Chameleon (Supernaturals) (19 page)

Gabriel dropped my chin and looked down at his lap. “I am sorry that you do not find me as satisfactory.”

He did look sorry, too. He looked devastated. Heartbroken. Truly sorry.

Life is so unfair sometimes.

“I don’t find you…unsatisfactory,” I admitted. I wanted to be so angry, and I was, but as hard as I tried I couldn’t direct my anger at Gabriel. “It’s because I’m being forced.”

Gabriel looked confused, but how could he not understand this?

“Marriage doesn’t work like this,” I told him. “Most people have a choice. They meet lots of people. They date. After two people get to know each other really well, and are lucky enough to fall in love,
then
they decide to get married. Generally the man asks the woman, but sometimes it’s the other way around. The point is, they always
ask
. The decision to spend their life together is between the two getting married. Their parents, or the council or whoever, should have nothing to do with it.”

I was finally able to pull my hand out of his. “I had a life. I had a family who loved me and took care of me. You people took that life away from me and you want me to be happy about it?”

I was annoyed with myself when I started crying again. I’d cried more this past week than I’d cried my entire life.

A surprising burst of fury suddenly fueled me to start yelling. “I was kidnapped! I was taken away without even getting to say goodbye to my parents! I’ll never see them again! Or
Russ
! I don’t know how I’m going to live without him! You may have just gained a companion, but I lost
everything
!”

I started bawling so hard I couldn’t breathe any more and I passed out.

I was calm, relaxed
and bathed in warmth. There was fire all over my skin, running up my arms, across my back, on my neck and face. A fire that made me feel so good I begged it to consume me. I felt weak, but the fire was making me stronger. I tried to drink it up with deep breaths.

“Danielle?”

I recognized now what was causing the fire. I would know his energy anywhere.

When I opened my eyes we were lying in bed, though I last remembered being on the couch. I also remembered us being fully dressed but I was now stripped down to just the boy shorts and camisole I’d been wearing under my clothes, and Gabriel was in nothing but a pair of silk pajama pants.

Gabriel held me tight against his bare chest and was running his hands over every part of my skin his fingers could reach.

“What are you doing?” I asked, though I made no conscious effort to pull away from him.

“You collapsed. You did not have enough energy to sustain your emotional outburst. The best way to pass supernatural energy is skin-to-skin contact. I apologize if this makes you uncomfortable.”

“It does.”

Gabriel immediately released me and put about a foot of space between us. I felt my body ache slightly when he broke our connection and was hit with a cold rush of sadness. I wanted to pull him back to me.

“Maybe,” I said shyly. “If it’s all right, you could just hold my hand?”

Gabriel looked pleased by the question. He propped himself up on his elbow and held out his hand. It wasn’t exactly what my body wanted, but it was enough to keep the emptiness away.

“Thank you,” I whispered. I could feel my cheeks burning.

Gabriel smiled down at me with his dark eyes that seemed to be windows to his soul. I felt myself get caught in them and then suddenly I was standing out front of an unfamiliar farmhouse at night. The moon was full-on white and a million stars showered light as if there was not another building around for a hundred miles to fade out their brilliance.

My peace was disturbed when Gabriel came out of the house and leaned against the porch railing. He looked up at the stars and his breath came out in puffy white clouds around him. He looked so upset that my heart broke for him.

I didn’t notice anyone else until another version of me was placing a hand on Gabriel’s shoulder. “He was just being cruel because he’s hurt,” this other me said.

“He is right though. I have seen first hand your fearless spirit. You do need someone strong who can match that passion. And what am I? I am not that man.”

The other me whirled Gabriel around to face her. “You
are
strong,” she insisted fiercely. “And you have more passion in you than anyone I’ve ever met. There’s a good inside you that no one on this earth can match. That’s why the Creator chose to bestow
you
with the gift of foresight.”

The me in the vision dropped her hand from Gabriel’s shoulder and laced her fingers with his. Her voice lowered to just above a whisper. “He’s wrong. Maybe I’m confused about where my heart is right now, but I’m also proud to be married to you.”

My heart fluttered as I watched the other me pull Gabriel’s hand to her lips and kiss the band around his finger. “I accept this union Gabriel. I accept it not for the prophecy, or destiny, or for the will of the council. I accept it for you.”

The moment was gone and Gabriel was staring at me full of concern. “Another vision?” he asked.

I snatched my hand away from him with a gasp. “I don’t want to talk about it.” I rolled away from him and pulled the covers up over me. “I can change it,” I promised myself. “If I know the future, I can change it.”

Gabriel pulled the covers off my face and rolled me so that I was facing him again. He looked sad, and I wondered how much he’d guessed about what I saw. What I was denying. “You can change it,” he agreed hesitantly. “But should you?”

I couldn’t say anything.

Gabriel thought for a moment and then said, “Shall I tell you what I saw?”

The question was so unexpected I couldn’t stop myself from asking, “What? You saw something just now too?”

Gabriel shook his head. “I have only ever had one vision concerning you. I was speaking of the vision wherein I recognized you to be the Chosen One.”

“Oh.”

“Since my vision has caused you so much suffering, would it comfort you to know what I saw that night? What the council is so determined to protect despite what it cost you? I warn you, it is not all pleasant.”

