“Thanks,” Uriel and I said at the same time. This, embarrassingly, made Maria giggle like a little girl. Uriel just smiled and came to collect me from where I had stood in the corner the whole time. He took my hand and wound it around his arm as he said, “Shall we?”
I waved to Jerry and Maria and mouthed another thank you over Uriel’s shoulder as we walked out. “Do you want to drive my car?” I offered once we were outside.
“Your Aston?”
“Yes.”
Uriel hesitated and then conceded, “I’d love to.”
“Great.” We entered the door to the garage, and I released Uriel’s arm so I could get the light and the keys. When I turned back to him, I found Uriel looking at my Aston. He-he. That sounds like something else… Wow, I need to get a grip.
I could see that he understood the car’s beauty and speed. When I handed him the keys, his appreciating gaze did not change as he looked at me. My knees felt weak, but I was spared a humiliating situation when Uriel led me to the passenger side and opened the door for me. I slid in and admired the view from my seat as he made his way around the front of the car. He flowed in beside me and started the ignition. My wondrous automobile purred to life. Uriel ran his hands along the steering wheel and I swear my mind stopped working properly. He turned to me and asked if I was sure that I wanted him to drive my car. I could only nod, finding that if not my mind, then at least my mouth still hadn’t recovered.
I couldn’t remember if we conversed on the drive to the restaurant; all I could recall was how I had stared at Uriel with, what no doubt had to have been, a goofy grin on my face. He just looked so good driving my Aston Martin.
The restaurant was perfect; it was just the kind of place I love. Music from the 1930s to 50s played in the background, the lights were dim but not too, and no one in the place cared if you didn’t have your napkin in your lap or not. The reason for this last thing is that whenever my family eats out, Mother acts like it’s the end of the world if you use the wrong fork or the server doesn’t deliver her food to her from the correct side or your napkin is left on the table before you’re done eating… I’m done with my rant now. Back to the restaurant and my date. Uriel and I were seated at a booth and immediately brought some bread. There weren’t many people eating, but then again, it was Monday. Because of the slow flow of customers, the waiter came very quickly to take our orders. I got the Chicken Marsala with spaghetti pomodoro and a Dr. Pepper, and Uriel ordered the Filet Fiorentina with the vegetable of the day and a pop.
What the heck is a pop? Nobody says, “Hey, bring me a pop while you’re up,” in the South. Where did this guy come from? And so, my questionnaire was born. There were just so many things to ask a person so interesting, I hadn’t gotten to all of my questions in the time we’d spent together thus far. Once our drinks came, I was prepared to begin. “Are you ready for your first question?”
Uriel leaned forward, folding his arms on the table in an imitation of mine. I hadn’t realized I looked so interrogative. “Yes.”
Frank Sinatra was singing “I’ve Got You Under My Skin” in the background, so I was in a good mood as I commenced. “Where did you move from?”
“We came here from Vermont.”
I guessed that explained the pop. “Vermont? What was that like?”
“Great skiing.”
I waited, but that’s all he said. “Whoa, don’t get too specific. I don’t want to hear about Vermont all night long.”
Uriel rolled his eyes. “It wasn’t my favorite state, but the skiing was a highlight.”
One sentence- that’s all I got. He was going to make this difficult. “Vermont’s close to Massachusetts,” I noted to myself, but Uriel heard me.
It was his turn to tease. “Very good Keira. Do you study globes when I’m not around?”
“Oh, you’re so funny,” I said dryly.
He seemed satisfied and took a drink from his Coke. Then he asked, “Why are you interested in Massachusetts?”
I realized he had just asked me a question when it was supposed to be my night for inquiring, but I answered him nevertheless. “I think I want to attend a university in Boston.”
