Sapphire Flame (Sapphire Wings Book 3)
Part III: 5

I knocked quietly on Noah’s door after standing there for a few minutes listening to the piano music. It was seven in the evening now, and everything had been quiet for most of the day. It seemed like the perfect time to try and catch Noah for a talk. If anything, I wanted to speak with him about his parents. Raziel was still acting off, and I knew that it was about his son. He was still blaming himself for Noah’s unhappiness.

So, I’d decided that since I had time, I’d stop by Raziel’s house to visit with my great-nephew and find out exactly what was going on with him.

I heard the piano music stop as Noah answered.

“Yes?”

Noah was still sitting at his piano, flipping through a music book as I stepped in. I closed the door quietly and walked over beside him.

“You realize that we need to talk,” I told him.

“What for? Have I done something again?” Noah asked as he looked up at me. His expression didn’t change though.

“Is that a sign of a guilty conscious Noah?” I teased.

Noah turned on the bench to face me fully, “I guess you’ve caught me. But what’s this about?” he asked.

“I wanted to talk to you about your father.”

“Why?”

“Don’t play dumb Noah. I’m sure you’ve realized that he’s worried about you.”

Noah looked down as I said that, “I know, but he doesn’t need to be. I’m home now, and this time I won’t be going anywhere.” he quietly reminded me.

“Noah, you know that’s not the real reason that he’s upset.” I pushed. I was really hoping that he’d just come out and admit what we both already knew.

“The real reason huh?”

“I’m not judging you for not feeling that you belong here, but I am concerned about what all of this is doing to your father. He’s been pretty down over you being so unhappy here.” I told him.

“So Dad knows about that?” Noah asked. I had this funny feeling that he’d thought that he’d hidden it from him.

“He does. In fact, he was quite upset about it last night when we were coming home. He thinks that he’s done something wrong.” I informed him.

Noah shook his head, “No. It’s nothing him or Mom did. I just… I don’t always like it here.” he admitted.

“Can you tell me why that is? Are you really that resentful of Sevee?” I pressed.

“No.” Noah answered, “It really doesn’t have anything to do with him. It’s always been me. No matter what I’ve tried, I’ve always felt like I’m an outsider, and it only felt worse when Noel was around.”

“That curse caused Noel’s power to manipulate emotions that were already rooted within people. It’s no coincidence that your mother tried to commit suicide because of her. The feelings have to be there for her to amplify, and it seems that she did the same with you.” I explained.

Noah looked away, “It’s not that I want to leave my parents or anyone else here. I just have never been able to feel like I belong here. Even when I’m around Seraphina, I still feel it. Seraphina and I aren’t the equals that I’d hoped for. She’s not like me at all.” he stated quietly.

I drew in a long breath, considering my words carefully. Obviously, there was something more to this. It made me consider what Aiden had been saying. According to him, he didn’t think that the whole situation before had been Noah. Could Seraphina have been trying to use Noah for something as well?

But I decided not to say anything about that. Instead, I felt it better just to offer a few comforting words to a boy who was obviously still finding himself.

“Noah, I won’t stand here and preach to you about whether the things that bother you are right or wrong. But I will tell you that you’re always going to be a part of this family, and you’ll always be accepted no matter what happens. Personally, I think that finding Aiden and his children was probably a good turn for you to see that.” I told him.

“Actually, I was meaning to ask you something,” Noah spoke up

“What’s that?” I asked.

“I was wondering if I could take Hayden to the cemetery tomorrow. She said that she wants to get something for the family graves because she feels bad about never being able to visit them before.” Noah explained.

“Well, I don’t see where it would hurt anything.” I responded, “Just don’t be out there too long.”

I really didn’t see where anything bad could come out of this. After all, Hayden was part of our family, and it was a shame to keep her and Yuki cooped up at my house. Noah, Seraphina, and Sevee were allowed to go out like that, so it wouldn’t be very fair of us.

Besides, Hayden wanted to do something that was actually very touching. Who was I to deny her the time to show respect to the family members that she’d never been able to know?

However, I don’t think that I was anticipating the backlash that was going to come out of this little request or the unlikely person who started all of the trouble.

It was the next afternoon when first I noticed that something odd was going on. It actually started out simple enough. I had just finished a conference call for my real estate business and had decided to go back downstairs to fix a drink and take a break. It had been a long few weeks as it was, and I was feeling a little more than grateful to get things back into a normal routine, even if I did have some new houseguests and we were still trying to deal with Noel.

But as I came to the stairs, I felt a little bit surprised to see Mia standing in the hallway outside of my bedroom door. I felt slightly nervous as I saw the worried look she had. Something was up again. I could sense it.

But far be it for me to just leave it alone and let her deal with it. If there was something more to it, then I had to be ready if I had to settle it. So I walked over to her.

“Is something wrong?” I asked.

Mia actually jumped a little, then quickly turned towards me, holding her chest.

“Oh, you scared me, Dad. I didn’t even hear you coming.” she breathed.

“Is something going on? You're standing here like you're worried about going in.” I responded.

Now I was more concerned. It wasn’t like Mia not to notice me coming. In fact, in all of these years, it had always seemed like I could never sneak up on her. She must have been very lost in her worries not to even hear me.

