Demon Evolution (16 page)

A
fter a night of
food, drink, and fun, the six friends were walking back to their
rooms with their arms around each other. Gabriel had had a few too
many drinks and was talking more than he had in the last six months
combined.

“I’ve done a losht of bad thingsh in my time,
and sho have the rest of the angelsh, but the demonsh have done
shtupid shtuff, too.” His words slurred together and Taylor
grimaced. She had never seen him like this. It was not
attractive.

“Shut up, Gabriel. No one wants to hear it,”
Taylor said, tired of listening to his crap.

Ignoring her, he continued. “Like, who shent
that Jonash guy to UT, anyway? He almosht got Taylor killed with
that damn gargoyle.” Taylor cringed at the reference to Jonas. He
was definitely a mistake that the demons had made. Sending him and
his posse to the University of Trinton was the main reason that
Gabriel had felt backed into a corner, forcing him to give her up
to the Archangel Council. But that was in the past now.

“He was just there to check up on Chris. The
demon Elders were worried that I wasn’t sufficiently protected from
the angel Council.” Taylor hoped this reminder would quiet her
drunken boyfriend.

“That’s not exactly true,” Kiren
interjected.

“What do you mean?” Taylor asked.

“Well, you know how I told you that I was
there to keep an eye on things from right next door to you, as
Marla’s roommate?”

“Yeah,” Taylor said, a bad feeling washing
over her.

“Just before Jonas arrived, I sent a report
to the Elders. I only stated facts, like how Gabriel was still
dating you and spending more and more time with you, how it seemed
like Chris and Gabriel had become friends, that kind of stuff. I
guess the Elders interpreted it to mean they should send someone
in, and they chose Jonas.”

Gabriel stopped in mid-stagger. He glared at
Kiren. “I’ll kill you,” he said, perfectly coherent now. Despite
his drunkenness, he moved with lightning speed, his powerful fist
crashing into Kiren’s jaw. She flew backwards, like she had been
hit by a freight train.

As soon as she realized what was happening,
Taylor chased after him. Gabriel was poised to attack again when
she reached him. Grabbing his clenched arm from behind, she said,
“Stop it, Gabriel. Please, no more.”

Coiled tighter than a spring, Gabriel’s
reflexes were faster than the sound of her voice reaching his ears.
His elbow flung backwards, defending himself against what his
muddled mind believed was an attack from behind. Taylor gasped as
his powerful elbow connected with her chest and her body was thrown
backwards.

Neither Chris nor Sampson had been idle
during the sudden change in mood. Before Kiren’s body ever reached
the ground, the latter had caught her as gracefully as a wide
receiver catching a touchdown pass. In one motion, he cradled her,
placed her on the ground, and then stood over her, taking on a
boxing stance, ready to defend her in the event of a subsequent
attack.

Chris, on the other hand, put an arm across
Sam’s body, to protect her if the fight spilled towards them.
However, upon witnessing Taylor’s limp body being propelled towards
the rough, rock wall, he teleported out in front of her, estimating
the path of her flight. When he reappeared, Taylor smashed into his
stomach, and despite his readiness, he toppled over from the
impact. He grunted as she landed on him, her fall cushioned by his
strong torso.

Lifting her head slightly, Taylor saw a very
different Gabriel standing in the tunnel. All rage having melted
from his face, he looked mortified. His shoulders slumped in defeat
and he sank to his knees, mental anguish taking all of the fight
out of him. “What have I done?” he moaned, rhetorically. “Taylor,
I’m so…I’m so…”

Chris said, “There will be plenty of time for
apologies, Gabriel. For now, go and get some rest and Sam and I
will take care of Taylor. Leave now, man. Just walk away.”

Gabriel tried to utter a protest, but Sampson
grabbed his arm firmly and pulled him to his feet. “Let’s go, man.”
Without further struggle, Gabriel allowed himself to be
half-assisted, half-dragged by Sampson back to his room. For some
reason Kiren followed after them.

Upon reaching his room, Gabriel sat on the
bed, staring at the wall. Kiren thought he looked numb. Sampson
started to leave, but Kiren lingered. “What are you doing?” he
asked her. She raised a hand to silence him and went over to
Gabriel, kneeling in front of him, submissive.

“Gabriel, I’m really sorry about Jonas. I
really didn’t mean for all that to happen.”

Gabriel’s eyes were moist as he dipped his
head to look at her. “No,” he said simply. “It wasn’t your fault. I
was the one…I was the one who put Taylor in this position; I was
the one who couldn’t stop it.” He looked on the verge of a break
down.

“Yeah, you made some mistakes, some really
BIG mistakes, Gabriel. But you made up for them, and you are still
making up for them now. Things could have been much worse if they
had sent someone else to get Taylor, someone other than you. You
saved her, in a way. But now you need to focus on your future with
her or it will disappear. You have to forgive yourself. You have to
forgive us for anything we might have not done perfectly. Anything
less, and I promise you, she will leave you. Maybe not today, but
some day.” Kiren knew these truths would be hard for Gabriel to
take, but he needed to hear them. There was still time for him to
turn things around, and although he sometimes wore his heart on his
sleeve, something told her that Gabriel Knight still had an
important role to play.

