Awaken: Book 1 of the Dark Paradise Trilogy

by Isadora Brown

  He hurried to the driver’s seat and threw the car into drive. With most of the police and firemen here, he might get away with breaking the speed limit. He decided on Onyx General since it was the closest and he knew the layout inside out. He also knew he would get caught. Security would detain him somewhere until the police could take him into custody.

  That didn’t matter. Nothing else mattered.

  In a manner of minutes, he pulled a sharp turn followed by a U-turn and was idling in the hospital’s driveway. He shifted the car into park and hopped out, the car still running. With swift softness, he picked her up in his arms and headed through the sliding doors. He could feel the stares as soon as he was inside, followed by whispers and murmurs. A few people even backed up in fear. He ignored everybody, but made a note that if need be, he could use them as hostages. Noir walked up to the nurse’s station where a young nurse sat, paralyzed with fear.

  “This, uh, woman needs help,” he stated. The nurse swallowed but remained silent. He closed one of his eyes in agitation and then slid his tongue across his splattered lips. “I said this woman needs, hum … help.”

  “You’re Noir,” she said, her voice shaking and her blue eyes going wide.

  “Very good sleuth work, de-tec-tive,” he said. “However, if I wanted a, uh, detective, I would have gone to the police station. I. Need. A. Doctor. Now.”

  “What did you do to her?” the nurse asked, picking up the phone. It seemed that this was the first time she noticed Keirah.

  “What makes you think I did this?” He perked his brow.

  Two male nurses emerged from the emergency room with a stretcher. They were strong, but even their physical appearance could not keep the apprehension from their eyes. They said nothing as they wheeled the bed over, but their bodies were tense, as though they expected this to be some sort of trick. Noir carefully set Keirah down, pressing his lips together. His fingers laced themselves in her hair while his thumb gently caressed her cheek. He hated to leave her but he knew he had to. This was what was best for her, for them. His hazel eyes bronzed and he looked back at the nurse. She swallowed.

  “Take care of her,” he said, “or I will, hum … kill you.”

  He walked out of the hospital just as the sirens got closer. But it didn’t matter. Noir was already gone.

  36

  Reese was surprised by how easily it was to pretend to be normal. Eventually, she and Ollo headed back downstairs in order to help her mother set the table. Reese made sure she touched up her makeup so her mother wouldn’t recognize that she had been crying. Fifteen minutes later, her father and brother returned from golfing just in time to eat. The turkey had finished cooking, and while the men of the house met Ollo, the women put food on the table. A prayer was said before the family started piling their plates with food. Reese didn’t have much of an appetite, but she forced herself to enjoy the moment she was in rather than worry about what was to come and how she planned to stop it.

  The conversation during their late lunch was easy, carefree, and just a tad embarrassing. Reese didn’t correct her mother when she called Ollo her boyfriend, and while Ollo looked surprised by the title, she was glad he didn’t say anything about it either. She wanted to give her mother something she could obsess about, and since she never had to worry about Reese’s grades or making friends, it would be about boys. Reese wasn’t sure how long this would last, but she wanted to make sure every moment was worth it. If that meant she had to pretend to be dating Ollo, so be it. In fact, the thought of being with Ollo didn’t sound so bad, especially now that he was sober. As crazy as it sounded, she trusted him more than she ever expected to. He might even be her best friend.

  Reese blinked.

  Ollo was her best friend.

  Not Piper or Andie or Carey.

  It was Ollo.

  Maybe it had always been this way. Maybe it was supposed to be this way. Tilting her head a fraction to the side, she focused on Ollo sitting next to her, looking at his profile from the corner of her eye. She had never had a best guy friend before. She was a girl’s girl through and through and she was proud of that. She loved her new friends and trusted them without question, but Ollo knew everything about her. She had never been friends with an Australian-Irish recovering alcoholic before, and she wasn’t sure how to be one, really. Life was weird, unexpected, beautiful, and perfect all at the same time. She continued to look at him, at the scruff, the blue-brown eyes, and she felt her lips turn up into a soft smile.

