by Brianna West
I heard her sighing, and then she laughed softly. “Of course you will. Who are you going to talk to about all your sexcapades and watch all those chick flicks that Lucas refuses to watch with you? Me, that's who.”
I laughed and fought against the tears forming. “Exactly. I couldn't possibly leave all that behind.”
“Right,” she replied softly. “I'll miss you though. As soon as you get back, we're going out for drinks.”
“Okay,” I agreed without hesitation.
“Love you,” she said quickly with her voice trembling. I knew she was crying.
I held back my own urge to cry. "I love you, too, Nattie. More than you could ever know."
After hanging up my phone, and a few more sound punches to my bag, I was ready. Victor met me in the entry hall, his face was surprisingly serious as I arrived before him.
“I realize this must be very difficult for you,” he offered gently. “We do this because our original understanding of the situation was incorrect. Thus, I have arranged for a safe house with a partner of mine and the continuation of your training. We will come to you once the situation here has been settled.”
Gustave and Cecile arrived in the room, followed closely by Adan and Pavel. I found myself searching for Lucas, but it would seem the stubborn jerk wasn't planning to say goodbye to me.
Coward.
I smiled at them. “Why so glum? I'm only going to be gone for a little while,” I stated with feigned cheer. “Surely you can entertain yourselves with mindless demons in the meantime.”
Gustave came towards me first, pressing a kiss to my forehead and then taking my hand into his own. “It is for the best, mon amour. We will come for you very soon.”
“Thanks, Prince Charming,” I replied with a smile that harbored none of its usual happiness.
Cecile came towards me next and pressed kisses to both of my cheeks. “Stay safe.”
“Of course,” I replied with a quirked brow. “Shouldn’t I be the one saying that to you?”
Adan said nothing but gave a kiss to my hand before Pavel took his place and pulled me roughly into his chest. I didn't breathed for a few good seconds because I literally was unable to, but I returned the hug and pressed my face against him with my eyes firmly closed.
“I will come for you, moya solnishka,” he vowed.
“I know you will,” I replied, keeping my usual sarcasm neatly tucked away.
I knew how serious the situation was. Despite my urge to fill the seriousness with humor, I wanted him to know I trusted him to come back.
Lucas never came. I couldn't hide my disappointment as Victor offered me his hand, and with a rush of heat through my body, teleported us to the location of my new home for the time being.
Seemed I had a lot of new homes the last couple of weeks which was starting to feel like months.
A man with similar color hair and eyes greeted us just outside the door of a very large modern home hidden by large red wood trees that blocked out the midday sun. Suffice to say, I had no idea where the hell we were.
His hair was just about shoulder length, pale gold much like Victor's with eyes the color of the sky, dazzling me equally. I could already feel his essence to be that of another angel. Their power was unmatched and flowed over me like a warm bath on a cold night. The sheer magnitude of the power could not be measured; it was as if it was endlessly filling the space around us.
Although, his energy was a touch different from Victor’s. It felt like something was amiss. However, I knew very little about this power of mine to conclude as to what.
“Is this her?” he inquired as he easily closed the distance between us.
Hottie alert.
I met his silent gaze with my own, determined not to drool over the new hottie.
His body was just as powerful as Victor's. If I hadn't known better, I might consider them twins but their faces were different; although, he did not lack any of the attractive qualities any of the others possessed.
I was really starting to believe that sexiness was required to be a Guardian.
“I can see your interest in her,” he offered lightly as he took my hand. The hot electricity surged inside me. “She is quite a commodity.”
Nicely concluded, Sherlock.
“And she is quite sassy, too,” he said with a small chuckle.
Another mind reader. How utterly fabulous for me. Seemed my barrier wasn't working on this one. How lovely.
Victor, who had remained quiet until now, spoke firmly. “She is indeed. Can you discern her heritage? I was unable to conclude much unfortunately.”
“Yes,” the man said as he gazed at me unwavering. “She has angel in her...” he begun as his fingers trailed over my palms as if inspecting them. “And,” his eyes widened slightly before he pulled his hand away. His face was filled with surprise which had my stomach turning violently.
He glanced sharply towards Victor, and I could feel the seriousness by the coiling and tightening of his body as he spoke a word I was, for long moments, unable to comprehend. “Demon.”
“Impossible,” Victor replied.
His surprise was also evident on his face which caused another clench of my stomach. Victor was anything if not the ever cool head honcho. If he was surprised, I probably should be chanting “oh shit” right about now.
“I thought as such,” the man said before turning his gaze back towards me, “but I can feel it coursing through her veins,” he continued, ignoring my gaping mouth. “However, there is something inside her that is unlike anything I have ever seen. She is pure Light. Despite the demon blood, she is pure...”
“How...” Victor questioned incredulously.
The other angel shook his head. “I know not, brother. I do know, however, that we must speak of this to no one. If others were to find out...”
“It could start a war,” Victor finished grimly. “I fear you are right.”
Okay, enough of that.
“Hold on,” I interjected. “You mean to say that I am both a demon and an angel? Doesn't that mean that I am...Dark?”
