Better Off Dead (26 page)

That really shook her to the core.  Of course he’d known Delia far longer, and he did love her—Lucy had a front-row-center seat for that fact—but he’d said he would protect her from Delia, no matter what.  And that made her feel even more confused.  On the one hand he would risk his life for her.  But he was risking her life so he could be with his vampire girlfriend.  Not to mention Lucy still had a huge honking problem with him being in love, or whatever he was feeling for her, with two women.

That alone makes him…
  Lucy couldn’t decide on the right word: a letch, a jerk, a monster?—he already was one of those.  Or did it simply mean he was a man?

“Penny for your thoughts,” Gabriel said, standing mere inches away from her.  She turned and saw the concern darkening his features again.

“I don’t think you really want to know.”

He let out a breath, and that breath tickled the side of Lucy’s neck, making her shiver enjoyably.

This is just a job, she tried to tell herself.  No matter what, what she wanted more than anything was to get her old life back.  Right? 

Gabe took hold of her shoulders and turned her to face him. 

Riiight…

“Why are you always touching me?”  She sounded suddenly very tired.  “It’s nice, but it confuses me.”

Gabriel’s expression changed from concerned to a rather wicked smile.  “So you like when I touch you?”

Crap!  Did I just say that?
  Lucy shook her head.

“So, you don’t like it when I touch you.”

“No.  I mean yes!  Oh, I don’t know what—”

Just then Gabriel leaned in, pushing her bottom up against the porch railing, then very slowly he lowered his face until their lips were practically touching.  He whispered softly, his lips grazing hers.  “Did you like it when I kissed you last night?”

Lucy’s head was swimming, and her heart was pounding hard in her chest—the chest that heaving with excited breath, pressed against Gabriel’s very broad, very warm chest.

“Yes,” she said breathlessly. 

“Would you like me to do it again?” he asked, yet he didn’t get an answer; at least not a verbal one.  Lucy threw her arms around his neck and crushed her lips against his, pulling him against her, their combined weight making the railing of the old porch creak.  All of a sudden Lucy wasn’t thinking about Gabriel belonging to someone else, she forgot that only moments ago she’d been pissed at him, and that among other things, his words in the dining room had also hurt.  She didn’t care about anything except how good Gabriel tasted, how wonderful his lips felt against her own, not to mention how having his body pressed against hers felt.  There wasn’t a word to describe that, at least not one Lucy could think of.

Inside, Lucy had been ready for him to kiss her, even though moments before she had been literally running from the prospect.  She hadn’t expected to attack him with her lips.  It didn’t make sense.  She never did things like that.  She never had to—guys usually couldn’t help themselves, so they always made the first move.  But just being so close to Gabriel, having his lips so close, his scent enveloping her senses so completely—and he shouldn’t have been teasing her like that!

There was a lot of movement: hands roaming, lips sliding, tongues searching and tasting and rubbing together…and then there was the way his body moved against hers.  It made her shudder.

Gabriel pulled himself away first, pushing Lucy back by the shoulders, disconnecting their lips and putting a sudden, very unwelcome distance between them.

“We have to stop,” he groaned between gasps of air. 

That was…nice…
  Lucy was about to ask why they had to stop, yet when she opened her eyes and looked into his eyes she saw not only red hot longing there, but also something lurking, sliding behind his eyes and peering out hungrily at her: the wolf. 

“Maybe you’re right,” she croaked.  Part of her wanted to go further, to have his beast come out to play, to devour her.  But most of her was terrified and wanted to run back in the house and lock the door. 
Does Gram have a shot gun in the house?  Maybe some silver bullets?

Gabriel’s eyes cooled off and he took another step back, letting go of Lucy’s shoulders.  She felt a shiver as a cool wind whipped around her, taking away all the heat Gabriel had generated.  He suddenly looked really hurt.  “You’re scared of me.”

Lucy shook her head, wanting suddenly to deny it, but she was shaking and her voice cracked when she tried to speak. 

