Hidden (Her Immortal Guardians Book 1)

by Bella Edwards

  When Gabe told Lorelei he wanted to spend time with her alone, to talk about the Council decision, Lorelei’s was concerned he'd try to change her mind. The drive to Gabe's place of contemplation didn’t take long as the place wasn’t far from the town. Why had he brought her? He hadn’t wanted or expected this outcome, that was clear from the stiff way Gabe now held himself and the silence hanging between them.

  "You do understand the consequences of your decision, don't you Lorelei?" he asked her.

  "Yes. I'll be safe to live a normal life."

  "And you trust the council to do this?"

  "You trust them."

  Gabe looked at her. "I want to. I know I need to, and the extra protection is what you need now—but hiding you concerns me."

  "No supernatural creature will be able to locate me, come near me—surely it makes your job easier? I don't know why you didn't ask them to do this before."

  "Because you’re hidden from me too. You know that?" His pale blue eyes searched hers.

  "Yes."

  "I won't be able to see you. I won't know where you are." He sucked in a breath. "That will be hard for me."

  Lorelei's breath hitched. "Hard for you?"

  "To let go. To trust you'll be safe."

  Gabe's candidness surprised her. "Is this why you're talking to me like this now? You want me to change my mind? You've hardly spoken to me at all, not unless you needed to."

  "I agreed to go to the Council because I hoped you would see more of the other world you're part of and hoped you would choose to help us. Not hide."

  "You told me I have no special powers. I'm just human. I belong in the human world."

  "You belong in both worlds, and you always have. The only difference is you're aware now."

  Lorelei dipped her fingers in the stream, feeling the cool water trickle between them. "Maybe. But I still have choices. If I stayed in your world, what would happen? If I've no supernatural powers, I'll become the poor little victim who needs protecting from the big bad. No thanks."

  Gabe laughed, but there was a sadness in the tone. "I've already protected you from the big bad as you call it."

  "You pulled me into this world. You could have stayed in the shadows."

  "And Caleb pulled me into your world. I would rather still be in the shadows." He stood and stretched. "Being in your world is as complicated for me as it is for you to be in mine."

  "But you've been here a long time? Surely you haven't lived in a hole. You've met humans."

  "I mean I haven't developed a relationship with one."

  "A relationship?" Lorelei felt the familiar heat starting inside her stomach at his loaded words.

  "Spoken to, met, touched, listened to... interacted with. This is very different."

  "Good or bad?"

  Gabe looked at her intently. "Mostly bad. Confusing."

  She squeezed her eyes closed, the intensity in him out of character, flustering her. "Well you won't have to worry about it after tomorrow; you can go back to your shadows."

  "I don't know if I can now. Not totally."

  "There's a whole world out there. If you haven't explored it after a hundred years, then I think you must be mad. If I'd had the chance to explore the world, I'd have jumped on it."

  "I didn't want to lose my focus or miss something happening to a Host and fail." He sighed. "You're right, hiding you is good. I'm losing my focus around you."

  "What does that mean?"

  "I'm intrigued by you, your life—everything about the human you. I can't explain why."

  "Well, if I'm the first person you've interacted with, I'm not surprised. We're complex creatures."

  "You're probably right. It's probably that."

  "Find another human to interact with. I'm sure plenty would like to—especially female ones." She blushed, annoyed she'd given her feelings away.

  Gabe's eyes narrowed. "That's a reason for staying away. I don't want to lose who I am."

  "Who you are? What are you? Why do you always avoid the question when I ask you?" The image of his form emanating light in the cottage returned to her, a reminder of his supernatural self.

  Gabe shook his head. "I was powerful."

  Walking away from the stream, Gabe leaned against a tree nearby, his expression dark.

  "And you're not now?"

  "By your standards, yes. By mine, no."

  Lorelei got to her feet, walking over to where he stood, looking into his face.

  "I'll find it hard not seeing you too," she said softly. "Your presence has been around my whole life. And I just met you; I'd like to have known you better."

