Death Angel (Death Angel Series Book 1)

by Raquel Dove

  “Mr. Black,” Kaia greeted him when he walked into the office. He was growing weary of her. He knew that she was intent on grabbing Ms. Blankenship’s position, and while he wasn’t opposed to the idea - she was the most experienced assistant in his office - he had been concerned with the way she had handled Gabrielle, causing only more problems for himself.

  “Kaia, join me in my office,” he said, making a sudden decision that he hoped he wouldn’t regret. But he would be spending more and more time out of his office, and he needed to know that it would be properly run.

  She didn’t say anything in response, but he could feel her tense up. She followed him into his office and shut the door behind her. He sat down at his desk and looked up at her for a moment before he decided to speak. She was steady under his gaze, but he could feel her wanting to shift uncomfortably.

  “I’m going to be dealing with some important business in the coming days and possibly weeks,” he could see her visibly relax when she realized he wasn’t about to chastise her for something.

  “Gabrielle will be leaving us at this weeks end,” he said, noting the way she brightened at that. “It goes without saying that I need to replace my first seat assistant.”

  He was quiet again, purposefully keeping her on pins and needles as she waited for him to continue. He imagined she was wondering if he had chosen her for the spot, or someone else. When he felt that he had made her sufficiently fretful, he spoke again.

  “I am promoting you,” he said simply, and a wide smile spread across her face.

  “Thank you sir,” she said almost breathlessly.

  “I trust you can fulfill all your duties without me having to hold your hand,” he said, looking up at her with hard eyes.

  “Yes sir, of course,” she nodded her head emphatically. He picked up a stack of files that he had on his desk and held them out to her.

  “Deliver these directly to General Kasen,” he said as she took them. She looked back at him with a less than pleased look on her face. “It is imperative that it be handed directly to him.” He said, already irritated with her. “This is not a task I want taken lightly, understand?”

  “Yes, sir,” she said, her voice clearly showing her disappointment.

  "He has been ill recently, so you may need to track him down," Sebastian said, "but I trust you will carry this out efficiently."

  Kaia nodded and left his office. He understood that it wasn’t quite the important load of work that she was expecting, but Sebastian didn’t want to tell her exactly how important this task was. They were all the files that he had managed to gather on the irregularities of the Darkling sightings and missions. He didn’t trust anyone else with this information and he didn’t want to let anyone in on what they were uncovering. It was quickly becoming obvious that this was a very serious issue that had gone unchecked for quite some time. There were at least two Generals involved and it looked as if it was going to threaten the very fabric of the Death Angel Society. They had to find out who was behind it all and what exactly their goal was before it became too late.

  Chapter Twenty Four

  Gabrielle didn't go directly to the office when she was finished. She knew she was probably supposed to, but she just couldn't look at Mr. Black right now. He hated her. She could just feel it in the way he glared at her. She didn't know what she had done. Maybe it was the kiss. Perhaps she had been so awful that he never wanted anything more to do with her. His words burned in her chest. She had made a fool of herself at the Death Festival.

  After walking around for an hour or two she made her way back to the office. She was thankful when she walked in and discovered that Mr. Black had left for some mission. It wasn’t typical for him to go on such a simple task, but Gabrielle had a feeling he was just trying to avoid her. It was official in her mind. He hated her. The thought made her so uncomfortable that it was hard to breath. It didn’t help that when she did go into the office, Kaia had an overly pleased look on her face as she shoved a stack of files at her.

  “Get these over to General Kasen immediately,” she said, with an added air of authority that she hadn’t had before. Gabrielle decided that she wasn’t going to bother arguing or putting up any kind of resistance to her. In fact, while Kaia looked at her like she was handing off a menial chore, Gabrielle was thankful to be getting back out of the office. She was also mildly interested in meeting General Kasen. She had been corresponding with his office on such a regular basis, and he was the only General that hadn’t been at the awful assessment, or the meeting that decided she would be forced to take it.

  Gabrielle wound her way through all the hallways that lead towards General Kasen’s office. Matthew had been right about her instincts kicking in. She didn’t know how exactly she knew where to go, but she just did. Thinking of Matthew was the only thing that was keeping her from breaking down at this moment. But if she thought too much about him, her stomach turned, remembering that he hadn't yet responded to her messages. She hoped that by the time she got home, he would have sent a reply.

  She had been watching her feet as she walked, lost in thought, but she knew she was coming close so she let out a heavy sigh and glanced up. Her eyes landed directly on Mr. Black and her breath caught in her throat as she tensed up. Her legs were suddenly heavy and she found it incredibly hard to keep walking. But then her eyes finally tore away from him and moved onto the person next to him. For a moment her heart fluttered at the sight of him, but then her brows stitched together in confusion.

  “Matthew?” she said, seeing the odd expression on his face. There was a man standing beside him dressed in white that she hadn’t noticed until that moment when he started barking at her.

  “Show some respect,” he said in a condescending tone. “You’re speaking to two Generals of the Death Angel Society.”

