Nephilum

Chapter 12

"Why are you such an arrogant jerk?" I asked him bluntly.

He seemed taken aback for a moment at my directness but he soon placed that familiar smirk upon his face. "Why does it matter to you? Does it hurt your little feelings?"

I glared at him and took a deep breath to calm myself. My brown eyes narrowed and my eye twitched. "No. Nothing you do hurts my feelings. But tell me, why are you such a jerk?"

"I didn't know I was being a jerk." He said as he started down the hallway and to the stairs. "This is how I always act."

I followed him, having to jog to keep up with his long strides. I scoffed. "Michael already told me you're actually a good guy."

Michael looked up at the mention of his name and rolled his eyes at me for bringing him into our dispute. I smiled apologetically at him. James glared at Michael, but he continued to make his way toward the front door.

"Yeah, well Michael doesn't know what he's talking about." James stated as he opened the door. I followed him outside and he jogged down the few steps of the outside pattio. I was once again reminded how breathtakingly beautiful it is here.

"Don't say that about Michael." I suddenly said. James stopped and turned around to face me.

"Stop following me." He continued to walk and I debated between listening to him or not. I made up my mind and jogged after him.

"You can't tell me what to do." I stated defiantly.

My hair flew behind me at the brisk pace I had to walk to keep up with him. It was like he was trying to out walk me or something. He sighed.

"Elizzbeth, go home. I have stuff to do." I realized that he called the safehouse home.

"Let me come with you." It wasn't a question, it was more of a statement.

He shook his head in defeat and didn't say anything else. We walked a few paces in silence before I began to get bored. "When is Devin gooing to start training me?"

He ignored me. We walked a few more paces in silence.

"So your dad seems...nice." I said.

Still, he remained silent.

I tried one more time. "James answer me."

His silence didn't waver. He didn't even look at me. It was like he wasn't even recognizing I was there. It was purely annoying.

"James I swear if you don't answer me-"

He cut me off. "What Elizabeth? Please, tell me what you're going to do because you're obviously not going to tell me anyway." His sarcastic answer slightly surprised me.

I looked at him, mouth slightly agape at his sudden outburst. I stayed silent as we walked. There were sounds all around us, though.

People talked to people as they walked by us, giving me curious stares. I saw another person high above, flying with the flaping of his wings. I looked back to the people around us and to James' back.

"Why don't you guys have wings?" I don't know what made him answer me finally-it could have been the randomness of the question or maybe he was just done being mean-but he did.

"We do."

"Well why can't I see yours?"

"Because I don't want you to see them right now."

"But I can see his." I replied, pointing to the man above us. James looked up, but didn't comment any further.

We walked past the building he took me to when I first met Rodger and for the first time since deciding to follow him, I wondered where we were going. I knew better than to ask though. I was starting to get the feeling the more I asked him questions, the more annoyed he got with me.

He finally stopped in a building that looked to be only about two stories, but it was still as luxurious as everything else in Heaven. Gold rimed every edge of the building while everything else on it was white.

"Where are we?" I asked.

He didn't answer as he led me through the slightly larger than normal, wooden doors. I don't know what I was expecting, but a library definitely was not it. James walked in like he owned the place and went straight for the back rooms on the opposite side of the building.

"James." I hissed, looking around before following him. I forced a polite smile at a woman that passed us and she returned it.

"What are you doing?" I hissed under my breath at James as I caught up with him.

"You'll see." He said as he opened the door.

He walked through a dimly lit hallway and I was right behind him. "If we get in trouble for this, I'm blaming you." I muttered under my breath.

He chuckled, but otherwise stayed quiet.

After a little bit of walking, the hallway widened out into a small chamber type thing. "James I'm going to ask one more time and if you don't answer me I'm going to scream. Where are we?"

He rolled his eyes at me, but he answered nonetheless. "We're at my hideout of sorts."

"Why do you have a hideout?" I asked, taking in everything around me. There was a large table in the center of the room and a bookshelf pushed to one of the walls. A bean bag chair was pushed to a corner and there was one picture taped to a wall. I walked closer to examine it. James and a boy a little older than him leaned on a car, glancing toward the camera. Both had smiles on their faces.

"Was this you?" I asked him.

He nodded, not even looking in my direction. He looked younger in the picture, maybe about fifteen. My eyes slid back to the boy beside him. He had the same hazel eyes as James, but his hair was slightly darker.

"Who is that?"

"My brother." My eyes widened in surprise. I didn't know he had a brother.

"What's his name?" I asked curiously. James sat down heavily in the bean bag chair, still not looking at me.

"Ian."

"How old is he?"

He sighed. "He would be twenty-two."

I didn't miss the two key words in that sentence. "Would be?" I asked gently.

"He died a week after that was taken."

"I'm so sorry. I didn't know." I took a small step towards James to comfort him, but stopped. My hands played with the hem of my shirt and I just stood there, not knowing what to do.

He nodded distractedly. Then he stood up suddenly. "Let's go."

I didn't question it and followed him as he led me through the library and out the doors. "How did he die, if you don't mind me asking?"

He sighed heavily again. "You know how my dad was with the demons?"

I nodded.

"The demons got wind that he was actually an angel and they killed Ian. I was at Michael's house at the time."

I nodded and we walked back to the house in silence. I felt like I was starting to get to know him and understand why he's so hard to be around. Don't get me wrong, he still doesn't have an excuse to be such a jerk, but I can understand why now. Maybe Michael was right. Maybe he's not as bad as I thought.