by Anna Santos
“In some tombs, there are old libraries with books of witchcraft. Children go there to study or practice rituals. It’s sacred ground, and they are safer there.”
I nodded, amazed by the world I was discovering. There was a lot that I didn’t know about the supernatural world in that ancient city. It was mind-blowing and enticing. I think it was the mention of old witchcraft books that woke up the Harry Potter fan in me. How cool is that? Hermione was my heroine. I related to her in so many ways that I would love to be best friends with her. I wanted to study at Hogwarts when I was younger. When I retreated from my reverie, I realized that Philippe was smiling at me, amused by my spacing out, no doubt.
“What?” I asked, feeling embarrassed by my childish dreams.
He shrugged with a puzzling smile on his lips.
I focused around us and noticed how vampires and angels were talking, making noise. Vampires didn’t want to be left out. Cedric wanted to know about Philippe’s opinion. Everybody was trying to prevent a war, but the vampires didn’t want to stay out of the raid.
“Would you agree if only the vampire leaders would escort the angels and the witches inside?” Cedric asked the leaders of the graveyard people.
“We would be outnumbered,” one of the vampires protested.
“Your men could stay outside if you don’t trust us,” one warlock said with a mischievous grin.
“Is that an affirmation?” Cedric asked the warlock.
Another couple of minutes went by with the graveyard people talking.
“We agree,” one older man said. “We will let you into our territory to look for Kayden and Clarity. We also agree to let the leaders of the vampires in. But we need a signed contract about these terms.”
“Okay,” Cedric said after Philippe nodded to him.
“Let’s write the settlement and sign with blood,” an old witch said, scribbling on a parchment with a feather.
I looked at her, fascinated by her handwriting and the ritual behind the agreement.
“We will write it down,” the witch continued. “Once everybody has read it and agreed to the terms, we can leave for the graveyard and finish with this misunderstanding once and for all.”
Everybody agreed and left the table, leaving some of the witches talking about what to write. Cedric supervised the writing. It was going to take a while for the woman to scribble everything down, and I was tired.
Thankfully, Philippe took me to another room in the church. It had couches, old decorative motifs, and a piano. A gorgeous and shiny black piano that made me move towards it and look at the perfect white keys. Philippe sat on one of the couches, looking tired and thoughtful. I lost my interest in the instrument and sat next to him.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
“Yes, I’m just tired,” he said, smiling tenderly at me. I had a bubbling sensation in my stomach every time we looked into each other’s eyes. “Are you tired?”
“Yes,” I murmured, looking around the room. “Can I go to the cemetery with you?”
“I’m sorry, honey, but I don’t want you there. It’s dangerous, and Kayden has plans for you. I don’t want them to use the excuse of small groups for searches to kidnap you and take you away again.”
“So, you are going to go by yourself?”
“I’m going with Cedric and my men. I’ll leave plenty of security behind. Jo will stay here to protect you. I don’t trust anyone else to protect you better than her.”
“Can Camille stay, too?”
“Yes, she can. I’m sure Cedric will leave a lot of angels behind.”
“I would like to see the cemetery.” I was annoyed for being left behind.
“I can show you the cemetery some other night, after we catch Kayden. I understand that you can protect yourself while you are an angel. But you are new to this, and people fear you. They may feel threatened by your presence there and…I just want to keep you safe.”
“Okay.”
“You can see the books some other time,” he whispered.
I looked at him, surprised. Can he read my mind?
“The tombs are cold and ugly. Pretty creepy actually.”
“Okay.” I looked at my hands, entwining my fingers nervously.
“You should eat something and rest while we are gone,” Philippe said, holding a finger under my chin and making me look at him.
“I’m not hungry.” I swallowed hard. He was speaking so affectionately to me that I had no idea how to react. “What will happen if you don’t find Kayden?” A disturbing thought crossed my mind. I didn’t want to be stuck somewhere for my protection. Not again.
“I’ll think about that after we reach that point,” he said and kissed my forehead.
I nodded, placing my hands against his chest, holding on to it, so I wouldn’t fall into his arms. “For now, we need to be happy about the covens of witches agreeing to let us in and preventing the war.”
“Yes.” I closed my eyes when his lips touched my cheek, and he hugged me against him, securing my hands around his torso.
I should have stopped him, but I was too caught up with my mind drifting to sever the contact between us.
“What are you doing?” I asked, breathless, trying to escape the attraction and think clearly about what was going on.
“Hugging you.”
I rolled my eyes, feeling him chuckling against my chest.
“Seriously, I’m just hugging you. I’m not trying to be a smartass.”
“And why are you hugging me?” Oh, stupidest question ever!
“Because I love you, and I don’t want to leave you alone, even though I have to.”
For my dumb question, he had a really good answer. I was aware that sometimes I needed to shut up and let things happen. And I didn’t need to feel guilty about what was happening. I was no longer in a relationship with Cedric. I wasn’t cheating on anyone, and we weren’t doing anything wrong. We were simply hugging.
I needed some comfort and peace of mind. I had been feeling lonely and misunderstood; angry at the world and restless. None of that was pressing on my mind right then.