Mia let out a long sigh, still looking just as worried, “It’s Seraphina. She locked herself in your room right after we got here and won’t come out. I don’t know what’s going on, but she’s been pretty upset since this morning and she won’t talk to me or Sean. We thought maybe bringing her by to visit would help, but she ran up here and this happened. Even Sevee couldn’t get her to unlock the door for him. So, I asked him and Sean to let me try alone because I thought that she might try to open up to just me, but I haven’t had any luck, and I’ve been trying for almost ten minutes now.” she admitted.

“So she wouldn’t talk to anyone?” I asked her.

That didn’t bode well at all. Seraphina had never pushed anyone away from trying to help her, even when she’d tried to take her own life from the curse’s influence before, and certainly not her twin brother. If anyone could get her to open up about what was bothering her, it had always been Sevee. For her to refuse to talk to him was a bad sign.

Mia shook her head, “No. She’s locked the door, and she won’t say anything. Sevee’s really upset too. He knows that something’s happened, and he’s already saying that it has to be with Noah and those other kids. Sean keeps telling him that he doesn’t know that, but it’s been hard to convince him. That’s why he took him downstairs and let me stay to keep trying.”

Just great. If that was true, then I was certain that it had something to do with Noah taking Hayden out. If anything, Seraphina had more than likely gotten jealous and couldn’t handle it.

But even if that was the case, we couldn’t just let her stay in there.

“All right. I’ll get in there and talk to her. I might be able to a little better, and you should make sure to keep Sevee from starting anything. We don’t know what happened, and we don’t need trouble over assumptions.” I told her.

“I understand, and as long as it helps her, I’m fine with it. Besides, I don’t trust Sevee either. He’s already got a temper when it comes to Noah, especially with everything that’s been happening.” Mia agreed.

“Alright, go ahead then. I’ll bring her out to you in a little bit.” I promised.

Mia agreed, then headed back downstairs. Shaking my head, I grasped the knob and closed my eyes, concentrating on the lock. It clicked open for me, and I was able to open the door.

I noticed right away that the room was dark. At first, I didn’t even see her, and it worried me that perhaps she’d somehow gotten out and left the house. I couldn’t see her running away, but she didn’t need to be hiding away where we couldn’t find her.

“Seraphina?” I called quietly.

She didn’t answer, but I sensed her emotions right away. She’d been startled by the sudden voice. But also, there was a great deal of anguish there. It was almost overwhelming.

I finally spotted her on the other side of my bed. She was sitting curled up against the wall. She hadn’t bothered looking up at me.

I slowly walked over to her, “Seraphina, please talk to me.” I gently coaxed her.

“Did Mom send you to check on me?” she whispered. It was so soft I almost didn’t hear it.

“No, but she is worried about you, and I have to say, seeing this, so am I,” I said as I knelt down in front of her.

“I’m sorry Pop. I just… don’t feel like coming out and talking right now.” Seraphina whispered.

I reached over and brushed her hair back to see her face.

“Sera, what’s going on? Did something happen?” I asked softly.

Seraphina shook her head, “It’s not worth talking about.”

“I think it is. You seem pretty upset.”

Seraphina sniffed a little, curling up tighter, “It’s nothing Papa. I just let something get to me. I’ll be okay.” she whispered. Her voice was straining and I could tell she’d been crying.

“Seraphina, tell me what happened. Why are you so upset?” I insisted, sitting down and putting an arm around her.

Seraphina hesitated for a moment. It took her a few minutes to get anything out.

“He doesn’t even like me anymore, does he?”

“Who?” I asked, not quite understanding what she was trying to say.

“Noah,” Seraphina managed to get out, “Is she that much better than me to be around?”

I felt the pit forming in my stomach again. Something had obviously happened between her and Noah, and I had a gut feeling that it was to do with Hayden.

“What happened? Were you two fighting?” I asked her.

Seraphina curled up a little tighter, “Why does it hurt so much, Pop? Why do words hurt so much?”

She was crying again. I let out a long breath, hugging her tightly. I wanted answers to this, but it looked like I’d have to let her calm down first. The anguish I felt was very real. Seraphina was absolutely heartbroken over whatever had happened.

“It’s okay Sera. Just tell me what happened and we’ll figure it all out.” I whispered as I rubbed her back.

Seraphina took a few deep breaths, trying to calm herself down, “I’m sorry Pop. I just didn’t think he’d not even like me anymore.” she whispered.

“Why do you think that? Did he tell you that?” I asked, pulling her back a little to look at her.

“Not exactly, but he may as well have.”

“Why would he act like that?”

Seraphina shook her head, “Some of it was my fault. I took it a little personal when he took Hayden out and didn’t even say anything to me. I shouldn’t have said anything, but I thought that he’d at least offer for me to come.” she explained.

“He did ask me about taking her out there. She’d asked him before if he would because she wanted to visit Noel’s grave and the rest of her family’s.” I told her.

“I know, but it had been a long time since I’d gone too, and I thought that maybe he’d offer to take me,” Seraphina responded.

Now I was getting the picture. But I wanted to hear the whole story.

“So you talked to him about it?” I guessed.

“Yes.” Seraphina verified, “I told him that I thought it wasn’t fair. Ever since he came back, he hasn’t spent any time with me. It’s like he won’t spend time with anyone, but he still let Hayden talk him into doing something with her.”

