The bathroom door opened and she slipped past me in her silky nightgown.
“There you are,” I bit back the words which were coming to my mind. She looked incredible. Like an elf with her slender figure and the flowing fabric…
“Do you have a blanket?” She sat down on the edge of the couch, assuming she was going to sleep there, and something about it disturbed me. Maybe it was how she thought I could even consider it.
“You don’t honestly think I’ll make you sleep on the couch, do you? You can sleep in my bed.” She had been through so much. Her body needed rest. She was vulnerable and human, mortal.
“And you?”
“I’ll take the couch.” I pulled a blanket from the dresser and grabbed a pillow from my bed, hesitating as I dropped them beside her on the couch, close enough to feel her warmth as I bent down. For a second, I considered leaning in and kissing her half-parted lips, but then my rational half kicked in and I straightened up, ready to leave the room. She’d been through enough today. Our relationship and where we were headed shouldn’t be on my agenda tonight, no matter how much I wanted to take back all the words I had spoken a week ago, she deserved a night of rest without another thing to worry about.
“Go to sleep,” I ordered, gently, before I crossed the threshold and closed the door behind me. “You’ve been through a lot—you should rest.”
Again, my heart protested as I let her out of my sight, but it was better this way. I would be within earshot if she needed anything. I used the guest bathroom to brush my teeth and take a shower and didn’t wait until the water was warm before I jumped in, eager to return to Claire. I was just rinsing my hair when a scream jerked me out of the shower. Claire! I slung a towel around my waist and sprinted to the other end of the hall.
When I crashed in through the door, Claire was fast asleep, rolling from one side to the other, hair tangling around her tortured face.
“Claire! Wake up!” I grabbed her shoulders and shook her, not as gently as I’d intended to, but it worked. She opened her eyes, shock sitting deep in her bones, and only blinked after a few seconds when drops of water were dripping from my hair on her cheek.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you.” I sat down, making sure my towel didn’t slip. I scooted close enough so I could feel her beside me. “I heard you scream—”
She blinked again, unleashing the welling tears from her eyes. “Bad dream,” she sobbed and hid her face in my pillows. Pain was fresh in her memory as if I had rescued her from actual torture. If a dream could do this to her, how bad must the reality be?
“You have to tell me what happened, Claire,” I urged, unwilling to guess any longer. If I knew more, maybe I could do something for her. “Please…”
As if drawn by my tender tone, she sat up and started talking, voice considerably steady for the amount of water falling from her eyes.
“When I got home Friday night, I wasn’t alone,” her expression grew distant and I laid my hand on her forearm to let her feel she wasn’t going back to those dark hours alone. I was there with her. “When they attacked, there was another angel. My guardian angel. He was captured with me. And if he hadn’t been there, I wouldn’t have survived.”
I ground my teeth, forcing myself to listen. I had known this wasn’t going to be a nursery tale.
“I was unconscious when they brought us to a house out of the city which was a demon’s lair… Alabaster they said.”
Hadn’t Maureen spoken about Alabaster? She’d been scared of him. It couldn’t be a coincidence.
“Thanks to Jaden, I wasn’t awake when they tortured me. He put me to sleep with a touch of his hand, making sure I wouldn’t feel the pain—and I wouldn’t give up your mark. But mainly, because as my guardian angel he would do anything to protect me.”
I bit back a sarcastic laugh. Jaden would do anything? He hadn’t done a great job considering the state Claire was in. There were residues of agony all over her emotions, lurking there and biding their time to attack her again the way they had in her dream. She kept talking about how he had eased her pain with his hands and how he had shared about angel abilities like teleporting. “He took a great risk,” she continued. “Guardian angels aren’t supposed to show themselves to their fosterlings.” There was admiration in her words and I didn’t like it. Jaden seemed impressive and wonderful. A true immortal, not a weak lineage like me. He had been there to soothe Claire when I had forsaken her. As grateful as I was for that, I hated that someone else had taken my place. “He saved me. When Alabaster pushed that heart-stopping ball of light into my chest, he took them all down. And he teleported us out of there and into the woods. Probably knowing you’d find me there…” Her voice trailed away.
