"Think we could get some coffee up here?" Gabriel met Justin's curious gaze. "Probably safer here than going out."
"Sure. CaféGo is just down the mall a bit. I'll go pick up." Justin left the room, leaving Rose and Gabriel alone.
He sighed and turned to the girl. "Tell me about the waiting room."
"This big black woman came in and pitched a fit about me being there."
"Would you let me see what happened? Take me there, in your mind?"
"I thought you said my mind was wide open?"
"It is. I thought I’d ask this time." It was the closest thing he could get to an apology.
Rose bit her bottom lip. "If you have to."
"Thanks." Gabriel sat on the coffee table across from her. "Now close your eyes and relax. I don't think you'll fight me, but if the instinct to fight is there, try to ignore it for now. We'll get to that part later. Ready?"
She gave him a wan smile. “As ready as I’ll ever be.”
Gabriel slid into her mind and smiled at her wonderment. He sifted through her most recent memories of their first meeting, re-living the sexual reaction she'd had to him. Reliving his reaction to her, and her burning need to save him from the demon in the stairwell.
He moved past that quickly, bringing to light the last few hours. A nurse had dropped her off at a restaurant in Culver City. Rose had looked into the window of the restaurant, then turned and headed west. She walked the eight miles of city streets all the way to Santa Monica and the Third Street Promenade.
The picture jumped, and he saw her long recovery in the hospital. Before that, there was darkness, full of waiting and a sense of…happiness? The picture changed again and there she stood, looking down at her body as a medical team frantically worked over her.
Time seemed to pass. She spent what felt to him like a long time in the waiting room. Colorful lights zipped by her in the gray room, souls not confined to any human body. She was the only human there. Constantly looking down at her body, lonely in the hospital bed. Her only visitors were medical staff.
Then a big black woman with a clipboard came up to her and started furiously gesticulating. The two talked, but he couldn't hear a word. A shadowy female figure hovered just out of his vision.
Another step had them up against a mental blank wall that didn’t feel organic. It was almost as if someone else had put that barrier up, walled out her past. But why?
Gabriel slid out of her mind. The scent of coffee filled the air. "God, I need coffee."
"On the table. You okay, little brother?”
“Good. Tired.” Gabriel moved to the conference table.
Rose joined them, a frown pulling her lips down. "Didn't find much, did you? Didn't really think you would."
"You did fine." Justin handed her a cup of coffee, and passed one to Gabriel. "Drink up. It’s a girly drink, just for you. Lots of chocolate."
"How long did that take?"
"Thirty minutes. No big deal. But you'll need the caffeine and the sugar, so drink up," said Gabriel. She believed, completely and totally, that she was there to rescue him. He knew it from the way she’d approached the demon, from the way she’d thought about it. But why?
“Why do I need the caffeine and the sugar?”
“Memory reads can be very draining. Caffeine and sugar help. Sleep helps more, but we’re a bit away from letting you sleep.” Gabriel shrugged, dragged his gaze from her. “I don’t know the science behind it. Sorry.”
He turned to Justin. "She’s telling the truth about all of it. As far as she knows, at any rate.” He turned, caught her staring at his mouth. She flushed.
He lifted a brow, a smile twitching at his lips.
Thinking about kissing me, are you?
"Stop it," she hissed.
Justin looked from one to the other. "What did I miss?"
"She needs a barrier, a shield. Doesn't have one now, and tends to broadcast everything she thinks," he explained. "I'll work with her on that."
"Not everything," she protested. “And it’s not like I knew I was broadcasting my thoughts.”
"A barrier is a good idea." Laughter glinted in Justin's green eyes. “I didn’t hear anything, though. Maybe you’re just tuned to her? Or she’s just tuned in to you?”
"Okay, let's change the subject.” Rose fanned her face. “I need something clarified for me."
"Name it."
"You talked about demons and vampires. I thought those didn't exist."
Gabriel snorted. "You came back from the dead with a mission to give me my soul back, and
you
can't believe? Do you think I'm human? That Justin is? What about you? Are you human? Because I'm not so sure about that."
* * *
She stared at him. "What the
hell
? Of course I'm human." Irritated, Rose swirled the last of the mocha around, getting as much of the chocolate from the bottom as possible. Her energy had come back with every sip and now she almost felt well rested. "Jeez. Of course I’m human. You're human, too. You’ve got a soul that’s okay, currently missing, but still. You’ve got one. Somewhere." If he’d told her the truth. But he didn’t have a reason to lie, did he?
Gabriel leaned toward her, his smile chased away by darkly slanting brows. "If you’re going to hang out with us, you need to get this straight. Vampires are
real
. Like demons and the Fae and humans are real," he said. "And everything else that goes bump in the night. Truthfully? You don't smell any more human than I do."
"What? I don't smell human? Is that man-speak for saying I need a shower?” She eyed the two men.
"No. We're not sure why you carry the scent. But we're, well...” Justin exchanged a glance with Gabriel. “We're not exactly, totally, human. But we are on your side," he added.
"Justin," Gabriel warned. He crossed his arms.
