“You can’t tell the others. Gabriel knows—he’s gone off to try and piece it all together. The others … well, they mustn’t know.”
“Our secret, I promise.” His reply was definite and unwavering.
We strolled for a while, lost in thought. I broke the silence first. “Ruadhan and Gabriel have warned me away from you.”
“I know,” Jonah said. He hovered as if he wanted to tell me something.
“What is it?”
“Nothing, it can wait; after all we have nothing but time. That goes for both of us apparently.”
“I beg to disagree. Seems the hands on my clock are about to stop ticking.”
“You reckon because they seek you out it’s the end. I got news for you—your story’s just beginning.” Jonah was confident, knowing. And strangely, that remark made my heart feel even heavier.
He smiled widely in an attempt to lighten the mood and, without asking, whisked me up, throwing me on his back, and we sped down through the fields. Looping my hands together around his neck, I clung on tightly.
Despite my troubles, I felt exhilaration racing through me as we moved faster than lightning back to the front door.
TWENTY-ONE
CLINGING TO JONAH AS WE POUNDED across the landscape had somewhat emptied my mind of all the heavy thoughts that had been weighing me down. I jumped to the ground as we neared the house and he swung around to face me.
“Fun?”
“Very!” I said.
“Listen, Cessie, I don’t want to add to your complications, but…”
“But what?”
“It’s just … you and Gabriel. I get that you have a history, but you know that can’t work, right?”
I was about to answer when my phone rang. I pulled it out of my pocket. Gabriel.
I left it; I didn’t have anything to say to him.
“I’m hungry,” I told Jonah. “I’m going to grab some breakfast.”
I made my way to the basement entrance, up the stairs, and into the kitchen. He didn’t try to pursue the conversation any further. Instead, he took up a seat on the corner sofa, flicking on the TV.
Gabriel must have called ten times as I made myself tea and toast. I guiltily continued to ignore him.
Eventually, Ruadhan came and sat next to me at the table as I munched on my slightly burnt piece of bread.
“I’ve got Gabriel on the line for you.”
He handed me his cell and, now cornered, I took it off him reluctantly.
“Yes?” I said.
“Take yourself somewhere private.”
Nodding politely at Ruadhan, I pushed my chair back and heaved open the glass doors, which led into the garden, sliding them firmly closed behind me.
“I’m alone.” I tried to sound standoffish.
“I have a lead. I’m traveling to Boston to try and find an Angel called Azrael. I think he may have the answers we need. I should reach the city in a few hours. I’m hoping he’s still there. Then I’m coming to get you.” His words were quick. “Are you okay?”
“What about Hanora, where is she?” I asked bitterly, ignoring his question.
“Lai, she’s the last person you should be concerning yourself with.”
“True, you’re concerning yourself with her enough for the both of us.”
“I don’t understand?”
“I dreamt of you in the bar, with Malachi. Then I saw you walking into a motel room.” I paused. “For a friend she has a funny way of greeting you!”
He didn’t say anything. I took his silence to confirm my worst fears.
“Well?” I could feel the blood rushing to my cheeks.
“How much did you see?”
“What does that matter? I didn’t need to see much to know what you were doing.”
“Lai, you’ve got it wrong. You need to trust me, okay? I know it’s hard, being apart, but I will be with you soon. Please, just have some faith in me.” He sounded sad, but he hadn’t exactly gone out of his way to explain what I had witnessed.
I was finding it difficult not to burst into tears, so I finished the call. “I have to go.”
Needing a few moments to gather myself, I wandered over to a seating area built out of stone, but as I was about to sit down, a huge bushy tree—balancing precariously against the high wall—distracted me.
“Everything okay, love?” Ruadhan stepped out onto the decking, but his face fell when he saw what I was looking at. “Ah, you found it then?”
“Why is there a tree from the mountains in the garden?” I asked.
“I got it for you! It’s a Christmas tree, a real one!” His smile sat high on his cheeks. “Just because we’re in hiding doesn’t mean we shouldn’t celebrate, now does it! I picked up some decorations in the market, so let’s take it inside and get started!”
He was so sweet, I didn’t want to disappoint him by wallowing, so I forced a smile as he hoisted it onto his shoulder and carried it through to the living room.
An hour later, the entire household—Brooke included—was well under way with the decorating; though we had spent the first thirty minutes arguing about the color scheme of the tree.
Brooke felt that the tree should be contemporary and elegant, which meant no tinsel and just the one color: silver. Jonah had strangely suggested a two-tone scheme of black and white.
I, on the other hand, was just desperate to layer it with everything we had.
“You’re making it uneven!” Brooke snapped at me.
“Hey, the bottom’s my area, you worry about your own,” I said.
“Now, now, girls,” Ruadhan said. “It’s looking grand!”
I wasn’t so sure. Unable to reach a compromise, we had split the enormous tree into three sections to decorate as we each wished. Given they were Vampires and they could jump ridiculously high, I’d ended up with the bottom layer. On the plus side, it was the widest compared to Jonah’s, who’d pulled the short straw, getting the very top.
Ruadhan had opted out of having his own section. Instead, he had the pleasure of selecting an ornament for the highest point, which he had yet to reveal.
While we worked, he made up some mince pies and mulled wine to get us in a festive mood. Given that I was the only being in the house who actually ate regular food, I had a feeling I was going to end up disliking mince pies once I’d forced down the large batch that he was halfway through creating.