The Return

by D. C. Gambel

  I could see he wanted to argue. If it was about me being in the building that Sebastian lived, he’d have to learn to trust me eventually.

  I stepped out into the cool night. The street lit up by the city, made the evening feel alive. I immediately called Sebastian the moment my feet landed on the familiar concrete. Jade had sounded frantic on the phone. If it was really important perhaps Sebastian knew or maybe he could get me there faster.

  “Gaby?” I could hear the uncertainty is his voice.

  “Is everything okay?”

  “What?”

  “Jade just called me saying I needed to get over there now. Is everything alright? If it’s serious why didn’t Damien send you to dissipate me there?”

  There was a long silence before Sebastian spoke. “I’m not sure why Jade called, but everything is fine. Don’t come.”

  I felt a little wounded by his tone. Suddenly, the line went dead. I couldn’t believe how cold he’d been or that he’d hung up on me. I tried calling Jade again, but when she didn’t answer I used vampire speed and headed to The Angelo Tower.

  The moment the elevator stopped on the floor, I could feel the bond that tied me to Sebastian. If I could feel it then he could too, so I hurried down the stairs hoping that I’d get to Damien before Sebastian found me. That desire was short lived when I saw him coming from the opposite end of the hallway to intercept me.

  “I told you not to come.”

  “I didn’t come here for you,” I spat back.

  “You’ve made that abundantly clear, but I wasn’t telling you not to come because of my wounded pride.”

  “So you admit that your pride did take a hit when I stayed with Grayson?” I sidestepped around him trying to make it to Damien’s office without making physical contact with Sebastian, but he reached out grabbing my arm, pulling me to him.

  “It wasn’t my pride you hurt,” he mumbled making me regret my previous words. “I told you not to come because Jade didn’t call you here out of the goodness of her heart. She’s setting you up.”

  “Please let go of me.”

  “Why?” His eyes narrowed as his brow furrowed. “Do you find it hard to think when I’m touching you?”

  I stood straighter, setting my shoulders back trying my best to appear as confident as I could. “Yes.” Startled by my response, he released me. “How is Jade setting me up?”

  “She wants you to see something and I don’t think it’s a good idea.”

  “What? Is it you with another girl or something?” Sebastian didn’t say anything. He just stood there. I felt my heart sink. “Oh?”

  Sebastian’s gaze dropped to the ground. “That’s not it,” he said with a shake of his head before his green eyes locked with my blue ones, “but I’m glad to know the idea would bother you.” I didn’t respond. I didn’t know how to. I was a little stunned by how much the idea pained me. “Just trust me; you don’t want to see what Jade is trying to get you up to see.”

  “Can you tell me?”

  Sebastian shook his head. I bit my lip debating over his words. My gaze locked with his. He sighed when he saw my curiosity had won. Taking a deep breath he stepped back, no longer trying to stop me. I walked to Damien’s office. With my hand raised to the knob and one brief glance at Sebastian, who was anchored to the same spot, I opened the door.

  My mind couldn’t make sense of the sight before me. My eyes saw it, but my brain refused to process it. I stood there longer than I would have cared to when the sight suddenly made sense.

  “Ohmygod!” I shouted.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  There sitting on Damien’s desk was my mother with no shirt. I didn’t see Damien and I was sure I didn’t want to know where he was, especially since I was pretty sure he was in the room with us. I saw the look of shock on my mother’s face before I was out the door.

  I strode past Sebastian, who hadn’t moved. “You were right. I didn’t want to see that.” I suppose that was my punishment for not trusting him.

  “Gabriella wait!” My mother called out to me, but I refused to look at her. I didn’t want to deal with this now, but I knew she’d catch up when I had to wait for the elevator. I looked to Sebastian silently pleading with him to save me. He glanced to my mother then to me before holding his hand out to me. I grabbed it letting him pull me to him before we dissipated.