“I’m sorry Luce,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck.  “I’m not doing any of this right.”  

Lucy liked him calling her Luce.  It made a welcomed warmth spread from her heart out into the rest of her body.  “I don’t know what the hell I’m doing here either.”  She moved toward him and wrapped her arms up under his arms, hugging herself against his still heaving chest, just inhaling him and listening to the beating of his heart.  “So, don’t feel too bad.”   

“Actually,” Gabriel whispered, “I feel pretty good.”

Lucy smiled at the complement and snuggled her cheek against the warm silk covering his chest.  “You do feel pretty good.”

He laughed, and Lucy liked the way it sounded, and how he felt in her arms as his torso lurched—the muscles there quivering as they contracted and relaxed.  Finally, after a long still moment of enjoying their embrace, Gabriel said he really should leave, that he had an early meeting in the morning.  Reluctantly Lucy let him go and watched as he moved away, looking more awkward than she’d ever seen him as he rubbed the back of his neck in consternation.  He stumbled as he took to the porch steps, and caught himself on the railing and jumped back up on the porch.

“I forgot my jacket,” He was grinning and blushing beautifully.  “Oh, and I have something for you.”  He dashed through the screen door, and amazingly enough he was back at the door with his sport coat in hand before the door had slammed shut.

Okay,
Lucy shivered
.  Super human strength
and
speed—this is just getting more disturbing.   
                     
Gabe reached into the breast pocket of his jacket and removed a long thin box.  “I brought you a present.”

“I love presents.”  She said, practically vibrating with excitement.  It was an eight by two inch black velvet box.  A necklace? Lucy guessed, but then he opened it and she had to look really hard to identify what was inside: a knife.  Correction, a six inch, shiny and sharp as hell looking blade with a liquidy looking mother of pearl handle.

“I can already tell you I have nothing that will go with that,” Lucy said.  Gabriel looked confused.  “Sorry, bad joke.  So you’re giving me a weapon for a present?”

“Actually,” Gabriel plucked the blade from the box and then pulled something that looked suspiciously like a silk and lace g-string from underneath—a very tiny, nearly non-existent one at that.  “This is a two part gift.”

“Call it a present!”  Lucy snapped unexpectedly.  She flashed back to the last gift she’d received—raising a dead dog on the side off the interstate.  Gabriel was looking at her uncertainly.  “I just don’t like that word.  You know, ‘gift.’”  She took a deep breath and plastered a smile on her face.  “It’s a thing.” 
And now he thinks I’m crazy...
         

Gabriel continued with a confused little smile on his lips.  “It’s almost pure silver—with just enough iron to keep it from breaking.  More than pure enough to incapacitate and even kill most supernatural beings.  Werewolves, vamps,”—
It kills vampires?
  Lucy looked at the blade again with renewed interest—“Shifters, demons…well, most of the things that you might run into while you’re in my company…except fairies.”

“Fairies!” Lucy laughed.  “You mean I have to be afraid of Tinkerbell?”

“The kind that forge weapons like this one?”  Gabriel moved the blade in his hand so the moonlight glinted from its blade.  “Yeah, those kinds of fairies are human sized, as strong if not stronger than most monsters, and they’re very hard to kill.  Only a pure iron sword wielded with enormous strength and skill would do the trick.”

Lucy didn’t like the way his eyes gleamed as he said that.  Had he fought a fairy?  If so, he’d obviously enjoyed it.  She tried not to feel scared all over again, but she couldn’t help it.

She clamped her attention on what else was in Gabriel’s hands.  She took his hand, not wanting to touch the lacey little garment, but finding touching Gabriel’s hot flesh more than distracting.  She played it off though, even though he was looking down into her eyes with undisguised hunger.

“I don’t know if this is some sacred ceremonial g-string thingy, but you can just count me out on wearing it.”

Gabriel laughed one harsh bark.  “No...
no..”
he said, “the blade is for protection.  This is for concealment.  It’s a sheath.”  He slid the knife into the thin, lacey sheath and then gently took Lucy’s arm and tied the thing to her forearm.  His fingers tickled her as he tied the little straps. 

