered.

  “Here comes another nurse,” Gen told them.

  The door pushed open and in sauntered a large framed female nurse with purple scrubs and a cup full of pills.

  “Afternoon Gerry how are we today sweetheart?” she asks him.

  “Who is that?” Gerry pointed past the nurse and over to Kelly.

  “I think you’re still a little groggy hun. There’s no one here right now, except me. Your daughter just left to get something to eat for lunch, she’ll be back soon. She’s been so worried about you, that child is a Godsend, spending the time to rub that soothing lotion all over your hands and arms.”

  “Gerry, trust me, only you can see me,” Kelly said to him. “If you tell her you’re seeing someone that she can’t see, you’re bound to end up on anti-psychotic meds.”

  “I don’t know that we should be telling him we’re real,” Deb offered.

  “Why not?” Kelly shot back.

  “I don’t think this is helping, he thinks you’re talking to yourself,” Gen interjected. “Remember, he can only see you, not us.”

  “True,” Kelly agreed. “Gerry, I have to leave now, but just know I’ll be watching over you. You’re in good hands here, you should be good to go home soon.”

  Kelly watched the nurse hand Gerry the cup of pills, which he took with several sips of water.

  “Ok Gerry, I know these make you sleepy, so you rest now.” The nurse soothingly told him. “Sleep is good for the soul,” she emphasized before turning and making her way through the three of them and back out to the nurse’s station.

  “Let’s step out into the hall for a few,” Gen suggested.

  “Good idea,” Deb agreed before heading for the door.

  Kelly took one last look at Gerry. His normally healthy black skin was ashen from the fatigue of the procedure. His hands and arms were peeling from either too much sun or a side effect of all the medication they had him on. She looked at the chair next to the bed. Draped along the back was a bag and a lightweight raincoat. On the table were some magazines and a bottle of medicated lotion.

  Kelly approached the bed. “Close your eyes for me Gerry.” She watched him hesitate but eventually comply. Once he did, she placed both her hands, palm side down, above him and healed his skin. When she was done, she smiled. “That should help a little Gerry, now get some sleep.”

  Outside the room, the bustle of nurses and visitors filled the hallway. Kelly walked far enough away where Gerry wouldn’t be able to see her out the small glass cutout in his patient room door.

  “Ok, even if he strains, he shouldn’t be able to see me,” Kelly told her sisters. “Now what? Do we just head back to the house?”

  “I think we wait for him to fall asleep and call Tom and Frankie,” Gen told her.

  “Why?” Deb asked. “There’s nothing happening here.”

  “Gen wants to snoop in Gerry’s dreams,” Kelly pronounced.

  “It’s not snooping if we need the information,” Gen said defensively.

  “Hey, I’m with you Gen,” Kelly said lightheartedly. “It’s just unusual for you to suggest such a thing.”

  Deb wandered back over to Gerry’s room. “He’s asleep already, and he looks much better. Not only is his skin healed but his coloring is less peaked.”

  “Great, let’s get started,” Kelly said.

  “Not yet, he needs to get in REM.” Gen was quick to add, “Let’s walk some more of the hospital while we wait, we could have missed something.”

  Kelly was quick to agree. “Works for me. Stay open, you know our brothers would be pissed if they found out we separated from one another here, but obviously we’ll be more efficient if we separate. It’ll allow us more time here in the room with Gerry. I’ll take this floor, you two take the one above and below.”

  Deb and Gen nodded in agreement before walking off in different directions. For the next fifteen minutes or so Kelly meandered throughout the ninth floor looking for any sign of the supernatural and found none. There was a steady conversation between the three of them as they went about their search. Kelly was feeling confident there was nothing supernatural happening.

  Returning past the nurse’s station Kelly stopped when she heard the television beep. Looking up she read the beginning of a weather advisory crawl across the bottom.

  “Hey, bad weather heading our way,” she said to Deb and Gen. “I’m reading a weather advisory on the TV and it says severe thunderstorm warning for this immediate area for the next thirty minutes.”

