Keepers: A Timeless Novella (5 page)

“
Help me out,” I pleaded.
“You’ve left me alone to deal with this situation, and now we’re
dealing with the consequences.”

I swore I heard Tom growl.
I actually pulled the phone from my ear to stare at it to make sure
it hadn’t turned into a tiny lion. “You should have been more
careful,” he accused.

I gripped the phone more
firmly. “No one has used the front door since we came back from
Avella. Lucia’s been our own personal subway system, using her
portals.” I was wearing a hole in my floors with all the pacing.
Any second smoke would rise from my feet. “We were
discrete.”

The only person left in the
living room was Andrew, and he watched me as I turned for another
round of chasing my tail.

“
I’m not talking about
that,” the Director shouted. I pulled the phone away from my ear.
“I’m talking about that angel with all the silver markings using
magic while the media films. You’re asking for trouble.”

I gritted my teeth. “Asking
for trouble?” I snapped. “What are the police doing? The FBI? What
about protecting us?”

He scoffed. “It seems you
don’t need any help from us—just send your pet angel out to take
care of the problem.”

While Tom was all cozied up
in his FBI penthouse office, I was stuck at ground zero. For the
first time ever, I wanted to clock Tom. I wanted to punch him right
in his stupid nose.

“
She’s a Fallen Angel, and
I asked her to help keep people away after some asshole threw a
brick through my window and almost hit Jules!” I was furious now,
though I realized I’d just cussed at my boss. “Excuse my French,” I
amended.

Andrew’s eyebrows furrowed
at my words, and for the tiniest of seconds, I almost grinned at
his confusion over the idiom.

“
You’re about to cross a
line, Agent,” the Director warned. That wiped away any
humor.

I was about to retort with
something very ungentlemanly when Andrew blew past me, taking the
phone with him. He had moved so fast I was left staring at my empty
hand for a few seconds, baffled. I glanced up just in time to see
Andrew vanish out the back door. I followed him, a flurry of
protests escaping me like tiny missiles. Gabriella came from
nowhere and blocked my path. I nearly tripped over her as I skidded
to a halt.

Before I could speak, she
held up a hand. “Let it go.”

My angry gaze landed on
her. Gabby was a beautiful woman, but that didn’t stop her from
finding a way to get under my skin and infuriate me. Secretly, it
was one of the things I liked about her, but not today and not
right now.

“
Let it go?” I
barked.

Gabby wasn’t even fazed by
my nasty tone-of-voice. “Let Andrew deal with it. You’ve got a
fiancée and a little girl who are scared to stay here locked in
your bedroom.”

I opened my mouth, ready to
retort, but her words had pulled me up short. That was another
thing I liked about Gabby: she always got straight to the point and
had this easy way of throwing everything into perspective when all
one saw was the endless dark. Gabby was always seeing the light at
the end of the tunnel, and all those other cliché ways of saying
she was a glass half full type of woman.

I lowered my head and went
back inside like I was a scolded puppy—I sure felt like one. At
least my backyard was free of the media, but who knew when they’d
get over their aversion to climbing fences.

When would this all be
over?

CHAPTER 6: THE LAST
STRAW

Firen leaned against my
bedroom door, dejection pulling her lips down into a severe frown.
Firen wasn’t one for conversation or showing any type of strong
emotion, so I knew she was honestly upset.

“
Hey. You okay?” I asked,
worried.

Her grey eyes widened at my
approach, and she appeared panicked. She bit her lip, hesitant to
speak. I’d never seen her act anything less than a warrior, even
with Jenna and Jules. This completely threw me off guard, and I
wasn’t sure how to go about getting her to talk or if I even wanted
her to.

“
What is it?” I probed,
hoping I wasn’t crossing some invisible line.

Firen sucked in a breath,
and then words exploded out of her. “She’s upset with me and thinks
all of this is my fault,” she cried. “Jenna’s probably told Jules
that I caused this. They’ll never want to see me again. I was just
trying to protect them, I swear.”

