Authors: Stephanie Jackson
Dani had no idea what they were talking about. She looked at both of them, but neither one of them seemed to be on the verge of providing her with anymore information.
“What’s going on?” Donna said weakly, raising her head from Michael’s chest.
“Go back to sleep,” Michael said casually, and ran the fingers of one hand down Donna’s face.
Donna’s head fell back, and just like that, she was unconscious again.
“How did you…wait a second,” Dani said, realization dawning on
her, and she turned to Gabriel.
“You did that to me the first night you were here, didn’t you?”
“You’d had a very stressful day, and you needed the rest,” Gabriel said.
“So you knocked me the fuck out?!
” Dani yelled.
“
Are you insane?!”
“And…that’s
my cue to leave,” Michael said.
“I’m just going to leave this here,” he added, and dumped Donna back on the couch, and then vanished on the spot.
2.
Donna woke up again about an hour after Michael had left. True to his word, Donna didn’t remember a thing.
“I can’t believe I drank enough to pass out?” Donna said, “I don’t even remember how we left the bar.”
“We took a cab,” Dani said.
“You’ll have to drive me back to my car,” Donna said.
“She can’t,” Gabriel said from the kitchen doorway.
“Someone
cut all of he
r tires last night. I called
a c
ab to take you back to your car.
”
“Someone cut my tires!
?
” Dani said, and ran out
the back door to her driveway.
Donna followed her out. Gabriel stood at the back door and watched them.
“Who would do this?” Donna asked, looking at the four flat tires.
“I have no idea,” Dani said, but she glared across the yard at Gabriel like she
thought he’
d done it.
She wasn’t wrong. He had driven his sword through each one of her tires while Michael had
stood and
watched.
Dani’s only mode of travel from here on out would be by foot or by air.
“Do you have the money for new tires?” Donna asked.
“I can probably scrape enough together for a good used set,” Dani said.
“I can help you when I get paid...
if you need it,” Donna offered.
“That’s alright, I’ll find some way to take care of it,” Dani said just as a horn honked out front.
“My carriage has arrived,” Donna said, and they headed back to the house.
Donna grabbed her purse from the floor in front of the couch and hugged Dani.
“I had fun last night,” Donna said.
“Me, too,” Dani said.
Donna walked to the front door and opened it before turning back around.
“Don’t think we’re not gonna talk about this ‘
cousin
’ bullshit the two of you flung at me last night,” Donna said, wavi
ng her hand at Dani and Gabriel.
“You’ve never lied to me about anything before so, for now, I’m gonna assu
me you had a good reason to lie
to me last night.”
Then
Donna blew Dani a kiss and stepped out of the house.
“Damn it,” Dani mumbled.
“I’ll be right back,” Gabriel said, and ran out the front door.
He jogged down the steps just as Donna was getting in the cab. He handed the cab driver some money before speaking to Donna.
“I need you not to upset Dani right now,” Gabriel said.
“I wouldn’t do that,” Donna said.
“
Not after she just lost her mom. But at least
have the decency
to
look me in the eye
s and tell me you’re
not
cousins.
”
“We’re not cousins; or related in any way,” Gabriel admitted.
“You could have told me that before I made an idiot of myself last night b
y hitting on you,” Donna chided.
“It wasn’t cool to let me flirt with my best friend’s boyfriend.”
“It’s not like that,” Gabriel said.
“Maybe
not yet, but you want it to be,” Donna said.
“And so does Dani.
I’ve never seen her look at a man like she looks at you,
so you
better
take care of her.
”
“Until my dying breath,” Gabriel promised.
Donna stared at him for a few seconds before nodding.
“I believe you. There’s something about you; I can’t quite put my finger on it, but you’re…different somehow,” Donna said.
Donna got in the cab and closed the door. She waved as the cab pulled away. Gabriel watched until the cab was out of sight, and then ran back up to the house.
3.
“Why did you stab my tires?” Dani asked when he stepped back into the house.
“Why do you assume
I
did it?”
“Those stab holes are huge. If they didn’t come from your sword, I’ll eat my own tongue,” Dani said. “And I can
prove
you did
it.”
Dani stomped into the kitchen where Gabriel’s sword was leaning in the corner. She grabbed the handle to carry the sword outside and meas
ure it against the stab marks, but t
he sword didn’t move at all. She tugged and pulled, but nothing happened. She looked at Gabriel and saw that he was smiling.
“Really?” Dani snapped. “You’re not gonna let me pick it up?” Dani snapped.
Gabriel held his hands up, “I’m not doing anything, I promise.”
She grabbed the sword again, and used all of her body weight to try to yank it from the corner, but it wouldn’t budge. She stopped when she heard Gabriel laugh and spun to face him.
“If you’re not doing anything, then
why can’t I pick the damn thing
up!” she yelled.
“That sword was forged of purest of silver by God Himself. Sliver plunged into the heart
of a demon will strike it dead,” Gabriel explained.
