“What’s the average nineteen-year-old girl like?” she wanted to know, studying the plain white ceiling with surprising interest.
I chuckled. “Not interesting.” It was hard to stay serious when she was pushing me to confirm my feelings for her. But then, I understood. While I could see through her, she had nothing but my words and actions to go by. She had no other proof of my love than my word.
“Oh, come on—no lies.” She turned over so she could look into my eyes and stared as if she would unearth the truth by pure willpower.
“Honestly—not interesting.”
“And why would that be?” A strand of hair was sliding into her eyes, diverting my attention.
“Because I don’t see them anymore…” I took the strand between my fingers and slowly pulled it back behind her ear. It resembled the silk she was wearing. With a warning from my rational half, I pulled back my hand before it could curl around her neck and pull her toward me. “From the moment I met you, I stopped looking at them because what I wanted was right in front of me.” I lifted my head to kiss her nose. “None of them is holding any interest for me—only you are. And I’m lucky you’re here.” The dark thoughts from that morning returned into my head and I struggled to keep my expression smooth.
“My heart almost broke when you turned up in the woods yesterday. I felt how hurt you were, how exhausted and scared.” While I explained, I absentmindedly reached for her hand. “I made a huge mistake by trying to keep you away. I thought not knowing too much would make you less interesting to the demons—less valuable. I thought if they saw that we had broken up, they would see no necessity in taking you.” How could I have allowed myself such poor judgment? “I could have lost you forever without knowing it and it would have been my fault and only mine.”
Claire’s eyes widened as I spoke. She had no idea how much I regretted my mistake.
“What if Jaden hadn’t been so strong, what if there had been more than one the moment Jaden attacked Alabaster? Both of you would have been dead and I would have murder on my hands—not that I would have cared about being found guilty—life without you means nothing to me.”
“You can’t say a thing like that. I won’t allow it,” she objected, squeezing my hand. “I’m alive. Jaden got me out—Everything’s fine.”
Her words didn’t convince me.
“Yeah, this time. But what could have happened—” I could hardly think of it. “What if they kidnap you again? You won’t survive a second time. They won’t care about a mark—or whatever it is called. They’ll slay you right away.” I was grateful she hadn’t read the part of the book which explained in detail how vengeful demons were. “We have to find a way to hide you from them. By now, they will have found out that you’re gone and Alabaster’s dead, and then they won’t stop looking for you until they’ve killed either you or Jaden or both of you.”
Panic was rising in my chest, cornering the hope I’d felt earlier.
“It was only three others. Jaden could tear them apart easily one at a time. They were below Alabaster, hierarchically, I mean. They captured me on his behalf and seemed to follow his orders. They might be useless without him,” she reasoned, making it sound better than I dared to believe.
“No, Claire. You don’t understand what’s going on, do you?” With a kick from my rational mind, I pushed back the panic. I was still in control. Something like this wasn’t going to happen to Claire ever again. Not if I could help it. This time I was going to be around twenty-four seven. Maybe share her protection with Jaden if I couldn’t cover it in full. Med school could wait. This was where I needed to be.
“How should I? Jaden made me go unconscious every time I could have gotten details, I had no time to do more research and you won’t tell me.” Frustration drew a long crease between her eyebrows. “Why don’t you tell me?”
“What do you want to know?” First things first. She needed to understand just how much danger she was still in.
“Tell me about the mark, please,” she asked with a voice which reminded me of when she had wanted me to kiss her. “I’d like to understand what that’s all about.” As she fluttered her eyelids at me, I realized she knew less than I’d thought and she felt she needed to lure the information out of me.
“Didn’t Jaden tell you all you need to know?” I asked aloud.
“I told you I was unconscious every time it became interesting—Jaden saw to that.”
I flinched as she went back in her memories.
“So what about marks?” I rolled to the side, propping myself up on one arm and ran my finger across her cheek. It would have been so much easier if I hadn’t marked her. “If I had known…” I would have stayed away from her before. I would have made sure she would have never been drawn into this eternal war between good and evil. Giving up the chance to be with her would have been a small sacrifice compared to fighting the dangers I’d put her in. At least before I’d marked her, only my soul had been affected. It would have been me who would have suffered, not her…at least not the way she had since I had left her… “But I did not know—how could I? The moment I spread my wings in your room the first time I didn’t know what was happening. I didn’t know what it would do to you—I didn’t know then that I would interfere with your future. If I had been aware of the danger it would cause, I would have stayed away from you.”
She gazed at me in disbelief, repulsed by my suggestion as much as moved by my concern.
“I’m glad you didn’t—stay away from me.”
My fingers stopped and I took a moment to read her face. A bit of stubbornness was cloaking the underlying emotions, and they were all there. The pain of losing me, the fear of the demons, the worry of what I was going to do next. “How did I know you would say that?”
She held my gaze, ready to move on with the conversation.
“So, you marked me when you spread your wings for the first time?” she made sure I didn’t change the subject.
