Blessed (Book 2, The Watchers Trilogy; Young Adult Paranormal Romance) (14 page)

“But…”

“No buts!” I couldn’t stop myself from yelling at him. He was making me crazy and confused with all his ideas. “If you can’t accept the fact that I love Brand, then we can’t be friends anymore, Will. I can’t keep having this conversation with you. I love Brand. I don’t know how to make it any plainer.”

Will stepped closer to me, putting his hands on my shoulders. I could tell by the look in his eyes that he wasn’t willing to give up so easily.

“I know you think you love him, and maybe you really do. But, you loved me at one time, too. Just think about what I said, Lilly. That’s all I’m asking.”

“I need you to leave,” I said, shaking his hands off my shoulders.

He stepped back from me. “Just think about it,” he implored before he phased.

When I went back inside, Brand was leaning back against the dining table, waiting for me. His arms were crossed over his chest, and he had a brooding expression on his beautiful, pale face.

“Mind me asking what he wanted to talk to you about?” he asked in a voice so low I had to strain to hear him.

I could tell he wanted to know about the conversation I’d just had with Will but, at the same time, he wasn’t sure he wanted to hear it. Apparently, his curiosity won out.

I closed the French doors behind me and leaned back against them, shaking my head in disbelief.

“He’s still trying to convince me his love for me is more real than yours.”

“I see,” Brand sighed heavily. “Will does have one advantage over me. He could grow old with you. I can’t do that. You would have a more natural life with him than with me. I wouldn’t blame you if you wanted to take his offer.”

“You always try to think about what would make me happy, but what you don’t realize is you’re all I need for that to be true.”

“I feel like I’m cheating you out of a real life,” Brand confessed. “Most people get to plan to have a family and live a relatively normal existence with one another. I can’t give you either, only myself.”

“You’re all I want,” I told him.

“But will you be able to say that in twenty years? Or even ten? People’s feelings change, Lilly. I’ve seen it happen time and time again. What if you end up resenting me because of what I am?”

“You know how you told me I shouldn’t doubt your love for me?” I asked him. “Well, I’m asking you to not doubt the love I feel for you either. You make me complete, Brand. I don’t know how else to say it. When we’re together, I feel like there’s nothing we can’t do. And who’s to say we can’t have children one day?” My words had the desired effect on him. “Remember, I’m part angel. Who knows what would happen if I actually did become pregnant? Maybe your curse doesn’t include me.”

“I can’t take that chance,” he said, firm in his resolve. “I refuse to even think about doing anything that would cause me to lose you like that.”

I didn’t want to push the subject. I knew how adamant he was about me not becoming pregnant, and losing my life like Abby’s mother did. But, for me, the option of a child with Brand was still not out of the realm of possibility. I’m not sure why it hadn’t occurred to me before now. I was part angel. It was possible Brand and I could conceive a child not burdened with the curse Abby had to live with.

We stood there quietly, looking at one another.

“Promise me you won’t ask me to take that kind of risk with your life, Lilly, please.”

I didn’t want to make a promise I might not be able to keep. I simply pulled him to me and hugged him tight.

“Don’t ever think I would leave you,” I told him instead. “I could never be happier with someone else. I wish you and everyone else could understand that.”

Brand’s arms tightened around me, silently assuring me that he would never willingly let me go.

Brand called the private investigator in New York after our talk. It was a short conversation, since we didn’t know anything about my mother’s parents. All we had to go on was the little information I knew about my mother. I knew her birth date and her full name, but that was it. It occurred to me that I really didn’t know my mother at all. I didn’t know where she had grown up, who her friends were when she was younger, nothing that would help us in our search for my grandparents. The woman I knew as my mother was a stranger to me.

“That’s odd,” Brand said, closing his cell phone at the end of his conversation with the private investigator. “Larry did a quick search on your mother while we were on the phone. He said it was as if she didn’t exist until a little bit before you were born. He’ll have to dig a little deeper than what he could do over the phone to find out what’s going on.”

“What do you think that means?”

“I don’t know, but Larry is good at what he does. He’ll find out what we need to know.”

I sat back on the couch with a disappointed sigh. I had hoped this part of our quest for the truth would be relatively easy. Brand came and sat down beside me.

“How long does he think it will take?”

“He wasn’t sure, but I offered him a sizable bonus to do it as fast as he can.”