  Gabe's eyes widened, and he shifted away from her. "I know. And I you. I wanted to discover your secret."

  "I don't have a secret."

  "I think there must be something about you. Otherwise..." He paused and shook his head. "Otherwise this wouldn't matter."

  What did he mean? Was he talking about her or his Host? "I don't understand—you said I was human..."

  Unfathomable eyes studied her face, momentarily resting on her lips before he looked away again. "Yes. But I think there is something more to you. Though I can't see what it is, I feel something around you."

  Lorelei sat down, onto the carpet of grass beneath the canopy of the tree. "No there isn't. I want my life back. These past few days have been a nightmare. I can't spend my life running from things, and I don't want to be constantly followed, protected, whatever. I'm more than a pawn in your battles, I'm human, and I have a life I want to live."

  A half-smile played around Gabe's lips. "As you keep saying."

  "Why is that amusing?"

  "Your strength in all this. I think Caleb would have a battle on his hands if he did take you."

  Lorelei paled at Caleb's name. "But he won't."

  Gabe turned back to the stream, crouching down and staring into the water. "We hope."

  "You don't think this will work, do you?" she said. He said nothing. "We have to try though."

  "That is what you want, and I have to respect your decision."

  Gabe didn't turn around, wouldn't face her again. His shoulders slumped forwards, fringe falling across his face. Lorelei recognised his defeat, unsure if he knew what this meant to her.

  "Thank you," she said quietly.

  He turned his head around. "For what?

  "Not trying to stop me."

  The heaviness of the last few days lifted as she looked up, into the summer sky, appreciating her chance at freedom. He wasn't going to stop her. He would let this happen. He hadn't brought her here to say no she couldn’t or took her away from the Council. She smiled, her plans within reach once more.

  Gabe looked at her with an unusual intensity, his blue eyes soft. "It's wonderful when you do that."

  "What?"

  "When you smile, you're so alive. It makes me feel good too, and I can't explain why."

  "Smiles are infectious, Gabe," she said

  "I know, they shine through this darkness surrounding us."

  "I haven't found much to smile about since I met you.” She felt a pang when his eyes swept away from her. "Because of events I mean, not you."

  "You're right. We live in different worlds you and I. We should prevent them merging."

  She mentally kicked herself for interrupting his flow and allowing his walls back up. Their conversation forged a new connection, some secrets Gabe still held slipping through in his words. Talking may have helped him feel easier about her choice, but for Lorelei, his words opened up a side of Gabe which pulled her back towards his world, just as she began to escape it.

  Gabe returned to his taciturn self when they arrived back at the Council building. From the moment he arrived, he refused to let Lorelei out of his sight. Reluctantly, she agreed to wait with him overnight while the preparations for the ritual were made elsewhere. She protested that her friends and family would worry about her because disappearing unexpectedly wasn't something she’d ever done. Nathaniel ha
nded her a phone and told her to contact someone.

  Relieved when nobody answered her home phone, Lorelei left a brief, breezy message telling her parents she was visiting friends and would be back tomorrow—she’d deal with the fallout from her two-day disappearance when she got home.

  Lorelei’s choice was the right one—if other people around her were inadvertently becoming involved, then her decision would protect them too.

  She spent an uncomfortable night on a sofa under a blanket with Gabe in a different room talking to Nathaniel and Jonquil. Did these people ever sleep? She slept fitfully, often disturbed by Gabe opening the door and looking in which annoyed her—where did he think she would go? She muttered something to him about making the most of his last hours of stalking, but he didn't respond.

  One time he stood in the doorway longer than the previous few minutes, watching her. Involuntarily her heart quickened. Would he come over and talk to her again? Instead, he quietly closed the door and returned to the others. Gabe had closed down again.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Blue paint cracked and flaked from the frame of a large window that Lorelei could barely see through. The only display was a tattered blue starry curtain. The painted sign above the window spelt out "The Magic Box" in peeling lettering. Lorelei looked at Gabe for confirmation that the grimy shop was the place.

