When Angels Fall (21 page)

Dani started to cry, and she turned and went back into the house. She couldn’t face him, not after what she’d done. She didn’t know how she would ever face him again. She crawled into a big chair, cur
led up, and wished for death
.

2.

Gabriel had never cried a day in his life, but he felt tears running down his face now. Everything he had feared had been confirmed when Dani had started to cry. He had hurt her in a way that she had never experienced, and the knowledge of it was destroying him. He was no better than Buddy.

Leso had been talking to Damon when Dani walked out onto the porch; and now tried to stop Gabriel as he walked to
ward the house, “Gabriel, wait! Y
ou should know that…,”

But Gabriel didn’t have time for him right now, “Leave,” he said, and waved his arm across the yard, never even turning to look at Leso.

Gabriel teleported
everyone
that had been on
the back half of the property up
to the main house across
the creek. Teleporting
them
that
way
wouldn’t hurt them.

He walked the rest of
the way to the house and stepped
through the open door. Dani was curled into a ball in a chair.

“Dani,” he said in a broken voice, but she wouldn’t look at him.

He swallowed the lump that had risen in his throat and tried again, “Please look at me, Dani. I need to talk to you.”

“No,” she said in a muffled voice.

“Okay, just listen then,” he said and sank to his knees in front of the chair.

“You don’t have to say anything. I know what I d
id; I saw the hurt on your face,
and I’m
so
sorry for what I’ve done. I remember the things you said the night I met you,” she
said, still not looking at him.
“I know that you hate me now
,
and I understand you can never
forgive me. I’ll never forgive
myself
for what I’ve done t
o you. There’s nothing you can
say to me to make me feel any worse.”

Gabriel looked at her in confusion.
She
was apologizing to
him
? She thought that
he
hated
her?
She
would never forgive
herself
?
What in the world was she talking about? He thought back to the night they’d met and remembered the things he’d said to her about angels mating with humans. Could it really be possible that she thought, in some way, that she’d harmed
him
?

“Dani, no; you don’t understand,” he said.

“Please just go away and leave me alone,” she cried.

“That is
not
going to happen,” he said and pulled her out of the chair.

He sat down and put Dani on his lap, “The only thing that will ever pull me away from you is death itself.”

Dani finally looked at him, “You don’t hate me?”

“Hate you? Never, love.
There’s
nothing you could ever do to make me hate you,” he said,
and kissed the tip of her nose.
“The hurt you saw on my face was from what
I
thought I did to
you
.”

“What are you…,” she was saying, but Gabriel stopped her.

“Hush woman and let me say this while
I still have a chance,” he said.
“After what we did last night, I thought I’d taken advantage of
you
. That maybe you’d felt in some way obligated to give you body to me. It even occurred to me that you thought I’d take you anyway if you didn’t agree.”

She looked up at him with tears still sparkling on her lashes, “That’s the dumbest shit I’ve ever heard in my…,”

“Shh,” he said, and
laid his finger across her lips.
“I feel absolutely
no
shame for making love to you. I don’t feel like I’ve
lowered
myself in any way
by
making love to you. If you believe nothing else I say, please believe that.”

“But you said…
” she tried to say.

“I know what I said,” he said, cutting her off again, “and I was wrong. The only thing I can say in way of an explanation is that I was a child then.”

“That was like, four days ago,
and
you
’
r
e
over four million years old. That’s hardly a chi…” she said.

“Would you, for once in your life, please stop talking and just listen for a change?” he said, smiling down at her. “Maybe I should have said I was
like
a child then.
I
didn’t understand what it was like to fall in love. I didn’t even know that I
could
fall in love. Even if I had known it was possible, I would never have thought I’d fall in love with the
last
Daughter of God.

“And I
did
fall
in love with you,” Gabriel said.
“I love you Danielle Renee Coulter; I’ll swear it before God, if that’s what it takes to convince you. I’ll fight for you when Lucifer comes; not because of God’s orders, but because I won’t allow him to harm the woman I love.

“I
did
believe that an angel would lower themselves by being with a human, but I was wrong, Dani. Being with you has done nothing but lift me up. The only thing you could do to hurt me now is to tell me you don’t feel the same for me,” he said. “
Do
you love me?”

“I…yes, I do,” she said, nodding her head.

He saw the truth of it in her eyes, and he felt his heart swell in his chest. He hugged her tightly to his chest; then groaned when he’d realized what Leso had been trying to tell him.

Dani pulled back and looked up at him, “What’s wrong?”

“Leso tried to tell me that you and I were confused, but I didn’t even
try
to listen to what he had to say,” Gabrie
l said.
“He was trying to help me before I could make matter’s any worse, and I thanked him by teleporting him and his fami
ly to the front of the property
and creating a bubble around us so that they couldn’t get back in before I finished begging you to forgive me.”

“How could
he
have
possibly
know
n
that we were confused about anything?” she asked.

