Archangel's Kiss

by Santos, Anna

  “I guess you should have thought about it before you condemned me to Hell.”

  I couldn’t disagree with her. She knew about that. I was ashamed. “For all it’s worth, I didn’t know I was condemning us both.”

  “If you say once again that you are sorry, I promise I will scream.”

  “I’ll find a way to fix it,” I whispered, playing with a strand of her hair and softly kissing her cheek. Before she could complain or say anything else, I left her bedroom and sped my way home.

  Chapter TWENTY-FOUR

  CEDRIC

  I was feeling exhausted. I had never expected the night to end so badly. I had to spend a lot of time and effort to persuade the surviving vampires that we had nothing to do with what had happened to their friends and family at the party. We weren’t the ones who had poisoned the blood they had drank. Luckily, I had proof, and the vampire faction from Florence was there to back up my words.

  After returning home, all I wanted to do was check on Aria and then go to sleep. I had been worried about her. I knew she had been safely taken to my home, but she could be feeling scared, and I was not there to calm her down and explain what was going on around her. After all, it had been the first party we had attended together, and we had shared our first kisses. The night should have ended better than with vampires bleeding and bursting into flames, and Aria running for her life.

  I never expected to have to end the night calming down vampires and checking on the ones who were sick. Fortunately, William had done an excellent job in stabilizing them and saving the rest from dying. One thing was for sure, the following night there would be a lot of mad vampires scouting the streets of Paris to find the dealers distributing Clarity. They needed to prevent humans from taking it.

  I couldn’t care less about that at that moment. I wanted and needed to see Aria and kiss her on the cheek. Even if she was asleep. I just had to see she was okay so that I could pass out on my bed and dream of our kisses on the balcony under the moonlight.

  When I entered her bedroom, the lights were out, but something was wrong. It was almost inaudible, yet sadness altered her breathing. She was softly sobbing. My heart dropped as I closed the door behind me and promptly went to her side.

  “What is wrong, Aria?” I asked out of breath, my heart beating fast with agony.

  “Cedric, Cedric,” she called, holding her tears and swallowing her cry. She opened her eyes up to mine. There was only the weak light of the moonlight allowing me to gaze upon her face, but I noticed her red and puffy eyes. She held on to me as if she was afraid of something, and I was the only one who could save her. I felt her heart beat fast as she hid her head against my chest and continued to sob.

  “Why are you crying, sweetie?” I questioned as I stroked her hair. “Were you concerned about my safety? Did you think something bad happened to me?”

  First, she shook her head only to nod to the second question. But I was still in the dark as much as I was before.

  “I was worried about you. I was. But…but something horrible happened to me.”

  “I saw they tried to attack you, but Camille and William kept you safe, didn’t they? All is okay now, honey. I’m sorry for not being able to come back home sooner. I truly am. I had to calm the vampires down.”

  “Don’t ever leave me alone again,” she demanded, holding me closer.

  I gently kissed the top of her head, “Everything is okay. You are safe now.”

  “You don’t understand,” she complained, the words muffled by my shirt. “He was here, Cedric. I was so scared!”

  “Aria, please look at me and stop sobbing against my chest. I can barely understand what you are saying,” I gently demanded, putting my hands on her face and making her look at me. “Tell me what’s wrong with you. Why are you crying?”

  “He was here while you were at the party,” she explained.

  “Who?”

  “The vampire who rejected me,” she replied.

  I held my breath as the color drained from my face. “How?”

  “He found me here, somehow. He scared me so much! Worst, he said he wanted me back, and he was going to make you give me back to him.”

  “Aria,” I spoke softly, understanding everything. “You had a nightmare, darling. He is gone and is not going to come back. Don’t you remember? You had nightmares the first night I saved you. You’ve just had another one.”

  “No, Cedric. It was not a nightmare,” she denied promptly. “He was really here. I saw him, and he tried to-to kiss me,” she stuttered. “He also said the meanest things.” Closing her eyes, she burst into tears again.