“It seems that this is the way things go. You feel that person in your vision, you search for them, you find them, you love them, they make you spread your wings, you inevitably mark them—and they are doomed.”
“You mean to tell me I’m doomed?”
“I am sorry, Claire. If there was a way to undo the mark, I’d do it without hesitation.” I would. Truly. But there was no way of turning back.
“Don’t say that,” she objected, ready to accept a fact and excuse my fault in it. “Jaden told me when you spread your wings for the first time, I was the catalyst. He said our souls interlaced in that moment—that you left your mark on me. I don’t want to split my soul from yours—not even if that means I’m doomed.”
As she let go of all her masks, verbalizing what I was perceiving from her, she almost shone with authenticity. It was an image I could get used to…so beautiful.
“You don’t know—you don’t have any idea what that means to me.” My eyes reflected glowing green in hers as I fought my urge to just let it go and ignore the dangers. “Though you underestimate the situation.”
“I don’t think I do, Adam. Jaden told me what it would mean for a person to lose their angel and for an angel to lose the person who carries their mark. They would literally go insane.”
As I tried to read from her face what she was thinking, I felt that she was fighting her own urges.
“You can’t change what has happened.” She closed her eyes and threw herself to her side, spilling her hair out between us. I marveled at the waterfall of sand and failed to react when the plate slid off the bed and hit the floor with a loud bang. Before I could think, I was standing in the shreds of china and started picking them up. Claire jumped and I laid my hand on the tray, keeping it from falling, too. She was confused by my quick change of location. Hadn’t she teleported with Jaden?
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you.”
“How did you do that?”
“I really try to act normal, believe me. But everything is s
o brand-new to me, even after some time—I can’t always control my abilities the way I want to.” And I wanted to. It would have made those past weeks a lot easier if things had come more naturally, but it had been a struggle, from the beginning, with no one there to guide me.
She watched me clean up, fascination in her eyes. “It’s okay. It’s part of who you are.” She caught a strand of my hair and wrapped it around her finger, making me hold still and look at her. “I don’t only want parts of you—I want all of you.”
She mused silently while I read the quiet waves of her emotions. There was no drama there now, just confidence she was doing the right thing.
“How can you be so calm? You almost died, don’t you understand?”
She shook her head, indicating she didn’t want to think about it anymore, but the slightest unevenness stirred her emotions.
“Want some more?” I held up a croissant and waited for a second until she shook her head again. Her hand let go of my curl and I took it as a sign that she was ready to be left alone for a minute or two.
She would need to call Sophie back, and maybe she would need a couple more minutes to think about our conversation. I didn’t want to bias her perception of the situation by my presence when she was reflecting, and so I took a detour to the laundry room and put on some fresh clothes before I went down to the kitchen and leaned against the counter, tray sitting beside me, and listened to the sounds of the house. Geoffrey’s footsteps in the living room, Ben’s pencil on a piece of paper as he was drawing in his room. Claire’s voice as she was speaking to her sister…
I let my mind drift to last night. Claire’s sensual kisses, the way she hadn’t tried to hide behind any mask but had been her brilliant self…
“Ouch!” Claire’s voice in the hall startled me. Was she alright? What had happened?
Before I could think of teleporting to her, Ben’s voice sounded through the walls.
“You still here?” It wasn’t a friendly tone.
“As you can see—” Claire didn’t sound any nicer. She was fighting ice with ice.“Where is Adam, anyway?”
“Kitchen.”
“Thanks.”
I couldn’t see the quiet exchange of their eyes, but I was certain I knew exactly what I would see. Ben’s cold stare and Claire’s mirroring his exact expression in an attempt at self-preservation.
When I was almost running toward them, feeling the need to save Claire from Ben’s moods, Geoffrey’s footsteps joined them from the living room.
“Can I help you, Miss?” He sounded as polite as ever.
“I’m looking for Adam. Ben said he is in the kitchen.”
There was a moment of silence before they started walking.
“It’s good to have you back here, Miss Gabriel. Master Adam missed you, you know.”
I ground my teeth. It wasn’t his place to share this information with her. “And don’t be upset with Master Benedict. He is trying to do the right thing.” What right thing was he talking about? Be an idiot toward Claire to help me get over her? Not a chance.
My anger was gone the second Claire’s face appeared in the door. She eyed me from head to toe, obviously liking what she saw, and I rushed over to kiss her before I could be distracted by anything or anyone.
“Hey, honey.” All I wanted was to return to my room and have her to myself. Who knew how long our time together would be free from demonic disturbance.
As I dragged her through the shortcut behind the kitchen and upstairs, her fingers in my hand were relaxed. Until we ran into Ben. He didn’t stop or speak, probably silenced by the warning look I gave him, but he glared and almost ran Claire over as he rushed past us. He wasn’t angry at me, his unfriendly demeanor was directed only toward her, and I couldn’t figure out why.
“What’s his problem?” Claire asked when we had arrived in the safety of my room.
I dropped onto my bed with an eye-roll. “Don’t bother—honestly, just ignore him.”
