Starfire Angels (Starfire Angels: Dark Angel Chronicles Book 1) (24 page)

She had to try again. This time she found
the resonance and thought of what she wanted—last night. A part of
her resisted, but she pushed through it.

Pallin knelt over her, dressed completely in
black, a smirk on his face. ["You're all mine, Keeper. Once we
dispose of the other, you'll come back to Naviketan and face the
machine. But we have some time."]

The images blurred and jumped to him
carrying her through the air. They landed at the Lake farmhouse. He
opened the door and threw her over his shoulder. In the dark house,
he found his way to the basement and flicked on a light switch.
They descended into an unfinished area piled with boxes and
miscellaneous items. A white chest freezer stood out at the bottom
of the stairs.

["Now to set the trap."] Pallin set her down
and tied her wrists with a rope, tossed the loose end over a beam
of the floor supports for the main level above and hoisted her up.
["The bait is ready."]

He prepared an area and waited, using the
freezer as a chair.

Soon Elis appeared, or it had to be him. The
black wings lifting from the shadow at the top of the stairs could
only belong to him. He stepped into the light, they exchanged words
and fought.

When it ended, Elis untied her and lowered
her to the ground. Tears trickled down his cheeks. ["You're safe
now."] He kissed her cheek and held her close. ["I'm sorry."]

He cradled her in his arms and carried her
out, pausing frequently, his breathing heavy. Outside, he lifted
into the night and flew her to Evelyn's back yard. Rather than
taking her to her own home, he carried her inside and up the
stairs, where he laid her in his bed and covered her. Seconds
later, he crashed on the other side of the bed, blood crusting over
a rip in his coat.

Raea woke up from the vision and hugged her
pillow close. Elis cared for her. The way he held her, and kissed
her—he kissed her cheek—said more than his words. Why didn't he
tell her? Or was this something other than the romantic feelings
she had for him? But why would he kiss her cheek and hold her tight
like in the vision if he didn't feel that way?

But the skip. Why had the vision jumped from
the early moments after her collapse to later? Was there something
the Starfire didn't want her to see? Maybe she should leave it
alone. If Pallin did something to her, it might be better not to
know.

No. She had to try again.

The vision still skipped. Why?

What did it mean? Did the Starfire fail
her?

Elis might know. And now she wanted to see
him more than ever. Did he like her as more than a friend? Why had
he kissed her?

She wouldn't rest until she knew. Her
feelings for him pushed her to the hope inspired by the vision. She
rushed from her room through an empty house. Everyone had left for
church.

Like earlier that morning, she slipped her
shoes on, and without tying them, stepped out into the chilly air.
A quick race down the steps and across the lawn brought her to the
front door of the yellow house.

Raea knocked once and paused. If Debbie was
at church, Evelyn would be too. They attended the same church. It
was one of the reasons Raea rarely went—Elis always joined Evelyn,
and Raea had always hoped to avoid him.

Until now.

When no one answered, she let herself in.
Evelyn never locked her door when she was home, unlike Debbie and
Mike. She still believed in trusting her neighbors.

Nothing stirred. Had Elis gone with
Evelyn?

"Elis?"

Nothing. He wouldn't have left the house,
not with his injuries.

Oh, God. What if he started bleeding? What
if he laid unconscious from the loss of blood?

She kicked off her shoes and rushed up the
stairs. Through the open crack of his door, she saw him sleeping
with his back to the door. His side rose and fell with his steady
breathing. Thank God.

Raea tip-toed into the room and crept around
the bed to the far side. Wow. He looked so peaceful. So calm and
relaxed. He really did look like a sleeping angel.

A sleeping angel with a long strip of gauze
taped to his side and another on the leading edge of one black
wing. Now, if she knew how to heal, she could help him.

His relaxed expression teased a smile from
her. She loved it. That face. That gentle face hidden by a thick
shag of hair he didn't keep trim. It always gave him a dark look,
except when he smiled.

