Gabriel let the horse run until the animal's sides were heaving and covered with foamy lather, and then he drew back on the reins, gently but firmly, and the stallion slowed, then stopped.
"That was wonderful!" Sara exclaimed.
She turned to face him, and in the bright light of the moon, he saw that her cheeks were flushed, her lips parted, her eyes shining like the sun.
How beautiful she was! His Sara, so full of life. What cruel fate had decreed that she should be bound to a wheelchair? She was a vivacious girl, on the brink of womanhood. She should be clothed in silks and satins, surrounded by gallant young men.
Dismounting, he lifted her from the back of the horse. Carrying her across the damp grass, he sat down on a large boulder, settling her in his lap.
"Thank you, Gabriel," she murmured.
"It was my pleasure, milady."
"Hardly that," she replied with a saucy grin. "I'm sure ladies don't ride pell-mell through the dark astride a big black devil horse."
"No," he said, his gray eyes glinting with amusement, "they don't."
"Have you known many ladies?"
"A few." He stroked her cheek with his forefinger, his touch as light as thistledown.
"And were they accomplished and beautiful?"
Gabriel nodded. "But none so beautiful as you."
She basked in his words, in the silent affirmation she read in his eyes.
"Who are you, Gabriel?" she asked, her voice soft and dreamy. "Are you man or magician?"
"Neither."
"But still my angel?"
"Always,
cara
."
With a sigh, she rested her head against his shoulder and closed her eyes. How wonderful to sit here in the dark of night with his arms around her. Almost, she could forget that she was crippled. Almost.
She lost all track of time as she sat there, secure in his arms. She heard the chirp of crickets, the sighing of the wind through the trees, the pounding of Gabriel's heart beneath her cheek.
Her breath caught in her throat as she felt the touch of his hand in her hair, and then the brush of his lips.
Abruptly, he stood up. Before she quite knew what was happening, she was on the horse's back and Gabriel was swinging up behind her. He moved with the lithe grace of a cat vaulting a fence.
She sensed a change in him, a tension she didn't understand. A moment later, his arm was locked around her waist and they were riding through the night.
She leaned back against him, braced against the solid wall of his chest. She felt his arm tighten around her, felt his breath on her cheek.
Pleasure surged through her at his touch, and she placed her hand over his forearm, drawing his arm more securely around her, tacitly telling him that she enjoyed his nearness.
She thought she heard a gasp, as if he were in pain, but she shook the notion aside, telling herself it was probably just the wind crying through the trees.
Too soon, they were back at the orphanage.
"You'll come tomorrow?" she asked as he settled her in her bed, covering her as if she were a child.
"Tomorrow," he promised. "Sleep well,
cara
."
"Dream of me," she murmured.
With a nod, he turned away. Dream of her, he thought. If only he could!
"Where would you like to go tonight?" Gabriel asked the following evening.
"I don't care, so long as it's with you."
Moments later, he was carrying her along a pathway in the park across from the orphanage.
Sara marveled that he held her so effortlessly, that it felt so right to be carried in his arms. She rested her head on his shoulder, content. A faint breeze played hide-and-seek with the leaves of the trees. A lovers' moon hung low in the sky. The air was fragrant with night-blooming flowers, but it was Gabriel's scent that rose all around her—warm and musky, reminiscent of aged wine and expensive cologne.
He moved lightly along the pathway, his footsteps making hardly a sound. When they came to a stone bench near a quiet pool, he sat down, placing her on the bench beside him.
It was a lovely place, a fairy place. Elegant ferns, tall and lacy, grew in wild profusion near the pool. In the distance, she heard the questioning hoot of an owl.
"What did you do all day?" she asked, turning to look at him.
Gabriel shrugged. "Nothing to speak of. And you?"
"I read to the children. Sister Mary Josepha has been giving me more and more responsibility."
"And does that make you happy?"
"Yes. I've grown very fond of my little charges. They so need to be loved. To be touched. I had never realized how important it was, to be held, until…" A faint flush stained her cheeks. "Until you held me. There's such comfort in the touch of a human hand."