“And what did he say?” I continued.

Seraphina chewed her lip a little. She was getting upset again.

“He told me that I shouldn’t worry about it. There was no reason for me or anyone else to want to be close to him anymore. He even said that this was the last time that he would do anything for her. He just wants all of us to stay away from him and that I needed to go away and leave him alone.” she whispered.

“I won’t make excuses for that, but you realize he’s had a hard couple of weeks.” I offered.

“No. It wasn’t just that,” Seraphina whispered harshly, “He said that he didn’t want to see me anymore and that I should leave him alone.”

So he was rejecting her and claiming that he wanted to push us away. At least, that was the way it sounded.

I honestly wasn’t that sure of what to think about all of that. But then again, I really couldn’t be sure that Seraphina wasn’t interpreting things wrong. A person’s heart could do that after an unexpected fight.

“Sera, you know that he wouldn’t really want to not talk to you anymore, and part of the reason that he helped out Hayden today was that she just got here. Besides, with the issues that Noah’s been having lately, he may feel a bit more connected to Hayden and Yuki for now. I don’t think that it’s anything personal against you or anyone else here.” I reasoned.

Seraphina sighed, “I know. But I just want my Noah back. I want my best friend back.” she whispered.

“I understand. Just give it some time, okay? I’m sure that things will blow over and he’ll eventually apologize.” I told her.

“Okay.” she reluctantly agreed.

I then stood back up, helping her to stand as well, “Come on now. Let’s get out of here. Your parents and brother have been very worried.”

Seraphina nodded, taking a deep breath to steady herself before walking back out with me. By then, Mia had come back up there and was waiting in the hallway. She looked relieved when we came out, but her concern returned right away as she saw her daughter’s face.

“Seraphina, what in the world happened?” she asked as she came over to us.

“I’m okay Mom. I just got a little upset. I’m fine now.” Seraphina said, trying to smile at her. She wasn’t doing very well though.

Mia touched her cheeks, wiping the tears from her eyes, “Sweetie, what’s wrong? You can tell me.” she gently insisted.

“Why don’t you take her downstairs for a while? It might do her some good to be around more people.” I suggested.

“Are you sure?” Mia asked, looking up at me.

“I’m fine now Mom. Let’s go.” Seraphina spoke up.

Reluctantly, Mia took her hand and led her down the hall. I let out a long sigh, rubbing the back of my head. Damn the luck. Things like this would have to involve our new arrivals.

I was a little surprised over Noah’s actions though. Even if he no longer carried a romantic interest for Seraphina, he’d still been her best friend up until now, and to say that he didn’t want to talk to her or the rest of us anymore was very strange. I needed to look into this right away. Hopefully, they were just words said in anger. After all, none of us had heard this argument for ourselves. Perhaps Seraphina had misinterpreted things.

But as I came downstairs, I was surprised to find Yuki waiting for me.

“So you got her out,” he commented.

“I’ll take it that you knew she was locked up in my room.” I surmised.

“Yeah. I tried to follow her earlier, but she was too quick for me. She locked the door before I could get there. Don’t know what I could’ve done or said, but I was going to try. I hate seeing a girl that upset.” Yuki admitted.

Well, at least it seemed like Yuki was opening up more. But his words were telling. He must have overheard something about what had happened

“So you know about what’s happened.” I guessed.

“I caught some of it.” Yuki answered, “At least, I caught enough to guess why she was so upset. Really, Hayden should’ve thought that one through before she just let it be the two of them. But I don’t think that she realized that she’d cause this much trouble by not asking anyone else to go. But I have to say, Noah’s using this to his advantage too.”

“All right. You’d better start explaining what’s going on.” I told him.

Yuki shrugged his shoulders, “Far be it for me to be the bearer of bad news, but those two have a lot of problems, and Noel wasn’t exactly the real cause of them.”

“So, you know about the problems before.”

“I’d heard the stories. I didn’t really believe them until this afternoon. But seeing the way that girl reacted when he decided to put her in her place, I’m pretty sure they were accurate. Personally, I think that he’s finally realized that he was being used before.” Yuki explained.

I glanced over towards the den. It seemed quiet enough. Maybe Seraphina was starting to feel a little better now. I didn’t feel her sadness like I had when I entered that room.

“I’ll take it her and Noah got into it over Hayden, considering what you and Seraphina have said,” I said, deciding to see just what Yuki knew about all of this.

Yuki nodded, “I didn’t think that she was one to argue, but I guess she’s a fighter when it comes to what she wants, and it seems like she’s so attached to Noah that it scares her to think he might actually like someone else better than her. But really, I don’t know that much about those things with girls. I’ve never really had an interest in them, so they’re kind of a mystery to me.”

“Is that so?” I replied. Now, this was getting interesting, especially if it was as he was implying.

Yuki leaned against the railing of the stairway. He didn’t seem too bothered by any of this, although I detected a slight hint of nervousness from him.

“Well, I know that my dad told you that I was different, and it’s in a lot of ways. To tell you the truth, I’m not the type of guy who likes girls. I lean the other way.”

Well, this was news to me. I really didn’t think that a Nephilim wouldn’t be straight. But at the same time, I couldn’t say that it bothered me either. After all, you are who you are, and it’s not right to judge anyone for such things.

