ANGEL'S KISS (A Dark Angel's Novel) (15 page)

“
Alexandria
, don’t you see? He was the bait, not you.” Beatrix was excited now. She looked at me as if I was the dullest bulb in the box.

I was dumbfounded. “What? No way. They were just ordinary people. I’d know if they were immortal. Wouldn’t I? And, hey, Beatrix, you still haven’t answered my question! That morning, you knew I’d been attacked. How did you find out?”

“That’s not important right now, dear. What is important is that somehow these Janecks were involved.”

She started pacing again. “So your client was older, and her husband was young, yes?”

“Yes. What does that have to do with anything?”

“Maybe Mrs. Janeck was looking at you for a renewal or transdifferentiation for her body. If she was older, she could probably feel your life force when she met you, or even before that. Your paths could have crossed. Perhaps the lackey she sent to fetch you was unprepared for your draw and couldn’t resist a little taste.”

Taste. That was it, I was done. I felt trapped in this underground safe room with its stale air and my crazy grandmother. “B, will you tell me how you knew I was attacked?”

“No.”

“Then I’m out of here!” I bolted for the stairs. She didn’t try to stop me this time, but I felt her stare. So I looked.

“What!” Damn, her face had gotten better still. The puffy redness had improved to yellowish-purple bruises. At this rate, she’d be back to normal in a few days. Amazing. I found myself hoping for similar healing abilities.

I closed my eyes for a moment and calmed my anger. “I’ve gotta go B, I’ll talk to you soon, okay? I just need time or something. I don’t know. I know if I don’t get out of here now, I am going to come apart.”

“You are very strong,
Alexandria
. I can feel it. The genetic makeup in you has combined to make the best of all of us, but don’t underestimate their powers. I know what you’re thinking, but you can’t go back to your old life. It’s too late for that. When Ellasar’s servant—your attacker—stole your wig, Ellasar received your essence through the blood and tissue left on it. He will know your deepest desires, and he will use that to draw you to him. He can manipulate your dreams, and you will not be able to hide from him. Your mother thought she understood the psychological and physical draw they have on us, but she underestimated them. I won’t lose you, too. You need my protection."

I leaned my head against the wall. “I can’t take this right now, B. I’ll talk to you soon.” I turned away.

“
Alexandria
, promise me that if you feel your blood burning again, you won’t fight it, but embrace it. That jolt will protect you somewhat. However, until you embrace your power and learn to control it, you’ll be vulnerable. Please let me teach you to use your strengths.”

I ran up the stairs, taking them two at a time in my rush to get away from her madness. I burst through the little bookcase door and didn’t stop until I was outside with the sun on my skin. I gulped the fresh air; I couldn’t get enough. The air was too heavy. I couldn’t get my lungs to fill. Panic overtook me and I doubled over, falling to my hands and knees.

“Alex! Can you hear me?” Ben’s worried voice broke through my panic.

“Yessss,” I managed through the gulps of breath.

“You’re hyperventilating. Your lungs are working too fast. You need to slow down. You’ll pass out otherwise.” He helped me sit on the ground and he put his hand on my back.

“Give me your hand.” I did, but stars crowded my peripheral vision, threatening to turn everything black.

“Just do as I say. You’ll be fine.” He put my hand on his chest and said, “Follow my breathing.” Then he took a deep breath and I could feel his chest expand. “Match your breathing to mine. Concentrate!” He breathed slowly as I gulped air that didn’t seem to be there. I concentrated on the rise and fall, just that, and found that I could hold the air in longer.

I closed my mind to everything except the feel of his chest expanding and contracting. After what seemed like a lifetime I started to pant, which was better than the mad gulping I’d been doing.

“Thank you,” I whispered.

“You’ll be fine, just concentrate on my breath. Time yours to mine.” He was right. My breathing calmed.

I opened my eyes to see him smiling at me. I hadn’t realized how big he was. Even sitting down he towered over me. His chest was solid muscle. And his arms were as big as my thighs.