I had to know. I had to know what made the council think they had the right to claim my life. “Tell me.”

“You were in an abandoned warehouse hanging from a cross. Your wrists were cut and bleeding onto on an altar built at your feet.”

My hand flew to my mouth but Gabriel didn’t seem to be too distressed. He took my hand and I let him squeeze it. “When your blood fell upon the altar, it summoned a demon. Not just any demon—an extremely powerful demon. Addonexus, the Angel of Death.”

Gabriel squeezed my hand again and I watched, incredulous, as a smile broke out on his face. “You were dying, but you were not the least bit afraid. You were angry, and defiant and confident—much like you were when you met the Supreme High Councilor for the first time. Addonexus thanked you for raising him and told you he was now going to use your body as a vessel to bring death and destruction to all the world.”

Gabriel actually laughed then, as if remembering a funny story he’d heard years ago. “You looked
the
Angel Of Death
in the eyes and said, ‘If you enter this body, the only death and destruction it will bring is your own when I send you back to Hell.’”

Gabriel was caught up in the memory of his vision and absently brought my hand to his lips.

I stared wide-eyed at him until he seemed to come back to the present. “And then what happened?” I gasped.

Gabriel frowned. “And then the vision ended.”

“That’s it?” I was horrified by that thought. “You mean you assumed I was the Chosen One just because I mouthed off to some freaky demon? That doesn’t prove anything. I mouth off to everyone! How do you know this demon guy didn’t barbeque me and eat me right after that?”

I was so not kidding, but Gabriel laughed again. “Danielle, you were radiant. I’d never before seen a supernatural of your equal and I just knew. I knew you were the Chosen One like I know the sky is blue.”

“I can’t believe this,” I muttered, shaking my head and holding my hair in my hands. “That’s called having a crush, Gabriel. Just because you were impressed with what you saw doesn’t mean I’m some kind of savior. You can’t be sure I’m the girl you need.”

Gabriel shook his head forcefully. “You do not understand. When I saw you it was somehow
more
than a vision. It was as if I knew you. I knew your name even though you never said it. I knew where to find you even though you were far from home. Danielle, I recognized your
soul
.”

Gabriel had become so intense that he scared me. When I shuddered, he sat fully up in bed and took both of my hands. “You are special. The Creator led me to you for a purpose. If you do not do this task, the Angel of Death will be loosed on earth. There is no one that can defeat him but you. Forgive me, I am sorry for your pain, but I believe a task of such importance is worth sacrificing the life you had.”

It was clear that Gabriel had absolutely no doubt I was who he thought I was. I’m not sure if his faith in me was comforting or terrifying. “They still could have asked,” I muttered stubbornly. “Instead of just taking me.”

“I am asking you now, Danielle. Will you be that girl? Forget your disagreement with the Councilor. This is beyond even him. Think of the supernaturals you have met so far that are good, decent people—your friends—Duncan, Gina, Alexander Devereaux, Russ…”

“You.” The word escaped my lips before I could stop it.

Gabriel smiled and put his hand to my blushing cheek. “Think also of the humans you love so much. We will all be lost. I beg you to stop fighting your destiny and live to fulfill the prophecy.”

I drew back from Gabriel’s touch and my voice shook as I said, “But I don’t know how. I don’t know anything about your world.”

“Our world,” Gabriel corrected. “And I will help you.”

Gabriel lay back down and took my hand again without asking permission. I didn’t fight him. Instead I thought back on the glimpse I’d caught of our future. “Do you really believe what the council says—that you are the love the prophecy speaks of who is supposed to keep me from choosing evil?”

Gabriel was quiet for so long I didn’t think he was going to answer me. “That I do not know,” he finally said. “But I will help you nonetheless because you are the Chosen One and I have faith in the Creator. I have faith in you.”

A lump rose in my throat.

“Get some rest, Danielle. We need not worry about this until you have recovered your strength.”

Gabriel was right. I couldn’t do much of anything while I was still so weak. With a sigh of defeat I closed the distance between us and fell asleep, drowning in the warmth of his body.

. . . . .

Bloodbath. That’s what I was witnessing. Roughly five minutes ago, my sleep had been disturbed with the image of a quiet village somewhere deep in the mountains. It was a compound of maybe a dozen houses, a church and a schoolhouse.

In the center was a small grassy area with an aging playground. It was early morning, the world just barely turning from black to a dull grey. A few houses had smoke billowing from the chimneys.

It was completely serene until a string of four wheel drives came tearing up the main road into the center of town, blinding it with floodlights and filling the air with angry shouts.

Men and older boys swarmed the houses and within seconds the screams began. People, mostly women and children scattered like bugs, fleeing the chaos. I watched as people of all ages were slaughtered one by one. Some women were held down and forced to watch as their children were executed. One man delighted in running down a teenage boy with his jeep.

These people were unaware and defenseless. It took only minutes before the entire town was decimated. The murderers torched the homes, leaving the bloody bodies where they fell in the streets, and drove off as quickly as they had come.

I don’t know when I began screaming. I assume the moment the killing started because by the time Gabriel was able to rouse me from my hysteria, my voice was starting to feel horse. “Danielle!” He was yelling at me. His hands were holding my face. “We will change it. It hasn’t happened yet. We can stop it. Danielle, listen to me. Listen to my voice. We will change it!”