Gavin’s random and sometimes incoherent thoughts comforted me, saving me from my own. Every now and again, I’d hear someone’s thoughts I didn’t recognize, and he seemed to be on a totally different frequency than everyone else, with access to my mind.
Neither Gavin nor I were in a hurry to discuss all that had happened between Tyler and me, or what he almost died to tell Michael. Even LJ was tight-lipped and light on thoughts.
I focused on more pressing issues, like the single most important conversation I probably would ever have. Tia, High Priestess of the Virtues, had agreed to help me at Michael’s request. She had never before agreed to meddle in human affairs.
I was told that Tia did not usually grant audiences. I later found out that she had been known to have angels killed for asking for an audience. She lived in a walled city on Saturn where the very laws and secrets of nature and science were tended to. No non-Virtue had ever been allowed entry; certainly no human ever had.
***
Gavin said he’d meet me after taking care of “something,” and I assumed his “something” had to do with Tyler. I was looking forward to some girl time with LJ, so I sent the cherubs up ahead.
We rode silently toward Nod, one hand on our horses and the other on our weapons. After about seven miles of riding, we found something strange in the road up ahead. LJ jumped down without warning and ran toward the large puddle-thing.
“Grace, do you know what that is?”
“It looks like a blob of water, and hair and eyes.” I unsheathed a sword, then climbed down from Ambry. She trotted backward for a bit and gave her mane a shake.
The bizarre-looking creature stood, but I had no fear of him. His skin appeared to be clear plastic with water for insides. He stepped forward and raised his hand to wave as the liquid inside him jiggled. And then he did something amazing. He bowed slightly, extended liquid wings spanning about twelve feet, and shook tiny water droplets from his body.
We all smiled politely as he spoke in the most soothing voice. “This is way different than I imagined. No wonder Virtues never come here. I’m Stone.”
As we stared from one to another, his clearish face began to take shape, with eyes set in sea-foam green. Stone flipped his wet water hair to one side.
“So, I’m not going to Saturn? High Priestess Tia has sent you here instead?” I now regret sounding so shocked, but at the time I didn’t know what he was capable of.
“Sorry to disappoint, but a human would never survive such a trip, even if she is part angel.”
“Oh.”
“I’m LJ.” Olivia stepped forward and offered the boy her hand.
He recoiled, squinting in my direction.
“It’s okay. She’s one of us.”
Stone looked past LJ. “Virtues do not recognize Fallens. And if Tia had known you were working with them, embracing them, I wouldn’t be here. So, if we’re going to make this work, you’re gonna have to ditch the Fallen.”
LJ cleared her throat.
“LJ, why don’t you just meet us there. I’ll work on cluing Stone in to how things are done here.”
LJ hopped atop her horse, which sported a newly braided mane of purple and blue, and rode off, taking her frustrations out on the poor thing.
“Is she serious?” Stone’s voice was high.
“She’s harmless, so be nice to her. Here on earth, we watch one another’s backs, Fallen or not.”
“Well, clearly you don’t need me. I guess I’ll be going, then.”
I couldn’t let him leave. It was my chance to help Remi and Jenny and their baby. “Wait. No. She’s leaving. But listen, Gavin and LJ are on our side.”
The clear water boy looked at me with sad eyes. “You don’t need them anymore. They are Fallen for a reason, Grace. They can’t be trusted. Even if they wanted to support you, they can’t. Their nature demands that they betray you. Why do you think Michael did this? Do you know what he must have given up to get this arrangement? No Virtue has ever left Saturn. Ever.”
Unease grew inside me. It felt like I was given a choice between excellence and the impossible. “Well, I trust them. And Gavin is on his way, so I hope you get over your issues before he gets here.”
Stone made a sour face. “I’ll do whatever you say.”
“Good, then you can start by apologizing to LJ when we get to Nod.” A sneaky smile crept across my face.
