Chameleon (Supernaturals) (38 page)

Before Gabriel could drag me inside, Alex gave me a big hug. “I’m still here for you just like I’ve always been, Dani. I know I can’t replace your real parents, but I hope you consider me as much your father as Russ’s. I will always do anything I can for you.”

“Would you talk to Russ for me?” I asked, unable to let go of him. “He doesn’t understand like you do. He probably hates me now. If I weren’t—” My voice gave out from a sudden emotional onslaught. “If the council hadn’t paired me with Gabriel things would be different, but there’s nothing I can do.”

“I know sweetheart. I know. I’ll talk with him. Russ could never hate you though, Dani. He loves you.”

Tears filled my eyes and I had to look away. “That only makes me feel worse.”

Alex kissed my head and handed me back to Gabriel. “Get some sleep,” he said, then he headed inside and went upstairs.

By the time Gabriel and I reached the top of the stairs we could hear Russ’s angry shouts coming through his bedroom door. “She’s crazy!” he was yelling. “She actually thinks she could be happy with that tool! The Supreme High Councilor ruined her!”

When I froze Gabriel ushered me into our room and shut the door so that we couldn’t hear anymore, but it didn’t matter. I would forever remember the hate in his voice.

I walked over to the dresser and stared at my necklace in the vanity mirror. Russ said the necklace was to remind me that he loved me no matter what. Did that count now? As I stood there debating whether it would hurt him more if I kept wearing it or never put it on again, Gabriel walked up behind me, eyeing the mirror curiously.

“May I ask you about the necklace?” he said.

My decision was just made for me. The necklace was going to make Gabriel jealous just as Russ had hoped. I couldn’t spare Russ’s feelings no matter what I did at this point, but I didn’t need to hurt Gabriel too. “It was a gift from Russ for my sixteenth birthday. Don’t worry, I won’t wear it.”

When I reached up to take it off, Gabriel laid his hand over mine to stop me from unclasping it. “Leave it.”

I met his eyes in the mirror. “That’s generous of you, considering who it’s from.”

Gabriel smiled and shook his head. “I assure you, it is purely selfish.” He let his fingers brush back and forth over the length of the chain on the back of my neck and didn’t stop until I shivered violently. His hands came to rest on my shoulders and he stared at my reflection as if I weren’t real.

“You were wearing this necklace the first time I saw you,” he explained.

“You mean in your vision?”

Gabriel nodded, failing to keep the grin off his face. “I clung to that image of you for days. I rather hoped you’d have it on when I finally met you in person, and have wondered about it all this time. Seeing it on you now makes me feel like I’ve managed to steal the angel right out of my dream.”

I know I’d accepted Gabriel now and all, but he looked way too smitten for comfort. I laughed nervously. “Well that will piss Russ off. He only gave it back to me today hoping to make you jealous.”

“In that case, I shall be sure to tell you often how much the necklace pleases me.”

I turned around to find Gabriel smiling wickedly and couldn’t help the laugh that escaped me. After a moment, though, my laugh turned into a sigh. “I’m sorry Russ has been so awful to you. He doesn’t particularly like to share things. Least of all me.”

“A quality I discovered today that he and I have in common.”

He’d been teasing, but it racked me with guilt. I wandered over to the window and stared at the stars. “I’m sorry I kissed him.”

“Danielle, you did not kiss him.” Gabriel assured me. “You were not in control of yourself at the beach and just a moment ago he kissed you, but you did not return that kiss. I admit I was surprised by your resistance, but I was very grateful for it as well.”

Gabriel joined me by the window and forced me to look at him. “You have made me very happy tonight, but I worry that you have made yourself unhappy with your sacrifice.”

The guilt was never-ending. “Being with you isn’t a sacrifice, Gabriel,” I said. I felt so helpless. “I just hate that I have to hurt Russ to do it. If my relationship with him is unnatural like the Councilor believes, then he’s never going to be able to accept this. He’ll never stop hurting.”

Gabriel led me over to the edge of the bed. Once I was sitting he said, “Perhaps it would be easier for him if we left.”

“Cut him out of my life all together? I don’t know if—”

“I have seen many horrible things in my visions as you know, but nothing has ever been so agonizing as seeing his hands on you tonight and fearing I had lost you to him. I would not wish that feeling on anyone. Not even Russ.”

My heart felt like it was breaking, but I still managed a sincere smile. “How did you get to be so good?” I asked Gabriel.

He blushed as he answered me. “You make me strong.”

“You make things clear,” I replied. “Russ makes everything so confusing, but when I’m with you, the right answers always seem so easy.”

Gabriel squeezed my hand and then leaned toward me. “May I?”

I rolled my eyes. “I told you, you don’t need permission anymore.”

“Thank you,” Gabriel said and then kissed me.

When he sat back he broke into an excited grin. The only word to describe it was adorable. “What is it?” I asked curiously.

“I have only ever read of this feeling. Even Shakespeare could not do it justice.”

“What feeling?”

“Love, of course.”

“Love?” My stomach lurched. “Gabriel—”

Gabriel cut me off with another kiss. His sudden confidence was irresistible. What started as pleasant warmth washing over me promptly became fire. I was consumed with desire—his and mine—but it was over too quickly. When I wrapped my arms around Gabriel’s neck and fell backwards on the bed, pulling him down on top of me, he scrambled to a sit, panting for breath, with an overwhelmed look in his eyes.

