by C. L. Coffey
“Contacts?” There was something about the way she said it, along with the immaculate suit, that suddenly had me imagining she was a member of the mafia.
Pinnosa’s fingers rapped against her forearm. “I have a college full of nephilim. I have contacts.” She turned back to Gabriel. “It seems there may be something to what Leigh-Ann was saying about Abaddon. My contact has said that they have heard whispers that Abaddon has resurfaced—”
“From Hell?” I asked.
“Although we’ve been hunting the Fallen for some time, no one has been able to confirm killing Abaddon. We assumed he went underground after Leviathan was killed in the fifth century,” Gabriel explained.
“And as I was saying.” Pinnosa’s eyes narrowed at me. “My contacts believe he has resurfaced outside of Manhattan—”
“New York? That’s a trek and a half to come here and attack a school. How would he—”
“Dora?” Pinnosa said, her tone clipped as she turned and scowled at me. “Will you stop interrupting me.”
“Sorry, ma’am,” I muttered.
Gabriel’s pursed lips were making me squirm more than Pinnosa’s narrowed eyes.
“Manhattan, Kansas. Not New York.”
I couldn’t say I’d heard of that city, but Kansas was a whole lot closer than New York, which made sense. But Manhattan, Kansas seemed like a very, very random place for a Prince of Darkness to reside.
“Your source is reliable?” Gabriel asked.
“He’s the reason I have about seventy percent of the nephilim in this college, but it might be worth going on a small recon mission to check it out.” Pinnosa reached into her pocket and pulled out a slip of paper, handing it over to the archangel.
My mouth fell open. “You can’t go up against Abaddon by yourself.”
“It’s recon,” Gabriel told me, calmly. His gaze fixed on me.
“Then I’m coming with you.” It wasn’t that I didn’t trust him, or that he wasn’t more than capable of doing some reconnaissance, but there was a nagging voice in the back of my head telling me he shouldn’t go alone.
Gabriel unfastened the Velcro on his gloves, but his attention remained on me. “You think you can hold your own against Abaddon?”
“I thought you said it was recon?” I shot back, my hands going to my hips. There was no real accusation in my voice. If anything, we were floating into flirting territory. There certainly seemed to be something building between us.
“Actually, I think Dora going with you would be an excellent idea,” Pinnosa said.
Both Gabriel and I turned to look at Pinnosa. That was . . . not what I was expecting her to say.
Even though I didn’t want Gabriel to go alone, I was certain Pinnosa would put a stop to it.
“You do?” I asked.
Pinnosa nodded, but she was looking at Gabriel. “Abaddon has remained hidden this long for a reason. My contact said to tread lightly. I don’t expect you two to capture or kill him, but I think having a second person is a good idea.”
“If he has remained hidden, this won’t be a short trip.” Gabriel countered. “Kennedy will miss classes.”
Can’t say I’d be disappointed about that.
“As will you.” Pinnosa agreed. She moved over to the center of the mats and turned back. “But you don’t live for sixteen centuries without learning to fight. I can cover these classes for now.”
Pinnosa wanted to teach the nephilim to fight?
I’d witnessed her put Cody flat on his back, so I knew she could fight. But with her high heels and immaculate suit, I couldn’t picture her covering the gym classes. What about the normal gym classes for the humans? Was she going to put on a tracksuit and running shoes?
My mouth dropped open, earning me a prod from Gabriel.
“The safety of my college and the students in it is the most important thing. The nephilim have just started training, and I can certainly handle the basics.”
Gabriel nodded and turned back to me. “This will be a little different from following your mother. The Fallen have the ability to create wards. They’re nowhere near as powerful as ours, but we’ve learned they can detect an angel if it teleports into it, and that will scare Abaddon off. We won’t be returning to the campus on a daily basis.”
“So, go pack for a few days. Got it.” I had years of practice, moving around and packing light. “When do we leave?”
