It didn't take me long to come to the conclusion that my father was a little more afraid of what this fox would do then he wanted to say out loud.
My first inkling of that came when I learned a few days later that Raziel had been transferred into my last class. Apparently, it was conveniently discovered that Raziel needed that class credit to graduate. It turned out to be a convenient way for him to both stay close to me and access the situation with me.
As it turned out, Raziel had not seen the guy calling himself Zane Hedel until that first day when he joined my class, and it didn't take him long to figure things out after he laid eyes on him. He'd told me that once the two of us were able to be alone afterwards.
"No doubt about it. That's definitely a fox."
No, I wasn't surprised at all when he told me that. I was more than certain now that this guy wasn't Zane, and it wasn't just his eyes or the sense of unease I had about him.
To confirm my suspicions about things, I'd spoken to him before class started when Anna was out the previous afternoon, and the guy didn't know anything about the ring that I was wearing. I even alluded to it, and he didn't notice. That was what sealed things for me. This person wasn't the Zane I'd known in Miami. That ring had been Zane's parting gift to me, and the promise that we'd always remember each other. There was no way he'd ever forget about it.
But what disturbed me the most about all of this was everything that he knew. I was positive that this fox had been stalking us in Miami back when I'd been dating Zane. He mentioned places that we'd gone, things we'd talked about. He'd even talked about how nice it was that I'd been able to move on with my life and meet someone like Sean.
I didn't miss the coldness that flashed in his eyes when Sean's name was mentioned. Yet, he kept up the friendly act towards me the entire time, and even said goodbye to me when the class was over. If he was planning something, then he was taking his time with it.
I came to this conclusion for how long it took him to allow Sean to see him. He went on for nearly two weeks like this, disappearing as soon as classes were over. But one afternoon, as I stood with Sean in the common's area talking, I saw him suddenly stop and look forward. I followed his gaze and noticed Zane standing across the large room near the lockers. The two stood still in their respective places, eyes locked on one another. Then, Zane smirked and walked away towards the doors leading outside.
I immediately looked back at Sean as he did.
"You know, don't you?" I guessed quietly.
"Yeah, that's him. That's the one we've been looking for." Sean confirmed, keeping his voice low.
"Is that what he's always looked like?"
"No. He's changed his appearance drastically, along with hiding his true aura. No wonder Manake couldn't track him."
And there was the confirmation I'd suspected all along. He had been mimicking Zane this entire time. But thinking about that, I knew I needed to tell Sean about it.
"He's copied the guy that I told you about from Miami. He looks just like Zane, and he knows about my time with him. It's like he was watching back then." I informed him.
That one caught Sean's attention, "You're kidding me."
"I wish. He looks just like him, but I could tell from the start that his eyes were different. I mentioned it to Michael, but he asked me to wait on talking to you about it. He thinks that he's up to something with this." I explained.
Sean crossed his arms, "And I bet he's introduced himself as him too. He's probably trying to throw you off because he's figured out that you're with me. But how the hell did he know about that guy?" he muttered.
"I don't know, but like I said, it's like he knew us back in Miami somehow. It's really creepy. I hate that I have to keep calling him Zane's name too." I admitted.
"I get it." Sean comforted me as he put an arm around my shoulders, "I'll make sure he can't do anymore to you, and you don't need to keep calling him that name. Just call him by his real name from now on. It's Flint."
I held onto Sean and closed my eyes. This whole thing was beginning to feel like a nightmare now, and I wished that I could just wake up. I feared what might end up coming if this continued.
Another three days passed, and things still remained quiet. Yet I couldn't shake that sense of foreboding deep inside of me. Flint had to be planning something big, but why was he taking so long to make a move? He couldn't have been that concerned about my family if he'd shown up like this, and now, he'd dropped out of sight at the school. He hadn't shown up since that afternoon that he'd allowed Sean to see him.
The tension remained among us as Raziel, Sean and I sat up in my room that evening. While I'd hoped that hanging out together would help with ease our anxieties, it wasn't working that well.
Raziel was leaned back in the computer chair, tossing a pencil up and down.
"I don't get it. Why would a full-blooded fox show up at the high school looking like someone you knew? If all he wants is you, then why doesn't he just challenge you?" he was saying.
"It doesn't always work that way. Foxes like Flint aren't ones for straight forward approaches most of the time." Sean answered from where he was sitting with me in the bean bag chair.
"What is this all about anyway? Why does he want to get to you so badly?" Raziel asked him.
Sean sighed, running his fingers through the back of my hair again, "You could say he's partially family." he admitted.
"Family?" I repeated.
"Unfortunately, yes. I wasn't the only one born from my father during the time that he lived. Flint was one of his full bloods, but they weren't close from what I recall hearing, and there's always been the sentiment that he's never liked me." Sean explained.
