by Raquel Dove
He looked up at Gabrielle with a little shrug. His eyes once more appraised her with kindness and then he glanced quickly over to Mr. Black. The whole situation was becoming rather uncomfortable and Gabrielle didn’t know how much longer she would be able to stand this.
“The reason we are all here,” the Head General began to speak again, “is to do nothing short of decide the rest of Miss Gabrielle’s fate here at the Death Angel Society.”
Gabrielle was shocked by his words. The tone of his voice was light and casual, but what he had just said was anything but casual. Even with his seeming indifference to the situation, the words carried so much weight that Gabrielle felt like she was just punched in the gut. A million questions ran through her head. Had she done something terribly wrong? Was she to be cast out of the Death Angel Society? Her fingers lifted up to her neck and felt at the necklace she wore. It was an unconscious movement that gave her a measure of comfort. It brought all the memories of Matthew with it and suddenly she wasn’t so frazzled anymore. Then she looked at Mr. Black and all her relief crumbled to the floor. He was staring at her so much more intently now as he watched her absently fiddle with the necklace that rested at her collarbone.
“You shouldn’t be here, silly girl,” the only female General spoke, drawing for the first time since Gabrielle had entered the room, Mr. Black’s eyes off her. The words were clipped and her tone was bordering on venomous. But even as icy as her cold dark eyes were, framed by her pale skin and long black hair, she was remarkably beautiful. Enough so that it actually made Gabrielle feel uncomfortable.
“Now, now,” the man that she had recognized spoke again, raising a hand toward the woman, “there’s no need to make her feel uncomfortable Cassandra.”
“There’s no need to make her feel comfortable either,” she snapped, her eyes not moving from Gabrielle as she spoke.
“We have a lot of other business today, so we’ll get right down to it,” the Head General spoke again. “It has been brought to this Council’s attention,” his eyes darted quickly to Mr. Black, an odd emotion shining behind them, “that you have not been properly assessed.”
“It is my prerogative to hire whomever I wish. The assessment is a mere formality,” Mr. Black spoke up suddenly and Gabrielle couldn’t stop her eyes from snapping over to him. He sounded less than pleased. “Her level of qualification is of consequence only to myself.”
“Perhaps,” the Head General said holding a hand up to placate him. “However, it is only so with the Dark Fighters, and you know that.”
“She doesn’t belong in the Dark ranks,” Cassandra spat. “She’s too weak.”
“That will be determined by the assessment,” the Head General said. He looked directly at Gabrielle. “You will have a formal assessment, at which point it will be determined whether you belong to the Dark Ranks or the Light.”
They were all looking at Gabrielle expectantly, and she knew they were waiting for her to say something. To accept her lot. But how could she say anything? She had no clue what they were talking about. So she said the only thing that made any sense to her.
“Don’t I have a say in where I work?” she said, her voice coming out weaker than she wanted it to be. “I like working for Mr. Black.”
Cassandra scoffed at the words and Gabrielle couldn’t understand why it would upset her so much. She had never even met the woman. Mr. Black was looking at her with a peculiar look in his eyes and she could feel her cheeks blushing.
“I’m pleased that you feel that way,” the Head General said with his kind smile. “If you are determined to be a Dark Fighter, then you will remain in your position for as long as Sebastian is happy to have you there. If however, it is determined that you belong to the Light Ranks, I’m afraid you’ll have to be remanded to the Academy for proper training.”
“Head General,” the familiar Light General spoke up, his eyes shifting momentarily onto Gabrielle. “I’d like to request now that she be transferred to my office. I have a position opening up soon and I’d like to offer it to her.”
Cassandra scoffed at the statement and crossed her hands over her chest. She continued to glower at Gabrielle with pure hatred.
“There must be something about this girl that I don’t know about,” one of the other Generals in white spoke up. His hair was blonde and shortly cropped, his green eyes dancing mischievously as they looked her over. Until then, the only Generals that had seemed to have a single care about her were Cassandra, Mr. Black, and the familiar man. Now they all seemed to sit up straighter and look her over more carefully. “She’s rather plain.”