  As though he knew she was looking at him, he caught her eye and a similar smile crept onto his face. Her heart didn’t stop or skip; instead, it squeezed, spreading warmth through her entire being.

  “So tell me,” Edina said, looking across the table at her husband with a knowing sparkle in her eyes, “how did you two meet?”

  Reese pushed her brow up, unsure how to respond. She hadn’t thought her parents would ask such a question, so she hadn’t even thought to come up with a story to explain their relationship. Luckily, she hadn’t needed to.

  “I run track every now and then,” Ollo said without missing a beat. Reese nearly choked on her own saliva at the comment because the thought of Ollo putting any effort into running was too hilarious to picture with a straight face. He shot her a warning look and she glanced away, pretending to cough in order to hide her amusement. “I remember the first time I saw her. She was on a soccer field at the park by herself, wearing white. Her hair was down, natural and wavy, light makeup if any. She was the most beautiful being I had ever seen in my entire life. I was so nervous. My heart was beating faster than it does when I run.”

  The humor on Reese’s face drained as she listened to him speak. His tone was different, serious. She had never heard him sound this way before, and it did things to her heart, her body, that she didn’t want to think about. He was talking about when they met at Jack’s Halloween party. Of course he couldn’t tell her family how they really knew each other. She hated lying but at least her family was happy. At least they believed she was happy.

  “She looked at me,” Ollo continued, locking eyes with Reese. “You know that look she gets when she’s studying something really intense before she makes a decision about something? Like, once she makes that decision there’s no looking back so she has to be sure?”

  “She gets that from her mother,” Daddy said, raising a glass of white wine and tipped it in Mommy’s direction. She blushed—Reese thought it was absolutely adorable that he still had the power to make her mother blush—and smiled.

  “I still don’t know what compelled her to trust me,” he continued, “what inspired her to take a chance on someone like me. Lord knows I’m not perfect, but she believes in me and that’s enough.”

  Reese swallowed and blinked, trying to will away her tears. No one had ever said anything that nice to her before. And, coming from Ollo, it meant even more because she knew words like this rarely fell from his lips.

  The moment was ruined by “Barbie Girl” blaring from her cell phone. A loud laugh escaped her mouth at the awkward tension in the room, causing her face turned bright red in mere seconds. She excused herself, heading into the kitchen to take the call so no one would overhear her.

  “Andie?” Reese asked, making sure to keep her voice low. “Is everything all right?”

  “Yeah.” Andie’s shakiness betrayed the affirmative response, and Reese bit her tongue to keep from asking what was wrong. In all honesty, Reese was surprised when Andie turned down her invitation to spend Thanksgiving with her family only because the last time they spoke, Andie was pissed at Jack. Then again, that was around the time Reese thought Ollo was annoying, frustrating, and a splinter under her skin. Funny how life changed perception so quickly. “Yeah. Keirah. She’s, she’s back. In the hospital, I mean.”

  “Is she okay?” Reese asked, barely able to contain her happiness at the news. “What happened? How did she escape?”

  “She didn’t.” A pause. “He brought he
r to the hospital.” Now confusion, on both ends. “Noir brought her to the hospital himself.”

  “W-what?” Reese knitted her brow together, unclear about what Andie was trying to say. “I don’t understand.”

  “Neither do I,” Andie admitted. “Commissioner Jarrett called me and said Noir was sighted carrying Keirah unconscious in his arms. She’s not dead, Reese. She’s beat up pretty bad, but she’s alive. If he had brought her in minutes later, she’d be brain dead or dead-dead. In fact, they say … they say he saved her life.” Reese wanted to ask a handful of questions, but before even one could pop out, Andie cut her off. “I gotta go, Reese. I’ll call you later, okay? Happy Thanksgiving.”

  Reese nearly dropped her phone after hanging up. Noir saved Keirah? What did that mean?

  “You okay?”

  She jumped and found Ollo looking at her with his muddy blue eyes. It was in that moment she realized she didn’t give him enough credit. Those eyes knew more than his lips ever said, and as they continued to study her, she knew his question was courteous only because he was already aware that she wasn’t okay. He rubbed his lips together, uncomfortable, still unsure how to handle her emotions when he didn’t know how to make whatever was wrong better. “Wanna go for a walk?”

