Broken (Book 1, The Watcher Chronicles, Paranormal Romance), page 25
“Do you think you’re strong enough to keep it?” Baruch asks me. “If I take that sword from you, I can kill Lucifer with it and finally be free of him.”
I tighten my grip on the hilt of the blade. I’ve never swung a sword in my life and I have no idea if I can fight off the dark angel standing in front of me, but I know I would rather die than let him take the sword from my grasp.
“I guess you’ll have to see for yourself if I’m strong enough.” I take a deep breath and wait for the attack.
I’ve always wondered why action movies show fights in slow motion and now I understand why. The next few seconds seem to move slower in my mind than I know they are in reality. Baruch rushes me, his cloak billowing out behind him making him look like a bird of prey. I duck out of his initial attempt to tackle me to the ground and swing the sword at his back setting the black feathers of his cloak on fire. Baruch rips the flaming cloak off his back in a swirl of motion and throws it to the desert sands. He whips around to face me again. He’s so close the flames of my sword are reflected in his dark eyes.
“Give me that sword,” he growls menacingly.
“Come and get it,” I taunt.
Baruch phases almost on top of me, grabbing the arm which holds the sword by the wrist and twisting so hard I hear my delicate bones break. The pain is almost unbearable with the added weight of the sword and the hilt begins to slip out of my hand.
I feel cool fingers pluck the sword out of my grasp and see Chandler, standing behind Baruch, armed with the sword. With one mighty swing, Chandler buries the blades edge in Baruch’s back.
Baruch looks at me in dismay, not understanding what’s just happened.
As I watch Chandler slide the sword out of Baruch, the Watcher’s body explodes into a pile of glistening black ash covering the pale desert sand between Chandler and I. Cradling my broken wrist to my chest, I look where the other two Watchers are because I don’t understand why they aren’t attacking us. I see them kneeling on the desert floor with their faces buried in their hands sobbing uncontrollably. Their children are whining beside them, not understanding what is happening to their fathers.
“What’s wrong with them?” I ask Chandler.
“I think I found my power,” he tells me, breathing heavily from the exertion of the fight. “I don’t know how but I knew if I touched them I could make them feel their deepest sorrow.”
Before I have time to ask my next question, Mason and Lucifer suddenly appear on either side of Chandler.
“Better late than never, I guess,” Chandler says to Mason before completely collapsing from exhaustion and blood loss.
I run to him and turn him over onto his side. The wound on his neck is deep and still bleeding.
“We need to get him to a doctor,” I tell Mason.
Mason picks Chandler up, cradling him in his arms, while I grab the sword.
I see Lucifer look from the sword to me.
“I suppose I’ll have to wait for an explanation on how you obtained such an item,” he says to me before his eyes glide over to the other Watchers and their children. “It’s probably a good idea if you take them both away now, Mason. I seriously doubt you want Jessica to see what I’m about to do to them.”
I grab onto Mason’s arm without having to be told to do so. I suddenly find myself in a bedroom similar to the one I occupied the last time I was at Mason’s villa.
“Shouldn’t we be taking him to a hospital?” I ask as Mason eases Chandler’s body down onto the bed.
“Hospitals ask too many questions,” he tells me. “I’ll go get Malik. He’ll be able to heal the wound. He’s done it before.”
Mason turns to me and pulls me into his arms. I let out a whimper of pain which makes him instantly let me go.
“Where are you hurt?” He asks in sudden alarm.
“My wrist,” I say, still cradling the injured arm to my chest.
Mason kisses me on the forehead. “I’ll be right back.”
He phases away and I go to sit beside Chandler on the bed.
He opens his eyes and tries to smile at me.
“We make a pretty good team,” he says weakly.
I nod. “Yes we do.”
Only a few minutes pass before Mason returns with Malik. Malik sets to work on Chandler immediately and I feel confident he is in good hands. Mason phases me to the hospital in Tunica to have my wrist looked at. Since everyone there knows I’m a Watcher agent, my injury doesn’t send up any red flags. They simply consider it part of the dangers of my job.
