Angel Reborn, page 16
There was no way I could relax. I didn’t even feel comfortable going under or getting too far away from the side when I was in the water.
I feared not only the possibility that some intruder would break in and try to finish what was started on the rooftop the night before but also that some bloodthirsty vampire would disregard their orders and come wandering in to make my daughter their afternoon snack.
On top of those very valid and terrifying concerns, I was also nervous about the whole idea of testing my blood.
Nick had assured me this device of his dad’s was simple to operate and was, in fact, used by patients of labs and facilities all over the world. He said it would be easy for me to pop into the changing room and collect the sample in the device without drawing Sage’s attention at all.
Not that she was paying any attention to me at the moment.
She was utterly captivated by Zeck, who had committed wholeheartedly to being her pool playmate while I sat on the steps at the shallow end and watched the windows and doors in case of attack.
But beyond the actual act of pricking my finger and the insanity of drawing blood at a property filled with vampires, I was beyond anxious about what Nick would find in the analysis.
What was wrong with me? And was there a cure or a fix for it?
And as if all those things weren’t enough to worry about, I couldn’t shake the feeling that it was wrong to allow him—or anyone—to take my blood and test it. I had the strongest conviction that what was happening to me and what was causing it needed to remain a secret.
I felt compelled to the very core of my being to protect that secret, even though I didn’t even understand what the secret was.
But at the same time, I wanted to know. I wanted to understand. I needed to know what was happening to me, and how to prevent it getting worse or putting Sage in further danger.
Which is why I had agreed to let Nick test my blood, against my protesting intuition.
Zeck’s watch rang to signal an incoming call, and as he looked down at his wrist, he frowned.
“Hold on, I gotta take this,” Zeck said to Sage, and then he pressed the watch screen and said to the caller, “Give me a sec to get out of the pool.”
Moving swiftly to the side where his phone lay atop his towel, he pushed himself up and out, and then he pressed his phone to his ear as he wiped his face with the towel.
“What’s up?” His frown deepened, and he quickly scanned the windows surrounding us. “That’s not good. Meet me outside.”
“What’s wrong?” I asked as he began to walk toward the double doors.
“Stay here.”
“What’s happened? What’s wrong?” I repeated as I stood.
“Hopefully nothing for you to worry about. I’ll be right back.”
“What? Wait! You can’t just leave.”
“I’m not.” He pulled one of the doors opened. “I’m just stepping outside to have a conversation with one of my guys. I’ll be within sight of you the whole time, I swear.”
“At least tell me what’s going on. Do I need to get Sage out of the water?”
“No. It’s nothing dangerous. Just a hiccup to deal with, that’s all.”
I moved to the top step, watching as he stood outside talking to one of the security guards I recognized from his team at our house in Nyack.
“What’s wrong, Mommy?” Sage asked, and I turned back to her with my best effort at a smile.
“Nothing, Sugar Cakes.”
“Watch me. I can hold my breath all the way across the pool.”
Sage went under, and I was torn between the need to watch her and the desire to go open the door and hear what the men were saying.
But suddenly, the strangest prickling began to tingle all over my body. There was a threat approaching, and I didn’t have time to question how I knew.
My gaze was drawn to the three doors at the rear of the room. I knew the one on the right was for the ladies’ dressing room and restroom, where Sage and I had changed into our suits, and beside it was the door to the men’s room. But it was behind the third door, the one farther to the left, that I heard movement, which should be impossible since I was all the way at the other end of the massive room.
It wasn’t like there was loud footsteps or talking or anything that I could define.
I just heard movement, and I knew someone or something was coming.
Every maternal instinct triggered with the need to protect Sage.
She was about halfway across the deep end of the pool and still underwater. Whatever was on the other side of that door was closer to her than I was.
The world seemed to exist in slow motion as I rushed across the shallow end toward Sage. I called out her name, but she couldn’t hear me under the water.
But even with my perception of time slowed, I didn’t pause to wonder how I heard the click of the doorknob turning in the distance or sensed the swish of air as it began to open. My singular concern was getting to my baby.
I dove under, pushing off from the bottom to torpedo myself toward my daughter.
She was swimming deep beneath the surface, her eyes clenched shut and her cheeks puffed out with the breath she held, blissfully unaware of the danger.
The thought occurred that I had no idea if vampires breathed in the same way we did. I’d never thought to ask Nick that question. Was their ability to hold their breath superior to ours in the same way their senses and strengths were? Did they even need to hold their breaths at all?
I didn’t know, but I was certain they’d be able to outswim me either way. I kicked harder, determined to reach Sage before they did.
But then what?
We were both more vulnerable in the water, but there was no time for me to get her out of the pool and safely hidden. The best I could do would be to grab her and return us to the shallow end where I would at least have footing to try and fight.
Oddly, I felt no sense of panic. Instead, I was laser focused on what I had to do.
Reach Sage. Shield her. Get to shallow water and stand.
My unexpected touch startled Sage, and her eyes popped open as her breath tumbled out in a flurry of bubbles.
I had no time to explain.