  She nodded slowly. “Yes,” she murmured. “I do.”

  Reese forced herself to walk into the dining room and tell her family she wanted to show Ollo around the neighborhood.

  “Hurry back, darling,” her mother said, waving a teasing hand. “I made pecan pie, your favorite.”

  When they were out the door and on the sidewalk, Ollo nudged her shoulder playfully. “Pecan’s your favorite?” he asked with a lighthearted grin.

  Reese appreciated the effort to make her smile. It was familiar and warmed her insides. “Is that a problem?” she asked, tilting her head up so the sun touched her skin.

  He shook his head. “Mine too,” he said.

  They walked silently for a while. Reese was surprised at how nice it was outside. It reminded her of Beverly Hills, of home … except now, Ollo was her home. Ollo was her best friend and she was the Oracle, instead of just an ordinary girl.

  “Keirah’s back,” she said after another moment. Her eyes were on the ground, her hands behind her back. “He brought her to the hospital. She’s going to be okay.”

  “Who brought her?” he asked, turning his head down to look at her. Subtle lines pinched his furrowed brow.

  She stopped walking and turned to face him. “You know who,” she said. Her eyes captured his. “He brought her there himself. What does that mean?”

  He blinked, seemingly dazed. “He cares about her.” His tone was smooth and intrigued, but not surprised.

  “Can he do that?” Reese asked.

  “What? Just because he’s an Excom, he’s not allowed to care about someone?”

  “No, it’s just …” She blinked. “I didn’t think he was capable of caring at all.”

  “He was a man once,” Ollo pointed out. “Still is, I suppose. He’s capable of feeling. Just because he’s a sociopath does not mean he can’t love.” He gave her a small smile. “God always knew man would fall. That’s why He gave them the ability to redeem themselves.”

  “Women were created to save men?” Reese asked.

  “Man is a general term that includes every gender,” Ollo clarified. “What God gave us was a choice. Noir could have chosen to let Keirah die. People would expect him to. Hell, he probably expected him to. But he didn’t. He chose to take her to the hospital where it was likely he would be caught. You chose to believe me, in me. And I chose to awaken you.”

  Reese felt her breath leave her. “You?” She wasn’t aware she had spoken until he replied.

  “Me.” He wasn’t looking at her now. Instead, his eyes were fixed on the trees that lined that street. “Crazy, hmm?”

  “How?”

  He pressed his lips together, sighing through his nose. He didn’t want to tell her, she realized, but he would. She knew he would. “The way you’re supposed to awaken a sleeping woman,” he finally said. He pressed his brows up, expecting her to understand, but when she continued to stare at him blankly, he let out a frustrated grunt. “A kiss, darl. I kissed you.”

  Reese’s fingers immediately went to her lips, as though she was trying to remember the feel of it. “I thought that was only in fairytales,” she mumbled, letting her hand fall down to her side.

  “Even fairytales have truth buried underneath the fiction,” he responded.

  She hesitated only a moment before asking, “Does this mean you’re my true love?”

  “That’s a myth,” he said, his words precise and drawn out. “We’re connected, darl. Your soul and mine. Do you remember when you asked if Gabe was Apollo?”

  She nodded. “You said he wasn’t,” she said.

  “He’s not.” A beat. “I am.”

  “You?” She looked at him with disbelief.

  “Me.” One nod. “We’re bound together through time. I was the only one who could awaken you and your powers.”

  “Why did it take so long for you to meet me?”

  “I don’t like to say goodbye.”

  “What does that mean?”

