Rise From Darkness (2 page)

“My name’s Alexander Lorre,” he said, as if he read her thoughts. Dimples appeared on both sides of his mouth as his full lips drew up in a smile.

His perfect face and the warmth of his boyish charm drew her in, twisting her stomach in knots.

Alexander’s smile fell into a thin line, brows rose. “What’s yours?”

“I’m Gabriella Di…” She sucked in a breath at the realization of her slip. “Gabriella Moore, but I go by Gaby.” That was always the most difficult part of moving and changing identities all the time, remembering her new last name.
Conversation never came easily to her, but concentrating on avoiding slip-ups while dealing with her nerves proved challenging.
Praying they hadn’t noticed her slip, she glanced over to the girl standing next to him.

“I’m Sammy Lorre, his sister.”

The rain pelted down on them as he reached into the sand to retrieve her shirt, art supplies and drawings. She sighed. Today’s work was probably ruined.

“Here, can you carry these?” Alexander asked. His shirt gaped open exposing corded tan muscles.

Her heart fluttered faster than hummingbird wings. Embarrassed by the realization she had been lost in thought, she grabbed her things and headed for the wooded path to the house. She took two steps, tripped over a rock and twisted her ankle. Her face smacked against the ground. One hand reached up to soothe the hot pulses radiating across her cheek, and she spit sand from her lips.

Her day was complete. First, crazy mutant weeds attacked her. Second, she hallucinated monsters nearly drowned her. Then she graduated to complete humiliation in front of the most incredible guy she had ever seen.

“You okay?” Sammy ran over and helped her up.

“Yes.” Gaby’s cheeks heated when she noticed Alexander walking down the beach away from her. Great. She had already blown it and would probably never see him again. But if he wanted to walk away like that, let him.

“Why don’t we meet here tomorrow around mid-morning? I love to swim, but my over protective brother never lets me go alone.” Sammy followed her into the woods down the path to her house. “How ‘bout it?” Sammy’s voice did the octave raise thing again.

Fine, at least Sammy turned out to be nice. “Yeah, that sounds great.”

“Great! See you tomorrow.” Sammy yelled over her shoulder before she jogged back toward the beach, probably to catch up with her brother.

Gaby raced to the house, limping the entire way. Her ankle throbbed with each step.

Blood rushed through her ears. Her fingers tingled when she reached for the back door. What was it about him?

Breathless, she opened the door and discovered her father in his favorite brown chair waiting for her.

He glowered at her when she stepped into the room. She sucked in a quick breath waiting to see which father sat in front of her, mean drunk or supportive dad.

****

Alexander looked out over the ocean. Only a few minutes ago he carried Gaby’s small, limp body to the shore. Her long blond hair full of seaweed and her tan skin marked with demon burns.

He wanted to escort her home, but Sammy would provide better protection than he could.

How a girl could walk with the grace of a dancer yet stumble the next minute intrigued him.

Laughter caught his attention. Alexander shook with rage when
Forras
took on his human form and strode onto the beach, celebrating his reign of terror on that girl, Gaby. A vibration shot from vertebrae to vertebrae up Alexander’s spine. His muscles twitched and bones cracked, but no wings emerged.

Forras
signaled the other vile demons to stay and headed to Alexander. “If it’s not the white knight.”

Alexander’s fists clenched tight. He wanted to fight, drive them out of the area.

One of the demons, at the edge of the surf, waved his hand around and wind blew up a wall of sand. Damn demons and their control of nature.

“Go,
Forras
. You’ve had your fun.” Alexander swatted the sand away and stepped forward.

“If you’re not having fun, why don’t you go away - far away?”
Forras
glanced at the others and turned back with a grin. “Oh, that’s right. You’re impotent. You can’t get your wings up.”

Rage boiled to the surface, wings or no wings he’d take this smug demon out.

“Still no movement back there?”
Forras
leaned around to see Alexander’s back. “Too bad you killed that woman in the car crash. Maybe if you saved her you could still fly?”

Alexander tackled
Forras
and threw him to the ground.
Forras
kicked Alexander in the ribs sending him several feet in the air. Alexander’s back slammed against the dirt. Before he could tackle
Forras
again Sammy landed in between them, her rose hue wings spread wide. Each feather fluttered in the sea breeze.

“Saved by your little sis?”
Forras
laughed.

“It’s time to go,” Sammy said.

Forras
stepped into view and snarled at Alexander. His eyes mutated from bright green to blood orange. Red lines erupted from the pupils. Bones and tendons cracked as
Forras
’ body pulled and stretched. Four horns punctured his skull and jetted up, two on each side of his head. His ashen skin bubbled and contorted.

In full demon form
Forras
bounded into the woods.

The other three demons followed. The stench of rotting garbage lingered in the air causing a stinging liquid to bubble up his throat into his mouth. Over a year on Earth and he still couldn’t control the retched bodily functions and human emotions.