  I didn’t linger against him after we dissipated, even though I enjoyed the feel of his arms around me. I pushed my hands against his chest as soon as we reappeared, taking a step back from him. I couldn’t give him the wrong impression. I made my choice and that was Grayson.

  “Where are we?” I asked as I tried to make sense of our current location.

  “Central Park. I didn’t think you’d want me to take you inside your apartment.” No, I didn’t. When I didn’t respond he gave me a curt nodded.

  “I’m sorry I didn’t trust you,” I whispered.

  “That’s the least of my troubles, Gaby.”

  I winced from the anguish in his words. Trying for a change of subject, I switched it back to what I’d just run away from. “Can you tell me how long it’s been going on?”

  “Your parents?” I nodded. Even in the dim light I knew he could see me. “For the better part of a century.” I rolled my eyes. “Oh, you mean this time?” he chuckled. “Shortly after we arrived.”

  “That long?”

  “You had no idea?”

  I shook my head. “None. Am I just that oblivious?”

  “You had your own stuff going on, Gaby.”

  I looked towards the exit of the park. “She’s going to show up here, isn’t she?”

  “She’s your mom.”

  I knew I couldn’t hide out all night. Not only would Grayson begin to wonder where I was, but if I was correct, my mother would show up soon enough.

  “Thank you, Sebastian, for…”

  “I know.”

  A few moments passed as we stared at each other. I watched as Sebastian’s gaze dropped to my mouth causing me to bite my lip. Even though my heart belonged to Grayson, it was still a struggle to be around Sebastian. When his eyes met mine I gave him a soft smile before turning to head to the park entrance.

  “You’re just in time. Dinner’s ready,” Grayson said I as walked into the apartment. I looked at the time figuring that if my mother was choosing vampire speed she’d arrive any minute. Like clockwork there was a knock at the door.

  “Hold that thought,” I said to Grayson before turning my attention to the door.

  “Gabriella,” she sighed in relief. “I wanted to explain.”

  “No need,” I tried to stop her.

  “What you saw...”

  “I’m a big girl mom. I know what I saw.”

  “I wanted to explain, but then you dissipated with that angel.”

  “You what?” I heard Grayson from the dining room. I clenched my eyes closed, inwardly groaning. My mother had arrived so fast that I hadn’t explained what happened to Grayson. Of course I was going to tell him that Sebastian got me out of there. Wasn’t I?

  “Am I missing something?” my mother asked uncertain of the tension she was feeling. I guess I wasn’t the only one oblivious. Must run in the family.

  “Grayson, I can explain. Please?” I saw him standing there with practically steam coming off his head. “Just…” I held up a finger to him then turned back to my mom. “Mother, I don’t need you to explain. I understand that those feelings never went away. You may have been apart for over two decades, but it wasn’t because you didn’t love each other. If being together makes you happy, then be happy. An immortal life is too long to not be with your true love.”

  “Gabriella…When did you grow into such a wise young woman?”

  “One thing though?” I said and she knitted her brow in confusion. “Make sure you lock the door next time.” She chuckled and nodded.

  Once she was gone, I turned my attention to Grayson. I saw that his temper had died down some. In
stead of a boil he was on a simmer.

  “Jade called making it sound like it was an emergency. My guess is she wanted to me to know that my parents…” I struggled to finish the sentence, not knowing what the right way to say it was.

  “What about them?”

  “They’ve…been doing the nasty.” Grayson looked as shocked as I probably did when I saw them. My body visibly shook from the effect of my skin crawling.

  “And you walked in on them?” he asked.

  I nodded. “I was so freaked out. Then my mom tried coming after me and I panicked. Sebastian was there…”

  “And you asked him to get you out?”

  “More or less.”

  “That doesn’t make sense, Gaby. Did you or didn’t you”

  I wasn’t going to lie. “He just knew.” For a long moment, I didn’t make eye contact with Grayson. I was afraid too. He just knew, didn’t sound good. Finally I spoke. “Nothing happened.”

  “I know that. It just pisses me off. I really don’t like the guy.”

  “It shouldn’t. I choose you.”

