by Amity Hope
“It was oozing around him,” Gabe said, mystified not by the fact that he could see the blackness but that Ava couldn’t. They were sitting on the couch in her cabin and both were still a little bit in shock. “How could you miss it?”
“Gabe,” Ava said carefully, “do other people have the blackness around them? Like Rafe and Cam?”
“Not like that no. Some darkness but…no…not like that. The worst I’ve seen is a dingy gray. His blackness was so strong I could feel it. You couldn’t feel it?” he asked in disbelief.
“I thought you couldn’t feel people’s emotions anymore?”
“I can’t. Not like you described. This was more of a feeling of wrongness than anything. I don’t think that qualifies as an emotion,” Gabe pointed out. “I could just feel the darkness surrounding him. It was…nasty,” he said, making a face.
She shook her head. Wondering how best to break this news to him. “Um, Gabe? No one else I know has ever seen the blackness on people.”
“Just the other colors?” he asked, bewildered.
“Other colors?” she echoed.
He stared at her, the disbelief on his face as evident to Ava as the blackness had been to him. “You don’t see any of the colors?”
“What colors?” she asked softly.
“You, your parents, you’re surrounded in gold. The three of you, it’s the most incredibly brilliant shade I’ve ever seen. Molly is a deep red, almost orange while Julia is a bright green. You don’t see it?”
She shook her head. “What about you? What color are you?”
Gabe scowled. “I can’t see anything around myself. I don’t know if it’s because I can’t see my own or if I just don’t have it to see.”
“Why didn’t you ever ask me then? If you thought maybe you couldn’t see your own but thought I could?” Ava wondered.
He looked away, then back to her before hesitantly speaking. Shame and embarrassment colored his tone. “Because I was afraid you’d tell me that it looked like Rafe’s. I didn’t want to know.”
“Oh, Gabe, no,” Ava said as she pulled him into a hug. “You are nothing like Rafe. You never were.”
He hugged her back but didn’t look convinced.
Auras? Ava assumed. She’d never given them much thought before. Now it was the first and only thought that came to mind now. “I just wish you would’ve mentioned it,” she admitted.
“Why would I?” he demanded, flustered. “I thought…I just thought you saw them. The colors are so obvious. I thought everyone saw them!”
Ava tapped her fingertip on her chin as she tried to make sense of what Gabe had said. “You know, maybe you see the colors now instead of feeling their emotions. You, well, you used to use it to your advantage.”
“To manipulate people,” Gabe said with a frown.
Ava gave a curt nod. “But you’re sure you can’t do that anymore?”
“I usually don’t feel anything from anyone. Tonight was a first.”
“Maybe this is what took its place then. Like the scar over your heart took the place of the scars on your back,” Ava suggested.
“Why?”
She shrugged. “I have no idea.”
“So now I can’t manipulate people,” he said. His voice had become harsh at the thought. “But now I can see souls.”
“How do you know they’re souls?” Ava asked, curious, not doubtful.
He shrugged. “The same way I know yellow and blue make green.” He paused, suddenly uncertain. “They do, don’t they?”
She gave him a small smile and nodded.
“Then those colors are the colors of souls,” he said, with utter assurance.
“Wow,” Ava muttered. “I just can’t believe this didn’t come up before.”
Gabe shrugged. “You didn’t ask before.”
“I didn’t know to ask.”
“And I didn’t know to tell.”
“Oh my gosh,” Ava moaned as she pinched the bridge of her nose. “When you told me that Kara didn’t look like someone you would be with and that Dawson did look like someone I would be with…?”
Gabe nodded, giving Ava a look that said he thought it should be obvious. “I was talking about their souls.”
“Wow,” Ava said again. She collapsed into the cushions of the overstuffed sofa. “How did we miss this?!”
Gabe came to an abrupt halt as a puzzled look crossed his face. He looked to Ava as his eyes darted around the walls and back to her again.
“What?” she asked, feeling instantly on edge.
