Beautifully Unnatural: A Young Adult Paranormal Boxed Set (22 page)

Roseline’s head jerks up. “I’m your girlfriend?”

His lip curls into a snarl. “Of course you are, Rose, but don’t change the subject. Why did you leave? You knew I needed to talk to you.”

Even though she has gone over this answer a million times in her head, not a single word of it feels right. She has gone back and forth between daring to tell him the truth and coming up with some harebrained explanation.

“I don’t know what to say, Gabriel. I felt sick…” she whispers, staring down at her lap.

“Sick? You think I am going to swallow that excuse? I’m not Sadie, Rose. I know you. You were scared. I could see it in your eyes. I could feel it.”

Roseline glances up. “You could feel my fear?”

“Yeah.” Gabriel nods as his voice loses some of its intensity. “I was so worried about you. I thought maybe…”

“What?” she presses, placing her hand over his clenched fist.

He turns toward the window. “I thought maybe you were afraid of me.”

“Why would I be afraid of you,” she hedges.

Gabriel rolls his eyes. “Okay, can we stop the innocent act? We both know what happened Friday night and I think you know more about it then you’re letting on.”

Reaching out her hand, she gently cups Gabriel’s face. His beautiful eyes plead with her. “Please, Rose, do you know what is happening to me?”

What can she say that will not freak him out? She has lived with the unbelievable for three hundred years and yet he is still a mystery to her.

“Gabriel, I’m not sure how much I can…” she cuts off. As one, they turn toward the screeching sound outside the vehicle. The sound of locking brakes fills her mind as she watches a semi-trailer stutter toward them across the icy intersection. Gabriel’s face swings slowly toward her; a blue light glows brightly in his eyes as the truck breaches the gap.

In a blur of movement, Roseline shreds Gabriel’s seat belt and pulls him into her lap. She wraps her body around him as the semi crashes through the driver’s side door. Headlights blind her as she whips around, turning her back to the truck to take the brunt of the impact.

She remains conscious long enough to cocoon Gabriel as they are thrown from the vehicle. Pain radiates through her body as she slams to the ground. Her hands slip from around Gabriel as darkness overtakes her.

The distant wailing of an ambulance siren calls Roseline back from the void. Blood seeps from a deep gash along her hairline. She grits her teeth against the pains stabbing all over her body. She fights to remain conscious as her ribs knit back together and her spine reattaches itself.

Her shattered kneecaps withdraw their pieces as they re-form. Her jaw pops back into its socket. She rolls her head to the side to see her left arm dangling. By the look and feel of it, every bone has been fractured. Her right arm is clearly broken but remains mostly intact.

Gabriel lies unconscious next to her. His legs are completely shattered, his right arm is twisted back at an odd angle and, by the look of the dark bruising along his stomach, he is bleeding internally. She grunts, digging her nails into the road as she drags herself toward him.

“Oh, thank God you’re alive,” the semi driver cries as he falls to his knees in the bloodstained snow. “I called for an ambulance but they’re stuck behind the pile up. The paramedics should be here any minute though.” His eyes trail over her broken body. “I wish there was something I could do to help you.”

Roseline winces as the thrumming along his neck attracts her attention. Her desperation to save Gabriel makes her resort to the unthinkable. Her right hand slams into the man’s temple. He slumps to the ground. “I’m so sorry. I wish I didn’t have to do this.”

As her teeth pierce the man’s soft flesh, warm, tangy blood begins to pool in her mouth. She drinks deep, moaning as healing fires light all over her body. Bones quickly mend and tiny internal fissures seal shut. Tears streams from her eyes as she drinks the forbidden blood. Her guilt finally pulls her away. The pain still lingers but it is more bearable now.

The unconscious man slumps to the side, very much alive but certainly in need of a transfusion. The wounds at his neck have already begun to heal, covering any evidence of her plunder. Roseline wipes the crimson stain from her lips, clamping down on her tears as she leaps to Gabriel’s side. “Hold on. I’ll save you.”

She bends low to brush her lips against his, testing his warmth. She can feel his pulse beating through his tender flesh. Gabriel parts his mouth at her touch, and his tongue licks the final traces of blood from the corner of her mouth. His body flinches. Roseline rears back, staring at him with a mixture of amazement and horror.

