Beast, Part Two (The Church #5)

D.O.E

chapter Twelve

Priest

I have no concept of time. My world is a mix of excruciating pain and vivid nightmares. There is a small reprieve in the mix. The sweetest voice I’ve ever heard calls out to me and soothes me in between the pain and the dreams.

“Summer,” a female voice says. It is not the voice of the angel I hear in my dreams. “Sweetheart, you haven’t eaten all day. You need to eat.”

“I’m not hungry,” the angel says. Her tone is sad as if she’s crying.

The brief reprieve is over, and the pain is back. It feels as if my body is burning from the inside. I groan as my muscles began to spasm.

“Gabriel, baby, please. I’m here,” the angel cries before the soft touch of something wet and cold touches my skin. I want to go to the angel, to reassure her I am alright, but the nightmares pull me back.

The dream world tries to pull me under. I clamber from its fingertips, resurfacing once again. Low humming has me turning my head to the sound.

“How is he today?” This voice belongs to a man.

The humming stops. “The same,” the angel is back.

A deep sigh fills the room. “It’s been twenty-four hours. You need to get some fresh air and eat something.”

“I’m not hungry, Sim.”

“Please, little sister.”

“I said I’m not hungry.” Someone has angered my angel. I fight to gain control of my body. I want to get up and rip the culprit’s head off. But nothing moves on me.

Suddenly the pain comes rushing back. My moment of clarity is gone. This time, the fire in my body seems to rush to my head making it feel as if it would explode. I yell out. Trying to fight the feeling of my brain melting. Without my consent my body thrashes from side to side.

“Oh my goodness, Gabriel,” the angel shouts.

“Fuck,” the male voice says. “Priest.” It shouts.

Suddenly hands are covering me trying to hold me down. In the distance I can hear her sobs. My angel is crying. It is the last thing I hear before the nightmares suck me back under.

I’m not sure how much time has passed. The dream world has set me free again. I am no longer back in the house with my mother. This time when I resurface, everything is much clearer. The softness of the sheets underneath me tickles my skin. The scents of lavender, vanilla, and the distant scent of stale food assails me. Even the coolness of the room stands out. I’ve never been as aware of my surroundings as I am right now.

There is silence in the room. I flex my foot and for the first time it actually moves.

A loud bang echoes. It sounds like a door slamming against a wall. Fast, heavy footsteps approach.

“Alright, that’s it,” Priest shouts. “It’s been three days. You haven’t left this room, nor have you eaten any of the food we’ve brought you. Get your ass up, get some fresh air, and eat.”

“I’m not leaving him,” Summer argues. “His fever just broke two hours ago. It could come back.”

“Summer, if you don’t get your ass out that chair and go eat, I’ll drag you out and force feed you. I know you’re worried about my son. But when he wakes up and realize we let you starve to death I’m going to have to fucking kill him.”

“But,” she starts.

However, I cut her off. “He’s right.” My voice sounds raw, and my throat burns like hell.

“Gabriel,” Summer screams before something soft and solid hits my chest.

I wrap my arms around her, happy to be able to do it. Finally opening my eyes, I spot Priest standing over my head. His hair is disheveled and his white button up shirt is wrinkled all to hell. He looks as if he hasn’t slept in several days.

His eyes are red as he stares back at me. Summer lifts from my chest, tears falling down her face.

“Why aren’t you eating?” I ask.

“We thought you were going to die,” she cries.

Slowly, and with a lot of effort, I lift my hand and wipe her tears. There is so much I want to say to her. Like, never in a million years will I let anyone take me off the face of this earth without making sure her and Gabe are taken care of. I know that at some point I’ll have to go after Corbyn and it might just be the last thing I do, but I will make sure that Summer and Gabe will never have to be concerned about their future or what will happen to them.

But I don’t say any of that because I’m trying to do the right thing by her. Even if it’s the last thing I want to do.

“You need to eat, angel.”

“I just sat here for three days thinking you would die. I don’t want to eat.”

Cupping her face in my hands I stare into her brown eyes.

“Do it for me. I need you to eat something.”

I can tell in her eyes she wants to argue, but my only concern is her health. Priest is right, if I’d woken from this and something had happened to Summer, I’d lose my shit.

“Okay,” she finally says.