But before I could say anything to him, a commotion upstairs caught our attention. It sounded like banging and shouting.

“That doesn’t sound too good,” Yuki commented.

I immediately turned and went back upstairs to see what was going on. Yuki followed me as well. It seemed that he was more than curious about what was happening now.

What we found was nothing less than what would’ve been an all-out brawl between a Nephilim and a fox in the upstairs parlor. Sevee and Noah were really going at it this time. While things between them had always been somewhat volatile before, they usually had the restraint to walk away from their arguments. This time though, it seemed that walking away was the last thing on either’s mind.

Thankfully, Raziel and Sean had managed to step in and hold them back from each other. I’d rather not repeat the foul language that was going on between them.

“What is all of this?” I heard Raphael ask. I turned to see him standing beside me.

“A little help here?!” Raziel called.

Sevee and Noah were still struggling to get at each other, and it looked like both of their fathers were having a hard time holding them back. They must have been furious to be that strong.

Raphael let out a frustrated grunt, walking into the room and standing between them.

“That’s enough!” he told them, bringing out his wings.

Aside from myself, he was the most powerful of us, and he had the uncanny ability to knock back the opposing sides when they were ready to physically fight. Sevee and Noah fell to the floor as they were knocked out of their fathers’ grips.

Beside me, Yuki smiled, “Nice.” I heard him say.

I took a second to glance around the room. Those two had been going at it before Raziel and Sean had stopped it. That was rather obvious, considering that there were several broken shelves and the far wall had a gaping hole in it. Sevee also had his fox ears out, while Noah had his remaining wing.

And here I’d thought that we could avoid having the house destroyed. Too bad I’d been wrong. These repairs were going to be expensive. But such was a fact of life when you have a bunch of Nephilim and three Foxes in your family.

Raphael looked at them squarely, “Now, what the hell do you two think you’re doing?” he demanded.

He sounded quite irritated now. Noel’s curse was waning again. I wondered if maybe it was getting weaker with time.

“They were fighting when we got up here. It took everything we had to pry them apart.” Sean explained.

I hadn’t noticed until then that he and Raziel had also transformed. Raziel’s wings were out, and Sean had removed his limiter, which brought out his ears and tail. I had the feeling that taking off that limiter was the only way that Sean could restrain his son when he became enraged like that.

The two boys didn’t say anything, but continued glaring at each other. By then, we had company joining us too. Gabrielle had come in and was looking around in surprise with Mia and Seraphina.

“What in the world happened?” she asked.

“It looks like they’re having problems controlling their sons,” Yuki commented, looking over at his father. It seemed that Aiden had come to check as well, although I had the feeling that he was making sure that Yuki wasn’t involved.

“You’re one to comment on losing control,” Aiden told him with a dour look.

Sevee stood back up as he spoke, still glaring at Noah, “You bastard! You really think you had a right to do that?!” he yelled.

Great. It wasn’t over yet.

Noah returned the glare, standing as well, “I can do whatever I want to! You have no business getting into it!” he growled, glaring back at him.

“I said that’s enough!” Raphael ordered, knocking them to the floor again.

By then, I’d guessed what was keeping this going. Seraphina was standing with her mother near me. I found myself laughing bitterly inside. One upset girl and the whole family is up in arms. This was just unreal.

“Mia, take Seraphina out of here. We’ll handle this.” I quietly instructed her.

Mia let out an exhausted sigh. She had probably figured it all out by now too.

“Come on. Let’s go back downstairs,” she said, taking her shoulders.

I nodded at Gabrielle, who told everyone else the same.

Closing the door, I looked back at them.

“All right. It’s time to end this. What’s going on in here?” I asked.

May as well get the answers from the two involved. Neither Sevee nor Noah were ready to answer though.

Raphael looked a bit more then frustrated now, “Is this all over Seraphina?” he asked them.

Sevee muttered something under his breath, but we couldn’t hear it. Sean gave him a very stern look. He did have better ears when it came down to it, so he’d probably heard something that we really didn’t want to hear again.

Raziel looked down at Noah, “What’s gotten into you? Why the hell are you fighting?” he asked him.

“He started it and I was finishing it,” Noah answered quietly.

“Look who’s talking. You’re the one who made her so miserable!” Sevee snapped.

“She didn’t have anything to be miserable about. She did that to herself!” Noah snapped back.

“Who do you think you’re fooling? You’re only hanging around that little angel because you’re bored, just like with my sister!” Sevee argued.

“Go to Hell, Sevee! You know that’s not true!” Noah countered.

They both started to get up, but I stepped up beside Raphael.

“Sit down!” I ordered.

I knew that I sounded angry, but at that point, I was very tired of all the bullshit. Those two had just practically destroyed one of the rooms of my house over an argument where each was trying to defend a girl’s honor. Teenagers or not, I wasn’t about to put up with all of this. We weren’t normal people anyway. This was the last thing we needed.

Both of them immediately sat back on the floor. Beside me, Raphael glared at both of them once again.

“Now, let’s talk like sensible adults. Just what happened here?” he asked them, keeping his voice even.

“Sevee got upset because of Seraphina. We saw her when she came out and she told us a little bit about what happened. Then this idiot decided that he was going to come up here and try to confront Noah because he knew they’d stopped by.” Sean explained.

“Is that so?” I said, glaring at the two boys.