“Looks can be deceiving,” the other black General sitting directly beside Mr. Black spoke up in her defense. Gabrielle recognized him from the Death Festival. He was the man who was with Aracella.
“They can also be very telling,” Cassandra said, giving her a pointed look.
“Enough,” the Head General said almost wearily. “Unfortunately, Markus, if she is assessed to belong in the Light Ranks, I’m afraid there is no other course of action but to send her through the Academy. If she makes it through, you are more than welcome to claim her then.”
“And why does she get to stay with Sebastian?” Cassandra asked, her eyes narrowing on Sebastian. “Why not send her back to the Academy regardless?”
“The situation there is what it is,” the Head General said with a small shrug. “She has been trained in the job already, and with the First Seat Rank in his office now vacant, I would not want to create more disruption in his office unnecessarily.”
“He did that to himself,” Cassandra’s voice rose sharply as she spit the words out. “If he—“
“Enough, Cassandra,” the Head General said, his words booming through the room. His eyes turned onto Gabrielle. “Tomorrow morning you will report to the assessment room. Afterward, we will see what fate awaits you, young lady.”
With that, the Head General stood up and all the Generals reflexively mirrored him, leaving only Gabrielle sitting. She shakily stood up.
As they all filed out of the room, they passed by her, some giving her kind looks, some glaring at her with hatred. Just when she thought that she had found some peace in this place, when she thought she was catching the hang of it, a curve ball was thrown at her. She wanted to curl up right there and cry. The way they had all talked so emptily about her, and right in front of her, as if she was some piece of bizarre artwork that was meant to be pondered and discussed. It was all just too much for her and she couldn’t wait to get out of there. But her feet were rooted to the spot and Mr. Black was walking straight for her with his eyes fixed on her.
“You will finish out the day in the office,” he said with an odd coldness in his voice as he stopped to speak with her. She noticed the strange glance that Cassandra gave him as he spoke to her, as if she was gauging her. “Follow me.”
Gabrielle did as he said, and soon it was only her and him in the hallway. She recognized the way they were heading and it wasn’t back to the office. It looked like he was bringing her back to her home.
“Mr. Black,” she said his name tentatively. She had questions that she needed him to answer and she hoped that he would be receptive. He glanced over at her for just a moment but didn’t say anything. Gabrielle took that as a sign to speak.
“Why does it matter if I’m a dark rank or light?” she asked. It wasn’t the question that she really wanted to ask him, but she felt like it would be the best conversation starter.
“That’s the way things work,” he said, almost brushing her off. His words seemed so cold to her and she couldn’t understand why. He was always hard to read, and he seemed emotionless, but this seemed more than that. It was almost like he was irritated with her. She knew she should just shut up now, but she just couldn’t. She had to ask the question that she really wanted to know.
“Why did you do it?” she asked, her voice almost a whisper. He turned his head to look at her.
“I don’t know
what you’re talking about,” he said, his voice flat.
“The night of the festival,” she said, looking up over at him. She hoped that he would catch on to what she was saying so that she didn’t have to say it. Her cheeks were already burning with embarrassment, but she made herself press on with this line of questioning.
“You were drunk and making a bit of a spectacle,” he said. His voice was so cold and indifferent and his words were so sharp that it almost made Gabrielle stop midstride. She felt her heart falling into her stomach. “I was forced to walk you home before you further embarrassed yourself and my command.”
Gabrielle could feel the tears brimming at her eyes. How could he have turned so cold so suddenly towards her? It didn’t make any sense. Had she done something terribly wrong to upset him? Had the kiss been that awful for him?
“You kissed me,” she said, her voice cracking even though she tried to make it strong and push back the oncoming tears. He stopped suddenly and took a sharp breath, whirling on her. His body came so close to hers that she could almost feel the heat radiating off him. The closeness made her body heat up, but the sheer disdain in his eyes made her tense up.
