Chameleon (Supernaturals) (45 page)

When the vision was over I realized I was crying into Gabriel’s chest. I could feel his hand stroking my head. “Danielle?” he whispered in a strangled voice. “If you believe you have made a mistake, I would understand. I will help you find him if that is what you need.”

I doubted Gabriel would ever stop being self-conscious about Russ, but I knew I needed to do my best to help him, so I quit crying and crawled out of the tube where I could sit up comfortably. “It’s not that,” I said as Gabriel climbed out next to me.

I leaned against him and waited for him to wrap the quilt around us both before continuing on. “It’s actually a bit of a relief to have him gone.” As I admitted it, I realized how true my statement was. “You don’t understand how hard it’s been to be with both of you, knowing that I was constantly hurting everyone. I’ll miss him, but I finally feel like I can breathe again.”

“Are you really sure about us? Are you sure this is what you want?” Gabriel’s face had gone pale in the moonlight. He looked down at his lap and his voice shook again as he choked out his next sentence. “I could not bear it if you stayed with me but spent your life regretting your decision.”

It wasn’t fair. I made my choice, and even chose him, yet I was still hurting him. “Gabriel, I saw a different outcome of tonight’s events. When you guys all made me look into your future the other day, I saw tonight. Only in the vision when Russ told me to prove I didn’t love him I let him kiss me. That kiss broke your heart so badly that you left. You gave up on me. I watched a piece of you die and then you went back to the consulate.”

Gabriel stiffened beside me but didn’t interrupt. I gave his hand a squeeze and said, “I didn’t change the vision to spare you that heartache.”

Gabriel finally met my eyes again but he was full of confusion.

“I did it because I couldn’t bear the thought of losing you. After the vision ended that day, I kissed you because I was so relieved that you were still standing there. I was so relieved it had all been a dream. When the dream caught up with me tonight I knew that no matter what I did I would lose one of you. When it came down to it, I didn’t really have a choice. I couldn’t let you go.”

“Danielle,” Gabriel whispered. He tried to say more, but couldn’t seem to find any words to follow my name.

“Russ and I were so much alike we were practically the same person,” I said. “But then you came along. You were so different, and strong, and good. I don’t think it was the torture that’s changed me. I think it was you. I love you both, but I
need
you.”

And I made him cry. Not, like, tears or anything, of course, but you know. There was definitely moisture in his eyes and he had to clear his throat before he whispered, “Thank you, Danielle.” For a guy that’s basically the same thing.

I’ve never been good with big, serious, mushy-gushy moments. I was absolutely desperate to break the tension so I nudged his shoulder and said, “Plus, you know, Russ doesn’t have any tattoos.”

Gabriel barked out a startled laugh and then kissed me as if he’d been holding back forever and simply couldn’t restrain himself a moment longer. It was the first time he seemed truly desperate for my affection. He was so cute that I started giggling.

Apparently Gabriel wasn’t sharing my playful mood. “Danielle, I am not trying to be funny,” he practically growled as he continued to attack my mouth.

Of course that only made me laugh outright. “You’re right.” I attempted to sober myself. “I’m sorry.” I gave him one good, long kiss and then pulled back with a sigh.

Gabriel understood my thoughts and pulled me back into our makeshift bed. “Get some rest, Danielle.”

I didn’t have to be told twice.

I was standing in a large
round room that looked every bit as medieval gothic as the consulate. The inside was made mostly of stone and the only light came from torches on the walls and the candles lit in the middle of the room.

I’d seen the altar before, in another dream, but it was so much more horrific this time because Gabriel was sprawled out on a stone slab in the middle of the circle. He appeared to be in a deep sleep, which I assumed was spelled.

Then a man draped in a dark cloak so big I couldn’t make out a single feature of his face stepped up to the altar chanting in the same language I used to hear Russ mumbling when he was doing magic. As he said his incantation, one by one candles set at the five points of the star drawn on the floor beneath the altar whooshed to life. After the last one was lit, the cloaked figure pulled out the same dagger the homeless guy had used in my previous vision and slashed Gabriel’s wrists. Gabriel never even flinched.

I gasped, but told myself over and over that this wasn’t real. At least not yet.

Blood poured from Gabriel and spilled into a matching pair of golden chalices. A sudden wind from nowhere whipped about the room and everything began to shake.

The cloaked figure disappeared behind a tall red velvet curtain and left Gabriel alone and dying on that altar to face what I assumed would be the Angel of Death. Just as a thick dark cloud of smoke formed above Gabriel the vision ended and I sat up so fast I smacked my head on something very hard.

It took me a minute to remember where I was and then the bright yellow plastic surrounding me came into focus. I was in a park with Gabriel. We’d separated from Alex and Russ and collapsed here for what little was left of the night. The sun was bright enough now that I guessed it must be past the early morning hours and working it’s way toward afternoon.

Obviously Gabriel hadn’t shared my vision. Not only can a seer never witness their own fate—unless that seer happens to be me—but Gabriel was still so deep in sleep that he hadn’t noticed my return to consciousness.

He looked so peaceful I hated to wake him but his impending death took precedence and I shook his shoulder. “Gabriel.”

A half conscious Gabriel saw me, pulled me down against him, nuzzled his face in my neck, and went back to sleep.