“All of this is confusing,” I said, learning how to relax in his arms. It wasn’t hard when he wasn’t pressuring me to do anything. My mind let go and drifted with my thoughts.
“What is confusing? Us?”
“No, Kayden’s plan,” I explained. “If I’m the key to cure vampirism, don’t you think I should let William test me?”
“We don’t know if Kayden was telling the truth. He could be lying and wants to steal your angelic powers.”
“But if he wasn’t? Wouldn’t you like to be cured?” I asked, dreading his answer. If he was human again, we could… I stopped wishing that. It was unfair to him.
His sorrow flooded my soul with his unspoken words. It was uncanny. Maybe it was one of my powers as an angel or a product of my imagination.
“I would accept the cure if there was one. I…know that you don’t want to be a vampire or love one. I respect your decision no matter what. I would be a human if I could, not just to be with you but also because I’m tired of living in the dark.”
“I don’t hate vampires. I just wanted to know what you were willing to give up for…”
“Everything,” he answered immediately, caressing my face and staring deep into my eyes. “I would give up everything for you.”
“Okay...”
“Why did you give up your wings?”
I sucked in air. “I didn’t want Cedric to die because I’m—” I didn’t finish my sentence as there was a knock on the door. It startled me and killed the magic between us. I had no idea why I felt the need to pour my heart out and show my feelings and emotions without restraints. It felt natural to be like that around him.
“They are probably done. We will leave, and I’ll tell Jo and Camille to keep you company.”
“Okay.”
Philippe got up and answered the door. It was Cedric on the other side.
&nbs
p; “They gave me four places to look for Kayden. We need to arrange teams of angels and vampires to search those locations and go to the cemetery after signing the settlement,” Cedric said to Philippe.
“Okay. Jo will stay behind with Aria. Aria would also like to have Camille by her side.”
“Sure. Jacob doesn’t want her in the cemetery anyway. She can stay here with the other angels to protect them,” Cedric agreed. “Are you sure Jo wants to stay behind?”
“Did she say anything to you?”
“No. But I…never mind. Talk to her, I’ll find Camille.”
Cedric turned around and left. I walked to Philippe and stared at the noisy room. Philippe showed me his phone.
I frowned. “Why are you showing me this?”
“You’ve lost yours, didn’t you?”
“In the car accident.”
“Keep mine. I’ll get you another one tomorrow. I have an extra, and I’ll text you what is going on. If something happens, you can call me.” He typed a number and pressed save to memorize it. “You just need to call this number or text. Okay?”
“Okay,” I answered, grabbing the phone and putting it against my chest.
Philippe hesitated in leaving.
“What’s wrong?”
“Since I don’t know if I’ll come back…” he murmured, closing the door behind him and shielding us from prying eyes. “Can I kiss you?”
“Aren’t you exaggerating things a bit?” I asked, flattered by his request, but also surprised since he didn’t ask for my permission the first time.
“It can be a trap.”
I couldn’t disagree with him.
“Do you want to have that on your conscience?” Now he was being manipulative.
I scowled at him. The voice in my head told me to stop being a coward and over thinking everything. I should take risks sometimes.
“I guess I deserve your contempt,” he said with a sad voice.
I wasn’t looking at him because I was putting the phone on a table next to me. Before he could open the door and leave, I put my hand against his chest, stopping him.
“Let’s be clear about something.” I looked up at him. He was much taller than me. “I haven’t forgiven you, but I don’t hate you. This isn’t me forgiving you, either.” I took a deep breath and wrapped my arms around his neck, making him come down to meet my mouth.
I cursed mentally as soon as our lips met. It hadn’t been a product of my imagination. It felt good to be kissed by him. It was the most amazing thing. Having his arms around me, our lips together, and our tongues touching gently was breathtaking. I could lose my mind. I was so caught up that I didn’t care about the short time we had. I didn’t want to let him go. It wasn’t supposed to escalate like that. I was originally planning on brushing my lips against his and letting him leave. Soon, we were clinging to each other and my fingers clutched his back, needing more of him. I wanted my mouth to drown in his. My heart was beating so fast that I thought it was going to climb out from my mouth.
“We really need to stop meeting like this,” a girl’s voice made us aware that we weren’t alone anymore. “I swear I knocked, several times, actually.”
I was pinned against a wall, dwarfed by Philippe’s frame. I turned my head to the right to see Camille looking at us. Philippe had his face hidden against my neck, recovering his breath.
Awkward new moment. She had the worst timing to sneak up on us.
“We were saying goodbye,” I explained, breathless. “Camille, before you leave, we need to talk,” I said, battling between pulling Philippe away or not.
“I’m here to keep you company. Cedric has already told me, so…” She shrugged. “Do you need some extra time alone, or we are good?”
Philippe chuckled. I didn’t because she was being wicked. I glared at her, and she gave me a cheeky smile and winked at me with a naughty expression.
“Everybody is waiting for Philippe. I’m sure you’ll have a lot of time to…destroy the rest of the furniture,” she said, motioning her hand around.
That was when I noticed that we had broken a few things while we were kissing, something I didn’t even realize when it was happening. I felt embarrassed, more than I already was.
