by Jordan Dane
“I haven’t told you everything about my family,” she admitted. “It’s complicated.”
Gabe didn’t like the sound of this. Without thinking, he stuffed the library book in his unzipped backpack and shoved it next to his sketchbook. He took Rayne by the hand and rushed her behind the closest bookshelf.
“I’m listening.” He crossed his arms and stared at her with his rucksack slung over his shoulder.
“My parents are dead and I don’t trust my sister.” She sighed. “Neither does Lucas. He told me something spooked him about her and the hospital she had him committed to.”
“Whoa, back it up. Your brother...what hospital?”
“Yeah, about that. Lucas escaped from a mental hospital. Haven Hills.”
Gabriel rolled his eyes and let out a deep sigh.
“Well, he doesn’t really need to be there.” Rayne shrugged. “Lucas is just different.”
“Thanks for the explanation, Dr. Darby. When did you get your psych diploma?”
“You don’t know him,” she argued. “Besides, what’s with the attitude? Aren’t you afraid of OD’ing on irony? You’re not exactly on the right side of normal, Gabriel.”
“Touché.” He pulled the hoodie down over his face and didn’t look her in the eye.
“Mia works for the church that funds the treatment facility where Lucas got committed. I think she’s hiding something about that church and Lucas from me. Like I said, it’s complicated.”
“What church?”
Rayne narrowed her eyes. His question had taken her off guard. Of all the things he could have asked, the name of a church would’ve ranked pretty low for most people.
“The Church of Spiritual Freedom. Why?”
“Come on. We gotta get out of here,” he said. “No questions, remember?”
When his survival instinct kicked into high gear, Gabe checked out their situation in a hurry. Two major shelving units had bordered the tables where they’d been. That area had been too wide open. His only choice had been hiding in the row of books, but now they had only two aisles to hide. Both of them led in the wrong direction, back toward the main desk, and exit signs lit in red were across the room. Either way, they’d be seen when they showed their faces. They were cornered.
They needed a diversion, fast. Scratch that. He needed the diversion.
It pained him to think like this, but he had to. It made no sense to drag Rayne into his screwed-up life. Even though he’d hoped it wouldn’t happen, he’d warned her that he could take off in a rush without a word and leave his stash behind at the zoo. He hadn’t realized how fast that would happen, but like a chess player, he always played scenarios in his head and moves in advance. He had a backup plan that didn’t include Rayne.
She’d be better off without him. At least she had a place to look for her brother—the tunnels under L.A. It would have to be enough.
For her sake, Gabe had to ditch her. Now!
Chapter 10
Following her sister, Mia had pulled into a parking lot on the L.A. County Museum of Art grounds in time to see Rayne head into one of the smaller buildings on the complex with the boy she had brought with her. With the sun going down, the light had played a factor and interfered with the night vision of her high-tech surveillance gear. She hoped to confirm Lucas was with Rayne, but seeing through binoculars into a fading light, Mia couldn’t make out much.
Why would Rayne take Luke here?
She got out of her Lexus and jockeyed to a better position to zoom in and videotape them, but the boy in the hood never showed his face. After she stopped recording, Mia kept her sister in sight and followed from a safe distance. She didn’t have much of a plan, except to ID Lucas. If it was him, she’d have to confront both of them.
Mia had been to the museum before, but never this building. From what she’d seen, Rayne hadn’t gone toward the bigger exhibit halls, auditorium or café. She went the opposite way and Mia followed her steps into a library. The minute she stepped into the quiet setting, she walked past a front information desk and searched the faces of the people inside. She looked down aisles and her heart beat faster whenever she saw anyone who looked like Rayne or Lucas.
She’d almost given up on finding them when she caught movement and a shadow through the book stacks. Mia had to get a closer look.
“Please. Let it be Lucas,” she whispered.
