The arcade sold a variety of English seaside holiday delicacies, including candy floss. The sticky pink cloud melted on her tongue, mingling with her hair as she walked back down the pier, the tastes and sounds of her childhood soothing her. She'd escaped for a while at least.
Lorelei ended her first day spent outside the hotel on a bench overlooking the sea, wrapped up as the November night took hold. Tomorrow she would need to decide what to do and where to go. Her self-imposed exile couldn't last forever. Scarlet would soon discover she lied that she’d headed home and been concerned she couldn’t contact her. Her parents would worry their daughter disappeared again if that happened—a blonde girl from a university.
She hadn’t thought this through at all. Her knee jerk reaction to run was selfish, and she couldn’t stay away long. She trudged towards the tram stop to wait for a ride, with her head down against the wind.
"What are you doing?" asked a familiar voice, tone gruff.
She looked up. Gabe.
He leaned against the shelter, his pale blue eyes wide, mouth set in a thin line. Lorelei's world lurched as she stared at him, trying to stop her mouth falling open. Not only was he there in front of her but she'd forgotten how astonishingly beautiful he was. Not attractive—beautiful. His perfect features were unmarked by the cold reddening her face. He wore jeans fitting snugly in the right places and the short-sleeved T-shirt hugged his chest, exposing his muscled arms. He wasn’t dressed for a winter's day, but he didn't notice.
The skies darkened around them, but she felt as if someone switched on a light as his presence illuminated her situation. Lorelei closed her eyes, taking in a deep breath, trying to calm the confusing emotions mingling inside.
"Tell me what you're doing here," he growled, startling her. No ‘hello’?
"Caleb broke the protection spell, and I didn't know what to do...he said he’d come back for me..." Why did Gabe look so angry?
"And your solution was to disappear? I thought you were supposed to be clever!" he snapped at her. "If Caleb can see you again, then who else do you think can?"
"His demons, or whatever—that's why I ran," she snapped back at him, anger flaring inside.
"Me," he half-shouted, "Me! I haven't been able to see where you are for months, but as soon as the spell broke, I could too." His hands clenched into fists by his side, the look in his eyes reminding her of Caleb.
Lorelei blinked. "You? Then where were you when he came to my house and took my blood?"
Gabe faltered. "What? How? I never saw that."
"Yes. Caleb attacked me simply by possessing a human. His plans were greater than your witch's so-called protective magic."
Her heart pumped angry adrenaline through her veins, face reddening. How dare Gabe come here and blame her for trying to save her own life?
Gabe's hands unclenched confusion on his faces. "But you still left your home before I found you."
"Because Caleb took my blood. And now he's completely broken the spell, and the supernatural can see me, or you wouldn't be standing there yelling at me."
A heavy pause followed. "But why run? I would find you before him—I always have."
"No, Caleb got to me first, and then when you didn't show I thought you’d stopped trying to find me. I thought Caleb would come back, and I'd be on my own, and I needed to get away before..." Her voice faltered as she gulped in air. "I was terrified."
Tears spilt from her eyes, and she scrubbed them away with her gloved hand. He'd never seen her cry and his face softened at her tears. "But I'm okay now."
"I don't think you are." He walked over to the bench and sat next to her, his tone gentler. "You know that I’m committed to keeping you safe, don't you?"
Lorelei breathed deeply against the tears and against the effect of having him close to her, closing her eyes. She fought an overwhelming need to touch him and ask him to hold her.
Lorelei gritted her teeth, opening her eyes. The look on his face told her he glimpsed her thoughts, and she looked away, mortified. A few minutes ago, he stood, yelling at her, and she was annoyed with him. Now she needed him to tell her everything would be alright.
"You found me. He'll find me. What do we do? Have you come to take me somewhere else? Maybe a mystical faerie world this time?"
"There’s no faerie world.” She rolled her eyes at him missing her sarcasm. “But we do need more help from the Council. Erin's spell was powerful, but we underestimated Caleb's power. He must have gathered some strong allies."
