Fallen (15 page)

I walked to the end of the closet, scanning the rows of shoes. My eyes landed on a pair of burgundy heels, and I pulled them out. They were satin and open-toed, with a diamond-encrusted brooch on top of the toes. They matched the dress perfectly. 

I flipped off the closet light on my way out and tossed the dress and shoes onto the bed. Digging through the scraps of lace in my dresser, I finally found a strapless bra and its matching underwear. 

My robe fell to the floor as I untied the sash, and I slipped on the strings of fabric the French had the audacity to call “panties.” I checked out my reflection in the gold mirror above my dresser, turning this way and that, and sighed. 

These really would be nice in a romantic setting…

The bra and dress came next. I zipped it up as far as I could, but I’d need help to get it up all the way. “Gabriel?” I called out, as I slipped on my heels.

My door opened a second later, and he stuck his head inside. “Yeah?”

I turned my back to him, pulling my hair to the side. “Will you zip me up?”

“Sure.” He was behind me instantly, his hand skimming my back as he slid the zipper up. His fingers lingered on my skin before he cleared his throat. “You look…you know…”

I dropped my hair and faced him. “Nice?” I asked, smiling up at him.

He rubbed the back of his neck and looked away. “Yeah, sure, we’ll go with ‘nice.’ ”

I bit my lip, thinking I really liked this new awkward version of Gabriel. I grabbed the black clutch I’d picked out in the closet, and said, “Are we ready?”

His eyes were steadfast on the carpet. “Um, I wanted to give you something first.” He reached into his pants pocket and pulled out a small navy box. My eyes widened as he held it out. “It’s your Christmas present. I didn’t get to give it to you before, so…”

I took the box, running my thumb over the leathery material. My eyes flicked up to him. “Gabriel—”

He still wasn’t looking at me. “Just open it.”

Bracing myself for another extravagant gift, I lifted the lid, and smiled. Tucked inside were a pair of conservative—but respectable—diamond earrings. He could’ve gone with some gaudy monstrosity, but he didn’t. He kept them small and reasonable instead. 

I leapt forward, wrapping my arms around his neck. “I love them. Thank you.”

After a moment of hesitation, he patted my back. “I wasn’t sure if you would. You haven’t liked any of my other gifts.”

I frowned and pulled back. “Gabriel, it’s not that I don’t
like
them, I just…don’t like that it’s so one-sided. I have nothing to give back, nothing to contribute.”

“You don’t
have
to, Em. I told you, I
like
doing this stuff for you. I don’t expect anything in return.”

How
did him saying the perfect thing make me feel even worse?

After I put the earrings on, I grabbed the clutch again, and followed Gabriel out of my room. He stopped in the kitchen and handed me a Styrofoam cup with a lid and straw. “Here.”

“What’s this?” The liquid inside felt thick as it moved around, and the cup was cold.

“It’s dinner,” he said, heading for the foyer. “Think of it like a meat milkshake.”

“Yum,” I said, though it sounded anything but. I took a sip, ignoring the red climbing up the clear straw, and shrugged. “It’s not bad. Do I want to know what’s in it?”

He pressed the call button for the elevator. “Probably not.”

My brow lifted as the doors slid open. He rolled his eyes and guided me into his private elevator. “Relax, it’s not human.”

We sped down the darkened highway, Paris’s glowing backdrop whizzing past us.

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” My heart raced faster the longer we were in the car. I’d never been around any Feeders other than Gabriel. I didn’t know
what
to expect.

His knuckles tightened on the steering wheel as he glanced at me. “You should be fine, as long as you stick by me… But you might want to think of an alias.”

I nodded. “Right. I’m not supposed to be here.”

“Neither am I, technically.”

My head whipped up. “Isn’t this gonna be a problem? People
know
you, Gabriel, they don’t know me.”

He shook his head. “Anybody who frequents this club doesn’t run in the same circles as the people I work for.”

I brought the cup to my lips and took a sip. “What can I expect tonight?”

“There’ll be more humans than Feeders—
a lot
more. And there may be some…feeding.”

At my incredulous expression, he said, “It’s not going to be out in the open, but if you look close enough in a dark booth, you might see something you don’t want to.”

Note to self: stay the hell away from dark booths.