“That was a mistake on my part,” he spat the words at her. She hadn’t realized until that moment how much that kissed had seemed to mean to her. She had secretly enjoyed it so much, though she felt terribly guilty for it when she thought about Matthew. But now she felt so stupid and childish for thinking that it meant anything. She swallowed thickly, trying to suppress her oncoming tears. She knew that there wasn’t anything between them except for a boss worker relationship, but she still couldn’t help but hurt at his clear rejection of her.
“Go home,” he said sharply, straightening his shoulders and stepping back from her. “I don’t expect you to ever mention this again.”
He was gone before she had time to react. She didn’t know how he moved so fast, but she was suddenly alone in the hallway that led to her quarters. It took everything she had to make it back without shedding a tear. Once she was safely in the privacy of her own quarters, she let her tears flow freely down her cheeks.
Chapter Twenty Three
Gabrielle stared quizzically down at the stack of papers in front of her. She reread the first question on the page then looked up at the Generals who all sat staring expectantly at her. She avoided eye contact with Mr. Black, still embarassed by their interaction the day before. When no one said anything, she decided to voice what she thought would be an obvious question.
"What does this mean?" she asked, pointing down at the paper. No one answered her, and they all just looked at her like she should know exactly what it meant.
"We cannot help you," the Head General spoke from right next to her, his voice kind but firm. "You must answer the questions on your own."
Gabrielle sighed and looked back down at the paper, twirling the pencil in her hand. None of these questions made any sense. And not in the 'she just wasn't smart enough to answer them' type of way. They actually made no sense. She reread the first question on the paper again.
If you have the color purple and the color green, do you choose yellow or orange?
Gabrielle could feel her frustration rising. As she glanced down the page, all the questions resembled the first. Just a bunch of nonsense. How was she supposed to answer any of these? This was not at all what she was expecting. She looked back up at the Generals, and she pulled her lips tight. Fine, she thought. If they wanted to give her a test of nonsense questions, she would just give them nonsense answers.
Pink, she scribbled under the first question. She stopped for a moment, thought about that, then narrowed her eyes as she erased her answer. Triangle, she wrote. She had an odd twinge of self satisfaction at that, and so she continued answering the absurd questions with absurd answers. By the time she got to the end of the ten or so pages of simple but stupid questions, she wasn't even reading them anymore. She was just scribbling down whatever word came into her head first. As soon as she put her pencil down and looked defiantly up at the Generals, the Head General scooped the papers up.
"Thank you, Ms. Gabrielle," he said, his eyes sliding oddly onto her as he glanced over at the papers. She felt a twinge of embarrassment. She hadn't assumed they would read it in front of her. Now she felt bad for not taking it very seriously. She could feel her cheeks blushing and she just couldn't make herself look up at him, though she could feel his eyes inspecting her. She bit at her bottom lip, trying not to look in the direction of Mr. Black. He had been the one person she thought she could look to for help. But he had made it abundantly clear that he wouldn't be showing her any more kindnesses. She couldn't stop the odd pain in her chest when she thought about that.
"Interesting," the Head General said, drawing her out of her own thoughts and forcing her to look up at him. "The assessment is finished, and I must say there is some ambiguity to it."
From the corners of her eyes, Gabrielle could see some of the Generals shifting and sitting up with interest. She had no idea what he meant by that, but it was clear that it meant something to them.
"That's absurd," Cassandra spat, her disgust at such a statement evident. Gabrielle chanced a glance at Mr. Black, wanting to gauge his reaction. He looked thoughtful, his eyes for once not blazing on her.
"Some ambiguity," the Head General said, stressing the word some, "but there is a ruling. She is to transfer over to the Light Ranks."
