Dark One- The Khiara Banning Series Book 1

Twenty five

<3 aaaand here it is! The whole thing! Just for you beauties.

“I am so sorry,” says Dad. He is sitting on the end of my bed, his expression stricken. “We should have just told you the real story.”

Lisa laughs nervously as she plops me down onto the bed. “Sorry,” she says. “Forgot I was holding you.”

“Everything we told you was true. But we left out…some details.”

“Are you human?” I ask, and Dad laughs like I’ve just asked him if the sky is green.

He smiles. “Yes, I am. And as far as your mother knows, she is too. But,” he breathes a sigh and flops onto his back. “There are things that we both just…know.”

“Oh,” breathes Lisa, her head bobbing up and down with understanding. “You’re both Seers.”

Dad makes a noise of agreement, and then says, “Oui. We can sense all things...qui s’avez la magique. When I found you, it was because I knew to take a walk. Something inside of me knew that I would find something important, and there you were. I sensed your presence, because it is like no other. That is what we didn’t tell you.”

A growl of frustration bubbles up my throat before I can stop it. “Can my life get any more convoluted? Because I am seriously getting really annoyed at all of the curveballs being thrown my way. My best friend can turn into a giant fox and produce fire out of thin air, my boyfriend is a Fallen angel and ex Guardian, and my other friends are either Nephilim or more of the Fallen! I would like to take a moment of silence for my fucking sanity.”

Dad sits up then, looks at me with a quizzical expression and says, “C’est la verité?

I nod. “Yeah, you heard me right. I’m telling the truth.”

“Mon Dieu,” he whispers. “This is,” he nods to himself, “yes, it feels right, I suppose I knew the company you keep was different, but I never sensed a threat so I ignored it.”

There’s a knock on my door then, and Lisa walks over to it. “Mrs. Banning?”

Dad gets up and says, “Let her in, it’s her...and others.”

 ~*~

Samael is lying on my bed.

Lisa is on the phone, sobbing.

Cael’s sister is lying on my bed.

Sam’s biological mother is unconscious on my bed.

Why are my thoughts so jumbled?

Yes, oh, I think I’m going insane.

“Listen,” says a short, muscular man of approximately the same age as my father. His thick hair is grey at the temples, and his skin is dark. “My name is… My name is Jachniel, but you may call me Jake.” His accent makes everything he says sound kind of staccato.

“I have travelled very far to get here,” he eyes my parents, as if sizing them up, and then nods to himself, deciding that they’re worthy of his presence. “It seems that I will be stuck with the body of an old man until salvation,” he turns his gaze on me. “It has been a very long five hundred years.”

“I left you a necklace,” he says, peering into my eyes. “I suppose I had hoped you would not lose it so soon.

“It was stolen,” I say, feeling defensive. “By Douma.

Jack cringes. “Yes, well, it is the same thing. You do not have it anymore. I suspected one of Lucifer’s servants would try to steal it. Samael told me as much would happen. She is the more pessimistic of the two of us, though she was always the most optimistic twin.”