Having done all he could about finding my grandparents, I could tell Brand’s thoughts were shifting to something else by the change of the expression on his face.

“What are you worried about?” I asked.

“Abby.”

I had meant to ask Brand about Malcolm’s reaction to a budding romance between their children.

“What’s wrong with her and Sebastian liking each other?”

“It could get complicated.”

“Mind elaborating on that some?”

“Our children are a lot like regular wolves. They mate for life once they find someone and decide to commit to them.”

“Is that such a bad thing? Since they live so long, I would think you would want her to find someone she could be happy with.”

“She’s tried it once before,” Brand’s mood quickly darkened. “I thought it would be good for her, but in the end it hurt her more than it helped.”

“What happened?”

“His name was Nathaniel. He was the son of a Watcher named Remington. Remington and I became friends after Abby and Nathaniel committed to one another. Remington eventually decided abstaining from drinking human blood was just denying who he really was. He came to believe it was a futile act of contrition. I don’t think he ever truly believed we could be forgiven. After he killed his first victim, he became someone I didn’t recognize anymore. He was like a madman afterwards. It seemed like he always had blood on his hands.”

“What did Nathaniel think about his father becoming a murderer?”

“Nathaniel was a good boy, but the bond we have with our children is very strong. Eventually, Remington wanted his son to join him on his hunts, but Nathaniel didn’t want to. He wanted to stay with Abby. It wasn’t hard for Remington to make Nathaniel into the same kind of monster he was.”

“What did he do?”

“Since Abby and Nathaniel were mated, they slept in the same cell at night. Remington released them one night after they had transformed, and made sure they had a victim nearby to tempt them into a hunt.”

“Abby didn’t…”

“No. I was able to stop her before she tasted human blood, but I was too late to save Nathaniel.”

“So is that the person you were talking about when you first moved here? You said Abby had just broken up with someone she was trying to forget.”

“Do you remember everything I tell you?” Brand smiled wistfully at me.

“I try to.”

“Yes, that was the person I was referring to.”

“If you’re concerned about Sebastian doing the same thing, you don’t have anything to worry about. I know how much it means to Malcolm that his son doesn’t end up like him. If Malcolm loves anyone in this world, he loves his son.”

“I just worry about Abby,” Brand admitted. “I know how much pain she went through trying to forget Nathaniel. I don’t want to see her go through that again.”

“Wouldn’t you want her to find happiness, though? You can’t protect her from everything, even though you want to. Sometimes you have to let the people you love make their own decisions. Besides, Abby seems very independent. Even if you did forbid her from seeing Sebastian, do you think she would obey you?”

“No,” Brand sighed in resignation. “She would do what she wanted to anyway.”

“Then maybe you should just have a talk with her and tell her your concerns for her safety and happiness. I think she would respond to that a lot better.”

“You’re probably right.” Brand looked at me with an almost confused expression. “How did you know I was going to forbid her from seeing Sebastian?”

I shrugged. “It seemed like something you would try, even though you know in your heart it would be the wrong thing to do.”

“Sometimes I think you know me better than I do myself.”

“Maybe I’m coming into my wifely intuition early,” I teased, absently twirling the hair at the nape of Brand’s neck, wondering what it would feel like to call him my husband. “What else is bothering you about Abby and Sebastian?”

“If they do decide to be together, I’ll be stuck with Malcolm for a very long time,” Brand grumbled. “I was hoping that, after we figured out what Lucifer wants with you, he would be out of our lives.”

“You should give him a chance,” I said in defense of my friend. “Even after we solve everything, I would still want him in my life. Can you understand that?”

“If he wasn’t trying to take you away from me every chance he got, I might be able to find a way to get along with him,” Brand said in his own defense. “But, as things are, I can’t completely trust him, Lilly.”

It reminded me of Brand’s reaction to whatever Malcolm had said to him the night before Izzi attacked me. “Tell me what he said to you the other night.”

“Do you really want to know?”

“Yes.”

Brand took a deep breath like he was steeling himself against repeating Malcolm’s words to me. “He said that he still had four years to change your mind and that he had to believe you have some doubts about marrying me if you’re willing to wait that long.”

“You know that isn’t true, don’t you?” I couldn’t believe Malcolm had said such things to Brand. I was definitely going to have a talk with him the first chance I got.

Brand was silent.

