Embraced (The Eternal Balance #2)(37)

Jax


One minute Sam and I were on the street, the next we were being choked down by the earth. It took a moment, but as my eyes got used to the dim light, I was able to see we were in someone’s kitchen.

Sam stood next to me, rubbing her eyes with the heel of her hand, and to her left was…Sam. A younger version, fourteen or fifteen. She stood in front of Kelly, head bowed and shoulders rigid.

“I want the truth,” Kelly screamed. “Tell me who was driving.”

“I was,” Sam insisted. She lifted her head, eyes meeting her aunt’s with a spark of challenge. “It was me.”

“What is wrong with you?” Kelly raged.

“Rick said I could pay him for the damage over time. He said—”

“Do you think I’m a fool?” her aunt demanded, dropping her voice. “That I don’t know who was really driving?”

“It wasn’t—”

Kelly slapped her. The sound echoed through the room, and even though the moment was long gone, I was still furious. This was the aftermath of the night I’d crashed Rick’s car. Sam and I had both been drinking, and I’d been an *, insisting I was fine to drive. A deer ran out in front of the car, and I swerved to miss it but ended up veering into a tree. Sam made me switch places before the police arrived, telling them it’d been her behind the wheel. I’d already been in so much trouble. One more strike would have landed me in an entirely new pot of hot water.

“You told me she was pissed, but that it was no big deal,” I said as calmly as I could manage. “She hit you, Sammy. She f*cking hit you.”

Sam ignored me, watching the scene unfold.

“You’re going to let him ruin your life, Samantha,” Kelly barked. “The police chief says this will go on your permanent record. For what? To protect some loser who will knock you up the first chance he gets and then leave you hanging?”

Kelly had always hated me, and I couldn’t give a shit, but I’d never heard such venom directed at Sam before.

“I did what I had to do,” the Sam beside me said softly, looking away from the scene. “You can’t fault Kelly. She never knew you like I do.”

I didn’t get the chance to respond. The room changed again, this time dumping us out in an open field. Michael stood in the shadow of a large tree, arguing with another man.

“You cannot do this,” said the one I didn’t know. He placed a hand on Michael’s shoulder. “It will tear our kind apart.”

“It is already done,” Michael said, brushing the other’s hand away. “The inequality is unacceptable, Gabriel. It ends now.”

“Angels,” Sam whispered. She stepped around me and walked toward them, enthralled by their presence. “But if we’ve been seeing things from our past, why show us this?”

I shrugged and joined her closer to where they stood. “Who the hell knows? This whole thing is a mind f*ck, if you ask me. That bastard doesn’t know anything about getting that thing off your wrist. We need to cut our losses and go find—”

“Shh.” She waved at me and leaned closer to the arguing pair.

“What brought this about, brother?” Gabriel took a step back and shook his head. “Things are as they have been for eons.”

“Exactly,” Michael said. “We will fight for our right to be more than just drones. To matter.”

Gabriel took a step back, stunned. “This will lead to exile.”

“Then so be it,” Michael said, resolute.

Everything grew blurred and watery. I thrust my hand out, blindly searching for Sam, but caught nothing but air. When it all cleared, I was someplace else, thankfully with Sam beside me.

“Now what?” she said, glancing around. We were outside in the middle of a thicket. Several men approached from a distance.

I took her hand and pulled her from the path. “No choice. We wait it out.”

There were four of them, Michael at the front. Not humans, but angels. They stopped a few feet from us as two more came from the other direction to meet them.

“Is it true?” One of the two asked. He was tall with blond hair and a thin mustache.

Michael nodded and bowed his head. “I am afraid so. We are exiled. Fallen from His grace.”

The rest said nothing, but there was a profound sadness in the air. Despite the fact that none of this was real, it stirred the demon, making Azi rumble with hunger.

“We must find a Pure,” Michael continued. “If we kill it and claim its energy, then we will have the power to go home.”

Again the area changed. This time Sam and I stood in front of…Sam. Another her, anyway. And another me. We were as we were today, even dressed in the same clothing. Sam stood between Michael and me. She was backlit by an unyielding glow, and both Michael and I had one of her wrists in our hands, playing tug of war.

On my side, the glow around her changed red, while on Michael’s side, it turned brighter and whiter. “Okay,” the real Sam said, stepping closer and squinting against the light. “Out of everything, this makes the least sense.”

“It makes perfect sense. Don’t you get it?” I turned away from the vision and grabbed her hands. “Heaven and hell fighting over you. Tearing you apart to use for their own ends.”