Blessed (Book 2, The Watchers Trilogy; Young Adult Paranormal Romance) (26 page)

“I’m ready,” I told Robert. He grabbed me by the shoulder and walked us deeper into the forest, while the other Watchers phased out of the clearing with their children in tow.

“Just in case your friends decide to come back,” he explained. “I doubt they will look for my trail here. They’ll have quite a few false trails to follow first. By the time they figure things out, it’ll be over.”

I was actually thankful for Robert’s thoroughness. I didn’t want Brand, Malcolm, or Will to try to rescue me. It would be futile at this point.

I took a deep breath, steeling myself to meet death as Robert phased us out of the forest.

CHAPTER TWENTY

We appeared on a beach under a ‘J’-shaped palm tree. The sun was just rising over the watery horizon, casting an orange glow against the pale blue sky. The lapping of the water against the sand at my feet did little to help calm my aching heart. Would this be the last sunrise I ever saw?

“Enjoy it while you can,” Robert snorted, as if reading my thoughts. “He’s been waiting a long time to get rid of you. I doubt I’ll have very long to wait before he tells me to finish you off for him. You’d be dead by now if he didn’t have this absurd notion that you deserve to know the truth before you die.”

“What do you get out of killing me for him?” I asked. If I understood anything, I knew Robert wouldn’t be doing someone else’s dirty work for nothing.

“I get to stay alive,” he told me, obviously not liking the fact that his life had been on the line with my capture.

“I didn’t think your kind could die.”

“Not by a human’s hand or even our own,” he smirked. “But there are special circumstances when we can be killed like anyone else.”

It made me think of what Will had once said about Lucifer. One of the reasons he followed Lucifer’s orders so explicitly was because he could destroy him. I knew it wasn’t Lucifer who had been trying to kill me all these years. He was trying to save me for plans of his own. So who was threatening Robert?

It wasn’t long before I felt him getting closer. It was just like the time I was in Justin’s prison cell, waiting for him, before I knew I could phase to safety. I could go again if I wanted to but didn’t have the heart. I knew if I didn’t stay to face my executioner, Robert would hurt my family just to get to me again. Things had to end now, one way or another. There wasn’t any point in running away. There was nowhere to hide. I would have to sacrifice myself in order to keep the ones I loved safe. I only hoped Brand could forgive me for my decision. His heartache would run deeper and last longer than anyone else’s.

I could feel the heat of my executioner’s aura surrounding me. It was stifling, like being too close to the sun. However, I couldn’t hear his thoughts this time. I got the impression he was shielding them from me, knowing I could read his mind as easily as I knew what
I
was thinking.

I couldn’t see him at first. I just felt his presence beside me. When I looked at where I knew he was, all I could see was a slight shimmer against the white sand, like a mirage. He had no true form that I could make out.

“You’ve done your job,” he said to Robert. “Now go and leave us.”

“How long should I wait until I can come back to finish her off?” Robert asked, bowing to the entity beside me.

“Your assistance is no longer required. I will not need for you to come back.”

“But… you promised I could have her!”

The heat of Robert’s little tantrum shocked me. Even I had the presence of mind to know talking to the entity beside me like that was a bad idea.

“You will not address me like that, you filthy mongrel!” The entity beside me roared with absolute authority. “I did not give you permission to put innocent lives in danger just for your own amusement. You will not get what you were promised, and I order you not to bother Lilly’s friends again. Is that understood?”

“Yes,” Robert reluctantly whispered, glancing up at me. I could tell he hated being dressed-down in front of me. “But I thought the whole point of my capturing her was so I could kill her for you.”

“I will handle things from here. You need to leave now. She and I have much to discuss with one another.”

Robert looked at me. I could see the longing in his eyes to finish what he had started in the forest. He certainly hadn’t planned to kill me before he was able to satisfy his urges.

“Maybe I’ll see you again one day, Lilly, if you survive.”