Gavin snuck up behind me, scooped me into a hug, then planted several soft kisses over my face, nose, and chin. Then he stopped and smiled a smug smile in Stone’s direction. “If I live to be a million and five. A Virtue, here amongst the heathens.”
Stone looked as if he could have punched Gavin. Clearly, Virtues had a great deal of restraint.
Let’s Ride
Stone flew overhead as Gavin and I rode Zion and Ambry toward Nod.
“How long will it take us to reach Nod?” I asked Gavin, knowing he had made this trip before. We were only a few miles out from where Stone had appeared in the road.
“About another three hours or so if we keep the current speed. Two if we ditch the water boy and gun it,” he said, trying to hide a smile as he kept his eyes focused straight ahead.
As I watched his profile, I searched his mind for thoughts of me, but there were none. I decided to stay focused on the visions in my own mind. They were coming faster now. One after the other, information flooding my mind.
A piece of clothing I recognized, my favorite jacket, the white bubble jacket with the faux fur collar that Gabe had given me two Christmases ago. Someone was in my room at Kheiron. The lights were off and they were looking for … no—they took it. What is that? A picture of me sleeping. I don’t remember taking that picture. Giggling. Sounds like Emeria. There’s a shadow in the corner. Wait. The police station. What’s Tyler doing at the police station? Wait. No.
“Gavin,” I mumbled aloud as I heard Tyler say his name. He handed Sergeant Mullane my jacket and the photo of me sleeping. What the heck is he doing?
“Grace, what’s wrong? What do you see?” Gavin asked as he rode Zion in front of Ambry, forcing Ambry to come to a stop. He removed me from Ambry and held me at arm’s length, staring into my eyes. I could see Gavin looking at me, but I was fully engaged in my visions even as I was aware of everything going on around me.
Emeria got into the bed and propped herself up on the pillow. “ … you think … enough?” she cracked sarcastically.
“Just … down … take … photo,” he said in an annoyed voice.
“Do you … think … going … ?” she asked coyly.
“It … my … future by … way… on … ” he stated with a fair amount of arrogance and certainty. It sounded like Tyler.
My vision was going by so fast this time I couldn’t make out the details. The speech was inaudible. It was like a cell phone conversation when the person on the other end was going through the beginning of a dead zone. The events were happening out of order, the images were clear, but I couldn’t be sure if they were things that had happened before, had not happened yet, or were happening right then.
“Sergeant Mullane, my name is Tyler Belial. I manage Gavin Vault.” Tyler smiled as he extended his hand to the officer.
“Nice to meet you.” Sergeant Mullane returned Tyler’s gesture with a hardy shake and a suspicious look. “If you can have your client come down and answer a few questions about the disappearance of Grace Ann Miller, I’m sure we can clear all this up,” he added matter-of-factly.
Tyler lowered his head and then raised it as if he’d suddenly thought of something clever to say. “Unfortunately, my client is away for the birth of a family member. But I’m sure that as soon as he returns, he will be more than happy to answer whatever questions you have.”
“Bladen,” Sergeant Mullane called from his office as soon as Tyler was out of earshot. “Get me a search warrant for the estate of Gavin Vault.”
Everything went black when the vision ended.
“I …
I can’t believe it!” was all I could manage as I stared into Gavin’s eyes in complete disbelief. I wrapped my arms around his neck and hugged him to me. I loved him so much right then. “Gavin.” I pulled away. I could not bear to look at him knowing what I had to tell him.
“Yes, just tell me.” He lifted my chin, gently forcing my eyes to meet his.
“They think I was kidnapped. Even though I wrote the note, they think I was kidnapped!” I may have screamed.
Ambry let out a loud neigh. Zion copied her.
“Grace, what aren’t you telling me?” Gavin stroked my hair, then placed it behind my left ear.
“They think you did it—that you kidnapped me!” I shouted for sure that time, unable to stop the tears from racing down my cheeks as if there was a prize at my chin. The thought that anyone could think that Gavin could harm me broke my heart, and worse, the people behind this horrible lie: Tyler and my very own sister. I had to hide the truth from Gavin. I had to lie. I could not break him with the truth of Tyler’s betrayal.
