by Anna Santos
“What’s funny?” I asked, focused on her smile. She seemed so relaxed, without a care in the world.
“Tomorrow is my last day. Don’t you remember?” She became serious. “The day after, at dawn, I’ll say the spell and exchange places with Oliver. You can’t forget about that. You have to take me to him to perform the ritual.”
“It slipped my mind that the day was already upon us,” I said honestly. I thought about what I was going to tell her next. I felt like I should reassure her or, at least, say something to make her feel better. I preferred to change the subject. “So are you coming to the party tomorrow night?”
“It looks like it. Aren’t you bringing Aria to the party?”
“I don’t know. I haven’t thought about it.”
“Maybe you should bring her. It would make her feel better.”
“We’re going to…break up,” I reminded her. “She’s furious with me.”
“You can still be her friend.”
“I don’t know if I can see her make the mistake of…”
“Choosing Philippe?”
“Yes. I know that he’s like a son to you.”
“He’s not that bad. You might be surprised how different Philippe is from the image he shows to the world.”
“He’s a vampire, a murderer, a… He rejected her and tried to kill her,” I said, losing my serene face and frowning with annoyance.
“Gerard was the one who told his goons to disobey Philippe’s order to take Aria home.”
“Is that the excuse he’s giving now?” I asked, unable to conceal my sarcasm.
“It’s the truth.”
The certainty in her tone disconcerted me. “Still, she almost died because of him.”
“True.” Jo sighed. “That doesn’t change the fact that he loves her. If she by any chance accepts him back, he’ll do everything in his power to fix their bond. She won’t go to Hell. He’ll make sure she won’t.”
“He’ll turn her into a vampire,” I retorted.
“Not all vampires are bad. And nowhere is it written that vampires go to Hell by default.”
I couldn’t deny her reasoning. “If they kill for pleasure, if they… You know perfectly well, Jo, vampires have instincts that make them become predators. She’s afraid of her gift, so she’s rejecting her angel. Yet she lacks the understanding that choosing Philippe over me is the same as choosing to be the monster she’s so afraid of.”
“You’re basing your assumption on the fact that you think Philippe will turn Aria. For your information, Philippe doesn’t enjoy being a vampire.”
“He’ll fall into temptation. They always do. Or she’ll ask him, beg him, to spend eternity with him.” Leaning forward and resting my arms on the desk, I added, “It’s hard to believe that he doesn’t enjoy being a vampire.”
“It took him a lot of time to accept what he is. His first decades of being a vampire were tainted by his need for revenge. Everybody assumes that revenge will fix their pain. It doesn’t. He had to live with what he had done, with the loneliness and the bloodlust. Yet I know him. He’s not bad in his core. He just pretends he is. I turned him and lived with him for a long time. He’s my favorite child for a reason.”
Hearing Philippe being praised wasn’t my idea of having fun, so I changed the subject. “Do you have other children?”
“I have two more,” she said. “My other son is a real idiot. My daughter is sweet, though. I turned her a while back. She had a terminal illness and… Why do you want to know that?”
“I’m curious.”
Frowning, she asked, “Are you going to talk to Philippe or not?”
“What does he want? My blessing?” I asked ironically, leaning back in the chair and caressing the stubble that was beginning to grow on my chin.
“I don’t think so. It seems important. He was anxious about it.”
“Tell you what, I’ll talk to him if you come with me to the party tomorrow night,” I said, plotting an evil plan.
“What?” She blinked several times. “And Aria?”
“She can come with Philippe since they’re so close now. I’ll invite him. Besides, you’ll love the birthday surprise I got for Charlotte.”
“What is it? Not having a fiancée anymore?”
I smirked at her attempt at a joke. “No. Camille is excited about tomorrow. Ask her what it is.”
Jo frowned. “Why would I ask her? I don’t care about the party. You know what I care about is what will happen when the night is over.”
“One more reason to come with me to the party and enjoy yourself.”
She pursed her lips and rubbed her hand against the fabric of the dress. “What’s the surprise?”
“If I tell you one of the surprises, will you come with me?”
“Maybe…”
“Okay, I’ll tell you. I’m going to play the guitar and sing tomorrow.”
“That may be an even worse idea than inviting me to go to the party with you.”
“What do you mean?”
“You’re singing to the birthday girl, who happens to be a suitable candidate for kissing you if Aria wants to break your bond. That’s not a good way to please Aria and ask for her forgiveness.”
“I did nothing wrong,” I mumbled.
Jo sighed deeply and massaged her temples. “I don’t want to get caught up in this drama on the last day of my life.”
“I don’t want to go on my own if…we break up.”
Jo scrutinized my face. “How about, if you promise to talk and listen to what Philippe has to tell you, I’ll go with you to the party. But only if Aria and you aren’t together. I’m old enough to know that jealousy is never a good way to win back someone we love.”
“And how does one do that?”
“You talk to them and tell them how you feel. Being honest is the best policy.”
I mused over her words. “I need to prove to her that I can protect her and that she doesn’t need to fear her powers. If I do that, I know she’ll reconsider.”
“You should listen to what she has to say about what happened. You need to talk to Philippe.”
