Earth Angel (The Kamlyn Paige Novels) (12 page)

“I think I can handle whatever it is.”

He loosened up again, smiling. His voice was
relaxed as he talked. I had met him no more than a few days ago and only truly
found out who he was last night, but I felt as if I’d known him my whole life.
The only time I felt comfortable lately was in his presence and that made me
nervous. Getting close to someone was never a good idea for me, even if he wasn’t
a normal human man.

“I was an archangel,” he said to my surprise. I
wasn’t quite sure what the term meant, but it sounded important. “But I, along
with about two hundred others began to…lust after humans. When our desires, and
in some cases our actions, were made public we were banished.”

“If the female angels are anything close to as
beautiful as you are, why would you even want a normal girl?” I asked without
thinking.

My face began to burn again as he looked up at me
from underneath his long lashes. What was I thinking? Oh yea, I wasn’t. I’d
just admitted I found him attractive. I must be crazy.

“You think I’m beautiful?” he asked as a smile crept
slowly across his face.

I looked down at the comforter, humiliated.

“I didn’t mean….I wasn’t saying…” I muttered,
trying to save myself from embarrassment, but failed.

He saw my bright red face and started talking
again, to spare me any further humiliation I figured.

“We fell to Earth, having nowhere else to go, and
did our best to blend in with the people of this world. But still feeling the
desire to defend over evil, we became watchers. We found self sacrificing
people who gave up everything to save others and protected them from harm so
they could continue to do good in this world. As time went on, though, more and
more people became aware of all the darkness out there. When we learned of the
humans’ desires to fight against these destructive souls, we taught the
self-sacrificing to defeat their nightmares. Now, all of the fallen angels are
assigned to watch over hunters of importance,” he concluded.

Hunters of importance apparently included me. But
why was I considered so important? I started hunting not more than a year ago
and I wasn’t so self-sacrificing. The whole motive behind my work was for
personal revenge.

“Why would all this bother me?” I asked, a little
confused by his humorless tone.

“Well, when I was assigned to you, I took a little
time to observe your past,” he explained. “I saw your entire life and how much
pain you have gone through,” he said casually as I stared at him in disbelief.

While he continued, I realized just how powerful
angels really were. They could do just about anything they wanted to. Sari knew
more about me than I ever imagined. The thought of someone witnessing my most
intimate memories made me angry. It was an invasion of privacy, even if he was
sent here to watch after me.

“Tell me why angels like humans so much,” I
demanded, trying to return the conversation back to what we had been discussing
before.

He quickly snapped back into explanation mode to my
relief. I was ready to find out why I had been chosen to be followed around.

“Well, it’s like you said, to humans angels are
beyond beautiful and perfect because we are something completely unnatural. The
same goes for us and how we see you,” he reasoned, carefully choosing his
words.

Did he really mean me? Or was he referring to all
humans? It was hard for me to tell the way he was staring at me. After a short
moment of awkward silence, a string of questions popped into my head. The story
was not complete yet.

“So how come when I told Don you were an angel, he
didn’t believe me?” I asked as he lay down on the pillow and put his hands
behind his head. I rested my elbows on the pillow next to his, laying on my
side as I propped my head up in my hand. “He’s the one who taught me everything
I know,” I reasoned more to myself than to Sari. “He has to be important, too.”

Sari closed his eyes and let his breath escape him
slowly. While he lay there, contemplating how to continue, I became consumed in
his deep, soft eyes. He turned onto his side to face me and looked down at the
comforter underneath us.

“This is the part you won’t like,” he said quietly.

I looked at him with wide eyes, nodding my head to
signal for him to continue. The suspense was building up inside me. I was
afraid I wouldn’t be able to handle it like he said.

“As I said before, all of us watchers were banished
for our…fascination with humans. Some of the angels had acted on their desires,
though, and formed
relationships
.” As he said the word ‘relationships’,
he widened his eyes and raised his eyebrows, stressing a hidden meaning. It
slowly registered in my busy brain what he meant exactly.

