Forbidden (The Gabriel Lennox Series Book 1) (23 page)

GABRIEL DROPPED
INTO
the chair beside the fireplace within earshot of Mikel and Nikolai’s tutoring session. Their murmurings about nocturnes, concertos, and so on and on were simply empty noise, like the rolling of the ocean’s waves, the hollow music of the wind through the trees.

Exhaustion, thick and heavy, restrained him, but he dare not sleep. He longed to be alone, but he dared not go to his room, which didn’t do him much good because for the first time, he felt it watching him, patiently waiting for his next move, as if he had all the time in the world.
He
. Beautiful Light. The power that aided Seth. Was it the blood bond that he felt? Or both?

Not knowing made him miserable.

Thirst pierced through him, making it hurt to swallow. When he closed his eyes, he saw the luscious shade of red, as if blood masked his eyes, and after opening them, a red haze veiled everything in his sight. He knew what his body ached for, but he wouldn’t surrender to that desire. His will was far greater.

Colin strode into the room and announced Lilith’s arrival. He had sent for her. He needed questions answered, his trouble eased. She hadn’t come alone. Alexander and Faron glided into the room with her. And Sevien. Gabriel blinked hard a couple of times as if doing so would make the image disappear, but it didn’t. Pity.

Lilith coquetted, glancing around the room, until Colin pulled a chair from along the wall for her to sit in. Alexander and Faron declined the invitation of seats and stood by her side like knights. All four were dressed in shades of blue and cream.

“Beautiful Light,” Gabriel said to her. “Who or what is he?”

Lilith’s face went black. “
Where
did you hear that name?”

“From Seth. I believe he’s trying to make some bond with him—this being. A soul bond?” Gabriel paused, a new thought occurring. “Or perhaps it’s the other way around.”

Sevien narrowed his eyes. “If this is so,” he said, “then there’s no hope for you to defeat him.” His jeweled-colored eyes swept over Gabriel from head to toe, in a slow meticulous manner, lingering on his throat. The appraisal made him tremble. “Unless,” Sevien went on, “unless you were to form a soul bond as well.”

“What the Devil’s the matter with you?” he snapped. “I have had my experience of bonds up to the hilt, and you expect me to go deeper into yet another?”

Sevien smiled. “If you expect to win—
yesss
,” he said, hissing the “s” like Nathaniel.

“What’s the point of winning if I’m to lose someone I cherish?” He looked surprised, which made Gabriel smile. “Yes, I know what a soul bond entails.”

Sevien stared at him.

“Do you,” Gabriel asked, “recall the name Leigh? No? But then again, he probably went by another name.” Sevien’s eyes flashed with something. Recognition? “I had a little talk with this Leigh, and I’ve come to an interesting conclusion. You were the one that Enlightened him, weren’t you?”

Sevien’s face went blank. “Is this Leigh blind?”

“As you say,” Gabriel replied.

His face hardened. “I don’t know the man.”

Gabriel sighed. “Strange. After speaking with him, I also realized that you’re much older than you would like me to believe. Why lie?”

“Deception is only used to deceive, my Prince,” Colin interjected.

Gabriel nodded. “A fitting answer.”

Sevien cocked his head to the side. “An answer that proposes another question: When, my Prince, is it safe to trust anything that a liar speaks? You insinuate that I’m unable to speak the truth, so why waste your time asking me things you know I won’t answer honestly?”

Gabriel didn’t answer him. Instead, he shifted his gaze to Lilith. “I accept the Principality,” he told her. “But I do none of this for you. This is for me. Likewise, I shall pardon those who have sided with Seth.”

Lilith smiled. “As you wish. But no mercy for Seth. You’ll have to kill him.”

Alexander patted Lilith’s shoulder. “Gabriel has tried, my Lady, but without success. The blood bond makes it almost impossible. I believe that’s why Seth initiated one in the first place. A clever fellow, he is.”

“Pardon the traitors?” Faron asked in a tone that suggested something absurd. “You should just kill them all as well.”

Alexander nodded. “We shall assist, but don’t you know what happens when you give your enemy a friendly back?”

“It’s a good place to thrust a knife,” Faron added.

Gabriel gave a bow of his head and smiled. “Your warnings are appreciated, but how will I draw out the goats from the sheep?”

Alexander’s violet eyes turned up to the ceiling, a thoughtful expression on his face. Faron simply scowled at the floor. Gabriel wondered if he had acquired Leigh’s gift and how it worked exactly. Using it to test the hearts of the traitors would prove to be invaluable.

He covered his mouth and yawned. “No solutions on that matter? Good. Then you are not to lay a finger on anyone. Understood?”

