I closed my eyes and tried to picture it, and strangely the image came to me so clearly that I didn’t have to struggle to imagine it. I was staring out into the landscape that Gabriel had just described. It was as if there were no sky and no ground at all. It was as if I was always meant to have seen it.
Later, I would come to realize the full enormity of the life I had been robbed of. But for now, I shook the wonder off and considered the cost. “You say the Arch Angels deem the deaths of humans to be a worthwhile sacrifice in order to keep Styclar-Plena, and its inhabitants, in existence. But they are not sacrificing anything of their own. So it is not their sacrifice to make, is it?”
FOURTEEN
GABRIEL HAD OFFERED NO REPLY to the question I had asked of his kind. He suddenly seemed nervous, and somewhat distracted. Twice he started a sentence that he didn’t finish.
Pacing in a circle, thinking, Gabriel eventually tried to convince me to return to the main house. I promptly and stubbornly refused; I wasn’t ready to face any of them. So instead Gabriel fetched some water and breakfast for me, returning with the chess set in hand.
“I’m not really in the mood.…”
He looked almost hurt. “There’s time to start a game, while you eat.”
He began setting up the board and pieces in between us. I munched on the fruit, surprising myself at how hungry I had become. Despite trying to keep my manners in check, I wolfed down the chunks of red apple and licked my fingers. Gabriel gestured toward the board, nodding at me to begin.
I set the fruit down and wiped my sticky fingers against my red-smeared jeans, crossing my legs, not entirely fulfilled by his offering. Shifting uncomfortably on the uneven concrete I reached over and carefully lifted the heavy board, twisting it around so the pieces were changed.
Gabriel raised his eyebrows.
“Today I get to be the red family,” I said.
It was a statement of intent. Today, I would be firm and get answers to my questions. Today, he would tell me everything.
Moving a pawn forward two squares, I was careful not to scratch the aging pine.
I was ready to begin with my inquiries, but he beat me to the punch.
“Lailah, I have to leave.”
His words ripped through me. The brave and bold person I was planning to become withered right there and then. “Wh—what?” I stuttered.
“The message Thomas left last night—the situation is worse than I’d thought. The Pureblood Masters have convened and an edict for your capture has been issued. All the Purebloods and their clans have been called, they are combining all their armies to seek you out.”
His brilliant blue irises opened and expanded into the shrinking white sclera that surrounded them. His expression was held deliberately and perfectly still. I let the information sink in.
“All of them?” I stifled in disbelief.
“All of them.”
I rubbed my cheeks pensively. “Did his message say anything else? Did he say why?”
“No, but he warned that his own clan, his Gualtiero—Eligio—is hunting us while the rest come together. He wants to be the one to find you. He wants the glory.”
“So when you say you need to leave, you mean we need to leave?”
“We all must leave, but on different journeys,” he said. “You will go with Ruadhan. He will hide and protect you.”
“Where are you going? Where are the others going?”
He fingered a pawn and took his gaze away from my own, moving the piece one square. “I need to find Malachi. He is a very wise fallen Angel. I don’t know why the Purebloods want you, but I do know this: they are not the only ones.” He cast his eyes back to me, pursing his lips as he finished his sentence.
“What do you mean?”
Was this what he had been keeping from me?
“The Arch Angels want you too. It seems the highest beings from both dimensions are looking for you. We know you are some form of immortal, but I have no idea why they all have such a heightened interest in your existence. We need to know; perhaps then we will understand.”
My stomach tied into a nervous knot.
“Go to the Arch Angels,” I implored. “Go to your people, surely they will help!”
He turned his face away. “They want you dead, Lailah. We cannot go to them.”
How did he know that? Why would they want me dead? Nothing he was telling me made any sense.
“You will go with Ruadhan. I’ll seek out Malachi, he may have information. Until I know exactly what you are and why they want you, I cannot fully protect you. I will come back, I promise you that. I would go to the ends of every world to keep you from harm. I owe you nothing less.”
He reached over and grazed my cheek with his fingertips and for the first time, I didn’t feel comfortable in his presence; I pushed back. What had he done that had landed him in my debt? I didn’t know, or couldn’t remember. It didn’t actually matter, and I silenced the voice that dared me to ask. I had a suspicion that I wouldn’t welcome the answer.
“And what of the others?”
Where would Jonah, Brooke, Michael, and Hanora go?
“They’ll leave together. I can’t be sure I can trust them with you. Especially after what happened with Jonah last night.”
I tensed; I didn’t want to confess my near betrayal. Hesitantly I replied, “I cut my finger. Jonah reacted and Brooke walked in.”
I moved, releasing another pawn. The game provided a useful distraction.
“And what did she walk in on exactly?” Gabriel persisted, removing a stray blond curl from his vision.
I felt my face flush and I shifted uncomfortably. “It’s your move,” I muttered, keeping my attention locked on the board.
He slid another pawn quickly across the checkered box and his attention was back on me. “Lailah, what you do is your business. All I ask, for your own sake, is that you do not put yourself in harm’s way. Jonah is a Vampire, that’s something you shouldn’t forget, regardless of how much you … enjoy his company.”
His voice trembled a little; he suspected that I had feelings for Jonah.
I moved another pawn. “Well, I—”
He cut me off. “As I said, it’s not my business.”
His dry reply was nonchalant; perhaps it didn’t hurt him because he was merely paying me back for whatever he believed he owed me in the form of his protection, nothing more. I couldn’t be sure he felt anything romantic toward me, at least not the me that stood before him in the present. I accepted that he might just be hanging on to an echo of my past self. One thing I was certain of was that nothing was ever clear-cut with Gabriel.