Sapphire Flame (Sapphire Wings Book 3)

It was two in the morning when we finally arrived back in Madison. I really wasn’t expecting anyone to be up. However, there was still a light on in the den downstairs when I finally got to my house. I took it that it was probably Sara. She tended to stay up and wait when things were going on.

Going inside though, I was surprised to see that it was Seraphina. She had apparently decided to stay the night and was waiting in the foyer.

“Hi Pop, did you find Noah?” she asked.

I’d already dropped Noah, Raphael, and Raziel off at their homes, so it was just me coming in at the time. Aiden and his children were outside, getting their suitcases out of their car.

“Yes, and he’s fine. I just took him home with Raphael and Raziel. However, we do have visitors as well that will be staying with us for the time being.” I told her.

“Oh? Aiden and his kids came back with you?”

“Yes. As I said, they’ll be staying with me for now.”

“Can I see them? What are they like?” Seraphina pressed.

She seemed innocent enough with the question, but I detected something underlying it. It was almost like she was expecting something. I hoped that I was reading too much into it. Seraphina had never caused any problems, and she didn’t need to start now.

But I pushed all of that to the back of my mind. I was far too tired to deal with such issues right now.

“Not now dear. You need to just go ahead and get some rest. You’ll be able to meet them in the morning.” I promised.

Thankfully, Seraphina agreed with no argument, and once I had shown Aiden and his kids to their rooms, I decided to get some much-needed sleep. It had been a very long couple of days.

Needless to say, it didn’t take me long to doze off once I’d crawled into bed beside my wife. I think I fell asleep as soon as my head touched my pillow.

I awoke the next morning to see the snow falling outside from the window near the bed. Sitting up, I rubbed my head and looked at the clock on the nightstand.

Eight-thirty. I had actually slept in a little bit. But I had been pretty exhausted from the night before.

Sara must have been concerned, so she’d decided not to wake me when she got up. She’d done that before, and it was yet another gesture that showed how sweet she was.

I stretched, then scooted out of the bed and got getting dressed for the day. I wanted to be careful about everything with Aiden today too. All we needed was trouble starting right away, especially when it came to Yuki. I still wasn’t sure of that boy yet, so I needed the time to feel him out and perhaps get to know him.

Going downstairs, I found Sara fixing some breakfast with Gabrielle. It seemed that my little sister had decided to drop in on us. I didn’t doubt that it was to be nosey and see Aiden. But I couldn’t blame her. All three of us had been extremely curious when we’d first learned of him, as was the rest of the family.

Sara smiled as she saw him come in, “Well, you’re up earlier than I thought you’d be.” she teased.

“I like to think that I’m always an early bird, even when I end up going to bed very late. But I’m going to take it that our new guests haven’t come down yet.” I responded as I leaned against the counter near them and took a quick glance around.

“Nope. We haven’t really gotten to see them yet, although I was hoping that I would when I came in this morning. I’ve been so curious to see what Aiden looks like.” Gabrielle admitted.

“To be perfectly honest with you, the boy looks almost exactly like Raphael. It’s really uncanny.” I told her.

I couldn’t help shaking my head as I thought about that. Noel may have given birth to Aiden, but he certainly hadn’t gotten that many features from her.

Maybe that was a good thing though. It was bad enough that he’d come from her ultimate sin.

“He must be beautiful then, and to think that he also has two children! I’ve been wanting to see what the boy looks like now.” Sara gushed.

“You’re talking like you’ve already seen one of them,” I noted.

“We saw the girl this morning. She’s out in the den watching TV.” Sara told me.

“I’ll take it Hayden isn’t one to sleep in then.” I surmised, glancing at the clock. It wasn’t even nine yet. Those kids should’ve been exhausted.

“She said that Yuki doesn’t either, but he refused to come down without his father for some reason,” Gabrielle added.

“That doesn’t surprise me,” I admitted.

Gabrielle smiled, shaking her head slightly as she looked down at her pan, “I think he’s afraid of us, even though he’d never admit it.”

“Well, we certainly know that Hayden isn’t. She was in here first thing this morning wanting to help. We had to insist that it wasn’t necessary and that she’d just gotten here and needed to rest.”

Hayden was coming in there as she said this.

“I told you, I’m fine. I’m not much of a sleeper anyway.” she insisted, taking a seat at the island and smiling at them.

Hayden seemed like she was pretty laid back, and she’d been smiling since we’d met her. I had to wonder where such optimism came from considering what she’d been born into. Even Seraphina wasn’t as content as Hayden seemed right now.

