Chameleon (Supernaturals) (24 page)

“Sounds like a party.”

“Very much so. It is said that November’s Eve, also called All Souls Eve, is the most magically potent day of the year. They say the gods draw nearer to the earth that night, so people have great feasts and light giant bonfires in which they offer up sacrifices.”

“Sacrifices?” I asked, startled.

Gabriel laughed at my horrified expression. “It is not what you think. Usually people will relinquish an object of great personal value that symbolizes their desires or wishes—a prayer to the gods. It is a time of hope and new beginnings.”

“Well that’s…very nice actually,” I said. “And ironic since humans have turned it into a day to celebrate what monsters the supernatural are.”

Gabriel smiled wryly. “They call us monsters, and yet it is they who commit the most monstrous acts.”

“Not all humans are like the ones we saw in our vision, and I’m sure that there are supernaturals out there that do things just as horrific,” I tried not to be too insulted. Gabriel was raised by the Councilor when his own parents dumped him after all. “Evil is a choice. It doesn’t matter if you are human or supernatural. It matters what kind of person you are. Isn’t the prophecy about finding a balance between the two worlds? There has to be a way to show humans that there is no reason to fear your kind.”

“Our kind,” Gabriel corrected again.

“Oh, the young and idealistic,” the Supreme High Councilor said, interrupting our picnic. “It is a nice thought, Danielle, but very naïve.”

I glared at the Councilor. “No one invited you into this conversation.”

“Danielle,” Gabriel said in a tired voice. “The Councilor does not mean to offend you. It is just that, well, you do not understand yet. You have not spent years seeing the horrible things humans do to our kind.”

“Whatever. I don’t want to argue right now.” I glared at the councilor again. “The only date I’ve ever been on up until now sucked, and I’d appreciate it if you would not ruin this one for me too.”

“Forgive the interruption,” the Councilor said stiffly. “I only meant to tell you that we must go back now. I’ve received word that I’m needed.”

“But we haven’t eaten anything but strawberries yet!” I said.

“May we at least take the long way through the park?” Gabriel asked.

The Councilor went from scowling at me to cracking under Gabriel’s hopeful expression. The fact that he was truly fond of Gabriel was the only redeeming quality I’d found in him so far.

“I suppose it is not that urgent that I cannot spare ten minutes.”

“Thank you, sir.”

I should have said thanks too, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it.

Gabriel and I folded the blanket and fitted it back under the handle of the basket. As we set off in the park Gabriel took my hand. The gesture was so natural to me now that I found it harder to resist the cravings when I was around him. My body ached to be closer to him and this time I stopped thinking about it, resisting it. I gave in.

Then, when I let go of his hand and instead slipped my arm around his waist and leaned into his side, he glanced down at me with a worried expression. “Are you feeling okay? Are the cravings bothering you?”

“The opposite,” I admitted with surprise. “I’m very comfortable right now.”

“I am happy to hear that,” Gabriel said, but for some reason he frowned. “I—” He struggled for words. “I do not like knowing that you are only here with me because you have no other choice.”

“Actually, if it makes you feel better, I was just thinking that if we’d met under normal circumstances I’d probably still have said yes to a date.”

“Thank you. That does help.”

Just as we reached the edge of the park and were about to step onto a bustling city sidewalk I was suddenly no longer outside, but in an apartment somewhere. Judging from the view it was very high up. A woman was sleeping on a sofa with the television on a muted football game that a man watched from the kitchen as he stirred pasta. Then without any warning another man slipped into the apartment and shot the man in the kitchen before he could even fully turn around. The woman screamed and then she was shot as well. The gun made next to no sound and the man locked himself inside the apartment. I wondered if he would rob the place, but instead he headed down the hallway. “No!” I shouted when he opened the door to a child’s nursery.

I tried to close my eyes as what he did next was so awful I knew it would be forever engrained in my memory, but the vision forced me to take it all in. After the vision was over I was really happy that there was an open trash can on the corner we were standing on, because the strawberries came right back up.

I fell down and couldn’t stop shaking. I was so traumatized that the Councilor ordered Duncan to carry me back to the apartment before they attempted to ask me any questions.

Duncan laid me on the couch.
Gabriel was immediately there, holding me and whispering words of encouragement. “Did you see it?” I asked. “Did you see what he’s going to do?”

Gabriel frowned. “Actually I saw nothing. I did not share this vision with you. I wonder why that is.”

“There was a man. He killed two people. Shot them. I thought it was just a robbery because they lived in a really, really nice apartment in some fancy high rise that overlooked a huge park. I think it was Central Park actually. That’s the one with the zoo, right?”

“Most likely an apartment on Fifth Avenue,” Duncan mused.

“But he didn’t rob them. There was a baby. She couldn’t have been more than a few days old, and he—he—” I gagged again. “I have to throw up!” I sat up and slapped a hand over my mouth. Gabriel took my left wrist in both of his hands and put some pressure between my wrist and thumb and my stomach settled. I took a deep breath. “What did you just do?”

“Danielle, I know it is difficult, but we need to know what happened.”

“He drained all of her blood into a Tupperware!”