  I growled upset, not with her but by what she told me. “He tried to kiss you?”

  She nodded and hugged me, holding on tighter than before as her body trembled. The sobs were taking over her fragile body. I tried to calm her down, drawing circles on her back and telling her that everything was okay. I had no idea if she was accurate in what she was claiming or if it was a bad dream. The house was secure. There were no reports of trespassing, and she was safely in her bed when I found her.

  “He said that he regretted rejecting me and that he wanted me back. He tried to take me with him.”

  “Honey, this is a secured house. No one could pass the guards without being noticed. You just had a bad dream.”

  “I didn’t!” she exclaimed in anger, letting me go and sitting on her legs on the bed. “He entered my bedroom. He tried to kiss me and take me away with him. Why don’t you believe me?” she asked, holding her tears back. “He…tried to... He did!”

  I frowned and stared around the bedroom. “Did he hurt you?” I asked, my anger building against the bastard whose name I didn’t even know yet. But he did a good job in scaring Aria and coming inside my house. “How did you stop him from taking you away?”

  She cleaned her tears with the back of her hands and breathed deeply. “I said I wouldn’t go with him. That I was yours now. He was upset about that. He claimed he was going to start a war because of it.”

  “The only one who is going to start a war is me. I’ll find the bastard and take his head off. How dare he come to my house and touch my mate?”

  Aria trembled, staring at me with her big brown eyes. I was scaring her with my anger. “I’m sorry, baby. Just tell me everything that happened. Do you know his name? Do you know how he was able to get here?”

  “I don’t know,” she whispered, standing rigid and staring at the comforter.

  “Forgive me,” I said, kneeling in front of her and holding her against my chest. “I should have come home with you. I shouldn’t have left you alone.” I caressed her cheek and kissed her eyelids, tasting the salt on her skin. “But you need to describe him to me. Tomorrow, we’ll leave this house, and I will personally look for him. I won’t let anything bad happen to you. I won’t. I promise you. I’m proud of you.”

  “Why?” She opened her eyes as she grabbed my shirt with her hands. “I was helpless, and if he had wanted to hurt me, he could have. But he didn’t. He didn’t want to hurt me. He said he regretted rejecting me. But I’m not sure if he was telling the truth. It could be a trick to... I don’t know. I really don’t know. He thought you kept me, so you could use me against him. He called me names, bad names, Cedric. He doesn’t understand that I’m with you now.”

  I was listening to her words, attentively, holding on to my thoughts of revenge and my anger. I should have been there to keep Aria safe. Now I had a huge problem. I had Aria’s former mate wanting her back. That wouldn’t help our bond get stronger. I was lucky, fortunate that she didn’t want to go with him, and for him not taking her by force. But I wasn’t going to trust luck again. The next day, I was going to take Aria out of here and make her forget everything about her former mate. He wasn’t going to ruin my chances of having a mate. I wanted to have Aria all to myself. I liked her too much already to let her go.

  “Aria, I’m proud of you. You are my mate now. He will have to understand that,
whether he wants to or not. I’m not going to let him take you away from me.”

  “I don’t want to be taken either. I want you, Cedric,” she whispered. “I don’t want him. He is a crazy monster. I don’t want him. I was almost abused and killed because of him.”

  “Everything will be fine. I’ll keep you safe,” I assured, kissing her cheek and nuzzling my nose against her neck. “I’ve prayed for you for a long time, Aria. I’m not going to let anyone take you away from me. I don’t care what that stupid vampire thinks he can do. You are mine, and if he thinks he can just regret his actions and take you back, then he is out of his mind.”

  “Cedric,” she panted. “You are scaring me.”

  I stared at her face, confused by her words. Why am I scaring her? My eyes were shining with questions. “Why?”

  “I’m not a thing, Cedric. I’m a person. I decide who I want to be with. I chose you, but you can’t act so possessive. It frightens me.”

  “I didn’t mean to frighten you. I was just being impulsive. But I know you are a person and not a thing.”