“Look at me,” I said to him, forcing him to look into my eyes. “I would marry you right now if that would prove to you and everyone else once and for all that you are all I want. I’m really thinking about just dragging you down to the justice of the peace this minute and putting an end to this foolishness today!”

Brand smiled. “No, we don’t have to change your plans just because of Malcolm and Will. But thank you for offering.” He drew me into his arms. “It means a lot to me. More than you can know.”

“Well I would, you know,” I said, snuggling against him. “I would marry you today if that would make you happy.”

He tightened his arms around me. “No, I can wait.”

After a few minutes, Brand asked, “Would you mind coming with me to talk with Abby? I might need your support to keep me focused.”

I stood up from the couch and reached out for his hand. “No time like the present. Let’s go talk to her.”

Brand’s talk with Abby went smoothly. She seemed to have been expecting it, and was pleasantly surprised when Brand told her he just wanted her to be happy and careful before choosing Sebastian as a mate.

“I don’t suppose I could talk you into speaking with Malcolm on our behalf,” Abby said to me after her discussion with Brand. “If you can bring my father around, maybe you could get Malcolm off of Sebastian’s case.”

“I could try, Abby,” I said. “But Malcolm is extremely overprotective of Sebastian. I’m not sure anything I say will make him feel comfortable with the situation.”

“Could you just try,
please
?” she pleaded. I almost felt like Abby’s mother then. She was acting like a love-struck teenager begging her mom for help with her boyfriend’s parent.

“I’ll do what I can,” I told Abby, not knowing how I would talk Malcolm into letting Sebastian court Brand’s daughter.

CHAPTER TEN

After our talk with Abby, I had Brand take me back to my apartment. I felt a little guilty for leaving Tara alone so much, especially so soon after her break-up with Simon. Brand understood my need to be with Tara and simply sat in the background while she and I did girly things, like paint each other’s fingernails and toenails while she caught me up on campus gossip.

Brand sat on the futon, scribbling in a notebook he had brought with him.

“What are you doing?” I asked, hobbling over to him with the toe spacers still on my feet, coming to sit beside him.

“Working on something,” he said, closing the book before I had a chance to take a peek at what he was writing.

“Is it a secret?” I asked, intrigued by his behavior.

“Sort of,” he said with a shy grin. “I’m still working on that poem for you.”

I remembered inadvertently reading the first two lines of the poem that day in Biology class, before we’d even gone on our first official date. I’d almost forgotten about it.

“How’s it coming?” My curiosity was piqued now at the reminder.

“Slow,” Brand admitted, dragging the word out to emphasize just how slow it was going. “In all of the hobbies I’ve had over the years, writing poetry has never been one of them. I think I know why now,” he chuckled, scratching his head.

“So when do you think it will be ready for me to read?”

“Maybe by the time we get married.” He grinned uncertainly. I couldn’t stop myself from kissing him. He just looked too cute.

“Malcolm’s right,” I heard Tara say from her seat at the table, blowing on her nails to help them dry faster. “That’s all y’all do.”

I pulled away from Brand and stuck my tongue out at her.

“When you fall in love, I’ll remember you said that,” I told her.

“Pfft, that’ll be a while off. I don’t need a man in my life right now. They’re nothing but trouble.”

There was a loud knock at the door. Brand got up to answer it.

“Might have known you would be here,” I heard Malcolm say. “May I come in?”

Brand stood away from the doorway to allow Malcolm entry into the apartment.

Malcolm walked in dressed in a long black leather coat, black jeans, and a blood- red button-down shirt.

“I had an idea,” Malcolm announced. “I think I might know of a way to find Faust.”

“How?” I asked, unable to conceal my excitement.

“You remember Horace, don’t you?” Malcolm asked Brand.

“Is he still looking for his ring?”

“Yes. He runs a pawnshop in New York now. He might be able to tell us where Faust is hiding out.”

“It’s worth a try, I guess,” Brand said, obviously thinking it was a long shot.

“I think you and I both know he won’t tell
you
anything,” Malcolm replied. “I thought I might take Lilly to see what we could learn from him.”

“Lilly doesn’t need to be with you when you speak to him,” Brand said, instantly suspicious of Malcolm’s true motives for requesting my company.

“Well, before I decide if I’m going anywhere, who is Horace?” I asked.