  “What if you change your mind? What if your angel blood…”

  “Hey,” I stepped into him. “You forget, you have my angel blood now too, but you had my heart long before that. I’m not here out of obligation. I’m here because I love you.”

  Grayson was looking up at the ceiling taking deep breathes trying to calm himself. When he looked at me there was darkness to them. “I’m sorry, Gaby.”

  “Me too. You wanna go eat dinner now?”

  “No.” Before I could ask why, Grayson’s hand was in my hair. He pulled it back sharply exposing my neck forcing a surprised gasp from me. His mouth covered mine hungrily before moving down my neck, nipping a path down to my shirt. His hand released me to pull my shirt over my head. Then Grayson lifted me and carried me to our bed. He worked out his lingering frustrations on me and I enjoyed every long moment of it. He was aggressive and rough, but patient. He took his time making sure I was ready before sliding into me. When he finally did, my body convulsed around him. I liked the new intensity he had in the bedroom. By the time I drifted off to sleep, I could feel the sun coming up and for once I was grateful for the forced leave I was on.

  When I woke, Grayson was gone. I found a note saying he’d gone in to work and my heart sunk. No matter how prepared I was, the notion still bothered me. I walked into the kitchen for my morning dose of blood and coffee. While I waited for them both to be done, I saw the boxes Shawn and Clive had brought over days ago. If Grayson was trying so hard to regain whatever normal was for us, I figured I should too. Having boxes sitting in our living room reminding me of the time he was gone would only prevent that. I began sorting through them. After a few moments, I started thinking it was a huge mistake. I saw outfits that Shawn and I had bought because my own held too many memories. I came across the outfit I wore on my date with Sebastian and realized that now I was haunted by an entirely different ghost. I set it aside debating if I should just get rid of it. I moved through the remainder of the first box pretty fast after that, until I came to the bottom. There resting in the depths of the cardboard box were Sebastian’s clothes, the same clothes he let me borrow when I showed up to his room dripping wet. Throwing them out seemed wrong. They weren’t mine after all, but keeping them was out of the question.

  I picked my phone and called the same number I had the night before.

  “What?” the callee snapped.

  “Nice to talk to you too, Jade.”

  She groaned. I could hear her shuffling around. Sebastian had once told me that Jade slept during the day to keep up appearances with the vampires. “If this is about last night…”

  “You mean having me walk in on my parents? Thanks for that by the way. I think I’m scarred for life.”

  “You’re an immortal. You’ll get over it. Is that all?” She yawned at the end.

  “I need a favor.”

  Within the hour, Jade was standing outside my apartment door. She was wearing dark sunglasses that covered more than just her eyes, Jackie Kennedy style, along with a baseball cap. This was the first time I’d seen Jade not looking her usual perfection, instead she looked as if she was suffering from a hangover.

  “Next time you have a favor you can meet me outside of the Tower.”

  “I wouldn’t have had a problem with that except you made me see things that make me want to claw my eyes out, so if dragging you out of bed and over here is the only revenge I can take, then so be it.”

  Jade stood there leaning against my doorframe. “Do you even have a favor or did you just drag me over here for an apology, because that isn’t happening.”

  I didn’t expect an apology. Jade wasn’t the type. I walked into my apartment and grabbed Sebastian’s clothes. “Can you give these back for me?”

  “Lover boy left his clothes with you?” This perked Jade up a bit.

  “It’s not like that. Can you just…Please?” I shoved my arms out to her. I figured she’d have some other joke to make, or comment I didn’t want to hear, but instead she kept quiet and took the clothes from me. Her lips pulled up in the corners making a forced smile. She almost looked sympathetic.

  “I’ll see that he gets them.”

  I bit my lips and nodded.

  After she left, I used the empty box for things I didn’t want to keep. It became my trash box as I sorted through the other two. I came across the mail that Clive had mentioned, stunned that I was receiving mail at Shawn’s. I had never changed my address. I thumbed through it, tossing what appeared to be nothing but junk until I came across an envelope I recognized. It had been months since I had received one of those letters. I hesitantly opened it and saw that I was correct. There written in newspaper clippings were the words.