“The sooner you leave, the sooner you can return.” Pinnosa straightened her already straight jacket and walked back to us.
“Can you be ready in an hour?”
How much did he think I had to pack?
I nodded.
“Meet me outside the main entrance when you’re ready.” When I didn’t move, he nodded towards the door.
Quickly, I pulled off my gloves, returning them to the box, and then made my way back to my room.
Leigh-Ann still wasn’t back. I picked up my phone from the side where I’d left it charging, but there were no messages waiting for me. It was also after eight. Considering what time we’d been in the church she was probably still sleeping.
It wasn’t until I grabbed a towel to take a quick shower that I noticed her own phone was still on charge.
Of course it was.
Her subconscious wouldn’t have told her to pick up her phone before she went sleepwalking around the campus.
I hurried through my shower and instead of spending time drying my hair just tied it back into a braid. Somehow, even after packing a few things into a backpack, it was still almost time to meet Gabriel.
Considering Leigh-Ann still wasn’t back when I finished, I figured she was still asleep. I didn’t want to swing by the infirmary to wake her when last night had taken a lot out of her, but I wasn’t going to leave without letting her know where I was going.
Despite the fact that I had a phone and was going to both text and call her later, I wrote a note explaining what was happening and left it under her phone.
Even before the attack on the college, the hallways were dead for a Saturday morning. Usually, I never ran into anyone as I made my way to Gabriel’s office. This morning, for the first time ever, I bumped into someone on the stairs.
“Where are you going?” Lottie asked me.
She was dressed in a matching yoga pants set with her hair in pigtails, which she somehow managed to make look sexy, unlike me, who would have looked like I’d just hit puberty.
Lottie was up to something.
“Where are you going?” I countered.
“That’s none of your business.”
I hitched the bag onto my shoulder before arching an eyebrow. “So what makes you think I’m going to tell you where I’m going?” Rolling my eyes, I moved past her.
“I don’t understand what he sees in you,” Lottie muttered.
Pausing, I sucked in a deep breath, but instead of responding, I let it go and continued walking towards the door. It was petty, but she was clearly hurting. I didn’t have time for her questioning nor trying to make friends with her.
Not that I had much intention of doing that when she’d been such a bitch to Leigh-Ann anyway. Yes, I felt bad that Lottie had lost her own best friend, but she’d been a complete bitch to mine, to the point where she’d terrified Leigh-Ann into sleeping in the library.
Outside, Gabriel was already waiting for me, leaning against a silver Range Rover. He stood up when I approached. “Ready to go?”
I nodded, glancing at the SUV. “Where is Manhattan?”
“It’s about a six-hour drive, but as I don’t know how wide the ward is that Abaddon set, I don’t want to risk teleporting into it. We’d still have to source transportation when we got there anyway.” He turned and opened the door for me.
Climbing in, I tossed my backpack onto the back seat beside Gabriel’s. By the time I’d turned back around, he was starting the engine.
It wasn’t until we drove through the gates, past the security guards, down the mountain, and the
n onto the interstate, that it dawned on me that I was now trapped in a car with Gabriel for six hours.
Crap.
“You are unusually quiet,” Gabriel said, making me jump.
We’d been driving in silence for about an hour. So far, I’d kept my attention on other cars speeding by rather than Gabriel, listening to the rhythmic sound of tires on concrete.
Or trying to.
There might have been some sneaky side-glances at him. He did have a very attractive side profile.
“Just admiring the scenery.”
Outside, it was a clear, sunny day, and the evergreen-covered mountains around us were luscious and inviting, if not overly repetitive. But at least it wasn’t an obvious lie.
I took a moment before I turned to fix my attention on him. “I take it you were discussing where we were going with Pinnosa?”
“Dean Pinnosa.”
“Dean Pinnosa when I went back to my room.”
“Amongst other things.”
“I saw you.” I blurted it out before I could stop myself.
