“Ready?” I asked nervously, trying not to pull on my skirt.
“What on earth–”
“Come on, let’s go.” I started to get back into the car, but he was already sitting in the passenger seat, his torso turned to where I would be sitting.
He’s moving too quickly. He’s slipping up.
“Are you intentionally trying my patience?” he uttered under his breath before shaking his head. I didn’t answer. Then he muttered, “This car is a death trap. I should have driven.” He turned away and looked out the window as I reversed out of the driveway and headed off the island toward Savannah.
We rode the rest of the way in an uneasy silence until I pulled up behind a brick building painted black, with graffiti sprayed all over the walls, doors, and windows. Everything was coated in a rainbow of color from chartreuse to crimson. The building looked like it belonged in the Bronx instead of downtown Savannah. Bass pumped out of the two open doors at the back, and a purple neon sign glowed over the door, proclaiming the name of the place as Blackout.
“We are going in here?” he asked, his tone dubious.
“Yeah. They serve great drinks. You’ll love it.” I tried to make the lie sound convincing as we walked into the club.
Blackout was an underground favorite with the locals. It wasn’t much to look at, but it was popular because of its atmosphere. The air was electric with the vibe of the music. Hot, sweaty bodies swayed in time to the thumping erupting from the sound system. A lone DJ spun his magic from a pair of decks on a platform across the room. He was barely visible through the fog from the overused smoke machine, but it didn’t matter. People didn’t care about the DJ, they cared about what he was playing, and he was giving them what they wanted, if the crowd was anything to go by.
“What do you want to drink?” I shouted over the music as I shimmied up to the bar between two men covered in tattoos and piercings. Adam held back, saying nothing. I shrugged and turned back to the bar, ordering a Scotch on the rocks for him and a beer with a tequila chaser for me.
With drinks in hand, I led him to one of the few booths off to the side of the dance floor. Luckily, booths weren’t in high demand, as most people were too busy dancing. That was a bonus. On the other hand, the sound from the dance floor was deafening, making any discussion almost impossible.
With nothing else to do, I swallowed the tequila shot in one go. It slithered down my throat like liquid fire, making me gasp as it hit my belly, the heat infusing my face and cheeks. I shook my head and winced before downing my beer to quench the fire.
“Want another?” I asked, shouting over the din of the music.
“The deal was one, remember?” His voice was getting louder as he tried to talk to me through the noise.
“Suit yourself. I’m going to have another. Be right back.”
I scooted out of the booth before he could stop me, wobbling for a brief second in the stiletto boots before I gained my balance and strolled over to the bar. I wasn’t drunk—not yet, at least. I knocked back a second tequila shot while ordering another one to go with my second beer. Rick, the bartender, raised an eyebrow in my direction, but I waved him away while mouthing, “I’m fine.” I wasn’t fine, but the drink made me bold. It had to be that way for what would come next.
I walked back to the booth and sat down with my drink. Trying to avoid Adam’s disparaging look, I sipped on my second beer until the DJ queued up the next song, a popular club anthem.
It was now or never.
“Come on!” I yelled, pulling him up from the booth.
“Poesy, you have had too much to drink.”
Unwillingly, he stood up, looking around at the people staring at us. One guy raised his eyebrow in appreciation at my barely-clothed assets, but I ignored him. Interlacing my fingers with Adam’s, the buzzing heightened by the alcohol, I dragged him through the center of the dance floor toward the fire exit before glancing around one more time and pushing open the door. As promised, the alarm had been disabled. I would owe Rick big time for this.
“Where are we going?” he asked.
“You’ll see,” I replied, almost overcome with nerves.
I turned the corner and started up the stairs toward the roof. There were no words now, only the clacking of my pointy boots and his shoes on the metal treads. Even if I wanted to make small talk, I couldn’t. My mouth was dry and I swallowed hard before reaching out for the final door.
As I opened the exit at the top of the stairs, a cool blast of fresh air hit my face, making me shiver. Straightening my shoulders, I turned back to Adam and held his curious stare for as long as I could.
“Wait here until I call you.”
“Poesy–”
“Just wait.” I didn’t pause for a response as I stepped over the threshold, making my way around the building’s massive AC unit.
Good. That would block his view, I thought.
Once around the behemoth of a box, I headed directly for the farthest ledge from the roof access, my heels crunching in gravel. In less than a minute, I was there. With two more steps, I was perched precariously on the lip of the building. I didn’t want to look down, but I couldn’t help it. I wobbled for a second before steadying myself with my breath stuck in my throat. I was at least forty feet up, so the smallest mistake could do some serious damage, but there would be no backing out now, no matter how scared I was. It was time to see this thing through.
“Okay!” I called out. My voice cracked.
Adam rounded the corner and stopped dead in his tracks.
“What are you doing?” he demanded. He started to take a step toward me, and I put my hand up.
“Don’t come any closer,” I warned. I backed up another inch, and the skinny heel of my boot hung over the concrete edge while my heart did flips in my chest.
“What has gotten into you? Get down from there.”
Taking a deep breath, I looked right at Adam. “It has to be this way.”