“Boston’s close to your grandmother. She teaches there.” He stated these things so I didn’t have to confirm them. He remembered Grandma. I was impressed. But…
“That’s not the only reason I want to go to Boston. I want to be in the city and experience all that a big city life can offer. I’m ready to get out and see the world and have some fun along the way, and I figure Boston would be a pretty good place to start.” Uriel nodded; he seemed to understand. “Back to you.” I tried to think of an innocent question. Maybe if I got some basic information out of him- we’d kind of skipped over those sorts of things in the beginning- he would feel more comfortable with giving me more insight into his life. “Do you like animals?”
Uriel laughed. Probably at me, but I didn’t really have a problem with that; I would have laughed at the question too. It was basic though. He answered, “Yes, I like animals. How could I not since I live with Zev and he’s one of those must love dogs kind of people?”
“Aw.” Zev loves puppies. I can picture that. “Okay. What’s your favorite school subject?”
“It’s a tie between English and Band.”
Shocker. “Favorite holiday?”
“New Year’s Day.”
“And why’s that?”
He thought for a moment and then answered, “It gives everyone a second chance, a fresh start after every three hundred sixty-five days.”
Our food came, and I took a bite. It was delicious. More questions. What’s another easy one?... “When’s your birthday?”
A pained expression flashed across Uriel’s face. How was that a bad choice for a question? He answered after an unbearably long pause. “Honestly- I don’t know.”
Heh? “How is that possible?”
Uriel chose his words very carefully. “My mother died in childbirth and my father was dead before I was born. I was raised, along with Zev and Dagan, by a guardian who still watches out for us whenever we need him. When we met Odeda and Azra, our guardian took them in as well. We’ve all been together ever since for the most part. Zev, Dagan, and I don’t know any specifics about our earliest years though. So I can’t tell you my birth’s date.”
“I’m so sorry for you.”
“Don’t be. I have few complaints. It’s been a pretty enchanted life actually.” He tried to smile for me. “I have a great family now.”
“Yes, you do,” I agreed. He took another bite of his tenderloin, and asked me how my food was. “Delicious,” I told him. After a few more bites, I decided to doggedly try another question. “What do you want to do after college?”
Uriel smiled to himself and I took that to mean I had asked a safe question. “Something that enforces criminal justice.”
“Like a judge or a cop?”
“Yeah, something along those lines.”
“You’re going to find the bad guy and make him pay?”
“If I can tell the bad guy from the good.”
Sometimes I didn’t understand his thought process in the slightest- like right then. Tell the bad guy from the good? But I suddenly recalled the book that had been sitting apart from the others in Uriel’s library. Unable to deny my curiosity, I had purchased and read the novel the next day. Hopefully, Uriel’d be impressed that I too could quote from works of literature. I grinned and confidently recited, “‘Each of us has Heaven and Hell in him. ’”
My date went stringent as his face paled. His voice matched his posture. “What did you just say?”
“‘Each of us has Heaven and Hell in him.’… It’s a clip from The Picture of Dorian Gray. I saw a copy in your room before… Did I do something wrong?”
Uriel’s eyes were cold as he looked at something that wasn’t there. It took him a few seconds to come back to me, but he replied, “No, you did nothing wrong.”
His
face didn’t mirror his words. I was starting to get nervous so I babbled a little. “The book was interesting- I actually liked it even though it’s kind of old- Lord Henry’s my favorite character- he’s really funny- as I read the book, it dawned on me that you and Dorian have the same last name- I thought that was ironic because you’re both so different in how you act- irony, a literary device- Mrs. Ginger would be proud- her name’s kind of ironic too with her hair being red and all… This food’s really good.”
Uriel’s glow slowly crept back into his angelic face as I babbled on and on. His eyes stirred with recognition that I was uncomfortable and immediately lost their chill. “I apologize, Keira. I didn’t mean to zone out like that.” I blinked my acceptance. He continued gently. “The food is appetizing and the company is marvelous.”
“Thanks.”
