Sapphire Flame (Sapphire Wings Book 3)

We were home within the blink of an eye thanks to Malakai’s transportation ability. Strangely enough, it seemed an entire day had passed in the human world. Night had fallen, and all was quiet.

As I walked back into the house, I admit that I was more than ready for a change for all of us. It was time to move on in our lives.

Gabrielle was coming downstairs when we entered. Her eyes widened in relief as she saw us.

“Oh, thank God,” she cried, hurrying over to us and hugging Noah.

“It’s good to see you too,” Noah responded as he returned her hug.

“I’m so glad to see you’re okay. But what in the world is going on here?” Gabrielle asked. She hadn’t seen the black wings yet, so I assumed she was talking about Sara and Anna.

“I’ll take it that they’ve changed?” Raphael guessed.

“Okay, so you know what’s going on. Care to fill me in? First Anna starts showing symptoms like she's getting wings, then Sara appears out of nowhere with the same thing. Then, before I know it, both of them sprout wings at the same time!” Gabrielle exclaimed, still looking shocked about it all.

I was a bit shocked too. Sara had appeared here? Had the Seraphita brought her?

My thoughts were interrupted by Malakai speaking up.

“To put it quite simply, they’re now like the rest of us. They’ve been turned into Nephilim, and it seems that the Seraphita decided that Sara was better suited to do it here with us and you,” he said.

Gabrielle looked over at him, “You came back too?”

“He’ll be staying with us from now on. It’s part of the conditions. We’ll explain it later.” Raphael told her.

I watched him brush past her and disappear into the next room. Something was bothering him. I was sure of that much.

But for the time, I decided to leave it alone. There were more important issues at hand.

“Michael…?” I heard Gabrielle say.

I finally noticed that she was looking at me again.

“Don’t worry about it. It’s just been a long day.” I reassured her.

“How are Sara and Anna doing now?” Malakai inquired, effectively changing the subject.

“Oh, yes,” Gabrielle managed. She was still in a bit of shock over Raphael’s brash behavior, “They’ve been doing very well. Their wings erupted about half an hour ago, and they’ve been recovering upstairs, and they say they’ve been feeling good.”

“Then why don’t we go see them now?” I suggested.

Raziel and Noah immediately agreed. They were more than anxious to see Anna, and the truth was, I was dying to see Sara too. Not only was I worried and needed to know for sure that she was okay, but I was also pretty curious as to what she looked like now that she’d changed into a Nephilim.

I couldn’t stop feeling nervous though as I came upstairs with them. I had known Sara for years now, but I had never imagined seeing her become like us. What would she be like now? Would she be any different from the Sara I had always known?

But all of those thoughts were put to rest as I walked into that bedroom. In fact, the only thing that came to my mind when I saw her sitting there was that she was even more beautiful than I’d ever imagined she could be.

No, I had never doubted that Sara was a beautiful woman, even though I’d met her when she was thirty. Now, like Anna, she looked like she was nineteen or twenty, and had large blue wings that had sprouted from her back.

Anna was sitting with her when we came in, and both looked like they were recovering well. Of course, her reaction at seeing us was immediate, her face lighting up more than I’d seen in years. But then, she looked as she did when she’d first had her son.

However, she’d become a bit more beautiful than I remembered as well. It must have been the effect of becoming a Nephilim.

The funny thing was that I saw a reaction from Noah that I hadn’t seen before. He immediately ran over and hugged her tightly.

“You’re okay now. You’re really okay.” Anna whispered, hugging him back just as fiercely.

“I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you like I did, and I’m okay now.” Noah whispered back.

Raziel walked over to them, looking just as relieved. Anna flashed him a knowing smile.

“Looks like I’m finally a full Renaldi.” she joked.

“Yeah, but at least now I don’t have to worry about losing you,” Raziel responded as he hugged her after Noah.

I sat down beside Sara, who wore that same sweet smile she always did for me.

“It looks like I’m going to learn what it’s like now. You’ll help me out, won’t you?” she requested.

I returned her smile, “Of course I will. I’m relieved too that I get to have you with me for however long our lives are.”

“Me too. I’m looking forward to it.”

Ah yes. Such optimism was just like her. For someone who’d had such a rough life for so long, she was very optimistic and happy most of the time. Maybe that’s what drew me to her when we met. She always helped me and made me feel better, no matter what was happening around us. I honestly think Sara has always been the type to do so. It was too bad that the rest of the world hadn’t been able to see that before. Instead, it took a Fox to prove how incredible she is.

