RaylineMy lips curved upwards as he reached for the opening of the plastic bag. He fiddled with it before pulling a large black box out, and when he realized its shape, his face dropped."Is this ..." The bag fell to the floor, and he looked at the instrument case. "Is this the..." His gaze immediately met mine, while I held back my smile."Open it," I said again.His hand grabbed the end of the zipper and traced it along the box before opening the lid to reveal a black acoustic guitar. His eyes roamed over the guitar's handle as he placed his hands on the wood, and his eyes lifted to meet mine again, shining with genuine affection."You got me this?"I nodded with a small smile. "I know the last one meant a lot to you because it was from your mother. But since it was broken... I thought you might want a new one."His eyes flashed a magenta color as the corners of his lips tugged upwards. He then carefully grabbed the handle and took it out of the box to place the body on his thighs.
Rayline"Cole? Cole, honey, wake up.""Hmm?" I slowly opened my eyes. The room was dark, but I could see a familiar face in the glow of the lamp. It was Aunt Spencer, Cole's mom. "What's wrong, Mom?" His voice came out of my mouth. And that was when I knew that I was in the depth of his memories."I need you to do me a favor." Aunt Spencer said and Cole took a seat on the bed, his eyes still squinted. His mom then knelt down in front of him. "I think Jesse has more injuries than he is showing." There was a hint of worry that filled her voice. "Do you think you can heal him, just a little?""He..." Cole trailed off while rubbing his eyes, "he won't let me.""I know. Though he is sleeping now, he is in pain." There was concern on his mom's face. "Do you think you can do it without waking him up?"Cole did not answer for a moment, as his eyes glanced toward the door. "I think I can. But won't he know?" He finally answered.His mom shook her head. "Don't heal him completely. Just enough f
RaylineMy eyes slowly open as a familiar scent tickles my nose. But then my vision is blocked, and I realize that my face is pressed against his hard chest. I looked up to find him peacefully asleep, then my eyes trailed down to his neck to see the various purple hickeys left over from the previous day. I flash a small smile and lift my hand to gently touch the marks.The moment my fingers touched his skin, for a split second I felt a throbbing pulse throughout my body, and my breath started to hitch. I pulled my hand back, and once again, I felt it, my body going numb."Kill." An eerie voice echoed in my head.My chest started to churn violently as I stared at Cole who was sound asleep before me."Kill." Once again that haunting voice rang in my head.I force myself to lie on my back, pulling myself away from him. My eyes stared at the ceiling, and I closed my eyes while taking a deep breath."Kill. Kill. Kill.""No," I whispered softly, while my hands squeezed the sheets tightly."
RaylineCole went on and on about Rome and Italy, adding a few half-true stories to give my mom a reasonably satisfactory answer. Mom smiled and asked a lot of questions, but thankfully Cole was very good at coming up with answers to all of them. All the while, I started texting Darren on my cell phone to ask if he was at the Nephilim base.Not long after, Cole got to his feet to take his plate to the sink, and I followed behind him.“Oh, I can take that, honey.” Mom held out her hand and said.“I don't mind washing it,” Cole says, but mom shakes her head.“Come on, you are the guest.” Then she took the plate.“Thank you.”She throws him a smile and then takes my plate too with a little sideways glance. She started to turn on the water from the sink, while Cole leaned against the counter facing me, and I stepped in front of him.“Are you going to the Nephilim base?” he asked quietly, and I took his hand.“Yeah. Darren's already there.”He hummed softly, while my fingers intertwined wi
RaylineI lifted my forearm with the dagger sticking out, just as Cole and Nicolas had taught me. I applied their instructions and then got into a low stance. I watched Cole's stance before taking a breath and lunging. I swung the blade low, and he stepped back, dodging the attack before sliding to the side and blocking my wrist.I shifted my weight and twisted to try to shake off the attack from above, while he dodged again, ducking and swinging his leg to knock me down. And yet, I quickly rolled backward, moving faster than him. As he tried to reach for his blade, I did not waste the opportunity. Instead of going for a stab, I tried to elbow him in the side, but another hand caught my wrist. He then kicked out his leg and knocked me down on one knee. I tried to adjust myself, rolling onto my back to knock him down, but he had already anticipated this and managed to get back to his feet.As soon as I got up, I felt his hand grip my other arm. But instead, I twisted around and knelt b
RaylineI looked closer and noticed that they were history and mythology books, dozens of books.“Are you...” I reached out and picked up one of the books. “Are you researching the lore of angels and demons?”“Yeah,” he said as he flipped through the pages, and my jaw dropped. He then turned to me. “You guys said that I would get in the way in the field, so I did my best.” He put down the book. “Reading.”I flashed him a smile and moved closer to rest by his side. “So,” I started, “what are you researching?”“How to get these runes off of you.”“What?” I looked up.“Mrs. Parker said you had to kill the spellcaster, so all the supernatural beings are looking for Silas to find out who cast the spell, right?” He asked.“Supernatural beings?” I raised an eyebrow.“What? They need some kind of name,” he said and I rolled my eyes.“Well, that was exactly what she said.”“But!” he cut me off. “She also said that if you use the angel relic, it can be eliminated.”“Yeah, but she said they were
Rayline"Wow, is this..." As I handed a piece of paper to all of them, they all immediately looked at the paper on the table."Yeah," I said as I took a seat near the counter."And he found all this out just by doing some research?" asked Taylor in a surprised tone."Yeah. Just give Darren a task, and he will dive in head first.""Does any of this really exist?" Jesse asked as he pointed at the paper, his eyes meeting Chase's."From what we have learned, everything he listed is already known to exist," Chase nodded."I'm also shocked that he was able to find myths and legends that can be traced. There are so many religions and beliefs that could be possibilities. I'm surprised that they're all true.""Well," Cole broke in, "among all the beliefs and stories, you can see the similarities..." His finger traced the list of words on the page. "And among those similarities, that's where you can find the truth.""Never really had it looked at like that." I raised both my eyebrows."So it lo
RaylineIt was just too bright. My eyes could not see a single thing. I whipped my head around, looking frantically as a gust of wind passed me by.“Mom!” The sound of Cole's voice is clear, but I can't see him.In a flash, the light was fading and was turning gray. I noticed that I was staring at the sky. Clouds. I was falling.“Mom!” shouted Cole again as he looked around. Now I could see the ground, and it was quickly approaching.There was another figure nearby, falling to the Earth, and I realized that it was his mother.Cole managed to get on his stomach, his limbs stretching as his black wings spread. A strong wind blew past my face, making it hard for me to see. Then I realized that there was water covering his vision. He was crying.He was trying to flap his wings, doing everything that could be done, but only flapping his wings to get close to his mother's body. Then it hit me. He had no idea how to fly at all.Cole grimaced as he used all his strength to flap his wings, fig