CHAPTER 26 - Acting
I woke up on the sofa in my house. It was all a dream, right? It must have been a dream.
I reached out to find him, Scott are you there?
Natalie, I love you Natalie. Please remember that. He sounded tired, listless.
Where are you Scott?
I don’t know, it’s dark and they... they hurt, Natalie they hurt so much. I am so scared Natalie. I don’t want to die.
His pain constricted my throat and brought tears to my eyes. I could feel him breaking down. He sobbed almost in defeat and I could feel his courage leaving him.
Don’t give up Scott. I am coming for you.
NO! Natalie, the pain, no don’t come, I love you too much. Don’t come, they aren’t human. Don’t let them do this to you, I can’t, I won’t... Please don’t Natalie, live for me,” The pain and panic in his voice as it spoke directly into my mind left me gripping the sofa and sobbing.
They are here again, I can’t stop them. I can’t do anything. They hurt, please Natalie, please ... I love you. His voice trailed off and I could feel him trying to block the pain he was in from finding me.
I opened my eyes and wiped the tears away. This was no dream. Vampires were hurting Scott and I had to be strong.
I was going to bring him home so that together we could rescue Jari. I tried to remember the full details of the plan. It was insane. How could Scott and I stop an army of vampires fuelled up on Jari’s blood? Hell, we couldn’t even beat one non-vampire Jari in the boxing rink.
So really what all this truly meant was that I was sacrificing my absentee, womaniser of a father for my in-the-dog-house boyfriend and in the process handing them a lifetime supply of Archangel power-juice and a free set of steak knives. Just insane, it just didn’t make sense.
The house was dark but I could hear voices in the garage. I opened the door to find Jari and Aze sparing in the rink. The bodies gleaming with sweat as they fought bare fist with no safety equipment.
“Hey look it’s sleeping beauty, want a kiss...?” Aze’s flirtatious smile was interrupted by Jari’s right hook which knocked him into the side of the rink.
Jari grabbed a towel and swung himself onto the floor in front of me.
“You OK?” His wiped his face without taking his worried eyes off me.
“No. Actually I am about as far from OK as you can get. How about you?”
He just smiled and rubbed his neck absently. “How’s Scott?”
“I expect you can guess. Jari it isn’t club med. This plan of yours, are you sure that it is the only way? Couldn’t we just go rescue Scott and walk away?”
“Why didn’t I think of that?” he said with mock sincerity. Off to the side I heard Aze sniggering.
“What? Why can’t we? I mean your plan is just stupid!”
“This isn’t TV Natalie, we can’t just storm in and get him out, it doesn’t work that way,” Jari grimaced and sighed before he looked at me and then softly spoke, “Natalie, Scott is with the Brood and they are in a hive. Vampires are dangerous in pairs. There will be a few more than two guarding him. They will know that he is Nephilim and they will suspect that he might be the next Irin. They will assume that he hasn’t found his Qaddis and is only starting to wake up. That will explain why I was shadowing him and why I am willing to hand myself over for him. The fact that he hasn’t fully linked with you is the only thing saving him.”
“Why?”
“The Watchers govern over the brood too. So when you fully wake you will hold the power to destroy them. If they knew how close that was they would kill Scott to prevent it. But they believe it is still a long while off and I am more valuable to them at the moment. Scott would be dead by now if I said no to this trade.”
“What if we can’t get you out of there Jari? What if we fail?”
“Then you will judge me, don’t hesitate Natalie. If the situation is lost don’t endanger yourself or Scott.”
“No, I couldn’t!”
“Yes you can and yes you will. You have to Natalie. If you don’t judge me and one of you or both of you are killed, then I will be left on-tap for the leeches. That would be far worse than judging me. So please just do it, judge me if you have any doubts at all about getting me out. And speaking as your father, I don’t want you risking yourself unnecessarily. My blood will only stay in their system for so long, so take me out of the equation and they will wane.”
