"You too, Harry. Call us if you need anything," he said, and shut the door behind him.
The three Caines strolled down the streets of Venice Beach, Gabriel absently sucking on the healing knuckles of his right hand. "Well. That was illuminating."
Justin frowned. "Sounds like Kendall Sorbis has, pardon the expression, turned to the dark side."
The other two groaned. Gabriel elbowed Justin. "But can we trust Maggie?"
"I don't know. I'll find out." Justin stopped at the corner. "You need to do some serious thinking, Gabriel. You were on automatic in there during the fight."
Gabriel blinked. His first reaction was to respond with a, 'yeah, so?' but knew Justin was right. But still - "Yeah, so? It got the job done. I didn't kill anyone. What does it matter?"
"You were damn lucky not to kill a were at Satine’s the other night, which would have made tonight's scenario a whole different movie. You were on fucking automatic pilot in there. Get back to Rose. You need her."
"I spent hours with her," Gabriel objected. Hours that had a golden glow now in his memory. “I should be fine away from her.” He missed her. The emptiness inside him grew darker without her light.
“But you aren’t. Maybe it doesn’t work the way we thought it did. Maybe the longer you’re around her, the quicker you lose control when you aren’t.
Gabriel stifled a shudder. He could feel his eyes changing. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Maybe not. But your demon eyes tell me your control is shot. Go back to Rose. Go now, before you turn demon and we have to duke it out here in the streets.”
"We just got the water, electricity and gas turned on in the homestead." Kellan grinned. "I'd really like to bunk there for the night."
"Me, too. I just want to go home. Get some rest, clean up a bit before going to see Rose. I will see her, I promise." Mentally, he needed the separation. He didn’t like the notion that they were tied together by his soul.
Justin sighed. "All right, fine. You guys go on home. Let's meet back at the office in the morning, ten o'clock. We'll try to get a handle on what to do next."
"Ten o'clock," they promised, and they parted to run on swift and silent feet through the sleeping streets of Los Angeles.
* * *
Gabriel looked up at the home he'd grown up in, felt a bit of the peace he'd come to know as a youth. One of the last big estates still tucked deep in the San Fernando Valley, white wrought-iron gates guarded the long, narrow driveway, and the tall hedges surrounding the acreage had turned it into a haven for them all.
He trudged up the unkempt drive, Kellan silent beside him, and noted the piles of dry leaves and pine needles, leftovers from too many years of neglect. The house sat quiet in the heat of the summer moonlight. Gideon would have a fit if he could see the general state of disrepair the gardens had fallen to. The boys used to work on the gardens every weekend while Gideon reminded them all how much Maria Therese had loved them.
Maria Therese. Ever since Rose had mentioned speaking to his dead mother, a part of him wanted desperately to believe it. The other part simply could not. Growing up without her had left a hole inside him as big as the one that had held his soul. A part of him was always vividly aware that his birth had robbed his family of the woman who loved them all. He’d never called her Mom. He’d never call any woman Mom.
Gabriel pushed away the old pain and breathed deeply of the scent that had always meant home, that peculiar mash of citrus grove and eucalyptus tree. Mourning doves cooed in the night as the moon slipped toward the horizon. He took a deep breath of the air he'd known from his earliest days. He'd been happy here. Whatever he'd done, whatever he'd become, he could rest in this place. Here love lingered.
They stepped up to the wide front porch, both brothers bringing out a key. Gabriel looked at Kellan. "Gideon, right?"
Kellan put the big, old-fashioned key into the door, pushed it open. "He said I'd always be welcome here."
"Yeah." They both stepped in through the door, felt the subtle weave of contentment that hung in the air. "It's the same, isn't it?" Gabriel's voice rumbled through the empty house. He shut the door behind them.
"Can you smell the incense that Aunt Maria always burned? Shit. I'm sorry dude." Kellan punched his cousin gently on the shoulder.
"No big. Gideon used to burn it all the time. Super Hit, wasn't it? Black and silver box? I still pick up some of that, now and then."
"Yeah. Me, too. Hey, I'm taking our old room. That okay with you?" Kellan paused at the bottom of the stair leading to the second floor.
"Yeah. Whatever. See you in the morning."
Kellan headed up the stairs.
Gabriel wandered through the downstairs rooms, memories filling him as he moved through time. He and Kellan had been a team. The older boys had a hard time with him, as they'd lost their mother because of Gabriel. Fists had flown more than once, usually in the orchards, with Kellan protecting the baby against his brothers. He'd taught Gabriel how to fight, too, and when to turn away.
The solid wood kitchen table still stood. How many times had they arm-wrestled there? How many times had they gathered around that table for a family conference? Gideon's carved armchair held pride of place at the head of the table. Gabriel could almost see him there and his heart hitched. He moved out of the kitchen, some memories too painful.
He walked into the hearth room, all the furniture sheeted and ghostly in the night. The long table where they'd done homework had been pushed into a corner. He noted the firewood stacked in the built-in box by the fireplace and, drawn toward it, knelt and built a fire more for the comfort than the warmth. Lifting a flowered sheet off one of the sofas in the living room, he settled there and stared into the flames.
Once they got this situation taken care of, he'd be gone. Setting his mind against the pang of loneliness, he closed his eyes and breathed in the atmosphere of home. He looked forward to bringing her here. Rose. She’ll love the place.