Gabriel cries out. Her eyes widen at the sound. It is not a cry of pain but of relief. She lifts his shirt and gasps. The blood bruise has begun to recede. His legs twitch, popping and cracking as his bones begin to rearrange.

“You have got to be kidding,” she murmurs, her brain firing on all cylinders to figure out what is happening before her eyes. It should be impossible, but the evidence it staring back at her. Without stopping to think of the consequences, Roseline sinks her teeth into her wrist and applies pressure to the wound. Fresh blood drips into Gabriel’s mouth, splattering against his teeth. He gulps it down.

“Oh my god!” she cries, rearing back as his arm snaps into place.

Roseline crab crawls backward, too horrified to move until she hears footsteps approaching at a run. Her first reaction is to turn and fight, to protect him, but she can’t be seen. Not while she is healing.

With a heavy heart, she turns and runs.

Twenty-Five

“Dude, you don’t look so good,” Oliver says as he stares down at the yellowing bruises that cover Gabriel’s face.

Gabriel winces as he pushes himself up in bed. Needles in his hands still connect him to various medicines, each one pumping something into his weary system. “The doctors tell me it’s a miracle I survived. The Rover was totaled and apparently they found me ten feet from the car.”

“And all you ended up with is some internal bruising?”

“Yep,” Gabriel coughs, holding his side gingerly. “Amazing, huh?”

Oliver whistles. “No kidding. Thank god this didn’t happen before we won state.”

Gabriel fights for a convincing nod. “Hey, have you seen Rose? Is she doing okay? No one will tell me anything.”

“Oh, not that girl again,” Oliver groans. “Dude, when are you going to wake up and realize Claire’s claimed you? This fling will never last.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” he grunts, shifting in bed. His backside is numb and has been for the past four days of observation. He is sick of the hospital, sick of the nosy nurses and uppity doctors. He is fine but no one will listen to him. All he wants to do is see Rose.

“Can you please just find her room for me?” he asks, pinching the bridge of his nose to stave off his irritation.

“She’s not here.” Oliver frowns at the bump on his friend’s head. “Are you sure you’re feeling okay? I can get the doctor if you want.” He begins to back out of the room.

“No. She has to be here,” he insists. “I need to know that she is okay.” Gabriel’s voice fades out as his eyes begin to sting. He shoves his fists into his eyes and rubs them, refusing to cry. “I think she saved me.”

Oliver blanches. He obviously thinks Gabriel has taken a long walk off a short pier. “Dude, there wasn’t anyone in the car with you. The paramedics only found you and the semi driver. That’s it.”

Gabriel falls silent. Oliver shifts from foot to foot. He has done his job. He has visited Gabriel and now he is ready to split. His friend is acting too freaky for his liking. Without saying a word, Oliver slips from the room. Gabriel doesn’t even notice.

As the hall lights begin to kick on, Gabriel blinks, realizing the passage of time. The same questions roll about in his mind like a scrolling digital sign. Where is Rose? How did she manage to escape the wreckage?

There is no doubt in his mind that she was in fact there and that her actions saved him. But there is something more that captures his waking thoughts, a new mystery that sends cold shivers down his spine. Turning his forearms over, Gabriel glances down at the black markings that have appeared on his arm. At first, he was unable to decipher any pattern to them until he brought both arms together. The symbols form a jagged cross.

Where did the markings come from? What is happening to him?

“What am I?” he whispers to the empty room.

Twenty-Six

“Ditched your boyfriend again, huh?”

Roseline turns to find Nicolae lounging against the school bus. She crinkles her nose with disgust. “I am not in the mood right now. I told you to leave me alone.”

“Afraid that’s not gonna happen.” He pushes off from the bus and saunters forward. “Rumor has it that you left with Gabriel on that fateful snowy afternoon. Trouble is no one can account for your whereabouts after you two ditched school. I find that to be very interesting, don’t you?”

Anger boils in her belly at his unspoken accusations. “Give it a rest, Nicolae. Gabriel is alive so I obviously didn’t hurt him.”

His eyebrow arches. “About that…” He grins, picking a fleck of fluff from his cardigan. “It sure is a miracle how a guy like that could survive such a tragic accident. I hear even the doctors are perplexed. It does seem like there are some strange things happening around here.”

