33Well, because I already have a few chapters written out, I figured I might as well post some more tonight. First and foremost, however, I would like to take a quick minute to thank my reviewers before we get on to chapter two. Big thanks to Skylight Reality, Guest (I don't know what to call you, but you know who you are), and hybridgirl167 for taking the time to give me some feedback on my first Hush, Hush story!
Anyway, here's another one. This one takes place around page 343 in Finale. In case you don't have the book to flip through and freshen up on the scene, I'll explain a little bit to help you out.
Scott, Patch, and Nora have just returned from the cemetery after their run-in with Dante when Scott calls with news of Dante's plans of having a meeting at Delphic that night. Patch suggests that Nora holds a mandatory meeting before Dante's can take place and that she should challenge him to a duel to reassure her position as the Nephilim leader. They plan to delay the duel long enough for Pepper to get a hold of the feathers and win the war. So, Nora suggests that Patch calls Scott to let him know to start leaking news of Nora's meeting, and that's where I leave you to read.
Patch's POV
Calling... Scott Parnell was lit across my phone screen before I held it up to my ear. The last I'd heard from him, it was just after three in the morning. With Nora finally warm and relaxed enough to sleep, I had slipped out into the hall to inform Scott of the plan.
"Yeah." Scott's voice broke over the line after the second ring. There was no drowsiness in his voice or sign that my call had woken him, which I found strange after a glance at the time.
"Scott," I said into the receiver. I didn't feel the need to go on with, "Hey, it's Patch." He would know who it was, so I continued without a beat. "Anything new?"
He hesitated on the other end before giving me a curt, "No."
My eyes narrowed at his terse answer. True as it was that we weren't exactly on the best of terms, we were typically civil enough to hold a conversation. I could hear another voice then, and realization hit me.
"It's a bad time." I stated instead of asking, listening to another voice join the conversation through the phone.
"Kinda," Scott agreed and I sighed, looking down at the back of my hand in the darkness. A hauntingly dim color of blue still tinted my skin from earlier, and it was Scott's voice that broke my silent, yet colorful, string of adjectives for that gutless excuse of a man, Dante.
"Yeah, listen. I'll leave right now. Where do you want to meet?"
He was good, putting on a show for the listening ears around him. "Rita's Market. Do you know where that is?"
Scott hummed into the phone. "Sure."
"Good. Meet me in the back lot." I muttered and pushed my thumb up to end the call. I stuffed my phone into my pocket and crept back into the room for my shoes. Nora breathed softly, curled into the sheets with her curly hair spilling over the pillows, and it killed me to leave her. I was half tempted to dial Scott's number again, tell him that it could wait just so that I could crawl back into that bed.
I stood next to the bed, leaned over, and brushed my lips against her temple lightly. No, this was something that couldn't wait.
"I'll be back, Angel." I whispered into her hair, even though I knew she wouldn't hear me, and walked briskly out of the room, snatched my keys from the counter, and let the door swing shut quietly behind me.
Seven minutes later, I was pulling into Rita's. My headlights washed over the front window and a sign advertising their "tres leche" cake. I don't know what it was that made me choose this location to meet Scott. There were several options that would have offered the privacy that our meeting required, but the little Hispanic market was the first that came to mind.
I steered around to the backside of the building, which opened up into a little parking lot that employees most likely used during operating hours. Pulled in, twisted the key to kill the engine, and I let my head fall back against the seat. I was exhausted and certain Scott was too. I would make it quick and ease both of our pains.
The passenger side door swung open a few minutes later as I slid my hand down my face.
"Alright," Scott sighed when the door was fit into place again and the overhead lights had dimmed. "Let's hear it."
Good, he was set on getting straight to it as well. I crossed my arms over the top of the steering wheel and stared out into the dark air.
"I need you to start dropping hints that Nora has requested an urgent and mandatory meeting for your most prominent Nephilim." I said and listened to the dryness in my voice that came with the late hour.
Scott turned in his seat. "A meeting?"
I nodded. "Tonight."
He sat for a minute, probably processing. Scott wasn't slow to pick up on it though.
"You're going to override Dante's meeting, aren't you? What if he doesn't show?"
"Oh, he'll show." I said darkly. "He'll be curious enough that he won't miss it."