Oh, man. She really did like him. Maybe even
more now that she had seen how much he cared for her. Pallin had
been too good to be true, beautiful on the outside but a monster on
the inside, only out to trap her. But Elis cared, really cared, and
she had refused to look beyond the outside to see the beauty
within.

Raea sat down on the edge of the bed by his
chest and brushed away strands of black hair from his cheek. Not
even stubble? Didn't he grow facial hair? Why would he? An odd
assumption, but while they might both look human, neither of them
were. Their kind had evolved on a different world, one she had
never seen except in the visions. Maybe one day, when it was safe,
he'd take her there. She'd like to know where her mother was from,
the place he also called home.

Where angels lived.

He sighed heavily and moved his arm until he
bumped against her.

"Wake up, sleepy."

His brows pinched together and he looked up.
"Raea? What're you doing back so soon?"

"Soon? Evelyn's out for church. It's after
ten."

"It is?" He twisted to look at the clock on
the nightstand. " I feel like we just talked." He rubbed his eyes,
brushing his hair back into a mess.

"How's the wound?" She didn't want to talk
about the vision, not yet.

Elis pulled back the blankets. A faint red
colored the gauze down the middle. His muscling was different than
what she had seen on her cousins and uncle when they went topless.
She never saw much difference on herself, but she never studied the
change in musculature while she had wings, despite the tightening
of her clothes.

"You need that changed?" A good excuse to
stick around, until she built the courage to say what she really
wanted to say.

"It's fine."

"No. Stay here." Raea stood. No way would he
get out of taking care of himself. He had done so much more for
her. At least he could let her help him. If he was going to be
stubborn, she had to act fast. "Bathroom. Right?"

"I'll be fine."

"No. It needs changing," she called back
from outside his door.

"Raea—" Heavy steps followed after her. "I
just covered it a few hours ago. It doesn't need changing."

She searched the cabinet above the toilet
and under the sink and finally found the First Aid kit. "Aha! Now—"
She stood and turned.

And caught her breath. He should have stayed
in bed. It would be easier to change his bandages while he was
laying down, and there was barely room for two people to squeeze
by, without wings, in the cramped bathroom.

"Leave it. I'll take care of it later." He
tried to take the plastic case, but she held on. He would not get
out of this. That bandage was filling with blood, more since he
stood.

"No. I'll take care of it now so you can
help me. I'm having trouble seeing parts of last night."

He hesitated. "The Starfire's holding
back?"

"Something is." What could she say? He
looked just as confused. But she didn't want to think about it
right now. "You still need changing. I mean, look at this…" She
reached toward the reddening center of the gauze.

He grabbed her hand. "Don't. It's fine. It's
not important."

"Yes, it is."

"No. It's not."

"Yes. It is." Man. He pissed her off with
his macho attitude.

Stalemate. He had both her hands busy. She
couldn't get the kit away from him. How could she make him sit
still?

"Dammit, Elis! Just let me help. You don't
have to do everything yourself." She let her breath out in a
huff.

His hold on her hand loosened, and he let go
of the plastic case.

"Good. Now, do you want me to do this with
you standing or lying down? Personally, this bathroom's a little
crowded, but it's your choice." Not that she minded being close to
him, but this was about treating his wound. She wasn't ready to
talk about
them
.

His shoulders dropped. "Lying down."

"Good." He'd given in. For a second, she
wasn't sure he would. She followed him back to the bedroom, where
he laid on his back with the wings out to either side. Raea sat
down next to him and opened the kit.

"I was able to see last night, most of
it."

"I'm not surprised. You've become pretty
adept at finding the resonance."

Raea peeled off the tape, noting the
tightening of his muscles by the definition around them when he
flinched. He might not be hairy like her uncle—why couldn't Mike
keep his shirt on in summer?—but even she knew how wound tape could
hurt coming off and tried to rip it off quickly.

"It showed me what happened." There. She
pulled off one end. Now to peel back the gauze and the tape along
the long sides.

"What did you see?" He winced.

She knew why. The blood had crusted to the
gauze as if he hadn't cleaned it properly. Oh, man. She hated the
sight of blood. But he really did need this.
Deep breath. Okay.
Keep talking. Don't think about the blood.