Gabriel looked a bit shocked upon hearing the
monologue by the demon he had just savagely attacked, largely
unprovoked. His eyes were apologetic, soft. “I’m sorry for hitting
you, Kiren. I’m really sorry,” he said. It sounded sincere.

“That’s a good start, buddy, and I forgive
you, but tomorrow you will need to pander for Taylor’s forgiveness,
and she may not be such an easy sell. Then you can move on and do
what needs to be done in this war.”

“I will,” Gabriel said. “Thanks for
understanding me, Kiren.”

Sampson had watched the entire exchange with
wonder. He was typically not the type of guy to fall head over
heels for a girl, like Gabriel or Chris had done, but his feelings
for Kiren had been welling up inside of him since he met her, and
hearing her now, he knew she was someone special.
Hopefully, his
someone special
, he thought. He strode over and, standing
behind her, put his arms around her neck. “Yeah, yeah, you’re
welcome, man, but we’ll still have to vote on whether to invite you
to our wedding,” he joked. “I can’t believe you hit my
girlfriend!”

The tension on Gabriel’s face eased slightly.
“I didn’t know it was official. Man, I didn’t even have a chance to
warn her about you.”

Kiren looked back at Sampson. “I didn’t know
it was official either,” she said.

“It is if you want it to be,” he replied.

“I’ll think about it.”

When the two new love birds left Gabriel to
sleep, he managed to get undressed and under the covers without
feeling sorry for himself. He was completely sober now—the emotions
of the last hour were more effective than coffee in that regard.
While mumbling, “Stupid, stupid, stupid,” he smacked himself in the
head with his palm. “Okay, think,” he whispered.

First he needed to apologize to Taylor—that
much was clear. But he also needed to give her a reason to forgive
him. Wife beaters apologized for the black eyes, gambling addicts
apologized for losing college tuitions, cheaters apologized for
cheating. But those were empty apologies. He needed to be better
than that, worthy of forgiveness. Before drifting off to sleep, the
first steps of a plan began to form in his mind.

“H
ow are you
feeling, Tay?” Sam asked. She stroked her hair, like a mother
tending to a sick child.

“I’m fine, I just feel a little bruised,” she
replied, gingerly rubbing her chest.

“I should say so,” Chris said. “You took a
hit from a pretty tough angel.”

“Thanks for the reminder that my boyfriend
hit me.”

“It really was an accident, Taylor,” Sam
said. “I saw the whole thing.”

“I know it was and I know that Gabriel would
never intentionally do anything to hurt me, but the fact of the
matter is, he was out of control and reckless. I really don’t need
that right now, considering my entire life seems out of control and
reckless.”

Taylor was lying on Sam’s bed, while her
friends sat on one side of her. Concern continued to lace Sam’s
expression. For a few minutes after Taylor had sustained the elbow
to her chest, she was wheezing sharply, barely able to pull any air
into her lungs. Initially, Chris had started to carry her to the
medical wing, but changed his mind when Taylor’s breathing finally
returned to near-normal. “I’m fine, no doctor,” she had gasped.

Taylor was worried that if she went to a
doctor, hard questions would be asked and Gabriel would get in
trouble. Also, given Gabriel’s history, the Elders might kick him
out of the Lair for good if they caught wind of his attack on Kiren
and his accidental elbowing of Taylor.

“I understand,” Sam said. “Do you want me to
keep him away tomorrow?”

“No, I’ll talk to him. It’s not like I don’t
love him anymore. I just hate him sometimes, too.”

“Ok, sweetie,” Sam replied. “Now, get some
sleep, it’s been a long day.”

“And you have something to look forward to
tomorrow—you get to see Rocky,” Chris reminded her.

At the mention of her scaly little friend’s
name, her mood brightened. “I forgot about him. Before breakfast
I’d like to go down so I can feed him, if that’s okay?”

“Of course. I’ll stop by at seven
o’clock.”

Before the door had closed, signaling Chris’s
exit from the room, and before Sam had curled up beside her, Taylor
was already asleep, dreaming of her new pet gargoyle and all the
fun they would have together.

H
is “safe” phone to
his ear, Andrew waited anxiously for his friend to answer. After
three rings he heard, “Yes?”

At three in the morning, it was not
surprising that Clifford sounded groggy, having likely been
awakened mid-REM cycle. It was difficult for Andrew to wait until
now to call him, but he knew it was safer.
For him. For his
family.

“I have unfortunate news, my friend.” There
was urgency in his tone that he could not disguise. “They will take
her father. Good luck.” With the message delivered, Andrew ended
the call. They had done this enough that Clifford would understand.
Tonight would be a sleepless night for them both.