I sheepishly removed my hand from his chest and looked up into his hazel eyes. Wow, he was handsome. I don’t think I’d realized how handsome. I cleared my throat more to clear my head than anything else.

“I’ve never hyperventilated before. Man, that really sucks!”

He chuckled. “Yeah, I’ve seen a few people do that, but it’s never happened to me, either. It looks painful. How do you feel?”

“Tired, I suppose. But don’t let me keep you from your work.” B had everyone jumping, and I didn’t want him to get in trouble because he was babysitting me. We both stood, but I wobbled a little before I got my balance.

He caught my arm to steady me. “Take it slow. I think you’ve had quite a morning.”

“There’s a newsflash,” I mumbled. “I’m good now, really.” Something about his eyes caught me by surprise and I shook myself. I almost felt dizzy.

“B,” he shook his head and smiled crookedly at me. “I mean, Ms. Beatrix has asked me to accompany you today, so actually I’m doing my job.”

“Thanks for the help, but I don’t need a babysitter. I’m leaving now.”

I started off across the pool deck, but about half way around I realized that I didn’t know where my car was. Damn. I had to get out of here! Then I realized—the garage. It had to be in there.

Hyperventilating, what a ‘
nancy
.’ That’s not how my dad raised me. But I felt like a wave had knocked me down and was pummeling me. The dark feeling that I couldn’t escape B’s reality had me panicked. I started to pant at the thought, but I caught it early and slowed my breathing down as I walked to the garage. I hoped that the keys were in the ignition. I already felt like an idiot, I’d hate to have to find Ben again to ask for them. As I rounded the corner of the garage, Ben stood there with the keys dangling from his hand.

“Thought you might need these,” he said through a shit-eating grin. He threw the keys in the air and caught them a few times until I was close enough and then he put the keys behind his back and asked, “Where to?”

“Thanks, really, but I’ve got it.” I held out my hand and waited.

“You just told me to go back to work because you didn’t want me to get into trouble. Well, I am.”

“Yeah, well I don’t want a driver, so you can go on back to whatever else you were doing. Give me my keys.”

He held the keys high above my head and trained those hazel eyes on me. How could someone so good-looking be so scary at the same time? It was like a light switch that he could turn off and on. I was so caught up in his hazel eyes that I almost missed what he said.

“Do you want to do this the easy way or the hard way?” When I didn’t answer, he tapped me on the head. “Hello! Are you listening to me?”

I slapped his hand away. “I heard you. And if you ever tap my head again or otherwise treat me like a child, I’ll kick your ass. Now. Give.
Me.
The. Keys!”

“Ooooh, scary talk coming from a pint-sized girl.” He smiled, almost like he was trying to bait me. The hell with him.

The key board behind him had all the car keys neatly marked and tagged to match each of B’s expensive cars. I saw the one I wanted. It stood out from the rest—it was a huge key ring to match the Hummer parked right beside my much smaller pink Jeep.

“Fine. I’m done arguing. You drive. Take me to the office.”

Ben looked deflated, as if he wanted to tease me some more. “Hum. Good girl.” He unlocked the Jeep and got in, and I started around it toward the passenger side. He looked at me sadly, or maybe in regret, as if my giving in had lowered my value somehow. If he only knew.

Instead of continuing around, I darted to the wall, grabbed the huge key, jumped into the Hummer, and locked the door, almost before he realized I’d gotten my own transportation. Ben was standing at my window, trying to yank the door open as I started the engine. He glared at me, his eyes terrifying. How did he change like that? One minute I wanted to jump into his arms, and the next I wanted to run away in terror.

I stuck out my tongue. “Have a nice day! See you around.”

I backed out of the garage. He could follow me if he wanted, but at least I had wiped the grin off his face. Now he knew that I wouldn’t take any of his crap. I’d call B when I got to the office and thank her for the loaner. Plus, she needed to know that I wasn’t giving up my life to be coddled by her entourage of military hit men.