"Damn. Must suck to be in a fox family if that stuff's gonna happen." Raziel commented.
"It's not unusual for the ones like me, and I'm not worried about it. If he wants a fight, then I can give him one. But he's not going to hurt the people I care about." Sean told him.
"Just be careful. It's bad enough that you've almost gotten yourself killed before because you didn't think that you were outmatched." I sighed.
"Trust me, it takes a lot to outmatch me." Sean assured me.
Raziel huffed, looking at his phone again.
"Are you okay?" I asked him. He'd been looking at his phone a lot in the last hour since he'd been up there with us.
"Yeah. I was just wondering where Anna is. She told me that she'd call whenever her dad left." Raziel answered, sounding a little defeated.
"You really should just tell the old man now. You know your relationship is going to be caught eventually, and you said yourself that you're planning on staying with her." Sean told him.
"My situation's a little different from yours Fox. Besides, you're lucky that Michael is Mia's father. He's the more laid back one in our family. If it had been my dad, he probably would've killed you for what you tried before." Raziel informed him.
"It wasn't like Michael hadn't been ready to." Sean admitted.
"He was really angry that day. If I hadn't been able to stop Sean, Michael probably would've done it." I agreed.
"Whatever possessed you to try and attack a Nephilim anyway? Even if she didn't have her wings, you knew who her dad was." Raziel pointed out.
Sean just shrugged, "Bad instincts I suppose. I'm sure that Raphael has told you all about that with foxes and other creatures like ourselves. The younger ones tend to run on their instincts and allow them to take over completely at times. It's usually a losing battle for us against them. I'm rather grateful I got the help I did, even if it wasn't intended."
Raziel stood up and glanced at his phone, "Well, at least something worked out with all of that."
"What are you doing?" I asked him.
"I'm just gonna check on something. You are staying here, right?" Raziel responded as he looked at Sean.
"Of course. It was at Michael's request that I do so with my mother. I think Manake's been worried about this too, considering he's spoken to Michael several times about it now." Sean responded.
That was true. Michael had met with Manake several times in the last few days. The request that the fox had made to him was simple; he wanted us to keep an eye on Sara when he could not. As Sage's closest friend, he'd always felt that it was his duty to protect Sara and Sean, and needless to say, it bothered him to think that another fox was running around who might cause Sara harm. Since Sean himself was old enough to run on his own, he wasn't as worried about him. But Sara was completely human, and an easy target for a fox to manipulate and harm. For this, Michael agreed to Manake's request of shelter for them.
I had to admit that it did feel a little bit weird to think that we were now living under the same roof. I wouldn't complain, but it was something that was taking some getting used to.
"Be careful Raziel. You know what Michael told us." I warned him.
"I know, but I'm not going after that fox. I just want to check on something, so I'll see you later." Raziel responded.
I had a bad feeling about that as he left, but didn't feel like there was anything I could do. Raziel was very stubborn when he wanted to be. Of course, he got it honest too. I'd seen many times where Raphael was the same way.
The room was quiet as I snuggled with Sean there. In the silence, I could hear a car start, then drive away outside of the house.
Sean looked towards the nearby window, "I'm not sure I'd trust him on all of this where Anna's concerned." he admitted.
"You don't think that Flint would actually go after her, do you?" I had to ask.
"I don't know. He's always been unpredictable from what I've heard..."
Sean stopped, slowly sitting up more as his attention returned to the nearby window.
"Sean?" I said cautiously.
I'd come to know this reaction by now. Sean would do this whenever he sensed something that he was unsure about. His senses of smell and hearing were far superior to mine.
"Something's coming" Sean stated as he got up and went to the window.
I got up to look with him. At first, I could feel nothing unusual. Then the familiar feeling of being watched washed over me. I followed where the direction where it was coming from and could see a pair of glowing golden eyes watching us from the woods near the front of the house.
Sean let out a frustrated grunt, "What is he thinking? He knows this is inviting the Nephilim to come after him." he muttered.
"Is that... Flint?" I asked in disbelief.
I could barely believe what I was feeling as I looked at those eyes. This aura was much more powerful and menacing then Sean's had ever been back when he was stalking me.
Sean turned and headed out of the room. I hurried downstairs with him, unsure of what to do. He was definitely going to confront Flint, and I didn't know if it was even my place to try and stop him.
I felt someone grab my arm and pull me back as soon as I stepped outside. It was my dad. He had come out there with Sara, and was keeping us back near the house. I noticed that Sara looked very tense now as she stood partially behind him.
