“How much do you remember about your past?”
I shrugged, thrown off by his question. “Not much. I know I grew up in an orphanage, and no one knows about my parents.”
“You are not who you think you are, Carson. You are one of us.”
I snorted. “Yeah, right. Then where are my wings?”
“Have you felt different than everybody else? Like you do not belong here? Like there is something bigger out there waiting for you?”
I shrugged. “Everyone feels that way sometimes.”
“But you have a reason to feel that way. Because you are different. You are not an orphan. You are an angel.”
“Then why does he want me?”
“You are more powerful than he is. Once you are taken out, he will inherit your place in the line.”
“How would he do that?”
“Because you are his brother, Carson. And he’s using your friends as bait to lead you to them.”
This was all too much to take in. And all bullshit. But yet, I wanted to know more. “If that’s the case, then why are we going to him?”
“So we can take him out.”
Chapter 6
The conversation came to a completely halt after Alistair dropped his paranormal bombshell on me. I don’t know which thing threw me more. The fact that all of that paranormal stuff really existed, or that I supposedly had a brother out there who was trying to kill me over some angel magic I evidently possessed.
I seriously thought Alistair was a complete whack-job, along with Kimmie and Courtney, and needed an involuntary seventy-two hour hold and a complete psych evaluation. But yet, I still had him in my car, and I was still driving in the direction he indicated. So what did that say about me? Maybe a teeny, tiny part of me hoped that whatever Alistair had said held a smidgen of truth. That the possibility of having a brother out there, even one who allegedly wanted to kill me, is what kept me driving instead of kicking Alistair out of my car.
“What do you mean by next in line?” I finally asked.
“In succession to the leadership.”
“Leadership of what?”
“The Angels of Mercy. You are in line to be Supreme Ruler.”
I wanted to snort at his ludicrous statement, but one quick glance told me he was being serious.
“What is The Angels of Mercy?” I asked slowly, still not understanding why I was entertaining such a messed-up conversation.
“The angel council.”
“Are you on it?” Why was I still asking questions?
“I was.”
The falter in his voice had my interest piqued. “Was?”
“I was cast out.”
“Of the council?”
“No, from the realm.”
“Wait, you were kicked out of heaven?”
“If that is what you prefer to call it.”
“What did you do?”
“That is no business of yours. Our job is to stop Gabriel and save the healer and seer.”
“I think it kind of is my business since you’re telling me I’m on a higher level than you, and we’re on a mission to take out my supposed brother.”
Alistair sighed. “I had a relationship.”
“Okay? Angels aren’t allowed to date?”
“He was a human,” Alistair explained after a brief moment of hesitation.
“Oh.” What else could I say? Figured, the first time a hot, gay man was in close proximity to me, he thought he was an angel and acted like a complete lunatic. Damn my luck. Wait, did I just admit to myself that I thought he was hot? Shit.
“Gabriel reported it to the council, and after a quick discussion, I was cast out.”
“Ah, so this is a revenge thing with Gabriel. You want to kick his ass for snitching on you.”
“No, this is to stop him from trying to take control of the council. In the wrong hands, that amount of power can cause great destruction on this earth and our realm.”
“What about the girls?”
“If things do not go as planned, and he is able to keep the girls hostage, he can use their powers to his advantage. Destruction to the earth, and to our realm, can still happen.”
“What’s this our realm you keep saying? That’s your realm, not mine.”
Alistair let out a weird noise that I figured was supposed to be a chuckle. “It is your realm, too. It is your home. It is where you are meant to lead. And as soon as we are finished with Gabriel, you will be coming back with me.”
I fully laughed at his statement. “Be glad I’m going on this convoluted “mission” with you to stop my supposed brother and save my friends. And besides, I thought you were kicked out? How can you take me back somewhere that you’re banned from?”
“Bringing you back to the realm will help me return to where I belong.”
I chewed on my lip as I pondered his words. “You’re using me.”
“Of course, you are the bait to take out Gabriel and save the healer and seer.”
“No, I mean you’re using me as a ticket back to your,” I let go of the steering wheel and waved my hand around, “your realm.”
“No, you will be an asset to get home, but first we must save the healer and seer.”
“Their names are Kimmie and Courtney. You have got to loosen up and stop talking so formally. It’s giving me a headache.”
Alistair cocked his head to the side and raised an eyebrow at me. Why did he have to be so freaking hot?
“And I’m not your ticket back to angelhood.”
“We’ll see. Let us,” he stopped and started again, “let’s save the girls first. And figure out what to do from there.”
I sighed. “Fine.”
But there was nothing left to figure out. I wasn’t some angel on a mission to save the world. I just wanted to find my friends and return to my normal, yet safe, life. So why was driving down the highway with a lunatic who was probably going to gut me and leave me in the woods giving me a thrill that I hadn’t experienced in a long time?
Chapter 7
“We’re getting closer,” Alistair said after inhaling deeply.
