SERAPHS: THE WAR GAMES

CHAPTER ONE

"Dad?" Nora was stupefied as she stared at the man standing at the door, right in front of her. Her father died in a car accident nineteen years ago. Her mother, Marisa, was in the car with him and pregnant with Nora at the time. She survived because Nora was saved by Archangel Michael. Her father couldn't possibly be alive.

Keelan stood by the partition, wondering why Nora became speechless. His eyes drifted to a picture in the living room, one of the few pictures of Nora's father. He narrowed his line of sight to the picture, shifting his gaze between it and the man at the door and back. It was the same man. It was Thomas, Nora's father—but he was dead.

"Norabel, who is it?" Marisa asked from the kitchen. When all she heard was silence, she appeared from the kitchen to check who was at the door herself. "Tom?" she gawped at her dead-- not dead husband in utter shock.

"Marisa." Tom rushed inside to hug her. Marisa's body coiled backwards instinctively. Tom retracted his arms, understanding why his wife and daughter were surprised to see him. The last time Marisa saw him alive was minutes after the accident. Standing in before them, he was at loss for how to start explaining himself. Nora was still transfixed at the door, gawking at Tom and Marisa's expression was clouded with unbelief, confusion and a little bit of fear. "Marisa, it's me."

"No— no, it can't be you. My husband is dead. You are not him." In her heart, she knew it was Tom, yet it was difficult to accept that. People don't just come back from the dead. He looked slightly older and he had grown his beards, that was all the changes. His voice, the way he walked, even his smell was the same. He was her husband.

"I am so sorry for putting you through that, but it was the only way I knew you would be safe," Tom admitted guiltily.

"Oh my God," Marisa gasped and broke into tears. She hesitantly touched Tom's cheeks and ran her hand down his chest. "Oh...oh God, how is this possible?" her voice broke. "Is it really you?"

"Yes, Marisa it is me."

"Where have you been? What happened?" Marisa wiped tears off her cheeks.

"It is a long story."

"No, we want to hear it," Nora said tartly and banged the door shut. "We have all the time, dad." She gestured Tom to have a sit on the couch. She grew up thinking her father was dead. He was the reason she broke Gary Allen's nose in 9th grade when he asked her to a school dance. Apart from the fact that she didn't dance, there would be a father-daughter session during the dance. Nora had decided not to attend the dance because she didn't have a father that would partner with her. She had watched Tom die some many times in her dreams. She was eager to hear this excuse of his- not that it would mean anything, her mind was made up about Tom. Nothing could justify his action of leaving his family behind.

Tom took his seat beside Marisa while Keelan went for the door to excuse himself from the family meeting. "Where are you going?" Nora asked him.

Keelan shot her a questioning look while Marisa and Tom swung their heads back to him. "I'm going to wait outside—"

"No, don't go. Stay," Nora said. "You've been around these past few days more than he has been my entire life."

Tom sighed. "If she wants you to stay it's fine. She would—" Tom's eyes trailed down to Keelan's zayin, "You are a Seraph?"

Marisa, Nora and Keelan exchanged startled faces. None of them expected Tom to know about Seraphs.

"Yes, I am. How did you know that?" Keelan asked.

"Your zayin," Tom pointed his chin at Keelan's zayin, in a sheath strapped around his waist.

"That is very specific," Keelan said. "Most people call it a knife or a dagger."