A Touch of Souls (Immortal Souls) (9 page)

"Guinevere, I can break this door down very easily. It's in your best interest to open the door," Dimitri spoke calmly from behind the door.

"You're gonna have to break it down. There is no way I am willingly letting you in here, freak!" Okay, so maybe antagonizing him wasn't the best thing to do, but I couldn't help it. I felt betrayed! He had let me into his home, had stayed with me through my stay at the hospital, he saved my life! But yet, I couldn't stop feeling as though he should have told me. I wouldn't have understood it, but it's something I felt I should have known.

I stared dumbly at the door as Dimitri yanked it off
it's hinges and set it aside. He strode confidently in as if he hadn't just dismantled my door in front of my eyes. I backed up against my headboard and pulled my legs up to my chest. "Please, just go," I pleaded, looking away from his penetrating stare.

"I'm not going to hurt you, I just want to talk to you," Dimitri said, stepping forward and reaching out with his left hand. I cower lower into my position and he retracts it, running his right hand through his long hair.

"Please, go," I whimpered while trying to pull my blankets over my head. The longer my anger dissipated, the more scared I became.

"Gwen, as soon as you let me talk to you, I will leave. If you want I will completely leave this town and just not come back," he spoke with the pain evident in his eyes. "Just hear me out."

"Fine," I answered reluctantly, looking at him. "Tell me what you are."

Dimitri walked over to me and sat on my bed. He tried to pull me in his arms, but only ended up looking away embarrassed when I wouldn't. "I'm not technically allowed to tell you everything out right," he replied, looking shamefully at the floor.

"Fine, I have a few questions, though."

"Shoot."

"Is this," I gesture toward his wings, "how you found me the night that guy followed me?"

"Partially, yes.
I already told you, I felt a need to protect you."

"Do you still feel that need?"

"Now more than ever," he replied looking into my eyes.

"Why should I trust you?" I questioned because I honestly didn't know the answer to that one. I felt like I could, but I had no idea why.

"I haven't hurt you, have I?" Realizing that he had a good point, I stretched my legs out and let him hold my hand.

"Why are you, whatever you are, why are you here?"

"There's a war coming, Guinevere. Adrian and I, our kind, are here to stop it." The genuine look in his eyes told me he was telling me the absolute truth.

"What is your kind?! You cannot tell me all of this
with out telling me what you are!" I shouted, feeling my temper rising. The storm had long sense gone, but when my mood flared, the rain pounded on the roof again and I could hear thunder roar in the distance.

"There's something
your not telling me, isn't there?" Dimitri accused, narrowing his eyes at me. I turned away before he could see how freaked out I was that he could read me so well. Just as I opened my mouth to deny it, he grabbed me by my hand and held on tight. "You already know what I am! You've seen it! Dreamt it! But that's impossible," Dimitri said, looking perplexed. "Say it out loud, I hear it running through your head. Tell me what I am. You tried to tell me before, in the hospital. I remember it. You said I had wings, I figured it was just the drugs they had given you."

"You can't be... F-fallen..." I trailed off looking down.

"I'm not fallen, Gwen. Neither is Adrian. We were sent."

"From where?"
I asked, looking back up into those beautiful violet eyes.

"Heaven.
What I said about war is true. I can't tell you much else. You are simply human, I'm sorry," Dimitri said before getting off my bed and walking right out of my house.

That night as I lay in my bed, I couldn't bring myself to wrap my head around the fact Dimitri and Adrian, my boyfriend!, where angels sent from Heaven to save us from a war. But a war with what exactly? I thought about the dreams I had had, everything pointed to the fact that they were truly angels, but nothing pointed to the fact I was a "simple human." How had I known about them? Why had I dreamed of Dimitri the way I had? Once the truth was out, I felt in my heart, that I already knew the truth before he confirmed it. But how?

♂

There was no way she could be The Unum. Her true parents would have left her with someone who would tell her who she was who, someone who could train her for her destiny. I didn't want her mixed up in this mess. She was to precious to me.