Silence ensued, but it didn’t last long. We pretended there was never any awkwardness and the conversation flowed easily after a while. I gave up on asking questions and we talked casually about any subject Uriel came up with. I laughed more that night than I had in months. Neither of us was hungry enough to order any dessert after dinner so we left the restaurant with plenty of time for Uriel to get me home sooner than he’d promised.
Before Uriel opened my passenger door, he stopped with his hand on the handle. He got this thoughtful look on his face. “We should dance,” he said to me.
Completely caught off guard, I blurted out the first thing that popped into my mind. “We danced Friday. Is this going to be some kind of tradition?”
Our car was one of very few vehicles in the parking lot and no one was outside right then. Uriel released the handle and faced me full on, staring me down. “Last time I was just testing your ability. This time will be the first of our practicing.” He put his hand on the small of my back and started walking me further from the car.
“Practice for what?” What is he talking about? “I’m not entering any contest, if that’s your idea.”
“No contest, I promise.” He stopped, apparently deciding that here was a good place to start dancing. He took my right hand and lifted it up to begin. “I’m not going to allow you to look like a fool,” he told me, “dancing at your own coming out ceremony. And so in order to make my job easier, the premier debutant- you- and the escort- I- should practice at least a few times before actually performing in front of your mother’s expensive friends and guests.”
He took the first step to dance, but I remained rooted. “You would be my escort?” I asked, scarcely daring to believe his words.
Uriel had no hint of cruel sarcasm in his demeanor. “If you’d like.”
“Don’t toy with my future,” I warned him.
He smiled. “Never.”
I couldn’t believe it! “You’d really go through hours of curtsies and tuxes and snobs and white gloves and pearls and pinched faces and Mother and… more, just for me?”
“And more.” There was still no sarcasm in his scintillating eyes. He was serious. He would suffer with me, for me.
“This may be the sweetest thing anyone’s ever done for me.”
“That’s sad.”
“No,” I disagreed, “that’s just how awful the ceremony’s going to be.”
Uriel laughed, and it was all the music I needed. And we danced right there, in the middle of the parking lot.
Et Tu, Brute?
Chapter 10
Uriel
I floated through the front door and into the living room where I reluctantly came down from my euphoria in order to sit in the midst of my family. I wasn’t bombarded with questions the moment I entered so I was surprised as I looked around at each of my brothers and then my sister. Only Odeda’s face gave away their act. She was so obviously ready to burst with her need to interrogate that she was digging her fingers into Azra’s arm, and pretty soon, his face was constricting in pain. I started laughing and Odeda gave up. “How’d it go?”
“Odeda!” Zev and Dagan reprimanded together.
“I’m sorry,” she told them and then turned to me. “We were trying not to pry, but you know I can’t help myself.”
“Oh, I know.”
“So…?”
Azra was rubbing his arm where Odeda had left deep imprints from her fingernails. I looked at my sister and took pity on her. “We had a wonderful time. I picked her up,” I shifted my gaze to Dagan and Zev, “I drove Keira in her Aston Martin to the restaurant, we ate, we danced, and I took her home at a descent hour this time.” Zev had been the only one who’d reacted neutrally to the fact that Keira and I had fallen asleep on our date Friday night. Azra had been slightly concerned, Odeda had slapped me hard on the arm for my ungentlemanly behavior, and Dagan had told me, “Way to go.”
This night, I got the response I had hoped for from my two younger brothers- Azra’s always seemed more like the eldest even though none of us really knows how old we are. Zev and Dagan were gaping at me, trying to voice their disbelief and jealousy.
“You got-?”
“She let you-?”
“An Aston Martin?”
“You dog!”
This last bit was from Dagan. Zev never uses animals as humor or in people comparison.
“Now do you wish you had chosen an Aston instead of the car you ordered last year?” Zev asked me.
“No. I wouldn’t trade my car for a hundred Astons.”
Odeda wasn’t finished with her questions so she cut Zev’s disregarding reply off. “Did Keira like the restaurant?” she asked.
“Yes. You picked a great place, Odeda.”
“Did you say you danced?”
