by Kimbra Swain
I carried Abigail to the plane and strapped her in the seat. She had spent all of her energy saving us, and healing me. Gregory Theodoard left in a separate plane after he gave us a ride to the airport. He said he would be in touch soon, and he graciously thanked me for looking after her. At first, I couldn’t understand how someone as powerful as Abigail needed someone to look after her. But in this short amount of time, I realized how much she needed me. I plundered around in the cabinets in the luxury private jet and finally asked one of the pilots to help me.
“I need a blanket for her,” I said. The pilot showed me where to find it. He showed me a few other things like the bar, mini-fridge, and a cabinet with food.
I went back to her with a blanket, and two bottles of water. I opened hers and handed it to her. She shook her head no.
“Yes, drink something,” I insisted. She tried holding it, but it wobbled in her hand. I held it up to her lips and tilted it back so she could get a few sips. “More?”
“No,” she mumbled. I did not want to push her because we had been through a lot over the last couple of days. I feared she hadn’t fully recovered from the Paris attack when we stepped right into a full implosion of the Boulder compound.
“Get seated sir, we are about to take-off. The runway is clear. It’s about a 2 hour flight. Try to rest. We will get you there quickly,” he said.
“Where are we going?” I asked.
“Los Angeles,” the pilot said and ducked back into the cabin.
“Mother fuck,” she mumbled.
“What’s in Los Angeles?” I asked her.
“A safe house and Lukas Castille,” she replied.
“I don’t care, as long as we can get cleaned up and get some rest,” I said. I fastened my seatbelt and leaned back in the seat. My wounds were healed, but I was still exhausted. Abby looked much worse than me. She was not thrilled about meeting up with Lukas, her ex-fiancé. I wasn't either because he clearly still cared about her. She and I may have kissed in the heat of the moment as the Boulder compound crashed in on us, but it didn't mean we were in a relationship. In fact, she had been adamantly against such a thing from the beginning. She was wrong, but I understood why she felt the way she did. I wanted to find out where we stood in that department without the interference that Lukas would throw in our way.
She pulled the blanket up close to her chin. I slipped my hand under the blanket and found hers. Her cool fingers wrapped around mine and squeezed. We flew in silence over the Rocky Mountains into the bright lights of Hollywood. When the plane landed, the pilot came out to us.
“Mr. Duarte, a car is waiting for you. It will take you to the safe house,” he said. “Good luck to you both, and I hope to get the honor to fly for you again sometime.”
“Thank you sir. What’s your name?”
“Jaxon Mackey. My friends call me Jack,” he said.
“Well, Jack, I’m Tadeas. Thank you for the smooth flight.” I turned to her and pulled off the blanket. She tried to move, but her body would not respond to her. Her eyes met mine with a silent request for help. Without hesitation, I lifted her up and carried her down the steps of the airplane to the waiting limo. Instead of the driver getting out to help us, Lukas Castille got out and motioned us to the door he exited. I leaned down and set her in the car. When I raised back up, he waited patiently and looked concerned..
“Do either of you need a doctor, Duarte?” Lukas asked.
“No, just somewhere quiet. We both need to clean up and rest,” I replied.
“Go ahead, get in with her, and I’ll get in the other side.”
I ducked down into the car and pulled the door closed behind myself. Abby leaned over on me. Lukas got in the other side and climbed to the seat facing us. His face concentrated on her. He showed concern for her well-being, but his gaze remained steady and businesslike. If he hadn’t been her ex-fiancé, I probably would have liked him very much. He projected a confidence and good sense rarely seen in those of his kind. Lukas was born a human, but someone turned him into an incubus. Abigail was convinced that they did it to hurt her by torturing him. She explained that he acted differently than most incubus because he once was human. His humanity still lived inside of him and battled the unnatural hunger. He knocked on the front window, and said, “To the house.” I closed my eyes and concentrated on her heartbeat. My animal senses could hear all the surrounding heartbeats. Her heartbeat calmed me because I felt connected to it the first time I heard it. Along the way, I drifted in and out of sleep.