Sean stopped about four feet in front of us and stood his ground as Flint emerged from the woods, pacing a few feet away as he faced him. He was very similar to Sean and Manake in how they looked as full foxes, though his fur was a dark grey in color. I also noticed that he had four long tails. Michael had told me that tails on a fox like this showed their age. One for every thousand years of life. So that meant that Flint over four thousand years old.
My mind boggled a little at realizing that. But then, I felt the same way with Manake. These foxes had been around for a very long time.
"Stay back with us. Let him handle it." Michael whispered to me.
It felt like an eternity as the two stared each other down, but I had the distinct feeling that Sean was accessing the situation. He was incredibly intelligent, always thinking one step ahead in just about everything. Even Raphael had commented on that one in the past month. It was something that bothered him at times because of the possibility that Sean may try to outsmart even us.
Flint finally broke the silence.
"Well, it seems that you've landed yourself a cushy position among half angels." he commented, allowing all of us to hear him through his telepathy.
"I wouldn't really call it that. I've simply managed to be accepted. But you're pretty bold yourself. You'd come onto Renaldi territory knowing full well that you're trespassing? Not to mention your little charade in disguising yourself as a former friend of Mia's." Sean responded.
"Think of it as a good way to get in close enough to access things, and I won't cause harm here, so it is at the Renaldis' discretion of whether or not to drive me away. However, I could not help but notice your scent here as well. Allying yourself with Nephilim. How interesting." Fling noted.
"That is none of your concern. Tell me what business you have here in this small town. Is this all about finding me?" Sean demanded.
"And if it is?" Flint challenged.
"You know that the Renaldis have claimed Madison as part of their territory to protect, and on top of that, so have I when it comes to other foxes. Are you this intent on challenging me now that you'd face down those with angel blood running through their veins?" Sean continued.
Flint was quiet for a moment, but I had the distinct feeling that he was smiling.
"I have no conflict with Nephilim. However, you of all creatures should know your place among the rest of us elite pure bloods. You should not exist. Your existence itself is an abomination." he declared, pacing back and forth and whipping his tails.
This was what was behind everything he was doing. Flint had no intentions of getting along with Sean because he saw him as inferior. There was no doubt in my mind that he'd come there to challenge him. Perhaps he'd even come there looking to get rid of him. If what Sean had told me before was true, then fox nature truly was a cutthroat thing.
Michael took a step forward and spoke up, "You won't challenge him here, and if you try to cause harm to any of us or those around us, you'll be inviting retribution. We don't take kindly to those with ill intentions."
"Point taken." Flint replied, "However, you may find that there are some things you will not prevent right now. More to my point, I came here to offer my challenge to the half breed. Either he faces me, or I will make sure that this town suffers; and that includes taking on those who believe that they have more power just for lineage."
With that, he turned and took off into the woods, disappearing within seconds. I looked at Michael, feeling the shiver run down my spine. Flint had done something already, and I had the terrible feeling that in may have involved Anna.
Sara stepped forward and held Michael's arm.
"This is bad. Something's already happening. That's the real reason he came here." she whispered.
Sean continued to stand where he was, though he was now looking up and sniffing the air. It was like he was searching for something. I just hoped that he wasn't getting ready to go after Flint.
Michael seemed to be thinking the same thing that I was.
"Sean, you're not thinking of following that fox right now. You'll be led into a trap if you do." he warned him.
"No. There's something else that he left behind. He had a scent on him that was familiar." Sean admitted as he looked back at us.
"Whose was it?" I dared ask. I could already feel the pit forming in my stomach.
"I need to check on this Michael. If it's what I think it is, Raziel may be walking into something much more than he bargained for." Sean stated.
"You don't think something's happened to Anna, do you?" I asked him.
"I don't know. That's what I want to check on." Sean answered.
Michael's phone began ringing as we spoke. He took it out of his right pocket and looked at the number.
"It's Raphael." he told us, turning it on and hitting the speaker button, "I'm going to take it that something's happened."
"Very much so. I'm heading to the Smith farm right now. I just heard a report come over the scanner at the diner that the house is on fire." Raphael told him.
We all tensed up as we heard that. Was this what Flint was threatening?
"You're sure about that?" Michael asked him.
"I just doubled checked it with a friend who's heading to the scene. It's definitely the Smith house. Is Raziel still there with you?" Raphael responded.
"No. He left about ten minutes ago." Michael admitted.
"That's what I was afraid of."
I looked over in time to see Sean transform and take off into the woods. I was sure that he was heading to the Smith house too so that he could find out what had happened.
Michael glanced at him leaving before continuing with Raphael.
"It looks like Sean's heading there now, and so are we. If Raziel's there, then we may need to tread carefully with whatever might've been seen."
"I'm going with you." Sara spoke up, "I might be able to help if I see what Flint's done there. I know a lot of the older fox's tricks."
