One Soul Book Two

Chapter Twenty-Three

Harlee POV

There weren’t many things I was allowed to do on my own anymore, not without a Demonic or Angelic ‘shadow’ anyway.  I understood the concern, but it was slightly annoying to have someone hanging over my shoulder all the time.  I sat back on my knees on the cold ground.  It was probably the wrong time of year for this, but I was venting my frustration by planting flower bulbs.  Lilies.  This light cold weather didn’t much bother me anymore, and if I stayed behind the house, I could use my fur and claws to help me stay warm and dig the cold earth faster.  Sam crouched on the roof like an angry gargoyle, invisible to all but me.  It was still slightly creepy to have a ‘Guardian Angel of Death’.  Especially Sam.  He just oozed creepiness.  Especially up there, staring down at me from the roof.

“Could you at least come down here like a normal person if you have to do that?”  I called, squinting up at him where he crouched.  He disappeared.

“You were the one who didn’t want anything to do with us.”  Sam said dryly, walking towards me on my right.  I flashed him an aggravated look that may have included some sharp canines.

“And stalking me by hanging over me on a roof like a vulture makes it so much better.. how?  Exactly?”  I asked sarcastically.

“It keeps me away from you, and I'm still able to watch over you for your protection.”  He answered seriously.  I sighed and stood, wiping dirt on my pants.

“Thanks for the reminder of how completely different our species are Sam.”  I exhaled and walked towards the house.  Sam caught my arm.

“Harlee..”

“Not you too Sam.”  I let my shoulders slump in defeat.  I was tired, tired of listening to them try to tell me how I was wrong.  His grip tightened and instead of speaking, as I expected, he spun me around.  His lips found mine and I felt the fire burn under my skin.  “What are you doing Sam?”  I asked the moment I could break away.

“I don’t need words to convince you of how I feel.”  Sam’s voice was low and husky.  I shivered.  The next instant he had my chin in his grip, tilting my face up towards his again, and his lips pressed to mine urgently.  His tongue swiped across my lips, urging me to open them and the next touch was his hand wrapping around the gold band on my arm.  I arched back as the fire consumed me from the inside.  Sam caught me as I fell.  He let me in, for the first time since I’d known him.  He opened his mind to me, drawing me in, showing me all the foreign things, yes, but he wanted to make a special point.  He was one of the few gifted the capabilities to feel as a human, so he could do what the others could not.  He could make the connections between us apparent.  Yes, we were different, but were we truly where it mattered?  Sam seemed to be asking.  He released my lips with a gasp and placed his forehead against mine.

“You’ve taught me so much about life and love Harlee.”  Sam murmured.  “Why do you doubt we care for you?  Why do you once again hold us at arm’s length?”  He nuzzled his nose against my cheek.  “Do you love your children any less because they are half of us?  It hurts us all Harlee.  Why can’t you feel our love?”  He sounded so pitiful and desperate.  I wanted to push him away and pull him closer all at once.  I settled for letting my arms hang limply at my sides.  Sam pulled back and looked at me with concern, I was looking at the ground.  Truth be told, I was tired of fighting them off just as much as trying to explain myself.  I didn’t know why I was being so stubborn.  I couldn’t adequately tell them what was going through my head.  I thought I loved them all, but… was my love even capable of being reciprocated?  Was that what mattered?  Did we only love things that could love us back the same way?  I was so confused, and Sam had just added a new dimension to my torture, showing me how we were all made from the same pattern at its source.  Sam caught the tear before I was aware it slipped from my eye.

“So much pain.”  He murmured.  “Why do you torture yourself so?”  He still had a hand wrapped around my waist gently.  I closed my eyes.

“I’m not sure Sam.  Not anymore.”  I replied.  When I opened them again, I could tell they had changed to the Demon Form’s, everything was sharper and cleaner and the stress in my body sent my nails outward into sharp claws.  “I think I need to run.”  I blurted and Sam abruptly let go of me.  The fur burst from me and my body stretched as I twisted away from Sam, landing on all fours.  Opal scales popped out along my belly, golden feathers along my spine, an homage to Ash and Zeev that never truly faded.  I stretched and lashed my tail before racing into the small patch of trees behind our house.  I scaled one quickly and leapt to a limb wide enough to support my weight, then back to the ground and to another tree in a large frenzied arc until I settled on a branch, waiting.  Sam would follow soon, they never let me out of their sight for long.  My tail lashed, then I stilled it.  No use giving away my position too soon.

