Free Shadows by Paula Weston

thirty-nine years old.’
    I stumble backwards, feel rough fabric against the back of my legs, lose my balance and sprawl onto something wide and hard. A couch. It smells as musty as the room.
    He kicks a blanket over to me. ‘Put that around your shoulders.’
    I want to defy him, but it’s bloody cold in here, so I wrap myself in it.
    ‘This is where Jude and I used to come when we’d had enough of all the bullshit.’
    Jude was here…My fingers are still trembling. I hide them in the blanket. ‘It smells,’ I say.
    He cricks his neck. ‘Yeah, well, housekeeping hasn’t been a priority lately.’
    ‘Why am I here?’
    ‘Some of Jude’s stuff is still in his room. I thought if you saw it, you might accept I’m not a complete liar.’
    ‘How can I see anything? It’s dark.’
    ‘It won’t be forever.’
    He adds fuel to the fire. It’s cracking and popping, and starting to throw out serious heat.
    I still resent the accusation that I’ve been the unreasonable one. ‘I thought you were going to drive wherever we were going.’
    His face dances with shadows from the bright flames. ‘Even after you found me in your room?’
    I don’t answer.
    ‘So, what, you thought I just wanted a hug?’
    And yet again, I feel like a fool.
    ‘I’m not complaining,’ he says. ‘I’m still getting used to the idea you don’t want to punch me every time you see me.’
    ‘I wouldn’t go that far.’
    He gives a short laugh and picks up the other blanket. ‘Move over.’
    I do.
    I have a thousand questions. ‘Tell me about the Rephaim.’
    He rubs his eyes. ‘In a minute. You thirsty? There’ll be something to drink here somewhere.’
    I almost ask where here is, and decide I don’t want to know just yet. One surprise at a time. ‘Like what?’
    Rafa rattles around in a cupboard behind the couch and comes back with a bottle of water and two glasses. He fills the glasses and hands one to me. I hold it for a few seconds, surprised how cold it is.
    ‘It’s just water,’ he says, misreading my hesitation. ‘If I wanted to hurt you, I would have done it that first day in the rainforest.’
    My breath catches. ‘That was you?’
    He lifts his glass to his lips.
    ‘Rafa.’
    He seems startled to hear me say his name.
    ‘Yeah, that was me. I was about to get closer when you started crying. It kind of threw me. And then you ran…It made me curious. So I did a bit more reconnaissance, and figured my best option was to come at you again when there was safety in numbers.’
    ‘The bar.’
    ‘Yeah.’ He smiles. ‘Not at all what I expected.’
    I feel my skin heat up, and take a sip of water.
    ‘Okay,’ Rafa says, stretching his free arm along the back of the couch. ‘The history of the Fallen and their bastard children.’ He lifts his glass as if to make a toast. ‘So, the Fallen break out of hell, roam the globe for two days, and leave behind a couple of hundred pregnant women. Except not all of the Fallen disappear. Nathaniel got left behind.’
    The guy Daisy mentioned.
    ‘Why?’
    ‘The way he tells it, he didn’t want to repeat the sin that landed him in hell in the first place, so he abstained in the hope of scoring points with the archangels.’
    ‘You know him?’
    Rafa laughs without humour. ‘He’s the one who brought us all together and called us the Rephaim.’
    ‘Why not just call you the Nephilim, like the others?’
    ‘The Nephilim have such a bad name. Nathaniel didn’t want God doing anything drastic to wipe us out—you know, like a global flood—so he called us after a dead race, and tried to convince the angelic host we’re not a threat to mankind.’
    ‘The who?’
    ‘Angelic host. Host of Heaven. You know, the rest of the angels.’
    ‘Oh.’ I pick at the label on the water bottle. ‘How did Nathaniel find everyone?’
    ‘He spent a few years looking for us.’
    ‘But how did he know which babies belonged to the Fallen?’
    Rafa puts his back to me. ‘Look under my