"What sort of help? Last time we saw the Council most of them didn't want involvement."
The gap between them on the bench millimetres wide, Lorelei became painfully aware of how close his legs were to hers. Even though he wasn't touching her, Lorelei closed her eyes again and took a deep breath, fighting the images of him kissing her; the ones she'd seen in the moments before they parted at Erin's.
When she opened them, the intensity in Gabe's face surprised her. His face was close enough to her that she wondered if the imaginary kiss might happen. Instead, he stood and pushed his hands into his pockets.
Of course, he didn't want to kiss her. She cringed at her stupidity, annoyed she easily lost her grip on reality when he was around.
"The Council spent many years working through their differences to preserve what they have in this world. They will need to cooperate in this situation now."
"But what can the Council do?"
Gabe looked ahead towards the tumbling waves and the blackening sky. Rain now spilt from the sky, the town drearier than she remembered. "I don't trust others. It's because I trusted people in my past that I am now here, as a Watcher. I've never asked for help; it was easier to control what was happening on my own. Until you." He paused. "I must risk trusting those who can help."
He continued staring out to the sea, with the rain trickling down his face. Lorelei wished she could see into his thoughts and know how he felt.
"That’s where you want to take me? To the Council?” asked Lorelei.
"If you agree to come with me, yes," he said, his eyes anxiously searching her face.
She could tell Gabe expected her to refuse—he'd given her a choice before, on the day they spoke by the stream. She knew he could force the issue if he wanted but seemed to understand her enough not to.
Lorelei's shoulders slumped as she looked away from him back at the incoming tide. What choice did she have? Running away seemed such a good idea, but the reality of exiling herself from her life was no better than having part of a life controlled by things she didn't want. Everything was still out of her control and away from the life she wanted.
Lorelei understood Gabe’s mistrust of others and his need to do things on his terms—they were strangely similar in that way. Maybe she needed to take a leaf from Gabe’s book and put some trust in him the way he was prepared to trust the Council.
"Okay," she said.
"Really?"
She smiled at his surprise. "Really."
Chapter Twenty-Three
They walked back to her hotel room in the rain, with Gabe keen to leave the town as soon as possible and remove all trace of her. He’d spotted her presence in the sad, seaside town and worried he’d be too late. Despite his relief that Caleb hadn't reached Lorelei first, the reason why concerned him—was Caleb experiencing problems locating her, or planning something big?
Lorelei stood in the hotel foyer. As a small boutique establishment, the hotel and the staff prided themselves on personal touches. Tonight, a younger girl stood at reception leaning over a computer keyboard. She looked up when she heard them come through the door. Her cheeks flushed crimson when she noticed Gabe, oblivious to Lorelei. Did this reaction ever make him uncomfortable? She glanced at his impassive face.
"Where's your room, Lorelei?" he asked brusquely, not looking at the girl. "We need to pack and leave."
Lorelei indicated a door to the stairs, and with a brief nod at the receptionist, they headed towards her room, u
p narrow stairs covered in a worn burgundy carpet, where lamps fashionable thirty years ago lit the hallway. Lorelei walked into her room and flicked the lights on. Gabe followed and went straight to the heavy curtains, drawing them against the night. He appraised her as she shivered.
"You look cold, and your clothes are very wet. Maybe you should change. It will take some time to drive to the Council," he said decisively. "Where are your things? I can pack while you do."
Because she’d lived out of her rucksack, packing wouldn’t be a big job—just a few books, her laptop and toiletries. She pulled a pair of jeans and a fleecy blue sweater from the bag before rummaging around and pulling out some socks and underwear, glancing up to see if Gabe watched her.
Gabe stood by the curtains, holding one slightly open and looking out.
"I'll take a shower." She lay the clothes on the bed before heading for the bathroom.
"Be quick." He turned and picked up some of her books and put them in her bag.
The water poured from the shower and stung Lorelei's cold skin at first, before filling her body with welcome warmth. Standing there for longer, enjoying the feeling of the steaming water covering her from head to toe, was a luxury but she couldn't afford the time. She squeezed shampoo into her hands and lathered her hair. At least it was Gabe who found her after her stupid decision to run and not Caleb.
