Hear the Crickets Read online

  Dorian stopped and crossed his arms in front of him as his aggressor took a momentary step back.

  I watched the final member of the attackers dance back and forth, eager to continue the fight. Dorian lowered his head and closed his eyes. I was dumbfounded and glanced over at the woman standing next to me.

  “What’s he doing?” I asked out of the corner of my mouth. His behavior had me completely baffled and concerned.

  “Just watch,” she whispered with a smile, folding her arms across her armored chest.

  The enemy stood for a moment with confusion on his brow, but it didn’t last long. He lunged ahead ready to claim his prize.

  Everything suddenly seemed to happen in slow motion.

  Dorian vaulted himself into the air with his arms raised high. He sailed above his foe’s head and flipped forward, crossing his weapons at his wrists. With scissor-like precision, his enemy’s head tumbled to the ground with a thud.

  The final attacker had been defeated.

  Dorian landed on his feet behind his beaten adversary.

  I looked around at the carnage, to all the headless bodies now lying in front of my studio.

  Dorian clamped his Chakram together at the grips, creating a perfect circle of steel. He then hooked it to a leather loop attached to his jeans.

  The armored woman left my side and strutted over to her accomplice. She used her thumb to remove a streak of blood from his face.

  “Nice job,” she said dryly.

  “Thanks. They’re bringing out the big guns,” he replied.

  “I saw that. I guess he really means business this time.”

  “Agreed. I think we’re going to need to alert the others that it may happen sooner than we all thought.”

  I watched the pair discuss the battle, bragging about their individual kills as if I was invisible. Neither one seemed to notice the girl with large gray wings. It had happened so quickly that I barely had time to process it all. The two continued chatting, totally ignoring me, which had begun to piss me off. As happy as I was to live in solitude, I didn’t like being ignored. It didn’t make any sense, but then I was a complicated girl.

  As I continued to listen to them go back and forth, I wondered whether they were truly friend or foe.

  Friend, I told myself. After all, they had come to my rescue. And if they’d wanted me dead, they would have attacked me, too. But instead of trying to kill me, they stood there bickering like an old married couple about who had fought the better battle.

  “Oh for crying out loud,” I interrupted.

  The attractive couple paused and focused their gaze in my direction. They seemed to study me, their gazes fixed on my wings.

  “Can someone tell me exactly what the hell just happened here? Who were those biker-wannabes, and why did they attack me? And while we’re at it, just who the heck are you two?”

  “She asks a lot of questions,” said the female flatly.

  “Don’t be rude, Lillith.” The young guy stepped forward and put out his hand in a friendly gesture. I stared at him for a moment with profound suspicion. His eyes looked far friendlier than his female companion’s. I pondered whether or not I should trust either of them. But they had just come to my rescue and defeated a swarm of assassins clearly intent on killing me.

  I threw caution to the wind, stabbed my sword forcibly into the ground, and extended my hand.

  “I’m Dorian,” he said, shaking my hand.

  “Skyy.”

  “We know who you are,” said Lillith. She seemed uninterested in me and started to examine the carnage, tapping decapitated heads with the toe of her boot as she walked around.

  Dorian released his grasp and twisted his neck around, giving her a dirty look.

  “Sorry. My sister is a little grumpy today.”

  I shrugged. I didn’t really care about her personality quirks.

  “Now that I think about it, she’s grumpy pretty much all the time,” he said, flashing me a charismatic grin.

  I scanned my surroundings with disbelief, ignoring his attempt at charm.

  “So why do I have dead people all over my front yard? And just who the hell is gonna clean this up?”

  “We have others on the way. They’ll pile them up and burn the bodies for us.” Dorian folded his hands, rested them on top of his head and looked me in the eye. His gaze made me uncomfortable. Sean was the only person who had gotten this close to me in years, and even then I wasn’t completely comfortable with the proximity of another person. “I saw you fight. Where did you learn to do that?”