“What on earth are you talking about?” He stared at me, an incredulous look in his eyes. “Look. Come off the ledge and we can talk.”
I refused to look down, focusing all my attention on his face. “I know. You can’t hide it any longer.”
“Know what?” he challenged.
“I know you took down three men who were twice your size. I know you appear out of thin air—you show up where moments ago you weren’t. And I know you shine in the dark…I’m not crazy.” My tirade was bolstering my confidence. He was going to come clean, one way or another.
“It is all conjecture, Poesy. They put people away in mental wards for less. Come down.” His voice was gentler, soothing. He took a step closer.
“Stop,” I shouted.
“What? Are we going to be up here all night with this cat-and-mouse game? If you have got something to say, spit it out!”
“You’re an angel.”
He froze. I wasn’t even sure he breathed.
“An angel? Are you mad?” The hesitation in his voice was unmistakable.
I had a moment of uncertainty, and then the vision became clear. There was no other way. I turned one step and flung myself off the ledge—a perfect swan dive.
I heard a low oath as the rush of wind swept past my hair. A morbid sense of curiosity had overtaken me, and I wanted to look down to see the pavement rushing toward me, but I couldn’t—my brain couldn’t comprehend it. I was still free-falling. Why hadn’t he saved me? Perhaps this would end badly, after all.
Then I was lying on the roof, tiny pebbles of asphalt biting into my legs. My head was throbbing, and a small bump was forming behind my ear where I’d hit it.
“Ow,” I breathed.
“Poesy, are you okay?” Adam’s worried eyes searched my face while his hands gently manipulated my skull, the buzzing turning into a dull headache.
“I’m fine,” I stuttered, placing my hand under my back, trying to s
it upright.
“Stay down. You hit the roof pretty hard.” He pushed me back down.
“I knew it,” I said triumphantly. I struggled out from underneath him and finally sat upright, unhitching the thin bungee rope from the harness hidden beneath my skirt, its other end still tethered to a large exhaust pipe on the ledge. I flung it away from me, the attached climbing clip hitting the roof with a metallic twang.
Adam paused.
He looked at me, dumbfounded, sudden realization dawning in his eyes. “You tricked me.” Bitterness laced his words. He sat on his knees, his hands on his thighs, glaring.
“Yep.” I smiled smugly.
“You are certifiable, do you know that? You could have gotten hurt! What if you had hit the wall? Rope or not, you would have broken something.”
Brushing my bangs out of my eyes, I grinned. “I knew you’d be there in time. Poesy, one, Adam, zero, but who’s keeping score, right?”
“You are…”
“Amazing?” I offered. My smile was getting wider and wider.
“Childish,” he finished. He stood up quickly, pushing his hands against the ground, then brushing them off on his tailored pants.
“Wait!” I tried to get up gracefully, but failed miserably as I stumbled over my feet while trying to stand up. He strode toward the door. “Adam, please,” I pleaded, jogging after him.
He stopped, his back still to me.
I grabbed the sleeve of his shirt, the fabric slipping through my fingers as he jerked his arm away. He turned in the blink of an eye, his seraphic face a thunderous cloud.
“I’m not scared,” I gasped, trying to catch my breath.
He shook his head and groaned. “You should be. You have put yourself in peril, Poesy. Your kind and mine do not mix without disastrous consequences,” he said, scowling.
“Oh, right, so I’m the bad guy, am I? The big bad human girl tricked the poor little angel. Boo hoo.”
“Poesy…” he growled.
“You’re the one who’s stalking me! You came into my world, remember?”
“I am just doing what I was ordained to do,” he shot back at me.
“Ordained? Are you kidding me? Who uses words like that? You need to get a new vocabulary!”
We both stopped. He shook his head again and sighed. I let out a long breath, my shoulders relaxing.
“It is my fault. I am meant to only observe. I have broken the first rule,” he replied, looking away from me.
I took a step closer to him. “Look, it’s going to be okay. I won’t tell anyone. I promise.”
“It is not that simple,” he said, staring into the darkness.
“Why?” I asked.
He hesitated before replying. “Because…” He frowned at me before turning toward the way out. “This changes everything.” He reached for my hand, walking us toward the door. I tried to ignore the tingling, but I was too tired to fight it.
His words had an ominous tone.
On the way home, we barely spoke. Which wasn’t a surprise. We were both caught up in our own thoughts, trying to digest what had just happened. I could hardly believe it was real. If it hadn’t been for Birdie, I’d still be completely clueless. I turned the key in the ignition switch, and the car went quiet. I got out and walked toward the trailer. The sounds of crickets drowned out our footsteps.
“We need to talk.” His words were quiet.
“I know.” I bit down hard on my lip before straightening my shoulders and looking at him directly.
“It cannot wait.”
“Like I said, I know.” I turned back to the front of the trailer and unlocked the door right as Daisy peed on the welcome mat. “Come in, then.” I sighed. “Watch the dog pee. Make yourself at home while I find some paper towels.”
With that, I marched into the kitchen before groping along the wall for the light switch. As I flicked the switch, light flooded my cozy kitchen while my eyes took a moment to adjust to the brightness. I reached for the whole roll of paper towels and decided to grab the carpet cleaner at the same time.