As soon as he said the words, Mr. Black shot up in his seat and stormed out of the room. Gabrielle felt her heart drop. Even though he had been so cold to her the day before, she didn't like the idea of having to work somewhere that wasn't around him. Plus, this just meant that she would have to get used to a new office, with new people, and new possible enemies. Not to mention all new clothes. That was, of course, if she made it through the Academy which she was fully aware might not happen. Her future was looking bleaker by the minute. She wished more than anything that she could take comfort from Matthew's warm embraces, but he hadn't responded to any of her messages the night before and dread over what that meant was beginning to creep in her heart.
"You'll finish out the week with Sebastian," the Head General said, his words dipping low as he watched him leaving the room. "He will be troubled enough as it is. This will give him time to find a suitable replacement."
Gabrielle shifted uncomfortably and nibbled at her bottom lip. For some reason that made her more troubled than knowing that she would never work for him again.
###
Sebastian was finding it extremely hard to keep his anger in check. In all honesty, with everything that had happened, this was for the best. But still, the way it had come about, and his own helplessness about the situation ate at him. He was glowering at Cassandra as she came sauntering out of the assessment room.
"There's no need to give me that look Sebastian," she said, and he knew she was trying her best to look sultry and sound seductive. It just made his stomach turn. She was a beautiful woman, and there was a time that he would have been happy to have her. But that was a long time ago.
"This was entirely uneccessary," he said, his jaw clenching tightly. "It was none of your concern."
"Oh come now, Sebastian," she said, her steps bringing her right in front of him. She stopped closer than he was comfortable with and ran a finger down his chest, clearly trying to affect him. He grabbed her hand roughly and flung it away from him.
"You disgust me," he said as venomously as he could.
"That isn't a very nice thing to say to your betrothed," she cooed at him, batting her lashes.
"You're not my betrothed," he said, narrowing his eyes down at her. It wasn't entirely true. She had been at one time. It was an arranged marriage, done by his parents and hers. They came from the two most prominent houses in all the Death Angel Society. They were damn near royalty. Everyone thought it would make a grand match. She was the only child of her parents, and everyone's best option was to merge these two great houses.
Sebastian had been fine with that for most of his life.
"Yeah, I remember," she said, her tone suddenly shifting into the cold bitch he knew she was. "You chose that common whore over me."
As soon as the word came out of her mouth, he had his hand around her throat and she was pressed against the wall.
"Tell me Sebastian," she said, her words choked. In spite of her position, her face remained emotionless. She wasn't afraid of him and he knew it. She was a General in her own right, and though he was slightly more powerful than her, she could still hold her own against him and they both knew it. "Why is it you are so keen on that silly little girl working under you?"
Her eyes narrowed on him and he pulled his hand back. He knew he didn't have to answer that question. She already knew the answer to it. That's why she had demanded this assessment. Sebastian had been fairly certain however that she would be determined to belong to the Dark Ranks. He was rather surprised with the outcome.
"Why do you concern yourself with what I do?" Sebastian said, his eyes still glaring angrily down at her.
"This may come as a surprise to you Sebastian," she said, her voice once again dipping into what he supposed she meant to be alluring. "I never considered our arrangement to be over. I'm waiting for you to come to your senses, and obviously I need to help you with that from time to time."
Sebastian just scoffed and walked away from the infuriating bitch. He had more pressing concerns than a scorned ex betrothed. He returned to his office, expecting to see Gabrielle there but was perplexed when she wasn’t. He had heard the Head General say that she would finish out the week with him, and while he couldn’t be unhappier about the situation, he had expected her to be here. He hated that he had to be so cold to her. He wanted more than anything to scoop her up and wipe the frightened look off her face with a heated kiss. But he knew that he couldn't do that. She was to be Kasen's wife now, he realized that when he saw the necklace that she so proudly displayed around her neck. It was just as well with the way things turned out. Being a General's wife meant she wouldn't have to go through the Academy. It also meant that Sebastian would never have to worry about her being tossed into the lower sector with the undesireables. So even though it was painful for him to do, he had to stop treating her like he had been.