♀

I woke up to the sound of banging pans down stairs and immediately was on guard. I hadn't let anyone in the house and no one had a key. Had Dimitri forgotten to lock the door on his way out? As I made my way to the kitchen, I was relieved to find Adrian was the one banging around.

"Hey..." I said a little awkwardly.

"Good morning beautiful, I didn't mean to startle you," he said with a huge grin on his face as he turned and kissed me on the cheek while lying a full plate of pancakes, eggs, and bacon on the table. My mouth watered at the sight. "I figured we kind of had some things to talk about."

"Oh, that's an understatement!" I
laughed, somehow, even though I had just learned his huge secret, it hardly felt different between us. I sat down at the table when he pulled a chair out for me. Sitting across from me, he sighed.

"Look, I know it's probably weird to you, but I still want to see you. I don't care what I am or that you're not an angel. I still feel very strongly toward you and I wanted you to know that. It is, however, your choice if you still want to be with me. I know you're not going to tell anyone about me or Dimitri, so please don't think that's the only reason I want to be with you, Gwen. Ever since I laid my eyes upon you, I have been utterly captivated," Adrian said, beaming.

"Oh, wow," I answered, at a complete loss of words over his speech.

"You don't have to decide now, I promise. But there must be a thousand questions running through your head," he said, gazing at me sympathetically.

"Actually, yes there is. Why are you here?"

"A war is gonna break out if we don't stop it first."

"A war with who?" I asked, getting frustrated that he wouldn't just go ahead and explain in full detail what the hell was going on.

"Look, I know you have so many questions right now. Some I can answer, others I am bound not to. That is why we couldn't just right out tell you what we are. Dimitri happened to find a loophole where you could guess and he gave you the information he could."

"I just, I don't know if I can deal with this right now. Plus you did outright tell me what you were," I said, getting up from the table and pacing around the kitchen.

"You had already seen us in true form and we couldn't deny it. Another loophole, dear," Adrian whispered in my ear, wrapping his arms around me from behind and kissing my neck. "If you choose to still be with me, or even if you don't, you don't have to worry about this. We don't even have to talk about it if you don't want," he said almost pleadingly.

I sighed as he continued to trail kisses down my neck and onto my shoulder. I closed my eyes and relaxed into the blissful state his lips were putting me in. I could tell he was getting lost in the moment when he jumped at some one banging on the front door. I snapped my eyes open to see Hunter pushing the doorway.

"We need to talk," he said glaring at Adrian.

"You had your chance, you blew it," Adrian responded, pushing me behind him so that he was blocking me from Hunter. Slightly annoyed, I moved back in front of Adrian and put out my hand to keep him from removing me from my newly gained ground.

"Hunter, I gave you everything.
Absolutely everything. Then, once I get in a car wreck, you decide to go behind my back and cheat on me with my best friend. Or were you already doing that behind my back? Huh?" I asked pushing forward, the lights in the house flickering. "I put everything I had into our relationship! Through the good and the bad, I was there! But when I need you, when I get in a horrible wreck and then my parents die, you were too preoccupied by cheating on me to care!"

"It was a mistake, baby. The whole thing! I'm sorry, if I could take it back I would. Believe me, I would," he sighed, looking at me longingly.

"You need to leave right now Hunter. I'm not buying this! I don't know why you're here doing this, but it's not going to work! It will never work. We are through! Just go!" I screamed at him. The lights in all the house flashed on and off and I heard a pop come from somewhere in the living room, but I was too angry to care at the moment.

"Fine, but mark my words, you will regret this," he said omnisciently, before slinking out the door and slamming it behind him.

"Are you okay?" Adrian questioned pulling me into his arms in a tight embrace.

"Yeah, but I heard a pop in the living room, I should probably go check it out," I said, already turning to go to the next room. Upon entering, I smelled smoke and searched for the source. Sure enough, beside the couch, an electrical outlet had caught fire.
"Oh my goodness! This storm is getting terrible! Did you see the lights flickering? The storm probably knocked over a power line or something."

"Yeah, the storm..." Adrian muttered before walking out of the house.

What the hell was that supposed to mean?

Chapter 8

Walking into school Monday after being gone for four more weeks, was like walking into a whole other world. People were glancing at me and whispering as I passed. I hadn't talked to Adrian or Dimitri in two weeks. I wondered if this had something to do with that.