Scott nodded, seeming to agree with that fact at least. I could tell that his own curiosity was eating at him.
"And this meeting?" He finally asked, shifting in his seat. "What's it all about?"
I turned enough to watch his expression when the words left my mouth. "She's going to remind them who their leader is, up show that worthless-" I inserted some thoughts of my own about Dante. "And, she's going to challenge his power."
Scott stared at me, raising both eyebrows and expecting more. "Challenge his power? What, like a duel?"
I nodded with my teeth clenched. By the sounds of it, he didn't like the idea any more than I did.
"A duel?" He asked louder.
"I'll need you to be at the meeting to buy me some time. I need you there to convince them that the duel shouldn't take place immediately."
Scott sat back, exasperated. "What if I can't get in?"
I looked at him and he met my gaze. I think he understood that it wasn't an option. Nora's life might depend on it.
"What about you?" He asked, quieter. "You know the meeting will be on total lock-down, right?"
Yes, I had thought about it. I needed to be there for Nora as much as I needed to be there for my own peace in mind. The question was, as Scott mentioned, how to get in.
"I'll find a way." I was confident that I would. I would always find a way.
Scott raked his fingers through his hair and looked down at the dashboard so that I could no longer see his eyes while he thought.
"I'll get word out about the meeting, too. It shouldn't take long for news like that to spread." I muttered, mindlessly rubbing the back of my hand.
"What about Nora? She's never done anything like that before." His mind was running. My chest tightened at the reminder of her and Dante, circling each other with weapons of choice and the aim to kill.
"I know," I said and it was my turn to look away. "That's another reason that we have to do everything we can to delay it." God, at this rate I would throw myself into a full on panic attack. My knuckles were white with the force that I was gripping the steering wheel with and I could feel the scowl etched onto my face. This night alone had aged me a thousand years.
The car was silent for a minute or two while we sat there, boiling in our own helpless frustration. Two men with one desire to save the same woman. It still bothered me, how much he cared for her, but on the same page, I was grateful for it because it meant he would do about anything that I would to protect her. Nora needed more than the promise of just me being there for her. Especially when I knew that it was a promise that I didn't know how long I could keep.
"Look, Patch." His voice finally revealed just how tired he was. "I'll try to get you in, but I think you know that it's impossible."
I didn't want to answer. Of course I knew it, but I would never admit to it being impossible. Patch Cipriano was not that quick to throw in the towel. When you're as stubborn and determined as I am, most things tend to go your way.
"Unless..." Scott tilted his head closer to the window and his brow was furrowed. I leaned forward a little more, waiting for the rest of his sentence to come. Unless? The ticking seconds of silence were only agitating me more and I was convinced that my eye would start twitching with all of these nerves built up inside me. Finally, he shook his head and murmured something that sounded like, "I must be out of my mind."
I raised an eyebrow. In that moment, I wasn't about to argue with him about his sanity because I found myself questioning it too. Spit it out already, Parnell.
"If I can get a guaranteed slip into the meeting," He took a deep breath as if he regretted what he was about to say next. "I'll let you do it."
He didn't move, and I waited. "What are you talking about?"
Scott blinked at me, shocked that I didn't understand his crazy mumbling.
"Well, it's Cheshvan, isn't it?"
It struck me as a brainless question. Scott, of all people, feared it most of- wait. "I'll let you do it." Cheshvan. So that's what was running through the gears in his mind.
"You do know what you're asking, don't you?" I couldn't control the surprise written all over my face.
"Yeah, just don't make me think too much about it." He pushed his forehead into his palm. As much as I doubted he was serious about it, Scott was onto something. The Nephilim would never suspect any foul play if I walked in with his voice, his face. I would sit there in the crowd with the rest of them and argue Nora's side.
Oh, Nora. I sighed. "As good of an idea as it might sound, you know she'd never agree."
Scott glanced at me from the corner of his eye before lifting his head. "I think she would. I think she'd feel a lot better having the both of us there."
I considered it for a minute, as well as the tightness around his eyes. Just the thought of it scared him and his head was worn beyond belief. I didn't expect his offer to stand come morning.
"Sleep on it. You might not like the sounds of it when you can think clearly." I reached up to the key dangling from the ignition and twisted the engine to life.