"I saw Pallin over me in the hotel room,
then it jumped ahead to him flying with me to the farmhouse and
everything after that." Everything after, including Elis's kiss.
Oh, how she wanted to ask him directly. But the right words
wouldn't come. Instead, she focused on changing his bandage.

The last of the gauze peeled off. With a
quick yank, Raea pulled the tape. "Jeez, Elis. This is messy."

"I know." He didn't look at her or what she
did but stared at the ceiling.

"Wait here. I'm going to get a washcloth and
clean it up." He better stay this time. She hurried to soak a
washcloth—a dark one to be sure, as Debbie would have scolded her
for staining a good, light one with blood—and returned to him still
lying on his back. At least he knew what was good for him.

Raea wiped off the crusty blood around the
cut. It wasn't as deep as she feared, but she couldn't tell with
the dark scab filling the cut. "You know, for such a small thing,
that's a lot of blood."

"Yeah. But we heal faster than humans. In a
couple weeks I
might
have a scar."

Only a couple weeks? That was fast. Guilt
tempered her surprise, although she wasn't too surprised given her
own experiences growing up. But he had received the cut by
protecting her. That left a bitter taste of guilt. "I'm sorry about
this. If it wasn't for me, you'd be all right." She finished
cleaning the cut and pulled out a length of gauze from the roll in
the kit.

"It could have been worse. I'm alive.
You're
alive. That's what matters."

"Yeah." He was. But it didn't take away all
her guilt. She covered the wound in fresh gauze and pulled out the
tape. "I should have taken Josh with me like he offered."

"Why? Weren't you going to be with Pallin?"
Was that bitterness she heard in his voice?

"Yeah, to tell him I didn't want to see him
again. He never called. He never returned my calls. Or at least,
not very quickly. He never even offered to hold my hand, in case
you didn't notice. Now I know why—he didn't really care. But before
last night, I thought he just wasn't, like, serious, because he
would be leaving soon. And if he..." She couldn't finish the
statement and choked on the disgust of what she didn't want to
know.

She hurried to finish taping the fresh gauze
without saying anything more. Elis said nothing as she worked, nor
when she packed up the kit and carried it away.

When she came back, he was standing and
stretching his arms. Black wings spread open as far as the walls
allowed. The tape pulled off in a couple places.

"Elis. Hold still." If she didn't know
better, she'd think he did that on purpose. She hurried to his side
and pressed the tape back down. "I probably should get more tape. I
didn't expect it to come off like that. But if you hadn't
stretched, it wouldn't be a problem."

"It's fine."

"No." She pressed the tape down, making sure
it stayed stuck to his skin.

"Raea." He grabbed her hands away. "It's
good."

"But—"

"Really." He fought her attempt to try
again. "I
can
take care of myself."

I know, but...I have to do something.
Something so she didn't have to look him in the eyes. She couldn't
look without her emotions overflowing. And if he didn't share the
feelings the Starfire inspired in her...

The Starfire entities had been right all
along. The one time she and Pallin had accidentally touched, the
voices screamed in discord, a warning that they knew what he was.
Yet when Elis had first touched her, they showed her loving scenes.
They made her wings grow that first time. They showed her what she
needed to know. They helped her to understand what she was.

But they couldn't control her. She still had
the power to choose. Or did she? Maybe she had chosen long ago but
wasn't ready to face it. Maybe they had only shown her what she had
denied—a hidden curiosity about Elis.

Raea sighed and hung her head. "But it's all
my fault. I went to his hotel. I let him catch me. I told myself he
liked me. I wanted to believe that. I trusted him. I..." She
sniffed back the turmoil rising up. Oh, God. Not the tears again.
Why was this so difficult? "I didn't want you to get hurt. I never
thought...If I had trusted you, trusted myself... Instead I told
myself I didn't like the person who's kindness and patience meant
more than all the fake charm in the world. Someone who was always
there, and I was mean and cruel and...and I let myself be blinded."
Nothing sounded right. "I'm sorry."