So Sevee had lost his temper, and Noah had let his get the best of him. Just great.

“So now you know that he’s decided that he’s replacing her with Hayden,” Sevee stated.

“I never said that.” Noah shot back.

In his defense, I did believe that one. Serapina herself had told me that he hadn’t said such a thing. He’d only rejected her being around him any longer.

“I don’t know why she’s so damn nice to you anymore. All you’ve ever done is cause trouble.” Sevee accused.

“You’re one to talk. You’re the reason she tried to end her life before!” Noah accused.

“That wasn’t my fault, and you know it!”

“She’s too nice to you too! God knows how she ended up with a twin like you!”

“Will you two be quiet for even a few minutes? Just because you’re both upset about Seraphina is no reason to try and kill each other, not to mention that you’ve practically destroyed Michael’s parlor.” Raphael told them.

Both of them looked down. It seemed that they were finally coming back to being reasonable. Near them, Raziel and Sean both looked a little bit thoughtful.

“Well, I guess we can’t say much more to this, huh Sean?” Raziel admitted.

“This is true, but we’ve never gotten into a physical fight either.” Sean agreed.

“We’ve come close enough,” Raziel told him.

Indeed, they had. After Mia had gotten her wings, Sean and Raziel had gotten into a terrible argument over everything. At that time, Raziel hadn’t liked Sean at all. He’d accused him of causing Mia’s wings to come early and said that it could’ve killed her.

That all hadn’t been true, but Sean had believed it, considering how emotional he’d been over everything that had happened only hours before. Raphael and I had to hold them back from one another until Sean decided to take off for a while with Manake.

I never did have the heart to tell Mia that it was the main reason that Sean disappeared for the rest of that summer. Instead, I just let her think what she wanted and hoped that Sean returned for the school year. Thankfully, he did, and the situation was taken care of. Even Raziel backed down after that, and they ended up becoming close friends.

However, this situation now was quite different as well. Sevee and Noah had never quite been on friendly terms with each other, and things had finally boiled over. We needed to make sure that this was resolved quickly, before they began to fight again.

“Raziel, Noah, come with me. Sean, take Sevee and go with Raphael.” I ordered.

“What do you want to do about this?” Raphael asked me telepathically.

“Just make sure that Sevee calms down. Call for Lenore if you have to. I’m going to help Raziel deal with Noah for now. It may be better if I took care of him this time.” I told him.

“Agreed. You’d be more neutral for him to speak to than me, and vice versa. We’ll take care of it.” Raphael nodded.

This really was the best way to approach this, and both of us knew it. Raphael stepping in with Sevee would definitely force him to cool off, and calling Lenore back from her visit with the other Sumarians would too. I was certain that Sevee wouldn’t want to have to face his girlfriend right away. Lenore would more than likely tear into him for such stupid actions. She seemed to have a knack for putting Sevee in his place. Sometimes, she was even better at it than his parents.

Once they were gone, I looked back at Noah and Raziel.

“All right. Now tell me what possessed you to fight like this. You’ve never been in any real fights before. What made this time so different?” I asked Noah.

“He was angry, and I finished what he started. I’m not backing down to him just because he’s angry.” Noah answered.

“Come on Noah. Everyone knows that there’s more to it than that. Just what was this whole thing with Seraphina about?” Raziel asked him.

“It was nothing. She just got mad at something stupid and we had an argument about it. That’s it.” Noah claimed.

“Fine. I’ll take that. But just because Sevee’s decided to start trouble doesn’t mean you have to continue it.” I said.

But before I could say anymore, we heard the door open again. Just my luck, it was Anna. It looked like she’d gotten back from the store with Sara and heard about what had happened.

“Oh my God,” she said, looking at the room in disbelief.

“Here we go,” Raziel muttered.

“Noah, what in the world happened here? Why were you fighting with Sevee?!” Anna demanded. The anger was evident in her voice.

“He pissed me off,” Noah stated, looking away.

“Don’t you dare give me that! You know better thanthis! Just look what you’ve done! You’ve ruined an entire room in your uncle’s house!” Anna went on.

At that, Raziel stepped back in, “It’s all right Anna. We’re taking care of it, so just calm down.” he told her.

Anna took a deep breath, recomposing herself.

“Noah, what in the world is going on? This isn’t like you.” she finally said.

But Noah remained quiet. Apparently, he wasn’t ready to give in to anyone on this issue. In a way, it worried me. He normally didn’t act this way with his parents. At least, not out of Noel’s control.

“Listen, I don’t want to find that again Noah. Not from you or Sevee. If you two get into another fight like that one, then we’ll have to take steps to keep you apart. The last thing we need is for you to kill each other.” I told him.

“We won’t,” Noah muttered.

“Do you even realize what you almost did? You two are cousins for God’s sake. But you’ve both been acting like bitter enemies since all this started.” Anna fussed.

Noah just looked over at her with sharp eyes, “And you know as well as anyone that we don’t get along. We never have, and that’s not going to change just because some new Nephilim are here. That is one thing that will never change between us.” he informed her.

Anna seemed more than shocked then. But before she or I could say anything, Raziel stepped in.

“Hey, that’s enough! Your mother’s already been through enough without you acting like an ass to her, so cut it out!” he scolded him.

