Chameleon (Supernaturals) (21 page)

Gabriel turned then as though he could feel the way my eyes were lustfully raking in the sight of him. “Did I wake you?” he asked.

I shook my head both in response to his question and to snap myself out of my daze. “Can’t sleep.”

Gabriel smiled, but it was a sad smile. “An unfortunate side effect of the visions I am afraid.”

“I don’t think I’ll ever be able to sleep again. Either from nightmares, or fear of falling into a new vision.” I got out of bed and joined him at the window. “How do you stand it?”

Gabriel took hold of my hand. “By thinking about the fact that you just saved all of those lives. I am very proud of you, Danielle. I would not have been able to find them. Truly, you are a miracle.”

I’ve never been one to take a compliment gracefully so I said, “You only think that because you haven’t seen enough of my temper.”

“Actually it is your temper that most attracts me to you. Though I believe spirit is a better name for it.”

Instant butterflies. I tried to ignore them.

“So you have tattoos and like your women a little rebellious. Do you also have a motorcycle parked in a garage somewhere that I should know about?”

“No.” Gabriel blushed and rubbed the back of his neck as if he was self-conscious about his tattoos.

“You’re really going to have to explain those to me.”

“Why?” Gabriel asked, startled. “Do they displease you? I hope you do not find them offensive.”

I wanted to laugh, but Gabriel looked genuinely worried that I disapproved, so I resisted the urge to tease him. “Just curious. You don’t strike me as the tattoo type. Seriously, what made you do it?”

Gabriel shrugged. There was obviously a story behind them that he was hesitant to tell me. I waited, but he wasn’t going to explain.

“Please?” I asked. “Not that I want to be nosey, it’s just….” I stopped. I’d made him uncomfortable and suddenly I wasn’t in the mood to talk anymore.

“What is it?” Gabriel asked.

“Never mind.” I gave his hand a squeeze and then let go. “Goodnight, Gabriel.”

I turned to go back to bed but Gabriel caught my wrist. “I have upset you.”

“It’s nothing.”

“Danielle.”

“It’s just I wish I knew something—anything—about you. Did you see the way the council watched us tonight? You people with your stupid prophecy and all your talk about true love and destiny. Everyone just expects me to fall in love with you, but what if that doesn’t happen? You seem nice, but that’s not enough. What if I get to know you and I don’t like you? What if you don’t like me?”

“I do not believe that will happen, but you must be willing to give us a chance.”

“How?” I wanted to kick myself when I became choked up. “How can I do that when everything inside of me wants to hate you? I was dumped here and told that I have to be your—what? Your wife? Your lover? Some plaything to keep you happy?”

When I said the word
lover
Gabriel dropped my wrist and looked at his feet. I felt a little bad, but now that I’d opened a can of worms I had to let it out. “I feel like Buzz Lightyear!” I said unable to keep from raising my voice. “Like if I lift up my foot I’ll find your name written on it in black magic marker.”

Gabriel frowned. “I do not know what—”

“They just gave me to you like I didn’t matter.”

“That is not true, Danielle. You do matter. You matter more than anyone else. That is why the council gave
me
to
you
.”

I’d had an argument on my tongue but it evaporated.

“It is
you
who is the Chosen One,” Gabriel went on. “
You
who had a vision of us together.
You
whom the council is trying to accommodate. Not me. I am the one who fears I will not be able to live up to the prophecy. I do not have the slightest idea how to become your true love. I was apprehensive to tell you about myself just now because your attitude is very poor, and I fear you would only use anything you learn as fuel for your hatred.”

I couldn’t hide my shock, but Gabriel didn’t stop there.

“You think I do not see how you resent me? How you hate the council and are unwilling to consider me because it is what they want? I am sorry you are unhappy, but do not make the mistake of believing that you are the only one struggling with this arrangement.”

Geez. Suddenly I knew how the council felt earlier. Which, if you’re wondering, was about two inches tall.

I turned away from him and stared out the window. Below me the great city of New York stretched out for miles and miles. Light after light after light. And here I stood, perched in my castle above it all as if I were the ruler over the entire world. Gabriel deserved to be here. I didn’t.

A minute later Gabriel handed me a bathrobe. “Will you come with me somewhere?”

I didn’t ask where we were going. I simply tugged on the bathrobe and followed him back down through the hallway of the council’s apartments. Once we reached the end, instead of getting in the elevator and heading downstairs to the conference room like we’d done earlier, Gabriel led me out onto the observation deck.

“This building used to be open to the public until the council purchased it,” Gabriel said as I was hit by a wall of chilly autumn wind. I cinched my robe tighter and Gabriel put his arm around me. The gesture, though I’m sure he meant it to be kind, made me feel royally guilty. It would have been so much easier if he would just be pissed off at me the way Russ would have been.

“Once there were no more tourists coming out here, the council had this deck converted into a garden.”

As Gabriel said the words, we rounded the corner and walked into what had to be the closest thing to heaven on earth. There were trees and plants and flowers everywhere that were lush and green and in full bloom despite the late season. It also got much warmer.

I could feel a slight hint of magic at hand and knew the garden was spelled but that didn’t upset me. It was impossible not to relax and enjoy my new surroundings. Even the lights of the city were no longer foreign or intimidating. The view was simply breathtaking.

Gabriel led me to a stone bench beneath a blossoming cherry tree. “The entire garden has been placed under a tranquility spell,” Gabriel explained. “If you ever need to put yourself at ease you are always welcome to come here. This bench is where I spend most of my sleepless nights.”

“Alone?”