  He sighed. “Think about it, darl,” he said. “I’m not good at making friends. After the first time, I promised myself never again. You were the only one I trusted. Whenever you were reborn, I could feel it. In my bones. In the air. I refused to see you. You would never be who I remembered, so I avoided meeting you at all cost and I was doing a pretty damn good job of it, too. So much time passed I started to hope that maybe, just maybe, this war would never happen, that I would never need to see you again. I tried to forget you. I started drinking to help. It didn’t work. I knew it wouldn’t work.” He locked eyes with her. “There’s no forgetting you, darl.” A sad smile. “Then Noir came and then the Black Wing. It was only a matter of time until Henry came and told me it was time. I saw you lying there and you were perfect. You are perfect. And for a minute, I didn’t want to wake you up. I wanted you to sleep. Forever. For this lifetime.”

  “Why?” Reese asked. “What could I have possibly done to you?”

  “You died.” His voice was low, soft. “Every war needs a catalyst to start the war and a sacrifice to end it. The last time you were needed, why you were created, was for the First War, when Hades went against Law and kidnapped Persephone for himself. You were the catalyst.”

  Reese inhaled, swallowed. She had died as Seer in the First War? There was a First War?

  “I thought Keirah would be the catalyst after Noir kidnapped her,” he went on. “Either he would kill her himself or Lucas would kill her as an example. But she’s safe. Because of Noir. She’s not, which means you—”

  Reese reached out and grabbed his hand, lacing her fingers with his. “Hey. It’ll be all right,” she murmured. “We have today. What are you always telling me? Enjoy the moment. Enjoy today. Enjoy what we have.” It was easier to pretend she wasn’t worried about the future, not when Ollo looked as broken as he did. “We have each other.”

  And then his forehead was grazing hers and his free hand was around her waist, holding her tightly against him. Her eyes never wavered from his and the right corner of his lips curled up. “Be careful, darl,” he said in a low murmur, his warm breath tickling her cheek. “You sound like you care.”

  “I do,” she said, her voice just as soft but firm.

  He said nothing but continued to stare at her, his eyes as inscrutable as ever. And then he squeezed her hand.

  37

  Andie got the call before the Italian food Beverly ordered in lieu of burnt turkey was delivered to the manor. Jack was in the shower, but Andie couldn’t wait. She told Beverly about the commissioner’s call. In all honesty, she had no idea when she would be back—if she would be back other than to collect her things—but told the woman she would thank Jack herself. She would make it up to him somehow, but she needed to leave.
As she grabbed her keys and headed to the car, she called both Carey and Reese to let them know what was going on. When she finished, she turned off her cell phone and slid into the driver’s seat before starting the car and driving to Onyx General.

  Jack was the Black Wing. It was the first thought that popped into her mind and refused to leave her alone until she thoroughly resolved this issue, especially since now Keirah was back and safe. Jack was the Black Wing. She knew it in her gut. Those eyes, so dark and unique; she knew those eyes. It could only be Jack.

  But how? When the Black Wing had carried her back to the manor, she had seen his wings – black and inky, like a painting of the night sky – they looked real, attached to his back as though they were his own rather than a mere contraption he had built himself. But that was impossible. Angels weren’t tangible beings; they were perfect, graceful, godlike.

  Jack was perfect to her. Looking at him hurt at times, but he had his share of flaws: the small, skin-colored mole on the right side of his nose, the long narrow nose, the thin lips, the thick low brow. Yet somehow, those imperfections came together to create something flawless.

  His actions were much more human than angelic. She didn’t think many angels slept around with beautiful women, spent money on whatever they wanted, and could be kind of a jerk. It didn’t make sense. But she knew, she knew it was him. She didn’t know how or why, but she knew Jack was the Black Wing.

  What did that mean for them?

  Andie clenched her jaw as she pulled into the parking structure. There was no them. As much as Andie wanted there to be, she and Jack were business associates and friends, nothing more. He had been with lots of women, most of them more beautiful than she, and none of them lasted long. Jack was twenty-one—or so he said, but if he really was an angel, who knew how old he was?—a billionaire, and a masked vigilante. There was no way he could be in the right mind frame for a relationship right now, and Andie wouldn’t let herself be with him for nothing less than a monogamous relationship. She wouldn’t lie to herself so she could walk on air for a week or however long they lasted. There was also the fact that she wasn’t quite ready for a relationship with anyone just yet. She had to make sure Keirah was all right and figure out her living arrangement.