Death Angel (Death Angel Series Book 1) (14 page)

“Is that…” her words cut off when he looked over at her. She shook off the nerves that he perpetually arose in her. “Does that happen often?”

“Darklings you mean?” he asked. Gabrielle nodded. “Small ones like that can be found all over the Death Angel Society. The larger ones are typically only found in the mortal world, though they all dwell in the fabric between the two worlds. It’s not often that the large ones come to our world.”

Gabrielle mostly knew all this already, but she wanted to fill the silence, and she felt  an odd pleasure at hearing Mr. Black talk. He seemed to not do it very often and when he spoke about Darklings he spoke with such authority that Gabrielle couldn’t help but be captivated by it.

“How do they get here? How do they get to the mortal world?” Gabrielle asked.

“We aren’t entirely sure,” Mr. Black said. “They weren’t always able to cross into our world. Or at least we had never found them here until several centuries ago. It was before I had even attended the academy, so I can’t say what may have happened. Though they have been entering the mortal world for as long as we can remember.”

“That’s so odd,” Gabrielle said, looking up at him. Mr. Black looked over at her as if it was the first time he had heard someone say that. He didn’t say anything else though and they continued to walk in silence.

“I read your letter,” he said as they approached her door. Gabrielle had sobered up quite a bit now and the realization of what she had said in that letter stung.

“Mr. Black, I just…I didn’t know I was just supposed to give you a candle, and I…I just—“

“Thank you for it,” he said. His voice was sincere and it made Gabrielle feel a little less embarrassed. “It is the most thoughtful gift I have ever received.”

Gabrielle didn’t know what to say. The letter wasn’t anything special really. It was simply her thoughts on what he had done for her and how much she had appreciated it. It was sincere and she had thanked him for giving her a job, a very good one, saved her life, and been kind to her. She told him that he had made her transition here a little bit better, even though she was still having a tough time with it all. She had meant every word of it, and she supposed her sincerity had come through in it.

“I just, I really wanted to thank you. Because you have helped me so much,” she said, her voice small. She couldn’t look him in the eyes. They had come to her door and they were standing there. Though she wasn’t looking up at him, she could feel him looking down at her. She nibbled on her lower lip as she chanced a look up at him from under her lashes. He took a step closer and her heart thumped a bit faster. She wanted to step back, the intensity of him being so close was too much for her to handle. She felt her knees going weak again.

He seemed to be fighting with himself about something. His eyes glazed over with a strange emotion and his jaw tensed as he just stared down at her. Finally, he seemed to make up his mind and his shoulders relaxed. She hadn’t even realized he was tense until he did.

“Goodnight, Gabrielle,” he said. “You should get some sleep. Tomorrow will be an eventful day for you.”

“What do you mean?” she asked, hoping he would explain. The strange look had disappeared from his eyes and his face was unreadable.

“You will enjoy yourself, I’m sure,” he said cryptically. The words came out almost as if he regretted saying them. “Goodnight.”

He turned to walk away, and Gabrielle realized that he wasn’t at all pleased to say those words. But somehow she knew that it wasn’t a malicious thing. The words came out almost jealous.

“Goodnight, Mr. Black,” Gabrielle said, restraining her urge to reach out for him. “Thank you again. I mean for saving my life…again.”

He stopped only a couple steps away from her. Before Gabrielle had time to know what was going on, he had grabbed her, his hands on either side of her face. His lips came crashing down on hers, hungry and forceful. Heat ran through her body as he had his way with her lips. One of his hands ran down her body and pulled her hips into his with a rough jerk. She could feel something very hard pressing against her. She registered what it was and it made her body temperature rise further. Every nerve in her tingled as Mr. Black continued to kiss her, his tongue forcing it’s way past her lips and exploring the inside of her mouth. His other hand dug into her hair, pulling her face even closer to his. It was the most intense kiss, the most intense thing she had ever felt. If he hadn’t been holding her so closely to him, her knees would have buckled and she would have fallen to the ground as a heated puddle of tingling mush. Finally he broke off the kiss and pulled his lips away from hers. His breathing was a little heavy and hers was hard won. Every part of her body was electrified. She couldn’t speak. She couldn’t think. All she could do was look back at Mr. Black with mild shock on her face. He was looking back at her like a man that had broken down and done something he promised himself he would never do. He stepped away from her.

“Mr. Black…” Gabrielle only managed to squeak out his name as a question, seeking understanding for why he had just kissed her. She knew why, but her mind still couldn’t comprehend it.

“I apologize,” he said, recomposing himself. “That will not happen again.”