"Wow, I can't believe she's actually back!" A girl whispered as I walked by.

"I know! After cheating on Hunter with those two guys and then stalking him! What nerve!" A second girl added.

"I thought she moved away with those guys after her parents died," a third whispered.

What the hell was going on? Why were they saying all those things about me? What had Hunter told everyone happened between us?

Walking into Chemistry, I was getting angry knowing that Hunter was spreading false rumors about me and that both Adrian and Dimitri were ignoring me. I met the same coldness I had all day when I walked to my lab table made to accommodate three when Adrian joined the class. Adrian and Dimitri were both sitting at my sides, but neither turned to talk to me when I sat down between them.

"Now class, today we are going to do
experiments, I need you to pay close attention to the instructions and work together with your partners so that you get a good grade," Mrs. Kennedy said, walking around the room handing out supplies.

"Guys," I said looking between the two, "we need to talk! You cannot go on avoiding me forever!"

"Actually, we don't need to talk," Dimitri responded not even bothering to turn and look at me.

"Adrian, please! I thought we were together! Are you really gonna sit here and take back everything you said to me?"

"I'm not taking back anything, but I do have some things I need to figure out before I can be with you, I'm sorry," he said, looking down at his hands.

I opened my mouth to answer, but promptly shut it when I saw Mrs. Kennedy coming to drop off our supplies. Grabbing the instructions, I went to work separating the chemicals as it
said to in the instructions. Once I put the water to boil, I looked up and noticed two girls that had it bad for Hunter staring me down and whispering to each other. My anger hit a breaking point just as the girls water started to boil and a fire started in one of there stations. I snickered as they started screaming. Feeling eyes on me, I turned to find both Dimitri and Adrian staring at me.

"What?" I demanded.

"We
do
need to talk. Now!" Dimitri said, yanking me by the arm while the teacher and students were occupied with the fire. Pulling me down the stair well, he found an empty room and pulled me in it. "What the hell was that?" Oh, shit.

"What? I'm
sorry, they were making fun of me. So what? I laughed when there experiment went wrong. There's no harm in that!" I defended myself.

"Oh, and what?
You think it was just a coincidence?" What was he accusing me of?

"Uhm, yeah?
What else could it have been?" I asked curiously. "Oh my god! It was you! You did that, didn't you?"

"No, I know this is going to sound crazy, but I need you to listen to me, okay?" Dimitri asked raising his eyebrows. I could stand here and listen to him talk all day and not have a single complaint. I loved his voice. But that was not what I should be focusing on right now.

"Okay, what is it?" I asked feeling a bit confused.

"Okay, Adrian and I are actually here looking for someone.
Someone who isn't human, but was born as one. Created by a witch and angel. I felt like there was something drawing me to you, and when I saw your thoughts when I touched you the other day I realized you had dreamt of me as an angel. When Adrian arrived he said he sensed something special about you. Adrian has the power to sense when someone is special. He also told me about the 'storm' at your house that day he was there. Guinevere, we think you are the girl we have been looking for!"

I was so stunned I couldn't think of anything to say. Suddenly it hit
me, my parents weren't really my parents. That meant my real mom and dad were still out there somewhere! Did I really want to meet them? If I was so special, why would they just leave me?

"Why would they leave?" I demanded.

"Who?" Dimitri asked, looking genuinely perplexed.

"My REAL parents!
Why would they just leave me with someone else? Why couldn't they raise me?" I yelled, tears gathering in my eyes.

"Maybe, we should talk about this somewhere
else, let's go to my house okay?"

"We can't just leave school Dimitri."

"I'll have Adrian handle it, now let's go!" He said pulling me by my wrist. As we walked outside, I realized he wanted me to ride on the back of his motorcycle.

"Oh hell no!
I am not about to get on the back of that thing!"

"Gwen, it is the fastest way to go," he replied, still pulling me in the direction of his death trap.

"What about my car?!"

"I'll have it taken to your house."