  “Huh?” Gabrielle looked quizzically from Mr. Black to Matthew, not understanding what was going on. But the almost horrified look on Matthew’s face wasn’t settling her nerves.

  “What’s going on Matthew?” she asked, looking to him for an answer. He opened his mouth to say something, shaking his head, but the man next to him once again spoke up loud and angry at her.

  “This is General Kasen, and if you address him so disrespectfully again you will be reprimanded.”

  “That’s enough, Loki,” Kasen snapped, looking angrily at him. His expression softened as he turned back to Gabrielle. “I was going to tell you tonight…”

  His words trailed off, but it finally all clicked to Gabrielle and she felt the heat burning through her chest. She had never felt so utterly betrayed in all her life. It took her a moment to find her voice.

  “You…you lied to me?” she said, her words barely above a whisper as she stared back at him with tears stinging her eyes.

  “I wanted to tell you the truth,” he said stepping closer to her, holding his hands out. She stepped back from him, her eyes locked painfully on his.

  “Matthew isn’t your real name,” she said, looking him up and down, “you aren’t a third seat assistant. You aren’t anything that you told me you were. You lied to me, about everything.”

  “No,” he said, shaking his head. “It’s not what you think, please, let me explain.”

  “You…” the words burned in her throat, but her utter embarrassment and feeling of betrayal stung even harder. “I didn’t even know your real name, and you…you took my…”

  She couldn’t say the word as the tears poured down her cheeks. She had stupidly given her virginity to a man she didn’t know simply because he had given her a pretty trinket. She actually believed that he had loved her, that they were in love. She realized now why he wasn't responding to her messages, why he had left her bed so quickly. He must have only been after one thing and as soon as he got it, he didn't see fit to bother with her anymore.

  “I…Gabrielle—“

  “No,” she said, her voice suddenly rising sharply as she found her anger brimming beneath the surface.
Her eyes snapped over to Mr. Black for a moment who was watching the scene play out with his typical stoic expression. “I guess I know why I kept getting those days off to spend with you.” Her eyes snapped back over to him. “And why everyone stared at us everywhere we went.”

  “Gabrielle—“

  “Here,” she said, shoving the pile of files in her hand at him as she cut him off. “These are for you.”

  She wiped the tears off her cheeks with the back of her hand and tried to stop any more from falling. She whirled around to leave, too humiliated to stand the situation any longer, but Kasen grabbed her by the arm to stop her.

  “Gabrielle, please.”

  “Don’t touch me,” she shouted at him as she wrenched her arm free of his touch. She’d had enough of this place and all the people in it. She just wanted to go home and curl up in bed, shutting everyone and everything else out. She turned back away and nearly ran to get away from the situation. No one came after her, and she was both relieved and hurt by it. She had made a complete fool of herself in every way that she possibly could in this place.

  She had thought that she wanted nothing more than to go back to her quarters and cry, but she found her feet taking her all around the halls of the Death Angel Society, thinking about the mess that was her life. Nothing made any sense anymore. She didn’t know who she used to be, and she never would, although apparently someone else did. Her once flourishing love life was now revealed to be nothing more than a sham. And her boss, soon to be ex-boss, was disgusted with her and clearly couldn’t stand to be around her. The one bright side that she had was that she would going to a different place entirely soon, even if everyone else made it sound like a horrendous punishment. She decided to be hopeful that it would offer her a fresh start as she made her way back to her home. In the end, it didn’t really matter. She was dead now, and whether she liked it or not, she was stuck in the Death Angel Society. She was a Death Angel, and sooner or later she would have to start acting like one.

  ###

  As soon as Gabrielle ran off in tears, Kasen felt the heavy congestion of the sickness gripping his chest. He wanted more than anything to run after her, to explain himself. To tell her that he only lied about those two things and that he had a very good reason to do so. But unfortunately, the sickness had taken hold of him so quickly that he was barely able to stand up. His first seat assistant helped him to his home where Wilfred now stood over his bed, glaring down at him with disapproval.

  “You’ve waited too long this time,” he said, his deep concern showing through his superficial anger. “You’ll need at least two weeks of bed rest. Maybe more. We’ll know when the healer gets here. And that little jaunt into the mortal world certainly didn’t help you any. I told you not to go.”

  Wilfred just shook his head as he looked down at Kasen. He wanted to tell him to go away, that he didn’t want to listen to him, but he couldn’t even find enough strength to speak. He felt the blackness slipping over him and he knew that he would be passing out soon. Unlike most people in the Death Angel Society, the sickness had left Kasen alive longer than usual. He would beat it back again, like he had every other time. He was certain of this. He just hoped that once he was well enough to sit up and talk again, it wasn’t too late to get Gabrielle back.

  ###

  “Kaia,” Sebastian hollered out her name as he stormed into his offices. His eyes quickly scanned for her as his jaw clenched with his unbridled anger. He slammed the office door behind him, shattering the glass in it. Kaia came stumbling out of his office a moment later with her eyes wide. He could see the terror in her and Nettie as he took measured steps toward her.

