“Yes, he is Fallen.” Dropping my eyes, I saw the dark folds of the robe sweep the ground by my feet. The Wraith was now standing next to me. “An angel who turned against his own in a misguided attempt to save humanity,” the voice continued, “and who was, in turn, betrayed by another such as he.”
“Turn against his own? But why would he do such a thing?”
“Why indeed? Why would anyone want to save mankind when it is your nature to be the harbingers of your own destruction.”
I shook my head, confused. He could have been talking to me in Swahili. “I don’t understand,” I said with a touch of impatience. “What did he do to deserve this punishment, and who would do this to him?”
“Listen and learn”—the voice became a hiss—“and perhaps you may yet be his salvation.”
A stir of breath blew around the edge of the clearing, and I felt it enter my mind. Powerless to resist, I gave myself over and allowed the voice to consume me.
“At the last Armageddon, the fate of mankind hung in the balance, but it created a division among those who walked in the Light, a division that in turn became a chasm that could not be crossed.” A sleeve was raised, and a long bony finger pointed at Gabriel. “On one side stood the angels who believed that humanity was worth saving; on the other stood those who decreed man was nothing but a pestilence to be eradicated. But in the end what either side believed made no difference.
“By choosing to turn against those who sought to help you, humanity proved it had no worth, and when the great battle began, humans who should have stood with Gabriel and his brothers did not.”
“What happened?” I asked, no longer able to tell if the voice I was hearing was inside my head or not.
“Given the means to capture an angel, they brought him to this long forgotten place, cut off his wings, and left him thus—forgotten by all.”
“But why would they do that?” I didn’t care if it thought me weak for the tears that slipped from my eyes.
The robed figure shrugged, its voice filled with contempt. “Because, foolish child, mankind will always seek to destroy what it does not understand. And it allows the seed of suspicion to take root far too easily.”
“But who would tell them how to do such a thing?”
“Even an angel can be deceived by one of his own.”
The touch of fur beneath my palm made my heart lurch in my chest. The huge black leopard, having padded to my side on silent paws, now pressed its head against my thigh. Without thinking, I curled my fingers and scratched the sweet spot behind its ear. A low rumble, emanating from deep inside the animal’s chest, reverberated around the clearing, and I could feel the heat of its breath through my clothes.
“Ahhh, you find favor with the lesser beasts,” the Wraith said, noting the animal at my side. “It is good that they approve of you.”
I had the feeling there was something more going on than my being passed over as the main course on tonight’s menu. “What will become of him?” I asked, staring at Gabriel.
“Walking a path in the Dark is now his destiny, as well as his choice, and it is a path he must walk alone.”
“This path he has chosen will not be walked as an angel, will it?” The lack of response was confirmation enough. “Will it always be that way for him?”
“That will be for you to decide . . . when the time comes.”
“For me? I don’t understand.”
“Gabriel will be given what others who seek the Dark Realm are not—the chance to redeem himself. Should he be successful, he will find his salvation in your hands”—he paused—“should you choose to offer it to him.”
Salvation in my hands? What did that mean? And then my eye fell on a bloody feather lying on the ground. If Gabriel redeemed himself, he would be able to return to his life as a celestial being, provided I played my part, whatever that might be. A shiver ran through me. It was a responsibility I was completely unprepared for, and I could feel threads of panic threatening to overwhelm me.
“Why me?” I asked.
The Wraith made a gesture that could have been a shrug. I told myself it was my imagination. Shrugging was too human a gesture, and I didn’t think there was anything remotely human about the creature inhabiting the robe.
“Because you are the one who answered him. The responsibility for his deliverance is yours and yours alone. He has already bound himself to you. Will you do the same? Will you cleave yourself to him for an eternity, if necessary, or will you leave here with no memory of him, save for a shadow in a childish dream? The choice is yours, Rowan.”
Leave Gabriel? The idea was preposterous. I couldn’t leave him—I loved him! I had always loved him, even when I didn’t know I loved him. There came a sudden howling from the edge of the clearing as several of the great beasts decided to offer me their advice.