“But I do.” Of course, she did. Maybe if I found a way to take her mind off of things…
“Claire, just let it go. “ I glanced out the window and the sunlight put an idea in my head. “There’s something I want to show you.” She hadn’t seen all my abilities yet. If I could take her to the snowy plains and take her flying, maybe she would forget about Ben.
“What is it?” Her eyes sparkled with curiosity.
“I will show you… If you come with me.”
“Where to?”
“Just come with me.” I got to my feet and grabbed a hoodie from the dresser. “Put your jacket on,” I instructed and led the way downstairs, knowing she wouldn’t stay behind. I listened to her rhythmic footsteps behind me.
“Aren’t you afraid to go out after all that happened?” she asked and a cloud of worries caught up with me.
“Why?” I unlocked my car.
“Because technically they are not searching for me—what they really want is you. For them, I’m only a tool to get to you, worth nothing when they have you—”
I bit back a sigh of frustration. She was right. But I had sworn to myself that I would protect her. She would be fine.
“Don’t worry. I’ll take care of both of us,” I promised and helped her into the car before I teleported into the driver’s seat.
Claire swallowed next to me. It was clear she was struggling to hide how much she still had to get used to my angelic powers. Despite knowing what I was capable of, experiencing it firsthand must be scary to her.
“Where are we going?” she asked after minutes of silence.
“Not far.”
Steering the car into the woods, I thought up ways to make this moment special for Claire. I wanted to share all of what I was with her and show her the greatest joy of my new self. We both deserved a little bit of happiness. By the time I parked under the trees, I decided to surprise her. No dramatic entrance this time. I would simply take her to the snowy plains and take off with her in my arms and see her reaction.
“What are we doing in the middle of nowhere?” she asked as I opened the door for her, the skeptical frown on her forehead making me chuckle.
“That’s not the middle of nowhere—it’s my parents’ land.”
“Correct me if this sounds crazy, but—you own a forest?” Her bulging eyes pushed me into a laugh of delight.
“Yes, I guess we do.” She watched me for a second, trying to understand what was so funny about it. But there was nothing funny about it. It was the pure joy of finally being myself with my Claire. “Let’s go!” I took her hand and pulled her with me into the darker part of the woods, where only fractions of sunlight were touching the frozen ground. It was only there that I felt safe enough to stop and ask her to close her eyes. Without a second thought, she followed my request, and I used my fast angelic mind to memorize her features. The soft curves of her lips as they were gently pressing against each other, the arches of her eyebrows, building a fragile frame for her eyes, the long, sand-colored lashes, framing her diamond-shaped eyes. I was glad they were hidden behind her eyelids. By no means did I want to make her uncomfortable with my dramatic stare. It was a mental picture of her I was painting in my head. A photograph meant to last for eternity.
I lifted my hand, ready to touch her cheekbones, but then decided against it. This was my moment. She didn’t need to even know. And I closed my own eyes and thought of the snowy plains, and cradled her against my chest so she wouldn’t lose orientation. It took a couple of seconds to fade out of the forest and into the white, sun-illuminated field. My angel-eyes didn’t struggle to see every snowflake, every icy crystal under my feet. Claire, on the other hand, had to blink a couple of times before her vision adjusted to the bright light.
“Where are we?” There was less confusion in her words than astonishment.
“Somewhere near Madison, Wisconsin.”
“What? How—” she said a little too loud to hide her sudden understanding that I had teleported us here. There wa
s shock and amazement as she looked up at me. Her eyes were almost turquoise in the mid-day sun. I added the color to the image and let it burn into my memory.
“I wanted to be alone with you,” I loosened my grasp and let her slide out of my arms, reluctant to feel her warmth being swallowed by the surrounding icy air.
“We were alone in your room,” she pointed out. “And in the forest.”
True, but she had no idea what I had planned for the afternoon entertainment. “But not as alone as we are here. I don’t want any witnesses.” I put on my serious face and watched her feelings go as cold as the snow beneath our feet. It was surprising how much influence my behavior had on her emotions.
“What do you mean—no witnesses?”
One day I would need to intensely study how big this impact was, just to understand the depth of our connection. But for now, I was going to take her flying and show her the world from my point of view.
“Don’t be afraid,” I pulled out my sweetest tone as her fear grew more intense. “I’m not going to hurt you.”
With a couple of steps backward, I put enough distance between us so she wouldn’t be smashed to the ground when I spread my wings.
“Be patient, please. I promise I won’t hurt you. You can trust me,” I reassured her as I shrugged out of my jacket and pulled my sweater over my head. Claire’s eyes followed my every move and then wandered along my chest and stomach. I couldn’t bite back a grin and closed my eyes to focus on my wings.
They exploded out of my back at once and I let them spread to my sides, feeling Claire’s eyes on me as she wrapped her head around it yet again that I was an angel—part-angel to be precise. And when I opened my own eyes after a minute, I caught their glowing green reflection in hers. She didn’t shrink away from me. Instead, she was marveling at my wings, seeing beauty there and strength. I could feel the uplifting emotion enveloping her.
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