Sammy’s wings folded, a pale pink light faded as they disappeared into her tiny human frame. She turned with a bright smile. “No need to worry. I followed Gaby home. Her father’s there so she should be fine.”

Alexander took the path home and his body still shook with disgust. What good was he? An angel without the power to fly wasn’t an angel at all.

“Why’d you walk away? You didn’t even say good bye to Gaby,” Sammy asked.

“You know why,” Alexander snapped. He cringed at his own tone, but she needed to leave it alone.

“
Forras
will target her now that you’ve saved her. There’s no turning back. He won’t give up. You need to be careful.”

He hated when she was right. Muscles in his face twitched with agitation. “I’m always careful.”

His white Victorian home, on the edge of the beach, came into view. The sight warmed his heart a little. He usually loved to sit on the front porch with Grace and Sammy watching the waves. But he didn’t want their company right now. He slammed the front door and darted up the stairs.

“Are you hungry?” Grace called from the kitchen.

Alexander sighed. In the last year, she’d become more than just a mother in name only. Of course, he and Sammy would’ve been lost if Grace hadn’t taken them in. Having the assistance of a fallen angel who had been here for a couple of centuries helped the transition after their fall.

“No thanks,” he yelled down from the top of the stairs, then stepped into his room and closed the door. Hands shaking, he lifted a leather-bound copy of Edgar Allen Poe from the nightstand.

Book clutched to his chest, he moved to the windows. Pulling back navy blue curtains, he peered out the floor-to-ceiling glass. His gaze drifted down the beach in the direction of Gaby’s house. There was something familiar about the way that girl’s blond hair danced in the wind, and her hips swayed when she walked.

Grace tapped on his door. “Alexander, are you okay, son?”

He gritted his teeth, torn. Half of him needed to open the door and talk. Grace would know why his heart felt so heavy and his hands cold and clammy. But the other half wanted to avoid any conversation pertaining to Gaby Moore.

“I’m fine.”

“May I come in?”

“It’s your house.” Shame filled him. Grace didn’t deserve his rude behavior. She was so good and kind to him and Sammy, their only hope to prevent the continued descent so many had taken.

He forced a smile when she entered and shut the door behind her. A gray wisp of hair fell into her eyes and she sat on the bed. Her hand brushed it back toward the tight bun resting neatly on the top of her head.

Grace tapped the bed next to her inviting him to sit. “I heard you met a girl today.”

Alexander wanted to smack Sammy upside the head for saying something. He shrugged and remained by the window, ignoring the way his heart sped at the memory of her. The girl was nothing to him.

“I was wondering when this might happen.” Grace rested her hands in her lap, her eyes haunted.

“I don’t know what the fuss is about. She’s just some girl.” But there was something familiar about that girl.

Alexander placed the well-worn book back on the nightstand. “Something else happened though.” A rise of excitement traveled up within him. “It was…was.”

“What?”

He pivoted to face her.

“I’m not sure. Something strange is happening to me. Do you think I might be gaining some of my powers back?” Alexander plopped down onto his bed. He hated that he sounded like a typical teenager waiting with baited breath for permission to attend some party. Except this was no party. This was everything.

Grace squeezed his hand. “Anything is possible, but why do you think you’re getting them back?”

“I felt different when I tried to push the demonic images from her mind. It was as if something was moving in my stomach. My hands were shaking and sweaty, and my head spun.”

“I see.” Grace rose from the bed and walked around the room for a moment. “Where your powers are concerned, I’ve often wondered if their loss was due to guilt you clung to over the woman dying in the car crash, and that they’d return when you’re ready to forgive yourself. I never believed Heaven revoked them. However, in this case I think something else is going on.”

“What? What else could it be?”

“Alex, the symptoms you spoke of could also mean that you feel something for this girl. Something a teenage boy might feel for a teenage girl.”

Alexander clinched his fist tight around the corner of a navy blue pillow. “I don’t want anything to do with her. I only experienced my powers returning.” She glanced at his hand. He unclenched it and smoothed the wrinkles on the gray bedspread.

“Again, I believe it may be possible. But if you do start to find yourself attracted to this girl, I urge you to talk to me about it. There are things you need to know.”

“What kind of things?”

Grace took a deep accentuated breath, “You need to understand, you might have the body of a teenage boy, and the healing powers of an ancient angel, but you have the self-control of a two-year-old child.”

Alexander bolted from the bed, pillow clutched tight in his hand. “Self-control of a two-year-old?

“Yes, after all you’ve only been human a little less than two years.”

“That’s ridiculous. I showed amazing restraint today when I didn’t kill all those worthless demons.” As he paced the floor, anxiety burned his skin at the thought of those demons touching Gaby.

“You must speak to me about these things. It is imperative you understand how powerful you are and how easily you can lose control. I love you, son. I’m here for a reason.”

As Grace left, Alexander scoffed. He wasn’t two and he didn’t have a problem with control and certainly didn’t have feelings for a human. It was just that she seemed so frail and in need of protection.