“Time is waning, and the lesser beasts grow restless.” There was a warning beneath the words. “Will you give yourself to him, and only him? Become his vessel and the Promise he will seek?”
Without thinking, I turned my head and found myself face-to-face with the Wraith. The dark hair fell across a white face. A face with hollow cheeks and empty sockets where eyes should have been. A face with only a savage slash for a mouth and no nose. Wisps of smoke now curled from beneath the hem and the sleeves of the robe, and I wrinkled my nose as the smell of sulfur tainted the air.
“You already know my answer,” I said, in a voice that revealed nothing about my true feelings. “You knew it the moment I stepped into the light.” The light that Gabriel had sent to guide me to him.
“Yes I know, but”—a skeletal hand waved at the animals surrounding us—“they do not.”
A chorus of howls rose up behind me, reminding me that apparently I wasn’t the only one who had an interest in these proceedings.
“Then I will be Gabriel’s vessel, and the Promise he will seek.”
A sound like thunder clapped overhead, and the air was filled with the smell of burning wood as the tree holding Gabriel prisoner split in half. Thrown free, he landed on the ground in a tangle of twisted limbs, his hair covering him like a shroud. I started forward, but the leopard at my side let loose a roar that tore the air with its savage purity.
“The choice has been made,” the Wraith said.
Razor-sharp claws flicked up small explosions of earth as the animal moved away from me. Muzzle quivering and ears twitching, it seemed excited as it approached the inert figure lying on the ground. It opened its mouth, and I saw daggers on both the upper and lower jaw. A long pink tongue slipped out between a pair of huge incisors, flicking as it tasted the air. Muscles rippled smoothly beneath a black velvet pelt. The leopard’s body held an untold promise of power and speed, and I knew I was looking at death. Deadly in intent, beautiful in delivery.
Turning its massive head, the leopard stared at me, a questioning look in its orange eyes. Was it asking for my approval? For what I had no idea. But it had come to me with one purpose: to make me remember. I nodded slowly, and the leopard turned away. Refocusing on Gabriel, it began to growl low in its chest, and then, with a quickness that defied the eye, it leaped forward and straddled the figure lying defenseless on the ground.
“No!” I shrieked. If the animal meant to harm Gabriel, then it would have to take me first. I tried to move forward, but felt long fingers around my wrist, holding me fast.
“You have made your choice,” the gravelly voice hissed in my ear, “and the lesser beasts are pleased. Now they, too, have chosen. Watch and remember so you will know always what he was . . . and what he chose to become.”
Blue-gold eyes turned toward me, blazing with an intensity that reached down into the core of my being. I knew that my fate was now joined to Gabriel’s in ways I couldn’t begin to understand. And then I watched as he turned his head and looked up at the creature straddling him. Something passed between them . . . something given, something taken. And the air, which had become heavy with its own silen
ce, was torn open in a deafening bellow that threatened to split the heavens.
The bony fingers holding my wrist loosened their hold, and I fell to my knees, unable to tear my eyes away from the scene before me. Wickedly sharp fangs now pierced the soft flesh of Gabriel’s throat, his blood overflowing the leopard’s jaws, running in a frantic rush from the wound. Weak from so much blood loss already, Gabriel made no move to protect himself. With the weight of one massive paw holding him down, he passively accepted whatever fate was to be his.
I turned my head away, unable to watch the life force ebb out of the only love I would ever know. Everything was lost before it ever had a chance to begin. Did Gabriel even know I loved him?
“Watch!” a voice commanded from above me.
Raising my head, I looked at the beast. Muzzle and fangs stained with blood, it stared back at me with unblinking eyes that had changed from orange to a familiar blue-gold. Now I understood the need for my approval.
“Did you think you are the only ones who pray for deliverance?” the Wraith asked with a sneer in its voice.
