Chameleon (Supernaturals) (25 page)

Gabriel sighed again and closed his eyes. “I believe you are right Danielle. I tried to tell him that, but he will not listen to me right now. He thinks my loyalty to the council is being swayed by you.”

“Is it?” I asked.

Gabriel sat up and looked unwaveringly into my eyes. “My loyalty has never been to the council. I serve the Creator. She is the one who has given me this gift. She is the one who has given me you. She brought us together for a reason, Danielle. I believe you are right about needing to restore the balance between the two worlds. I just have no idea how to do it.”

It was such a relief to have Gabriel on my side, and I found it even more comforting when he held out his hand to me. “Please,” he said. “The hour is late and it is I who need your strength tonight.”

. . . . .

Gabriel was finally sleeping, but my eyes wouldn’t close. I slipped out of his embrace, taking great care not to wake him, and went in search of something bland to eat, hoping that the memory of that awful vision would fade. My stomach felt queasy again.

I found some tea, but it didn’t help, so I went back to bed and eventually fell into a fitful sleep.

The man from my last vision, who had taken the lives of that family, slit his hand with a shiny dagger and mixed the blood that dripped from it into a dark, thick substance I didn’t want to identify. Then he took the concoction and painted a large circle on the floor of an abandoned warehouse. Inside the circle he drew a five-pointed star and a strange looking symbol next to each point.

When the man placed a shabby old crate in the middle of the circle and set candles on it I stopped paying attention to him. It was clear he was building some kind of altar.

Instead of him, I tried to focus on the warehouse he was in. It was large, cold, damp and dark. The floor was littered with garbage and evidence of squatters. There was an old worn phone book for a place called Newark sitting on a dusty, cluttered desk, but that was the only detail I could see that might be of any use in finding this place.

I focused on the man next. He was hairy and dirty. Dressed in rags. Scrawny and tired. His movements were robotic and his expression was completely vacant. Surprisingly, this comforted me because only an insane person would be capable of doing something so horrific as he’d done in my last vision.

I watched as he finished with his altar and moved back over to the desk. Sitting on top of it was a photo of a young attractive couple—the couple I watched him murder in my mind’s eye. He shoved the photo into his pocket, and then licked the bloody dagger clean as he headed out of the warehouse.

I let out a piercing shriek and sat up in bed, panting and sweating.

Gabriel sat up and pulled me into his arms. “Was it the same dream?” he asked.

“No,” I said. “They’re not dead yet. He hasn’t killed them yet. But he’s going to do something horrible with that blood. We have to stop it! We have to find a way to stop him, Gabriel!” I was crying.

“Shh.” Gabriel pulled me away from his chest and wiped a few stray tears from my eyes. “Okay. We will speak with the Councilor again. I am sure he will understand. At his core, he is a good man, Danielle. He will see reason.”

I wanted to be strong for Gabriel. I wanted to believe him. I even nodded, hoping to fool myself into thinking the Councilor would help us. But I knew he wouldn’t.

Gabriel sighed. “If you cannot have faith in him will you at least try to have faith in me?”

“I—I—”

My heart pounded in my chest. I knew this. I’d had this conversation before. I knew the words that were supposed to come out of my mouth next.
I could change it
, I thought.
I could change the vision I had right now
.

Instead, I looked into Gabriel’s eyes and told him the truth. “I do have faith in you, Gabriel.”

It took him forever to do what I knew he would do. My words had taken hold of him. He looked at me as if I’d just validated all the emotion he’d been experiencing since we met.

I could see in his eyes the precise moment he became resolved to act on his desire. He moved slowly, his hands trembling as he reached to take my face in them. Then his lips touched mine so lightly I could barely feel them.

He sat there frozen, unsure what he was supposed to do next, but when I kissed him back he learned quickly. I could feel the fire of the cravings burning inside me but it didn’t consume me the way it had when I’d kissed Russ. This kiss was slower, calmer. It was filled with a different kind of passion. It left me utterly and completely breathless.

“Forgive me,” Gabriel said when he finally managed to break away from our kiss. His voice was shaking. “I should not have done that. I—I do not understand what came over me.”

“It’s okay,” I whispered, though I wasn’t really sure if that was true. I felt way too much in that kiss—from both him and me. I was not ready to believe that Gabriel was my destiny, but it would be much harder to deny from now on.

Gabriel apologized again and then shook himself from his stupor. “We should be concentrating on your vision. I need you to tell me everything. As many details as you can remember.”

Show him.

It was just a thought in the back of my mind, but somehow I understood it perfectly and knew I could do it. “Give me your hand.”

Gabriel looked quizzical but didn’t hesitate to hold out his hand. I clasped it tightly with both of mine, then closed my eyes and replayed the vision. When the warehouse came into focus I heard Gabriel gasp.

After it was over, Gabriel had a look of astonishment on his face. I assumed it was because I’d surprised him by showing him the vision, but that wasn’t it at all.

“He was under a spell,” Gabriel murmured. “Danielle, that man was human, but he was under a spell. There is a supernatural behind this. One with magic. A very powerful one to hold a mind control spell for that long. We must go now. The Councilor will want to know about this.”

Gabriel went to the kitchen and called the councilor. “Sir, we must speak with the council. Danielle has had another vision.”

