3. Erin
Chapter three
Erin
My head was spinning and someone was shaking me. Where was I? My eyes blinked open, slowly focusing. Seth was inches from my face, his mouth moving. I groaned as bright light hit my eyes. I peered around Seth and glared at the fixtures that hung from his ceiling.
Too bright.
“Erin? Erin! You okay?” He stopped shaking me. “You passed out.” He cupped my cheek, checking to see if I was coherent.
“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine, sorry,” I rasped as I swatted him away; the little story he dropped in my lap before I blacked out replayed in my mind. I gathered my thoughts and processed what I could, my brain still foggy. “Is that why I’ve been having these weird dreams? Is that what they mean?” I mumbled.
He nodded, his tensed jawline relaxing as I propped myself up on his couch. “We’re not sure who spoke to you but it’s not necessarily a dream. Typically when a Nephilim is getting close to transforming or ‘coming of age,’ there’s more detail in it and typically happens at a younger age. Eighteen for most of us, some make it to nineteen or twenty. Never this late.”
Me, a late bloomer?
That sounded about right considering more often than not, I was late for just about everything.
“Hitting Nephilim puberty at twenty-three, pretty on brand for you, huh?” Seth cracked a smile, practically reading my mind.
I reached over to the coffee table and grabbed my cup, my coffee now ice cold. Seth went further into detail, explaining our capabilities and histories of the battles between Nephilim and Demons. I slowly sipped while I listened, absorbing everything I could while I kept my growing irritation at bay. Apparently, I’d experience increased strength, hearing, vision, immortality— unless I ended up being killed by one of the Demons—and maybe even some type of additional power mumbo-jumbo. Which apparently was different for each Nephilim.
Seth said he had the added ability of memory manipulation, meaning he could manipulate the memories of others.
If I have added abilities, I’ll be alone in it. Alone in figuring things out. Again.
Suck it up, Erin. Seth left you in the dark about all of this until now. You’ve been alone the entire time.
The strings in my chest tightened at the realization. I blinked back the wetness that threatened to spring free.
“With the memory thing, can you change any memory? How does it work?” I felt the panic well in my throat.
“Not really. I have to be near the person when a memory occurs to be able to manipulate and change it. It can make it kinda tricky depending on the situation.”
Okay, well , that’s good to know.
But he still kept this from me.
My best friend. The only family I have left. He kept me in the dark.
I inhaled through my nose to steady my runaway thoughts, my jaw clenched.
“Before you ask, no, I haven’t done it around you.” He looked at me, his eyes leveled with mine.
But how do I know that?
We sat in silence. Seth watched me while I mulled everything over and tried to make sense of it. If my dad was an Angel, why didn’t I know? Why didn’t he tell me before he left? And why didn’t I get a heads-up on all of this? I wanted to call Seth on his crap, tell him to stop screwing with me but I knew deep down, what he told me was the truth. My mind screamed at me but my gut begged me to believe the guy.
I wanted to hurl.
“There’s something else you need to know. Now that this is happening, it’s safer if you aren’t alone, at least not at first. These Demons, they can sense us out and find us. And until you’re strong enough, it’s safer for you to stay here.”
My eyes bugged out of my head.
Stay at Seth’s? As in, live here?
I hadn’t lived with anyone since my dad disappeared. I’ve always been on my own. And it was Seth . Sure, we’d been best friends for years but living under the same roof with someone else is just a whole other level. An intimate level, one that I was in no position to partake in. I could feel the heat as it ran across my face.
Seth chuckled. “Erin, chill out. You practically live here anyway.” He had a point. We would hang out at his place after class most days and get some form of lifting in. I snagged dinner a couple times a week before I would drive back out to my job at the library on campus. Not to mention, we’d help each other study for different classes throughout the year. Another thought popped into my head.
Crap.
“What about Libby? I mean, would she be cool with me staying here?” He arched his eyebrow. “She’s your girlfriend. Shouldn’t you run that by her?” Seth looked at me like I was an idiot, a twinkle in his eye.
Like the midnight sky’s reflection in a clear blue ocean, the waves moving so that the stars appeared to dance.
“You do realize Libby is a friend, right? We hooked up once but that’s all there was to it,” I guess I missed that bit of info somewhere along the lines. “Don’t get me wrong, she’s hot and all but not my cup of tea”—he winked at me—“I prefer the hot nerdy chicks.” I choked on what was left of my coffee.
“Oh, is that so?” I responded lazily.
Breath, Erin.
He was just screwing with me.
Seemed like ‘your cup of tea’ at the movies earlier.
Seth grinned, enjoying my reaction. “Strike a cord, did I?” He waggled his eyebrows at me. I smacked his arm as I fought the rising burn on my cheeks.
“Alright, well if she’s not your girlfriend then what’s the deal?”