  With him back, you are in danger once more. Leave him.

  Attached to the letter was the article of Grayson’s return with a picture of us kissing at the Gala along with a tabloid picture of me wrapped around Grayson backstage of Wake Up USA. They were both great pictures and if I had seen them any other time, I might have wanted prints of them to display.

  It shocked me that whoever was threatening us had known I had been staying at Shawn’s. How close of an eye were they been keeping on me? I thought over who all knew where I’d been and the fact that the letters had stopped right after Grayson’s disappearance. Perhaps because the writer believed he had what he wanted with Grayson out of my life. My mind couldn’t help but wander to Sebastian. Could he be the one sending me these letters? Did he really want me that bad that he’d threaten Grayson’s life and mine? I knew Sebastian was a little stalkerish with his tendency to follow me from a distance, but I also knew he cared for me. He had also been so concerned that, after Grayson’s presumed death, he had lost all chances with me. He thought I would blame him. I doubted he would do anything to jeopardize odds at winning me over. But if it wasn’t him, then who?

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  No matter how much Grayson tried to pretend things were normal, I could see that he was different. There was a darkness that would appear in him, an aggression that hadn’t been there before. The therapist that did his evaluation diagnosed him with PTSD.

  I began noticing the signs and would try to do what I could to help him. My mother allowed us to use the gym at the nest. Using a mortal one was no longer an option. At the nest, we were free to be ourselves and didn’t need to hide our supernatural speed and strength. The gym was one of the tools his therapist had recommended, but Grayson preferred his own solution and that was me. He’d use my body to work through his issues. He never abused me or hurt me, with the exception of some bites, but even those were pleasurable, after the first initial pinch. If I thought his stamina was incredible before, it was unbelievable now. Even as a vampire, there were times that my body would feel the traces of our escapades.

  I still found him out on the balcony some nights when he thought I was asleep, but I gave him his space. Even tho
ugh our sex life was outstanding, I began to cherish the times when he was slow. During those times, we would bring each other to the brink without blood. It was in those moments that I would glimpse the old Grayson shining through.

  “I’ve missed you,” I whispered one night after one such session.

  “I’ll always come back to you.”

  One morning, my phone rang displaying Shawn’s name and, as it did every time he called and Grayson wasn’t beside me, I held my breath and my stomach shot into my throat.

  “Hello?” I asked with a shaky voice.

  “He’s fine,” Shawn groaned. He knew that I worried that we would have a repeat of last year when Anton attacked. Shawn wasn’t even on Grayson’s detail this time, but he was the one the other wolves would inform. “I just wanted to see if we could grab lunch, just the two of us, like old days?”

  It had been awhile since it had been just us two. If Clive wasn’t tagging along then it was Grayson and I missed the way things were when we had our time, just us. “I’d love too.”

  It wasn’t long before Shawn and I met up at our favorite café. Soon we were catching up on our time apart just as we always did.

  “You walked in on your parents?” Shawn almost spit out his drink when I told him. “Like in the throws?”

  “Not exactly… Ugh…I don’t know. I don’t really want to think about it,” I said shoving the heel of my hands into my eyes trying to rub away the unwanted thoughts that were forming. I looked at Shawn and could see he was on the verge of cracking with laughter. “What and you don’t think that your parents still have sex?” I asked turning the tables. Now it was Shawn’s turn to look disgusted.

  “Uh, no. My parents have only ever had sex twice in their entire marriage and that was to make me and Chris.”

  “You keep telling yourself that.”

  Shawn was grinning from ear to ear. “Persephone…? A little minx?”

  “Shawn, please! That’s my mother.”

  “I know. I didn’t think she had it in her. She’s so… I don’t know. I just figured she closed up shop a long time ago. It’s nice to know that your parents are still hot for each other though, right? Gives you hope?”