The limo came to a stop, and Lukas said, “We are up the Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu. The house is pretty secluded considering how populated this area is. It’s nice and private. The Agency owns it so treat it like your own home. Bring her. I’ll help you get settled.”
I climbed out, and she moved to the edge of the seat and tried to stand. She stood on her own, but wobbled unsteadily. “I can carry you.”
She leaned on me. “You are just as tired as I am,” she said and walked to the house. I could see the ocean from the drive, and I wished I had time to enjoy the view. The sun sank into the edge of the Pacific Ocean. I supported her as we walked inside the house.
“Can you make it upstairs?” Lukas said directly to her.
“Yes,” she replied. Abby and I went up leaning on the railing and each other.
Lukas opened the double doors into the master suite. The linens and furnishings were mostly white with dark wood floors. In the center of the back wall, a giant bed called out to us both. Abby walked toward it.
“I’ll be downstairs if you need anything, Tadeas,” he said and slipped out the door.
I helped her to the bed. She sat on the edge and removed her muddy clothes.
“Lukas,” I called back to him and went to the door, “Did Ashley and the others make it away safely?” Ashley Montgomery, Abby’s best friend and assistant, supposedly left the compound before I went back into it to save Abby. The rest of the team should have been with her as well.
“Yes, they are in another house nearby. They will be kept away until she is ready for them. I knew she would want to rest after Gregory informed me of what happened to the two of you. However, Jay Stafford was not with them,” Lukas said.
“Jay didn’t make it,” I replied. Jeremy Stafford, our wheel-man, reentered the compound after I left the surface. He saved our lives and lost his. The pain of it hadn’t hit us yet.
He grimaced, and his eyes turned glossy for a moment. I hadn’t realized that Lukas knew Jay, but by his reaction, I could tell that he did. “That is unfortunate,” Lukas said. “I’ll let them know. Thank you Tadeas for rescuing her from the collapsing building.”
“We rescued each other,” I said and shut the door quietly.
She got all her clothes off and get under the covers before I turned around. I looked at all her clothes in the floor. “Really? Make a mess as soon as we get here,” I said trying to make things lighter. She just looked at me. I picked up all the clothes and tossed them in a hamper in the closet. I pulled my dirty shirt and pants off and tossed them in the hamper too. The closet had my clothes in it. Ashley had the uncanny ability of making your own clothes appear as needed wherever in the world you were. I pulled a tee shirt out and a clean pair of jogging pants. Finding another closet just to the other side of the bathroom, I pulled out a tee shirt and pants for her. “Here, put something on,” I said. She lifted the covers up, and I slipped the shirt over her head. I put her feet in the pants, and she pulled them up around her waist. She curled back up on the bed as I turned the lights out. I grabbed a pillow off the bed to put on the rather soft looking couch in the room.
“Don’t be ridiculous,” she said through our mental communication bond.
I didn’t want to assume, and jump in the bed with her without consent from her. I laid down next to her. “Just sleep. We will worry about everything else tomorrow.” She sighed. I tried to shut all the events of the day, focused on her heartbeat, and fell asleep.
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I WOKE up to the smell of breakfast cooking downstairs. She still slept soundly, so I eased out of the bed. Desperately wanting a shower to wash off the dirt and grim, I started up the water. We got in the bed last night mud and all. I would pull the sheets off and wash them once she awakened. I never understood why people had white comforters and sheets. Didn’t they stay perpetually dirty?
The shower felt wonderful. I leaned against the wall and let the warm water pour over me. My thoughts drifted back to Meredith in the compound. I didn’t know Lincoln had a daughter because Abby never mentioned it. It was probably a touchy subject. Sheer personal vendetta drove Meredith’s involvement in trying to destroy our partnership and taking down the entire Boulder compound. She probably knew Abby from moment she stepped in my class. She had lied to me for years, not just for the short time I knew Abby.