Alexander stooped to one knee. “Yes, my Prince.”

Faron stood his ground and simply nodded. “I shall make no promises that I may have to break depending upon the actions of others.”

“Fine. Return here tomorrow at sunset,” Gabriel replied. ‘I shall have you send out invitations to all of the Chosen.”

Lilith turned her head like a lily toward moonlight, a sly smile on her lips. “Parties can be exhausting. Will you be able to entertain? You look . . . ghastly.”

“And do I owe that honor to you?”

Her smile lost some of its arrogance.

“Humans let cows graze on grass in order to fatten them, slaughter them, and then eat them,” Gabriel said. “There’s a certain kind of order to the world. The Chosen feed off of the humans. What do you suppose feeds off of the Chosen?”

“That’s an interesting development,” Sevien said. “But it won’t help you to win.”

Gabriel smiled smugly. “Then you must give assistance. The blood bond—”

“Ah, are Alexander and Faron not enough? Then Sevien will assist as well. But first,” Lilith said, “you must drink.” With one of her sharp fingernails, she opened up a vein in her upturned wrist.

Gabriel wrenched his head away from her. “No.”

GABRIEL STARED
AT THE YOUNG
PROSTITUTE
sitting on the couch, hands clasped in her lap. She grinned up at him, twirling a strand of curly brown hair around her finger.

He fixed his eyes on her, willing her to relax, and when her eyes glazed over, he told her to go to sleep. He sank down into the chair next to her. He took her wrist to his lips and bit into it. He drank until his grogginess lifted.

“I don’t understand why you don’t like to drink,” Colin said. “Is it because you feel like you’re a murderer? A monster?”

Gabriel smiled. “Not at all. It’s because I choose not to be a slave to anything. When I was human, I ate to survive. I didn’t live to eat. And now, if I’m immortal, why should I rely on anything but myself?
My will
. Do you understand?”

“You’re very noble.” Colin raised his hands in front of his face, and scarlet flames blossomed when he flexed his fingers. “But it’s obvious that blood revitalizes us. Assist us.”

“Yes,” he admitted, halfheartedly.

“But where do you suppose,” Colin said thoughtfully, “
this
power came from?”

The fire danced along Colin’s fingertips. The image of a youth with long, blonde hair standing beneath a tree flashed into his mind. Its branches were laden with amber-colored fruit, shimmering in the moonlight. Wind rustled through the bright green leaves and seemed to whisper, “Enlightened with the forbidden.” He pushed the vision from his mind.

“I have no idea,” Gabriel replied. “But I do know how I shall use it to my advantage. Tell me, Colin,” he continued, turning to look at the boy full in the face, “can you make those flames larger?”

“How large?”

He steepled his hands in front of him, elbows resting on the arms of the chair, smiling wider. “Hmmm. Man-sized.”

Colin’s eyes lit up with understanding. He let out a loud burst of laughter. “You’re making a liar out of me, Master Gabriel. I do recall saying that I wouldn’t maim or kill anyone for you.”

Gabriel smiled. “Oh, they’re not just anyone. They’re traitors.”

Colin frowned. “But you said that we weren’t to kill them.”

“And I meant what I said. But,” he went on, “if your gift is necessary, don’t hold back.”

“No need to explain,” Colin whispered. “I know that Alexander and Faron are our allies, but I fear their desires don’t match yours completely. That could cause problems.”

“Could, but for the time being, let us worry over what’s in the present and what’s certain.”

“I didn’t think that anything was ever certain, Master.”

Gabriel gave a bitter smile. “My point exactly.”

* * *

“No, for the thousandth time, you shall remain here,” Gabriel said as patiently as he could, but Nikolai didn’t seem to be listening.

He reclined on the plush carpet of his bedroom, lining up his toy soldiers in armada formation against the wall. He stared at them for what seemed like a long time before flicking them over one by one. He laughed an eerie little chuckle. “I know that through the blood bond Seth has formed with you, he has accessed your dreams, your very mind. And I know that the seal I placed on you won’t last for much longer. In fact, it’s already breaking.” His tone turned serious. “I know more than you think I know.”

Gabriel stared at him, ignoring his veiled threat.

“Remember when I told you “no” about giving you my powers? I didn’t say it to be rebellious. I said it because drinking my blood isn’t enough. After all, you’ve already done that, so the truth speaks for itself.”

Gabriel frowned, face growing hot.

“There are bonds,” Nikolai went on, “and then there are bonds. . .”

“About tonight, my answer is still no.”