“He has a gift that allows him to read the emotions of others. His sister-in-law
, Beck
has
the same ability,” Gabriel said.
“He read us like a book and tried to warn me, and I banished him for it.”

“What are you going to do?
” she said when he stood up and set her on her feet.

“I’m going to go apologize to him,” he said.

3.

Dani held Gabriel’s hand as the
y
walked along the path to the house at the front of the property. Gabriel was carrying his sword in a sheath that hung down his back. Gunner had given it to him the night before. They ran into Leso who was leaning against the railing in the middle of
D.J.
Bridge
.
Leso looked down at Dani and Gabriel’s’ linked hands and smiled.

“I tried to warn you,” he said.

“I know you did, and I deeply apologize for what I did to you and you
r
family.” Gabriel said. “It was rude and ungrateful.”

“It’s alright, everyone thought it was kind o
f cool,” Leso said with a smile.
“We can all run and jump, but only Richard, Beck and Potter have ever transported. Unless you count the rabbit, and Jenny usually does.”

They walked on to the main house
,
and Dani listened to Gabriel apologize to everyone else he’d vanished into thin air.

“So are you two going to set out today or do you want to stick around for another night?” Potter asked.

“It’s up to Dani,” Gabriel said, and kissed
Dani’s hand.
“Would you like to stay?”

“If I can spend most of that time alone with you,” Dani said, blushing.

“That’s not going to be a problem. All of the hunters are going to
Nashville
tonight to try to take care of some unfinished business,
” Potter said.
“The vampires are going to stay here to help take care of any stray Cambion and grab any demons that sack up enough to try to rise up on this property. You’ll be safe here for the night.”

“Then I’d love to stay,” she said.

“But we’ll only be staying one more night. I know it will take a while for Lucifer to walk off what Dani said to him, but I refuse to risk you lives,” Gabriel said, “The moment he rises, he’ll be able to find me wherever I am, and no matter how good you are, you cannot stand against him.”

They talked for a few more minutes before Potter called
over
to
Gabriel from across the yard
, “Can I talk to you for a minute?”

“You may,” Gabriel said and walked with Potter towards the driveway.

4.

Gabriel followed Potter most of the way down the long driveway before Potter turned to talk to him, “Can I ask you a question without offending you?”

“I’ll answer any question I can,” Gabriel said.

“Should you be doing what you’re doing with Dani?” Potter asked.

“Can I be honest with you?” he asked and Potter nodded. “I don’t know what the hell I’m doing. None of this was suppose to happen between the t
wo of us. I was supposed to
come down here, keep Dani safe, strike down Lucifer
,
and hopefully go home. Then I fell in love with her, and now…,” Gabriel said and stopped himself from saying more.

“Is there any
real
chance of yo
u going home now?” Potter asked.
“I heard your brother say that you’d already been kicked out of Heaven. What are the odds of you getting back in now that you’ve fuc…” that was as far as Potter got before Gabriel grabbed him by the throat and lifted him off the ground.

“If you use that word to describe what Dani and I have done, I will kill you right here and now, hunter,” Gabriel said and dropped Potter.

“My apologies,” Potter said rubbing his throat, “I didn’t mean to offend you, it’s just how I’m accustom
ed
to talking. I just lost my head.”

“You’ll loose it literally if those words
ever
le
ave your mouth,” Gabriel warned.
“But to answer your question, I don’t really care about going back to Heaven
anymore. I just want to keep Dani
alive through the coming battle. What happens to me doesn’t matter after that. I’ll either get to stay here with her or I’ll be dead.”

“You sound like you’re really in love,” Potter said. “And if you’re happy, then I’m happy for you.”

“I’m very happy to b
e with her, even it’s to only be
for a short time,” Gabriel said.
“But why are you asking me about this? I appreciate what you’ve done for Dani, but how
I feel about her is a little above
of your pay grade, don’t you think?”

“It’s a safety is
sue,” Potter said, and shrugged.
“Demons and Cambion we can deal with, but if God starts throwing lightning bolts at you, we kinda need to know when to duck and cover.”

Ga
briel laughed,” Don’t worry, my Father
won’t summon me until this is over. And if He starts throwing lightning bolts at me, He
will not
miss.”

5.

“What was that
all about?” Dani asked Gabriel when they were walking back to their temporary home.

Gabriel smiled down at her, “He just wanted to disc
uss some safety concerns he had.
I told him t
here was nothing to worry about.
”

Gabriel led her to D.J.’s Bridge, “Sit down for a minute, there’s something I want to talk to you about.”

Dani sat down on the bridge and let her legs dangle over the creek, which had turned out to be a good twenty feet deep. She
hoped he wasn’t going to tell her something that she didn’t want to hear.

“It’s about your father,” Gabriel said, sitting down next to her and taking her hand.

“I don’t want to talk about my father,” she said
,
and tried to pull her hand away.