But also, I was beginning to get the impression that Hayden had no fear about most things, say for her brother’s anger. For her to walk right up and talk to Raphael last night was amazing to me. Even my daughter still tended to be intimidated by Raphael at times, and she’d known him for most of her life.

“Good morning to you too Hayden. I’ll take it that your father and brother are still asleep.” I greeted her.

“Yeah. Well, Daddy is. Yuki’s up, but he says that he’s not ready to get out of bed yet. I bugged him about it, but he still told me no. He says that I wear him out anyway, and he didn’t feel like me trying to do that yet.” Hayden explained.

Gabrielle chuckled, “You sound almost like me when I was a little girl. But I used to love wearing my brothers out once they got up.” she told her.

“This is true. Keeping up with you and Noel as children was extremely difficult at times.” I agreed.

“So, how come no one else is here yet?” Hayden asked, effectively changing the subject. Apparently, she was still trying to avoid saying too much about Yuki, “I would’ve thought I’d see more of you all by now.”

“Patience Grasshopper.” Sara joked, “You forget that this family has been up in arms since Noah took off. They’re all getting some much-deserved rest.”

Hayden gave her a pouting look, “Oh, that’s no fun. I really did want to meet them soon.”

Sara looked back over at me, “Hey Michael, I had been meaning to ask you too. Was Seraphina awake last night when you came in?” she asked.

“Actually, she was. I was surprised that you weren't down there with her.” I answered.

“Sorry. I really had thought that she’d finally given up. I stayed up with her until about one last night because she was insisting that she’d see you all when you got back. But when I left her, she was supposed to be going to bed.” Sara explained.

I sigh escaped me, “That sounds like Seraphina anymore. She’s as bad as her mother when it comes to worrying about others.”

“I saw her going upstairs last night, but I didn’t get the chance to talk to her. Is she your granddaughter?” Hayden asked me.

“Yes. She and Sevee are twins. I’m sure that Noah told you about her if he mentioned Sevee.” I answered.

Hayden smiled, “Yep. He did say something about her. But that’s when I found out about him and Sevee. They’re always going up against each other, aren’t they?” she commented.

Somehow, I had the feeling that Noah hadn’t wanted her to find out about that one. He’d never really mentioned anything about this rivalry to us before. The only thing that we knew was that they were always competing and seemed driven to outdo each other. It was like a personality clash.

But with the way Hayden was speaking of it, it sounded like there may have been a lot more to it.

At that time, we heard a car pulling up to the house. I looked out of the window to see that it was Sean’s Jeep. He and Mia got out of it, heading to the front door. They must’ve been stopping by to pick up Seraphina.

They came into the house, stopping in the doorway when they saw us.

“Good morning Dad.” Mia greeted me. I didn’t miss that she looked relieved to see me.

“Glad to see you made it back. But we noticed that you brought home company after all. I’ll take it that things went well.” Sean noted as he looked over at Hayden.

Hayden smiled at them, giving him and Mia a quick wave.

“Yes. They did. Noah’s home too. I was taking it that they’d all be resting right now, but this one decided that she didn’t need it.” I explained.

“Nope.” Hayden grinned, “Introductions please?”

“This is my daughter Mia, and her husband Sean. Sean, Mia, this is Hayden Renaldi. She’s Aiden’s daughter.” I introduced them.

I’ll admit that I felt a bit put out. In fact, I had the feeling that Hayden may wear me out before her father got down there.

Mia smiled back at her, “Nice to meet you Hayden. You looked like you’re doing good here so far.” she noted.

“I am. Everyone’s been so nice to me here. I’m glad that you all are welcoming me and my family.” Hayden told her.

Within the next few hours, the household slowly began coming to life again. Aiden did eventually come down with Yuki, but I noted that Yuki wasn’t as enthusiastic as Hayden about being there.

Noah was acting like his old self again too when he arrived there with his parents. Anna didn’t seem to mind it though. I imagined that she was just grateful to have her son back.

Aiden was easily able to win her over, but Raziel still didn’t seem to be buying into him. I had the distinct feeling that he looked at Aiden as his rival now. Yet another thing that I needed to add to my “Let me Address This” list.

Aiden was doing quite well, despite the fact that he was using much of his power to keep Noel at bay. He refused to let her even attempt to come out in him there. This stubborn hold that he’d placed against her only demonstrated to me how powerful of a Nephilim he was.

But he was very soft and gentle towards the people that he cared about. I could see that in the way that he spoke and acted around his children. How very interesting to say the least.