“Have a seat on the couch. I’ll be there in a minute,” I said unceremoniously, as I got down on my hands and knees and used the paper towels to blot up the dog pee before spraying carpet cleaner on the spot. The insistent scratching at the door caught my attention.
“You ungrateful weasel!” I opened the front door.
Daisy trotted right in and immediately jumped on the sofa next to Adam, making one complete circle before collapsing with a “humph.” Two accusing hazel eyes stared up at me from between two black shiny paws. So my dog was mad at me, too.
Pinning my bangs back off my face with an errant hairclip, I slid off the impractical boots and sat down on the couch, pulling one leg up underneath me, not caring if it was unladylike or not.
“Talk.” I rested my elbow on the back of the couch.
“I am not sure where to start.” He leaned forward, his own elbows resting on the knees of his pants. His fingers dangled nervously toward the floor.
“How about at the beginning? You know, the bit about seven days and seven nights and all that,” I replied.
“This is serious, Poesy. What is happening now will change lives. Your life, mine, the lives of the people you love. You need to understand that.”
“I’m not a child, you know. I’m not going to tell anyone.”
“You are a mere infant in my world, Poesy. Your human life is so short and fragile. You have no breadth of knowledge with which to be so cavalier about this,” he said with impatience.
“So how old are you, anyhow?” I asked, unable to resist the question. One of Birdie’s books had said angels could live for hundreds of years.
“Are you sure you want to know?”
“Yes,” I answered firmly.
“By your measurement, I am over four thousand years old, but this specific version,” he said, pointing to his slim torso, “is only five hundred years old.” He stared intently at me, waiting for my response.
I couldn’t breathe. How was that possible? I knew from the book that angels had existed in biblical times, but I never imagined those same angels could be alive today. My mouth went dry.
Four thousand years old. Oh, god.
“Poesy, are you all right? Relax.” His eyes searched my face.
“But that’s not possible. Hundreds of years, fine, but thousands…I just can’t…it can’t be.”
“My body does not age in the same way yours does. My kind was designed in a way altogether different from humans, although from the outside we look the same.”
“So you’re not human at all?”
Please don’t say it.
“I am afraid not.” He gave me a weak smile that made my heart sink.
Not human. That was the truth of it. He was as alien as if he had been one of the little green men out of Birdie’s other books. I tried to ignore the deep ache in my chest.
“I know you must be feeling overwhelmed, Poesy. I cannot imagine what you–”
I interrupted him. “Are you my guardian angel? Are you here to watch over me?”
“You really are out to get yourself in trouble. I am trying to keep you safe,” he said, exasperated. “There is a fine line between giving you enough knowledge to satisfy your curiosity and giving too much and putting you in harm’s way. The fact still remains that it is dangerous for you to know about me. Poesy, it goes against everything I have been taught, to speak of these things with a human.” He reached over Daisy’s sleeping head and touched my hand for the briefest second. Even that one moment sent the buzz halfway up my arm.
“You didn’t answer my question.” I wasn’t going to let him off the hook.
“No, I am not your guardian angel. I am a Watcher.” He ran his fingers through his hair. “Observing mankind from afar is part of my role, although watching over you was incidental. The rest, you need not worry about.”
He was holding back.
“That doesn’t tell me a whole lot.” I scratched behind Daisy’s ears. She sighed with pleasure before a short snuffle and a snore indicated that she was asleep again.
“You only need know what is necessary. I am trying to protect you.” He sighed.
“But that’s not your job, is it? To protect me? You said yourself that you’re only an observer.”
“Quite,” he replied, concern crossing his face.
“You’re already in trouble, then, for saving my life.”
“Very much so, I am afraid.”
“Oh.” It dawned on me right then how foolish I’d been up on that rooftop.
“Yes, but there are other things happening that make me think something is wrong. I cannot explain it any more than that.”
“But I’m just one ordinary human. Why are you getting involved?” I persisted.
“I…I do not know.” He acted as if he was wrestling with the same question himself.
“So do I get any specifics about you, or is it all off-limits?” I ignored his unease and rested my head on the sofa.
“What exactly are you after?” he asked. “Perhaps it is better if you ask the questions and I tell you what is appropriate.”
“Afraid of getting caught out?” I smiled.
“Perhaps.”
“So has any other girl complained about, you know, when you’ve touched her?” I asked quietly, my face flushed. I could feel the perspiration under my armpits and at the small of my back. I hadn’t wanted to go there quite yet, but the curiosity was killing me.
He gave me a puzzled look before realization dawned on his face and he looked at me sternly. “No. I have already told you, Poesy. I am not in the habit of becoming involved with human women. It is against our laws.”
“Never?”
“Never. Have you not heard of the Flood? The ramifications of what happens if one of my kind mates with a human female?” He looked at me seriously.
Averting my gaze, I grabbed a pillow and started picking at a loose thread, worrying it away from the weave of the fabric. “I didn’t think the Flood was real,” I admitted. Not that I was an expert in Bible study.
Watcher (The Shining Ones Book 1) Page 12