The car slowed in front of what appeared to be an abandoned warehouse. If it weren’t for all the cars lining the streets, I’d think we were at the wrong address.

Gabriel pulled into an empty spot and killed the engine. “This is just a façade. The club’s around back.”

I set my empty cup in the cupholder and climbed out. The faint beat of music echoed in the quiet streets. Gabriel’s car beeped as he locked it, and I let him lead the way. 

We walked along the grimy sidewalk and around the corner, stopping at a rusted metal door full of faded graffiti. I eyed the brick building and its many broken windows. 

This
is supposed to be a club?

Gabriel knocked twice, and a panel slid back, revealing the upper half of a man’s face. His steel gray eyes looked us over. “Mot de passe?”

I glanced at Gabriel as he said, “Ma couleur préférée est le rouge.”

The panel closed as the heavy door creaked open. I felt the guard’s eyes as we passed and caught a glimpse of him in the shadows. His expensive suit didn’t mask the menace rolling off him. Gold glinted off his pinkie ring as he adjusted his tie, winking at me as he smirked. 

I clutched Gabriel closer, trying not to visibly shudder.

The music got louder with every step. As Gabriel led us down a dark concrete hallway, I whispered, “What did he say to you?”

“He asked me for the password. It’s ‘my favorite color is red.’ ”

“Oh.” I frowned. “Is that supposed to some kind of Feeder joke?”

His lips pursed, but he didn’t answer me.

At the end of the hallway, we pushed past a set of velvet drapes, and the sight stopped me mid-stride. “Wow.” This worn down warehouse secretly housed an upscale club. 

Alcoves of U-shaped black booths lined the sides, backlit by recessed blue lighting. Small tables sat before them, draped in blue silk tablecloths. The same black curtains from the entrance hung from the doorway of each alcove. Most were open, and pulled to the sides, but some were closed. 

I shuddered, thinking of what could be happening behind those curtains. 

The dance floor in the middle of the room caught my eye. It seemed alive as bodies writhed and glistened under strobe lights. I watched the wave of humans undulate, distracted by their overwhelming scent of blood and sweat, until a woman’s voice snapped me back to reality.

“Gabriel. Long time no see.”

I turned in time to see him nod curtly to a statuesque blond. “Helen.” He did
not
look pleased to see her.

“Who’s your friend?” she asked, grinning wickedly at me. The way her eyes lingered made me a little uneasy. Like she was a jungle cat and I was nothing more than a tasty treat waiting to be devoured.

“Down, girl,” he muttered with a roll of his eyes. “She’s not into munching carpet like you.”

She shot him a nasty look. “Lucky for her I have wood floors,” she drawled, winking at me.

Heat bloomed across my face at her double entendre. 

“Pay her no mind,” he said through clenched teeth. “Helen’s just a spoiled brat who likes to make trouble when she’s bored.”

She flashed him an acidic smile and flipped him off.

“I’m gonna go to the bathroom,” I mumbled, glancing around for any sign of them. I had to get out of here before World War III started.

Five minutes later, I emerged from the bathroom stall, pausing when I saw Helen at the sink.

She met my eyes in the mirror, slyly smiling. “Relax, honey, I’ve retracted my claws for the evening.” She looked back at her reflection as she applied another layer of lipstick. “So… You and Gabriel, huh?”

I dropped my gaze and stepped up to the empty sink next to her to wash my hands. “It’s not like that with us.”

Her head tilted as she studied me. “I saw the way he looked at you. He hasn’t looked at anybody that way since Mary died.”

I frowned, reaching over to grab a paper towel. “Who’s Mary?”

She took a step back, smoothing out her dress as she checked her reflection. “His wife.”

Chapter Twenty-Seven

EMILY

His
wife
?

My mouth dropped open as she turned and walked out of the bathroom. I rested my hands on the ledge of the sink, my mind reeling. 

Holy shit, I was right. Gabriel
had
been hurt, but not in the way I’d thought. He didn’t go through a bad breakup, he
lost his wife
… I couldn’t even imagine what he’d gone through.

I grabbed my clutch and left the ladies’ room, heading back into the club. Gabriel was right where I’d left him.

He frowned as I approached. “What’s wrong? You look like you’ve just seen a ghost.”