The word just slipped from my mouth. It surprised Gabriel as much as it did me. He managed a smile. “Not tonight.”

“I’m sorry,” I whispered. Russ would have died from shock to hear those words escape my lips, but the guilt was eating away at me. “I did assume that this was what you wanted and I shouldn’t have.”

“It is what I want,” Gabriel said carefully. “But that is not to say that I find it easy.”

I didn’t know what to say. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that, but I wasn’t angry anymore.

We were quiet so long that Gabriel finally said, “I got the tattoos because of a vision I had.”

I wanted to know more but didn’t want to push Gabriel so I sat in silence and hoped he would elaborate. It took him a minute, but he decided to trust me with the story.

“The boy in my vision was nephilim—a descendant of both human and angel. The nephilim, when they reach a certain age and start their training to become the warriors they were born to be, are then given the mark of their clan.”

“A tattoo?”

Gabriel nodded. “A tattoo that I used to identify this boy’s clan and find him. Much like you did tonight with the woman in the village.”

“Oh.”

I couldn’t help feeling disappointed. This was a nice story and all, but it didn’t explain why Gabriel chose to get a tattoo himself. It answered my question and still managed to tell me nothing about what kind of person he was. I supposed I couldn’t blame him for not trusting me.

We sat in silence again and I refused to pry. I wasn’t sure how I would ever gain his trust, but after the things he’d said I felt like I needed to prove myself. I needed to earn his respect almost as much as I needed his energy.

Actually, at that moment, I just needed him in general. I took his hand and leaned my head on his shoulder. Then I let out the breath I’d been holding when he didn’t push me away.

“The cravings?” he asked curiously. “Are you uncomfortable? If you need, we can—”

“No,” I said quickly. I didn’t want to know how he would finish that sentence. “It’s not that. I’m just…” I hated to admit this, but I did anyway, “…lonely.”

“I am here for you Danielle. You need not feel alone.”

“I do though. I have so many things I want to say, and a million questions I want to ask, but I don’t know how, or if I should.” I sighed. “I wish Russ was here because then I wouldn’t have to say anything. He would just know what I was thinking and how to make me feel better. He has a gift for being able to cheer me up.”

“I envy him that,” Gabriel said. He gazed off, refusing to look at me almost like he felt ashamed. “I have not been able to put a smile on your face yet, no matter how hard I try. Sometimes I fear I will never accomplish it.”

Gabriel didn’t realize it, but he was the king of guilt trips. “Actually, you did make me smile once, you just didn’t know it,” I admitted, hoping to cheer him up a little.

When Gabriel sent me a questioning look I grinned despite myself. “I smiled tonight, when I noticed your tattoos.”

I was blushing, and I had to look away.

“I was intrigued. People don’t usually surprise me that much,” I explained. “I’m angry, but I’m not stupid. As much as I want to hate you and blame you for what’s happened, I also don’t want to spend the rest of my life miserable. Tonight was the first time I thought it might be possible to like you. It felt like hope.”

Gabriel fell into deep thought. I couldn’t handle the pressure of his stare so I rose to my feet. “Believe whatever you want about my attitude, but I
am
trying to deal with this.”

I walked through the garden and went close to the edge of the building where I could really get lost in the view. After a minute I felt Gabriel come up behind me.

“Did you know I’ve never been to a city this large before?” I said as I gazed out at the sea of buildings. I’d looked out the windows a lot since coming here and was never able to not be overwhelmed by it. “Not just New York, but any large city. I’ve seen pictures, but my parents hated traveling, so I’ve never been east of Hershey until now.”

“Never?”

I shook my head. “Russ came here once when he was twelve and he loved it. He wanted us to go to college here. When I said I didn’t think I’d like it and wanted to stay in Carmine he promised he was going to bring me here after graduation and show me how stupid that was. He was right. This place is incredible. I’m sad he’ll never get to say ‘I told you so.’ That’s his favorite phrase.”

“It must be frightening,” Gabriel said, “being in a place so different than what you are used to with no one you know or trust.”

I shrugged. It was terrifying, but I didn’t want to sound like a baby.

“I apologize for being short with you earlier.”

I shrugged again. “I deserved it.”

Gabriel leaned against the ledge of the building. There was a tall iron fence to keep people from tumbling over the side, but still, we were so high up I didn’t know how he could go so close to the edge without having a heart attack.

“Normally the visions I have are of extreme violence that needs to be prevented, or perhaps of an important person who needs to be guided in a certain direction,” Gabriel said. “But, once, I stumbled into a vision of a very different nature.”

Gabriel didn’t spell it out for me exactly, but it didn’t take a genius to understand what he meant. “The boy with the tattoo?” I asked.

“Yes. When I came into the vision he was with a human girl. It was the first time I’d ever experienced a vision like that and it has not happened since.”

“I wonder why you had a vision of
that
.”

“It became obvious soon enough when the two were discovered by the boy’s best friend. The nephilim are a very proud race and would consider any relationship outside of their own species disgraceful. But to be with a human is especially abominable. The two nephilim became very angry with each other and the human girl was accidentally killed. The devastated boy retaliated by killing his friend. The dispute led to a brutal war between their two clans.”

“Oh.”

“The violence I was used to, but the rest of it? I was confused and curious. The Councilor gave me a book that answered my questions, but I couldn’t get the vision out of my head.”

I was stunned.
That’s
how he learned the difference between boys and girls? The Councilor gave him a book after he saw a couple going at it? Man, my parents deserved an award compared to that.

“I wanted a tattoo after that because….”