“We’ll talk when I get back,” Philippe whispered in my ear, taking his time to leave a trail of goose bumps along my neck with his lips and softly nibbling on my earlobe. I felt his fangs on my skin and shivered, not because I was afraid, but because I felt aroused by it. I fought for rationality. I needed to fight back the deadly attraction between us.
“I hope it’s not a trap,” I replied when our eyes met.
He lost his smile and kissed my lips one more time.
I closed my eyes in surrender. It was that easy. We touched, and I would melt and shiver, giving up any intention of staying away from him.
“I’ll be back, I promise,” he said sweetly, making my heart hurt with love and fear for him.
Philippe let me go and left me to my weakness and confusion. Camille was still looking at me, probably judging me.
“I guess I should explain myself,” I said to Camille who approach the piano and ran her fingers along the keyboard.
She shrugged and looked around. “No need. He’s your original soul-mate. You love him, and he loves you. What’s there to explain?”
She had a simple way of putting things. “It’s not that easy. I tried to love Cedric.”
“Aria, I’m not judging you. Please, let’s act normal and stop talking about that. Important things are happening right now. If Cedric and you didn’t work out, then fine. Let’s relax and hope that nothing bad happens to our men, okay?”
I rested my back against the wall and tried to calm myself down. She was right.
“He has pretty things,” she mumbled, touching things and looking around.
“He does,” I agreed.
“I guess you’ll be one more to add to his collection.”
I didn’t know what to take from her words.
“You’ll be the prettiest one,” she added with a smile.
“It’s not that simple, Camille.”
“I guess we are stuck here until the men come back,” Jo said, coming into the room and closing the door behind her. “I’m bored. What will we do?”
I shrugged and looked at Camille.
“Don’t look at me. I didn’t bring any cards with me.”
“We should rest a bit then,” Jo suggested, sitting on the couch and looking at me. “What are you doing over there?”
“Rearranging the furniture,” Camille joked.
I rolled my eyes.
Jo frowned. “Come on, Aria. Sit next to us,” she invited, and I obeyed.
Exhaustion was taking a toll on me. I sat next to them and remembered about Philippe’s kiss. I was worried about what could happen to him. I should have gone with him, but I knew that I wouldn’t be of any use to them. I didn’t know what I could do, and Philippe was right, people feared me. They wouldn’t trust me in their territory.
I was almost falling asleep against Jo’s shoulder when we heard movement in the other room. It had been three hours and almost no news from them. Except for the news Philippe was giving me. It wasn’t much, but at least I wasn’t being paranoid about something bad happening to them. They were fine, still looking for Kayden in the cemetery and finding a lot of hidden Clarity in his tomb. It was a big cemetery and there were a lot of places to look for.
I got up and ran to the door, finding Cedric and Jacob talking. I looked around for Philippe.
“Where’s Philippe?” Jo took the words right out of my mouth.
I looked at her behind me.
“He went to get Kayden. My men found him in one of the locations that the leaders of the covens gave us. He had to go with backup to catch him. Kayden had protection and…”
“Why didn’t you go with him?” I asked, upset that he had let Philippe go on his own. He could get injured.
“Philippe insisted
on going,” Cedric said.
“And where did he go?” I asked, losing my calm. I wanted to go where he was.
Cedric’s phone rang, and he answered it calmly and talked for a while.
“Kayden was taken to the dungeons, and Philippe is coming back,” he informed us.
I breathed deeply with relief.
“We are finished here. Are you coming or staying?”
His question caught me off guard. “Aren’t we waiting?” I was unsure of what I should do. Where do I live from now on? I had ended up with Cedric, but all my belongings were in his home.
“Jacob, are we going home now?” Camille asked her husband.
“Babe, I have to go upstairs to the dungeons,” Jacob answered.
She walked past us and stopped in front of him with a worried expression.
“Are you okay?” Camille touched his face after looking him up and down.
“I’m fine,” he confirmed with a smile, kissing her lips and her forehead.
Jacob draped one arm over Cedric’s shoulders. “I’ll wait for you upstairs.”
“I still have things to do here. Leave him rotting in the dungeons. I can speak to him some other time,” Cedric told Jacob who nodded before disappearing.
“Aria, are you coming back with me or not?” Cedric asked.
I bit my lip nervously. I didn’t want to go back to his house. I wanted to know what was happening to Philippe, wait for him, and make sure he was safe.
“I’m not going back to your home. We broke up, remember?”
“I do, but where will you stay?”
“She’ll stay with me,” Philippe said, entering the room. “I’ll protect her.”
“Philippe.” I smiled, happy to see him. It seemed like an eternity had passed since he had gone.
“If that’s okay with you,” he said, appearing in front of me in a flash. “Do you want to stay with me?”
I just nodded, full of excitement. My attention was drawn to Cedric when he spoke.
“Camille will bring you your clothes.” Cedric glanced at Camille who was now beside Jo. He stopped to look at Jo while she pretended to be looking at Camille. “Jo, we need to talk.”
Narrowing her eyes, she looked at him. “We don’t.” She waved to Philippe and made the movement to leave the room.