“
Only an
Archangel
can lift that sword.
”
“Why didn’t you tell me that before I tried to touch it?” she snapped.
“You didn’t ask m
e,” Gabriel said, still smiling.
“But if it makes you feel any better, you
are
the first human that has ever laid their hands on the sword of an
Archangel
.”
“It doesn’t,” Dani said,
and then walked back to the living room
and flopped down on the couch.
He watched her for a few seconds before going to sit beside her.
“I
did
destroy your tires,” he admitted.
“Why would you do that?” Dani asked.
“Because traveling by way of
any
vehicle is too dangerous right now,” he said.
“I’ve been driving for years, and I’ve never had an accident,” Dani said, offended.
Gabriel nodded,
“I’ll give you that, but have you ever had a Cambion step out in the path of your moving car; or have a demon crush it while you’re driving?”
“They would do that?” Dani asked.
“They will do
whatever
they need to do to get you in their grasp,” Gabriel said.
“You could have just told me that,” she said.
“I can’t leave anything to chance. You’re too important,” he said, “When t
his is over I’ll fix your tires.
”
“I can pay for my own tires,
” she said.
“I didn’t say I wo
uld buy new ones,” Gabriel said.
“
I said I would
fix
the damage I caused.
”
“You can’t fix it.
The
slashes are too big to plug,” she said.
“I fixed the window,” he said.
“
I can fix the tires,
too.
”
Dani looked at the window. With everything that had happened that first night, she’d forgotten the window had been broken. The window pane was back in place and undamaged.
“How did you do that?” she asked.
“Like this,” he said, and waved his hand at the post he’d ripped from the stair railing. The post rose through the air and kn
itted itself back to the railing
.
“So it’s
not just humans you can repair?
” Dani said.
“No, I can repair anything,” he said, laced his hands behind his head, and laid back on the couch. “I’m just that good.”
“I’d say you’re arrogant, but you’re really not, are you?” she asked. “You can pretty much do wherever you w
ant, right
?”
“Pretty much,” he said.
Dani yawned.
“You’re tired,” he said.
“I didn’t sleep
very
well last night,” she said.
“Come here,” he said, and before he’d realized what he was doing, he’d opened his arms to her.
Dani was shocked, but didn’t hesitate to crawl into his arms and lay her head on his chest.
“You can rest.
I’ll be right here with you,” he said.
“Just don’t knock me out, okay?” she asked.
“I won’t, I promise,” he said.
4.
There was no
need
to knock Dani out. Wit
hin just a few minutes of her l
ying down, she was asleep. Gabriel laid with her in his arms, thinking about Michael’s last words to him. Dani hadn’t known what
he’d been talking about, but Gabriel had. He’d been telling Gabriel to make a decision about Dani.
Telling him to either decide to be with Dani or to emotional
ly
step away from her and just do his job. It should have been an easy dec
ision; all he’d wanted to do fo
r
the past four million years was go home. It
should
have been an easy decision, but being around Dani had changed everything. He
shouldn’t
be attracted to her, but he was.
Having her breasts pressed against his side as she slept was driving him crazy. His body was responding to her in a way that it had never responded to a woman;
any
woman. The smell of her sleep warm skin was driving him to distraction. All he could think of was what his human body wanted to do with her.
He didn’t even know how she felt about him. He couldn’t just expect her to feel the same about him as he did for her. The only thing he did know
was
that he couldn’t make this decision with her laying against him.
“Take a walk,” he heard Michael say quietly from behind the couch.
“I can’t,” Gabriel whispered, craning
his head to look at his brother.
“I’ll wake her up if I move.”
“You can keep her from waking up,” Michael said.
“I promised her that I wouldn’t do that to her,” he said.
“I didn’t,” Michael said, and
placed his hand on Dani’s head.
“Now take a walk and clear your mind.”
“I can’t just leave her alone,” Gabriel said, sliding out from underneath Dani.
“She won’t be. I’ll stay with her,” Michael said.
“You could get in trouble,” Gabriel warned.
“It won’t b
e the first time,” Michael said.
“
Look;
you haven’t really been away from Dani since you fell to Earth. Take thirty minutes; walk, and think, and see how you feel when you get back. I’ll sit with her while you’re gone.”
“You really think thirty minutes is long enough to make the decision you’re asking me to make?”
“If it’s the decision that’s right for you, then it shouldn’t even ta
ke you that long,” Michael said.
“Now go.”
Gabriel nodded and walked out of the house.
1.
Dani woke up when the couch she was laying on flipped over backwards and spilled her onto the floor. She realized that all
hell
was
brea
king loose in her living room; t
he smell of sulfur and decay had filled the house again. She thought Gabriel was fighting with someone, but when she looked closer she saw that who she was
actually
seeing was Michael; and he was fighting with a demon that had big black wings. This demon was nothing like Vetis; this one was not going calmly to his death.