(BLAINE)
"Easy, brother." Thereon says as we stand across the street from the antique store. "I can sense your anger."
"Of course. I am angry." I grit my teeth. "He told me no."
Thereon knows better than to laugh, though his lips twitch with a smile anyway.
"I should just burst in there right now, take what I want and leave. What will a puny human do to stop me anyway?"
"Cyrus wouldn't be pleased." He says, all the traces of humour gone. The sun comes through the branches of the tree that we are standing under, shining on his red hair. "He demands that we don't draw unnecessary attention to ourselves."
"Fuck Cyrus."
"Blaine," Thereon grabs my arms and steps forward. "Don't make me call the others to drag your ass back home."
"Whatever the demons are after, it is in that shop." I growl and jerk my arm out of his hold and keep staring at the building. " I sensed something powerful, Theo. Something dark. And I can't leave this place without it. If I sensed it, I'm certain that the demons will sense it too. They will have swarmed this place by nightfall."
I picture the man I had met earlier. He is young, probably in his late twenties. Sandy brown hair, hazel eyes and black framed glasses. He had an average build and not so much muscle. I doubt he would be able to fend off the demons. They would rip him apart.
"We'll wait here then." Thereon says. "Keep watch until the sun sets and break in through the back when the store closes."
"I'll let Kian know."
I close my eyes and search his mind. As Nephilim, we don't have full angelic powers, but we can communicate with each other telepathically.
"I found the item." I tell him. "We are just waiting until nightfall to retrieve it."
"Did you see what it was?" Kian asks.
"No, but I felt its power."
"What aren't you telling me, Wrath?"
I take a deep breath then face the shop. A group of teenagers walk into the shop just as two ladies exit. Humans go on with their normal lives, ignorant of the great threat that surrounds them.
"Tell me, Blaine."
It isn't a surprise that Kian senses my unease. He knows me better than anyone ever has.
"The power felt dark. Familiar."
"Familiar? How?"
"I haven't felt anything like it since Zenith."
Silence.
I have to be wrong, because Zenith has been locked away, shackled down below the earth where no one can ever find him. His only companion is darkness. It is certainly impossible for him to rise again.
"I'll wait to speak with Cyrus until we know more." Kian finally says.
Wise.
Cyrus has trained us since we were young, but he has no love for any of us. Never once has he failed to remind us that the only reason why we are alive is because we are useful to him. Take that usefulness away and we were done for. One wrong move is all it would take for him to take our heads off. Better to figure out what we are dealing with first before bothering him. Because if it turns out to be nothing, he might very well make good on that threat.
"So," Thereon says, leaning against the tree trunk and crossing his arms. "You saw anything good in there?"
"At the antique shop?"
"No." he rolls his eyes. "In Kian's ass when you were kissing it."
"Don't make me hurt you, Greed."
"Oh yeah? Hit me harder, daddy."
"You're far from my type." I drop my hand from his chest.
Thereon grins and flips his lip ring with his tongue. "Since when?"
I call him and the others my brothers, but we are not related by blood. Our fathers were created, not born. Thereon and I had once fucked. I liked it rough, and he liked getting it rough. Perfect match, but not really. We butted heads too much. It lasted for just a few weeks before we nearly killed each other.
I ignore him and return my attention to the antique shop. The sun will set in another hour or so.
"I was serious about the shop." Thereon says, wiggling his pinky finger. "I could use another ring. Something shiny and unique. Expensive."
The seven of us do our best to fight the worst of our sins' urges. Me with my vengeful anger, Thereon with his pursuit of material things. Valerian with his insatiable sex appeal. But those sins are part of us, and we can never fully overcome them.
"I didn't see anything that would appeal to you."
"I'll be the judge of that."
"Just don't forget the reason we are here in the first place. The item is the priority."
"Yeah. Yeah."
The Asian male who had been working at the shop leaves at nightfall. He puts on a neon green bike helmet before jumping on a crotch rocket and drives through the cluster of bikes as he heads downtown.
"That's a nice bike." Thereon says. "A Kawasaki Ninja H2R. That shit isn't street legal. Naughty little boy. How did he get his hands on that?"
"Focus, Theo."
The shop owner locks the front door then shuts off the light.
"We will wait just a little bit longer." I say. "I'd prefer the humans be gone by the time we break in."
I tune in to my surroundings, searching for any sign of demonic presence. Then I catch a faint stench of shade, but it seems to be farther away. Maybe down by the docks again. Kaiser and Valerian are patrolling other areas of town and will dispose of it soon.
"The lights just turned on upstairs." Thereon says.
I follow his gaze and see a light coming through the upstairs windows and a shadow passes across. Blue flickers across the glass next. Like a TV has been turned on.
"It looks like he lives up there."
"Thanks for stating the obvious."
"You're welcome." Thereon smirks.
Thereon and I conceal ourselves more in the shadows when a car pulls up on the curb minutes later. A woman steps out, carrying a bag with the name of some nearby Chinese restaurant slapped across it. She walks around to the side entrance. A human wouldn't have seen from this distance. But all of my senses are enhanced. I see the man from earlier open the door, take the bag, hand her some cash and step back inside.
"Chinese food sounds good. We missed dinner being out here." Thereon says.
"Okay, Kaiser."
He chuckles. "Hey, just because we are immortal doesn't mean that we can't enjoy some food. Some sweet and sour chicken would slap hard right now."
"You can get some later."
The woman gets back into her car and puts it in reverse. As the headlights flash across the tree we are standing under, we crouch down then stand back up once she is gone. The streetlight beside the building flickers on and off before going dark.
Scurrying sounds from the left, and I smell what I assume must be burning flesh and ash filling the air.
Shades.
I withdraw my daggers as one springs towards me. I drive the blade into his neck and as it disintegrates, I kill another, Thereon slices one in half before throwing his golden dagger and hitting another on the chest. Smoke swirls up around their bodies, but a thin layer of charred flesh remains beneath it.
"We have to get to that shop. Quickly." I say as I take down two more. Shades often travel in packs of five, but there are more of them this time. That only proves that whatever it is they are after, it must be of great importance,
And someone wants it. Badly.