Gabrielle felt a sting of disappointment at the words. But before she could say anything else, or even think anything else, Mr. Black was gone. In the blink of an eye he was gone, nowhere to be seen. Gabrielle didn’t know whether it was her imagination that he was even there at all, or if he had somehow moved so quickly that she hadn’t seen him move at all. She decided it had to be the former, as there was no way he could evacuate the hallway fast enough for her to not see. And that kiss had to be all in her head. Why would Mr. Black ever want to kiss her? No, it had to all be her imagination. Her imagination and the alcohol. She went inside her home and climbed into bed. Hopefully tomorrow would be a less confusing day.

###

Pulling his lips off of Gabrielle’s was one of the hardest thing he had ever done. Not continuing to ravage her was definitely the hardest thing he had ever done. His body had ached to hold her since the moment he had seen her. And that one moment of weakness was likely to cause him a world of trouble. He thought that he could control himself around her. He was Sebastian Black after all, the epitome of cool and collected and totally in control. Perhaps it was the liquor he had ingested earlier in the evening. Perhaps he just couldn’t hold back anymore. When he had seen her walk into his home, with her hair pulled away from her face, and the clothes clinging so perfectly to her perfect body, his breath was nearly taken away. Then when she handed him that letter, it took every ounce of self-control he had to not run into his room and tear it open and devour every word on the page. But when he had finally read her letter, and seen the sweet sincerity behind her words, he knew that he wouldn’t be able to keep himself away from her.

He could still taste her, still feel the softness of her flesh pressed against him. He was still hard from kissing her. He had speed stepped away from her. If he had to look down into her beautiful, dark honey eyes, glancing so innocently back up at him, questioning him, he wouldn’t have been able to keep his hands away from her. He wanted nothing more than to take her into her quarters and tear her to pieces in a night of lustful abandon.

To make matters so much worse, he knew that General Kasen was becoming much more involved with her. Though he wanted her for himself, he just couldn’t bring that sort of conflict into his working life. As it was, the Generals fought too much amongst themselves. He and Kasen were among the few that got along, especially across Rank lines. He just couldn’t risk that. His honor just wouldn’t allow it. If he thought for one second that Kasen wouldn’t take good care of her, he would feel very differently. But he knew that she would be happy with him. And even though that would come at the expense of his own happiness, he was fine with that.

Chapter Twenty

Kasen was in the vault that was housed in the back of his home. It held all the most valuable and precious assets that belonged to his family. He didn’t really see the need for such a thing. No one had every tried to break into any of the noble houses, or any other house for that matter. At least not in the Death Angel Society proper. That sort of thing only happened in the quarters of the undesirable. He could hear Wilfred enter the room just behind him as he found what he had been looking for.

“What are you doing with that, sir?” he asked, his voice harsh. Kasen didn’t have the patience for him today. He had woken up excited, but he could feel the congestion building in his chest. He knew the Sickness would once again flare up soon and all he wanted to do today was spend time with Gabrielle.

He had checked his messages from the night before and saw that Gabrielle had been almost frantically messaging him. He felt bad that he hadn’t been able to get back to her but he was just too busy with the Death Festival. And today was their day together. Today, he had something very special planned for her.

“I’m giving it to Gabrielle,” Kasen said, not caring one bit how Wilfred was going to take the news.

“Sir, I beg you—“

“That will be enough, Wilfred,” Kasen cut him off before he could begin to protest. “I have made my decision and I don’t want to hear what you think about it.”

Wilfred shuffled off, mumbling under his breath about how ungrateful Kasen was, but he didn’t care. He was going to do everything he could to make Gabrielle happy today. He hoped to finally tell her what he hadn’t been able to tell her before now. If things went as he planned then he would finally be able to set straight the lie that had been weighing so heavily on his conscience.

Kasen hurried to finish getting ready, trying to ignore the congestion that had built in his chest. He told Wilfred to summon the family doctor before he headed out to Gabrielle’s. He hadn’t sent her a message. He wanted to surprise her.

It was customary for the second day of the Death Festival to be spent with a lover. There would be a lot of couples out on dates today and through the evening, so he decided to forego the usual type of date. He wanted to be alone with her. He wanted to take her somewhere that was very special. Somewhere that few people in the Death Angel Society had access to. Somewhere that she had mentioned missing since she had first come here. For most, it would be an impossible feat, but Kasen was a General, and that meant he had access to things that most people didn’t have access to. For once, he planned to use that to his advantage and show Gabrielle a day that she wouldn’t forget. Then, when the time was just right, he would tell her who he really was. He would tell her his real name, and his position in the Society.