I shook him again. “No, Gabriel, wake up.”

“Must I?”

“If you don’t want to be sacrificed,” I snapped.

Gabriel responded to the worry in my voice and became alert. “What is it?”

“Something’s changed,” I said, climbing out of the play structure in a panic. “Something we did has changed everything!”

Gabriel followed me to solid ground and stretched his tall body before resting his hands on my shoulders. “Danielle, calm yourself. What did you see?”

I looked up into his dark beautiful eyes so full of life, and forced back a lump in my throat. I couldn’t say the awful words, so instead I held out my hand to him and replayed the nightmare.

Gabriel stayed still and silent through the vision and once it was over stared calmly into my eyes. “We will change it, Danielle.”

“How? We don’t have the slightest clue what we’re doing! We’re all alone now. We’ve been trying for days and haven’t done anything at all except make things worse. We’re in over our heads!”

Gabriel regarded me cautiously. He let me have my moment to freak out—which, believe me, I did for at least a good five minutes. He sat down on a bench allowing me to pace back and forth in front of him, ranting about how I was just a stupid nobody from nowhere Pennsylvania and could not be expected to save the world.

Eventually I had no more steam left, and when I sat down next to him he smiled. “Danielle, I am going to ask you to do something that will not be easy for you.”

I looked up at him already defeated. “Saying goodbye to Russ and Alex last night was the hardest thing I have ever had to do. Compared to that, everything will be easy. If you have a plan, by all means share.”

Gabriel gave me a knowing smile and shook his head. “It is time for you to swallow your pride and your resentment. You are right about the two of us being in over our heads. We need the help of the Councilor. We need to go back to the consulate.”

My face turned an angry red and my whole body tingled with intense energy. I had to swallow back my frustration because if I opened my mouth right then I would have bit Gabriel’s head off.

Gabriel knew how angry I was, and how frustrated, but he stared me down with conviction. He was right and he knew it. Unfortunately, I knew it too.

“How did I know you were going to say that?” I grumbled when I could finally speak.

Gabriel’s face brightened and he pulled me into his arms. “Because you are a lot smarter than you give yourself credit for.” He brought my face to his. “You are not nobody, Danielle. You are—”

I kissed him before he could get all mushy on me again.

He still seemed surprised every time I kissed him. Whether because he still couldn’t believe I wanted to, or it was still so new to him, or because he was simply overwhelmed by how much he enjoyed it, I couldn’t say. But the way he always started out shy and then became utterly ruled by his desire when his hormones kicked in made me melt from the inside out. If he had any idea what I would let him get away with just to be kissed like that, I’d be in serious trouble.

I pulled back gasping for breath. “All right, all right! Let’s go to the freaking consulate before I drag you back in that tube and give you the hands-on version of the birds and the bees lesson.”

Gabriel’s chest was still heaving, and his arms were still pinning my hips against his, but he managed to pull his head back and frown. “The birds and the bees?”

His eyes drifted back to my lips and I shuddered. “Don’t worry. I’m sure I’ll explain that one a lot sooner than is probably ladylike, but we have other things to worry about right now.

. . . . .

We had to walk for an hour to find the nearest train station, but, on the bright side, Alex had been taking us north so we really weren’t that far from the city. In fact, we were back in good old Newark. We’d be at the consulate in half an hour.

Gabriel was more on edge than I’d ever seen him. “I do not like this,” he grumbled as we boarded the busy train.

It was busy enough that there weren’t any available seats, and some guy around my dad’s age dressed in a business suit graciously offered me his, but I had to say no thank you when Gabriel refused to let me get more than a centimeter away from him.

“We are not hidden right now, Danielle,” he whispered. “We really should stay as close to one another as possible.”

If there were room, he would have been pacing the train car, dragging me along without even noticing. At the next stop two seats became available next to one another and I forced him to sit down.

“Gabriel, relax a little. These people are just regular people. Nobody who cares about us has the slightest clue where we are right now. If anything we need to be the most careful once we get to the consulate. That’s where Robert is and we don’t know who else could be working with him.”

Gabriel grimaced. “Yes, I see your point.”

Gabriel threw his arm over my shoulder and had just managed to release the tension from his muscles when suddenly it was my body that went rigid. “What is it?” he asked.

I looked around the train at all the people. Everyone looked completely normal and no one seemed to be paying the least bit of attention to us. That I could tell anyway.

“What is it Danielle?”

I was going to give Gabriel a panic attack if I didn’t answer him. “Are there any other supernaturals on this train besides us?”

Gabriel was startled by my question. “Not in this particular car. Why?”

“Magic,” I whispered. My hand instinctively reached for the amulet resting around my neck. Gabriel looked confused so I elaborated. “The warlock inside me is trying to surface. I feel magic in the air around me.”

Gabriel removed his arm from around my shoulder and grasped my hand. “Are you sure?”

I nodded. “Since I came into my powers, I’ve always been able to feel magic. It’s how I knew the Councilor was a warlock when we met.”

I looked around the train car again and my mind raced. Could it be spelled? Something to keep Gabriel and I trapped in here? Or perhaps to keep other supernaturals out? Could there be someone right here with us, watching us, safely hidden beneath a cloaking spell? The thought made me shudder.

“I think we need to get off this train,” I whispered when felt a slight stir in the air. “Like now.”