Undiscovered Angel

by Sharon Saracino

  Luca sighed. “I guess I can see how he might have thought that. And I’ll admit, I’m kind of glad you took off and weren’t there to see my initial reaction. But the bottom line is that family, to an Earthbound, is everything; at least that’s usually the case. Mac knew what the situation between my father and Lilly did to me. It cost me what little family I had. I was…angry for a long time, and I blamed your mother. But, I finally realize that my father made his own decisions. He chose to let the loss control him, and ultimately, destroy him. I wasn’t enough to hold him to this world. And,” he smiled, “as it turns out, I do still have family, after all. There’s no way in hell I would walk away from that. Katrina…I am not going anywhere, and if I do, from this moment on you will always know where to find me. I harbor no illusions that I’ll ever be anyone’s idea of a perfect brother, or anything close to it, but you can always count on me if you need me. I doubt we will ever have a typical or traditional relationship…we’ll both have to work at this.”

  “Well, I’m willing if you are. It makes me sad that we’ve already missed so much. Luca, what happened between them? All Mom would ever say was that it didn’t work out.”

  His expression became shadowed and he didn’t answer right away. She felt his reluctance to revisit the painful episode. “They seemed happy enough. I thought everything was fine, and then one day, out of the blue she decided his life as a Defensori was too dangerous and she wanted out. She must have realized by then that she was carrying you, and maybe it was fear for your safety more than her own, I don’t know. He would have done anything, given up anything for her. She should have known that. He wasn’t…thrilled with her decision.” His lips twisted in a rueful smile. “But, I think maybe now I can understand it a little better. Only took a quarter century…not so long in the greater scheme of things, but I’m usually a little quicker on the uptake.”

  “Ironic, isn’t it, that I seem to have ended up right in the middle of the kind of situation she gave up so much to protect me from,” Kat mused sadly. “Karma is a bitch.”

  “Karma is a bitch.” He agreed. “Anyway…when she wouldn’t see him, he went on a bit of a bender…and then he came back to tell her that he would give it up…leave the Defensori…he’d become a businessman or a shopkeeper, bartender, street sweeper; anything she wanted. There are a lot of ways to work against the Fallen that don’t necessarily involve hand to hand combat. But he was too late.”

  “Did he mean it?”

  “What?”

  “That he would give it up? Do something less dangerous. Would you?”

  His eyes widened in surprise and he drew a deep, contemplative breath and blew it out slowly. “Are you asking me to?” She felt it. He would do it. He would hate it, but he would give it up…for her; for no other reason than to make her happy, though he hardly knew her; yet. Because she was his family. He’d already accepted her completely. She flashed him a blinding, hundred-watt smile.

  “No, I’m not asking. A warrior is who you are, Luca; I could never ask you to change. You might find a way to be content with it, but you would never be really happy. And eventually you would come to resent it…and me. I would never ask it of you…and I suspect that was exactly how my mom felt, too.”

  “You know, carissima…” His voice was suspiciously hoarse. “You’re pretty smart for such a youngster. Maybe you’re right. She couldn’t live with the danger; and she knew he couldn’t be happy without it.”

  “Well, it still isn’t fair.” Kat’s heart was in her voice. “That they had to lose each other…that we had to lose each other.”

  “Most of life isn’t fair, cara, but at least we have each other, beginning now….so tell me, what’s your plan?” His eyes suddenly sparkled with mischievous anticipation.

  “My plan?” She regarded him blankly, disoriented by the sudden change in topic.

  “There’s no way in hell Mac is about to give you up or leave you unprotected, so the way I see it, you can play this one of two ways. You can let me take you back to Mac’s place, or you can come back with me to my place…which will make Mac very, uh, tense.” He grinned fiendishly.

  “Oh! Er, I hadn’t really thought about it. I guess I figured I’d stay here.”

  “Not an option. It’s too isolated, too hard to protect. But you should probably decide…”

  Before he could finish there was a tremendous crash that shook the house and rattled the windows. Sid yowled and flew behind the stove for cover as a slow, satisfied smile spread over Luca’s face. When it happened a second time, his grin stretched even wider. Kat clapped her hands to her ears.