“So you mean to tell me there are people out there
who are half angel?” I asked in great interest.

I wondered if I had ever come across one of these
angel-people hybrids without even knowing it. Even a man half as beautiful as
Sari would be more enticing than any normal man.

“Long ago we all made a pact to never lust again.
We hoped that in doing so we would be forgiven and invited to return home. All
of the people who had been born half angel are long gone by now,” he said,
still averting his eyes from mine.

I wondered why any of this was supposed to be of
interest to me. What did half angels who lived thousands of years ago have to
do with me?

“What did these angel people look like?” I
questioned, not sure what I should be asking about.

Sari raised his gaze slowly to stare into my
confused eyes. A tingle spread through my entire body. The corners of his
perfectly formed lips turned upwards as if I’d triggered the memory of an
inside joke.

“Well, we called them ‘Earth angels’ and they
blended in with normal humans better than we did,” he started, leaning in
closer towards me. “But they were still more beautiful than most.”

I tried my best to focus on the words coming out of
Sari’s mouth rather than the smoothness of his lips. He continued as I forced
my gaze up to his eyes. The last thing I needed was for him to see me drooling
over him.

“Earth angels had the best of both worlds; human
qualities which attracted the supernatural and angel qualities which attracted
the regular humans.”

He stopped talking for a moment to brush a stray
hair from my eyes before continuing. I felt as if I were unable to breathe
while his soft fingers followed the curve of my ear slowly. His skin was hard
to the touch, but warm and inviting.

“Most of them went through life without ever
realizing what they really were, but they were always drawn to protecting
others.”

He took his gaze away from me and looked back down
at the maroon flowered bedspread. He opened his mouth several times before
pushing himself to get to the point of his story.

“I’ve found one among us.”

*

We sat in silence as he let me process what he had
just said, but it took a while for my common sense to kick in. Suddenly, it
clicked. I sat up abruptly, realization spreading across my face.

“Are you saying
I’m
half angel?” I asked as
I backed away from him.

He looked up at me with sympathetic eyes before
staring back down at his clasped hands. It was more than enough answer for me.
My jaw dropped. I stood up and paced around the room, trying to make sense of
it all. My breathing became short and rapid as a million questions ran through
my head.

“Does that mean my dad wasn’t really my dad?” I
shouted, thinking about the man I knew my whole life as my father.

I had always thought my dad and I were so much
alike and that there was an undeniable resemblance between us. I guess I had
just seen what I wanted to, though. Sari sat up slowly, resting his back
against the wooden headboard. He seemed to be waiting patiently for me to calm
down. And I thought he knew me well. The anger built up more inside me and I
decided to take it out on the messenger.

“Don’t just sit there! Say something!” I yelled as
I waved my arms around in frustration.

I knew that screaming at Sari wasn’t going to
change anything, but it was helping my anxiety. He stood up quickly before I
could say another word, towering over me. Had he always been that tall or was
it an angelic illusion? I looked up at him and felt as if the anger in me was going
to start shooting straight out of my eyeballs. I felt ambushed. The only reason
he thought I was so special was because I was some long lost link between the
human world and his world. Well, too bad. I wasn’t going to be a part of
whatever it was he wanted me for. I had my own problems to deal with.

“I don’t know who your real father is,” he admitted
genuinely. “Some angel broke the pact twenty-five years ago and no one ever
caught him.”

I stood in silence, trying to grasp the fact that
my real father was not human. I looked down at my feet, kicking at some
invisible object on the floor, trying to fight back my tears of anger. I didn’t
want to let Sari see me cry, though apparently he already had in my past.

“Yes we were assigned to hunters to protect them,
but also to find the Earth Angel. Once we did, we were instructed to turn them
in.”

His voice grew urgent and he stepped closer to me.