Gabriel grunted softly. Human, indeed, he thought bleakly.
Sara smiled. "They seem to like me, the children. I don't know why."
But he knew why. She had so much love to give, and no outlet for it.
"I hate to think of all the time I wasted wallowing in self-pity," Sara remarked. "I spent so much time sitting in my room, sulking because I couldn't walk, when I could have been helping the children, loving them." She glanced up at Gabriel. "They're so easy to love."
"So are you." He had not meant to speak the words aloud, but they slipped out. "I mean, it must be easy for the children to love you. You have so much to give."
She smiled, but it was a sad kind of smile. "Perhaps that's because no one else wants it."
"Sara…"
"It's all right. Maybe that's why I was put here, to comfort the little lost lambs that no one else wants."
I want you
. The words thundered in his mind, in his heart, in his soul.
Abruptly, he stood up and moved away from the bench. He couldn't sit beside her, feel her warmth, hear the blood humming in her veins, sense the sadness dragging at her heart, and not touch her, take her.
He stared into the depths of the dark pool, the reflection of the water as black as the emptiness of his soul. He'd been alone for so long, yearning for someone who would share his life, needing someone to see him for what he was and love him anyway.
A low groan rose in his throat as the centuries of loneliness wrapped around him.
"Gabriel?"
Her voice called out to him, soft, warm, caring.
With a cry, he whirled around and knelt at her feet. Hesitantly, he took her hands in his.
"Sara, can you pretend I'm one of the children? Can you hold me, and comfort me, just for tonight?"
"I don't understand."
"Don't ask questions,
cara
. Please, just hold me, touch me."
She gazed down at him, into the fathomless depths of his dark gray eyes, and the loneliness she saw there pierced her heart. Tears stung her eyes as she reached for him.
He buried his face in her lap, ashamed of the need that he could no longer deny. And then he felt her hand stroke his hair, light as a summer breeze. Ah, the touch of a human hand, warm, fragile, pulsing with life.
Time ceased to have meaning as he knelt there, his head cradled in her lap, her hand moving in his hair, caressing his nape, feathering across his cheek. No wonder the children loved her. There was tranquility in her touch, serenity in her hand. A sense of peace settled over him, stilling his hunger. He felt the tension drain out of him, to be replaced with a near-forgotten sense of calm. It was a feeling as close to forgiveness as he would ever know.
After a time, he lifted his head. Slightly embarrassed, he
gazed
up at her, but there was no censure in her eyes, no disdain, only a wealth of understanding.
"Why are you so alone, my angel?" she asked quietly.
"I have always been alone," he replied, and even now, when he was nearer to peace of spirit than he had been for centuries, he was aware of the vast gulf that separated him, not only from Sara, but from all of humanity, as well.
Gently, she cupped his cheek with her hand. "Is there no one to love you, then?"
"No one."
"I would love you, Gabriel."
"No!"
Stricken by the force of his denial, she let her hand fall into her lap. "Is the thought of my love so revolting?"
"No, don't ever think that." He sat back on his heels, wishing he could sit at her feet forever, that he could spend the rest of his existence worshiping her beauty, the generosity of her spirit. "I'm not worthy of you,
cara
. I would not have you waste your love on me."
"Why, Gabriel? What have you done that you feel unworthy of love?"
Filled with the guilt of a thousand lifetimes, he closed his eyes, and his mind filled with an image of blood. Rivers of blood. Oceans of death. Centuries of killing, of bloodletting. Damned. The Dark Gift had given him eternal life. And eternal damnation.
Thinking to frighten her away, he let her look deep into his eyes, knowing that what she saw within his soul would speak more eloquently than words.
He clenched his hands, waiting for the compassion in her eyes to turn to revulsion. But it didn't happen.
She gazed down at his upturned face for an endless moment, and then he felt the touch of her hand in his hair.
"My poor angel," she whispered. "Can't you tell me what it is that haunts you so?"
He shook his head, unable to speak past the lump in his throat.
"Gabriel." His name, nothing more, and then she leaned forward and kissed him.