Finally relenting, I climbed on the back of the motorcycle after him and wrapped my arms around his waist. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all, I thought to myself. As Dimitri pulled out onto the road, I buried my head into his back and breathed in his sweet earthy scent. I would never get tired of this. The ride to his house was very intimate, and by the stormy look in his eyes when he helped me off the bike, the feeling was mutual.

Turning away from that smoldering gaze, I walked right into his apartment without turning around to see if he was behind me, I just assumed he was by the stare I could feel burning into my back.

"Okay," I said as I walked in and plopped down right on his couch. "Explain."

"Gwen, this is going to be hard for you, I need for you to be able to understand that, alright?"

"Yeah yeah yeah, I get it," I replied sarcastically. Maybe I was heading into this the wrong way, but I didn't know what I was expected to do.

"Okay, I told you that Adrian and I are here to stop an impending war, right? Well we didn't tell you the whole story-"

"Because I am a simple human, right?" I asked, cutting him off.

"Well actually," he cleared his throat. "That's what we had originally thought. It turns out we were seriously wrong. I had come here originally looking for a certain girl,
some one who was created to help us win this war. When I didn't leave right away, Adrian thought there was a force keeping me here, so he came. He sensed something special about you, but since you are the only one of your kind, he didn't really know what it was he was sensing."

"Why didn't you leave sooner?" I asked, I had to know what really kept him here, my mind was going crazy thinking of the possibilities,
I couldn't give into false hope.

"When Adrian got here, he sensed that you were different, but never did we imagine that you were Unum, The One," he continued as if I had never spoken. I felt my anger rising and told myself to simmer down. If what he was saying was true, my anger could trigger some bad reactions.

"What's this war about?"

"The Fallen are angry about being kicked out of Heaven, they have been planning this war for a while now, but now they have a higher number than ever backing them up. Gwen, you are the key to this!"

"Why? Who the hell am I?!"

"As, I already told you, you are part angel and part witch. Your father is of the highest rank in Heaven, a
Curator, your mother was the strongest witch of her kind. You are going to have unknown powers. You can help us win this and keep everyone safe!" The excitement showed through every part of Dimitri. It was hard not to follow suit. "Gwen, we can train you, work with you on your powers and help you discover more! It is what we were sent here to do," Dimitri said, lifting my chin so he could look into my eyes.

"I'm only a tool to you," I whispered. Despite all the good things he was saying, I couldn't get over the fact that my feelings for him weren't returned. I was just something he wanted to use.

"No! Oh, no! Gwen you-"

"No! You cannot expect me to just jump on board with this! You just want to use me in your war and then what? Just leave? I can't do this!" I screamed before walking out of his door for what seemed like the hundredth time.

♀

An untold love will come forth

The forbidden will not be allowed

For it will awaken an unknown power

The Unum

Destined to choose between two brothers

Separated through good and evil

She will choose the fate of the world

She, The Unum, will choose who to love

I had read the prophecy time and time again.
Trying to decipher the meaning. The Unum, born of witch and born of angel, would choose the fate. Who would win the war.

I felt an undeniable attraction to The Unum. I knew it was forbidden. My
rank of angel were absolutely forbidden to fall in love with even another angel. We were created by Him. We were not made to love anyone but Him. We were made warriors. We were only made to protect, to fight for Him. I never understood why the other angels were allowed to love, yet we were not.

If she was seen with me, the Fallen would know who she was. It was uncommon for a Bellator to even be on Earth, a Pugnator, not so much. But for a single girl to be escorted by one of my
kind, would be a major tip-off. The other angels might turn a head at Adrian and Gwen being together, but they would not think anything of it.

Who else would she have to choose to love? All angels were brothers, but only Adrian was someone I would consider close. Maybe I was wrong. My love wasn't the love foretold. At least two more angels would be coming to find her. One of
God, and one of Satan.

♀

I didn't know how I was going to get home, I didn't really care, but walking outside, I noticed it was already dark and felt a rush of relief when Dimitri came running outside after me.