Then he was gone, leaving me alone with the being that had been trying to kill me for so many years.

I turned toward the shimmering apparition beside me, feeling a lot calmer now that Robert was gone.

“Why can’t I see you?” I asked.

“You are seeing me,” he answered. “At least as well as your half-angel eyes can see me.”

“Who are you?”

“My name is Uriel.”

“What are you?”

“I’m an archangel.”

“Did God send you to kill me, like He did to Lilith’s children?”

“Do you really think He would order the slaying of the innocent?”

“That’s what the angels I know told me. What are you saying? They weren’t killed?”

“I’m not allowed to tell you what happened to them. However, I can tell you He was never behind the previous attempts on your life. And, before now, He never ordered me to stop trying to eliminate you and the threat you pose.”

I grasped onto the hope his statement provided. “What do you mean, before now?”

“He’s ordered me to stand down and let things run their natural course. I’m not allowed to interfere anymore.”

“Why have you been trying to kill me?”

“I felt it was necessary in order to fulfill my duty.”

“What duty?”

“To protect Heaven.”

“Why am I such a danger?”

Uriel was silent. I knew he was still there, because I could still feel the heat of his presence and see his shimmering form. I tried to listen to his thoughts, but he was hiding them too well from me.

“I can’t tell you that, Lilly. I wish I could, so you could decide for yourself whether your life is worth the chaos to come.”

“Can’t you tell me more than that? Anything?” I pleaded.

“The fallen should be able to figure it out. They just haven’t thought of it yet. Look to yourself, Lilly. You have the potential to become even more powerful than all the angels in Heaven and on Earth. You are the key to everything.”

“The first time, when Justin had me and you were coming to speak with me, you know I heard your thoughts and felt your feelings then. You kept thinking one life was worth sacrificing to save so many. Please, tell me why I’m a danger so I can understand what needs to be done.”

“I have given you the only clues I’m allowed to give. You need to discover the answers on your own. I am forbidden to interfere any further.”

“Can you at least tell me if we’re on the right track? We think Lucifer wants to use me to get back into Heaven for some reason. Am I special because I contain Lilith’s power to enter Heaven?”

“It is not the only reason. But, I think you have already figured that out. You need to search deeper.”

“Please,” I begged. “You know what I need to do! Just tell me!”

“I have done everything within my power to eliminate you as a threat,” Uriel said. It was a little disconcerting to hear the regret in his voice at not being able to accomplish his mission. “Trying to kill you was not pleasurable for me, but I saw no other alternative.”

“Are you saying I have to die in order to stop what’s going to happen?”

“Once you learn the true treachery of Lucifer’s plans, I hope you will be strong enough to choose the right path.” He paused for a few seconds before saying, “There is no sin in a martyr’s death.”

“Are you implying that I should kill myself in order to stop what’s going to happen?”

“That is not for me to say,” he said cryptically.

“Has God told you anything? Does He know what will happen?”

“He has not shared His thoughts with me but, obviously, He has hope you will do what is right.”

“Why has He ordered you to stop trying to kill me now? Has something changed?”

“I have no idea why He has chosen to step in now. I can only assume you have chosen to do something which will stop Lucifer’s plans for the future.”

“Then we shouldn’t have anything to worry about.”

“Perhaps. But you humans are fickle creatures. You may have chosen the right path for now, but what happens if you stray from it? Are we all to be doomed because of one wrong decision?” 

“I won’t stray,” I promised him. “If He believes in me, then I have to believe in myself.”

“I hope you are right, Lilly, for all our sakes.”

In an instant, Uriel was gone. I felt him leave before I actually noticed that the shimmering of his presence was no longer in front of me.

I was filled with a new sense of hope for the future. Maybe Brand had been right all this time. Perhaps God actually did have a plan for us.

I quickly phased back home, desperate to see my family again.

When I got home, I was surprised to see only Will in the living room. He was pacing in front of the fireplace. As soon as he saw me, the worry in his eyes disappeared. He rushed towards me, taking me in his arms and holding me tightly.