He thought about Sebastian, and the last talk they had. He had seen the longing in his eyes when they spoke about Gabrielle. Few would know why he had such a look in his eyes, but Kasen knew why. The thought hadn’t even dawned on him until he had seen the look in Sebastian’s eyes. But it was too late now, and Sebastian would never be able to confirm what he thought about Gabrielle. None of them could.

Kasen arrived at Gabrielle’s quarters and shook the thought of Sebastian out of his head. He knocked on the door, eager to see the woman he had fallen very quickly in love with. After waiting for some time, and hearing nothing beyond her door, he knocked again. This time he heard someone shuffling around inside. Finally the door cracked open and Gabrielle’s beautiful little face poked out. He could see she must have had a rough night and had slept hard. But even with her tousled hair clumped around her head, and the sleep still crusted in her eyes as she squinted out the door at him, she was the most gorgeous woman he had ever laid eyes on.

“Matthew?” she said. He could hear the excitement in her voice at seeing him, but at the same time, hearing her call him the wrong name constricted his chest every time he heard it. After tonight, she would know his real name. He smiled at her and she smiled back.

“I thought I’d surprise you,” he said, holding out a bunch of flowers that he had picked for her from his private garden.

“They’re beautiful,” she gasped as she took the flowers. “I’ll go put them in a vase or something—“

“Forget about that,” Kasen said, unable to keep the smile off his face. “Just get dressed and let’s go.”

“Where are we going?” she asked, a confused but still excited look overcoming her face.

“It’s a surprise,” he said with a little wink. “but we need to get going soon.”

“Ok,” she said. “I’ll go get dressed.”

###

The view was absolutely breathtaking. Gabrielle could feel the wind blowing against her face and it was the most amazing thing she had ever felt. She looked over at Matthew and felt her heart absolutely melting. It was official. She was in love with him.

“How is this even possible?” she asked, looking around at all the people that were going about their day beneath them. They sat on a roof at one of the tallest buildings in New York City, in the mortal world.

“I called in a few favors,” he said, looking down at her with pride beaming from him. “Pulled a few strings. I knew how badly you missed going outside, and there isn’t an outside in the Death Angel Society, so…”

“This is amazing,” Gabrielle breathed as she turned back to look out at the world that she had inhabited not so long ago. “Are you sure no one can see us?”

“Positive,” he said.

Gabrielle hadn’t even imagined it was possible for her to go back to the mortal world, and if she had, she would have thought it would make her miss it. But looking out at the world below, she found that she didn’t miss it all that much. In fact, now that she had Matthew, she could see herself really learning to love it there. She had a great job, and a great boss, and now she had an amazing boyfriend. Her mind immediately went to the night before. She had thought a thousand times before she had fallen asleep about the kiss with Mr. Black. She had reasoned that it had to all be in her mind, but still, she couldn’t get it out of there. This was the first time she had thought about it this morning, and now that her mind was completely cleared, it seemed like an even more absurd thing. It was definitely just a figment of her imagination. And besides, she loved Matthew. So it didn’t even matter if he had kissed her. It was best if she pretended like it never even happened.

“Are you ready?” he asked, holding his hand out to her.

“For what?” she asked, placing her hand in his.

“I have a few more surprises for you,” he said, smirking at her.

###

Kasen had only been to the mortal world a handful of times. It wasn't something that Death Angels got to do very often, except for the Dark fighters. But they were only ever here on missions, disposing of the Darklings that cropped up here. He had to pull in quite a few favors to get a free pass for not only himself, but for Gabrielle as well. Of course, Sebastian had to sign off on it, since he was her boss and direct commander. It wasn't pleasant for Kasen to ask Sebastian to do such a thing, but there was no other way to get Gabrielle here. Sebastian had voiced some concern, but Kasen insisted that she would be safe. He had personally checked to ensure that there were no Darklings in the area.

Even as beautiful as the day was, as pleasant as the warm sunlight felt against his skin, Kasen could only focus on Gabrielle. The mortal world paled in comparison to her beauty and nothing could ever be as interesting to him as she was. She turned her attention away from the mortal world to catch him staring at her. He quickly diverted his eyes, but she had already caught him. She smiled at him and scooped her hand into his. He squeezed it gently, and then dropped it to reach into his pocket.

"I have something for you," he said, his stomach fluttering. She looked curiously back at him. They had spent the day going around the city, walking through the park and mostly just talking with each other. They had found a sunny little spot on the top of another tall building in the city and they were staring out at the fading sun. Now seemed like the best time to give her his gift and ask the question that had him very nervous.

"A gift?" she asked, her eyes growing a bit larger. "I didn't know...I don't have anything for you."

"That's alright," he said softly with a smile. He loved that about her, how caring she always was. They hadn't been dating for very long, but he felt like he knew her so well. There was an undeniable connection between them, and that's what had prompted him to make his decision. There would be repercussions, but in the Death Angel Society, there were always repercussions.

