Call of Night (Thorne Hill 3)

Chapter 33

Everything moves in slow motion. The light is blinding, making it impossible to see. It warms my face and gives me strength. I open my eyes right as the light is fading, and I see the outline of great feathered wings behind the man for just a split second before they disappear.

Fangs bared, Lucas lays me down on the mattress and lunges for the man. I’ve told him about the man and who I think he is, but he’s not convinced this man isn’t a threat. The Blue-Eyed Man holds out his hand, forcing Lucas back down. He holds up his other hand and all the humans in the room slump down. He lowers both hands at the same time, and Lucas and Eliza fall to the ground, asleep, too.

Binx growls and the man turns to him. “I wouldn’t try that.” His voice is warm and familiar. Binx backs down, sitting at my side, flicking the tip of his tail back and forth. The man walks across the room, holding out his hand.

I push myself up, wincing with pain that shoots through me.

“Who…who are you?” I ask, voice thin and small.

The Blue-Eyed Man stops next to the bed and gazes upon my face. His lips curve into a smile, eyes warming. “You look just like your mother. You have her stubbornness, that’s for sure.”

“My mother?”

“I know you have questions, but now is not the time.” He reaches out and lays his hand on my head. All the pain, all the sickness, everything that felt wrong disappears. I inhale with no pain, my headache is gone, and the black veins on my wrist fade away.

“Rest, my child.” His eyes meet mine, and for a split second, everything is okay. My anxiety slips away, and I feel like I’m where I’m supposed to be. He steps back and I dive forward. No dizziness crashes down on me. I’m completely healthy again. He healed me.

Just like he did before. I knew it was him. But why? Why help me three times now only to leave.

“Wait!” Desperation speeds up my heart. “Who are you?”

“You already know the answer to that.”

My eyes fill with tears and I suck in air. He’s my father. The confirmation sends a chill through me, causing goosebumps to break out along my flesh.

I’m not a Martin. Abby isn’t my sister. Scott was right when he said we weren’t related.

I am not fully human.

I blink away the tears that burn the corners of my eyes. “What are you?” My throat tightens with emotion.

“You know the answer to that as well.”

A tear rolls down my cheek. “You’re an angel,” I whisper.

“I am.” He takes another step back and great, white wings spread out behind him, stretching across the room. His eyes begin to glow a brilliant bright blue. My mouth falls open and another chill works its way down his spine.

The Blue-Eyed Man is my father.

My father is an angel.

I’m half angel.

Everything I thought I knew my whole life has been a lie.

I’m not just a witch. My father is an angel and he said I look like my mother. But I look nothing like the mother I grew up with. My eyes shut in a long blink and the pain of my childhood hits me like a red-hot knife to the heart.

I grew up feeling like an outsider in my own home, picked on and ridiculed until I was cast out, sold like an animal to the highest bidder, studied and tortured. Tabatha rescued me and I made amazing friends at the Academy, but even then I felt alone. I was different from the others, and it didn’t go unnoticed. There was an emptiness deep inside me that grew and festered, hurting me and making me feel so, so alone.

And all the while he was out there. Watching me. And doing nothing.

“Why did you leave me?” My brows furrow and anger takes over, making the lights flicker.

The peaceful look on the Blue-Eyed Man’s face fades, twisting into one of regret and pain.

“I had to.”

“No you didn’t.” Tears fall like rain and I shake my head. “You didn’t have to leave me, and the people you left me with…did you know what they did to me? Did you just stand by and do nothing?” The chandelier over the bed rattles. “You…you abandoned me.”

“There are things in play you don’t understand.”

“Then explain them to me!” I throw back the covers and get out of bed, planting my feet firmly on the floor. The Blue-Eyed Man—my father—stands a good half a foot taller than me. “If you had to leave me, then why did you come back? Why did you save me? Why even care?”

“I’ve always cared, Callie.”

I jerk back. It feels wrong to hear him call me that. Is that even my name? My family’s not my family and I’m not even human.

“Did you know?” I can’t keep the emotion in my voice. “Did you know what they did to me.”

“Yes,” he confesses, looking pained. Good. I hope it fucking hurts like hell.

“Why didn’t you stop them?”

“I couldn’t.”

“Why are you here now?” I angrily wipe away tears. “And why were you there before?”

“You’d been discovered.”

“By the demon?”

“Not just the one.” He strides forward and holds out his hand. “We don’t have much time.”

I swallow the lump in my throat and let out a breath. “Why should I trust you?”

He gives me a half-smile. “I did just save your life. Though I like your skepticism.”

“Are they okay?” I ask, looking at everyone on the floor.

“Yes, they’re sleeping.”

Against my better judgement, I take the Blue-Eyed Man’s hand. The world spins again, but this time it’s like I’m on a ride. When it stops, evening light spills down on me and sand covers my toes. Warm, salty air blows in from over gorgeous aquamarine-colored ocean water.

“What the hell?” I throw out my hands to steady myself.

“The dizziness will pass in a moment.”

There are a few people on the beach, but none seem to have noticed our sudden appearance. “Where are we?”

“Western Australia. It’s been one of my favorite places since creation. It’s beautiful, isn’t it?”

“Taking me here isn’t going to distract me.”

“That wasn’t my intent. Everything is better when you’re on one of the world’s most beautiful beaches.” He starts walking down the shore.

“Nancy Martin isn’t my mother?”

“No, she’s not.”

I stop walking, head spinning. “But she was pregnant with me. I’ve seen the photos. She has my umbilical cord still and I’ve heard my own birth story.”

“Nancy Martin was pregnant and did give birth to a baby girl the same day you were born.” The Blue-Eyed Man stops walking and turns around. “The baby she carried was stillborn.”

“What?” I ask, feeling a little sick.

The Blue-Eyed Man sits down on the sand and motions for me to sit next to him. Heart in my throat, I lower myself onto the warm sand. “Relationships between angels and humans are strictly forbidden. But the heart wants what the heart wants, and it seems you’re not so different from your parents after all.”

I stare at him, eyes wide and unblinking.

“I fell in love with your mother, as she did with me. I don’t need to explain to you how you came about. Most humans cannot survive carrying a divine child, but your mother was no ordinary human.”

“She was a witch.” My throat constricts with emotion and more tears fall from my eyes.

“Yes, she was a strong and brilliant witch.”

“Was?”

His own eyes get a little misty. “Yes, was. We knew how risky it would be bringing you into this world, but we loved each other and loved you. Being able to carry you to term…some would say it was a miracle. She wanted to raise you, and oh, did she love you, Callie.”

I wipe my nose with the back of my hand, sniffling.

“It was her idea to hide you in plain sight if anything were to happen to her.”

“What did happen?”

“Surviving a divine pregnancy is one thing, but giving birth to a divine child is another. You came into the world at the exact second Nancy Martin’s left.”

“You swapped us.”

“Yes. The Martins weren’t ideal, but the timing had to be exact. It was our only option, and it worked.

You were a Martin, part of a conservative family in the public eye, and the last place anyone would think to look for a Nephilim baby. I bound your angelic powers as best I could that day.”

I cover my mouth with my hand, not quite able to process this information yet. “Did you know what my fath—William Martin did to me? That he sold me?”

“Yes.”

“Why didn’t you save me?”