“His name was Alabaster—are you sure?” I put my impulses aside and focused on her story instead, trying to put together the puzzle. Maureen still had to fit in there somehow, and she hadn’t been there at the demon’s house. Claire would have recognized her.
“I guess so… They talked about a guy named Alabaster the evening they kidnapped me and he had this white skin, alabaster-like—so I think it must have been him.”
“So, what happened to him?”
“Dead, probably. Jaden finished him and the spell broke, so we could get away.”
Maureen had basically warned me about him and his power and his ruthlessness. My stomach squirmed at the thought of Claire in his claws.
“What’s wrong?”
“Alabaster,” I jumped to my feet. If this was true, we might be safe after all. If the demon who was after us was dead… Was there hope?
“You know him?”
“Not exactly—I’ve heard of him. He was dangerous—I’m positive he would have used you to get to me. Your guardian angel killed one of the most powerful existing demons—just like that.”
“I can’t remember what happened exactly—my attention was occupied with trying to keep my heart beating with the silver sphere working through it…” Her hand reached up to her chest, fingers touching her sternum where the silk covered her skin. I averted my eyes, defying the temptation to lay my hand on top of hers.
“Jaden must be very old and therefore stronger,” I reacted to her words rather than her gestures.
“Angels get stronger when they grow old? Don’t you die at all?” she wanted to know the one thing giving me a headache when I thought of her and me. “I mean—Jaden said he’s more than nine-hundred years old, but he looks my age… How is that possible? No one lives that long.” She shook her head in disbelief.
“Actually, angels can,” I corrected, but regretted it immediately. Now she would want to know if I was immortal.
“How long is long?” There was curiosity streaming toward me, suffocating the pain and fear she’d felt a minute ago, and I couldn’t resist.
“Forever.”
She stared disbelievingly, and I pedaled back a bit so it wouldn’t sound so bad. “It always depends on how strong their lineage is, of course. Jaden is the oldest I’ve heard of…”
“How many others do you know?” she interrupted.
“I’m sorry, I can’t tell you.” Not that there was anything to tell on the angel side, besides what I knew from the book. And the demon side… I couldn’t find the heart to tell her about Maureen. For now, it just felt better to not talk about it at all. I simply wanted to keep her pain and fear at bay…
“Why all that secrecy again? You see where being the stupid, uninformed ex-girlfriend got me. I nearly died.” She threw her hands in the air, unleashing all the bottled-up frustration and anger and it hit me right in the chest. “Like keeping me in the dark has done me any good so far—”
She was right. And even if I had thought it would be better to not bring up the issue tonight, now seemed to be the time to talk about our relationship. I couldn’t risk her getting a wrong impression.
“I know,” I agreed with a smile, preparing to pronounce the words I’d been dying to say since the moment she had lef
t my house a week ago. “I will not send you away tonight—”
She prepared to protest, but I cut her off.
“—or tomorrow, or any time. I never felt as empty as I did the last few days—knowing that my love for you is so strong I could never succeed fighting the feeling. And I could never bear it, knowing that you would be out there somewhere, brokenhearted, and that it was my fault. It almost ripped my soul apart.”
While she was staring blankly, trying to wrap her head around what I had just said, I bent down and used the time to touch my lips against her forehead. Her skin smelled like blossoms in spring and I inhaled deeply before she could pull away.
“Why?”
It was me who tore away, trying to read from her eyes what she meant. Wasn’t she as relieved as I was that the heartache was over?
“I mean—why can you be with me now? A week ago you told me it was not safe—”
I read her emotions and saw that she didn’t trust the situation. Not yet. I deserved her distrust. I had sent her away, left her alone in this dangerous world when I was the factor who had put her in danger.