“That’s good to know. My ass is getting numb from all this driving,” I muttered and shifted in the seat. “And would you stop sniffing the air? It’s weird.”
“It’s how I can tell we’re getting closer. I can pick up his scent.”
We’d been driving for over two hours, only stopping long enough to put gas in the car. I was starving, and exhausted, so my mood was crankier than usual, and Alistair was getting the brunt of my moodiness.
“What does he smell like?” I asked. “B.O.?”
“No, not like body odor. It’s more like honey and cloves.”
“So he smells like a cup of tea?”
Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Alistair trying his hardest to glare at me, but I could see his lip twitch a little. “Yes, I suppose.”
I chuckled at his response, then let out a loud yawn as I let go of the steering wheel with one hand to rub my eye.
“So, as much as I hate to say this, could we possibly stop for a few hours?”
“Why do we need to stop?”
“Because I’m exhausted. I don’t know how it is for you in Angel Land, but down here on earth we humans do something called sleeping. And right now, I really need to do that.”
“You aren’t a human, so you don’t need any sleep.”
“Yes, I do. So, even though we are on a mission to save my friends, can we pull over for a few hours so I can take a nap?”
“Where do you want to go?”
I shrugged my shoulders and rubbed my other eye. “At this point I don’t care. A rest station or a hotel. Anywhere I can close my eyes and get some rest. I’m dropping here.”
“Is there a hole in your seat?”
I groaned. “Are you always so literal? I mean, I can barely keep my eyes open. My eyes keep trying to close.”
“Oh.”
“You need to lighten up a
little.” Alistair opened his mouth to respond, and I rushed to cut him off. “And I don’t mean by losing weight.”
“Fine, you may find somewhere so you can take a nap.”
“Thanks for giving me the permission,” I replied dryly.
“You asked if it was okay.”
“To be polite! I was going to pull over, anyway.”
Alistair didn’t say anything else, just pursed his lips as I pulled into a rest station. I was a bit apprehensive about pulling over with some weirdo in my car, but I was fading fast. I needed to rest my eyes for a few minutes before I could continue to drive anywhere else. I just hoped he didn’t kill me in my sleep and steal my car.
“Aren’t you going to try and get some sleep, too?” I asked when I scooted my seat and leaned it back.
“I’m not tired.”
“Late morning?” I asked around a yawn.
“No, I do not need sleep.”
I rolled my eyes before I shut them and leaned my head back. “Fine. Just,” I waved my hand around, “find something to do to keep yourself occupied that doesn’t involve murdering me or robbing me.”
Alistair made a noise beside me. “I’m sure I can find something to do.”
I snorted and felt sleep starting to overtake me. I felt my body drifting off to the state of unconsciousness that I desperately craved, until something pulled me back. It was a feeling. A strange feeling that I was being…watched. But at that moment I didn’t feel unnerved, no, instead I felt very annoyed. I was cranky, a little hungry, and desperate for a few hours of sleep.
I pried one eye open and it collided with Alistair’s. “Stop staring at me,” I practically growled at him.
Alistair shrugged. “I don’t have anything else to do.”
That made my other eye open. “Scroll through social media. Download a book on your phone. Take a freaking walk. Do something so I can take a nap.”
“I don’t have a phone.”
I groaned and scrubbed my hands over my face. “Jesus, you are a real piece of work.”
“I’m not Jesus, I’m Alistair.”
I gaped at him, words failing me for the moment. He stared back at me, his gaze intense and locked on my shocked one. He was so freaking literal. I grumbled as I dug my phone out of my pocket and opened up the apps for the books I’d downloaded to my phone. I randomly opened a book, brought it back to the first page, and thrust the phone at him.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m giving you something to do. Read this while I sleep.”
Alistair slowly took the phone from me and stared down at the screen in fascination. His eyes skimmed over the words, and I took that as a sign I could at least try and get some shut eye.
“Wake me up in a few hours?” I forced myself to gentle my voice and made it sound like a question instead of a command.
“Sure,” he replied, his voice distracted.
I wasn’t even sure what book I’d given him to read. Hopefully, it was one of my books about zombies instead of the gay romances I had on there.
“Wow,” I heard him say under his breath when I leaned back against the seat again.
“What?” I couldn’t help but mutter.
“I’d never heard of some of these words before.”
“What words?”
“Alpha, omega, beta?”
Shit. Of course, the book I gave a supposed angel to read would be one about male pregnancy. Oh well, at least it’d keep him entertained so I could sleep.
Chapter 8
I didn’t feel any more rested after my nap than I did before I took the dang thing. All it did was give me a headache and made me feel like I was on an alternate universe or something. Thankfully, Alistair lengthened my nap by another hour, and only woke me up after he’d finished his book. While I was grateful for the extra sleep, a part of me felt guilty for prolonging getting to Kimmie and Courtney.
“Did you enjoy your book?” I finally asked, still feeling a bit guilty about giving him a mpreg book to read.
“They were great.”
“They?” I asked in surprise, since I was only asleep for three hours.
