Chapter 18

“Wait just one second.” Nina yelled at them.

They both turned in surprise.

“Don’t I have a say in where I would like to go?”

“Yes, you do.” Brett admitted.

“Then I want to be where my family is.”

She looked at Cagilaba.

“It is my choice to stay here, but you are not my choice. I will never be with you in the way you want me to be.”

She was not exactly repulsed by Cagilaba, she just detested him.

He had caused the deaths of the only family she had. She hated him for those years he terrorized her dreaming and waking moments. She could have helped other spirits, but he was always lurking there in the background. She could not allow her guard to drop. In order to help other spirits, she had to allow herself to be open to them. Open and vulnerable to be able to hear what they had to say. His always being on the fringes of her life had spoiled that for them.

She didn’t know how, but in all the times she had opened her guard trying to help someone, Cagilaba had known. When she was in that state, he had been able to get to her many times. She had learned that he could only get to her when she was open and vulnerable.

So, she had closed herself off from the genuinely seeking spirits, in order to keep him out. She felt their sorrow immensely when she couldn’t help. It tore at her when she heard their begging voices.

She knew how that felt now.

For that, and for so many other things he had done recently, like kidnapping her, had made her hate him more.

She would have jumped at the chance to go with him if he had asked. She would have agreed just to be able to see her beloved aunt and cousin again. But no, he had to do everything the wrong, rough, way. He was never going to be her knight in shining armor.

That title she had given to another.

Now he acted like he loved her. But that was not love as she knew it was supposed to be. If that was love in his book, she wanted no part of it. Even most familial love wasn’t like this. There were some dysfunctional families, Nina admitted. But that was beside the point. Her relationship with Brett was different. Even if she knew he didn’t love her, he still treated her better than this guy.

Brett was angry. She knew he was, but it was her life, so to speak. Her choice as well.

“I don’t want you down here. I can get you all out.”

There was a look in his eyes that she had never seen before. Like he was barely holding himself together.

She turned on him.

“No, I don’t think you can. It’s okay. We will be okay, won’t we?”

She turned to appeal to her aunt. Aunt Seni nodded, as she smiled back at Nina. Her eyes were still watery.

Inhaling noisily, Nina turned her eyes back to Brett.

“I thank you so much for helping me. For making me feel normal before I died. You have done all you can. You’re free to go back to heaven, or wherever you were before.”

Nina hid how scared she was from all of them, especially from Brett. She really didn’t want him to leave her down here, but her aunt and cousin were here. There was nowhere else she wanted to be, but with her family. She knew he couldn’t do anything for them now.

She was dead.

She didn’t know what she had to face. But she knew for sure, she was no longer his concern. She had to make the best of being dead as much as her family.

They were all staring at her with varying expressions. The ones that stood out were Cagilaba and Brett. Brett’s was showing a deep emotion that looked a lot like anguish. Cagilaba’s stood out plainly. There was gloating, and a touch of lasciviousness thrown into the mix.

“And don’t even think about it.”

She pointed her index finger at Cagilaba.

“I am not here to be your plaything. I’m here for my family.”

Brett growled.

She put up a staying hand.

“And don’t you start. Let us all try to make the best of the situation now.”

Her eyes began to smart, so she turned away to hide her emotion. Her eyes fell on her body draped on a table in the foyer.

The weak moment passed. She dashed the tears away. Curious, she looked to Brett.

“Are you taking my body with you?” She asked him.

She sounded like she was being strangled.

“What do you want me to do?”

A kind of despair treaded through his deep voice. She was too agitated by then to wonder. All she wanted was not to see the reminder of her demise.

“You decide. I just don’t want to see …”

Her voice broke. She couldn’t continue. She dropped to her knees.

Her body shook as if with fever.

Tears cascaded from her eyes.

‘I thought we couldn’t cry tears when we’re dead.”

The dim irrelevant thought crossed her mind.

Just then strong hands lifted her, then pulled her into a strong chest. She burrowed into the only arms that had made her feel safe. He was her haven when she needed it the most.

Then she felt other arms come around her.

It was Semi.

His whisper sounded in her ear.

“Don’t worry, darling. We will stand together. Nothing can hurt us now, can it? We’re dead.”

His voice was serious, filled with tears.

But it forced a snort of laughter from her.

No matter how much in the doldrums she was, the words that usually came out of his mouth never failed to make her feel better.

He was precious!

It was a preciousness she had cherished.

She wanted to be where he was.

Her tears dried as her resolve reasserted itself.

“Yes, we will.”

Pulling out of Brett’s arms, she encountered the jealous eyes of Cagilaba. There was something hidden deep in those eyes.

A look of triumph?

A shiver passed through her.

‘He can feel jealous all he wants. If he thinks he has a claim on me. Then he can think again.’

She reassured herself of that fact.

Yet, he was a gorgeous specimen, dangerously seductive. And he had all the time in the world to try to make her change her mind. As a matter of fact, he had all eternity, unless something changed in their circumstance.

But she reassured herself once again, there was still one factor working against him.

She was in love with Brett!

Nothing he could do, would make her change her mind, her heart. He could seduce her, but he couldn’t make her fall in love with him. She had already given her heart to Brett. That was enough protection from his brand of seduction.

Besides, she hated his guts, didn’t she?

He had murdered her family.

That was enough to seal the deal.

She wasn’t sure what she would do when Brett left. Resolving to be strong was easy to say, acting on it, was a whole different matter.

‘I have to let him go. Dear God, help me to let him go. Please.’