“He’s a jinn,” Malcolm replied. “But he lost the ring his powers are attached to. Without it, he can’t start a new contract with someone.”

“What happened to the ring?”

“His last patron took it so Horace couldn’t trick anyone else into making wishes. I think he might have thrown it into the ocean or down a volcano. Poor Horace has been searching for it ever since.”

“I would like to go,” I told Brand. If this jinn could help me find Faust, I wanted to meet him for myself.

“What makes you think he’ll talk to you?” Brand asked Malcolm.

“There’s no guarantee he will,” Malcolm admitted with a shrug of his shoulders. “But he’d be more willing to talk to me than you. Plus,” Malcolm pulled out a small blue velvet bag from his coat pocket and jingled it. “I have a collection of antique rings to bribe him with. Who knows, one of them might be Horace’s. Do you have a better idea on how to find Faust?”

I could see Brand was reluctant to admit he didn’t. Finally, he said, “No.”

“Good,” Malcolm looked down at the toe spacers still on my feet. “You might want to take those off before we go, dearest,” he suggested. “People in New York are progressive, but those things might draw the wrong type of attention.”

I just rolled my eyes at Malcolm and went to my room to change my clothes for our trip to New York. Malcolm was about to follow me, but Brand put a restraining hand on his arm.

“That’s my job,” he reminded my friend. “Not yours.”

Before we left for New York, Brand kissed me lightly on the lips.

“Take care of her,” he said, looking into my eyes but obviously speaking to Malcolm.

“You don’t have to worry about that.” Malcolm grabbed my hand and phased us before I had a chance to say goodbye.

In an instant, we were standing on the corner of a busy street in front of a store. I looked up over the door and saw the storefront sign: ‘Horace’s Pawn and Trade, Rings of All Kind Welcomed’.

It didn’t look like we were in the most fashionable part of town. The street and buildings around us looked old and unkempt. I saw a few women who looked like streetwalkers only a few yards away from us, smoking cigarettes. They eyed Malcolm like he was a rare piece of chocolate they wanted to devour whole.

Malcolm tugged on my hand, which was still firmly clasped in his. “Come, dearest. Let’s see what Horace might be able to tell us.”

As we walked into the dilapidated building, a bell attached to the front door rang, announcing our arrival into the shop. I had never been in a pawnshop before, but I thought this one seemed extremely untidy. There were various items ranging from stereo systems to cowboy boots piled onto shelves, without seeming to have any discernable order to their placement. A glass-enclosed counter, containing various pieces of jewelry, ran from the front door to the middle of the shop.

I heard a door open somewhere near the back of the shop and saw a man hurriedly shuffle his way to the other side of the glass counter we stood in front of. He was only a little bit taller than me, slightly overweight with balding light brown hair, a mustache and goatee that seemed to be the home of more than a few breadcrumbs, and thick, black- framed glasses. He was dressed shabbily in a grey and blue-checkered shirt that had a fresh mustard stain down the front, a thin blue zippered jacket, and matching pants.

“How can I help you today?” he asked, coming to stand across from us behind the counter before he even looked up. He talked in a hurried, irritated tone, as though we were disturbing him from doing something more important.

“Hello, Horace,” Malcolm said, leaning his hip against the glass counter.

When Horace’s eyes finally met Malcolm’s, I saw him wince.

“What brings you here, Malcolm?” Horace said, tapping his fingers against the counter nervously.

“I thought you might be able to help me and my friend out. Lilly, I’d like to introduce you to Horace.”

Like I would anyone I was meeting for the first time, I extended a hand out to the jinn. He looked at my hand, and quickly glanced at Malcolm before deciding to follow through with what was meant to be a polite handshake. He shook my hand so fast I wasn’t completely sure it had actually happened.

“What do you want?” Horace asked. “I’m kind of busy, you know.”

Malcolm lifted a dubious eyebrow in Horace’s direction and slowly surveyed his establishment.

“So I see,” he said. “We were wondering if you could tell us where Faust is hiding out these days.”

“F-f-faust?” Horace stammered in a whisper. He acted like just saying the name would bring the building down around our heads. “What do you need with him?”

“He’s been trying to kill this beautiful young woman next to me. I want to ask him why.”

“I don’t know where he is,” Horace said quickly. “You need to leave.”

Even I could tell Horace was lying. He did know where Faust was. He was just too scared to tell us.