Zeev POV

“Should we warn Sam?”  Ash asked with worry from the window.

“Nope.”  I overrode them quickly.  “Let her workout some of her frustration.”

“What’s going on?”  Sands came into the room with Leila in his arms.

“Harlee got a little overwhelmed by Sam, turned Demon.  Now she’s in a tree waiting to ambush him.”  Ash offered, watching Sam approach the treeline.  Sands winced.

“That can’t be safe.”  Sands remarked, adjusting our daughter in his arms.

“Eh, Harlee can’t do too much damage to him and he won’t hurt her either.  It’ll be good for her.  Work through some of her anger.”  I shrugged.  Cael crawled up on the sofa and hung over the back to watch out the window.  Sam was just entering the trees.

“Whoa buddy, this is like a live action horror film.  ‘Don’t go into the forest man!’  Only I kind of want to see him do it.”  Ash chortled.  “Who wants popcorn?”  Ash asked as they turned to leave the room.  Cael raised his hand, eyes still riveted to the window.

“Cael does.”  I said absently, watching Sam’s dark clothing disappear into the shadows.  “Oh, looks like he knows something’s up.  He’s blending into the shadows!”  I announced for Ash’s benefit.

“He should!”  Ash called from the kitchen.  “As loud as she’s broadcasting, even Lu should be able to pick it up.”  I heard the beep of the microwave.

Harlee POV

Sam had disappeared.  I crept forward on my branch slightly, ears and body flattening as I tried to hide my dark fur in the dappled shadows of the tree branches.  My eyes fixated on the last spot I had seen Sam, and I patiently waited, watching for movement.  My tail tip twitched.  I knew he wouldn’t reappear there, so I was trying to listen for him as well and let my vision watch for changes in the pattern of shadows surrounding me.  Any slight rustle in the undergrowth, an accidental snap of a twig, a breath, my eyes were drawn to the source of the sound, waiting, watching.

“You forget Harlee, I’ve been hunting Demons for centuries.”  Sam abruptly hissed behind me, wings spread wide, sword in hand.  He brought the blade down as I leapt from the branch with a snarl.  Wings were all fine and good, but they could slow you down in a forest, even a rinky-dink little patch of trees like this.  I was behind Sam in a few skidding steps, he was on the ground again, his wings quickly folding in.  I yowled and slashed for one, snatching a dark feather and bouncing away again before Sam could get his wings away enough for a turn.  I heard him curse and bellow my name.  I grinned fiercely, all sharp teeth.

Zeev POV

“Oooh.”  The whole room seemed to exclaim as Harlee’s claws came down across Sam’s face.  She’d drawn blood this time.  He’d gotten her too, there was a freshly bleeding slice along her side, but she still seemed too worked up to notice or care about it.  Cael grabbed two chubby handfuls of popcorn and watched out the window nervously.  Suddenly his gaze flew upward and his mouth fell open, the popcorn tumbling free from his fist and open mouth to the floor.  Lu came tumbling down the stairs in the next instant and the rest of us froze, just as she began to speak.

“We have to warn Harlee-”  She yelled, but the damn Angels blew apart half our house before she got any further.

Harlee POV

The house exploded, and my babies were inside.  My family was inside!  Sam was right, why was I torturing myself all this time?  There was something more important I had been missing.  My family!  The scream of primal rage that escaped me was so loud I thought it might tear my vocal cords.  Sam grabbed me before I could burst out of the cover of the trees to go to them.

“No Harlee.”  He fought against me, whispering harshly as I scratched and clawed.  “Look up.”  He raised my chin so I was faced to look upward to see nothing less than an army had been sent for us this time.  I felt the fur shrink back into my skin and my Form fall back into Sam’s arms, completely human.  “I have to get you out of here.”  He worried.  Sam, worried.  The thought sunk in dimly somewhere that if Sam was worried, I should be terrified.

“With out them, it won’t matter.”  I replied numbly.  Sam spun me around and shook me slightly.

“Don’t say that Harlee!  Oh Hell, Zeev must be injured, you’re bleeding.”  Sam reached up and cupped a hand to my forehead and I hissed in pain as the burn started under my skin.