Gabriel took his eyes off the road to look at me. “The only reason I told you to leave was so you would be ready to go. There was nothing discussed with Ursula that I wasn’t prepared to share with you.”
“No, I mean this morning. At your apartment.” What happened to not discussing this? It was Gabriel’s private life, and he was entitled to do what he wanted.
Except, if Pinnosa hadn’t walked in when she had, I would’ve totally made out with Gabriel, and if he was dating that counselor, then that was a dick move on his part.
It was also a dick move on my part considering I knew about her, but I was selectively choosing to filter that voice out.
“My apartment?” Gabriel was watching the road as he navigated around a truck, but his eyes were narrowed. “You were in my apartment?”
“Okay, that makes it sound creepy. No, I was outside. I’d come to tell you about Leigh-Ann’s vision, and you were inside with the counselor.”
“Counselor? Rachel?” Gabriel finally looked at me. “There’s a problem with that?”
“There wasn’t.”
“But now there is?”
“There was when we nearly kissed. That’s not cool, and it’s not fair.”
Gabriel fell silent, watching the road. After a while, when he didn’t respond, I rolled my eyes and returned my attention to the outside world, getting irritated at the trees for being the same shade of green as Gabriel’s eyes.
Finally, Gabriel pulled off into a gas stop. He unfastened his seatbelt before turning to look at me. “Let’s continue this conversation now that I’m not driving.”
“I’ve said my piece.” I stared straight out of the window at the gas station in front of us.
“I sense that you think there is something going on,” He raised his hands to do finger quotes, which had this been any other conversation, would have amused me. “Between Ms. Ackerman and I.”
“That’s none of my business.”
“Or it wasn’t until you saw the two of us in my apartment this morning.”
Sucking in a breath, I shook my head. “Don’t do that,” I told him. “I get that I’m the student and you’re the professor, but I’m not a kid. If you want to hook up with her or get married to her, you do that. But don’t be kissing me moments later.”
Gabriel scratched at the edge of his hairline. “Ms. Ackerman—”
“You can call her Rachel.” Was there really a need for formalities?
“. . . is human. Even if I wanted something to happen between us, we can’t. Not without me falling and losing my wings. And seeing as though Heaven’s mission is to eradicate the Fallen and their nephilim offspring, I wouldn’t be worrying about my own life as well as yours.”
I slumped back into the chair. “Then why were you about to kiss me again? Or did I misread that too?”
“You’re not human.”
Rubbing at my temple, I stared at my lap. “You kissed me, and then you tell me we can’t be together, and then you tell me I’m not a human.” I looked up at him, finding him watching me with an intense gaze. As we locked eyes, I swear, the car warmed up.
Without waiting, he jumped out of the SUV. I was still unbuckling the seatbelt when he opened my door.
“What?”
“You might not be human, but Heaven sees you as an abomination. Although I won’t lose my wings, the chances of us having a happily ever after are almost impossible. I like you Kennedy.”
One of his hands gripped at the roof while the other was on the handle by my seat, stopping his body from falling into the car, but completely boxing me in.
“I like you more than I should, and definitely more than what’s good for either of us. But so help me, I like you more than I care about the consequences of liking you.”
Oh damn.
There was something so earnest and yet so hot and forbidden about his words that they sent heat rushing to my core. Even my heart was pounding like the bassline of a drum and bass song.
I waited for him to say more, but he didn’t. Instead, those green eyes of his remained locked on mine.
My brain was taking a moment to process everything. “I don’t see what the problem is.”
Gabriel let out a long sigh, hanging his head. “That is the problem. You are an anomaly. A beautiful anomaly, but an anomaly. You’re a nephilim with the markers to be an angel. Even if I’m seeing more and more evidence that things that I thought were impossible are not, just trying to convince Heaven that you’re special is.”
“Impossible?”