  “I’ve been around. Learned how to defend myself over the years,” I said, diverting my eyes as I again surveyed the carnage.

  “Impressive,” he said. He continued to stare, making me feel uneasy.

  I didn’t know why.

  “I knew that someday someone would find out about me and come for me. I mean, not rejects from some defunct motorcycle gang that seem to have superhuman abilities, but someone—someday. Were they after my wings?”

  “They were after you.” He studied me and my sword. I’m sure I looked ridiculous. The white cotton tank-top I wore was splattered with blood. My ratty jeans had paint all over the front, and my bare feet were covered in mud.

  “Is this the first time you’ve had to kill someone?” he asked.

  “How is that any of your business?”

  He shrugged. “Just curious. This was my…” Dorian closed his eyes. I could see his lips moving, but he didn’t speak. “296th.”

  “What?” I asked.

  “296. That’s how many I’ve killed over the years.”

  “Seriously?”

  “Yep. Pretty sure.”

  I took a step back. His words gave rise to caution. From what I’d just witnessed, he was clearly a trained killer, and his demeanor told me he was proud of that fact. I threw a sideways glance to my sword sticking out of the ground, preparing to fight if need be.

  “Should you be telling me this?”

  Dorian’s face suddenly grew serious, his brow taking on an air of apprehension as he glanced at our surroundings.

  “Can we head inside? It’ll be safer just in case he sends more of his cronies after you.” Dorian pointed to the door of my studio.

  “Shit. Sean!”

  I’d forgotten all about him in the melée, suddenly remembering he’d remained inside. I worried someone could have snuck into the building completely undetected. I grabbed my sword, yanking it out of the dirt, and raced toward the shed. Dorian and Lillith followed closely behind.

  I flung the door open frantically, causing it to bang on the outer wall.

  “Sean! Are you okay? Where are you?” I yelled.

  I was met with silence.

  “Sean. Quit messin’ around, man. I need you out here!”

  A few more seconds ticked by as I anxiously awaited a response.

  Sean stepped out nervously from behind one of my larger sculptures, but he kept his distance, eyeing my visitors with caution.

  “Who are they?” Sean asked, nodding in their direction.

  “This is Dorian,” I said, motioning toward the brother. “That ray of sunshine is Lillith,” I muttered sarcastically, tossing a thumb in her direction. “Apparently they think they just saved my life. But now they’re going to tell me why they’re really here.” I couldn’t contain my disdain and distrust of the pair. It seemed far too coincidental that they just happened to show up to save me the moment I was attacked by thugs in black.

  “We think we saved your life? Before we got here, you looked like you were on the losing end of a blade,” said Lillith wryly.

  “I had it under control,” I said, glancing down at my shoulder wound, which by then had completely healed over, leaving only a small scar behind.

  “So you say,” she replied, eyeing my shoulder suspiciously.

  I walked over to Sean and slapped the sword’s hilt into his chest, forcing him to grab it before it fell to the ground. I swung arou
nd and faced her with a scowl on my lips. “You say you know who I am. So, it appears I’m at a disadvantage here.”

  Lillith glared at me. “Looks like it, doesn’t it?” she replied flatly.

  I held up my hand and began to use my fingers to count off each thing I said.

  “I live in the middle of nowhere to avoid running into people like you. I have wings. The necklace my mother gave me over three hundred years ago just turned into a sword. Oh, and I was just attacked by assassins on my property where the two of you just happen to show up at the right place at the right time. So, once you’re done telling me how you found me here, how about you tell me who I am?

  “Because apparently there’s more to my story than even I know.”

  Chapter 4

  “She doesn’t know.” Dorian addressed his sister who seemed determined to continue giving me the stink eye.

  “I don’t know what?” I asked.

  Lillith directed her attention toward her brother. “She has wings. You didn’t tell me she had wings. I can’t believe you kept that from me.”

  “Who says I kept it from you?” he replied.

  “You’re the one who kept seeing her. Did it escape your attention that she had feathers? Or did you think it wasn’t worth mentioning? Because you’d be wrong.”

