DESCENDANTS OF AZAZEL

CHAPTER SEVEN — THREE HEARTBEATS

CHAPTER SEVEN — THREE HEARTBEATS

"We know you're inside."

The voice came through the front door again.

Calm.

Almost polite.

That somehow made it worse.

I looked at my father.

He was already holding the dark weapon he'd kept hidden from me. The blade caught the morning light for only a second before he lowered it beside his leg.

Mom moved toward me.

"Jack, stay behind us."

I couldn't move.

Three heartbeats.

I could hear all three of them clearly now.

One was slow and steady.

The second was faster.

The third was strangely irregular.

I couldn't explain how I knew that.

I just knew.

Dad moved toward the hallway.

"Marcus," Mom whispered.

"I know."

He looked at me.

"Whatever happens, don't open that door."

"What if they come in?"

Dad's expression hardened.

"Then you stay behind me."

Another knock.

This time harder.

BOOM.

The entire door shook.

Ethan appeared halfway down the stairs.

"What was that?"

Dad immediately turned.

"Back upstairs."

"But—"

"Now."

Ethan froze when he saw the weapon in Dad's hand.

He didn't argue.

He disappeared upstairs.

I stared at the front door.

"Who are they?"

Dad didn't answer.

"Are they the Elders?"

"No."

"Then who?"

"People who work for them."

The door shook again.

BOOM.

A crack appeared near the lock.

My heart started racing.

Dad stepped forward.

"Jack."

I looked at him.

"If the door breaks, you run."

"Where?"

"Anywhere."

"That's not an answer."

"It's the only one I have."

The lock finally gave way.

The door swung inward.

Three people stood outside.

Two men and a woman.

They looked completely ordinary.

That was the first thing that frightened me.

No weapons.

No strange clothes.

No glowing eyes.

Nothing that made them look supernatural.

The woman stood in front.

She looked about thirty.

Dark hair.

Pale skin.

A long black coat.

Her eyes moved past Dad and settled on me.

She smiled.

"Jackson."

Dad raised the blade.

"You were told to stay away from my family."

"We were told many things."

Her eyes returned to the weapon.

"But the Council changed its instructions."

Dad's grip tightened.

"What instructions?"

"Bring the boy."

My stomach dropped.

Dad stepped between us.

"You're not taking him."

The woman sighed.

"I was hoping you would cooperate."

"I won't."

"Then this becomes difficult."

The two men stepped forward.

Dad moved first.

He crossed the distance between them so quickly that I barely saw him move.

The blade struck the first man's shoulder.

He staggered backward.

But he didn't fall.

The wound began closing.

I stared.

The man's flesh slowly knitted itself together.

My breathing stopped.

Dad turned toward the second man.

"Run!"

I didn't.

I couldn't.

The second man grabbed Dad from behind and threw him across the room.

Dad crashed into the wall.

"Mom!"

Mom grabbed my arm.

"Jack, come with me."

We started toward the stairs.

The woman moved faster.

She appeared in front of us.

I stopped.

She smiled.

"You're just like him."

"Like who?"

She didn't answer.

Her eyes narrowed.

"Interesting."

I felt something change.

Not around me.

Inside me.

A pressure.

A strange sensation behind my eyes.

The woman took one step closer.

"Come with us, Jack."

Her voice sounded different now.

Softer.

Almost hypnotic.

I felt the urge to obey.

My feet moved slightly.

Mom grabbed my shoulder.

"Jack!"

I blinked.

The feeling disappeared.

The woman looked surprised.

Dad saw it.

His expression changed.

"Don't listen to her."

The woman smiled.

"So it has already started."

Dad attacked her.

She dodged.

The blade cut across her arm.

She looked down at the wound.

Then back at him.

"You should have killed me."

Dad's eyes hardened.

"I was hoping I wouldn't have to."

She lunged.

Dad blocked the attack, but the impact sent him crashing into the dining table.

I heard his heartbeat.

Fast.

Too fast.

"Mom!"

She pulled me toward the kitchen.

"Jack, we have to go."

We ran.

Behind us, something shattered.

Then I heard Dad shout.

I stopped.

Mom pulled my arm.

"Keep moving!"

"He's hurt."

"Your father knows what he's doing."

Another crash.

Then silence.

We reached the back door.

Mom opened it.

Cold air hit my face.

"Go!"

I stepped outside.

Then stopped.

The three heartbeats were no longer in the house.

They were moving.

One toward the backyard.

One toward the side of the house.

And one...

Above us.

I looked up.