"Come on guys, don't tease."
"Not teasing. And Gabriel, it's okay. Like you said, if she’s hanging around us she’ll need to know what we are sooner or later." Justin smiled as he turned back to Rose.
“What are you?” They were big men, she realized. Very big men, and didn’t Gabriel kill the thing in the stairwell? Rose swallowed.
Justin leaned forward. “You need to know that Demons and the Fae have been roaming the earth almost as long as men have, crossing over from their own planes of existence. Over time, they've crossbred with humans. Most of the cross-breeds don't live, but a handful of clans have thrived over the last few centuries."
Gabriel groaned and stalked off to the other end of the conference room.
Rose stared. "You're a cross-breed of demons, humans and fairies?" She tested the thought and found herself fascinated.
Wow. Good morning, Rosie!
"The Caine clan is - we call ourselves tribreds." He shrugged. "It seems to fit. Our gene pool has all the various Fae characteristics, as well as all the various human characteristics in it. The demon part of us tends to be more, um, specialized."
"That's why you guys look so different from each other. That's...that's absolutely fascinating." Rose looked from Gabriel to Justin, her eyes wide with interest.
Justin coughed. "That's genetics. Now. Can you give us any more details on the saving of Gabriel?" He sat on the edge of the conference table, his body loose, an interesting contrast to the tightly wound Gabriel.
"Just that it has to do specifically with him. I was in the waiting room. Well, you saw that," she added, sneaking a look at Gabriel. His face still like stone, she turned back to his brother. "Apparently I wasn’t supposed to be there. This big black woman got really irritated at me, and finally she gave me a choice. If I could save Gabriel, I’d obtain redemption and I’d get to live out my natural life span. If I don't succeed then I die anyway. But he looks disgustingly healthy. The only thing wrong with him is most of his soul is missing."
“She didn’t tell you how to save Gabriel?”
Rose shrugged. “I have to believe I’m to find his soul and return it to him. They mentioned something about that, briefly, but come on. The whole thing was pretty unbelievable. I agreed because what did I have to lose?”
Justin nodded. "Interesting." He looked to Gabriel. “Any sense as to how long she was there?”
Gabriel shook his head. “Longer than I’d originally suspected, that’s all I can tell you. If she had any family, any friends, I didn’t see them in the hospital room.”
Her hand tightened on the paper coffee cup. "No family. No friends. Not going back."
"We'll need to find a place for her to stay," Gabriel said.
"Right. We’ll get on that. How are you feeling, health-wise?”
“Exhausted and hungry. Why are you asking?”
Justin smiled. “We’re trying to fill in the gaps. Making sure you’re safe while you’re in our care. Any help you can give me would be appreciated.”
“All right. It took me three months to recover from the coma. I had weight to gain, rehab for weak muscles, that kind of thing. I don't know exactly when I was in the waiting room – apparently I was in a coma for quite awhile, or maybe a couple of different times. But once I'd had that experience with the big black woman, I got better very fast. My doctors were surprised at how fast I healed up. I guess I was anxious to find you, to keep you safe." She looked over at Gabriel and a part of her yearned.
"The block on her memory could have come from the waiting room," mused Gabriel.
"It's possible." Justin shrugged. "How old are you?"
"Twenty-three." She chewed on her bottom lip and decided they didn’t need to know she asked for that block on her memory. "My turn. Tell me about Satine.”
"Satine's a vampire. She's the one who ripped a good hunk of my soul out of me the other night," Gabriel said. "You and she could be related, only she's dark and you - you're light. I'm not exactly thrilled with the resemblance, however surface it may be."
Justin broke in. "Rose, did you ever get your drivers license?"
"No. I know how to drive but I never bothered with a license as I’ve never had a car. I was…you don't need to know what I was. I'm not that person any more, and that's all you need to know." She shuddered in revulsion.
"Drugs." Gabriel's gentle voice broke into her memories. "You're broadcasting again." He came around the table and helped her sit.
Rose gasped. She remembered the craving, the sexual rush as the drugs – any drugs - hit her system, the hallucinations and paranoia that came all too quickly after the rush. "I did a lot of different drugs. It made the empty parts of me go away. But I'm clean now. I’m not that empty person anymore." She looked up, from Gabriel to Justin, sure of her ground on this point.
"No," Justin agreed. "You’re right, you aren’t that person. You’re a bit on the thin side, but I’m a good cook, I’ll soon fatten you up." He winked at her.
She turned with hope to Gabriel, and at the disbelief in his eyes she reached out and gripped his bare forearm, focusing all her energies on him. Heat flashed down her arm and into her fingers. "I'm clean. I swear it."
"I believe you," he soothed. "You need to let go now, Rose. Let me go, or we're going to have a situation."
"What?" Startled, Rose looked at her hand gripping his arm.
Justin swore and reached for his cell phone.
Rose saw the tiny flickers of flame licking at his skin, coming off her fingers. Horrified, she pulled her hand away. The flickers died, leaving scorched fingerprints behind on his forearm. She put her hand up to her cheek, felt the heat lingering there.