Gabriel listened for a minute. “But sir, this is different. The man in her vision was under a spell. He was going to use the blood to perform some sort of ritual. The victims are human, but they are being killed at the hand of a supernatural. I am sure of it.” There was another pause and then Gabriel exploded. “She is not lying! I know because I saw him myself! Yes, sir, Danielle was able to show me her vision. Yes. It was a mind control spell. It would have to be a very powerful witch or warlock to maintain such a spell for so long a time.”

Gabriel listened again for quite a long moment. “But do you not see?” he said. “If we could find the supernatural who is responsible, then we would not have to contact any humans at all. We could save that family and no one would ever know.”

Gabriel then went silent for so long I thought for sure the one sided conversation would kill me. But I could also imagine the kinds of arguments the Councilor was making and figured it was probably better I couldn’t hear him.

Eventually Gabriel spoke again, but all he said was, “I had not thought of that possibility. Do you really think—”

Another maddening wait.

“Of course, sir. I understand. Yes, tomorrow then.”

“What?” I asked the moment he hung up.

“He is going to help us.”

Gabriel had gone pale and was barely whispering.

“What is it? What’s wrong?”

“The Supreme High Councilor is worried it might be a council member behind these visions.”

“What?” I gasped.

“I cannot see visions concerning only humans. I never have. The Councilor is worried that whoever is doing this is someone with the specific knowledge of how my power works.”

“So they placed a spell on a human as a way to avoid being caught by the Seer,” I said. “And of course they would have no way of knowing that I would be able to see them.”

“The Councilor has agreed to look into this Danielle, but he has asked us not to say another word about it to anyone until he knows more. He has asked us to be patient and if we see anything else, to call him and only him. I am afraid I agree with him on this point. Is that something you can live with?”

I wasn’t sure I liked sitting and doing nothing anymore than I liked leaving everything up to the Supreme High Councilor.

“Danielle,” Gabriel said desperately. “I know you do not trust him, but I do, so will you trust me? Will you wait just long enough to see what he can find out? If we learn anything else, or suspect he is not doing anything, then I promise, we will seek out the council. But please, give him a chance. He hates humans, true, but he hates supernaturals that threaten the safety of their own people even more. He will see whoever is doing this as a traitor. He will not act kindly, nor take his time in stopping them.”

Gabriel looked so sure of himself that I relented. “All right, I’ll wait. But I won’t wait long, Gabriel. I can’t just sit here and let somebody steal the blood of a newborn baby.”

“No,” Gabriel said with a breath of relief. “Nor can I.”

After the phone call,
we went back to the bed. We each got in on our own side and went back to sleep. I was restless, however and noticed that Gabriel seemed to be keeping away from me. Had he gotten scared because he’d lost control of himself and kissed me? I wasn’t sure if he thought I was upset or if he was afraid he’d do it again or what.

In all honesty I’d been so upset about my vision that the meaning of that kiss got buried. The memory of it came flooding back to me when I opened my eyes the next morning and saw Gabriel sprawled on his stomach with the covers completely kicked off him and his pillow on the floor as if he’d slept as restlessly as I had.

He seemed peaceful enough now though, and as I watched him sleep I felt the urge to touch him. I’d felt that way around Russ too before I left, so I told myself it was just the cravings, but with Russ I’d always managed to control myself. Right then, with Gabriel, my hand reached out like it had a mind of it’s own.

My fingers naturally went to the tattoos on his back. I began tracing the patterns on his smooth skin until he was roused from his sleep. That’s when I realized what I’d done and tore my hand away from him. I scrambled back stumbling over an explanation. “I’m sorry, I—I don’t know why I did that. I think it’s the cravings. Usually you sleep—I mean, not that you should have to—I’m sorry.”

Gabriel looked flushed until he noticed my hands, then he was nothing but concerned. “Danielle, you are shaking.” He sat up and pulled me into his lap.

I shuddered when I came into contact with his skin and his energy washed over me. I hadn’t realized what a difference not touching him all night made.

And I thought I’d been hopelessly addicted to Russ? I swear. Look up the word ‘pathetic’ in the dictionary and you’ll find my name.

“You should have awakened me sooner,” Gabriel reprimanded as he eased me back down.

“I didn’t realize I was so—” I forgot what I was going to say when he started running his hands up my arms and over my back. It was all innocent—well it probably was on his part—but after he’d kissed me all the way to cloud nine the night before, the physical contact was driving me mad.

I wanted him.

I wanted him more than I’d ever wanted anything in my entire life. But it wasn’t real. It couldn’t be real. I didn’t love Gabriel. I didn’t even
know
Gabriel. It was just the cravings making me crazy, and I wasn’t about to go, you know,
there
, with a total stranger. Husband or not.

I was so desperate to escape him before I acted on all the urges I was feeling that I started thinking of home and imagining things that weren’t there. Things like the smell of coffee so strong it could have stirred me from my sleep, and, if I wasn’t mistaken…no...it was! But…. It wasn’t possible. I sat straight up. “Do you smell that?”

I’d startled poor Gabriel, but he knitted his brow in confusion. “Yes. What is that?”

I wasn’t imagining it. “Banana pancakes!” I said and shot out of bed.

I ran out into the kitchen and sure enough the table was set with my all-time favorite breakfast of coffee, bacon and banana pancakes. I told myself it was impossible until I felt the prickle of magic and suddenly out of nowhere a cup of red Jell-O appeared on the plate in front of me.