Clutching her to me, I turned to head back, hoping she had enough air left to make the return trip.
But suddenly, my head broke the surface of the water, and my kick made a painful contact with the bottom of the pool.
I tried to shift Sage’s weight to my back as I scrambled to stand in the unexpectedly shallow depth, but she clung to me with a death grip, shrieking in horror.
I looked up then, fully expecting to see bloodthirsty vampires staring down at us with triumph after they’d somehow drained most of the pool to make us easy targets.
But no vampires were visible.
Instead, a wall of water surrounded us, flowing up toward the ceiling with a force that made it impossible to see beyond its currents.
“Mommy, what’s happening?” Sage screamed, and I buried her head into my neck, wrapping my arms more tightly around her as my mind struggled to process what I was seeing.
“Sage! Aria!” Nick’s voice rang out from my left, and I spun to see him break through the water. His arms encircled us, and Sage clambered across me to get to him.
“Daddy!”
“It’s okay, Strawberry. I’ve got you. It’s gonna be all right.”
I looked to him in confusion, wondering how he could sound so calm when we were still surrounded by danger, but the alarm in his eyes seemed directed at me.
“She’s safe, Aria. You can let go.”
I hadn’t realized I was still holding onto her, but his words made no sense.
How could Sage be safe? We were trapped inside a column of water, and we weren’t alone in the room. The threat I’d detected lingered, along with another presence I registered, though I didn’t get the same feeling of danger there.
“I need you to take a deep breath,” Nick said, his tone low and soothing as he held my gaze with his. “Nice and slow. Can you do that for me?”
What? But…
I turned to look up, still expecting an imminent attack.
Nick reached to take my chin, gently guiding my focus back to him.
“Aria, it’s okay. Sage is safe, see? No one is going to hurt her. You can let go. Just let go.”
I’d released Sage to him, so I had no idea what he meant. “Let go?”
His eyes flicked to the roaring water around us and then back to me. “You can relax, Angel. It’s safe. Release it.”
Release what? Wait…did he somehow think I was responsible for the towering torrent?
As bewilderment crept into my resolve, the force of the water began to falter, causing the depth to rise around my legs.
“What’s happening?” I asked, fearful for a new and different reason.
With a loud splash, the entire circle collapsed around us, and the influx of water back into the pool swept me off my feet as it surged upward beneath me.
“Take my hand,” Nick called, and I obeyed, too stunned to refuse.
He pulled me toward the shallow end of the pool where Zeck stood in the rising water, looking at me with wary eyes as though I was somehow the cause for concern.
Did no one else realize the danger?
I turned to find the source of my distress, but there was no one there but Gwen. She stood at the side of the pool, surrounded in the red cloud I’d come to expect. She had one hand over her chest, and her mouth was agape as she stared at me.
“Zeck, take Sage,” Nick said, but Sage protested.
“No, Daddy, I want to stay with you.”
“I need you to go with Zeck so I can help Mommy.”
“I’m all right,” I assured him—and her—as he passed Sage to Zeck, but in truth, I was beyond perplexed. I didn’t understand anything that had happened.
Nick led me to the steps and out of the pool, and I took the towel Zeck offered as Sage stood next to him, staring up at me with big green eyes that seemed on the verge of tears.
I knelt next to her and wrapped my arms around her. “It’s okay, baby.”
“What happened, Mommy? Why did the water do that?”
“I don’t know, honey.”
“Has anything like this happened before?” Zeck asked Nick.
“No. Definitely not.”
Sage pulled back from my embrace to look up at Nick. “Why did it do that, Daddy?”
“Maybe it was magic,” Gwen said behind me.
Sage turned and looked up at her as I stood.
The meeting I’d been dreading was upon us, and I was too rattled to know what to do.
“My mommy says there’s no such thing as magic.”
“Oh.” Gwen smiled. “Then it must have been a special fountain that made it do that.”
“I thought you were staying in the city,” Nick said.
“I was, until I learned the three of you would be visiting. I didn’t want to miss such a joyous occasion, so I came home.”
“Is this your house?” Sage asked.
“It is. And I’m pleased as pie to have you as my guest. You must be Sage.”
My baby girl nodded at the vampire smiling down at her. “Yes, ma’am. How did you know my name?”
Gwen smiled, and her eyes softened. “I’ve been looking forward to meeting you. My name is Gwenhwyfar. It’s nice to meet you, Sage.”
“That’s a funny name,” Sage said with a grin.
“Sage, manners,” I admonished quietly, and she straightened with a nod.
“Oh, sorry. It’s nice to meet you, too.”
With a glance at me, Nick laid his hand on Sage’s shoulder and cleared his throat. “Sage, this is my mother.”
Sage’s bright green eyes widened as she looked back and forth between Gwen and Nick, contemplating his revelation.
“She’s your mommy?”
Gwen chuckled as she clasped her hands together in amusement. “Yes, I am.”
Any opportunity we’d had to carefully plan how and when—or if!—Sage and Gwen met was gone in an instant, and though my mind reeled with all the possible ramifications of that encounter, I was still grappling with the confusion and alarm over what had just happened in the pool.