“So much for concealment,” Lucy said holding her arm up to show Gabriel.  But then the sheath and the blade shimmered, there was a slight tingling sensation, and then it just disappeared.  Lucy gasped and ran her hand over where it had been.  She felt nothing.

“That thing didn’t just melt into me, did it?”

Gabriel raised his eyebrows.  “Interesting guess…but no.  Both were made by fairies, and both have their own magical qualities.  The blade itself has an enchantment that brings it back to the sheath if it were lost—either in battle or by accident…or if it were stolen.  But that’s only if you still posses the sheath.”

He took her hand, and ran his other hand over the flesh of her forearm.  “The sheath obviously has a concealment charm.  Not just invisibility.  It truly disappears completely when worn, and no one will know it’s there—you won’t even be able to tell it’s there—until you call to it.”

“I’m going to call it to me?”

“Either verbally or mentally.”

The sensations Gabriel’s fingers were causing as they stroked the flesh of Lucy’s forearm were starting to make her squirm with pleasure.  She pulled her arm from his grasp, gulping, taking a deep breath and then stepping back a step.

“So, does it have a name?”

“As long as you wear the sheath, whatever you call it, it will appear.  It will know what you mean.”

Lucy held up her arm, turning it so she could see where it had been.  She smiled.  “Mr. Winkie, come to me.”  Immediately she felt it, but she still couldn’t see it.  She shot Gabriel with a questioning look, her hand finding the still invisible sheath.

“Until you withdraw the weapon, it will only be detectable to you.”

She grasped the handle of the blade and pulled it out.  Instantly it flashed back to its shiny, menacingly sharp prior form.  And the sheath was now visible too.  She held the blade in her hand, and even though she didn’t know how to use it, it really did feel like it was made for her.

“Wicked,” she said, catching her reflection in the polished silver.  “I usually never where silver—white gold and platinum are more my style—but this is…gorgeous.”

“I’ll teach you how to use it later.  But you could still do some damage with it.”  Gabriel’s face fell a little, and Lucy could tell he was torn for some reason.  And then she realized he’d just given her something that could kill his girlfriend. 

It made everything more complicated, and way too serious.  Lucy slid the blade back into the sheath, and the moment her fingers lost contact the sheath and knife evaporated again in a shimmer, and with a tiny tingle.

Gabriel was looking at her arm, and she could tell he wanted to reach out and touch her again.  She wanted him to, god did she want him to touch her again, but she was afraid they wouldn’t be able to stop touching each other if he did.  And she was still feeling a little too much like the entrée…or maybe the dessert.

Gabriel looked like he was trying to mentally shake a thought out of his head, and when he looked up into Lucy’s eyes again he looked more in control—cool, calm, not remotely ready to devour her.  “I should go.”

Lucy nodded agreement and watched as Gabriel slowly moved away from her, his gaze staying with her until he descended the porch steps and began walking toward the street.  Suddenly he stopped and looked back up at Lucy.

“Nice T-shirt, by the way.”

Lucy looked down at the
Team Edward
shirt she’d worn out of spite and cringed. 

Crap!

Gabriel turned and headed out to the street.  A moment later his pretty midnight blue Jaguar roared to life and sped down the road and out of sight.

Lucy let out the breath she hadn’t know she was holding, and felt her body relax.  She was relieved he had left, but she was disappointed too.  She brought her hand to her face, feeling the heat where she’d been blushing non-stop for the last hour or so, and let her finger play across her lips—where his lips had been
. 
She walked slowly into the house. 
No, my life isn’t complicated at all.

LUCY
stretched out on her bed.  Not that it was anywhere near as soft as her old mattress, but now, after all these months, it was her bed.  It was such a relief to know, no matter what she was going through, had gone through, or what kind of monster was trying to kill her, that her bed in her room—and this little room in her grandmother’s house was now truly her room—was a true refuge.  Often she fell deeply asleep the instant her head touched the pillow.