* * *
They were cornered. They had two rows of books for cover, but to get out either way, they had to go through Mia. Rayne didn’t see any other option. If her sister stayed put near the front desk, it would only be a matter of time before she’d see them. For Gabe’s sake, she couldn’t let that happen. The guy had only tried to help. The last thing he needed was to get questioned by her meddling and judgmental sister.
“I swear, I don’t know why she’s here. She gets off on spying on me these days, but I can talk to her and see what she wants,” Rayne offered as she watched her sister through the books, crouched low to the floor with Gabriel. “She doesn’t have the police with her this time.”
“Cops. Great.” He winced.
“I’ll distract her and give you a chance to slip out. She can’t be after you. She doesn’t even know you,” she said. “If she doesn’t force me to go with her, we can meet at the bike when I get rid of her.”
“Yeah, okay.”
Gabriel agreed too fast. He looked totally distracted. Hunkered down next to her, he shifted his eyes between Mia and a way out, but he never argued or asked her more about cops or why she felt the need to hide from her own sister. Rayne had a bad feeling about why. Trust. It had come down to trust and she wasn’t sure Gabriel would be waiting in the parking lot. If he took off now, she’d never find him again. The guy seriously knew how to bail.
“Gabriel? Look me in the eye and tell me the truth.”
He shrugged and had trouble doing as she asked. “What?”
“If I do this, will you be waiting outside for me?” She put a hand to his shoulder. “You know how much this means to me. Lucas is in trouble, I know it and I think you do, too. If you tell me you’ll be there, I’ll believe you.”
Even as the words left her mouth, Rayne wasn’t sure she hadn’t lied. It all came down to her ability to rely on someone else—and her faith in Gabriel.
* * *
Rayne had a way of looking into his eyes that felt like a lie detector. Right now she looked hurt. Gabe wasn’t sure she’d buy anything he told her. He had a weird way of connecting to a ghost dog, but Rayne possessed a natural gift with living, breathing people—one he didn’t fully appreciate at the moment.
She had called him on his bullshit and now she wanted an answer to a question that should have been simple for him. In another life, he wouldn’t have hesitated.
He’d promised to help her find Lucas. Could he lie to her now, even if it was for her own good? Yeah, ditching her would be best for her, but what about her brother? His instincts told him this kid was in real trouble. It was one thing to keep secrets and not tell stuff, but lying straight up to Rayne when she needed him made him feel like a jerk.
Did he want to turn into “that” guy, a liar who didn’t give a shit? No. His answer had to be no, if he didn’t want to turn into a total dick.
“There’s stuff about me that you don’t know,” he said. “I can’t risk that your sister won’t mess things up for me, too. She may have done that already.”
“What? But...”
He touched her lips with a finger.
“I’m sorry. I gotta expect the worst. If she found you here, she could’ve followed us from Griffith Park. I have to assume my place there is compromised. I can’t go back.”
Rayne kept quiet and looked miserable. He had no idea how much trouble her sister could bring down on him, but that didn’t matter. He had to play it safe.
“I’ve really messed things up for you, haven’t I?”
“Not your fault.” He reached for her hand. “Do you trust
me?”
A fragile smile returned to her face and she nodded. A spark of hope had come back to her eyes, but this time he had to earn her trust by showing her.
“No matter what happens, no matter what you see, be ready to move and stick close to me.”
When Gabe looked toward the desk, he saw Rayne’s sister walking straight for them. In seconds, she’d cross their only way out. If she looked down the bookshelves, they’d have no place to hide. Whatever he had planned, he had to do it now.
Gabe let go of Rayne’s hand and distracted her.
“She’s coming,” he whispered.
When Rayne turned to look for her sister, Gabe stood and ducked into the next aisle. Because he didn’t know she’d followed him in Griffith Park, she’d seen him go through his transformation, from his seething rage to the rush of the blast when he let it go. He saw in her eyes how much he’d frightened her.
Having a choice now, he didn’t want her to see the ugliness he had to conjure to make things happen. In the farthest corner against a wall, he dropped his backpack to the floor at his feet. He shut his eyes and flexed his arms to awaken the power and stir the anger that fueled him. He’d never summoned it this fast before.