Noah backed down a little bit, “Sorry. I didn’t mean to take it out on you.” he apologized to Anna.

To be honest about it, I was really getting worried over this. I’d never heard such venom in Noah’s voice before, and to direct it at his mother was almost unheard of. Something about all of this had made him extremely angry.

“Noah, what is going on? What did Sevee or Seraphina say to you to make you this upset?” I asked him.

“I don’t want to talk about it,” Noah responded.

“Tell me,” I ordered.

Noah cringed a little, closing his eyes. I was a bit surprised that he withstood that one. I’d used the same force with his grandfather, and Raphael had practically had to hold his head for the pain in it.

“I told you no!” he refused.

I could’ve pushed harder, but I worried about causing him more harm. The boy was incredibly stubborn. I’d give him that.

“Fine. You don’t have to tell me. But please, no more fighting. That goes for you and Sevee both. Understood?” I said as I let up.

“Understood.” Noah muttered, “Can I go now?”

“No, you’re going to help me clean this up. We’re not going to leave it like this.” Anna told him.

“Anna, you know that I can have it taken care of later.” I insisted. I really did feel bad for having her clean up this mess. This wasn’t her fault.

But Anna wasn't backing down, “It’s fine Michael. He did this, so he’ll help clean it. Isn’t that right?” she said, glaring slightly at Noah.

“Yeah. I’ll help.” Noah agreed, crossing his arms and looking away.

Well, he had no choice but to agree on that matter.

But as Raziel and I walked back out to the hallway, he turned back to me.

“Sorry about that. Sean and I couldn’t get them to stop.” he apologized. Sᴇaʀ*ᴄh the Findɴovel.ɴet website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

“Don’t worry about it. It certainly wasn’t your fault.” I responded.

“I don’t know what’s going on with him lately. First I hear that he’s having problems with Seraphina, then him and Sevee are fighting. It’s like this whole family has lost its mind all at once.” Raziel admitted.

“I’m not sure either.” I admitted, “We’ll just have to keep an eye on him for now. But I meant what I said. If this continues, it will be better for us to separate them for a longer period of time.”

“I understand, and I know that Anna does too. Neither of us would want to see Sevee and Noah killing each other either.” Raziel agreed. He then glanced back towards the library, “Hey, I’m gonna go in and help them too. I want to make sure that Noah behaves now.”

“All right. But tell her not to worry too much about that. We’ll take care of it later. Besides, I do feel bad about her doing it when it wasn’t anyone’s fault except for theirs.” I told him.

“You know how Anna is. She’ll tell you that she can’t just let something like that go. But seriously, I’ll let you know if there’s anything else that comes up too.” Raziel promised.

“All right. I’ll check in with you soon.” I agreed.

Walking back downstairs though, I couldn’t help but reflect on all of this. What in the world was going on? That fight wasn’t like them at all. Even though Sevee had a hot temper, he’d never gotten into a physical fight with Noah before.

But then again, Noah had never really let Sevee get to him either. And to speak like that to Anna. That was completely out of character for Noah. I just hoped that there wasn’t something more going on with him that we were unaware of. After all, we still didn’t know the specifics about this so-called sickness that Noel had either. Could this nasty temper have been the beginning stages of it?

The thought was a bit more than frightening as I sat down at the dining room table and considered it. But as I did, another thought popped into my mind completely at random. My conversation with Yuki right before that fight had broken out. I didn’t mistake his words. In fact, by then I was sure of them. He was telling me that he wasn’t straight.

A part of me wondered if something like that could affect that sickness too. Could that have been why Yuki had such a dark power to him? While I personally did not consider what they called homosexuality a sin, I didn’t know for sure in the eyes of the holy.

But this kind of thing certainly wasn’t the case with Noah either. I was sure of that much. There was something else with him that we didn’t know or understand. I just wished that I could figure out what.

I would find myself wondering about all of this for the rest of the day, and as night fell, I decided to take some time to myself with it as well.

Sitting at the bar in my kitchen, I was working hard to try and remember all of the things that had happened with Noel years before. It was getting very late at that point, but I was determined to figure things out now. I had to, because at this point, I was getting that bad feeling that the same sickness may have been getting ready to rear its ugly head again. If that feeling was right, then we may have been running out of time.

Of course, turning to the past for such clues isn’t always easy either. While it was true that Noel’s disposition had changed dramatically after her kidnapping, another big question remained: Were there any other changes afterward that I could’ve attributed to her wings changing?

I thought long and hard about it, but I kept drawing a blank. When Noel had come back out from within herself, she’d developed an incredibly manipulative personality. She enjoyed using us against one another, especially where our parents were concerned. This manipulation had also allowed her control over Raphael, hence making the situation even worse. Could her forbidden attraction and act with him have contributed to her illness?

I shook my head. No. I really didn’t think so. If anything, it should’ve taken Raphael too, considering that he at least had a little bit of consciousness for what happened.

Still, thinking over Noah’s actions again, I found myself trying to compare them. Yet, I was finding that very difficult too. Noah had been nothing like Noel before all of this. Even now, he really wasn’t anything like her. It was true that he was more of a hidden child in personality, as Aiden had said, but he was always rather reserved, although he did have a competitive streak when it came to Sevee. I felt that perhaps there had always been jealousy there that we just weren’t seeing. It was possible.