I couldn't wrap my head around it. Lucas had told me only days ago that those who had demon blood inevitably gave into the Dark.
“No,” Victor said gently. “You are not. It is the first time, to our knowledge, that anyone has been mixed between angel and demon.” He looked towards the house, “Let us go inside to discuss this further.”
He motioned for me to go on ahead. I walked slowly towards the house, my brain still addled by the information I had been given.
When we arrived inside, I was led to a couch and sat down with a hot cup of coffee that somehow appeared in my hands. If not for my need for answers, I might have thrown out a sarcastic quip about witchcraft, but I was too determined to have Victor answer my earlier question.
“A child between Dark and Light can only be born out of love,” Victor explained. “Thus, a child born of a demon and an angel is impossible, or so we thought. An angel would be unable to bore such darkness, and a demon would be sacrificed at conception, or so we had initially believed to be true. There is no child in history that has ever been found with such a heritage.”
“So basically...” I started.
“You are the first of your kind,” Victor finished bluntly. “In every case, any child born of a demon becomes Dark eventually from very early on. Demon blood is toxic and would overtake any other blood that might be coupled with it. The same could be said of angel blood, although some have fallen victim to the Dark.”
The man from earlier came to stand beside Victor.
“However, Tristan has a gift for seeing into someone's soul. He can often determine whether someone harbors darkness inside them and just how much of it.”
Tristan chose this as his opportunity to elaborate. “You, however, harbor no darkness within you despite your demon blood. I can see a perfect joining of angelic and demonic powers but no darkness. You are purely Light which is only true of angels.”
“So I'm not Dark?” I asked, still unclear of what they meant.
“No,” he replied simply. Well, hell, I couldn't be any more relieved until he continued to speak. “But you are proof that love can occur between an angel and demon which is alarming and could mean that some might see your existence as unnatural.” Well, shit. “While myself and Victor would want to keep you safe, there are some from both Light and Dark that would seek to ensure your destruction.”
Destruction meaning death.
Damn, why did I have to ease drop? Why did I have to stick my nose somewhere it didn't belong? Everything would have remained undiscovered if I didn't happen on those two that night.
“Hence the war talk,” I surmised.
Victor nodded as he took a seat beside me. “Yes. There would be some of our kind that would want you imprisoned or executed. Since Tristan has determined your purity, as Guardians, it is our job to protect you and the knowledge of your heritage. You must not speak of this to any of those not within our confidence. It would endanger you greatly.”
“Who can I tell it to?” I asked.
Although, I wasn't exactly excited to tell Lucas that I was basically his worst nightmare. I'm pretty sure that kind of talk was a relationship killer.
“I will discuss this with my team,” Victor offered to my dismay. “We are sworn to protect those of Light. Tristan will be the only other that we trust in our confidence until I can be sure that none of the others will do you harm. For the time being, I must go to help with the battle, but I shall return this evening to check on you.”
Well, great. Now I was some child in need of checking and babysitting. The proverbial damsel in distress, so to speak.
Tristan flashed me a brief smile. “I'll show you to your room. I designed it with a woman's needs in mind, though it has been quite a time since a woman lived in my home.”
He began to lead me out of the living room after Victor had gone and disappeared without another word. I felt the sigh at my lips but refused to let loose of it.
“Your home?” I asked while following dutifully.
“Yes,” Tristan replied. “This is my personal home. It has powerful wards against those that seek to do ill-will. You will be extremely safe here. I can guarantee such myself.”
How lovely.
I was following the strange man to a room that he spared no expense to decorate. It was a dream for any woman. A vanity, modern but luxuriously designed with cherry wood sat in the corner of the room beside a canopy bed with silk curtains. A laptop sat atop a desk in the other corner. Midway through the west wall, there was a doorway to an oversized restroom. I was momentarily caught off guard by the jacuzzi bathtub that had me itching to take a bath.
Fancy.
After assessing the furnishings himself, Tristan turned to me with a grin. “Is it to your liking?”
Hell, I could never afford this in my lifetime.
“It's beautiful but a bit...much. This room is bigger than the size of my apartment,” I disclosed with a sheepish smile.
Tristan was chuckling as he swiped invisible dust from the desk. It was also much cleaner than my home. I wouldn't have done dishes for weeks if I had planned to be home.
“Yes,” he agreed a bit too easily. Jerk. “Despite what you may believe of angels, we like our furnishings to be of great quality.”
“Isn't it against God's rules to be vain?” I inquired.
Tristan was chuckling again. His hair danced above his shoulders as he walked the short distance between us. My neck tilted to accommodate his height as he stood before me.
“What mortals believe of us is fallacy,” he replied shortly. Checking his fingers, he continued as if the topic bored him. “God is not what you believe him to be. However, it is not for me to say. I enjoy the finer things in this world. I will continue to enjoy them despite what humans may believe of my kind.”
Duly noted.
I hadn't realized that angels were hell-bent on having nice things, but somehow, it matched my growing understanding of Tristan. It also seemed the man was uninterested in women all together, which would also negate some of the bible's teachings. Or what were roughly taught of them, anyhow.