“Those?” Gabe asked as he pointed to various places on the wall. “Why are they pulsating?”
Ava looked briefly to where he’d been pointing and then looked back to Gabe with a helpless, lost shrug.
“You don’t…” Gabe said haltingly, “you don’t see those either?”
“See what?” she asked, her voice barely above a whisper. The feeling of trepidation grew and she thought, perhaps, she may be able to guess as to what Gabe was speaking of this time.
“The markings on the walls,” Gabe noted. “They’ve looked the same ever since I came here but not now. Now,” he said, giving them a wary look, “they’re behaving differently.”
“Are you talking about the sigils?” she asked. “You see the sigils? They’re still there?”
He nodded as he rose from the couch and went up to the wall. He raised a finger, tracing a pattern that left no doubt in Ava’s mind.
Then a greater realization struck. “You’re touching them. You couldn’t even get near them before. Why didn’t you say something earlier?” she demanded, already knowing the answer.
“I just thought they were part of the décor. Like that painting you have that waterfall. But now they’re behaving oddly,” he told her.
Ava looked at him curiously. “You shouldn’t be able to touch those. Grier placed those there for protection, to keep evil away. You, um, you used to set them off.”
“So why are these acting like this now?”
That’s a very good question, Ava thought to herself.
“You’re scared,” Gabe noted.
Whether he was reading the flickering across her soul or simply reading the look upon her face, Ava could not be sure. She nodded. “Grier placed the sigils here to keep you in, but also to block evil. If your father were to come too near, they would pulse.”
“You think my father is coming?” he asked, his voice going hard and his body tensing.
“Not necessarily.” However, it was an interesting question. If Gabe had survived and returned, had Azael? “They just detect evil.”
“They pulsed before? When I went near them? Do you think it’s because of me again?” He looked troubled over the possibility.
“I don’t,” Ava said, decisively. “It would make no sense that it just started today.”
“So if not me, who?”
Ava glanced at the window. It was dark outside, with the moonlight only casting a dismal glow. “I think…” she trailed off and cringed. “I think Rafe has been hanging around. Maybe it was him?”
“Stay here,” Gabe said as he rushed out the door.
Ava followed directly behind him.
The night had cooled off considerably. There was a dampness blanketing the air, bringing an ever greater chill. They could hear crickets, frogs and the sound of the waves gently hitting the shoreline. Shadows were cast about the yard by the moonlight beaming down behind the tall pines that skirted the yard.
He turned to her and shook his head in annoyance. She simply shrugged and followed him as he went out to the middle of the yard. They stood, listening and watching but it was impossible to tell if something was lurking in the surrounding woods. Gabe would’ve stayed out longer. He wanted a chance to look around more thoroughly but he refused to do so with Ava at his side. He grabbed her hand and hurriedly pulled her back to the cabin.
“Why did you follow me out there?” he demanded as he closed the door safely behind them.
“Because I’m not going to sit in here and let something happen to you again!”
Gabe didn’t even want to know what Ava thought she could possibly do to protect him. He thought it best if he didn’t point that out. “Ava, I can take care of myself. But it would be a lot easier if I didn’t have to worry about you,” he firmly told her.
“I know you’re all big and strong and whatever. But you shouldn’t have gone running out there either,” she said somewhat defiantly.
“Yeah? Well I have this,” he said as he held out his hand. Grier’s switchblade was in it.
Ava stumbled back a step at the sight of it. In a shaky, slightly accusatory voice she said, “You still have that thing?” It wasn’t really a question because it was obvious that he did. “I mean, you still carry it with you everywhere?” she asked warily.
He shrugged. “It makes me feel better to have it with me.” He glanced around, noticing for the first time that the sigils were no longer pulsating. “Whatever set them off must be gone,” he decided. “Or maybe it was just a fluke. They aren’t pulsing anymore so maybe…maybe just being near Cam…maybe some of that darkness stayed with us. Maybe it was enough to set them off for a bit.”