“I—”

The floor shook as a loud boom thundered behind me. I whipped my head around, seeing an explosion go off at the bar. It seemed to happen in slow motion. The bottles of liquor lining the lighted glass shelves exploded, the liquid floating in mid-air, cocooned by millions of shimmering glass shards from the bottles and floor to ceiling mirrors that covered the walls behind the bar. 

The sounds of screaming humans broke through my shock, and adrenaline kicked in as time seemed to speed up. Before I knew what hit me, I was tackled onto my back as another wave of explosions went off around us. 

Dust and ash clouds saturated the air. I squeezed my eyes shut and coughed, simultaneously trying to fight off the heavy weight atop me. It only pinned me down harder. 

“
Don’t move
,” Gabriel hissed into my ear, grabbing my wrists to keep me from fighting him.

I relented, going lax as the screams and explosions eventually subsided, replaced by the sounds of my heavy breathing and erratically thumping heart.

Gabriel stood quickly, pulling me up with him as he assessed our surroundings. “Come on,” he said, still holding onto my hand as he tugged me along.

I let him lead me several feet, the smoke so thick even my acute sight couldn’t make anything out. As the clouds settled, I saw the devastation left behind. 

The club was no longer recognizable. Rubble and body parts littered the floor. The Feeders were stumbling around, dazed. Huge chunks of walls were missing. The wall behind the bar was completely gone. 

My foot kicked something as we maneuvered through the ruins, and I heard someone moan. I looked down, seeing I’d kicked a girl. She stared up at me, her eyes fluttering open and closed as she moaned, reaching her hand up to me. Covered in blood and soot, her sounds quickly became garbled as dark red trickled out of her mouth.

 The coppery scent wafted up to me and I resented the way my stomach responded, clenching and rumbling as it egged me on. Now that some of the dust had settled, the scent permeated the air. Oh, God, it was everywhere. 

My eyes slid closed as I tried to block out the temptation and regain my self-control, which I felt slipping away with every tainted breath I took. 

No one would notice if her body disappeared. Not in this chaos…

“H-help.”

The wheezy plea had my eyes snapping open as it broke through my monstrous thoughts and tugged on my still-very-human heartstrings. This woman was dying.

I let go of Gabriel’s hand to bend down and pull off the splintered table remains covering her. 

“We don’t have time for that!” he yelled, yanking me up on my feet.

I looked up at him in disbelief. “She’s
dying
, Gabriel, we have to help her!”

“She’s already dead! There’s
nothing
you can do for her.”

He pulled me along and I scanned the ruins. There were so many other people who needed help. “But—”

“If you don’t start walking, Emily, so help me God, I will put you over my shoulder and carry you out of here!” His face turned red as yelled, causing the veins in his neck to pop out. He grabbed my hand and started leading me to what was once the back of the club.

I struggled to get out of his grasp. “No!”

“
Fine.
” In one swift move, he turned around and grabbed me around the waist, hoisting me up as he threw me over his shoulder. “Have it your way.”

“Put me down!” I shoved at his back and tried to kick his front. The sound of splintering wood made me stop and look up. Fights had broken out between the remaining Feeders and men—
beautiful
men pouring in from the club’s mostly intact entrance. The men
had
to be Hidden. They were too beautiful to be human. But were they Healers, or Feeders? 

I saw Helen—her clothes burned and torn from the blasts, her once perfectly coiffed hair hanging limply around her soot-smudged face—wrestling with one of the men on the floor, both of them fighting for dominance. She appeared to be winning, as she was on top, teeth bared, as a growl escaped her. Her regal beauty had twisted into something dark and terrifying.

It was the first time I’d truly seen a Feeder.

The man she was tussling with reached for a fallen ceiling beam next to him, only to have Helen rip his arm clean off.  I sucked in a shocked breath at the sight, just as the man let out a blood-curdling scream. Helen lunged for the guy’s neck with a crazed look on her face. I squeezed my eyes shut to block out the gruesome sight, but it was too late. I’d already seen her tear into the guy’s neck, ripping a huge chunk of flesh away.

Gabriel came to a stop as a door slammed behind us. I opened my eyes as he set me down, looking around the management’s office.