I clenched my teeth. The Vampire King was the last person I wanted to see right now. Yet war was coming against the specters and the witches. I needed his support.
“Why so serious?” Jo asked.
“Whatever happens tonight will dictate whether we’ll celebrate a victory tomorrow or be tormented by a defeat. Either way, you’re a wise woman, Josephine. Philippe is lucky to have you.”
Jo smiled, showing me her perfect white teeth.
“We should go to the hospital and talk to your beloved son.” I got up, circled the desk, and offered her my hand, so we could teleport out of there.
CELESTIAL
Book 3 of The Angels of Paris Chronicles
Copyright © 2017 Anna Santos
All rights reserved.
Inquiries about additional permissions should be directed to: [email protected]
Cover Design by Laercio Messias
Edited by May Freighter
CHAPTER ONE
PHILIPPE
“Aria,” I screamed her name but it was too late. She jumped to her death.
It took me a moment to register what happened and another to decide to jump after her.
My right-hand man, Gerard, didn’t let me. He grabbed me before I could dive. I tried to push him away. I might not want to bond with her, but I didn’t want her dead. She had a whole life ahead of her. Aria could be happy with no memory of our encounter, my rejection, and my existence. I had instructed her to forget. I had told Gerard to escort her out once the boat stopped, put her in a cab, and send her home. Far away from my world.
Why does it hurt so much?
The gargoyle prince saved her. I watched him fly away with her in his arms, unsure if she was dead or alive.
My anger was directed to one of my men. He had tried to hurt her, according to Gerard. I put an end to the one who drove Ar
ia to jump. My number one had to explain to me why he didn’t follow my direct order and delegated such a task. But not that night. If Aria had memories of what had happened in that boat, we were all in trouble. Cedric wasn’t interested in my version of the events. He would come for our heads.
I opened my eyes and woke up with a startle.
Scrubbing my face, reminiscences of my troubled dreams haunted my mind as I laid back in the chair and watched the ceiling of the hospital room. There was no reason to dwell on the past, yet I did it constantly. The recent events were proof that I was the main reason why Aria kept suffering. Now, she was between life and death and there was nothing I could do to save her.
Was rejecting her the best thing to do?
She had become an angel and bonded to Cedric. But she wasn’t safe, and the prince wanted to go to war. According to him, I was the cause of everything that was wrong in the world. Still, this time, it wasn’t my fault and it was bigger than Cedric thought.
Aria was unconscious, fighting her angel. Powerful enemies were targeting her because of her powers. I had no idea how I could protect her and convince Cedric to stop the impending attack on the graveyard.
I stared at her in the dark. Her breathing was normal, and she seemed peaceful. “Come back to me.”
CHAPTER TWO
PHILIPPE
Aria had woken up screaming and trying to pull the needles out of her arms. I had to put my hands on her shoulders to restrain her as the nurses gave her a sedative. She stood there quietly, staring blankly at the wall, probably unaware that I was there beside her. I wished there was something else I could do to help her. Nothing came to mind.
How could I tell her to stop trying to kill herself?
Her weak voice reached my ears. “Did Cedric attack the graveyard?”
“It isn’t night yet,” I explained to her.
She stared at me with a gloomy gaze and a feeble expression. “I need to talk to you, Aria. It’s important.”
“I want to talk to Cedric.”
“Why?”
“I want him to reconsider the nonsense he’s planning.”
“You need to calm down. I’ll talk to him.”
“And what will you say?” she asked with watering eyes. Aria was going to cry again, and I didn’t know what to do to stop her. Maybe I should let her cry until she felt better.
“That he needs to cancel the attack. I have new information that I wanted to share with him, but he was furious and didn’t want to listen to me. Jo and Camille said they would try to convince him to talk to me.”
“Good luck with that,” she muttered.
I pondered her words. “Maybe he will listen if we talk to him together.”
“He won’t. He doesn’t listen to anything I tell him. He is stubborn when it comes to angel affairs. And he…takes his duties too seriously. Besides, he hates you, and he probably hates me now.”
“He doesn’t hate you,” I declared.
“He doesn’t love me either, or he wouldn’t have lied to me and let me suffer for so long while I thought I could become the reason for his death.” She sobbed, and I frowned at her words. “He saw me suffer and did nothing to stop it! Why should I be the one understanding what he did? Why am I always the one to get blamed for his mistakes?”
“How could you become the reason for his death?” It was one question I would like to have an answer to. Kayden had said the same thing. I needed to know since Aria was torn up about it. There was something important that they weren’t telling me, and I was getting bothered by so many secrets.
“It’s complicated and it’s a secret. I can’t tell you,” she whispered with sadness in her eyes.
I simply nodded.
“I really can’t tell you.” She cleaned her eyes clumsily. “He will hate me more and something bad could happen to me and you.”
“He doesn’t hate you, Aria. He’s mad because he thinks… Actually, I don’t know what he thinks, but from where I stand, it looks like you are breaking up with him.”
She looked at me, sighed, and stared at the wall without denying or confirming. Maybe she didn’t know what she was feeling.
“Cedric only thinks about what I can give him and what I can do for him. He never stops to think about what I need and want. I know that I owe him my life, but that’s not a reason for me to dedicate my life to him and change everything about myself to please him.”