  “What in the hell is that?”

  Luca twitched back his cuff and consulted his watch.

  “Mac always was a punctual sonofabitch.”

  “What on earth is he doing?” She didn’t know what was worse, the rattling of the house or the pathetic caterwauling coming from behind the stove. She tried to coax Sid out, but he was having none of it, squeezing his bulk as far back into the darkened corner as he could.

  “My guess is he’s trying to fade into your living room.” Luca smiled complacently. “My bad…I guess I forgot to mention I put up sigils.”

  Chapter 10

  Kat ran to the front window and tore back the curtain. She felt the house shudder and groan again before Kassian appeared in a blue flash as he hit the ground several feet beyond the porch as though tossed there by some giant, hostile hand. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth, his right eye was puffy and turning blue, and the look in his eyes was deadly. She spun to face her brother with a look of alarm.

  “Luca, stop it! He’s hurt!”

  Luca strolled casually from the kitchen, flicked back the curtain, looked out, and smiled coldly. He turned to Kat and pushed up her sleeve, exposing the dark, purplish fingerprints around her wrist.

  “So are you.”

  Kat’s face softened, and she raised a hand to Luca’s cheek.

  “That was an accident. I startled him and he reacted on instinct; it wasn’t deliberate. I appreciate the thought, Luca, but don’t go all Rambo-Bro on me, okay?”

  “I wasn’t referring only to the bruise, Katrina,” he replied tightly.

  “What did he tell you?” She suddenly felt like a naughty schoolgirl caught playing hooky and her stomach did a nervous little flip.

  Luca shrugged right on cue. “Enough.”

  The house rocked again and Sid streaked through the hall and up the stairs, presumably to hide under Kat’s bed.

  “Kat, you have to remember that Mac and I have been friends for almost six hundred years…we’ve had each other’s backs for a long time. We tell each other… things. Old habits die hard.”

  “Did you say six hundred…” she whispered faintly. Dear Lord, she couldn’t possibly have heard him right! “Well, I always wanted an older brother…guess I should have been a little more specific.”

  “McAllister, stop… you’re cracking my plaster!”

  “I am coming in, Kat, and we are going to talk even if I have to keep this up for the rest of the day.”

  “I really don’t want to talk to you right now.”

  “I know you don’t, baby, but I’m coming in anyway.”

  “I’m not your baby…can you please just park it on the porch and chill for a minute…I can’t think…I need to think… give me...ten minutes?”

  She risked a peek out the window and saw that Kassian had picked himself up and was hobbling stiffly toward the porch. He lowered himself gingerly into one of the rockers and propped his booted feet on the banister.

  “Ten minutes, Kat…then I’m coming in.”

  Kat raked a trembling hand through her hair and twirled a lock frantically around her forefinger over and over while she paced the confines of the living room. Luca propped a shoulder against the mantel and crossed his arms over his chest, his eyes following her agitated movements silently.

  “Okay, Luca…here’s your big chance…how about some brothe
rly advice? What do I do?”

  His brow went up. “Sorry, dolcezza…I am not getting in the middle of this.”

  She spun around to glare at him in disbelief.

  “Not getting in the middle? What the hell do you call all this?” She waved her arms around wildly gesturing at the house.

  “I call this teaching someone a lesson. Besides, he’s spent the last hundred or so years focused solely on revenge; it does my heart good to see his attention fixated on something else for a change.”

  She released a long, deep breath, unaware that she had been holding it and collapsed onto the sofa. Okay, time for an alternate approach.

  “You know him probably better than anyone, right?”

  “Right.”

  “So, what do I do?”

  “What do you want to do?”

  “Do you always answer a question with a question? That isn’t particularly helpful, you know. He doesn’t trust me.”

  “He does trust you. He’s an insecure ass sometimes…but he figures it out eventually.”

  “McAllister, insecure? Ha! You’re a funny guy. He can be the most arrogant sonofabitch I’ve ever met! So, you’re saying I should let him in?”

