Inception (The Reaping Chronicles, 1) (6 page)

Chapter Six

Gabrielle ~ A Human Date

Lucas took forever to reach them.

At least, it seemed that way to Gabrielle. She liked his confident gait and the way he carried himself, tall and proud—his athletic body all muscles and broad shoulders. She wanted to know what it would feel like to have his arms wrap around her and hold her tightly.

If he did, I don’t know if I’d ever want him to let me go.

Gabrielle scoffed to herself. Even if her daydream ever became a reality somehow, he’d have to let her go, one day.

Forever
.

She let the dismal intrusion be pushed aside by more pleasant thoughts because, finally, he was there. Standing in front of her—so close.

So very close.

He smelled wonderful, earthy and sweet; she had an almost irresistible urge to move toward his neck and inhale deeply.

Stop! It!

“Hey, Lucas,” Nonie greeted him cheerfully. “Lucas, this is Gabrielle. Gabrielle, this is—”

“We’ve met,” Lucas interrupted.

Gabrielle may have thought it was rude if she hadn’t been distracted by the silkiness of his voice. It reminded her a little of her own kind.

Nonie seemed a bit taken aback. Gabrielle could see her in her periphery as she shifted her weight. After several seconds, she finally spoke.

“When did ya’ll meet?” Nonie asked.

“Just this morning. I tried to maim him with my car door in the parking lot,” Gabrielle laughed slightly. “Then he tried to molest me, and—”

“
I
tried to molest
you!”
Lucas’s smile grew and his eyes widened “That’s not the way
I
recall things! You got the attempt on my life correct, but the other was more like me being your champion, as I believe I rescued you from a very ungraceful face-plant.”

“Always the ‘he said she said,’” Gabrielle kidded, finally dropping her gaze from his as she felt warmth burning her cheeks.

I hope I get used to this soon. Really. I can’t believe I can’t keep my cool with humans. Well, at least
this
human.

“Okay, you two,” Nonie said, “you can decide who wins the battle of the sexes later. Can we get our food, please? Time’s-a-wastin’ and my stomach’s-a-rumblin!’”

Lunch went by without any more uncomfortable moments. Nonie and Nate bantered back and forth, at times including a jab at Lucas. Gabrielle mostly listened to the other three, enjoying the closeness they shared, wishing she knew what it must feel like to have such ease with others. When she asked how long they’d known each other, they told her they’d grown up together. They’d lived across the street from each other since they were a few months old.

The doors holding back their memories seemed to open as they proceeded to go into ‘remember whens’, breaking into spontaneous laughter over their adventures. All too soon, lunch ended, and they were walking from their cars, heading back toward school.

Nonie and Nate cheerfully waved and took off in opposite directions.

Gabrielle and Lucas didn’t notice, but Nate turned to look back in their direction as he opened the door to the building, then paused. A scowl formed between his brows, his focus directly on Gabrielle as if he wanted to go back to her and say, or do, something. If she had been close enough, she would have noticed how the air chilled around him and maybe the faint odor, present only for a moment. After a few more seconds, he disappeared into the mass of other students.

Now, it was just Gabrielle and Lucas. They made their way to class also but much more slowly than everyone else.

“So,” Lucas said, “do you think you’ll be able to make the football game? I know it’s a month away, and it might be too early for you to know for sure, but I’d really like it if you did.”

Nonie told Lucas and Nate that she had invited her but not that Gabrielle had said yes.

“If you need me to, I can pick you up,” Lucas continued. “That way you don’t have to worry about finding it. Maybe we can get something to eat before we meet up with the others …
if
you want to?” Lucas trailed off at the end.

Her stomach did a little flip. She was pretty sure he’d just asked her on a date.

A human date.

She figured it would help her research.

“I’d like that very much,” Gabrielle answered, a little too enthusiastically. Lucas smiled, and Gabrielle worried she was too obvious.

She needed to be careful. Again, she reminded herself that nothing good could come of it if she got too close or if she let him get too close to her. But this was a chance to experience a side of human emotions she had only glimpsed from a distance, to understand how this kind of attraction influenced people. She was sure she could handle it, and that these emotions that seemed to pull her to Lucas were only because of her human body.

This is actually perfect. It’s what I’m here for, after all.

The rest of the walk to class was quiet, a few glances and smiles shared between them. Along the way, Lucas got quite a few ‘hey mans’ with approving, as well as envious, looks from other guys. Some of the girls would see him and act as though they were going to say hi, glance at Gabrielle, take a long look, and pass by. The final bell rang as they entered the room.

“By the hair on our chinny-chin-chins,” Lucas said with a smirk and then stopped to glance around the room. “There aren’t two seats together. Guess you’re on your own.”

“I think I’ll be okay,” Gabrielle said with a flirty side-ways glance and wink. She was a little shocked at herself; flirting was coming very easily. She made her way to an empty seat in the front of the class so she wouldn’t have to see the other students frequently glancing back at her.

She was very aware that she could still feel Lucas.

I can’t sense anyone else and know for certain it’s them like I can with Lucas. Why?

It was very unusual. She was used to being able to pick up on her brethren, even those who had fallen. And, once she met them, she could always recognize them when they were near.

Gabrielle was no closer to an explanation when class ended. Lucas waited at her desk while she organized her things, and they left the room together. Gabrielle found herself sneaking glances at him when he wasn’t looking as they made their way into the hall.

She didn’t want to admit that something seemed off to her about him. She felt sure she was supposed to help him, and at the very least, she knew she was supposed to meet him.

So, what does this mean?

“I guess I’ll see you tomorrow, Gabby,” Lucas said as they were about to go separate ways for their next class. “Unless you plan a second attempt on my life in the parking lot after school.” A hint of his crooked smile returned.