He walked around, checking the windows for signs of entry. The door had been locked when they arrived, he was sure of it. He glanced around. Nothing was out of place. The windows didn’t seem to be disturbed. It seemed very unlikely anyone had actually been inside.
Unlikely.
Not impossible.
Would someone poking around outside be enough to make them behave that way? he wondered. He didn’t want to ask Ava, she seemed upset enough.
As if to prove his thought correct, she shuddered. “I don’t think it was a fluke. Angelic sigils don’t just, they don’t just malfunction. If it wore off on us just by being near him, what can it do to Julia?” She tossed herself onto the couch and groaned miserably. “I should have tried harder to make her come with us. I could’ve pretended you and I were fighting. Kara would’ve been the perfect opportunity for that. If I was upset and she thought I needed her, she would’ve come with me.”
“So I guess I shouldn’t have told her we’re perfect.”
Ava lifted her head to look at him. “Do you really think we’re perfect?”
He nodded and sat down next to her. “As perfect as we can be, under the circumstances.”
Ava thought so too as she snuggled into him. “This is pretty close to perfect. It kind of feels wrong though, with Julia out there somewhere with him. Who do you think he is?”
“A friend of Rafe’s,” Gabe said unhappily. “Just like Kara, apparently.”
“What do you think that was about, anyway?”
He shrugged. “Your guess is as good as mine. The only time I remember seeing her was the night you were with me. I have no idea why she kissed me like that.”
“Just trying to cause problems, I’m sure.”
“I’m glad you’re not letting it,” Gabe honestly replied.
“Don’t get me wrong,” she told him. “I’m not happy about it but I think it was meant to bother me so I’m trying not to let it. But you know Rafe has a knack for making people do things for him. I think he put her up to it. I mean, obviously, the message was from him. Maybe that’s his way of letting you…us, know that he’s not out of our lives.”
“Right,” he said, “because I’m sure he wants me to come back and claim my half of the fortune. Or maybe he’s lonely in that big, expensive house and wants my company. Or possibly he misses my charming face at the radio station.”
“Gosh,” Ava said with wide-eyed mockery, “feeling sarcastic are you?”
He sighed. “Sorry. It just pisses me off that I don’t know what he’s up to. I thought he’d be happy I was out of his life. I’m sure as hell happy that he’s out of mine and I don’t even remember the guy. That day I saw him outside of the radio station? It made me glad I don’t know him.”
“Yeah, I was hoping he was out of our lives too. But Cam and Kara in the same night? That seems a little suspicious. What could he possibly want with Julia? Do you think he’s using her to get close to you?” Ava wondered.
“It would seem to be the obvious reason. Except for the fact that he hasn’t even really tried to contact me so going through Julia seems a little pointless.”
“So, what…? You think this Cam is actually interested in Julia? That maybe he has nothing to do with Rafe at all?”
Gabe shrugged. “It seems a little too coincidental but he could be interested in her. Someone like Julia, all sweet and innocent, yeah. I think he could see her as a challenge. Actually, not even a challenge. A plaything. Did you see how she was looking at him?”
She had. Julia had always snuck shy, surreptitious glances at Mitch. That hadn’t been the case tonight. She’d been looking at Cam with blatant adoration and he was fully aware of it.
Ava’s phone rang on the other side of the room. She leapt up to grab it. Gabe watched as the tension seemed to flow out of her body. She let out a breath of relief when she hung up. “It was Molly,” she confirmed. “In her words, ‘Julia’s home safe and sound and seriously smitten’.”
“Which is exactly why Cam might think he could have some fun with her, but hey,” Gabe said when he saw his last statement was not helping matters, “at least she’s home. We know she’s safe. There’s nothing we can do about this right now.”
“I know. But I can’t help it. I’m worried about her. I mean, if it were Molly, yeah, I’d worry but she’s pretty good at taking care of herself. Julia…she’s a little too innocent.”
“So we’ll talk to her,” Gabe said. “Obviously not tonight. She was pretty pissed tonight.”