He seemed to think about it a little more before he set his mouth into a thin line. "If I'm in, you will be too. I won't chicken out." Scott nodded to himself and as if to back up his argument, added, "It's for Nora." With that, he swung the door open but turned back to me.
"I'll get the news out there and I'll call you guys tomorrow." He said and slid out of the seat until his shoes met asphalt.
"Scott," I called. With my left hand still resting on the wheel, I offered my right one out to him. His eyes regarded it for a second before he leaned over the seat and clasped it with his own. "Thanks." I said. It wasn't said in the most sincere way, but I was sure he knew just how grateful I was for his help, for his support in the girl I loved.
He closed the door and I watched him run off to his own car. The night was beginning to fade away, morning was on its way, and I switched the vehicle into gear because I knew what that meant. I pulled out onto the street as if our little meeting had never happened and raced back to my house, my bed, and the girl that slept in it. For what seemed like the hundredth time in one night, I walked through the door and into the quiet house. I kicked my shoes off before I hit the kitchen, dug through my pockets and found my keys and phone in time to fling them on the counter, and entered my bedroom with a smile. In the time that I had been gone, she had flipped to her other side and added a snarl or two to that beautiful red, brown, whatever-color-she-cared-to-call-it hair of hers.
I crawled up the mattress and sank down into the bed next to her. With her nose level to mine, I closed my eyes and dreamt of the simple things that seemed to be lost in our lives at that moment. Nights like this were the reason that I could pull my hair out with worry all day, and still have hope that there was a future in store for the next. If I had anything to do with it, she would be safe. At all costs.
...
I had to hand it to him; the boy could keep his word. Scott assured me last night that he would call and he had done so, faithfully, each and every hour with new information. Not once had he mentioned anything of the meeting or of his offer until that afternoon. I'd finally convinced Nora that she should eat something, and so she was noisily picking through the refrigerator's contents when the phone went off. Without looking at the screen, I pinned the phone between my ear and shoulder.
"What's the good word?" I muttered while I sank into the sofa.
"Patch," Scott said. "Am I on speaker?"
My brow furrowed as I glanced toward the kitchen. "No," I said hesitantly. "Do you need Nora?"
He quickly refused on the other end. "No, I'm actually calling for you."
"Oh?" I leaned forward to rest my elbow on my knee and take the phone in my other hand. The conversation had suddenly turned serious, and I wasn't convinced that it was a good thing.
"I just wanted to tell you, I slept on it. I've thought about it while my head's clear."
I lifted my head. He had my attention now that I knew where the conversation was going. It was the answer that I'd been waiting to hear all day, and I was afraid that I knew what that answer might be.
"And?"
"And I'm sticking to it. I told you that I wouldn't chicken out, and as much as I hate to agree to it, I'll stand by that promise." I could hear him swallow. "For Nora."
I sat back against the sofa and blew the air from my lungs. Thank God, I thought to myself. He continued to surprise me with the lengths that he would go to for Nora. It was no secret that Scott was adamantly opposed to the idea of offering himself as a vassal, as any Nephilim I had ever seen in my time.
"I owe you, Scott."
He snorted, "You better remember that." And the line went dead. I smirked and sat the phone on the cushion next to me just as Nora appeared around the corner.
No longer than ten minutes later, the phone buzzed again and Nora snatched it off the counter and had it pressed to her ear before the first ring had finished. Slowly, I followed her in hopes of picking up bits and pieces of the conversation and leaned against the wall, regarding her with careful eyes. Would he tell her or would he leave me to do the dirty work?
She ended the call and turned to me. "Meeting is tonight," She said and I nodded with her. "At the old Millar residence." Damn. I sent a brief, grateful glance to the ceiling for Scott's determination to keep a promise. There would be absolutely no hope of getting in there without him.
"That works," I told her easily. "I'll be there."
Her eyes lingered on mine for a moment before she went straight into doubting it. So Scott had left me with doing the honors after all. I interrupted her trailing thoughts. "I'm going to possess Scott's body." There was no easy way of spilling the news to her and so I did it quickly and got it out of the way.
She stared at me, voicing the thought that I had been thinking up until about twenty minutes prior. "Scott will never agree to it."
"He already has." I said softly, incredulously.
Two down, many more to come! Again, I hope you at least enjoyed it a little bit.
Thanks for reading and reviewing, if that strikes your fancy. ;)