Thoughts of Gabe twisted her stomach. The images she'd seen the last time they'd been together, the moments before Erin's spell took hold, replayed in her mind a thousand times since. At night she sometimes tried to pull the images into her mind, hoping she would turn them into dreams and make the moments longer. She was sure the images were Gabe’s, and he’d inadvertently revealed more to her than he wanted.
Or was it her? Did she project images of what she wanted? No, things—places—she'd never seen entered her mind from his.
Stepping out of the shower and pulling a soft towel around her, Lorelei decided to confront him, unable to rest until she knew the truth. Their deeper connection hovered between them on the way back to the hotel, and in the time they sat on the bench. Gabe's awkwardness around her reflected in his guarded stance, and his brusqueness returned. He wasn’t the open Gabe who spoke to her by the stream.
Lorelei walked out of the bathroom and saw her small backpack fastened and on the bed. The only things left unpacked were her clothes. Gabe sat in the small beige armchair by the window, staring at the floor, with the familiar small worry crease on his brow. He looked up as he heard her come into the room, alarm crossing his face.
"What's wrong? Is there someone there?" she asked, eyes darting to the window.
"No, please dress," he said in a low voice, his eyes wide, pupils darker, as he briefly looked her up and down before casting his eyes back to the floor.
Lorelei's breathing quickened; she knew from the expression on his face that he looked at her as a semi-naked woman and not a Host. Grabbing her clothes, she ducked into the bathroom to dress, then stuffed her remaining things into the small wash bag, breathing heavily, trying not to think about how he just looked at her.
Lorelei leaned across the sink to look at the pink-faced girl in the mirror, heart thumping against her chest. The girl looked back at her with wide, confused eyes; face thinner than she remembered, smudges of dark beneath her eyes.
Twisting her damp hair into a ponytail, she considered Gabe's reaction and the heat in her stomach spread through her. His response broadcast his feelings as if he'd spoken them. She'd seen desire in men's eyes before and clearly in his. She placed her hairbrush in the bag. Should she feel vulnerable alone with him?
Her mind wandered towards the images of the two of them kissing, touching, more... Here came her fantasies again—how could a supernatural creature who looked like he'd stepped out of a magazine be attracted to her? Her—the Host of something he had to protect, and not even a real person to him. They’d no connection beyond that.
She shook the images from her head. She needed to talk to him about this; to find out what lay behind the silences. Find the missing parts of his answers. Discover how he felt. She knew returning to the Council with him involved a step back into his world—and leaving a little more of her old self behind. If he wanted to draw her back to his supernatural world, he needed to give her more answers.
Hastily she dressed in her jeans and jumper, leaving the bathroom, looking for her shoes. Gabe hadn't moved, eyes still fixed on the floor. He didn't look up this time. Her gaze shifted to his muscled forearms, his taut chest hidden behind his T-shirt. All the longing of the last few weeks bubbled inside her.
"Gabe, before we go anywhere, I need to know what I saw that day."
He looked up. "What day?"
This conversation obviously wasn't going to be easy. "The day I last saw you. At Erin's."
A shadow crossed Gabe's face, and he looked away again, rubbing his temples. "Nothing."
"I saw something when you cut my hand—was that your memories... your thoughts?"
"No, they were yours." Gabe stood up and held out his hand for the small bag she still held. He put it in her rucksack and handed the bag to her. "We need to leave."
Lorelei sat on the edge of the bed near him, hugging the bag to her chest. "They weren't. I saw things I've never seen or imagined. I can't even explain what they were...I saw this place...was it where you're from?"
Gabe stiffened and turned to the window, saying nothing.
Lorelei looked at his tense shoulders, knowing he wanted her to stop, but she needed to say it. "I saw something else, Gabe. I saw us. Together."
Gabe shook his head, not turning around. "Don't do this. Forget what you saw."