Not that I’ve ever had a really good make-out session before either, but I’d grown up with cable TV. I went to public school. I had an idea what to expect. Watching Gabriel experience the feeling of lust for the first time, I wondered if he even knew about the birds and the bees beyond what he might have read in that textbook the Councilor gave him. I certainly couldn’t picture him sitting down with the Supreme High Councilor asking for sex advice when the Councilor told him he’d found him a mate. If I was nervous right now, Gabriel must have been terrified.

“Why don’t we go to sleep?” I suggested. “It’s getting late.”

I’d been sleeping with Gabriel
for weeks already, but it was different this time as I slipped into bed. He was quiet and gave me as much space as he possibly could. He was afraid to touch me now.

We’d been lying there for an hour in silence, both nowhere near falling asleep. When I simply couldn’t take the awkwardness another minute I said, “You’re going to fall off the bed laying over there like that.”

“I am all right, Danielle.”

“You’re uncomfortable.”

“It is nothing.”

“Okay, fine. I’m uncomfortable.”

Gabriel rolled over to face me with worry in his eyes. “Your cravings are bothering you?”

“Yes,” I lied.

Gabriel looked relieved to have an excuse to pull me into his arms. As I nestled myself against him he asked, “Is that the only reason you cannot sleep?”

“I was just thinking.”

“About Russ?”

I was amazed that he could sound just as concerned for Russ as I felt. “About Russ,” I agreed. “And about home. I miss my parents. They must think the worst has happened to me. If they gave Russ my necklace back then they must already believe I’m never coming home. They probably think I was kidnapped and murdered or something. I’m not exactly the running away type. I can’t imagine how awful it is for them.”

“You may yet be able to go home one day Danielle. After the prophecy is fulfilled.”

“And tell them what? That I just got back from some kind of a supernatural vacation that I never asked to go on? That vampires and werewolves exist? That I’m some new kind of freak and that their best friend Alex is a powerful warlock? Oh, and also I’m sixteen and got married to a stranger because the Supreme High Councilor said I’m The Chosen One and you were my destiny? They’re probably better off believing I was murdered and am never coming back home.”

Gabriel sighed. “It is true that it would be easier not to go home right now,” he said. “However, if we were ever able to find peace with the humans… If we could come out of hiding, then I see no reason you could not be reunited with them.”

I resisted the urge to scoff. The task seemed too impossible.

We lapsed into silence for a moment until Gabriel said, “I think I would have liked your parents. They must be very good people to have raised such a daughter.”

“They are.”

“Well if I cannot take you home to your parents,” Gabriel forced a sense of cheer into his voice, “maybe I could take you somewhere else to help you forget your troubles temporarily. Another date perhaps?”

The thought of another date with Gabriel made my heart feel ten times lighter. “A real one this time,” I said. “No chaperones.”

Gabriel chuckled. “I did not plan on inviting Russ if that is what you mean.”

“If we can successfully ditch him and Alex—which I’m warning you now won’t be easy—did you have something particular in mind?”

“Actually I did have a thought. Tomorrow is the thirty-first of October.”

“That’s right! Tomorrow is Halloween. The Supernatural New Year. What did you call it again?”

“Samhain,” Gabriel said. “Like you, I have never been to a Samhain celebration. Though I have always wanted to see one, the Councilor insisted it was too dangerous. But with your cloaking spell being so powerful we would be fine for a short while. Long enough to at least experience it anyway.”

“We’ll bring something to sacrifice,” I teased.

Gabriel laughed but then frowned and said, “It is unfortunate that you will have to remain a warlock the entire evening.”

I lifted my head off Gabriel’s chest to look him in the eyes. “Yes, that is very unfortunate.” I laughed, but couldn’t hold my good mood. “Do you think we’ll ever be safe enough to live freely like other supernaturals? Will we ever get to go out together and not have to hide from everyone?”

“It is possible that once the prophecy has been fulfilled and balance has been restored to our people, not everyone we meet will want to use us or bring us harm.”

“One can only hope,” I said.

Gabriel laughed and we fell into a comfortable silence. Now that I was more relaxed I immediately began to feel the late hour. I started to drift off until Gabriel asked, “Would you mind if I attempted to see into your future again?”

“Oh! Um.…”

“You are the only person I have ever not been able to see and I was thinking, after watching you practice controlling your power this afternoon, that I would like to try again.”

I shivered, remembering the intensity of my last vision. “Maybe that’s not such a good idea. I mean, what if I accidentally see into your future again?”

“I do not mind if you do,” Gabriel admitted. “Your reactions to my future are always very interesting.”

“Isn’t there a rule?” I said nervously. “Nobody should know too much about their own destiny, or something like that.”

“Please?”

There was no way I could say no to the face he was making.

Gabriel clasped my hand confidently, but it was me who got sucked into a vision. On the bright side we were not alone in this vision, but on the not-so-bright side we were back in the big conference room at the consulate. Which meant that someday I’d be back there.

Every seat at the conference table was filled. Some of the faces were familiar, some of the faces were new, and some faces I thought should be there were missing.

Standing at the head of the table was another version of Gabriel and me. Physically we weren’t really much older, but it looked as if we’d aged a decade. We were smiling and looked hopeful, but I could feel how tired and morose we were underneath. We clung to one another’s hands like we planned on never letting each other out of our sight ever again.