Surprised by the outburst,
I responded without thought. “Of course it’s not your fault,” I
soothed, not sure if I should hug her. I settled on awkwardly
patting her shoulder.

She sniffled, and I stared
at her in horror, hoping to God she wouldn’t cry. “It’s not?” she
asked, voice desperate for reassurance.

“
That brick had nothing to
do with you,” I promised, still patting her like one would to a
stinky dog they didn’t want to get too close to. Though, Firen
didn’t stink. It was just that this whole situation was all rather
. . . bizarre.

“
I didn’t throw the brick,”
she agreed, “but my presence here has caused this.” She locked eyes
with mine, pleading. “Outside, with the humans, I was just trying
to protect them.” She uselessly waved her hand at the closed door.
“I’ve only caused more problems. Send me away! Fetch Lucia so she
can toss me back into the Abyss.”

“
What?” The word escaped me
before I could hold it back. I had to mentally remind myself to
keep my jaw shut. I’d never seen Firen do, say, or act emotional.
Never. Though I could tell by her swift commands and actions that
she deeply cared for Jenna and Jules, there were never any tears or
hugging or talking about emotions, or any of that other girly
stuff.

“
I’m only hurting them by
staying,” Firen said carefully, as if I were slow.

Trying to get over seeing
Firen like this, I finally pulled myself together. “Don’t be
ridiculous. You aren’t leaving. If you did, you’d break Jules’s
heart,” I argued. “And Jenna’s.” Comforting and pacifying Firen
actually helped to calm me down after my heated conversation with
Tom.

Firen inhaled a steadying
breath and collected herself. Instantly the mask she hid behind was
back. She nodded once and pushed off the bedroom door, strolling
past me as if our conversation had never happened. If she wanted to
act like it didn’t, I was perfectly fine with that.

I lightly tapped on the
bedroom door. “Jenna, sweetie? Everything okay?”

No response. Great, I was
receiving the silent treatment.

“
Jules?”

I heard Jenna huff on the
other side of the door. “We’re fine. I just need space for a few,
please?”

Happy she wasn’t cussing me
out, I acquiesced. “Of course.”

The doorbell rang, and I
sighed. I gave one last longing look at the bedroom door and walked
away. The doorbell rang again. Andrew stood in the foyer, staring
at the closed front door with eyebrows furrowed. For a second I
joined him. Through all the chaos, the doorbell hadn’t rung once.
Not a single time. Andrew and I exchanged a curious glance as the
doorbell rang again.

Gabby poked her head in
from the kitchen. “Hey, you gunna answer that any time
soon?”

We turned to her, as if
expecting her to explain the strange noise that was my doorbell . .
. ringing again.

“
Dude,” Gabby said, rolling
her eyes. “Answer the door already.”

I shrugged and looked
through the peephole. I grinned widely when I saw who was on the
other side. “Sure, Gabby, I’ll answer the door.” It came out
sarcastically.

I unlocked the deadbolt and
flung the door open, stepping back for Gabby to see exactly who it
was. “Hello, Sara,” I greeted.

A bubble of laughter
escaped Gabby before she could contain it. “Yes, hello
ex-girlfriend Sara. And might I add: law-breaker? Who let you out
of your cage? Don’t you know Joseph has a restraining order against
you?”

My ex-girlfriend, Sara, was
unfazed by Gabby’s questions. Ignoring my protests, she pushed her
way into my home. I stared at Gabby, pleading for help with my
eyes. She exchanged a knowing look with Andrew, who then grinned,
nodded, and disappeared down the hallway. Who knew what they were
up to—those two were trouble.

“
Come on in,” I said under
my breath, my tone sardonic. “Explore. Get comfy. Understand that
what I just said was sarcasm, and what I really meant was: it
wouldn’t ruin my day one bit if you managed to beat yourself
unconscious while here. Try the lamp.”

“
Quit pretending you’re
ignorant,” Sara said to me, voice playful.

“
Ignorant?” My eyebrows
rose to hairline. “Ah, so that’s the word. I actually consider
myself to be an oblivious bad ass.”