"It comes with a question, however," Kasen said as he pulled the small box from his pocket. He couldn't keep the small shake from his hands. Perhaps it was the Sickness wearing on him again. Or maybe it was because he was about to propose to the woman he loved. In the Death Angel Society, it wasn't an uncommon thing to arrange a marriage, or marry for convenience, or a number of other reasons not at all related to love. But Kasen realized that Gabrielle hadn't yet been fully indoctrinated into the ways of the Death Angel Society. He pushed all of that aside as he opened the box and looked down at her with hopeful eyes. She gasped when she saw the necklace that he presented to her. It wasn't very big, or very elaborate. It wasn't even terribly expensive. But it was a very beautiful piece of jewelry. It was a delicate silver chain that had tiny emeralds dangling like charms from the small circles that formed it. Each emerald was encased in a tiny silver shell and the whole thing sparkled and glinted in the sun of the mortal world.

"It belonged to my mother," Kasen said, his voice taking on a more somber tone as he remembered his mother. He was always closest to her, and this was her favorite piece of jewelry. It had been given to her by his father on their first courting. Their marriage had been arranged, but they had fallen in love with each other the first time they met. Kasen had never seen her without this necklace on, and there was no one else he wanted to see wearing it now more than Gabrielle. Her fingers reached out to gently touch the piece and she looked up at him.

"It's...it's absolutely beautiful," she said. He could see the sincerity in her eyes and that gave him the confidence to continue.

"I know that we haven't known each other for very long," he said, taking the necklace gently out of the box and preparing to place it around her neck. "And I realize that our ways are likely still foreign to you, which is why I don't want my proposal to scare you. But I love you, Gabrielle. I have from the first night I met you. I can't think of anything else but you, and quite frankly I don't want to. Please, will you do me the honor of being my wife?"

Gabrielle looked up at him with a mixture of shock, confusion, and some other emotion that Kasen wanted to call admiration but wasn't quite sure. Unfortunately, before he could figure out what her answer would be, a loud growl caught his attention. It was followed by Gabrielle shrieking in horror, and as Kasen whipped his head around to see what she was looking at, he caught sight of the source of the distraction.

His immediate reaction was utter shock, but that was quickly replaced with utter terror. He had recognized the howl of a Darkling before he had turned around to see it, but his surprise wasn't that there was a Darkling in the mortal world. His surprise was at the size of the Darkling. The thing was massive. In fact, Kasen was hard pressed to say that he had ever seen one larger than it. The thing towered to almost four stories high, its
arms sagging nearly to its feet. It had a large jaw, filled with rows of razor sharp teeth that he now flashed directly at Kasen and Gabrielle.

He didn't understand how it was possible. Darklings, all of them, began as tiny creatures. They would continue to grow as they fed on the souls and bodies of things around them. The bigger they were, the more powerful and harder they were to kill. They also tended to be easier to track however, and Kasen had done a very thorough search before he had brought Gabrielle here. There was no indication that a Darkling was to be found in this area. The fact that this massive one stood almost directly before them made no sense. But Kasen didn't have time to dwell on these facts. He had to get back before this Darkling made lunch of the two of them. Unfortunately, the portal was on the other side of the city. He had planned on making a day of things and taking Gabrielle through the city, finally ending at the portal back to the Death Angel Society. Now, they would need to make a run for it.

"We have to go," he said, taking her by the hand and pulling her quickly along. The mortals that inhabited the city wouldn't be able to see the Darkling, at least most of them couldn't. But Gabrielle could, and it had shocked her into paralysis. To Kasen's horror, the Darkling turned its blood red angry eyes directly towards him. His only hope that it was a slow moving behemoth was smashed to the ground as the thing took off running towards them. That seemed to snap Gabrielle out of her frightened stance and she followed behind Kasen as they ran to the edge of the rooftop. Kasen grabbed her hand tightly and without another word, he leapt to the ground below.

###

Gabrielle could already feel the pain in her legs as they raced to the edge of the roof. She had no idea where they were going, but she trusted Matthew. When he leapt off the building and took her with him, her heart panicked as the concrete below came up quickly to meet them. To her utter surprise they landed without incident and without injury. Apparently, being a Death Angel gave them some physical benefits when it came to the mortal world. She chalked it up to another thing that probably would have been taught to her during her orientation, if she had had one. Once they were safely on the ground, she didn't have time to consider such things as the Darkling came up right behind them. He lumbered down the city streets, surprisingly fast for his size. The putrid stench of Darkling filled her nose and she wanted to puke, but she held it back. The only thing they could do was run.