That afternoon, I decided to stay in the den while I worked on my figure sheets. With everything that had been going on, I’d fallen a bit behind in some of my work. Raphael had asked the younger ones to gather in the dining room and work on studying for a report that he was planning on giving them once he was caught up with his work as well. He’d actually pushed some of his teachings back when Noah had taken off, but now, he was more than determined to pick it up and have them finish learning their history lesson that he’d begun before all of the recent troubles.

It seemed that Yuki and Hayden were on the same level, so he’d decided to just recap and then give them study time for that day so that they could catch up as well. I kind of saw it as a convenient excuse for him. He was as behind as I was and juggling both work and home teaching wasn’t exactly easy. Allowing the two new ones time to study more gave him an out for the day.

As it turned out, I was glad that I’d sat in there. From where I sat, I could listen to what was being said.

“So, what were you doing driving out there at four in the morning anyway?” Sevee was asking Yuki when they thought that they wouldn’t be heard.

“Just driving. I didn’t feel like being cooped up at home anymore, so I got myself out for a while.” Yuki told him.

“A while? You had already been gone for three days. Me and Daddy were worried sick about you!” Hayden chided him.

“I don’t know what the big deal is. I took off all the time at night and roamed this whole area, and I did fine.” Sevee boasted.

“You only lasted that long because your parents let you, and look at all the trouble you got into towards the end,” Noah informed him.

“I do not recall asking your opinion. Besides, you didn’t fare any better, and you even left your mother after what happened to her.” Sevee retorted.

This wasn’t good. Another fight was about to start.

“Stop it, Sevee. You’re going to start another fight.” Seraphina interjected.

“What? He knows it’s true.” Sevee responded defensively.

Noah let out a frustrated sigh, “I was protecting my mother and you know it. Besides, I seriously doubt that you would’ve wanted me risking your son with Noel around.”

“She wouldn’t have been able to touch him. Lenore and I wouldn’t have let her.” Sevee stated.

“Nice bluff, but you don’t know that for sure,” Noah argued.

They were all quiet for a moment before Yuki spoke up.

“You two really don’t get along, do you?”

“That’s because he doesn’t know when to keep his mouth shut,” Noah answered.

“I’m just telling the truth. You ran away like a dog with his tail between his legs.” Sevee shot back.

“Sevee!” Seraphina whispered harshly.

“It’s better than a fox with too much of a libido to see what a dangerous situation he’d put himself into.” Noah shot back.

“You rotten bastard. You don’t even know what happened…!” Sevee started.

I was about to get up when I heard Raphael walk in there from where he’d been in the nearby kitchen working.

“Sit down. That’s enough out of both of you,” he ordered.

“Then tell him to leave things alone.” Noah requested.

“He shouldn’t act like he’s so innocent either,” Sevee argued.

“Just shut up and do as I asked you before I put both of you in opposite rooms by yourselves again,” Raphael warned them.

Well, it was the most effective way to stop them from going at it that we’d found. Separation always seemed to work the best.

Both of them immediately became quiet with that threat too. I listened as Raphael walked away again so that he could finish what he’d been working on. I didn’t mind though. If they started up again, then I could always step in and separate them this time. But it remained quiet for a little while after that.

Finally, I heard Seraphina speak, “So Hayden, did you and Yuki really grow up with just your parents?”

“Yeah. It was always just the four of us from what I can remember. At least, until Mama died.” Hayden admitted.

“What happened to her?” Seraphina asked.

“Don’t bother Hayden. It’s none of their business.” Yuki interrupted.

That one definitely caught my attention. Yuki was being defensive now. I slowly looked up and listened closely.

“Is it really that bad?” Sevee asked him.

“Yes, it is, so please leave it alone.” Yuki requested.

“Just leave it Sevee. It’s a painful memory for them, and I can speak as someone who’s at least come close to losing a parent.” Noah explained.

“Noah…” Seraphina started.

“Yeah. You did tell us that your mom almost died. But she looks like she’s doing okay now.” Yuki noted.

“I guess she’s having her good and her bad days. Hopefully, things will be better now.” Noah told them.

“Isn’t it odd Yuki? Anna’s like our mom in a lot of ways, huh?” Hayden commented.

“Hayden, not now. I don’t want to talk about it.” Yuki begged.

A distinct feeling of sadness hit me with those words. Something about his mother really upset Yuki. Could it have been from the guilt that he carried over her death?

The rest of the afternoon in the library was quiet after that. Although I still heard them whispering here and there, I heard nothing else that would’ve shown a confrontation.