  “Actually, the most arrogant sonofabitch you’ve ever met would be me, but I’ve been on my best behavior so you probably haven’t noticed.” He winked. “I’m saying you should do what makes you happy.”

  “Whose side are you on, anyway?” Her eyes narrowed to slits. Although truthfully, how could she blame him? He and McAllister had been friends for…gulp…six hundred years whereas she and Luca had slightly less history, even if he was her brother.

  ****

  Luca chuckled and came to sit beside her on the sofa. It was old and sagged in the middle so that when he sat down she slid right against him. He put an arm around her shoulders and felt his heart expand to bursting when she snuggled against him. Without hesitation, she accepted him completely. He closed his eyes briefly, and for the first time in a long time he allowed himself a moment of grief for the loss of what little family he’d had. Lilly should have trusted Nicola enough to stay the course, or at least to tell him the truth about Kat. But Kat’s reasoning echoed in his head…and maybe she was right; maybe in the long run Nicola would have become resentful and they would have ended up destroying each other. He’d mourned the past for so long, but ultimately, nothing could change it. Now, by some grace, he’d been given a second chance of sorts. He hoped he could live up to it. And he found he could finally let go of the pain, most of it, anyway. He put his fingers under Kat’s chin and looked into her eyes, her gaze so similar to his own that he marveled again that neither he nor Mac had suspected anything sooner.

  “I told you, I’m not taking sides. I’m only telling you what I know...”

  “It’s just that you and McAllister have been bosom buddies for…” She swallowed hard. “…six hundred years, and you’ve known I’m your sister for, what? An hour and a half, tops?”

  “An hour or a century…it’s all the same, Katrina. You’re my family. And I think, as a…big brother—” He was still struggling with the concept. “I’m supposed to believe there is no one good enough for you. But, if there was any man I thought was remotely good enough for you, it’s Mac. I trust him with my life and I trust him with yours. And you’re good for him, really good for him. You give him back something that he lost a long time ago. He may be too thick to appreciate it yet, but you are his miracle, kiddo. Yeah, he screwed up…and he’ll probably screw up again. Hell, I know he’ll screw up again. Even we angels aren’t perfect, cara.”

  “He feels responsible for me,” she mumbled and Luca could hardly miss the misery in her voice.

  “Of course he does…he got you into this mess by bringing you home that night. And I should kick his ass for that alone. But, I might never have found you otherwise so I can’t really beat him up too much about it. But you’re wrong if you think this is Mac feeling responsible and nothing more. I’ve known him a long time, cara.”

  “Yeah, the six hundred years thing is still freaking me out a little, so could you refrain from mentioning it for a while?” Luca laughed and dropped a kiss on her head.

  “Three minutes, Kat.”

  “Well, I hope he’s not bucking for canonization,” she grumbled. “He would definitely flunk the ‘patience of a saint’ requirement.”

  “You’ve got that right, sweetness,” Luca laughed. “So, tell me…what do you want to do? You want to talk to him, I’m outta here…you don’t want to talk to him, I guess we could watch a movie or play Monopoly or something and let him wear himself out.”

  “I guess I’ll talk to him, though I don’t like him very much at the moment. Otherwise he’ll keep beating his stubborn head against the walls. He’s already got a black eye, the idiot!”

  “Oh, that isn’t from trying to get in,” Luca said mildly. The corners of his mouth looked as though they were fighting a smile.

  “What do you mean?” she asked. The gaze she turned to Luca was filled with suspicion. Luca raised a brow and ultimately lost the battle against the smile, though it turned out to be more of a smirk than anything. “Luca, you didn’t!”

  “He’ll get over it.” He shrugged. “Probably. I can’t say I’m sorry. Mac needed to get his head out of his ass and if I was the one who had to provide him with the crowbar to pry it free, so be it.”

  “You’re as bad as he is!” she cried, but it turned into a laugh at his unruffled expression.

