Gabriel (7 page)

“Vampires—”

He cut me off. “They're different—most of their abilities have a more physical, instinctual sense. Just so you know, that little trick wouldn't work with a mortal; I was able to bring you because
you're like me
.” I didn't miss the emphasis he placed on his last three words.

I stood evenly with my feet apart; fully balanced, I waited for the sun. “So do you have to do something, think of something specific, to travel by thought?” I wanted to know how it worked. I had done it outside the château fort, but if I understood the mechanics, maybe it would help me to control my abilities.

Gabriel tipped his chin toward the waking sun and answered softly, “I shouldn't need to tell you how, Lai. It should just … come. But there are restrictions: you can't travel by thought across water.”

“Why?” I interjected.

“In the same way you can't walk on water, you can't run across it, either, no matter how fast you are.”

The sun distracted me from asking any further questions. The vibrant orange glow hummed as it rose. I tensed as it gradually climbed higher, and Gabriel sparkled. I looked to my own skin; my hands were less pale and warmth radiated from my palms.

As it eventually reached its peak, Gabriel was awash with shining white crystals seeping from his skin and surrounding him. A burst of silver and gold shone from behind his ears, as if the source of the energy were originating from the nape of his neck.

A halo of microscopic crystals wrapped itself around me. Sparks flared from the crystal gem on my ring. I unclasped the chain and dangled it away from my body. I placed it on the grass. Parted from my touch, still it sparkled.

I took a step backward and quickly scanned my body. I was still glittering. As I swayed my hands, a million tiny star shapes moved with me.

And then, just like that, it was over.

Tears streamed down my cheeks as a surreal awe flowed through me. My knees buckled, and I dropped to the wet grass.

Gabriel sat himself down ahead of me and crossed his legs, waiting. “You look a little surprised.”

“I kinda thought…” I stopped, feeling silly.

He pursed his lips. “Thought what?”

“That maybe you'd have wings or something.” I half-laughed as I said it.

Gabriel's left eyebrow arched. “No, I'm afraid us Angel Descendants don't have wings. Only the Arch Angels do.” Stretching his arm behind him, he picked up my ring and threaded the chain through his fingers, tilting his head curiously. “How do you feel?”

“I don't quite know. It was like someone had bottled up all the days of summer and then let me drink it in one go. Does that make sense?”

“Yes.” His smile widened, stretching high on his cheeks, and his eyes sparkled. He played with my ring. “You don't need this. I don't think you ever did.”

“I know. Why would I need a key to a door I never plan on opening?”

“That's not what I meant. The crystals may open and close the rifts for Angel Descendants, but they also keep the Angel Descendants in possession of their gifts on this plane.”

I shook my head. “I don't understand.”

“The crystals were placed in our necks not just to command the rifts, Lai. They keep the Angel Descendants immortal on Earth and our special talents working here, too. The crystals act as a conductor for the sun. The light meets the crystal, is churned over, and then spreads and seeps through our veins. It works in reverse, too: As long as our energy remains clear and light, it feeds back into the crystal, keeping it working.”

“Your very own renewable energy,” I said.

“Do you remember I told you that there was a time, before Angel Descendants were paired, that many of them became unhappy with their existence and chose to fall?” He paused and I nodded. “The Arch Angel who accepted their request removed the crystal from their neck, and when they passed through to Earth, they became mortal.”

“But my mother left me her crystal. That was nearly two hundred years ago, so she's…” I panicked at the implication that she might be dead. Because of me.

“No. Not necessarily. Time passes at a different speed in Styclar-Plena. It takes Angel Descendants an awfully long time to age and die here, naturally. Once mortal, those that wanted a true end, well … they found ways to die.” Gabriel's lips turned down in sadness. “I doubt your mother would have wanted that. If she is still alive, it would seem as though she has maintained a distance from you, and long may it stay that way,” he said.

“Why? She's my mother.…”

“And Azrael is your father. It didn't stop him striking a deal with the Arch Angels to bring about your final end for his own gain. No. We take no chances.
We trust no one
.” Gabriel's tone oozed authority. There was no point trying to argue; this topic was clearly nonnegotiable.

