Read Genesis: A Soul Savers Novella for Free Online

his mouth twisted with anger.
    “He tells us that,” he spewed, “shows us … that … and then leaves ?”
    Cassandra stood and stepped closer to him. She reached for his hands, but he jerked them away. Her hands fell to her side. “He’s happy now, Jordan. He’s with Mother again. They’re in a better place.”
    “A better place? Where do you think they are? Demons do not go to Heaven, little sister.”
    Cassandra flinched as if he’d just slapped her. “ Demons? What are you talking about?”
    “A fallen Angel is a demon. Father himself taught us that and he was a fallen Angel.”
    “No—”
    “You saw him just now. Black wings and horns on his head!”
    Cassandra shook her head. “He fought the demon, Jordan. Father was the Angel.”
    “And then he fell. You saw that, too, right? He fell from the Heavens. They cast him out.” Jordan clenched his teeth so hard, his jaw twitched. “And just now—as he rose like a demon in front of our eyes, with those thin, black wings and talons and horns … ”
    Cassandra gasped. “No! Beautiful, white, feathered wings. He’s an Angel. He’s gone back!”
    Jordan glared at her as if she were a fool who didn’t understand what was so obvious to him, which she really didn’t. Black wings? Talons and horns? What had Jordan seen?
    He turned his back on her and crouched beside the fire. He stared at the low flames licking at the cypress wood, and his shoulders rose as he inhaled slowly, as if trying to calm a different fire—one she could feel burning inside him, just below the surface. She didn’t like him when he was like this. He’d always had a dark side the rest of her family did not and it scared her when it surfaced. When he spoke, however, he didn’t yell or curse at her. Rather, his voice came low and deliberate, which she found even more disturbing.
    “He’s gone to Hell, Cassandra. Accept it. He was an Angel. He’s now a demon.” He stood again and turned toward her, darkness filling his face and fire in his eyes. “And so are we.”
    Her hand flew to her throat. Her own voice came out in a rough whisper. “Jordan … how can you—”
    “We are of his blood. His demon blood runs through our veins. That’s why we age so slowly, why we run so fast and can lift fallen trees three times our body weight. We are demons, too.”
    She shook her head. She fell to her knees and whispered, “Angel. He’s an Angel. Angel blood is in us.”
    Jordan growled. He grabbed his dagger and stomped to the door.
    “Where are you going?”
    He stopped, but kept his back to her, his shoulders tense and square.
    “I’m going to find those … men … you spoke of,” he said through clenched teeth. “If they rose from the dead, as you say, I am sure they have answers about this .” He flicked his hand at Father’s abandoned bedding. “And while I’m gone, you can clear your head and accept the truth for what it is.”
    Cassandra stared wordlessly as her brother disappeared through the door. Now alone, she let the emotions overcome her. She collapsed on her side, curled into herself by the fire and sobbed. She cried for Father, she cried for her brother’s obvious delusions and she cried for herself, for being left alone with so many unanswered questions. She cried herself to sleep.
    She dreamt of Father in all his Angel glory and she also dreamt of demons. She felt their darkness, their evil . She knew, even in her dreams, Father was not a demon. The idea was impossible. How she and Jordan had seen something so different as Father rose from his deathbed, she didn’t understand. But she knew in her heart—in her soul—that Father was good . And that he had returned to Heaven to be with Mother.
    When she awoke, light streamed through the cracks in the grass hut’s west walls, indicating late afternoon. She glanced around to see Jordan hadn’t returned and her eyes drifted over to Father’s empty bedding and then away. She wasn’t ready to face it yet.