"Gwen, at least let me take you home! I don't want anything to happen to you," he said grabbing my arm and hauling me toward his motorcycle.
Why couldn't we just take his Jeep?
Climbing on the back of his bike, I knew this ride wouldn't be near as enjoyable as the last. The whole ride I stayed at the most distance I could, keeping my arms stiff and around his stomach, which I couldn't help but notice was hard and, I knew first hand, very tan.

"I can hear your thoughts about me," Dimitri chuckled once stopped at a red light. "As long as we are touching and you are willing, I can hear every thought you have."

Damn it! Stupid freaky angel powers!

"I don't like being called a freak," echoed in my head, it was Dimitri's voice, but only a presence of it.
What the hell?

Pulling up to my house, I climbed off his bike without a word and walked in without a glance backward. Walking through the door, I vaguely noted that the Kia was sitting outside in its usual parking place.
Hmm.

Stripping my clothes and turning on the water, I slipped into the shower and let the day's worries pour out, I mourned for my parents, the ones who raised me, I mourned for the disaster my life had become, but mostly, and shallowly, I mourned that Dimitri wanted me to be his tool in a war when I wanted so much more out of it. I felt my tears mingling with the water droplets as I let the water wash all of my sorrows away.
 

I didn't know what I
was, I was just a normal person, wasn't I? But how could I explain all the weird things that had been happening to me? The power flickering a couple weeks back had just been the storm hadn't it? And the storm effected my feelings, not the other way around, right? Today, in class, that had just been a coincidence, there was no way I was some freaky half-angel half-witch being, was there?

Finally stepping out of the bath, I wrapped a towel around myself and headed to my room down the hall. As I walked into my room, I had the feeling of being watched and wrapped my towel around me tighter. I noticed the curtain over my window blowing slightly, I didn't remember leaving the window open.
Strange...
I thought, walking over to close it.

Glancing around the yard outside my window, I noticed a figure standing close to the
treeline. Squinting my eyes, I tried to make out the figure, but failed to see anything familiar. I watched until the stranger turned and darted into the forest. The only discernible feature was the bleach blonde hair with a strong black on the bottom of the tight ponytail. Jayne.
What was she doing here?

Not wanting to stay here alone, I shot a text to Adrian to see if he wanted to
come stay with me. About five minutes later came his reply:

Can't come over tonight, I have something I have to do.
Dimitri's home, tho. You are more than welcome to go over there. Have a good night, beautiful.

I didn't have to debate long to decide that I really didn't want to be alone tonight and even if I didn't really want to see Dimitri, I was a little too frightened to stay at home. On the way to Dimitri and Adrian's, I decided to drive by Jayne's to see if her car was there, there was no way she could have beaten me on foot. As I drove past her driveway, I saw Hunter's SUV but Jayne's car wasn't there.
What the hell is going on..?

When I arrived at their house, I immediately noticed that both of Dimitri's vehicles were present, but Adrian's Camaro was gone.
Just great.
Walking right in, I saw Dimitri lounging on the couch watching a movie. I was really hoping I could have caught Adrian before he left.

"Hey, what's up?" he asked when I walked right past him towards Adrian's room. There was no reason I had to talk to him, so long as I wasn't alone I was fine. When I continued walking, I heard him get up off of his leather couch and follow me. Before I knew it, though, he had my hand and I rushed to put a mental wall up so that he couldn't figure out what I had seen tonight.

"You saw what?!" Dimitri screamed, furious.
Too late...

"It wasn't a big deal. It was probably just my imagination, relax," I said before yanking my arm away and resuming my retreat to Adrian's sanctuary.

"Wasn't a big deal? Guinevere! You need to be protected! We cannot let anything happen to you!"

"Why?!
Huh, Dimitri? Why fucking not?! Because I'm your big tool, your secret weapon in this war?" I screamed in his face.

"No, it's more than that! I promise!"

"Bullshit!" I yelled, turning around and backing him into the living room. Vaguely, I noted that the fire place was lit as were it hadn't been earlier. Had I done that? I didn't care right now, all I felt was anger towards Dimitri. I wanted so much more than he was willing to give me and for that I felt hurt and in turn mad. "Dimitri, you have watched me from a distance since you got here, I know that! I thought it was because you hated me, and I would have been more okay with that than with what the truth really is!"