I looked to my chain, dangling from Gabriel's fingers contemplatively. “Why do you think she left me her crystal?”

“I don't know. You'd been infected by a Pureblood; she wouldn't have known what the result of that would be. Perhaps she was trying to give you every possible chance at survival.” He paused and to further iterate his point added, “That was a long time ago, Lai.”

“I know it was. I don't understand—your crystal is embedded into your neck. Mine is attached to a ring; it's not part of my body.” I ran my fingers over the blades of wet grass.

“Orifiel, when he first passed through the rifts, was holding a piece in his hand. But he and the other Arch Angels were created organically from the crystal itself. They don't need them to pass through the rifts or to keep their gifts here; they only need them to command the rifts.” He paused. “It's not the same for us Angel Descendants; we need the crystal gems. I would suspect that they were placed into the neck so as to be fully integrated with our physical form. That crystal wouldn't give a mortal any talents, Lai. It's not a transferable deal. You have to have the light within you, from the crystal in Styclar-Plena, for it to work, and you always had plenty of that. You still do.”

“Let's not forget I also have the venom of a Pureblood, and they certainly have a lot of similar traits.”

“That's true,” he said. “Only perhaps, given your Angel lineage, the Pureblood's traits were heightened or stronger within you.”

“Can Vampires become invisible, too?”

“Nope, that's reserved for us Angels. Why'd you ask?”

“Because I'm pretty sure I have masked myself before. So I guess I need this crystal to keep my ‘Angelic' powers, right?”

“I'd have agreed, if I hadn't just watched you place it down away from you. Even without the crystal, you still absorbed the sun, the same way an Arch Angel would.”

“That's … strange.”

“Yes. But that's good news. If you were parted from the crystal, you wouldn't lose your gifts.”

“Or my immortality,” I said at the same time as I realized this.

“Your immortality could stem from either your Angel heritage, or, well, you know.”

Despite his history of saving Vampires, Gabriel had a real issue with using the word
Vampire
with any reference to me. But it was hardly as though I could just disown my Vampire lineage any sooner than I could my Angel side. The second I rejected either, I didn't know—nor did I want to try and guess—what might happen to me.

“I think I'll hold on to it anyway.” I looked to my ring once again, hanging below Gabriel's palm. It was the only possession I had that was as old as I was. The one thing I had held on to throughout my entire existence.

Gabriel took my hand in his and lightly kissed my ring finger. “Yes. But if you don't mind, I'd prefer to have it taken out of this band. I'd
prefer
it if you weren't wearing something that symbolized your promise to someone else.”

“Ethan is gone, Gabriel. He's gone because of me. If anything, I think the ring represents the friendship he and I had, long ago.”

He didn't say anything, but his gaze remained fixed on the bottom of my chain, where my mother's devotion and my best friend's commitment to me hung low.

At my strained expression, finally he said, “We'll work something out.” Gabriel blew out a steady stream of air, and I noticed I could see it clearly even in the daylight.

Placing my chain back around my neck, he did up the clasp and positioned the ring centrally below my collarbones. “I gave you the chain. At least you carried around a small part of me all these years.”

I met his gaze with my own. “Forget about the chain; forget about the ring and what sits at its center. It has
nothing
to do with us. You carried my heart around all these years, that's what I know, and it means
everything
.”

As I kissed him, I whispered to his thoughts:
Everything.

 

FIVE

B
ACK IN THE SMALL
room of the B&B, Gabriel and Ruadhan not so subtly suggested I have a shower. I knew it was so they could talk without me present. This had to stop—them treating me like glass that could shatter with the lightest touch. But I knew I had to lead up to that with Gabriel. A confrontation now was not the way to get him to open up to me.

When I reemerged in a pair of jeans and a white T-shirt, Gabriel stopped conspiring long enough to turn and greet me. “You look … well.”

I knew what he meant—my skin was still shimmering from the effects of the waking sun.