“Yes.”
“Carrabba’s doesn’t have a dance floor.”
“We danced outside.”
“Oh. Whatever,” she shrugged it off.
Once all questions were answered, and Dagan and Zev had driven vicariously through me, I was ready for some shut-eye. I stood and began walking toward the stairs. I was almost to them when Azra was suddenly at my arm steering me outside. I looked back at the others. Dagan was playing his game with and winning against Zev, and Odeda was pretending not to notice that her husband was taking me to the backyard.
“Before you left for your date, you told me you were going to be the main topic tonight,” Azra said once the door was closed. He sat down at The Table, and I followed. “How did that go?”
I sighed. This was what he wanted to talk about? “I was very careful not to mention anything that could jeopardize the mission. I answered her questions as truthfully as I could without telling her too much.”
“That’s not what I’m worried about. I knew you would be careful.” Azra raked his hand through his hair in a stressful manner I wasn’t used to. It looked more like an action of Zev’s.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, becoming concerned.
He paused, thinking about how he was going to word his problem. “You’ve grown quite attached to Keira over the matter of a few weeks.” He paused again, not sure where to go.
What was wrong with that? I felt my body stiffen in defense to what I thought he could be implying. But it was Azra, and I wouldn’t jump to conclusions. “I have,” I prompted.
“I know that I told you to trust your feelings…”
Azra had never struggled with his words as much as this. “What’s on your mind?”
“I just can’t help but think of the worst. You know how I like to always be prepared, so I’ve been keeping a close eye on you when you’re around Keira lately.”
“I’ve noticed.” Though, I hadn’t thought anything of it. “What do you see that’s wrong?”
“Nothing really…” he cringed visibly, “so far.”
“So far?” My voice rose in volume. What was my brother getting at?
“You know I’ve only your best interests at heart,” he needlessly reminded me.
“Speak your mind Azra.”
He decided to let it out. “What if something goes wrong? The Enemy is always watching;
you know that. Uriel, Keira is mortal, and she could be in danger.”
“No, she can’t,” I snapped. He thought I hadn’t considered that? That I would put Keira in danger if I thought I couldn’t keep her safe? “I’ll always protect her. She can’t be touched when I’m here.” I stood up. “And for you to think otherwise is undermining my abilities. I will not allow anyone to harm her.” I started to turn away, but I stopped and asked, “What happened to ‘You have my support on this’?”
Azra knew there was nothing he could say, so he remained silent as I walked away. Jumbled thoughts plagued my mind as I made my way to the cars. I didn’t know which automobile I took, but I slammed the door of the closest one and drove out of the city limits. What was he thinking? I could never leave Keira. The best way to protect her from the Watchers was to be by her side. She’d be vulnerable left alone over any extended period of time. I had to remain close by. Leaving just wasn’t a possibility anymore.
♂ ♂ ♂ ♂ ♂
Azra and I didn’t really speak for the next few days. We put on good faces around Keira, but I’m not sure she was entirely fooled. Azra no doubt voiced his concerns to Odeda, but Zev and Dagan only knew that we were in a disagreement. I knew eventually we would be back to normal, but I couldn’t shake the thoughts he had produced. Azra might not have meant to, but he had caused self-doubt in me.
The next Tuesday, Azra called another meeting. We all gathered around the glass table, and he began. “The Watchers have contacted our charge and are putting on a façade for her. They haven’t told her why they’re here. I don’t know much more than that. While Odeda and I followed her last night, we found out that the charge is working at a coffee shop- DeBeen. I think it would be beneficial if one of our guild got an interview with the owner of DeBeen for a position working with her. I want someone to be there when she is, so that we can keep the Watchers from her as long as she is at work. I’ve checked her school, and none are enrolled. Her house should be safe. So we give the Watchers as few opportunities to get to her as possible. Now all I need is someone to get himself a job at the coffee shop.” Azra looked to me, but I wasn’t going to volunteer unless no one else could.
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