“How are you feeling?” I asked as I touched one of her wings.

I’ll admit that I still felt amazed at seeing this. I’d never imagined seeing her as one of us, although it was insanely gratifying. I would not love and lose again. She would remain by my side as a true equal.

Sara rubbed her left shoulder, “I’m fine. It does hurt some, but it’s not too bad. But I have this feeling that I’m not going to recognize myself when I look into a mirror.” she admitted.

“It’s something you get used to after a while. Trust me.” Gabrielle assured her.

“It might be strange, but at least now we don’t have to think about getting old,” Anna added.

“Yeah, and at least I know I won’t be married to an old woman in twenty more years.” Raziel joked.

“Sean’s right. Sometimes you are an angel just in looks.” Anna snapped as she frowned at him.

“I kid, I kid.” Raziel defended.

It was nice to see things looking a little more normal now. Well, as normal as we all could be.

“So, what happens with you? I’m assuming that you really are staying with us.” Gabrielle continued as Malakai stood near us.

“Yes. From now on, I will be staying with my clan and guiding as I must.” Malakai replied, “But I have no intention of taking over leadership completely, if that’s what you’re thinking. I simply want to be here with everyone and enjoy it, even if I must dictate and guide things at times. However, I will step in if needed on issues, especially considering that there could be a conflict of interest now.”

“A conflict of interest?” Sara repeated, giving him a confused look.

“I believe that he means between Raphael and myself,” I admitted.

I hated saying such a thing out loud, but I knew that it was true. Now that the cap on Raphael’s powers had been released, it was very likely that he could challenge me for power over our family. I truly didn’t believe that he would, but then one never knew for certain. After all, it seemed like he’d been hiding a lot from us throughout our lives. It could’ve just been because so much came out at once, but it still nagged at me.

“You don’t really believe that Michael,” Sara reasoned.

“I’m… not sure anymore,” I confessed.

“I honestly don’t think that you have anything to worry about with all of this. Raphael may have had a lot of things that have happened to him, but I doubt that he wants to upset the balance of power that has come to be in this family. If anything, I think he enjoys things the way they are. He’s not the type who wants to be thrown in charge of everything.” Malakai told me.

Gabrielle looked a bit worried, “Maybe, but Raphael can be rather difficult about things, and the way he was acting downstairs just didn’t seem right.”

“Why don’t you go check on him, Michael? That might help, and we’ll be fine.” Sara suggested.

“Are you sure? You just got your wings.” I reminded her.

I did feel a bit guilty about leaving her like that, even if the others were there. I’d dare say that Sara had become like Missy to me. Perhaps she even meant more, considering she accepted me for what I really was. Would Missy have ever been able to do that? I will never know for certain.

“I’m fine. Just make sure that everything will be okay with Raphael, then come back here to me. I’ll wait for you.” Sara reassured me.

“There’s no need to worry. Gabrielle and I will be here with them, and they are recovering nicely. It’s better now if you try to make sure to finish patching things up with your older brother. After all, it seems that the two of you have a lot to speak of.” Malakai added.

I suppose one couldn’t argue such logic, and knowing that Malakai was going to be around was a bit of comfort, but not much.

I must say that walking out of that room, I felt a certain sense of doom in the air. I don’t know why, but I just felt nervous that things may not turn out as I was hoping they would. Perhaps it stemmed from my fear that Raphael would end up rejecting us all now that he was finally free of the past. I had carried it for many years with my knowledge that he hadn’t been happy in the Renaldi family ever since we could remember, and those little bits of happiness that he’d had seemed short to say the least.

The only things that had ever seemed to keep him grounded with us were his son and grandson. Would he leave them behind too if he chose to leave us, or would we lose a good deal of our family with that?

I found him standing by one of the large windows in the den room. At first, I wondered if he’d even noticed me come down there. He certainly didn’t show any reaction to my presence. But then he spoke up.

“I was wondering how long it would take before you’d come looking for me.”

He sounded the same as I remembered from all the times before. Yet, I was still a bit wary. How did one start such a conversation about doubts and fears?

Still, I had to figure it out. Leaving all of this hanging would do neither of us any good.

“You knew I’d worry enough to come. Besides, I was surprised that you didn’t want to see Anna after all of this. I thought that you’d be worried about her.” I responded, standing back against the doorway.

I guess I was still a bit nervous about approaching him yet. Funny how he even managed to intimidate me at times, though I’d never admit it to the rest of the family.