I leaned forward. “What does he want you to change?”
“Everything, apparently. I’m not good enough if I can’t understand that vampires are evil, specters need to be sent back to hell, and people must be punished if they attack one of us.”
“Life is complicated… Cedric is doing what he thinks is best for his people.”
She fisted her hands. “He didn’t even listen to what I had to tell him about the people who attacked me or about the fact of my angel was being ruthless. I don’t want to be like that. He doesn’t understand me!”
I got worried that she would have another stroke. She shouldn’t get upset.
Aria kept talking, exposing her feelings. “I’m not going to say that what we feel for one another isn’t real. I know that we love each other. Still, there are times when Cedric builds a wall between us, shuts me down, leaves me out, and treats me as if I’m the one to blame for my indecision and doubts. He keeps saying that I’m childish and need to grow up. Yet until a couple of weeks ago, I was mature enough for my age. My biggest problems were what college to choose and what would happen to me if I wasn’t able to make new friends in college. What’s wrong with that?”
“There’s nothing wrong with that,” I assured her, caressing her hair while tears ran down her cheeks. “Please don’t cry.”
“I can’t help it. I’m trying not to. I keep saying to myself that he loves me, but I’ve realized that it isn’t true. He doesn’t love, not me anyhow. He loves my powers and the girl he wants me to be. He wouldn’t be always asking me to change if he loved me, would he?”
“No, he wouldn’t.” I wasn’t going to lie to her. If he didn’t love her like that, then he could go to hell. He could take the angel he gave her out of her body and go love some bimbo with all the qualities he was looking for.
“I know that. I always knew that. So why didn’t I leave? Why? Why did I keep doing what he wanted me to do? Why do I keep falling for his excuses and hoping he realizes the harm he is doing to me?”
“I don’t know, Aria. I think we all try to please the people we love even if that means we have to change and be someone we are not. I can relate to that. I’ve tried to be someone else to please a girl, and it turned out that everything I did was worthless in the end. She chose someone else, someone who could give her the status and the money she wanted. My love was meaningless because I wasn’t what she thought I was… I wasn’t worthy of her.” He took a breath and looked into her eyes. “I know that what I’m saying isn’t making any sense to you. It’s an old and boring story. It isn’t even the best way to compare our life experiences. What I’m trying to say is that we shouldn’t try to change for others. We should change for ourselves and become what we want to be. Do you understand?”
She nodded, wiping her eyes. “I understand. Cedric can be a jerk. He needs to be more reasonable and listen to other people’s opinions.”
I couldn’t help but smile at her words.
“And he needs to stop telling me what I have to do and how I have to be. I need to…let him go. I need to be myself.”
“Aria, you should talk to him without yelling.”
“I tried. He always gets his way. He convinces me that I’m wrong, that I’m selfish and need to grow up. Afterward, he says he’s sorry about pressuring me and assures me that he will be more understanding. Yet he isn’t… He isn’t.” She was out of breath, clutching at her chest.
Aria’s complaints weren’t helping me stay calm, either. I was getting mad at Cedric’s behavior.
“Cedric lied, and he expects
me to be okay with that. I just need to forgive him and pretend that nothing happened. Act like everything is fine and that I don’t have doubts about accepting my angel. My angel always wants what he does. She isn’t interested in my parents and my former life. She doesn’t feel sorry for others. Her coldness clouds my mind and my feelings. She tries to make me different.”
“You have to stop fighting her. It’s killing you.”
“I don’t care.” She shrugged. “So, what if I die? Isn’t the world going to be a better place without me? There will be no more wars.”
“It’s not that easy.” My heart hurt with her depressing words. “I don’t want you to die.”
“You did.”
“No. I didn’t want you in my world, but I wanted you to live.”
She pushed me away. “It’s my life. You don’t get to decide what I do with it. Not you or Cedric.”
“I want you to be happy,” I tried to explain as I gave her the space she needed.
Folding her arms, she muttered, “That’s what he also claims. I’m not happy. Having my whole life changed and having to deal with your regret and Cedric’s possessiveness… I can’t stand it anymore.”
“I told you I wouldn’t see you anymore.”
“You are here, aren’t you?”
“Do you want me to leave?” I asked, misery twisting my heart. I didn’t want to leave, but I didn’t want her to be upset because I was there. Someone had to stay with her. Cedric didn’t seem to want to spend his time next to her. I didn’t want to judge his actions. However, he didn’t seem to be thinking straight. Aria needed someone to tell her that she was loved.
“I don’t know.” Tears fell from her eyes. She turned her face, so I didn’t see her cry. “I’m confused. I have all these feelings inside of me. For a few hours, my mind was set free from my angel. I felt things that I hadn’t noticed before, feelings my angel numbed. I saw Cedric’s eyes when he rescued me. I saw how scary his angel is and how scary I will become. I’m not ungrateful like he said. I appreciate the fact that he saved me. I appreciate that you saved me, too. But…what if it was better if she had taken my angel out? She said she wanted him to listen to me screaming. She hates Cedric. Why does she hate him? Who is she?”