Yes, I suppose I had. I was wrong about that, and so much else, it would seem. My head was suddenly filled with images that were not my own. Images that showed the natural order of life, the delicate balance among all living things, being unjustly tipped in mankind’s favor by greed and deceit. Helpless at their inability to restore stability, the lesser beasts prayed to the Dark for help. Needing a champion of their own, they asked for . . . a reason to make men afraid of the Dark once more. Now eyes that flickered between orange and blue-gold gazed at me, telling me that I, too, was a part of that prayer.
And then I saw the beast lie down on top of Gabriel, covering him with its long, muscular body and blood-spattered paws. It sank inside him, and my breath caught in my throat. I knew better than to try and make sense of what I was seeing. It was beyond my comprehension. Understanding wasn’t needed. Acceptance was.
The lesser beasts had made their choice. The strongest among them would sacrifice themselves in order to enhance Gabriel’s own abilities. Now he would be able to call upon the leopard’s lightning-quick reflexes, speed, and strength. Take the acute senses, razor-sharp fangs, and claws and use them as his own. The blending of fallen angel and savage animal would birth a new predator. One that was near invincible. One that was forged in blood.
A vampire. And I had witnessed its birth. I was there. And I remembered.
CHAPTER 14
Filled with a mix of relief and sadness, I threw back the quilt and stumbled out of bed. I had just reached the bottom of the staircase when the front door burst open and Gabriel took me down in a move that would have made an NFL linebacker proud. We sailed about a dozen feet through the open kitchen doorway, but he made sure it was his back that hit the ground instead of mine. Cushioning me against his chest, he rolled over, pinning me beneath him on the braided floor rug. Somewhere in our flight I had automatically snaked an arm around his neck. I now put the hand of my free arm against his chest, feeling the accelerated beat of his heart.
“Rowan, are you all right? Are you hurt anywhere?”
His tone was frantic, and his hands were all over me, although what he was expecting to find, I couldn’t imagine. I’m not sure he knew either. It wasn’t until he pushed my T-shirt up and I felt cold air brushing across an exposed nipple that I found my voice.
“Gabriel!”
He froze, his expression as easy for me to read as a first-grade primer. Anxiety and worry screamed at me. He traced my cheek with his thumb and then put it to his mouth, sucking off the moisture.
“You’ve been crying . . . you still are.”
He covered my naked breast with his hand, and my nipple hardened as it happily nudged his palm. Loosening my arm from around Gabriel’s neck, I put my hands on either side of his face and looked up at him. Anxiety and worry now gave way to loving concern—concern that centered entirely around me—my well-being, my safety, my happiness. My dream had not been a dream. It was the memory Gabriel needed me to remember. The moment when I had first seen him, before he became a vampire, when he was still an angel, albeit a fallen one.
Now I struggled to recall the words the Wraith had said to me, telling me how and why Gabriel had been punished so cruelly. It was no good, they were gone, but the despair Gabriel had experienced had not left me. That I felt all too clearly. His sense of being forsaken, abandoned, was almost more than I could bear. I wanted to ask him how long he had been imprisoned. The Wraith had said something about the last Armageddon, but who knew when that had been. I was starting to believe time was a concept that could be adapted to suit many needs.
Gabriel had told me there was a bond between us, and now, for the first time, I truly felt it. It made no difference what he was. Vampire, angel, or man, he loved me. And I loved him. It really was that simple. Moisture trickled out the corner of my eye, sliding toward my ear as I lay on the floor.
“Please, don’t cry,” Gabriel begged, a deep furrow appearing between his brows.
“I remembered,” I told him, trying to keep my voice as calm as I could with more than six feet six inches of vampire inadvertently flattening me. “My memory came back.”
“You remembered?”
Somehow he didn’t look as reassured by this news as I thought he might. The hand cupping my breast moved reflexively, his thumb brushing gently over my skin. I nodded and swallowed, trying not to draw any attention to what he was doing. If I did then he might stop, and I really didn’t want him to do that.
