Angel Reborn, page 13
“And you don’t think giving it to Zeck will raise those same questions?”
He stretched his arms out to his sides with his palms flat on the granite, and then he crossed one ankle over the other. “I have no problem telling Zeck I can’t give him the answers. Although, I still think we should. The more he knows, the more help he can be to us. We confided in Noelle, and I trust Zeck every bit as much as I trust her. More so, in fact.”
“I know you do.” I rubbed my hands over my face in frustration. “I just can’t shake the feeling that I’m not supposed to tell anyone. At all. And I know that sounds nuts, but it’s literally like there’s a voice in my head warning me not to say anything. I’ve never felt a conviction this strong, so I can’t just ignore it.”
“All right. But I would still like to have him run the tests on the arrow, if you’re comfortable with that.”
“Yeah. I guess. I’m sorry to put you in this position. You know, asking you to hide things or keep secrets for me. Ironic, I suppose.”
“Don’t be sorry.” He stepped forward, crossing the short distance to the counter where I sat. Nestling in between my knees, he tucked his thumb beneath my chin to tip my face up to his. “What you need will always come first. We’re a team, remember? I’ve got your back, and you’ve got mine. Always.”
He bent to kiss me, his tongue soft and gentle as it prodded my lips open. His exploration was a tender caress as he held my face in his hands, and a wellspring of love bubbled up inside me.
This was what mattered. This and that little girl upstairs. Whatever we were facing and whatever my body was going through, we were strong enough to withstand it. We’d survived Nick becoming a vampire, so surely, we could make it through this.
Desperate to convey the depth of my emotions, I shifted my head to take the lead in our kiss, digging my heels into the backs of his thighs as I wrapped my arms around his neck.
At first, he responded by gripping my hips, jerking me forward on the counter so that I was snug against him, but then he pulled his mouth from mine with a swear.
“What?” I asked. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing’s wrong. It’s just that when you kiss me like that, I want to lay you back on this counter and bury myself inside you, but the timing is less than ideal. Beyond the fact that Sage or Angie could come walking in at any moment, I need to call Zeck back, and I made a promise to the little redhead upstairs that I’d be back up shortly to do a puzzle with her. But I will certainly take a raincheck if you’re willing to offer one.”
“Are you sure I can’t convince you to stay?” I leaned forward and darted my tongue across his bottom lip as my hand dipped to cup him through his jeans.
“Oh, you’re playing dirty, Angel. You know I can’t resist you.”
Our kiss picked right back up at the same level of passion, but I knew he was right about the timing, so I released him, laughing as I shoved playfully at his chest. “You’re too easy, you know. You could at least try resisting.”
“Why on earth would I want to do that?” With one last quick kiss and a squeeze of my hips, he stepped back to pull his phone from his pocket.
“Hey,” I said, hopping down from the counter. “What about that Francesca woman?”
“What about her?”
“You said your dad had promoted her recently and gotten rid of his long-term guy. She’s head of security, right?”
“For the VCBI portion of the compound, yes.”
“So obviously he trusted her, but I get the idea that you don’t. As head of security, she’d certainly have access to get people in and out, and she was the one running the lockdown and approving everyone coming and going last night. She could have allowed whoever she wanted to get in and then escape without being detected. And if she’s heading up the investigation, she could just delete whatever might incriminate her.”
“It’s not that simple. Every security checkpoint has time stamps. Records. The cameras have back-ups. She wouldn’t be able to erase all that without someone knowing. Besides that, Francesca answers to Graeco. He is head of security for the Gilde, and believe me, he is watching her every step. My mother does not tolerate any disloyalty within her ranks. If someone from within has betrayed us, Graeco will find them. And God help them when he does.”
Fourteen
Aria
“You sure you’re okay with me heading out?” Angie asked as I loaded the lunch plates into the dishwasher. “I can still make arrangements to stay if you want me to.”
I much preferred that she stay with us so I could see for myself that she was safe, but there hadn’t been any activity at her place since the men in the suits had left the night before, and she was antsy to get back home and get back to her routine.
“I’m sure. I know you have places to be and things to do. But you’ll call if you see anything unusual, right?”
“Yes. Nick gave me the security lead’s phone number, and he said I’m to let them know if I have any problem. I still can’t believe he put together an all-female security team for me. I didn’t mean for him to do that.”
“He wanted to. You were right when you told him the women at the Community Center and the shelter might get spooked by seeing strange men lurking about. Hopefully, they won’t be as triggered if they happen to see another woman. Though Nick says they will blend in and probably won’t get noticed at all.”
“We’ll see. I hope this all gets resolved soon so none of this is needed.”
“You and me both. And so does Nick. He feels awful about all this.”
“I know he does. He’s carrying a lot on his shoulders. Be sure you cut him some slack wherever you can. He’s a good man.”
I turned and smiled at her, and then I wrapped my arms around her shoulders. “I know he is, but I’m glad you see that he is. I love you, Ang.”
“I love you too. And I feel bad leaving you here, but I feel bad abandoning those who are depending on me elsewhere.”
“Don’t you feel bad at all on my account,” I said as I released her. “I’m good.”