George’s revelation to Abby did not phase me in the least. George, Abigail’s butler and father figure who lived on a magical island somewhere in the spirit world, told us before we left for Colorado that she had a surrogate father. Gabriel. The Archangel. Neither of us fully understood what that meant. I knew we lived in a world with many creatures. Abigail ranked high on the scale of unique and special beings, which I knew from the moment I met her. The portal to the island collapsed into the earth along with the rest of the Boulder facility. Not being able to return to the island concerned me greatly because the island provided her a place of stability for her and her mind. A refuge from the world out here that constantly tried to kill her, me or ruin itself. Seeming to know we wouldn’t return, George’s information to her and those last moments felt like goodbye. Between his encouragement to me, and Gabriel’s words in the church in Paris about faith and redemption, I knew I was now the stabilizing force in her life.
In Paris, in the Mirror tent, she stood face to face with Vanessa Vaughn, and never doubted my ability to remove every threat including the necromancer. She trusted I would get her to safety. No one in my entire life had faith in me. Not Father Sergio who tried to suppress my gift. Not Meredith who lied to me for years. Not the Agency that ignored my talents. In just two weeks, Abigail Davenport was the most important person in my life. She also frustrated me to my wit’s end. Even as I stood in the shower, I felt her heartbeat and every breath. I was her guardian which meant I would go to hell and back to keep her safe. I knew she would do the same for me, but she would give me hell for it. We needed to avoid touchy subjects today and just rest.
I turned the shower off reluctantly. As I got dressed, she stirred in the bed and looked at me as I put on my shirt. “How’s the wound?”
“There is no wound. No scar,” I told her. Meredith stabbed me in the fight as the compound collapsed around us. Abigail used the last bit of her power to heal me once we got out.
“Good,” she said.
“Get up and get a shower,” I said.
“Yes, Mr. Duarte,” she quipped like she was still a student in my class. “Do I smell bacon?” A smile stretched across her face. The woman loved bacon. And bourbon.
“It seems there may be bacon in the house. However, I got up and showered before you, you cannot blame me if it’s all gone by the time you finish.”
“You want me to cuss you out again, don’t you?” she smiled. I released my tension seeing her smile.
“I don’t care if I do, as long as I get all the bacon. Besides you will find a reason to cuss me, anyway. It might as well be for eating wonderful, crispy bacon,” I said and turned toward the door. I felt a strange sense of movement and ducked just in time to avoid the pillow she threw at me. I winked at her, “Gotta try harder than that sweetheart.”
“Tadeas Duarte, you better not eat all the bacon!” she yelled, but smiled.
I walked down the stairs and realized how truly beautiful the house was. It was clean and modern but with traditional dark wood floors. I followed my nose to the kitchen.
“Hey Tadeas, come eat breakfast,” Lukas smiled at me when I came in the room. He picked up a plate and handed it to me. “She awake?”
“Yeah, she’s getting a shower,” I said, and turned to the redhead sitting at the kitchen bar. “I’m Tadeas. I’m thrilled to see you are unharmed.”
She blushed and said, “I’m Cassidy. Thank you for having Lukas rescue me. I’m not sure what happened, but it all felt like a daze.”
“Nice to meet you,” I said and looked at Lukas.
“Thrall spell from what I can tell,” he explained. I filled my plate and sat down a couple seats away from her. I had no doubts she was Lianne’s daughter, because she looked just like her. Beautiful, lithe, graceful, but not nearly as deadly as Lianne, maybe. Lianne Theodoard, Abigail’s crazy Fae aunt, didn’t know we found Cassidy hanging out with a necromancer in Paris. The same necromancer who shoved a black knife into Abigail. The necromancer I killed, but Abby died from the wound. Then Gabriel restored her. It still felt strange to think of it.
“You are very lucky, Miss Cassidy,” I said. “The necromancer was crazy, and I could see it in her eyes.”
“Lukas said, you killed her,” she said flatly.
“Um, yes, well, she attacked Abby, and I did,” I admitted.
“Let’s hope she didn’t know how to jump bodies,” Lukas said.