  “I know you need me to break your curse. Still, you need to calm down. I’m already too scared with the possibility of having a crazy vampire chasing me and wanting to take me away to God knows where. I was almost…sexually assaulted today. He said the nastiest things because he thought we were having sex.”

  “What?” I gasped, upset with her words. “He had the nerve to insult you, did he?”

  “I tried to explain to him that you and I were mates now. That I lo-ved you.”

  “You love me,” I repeated, noticing the stuttering of that word on her lips and the biting of her lower lip.

  “Of course, it’s too soon,” she gasped, staring down at my chest. “I like you a lot, though. But I wanted him to believe me, so he would leave me alone. I don’t think he did. He said he and I were meant to be, and you and I weren’t. I don’t think he knows about the fact that gargoyles can become mates with rejected souls.”

  “And you can’t tell him anything about that. If you do, the curse will turn against you. It is a secret because if someone tells about it, something bad will happen to the person who told and the person who found out. So, you can’t tell anyone who doesn’t know about it. Do you understand, Aria?” I stated, my face serious, so she believed my words.

  I was not kidding. Even the rejected souls, who failed to love their second chance mate, couldn’t tell anyone. It would trigger a powerful curse against them. Some die, others lose their voices, and some become catatonic. But there is always a price to pay for revealing the secret.

  “I won’t,” she assured, shaking her head and leaning it against my chest. “I thought he was going to force himself on me.”

  I felt the trembling of her body against mine when she said those words. My heart hurt inside my chest, and I cuddled her hair and kissed the top of her head. I would never forgive myself if something terrible happened to Aria because I had failed to protect her.

  “Did he hurt you? Besides the threats, did he try to kiss you? Did you let him kiss you?”

  I had to ask her that. After all, they were mates. He had rejected her, but if he was regretting it so badly, then the bond could be restored if he won her heart. And everybody knew that original mates had a strong sexual attraction even after rejection. Plus, they would have a lot of common interests. Eventually, they would become whole again, if he convinced Aria to accept him back. I was hoping he didn’t know that. I was hoping that Aria wouldn’t want that. He tried to kill her, after all.

  “How long did he spend in this room?” I asked, noticing her silence. Maybe she was keeping something from me.

  “Not long, I don’t know. But I don’t think it was a long time. We just talked, after he scared me to death and said the weirdest and meanest things. He is not nice, Cedric. He is creepy. I don’t believe his regret. I don’t believe his remorse, and I won’t forgive the harm he has done to me. He is evil, cunning, and insane! I told him a few truths. I hate him, and I don’t ever want to see him again!”

  I rubbed her neck to calm her down. She was upset with him, which made me happy. “I’m here with you now. Everything will be okay. I want you, and I am pleased to have you as my mate. Seriously, Aria,” I said, making her look at me, “you are all I ever asked for in a mate. I’ll love you with all my heart. And I want you to calm down and tell me everything that happened in this room. I won’t be mad if…you let him touch you. I won’t. It was not your fault.”

  “He didn’t kiss me. I didn’t let him kiss me!” she said, upset. “I was caught off guard. But I remembered our kisses. I remembered you, and I turned him down. I sent him away. But, now you’re here, treating me as if it was my fault! You said he was dead! He didn’t look dead to me. He’s a vampire, okay, but he is not dead. His heart beats, and he is warm like humans.”

  “So, he touched you.”

  “Yes, he touched me when he covered my mouth, so I wouldn’t scream. He even hugged me, so I would stop crying, and he…kissed me on my neck. I thought he was going to bite me, and I was going to be kept away from you. But I told him to back off, even if I was terrified of him.”

  “Okay. Okay. I’m sorry. Look at me,” I asked, kissing her soft lips. “I’m sorry,” I whispered while giving her small kisses to help her relax. I had upset her again. I had no right to blame her for his actions. My jealousy had gotten the best of me. I was getting possessive and jealous, and I didn’t recognize myself. But I thought that I had Aria all to myself. I thought that nothing would come between our happiness and new bond. Her former mate was not in my plans.