  “I wasn’t sure that what I was seeing was right. I mean, really, a girl with wings. That’s nothing we’ve seen before. I figured it was better to exclude that bit of info until I knew for sure.”

  Lillith rolled her eyes with emphasis and went on. “She’s clearly not the kind of Hybrid we thought she was. Not like one we’ve ever encountered before anyway.”

  “What’s a Hybrid?” I asked, glancing back and forth between the siblings.

  “Then she’s something different. All I know is that whatever is about to happen, it all hinges on her,” said Dorian.

  “I’m not putting my life and the lives of the other Hybrids in her hands. We don’t know anything about her. Why should we trust that she’s the one?”

  “The one?” I took a step closer to the duo. They continued to ignore me.

  “Because the prophecy said she’s the only one who can stop it.” Dorian straightened up, throwing his hands in the air defiantly.

  “And who says she’s the one from the prophecy?” Lillith didn’t seem deterred by her brother’s reasoning.

  “You can’t possibly be that dense, Lil. You know who she is and why it has to be her. The fate of the world hinges on her.”

  “Hello!” I shouted, waving my arms. The duo turned and finally acknowledged my presence. “Would somebody please tell me what the hell is going on?”

  Lillith grunted and stomped off, finding a seat on a bench in the corner. It was clear she wasn’t a fan of mine.

  Dorian glanced past me and focused in on Sean. Dorian’s eyes narrowed as he looked my friend over carefully.

  “He’s human,” said Dorian, pointing at Sean.

  “He’s with me,” I said, becoming more and more agitated at the fact that everyone kept avoiding my questions. “Now start talking.”

  “But he’s human,” he stated flatly.

  “Clearly.”

  “You have wings.”

  “I think we’ve pretty much established the fact that I have wings, Captain Obvious.”

  “But you don’t understand. Only angels have wings. Hybrids don’t. We were under the impression that you were a Hybrid. But the fact that you have those things tells us you’re something different.”

  “Let’s back up and start from the beginning. What’s a Hybrid?”

  “A Hybrid is the offspring of a Nephilim and a human,” said Lillith, glaring at me once again.

  Sean had bravely found his way to my side but quickly slinked back behind me upon seeing Lillith’s hostile expression. Her pale skin was in direct contrast to her piercing, dark eyes, creating both a beautiful and terrifying combination. She was intimidating. There was no question. But I couldn’t quite figure out where her disdain for me was coming from.

  “Nephilim. You mean like the supposed giants in the Bible? Those Nephilim?” I asked. My mind briefly wandered to the stories from Genesis 6.

  “The very same,” said Dorian.

  “But those were just stories. Sister Mary Frances used to read the Bible to me all the time. People have just been too literal in their interpretation. Nephilim were nothing more than mortal kings who believed they were greater than ordinary man. There’s no such thing as giants.”

  “Said the girl with the huge, gray wings attached to her back. Seriously. She’s the reason for all of this?” snapped Lillith, gesturing in my direction.

  Dorian shot her a stern look. She squinted at me, pursing her lips hastily, and lay down on the bench.

  “They aren’t just stories. Giants were real once. Have you ever heard of the Book of Enoch?” Dorian shoved his hands into his pockets.

  “Sure. If I remember right, Enoch was Noah’s great-grandfather. He told stories about the angels called Watchers whose job it was to keep an eye on humanity. What does any of that have to do with me?”

  “Well, two hundred of those Watchers fell to Earth and began to sleep with mortal women. They were led by twenty angels who began to teach humans the mysteries of the universe. How to make weapons from the metals of the earth, magic enchantments, how to make medicine from plants, signs of the sun, the course of the moon. Their unnatural union with mortal women produced giants—or Nephilim. They were enormous in the beginning, and when they were no longer able to be controlled, the giants ran amok, destroying and eating everything they could find. Animals, trees, even humans. The archangels were sent to clean up the mess. Michael captured the angels that had gone astray and bound them under the earth. But one of them, Shamsiel, the sixteenth leader of the original twenty, pleaded for mercy and vowed to become a servant of God. No one is really positive whether he was released or if he suffered the same fate as the others.

