Between (15 page)

“
Do take your time. Three is a crowd,” Austin commented.

I was afraid Michael was going to attack him, so I intervened with my words. “That’s enough, Austin. Just take me home.”

Austin enclosed me half way with his wings. The last thing I saw was Michael letting out a huff as Austin taunted him by giving me a nibble on my neck. I was about to step out of his hold when he enclosed me completely and we disappeared.

Chapter Twelve

We transported directly to my room. I turned to him as soon as he released me. “Don’t ever do that again!” I yelled and pushed him as hard as I could. He didn’t move an inch, so I pushed even harder and punched him even though he couldn’t feel a thing. He just stood there, allowing me to use him as a punching bag, and my hands hurt like hell.
Ouch!!
The knuckles and the palms of my hands were red.

“
What’s wrong with you? You’re supposed to be a guardian angel, not a pain in the…butt. Why are you so mean?” I yelled again as I tried to lessen the pain by rubbing them together.

“
Say it!” His voice was loud. “Say the word. I know you want to,” he challenged, moving in my direction with authority.

“
What?” I yelled.

“
Say it. What were you going to say? It’s okay. I won’t judge you. I know your anger is not for me, but for Michael. Let it out. I dare you to say it.”

“
You’re crazy,” I fired back.

“
I’ve been called worse.” Unexpectedly, he shoved me. He barely touched me, but it was enough for me to stumble.

His action made me furious. I wanted to shout out from the top of my lungs, but I fought back the urge. “You’re such a pain in the aaa…”

“
Say it!”

“
Ahhh!!!” I pressed my hands to his chest. “Why are you such an ass???” I couldn’t believe I said it, but it felt SO good! Then I thought,
How does he bring out the worst in me
? I’m not an angry person and I don’t normally shoot out cuss words; Mom and Gamma taught me better than that.

Unexpectedly, he gripped by wrists, moving them behind me, and drew me into him. My heart heaved in and out from being a breath away from his lips and from being exhausted from all the energy I was releasing. He set his eyes deeply into mine and exhaled. “Everything was just great until you walked into my life. I know who I am and my purpose in life, but you are making me confused. For the first time, I want more. The worst part of this is that I can’t have you, even if you allowed it.” He paused, searching for words. “I want you to hate me, ‘cause if I knew that you even cared about me that way, I would give up everything just to be with you. I don’t know why. And that scares me more than anything I’ve ever known. So there is the answer to your question. Satisfied?”

We just stood there with our eyes locked. I was completely speechless. What could I say? There were no words. After he released me, I rubbed my sore hands again.

“
I can make it better,” he said sweetly and cupped my hands with his, as if our conversation never took place. A small beam of divine light surrounded his hands, and mine started to feel warm and tingly. His angelic touch worked its magic and made them feel much better, till finally the pain was gone. “Don’t punch me next time. You can’t hurt me physically, but you can hurt me in other ways. Like right now; you’re killing me softly with your presence.” Then he let go.

My hands felt better and I didn’t know what to say, so I just said, “Thank you.” It became awkward, not knowing what to say or what to do. I started pacing in my room while he sat on the
edge of my bed, and I did a double take when I spotted my overcoat and my scarf on the bed.
How and when
?
I thought, but I didn’t bother to ask. Instead, I took the opportunity
to ask him questions. “Those angel statues on Island of Eden; they come alive, don’t they?”

“
You noticed.”

“
How could you not? They are beautiful in their stillness, but they disappeared when the alkins came. I thought I was losing my mind.”

“
Yes. We call them the watchers. They were fallen once.”

“
Fallen?” I asked, sounding flabbergasted.

Austin explained.
“Fallen angels can be split into several groups; the angels who sided and allied with Lucifer during the war in Heaven, the ones who fought along with Aden, and the fallen known as watchers or Grigori. These watchers were created by God to be Earthly shepherds of the first humans, before the Earth angels existed. Their job was to observe humanity, lending a helping hand when necessary but not interfering in the course of human development.

“
Over time while living among them, they couldn’t resist the temptation. They soon began to lust for human women, and the offspring of these unions were born; the nephilim, half human and half angel. The watchers further taught humans things such as weaponry and other techniques that would otherwise be discovered gradually over time, not foisted upon them all at once.

“
God was very angry and eventually he cast a
great flood
to rid the earth of the nephilim, thus Noah’s Ark. Many watchers asked for forgiveness and the Royal Council agreed to save their souls under one condition.
For their penance, they would help the Divine Elders. Since Divine Elders are not trained nor fit for battles, they needed many who could guard and keep an eye out for demon occurrences. Each Divine Elder has a group of watchers under their command. The watchers are banned from human contact, so that is the reason why they become statues until they are needed.
They are bound “in the valleys of the Earth” until
Judgment Day
.”

I didn’t know why, but I felt sorry for them. And thinking of angels, I thought of Gamma, since she had been one. “You knew Gamma?”

“
I met her several times with Katherine. They were good friends. She was an amazing Earth angel, whom I deeply admired. She kept many things from us so we wouldn’t risk our lives. She always thought of others before herself. The last time I saw her was regarding you. She asked Katherine to send a guardian to watch over you. Naturally, Katherine would send you the best.” He cocked his brow, referring to himself.