  Gabe pushed open the door, stepping back to allow Lorelei through first. A bell tinkled, alerting the owner to customers. High shelves and racks of books, trinkets and clothing crammed the small shop with almost every inch of the small room taken up with new-age merchandise of one form or another. Dream catchers and wind chimes hung from available space in the ceiling above Lorelei’s head, brushing against Gabe’s.

  Erin stepped through the beaded curtain, serving the purpose of a doorway between the shop and the back of the building.

  "Oh good, you made it safely. I can tell you Caleb's followers aren't far."

  "Will we have time? Before they arrive? I'm not sure how long these things usually take..." said Lorelei

  Erin smiled at her. "I've been preparing for this eventuality for months now since the Prophecy first came to light. When Jonquil mentioned she was thinking about this, I was already one step ahead."

  She turned to Gabe.

  "Since I met you, I've been studying the Old Texts to see what can be done and watching what kind of demons Caleb consorts with. I've spent quite some time gathering things for when this day arrived."

  "So how do we do this and when?" asked Lorelei, looking around for anything suggesting a magic ritual.

  "I've been making the preparations since last night if you want to come upstairs."

  The beads clattered as she opened the curtain to the narrow stairs behind her, and they climbed into a small sitting room, sparsely furnished. Lorelei smiled wryly as she spotted a painting of a black panther.

  A low table, draped with a purple velvet cover, held bowls of powders and dried up leaves. The largest bowl contained nothing. Unlit rested candles either side of the collection of items, and on the floor was a drawn chalk circle with runic writing in a square around it.

  "Will it hurt?" asked Lorelei, remembering not so pleasant magic rituals in the movies she'd seen.

  Erin's gaze shifted to Lorelei's hands. "I'll need your blood."

  "No!" Every nerve in Lorelei's body jumped at Gabe's loud reaction. "Her blood can't be spilt. Caleb will always be able to locate her if he has her blood, and this whole process will be a waste of time."

  Erin reached a hand out and touched Gabe gently on the arm. "I've glamoured the building—didn't you notice? Surely you don't think I keep my business in such disrepair? They'll need to find a way past the glamour to reach us. If we're quick, it will be fine. All the blood is used in the magic, Gabe, there will be none left."

  "I hope there is some left," gasped Lorelei, imagining herself a drained husk on the floor.

  "I meant of what I take," Erin laughed.

  "I still don't like it," muttered Gabe as Erin busied herself mixing the contents of the bowls and lighting the candles.

  Lorelei sat on a small wooden chair by the window and looked at Gabe. His blue eyes held the far way look of someone whose mind was elsewhere. She swept her gaze over him and tried to commit a picture of every inch of him to memory. Would they remember each other?

  The thought of not seeing him again tore at her inside—she'd finally connected with him after all these years. The last two days in his company seemed like weeks, the events, everything she’d learned, couldn't possibly have taken place in such a short space of time. But it had.

  She wanted to be home and living her life, but inexplicably she also wanted to be around him. The pull between her two worlds was tearing her in half.

  "I won't see Gabe again, will I?" she asked.

  Erin nodded. "You're shielded from everything supernatural."

  Gabe's faraway look didn't change.

  "The Key will be safe in this lifetime, and when it passes to the next, we will reassess what to do," she told Gabe.

  Of course, it wasn't her they were trying to keep safe, they weren't concerned for her as a human but as the Host for the power of the Key.

  Rowan's words came back to her—if the Key passes when the Host dies and no-one knows where it goes, then why hadn't they left her injured in the woods?

  "Because injuries weren’t life-threatening, and I am not inhuman enough to leave you injured," said Gabe, breaking out of his reverie and looking at her.

  Lorelei's breath hitched. "Did you just read my mind?"

  "Sorry, I don't normally respond out loud. Yes, I can hear your thoughts. It's part of how I find you."

  Every thought she held about him since they'd been together tumbled into her mind as a deep red filled her face. He must know every single one of her thoughts—seen her fantasies.