She pushes up from the bed and walks to the door. She stops before walking out and turns to look at me again. I can see the words I love you in her eyes. She wants to say them to me, but I can also read the uncertainness in her stance. I think she knows that saying the words won’t change our status. Our love for each other is not the issue.

“I know,” I say, replying to her unsaid statement. “Go eat,” I demand.

Nodding, she walks out of the room. The moment she’s out of sight, I sink back into the bed. The little energy I held on for her is now sapped out of my body.

“That woman loves you to death. She never left your side the entire three days.”

I don’t reply to him.

Priest walks over to the side of the bed. “A love like that is hard to come by. You should cherish it—”

“What happened?” I ask turning to look at him.

I didn’t need relationship advice. I already knew everything he was saying. Our love for each other wouldn’t change the fact that I am a hazard to Summer. Because I love her too, I will never risk her life.

Running a hand over his short hair, Priest takes a seat in the chair I’m sure Summer spent most of her time in.

“Some type of plant-based poison. Doc said you had enough in your system that probably would have killed a normal sized man. Thankfully you’re not normal size.”

He tries for a laugh, but it doesn’t sound authentic.

“You scared the hell out of me, kid.”

Glad to be off the topic of me and Summer, I push up from the bed and place my back against the headboard.

“You and I both know my death will be a lot more brutal than plant poison.”

“As long as it happens after mine, I won’t argue.” He tugs at his chin hair.

“What did I miss?”

Priest sighs, leaning back in the chair. “Not much. We kind of put everything on hold until you got better. Fem is getting help from the DOE. They should be coming in today.”

“Help with what?”

“Tracking down these Royal Crown signatures. We need all hands on deck to get to these people. Lucien can’t do it by himself.”

I nod in understanding. My brother is talented, but juggling his pregnant girl, a daughter, and this work, it’s not easy on him. It took him days to break into Pope’s hard drive.

“How’s you mental?” He asks hesitantly.

Pushing the cover back, I swing my legs over the side of the bed. “You don’t have to ask me that every ten minutes.”

“I know I don’t, but I will.” He stands up from the chair and holds out a hand to me. Reluctantly, I take it. He helps pull me to my feet. My head swims momentarily, but I remain on my feet.

“It will always be my job to protect you and make sure you’re okay. If that means I have to ask you every ten minutes if that damn thing in your head is fucking with you then I will.”

Although I want to argue, I don’t. I needed to know I had him on my side. Since I was a boy Priest has been the one to truly care about me. He has accepted everything about me since the first day he met me.

The memory of him pulling me out of that cage at mother’s crosses my mind. I was so embarrassed when he lifted me up. I was covered in piss and shit, but he didn’t care. Instead of taking me back to the others smelling awful, he stopped at a truck stop and took me inside the bathroom where he bought me things to bathe and clean myself. He purchased me some cheap clothes and some of those rubber slip on shoes for showers. This man has always had my back.

It's because of that, I answer his question. “It’s silent right now.”

He nods. “Any reason you think that is?”

“My head’s still a bit too muddled from the poison, maybe.”

He seems to take that in. “Okay. Let’s keep track of when it’s more active.”

I agree before heading into the bathroom. Before I shut the door, Priest calls out one last time.

“Come to the dining room once you get done in there.” He walks out the room.

I shut the door to the bathroom to get cleaned up.

Feeling more alive than ever, I make my way outside. I know I told Priest I was going to come see him when I was done, but I needed to make a more important stop first.

“Hulk,” Gabe shouts as soon as he sees me. He runs up to me and wraps his arms around my lower half.

Stepping back, I squat down to get to his height. He then wraps his arms around my neck. I relish in the feel of his tight embrace. Summer explained that hugs from Gabe were rare and should be cherished.

He steps back from my embrace with a large smile on his face. I also notice a slight bruise on his cheek. It’s old and almost healed, but I’ve had enough bruises to spot them at any stage.

“What happened to your face?”

He looks down before responding. “Emory and I were playing. It was an accident.”

I look over his head at Emory. I go through my emotional Rolodex to read the expression on her face. Guilt. I can immediately tell that whatever happened, she did not mean to hurt him.

Her hands move rapidly as she signs. “I’m sorry. I apologized to him.”

I hold up a hand to stop her. “It’s okay. You both should be careful when playing.”

They both nod in understanding.