After Raphael decided to release them for the afternoon, I gathered my papers and decided to go looking for Aiden. It was about time that I found out just what we were dealing with on the issue of Yuki’s abilities. But also, I needed to make sure he was doing all right with Noel. The last thing that I wanted right now was any more surprises.

Aiden was sitting in the guest room, reading a book. He looked up rather quickly when I entered.

“I’ll take it that you’re looking for me.” he guessed, a small smile crossing his face.

It still amazed me how much he resembled Raphael. I half wondered if things hadn’t turned out as they did if Raphael would be more like him in personality. As much as I loved my older brother, he still carried a very narcissistic personality, especially now.

Even Sara had once told me about how she’d noticed that. She’d actually likened him to a jellyfish. He was nice to look at, but if you weren’t careful, he’d give you a nasty sting.

I hated admitting it, but she was right. That was exactly what Raphael was like. He'd been like that ever since Maya had died. How very sad when I really thought about it.

But I pushed the thoughts aside as I took a seat in the chair near Aiden.

“I was. I wanted to talk to you about some things, and I figured that it would be better if it was just the two of us.” I explained.

“I understand. There are a lot of things to discuss, aren’t there?” Aiden responded.

“You haven’t said anything.” I sighed, sitting back.

Aiden seemed to understand. He chuckled a little under his breath and repositioned himself on the couch.

“Where would you like me to start? I’ll tell you whatever you’d like to know. It’s the least I could do for you all so easily accepting me and my children into our family.” he offered.

“That’s a good question,” I admitted. I thought it over for a few seconds, “Although I will say that there are no thanks needed in accepting any of you. No matter where you came from, you’re still one of us, and we’re not looking at you any differently. But getting back to the subject at hand, I suppose that we should start with your son. You mentioned that there have been problems with Yuki in the past, and it seems that he’s still a bit distrustful here, whether he means to be or not.”

“Yes, there have been, but please don’t misjudge him. It isn’t that Yuki doesn’t like you or any of the others here. He just has a tendency to be distrustful in general out of fear.” Aiden told me.

“I see, but tell me, what exactly can he do? I know that we saw how he could destroy things quite easily, but I’m rather certain of myself that that demonstration was only a small piece of it, not to mention the way that he seems to react whenever someone mentions it.” I continued.

Aiden nodded, “It was a very small piece actually. Yuki has the uncanny ability to manipulate things such as fire and ice. But that’s not the worst of what he’s capable of.”

“And what would that be?” I dared ask.

“I can put it very simple for you. Unleashing Hell.”

“What?”

That sounded beyond frightening. Of course a power like that would surface from Noel’s offspring.

“I suppose that I should explain a little bit more.” Aiden went on, “From the moment that Yuki was born, he’s always been a very particular child. I admit that in a lot of ways, I was reminded of him when I met Noah for the first time. They seem to have the same hidden soul that one can only detect through their intense eyes. But there was also something else that I noticed almost right away, and that was the detachment that they seemed to carry from the rest of the world. To be honest, my wife Haley and I were young and inexperienced when we had Yuki, so we really didn’t understand just how different he was for a while, and when Yuki’s abilities began developing as quickly as they did, we became quite worried. Up until that time, I only knew about my own experiences with this heritage. Of course, Haley always tried to see the brighter side in all of it. Honestly, she was the one who kept me going and made me believe that my life was worth living.”

“If you don’t mind me asking, how old were you two when you had Yuki and Hayden?” I inquired.

Yes, I was curious now. By the way Aiden was speaking, it sounded like they both may have been teens at the very least.

Aiden thought about it for a moment, “I was twenty-one, but Haley was only seventeen.”

“I won’t say anything to it. My own wife was fifteen when she ran away to be with me, although we did keep it pretty quiet, just to be safe.” I admitted.

“Haley actually didn’t have any family to speak of. I only met her by chance when I went out to the store for our aunt. She had been very sick at the time, so I was running errands and trying to take care of her. Haley was a young orphan who was helping out the owners at the time since they took her in. You could say we had an instant attraction, and it didn’t take long for us to fall for each other.” Aiden explained.

“And you eventually ended up having to tell her about your wings when you wanted to stay with her.” I guessed.

“Yes, I told her about a year after we met. At the time, she was already pregnant with Yuki. I suppose you could say that I felt a bit of guilt at hiding such things from the woman who was now carrying my child. I really didn’t think that she’d want to stay when I took her into that abandoned warehouse and showed her the truth. But instead of being repelled, she just smiled at me and told me how beautiful they were. I could never hide anything from that smile after that.” Aiden confessed, looking down sheepishly.