  Lorelei frowned at him, the heat spreading down her neck. "That's horrible—sifting around in someone else's private thoughts. Why didn't you say?"

  "I don't listen to everything, I just catch thoughts occasionally, normally when you have intense emotions—then I can detect when you're in danger."

  Intense emotions. That didn't only mean fear. Gabe must have seen her secret desire for him, even before she alluded to it by the river yesterday. Lorelei scowled at him. Her feelings were private; she didn't share them unless she needed to.

  "I'm sorry, I didn't mean for you to know I could hear your thoughts because I knew it would upset you, but I can't help it. I honestly don't listen to anything deliberately."

  "But you know how I feel. About things." She looked at the floor wishing it would swallow her whole.

  "A little."

  "Okay..." said Erin, noticing the unspoken communication happening. "I'm going to get the final bits and pieces I need from downstairs then we can do this."

  Lorelei shifted uncomfortably, turning to the window, no longer able to face Gabe. "You’ll be out of a job if I’m not around."

  "Not really. Just for a few years. Until next time."

  The last two days had been a living hell, but in the middle of everything, Gabe protected her. Adrenaline pushed her through the pain and confusion, taken her out of her rational thought processes, to fight and cope with this new reality. But it was him, his steadying presence and protection which kept her safe—and she hated to admit it.

  “Everything is better this way, Lorelei," he said softly. "You'll be free to live your life how you want. I know that’s what you desire more than anything else."

  Lorelei wrapped her arms around herself. She didn't want to continue thinking about what he'd seen in her mind. How could she be out of harm’s way from just one spell?

  "Erin is a very powerful witch. She may not look so, but she is. If Erin says she can do this, you will be safe," he said.

  Mind-reading again. "Stop doing that."

  Gabe's demeanour took her by surprise, face an open book for the first time—he appeare
d to hold his breath, eyes firmly on hers. She walked towards him, stopping inches away from his face, looking up into his glacial eyes. His pupils darkened.

  "If you can read my mind then you know how I've felt about you since I was thirteen. That's pretty embarrassing. You can read my mind and see what I'm feeling. You know I want more than anything to forget this past two days and escape this craziness.” She swallowed. “You also know that I don't want to. Because of you—and I don't know why."

  Gabe's eyes widened. "Don't..." he began

  "You can see what I'm thinking, can’t you? I can't tell what you think, but I'm sure when we touched you felt the same as I did."

  "Don't," he repeated. "Lorelei, this is beyond your understanding, you have no idea what you're saying. I can't ever be that to you. And soon I won't see you so that won't be a problem."

  Problem. "Exactly."

  Lorelei sucked in a breath. Should she touch his face and connect to him before they parted? Gabe's face was an open book, reflecting her desire. Maybe if they were never going to see each other again, it wouldn't matter. Perhaps she could reach out to him.

  "Okay! Ready?" asked Erin as she appeared, holding a small black velvet pouch. Gabe stepped back from Lorelei and dropped his gaze as she looked down.

  Erin shook her head and produced a small knife from the pouch, the size of a letter opener. The intricately carved ivory handle attached to a curved blade looked too sharp for Lorelei's comfort.

  Lorelei sucked in her breath, drawn out of her desire for Gabe and now dizzy at the prospect of what Erin would do with the knife.

  "So where do I have to sit or stand or whatever?" she asked.

  "You both need to be in the circle."

  "Both?" Gabe stepped towards Erin. "Are you binding us? You that isn't allowed."

  "I'm not binding you, don't panic. But the Book states you must be in the circle too and you must be the one to spill her blood. I don't know why. We need to follow the specific ritual to be sure it will work permanently. Here. Time is of the essence, remember."

  She held out the small dagger to Gabe who took it, shaking his head.

  The circle glowed faintly the moment Gabe touched the dagger. Erin nodded at Lorelei, and she stepped hesitantly inside. Gabe followed, gripping the blade and his knuckles turned white.