“Are you? Really?”
Her eyes narrowed and she cocked an eyebrow in a sure sign that she detected more than she’d let on.
“Yes, I’m fine. Really,” I lied, hoping she wouldn’t call me on it. There were things I couldn’t share with her. Not yet, anyway.
“I know you’re keeping something from me. I could tell last night you were holding back, and you haven’t been able to meet my eyes for more than a second all day today. And you’ve been even more jumpy after you and Nick met with his friend. You hardly ate any of the pizza Zeck brought.
I grinned, not at all surprised to be busted. I’d never been able to keep secrets from Angie. “I was still full from breakfast! We had enough food left over to feed an army. He didn’t have to bring lunch.”
“Ariadne, listen to me.” She took my hand and stepped closer. “I trust that you have your reasons for whatever you’re keeping secret, but I want to know that you’re all right.”
“I am.” I fought to hold onto the grin. “There’s just a lot going on. I’ll tell you more when I know more, okay?”
Crossing her arms over her stomach, Angie stared at me, her forehead creased with worry. “Should I stay?”
“No. You have things you need to do. I’m fine. I swear.”
I tried to flash my most convincing smile, even though my thoughts were a tangled mess of worry and anxiety.
I didn’t know what to make of Noelle’s alarm about what she, Zeck, and Nick had sensed in me. Earlier while I was in the bathroom upstairs, curiosity had gotten the best of me, and I’d pressed a razor to the inside of my ankle, just hard enough to break the skin. I’d hoped the mark would linger and then eventually scab over, a sign that the inexplicable power within me was starting to wane. But instead, the thin red lines had begun to seal almost immediately. Within a couple of minutes, there was no sign at all that the skin had ever been broken. It happened even faster than it had with the injuries from the crossbow bolt or the puncture wounds from Nick’s bite on my neck.
Granted, I’d pulled the razor away at the first sting of pain, so it was a much more superficial wound than the others, but still…it seemed that my body’s self-healing properties were strengthening rather than waning.
“Mom?” Sage called out as she entered the kitchen carrying her empty plate in one hand and an empty glass in the other. “How come we never have soda at home? Soda is great.”
I smiled at the smudge of pizza sauce on her chin and the vivid mustache the orange drink had created above her upper lip.
She might have been enamored of Zeck this morning at breakfast, but she’d become his best friend for life when he showed up with pizza and sodas for lunch.
Grabbing a napkin from the stack on the counter, I took her plate and put it in the sink, and then I wiped the sauce from her chin. “Because soda isn’t something that’s healthy to have all the time. It’s better as a sometimes treat.”
She held the glass up. “Can I have more, please?”
“I think you’ve had enough sugar for now. You’ve had more sweets today than you do in a month at home.”
She handed over her glass to Angie’s outstretched hand, and then she began to dance around as Angie dumped the ice cubes and put the glass in the dishwasher,
“Can we stay at this house forever?”
“No, sweetie,” I said as I began to consolidate the leftover pizza into one box. “We have to go back home to our house.”
“But isn’t this our house too? I’ve got a bed here, and so do you.”
“Yeah, I guess it kinda is, but it’s not home.”
“When are we going home?”
“I don’t know yet.” I closed the lid on the remaining pizza box and put it in the fridge. “We may be here a few more days.”
“Are you gonna be here too, Nangie?”
“No, sweetheart. Your daddy is taking me home as soon as he gets done outside.”
“But don’t you like this house?”
“Yes, it’s a very nice house. But I like my house too, and I have things I need to do there.”
“I’d rather stay here forever and ever.” Sage twirled with her arms outstretched. “I like that this house has a pool, and it has three places to be and ours only has two.”
Angie and I exchanged a confused look, but then I thought perhaps I understood.
“Three stories, you mean?”
“Yeah.”
“Speaking of going home,” Angie said, “I think I’ll head upstairs and get my things together so I’ll be ready when he says we can go.”
I watched her leave the room, and a sad longing filled me. I wanted to ask her to stay with me, but that was selfish. There were other people who needed her, and there was nothing she could do to help my situation. There wasn’t anything anyone could do to help me.
“Can we go swimming?” Sage asked as she continued to dance around.
“Maybe later.” I looked toward the window and wondered if the drones were still flying above us to keep watch for intruders on the ground and in the sky.
Anger flared in my gut, and the few bites of pizza I’d managed to get down felt like burning coals.
I hated feeling helpless. I hated knowing the people I loved were in danger and there was nothing I could do. I hated not knowing what was happening to me. I hated that Angie was leaving and that Sage was being held captive here, being fed sugar and excuses because I felt too guilty to tell her no.
Sage needed normalcy. She needed to be safe without bodyguards and drones surrounding her at all times. She needed to sleep in her own bed in her own house and go to school like any normal six-year-old. Whatever conflict we’d been dragged into had nothing to do with my daughter, and she deserved better than living like a fugitive in hiding. Even if she did seem to be enjoying herself at the moment.