I put my best smile on. “Thanks, Tristan. I know it must be weird having some strange woman in your home.”
“It is,” he concurred a bit too enthusiastically, causing me to lose my train of thought. “But I have always held a fascination for dressing dolls. You will be my own personal project.”
Oh, dear lord, not another Cecile.
“I'd rather you didn't,” I refused quickly. “Cecile already did a number on me.”
He was laughing again. It was almost theatrical the way he did. His entire body would move with it, as if he was dancing, singing, and laughing all at the same time.
This man was definitely as flamboyant as they came. I mean, he wore eyeliner for christsakes.
At least I didn't have to worry about drooling when I knew he was completely uninterested. It was actually a relief considering I had been drowning in hotties for weeks. I needed a break.
–
A few days with Tristan had been surprisingly fun. The man had an eye for beauty. He seemed to buy clothing that would accentuate my best features, and I was starting to feel dismayed that a man dressed me better than I dressed myself.
Tristan was, for a lack of a better way to put it, very gay indeed. He was so gay, in fact, that sometimes I secretly wondered if he was actually a woman. I mean, he was gorgeous. He would probably wear some of these dresses better than I did.
I hadn't heard from Lucas or Victor; neither of them had even as much as texted me.
I wasn't bitter about it, or so I told myself over and over as I gazed down at my phone screen for the umpteenth time. I just felt disappointed that Lucas had chosen the coward's way out by neither saying goodbye nor contacting me after I left.
Some relationship this was turning out to be. Captain Lucas was not the gentleman I had initially pegged him to be.
I had, however, received numerous texts from Pavel and Cecile. Gustave had called me yesterday to see how I was getting along with Tristan.
Humorously enough, Gustave was terrified of Tristan for reasons that I could only imagine. Seems our Tristan had a major thing for Gustave. Gustave, as straight as an arrow, couldn't be any more uninterested which led to a lot of pushing and pulling. Tristan had even gone to say that Gustave was “playing hard to get.”
I honestly couldn't wait to see these two together. I would make sure I had my phone ready for video recording.
I sat at the couch, wearing a dress that Tristan had chosen for me. It was a little after noon, and Tristan had decided to go to the store to gather supplies for a girls’ night in. My phone started to ring, jerking me from my thoughts.
I looked at the screen and immediately answered, “About damn time!”
“Is it true?” came Lucas’ deep baritone.
My stomach dropped. “Is what true?”
Lucas was sighing as I readjusted the phone with trembling hands. “Are you part demon?”
So no 'Hi, how are you?' We're going straight to 'Are you a demon?'
“Do you not trust Victor to be telling the truth?” I asked bitterly. “So you don't have the balls to say goodbye to me, but you somehow manage to find the courage to ask if I'm a demon? Well, I guess I am then, you asshole.”
“Izzy,” Lucas said angrily. “That's not—“
“Not what you were asking? Well, it certainly seems like you want answers that I don't have.” I was clenching the phone violently, doing my best not to let my voice tremble. “You send me away for protection and don't even so much as say goodbye. You wait days to call me only to ask if I'm a demon. What am I supposed to think, Lucas?”
“Izzy, listen,” he demanded.
I wasn't going to though.
I breathed out. “No,” I refused firmly. “I will not. This is what I am. I'm not worth the suffering, so
you should probably not call again.”
It killed me to say so as I ended the call and then turned off my phone. My heart felt like it was being squeezed as I nearly ran out of the house.
I couldn't blame Lucas. I was just as confused and just as heartbroken by the news of my heritage. I was something that shouldn't even be able to exist. I was the very embodiment of his past.
If I continued to be with Lucas, where would it take us? What would become of us once he realized I was everything he hated?
I was running as fast as my legs would carry me, weaving through trees and underbrush with very little care of where I might be going. I needed to get away; where, I wasn't exactly sure. I needed to feel the wind on my face. Though now that I was, I had started to regret having chosen to run at top speed because the sharp pain in my side alerted me to the fact that I had absolutely no endurance for running and even less of an endurance for fleeing.
My kidnapping was example of that.
I slowed to a halt in a clearing of trees, my legs wobbly and weak beneath me. I looked around me, but I didn't recognize anything. I would need to backtrack to the house. I ran straight, I think. I was struck by the silence of the forest around me, but even more so, by the deep pulse that reverberated through me.
Oh, shit.
The pulse was unbelievably strong. I could feel the heavy creeping of lust and greed seeping into me like a poisonous gas.
I focused myself. I had trained for this very thing, tirelessly, for days—actually weeks. I could handle one little demon.
I gave my surroundings a quick assessment but couldn't locate where the creature that gave the pulse was. I must have been outside of the wards.
Lucky me.
I had a knack for landing myself into trouble, and here I was, facing down a demon just outside the safe haven I was told to stay within.
“Pretty little thing you are,” a hissing voice stated, making the simple statement incredibly profound. I stiffened as it continued speaking in a voice that chilled me to the very bone. “You will be delicious, no doubt.”
As in, me for a late afternoon snack?
Ah, hell no.