“
Really, I’ve already met the best,” I said, referring to Michael, purposely bursting his ego.

He chuckled. “You haven’t seen anything yet.”

“
I’ll be the one to judge.” Then I changed the subject again. “I wonder why she never mentioned you?”

“
Isn’t it obvious? She didn’t want you to know or be around us. All she ever cared about was your safety.”

“
Yeah, I guess.” I was confused. I didn’t know what questions to ask. I had so many. “Were you guarding me at camp?”

“
No. I wasn’t assigned to you yet.”

“
Then, meeting you was a complete coincidence?”

“
You came to the restaurant I work at. I didn’t force you to come; however, I did know you. You could say I admired you from afar.”

I ignored his flirting. “Why do you work?” I asked, leaning against my desk.

“
Because I get bored. We don’t have assignments all the time. We go chasing after demons when we have a lead.”

“
Oh, so, when did you get assigned to me?”

“
The day of your grandmother’s funeral.”

“
Oh, I see.” I swallowed hard, trying to keep from tearing up. “Were you at the funeral? I thought I saw you.”

“
You were thinking of me?” he asked, grinning.

“
No, I didn’t,” I said quickly. “You were there. I thought I was seeing things.”

“
I was there briefly to pay my respects.”

“
So, you and Gamma were friends?”

“
Yes, if that’s the word you want to use. We didn’t exactly hang out and party together.”

I gave him the ‘don’t be a smart mouth’ look.

“
She mentioned you several times. She loved you more than anything in life.”

His words pierced through my heart, bringing back the memories of her, and blinking back the tears wasn’t working. “I know,” I managed to say. A teardrop found its way out of my watery eye.

“
You were everything to her. She said she loved you like her own.”

I wanted Austin to stop speaking. His words were so precise about how Gamma felt about me that it made me miss her so much. The wound from the loss of my grandmother reopened when I had thought I had healed it, somewhat. Tears streamed one after the other and there was no way to stop them from falling. I didn’t want him to see me this way.

“
I’m sorry,” Austin said, now standing in front of me, wiping my tears. “I didn’t know you would react this way. I wouldn’t have said anything. I don’t know how it feels to lose someone you love. I don’t know much about loving someone, I…”

“
It’s okay. Thanks for letting me know,” I interrupted. I didn’t want him to continue.

Suddenly, he lifted me up and backed me against the closet door. His wings were fully extended, protecting me. I used my finger to find an opening through his silky, layered wings and peered out to see who he was protecting me from since my butterfly necklace was still crystal clear.

Out of thin air appeared Davin, Vivian, and Caleb.

“
Who let this dove in?” Davin sneered. “Wait, no, dove is such a pretty bird. Who let this goose in? After what you did, you don’t deserve to be in our presence.”

Austin didn’t look happy with Davin’s comment, but he didn’t say anything, which was surprising. After he realized it was safe, his wings closed. I wiped away any evidence that I was crying and walked to Davin.

“
Who told you to come?” Austin retorted.

“
Michael told us to keep an eye out for Claudia,” Davin replied.

“
You don’t need to be here. I’m her guardian. He knows better than to ask amateurs to watch over her.”

Davin’s eyes grew wide. “Amateur?!?!” His tone was loud and angry. Vivian must have seen the same expression on Davin’s face, the kind of expression that says, ‘I’m gonna kick your butt’. Before things got worse, she stepped in front of Davin.

“
Lose the macho ego, goose,” Vivian huffed. “We stay whether you like it or not.”

“
Fine.” It was all Austin could say.

Then Holly and Patrick appeared.

Holly stared down Vivian. “Who dressed you? Going to a funeral?”

Vivian looked livid. She gasped with shock. “Perhaps it’ll be yours.” She paused and spoke again. “Claudia dressed me.” Vivian looked at me and shrugged her shoulders. “Fashion Wear,” she said to me. “Your stuff, you sell them.”

Vivian didn’t look bad. She had her usual black outfit, but I guess she could’ve used more color, but what did I know about fashion? I loved my jeans and T-shirt. Then Vivian shot back, “Who did your hair, Zebra?”

“
Zebra?” Holly looked offended. “It’s called highlights, for your information, and zebra’s are black and white. You see any white on my hair?”

“
Who cares about the color, stripes are stripes.”

“
Look, we’re not here to argue about fashion or who gets to look at this princess,” Holly said. “We need to follow Katherine’s plan. But first, we all need to get along and work as a team. This is the plan. Michelle and Gracie will lure the demon to us. Austin and I will look after her at school and then you can take over when she comes home. Sound like a plan?”

“
You and Austin will be attending my school?” I asked, not liking this one bit.

“
Yup,” Holly replied. “You got a problem with that?” She furrowed her brow. Holly was a bit shorter than me, but it was her tone that made others submissive to her.

“
I don’t need baby sitters,” I fought back. “I don’t need you two to follow me around.”

“
First of all, I don’t watch babies. Second of all, you got no choice, princess. We go wherever you go. You go to the bathroom, I’m there.”

“
Great,” I muttered.