“That was before I understood they already knew about you.” I thought of Maureen’s words, the book and the puzzle pieces I had put together for myself. “I tried to stay away from you and keep you in the dark about everything from the moment I found out what was happening to me. They must have found out somehow—” I sat down beside her again, and secured her against my chest, arms ready to take any blow for her. “I failed to protect you, and I’m sorry.”
She shivered and it was as if someone flipped a switch in her. All the reluctance to trust me was gone with my apology and she pulled herself more tightly against me. Her lips touched my shoulder and her breath rushed over my skin, leaving a trail of blazing heat. My arms wrapped even tighter around her and my lips grazed down the side of her face until they melted into hers. Her reaction was instantaneous and, even knowing how beautiful her desire for me was, I couldn’t ever get used to it. And now, after all the fear and pain of separation, it had an entirely new quality. It was as if there was no tomorrow for either of us.
I chuckled as her fingers tickled my neck, pleasure filling my entire being. She was different. Some degree of naivety was gone. Where there had been girlish infatuation at first, now there was womanly love and the confidence to act on it. And I let her. And how she kissed me pushed me over the edge of all promises to myself that I would always be patient with her. I steered my lips away from her sweet lips and brushed them along her jaw and then down along her throat and collarbone, letting myself drown in her presence and passion.
Her heart stuttered and she tore away, sucking in a deep breath, wide eyes on mine. Now they were guarded. She had reined in her emotions.
I didn’t push to continue, seeing the reflection of my own eyes in hers. They were glowing light-green, reminding us both that we were two different species. But I was willing to take all the pain and worry it came with as long as I had Claire in my life.
“Sorry, that was too fast,” I apologized and turned my head to the side, not wanting to give her any reason to doubt if we should be together.
“Don’t,” her hand caught my cheek and gently pulled my face back toward her. “Don’t be sorry.”
“I’m scaring you.” There was fear in her aura, and so I closed my eyes so she wouldn’t have to see the eerie glow.
“No.” She waited for a second, giving me time to reopen my eyes, but I didn’t. What if I had wasted my chance to make it up to her and she would eventually give up on us? “Adam, look at me,” she demanded, voice full of confidence. “You are not scaring me. Is that clear?”
Anxious to see if she was telling the truth, I lifted my eyelids and looked into the perfect oceans which were her eyes. There was no doubt there, no fear was clouding her emotions, nothing but the pristine love the bond of our souls had established.
“I must admit I have to get used to it, but I think you’re beautiful. It’s part of what you are, and you are the one I love.”
And a twinkle shone in her eyes as I lost myself in her gaze and leaned in to kiss her tenderly, but was too slow to control my angelic strength. And so I pushed her into the pillows, resting my chest on hers and tasting her lips and her beauty and her pure heart all at once, forgetting that there was a tomorrow.
17
Stolen Moments
It was dawn when Claire fell asleep in my arms after an eternity of kissing, too exhausted to move even an inch. I waited until her breathing was even before I slipped my arm out from under her neck and tiptoed to the dresser to pull out my pajama pants and a shirt. I dropped the towel and slid into the clothes before I snuggled into bed, taking the exact same position as before. As I watched Claire sleep, peaceful and quiet, no screams escaping her rosy lips and no fear haunting her dreams, I knew I’d made the right decision to bring her here. What a fool I had been to think I could protect her by letting her out of my sight.
I didn’t close my eyes until the sun came up and lifted the gray veil of the night. Only then was I ready to believe that all the dark creatures must have retreated into the shadows, far away from us. And even then, I allowed myself only an hour of rest before I lifted my eyelids, anxious not to miss any stir in Claire’s sleep. I would protect her from now on. My fingers traced her hairline when a slow wave of tenderness saturated the room, and for a moment I wished I could see inside her head as much as I could into her feelings. Was she dreaming of me?