However, petty jealousy couldn’t possibly be a reason for that illness either. I’d always carried a bit of my own jealousy over Raphael, but my wings had never turned. I never told anyone, but I resented that my father had always favored him when we were kids. I believe that Raphael had resented it too, along with our mother always paying more attention to me, but he’d never said anything about it either. Still, it hadn’t affected us in such an adverse way. We’d never gotten sick because of it.

For all of that, I was almost certain that jealousy had nothing to do with how this sickness progressed. But if not, then there had to be another underlying factor there, and I had to find it before Noah’s wing turned, if it wasn’t starting to already. We’d still seen no black, but that didn’t mean that the process wasn’t beginning.

“Late night Michael?”

I looked up to see Gabrielle coming in.

“I was hoping not, but I guess I don’t have a choice. I need to figure something out. But I’m surprised that you’re here. You’re not going home tonight?” I responded.

Gabrielle took a seat beside me, “No. I didn’t want to take a chance on the road, so I just made myself at home and took the sofa bed. But seriously, what’s up? You’ve been off since that fight this afternoon. There must be something on your mind because of it.” she told me.

“I suppose that I may as well talk to you about it. You are a doctor, so maybe I could get your opinion.” I requested.

“On what?” Gabrielle asked, clearly confused as to what I’d be asking her about.

“On black wings.”

Gabrielle cringed a little, but tried to hide it. The subject had always bothered her before, so I was sure she that she tried hard not to think about it, and considering that Noel had been her twin, she probably carried a bit of fear from it as well.

“Are you worried about one of the boys having them?” she finally managed to ask.

“Not right now, but I’ve been a little bit concerned about it possibly happening in the future, so I was wondering if maybe you had any ideas on what might cause them.” I clarified.

“That’s a pretty hard thing to pinpoint Michael,” Gabrielle admitted.

“Just tell me what you think. I’m just looking for your opinion to organize my own thoughts.” I told her.

Gabrielle leaned forward against the counter, thinking it over for a moment. In the dim light from over the nearby sink, I could see her frown slightly.

“Well, my guess is that it has something to do with the soul. If the soul darkens, then the wings follow. But that’s really a weak guess.” she finally answered.

“The soul huh?” I mused.

That was an interesting thought. Given what we were and what Ryo had once told us, it could make sense, and surely Noel’s soul was darkened by what her kidnapper had done to her. That much had been obvious when she’d come home. But could it have started way back then?

“We can’t find any medical causes for it, but I’m not surprised. It’s not like we’re part of the medical field anyway. The best we even know about our medical histories comes from ourselves. I doubt that our parents or grandparents would matter now, say for our grandmother, although I don’t think that her experiences in the camp would have affected us with the angel blood.” Gabrielle admitted.

“Neither do I. But I can’t help but wonder what really lead to Noel’s.” I admitted.

“You’re really worried about this, aren’t you?” Gabrielle guessed.

“You know me too well,” I said, feeling the smile cross my face.

Gabrielle always seemed to know me better than anyone. It could’ve been because of our closeness as children, considering that we were the only two that were probably sane during the issues with Noel. She’d clung to me a lot back then, and in a way, I had to her as well. We kept that closeness even as adults. We relied on each other in hard times and kept an amazing friendship that most siblings just don’t have.

“What’s going on to make you worry so much about black wings now? It can’t just be Noah and Sevee fighting and trying to kill each other. To be frank about it, we all knew that it was coming eventually, although I am sorry that they messed up your house because of it” Gabrielle said.

I didn’t miss the smile that crossed her face as she spoke though. At least someone had found that fight amusing aside from Yuki.

Still, I had to laugh too, “I guess everyone’s decided that they were trying to kill each now?”

“Yep. But like I said, it wasn’t like we weren’t waiting for them to do it anyway.”

“You have a point.” I admitted, “Those two have been at each other’s throats so long that we knew it would happen eventually. But that’s really not why I’m concerned about the black wings. I’m more concerned for the way things have been going with Noah on the whole.”

“You mean with the way he’s been acting?” Gabrielle guessed.

“Exactly. Noah’s certainly been acting odd lately, even without Noel’s presence. And it doesn’t help that he was always such a reserved child anyway. I’m not sure if it’s pent-up frustrations or something else.” I explained.

“You know, now that you mention it, it does seem like Noah’s been changing a lot lately. Ever since he came back to us, he’s been more to himself.” Gabrielle noted.

“Did you hear anything about what happened between him and Seraphina?” I asked her.

Gabrielle shook her head, “Not much. But it really didn’t surprise me that Seraphina reacted like she did. She’s always been so close to him, and if he’s really not talking to her that much, maybe she did think that he was favoring Hayden. It’s easy to find a scapegoat when you feel left out.”

“I really didn’t think that he was spending that much time with Hayden anyway. If anything, he’s been more to himself. I didn’t even know that he was here until the whole mess with Seraphina started.” I responded.

“He’s not. I can tell you that. Noah has been more to himself than with anyone else since he came back. Raphael was telling me yesterday that he thought it would be better if he began the process to move them to Baton Rouge too. He thinks that Noah needs to have a change in his life now.” Gabrielle explained.

“Come to mention it, he did say something about hurrying up on that yesterday to me as well. But nothing’s been completely set in stone yet, and I’m still house hunting down there myself. Personally, I want to be careful about where I pick because of the changed identity thing. I really am beginning to hate this changing all information thing.” I complained.