  “Gabriel was sent to destroy the bastard children of the Fallen and their mortal wives. And Raphael was given the most important task of all. He was to capture and bind Azazel, the Watchers’ leader, hand and foot like a sacrificial goat, and then throw him into an endless ravine somewhere out in the desert. But rumor has it he escaped from his bindings—bent on revenge. And Gabriel couldn’t capture and destroy all Nephilim. He tried, but their existence grew so problematic that God sent the flood to destroy them.”

  “Only, not all of them were destroyed by the flood,” said Lillith, sitting up suddenly. “One of the Nephilim by the name of Og escaped by hitching a ride on the Ark. We’re not sure how the handful of others managed to escape. One of the great mysteries of life. Over time, they all began to mate with humans, and every generation grew smaller in stature until no one even remembered the existence of giants. Their offspring, between Nephilim and mortals, are called Gibborim. But we prefer the name Hybrids.”

  I stared at the siblings for a moment.

  “So, you two...”

  “We’re Hybrids. Yes,” she said. “And, well, we thought that’s what you were. But now we’re not so sure. Hybrids don’t have wings. So really, you could be something else altogether.” Lillith looked me over carefully. I could tell she didn’t trust me and appeared to be uncomfortable around me, but I couldn’t be sure why.

  The feeling was mutual.

  “So, giants and humans,” I began. “How does that even work?”

  “Birds and the bees.” Dorian chuckled. “Birds and bees.”

  “No. What I meant was...” I quickly decided I didn’t need the dirty details and waved the question off.

  Dorian stepped forward, his blue eyes filled with confusion. “Can I ask? How old are you exactly?”

  Our gazes met.

  “I’m around three hundred and sixteen years old, give or take. I was about four when my mother dropped me off at the abbey in Ireland. That was in 1702.”

  Dorian turned and looked at his sister.
They both appeared utterly confounded.

  “What?” I asked.

  “I guess we knew that. We knew you’d been around a long time. It’s just that Hybrids only live for a hundred and twenty years. That’s it. Not a day older. Of course, that’s if we even make it that long. We don’t really age, but our bodies stay somewhat mortal. We don’t get sick, but if we’re injured badly enough, we can die sooner. Between your age and your wings, you’re definitely not a Hybrid. But you should be. Unless this has something to do with your mother.”

  My ears perked up.

  “What about my mother? You know who she was?”

  Sean stood behind me and silently took in everything that was taking place.

  “This is really awkward,” he whispered.

  I glanced back at him, raising my eyebrows at his comment.

  “Seriously. When is someone going to talk?” he asked.

  The bewildered look on his face told me that I was missing something.

  “Huh?” I asked.

  “He can’t hear us.”

  My gaze settled on Dorian.

  “As far as he’s concerned, we’ve just been standing here staring at each other.” His lips weren’t moving.

  “How...what?”

  “We’re speaking telepathically.” Dorian seemed pleased with himself. He cocked his head to the side and took in my confusion. I wasn’t positive that I liked the way he was looking at me, but then I wasn’t entirely sure I hated it, either.

  “How is it I’m doing it and don’t even realize that I am?”

  “It’s something Hybrids can do. We’re able to hear each other, talk to one another, without having to physically speak. We can be in the same room, or we can be a continent away. I’m surprised you’ve never heard any of us before.”

  But, I have, I thought.

  “My headaches—the voices. That’s what I’ve been hearing? I just thought I was going crazy.”

  “Now I’m really confused,” he confessed, glancing over at his sister. “If she can hear us telepathically, then she’s definitely one of us.”

  “Except for those enormous things growing out of her shoulder blades.” Lillith’s voice was full of disdain. I had only just met her, and I could already tell that we weren’t going to get along.