Gabby waved a hand in front
of her face, giggling. “Can someone please diffuse the sexual
tension in here? It stinks.”

I glared at Gabby, but she
only smiled wickedly.

“
I’m sorry, Sara, but you
have to leave. My house isn’t zoned for the deranged,” I said,
hoping she’d get the point.

Sara twirled around. “This
act is starting to hurt my feelings.”

“
Uh, what act?”

“
The one where you act like
you aren’t my boyfriend,” she purred, putting her paws all over
me.

“
I’m not your boyfriend!” I
snapped, trying to gently move her hands away from my
body.

“
How can you say that?”
Sara asked in horror.

“
It’s shockingly
effortless,” I replied. “My vocal chords vibrate, and my mouth and
tongue articulate. I can even do it without thinking.” I had to
remind myself to stay calm, and sarcasm was the best way to do
that.

“
When are you going to give
me a key to your house so I don’t have to knock like some
guest
?” Sara asked,
coming at me again.

I backed away. “How about
never? Is never good for you?”

Sara, undeterred, said,
“You’re the reason I go to therapy on Fridays.”

“
The plot thickens!” Gabby
exclaimed for comedic relief.

Sara stepped closer to me
again and grabbed my fun parts. I froze. I wasn’t sure what to do.
Sure, outside the FBI building when Sara attacked Gabby, I had used
force to subdue her, but now she wasn’t hurting anyone except my
pride. In an attempt to get away without touching her, I backed
away. Thinking it was an invitation, Sara pursued me with a
demented glint in her eyes. Realizing I’d backed myself into a
corner, or rather, the sofa, I glanced at Gabby in panic. Sara
seized my jaw and forced me to look at her, and then she pushed me
onto the couch. Gabby stood by, watching in amusement. I was so
going to get her back for this. Seriously, couldn’t she at least go
all lightning eyes like she had at the FBI building? Instead, she
kept a running commentary of sarcastic remarks. Oh yeah, payback
would be necessary.

Sara licked her lips, and I
groaned. Again, Sara misread my actions and thought I was
encouraging her to join me on the couch. Or as she saw it: straddle
me like I was a freakin’ rodeo bull. I wanted to grab the lamp next
to me, slam it into my skull a few times, and hope I would forget
about this horrible experience. Sara had gone too far this time,
and I was about to push her off when Jenna came in. Shit. This was
like a bad comedy movie in the making. I immediately rose to my
feet, my face heating. Sara tumbled to the ground in a heap, and I
stepped away from her as if she were a poisonous snake.

“
It’s not what it looks
like,” I rasped, realizing how stupid that sounded.

Jenna’s lips were pursed so
tightly that they turned white, and her eyes turned into
viridescent stone. I gulped. Jenna was the opposite of Firen; every
emotion was powerfully displayed on her face and evident in her
posture. “It’s not, huh?”

“
It’s complicated,” I said
in defense, my hands going up to show surrender.

“
Talk slowly,” Jenna
retorted derisively.

“
Okay, I deserved that,” I
admitted.

Sara rose to her feet,
unperturbed at being thrown to the ground. Her crazy eyes tracked
me as if she were a lioness stalking prey. She had become so
invested in me that she was completely unaware of Jenna watching
her every move. Except Jenna wasn’t a lioness, she was more like a
Venus Flytrap, waiting patiently for her prey to land in exactly
the right spot before striking. What does one do when they’re
trapped by something like that? It was worse than a rock and a hard
place. I considered the lamp again.

Sara tried to wrap an arm
around my shoulder, and I ducked, backing away again. Gabby was
outwardly chuckling now, enjoying this far more than one
should.
Hah-hah. So
funny
, I mentally mocked.

“
Sara, stop,” I snapped
when she came at me again. Jeez, couldn’t this woman get a clue
already?

Sara finally stopped
advancing on me and smiled. She held her hand out to Jenna. “Hi.
I’m Sara, Joseph’s girlfriend. And who are you?”