“How much have you remembered?” Gabriel asked cautiously.
“It was in the clearing . . . when you were crucified.”
My words had the same effect as a bucket of cold water. The color drained from his face. He took away his hand and pulled down my T-shirt, disappointing my nipple. I knew he felt embarrassed to be copping a feel while I was dealing with something very profound. It was also kind of rude, and Gabriel now asked my forgiveness.
“It’s all right,” I said, stroking my fingers gently over his shoulder. “You couldn’t have known when it was going to happen. No one could.”
I gazed up at him, my attention diverted by the perfect shape of his mouth, especially the full bottom lip, a lip I desperately wanted to latch onto so I could suck it until I lost the strength in my jaw. Agreeing with this sentiment, my body let me know how delighted it was to find itself in such a familiar position. Lying beneath Gabriel, it went straight into sexual overdrive. My breasts became full and tight, and my nipples transformed themselves into bullets that threatened to do some serious damage if Gabriel leaned any farther forward. My spine melted, reforming itself as a puddle on the floor, and the heat that was dancing along my rib cage was approaching inferno level. Every muscle south of my belly button clenched.
And I wasn’t the only one.
Gabriel was also on fire. I could feel the heat pulsating through his clothes and washing over me. His thigh was sandwiched between my legs, and I could feel his erection. Rock-hard and enormous, it poked at my belly through the pants I was still wearing. In a way it was gratifying to know that neither one of us had much control over our physical responses to the other.
The only sound filling the kitchen was our ragged breathing. We were both having difficulty dragging air into our lungs. Gabriel was a long cool glass of water, and I was a woman in the desert dying of thirst. Fuck sipping slowly; I wanted to guzzle him down. The mane of white hair I was so accustomed to see flowing over his shoulders was now fastened in a thick braid that fell forward and coiled on my chest. On any other man such a style would have looked seriously gay, but it made Gabriel look every inch the Viking warrior I was certain he had actually been at one time. I could almost see him wearing battle braids and leaping from a longboat ready to do battle.
The other advantage of having his hair pulled back, one I hadn’t considered before, was the lack of visual interference. Nothing to get in the way of his wide forehead, high cheekbones,
and angular jaw. Eyes framed by thick lashes bored into me while the line of his nose divided the perfect symmetry of his face.
“What were you doing?” I asked, stroking a forefinger down his braid and raising my eyebrows.
“Working out.”
“You need to do that?” I was surprised; I’d assumed all his muscle tone was natural, and required no upkeep.
“Not really, but I find it useful for dealing with stress.”
His eyes were glowing, and I saw slivers of gold begin to distort the smooth field of blue.
“What types of stress?”
“The kind that comes with frustration.”
He opened his mouth just enough for me to see the tips of his fangs. It was an absolute turn-on and my body moved into high-octane range. I needed Gabriel to either get in me or get off me, and soon! It was another moment or two before I realized that, no matter how aroused he was, my lover wasn’t going to make the first move. Our physical desire for each other was mutual, but he would smother his own lust and walk away from me if he thought I wasn’t ready. Grateful that I lacked such discipline, I let him know just how ready I was in the rush of breath that escaped me.
Shifting his weight slightly, Gabriel rubbed the hard length of himself across my pubic bone. It was enough to unleash everything I’d been holding inside since discovering he was a vampire. Like a dam bursting, I chose to express my feelings on a purely carnal level. We couldn’t get our clothes off fast enough. Somehow, I was already naked before I’d even managed to tug Gabriel’s muscle shirt out of the pants he was wearing. I cursed under my breath at the uncooperative fabric, making him grin as he took over. Jumping to his feet, he stood over me, and stripped off his clothes. I think the offending shirt ended up in the sink. Lying back down on top of me, he lifted his hips, allowing me to slide my hand between us and close it around his cock. I felt him shudder as I took the heavy weight of him in my palm, opening and closing my fingers as I massaged him.
A Vampire's Soul Page 11