“But I...”
“Shh Natalie,” he put his finger gently to my lips, “This is why I couldn’t tell you who I am. You are the Qaddis Natalie. You have a responsibility as the Watchers of the Third Tower. You must do your duty.”
“But how can Scott and I do this?”
“You have to. If you believe in each other and trust in your love then the rest will fall into place. Aze will help and Samy is doing what she can,” His laugh was a sad parody, “Samy is going to give me a virus or two and some blood diseases. That will slow them down but they will expect us to do that. Given who I am, no viruses or diseases will infect me for long. They will pass through my system and therefore their systems. This will just give you more time. But your big advantage is in surprise.”
Aze dropped down and wrapped an arm around me, “Don’t worry I will look after her.”
“That’s what I am worried about,” Jari growled, “Natalie, Aze is ticklish, once he is on the floor a sharp kick to the groin will work.”
“Hey, not fair!” Aze protested.
“It’s time to get ready,” Jari interrupted Aze’s exaggerated look of betrayal with a roll of his eyes.
Then he took my hand and pulled me into a hug, I breathed deeply as I tried to soak up as much of him as I could. He softly laughed as I clung to him like my life depended on it. Too soon he gently pushed me away and held me so that he could look me in the eyes.
“Never forget that I have always loved you. But put that aside and do what is necessary Qaddis. You have responsibilities.” He let me go and walked out of the room.
Aze wrapped his arms around me as I cried softly, “Don’t worry we will kick butt! No one would be risking this if they didn’t believe that you could do it. Now let’s get ready to go and you can introduce me to Scott, I want to size up your man. It’s not too late you know. We could be great together too.”
“Go get dressed Aze. I can’t deal with you right now.”
He kissed my forehead and smirked as he left the room. On my own in the Gym I allowed myself to fall to pieces. I shrank to the floor and gave myself over to the grief. My muscles seized in fear, my insides turned to jelly, my throat ached and my eyes stung as my emotions all fought to be heard. I released the outburst that I had been holding tightly onto. I let everything go. I released it all in a sobbing fit of misery.
Then with all the pent up emotions and frustrations purged I reassembled myself out of what was left. I found my determination and I harnessed that to my stubborn resolve. I was the Qaddis. I was going to get my Irin. I was going to get Scott. I would do this. No matter how insurmountable it seemed, I would do it.
I ground my teeth together and pulled myself off the floor. Wiping the tears from my face I headed for my room. I turned into the hall to find Jari coming out of the bathroom. His black hair damp and hanging loosely, he wore only a towel around his waist.
“I need you to look sexy, wear the short skirt I brought you and that shirt that makes your breasts look hot.” He said as he turned into his room.
“That is so wrong, given who you are!”
He smiled broadly and shrugged one of his shoulders, “Force of habit. But seriously Harold thinks that you are my girlfriend. So you are coming to the exchange in that role. You will need to look and act the part. The real reason you are there is so that you can see what you are up against.” Then he was gone.
I dressed as a cheerleader would. I even resorted to wearing a push up bra, used gallons of makeup, hairspray and finished the look off with the highest heeled shoes I had. I didn’t even look like myself but I did look sort of sexy.
I opened the door to find Jari wearing a pair of hip hugging jeans but still shirtless, his arm was raised, about to knock. I reminded myself that this glorious buff teenager was in fact my father as I couldn’t help my wandering eyes.
He looked me over and smiled broadly. “Nice!” he then laughed at my expression. “There is something you need to do if we are going to pull this off. You are going to have give the impression that you are in love with me. I know this is going to be difficult but we need to fool them.” He stepped in close to me and tilted my face to his. “Can you do this?” he kissed me tenderly as he pulled me into his body.
I pushed away, confused.
“Natalie, you do that tonight and they will kill us. You have to be able to do this. Forget what I have told you. I’m just Jari. If it helps, close your eyes and think about Scott.”
“Why? Can’t I be something other?”
