Death Angel (Death Angel Series Book 1) (18 page)

“He did that to himself,” Cassandra’s voice rose sharply as she spit the words out. “If he—“

“Enough, Cassandra,” the Head General said, his words booming through the room. His eyes turned onto Gabrielle. “Tomorrow morning you will report to the assessment room. Afterward, we will see what fate awaits you, young lady.”

With that, the Head General stood up and all the Generals reflexively mirrored him, leaving only Gabrielle sitting. She shakily stood up.

As they all filed out of the room, they passed by her, some giving her kind looks, some glaring at her with hatred. Just when she thought that she had found some peace in this place, when she thought she was catching the hang of it, a curve ball was thrown at her. She wanted to curl up right there and cry. The way they had all talked so emptily about her, and right in front of her, as if she was some piece of bizarre artwork that was meant to be pondered and discussed. It was all just too much for her and she couldn’t wait to get out of there. But her feet were rooted to the spot and Mr. Black was walking straight for her with his eyes fixed on her.

“You will finish out the day in the office,” he said with an odd coldness in his voice as he stopped to speak with her. She noticed the strange glance that Cassandra gave him as he spoke to her, as if she was gauging her. “Follow me.”

Gabrielle did as he said, and soon it was only her and him in the hallway. She recognized the way they were heading and it wasn’t back to the office. It looked like he was bringing her back to her home.

“Mr. Black,” she said his name tentatively. She had questions that she needed him to answer and she hoped that he would be receptive. He glanced over at her for just a moment but didn’t say anything. Gabrielle took that as a sign to speak.

“Why does it matter if I’m a dark rank or light?” she asked. It wasn’t the question that she really wanted to ask him, but she felt like it would be the best conversation starter.

“That’s the way things work,” he said, almost brushing her off. His words seemed so cold to her and she couldn’t understand why. He was always hard to read, and he seemed emotionless, but this seemed more than that. It was almost like he was irritated with her. She knew she should just shut up now, but she just couldn’t. She had to ask the question that she really wanted to know.

“Why did you do it?” she asked, her voice almost a whisper. He turned his head to look at her.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said, his voice flat.

“The night of the festival,” she said, looking up over at him. She hoped that he would catch on to what she was saying so that she didn’t have to say it. Her cheeks were already burning with embarrassment, but she made herself press on with this line of questioning.

“You were drunk and making a bit of a spectacle,” he said. His voice was so cold and indifferent and his words were so sharp that it almost made Gabrielle stop midstride. She felt her heart falling into her stomach. “I was forced to walk you home before you further embarrassed yourself and my command.”

Gabrielle could feel the tears brimming at her eyes. How could he have turned so cold so suddenly towards her? It didn’t make any sense. Had she done something terribly wrong to upset him? Had the kiss been that awful for him?

“You kissed me,” she said, her voice cracking even though she tried to make it strong and push back the oncoming tears. He stopped suddenly and took a sharp breath, whirling on her. His body came so close to hers that she could almost feel the heat radiating off him. The closeness made her body heat up, but the sheer disdain in his eyes made her tense up.

“That was a mistake on my part,” he spat the words at her. She hadn’t realized until that moment how much that kissed had seemed to mean to her. She had secretly enjoyed it so much, though she felt terribly guilty for it when she thought about Matthew. But now she felt so stupid and childish for thinking that it meant anything. She swallowed thickly, trying to suppress her oncoming tears. She knew that there wasn’t anything between them except for a boss worker relationship, but she still couldn’t help but hurt at his clear rejection of her.

“Go home,” he said sharply, straightening his shoulders and stepping back from her. “I don’t expect you to ever mention this again.”

He was gone before she had time to react. She didn’t know how he moved so fast, but she was suddenly alone in the hallway that led to her quarters. It took everything she had to make it back without shedding a tear. Once she was safely in the privacy of her own quarters, she let her tears flow freely down her cheeks.

Chapter Twenty Three

Gabrielle stared quizzically down at the stack of papers in front of her. She reread the first question on the page then looked up at the Generals who all sat staring expectantly at her. She avoided eye contact with Mr. Black, still embarassed by their interaction the day before. When no one said anything, she decided to voice what she thought would be an obvious question.

"What does this mean?" she asked, pointing down at the paper. No one answered her, and they all just looked at her like she should know exactly what it meant.

"We cannot help you," the Head General spoke from right next to her, his voice kind but firm. "You must answer the questions on your own."