The beep from Gabriel's iPhone turned his attention away from me. He exchanged a knowing glance with Ruadhan before sliding the phone from his pocket.

“It's time I was leaving,” Gabriel said to both of us.

“Where are you going?” I asked. A sense of unease swelled in my belly, and I couldn't be sure if the feeling belonged to Gabriel or to me.

“I told you I had a couple of things to sort out before we could leave. This is one of them. I won't be long, I promise,” Gabriel replied, striding over to me.

He clutched my waist, drawing me into his body, and I closed my eyes as I inhaled his citrus scent. “Why won't you tell me?”

“Sometimes, ignorance is bliss.”

He pulled me into a drawn-out hug, and as I tried to find him in my mind, I realized that he had blocked me, hiding his thoughts and feelings from me. I wasn't going to get my answers this way after all. As he pulled away, he hesitated, gripping my elbows. Wherever he was planning to go, whatever it was he was planning to do, he was uncertain. I felt it as strong as I felt my own heart beating.

Gabriel gripped my elbows tighter, his fingers pressing almost painfully into my skin. “I told you—it ends here. Here is today, and today is the beginning of that end.”

He snatched his jacket from the bed and was gone before I could argue.

As the door banged shut, I forced a smile for Ruadhan's benefit and made my way over to the kettle. I might not need caffeine anymore, but I suddenly wanted something familiar, something
normal
, to do.

Ruadhan eyed me quizzically. He waited for the kettle to whistle before placing his hand over the top of mine on the handle. “Get your coat, love. We're going for a walk.”

“I doubt Gabriel would approve of you letting me out of this room,” I said, scooping up my cardigan.

Ruadhan's brow creased, and he merely nodded in agreement. He opened the bedroom door and gestured for me to step through first.

We traipsed across the landing and down the winding staircase—the old banister wobbling as I skimmed my hand down it. Ruadhan eyed the foyer as he clicked the latch on the heavy front door and then placed his hand in front of my chest, preventing me from taking another step.

I stood behind Ruadhan, glancing from left to right.

“Let me check outside, make sure it's safe. Just stay here a moment, sweetheart.”

I loitered in the chilly entranceway and crossed my arms, waiting patiently. Gabriel could control his temperature; I needed to learn that trick. I hated being cold. I looked at the rustic flagstone floor, tracing the outline of the slabs. There was a small crack over by the coat stand, and as I focused on it, I realized that I could distinguish every speck of dirt and dust trapped inside it.

“It's all clear. I didn't mean to worry you. Better to be safe than sorry,” Ruadhan said, locking his arm into mine as he escorted me down the driveway.

It was still very frosty, and the subzero temperature had caused the rain from the night before to form a skating rink across the pavement. I followed the outline of the riverbank and a large bridge appeared in the distance. It reminded me of something from a travel guide, and I took a second to breathe in the freshness of the morning once again. I looked up toward the sky, but the sun was hidden behind light gray clouds.

“Where are we going?” I inquired as we began making our way down the lane, passing the last of the local stores.

Ruadhan pawed at the stubble on his chin. “I'm not sure.”

We strolled alongside the riverbank for a while. Ruadhan seemed consumed in private thought. We walked past a sign that read “Mill Meadows,” and Ruadhan nudged me toward the gate of the park, eyeing a bench next to the pathway.

“Are you all right?” I asked.

Ruadhan uncoiled a scarf from around his neck, placing it down for me to sit on, and I smiled at his chivalry. I took a seat next to him. The park was tranquil as the trees that bordered it swayed gently in the soft breeze.

“I'm so sorry about what happened on the mountain, Lailah,” Ruadhan finally began.

I shifted uncomfortably. “It's okay. You didn't know. I hadn't known. I'm sorry I didn't tell you who I was before Azrael did.” I had just as much to apologize for—perhaps more. When Ruadhan had pushed Ethan's sword through my chest, he thought he was ending a Pureblood; he hadn't a clue that the girl in shadow was me. I had deliberately kept my past from him—everything, including my real name. Gabriel had thought it was safer to keep the little we did know about me a secret while he searched for the answers to what we didn't.