As I stewed over the injustice of Sage’s situation, I reached to turn on the water so I could rinse her lunch plate. The faucet lever broke off in my hand, and at first, I thought perhaps it had been loose and came off. But when I looked down, the metal itself was broken, and the piece I held had warped to fit the shape of my palm.
Dropping it into the sink with a loud curse, I took a step back and rubbed my hand over my hip, bewildered.
“What happened, Mommy?” Sage asked from the window.
“Uh, nothing, baby. The faucet broke.”
I broke the faucet.
That was impossible. The metal had to be faulty somehow. Perhaps it had been cracked, and I just happened to pull on it at the wrong angle. But that didn’t explain why it looked like it had molded to my hand.
“Can I watch Clifford? Please?”
“Yeah, okay. Do you know how to use the remote?”
“Yep. Nangie showed me.”
She ran out of the room, blissful at scoring screen time while under the effects of a soda sugar rush.
I stared at the metal piece in the sink, and then I stared at my hand, which was trembling.
What in the hell was happening to me?
The door leading from outside into the laundry room opened, and Nick entered, followed by Zeck.
“Let me get something to put it in,” Nick said as they walked through the laundry room and into the kitchen. “I don’t know how much good it will do at this point. I should have put it in something last night to keep it from getting compromised or contaminated, but with everything else going on, it slipped my mind.” Then, spotting me, he said, “Hey, babe.”
Glancing at Zeck, I forced a smile before replying to Nick. “Hey.”
“Where are those boxes they brought the food containers in this morning? Did you already flatten them?”
“No. I didn’t see a recycle bin in the garage, so I wasn’t sure what to do with them. I stacked them over there by the table.”
“Okay. I want to see if there is one that would be a good size to hold this bolt. Zeck’s going to take it to get tested.”
Setting the crossbow arrow on the counter, he moved past me to the cardboard boxes.
I stood transfixed as I stared at the piece of metal that had pierced my heart and temporarily ended my life. That was my blood dried on its shaft.
With a morbid fascination, I reached and picked it up.
The moment I touched it, my arm felt heavy, and a numbness crept up through my fingers and past my wrist.
I blinked, and I was no longer standing in the kitchen with Nick and Zeck.
I was back on the roof, but somehow higher up than I’d been before because I was looking down on the garden terrace. A woman in an evening gown came through the glass doors at the other end, and everything went dizzy for a moment as I recognized my own face.
A man crawled forward beneath me, and I jumped, startled at his presence. He was lying on his stomach on the roof of the small structure where I stood. In his hands, he held a crossbow, and the arrow I’d just picked up from the kitchen counter was lying in the center channel, aimed at the unsuspecting other me.
He slid his thumb back, releasing the safety on the bow, and I tried to yell out, to give myself a warning as odd as that seemed, but I had no voice, and when I looked down, I had no form.
I heard him take a breath and hold it, steadying himself to make the shot.
But then, Nick emerged from those same glass doors, and I tried again to yell, to stop what was to come.
The man hesitated as Nick moved toward the other me, and then he swore softly. “Dammit.”
Lifting his head, he peered across the roof at us, but then he lowered his eye to the scope again. There was no hesitation now.
His finger pulled the trigger before Nick could reach the other me, and I watched the arrow I’d held in my hand soar toward my heart.
Screaming in silent horror, I saw it find its target, and then Nick screamed my name as the other me fell.
The man beneath me began to load his second bolt, and I screamed at him to stop. With no body, I was helpless to prevent his shot, so I clenched my eyes shut, not wanting to see Nick be hit.
“Aria!”
Nick’s voice was much closer this time, and his arms had closed around me, strong and solid.
I opened my eyes, expecting to see the night sky above me, but instead there was a ceiling.
Nick was holding me, his face contorted with concern, and Zeck was crouched next to me on the other side.
“Mommy?” Sage cried out, and I turned my head to see her standing at the end of the island, her green eyes wide with fearful concern.
“She’s all right,” Nick said to her. “Mommy’s all right.”
Somehow, I was lying on the floor, my head and shoulders propped against Nick’s chest.
Though my heart was still racing from the scene I’d just witnessed and my thoughts were scrambled, my first instinct was to comfort Sage.
“I’m okay, Sweet Cakes.”
I moved to sit up, and Nick placed his arm beneath my shoulders to help me.
“I’m okay,” I repeated, and then I reached for my daughter, who ran into my arms immediately. She nestled into me only for a moment before pulling back to look into my eyes.
“Why did you scream?”
“What happened?” Angie asked as she came running into the room, her eyes as wild with worry as Sage’s.
I had no idea what had happened, and what I did know wasn’t something I could explain to a six-year-old. I didn’t even know how to explain it to the three adults who were all watching me with wary eyes.
“I sort of had a bad dream,” I said to Sage.
“Were you sleeping in the kitchen?”
“Something like that. I’m sorry if I frightened you. Sorry if I frightened everyone.”
“That’s okay.” She pushed off me to stand. “I’m sorry you had a bad dream. What’s that?”
She pointed to the arrow lying on the floor next to me, and I shuddered at the sight of it.
“It’s an arrow,” Nick said, picking it up to put it on the counter. He stood and helped me up as Angie came and put her arms around Sage.