“It’s not like I wouldn’t want to see her or wouldn’t worry, but I know that Gabrielle is capable of taking good care of her, not to mention that Malakai is here as well. I just have a lot to think about right now, so I took some time to myself.” Raphael answered, still not turning to face me.

“Like what?” I dared ask.

“I think you know,” Raphael answered.

I took a step forward.

“You’re not thinking of leaving this family, are you?” I asked.

I couldn’t believe that I’d said it out loud, but I knew that I couldn’t keep holding it in. That fear was eating away at me. I couldn’t handle all of this alone. Not without him at least in the shadows, as he’d always been before.

Raphael finally turned and looked at me. I could swear I saw his dark eyes flash in the dim moonlight.

“Whatever would give you that idea?” he asked.

“Don’t give me that! You’re not acting right at all!” I snapped.

“I guess you have a point, but to be honest about it, I haven’t felt like myself in decades, and this new freedom has been a little bit overwhelming. So, I decided to come down here and take a bit of time to allow it to settle in. Does that make you happy?” Raphael explained.

“Not really. You’re still avoiding my question.” I retorted, finally forcing myself to walk over beside him.

Raphael turned and looked back out of the window. For a few long moments, we stood there in silence, until finally, he spoke again.

“It’s amazing, isn’t it?”

“What?”

“How endings become beginnings. I don’t think that I would’ve ever imagined the truth to everything back when we were children. Yet, seeing Malakai now and learning all that we have, I think I’m getting the clear picture of what this family is meant to be, and somehow, it’s both surreal and terrifying to realize it.” Raphael elaborated.

He did have a point. It was rather surreal to think about everything that we’d seen and learned in the last month. First dealing with Noel and the family curse, then Noah’s sickness. That had led us to places that we probably would’ve never imagined seeing.

But it was something that I pushed to the back of my mind. Raphael was still avoiding the subject, and I was determined that somehow, I’d get the answers out of him. One family member continuing to keep things from us was bad enough and said angel would be my next target.

“Then tell me, what do you think this family exists for now?” I asked.

“I believe that it’s just like Malakai told us. We’re here because the Renaldi family was meant to watch over the connection between the spiritual and living worlds, just as the other two are. I honestly couldn’t tell you exactly what the purpose of that is, considering that Malakai hasn’t been too forthcoming about all of it. Perhaps it’s merely to link them. Either way, it seems we’ve finally crossed the threshold into something else entirely, doesn’t it?” Raphael answered.

I nodded as I looked out at the moon, “It’s odd, but somehow that doesn’t seem too comforting.” I admitted.

“I wouldn’t see it as that at all. The fact is, we shouldn’t exist in the first place. But we were brought into this world by one of those three Angels who was supposed to create these families, so I suppose that we should make the best of it.” Raphael stated.

“So tell me the truth then. Are you really thinking of leaving, or am I just being paranoid?”

“You have nothing to be paranoid about, Michael. You should know that I have no intention of ever leaving this family. Besides, why would I want to do so when there are still other things to be done?” Raphael told me.

“Such as?”

Raphael smiled, “Maybe our family will split up more, but that doesn’t mean that we won’t keep in contact. Also, there is the matter of those other two families. With Malakai around, I believe that it wouldn’t be out of the question for us to start trying to find them now. Personally, I’d much rather begin meeting them with the rest of our family.”

I smiled back, “Yes, I would think so too. But do you really believe that we’ll have any real luck finding them now? Just because Malakai’s around doesn’t mean that he’ll agree to help us with such a thing. He may not think that it’s time for us to meet them.”

“You worry too much.”

“I’m a born worrier, thanks to you.”

Raphael actually laughed. It was a laugh I hadn’t heard in years and made me feel better. For the first time in years, my brother was finally completely back.

“It’s nice to see that everything’s back to normal. But seriously, I believe that the time is coming, and Malakai’s probably already planning on when it will happen. For now, though, let’s work together and go along with what he says. If anything, I believe that it will allow us to begin piecing him together as well.”

“Sounds like a plan to me. But right now, we should probably check on the girls. One thing at a time for now. At least, until we’re back on track again.” I agreed.

Raphael agreed, and the two of us headed back upstairs. Yes, for now, we would bide our time and continue figuring out where we were going in all of this.

But I think that both of us were certain that one day, we would completely understand what our place in the world was supposed to be, and we would meet the others like us.

However, for now, we’d simply celebrate making it through all of the trauma of the past and having our family whole again. Bigger things could wait.

For now, all we needed was us.