“It’s necessary now, Michael. Just look at us. We haven’t aged in years, and those children are going to follow suit. At the rate we’re going, we’ll all need to modify our information every ten years or so just to keep up the rouse.” Gabrielle reasoned.

“So, do you have any regrets about selling your practice?” I asked. It had been almost a year now, but I still wondered how she felt about it.

“Not really. I’ve enjoyed being able to be with the family more. Besides, with all our holdings and business ventures, we’ve never had anything to worry about. We don’t even need to be seen anymore if we don’t want to. But seriously, I am considering opening another practice in California once things are settled. I think working there would be fun.” Gabrielle answered with a smile.

“Well, you have Raphael to thank for most of that. He’s the one who’s made sure things go like they’re supposed to. I just set up the deals. But seriously, you would really want to go that far?”

“I know it seems like it, but we spent the first part of our lives in California too. I think that it would be nice to go back there, and it’s not like I wouldn’t keep in contact with the family too.”

I couldn’t help but smile, “I know, and Raphael and I will make sure that you’ll be okay too.”

“I know you will. But on that note, I think that it’s a good thing that Daddy and Mom didn’t try harder to separate you two when we were kids. You both always work so well together, even if you don’t always like each other.” Gabrielle commented.

I shrugged my shoulders, the smile still on my face, “It wouldn’t have done him any good anyway. If one of us was sent off, we’d have made our way home. The three of us have always stuck together.”

“It’s really sad that Noel turned out like she did. I think that we all could’ve been very close if it wasn’t for what happened to her.” Gabrielle said softly.

“Well, if it wasn’t for Noel’s actions, we wouldn’t have Aiden or his children either. So in a way, I suppose it does all work out, even if it was all tragic. There are still a lot of times that I wish I could’ve done more for her, even if it has been decades now.” I admitted.

We were quiet for a moment as we thought about all of that. I glanced over at the clock hanging over the window across from us. Midnight already. I’d been down there for three hours now, trying to figure out what to do and where to go from there.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t having much luck. I hadn’t even gotten past trying to figure out what had been the main factor in Noel’s wings turning black.

Beside me, Gabrielle tapped her nail on the table, “Hey, Michael, do you ever wonder about it?” she asked absently.

“About what?” I asked.

“About what it must feel like to know that your wings are killing you. What a terrible thing to realize. I can’t help but think about it sometimes. I sit there and wonder if Noel even knew what was happening to her. Did she know that it was her wings making her sick? Was she really afraid if she realized it?” Gabrielle continued.

I shook my head, looking down, “It’s hard to tell. Maybe she didn’t know what was happening to her until the end. After all, her wings didn’t erupt until she died.” I reasoned.

“I’m not so sure Michael.” Gabrielle admitted, “I told you what she said to me before Daddy sent her away to Aunt Dot’s. She told me that she wouldn’t live once her wings came. I don’t think that she was bluffing now. I think that she knew that they were turning and would kill her.”

I considered what she was telling me. If that was the case, then Noel would’ve known that she had this illness long before she died. It made me wonder if she sensed it, and if so, had it contributed to her actions in those next three years?

The sound of someone moving around upstairs brought me back to reality.

“Who could that be? I thought that everyone had gone to bed.” Gabrielle wondered.

I closed my eyes and felt out the house with my aura.

“It feels like Seraphina.”

I was a bit surprised about that one. Seraphina didn’t normally get up in the middle of the night and just walk around.

“What in the world is she doing up?” Gabrielle questioned.

“Don’t know, but I’m going to check on it,” I stated, getting up.

Gabrielle got up as well, “I’ll come too, just in case.”

I really didn’t feel like telling her no, so I let her follow me upstairs.

As I’d felt, Seraphina was sitting at the end of the hallway by the large bay window. She didn’t even notice us at first.

“Seraphina?” I called, trying to be a bit careful about how I sounded. She’d already had a long day, so this might have been a result of it.

“Oh? Hey Pop. I didn’t know you were up.” Seraphina responded as she looked at us.

“Is something wrong?” I asked as we walked over to her.

Seraphina shook her head.

“I wasn’t tired, so I thought that I’d come out here and look at the snow in the moonlight,” she explained.

Something seemed off about her, but I couldn’t put my finger on it.

Gabrielle studied her.

“Seraphina, are you feeling okay?” she asked softly.

“I’m fine. Why?” Seraphina asked.

“I don’t know. You just look like something’s bothering you.” Gabrielle answered, walking over to sit beside her.

Seraphina let out a tired sigh, looking out of the window.

“I guess you could say that. I was just thinking about what happened today,” she admitted.

“You don’t need to worry about that. Noah and Sevee had it out, and it won’t happen again.” I promised her.

“But that’s not it Pop.” Seraphina said softly, “You haven’t seen it, have you?”

“Seen what?” Gabrielle asked.

Seraphina looked down, “I shouldn’t be saying anything, but I was so worried about him, and even if he doesn’t want me around anymore, I still want to help him.”

“Is something wrong with Noah?” I asked her.

“It’s some of the feathers on his wing,” Seraphina replied.

“What about them?” I pressed, although I was now dreading the answer.

“They’re turning black.”

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