“I’ve missed you, Hulk,” my son says fully distracting me from his bruise. “Mama said you were sick.”

“I missed you too. And I was sick. But I’m much better now.”

He reaches out slowly and touches my ear. The wound is still pretty red from the stitches, but it doesn’t hurt. The arrow cut the top of my ear, slicing it into two pieces, but I’m assuming Doc stitched it back together.

“Does it hurt?” Gabe asks.

“No. Not anymore.”

He pauses for a moment, then looks over his shoulder before turning back to me. He lowers his voice as he asks, “Are you scared when you get hurt?”

Although his question is odd, I answer it anyway. “Getting hurt is part of my job. It isn’t about being scared. It’s knowing that it’s part of the risk. Firefighters, soldiers, and police officers all know that when they go to work, they risk getting hurt. But you must be brave enough to do what needs to be done.”

Gabe is quiet for a moment as if he’s thinking over my reply. I wonder does his question have anything to do with the accidental bruise under his eye.

“Why do you ask?”

He looks over his shoulder at Emory before turning back to me. “No reason,” he says.

A trained deacon left a bruise under my son’s eye and now he’s asking about fearing getting hurt.

Shaking my head, I sigh. “Just remember when you are playing this game, one of you are trained and one of you are learning.”

Emory nods and gives me a thumbs up.

I lean into Gabe and whisper. “Learn how to block.”

He grins and puts his arms up in a blocking form in front of his face. I stand and ruffle his hair. I spent a few more minutes outside with him, Emory, and the dogs, before going back inside.

The house seems to be buzzing with energy. Walking into the dining room, I pause. It looks like a high-tech conference room. The table and chairs are still here, but at the front of the room is a large whiteboard. On the side of the room closest to the door, is a small table with a large flat screen TV. A rectangular folding table is in the back of the room and there are four computers set up on it.

Everyone is already here. Priest and all my brothers along with Albany, Many’s girlfriend, and three other women. One is dark-skinned with gray eyes. She’s talking to Albany near the whiteboard. The other girl has a deep brown complexion the same color as Albany. Although not as dark as the first girl, it’s nowhere near as light as Summer’s. She’s tall, has to be at least six feet. Her glasses are perched on the bridge of her nose and her straight black hair hangs past her shoulders. When she spots me, she smiles brightly at me as if she’s known me all her life.

Mother said they would all run from me.

The other girl in the room has a golden tan complexion. Her hair is long and curly with brown and blonde highlights. She’s too busy setting up a computer system to pay attention to me.

“Oh, Beast, you’re finally here,” Priest says coming over to me. “These are the ladies of the Daughters of Egypt. They are friends and colleagues of Fem and Ari. That’s Kyra,” he says pointing to the girl with gray eyes talking to Albany.

“The one working on the computer is Deidra. And that’s Alicia,” he points to the tall girl with the pretty smile. She walks over to us and holds out a hand to me.

“Hi,” Alicia says, voice light and friendly.

Looking down at her offered hand I slowly reach out my hand to shake hers. Her fingers are skinny compared to mine. They seem too fragile. I quickly remove my hand from hers hoping I won’t hurt her.

She pushes her straight hair behind her ear before rocking back on her heels.

“So, have they told you why we’re here?”

Instead of answering, I dip my chin to my chest.

“Good, well come on, I’ll show you the setup.” She turns and walks away. Her skirt, though it touches her knees, hugs her curves tightly.

“Kid,” Priest says beside me. “I promise you don’t want those problems.”

I’m not sure what he’s getting at. What problems? I shake off his words and follow the woman to her computer.

“We have every satellite we own searching for Sam O’Cleary.” She points to the map on her screen. She then points to the bigger monitor at the front of the room. The big monitor has the same thing as her computer, only much bigger. There are small glowing circles covering most of the map on the screen.

“The moment his face is recognized, it will alert us on here. We will then pinpoint his location.”

“What then?” I ask folding my arms over my chest.

“Well, we track him down, follow him, and figure out the best way to isolate him so that you and your brothers can confront him.”

It seemed simple enough, but I knew it wouldn’t be that easy. These people had access to travel all around the world. Trying to track them down would be like finding a needle in a haystack.

“So now we just wait while your satellites play Where’s Waldo,” I say.

Alicia laughs. It’s soft and airy like her voice. She touches my arm.