Had I really done that with the water? But how?
I shuddered, partly due to the chill of the water on my skin, but mostly due to the weight of mental and emotional overwhelm.
“Are you cold?” Nick asked, wrapping his arm around my waist to pull me closer as he stared down at me, his eyes clouded with concern.
“Just got a chill, that’s all.”
“Here, Aria,” Gwen said, turning toward the lounger behind her where our towels and tote bag lay. “Let me get you a towel.”
“What about Daddy?” Sage asked. “He’s dripping everywhere. Why did you go in the pool with your clothes on? Didn’t you bring a swimsuit?”
“I suppose I was just excited to get in the water with you and your mom,” Nick took the towels Gwen offered and wrapped one around me before drying his face and hair with the other. “Sage, can you go grab a couple more towels from the changing room?”
“I don’t know where they are.”
“I’ll show you,” Gwen said. “Come with me.”
I opened my mouth to protest but then hesitated. I didn’t want Sage out of my sight, and I wasn’t sure I wanted her alone with Gwen…ever. But I desperately needed to talk to Nick about the insanity with the water in the pool, and it wasn’t like Gwen was going to feast on Sage the moment she got her away from us. Even if I didn’t entirely trust Gwen, I trusted that she loved her son enough to be careful with his daughter.
Nick obviously didn’t have any qualms with his mother walking away with Sage. He didn’t protest at all. He seemed more concerned about me.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” he asked, turning me to face him with his hands on my shoulders as soon as they walked away. “How do you feel?”
“Confused. A little terrified. What the hell was that? Do you really think I made that happen? How?”
“I don’t know. Tell me what you remember. What happened?”
“Zeck got a call and he went outside.”
“Gary called to tell me your mother had arrived,” Zeck explained. “I stepped outside to try and come up with a plan of action and to call you, but you came running up right after I went out the door.”
Nick nodded.
“I had gone to talk to Marcella to get access to the lab, and she told me Mam would be here any minute. I came here to give Aria a heads up and decide what we should do about Sage.” His gaze shifted to me. “I’m sorry I made that introduction without asking you first. I didn’t know what else to do.”
“No, I, um, I understand. What else could you do at that point?”
“What happened when Zeck went outside? When did the water start doing that?”
“I was kind of freaking out a little when he went out; I mean, I had been freaked out already…the whole day, really. Since last night, ya know. And all the sudden, I just got the weirdest feeling that someone was coming through that door.” I turned and pointed toward the door the farthest to the left. “It was Gwen, obviously, but I didn’t know that at the time.”
“That’s the door that leads inside,” Nick said. “She must have come straight here as soon as she walked in the house.”
“But I didn’t know it was Gwen. In my mind, whatever was on the other side of that door was a threat. My body started tingling, and it was like I got superhero hearing and I could hear someone moving in this direction.”
“Her senses are sharpening, developing.” Zeck widened his stance and crossed his arms over his chest. “She would naturally recognize any Turpisi as a threat, especially in a situation where her daughter is vulnerable. Any supernatural would. It’s an innate survival instinct.”
“But I’m not a supernatural. And I’m standing right here, so do not speak about me in third person. Why does everyone keep doing that?”
“Get back to the water.” Nick said, his eyes locked on the changing room door. “How did you make it rise like that?”
“I didn’t! I dove into the deep end to get Sage. I was thinking that I didn’t have time to get her out of the water to hide her, so I needed to back to the shallow end where I could stand and fight. But before I could get there, the water suddenly fell away, and I could stand in the deep end. That’s when I realized we were inside the water. We were inside that crazy tower.”
Zeck’s head tilted, his eyes narrowing in thought as he listened. “Sounds like your subconscious mind built a shield around you, creating a safe space for you and your child. That would explain why you didn’t know to release it as soon as Nick told you she was safe. It wasn’t something you’d consciously chosen to do. You called on source energy instinctively, and it responded.”
“Mothers have been known to lift a vehicle off their kid or run through fire to save them,” Nick said.
I wanted to believe that was what this was, but it defied any logic. “Those are adrenaline rushes allowing the body to exert itself beyond its normal limits. This was water flying up against gravity to form a wall around Sage and me. That’s not adrenaline!”
“True.” Zeck’s gaze held mine. “Which is another reason I think it’s time we all accept that you are somehow no longer human. If you ever were.”
“If I ever was? What is that supposed to mean?”
“They’re coming back,” Nick said, shifting his stance. “We’ll talk more later. You feel okay, though? Physically?”
“Yeah. I’m fine.”
“She said she’ll show me the bowling alley,” Sage said as she ran along the pool deck toward us, carrying a stack of towels.
“Walk,” Nick called to her. “No running at the pool.”
She obediently slowed, but her brisk walk was barely less than a run. “Can I, please? Can I go see the bowling alley?”
Nick looked to me, and I frowned. I didn’t want to be the bad guy, but I also wanted nothing more than to leave the creepy-ass castle behind and get back home. Not that the Nyack house was home, but it was better than being here.