Seconds. All he had was seconds.
* * *
When the lights flickered and Rayne felt a tremble under her boots, a familiar panic swept through her. Earthquake. Mother Nature’s timing sucked. Tremors happened in L.A. and she’d experienced her share. She looked for a safe place to hide, but when she reached for Gabe, he wasn’t with her.
He’d disappeared.
“Gabriel?” she whispered, but he never answered.
She turned in time to see a fierce glow coming from behind her. Spears of blue light nearly blinded her and shot through the books like a laser show. Before she could move to see what was happening, Rayne cursed and covered her head. A book had smacked her on the shoulder. The shelves quaked and stuff fell to the floor. If she didn’t move fast, she could be crushed under a massive shelf full of books.
But in a sudden rush, she felt a swell of fear that gripped her hard. Not even when those jerks stalked her at the zoo in that hellish tunnel had she been so afraid. Stranger still, she had an overwhelming hunger, as if she’d been starving for days. Tears stung her eyes and her belly tightened into a knot. She had no idea why she felt such a crippling flood of emotions and strange cravings. All she wanted was to curl into a ball and cry, but one thought forced her to fight through what had seized control of her.
Gabriel.
When she heard the commotion of glass breaking and people yelling and running, she dared to look up. She had to find him, but everything she saw confused her. The glass doors to the museum entrance had shattered. Shards of glass were strewn on the tile floors, but with all the weirdness going on inside the library, something else shocked her.
Cats and dogs of all sizes ran through the museum building. They leaped over chairs and shoved into library tables, making a racket with their barking and mewling. Pigeons flapped overhead, looking for cover. These animals should have been running in the opposite direction, away from the danger. Instead, they ran toward it as if they had no choice. It reminded her of what Gabriel and Hellboy had done the other night in the tunnels, but this looked much more chaotic. Had Gabe drawn them into the library, like he’d done in the tunnels?
Something different had taken over and it scared her more. It didn’t feel like Gabriel had control, not like the times she’d seen before. Her sister cowered near the desk and looked paralyzed with fear as she clung to another woman. Somewhere Rayne heard a big dog barking and growling and whining. The noise grated on her raw nerves like listening to old-people jazz, but the barking wasn’t the only thing that stressed her out.
Two guys were fighting and beating each other to a bloody mess. Why? What would make them ignore the danger to stay and fight instead? The whole scene looked like a disaster flick in a cheesy movie. People caught in the library looked too struck to move or they’d let anger or a strange insanity take over. They should have run out, but they didn’t.
Whatever had happened, Rayne felt it, too.
It was as if she’d been zapped with crazy juice and dumped into an alternative reality. The worst fear she’d ever felt had a grip on her. Part of her wanted to run as far as she could get, but she couldn’t leave Gabriel, not when he’d sacrificed so much for her. She felt his familiar power as it sent a ripple of chills across her skin, and every hair on her head tingled with energy, but the strange sensation felt much stronger. Her stomach heaved as if she would be sick, especially when the dog wouldn’t stop yelping.
Breathe. Just breathe.
Trembling, Rayne kept low and crept closer toward the next row. The blue laser light pulsed brighter as if it breathed. Under flickering overhead lights, the whole library had been cast into a frenzied strobe show. She had to see Gabriel. She had to know he was all right. With tears stinging her eyes, she winced at the kinetic energy that jolted through her body like needle pricks as she peered around a shelf to find him.
The closer she got, the worse she felt. She got sicker and the excited dog got louder, too. When she peeked around the corner into the next row, the first thing she saw made her cringe. The freaked-out dog had been Hellboy. He scratched and leaped and yapped, trying to break free of something that boxed him in. He wasn’t in icy flames this time. His ghostly silhouette came in bursts of cloud puffs and faded to a vapor mist. Wherever he was, a barrier held him back from Gabriel.