Lifting his head, Gabriel’s easy-going expression was replaced with worry-lines and dark eyes. “There is a slim chance that if we can prove to Heaven that you are capable of good things then they might accept you. But once they find out I’ve been hiding you and the others . . .” He let go of the car and stepped back, leaning against the back door.
Finally unclipping my belt, I slid out of the SUV and found him staring up at the clear blue skies. “Then why are you doing it? Why are you helping me? Why are you in Colorado? Surely the angels will discover you’re not in Italy and come find you.”
Gabriel let out a dry laugh. He lowered his gaze to meet mine. “You, Kennedy. I’m doing it for you. Not just because I like you, but because I believe in what you’re capable of and what Ursula is doing.”
To hell with this.
Reaching up, I grabbed the edge of Gabriel’s jacket, pulling him to me. Before he could even utter my name, I was crushing my lips against his.
In the next moment, Gabriel’s arms were wrapped around me, and he kissed me back just as fiercely as I kissed him.
Chapter Thirteen
Gabriel’s words might have been telling me to stay away, but his body wasn’t. I could almost taste his desire as his lips moved over mine.
It was me who broke the kiss, pulling back and sucking in a deep breath of fresh air. Gabriel held onto me, which I was grateful for as my legs felt like jelly.
“This is not a smart move, Kennedy,” he murmured.
Letting go of his jacket, I splayed my fingers out over his chest. “You seem to think you’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t. I choose to think we stand more of a chance at getting through whatever’s in front of us if we do it together. When I said I didn’t understand, it wasn’t about the consequences of things going wrong.”
One of Gabriel’s hands reached up, gently pushing stray strands of hair from my face. “Everything in Heaven is either black or white, right or wrong, good or evil. They’ve thought that for an eternity. I’ve thought that for an eternity. But humanity isn’t. Life isn’t. It has taken me a while to see that.”
“Free will isn’t gifted to angels?”
Gabriel gave me a wry smile. “Free will is why you came into existence and why Heaven is so strict.” He leaned forward, kissing my forehead before finally letting me go. “We should continue our journey. We still have a lot of grou
nd to cover.”
Before Gabriel could walk away, I reached out, taking his hand in mine. “We’re going to work all this out you know?”
Squeezing my hand, Gabriel nodded. “We don’t have much choice.”
By the time I put my seatbelt on, Gabriel was already back in the car and ready to go. Finally, the atmosphere was more relaxed, and we settled into a comfortable silence as we worked through the miles of road we needed to travel.
Although we managed some light conversation, it was a while before Gabriel really spoke again. “Heaven thinks I’m still hunting nephilim here in America.”
I looked over at him, my nose wrinkling up. “Huh?”
“You asked before about me not being back in my House. As far as they’re concerned, I am here hunting nephilim. They don’t check in on me because I regularly report into Heaven.”
“They don’t ask you where you’ve been in America?”
Gabriel shook his head. “Not yet.”
I shifted my weight, pulling at my seatbelt so I could turn and face him. “And they don’t suspect anything.”
“Why would they?”
That was a fair question. He was the Archangel Gabriel. Why would anyone in Heaven doubt him. “What are you going to do when they start asking for details?”
Gabriel’s fingers tapped out a rhythm against the steering wheel before he responded. “I don’t know. Hopefully, I’ll have some answers by then.”
It was late afternoon before we entered Manhattan. My mom always insisted on the importance of us moving to large cities. The bigger they were, with more people in them, the easier it would be to hide.
Considering it had a college campus there, it was a small city. While it was much bigger than the town of Greenwood, there was still something townlike about it.
If Abaddon was here, he clearly hadn’t gone to the same school of elusiveness as my mom had. While not everyone would know your name here, I got the feeling that the population would probably recognize a lot of faces.
“Pinnosa thinks Abaddon is here?” I peered at the storefronts. When Gabriel didn’t respond, I looked over and sighed. “Dean Pinnosa thinks Abaddon is here?”