She was at the end of her tether.

“Seriously? You really expect me to leave you here? With him?” Brett growled.

The agitation in his voice was in direct contrast to Cagilaba’s casual words.

“If that’s what she wants, who are you to gainsay it?” His voice was mild.

Brett bared his teeth.

His aggressive shift towards Cagilaba was arrested by Nina’s hand on his bicep. Cagilaba bared his teeth in a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. He looked ready to explode into action, as he shifted his stance into readiness.

“Stop if. Both of you. I’m dead.” She said to Brett. “Your fighting killed me. So, stop!”

The consternation on their faces was laughable if she wasn’t so pissed off at them.

She raged at Cagilaba, “And you, you have nothing to say that I find remotely interesting. So shut your trap.”

He was still glaring at Brett, ignoring her.

She was incensed at them for their pigheadedness. At Brett, for not accepting she was dead. Cagilaba, for not accepting she didn’t want him. They were both being assholes. She was stuck in the middle. She loved Brett, but she couldn’t be with him. They had been doomed from the beginning.

She had to accept that her life as she knew it, was over. She couldn’t have the love of her life. But at least she was back with the only family she knew.

For the first time, she wondered where her parents were.

Were they in heaven, or in some other area like she was in?

She had been taught that when you die, you go to a waiting place. Paradise for the good souls, and spirit prison for the disobedient ones.

So which destination was this?

Was Cagilaba a part of heavens plan?

“What are you? She blurted out, without thinking.

You could hear a pin drop.

The startled faces told its own story. But Cagilaba’s lowering brow caused Semi to step to her. He placed a protective arm around her.

Sensitive to Brett’s aura, she felt him step closer to her too.

“What do you mean?”

The murderous look in his eyes would have quelled her when she was alive. But she figured he couldn’t hurt her now. She was dead, right?

“I’ll ask again. What are you?”

She wasn’t scared of him.

She had seen his jealousy of Brett. She knew he wanted her. Bad.

“Don’t you know what he is?”

Brett’s amused drawl came from above her head. His arm wrapped around her waist from her other side. Cagilaba glared at him, before his eyes cut back to her.

He was put on the spot. The frown on his brow was still there, but his uncomfortable shift to the other foot gave him away.

“So…?” She urged him.

Brett’s chuckle in her ear told her he was enjoying the other entity’s discomfort. Maybe that was what egged her on as well. They seldom had lighthearted moments.

‘Do you really have to know?”

“Oh yes. She does.” Brett replied for her. “And if you don’t tell her, I will.”

Cagilaba’s scowl got even more ferocious. The only indication Brett was affected by it, was the stiffening of his body. Like he was preparing his stance for battle.

Cagilaba deflated.

He muttered something.

“Louder…” Urged Brett’s glee-filled voice.

For the first time she had known Cagilaba, she felt some sort of pity for him. His hangdog expression caused her to feel a slight guilt for pushing him.

But her curiosity overrode that aberration from the norm. It was imperative she found out.

“A fallen angel.”

His raspy deep voice sounded agonized, filled with hopelessness as he intoned the words, bowing his head like he felt condemned.

For Nina it was an anticlimax. She was expecting him to be a demon.

Her anger reignited. Lunging from the men holding her, she attacked him.

“How could you behave like a demon from hell? How could you kill the people I love?”

He looked incredulous.

“I did not kill the people you love. I brought them here, so that if there was ever a chance, I could bring you here to be with them.”

“You lie.” Her aunt Seni’s scream overlapped his explanation.

“You wanted her so bad, you killed us all, so you could bring us here. So that you could lure her here to be with you.”

“Wait. What? This is what you have had against me all these years?”

Cagilaba’s incredulous voice sounded genuine.

The authenticity in his voice sounded real. The enormity of what he was claiming settled into Nina’s consciousness.

If this was true, it threw out everything she had believed all these years.

And what was left?

“If it wasn’t you, then who did?”

She yelled at him. The tears threatening to spurt from her eyes. They were not tears of sorrow, but of anger.

“I don’t know, but I intend to find out.” Cagilaba promised.

“And me too…” Brett reiterated.

“He’s lying. Can’t you tell…?”

Her aunt Seni seemed agitated as she screamed at Cagilaba and Brett. Brett looked at her with speculation in his eyes.

“Then tell us how you know that.”

His sudden attack on her aunt was a surprise.

“What?”

Nina was incredulous Brett had believed Cagilaba without argument.

“I am trained to detect bullshit, and he is not bullshitting.”

Brett’s voice was filled with conviction.

“Seriously? You believe him over my aunt?”

“Yes, tell him, Nina. I should know…” Aunt Seni’s voice sounded strangled.

“Yes.”

Brett’s answer was short, terse. His whole demeanor had changed to the imperious, arrogant angel he could be at times.

Nina was torn.

She knew Brett believed what he was saying. And yet, her aunt had never lied to her.

‘Except that one time…’

The insidious thought blindsided her from out of nowhere.

Yes, but she had done that for a good cause, right?

‘Or so she said.’

Apparently, a part of her hadn’t believed her aunt.

Was Brett influencing her?

She tried to be fair.

Maybe her aunt believed it was Cagilaba.

And Cagilaba hadn’t realized he had killed them. He had been an angel of God.

He didn’t know the strength of his powers, did he?

She tried to see both sides to their arguments.

And Brett believed Cagilaba. That really stood for something. She had no other recourse, but to see what they could find out.

In the meantime, they had to do something about her body.

Bury? Or keep her on ice?