That was when Rayne saw Gabe and she gasped. Still standing, his body shook as if he had a seizure, and his beautiful eyes had rolled back into his head. Alone and engulfed in raging blue flames, he looked as if he’d collapse any second from the weight of the power surging through him on overload. Something had gone horribly wrong. Rayne shoved aside her instinct to run and got to her feet. Ignoring Hellboy and her fear of him, she raced to Gabe and reached through the blue flames with her bare hands and arms.
Her skin prickled in pain and her insides were in agony, but she wouldn’t let go of him.
“Gabriel. Can you hear me?” She did her best to hold him up, but he was too heavy.
She staggered under his weight and lowered him to the floor in a heap, but his tremors wouldn’t let him rest. He rolled and pinned her to the floor, mumbling things she couldn’t understand. A strange heat mixed with a chilling tinge that radiated off his body like an energy force. It raged through her, too. With his face next to hers, she held him tight in her arms. She breathed in his gasps as if she could take away his pain. She could tell he wasn’t with her anymore. Whatever power radiated from his body had taken over and consumed him.
“I’m here. I won’t leave you.” Rayne didn’t know if Gabriel heard her, but she wouldn’t let go. “Stay with me. Please!”
Hyped on adrenaline, raging fear and something out of control, Rayne did the unexpected. She kissed Gabriel. Not a sweet and shy first kiss. She pulled him to her as if they’d made out plenty of times before and pressed her lips hard to his. At first, he didn’t react. The shakes still had control over him, but eventually his body relaxed and he gave in to her. She kissed his lips, his neck, even his eyelids until he collapsed into her arms and his shakes stopped.
Rayne looked at his slack face. His eyes were closed and she felt his full weight on her. He’d stopped moving. She didn’t even know if he was breathing.
“Gabriel?” Her eyes burned with tears. “Are you...okay?”
The noise in the library became muffled. The voices, the animals and birds, and a distant alarm faded and went dark in her mind. She even blocked out Hellboy. All she could think about or care about was Gabriel.
His eyes blinked open as if he’d awakened from a long sleep. When he finally saw her, he moved an arm as he lay next to her on the floor. Looking worn-out, he reached a trembling hand to her face and ran his fingers through her hair. A smile nudged his lips when his drowsy eyes fixed on her. She could
’ve stayed in that moment forever, breathing in his same air, comforted by his touch and the feel of his body next to hers.
“What...happened?” he asked in a raspy voice.
Such a simple question. She wanted to kiss him again, only this time on her own, without being under the control of the power he had unleashed, but she had fallen under the spell of a different influence now—one that came from her. As much as she wanted to hold him and cry—happy that he was okay—she resisted the urge. Something terrible had happened. She had to focus on getting him somewhere safe that wasn’t Griffith Park.
She had to fix what she’d done to him.
“Good question.” She smiled and kissed him quick.
“What was that for?” he asked as he tried to sit up. “Not that I’m complaining.”
Oh, my gawd. From the look on his face, he didn’t remember that first hot kiss. At least, it was hot and unforgettable for her. Rayne only shrugged. How could she explain that kiss to him when she didn’t understand it herself?
Something in Gabriel—and in her—made Rayne want to protect him. Her obsession with him had grown beyond his connection to Lucas. Everything about him baffled her. She pulled the hood up on his sweatshirt and covered his head and face as much as she could.
“Can you stand? We gotta go.”
“Think so.”
On shaky legs he stood, but not without her help. He put his arm around her shoulders and she held him. They crept down the aisle strewn with books, dodging stray cats and one foul-tempered Chihuahua.
“Don’t step in pigeon poop,” she told him.
“Good call.”
Hellboy had vanished. She didn’t see or hear him anymore and Gabriel hadn’t asked about him, either. The questions she had in her mind over what had happened to his phantom dog would have to wait.
When they got to the end of the row, Rayne peeked around a bookshelf to find her sister. Mia looked stunned as she helped another woman to her feet. They both were distracted by the men who were still wrestling on the floor with their arms and legs flailing. Rayne would have only seconds to get Gabe out.