Happy Thanksgiving! A Preview of January

Happy Thanksgiving guys! I hope you all had fun with family or friends and stuffed your little faces. Happy Thursday to the rest of you who didn't have a holiday! ;) I thought, seeing as how I'm not done with Pt. 2 of our Hugh and Shep story, that I would feed you this tidbit to keep you from starving. This is the new series that will be coming to you in January. Right now, it's nothing but Cade and our December story. So hang on. The new year will be here before you know it. ;) Lots of hugs and kisses from the only turkey hater in the world.

 

~XOXO NIGHT TEMPEST~

 

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The echo of perfectly balanced high heels clicking down the hallway caused Xander to sit up. One after the other, they approached his chair outside of the Dean’s office with an almost military precision. He’d been waiting in this uncomfortable plastic excuse of furniture for over an hour and the sound of those heels made him grin. It was about fucking time she showed up, he narrowed his eyes. The Dean had been reduced to a quivering mess in the corner of his office, whispering to himself of shadows and hellfire. It wasn’t his fault, though. The Dean was the one who’d raised his voice. The Dean was the one who dared to try and kick him out of school. What was done was done. It wasn’t his fault. Okay. Maybe it was, but who the fuck really cared? Not Xander. That’s who.

The sunset washed over the picture window across the way. A silhouette of a tall woman stopped in front of it, eyes watching him as she walked into the room. An elegant swish to her hips, not provocative in the least, accompanied her trim frame and long legs. She pushed square rimmed glasses up her nose and crossed her arms.

“Again?” She sneered. “This is the third time this month, Xander!”

“So.” He stood, zipping up his leather jacket. “Hurry up and fix it. I need to get out of here. I have plans, mother.”

Elsanah shook her head, dark green eyes furious. “Hurry up and fix it? Who are you to talk to me like that?”

“What?” Xander raised a dark black brow. “You do it every time. I didn’t see this as a problem.” He shrugged.

“So that makes it right for you to behave this way in the first place? To expend your demonic rage on an innocent because you were getting what you deserved for once? No, Xander. It doesn’t. It seems you can’t control yourself anymore. Time and again I’ve warned you, and still, you don’t listen!

I’m here to clear up this situation, because if left as he is, I am more than sure he would draw attention from the humans. Not to mention, his mind would be scarred until eternity. Not that you seem to really care.” She put a hand on her hip and narrowed her eyes. “And the only reason you are still standing here is because I came in place of the angel on shift.”

“Oh yeah, and who was that mother, Hazmere, your boyfriend?”

“Is that what this behavior is all about, me and Hazmere? It was a date, Xander, nothing more. I’ve had it, my son. I am past my limit and it’s time you learned. This is for your own good.” Her eyes bled white, glasses vanishing from her face. Her hair began to unravel with her anger. Long caramel locks twisted over her shoulders and down her chest, with small golden threads that sparkled, even in the failing light. “This is the last time you harm an innocent, Xander,” she boomed—an ethereal, yet, terrifying echo filling the room. She looked to the ceiling as the sky through the window behind her seemed to paint itself black. “Yes,” she hissed to something above and Xander swallowed.

He knew she wasn’t talking to him. She was talking to him—the one and only. When her Elsanah’s eyes found Xander again, he sucked in a deep breath. Wings tipped in gold opened from nowhere behind her back, spanning a good seven feet to either side. This was his mother, Elsanah, one of the seven arc-angels that led God’s army in the war with hell itself, every day since the beginning. She was strong, faithful, but had an angry streak that had, once upon a time, attracted his father. These days, the two of them had nothing in common except the will to kill each other. Angels and demons weren’t supposed to fall in love, let alone had children. The point made clear as Xander wasn’t exactly what you would call angelic.

“What are you doing?” Xander yelled above the storm of her wings flapping madly.

“In the name our father, I awaken your holy blood so that your heart knows the difference between right and wrong. From this day forth, you will fight between your heritage, your angel and demon battling for claim upon your soul. You will learn to love others! You will feel what you have done to them! You will live with the consequences now, Xander!” His mother splayed her fingers and a brilliant white light burned his eyes.

Dropping to his knees, Xander screamed and reached for her—even though she was angry, she was still his mother. Still, she didn’t stop. Pain ripped up his back. Something wanted out—something that tore through his skin to greet the air around them. The sound of wings unfolding and a searing agony was all he knew when everything went dark.