“Not even for a bag full of antique rings?” Malcolm said, bringing out the bag from his coat and tossing it onto the counter in front of Horace.

Before Horace could snatch up the bag, Malcolm grabbed his hand.

“Where is Faust?” Malcolm demanded. “If you just tell us that, I’ll let you have the rings. I’m sure even if one of them isn’t yours, you can sell them for a tidy profit.”

Horace snatched his hand out of Malcolm’s, eyeing the bag with an obsessive lust I had never seen on anyone’s face before.

“You go to the movies much?” Horace asked.

“Why?” Malcolm asked.

“If you do, you’ve probably heard of an actor named Lloyd Cushing. If you find him, you’ll find Faust.”

“That’s his new patron, I assume?”

“Yes.”

Malcolm pushed the bag closer to Horace. “Thank you, Horace. Now, was that so difficult?”

Horace snatched the bag of rings to his chest. “Is that all you want?”

“Yes. We’ll be going. Good luck in your search.”

Malcolm took my hand again and, before I knew it, we were standing outside the Statue of Liberty, on the platform beneath the flame of her torch.

I couldn’t help but shiver from the cold wind coming off the water, making the early evening air even colder.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Malcolm said, opening his long leather coat and bringing me in close to his body to keep me warm. “I forgot to tell you to bring a coat. I wanted to show you the view from here while we were in New York.”

The only view I was seeing at the moment were the pecs of Malcolm’s muscular chest. I looked up at my friend and saw him smiling down at me. The tenderness in his expression as he gazed at me instantly made me feel uneasy.

“I think I’d rather just go home,” I said through the chatter of my teeth.

“Nonsense,” he said, holding me tighter in an effort to provide me with what warmth he could. In actuality, it just made me have to turn my face to the side and lay my cheek against his bare skin.

“I can’t bring you to New York and not try to show you some of the city. It just wouldn’t be right, dearest.”

“Could we at least go somewhere a little bit warmer?” I asked, unable to keep myself from wrapping my arms around Malcolm’s waist to absorb more heat from his body.

After what was probably only a minute but seemed like forever, I heard him mumble, “If you wish.”

The air around us quickly warmed up, and Malcolm reluctantly let me go.

We were standing in front of a
maître d'
podium.

“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t see the two of you standing there. Welcome to the Russian Tea Room,” the lady behind the podium said to us. “A cozy booth for two, perhaps?”

“Yes, thank you,” Malcolm said, extending his arm for me to take.

We followed the woman up to the second floor into a room with mirrors on all four walls. There was
a
15-foot revolving glass aquarium at the front end of the room and a spectacular gold tree with Venetian glass eggs hanging from its limbs at the other end. The woman sat us down at a booth made for only two people and handed us each menus.

“I think we’ll start out with the Imperial black caviar, if you don’t mind,” Malcolm said smoothly, “and a couple glasses of white wine.”

“Just water for me,” I told the woman. “I’m not twenty-one yet,” I reminded Malcolm.

“Ahh, I forget that,” he said. “Fine, wine for me and water for the lady.”

“Yes, sir.”

After the woman walked away, I reached for my phone. I was glad I had thought to bring it along.

“Who are you calling?” Malcolm asked, eyeing me over the top of his menu, even though I could tell he knew perfectly well who I would be calling.

“I want to let Brand know where we are,” I answered, finding his number on my contact list. “He’ll worry if he doesn’t hear from me.”

I told Brand that Malcolm asked me out to dinner while we were in New York. I could tell he wasn’t pleased, by the restrained tone of his voice, but his words told me to have a good time.

I had, of course,heard of the Russian Tea Room before, but my limited experience was confined to what I had seen on TV and movies. I tried my best to find one entree on the menu and ended up thinking they all sounded equally good. I finally settled on the
c
hicken tabak
a
. Malcolm had the aged New York strip steak.

While we ate our caviar, waiting for our meals to be served, I felt it was a good time to have a little discussion with Malcolm.

“Brand told me what you said to him the other night about me having doubts about marrying him,” I said.

Malcolm didn’t seem too surprised and just shrugged.

“I stand by what I told him,” he replied.

“Do you like hurting him like that?” I asked, not wanting to believe Malcolm could purposely be so heartless.

“I’m just being honest with him. Why else would you willingly wait so long to marry him?”