Gabrielle sighed and looked back down at the paper, twirling the pencil in her hand. None of these questions made any sense. And not in the 'she just wasn't smart enough to answer them' type of way. They actually made no sense. She reread the first question on the paper again.

If you have the color purple and the color green, do you choose yellow or orange?

Gabrielle could feel her frustration rising. As she glanced down the page, all the questions resembled the first. Just a bunch of nonsense. How was she supposed to answer any of these? This was not at all what she was expecting. She looked back up at the Generals, and she pulled her lips tight. Fine, she thought. If they wanted to give her a test of nonsense questions, she would just give them nonsense answers.

Pink, she scribbled under the first question. She stopped for a moment, thought about that, then narrowed her eyes as she erased her answer. Triangle, she wrote. She had an odd twinge of self satisfaction at that, and so she continued answering the absurd questions with absurd answers. By the time she got to the end of the ten or so pages of simple but stupid questions, she wasn't even reading them anymore. She was just scribbling down whatever word came into her head first. As soon as she put her pencil down and looked defiantly up at the Generals, the Head General scooped the papers up.

"Thank you, Ms. Gabrielle," he said, his eyes sliding oddly onto her as he glanced over at the papers. She felt a twinge of embarrassment. She hadn't assumed they would read it in front of her. Now she felt bad for not taking it very seriously. She could feel her cheeks blushing and she just couldn't make herself look up at him, though she could feel his eyes inspecting her. She bit at her bottom lip, trying not to look in the direction of Mr. Black. He had been the one person she thought she could look to for help. But he had made it abundantly clear that he wouldn't be showing her any more kindnesses. She couldn't stop the odd pain in her chest when she thought about that.

"Interesting," the Head General said, drawing her out of her own thoughts and forcing her to look up at him. "The assessment is finished, and I must say there is some ambiguity to it."

From the corners of her eyes, Gabrielle could see some of the Generals shifting and sitting up with interest. She had no idea what he meant by that, but it was clear that it meant something to them.

"That's absurd," Cassandra spat, her disgust at such a statement evident. Gabrielle chanced a glance at Mr. Black, wanting to gauge his reaction. He looked thoughtful, his eyes for once not blazing on her.

"Some ambiguity," the Head General said, stressing the word some, "but there is a ruling. She is to transfer over to the Light Ranks."

As soon as he said the words, Mr. Black shot up in his seat and stormed out of the room. Gabrielle felt her heart drop. Even though he had been so cold to her the day before, she didn't like the idea of having to work somewhere that wasn't around him. Plus, this just meant that she would have to get used to a new office, with new people, and new possible enemies. Not to mention all new clothes. That was, of course, if she made it through the Academy which she was fully aware might not happen. Her future was looking bleaker by the minute. She wished more than anything that she could take comfort from Matthew's warm embraces, but he hadn't responded to any of her messages the night before and dread over what that meant was beginning to creep in her heart.

"You'll finish out the week with Sebastian," the Head General said, his words dipping low as he watched him leaving the room. "He will be troubled enough as it is. This will give him time to find a suitable replacement."

Gabrielle shifted uncomfortably and nibbled at her bottom lip. For some reason that made her more troubled than knowing that she would never work for him again.

###

Sebastian was finding it extremely hard to keep his anger in check. In all honesty, with everything that had happened, this was for the best. But still, the way it had come about, and his own helplessness about the situation ate at him. He was glowering at Cassandra as she came sauntering out of the assessment room.

"There's no need to give me that look Sebastian," she said, and he knew she was trying her best to look sultry and sound seductive. It just made his stomach turn. She was a beautiful woman, and there was a time that he would have been happy to have her. But that was a long time ago.

"This was entirely uneccessary," he said, his jaw clenching tightly. "It was none of your concern."

"Oh come now, Sebastian," she said, her steps bringing her right in front of him. She stopped closer than he was comfortable with and ran a finger down his chest, clearly trying to affect him. He grabbed her hand roughly and flung it away from him.

"You disgust me," he said as venomously as he could.

"That isn't a very nice thing to say to your betrothed," she cooed at him, batting her lashes.

"You're not my betrothed," he said, narrowing his eyes down at her. It wasn't entirely true. She had been at one time. It was an arranged marriage, done by his parents and hers. They came from the two most prominent houses in all the Death Angel Society. They were damn near royalty. Everyone thought it would make a grand match. She was the only child of her parents, and everyone's best option was to merge these two great houses. Sebastian had been fine with that for most of his life.