That sounded familiar in some ways. I’d always carried a bit of guilt for not telling Missy the truth until it was too late. But I really couldn’t picture her accepting it that easy either.

“So Yuki had developed his abilities and wings at the same rate as the others?” I went on.

“From what Noah’s told me about himself, Sevee and Seraphina, yes. Yuki and Hayden are very close children, born only a year apart, to the day as a matter of fact. It was Haley who picked Yuki’s name too. She chose it because it meant snow. At that time, I really didn’t understand why. But as I watched Hayden and Yuki grow, I realized that his name fits very well. Yuki was a lot like the snow. He was beautiful, yet cold. He was nowhere near the outgoing social butterfly that his little sister could be. But when his abilities began to develop, things really began to fall apart.” Aiden explained.

“You mean what you said before about unleashing Hell?”

Aiden nodded, “As I said, Yuki was a very quiet, hidden child. Half of the time, we never knew exactly what he was thinking. But shortly after Yuki's wings developed that things began to happen in our home. Fires began erupting from nowhere. Strange creatures and troubled spirits appeared and disappeared in and around the house. Like Noah and the others, Yuki had gotten his wings when he was fifteen, and as these things intensified, I realized that they must have had a connection to those wings because I could sense Yuki’s emotional states whenever things began happening. Whenever he became distressed over something, something bad would occur. We ended up moving five times in the course of a year because this destroyed our homes. As you can well imagine, we were all a bit more than emotionally drained.”

What he was saying painted a grim picture in my mind. Obviously, his family was terrified of the things that they were experiencing.

“And eventually, it killed Haley,” I said quietly.

“Yes. It was the one and only time that we would ever see the true extent of his power released. Haley died trying to snap him out of it, and ever since, Yuki has tried very hard to keep it all under control. I also learned that day that I could manipulate the emotional states of other Nephilim, and that’s what allowed me to stop him before he killed Hayden and myself. Unfortunately, there’s been a bit of a bridge left between Yuki and me since then as well, and when he took off before coming back with Noah, I truly thought that we’d lost him forever.” Aiden confessed.

“I think I can understand how that feels. Noah isn’t the only one here who’s tried running away or felt like he didn’t belong.” I told him.

“So I’ve heard.” Aiden nodded, “It seems Sevee is as much a problem child as any of them.”

“He’s been the biggest headache in this family, although it feels like Noah’s been trying to top him on it lately.”

“I think Noah has a complex much like Yuki does. Like I said, they are a lot alike in the end, and somehow, I don’t think that Noah feels like he belongs anywhere. It feels like he’s looking for something, but he doesn’t even know what that something is.” Aiden offered.

I sat back and rubbed my head. I knew that I’d probably be asking too much, but I just had to know something.

“Aiden, do you think that maybe he didn’t want to come home because of your daughter?”

Aiden looked back over at me with some surprise. But then his expression softened.

“Perhaps. I wouldn’t put it past Hayden to charm him. She’d been pretty lonely before all of this, and someone like Noah would definitely catch her eye.” he admitted.

“I’d hope that you’re not insinuating anything,” I warned him.

“Of course not. That’s the last thing that I’d want for Hayden. It would be too reminiscent of my mother. Besides, I think Hayden sees Noah as more of a big brother type. But I will admit that she does tend to give the wrong impression with her actions at times.” Aiden replied.

I could definitely see that one. Hayden already showed a habit of clinging to Noah whenever she got the chance. I’d seen it earlier that day as a matter of fact, and it hadn’t escaped me that Seraphina was watching as well. I didn’t miss that hurt look in her new eyes. Once again, it didn’t bode well.

“We should probably be careful about that anyway. Noah’s already had issues with such misunderstandings.” I told him.

“Yes, I did hear a bit of that mentioned from Raziel. He really didn’t say much though. Only that he was happy over him not being involved with Seraphina.” Aiden responded.

I shook my head, “That’s true, but we believe that it was from Noel and the curse’s influence on his life at that time. There were a lot of problems between him and Raziel at that time because of it.” I explained.

But Aiden shook his head, “I don’t know Michael. I can still feel her inside of me, and I know her influence quite well now, and as much as I hate saying it, I’m not completely sure that it was all her in that situation, although I’m not that sure that it was just Noah either.”

I really didn’t want to think that, but something about Aiden’s eyes told me he was being sincere. Now I knew I needed to talk to Noah soon, and I’d be making it sooner rather than later.