  “I gave you one task,” he said, his words low. “What was it?”

  “Sir? I…,” Kaia shook her head, trying to think through her fright. “I…you told me to deliver the files to General Kasen.”

  “Correct,” he said, narrowing his eyes at her. “I told you to.” He pointed his finger at her for emphasis. “Not Nettie. And certainly not Gabrielle.”

  “I…,” Kaia shook her head unable to understand why he was so upset with her. “I didn’t think you needed me personally to deliver them.”

  “I’m trying to figure out whether you did that out of spite for Gabrielle, or if you are just that lazy and insubordinate,” he said, his words dripping venomously from his lips. “You’re fortunate that I’m assuming it’s the former, otherwise I would order your eternal death and not just fire you.”

  “Sir…” her words were low and her voice crackled as her wide eyes looked back at him in disbelief. “Please, I won’t mess up again. I—“

  “Get out of my sight,” Sebastian snapped, unable to contain his rage. If she stood in his presence any longer he would carry out a sentence of eternal death for her right there on the spot. Kaia swallowed back her tears and scurried out of the office. Nettie was looking at him with shocked wide eyes, but he didn’t care. She was his last assistant and if he wasn’t already too busy with the issues plaguing the Death Angel Society, he would fire her for good measure. He had specifically asked Kaia to deliver those files to Kasen for a reason. He hadn’t expected to run into him on his way to other business, and he certainly hadn’t expected Gabrielle to show up in the mix of it. He thought about the utter sadness on her face when she realized what Kasen had done and he couldn’t stop the ache in his chest. He knew what he had to do, but he needed to let his temper cool first. He really hated when his emotions got out of his control.

  Chapter Twenty Five

  Gabrielle felt like her eyes were closing in on themselves. She had spent the better part of the day crying, intermittently stopping long enough to let her nasal passages open up again before she would cry some more. She had calmed down considerably since she first learned the truth about Matthew, or rather Kasen. She was going to have to get used to thinking of him by his real name. She hadn’t stuck around long enough to hear his explanation, but he insisted that he had one as she ran away from him in tears. Now that her initial shock had worn off she was endlessly curious. What possible reason could he have for wanting to hide the truth about such seemingly innocuous things?

  She supposed it was something that she could work past. Everything that they had couldn’t possibly be a lie. She knew she had real feelings for him. And by the way he looked at her, she knew that he had to have feelings as well. That just wasn’t something that you could fake. He certainly didn’t seem like an awful person that was in it all just to get her into the bed. When she had thought about it more, she realized that was likely the news he had wanted to tell her. So the fact that she discovered his lie was really just bad timing. She wondered if she would have reacted so badly if he had found just the right time and place and eased her into the truth delicately. She didn’t think she would have been so upset. She loved Kasen, deeply. And she found that she still wanted to be his wife.

  But the fact that he hadn’t come after her, and he hadn’t tried to message her at all worried her. If he really loved her as much as she loved him, then he would fight for her to understand, not just give up and let her run away. He would at least try to contact her.

  She had been lying in bed, tossing and turning for the better part of three hours, trying to push all the troubling thoughts from her mind. She wasn’t looking forward to seeing Mr. Black in the morning and even worse, having to go to the Academy at the weeks end.

  Finally, she realized she wouldn’t be sleeping much, so she threw her covers off with a huff and went into her bathroom to inspect the damage that a night of crying and worrying had done to her face. It was even worse than she had expected. Her eyes were puffy and bulging. Her nose was swollen and red, and even her lips were reddened and enlarged. She let out a heavy sigh, and splashed her face with cold water trying to relieve all the swelling, and while it did feel better, she still looked awful. She ran a brush through her hair and threw on the most comfortable black clothing that she had. She could at least be thankful that soon she wou
ldn’t need to wear all black.

  Gabrielle figured that she would go into the office and get some of the backed up filing done while no one was there. It would give her a chance to get her mind off all her problems while doing a menial chore. No one should be there, so she wouldn’t have to worry about the stress of dealing with any of her coworkers. In the morning, she would message Kasen and ask him to talk. Even if he didn’t have an explanation that was satisfactory, she knew that she wanted to hear it for sure.

  The office was dark and devoid of any life, and Gabrielle felt a rush of relief come over her. It felt so different, so peaceful at this time of night. She clicked on the lamp at her desk and sighed as she looked around. She wished that it could be like this all the time. Just her, in a dark room with little light to work by, toiling away on some seemingly unimportant task. She wouldn’t have to think, she wouldn’t have to interact, and she wouldn’t have to try. She sighed again and reached for the thick stack of files that had built up on her desk. She stepped over to the filing cabinet and began to thumb through the files.

  “You shouldn’t be here,” Mr. Black’s voice boomed behind her, surprising her and making her jump as she whirled around to see him. As she did, the stack of files went tumbling out of her hands onto the floor.

  “Neither should you,” she said with a gasp before she realized what she was saying. He cocked a brow at her.

  “Couldn’t sleep,” he said, his expression softening in a strange way as he stared back at her.