Dark One- The Khiara Banning Series Book 1

Twenty six

A/N the girl I dedicated this to has passed. I'm going to keep her actual identity to myself, but, Sandrah-with-an-h as she called herself, you were truly a wonderful kid. You made me proud to be a writer. As someone who is chronically ill, I am sorry you lost the battle, but you were a strong kid until the end. <3 

(Warning, there is some heavily implied sexy-stuff going on at one point. Noooo, not between Khiara and Cael. But you'll see!)

When Cael is done crying, he grabs my face and passionately kisses me, making my head spin, and then kisses my nose, forehead, both cheeks.

"Will you guys get a room already?" says Lisa.

"We're in a room," mumbles Cael against my lips, which he's worked his way back to, and then to me, "thank you for not telling me on the phone. This was the absolute best thing to walk into, though I almost had a fucking heart attack."

Samael laughs from across the room. "Good thing we can't die from those."

Cael kisses my forehead again, stands up and is hugging his sister, almost in one fluid movement.

"I thought you were dead," he says. "I wanted to believe you were alive, but I gave up. Ehohpeh-han, Samael."

Samael pulls away from the hug, places her hand on her brother's head and says, "No sorrow now; only happiness. Ehtehharzodee."

"Peace," says Sam, rubbing his eyes. All of the angels – and Lisa – in the room nod.

"It is a sacred thing." Jack says. He stands up and straightens out his pants, brushing off crumbs that I suspect weren't actually there. "I think my work here is done. I have reunited loved ones, and think I should take my leave."

"Nonsense," says Liam. "You'll stay with us. You saved Samael, and you didn't have to do that. You could have escaped by yourself. But you didn't."

Cael nods. "Please, stay with Leliel. His home can offer protection. And anything I can do for you, name it and I will try. I owe you for saving my twin's life."

Jack smiles, making him look grandfatherly. "We are all family, especially so for the repentant Fallen. If we do not stick together, I am afraid salvation would not be an option."

Mom clears her throat then, and everybody looks at her. "Sooo," she says, "who wants tea?"

A couple of days later, I'm walking to my locker from English class when a hand on my shoulder startles me into dropping all of my books, making the coke I was balancing precariously on top of them, forcing the sticky liquid to go everywhere.

"Sorry kid," says Vicky with a very not-sorry smirk on her lips, which she's decided to colour purple today to match her little jacket. "It just so happens that Douma and two of his idiot underlings are holed up in a warehouse a few hours from town. You, me, and Cara are going on a little reconnaissance mission to get your necklace back."

I feel my eyes widen. "What?"

"Tinkerbell is in the car," she says. "Get your shit in your locker and meet us in the parking lot. I don't particularly care if you get in trouble with the school for skipping class; we need to get that back."

She begins to walk away, and turns back and appraises me. "Nice outfit," she says. "We're purple shirt twins."

"I cannot believe we are actually doing this," says Cara for the fifth time as we wait for Vicky outside Liam's house. It turns out that she'd been babysitting Sam for Samael (who's told us to call refer to her as Samantha in public) and Liam.