“Very funny,” she responded with a smile on her face and in her tone.

He was about to say something else, but a slender and
very
attractive girl, her hair almost as long and dark as Gabrielle’s, cut between them to greet Lucas with a big hug. The girl hung on a little too long, and Gabrielle suddenly felt something that made her more uncomfortable than anything she’d felt in this body, so far.

Gabrielle wanted the girl to get off Lucas and was more than willing to take care of that physically if needed. She wasn’t sure, but she thought this feeling was probably jealousy. And she now understood why it made people less than reasonable. She wanted to smack the smile off this girl’s face and turn her flirty cooing into sobs of pain. The urge was hard to resist. It would do nothing but make her look like some crazed, jealous teenager. But that was pretty much what she was in this body. Only she was The Angel of Karma, and that made her a crazed, jealous teenager capable of causing this girl a ton of problems.

Wow … jealousy. This is certainly a first.

Lucas looked at Gabrielle with surprise and embarrassment. Gabrielle tried to smile to make him feel a little better—maybe herself, too—but she bet it looked more like a grimace.

“Lucas!” the girl gushed. “I’ve been looking for you all day! If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were avoiding me!”

Lucas’s jaw tensed, and a scowl furrowed a deep channel between his brows. Gabrielle was sure she could see anger, or possibly contempt, raging in his eyes.

“If I was trying to avoid you, Mara,” Lucas began, “it would require me to think about you. Which I haven’t.”

His demeanor suddenly became frigid. The warmth and ease he’d had earlier abandoned him. It was noticeable in the girl’s reaction that it wasn’t what she hoped to elicit from him.

“
Ooh …
feeling a little testy, are we? Are you having a bad day, Lucas? I can make it a
lot
better for you if you want me to.” Mara was still very close to Lucas. As she spoke to him, she played with the collar of his shirt then traced her finger slowly up toward his ear.

Gabrielle began clenching and unclenching her fists. If she was in her true form, her color would be turning a deeper crimson the longer that girl continued to hang all over him.

Yes, this is
definitely
jealousy.

Gabrielle did her best not to remove Mara from Lucas. Thankfully, Lucas quickly grabbed Mara’s hand, moving his head away at the same time.

He glared at Mara.

“My day was fantastic until about sixty seconds ago. Now, keep your hands off of me. You lost the right to get this close.”

He was harsh in both expression and tone. Gabrielle wondered what Mara could have done to make him this angry.

“Fine,” Mara said coolly. She turned and looked at Gabrielle. More like shot daggers out of her yellowish-green eyes—the eyes of a camouflaged demon. Gabrielle’s breath stopped as Mara looked her up and down with a venomous smile. Gabrielle’s irritation at being caught off-guard by one of the Fallen burned through her body. She finally began to feel her stomach’s reaction from being so close to a demon—a reaction that should have come much sooner.

This is unacceptable.

She needed to be able to see a demon coming before they were so close. Between the Aegis Veil and a demon’s, she was having difficulty knowing when they were around, especially when distracted by human sensations and thoughts. Now, she
really
wanted Mara to get away from Lucas.

The demon is lucky that we are in a school full of witnesses.

“Who’s your new …
friend
, Lucas? She’s as pretty as an
angel
.” Mara’s eyes locked with Gabrielle’s. Gabrielle could do nothing to the demon unless she put a human or her own life in danger, and Mara knew it. “Are you going to be rude, or are you going to introduce us?”

Gabrielle fought the profound desire to turn this demon into ash.

Lucas looked at Mara and then at Gabrielle. He reached for Gabrielle’s hand and pulled her away.

“Mara … I’m feeling a bit on the rude side right now.” He began moving away from Mara. “I don’t think I’ll give you the chance to be a bitch to anyone else. At least, not around me.” He hastened Gabrielle down the hall.

Gabrielle looked over her shoulder toward Mara just as they were about to turn the corner. Mara’s eyes had turned solid, shiny black. Gabrielle’s glare made sure Mara would be aware that things would have turned out differently if she wasn’t bound by Yahuwah’s laws. This wasn’t the first time she’d wished she had the free will humans enjoyed, and she was beginning to think that it wouldn’t even be close to the last.

Is
this
why I’ve been having visions of him? Because he’s involved with a demon?

But there were a lot of humans who were unknowingly mixed up with demons. She couldn’t understand why that would make him so important.

“What was that about?” Gabrielle asked.

Lucas mumbled something.

“
Lucas
… seriously
.
What is it with you and that girl?”

Lucas didn’t answer.

Gabrielle jerked her hand away and planted her feet. Lucas stopped, turned, and as if he realized at once that he’d been inconsiderate, his expression relaxed, and he stepped toward her.

“I’m really sorry, Gabby. I hate that you were there for that, but I promise she isn’t anyone to worry about. She’s—”

“I’m not
worried
about her, Lucas,” Gabrielle interrupted. “I’m just really surprised by the way you reacted to her. What happened between the two of you?”

Before he could answer, the final bell for class rang.

“There isn’t time to explain right now. Just trust me on this one. Stay away from Mara. She’s bad news. We’ll talk more later. I have to get out of here pretty quick right after school, so I probably won’t see you till tomorrow. So … can we talk more then?” Lucas looked a little unsure of himself, and Gabrielle found she wanted to reassure him—surprised by how the foul mood Mara caused rapidly disappeared and calm took over.

“Absolutely.”

Lucas smiled. For the second time that day, he jogged away.

Gabrielle slowly made her way to her next to last class thinking about the day’s events—meeting Lucas and the twins, the confusing and difficult emotions, and the oddity of being able to feel Lucas’s presence. But one thing in particular kept coming back up over and over—Mara. Gabrielle needed to know more about her.