Duncan paled and quickly sat down. Even the Councilor looked white as a sheet. Gabriel’s face turned green and he pulled me into his arms. “I am sorry you had to witness that,” he whispered. “We will stop him Danielle. Remember that. We will stop it.”

“All right, concentrate, Danielle,” the Councilor ordered with surprising gentleness. “There are probably not that many supernatural families living on Fifth Avenue. Can you tell us what kind of supernaturals they are?”

“Supernaturals?” I asked.

“You must be able to tell,” the Councilor said. “Gabriel has always been able to tell.”

“But they weren’t supernaturals. They were humans. All of them. Even the bad guy.”

“That explains why I did not see it,” Gabriel said to the Councilor.

“Why?”

Gabriel looked at me. “Because I only receive visions that concern supernaturals. I have never had a vision that involved only humans.”

“But that doesn’t matter,” I said. “There may be a lot more human people than supernaturals, but I’m sure I can find the vision again like I did with the village. There’s probably a ton of things I could see out the window that could tell us what building they’re in. Or maybe I can even open the door and see the apartment number. I could feel that lady in the other vision real enough.”

Somehow I’d said the wrong thing. Their mouths were open, aghast. “What?” I screamed.

I looked to Gabriel, but whatever it was, he wasn’t going to be the one to break the news.

“The council does not help humans,” the Councilor explained.

“Excuse me?”

The Councilor said it so simply that I was sure he was kidding, but Duncan looked very apologetic and Gabriel looked downright sick.

“You’re serious? You’re not going to try to help that family?”

“We cannot.”

“Of course we can! We have to!”

“It is council policy.”

“Screw the policy! Those people are going to die!” I looked frantically at Gabriel. “You said we could stop it! I
have
to stop it! I can find them!”

“And what would you tell them Danielle?” the Councilor asked. “That you had a vision of the future and their lives are in danger? They would not listen to you. They would probably call the police. Then you would be discovered by those in the supernatural world who are looking for you and the family would die anyway.”

“How do you know? They might listen if it was for the safety of their child. At least they would be paranoid. They might be more prepared even if they didn’t believe it. It could still save them.”

“We cannot risk exposing you or the supernatural world for one insignificant human family. They mean nothing.”

“How can you say that their lives mean nothing?” I shouted.

“They are only human.”

“You…you…you…DISGUSTING, HEARTLESS, RACIST MONSTER!” I jumped to my feet shouting with so much force I felt the veins strained in my neck.

I looked to Duncan and then frantically to Gabriel. “Say something!”

“You are not human, Danielle!” the Councilor snapped. “You must start accepting it. Forget those disgraceful creatures. Your love for them is despicable. You are destined to save your
own kind
!”

I lowered my voice, but couldn’t keep any of my disgust or hatred out of it. “The prophecy says nothing about saving supernaturals. It only says that I will battle Evil, and
you
are the most evil person I have ever met. How do I know you’re not the one trying to persuade me to choose wrong? How do I know YOU are not the ones I’m supposed to defeat?”

“Do not be so ridiculous girl.”

“You make me sick!”

I stomped off to the bedroom and slammed the door as hard as I could.

. . . . .

It was a long time before Gabriel braved coming after me. The sun had long since set, and I had my head pressed against the large cool window, staring aimlessly at the sea of lights below me. Gabriel came up behind me but said nothing.

I blew my breath on the glass and in the tiny patch of fog drew what I could remember of the first symbol on Gabriel’s back. “How does it go again?”

“‘God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change.’”

Yeah. Fat chance of that. I smudged away my pathetic little drawing. “So what do I do when I see these nightmares and could stop them but don’t? How do I live with myself?”

I was surprised by Gabriel’s response. “By letting it hurt you.” He came to stand right beside me and sighed as he looked out over the city. “Most of my visions are like those of the raid on the village. They can be stopped without anyone being hurt. But there have been times I have had to choose between humans and supernaturals. I have always chosen to help my own people above the others, but I mourn the loss of every life I am unable to save, no matter what they are. I believe the day I stop letting that loss hurt me is the day I become the monster you believe I am.”

I finally turned to look at him. “
You
are not a monster.
He
is the monster. But I don’t understand how you can just go along with him.”

“Because he is right, Danielle.” My eyes filled with tears, so Gabriel quickly added, “But I believe he is also wrong.”

Gabriel let out a breath and then fell to the bed looking far too old for someone his age. “I do not know what to do this time,” he said to the ceiling. “I have never doubted the Councilor before, and I do not disagree with his choice not to get involved with this vision, but all life has value. Even human life.”

“How can you think we shouldn’t help those people? If they were witches or werewolves, you would already have saved them. Why do those people not deserve our help too?”

“They do, Danielle, but they will not listen. I have seen it so many times in visions. The supernatural trying to explain themselves to the humans they care about. It almost always leads to heartbreak or danger.”

“Almost is not always.”

“You are right, but in your case, I believe the Councilor is right that it is not worth the risk.”

“So let me find them and send someone else to help them. Just give them a warning. Give them the chance to listen. That’s not going to put me in danger any more than sending someone to help that village did. The Councilor just won’t help the humans because he doesn’t want to.”