Not that I should care.
“She’s a part of the cool kids club.”
“Meaning…?”
Seth chuckled, his voice husky. “Libby’s a Nephilim, Erin. And so is Derik.”
Great, so I really was just left in the dark.
“So, everyone is Nephilim and y’all didn’t bother to tell me? Keep me in the loop? Did it for even a second cross your mind that ya know, maybe this is something I needed to know sooner?” I fumed, my voice rose with each word. “We’re best friends, we’re supposed to tell each other everything, especially a bombshell like this. What the hell, Seth?”
I was right.
My nostrils flared as I stared him down, my fists clenched in my lap.
“Erin, I couldn’t tell you until it was time and you started showing signs. It’s not exactly something to bring up randomly. It was for your own good. I swear.”
For my own good?
“I don’t need a babysitter, Seth! I can take care of myself, dammit. I could’ve done…something. Train, study. Be more prepared and not just have this stupid bomb dropped on me.”
“I know, Rin,” he said softly. “I wanted to tell you…but I couldn’t. Not until the time was right.”
Guilt washed over me.
Was Seth right? Maybe. But I was still irritated and hurt.
“Fine.” I crossed my arms over my chest. It was a lot to take in and I had every right to have a tantrum about the whole thing. I glared at Seth for a solid ten minutes and thoroughly imagined all the ways I could get my revenge; replace his ground coffee with ground tea leaves, move the coffee mugs to a different spot in his kitchen? Flip the toilet paper roll in the bathroom the opposite direction?
Not that I’d ever act on it…but the thought is nice.
He finally stood up, making his way to one of his hallway closets. He grabbed one of the biggest and fluffiest blankets he could, along with a spare pillow, and tossed them to me. They covered me instantly, drowning me in a pile of down feathered, stuffed, slate-grey fabric. “Here. I‘ll grab some sweats for you to borrow tonight and we’ll grab your stuff tomorrow. If you want a shower, you know where the towels are.”
I sat under the blanket and chewed everything over. By the time I was done pouting and over analyzing the boatload of information, I realized Seth had already dumped the sweats and baggy T-shirt—okay baggy on me but fit Seth like a glove—on the coffee table and had left me to wallow in my own thoughts.
I really can zone out with the best of them.
Silently, and a bit begrudgingly, I mentally thanked Seth and made my way to the bathroom. A shower sounded like a good idea.
As I stepped out of the shower, I got dressed, splashed some water on my face, and padded out to the hallway. I hesitated and swung a left towards Seth’s room. As much as I hadn’t wanted to admit it, I was kinda being an ass earlier when all he tried to do was explain things.
I knocked on his door to let him know I was coming in. I opened his door and found his back was to me. Shoulders slouched forward, head in his hands. “Seth?” I asked quietly. He stiffened. “Hey, you alright?” He slowly turned towards me. His eyes were heavy and revealed just how tired he really was. A small ball of light shone from where he sat on his bed and illuminated the dark circles under his eyes. The rest of his room was cast in shadow.
Has he not been sleeping lately either?
He popped on a slight smile. His fingers wove between his onyx hair as he gazed up at me sheepishly.
“Hey, sorry. You get that shower in?” I really felt like an ass at that point, I probably woke him up.
“Yeah. Thank you, by the way,” I had one hand behind my back holding onto my other arm, uncomfortable as I stood in the doorway, as if I were invading his privacy. “I’m going to head to bed and wanted to stop in. Go ahead and get some sleep. I’ll see you in the morning.”
Seth looked at me, his eyes seemed to grow heavier by the second, suddenly looking like he was carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders. I turned to walk out to the couch.
“Wait, Erin?” I turned my head.
“Yeah?”
“You wanna sleep with me?” My eyes damn near shot out of my head and his usual grin spread across his face, a glint of mischief in his eyes.
“Excuse me?” I finally managed to cough out.
He laughed. “Get your mind out of the gutter, Snow. I meant, you wanna sleep in here with me. Not do me. Although, I could show you a thing or two.” He winked at me.
I huffed. “You’re ridiculous,” he patted the bed. “Fine, but you better not try anything fishy, you jerk.”
Seth threw up some type of finger salute. “Scouts honor.”
I scoffed.
Honor my ass.
I caved and fumbled over to the empty side of his bed and climbed in. Not going to lie, it was probably the softest bedding I’d ever laid on. I pulled the covers up over myself and snuggled into them. I felt the blankets behind me rustle and Seth climbed under, facing away from me.
Thank God.
I stared straight ahead and tried to focus on his bedroom wall and not the irrational thrumming in my chest.
Breathe, Erin. Damn.
“Hey, Snow.”
“Yeah?”
“I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner.”
I sighed.
“I’m sorry too.”
“Night.”
“Night, Seth.”