"Yeah, I remember," she said, her tone suddenly shifting into the cold bitch he knew she was. "You chose that common whore over me."

As soon as the word came out of her mouth, he had his hand around her throat and she was pressed against the wall.

"Tell me Sebastian," she said, her words choked. In spite of her position, her face remained emotionless. She wasn't afraid of him and he knew it. She was a General in her own right, and though he was slightly more powerful than her, she could still hold her own against him and they both knew it. "Why is it you are so keen on that silly little girl working under you?"

Her eyes narrowed on him and he pulled his hand back. He knew he didn't have to answer that question. She already knew the answer to it. That's why she had demanded this assessment. Sebastian had been fairly certain however that she would be determined to belong to the Dark Ranks. He was rather surprised with the outcome.

"Why do you concern yourself with what I do?" Sebastian said, his eyes still glaring angrily down at her.

"This may come as a surprise to you Sebastian," she said, her voice once again dipping into what he supposed she meant to be alluring. "I never considered our arrangement to be over. I'm waiting for you to come to your senses, and obviously I need to help you with that from time to time."

Sebastian just scoffed and walked away from the infuriating bitch. He had more pressing concerns than a scorned ex betrothed. He returned to his office, expecting to see Gabrielle there but was perplexed when she wasn’t. He had heard the Head General say that she would finish out the week with him, and while he couldn’t be unhappier about the situation, he had expected her to be here. He hated that he had to be so cold to her. He wanted more than anything to scoop her up and wipe the frightened look off her face with a heated kiss. But he knew that he couldn't do that. She was to be Kasen's wife now, he realized that when he saw the necklace that she so proudly displayed around her neck. It was just as well with the way things turned out. Being a General's wife meant she wouldn't have to go through the Academy. It also meant that Sebastian would never have to worry about her being tossed into the lower sector with the undesireables. So even though it was painful for him to do, he had to stop treating her like he had been.

“Mr. Black,” Kaia greeted him when he walked into the office. He was growing weary of her. He knew that she was intent on grabbing Ms. Blankenship’s position, and while he wasn’t opposed to the idea - she was the most experienced assistant in his office - he had been concerned with the way she had handled Gabrielle, causing only more problems for himself.

“Kaia, join me in my office,” he said, making a sudden decision that he hoped he wouldn’t regret. But he would be spending more and more time out of his office, and he needed to know that it would be properly run.

She didn’t say anything in response, but he could feel her tense up. She followed him into his office and shut the door behind her. He sat down at his desk and looked up at her for a moment before he decided to speak. She was steady under his gaze, but he could feel her wanting to shift uncomfortably.

“I’m going to be dealing with some important business in the coming days and possibly weeks,” he could see her visibly relax when she realized he wasn’t about to chastise her for something.

“Gabrielle will be leaving us at this weeks end,” he said, noting the way she brightened at that. “It goes without saying that I need to replace my first seat assistant.”

He was quiet again, purposefully keeping her on pins and needles as she waited for him to continue. He imagined she was wondering if he had chosen her for the spot, or someone else. When he felt that he had made her sufficiently fretful, he spoke again.

“I am promoting you,” he said simply, and a wide smile spread across her face.

“Thank you sir,” she said almost breathlessly.

“I trust you can fulfill all your duties without me having to hold your hand,” he said, looking up at her with hard eyes.

“Yes sir, of course,” she nodded her head emphatically. He picked up a stack of files that he had on his desk and held them out to her.

“Deliver these directly to General Kasen,” he said as she took them. She looked back at him with a less than pleased look on her face. “It is imperative that it be handed directly to him.” He said, already irritated with her. “This is not a task I want taken lightly, understand?”

“Yes, sir,” she said, her voice clearly showing her disappointment.

"He has been ill recently, so you may need to track him down," Sebastian said, "but I trust you will carry this out efficiently."

Kaia nodded and left his office. He understood that it wasn’t quite the important load of work that she was expecting, but Sebastian didn’t want to tell her exactly how important this task was. They were all the files that he had managed to gather on the irregularities of the Darkling sightings and missions. He didn’t trust anyone else with this information and he didn’t want to let anyone in on what they were uncovering. It was quickly becoming obvious that this was a very serious issue that had gone unchecked for quite some time. There were at least two Generals involved and it looked as if it was going to threaten the very fabric of the Death Angel Society. They had to find out who was behind it all and what exactly their goal was before it became too late.