  “Probably worse. Okay, cara, remember, my door is open if you would rather stay with me. As for lover boy out there, whenever you’re ready, he can come in through the front door, which, by the way, was free and clear the entire time if he’d bothered to try the polite and civilized route.” Luca smirked. “You know what, cara? It’s true what they say; payback really is a satisfying bitch.”

  ****

  Kat tugged at Luca’s sleeve as he began to rise from the sofa. “Oh! I have one more question before you go…”

  “You have one minute, Kat.”

  “Don’t get your boxers in a twist, McAllister, I’ll be there in a sec.”

  “What makes you think I’m wearing any?”

  She chose to ignore him; but she was hard pressed not to smile even though she was still totally pissed; he was completely incorrigible!

  “What’s the question?” Luca sat back down and patted Kat’s thigh.

  “Well, since I’m…you know, part Earthbound…can I snap, crackle, and pop like you do? It would sure save on time and gas money,” she laughed nervously.

  Luca’s eyes widened. “Honey, you already did!”

  “Time’s up, baby…I’m coming in.”

  “Oh, for the love of Pete!” She jumped from the sofa and stomped to the door. She threw it open and glared daggers at the impatient warrior lounging in the doorway. “Get in here before you destroy the place. I don’t have construction work factored into my budget this month.”

  “That shouldn’t be an issue,” Kassian smirked as he limped in and closed the door. “Didn’t Luca provide you with a printout of his net worth? Maybe you’ll let him buy you a car.”

  “Maybe I will,” she scowled back. She spun on her heel and left him standing in the hall while she went back to where Luca waited in the parlor.

  “Luca, what are you talking about? I’m pretty sure I would remember if I…what do you call it…faded…dematerialized.”

  Luca took a deep breath and placed a hand on either of her shoulders looking directly into her eyes.

  “You do remember it, cara… I guess you didn’t realize what it was. The accident…it’s how you got out of the car.” He’d seen it in her mind earlier when she was so distressed.

  Kat was stunned. She remembered the blinding blue light and then suddenly being at the side of the road. No one, including Kat, had ever understood how she’d survived at all, let alone without a scratch. She closed her eyes and swallowed hard.

  “L
uca…please tell me that I didn’t save myself and leave my mother there to die.”

  “Ah, cara…you couldn’t have saved her. You did it unconsciously; it must have been like some kind of defense mechanism…you had no control over it.” He smiled faintly and pulled her into his arms for a quick hug.

  “Well, boys and girls,” he announced dramatically. “I’m outta here.” He held Kat away from him. “I’ll talk to you later…call me if you need me, huh? And remember what I said; my door is always open.”

  He brushed his lips awkwardly across her forehead. Now that the initial excess of pent-up emotion had subsided, the familiarity felt a little strange to both of them, especially with Kassian glaring at them from across the room. Kat noticed his eye looked remarkably better already, but there was still enough swelling to remind her that Luca cared enough to defend her to a man who had been like a brother to him for hundreds of years. While she had no desire to cause friction between them, she couldn’t help the warmth already surrounding her heart and invading her soul toward this brother she was only beginning to know.

  “Wait!” Kat impulsively crossed to the mantel and picked up the photo of her and her mother. She walked back to Luca and uncertainly held it out to him.

  “Would you…like to have this?” She held her breath, unsure of how he would react.

  “Are you sure?” Kat nodded and Luca reached for the photo with one hand, brushing the back of his fingers along her cheek with the other. He stared at the picture for a long moment, a muscle working in his jaw.

  “Thank you, cara,” he said simply and tucked it inside his jacket.

  Luca moved to the door, whacking Kassian in the shoulder as he walked by.

  “We good?”

  “Yeah, we’re good.” Kassian punched him in the bicep. “Talk to you later.”

  “Don’t screw this up,” Luca said.

  “Buh-bye, Luca.”

  Luca’s laughter drifted in from the porch until it was cut off by a sharp crack leaving them alone. Kat drifted back over to the couch and sank down, leaving Kassian to remain standing in the doorway, or not. Now that the house had stopped shaking, Sid delicately picked his way across the room from the foot of the stairs and leapt to the back of the sofa near Kat, stretching out across the top as if he owned it.