The violent ring of her cellphone tore me from her side. I remembered she had put it in her pocket with her keys last night. I teleported to the other side of the room to grab the source of the noise. Sophie’s face was smiling at me from the display. I teleported back to Claire, to see if she had woken up, but she was still deeply asleep.
“Claire,” I whispered in her ear when the phone didn’t stop ringing, but she just rolled to the side with a groan and continued back into her dreams.
With a smile, I switched off the sound and put the phone aside, to curl myself around her while she was still far away from any reason to worry. I, on the other hand, was already awake enough to let my mind circle around scenarios of what would happen to us. And there was one option which was likely. There would be more demons finding out that Claire had escaped and they would come looking for us, and they would find us. Then, fate would decide how long we would exist.
For a long while I just lay there, calming myself with Claire’s peaceful aura, and then a thought hit me. If Friday night had been her last real meal, she would be starving when she woke up.
Again I stole myself away from her side, reluctant and with my full attention on the quiet sound of her breathing. I rushed down to the kitchen to get some coffee and juice and some of the pastries Geoffrey brought in every Sunday morning.
When I returned, Claire had just lifted her head and realized I was gone. For a fraction of a second, it bothered me that she knew I had left her side for even a minute, but then her smile appeased me.
“About time you woke up,” I returned her smile with a heart so light I hadn’t felt in weeks. “I tried to wake you this morning when your cell rang—Sophie—but all I got was a groan and then you curled up again.”
She rested her head back onto the pillows and pulled up the blanket, eyeing the tray I was carrying with curiosity. I set it down on the bed, ready to serve her.
“For me?” She smiled even wider as she saw the flower I had put on top of her breakfast.
“Absolutely,” I had to grin at her expression. It was obvious she wasn’t used to being spoiled. “I think you need it. When was the last time you’ve eaten?”
“Friday evening—” she confirmed my assumption and her stomach growled as if to emphasize it was about time she paid it some attention.
“That’s a pretty long time—” I handed her a croissant on a small plate and watched her bite into it. She must have been starving judging by the speed the croissant disappeared into her mouth.
Not taking my eyes off of her, I reached for the coffee cup and handed it to her, too.
“Thank you.”
She didn’t need to thank me. It was all part of the Adam-boyfriend-package. I would never let her starve for another day. I would be with her, making sure she was safe, and I’d doing everything I could to make her happy. As I watched her eat, she got nervous and I enjoyed seeing the effect I had on her firsthand. Everything was so intensified since I’d marked her.
“What?” She pulled up her hands as if to shield herself from my gaze.
It was endearing how she thought she could hide anything from me. “I love you.”
She returned my smile instantly. The same way she had reacted last night, her emotions indicated how far from eating her thoughts must be. And with the blaze of passion came a suffocating wave of embarrassment. She was very aware of how transparent she was, and even though she'd ignored it last night, today was a different story.
“It’s amazing how much you can feel at one time,” I observed aloud, letting her know there was no reason to be embarrassed with me, ever.
Instead of easing her mind, she got annoyed—not about me, but herself.
“You know, most people are very straightforward. One feeling at a time. Fear or hatred, love, lust …But you—” I explained, trying to make her feel more at ease with me. No matter what happened, I would never think less of her for how she felt for me. “You seem to be a lot more complex than the average nineteen-year-old.” I tried to suppress the amusement in my tone as I read the quick shifts in her emotions.
“And you’re not funny,” she stuck out her tongue like a little child and then laid back on the pillow. I took the coffee cup from her hand before I laid down next to her, drawn by her unique charm. She was adorable, even in her most childish moments. Underneath the layer of unpredictability and immaturity she was pulling up like a curtain to hide behind, there was this amazing person shining through. This beautiful person, brave and strong and capable of sacrifice. Capable of love. I gazed at her and let her play her game, perfectly able to watch the perfection under the surface. She was even more authentic when she thought her facade held up. Then the real Claire underneath roamed freely and I could all but see her soul.
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