Ava nodded in agreement. “I’ve never seen her mad before. Not ever. This is already off to a terrible start.”
“But you’re one of her best friends. Just talk to her. Reason with her. Tell her whatever you have to tell her.”
“Even the truth?” Ava asked with raised eyebrows as she settled down next to him again.
“If it means keeping her safe then yes, even the truth,” he agreed.
To her surprise, the thought of telling Julia the truth brought her a sense of relief. She hadn’t realized until that moment just how stressful keeping things from her friends had been. Maybe she could turn the events of the night around. Use them to her advantage. Use them as an excuse to stop keeping secrets from them.
She liked the sound of that.
Gabe had been watching her closely. “You look more relaxed. What are you thinking?”
“That it would be really nice to not have secrets between us but I still don’t know if telling them is a good idea,” she admitted.
“Why? Don’t look at me like that. I mean, I get why, kind of. It’s a big thing to share. But do you think they’ll be mad at you for keeping it from them?”
“I’m more concerned that they won’t believe me. I mean, it all sounds so insane.”
“I don’t think you’ll have to worry about that. One way or another, they’ll believe you,” he assured her. “I’ll make sure of it.”
Chapter 19
“You’re just jealous.”
“What? No, I’m not,” Ava said firmly. She had been relieved when Julia had answered her phone. She’d answered it cautiously, clearly still annoyed with Ava but she had agreed to come to her house so they could talk. Ava had started with an apology but somehow things had gotten turned around quickly and no matter how she tried, she couldn’t manage to get them back on track.
Julia was still livid with her and worse yet, extremely hurt by what she perceived as spiteful behavior on Ava’s part the night before.
Julia shook her head, as if trying to convince herself that she was right as she paced across Ava’s kitchen. She was clearly on edge and had refused to sit down. “There’s no way you could really be okay with Dawson wanting to ask me out. You guys were together forever.”
“Only
five months, Julia, and it was over a year ago. And if you’ve forgotten, I’m with Gabe now. Dawson is the last thing on my mind,” she said quite insistently. She was leaning against the counter, trying to appear relaxed but she wasn’t sure she was pulling it off. Gabe was outside, doing nothing in particular, just trying to stay out of her way until she needed him. “I’ve already told you that I think you two would be great together,” she continued.
“You thought you were completely in love with him once. He was your first real boyfriend. I don’t think you’re as over him as you think,” Julia accused.
“I was sixteen! I am so over him now.” She was starting to get annoyed. What she’d felt for Dawson at the time had felt intense but it was absolutely nothing when compared to what she felt for Gabe. She and Dawson had managed a friendly break-up and they’d both started seeing other people within weeks. “But Dawson isn’t the reason for this conversation.”
“I know,” Julia said as her lip began trembling. “I saw the way you were checking out Cam. Trust me, he noticed too. He thought it was pretty tacky of you considering Gabe and I were both standing right there!”
“I wasn’t checking Cam out!” As soon as the words tumbled out of her mouth, she realized they may not be entirely true. She had been checking Cam out. Just not in the way that Julia thought. She had been scrutinizing his features, trying to determine if her first instinct, that he was Nephilim, was accurate or not. The moment she felt Gabe’s body fill with tension, she’d known she was right.
“Cam’s not the person you think he is,” Ava tried to explain.
“And you would know this because of the one time you met him, for all of a few minutes? Which by the way, you and Gabe were both incredibly rude,” Julia pointed out.
“There’s a reason for that. If you’ll just let me explain.”
“You don’t need to explain. I get it. You’re jealous! You and Molly have always gotten all of the guys and you hate the fact that not one, but two are interested in me. I’m sorry it’s so hard for you to believe, but Cam really likes me,” Julia said defiantly. “I knew something was up with you and Gabe when I saw that girl kiss him. Cam sensed it too, how uptight the two of you were. So you can pretend everything’s all fine and perfect with the two of you even though it obviously isn’t. But that doesn’t give you the right to be checking out my boyfriend. Or to say bad things about him.