Good thing I’d traveled light this morning. All I’d brought was my phone, still in my back pocket, and a few bucks. I didn’t need anything in my car. But a few minutes later, I sighed. The fact that I was acting like a child pissed me off even more than Ben’s assessment of me.

What had I expected from B? None of my old questions had been answered, and now I had new ones. How could I believe that immortal beings existed or that my great-grandfather was an angel? A Dark Angel, who’d been sent to start a hurricane. What was that all about?

I’d never been around a mentally ill person, and B didn’t fit the picture I had in my mind. But she had to be nuts, although I couldn’t dispute her injuries or how she’d healed right in front of my eyes.

I’d been driving on auto-pilot, not paying attention to where I was going. But then I found myself at the bayside park just down the street from my house. I didn’t remember even turning down our street. I cut the engine and watched the water, letting all my thoughts flow.

The fish were jumping. They looked like shiny silver sparkles dancing just below the surface. Then one would jump and splash back down. Traveling in schools, they darted through the calm ripples of the bay. I could tell, though, that something was herding them, scaring them into a frenzy. The predatory birds noticed the fish too; blue herons and pelicans dove into the waves, trying to grab dinner.

There was no one I could talk to. Alan would have B in a mental hospital faster than I could say boo. What would he do to me if I told him that I might believe her? I put my head against the steering wheel and began to cry. Did I believe her?

Bam! Something hit the passenger side of the car, and I rocked in my seat. SCREETCH! CRUNCH! The noise, the shock, and the sound of crumpling metal had me cringing. Crap! Someone had crashed into B’s high-dollar ride.

Where was the other car? I couldn’t see it. This Hummer was five tons of steel built to military specs. Maybe there was no car. Maybe it was an earthquake.

I heard metal tear. What the…?

Then I saw—the man who’d attacked me. He rammed into the back seat passenger door this time.

He wasn’t in a car. It was just him.

He bashed the back door again. The seat belt and my death grip on the steering wheel were the only things that held me in my seat. He noticed me frozen in my seat staring at him, and he smiled. He curled his finger, beckoning me to get out of the car.

My hand was on the door handle before I even knew that I had moved. The only thing that stopped me was the itching on my forehead and the feel of my blood boiling. I yanked my hand back and took a deep breath. Then I smiled and lifted my own finger in a gesture that he obviously understood. He wasn’t happy about that.

“Rrrrah!” He snarled and attacked the door again.

I turned the key in the ignition and shoved the huge Hummer into reverse. He hung onto the door. As I backed up, I took the truck close to the trees lining the dirt drive, and I managed to scrape him off the door. He fell, but jumped back up onto his feet.

How had he found me? And where could I go now?

A gun. That’s what I needed. I backed the car out of the park fast. Thank God no one was in my way, because I would have plowed right over them. I had guns at the house, just around the corner.

I searched in my rear view mirror, but I didn’t spot him so I made my way to the house. Maybe I’d lost him. Could I be that lucky? I stopped behind the house, and with my heart thundering in my ear, I cut the engine and made a mad dash for the back door. I rounded the corner of the sun room, almost there...

“Hello darling.” He was leisurely leaning against the back door. “I thought you’d never get here.”

I skidded to a stop just a few feet in front of him and I think a squeak slipped from my lips. Too close, too close!

“Did you bring my shoe back?” Did I just say that?

“Sorry
Alexandria
,” he exaggerated my name, letting me know that he hadn’t picked me at random. “Your shoe wasn’t worth saving after I removed it.” He pushed away from the door. I took a step back, desperate to get some kind of distance between us. “I owe you one. My head still hurts.” He rubbed his temple.

I was standing too close to him, but my feet felt like lead and his smile had me frozen. As I watched, his face twisted, his eyes narrowed, and his pupils turned black. The wide smile turned into a menacing sneer. His teeth reminded me of a tiger’s long fangs. Now I knew how the gazelle felt. The gleam in his eye said I wouldn’t die quickly.