“I love you so much. When we get home, I will take care of this. I promise I won’t let anything happen to you,” I assured him and hugged him tightly. He let himself give in and be comforted by my embrace, burying his head in my hair, inhaling, and kissing the back of my neck.
It was so bizarre and surreal, all of it. I felt responsible for all of the things that had gone wrong lately. Remi, Jenny, and now Gavin; maybe even Emeria. Everyone was perfectly content until I … became an angel.
Pulling himself slowly from my grasp, the look on Gavin’s face was hard to decipher. He opened his mouth to speak, but stopped, deciding to walk away instead. As the tears continued to fall, I followed him. He turned toward me, pushed me against Ambry, and kissed me so hard it took my breath away. Ambry bucked her hind legs slightly and let out another neigh from the force of Gavin’s and my weight. Gavin placed his right hand against her to hold us steady as he continued to kiss me—deeper than before—and closed his wings around us.
“Grace,” he whispered, nearly out of breath, then continued his rather delicious assault on my mouth.
“Yes,” I half moaned when he took a breath in.
“I know you love me and that you want to take care of me—but this has nothing to do with you. This is between Tyler and me.” He kissed my nose.
The breathing that caused the obvious rise and fall of my chest was rather embarrassing. As I tried to look down, he raised my chin with his left hand and kissed it.
“Let’s worry about Remi and Jenny right now. When we get home, we’ll see what we can do about your supposed kidnapping.” He moved closer to me so that our bodies were touching again. He expanded his wings, making a loud fluttering sound, then collapsed them around me again. “As much as I would love to stay here like this with you,” he said, running one hand around my waist and the other from my waist to my stomach, then slowly upward as he kissed me softly on my cheek, chin, and neck. “We have to go,” he warned me, whispering in my ear as he kissed my lobe, then all the way down from the back of my ear to my collarbone.
Yum.
“You always make me feel so good,” I blurted out without even thinking, totally realizing after I said it how it sounded, and how he was going to take it, being a typical guy. So much for stopping. I hated being so needy.
“Is that right?” Gavin smirked, pulling me even closer so that if there was any doubt about what was going on with either of us physically, it was gone now.
We had been this close before; I wasn’t afraid. I was just uncomfortable because of the immense pressure I was under and fact that we were not alone. It seemed Gavin couldn’t care less. Fallen.
Gavin watched for a change in my expression before letting me know that he felt the exact same way by pulling me in even more and holding me firmly in place. I unintentionally licked my lips as I considered a clever retort, but could not, in that moment, think of one.
“Do that again,” he said, not taking his eyes from my mouth and blinking slowly.
“Do what again?” I teased, thrilled to have found a secret weapon to use on him, immediately forgetting our audience and the tasks at hand.
“You know exactly what I am talking about, Grace Ann Miller,” Gavin asserted, making his voice half an octave deeper than it normally was, but somehow softer and lighter in texture. He placed his hand behind my head, just at the base of my hairline, his fingers dancing as if my hair was a stage. It was soothing and titillating at the same time, making me shiver. Gavin smiled with pleasure.
I reached up to kiss him deeply and repeatedly on his mouth, cheeks, and chin. I couldn’t get enough of him and nearly forgot what had brought us there in the first place. I felt intoxicated, overwhelmed, like I was not myself, and the choices I was making, though pleasurable, were not my own. He was completely bewitching, irresistible, and part of me wondered if it was something he was doing on purpose—or if that was just part of being Fallen.
Still, I kissed his closed eyelids, nose, forehead, ears, neck, and more of his mouth. I got carried away, forgetting everything. If I had not felt the water, I don’t know when or if I would have stopped. Appropriate, since in that moment I wanted nothing more than to forget everyone and everything and drown in Gavin Zachary Vault.