Faison is on duty and makes the nurse attending me go away so she can do it herself. Ten minutes later, Mama Lynn and George are at my side treating me like I’m a ten year old kid who broke a bone. Mason stands in the background watching as I’m cared for by my family.
Once my wrist is set, I’m ordered by the doctor to take it easy for a few days and get some rest. I tell my family I need to go see a friend who was also injured in the same fight. They’re reluctant to let me go but simply don’t have a choice.
Mason takes my hand and phases me back to his villa but we don’t immediately go to Chandler’s room.
Instead, Mason phases us to the living room and gently holds me in a tender embrace.
“What happened Jess?” He asks, since he has no way of knowing everything that transpired in the desert.
I tell Mason everything that happened between my last text message to him and his and Lucifer’s sudden appearance in the desert. I leave out the reason Baruch said he wanted to make me suffer because I know it will only cause Mason to feel more guilt unnecessarily.
Mason pulls away from me at the end of my tale, not asking any questions and phases me to Chandler’s side.
Malik is still there holding Chandler’s wrist like he’s checking his pulse. Chandler tries to smile up at me but it comes out more of a grimace because of the pain he is in.
“How is he?” I ask Malik.
“He’ll be fine. Just make sure he takes that medicine,” Malik says, nodding his head at a glass vial filled with blue liquid sitting on the table by the bed. “He refused to take it until you got back.”
“It’s going to make me sleep,” Chandler says in a weak voice. “I wanted to speak with you first, Jess.”
Malik stands up. “I’ve pretty much done everything I can for the moment. It’s just going to take time to heal, but you shouldn’t have much of a scar from where the Watcher bit you. I did the same thing for Tara when she got bit way back when and you can hardly see the place on her neck anymore.”
“Thank you for helping him,” I say to Malik.
“Anytime. But now I need to get back to my wife before she worries too much about me.” Malik gathers up his bag of medicine and turns to Mason. “Give me a lift home?”
Mason puts his hand on Malik’s arm and they phase out of the room.
I sit on the side of the bed by Chandler.
“What did you want to speak with me about?” I ask.
“You need to tell Mason why Baruch took us,” Chandler tells me.
“I’m not telling him.”
“Jess, I seriously doubt those people are the only ones with a vendetta against Mason. You might be protected because of Lucifer’s order but the rest of your friends aren’t.”
“Even if I told him what difference would that make?”
“At least he would know it’s because they think by hurting the people you love they can hurt him too. Tell him so he can help you protect the people around you.”
I shake my head. “He doesn’t need to know. Mason’s dealt with enough guilt in his life. I’m not about to add onto it.”
“Jess?”
I close my eyes at the sound of Mason’s voice behind me and wish he had made the popping noise to let us know he had phased back.
I reach for the vial of medicine on the table by the bed and open the top.
“Get some rest,” I tell Chandler as he opens his mouth and I pour the liquid in.
Almost instantly, Chandler falls to sleep.
I stand to face Mason and his questioning eyes.
“What guilt would you be adding to?” He asks.
“It’s nothing,” I say, hoping against hope he won’t push the matter. “Could you take me home so I can take a shower and change clothes? I feel dirty.”
Mason takes hold of the hand that isn’t half covered with a cast and I suddenly find myself standing in my bedroom.
I look up at Mason and still see his question in his eyes. I quickly look away because I don’t want him to ask it again. I want to act like everything is all right and that Chandler hadn’t almost been killed because of my feelings for Mason. But was I being selfish? Was I putting the other people in my life in danger because I wanted what might be my only chance to love someone?
“Jess,” Mason says and I hear the desperation in his voice, “look at me.”
I stare at his brown leather shoes instead. I don’t want to tell him what he wants to know because I know how much pain it will inflict upon him. But, what if Chandler is right? Maybe I need to tell Mason so he can help me keep my friends and family safe from any other attacks.
Mason places his fingertips underneath my chin forcing me to look up at him.
“What are you trying to hide from me?” The question is so soft, full of concern for my welfare. It makes me hope he won’t take what I have to say as badly as I fear.
“If I tell you,” I say, “do you promise not to overreact?”