“Where have you been?” he demanded, almost harshly, though the tone in his voice was filled with worry so I knew it wasn’t intentional.

“I’d rather wait until we’re all together so I only have to explain things once,” I told him. “Where are they? Are Tara and Malik ok?”

“They’re at Allan’s house. Allan took Brand and Malcolm back to the forest to search for you.”

“And Abby, Sebastian, and Angela?”

“They’re at Allan’s, too, in the room he has for Angela.”

I took Will’s hand and phased us to Allan’s home. I knew Allan might not appreciate me bringing Will along, because of his prejudice against the fallen angels, but I really didn’t care. Will was part of my family, and I wasn’t about to leave him behind.

We were standing in the foyer when we heard the shuffling of feet and the sound of hushed voices emanating from the sitting room to our right. When we stepped inside the room, I saw Tara lying on the formal couch with Malik kneeling beside her. He was only wearing a black and white plaid blanket tied around his waist and a thick gauze bandage taped over his left shoulder. I assumed his state of undress was because he’d lost his clothes when he transformed into the black panther I had seen in the forest.

There was a tall, lanky man of about sixty, with grey hair and a mustache, dressed in a maroon velvet housecoat, at the foot of the couch, talking to Allan.

“I’ve stopped the bleeding, but she’s lost a lot of blood,” he was saying to Allan. “She should be all right after she gets some rest. I’m afraid the bite mark will leave a nasty scar, though. There isn’t much I can do for that.”

Allan looked up as we came further into the room to stand beside Malik.

He walked to me and gave me a hug. “I thought…” He couldn’t make himself finish the sentence.

“I thought so, too,” I replied, looking down at Tara. Guilt wracked my body. She looked like a corpse. Her ebony skin was ashen in color. If I hadn’t heard the man say she would be all right, when I came into the room, I would have thought she was already dead.

“Malik,” I touched his naked shoulder and felt him jump. He hadn’t even realized I was standing in the room.

“Lilly?” His eyes slowly left Tara’s face as he looked up at me. He stood, letting go of Tara’s hand and hugged me. “I tried to protect her,” he said to me, more in an attempt to convince himself that he had done all he could to keep Tara from being harmed than convince me of his efforts. “I tried...”

I pulled away from Malik and saw the distress and guilt in his watery eyes.

“There wasn’t anything more you could have done. If this is anyone’s fault, it’s mine. Don’t blame yourself. You did the best you could under the circumstances.”

Malik nodded his head like he understood what I was saying, but the haunted look in his eyes told me Robert had done his best to make Malik suffer while playing his sadistic games with Tara.

“He didn’t do anything else to her, did he?” I asked, knowing Robert’s predilections ran toward the sexual spectrum.

“No,” Malik said, seeming to understand the meaning behind my question.

“She’ll be fine after some rest,” the stranger in the room said to me.

“Who are you?” I asked, trying to remember if I had seen him in Allan’s house before.

“This is Elliot,” Allan answered. “He helps us with certain things around the house.”

“Shouldn’t we get a doctor?” I asked, not understanding why a servant had been put in charge of taking care of my best friend’s medical needs.

“He’s a licensed doctor, among other things,” Allan explained. “You can trust him.” 

Brand and Malcolm phased in behind the couch Tara laid on. Both of their faces were absent of hope until they saw I was standing in the room. Brand had me in his arms, kissing me like he had completely lost all control over what he was doing, not caring that we were in a room full of people watching us.

“Where have you been?” he asked me, pulling away to search my face for any damage or signs that I had been hurt.

“I finally met the person who’s been trying to kill me,” I told him.

I told them all what I had learned from Uriel.

“
We
know the answer?” Will asked. “You’re sure he said that?”

“Trust me. I have every word he said etched in my memory.”

“What could we be forgetting?” Malcolm pondered. “It’s obviously something we should know about.”