A shadow moved across the roof.

"Mom."

"What?"

"He's up there."

She looked up.

Nothing.

Then a man dropped from the roof.

He landed several feet away.

The ground beneath his shoes cracked slightly.

Mom pulled me backward.

The man straightened.

He wasn't the same man we'd seen inside.

His eyes were fixed on me.

"Original-Blood."

I felt my stomach twist.

He smiled.

"So it's true."

Mom stepped in front of me.

"You don't know what you're talking about."

"I know exactly what I'm talking about."

He took a step closer.

"Do you know how long we've been waiting?"

I looked at Mom.

She looked terrified.

Not worried.

Terrified.

The man raised his hand.

"Come quietly."

Something inside me reacted.

A pressure built behind my eyes.

My hearing became painfully sharp.

I could hear the man's heartbeat.

Mom's.

Dad's.

The two men inside the house.

Everything.

Then I heard something else.

A voice.

Not from outside.

Not from inside the house.

A voice somewhere far away.

"Find him."

I grabbed my head.

"Jack!"

The world blurred.

For a moment, I saw something that wasn't there.

A wooden boat.

Dark water.

Rain falling from a black sky.

A child crying.

A man carrying him toward a massive wooden structure.

Then the vision disappeared.

I stumbled backward.

"What was that?"

The man was staring at me.

He looked frightened now.

"He's seeing it already."

Mom grabbed me.

"Jack, we have to leave."

"But what did I just see?"

"Later."

"Mom!"

"Later!"

She pulled me toward the street.

We ran.

Behind us, the man didn't follow.

He simply stood there.

Watching.

As we reached the car, Dad came running out of the house.

His shirt was torn.

Blood ran down the side of his face.

"Get in!"

Mom opened the passenger door.

I climbed into the back.

Dad jumped behind the wheel.

The engine roared.

He drove away before the doors were even completely closed.

I looked through the rear window.

The man was still standing in our yard.

He wasn't chasing us.

He didn't need to.

He already knew where we lived.

Dad drove several streets before finally speaking.

"Did they touch you?"

"No."

"Did they compel you?"

I hesitated.

"The woman tried."

Dad's eyes met mine through the rearview mirror.

"What happened?"

"I don't know."

"Tell me."

"She told me to come with her."

"And?"

"I almost did."

Dad's hands tightened around the steering wheel.

"Almost?"

"Something stopped me."

He was silent.

Mom turned toward me.

"Did you feel anything?"

"Yes."

"What?"

I looked down at my hands.

"Pressure."

"Where?"

"Behind my eyes."

Dad looked at Mom.

She understood something I didn't.

"What?" I asked.

Neither answered.

"Dad."

He kept driving.

"Your blood is responding."

"To what?"

"To another Nephilim."

I frowned.

"She tried to compel you."

"Why didn't it work?"

Dad's silence returned.

I leaned forward.

"Why?"

He finally answered.

"Because your blood is stronger than hers."

I stared at him.

The words should have made me feel powerful.

Instead, they made me feel afraid.

"How strong?"

Dad looked at me through the mirror.

"I don't know."

"That's not good enough."

"I know."

"Then find out."

Dad's jaw tightened.

"We've spent seventeen years trying to make sure you never had to find out."

I looked out the window.

Everything outside looked normal.

Cars.

Houses.

People walking their dogs.

A woman carrying groceries.

Nobody knew what had just happened.

Nobody knew what lived beneath the surface of their world.

And suddenly, neither did I.

My phone vibrated.

I pulled it from my pocket.

Another unknown number.

One message.

YOU SAW THE ARK.

My blood went cold.

A second message appeared.

BUT YOU HAVEN'T SEEN WHAT WAS INSIDE IT.

I looked at Dad.

"Dad..."

He glanced at me.

I turned the phone toward him.

He read the messages.

His face changed.

"What is it?"

Mom asked.

Dad didn't answer.

He pulled the car to the side of the road.

Then he turned around and looked directly at me.

"Whoever sent that message knows more about our family than they should."

I swallowed.

"What does that mean?"

Dad stared at me.

"It means the people hunting you aren't the only ones who know you're alive."

He started the car again.

And for the first time, I understood something.

The people outside our house hadn't come to kill me.

They had come to take me.

And someone else had been watching them.

Someone who knew about the Ark.

Someone who knew about me.

Someone who seemed to know exactly what I was becoming.

I looked down at my phone.

Another message appeared.

This time, there were only five words.

ASK YOUR FATHER ABOUT THE LAST SON.