Mason narrows his eyes, obviously not understanding why I would ask for such a promise from him. “Tell me.”
I take a deep breath. “Baruch took me because he wanted to hurt you.”
Mason’s body stiffens like I just stabbed him with my words and I immediately want to take them back but know I can’t. There is no way to win in this situation. I can either try to hold onto the rest of the information and hope he doesn’t delve any further, or I can tell him everything and be completely honest.
“And why did he take Chandler?”
“He said since Lucifer told him he couldn’t harm me that he planned to harm everyone I cared about to make my life miserable.”
“Because you being miserable would in turn hurt me too,” Mason says, understanding the workings of Baruch’s sadistic mind.
I nod, watching and waiting to see how Mason reacts to this news.
Mason lowers his eyes and turns his back to me, walking a couple of feet away to put some distance between us.
“Mason, this wasn’t your fault,” I tell him but know my words will be useless. I’ve come to realize Mason is built to harbor guilt and I know what I just told him has only added weight to his already overburdened heart.
“I’m sorry, Jess,” he says, his back still to me. “I’m sorry he tried to make you pay for my sins.” Mason turns to me and I see the curtain has returned behind his eyes, shielding his true feelings behind a mask. “I made a mistake thinking I could find happiness and keep it. You deserve a man who doesn’t have so many enemies in his life.”
I take a step forward. “Don’t do what I think you’re about to do,” I say. “Baruch is gone. He can’t hurt anyone anymore.”
“Can you honestly stand there and say that one of the other Watchers who still hate me won’t try to use you to get back at me? Do you want me to be the cause of you losing Lynn or Faison or George? You would come to hate me,” Mason says, the man behind the curtain peeks out and shows me the pain he feels at the mere thought of something like that happening to me. “You’ve lost too many people in your life as it is, Jess. It’s better to lose me now and keep those you love safe.
“But I love you,” I declare, not surprised by my words but surprised I had the courage to say them to Mason. “I love you and I think you love me.”
“It doesn’t matter what either of us feels,” he says, running one of his hands through his hair. “We can’t be together.”
“Don’t say that,” I beg, my eyes burning with tears. “Do you think I go around telling people I love them everyday? You’re the only man I have ever or will ever say that to.”
I walk up to him and place my hand on his arm. “Please, Mason. Fight for me.”
Mason looks at me and I see the pain in his eyes like it’s a permanent tattoo.
Without saying a word, he pulls away from me and walks over to the bay of windows in my room, staring out at the night.
“I’m going to put Isaiah in charge of you from now on,” he tells me, keeping his voice neutral. “I’ll help when needed but I’ll stay in the background and only contact you when it’s necessary.”
“Mason,” I sob, letting my pent up tears flow freely now because I know what his next words will be to me, and I can’t bear to hear them. Not from him.
He looks over his shoulder at me like he’s taking a mental picture, and I know without a shadow of a doubt he never intends to see me again.
“Goodbye, Jess.”
He phases away before I can say or do anything to change his mind.
Feeling cold to the bone like I’m in shock, I lay down on my bed letting the reality of what has just happened sink into my heart. A series of pained sobs rack my body as I feel my heart implode inside my chest, never to be whole again. How could he just give up on us so easily? Maybe his love for me wasn’t strong enough to make him want to fight by my side. Perhaps the simple fact was that he just didn’t love me as much as I did him.
I hear a knock on my door.
Wiping the tears from my face, I rush to the front of my house thinking it has to be Mason. The dead weight inside my chest opens slightly hoping he’s come back to tell me he made a terrible mistake and that nothing on this Earth can make him stay away from me.
I yank the door open. My tears instantly stop.
It’s not Mason.
I look at the man before me. The golden glow of his aura surrounds him as he stands on my front porch looking just the same as he did fifteen years ago.
“Daddy?”
A Note from the Author
I hope you enjoyed this first book in The Watcher Chronicles series.
The second book in the series will be available in February 2013. If you are interested in further updates and an exact date of publication, please visit my blog at the following site: http://teefymllems.blogspot.com/
S.J. West
West, S.J., Broken (Book 1, The Watcher Chronicles, Paranormal Romance)