Roseline stomps up to him. “Have you been snooping around his hospital room?”

He tilts his head, offering an amused smirk. “Should I be? Is there something you’re trying to hide?”

She has had about all she can take of his smugness. Glancing around to make sure there aren’t any witnesses, Roseline grabs a fistful of Nicolae’s coat and slams him against the bus. His feet come off the ground, the back of his head pressing against the glass window. Fear flickers in his eye. “Leave. Gabriel. Alone,” she snarls.

With one final shove to rattle the windows of the bus, Roseline lets him drop and stalks away. He picks himself up and stumbles to his feet. “Is that a threat?” he calls.

Glancing back over her shoulder, Roseline drills him with her fierce gaze as she nods. The corner of his eye twitches in response but he says nothing. Nicolae is getting brave. That is not a good thing.

She swings up into the empty bus and storms to the back to wait for Sadie to arrive. Her clomping cowboy boots catch Roseline’s attention a few minutes later and she blows out a breath of relief. Sadie throws herself into the seat and eyes Roseline’s pale complexion.

“Still avoiding him?” Sadie chucks her backpack into the seat to block a cheerleader from sitting next to them. The girl turns with an exaggerated eye roll and heads back up the aisle.

Roseline blinks, confused by Sadie’s take of her mood, and then it hits her. Today is supposed to be Gabriel’s first day back. Maybe this is a good thing. It should be easy enough to duck out of sight once they get to the art museum. Fields trips can obviously have more than one positive aspect.

“I just don’t know what to say to him,” she admits with a genuine sigh. That certainly isn’t a lie. She has barely slept since the accident. Images of Gabriel using her blood to heal have haunted her dreams. “I kept meaning to go by the hospital to visit but I thought that might be awkward with his family and all.”

“Rumor has it Gabriel
is
officially back at school today but I haven’t seen him yet,” William says as he plops into the seat next to her. “Maybe this field trip will get your mind off things. Apparently, there is a whole section of Romanian art. Won’t that be neat?”

Sadie pops him in the arm. “It’s art, doofus. It’s boring.”

“No, I just meant that it’d be cool to see where Rose is from,” William amends, sneaking a glance at Roseline.

“Whatever,” Sadie mutters, pressing her nose against the window. “I’m just glad to be out of school.”

A little over an hour later, Roseline finds herself inching slowly behind Sadie in a long line at the art gallery. Try as she might, she can’t stop herself from comparing the lifeless paintings on the walls to Gabriel’s stunning charcoal drawings in his attic. It pains her to think that such amazing talent is kept from the world.

Mrs. Smithton’s voice drones on up ahead, informing her students about each artist. From the looks of her classmates, none of them care. Sadie moves on ahead, popping her bubble gum loudly as she goes. Roseline grimaces as her art teacher sends yet another withering glance in her friend’s direction.

A hand clasps around her forearm and yanks her backward. She barely has time to adjust to the motion before she slams into Gabriel’s broad chest. “What are you doing?”

“Just follow me.”

“Like I have any choice,” she grunts, struggling to keep up with his fast pace so he doesn’t rip her arm out of socket. As soon as Roseline spies his target, she grows nervous. A darkened back hallway is not where she wants to be while he chats with her.

How much does he remember about the accident? Will he confront her right here in front of the entire school? Okay, maybe not the whole school, but enough people to set the rumor lines on fire yet again.

“This is perfect,” he says, stopping in the middle of the dark hall. Only one door inhabits the hall at the far end—a nameplate announces the office for the president of the museum.

His brow pinches as he watches Roseline cradle her wrist. “Are you okay?”

“Sure,” she shrugs. She eyes him warily. He has gotten stronger since the game but she isn’t sure if it is of his own nature or the mingling of their blood. “You’ve got quite a grip.”

Gabriel winces, holding his hand aloft as he flexes his fingers. “Apparently.” He lowers his hand to his side. His eyes latch on to hers, pleading. “Do you know what is happening to me?”

She shakes her head. Waves of bronze hair spill over her shoulder, as messy and frazzled as her nerves. “No. I honestly don’t.”

“But you…you saved me. I saw you.”