“They can do that?”
“Unfortunately,” he admitted.
“How will we know?” I asked.
“If she shows up again,” he said plainly.
“Ugh,” I grunted and ate the food on the plate. I could feel Abby approaching. “Hey Lukas, hide the bacon.”
His eyes lit up with humor. “You got a death wish, Duarte?” he asked, but opened and drawer and shoved the rest of the bacon inside it. She walked in and smiled at me. “Here’s a plate, Abby.” Lukas said handing her one. He had to turn his face from her because he couldn’t hold back his laughter. She put eggs and toast on the plate and sat down next to me as I put my last piece of bacon in my mouth. I winked at her as I ate it.
“Good morning Cassidy. It is good to see you alive,” she said not even looking over at her. She looked at her plate, then at mine. I had a few crumbs of bacon left.
“Morning Abby. What are you going to tell Mother?” Cassidy asked.
“Haven’t decided yet,” Abby replied. She took a bite of her eggs. Lukas could not look at us. What a wuss. I looked at her and kept a stoic face
“How was the shower?” I asked.
“Actually it may have been the best shower I’ve ever had in my entire life,” she said. With that Lukas spun around and eyed her. There was history in that glare, and I did not want to know. Her eyes lit up as she met his. Detecting the slightest blush on her cheeks, I decided that I definitely did not want to know.
“Lukas, you can call the crew and invite them up around lunch time. It will give me a little peace and quiet, but I’m eager to see them,” she said.
“I’m sorry about Jay,” Lukas said destroying the avoidance of the issue I had decided to adhere to for the day. I looked at her, and tears welled up in her eyes. Putting my hand on her leg, I tried to comfort her without causing too much attention.
“Yes, I am too,” she muttered. I shot him a look, and he put his hands up in surrender. She took a moment to recover her composure. “We will have his memorial at the same time we have the memorial for the both of you for hiding the fucking bacon,” she said deadpan.
“It was his idea!” Lukas ratted me out at once.
“Dude, bros before hoes,” I said. Cassidy giggled at us. Lukas pulled the plate out and put it down next to her. He leaned over and kissed her on the cheek before leaving the room. Payback for me, I supposed, for getting him into trouble. She turned and faced me.
“Bros before hoes, huh?”
“It’s a saying. I thought it was appropriate,” I replied.
“Thank you,” she whispered.
I felt Cassidy get up and leave the room. “For what?”
“Making me smile when there is noth
ing to smile about right now,” she said as the sadness overtook her face again.
“We will get through it together,” I assured her.
“We have to,” she said.
“Abby, you need to come in here,” Lukas said from the other room.
She got up, and I followed her into the other room. A news report flashed on the television, and a female anchor gave the report, “Mr. Gilbert was murdered just outside his offices on Peachtree Street in Atlanta. Police have no suspects in custody, but several witnesses described a tall dark-skinned male fleeing the scene. Police are asking for any witnesses to please call the number listed on the screen with info. Andrew Gilbert was a wealthy businessman who had influenced business and the arts in Atlanta for almost 20 years. He was well known for his philanthropic donations to many charities in the city including founding a Non-Profit Organization to help teens escape gang and drug violence in the inner city. Mr. Gilbert is survived by his wife and two children.”
I turned to Abby. She was pale. “Lukas, make the calls. Security level 5 on all proxies. Check-in intervals at every 3 hours. I need a phone.”
He handed her a cell as he picked up a land line phone on the table.
“Who was he?” I asked.
“The Atlanta Proxy,” she replied. Proxies were the heart and soul of the network she created. A proxy in every major city tracked and reported supernatural activity back to The Agency. She dialed and said the moment someone picked up, “Get here now. Yes, I saw. Get them all up here. Bring the equipment. See you soon.” She hung up and shivered. I heard Lukas giving instructions over the phone. Cassidy sat on the couch quietly watching us all. Abby looked at me with sad eyes. I put my arm around her, and my forehead to hers.
“It’s never ending. Are you sure you are up for this?” she asked.