It was no more than a feathering of her lips across his, but it exploded through him like concentrated sunlight. Hotter than a midsummer day, brighter than lightning, it burned through him, and for a moment he felt whole again. Clean again.
Humbled to the core of his being, he bowed his head so she couldn't see his tears.
"I will love you, Gabriel," she said, still stroking his hair. "I can't help myself."
"Sara…"
"You don't have to love me back," she said quickly. "I just wanted you to know that you're not alone anymore."
A long, shuddering sigh coursed through him, and then he took her hands in his, holding them tightly, feeling the heat of her blood, the pulse of her heart. Gently, he kissed her fingertips, and then, gaining his feet, he swung her into his arms.
"It's late," he said, his voice thick with the tide of emotions roiling within him. "We should go before you catch a chill."
"You're not angry?"
"No,
cara
."
How could he be angry with her? She was light and life, hope and innocence, long walks on bright summer days. He was tempted to fall to his knees and beg her forgiveness for his whole miserable existence.
But he couldn't do that, couldn't burden her with the knowledge of what he was. Couldn't tarnish her love with the truth.
It was near dawn when they reached the orphanage. Once he had her settled in bed, he knelt beside her. "Thank you, Sara."
She turned on her side, a slight smile lifting the corners of her mouth as she took his hand in hers. "For what?"
"For your sweetness. For your words of love. I'll treasure them always."
"Gabriel." The smile faded from her lips. "You're not trying to tell me good-bye, are you?"
He stared down at their joined hands; hers small and pale and fragile, pulsing with the energy of life, his large and cold, indelibly stained with blood and death.
If he had a shred of honor left, he would tell her good-bye and never see her again.
But then, even when he had been a mortal man, he'd always had trouble doing the honorable thing when it conflicted with something he wanted. And he wanted—no, needed—Sara. Needed her as he'd never needed anything else in his accursed life. And perhaps, in a way, she needed him. And even if it wasn't so, it eased his conscience to think it true.
"Gabriel?"
"No,
cara
, I'm not planning to tell you good-bye. Not now. Not ever."
The sweet relief in her eyes stabbed him to the heart. And he, cold, selfish monster that he was, was glad of it. Right or wrong, he couldn't let her go.
"Till tomorrow, then?" she said, smiling once more.
"Till tomorrow,
cara mia
," he murmured. And for all the tomorrows of your life.
Images flashed through his mind—scattered images of writhing flames, of frightened children crying, of women weeping hysterically.
Pain seared through him. Excruciating, nauseating pain.
He fought through the layers of oblivion, his gaze opening on darkness. He knew immediately that it was still daylight and for a moment he lay there, confused. Never before had anything save the threat of imminent danger disturbed the heavy lethargy that weighed him down during the light of day.
Sara!
He knew in that moment that her life was in danger, that the pain that had seared through him had been her pain. His hands clenched at his sides as he tried to rise. It was like trying to fight his way out of quicksand, and he fell back, breathing heavily, fear making his heart beat fast.
Sara!
His mind screamed her name, echoing and reechoing like rolling thunder.
Sara!
She was hurt, perhaps dying, and until sundown there was nothing he could do.
Never before had he felt so helpless, so cursed. From the depths of his heart, he cried out, beseeching a kindly heaven to help her, to spare her life.
"Please. Please. Please."
Just that single word, repeated over and over again, as he was dragged down into the darkness.
When he woke, he could still feel her pain, her anguish, and he knew she was still clinging to life.
I'm coming, Sara
. He sent his thoughts across the miles, from his heart to hers.
Hang on
, cara.
I'm coming
.
"He's coming…" Struggling through a morass of pain, Sara repeated the words again and again.
"Lie still, child," Sister Mary Josepha said. "You must lie still."
"But he's… coming. I've… I've got to… be ready."
Sister Mary Josepha glanced up at Sister Mary Ynez. "Who's coming? Who can she talking about?"
Sister Mary Ynez shook her head. "Maybe she's thinking of her father. Will you stay with her while I look in on the others? I fear Elizabeth will not survive the night."