The words tumbled out, and she couldn't stop them now. "I can't. The scene has played over and over in my mind, and I never thought I'd see you again and now you're here and..."
"Don't," he interrupted, walking as far from her as possible without leaving the room. In the dim light of the room, she could see the anguish in his face. "You don't know what you saw, and you don't know what you're saying."
"I do. I saw your thoughts like you see mine. Because we were touching. Why is that?"
"I don't know." He sounded tired and dejected as he shifted his position and leaned against the wall. "I can't do this anymore. My role is already difficult—and now they do this to me," he blurted.
Shocked by the display of emotion, Lorelei wanted to reach out to him. Gabe banged his head softly on the wall, looking upwards for a few seconds before looking back at her.
"Lorelei, I've performed this role for over a hundred years, and the situation has never been like this. Never has there been a Host like you. I feel like they're trying to sabotage me when my time is almost over."
"Who? Caleb? Sabotage you how?"
"Those who put me here—who watch me, waiting for me to fail. I'm sure that’s what’s happening. They see I’m succeeding and want to ensure I can't return. They said after the sixth Host I could leave. That's what I think this so-called prophecy is. I was told I could return if I succeeded in keeping the Key safe and if..."
"Who are 'they', Gabe?"
He shook his head and walked back across the room to sit in the chair near Lorelei, his eyes dark with the emotion flowing from him as he leaned forward to look at her. "Tell me, Lorelei, what is one of the big differences between Caleb and I in this world?"
Lorelei shook her head in confusion.
"He is in this world. He's living like a human, experiencing all he can, living a full life. And he wants to be here. He always wanted to be here. I didn't." He paused. "And I cannot live like a human if I want to return to my home."
"But you are human. Look at yourself..."
"No, I'm not... I am, but I'm not. They gave me this form and all the human sensations, emotions—everything—but froze me in time. Like this. I stayed hidden and away from humans unless necessary. And now? You."
When she'd chosen to confront him, Lorelei never expected him to re
veal himself like this. She imagined she’d get more evasion and silences. She didn't expect pain in his voice or bitterness in his tone.
"They mocked me and said if I really wanted to be free then I should take the form of those who really are." He laughed softly. "This isn’t freedom."
"I'm confused," said Lorelei quietly, wanting to touch him, comfort him. "I can't understand what you're saying. Who mocked you?"
"This is why I've never tried to explain. We could sit here all night, and nothing I said would make sense to you." Gabe stood his dark blonde hair illuminated by the shaded bulb above him, his face earnest. "I feel for you. I don't know what I feel but it's human, and it is wrong. I thought this was me beginning to crave the same thing as Caleb, ready to succumb as he has. But when I touched you..."
He closed his eyes tight. "There’s no logic to this. I don't know who you are, but there is more to you than the Key inside. There is something else which draws me to you—some other power. Caleb sees this too. He feels it. He hasn’t hurt you, and I don’t understand why."
“He can’t kill me, or he’d need to start over again and look for a new Host. He told me.”
Gabe shook his head. “But he hasn’t hurt you, Lorelei. Caleb can be sadistic. Toy with people. Make their lives hell. He may’ve scared you, but he could’ve done a lot worse. I’ve seen him in action before.”
She swallowed. Is she supposed to feel lucky? "You said I had no power and that I was merely human."
"I'm starting to doubt that now. Something about you has taken hold of me..." He stopped and bit his lip.
"What I saw in your mind? Us?"
Gabe shook his head and sucked in a deep breath. "Thoughts that sprang into my mind, not wishes. I don't want any of this. Lorelei, if I ever fall that far into humanity, I can't get out again. And if that happens, I have to remain here. I don't want you in the way I can see you want me."
Gabe felt sick as he saw Lorelei's eyes widen with hurt, her face about to crumple into tears. He knew his lies wounded her, but he needed to say this and push her away. To fight everything inside. Lie to himself about how strangely empty he felt when away from her. How she'd filled his life with meaning for those few days, they'd spent together, after so many years alone.
Hidden (Her Immortal Guardians Book 1) Page 14