“I’m the only one who knows what you really are,
Kamlyn,” he said, gripping my shoulders with both hands. “If any of the other
watchers found out, they’d…get rid of you.”

Get rid of me? I thought angels were supposed to be
pure and good! Apparently fallen angels will do anything to be invited back in,
though, even if it meant killing the only evidence of their supposed ‘sins’. If
there were no half angels walking around, then there would be no proof someone
had broken the pact.

“So, go ahead. Turn me in,” I said with malice.

I knew he was too good to be true. He took my hand
in his gently. It felt incredibly warm and soft.

“I should have the minute I realized what you were,
but I didn’t,” he said in a low, burning voice. “I hesitated in my curiosity
and now that I know you, I’m finding it impossible to follow orders.”

I looked up at his warm face and all my anger
melted away.

“What are you going to do, then?” I asked, still
unsure what was going to happen to me.

He let go of my hand and backed away from me. His
face hardened as he glared at me with distress in his eyes. Clearly, his
decision was already made. I stared down at my black and white sneakers, waiting
to hear my fate.

“I’m going to lie. I’m going to tell them that
after watching you, it is obvious you are not an Earth angel.”

I raised my head in complete surprise.

“Won’t they know you’re lying?”

I wasn’t quite sure if I was confusing angels with Santa,
but weren’t they aware of everything and always watching?

“What reason would they have not to trust my word
and check on someone I’ve already eliminated?” he said, moving forward again to
close the space between us.

I should have been feeling relieved that he didn’t
want to hand me over to certain death, but a part of me felt the urge to argue
his decision. I knew I should have stayed away from him at all cost. No good
ever came from me getting close to other people, even if they weren’t
technically human. Of all the things I had to worry about, an angel shouldn’t
have been at the top of my list.

“What would they do to you if they found out you
had lied to them?” I asked, not sure I wanted to know the answer.

Thoughts of the horror he’d endure at my expense
filled my head and caused my eyes to brim with tears. Once I know, that would
be it. There would be no forgetting, no turning back. We would be in this
together, against all my better judgment.

“They’d kill me,” he said shortly as he took my
hand again.

“Why would you put yourself in danger like that,
for me?” I stammered in confusion and awe.

He bit his bottom lip. Seeing him so vulnerable
sent a tingling sensation throughout my body.

“You’re different from every single thing in
existence, do you realize that? You can do things that no one else can do,” he
said in astonishment at my lack of understanding. “I will protect you no matter
what it takes.”

My head was spinning. I wasn’t sure how to process
any of this. What was going to happen to either of us if the rest of the
watchers found out? Would the world really be all that different if I didn’t
exist? And why was Sari feeling so protective of me? As if reading my mind,
Sari answered the last question going through my head.

“I’ve witnessed everything that has ever happened
in your life, Kamlyn. I know you better than you know yourself because I’ve
retained every single moment, every reaction…” he placed a single finger under
my chin to gently lift my eyesight up to his. “…every glance you’ve ever given,
it is all with me.”

His eyes were soft and tender, staring fixedly into
mine. The space between us disappeared slowly as he leaned closer into me. The
proximity of his warm body sent my heart racing. My breathing grew deeper until
he was just inches from my face. His sweet breath filled my nostrils. I closed
my eyes, trying to savor his delicious smell when it started to fade. I opened
my eyes again to see him standing next to the bed.

“There
is
an upside to all of this,” Sari
said, picking up the tempo of his voice. “You have certain abilities that come
with your genes and the more you learn, the faster your hibernating powers will
awaken in ways you never thought possible.”

I thought about what he said and remembered my
extraordinary experience in Whitman. I knew what I’d done to Alli had been
special, but I thought it had been an ability I acquired from being in spirit
form. I’d seen ghosts do some pretty unbelievable things when threatened. I had
let myself believe the white ball I conjured was just a result of my strong
hatred and will to live. Then I remembered how I had gotten the idea to do it
in the first place.