  “Tell me his name, Aria. Try to remember. When he rejected you, he told you his name. I know it isn’t a pleasant memory, but you need to remember his name.”

  “It was a French name,” she whispered, distracted by my kisses as she held her hands on my coat and replied to my mouth. “I don’t care about him right now.”

  “But I need to know his name,” I explained.

  I needed to find him and take his head off. That would take care of the problem. That would make things easier between Aria and me. I wasn’t going to let any slimy vampire reclaim her. She was innocent and pure. She deserved to be an angel. Besides, she would be a Red Angel. We needed her. Not only I, but every single gargoyle and angel needed her. Her becoming an angel was now a priority.

  “His name is Philippe,” she whispered and held tight to me, making it hard for me to breathe. I rubbed her back, still processing her answer. It couldn’t be.

  “I’m sorry, but did you say his name is Philippe?” I asked. It was probably some other Philippe. After all, it was a common name among French men.

  “Yes, his name is Philippe. He was the host of the party on the boat. Apparently, he is wealthy, also,” she innocently replied to me. My teeth clenched as my body tensed. “What’s wrong?” she asked, probably noticing the changes in my body language.

  “Philippe is the ruler of the vampire faction in Paris. He is old and…extremely powerful. And we have a peace treaty with him,” I said.

  Aria froze. I could feel her body tense in my arms.

  “I can’t kill him without beginning a war.”

  “I don’t want you to kill him.” She gasped, letting me go while holding on to her breath. “I’m not asking you to kill him.”

  “I know you aren’t. But it is the smart thing to do.”

  “You can’t kill him,” she declared with an upset look on her face.

  Her denial in killing Philippe troubled me. Apparently, he wasn’t as unimportant to her as she claimed.

  “Why not?” I asked, feeling jealous.

  “Because we can’t just kill people like that.”

  “He isn’t a person. He is a vampire. He is an evil and disgusting vampire.”

  “He used to be a person. He is still a living being. You can’t kill vampires as if they didn’t have feelings or no right to live!”

  “Aria…please,” I asked, trying
to calm myself down and explain to her that vampires weren’t the same as puppies or harmless animals or even savage animals that were just surviving. Vampires were psychopaths. They would kill for pleasure, and they would hurt people for a laugh if they were bored. “Vampires aren’t friendly like you see in the movies. Philippe isn’t friendly like he has already proved it to you when you first met. He tried to kill you, so I don’t understand why you are defending him.”

  “Cedric,” she whispered with trembling lips.

  She was too gullible. She had to understand sooner or later that angels and gargoyles were made to protect humanity from evil creatures. Among those evil creatures were vampires. If a vampire crossed the line, the vampire would be put to death. The rules were a bit flexible the past few centuries because vampires were growing fast in numbers. But still, the orders were to kill if a vampire was caught unnecessarily harming a human.

  “You have to understand that this isn’t a fairy tale. You need to comprehend what will be asked of you when you become an angel. You are a Red Angel. You are an avenging angel. You will have powers that no other angel has, and you will be fast and strong. You will be asked to punish vampires or any other evil creatures who break the rules.”

  “What? A Red Angel, an avenging angel, how do you know that?”

  “Since we kissed this evening, I can see your angel color. I had suspected it because of the hair color. But after tonight, I’m pretty sure what type of angel you will be. Avenging angels are the most powerful ones. They are extremely rare, and their powers are as strong as those of an archangel. There aren’t any archangels on Earth. It’s been a long time since archangels last came to put the supernatural beings in check and to protect the humans from slavery and death. Since then, God gave us the duty to protect the humans in return for salvation. There have been a few human souls, whose mating with our kind inherited archangel powers. They are called Red Angels because their hair and wings are red.”

  Aria blinked several times. “So, you are saying that I’m going to become a murderer? That my angel is some sort of avenging thing that hunts supernatural beings who break the law? Are you saying that I will be forced to kill someone?”