“No you have to be there tonight and we can’t give them any reason to look at you as anything other than my current fling. If you come as anything else they will suspect something is up.”
“But, it’s wrong!”
“Look at me Natalie, I’m just Jari. I am hot and young. I won't do anything other than hold you, and kiss you - no open mouth kisses and nothing inappropriate. Nothing too gross I promise. Just think of me as Jari, tonight I am just Jari.”
I closed my eyes and relaxed into him and wove my hands through his hair. He kissed me gently on the lips. I thought of Scott. I closed my mind to what was really happening and thought of Scott. The end result justified the means.
I opened my eyes to find him looking intently at me. We were still standing in each other’s arms with our bodies wound together. I fought the grimace and did my best to tell myself that this was just acting. Not incest, acting.
Jari spoke softly, “Now we need to link our minds. I know you are thinking of Scott as you kiss me but right now you need to think of me. Open yourself Natalie and fill your mind with me. Open yourself to me.”
I looked into his startling blue eyes. I memorised his face. I allowed my hands to run over his arms and chest as I captured the feeling of his skin and the curves on his body. I filled myself now with nothing but him and I let myself fall in love with him. Not the romantic love nor exactly parental love but something in between. Then I looked for him, I reached for him with my mind and gave him a piece of my consciousness.
Jari? Can you hear me?
Yes Natalie.
Promise me you will behave while you are in there. No snooping.
He laughed. Even if I did it’s not like I would find anything! But don’t worry I will be good. We must start acting as lovers from this point on. They could be watching.
We walked out of the bedroom still wound around each other.
Aze whistled a low long note when he saw me. His eyes danced playfully as they moved over me lingeringly, “Now that’s something I would give up my last feather for!” He too wore jeans alone.
“Shut up Aze!” Jari sniped and pulled me even closer to him kissing me on the forehead, “You stay away from my girlfriend, OK!”
Aze gave him a short nod and was about to retort but we all tensed with the sound of the car pulling into the driveway. I felt my grip tightening on Jari.
“Ready?” Adam yelled from the front door, the car still running in the background.
With no words spoken we left the house. Jari and I sat in the backseat of the car with Jari kissing my face and neck as Adam drove.
Jari why are you all half naked? You aren’t doing some sort of male review act to distract them are you?
Trust you to come up with that, he chuckled as he kissed my neck, no it allows us the freedom to use our wings if necessary.
Wings? I thought ...
We lost our feathers my Natalie, we still have the power of flight. We are just not as gracefully as we once were.
He smiled gently at me as he ran his fingertips over lightly over my face, like he was trying to memorise me. His eyes turned sad and his brow crinkled slightly.
Natalie, this is going to be hard. Scott will not look good. You must control yourself when you see him. Adam will look after him. You must not react to Scott your eyes must be for me alone. This is very important. Now warn Scott that he must do the same.
I closed my eyes and thought of Scott and let my love for him find his mind.
Scott, I am coming now but you must not notice me. Look only at Adam. Do you understand?
Please Natalie they are dangerous, I can’t let them do this to you. Don’t come.
Scott I am coming. Just don’t look at me. You don’t know me. Promise me.
I promise. His voice faded. I could feel his exhaustion.
I opened my eyes and nodded to Jari, unable to say or think the words. His smile was filled with sadness as he wiped away the tear that was trickling down my cheek and hugged me closer to him.
“I love you Jari.” I whispered into his chest and felt his arms tighten in response. “I love you so much.”
“Thank you,” he breathed into my hair. “I love you with every fibre of me. I always have Natalie.”
Suddenly I remembered something and I pulled away from him. His arms tightened so I didn’t get far.
What about your virus’ won’t I catch them?
No Samy is very good at this, many centuries of practice you might say. You are in no danger from that.
He pulled me back into his chest and I closed my eyes and tried to absorb him. We had such little time together. I wished I could have it all again. Redo it all.