Michael agreed, "All right. Let's go."
I was beyond nervous as we rode down to the Smith Farm. I didn't like not knowing what was going to happen now that Flint had taken the offensive; and with Sean taking off like he did, it wasn't hard to tell what his intentions were. He wanted to see what Flint had done, then go after him. I knew the feeling I got from him from the moment that he'd realized that it was Anna's scent on Flint. He's become very angry. I just hoped he'd use his head with that.
The Smith farm wasn't very far from where we lived, only about five miles. We had seen the billowing black smoke in the sky even when we got into the car. The scene we came upon there looked like something out of a movie. There were a lot of first responder vehicles there, and the two-story farmhouse was completely engulfed in flames, which the firefighters were working hard to control.
I had the sense that Sean was there, but he remained in the nearby woods, watching it all unfold where no one could see him.
I felt instant relief as we got out and saw Raziel standing nearby. He was with Anna by one of the nearby ambulances. Her mother was there too, but she looked like she was still in shock. I didn't see her father anywhere, but I could see that all of their clothes were stained with soot and smoke.
"Oh, my God." Sara whispered as she stood with us and looked at the burning house.
Michael was a little stunned too, "He's caused all of this already?" I heard him say quietly.
Raphael was coming over to us by then. Of course, his first order of business had been to retrieve Raziel. I was sure that this one had scared him more than he wanted to admit. Knowing Raziel, he probably hadn't thought twice about racing into that house to save Anna and her family. I was sure that he'd been in there. I could see where his shirt and pants were singed.
"What in the world happened here?" Michael asked them as they came over to us.
"It's worse than it looks. According to what Anna and Beverly are saying, Ben set the fire after locking them in an upstairs room. He was trying to kill them." Raphael explained, keeping his voice low so that the people near us wouldn't hear.
"Her own father?" Sara said in disbelief.
"He's acting like a damn psycho." Raziel huffed, glancing at one of the nearby police cars. A man I recognized as Anna's father, Ben Smith, was sitting in the back. He looked very calm as he watched the flames burn.
Sara was figuring things out as she looked at him, "I remember seeing something like this before. It's a fox's spell. Flint used it to remove any empathy Ben had along with controlling his mind. He won't hesitate to do anything Flint orders now, or hurt anyone as he feels like it." she explained to us.
I looked at Raziel, "Did you see what happened?" I asked.
Raziel sighed, running a hand through his hair. I could see some soot fall out of it as he did.
"Only the tail end of it. I found him standing outside the front door and lighting the match to set the place on fire when I got here. I tried to get him to tell me what he was doing, but he wouldn't respond to me at all. Then I heard Anna and her mom screaming upstairs, so I ran up there and managed to get them out through a window as the fire started spreading. I almost couldn't get it open though. Guess I have Sean to thank for that one." he admitted.
"I'm taking it you must have had a visitor for Sean to know this was happening." Raphael stated, looking back at Michael.
"Unfortunately, and he's made his intentions clear. He wants Sean, or things like this will continue to happen." Michael told him.
"So what now? There's no avoiding that fight if this crap is gonna keep happening." Raziel pointed out.
We all continued to keep our voices low though. No telling who might be trying to listen in. There were a lot of people there now.
"We'll deal with it however we can, but for now, it would be better for us to get out of here and regroup." Raphael suggested.
"Fine. Just let me make sure that Anna's gonna be okay first." Raziel told him.
"That's fine." Raphael agreed.
I watched as Raziel went back to Anna and spoke to her. She was sitting on the back of the ambulance now, holding a blanket around her and still shaking.
"Poor thing. He's just destroyed her family." I heard Sara whisper.
Michael and Raphael didn't seem to be listening. Instead, I could hear Michael speaking quietly.
"You realize that we're going to have to play all of this very carefully Raphael, especially if Sean's form or Raziel's wings were seen."
"I can handle that if it happens to come up. It's simple for me to change Beverly's memories. But my more immediate concern is figuring out where we go from here. He's already shown us some of what he's capable of. We can't afford to slip up anymore on this." Raphael responded.
I was too busy watching Raziel with Anna to pay much attention to what they were saying. I confess that I felt a twinge of jealousy as I saw him hug her and kiss her. I had been with Sean for a while now, but that certainly hadn't happened between us. In fact, sometimes I felt like Sean was still just as much of an enigma as he'd been on the day that we'd met. It made me wonder if I was really making any progress with him at all.
Within minutes, Raziel was back, and we were getting ready to leave. It wouldn't have done us any good to stay any longer. There was nothing else we could do there.
But looking back at the woods as we pulled out, I could see the large silver fox that was still watching things from the nearby woods, and I had the distinct feeling that all that was running through his mind now was how he could get even.