I was ready to return to my conversation with Gabriel.
FOUR
AS I PACED OUT ONTO THE LANDING, I could hear Gabriel and Jonah talking in the kitchen doorway. Their raised voices suggested they were arguing and so I loitered before I walked any farther forward.
“… such power, I’ve never experienced anything like it. I knocked them down as if they were nothing.”
“You’d been starved? Did they do anything to you that could have had that kind of effect?” I heard Gabriel ask quickly.
“Nope. I was completely weak and then she found me.”
“You drank from her. You shouldn’t have done that.” Gabriel’s tone was sharp.
“She didn’t exactly give me a choice! And if I hadn’t, we wouldn’t be here now.”
There was a pause, and I moved back toward the bedroom door.
“And while we’re on the subject, are you going to tell me how it is you know her? What is she? She’s not human, I know that.”
“She is,” Gabriel snapped back, though not terribly convincingly.
“I tasted her. She’s something else. Who is she?” Jonah’s voice lowered.
I couldn’t hear the response; I started wondering if I’d been discovered, so I skipped down the winding staircase. As I reached the bottom, Gabriel’s attention immediately switched from Jonah and focused on me for a few moments before that sumptuous smile spread across his face. Jonah spun around and nodded earnestly in my direction.
It was an intriguing sight to behold; the two of them side by side, such a contrast. Angel and Vampire—by definition, polar opposites. Impossible even.
Before I had a chance to speak, a male Vampire came charging through the hallway, slamming the front door so hard the floorboards under my feet shook. “We have to leave, they’re coming!” His words tumbled out, barely coherent.
“What? Why would they track us? They fled when I fought them and they’ll know there are more of us here,” Jonah replied arrogantly. This was the Jonah I had first met.
“I sense Eligio,” the other said. “He’s coming with the clan.”
“What’s left of them,” Jonah scoffed.
“There’s more, it’s not just Eligio. Another Pureblood and his clan travel with him, I can feel it.”
That seemed to quiet Jonah.
“Two Purebloods? Two clans? That’s an awful lot of effort to put Jonah in his place.” Gabriel was thinking aloud.
Almost at the same second, all three of them glanced up at me.
“The girl?” the Vampire said, looking to Gabriel.
Gabriel contemplated this for a few moments.
“Erm, the girl has a name—Francesca. And who might you be?” I asked, a little annoyed.
He inspected me quizzically. “Michael. I’m sorry; I don’t mean to be rude. The situation’s quite serious and we don’t have much time,” he replied through gritted teeth.
“Francesca? But why? As far as they’re concerned she just happened to be there. A human girl shot down seemingly by Eligio’s own, assumed dead.” Gabriel had a confused and somewhat worried look spreading across his face.
“Maybe they do want me. I ended a hell of a lot of them,” Jonah offered, almost hopeful.
Michael’s face screwed up and I sensed he was holding something back. I guessed their relationships were a little strained.
“I wonder how many of them I actually took out in the end.…”
“Enough,” Michael snapped, baring his fangs.
“Hey, you’re one of us now, you don’t belong to your Pureblood anymore. You wanted out and we helped you,” Jonah argued.
“I wanted Thomas to have his freedom more than I wanted my own. I’ve only been separated from them for a short time and I felt every single one of my clan’s demise when you decided that they didn’t deserve their existence anymore. Do you know how difficult that is?” Michael replied coldly.
“They aren’t your clan anymore, that’s the point. They have no desire to change. They’re beyond saving. You said you wanted your humanity back, that’s why you’re here and they still belong to their Purebloods. Well, now some of them belong to the dirt.…”
That was too much for Michael, who launched himself in Jonah’s direction. To my surprise Gabriel began to glow as he stepped in between them and both Vampires halted.
“Stop, right now. Michael, I will try to help Thomas, in whatever way I can, but right now we have to leave,” Gabriel said. “How long until they reach us?”
“Minutes, not hours. But we need to go back for Thomas—he’s my brother. I’m the reason he was turned; he was trying to save me. Now I must save him,” Michael replied, stepping back from Gabriel. “If they are coming here, Thomas has surely been left behind, bound and chained. Now is the time to go back for him.”
“We need to get Francesca away from here. I’m sorry. We will have to find another way, but trust me, I will help him.” Gabriel’s word was final.
Michael glanced at me with narrowed eyes, concluding that I was the reason Thomas wasn’t with us now.
“Okay, gather the others, take them home. We’ll follow behind.” Gabriel hadn’t even finished his sentence and the Vampire was gone. “Jonah, get Francesca to the car.”
Jonah grabbed my hand and as we touched I felt a tiny spark pass between his palm and my own. I released him automatically and he gaped back at me. He’d felt it too. “Come on!” he yelled.
Shaking the moment off, we pelted through the front door and into the Range Rover. Jonah jumped into the driver’s seat, ready to speed off.
“What about the others? There’s only one car?” I quizzed frantically.
“They’ve gone on foot.”
“But surely—?”
“We’re faster on foot. We’re only in the car because you wouldn’t be able to keep up.” Jonah winked at me.
I felt a blush sweep over my cheeks. In the cold light of day, he was just as attractive.
“Where’s Gabriel?” I asked. “What’s he doing?”
The thought of an army of Vampires tearing toward the house was terrifying and I wished that Gabriel would hurry.
“Tying up loose ends,” Jonah answered.
“What loose—?”