Raindrops hit my nose first, then my hair, which is a huge no-no for a girl.
“Sorry to interrupt, Grace, but we gotta go,” Stone urged me as he whipped his hair around, spraying water from above, mostly on Gavin, before lowering himself to the ground.
Gavin let go of me, lowering his wings, never looking directly at Stone. It was forbidden for Virtues to have contact with Fallen. Gavin was showing respect for Stone and a tremendous amount of restraint, both in letting go of me and not taking Stone out. I was proud of him.
Stone waited patiently against a tall evergreen. Technically, Gavin was supposed to ask permission to speak or do pretty much anything in my presence and in Stone’s. I suppose a Fallen would never have an occasion when he would come into contact with a Virtue, but in any case that was the order of things. The fact was, Gavin and I, a Fallen and an Archangel, would never come into contact except to battle and try to kill one another. We were mortal enemies. Our ancestors have been trying to one up one another for ages, since the first Fall. And Stone being there just complicated the whole deal.
“We’ll finish this when we get home,” Gavin said softly. He kissed my nose, then flew away. And when he did, my clarity returned.
I could tell from Gavin’s posture that he did not like playing second fiddle to Stone. He worked hard at humility. It was not a trait angels exhibited, and Fallen struggled with it even more. Let me know when you and Water Boy are done making waves, he thought as he took Zion and Ambry around for some fun.
Temper tantrum number one for today, I teased Gavin telepathically as he flipped his hair and rolled his eyes at me. I think he may have even flipped me the bird.
“Grace, honestly, I didn’t expect him to be so … civilized,” Stone conceded with a hint of sarcasm in his voice while flipping his hair again as he approached me. It was another surprising move considering his place in our order, which was above mine. I was supposed to go to him. “My orders from Tia are to be of assistance to you, so while I’m here, on earth, in your realm, I serve you,” he explained, noticing the wrinkle of my eyebrows. Virtues rarely concerned themselves with mind reading. It was beneath them.
Stone began his update. “We should reach Nod in about one hour. We need you focused, Grace, not distracted. Do you understand?” He ran his fingers through his hair, spraying droplets of water.
I laughed. His whole deal was just comical to me. An angel made of water.
“Grace.” He seemed annoyed now. “Would it be easier for you if I were in a form, a body, an animal so you could pet me like … a dog maybe? Would you … respond to me better that way?”
Gavin whipped his head toward me at the sound of Stone’s tone and scowled, sending Stone a war
ning that he would attack him if he continued. That Stone didn’t snap Gavin’s neck in that instant was out of respect for me and much appreciated. The last thing I needed was the two of them getting into a pissing contest.
“Okay, I think you should take on a form for sure. That’s a great idea, actually, because I don’t think Jenny will be able to handle seeing you like that, and better to do it now than in front of her. The girl has been through a lot. I have no idea what her … um … interaction with Remi has done to her … what condition her body is in … uh … yeah … form would be great,” I said about as eloquently as I could manage.
“Fine.” Stone ascended without waiting for me to say anything else. He took off so fast that I barely had a chance to add more of my very opinionated opinion.
I trust he won’t be coming back, Gavin thought as he moved himself next to me.
“Sorry to disappoint!” Stone called, having just read Gavin’s mind. I supposed Stone would be doing lots of things for the first time while on earth. He walked out of the woods wearing a black hoodie similar to the one I was wearing—only his had angel wings painted on the back. Cool. His long legs were tucked into black skinny jeans that ended with checker board high top Converse sneakers. He held a long sword and a black leather quiver with arrows at his side and a bow on his back. His slick black hair, in that familiar pixie style, looked wet, as if he had just washed it, and it was flipped to one side, covering just enough of his deep green eyes to make me excited for his next hair flip, when both eyes would be exposed at the same time.
“Freaking poser,” Gavin mumbled under his breath.
I jabbed Gavin in his side and ran to give Stone a hug. He was beautiful.
Praefatio: A Novel Page 22