Nikolai looked up at him and grinned. “
If
I were an old trout like you,” he said, “you’d let me go to the party. I know you would. What if I were to grow up this instant in front of your very eyes,
would you
let me attend your party? Would you?” The grin had vanished from the child’s face. In his eyes, a black, stormy look smoldered, and his brows knit in fury. He didn’t look so adorable anymore.

Gabriel’s skin prickled as the boy bored into him with his gold-flecked eyes. “Calm down, Nikolai. Be reasonable. What’s taking place tonight isn’t really a party. Therefore, you have no reason to be disappointed. And most certainly not angry.”

“That’s not the reason I’m angry. I promised myself that I would protect you, and you’re making me break my own promise. You’re a terrible old trout!” Nikolai stared at one of the toy soldiers and it went flying across the other side of the room, collided into a wall, and fell lifeless to the floor. He gave Gabriel a sidelong look that made his blood run cold.

His eyebrows rose. “Now see here, Nikolai—”

The child jumped to his feet and grabbed Gabriel’s hand. “No!” he shouted. “
You
see here.” He raised his foot several inches off the floor and smashed it down. “For your sake, for your future,” he said, pleading in a voice suddenly as sweet and endearing as a little girl’s. “You
must
let me speak to Seth.”

Gabriel slipped his hand out of Nikolai’s grasp. He couldn’t understand it. What did the child think he could accomplish by speaking to someone so dangerous? He knew that children could be optimistic, but this was ridiculous. “You’re a
child
. There’s nothing you can do. Besides, you should be focused on your own problems.”

Nikolai stared at his own hands. A frown slowly slipped across his face. “But your problems are mine as well.” He blinked several times. Tears formed like dew in his eyes. A couple of droplets glistened on the length of his lashes. He didn’t sniffle. His face didn’t contort into the ugly mask that crying often produced, but remained a porcelain facade Gabriel had never seen someone cry so stoically. How strange to find Nikolai’s crying didn’t repulse him. But it was disturbing. The tears weren’t tinged with red, but clear as water.

“Your eyes,” Gabriel said, reaching out to touch his tears. “Your tears . . . why aren’t they red?” he asked as gently as he could, but this voice only sounded flat, empty when ironically he felt the opposite.

Nikolai averted his face as if his touch would burn him. “You don’t understand. The blood bond,” he said, voice lowering into a whisper, “won’t allow you to attack. Seth will sense that you mean to trick him. Let me speak to him! Let me reason with him.”

“Forget about Seth. Who made you? Who Enlightened you? Tell me. Now!”

Turning to him, Nikolai paused, and a sickening smile crept on his lips. “Let me attend the party, and I’ll tell you everything. The truth . . .”

“How dare you try to bargain with me? You’ll stay in your room. Mikel will keep you company.”

Nikolai’s face turned as dark as thunder clouds. “I don’t think you want the truth.” He snorted an obnoxious laugh through his nose. “Mikel is so boring. This whole bloody place is boring!” he screamed. “If you don’t let me come, I shall bite off my tongue and bleed to death.”

Gabriel chuckled. “Then you certainly won’t be bored any longer. You’d just be dead.”

Mikel strode into the room, dressed in deep blue evening attire. He moved toward the bed and sat in the chair beside it. He reached out his hand and patted Nikolai on the head. “I’m boring, eh?
Aww
, you hurt my feelings,
mon petite
.”

The child chewed on his bottom lip. “I didn’t mean it, Mikel. Sorry. Forgive me. Please.”

Mikel smiled. “I forgive you. Why don’t you go in my bedroom and play the piano? You were clumsy with some of the notes yesterday. This evening, I want to teach you a fantastic, new piece. And if you catch on quickly, I may even let you play a duet with me.”

Nikolai gasped, shouted in glee, and leaped into the air. He dashed out of the room and across the hallway into Mikel’s room.

His sudden compliance. The boy was up to something. He didn’t know what yet. He shifted his eyes to Mikel and found him staring at him.

“Now that we’re alone.” Mikel’s tone had changed drastically—dark, cold, and just plain nasty. “If you were to die tonight, how will I be affected?”

“Don’t you mean how you
and
Colin will be affected?” Gabriel answered with a smile.

He rolled his eyes. “I care for no one but myself.

“You sound like a selfish child, Mikel.”

“Yes. Aren’t
we
Chosen
all
merely selfish children? Forever young and living in the eternal present.” He shrugged. “Answer my question.” He flashed a refulgent smile, “My master,” he added with a sneer.

Gabriel rose to his feet and walked to the door. Over his shoulder, he threw Mikel a contemptuous look. “As your maker, your
master,
my life is tied to yours. So, exorcise those daft ideas out of your bloody head about trying to take it.”