“Wow, handsome and funny. A rare combination.”

I look down at her hand on my arm. I wait for it to give me that ick feeling. The one that would usually make me step out of her grasp. However, it doesn’t come.

Priest clears his voice causing me to look up at him. He swings his head to the doorway where I find Malia and Summer. Malia is smiling as she brings in a tray of sandwiches. Summer is watching me closely. Her eyes glued to where Alicia’s hand is lying on my arm. The ick feeling finally hits and I subtly step away from Alicia’s touch.

When I turn back to the door, Summer is no longer standing there.

Where did she go?

“I swear you boys are going to cause me to have a damn stroke,” Priest says shaking his head as he walks away.

I ignore him as I walk out of the room. I needed to find Summer. She wasn’t too far. I find her pacing in the kitchen. On the island are all the ingredients used to make those sandwiches.

“Did you eat?” I ask as soon as I enter.

She turns and glares at me before turning back to the counter. She picks up the bag of bread and ties the end.

“Yes, I ate,” she says curtly.

I have no idea why she’s being so cross with me. An hour ago, I had to force her out my room and now she won’t look at me. Her anger seems as if it has come out of the blue.

She continues to tidy up the food while slamming the cabinets closed.

“Are you going to tell me why you’re angry with me?”

She stops what she’s doing to glare up at me. “Are you fucking serious right now?”

I narrow my gaze, but don’t respond.

She rolls her eyes. “What the hell was that in there?” She points toward the wall.

“They were showing us the set up for their satellites.”

“Don’t play with me,” she says through clenched teeth. “I’m talking about you smiling all up in that chick's face.”

She had me completely stumped. I had no idea I was smiling at all. Even if I was, what’s wrong with smiling?

“I made a joke, and she laughed.”

“Oh really,” she crosses her arms over her chest. “Let me hear the joke. I want to laugh too.”

I watch her for a moment trying to read her expression. Although her words say one thing, the frown on her face and the way her brows pinch tells me she is not in the mood for a joke at all.

“I don’t know what you want from me, Summer.” I admit truthfully.

She shakes her head dropping her arms. “I spent three damn days by your bed praying that you don’t die, and you don’t know what I want from you?”

Running a hand through my hair, my frustration grows. She keeps saying everything but what she wants. It’s like she thinks I’m supposed to know why she’s vexed without her telling me.

“She’s become mouthy,” the demon says making a reappearance. My breathing picks up as I fight to silence the voice.

“Are you listening to me?” Summer shouts.

“Maybe if you cut out her tongue, she’ll be a little more obedient.”

Shutting my eyes, I take a step away from her, trying to put distance between us. The things the demon wants me to do to her are hard to block out.

“Gabriel,” she calls my name, and her voice seems to grate my nerves.

“Kill this bitch already. We don’t need her, Gabriel.”

“Babe, look at me.” Summer touches my arm. I snatch away from her and step back.

“Don’t touch me,” I growl.

Her eyes widen momentarily as she watches me. Her features go from pinched in concern to sadness.

“So, I can’t touch you now?”

The demon laughs. “She wants you to kill her. It’s why she keeps taunting us. Let me out.”

I need to get away from her. I need Summer to never want to be near me again. Lately, the demon has seemed to only focus on hurting her. It’s in every vision and every word that it says.

“No,” the word comes out like it's coated in acid.

Her mouth falls open and she looks stunned. “Wow,” she simply replies.

“Do I need to remind you, we aren’t together anymore, Summer.” I choose my words carefully. I need them to sting. The more she hates me the more she will stay away from me.

She looks away, her gaze going to the wall. A tear tracks down her face. She quickly wipes it away before turning back to me.

“You will never have to remind me again.” She turns and walks out of the kitchen, squeezing past Priest as she goes. I have no idea when he walked in. Priest watches me for a moment. His gaze is penetrating.

“I hope you have a good reason for that,” he says.

I don’t reply verbally. Instead, I dip my chin to my chest.

“I won’t ask you to elaborate right now. We got a hit on that O’Cleary guy. Come on.” He turns and walks out of the room. For a moment I stand in my spot thinking over my actions. It eats me up to know I hurt Summer, but it’s for her own good.

“It won’t last long,” the demon says before laughing. “She’ll be back. And I will slit her throat then.”

I shake off his words as I make my way back to the dining room.