“Yes, all four of them I read were pretty good. I was surprised.”
“You read four books in three hours?” The question came out like a squawk.
“I would have started another one, but I figured it was time for you to wake up.”
I was in shock. I always deemed myself a speed-reader, but I could never read four books in three hours. “Did you even absorb anything you read?”
“Oh yes, angels have the ability to retain a lot of information and have photographic memories.”
“Interesting,” I replied, though if he was being truthful, it’d explain a lot about my remembering the dumbest, and most random, crap. Not that I believed him or anything.
“We are getting much closer. Another hour or so and we’ll have arrived.”
“Why would he have taken the girls to Georgia?”
“Savannah has a dark past. It’s filled with energy that he’s drawn to and feeds off of. It makes him stronger.”
“Great. So now I’m going to have to battle some crazy dude who sucks up bad joojoo?”
“You’ll be fine. I’ll do what I am allowed to keep you safe.”
“What do you mean by that?”
Alistair sighed. “This is your fight since it’s between family members. I am only there to help assist you whenever the time comes. I can only do so much.”
“Wait a second. Before we left you acted like you were all gung-ho to hunt him down and go vigilante on his ass. Now you’re telling me that it’s up to me to stop him and you can’t?”
“I needed you to come with me.”
“So you freaking lied to me to get me to come? What else are you lying about?”
“I did not lie. I told you Gabriel needed taken out. And he does. Everything I have told you has been the truth. I will not let anything happen to you or your friends. And I will do whatever I’m allowed to do to help in any way that I can.”
I exhaled loudly, more so because I believed him. I didn’t know the guy at all—not even his last name. But yet, something told me I could trust him, so I had to take what he told me and go with it. Otherwise, I’d lose faith in finding my friends and making sure they got home safely.
“Get off on the next exit. It’ll take us to Savannah.”
“Savannah? Seriously?”
“Yes. I’m picking up his scent much stronger, and now I can smell the girls, as well.”
“You need a job as a TSA agent.”
“A what?”
“You know, one of those airport security guards who check luggage and what not. You could sniff out any potential threats in no time.”
“I don’t need a job. I have plenty on my plate.”
I snorted. “Learn to take a joke. And what exactly do you have to do? You’re supposedly casted out from your realm and have nothing going on.”
“Just because I no longer live there doesn’t mean I don’t do other things.”
“Oh yeah, like what?”
“I collect souls of the damned.”
“E-excuse me?” I stammered.
“Part of my punishment for being cast out is that I have the task of collecting damned souls and delivering them to the other realm.”
“You’re not a part of that realm, anymore, so I don’t think you have to do as they say.”
I couldn’t believe the words that were coming out of my mouth, or that I was even engaging in such a weird conversation. But yet there I was, caught up in the most bizarre conversation of my life, talking as if we were expecting rain.
“It’s part of my punishment. Soul collecting is a task, but collecting the damned ones is the lowest you can go.”
“Why?”
“Because it’s risky.”
“How so?” Why did I even care?
“The souls of the damned are dark, dirty. They can overpower the innocent
and take over their bodies. Taking on collecting those souls could tarnish you. The other angels see you as damaged, or dark.”
“I see. Well...what do you plan on doing with Gabriel’s once we defeat him? Take him down there, too?”
“No.”
His voice had taken on an edgier tone, one that, strangely enough, turned me on. What was that about? “Okay. Care to tell me where, then?”
“Not right now. I don’t want to frighten you.”
I glanced quickly at him before turning my eyes back to the road. “Okay. That sounded a bit ominous. Thanks for that.”
“You’re welcome.”
He said it with so much sincerity, even though his tone still held a little bit of edge to it, that I chuckled. “I was being sarcastic. I wasn’t really thanking you for anything at all.”
“I see.”
He was quiet for a few moments longer, and I sighed again. Evidently he wasn’t going to tell me what he planned on doing with Gabriel’s soul, and I was more curious now that he was being so secretive about it.
“Why can’t Kimmie shoot Gabriel with the light she projects from her hands?” I blurted out.
“She could, if Gabriel hasn’t incapacitated her.”
“What do you mean? You think he hurt her?”
“With Gabriel, there’s no telling what he’d do. He’s a very unstable individual who only wants power.”
“Well, if Courtney is a seer, why didn’t she see him coming?”
“Her powers do not work that way. They are subjective visions. They come when she touches something, or has dreams. She hasn’t honed in on her full abilities. Unless she knew danger was coming, the visions of Gabriel wouldn’t come.”
“Well, that’s a bummer. What’s the point of having the ability to see things if they don’t work correctly?”
Alistair shifted in the seat beside me. “That’s something I can’t answer. But I can say, once she fully understands what she is capable of, she’ll be a very powerful person. The same could be said for Kimmie.”
“Well, glad I’m on their good side, then,” I quipped, trying to make light of the conversation.
“Turn here,” Alistair instructed after we’d driven some more in silence.
Dark Saviors: The Consequence of Destiny Novella Page 3