  Her sisters remarked they were on their way back to her. She continued past the station toward Gerry’s room to meet up with them. A few nurses were already complaining about the possibility of sporadic power outages in the non-patient areas. Some of them were groaning about the age of the building and how temperamental the electrical system gets in a storm.

  As Kelly rounded the last corner, she stopped short. Gen was standing in front of Gerry’s hospital room. A big bruising demon was standing between them.

  “Deb, can you still hear me?” Kelly asked.

  “Yeah, I’m almost there,” Deb answered.

  “Hurry, Schlosser’s here, outside Gerry’s room.”

  Kelly cautiously approached from his right. She thought about shoving him down but then stopped when Gen held her hand out to halt her.

  They know me too well sometimes, Kelly thought grumpily.

  As she neared them, she heard the demon’s labored breathing and caught a whiff of his foul odor.

  Rot, he smells like he’s rotting right here in front of us, Kelly thought.

  She approached slowly from his right, catching sight of his head she could see splits in his sallow sagging skin. The green puss that oozed from wounds that weren’t healing were most likely the cause of his stench. He turned right to look Kelly over, his eyes were black as coal, his pupils fully dilated, the surrounding white iris sprinkled with red-orange venom.

  Good God something vile is coursing through his body, Kelly thought.

  “What are you doing here, Sunshine? Back for round two?” Kelly mocked. “I gotta say, this look,” Kelly waved her hand up and down the length of his body, “you’re really not pulling it off.”

  Schlosser chuckled and smiled in Kelly’s direction. His teeth were crooked and yellow, par for the course, Kelly thought, but the forked tongue was unique. He was much taller than Kelly and her two sisters. Obviously, he was heavier too, but in looking him over she saw weak points.

  If he attacks go for the left side, he’s favoring it. Kelly told her sisters telepathically but heard no response.

  Great, he’s cloaking, Kelly begrudgingly thought.

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nbsp; Deb approached from the far side and her eyes grew wide as the demon turned left to face her.

  Suddenly Deb’s voice swirled in Kelly’s mind bringing relief. “He’s getting worse,” Deb explained. “His wounds were not gaping this severely when I saw him last. And the wreaking smell of death is much stronger.”

  “Deb, I think you just broke his cloaking. I couldn’t hear either of you until you arrived,” Gen added.

  “She did,” Kelly relayed. “I was trying to tell you guys to go for his left side if he attacks, he’s favoring it.”

  “Good to know,” Gen replied as Kelly saw Deb nod in the affirmative.

  “Well, looks like I hit the trifecta tonight,” Schlosser said. “I’ve been looking for one of you and now I’ve found all three.”

  The lights flickered just as a bolt of lightning streaked across the sky.

  “Storms coming!” he told them, then Kelly saw the corners of his mouth curl up as he smiled at Gen. “I’ve waited a long time to find you, Genevieve O’Mara.”

  “Yes, crawled your way out of Hell,” Gen said to him. “That’s no small feat, must have begged, borrowed, and stole from a lot of entities to do it. I mean, you’re a bottom feeder, Schlosser, so there’s no way you were strong enough to get back here on your own. From what we hear, you’ve pissed off a lot of demons along your journey.”

  “No one’s more pissed off than me,” he spit the words toward Gen and splatter escaped his thin lips. “An unclaimed soul in Hell is worse than death. The torture I endured will be paid back to you ten-fold. You will suffer, as will all those you love.” He laughed, but it was cutoff when a large war hammer whirled into view. The demon was smashed across his right side and sent tumbling several feet in the air toward the other end of the hallway. The impact opened skin and cracked bone, leaving a bloody venomous trail along the way. His body crashed to a stop in the far corner and he labored to recover.

  Kelly looked to her left and saw Tom standing directly across from Gen. She couldn’t remember ever seeing her brother this mad, he seemed larger than life at that moment. The rest of her brothers stood in the hallway behind Tom; there was no question who was leading the charge.