He mulled over the thought of Rose and his mother, speaking together in the netherworld. It had rolled through his brain constantly and while he couldn't allow himself to believe it, it made Rose even more precious in his mind.
She was so… Rose. That afternoon had been a revelation. Watching the delight fill her as they ate burgers. How she’d laughed at him in the clothing store. The quiet yearning that he’d felt when she leaned against him, caught in the beauty of the sunset.
Gabriel watched the flames. Running wasn’t the answer. He’d learned that the hard way. But if he stayed, could he handle the fallout?
He could watch the sunlight in her hair for hours. Her top lip was just a bit fuller than the lower one, and she nibbled on it when she got nervous. She was irritating and sexy and sweet and stubborn and he'd never get over the richness of her kisses. The longer he stayed, the harder it would be to forget her.
Killer, he reminded himself harshly. He destroyed that which he loved, or that which loved him. His mother. Marianne. He was a killer. Always had been, always would be. It was in his blood, in his very nature, and not something that could be scrubbed out of him.
He didn't think he'd survive destroying Rose.
Grunting, he threw his arm over his eyes. He'd spent enough sleepless nights to know this would be another one. His mind might not get any rest, but his body would, if he could just keep himself still enough. He needed to know he could stay away a little longer, keep his demon controlled without her for just a few more hours.
He could almost feel her hand on his cheek, her sky-blue eyes full of questions, laughter. The doc said Rose was completely healthy. Yet Gabriel had recognized emptiness in her, one that mimicked his lack of a soul.
A puzzle. Rose was definitely a puzzle.
* * *
Upstairs, Kellan checked in all the rooms before claiming the one that had been theirs as kids. His itchy feet didn't seem so ready to walk away any more. He frowned, shook his head and went to shove the windows open to the warm night air, pungent with citrus and eucalyptus. The orchard remained the same, the trees still in the night. He dropped down on the bed. Of course he'd be going soon. That wasn't even a question. He had a horse, and a dog, and his house in the middle of fucking nowhere, Arizona. Of damn course he'd be leaving. They'd get this mess cleaned up and he'd be out of there like a shot.
Unsettled, he bent to unlace his boots, tossing them under the bed out of habit. He leaned back against the pillows and went through his sleep ritual. Midway through his mental chanting, he chanced to glance at the ceiling, the design there clear to his demonic eyes. Following it like he would a picture of a labyrinth, the painting shifted, calmed him, until his eyes grew heavy and peace soothed his restless heart.
There was something familiar about that design. Something... Breathing in the scented air, Kellan slipped into a dream where dogs barked and owls kept a watchful silence.
Gabriel prowled the neighborhood where Rose stayed with Maggie, waiting for dawn. He’d waited this long, he could surely wait until dawn to connect. He'd left his brother fast asleep and had run to her. The moon had set and that absolute dark before dawn settled in.
Time was growing short. With the absence of his soul, his other, less human senses were gaining in strength and his Fae instincts, few though they might be, were almost screaming with urgency.
A noise had him looking up to the balcony of Maggie's apartment. Rose came out, leaned against the railing and looked to the sea.
Gabriel knew her frustration as he knew his own. His original plan dissolved as he vaulted up to catch himself on the railing of the balcony. Joy and need both pulsed through him as he caught her scent.
Rose gasped and whirled about, pressed her hands to her mouth. Finally registering Gabriel, she wrapped her arms around the robe she wore, her eyes flashing in the dim light.
"Took you long enough. I’m going crazy here. Aren’t you?”
"I stayed away longer than I’d meant." Gabriel grimaced as her shoulders tensed up. Sighing, he dropped from the railing to the balcony and held out a hand to her. "I’m not used to needing anyone. Not for years."
She twined her fingers with his. "I’m beginning to understand that." Her words were quiet in the pre-dawn. "You meant to push me away. But it doesn't matter." She turned her face up to his, her blue eyes like lasers, pinning him to the spot. "Apparently this need thing works both ways. Your soul has been aching for you. It’s kept me awake and edgy. I’ve needed you. I’ve been calling you for hours.”
“I’m here now.”
“I want you to consider something very carefully. If we don’t manage to get the rest of your soul back, if I can’t give you your soul back, then our future is tied together. Do you understand that?”
He'd rather face a dozen J'aadt demons than this small woman with her talk of the future. "I'm too old for you. Too dangerous. I've killed. I'm not good enough for you."
Her eyes flashed again. A lesser man would have quailed. Gabriel stood there secure in the knowledge of being right, knowing that she deserved so much better than someone like him. A murderer.
"I'm a drug addict and a whore," she said succinctly. "I've done my share of stealing. I've given my body to men who never knew my name in exchange for the drugs they could put into my veins. But then I died. I changed." Rose moved toward him and put one small hand on his broad chest.
He felt that touch clear to his missing soul. Almost holding his breath, his gaze met hers. Flinched from what he saw in her eyes, even as it warmed him.
"Gabriel, I can't do anything else than protect you. I feel this is the reason I'm here, and everything that went before brought me to this place, this time. Everything else brought me to you. Whether or not we have a future together? I don’t know. But I don’t want to rule it out, either, just because you’re scared."