Garden of the Gods (The Immortals Series Book 3) (12 page)

Chapter 14

Colin awoke in the small motel room in Los Angeles around noon. He’d driven straight through from Boulder. He knew he should be hungry but had no interest in eating. He couldn’t help wondering what would happen to an Immortal if they refused to eat, if there were some divine intervention that would force calories into his body to prevent him from starving to death. They’d probably force him to eat dandelion leaves.

Colin pushed the covers off of him and sat up. Whether he ate or not probably didn’t matter. He missed her so much already, he couldn’t see how he could possibly survive much longer anyway. But she had wanted him to leave her. He was
certain
of that. His lack of faith and his refusal to hunt anymore had broken them. He gave the motel phone one last wistful glance before grabbing his clothes to get dressed.

He had driven to L.A. because he didn’t know where else to go. He had only been trying to put distance between them, to give her the space she needed, to get out of her head. He’d thought about hitting I-10 now to head east but that wouldn’t put enough space between them. He needed to get off this continent. So instead, he was going to the L.A. International Airport. He’d used the motel’s single lobby computer to purchase a ticket to Glasgow.

He didn’t really want to go to Scotland, there had just been seats available on this flight. He had too many memories with Anna there; happy memories from so many lifetimes ago when they’d both been mortal and blissfully unaware that demons stalked the Earth, when they’d been confident in Heaven’s righteousness. Colin pulled his shoes on and glanced at the hotel clock. His flight wouldn’t leave for another three hours, but he had nothing to pack. There was nothing left for him to do in this motel room.

Colin stopped at a department store on his way to the airport to buy a backpack he could carry with him, mostly so he wouldn’t look suspicious traveling to another country without any luggage. At least with a carryon, he could claim he was a light packer, and most people he’d met in this country couldn’t tell the difference between a Scottish and Irish accent anyway. He thought they must be deaf. Or stupid. Or maybe a little of both. But he could claim he was just going home to visit family since he traveled with an American passport now. No one would question him.

He grabbed a few things to put in it then drove to the airport. Colin wished he had a way of getting the car back to Anna; it was the car she’d wanted, after all. Besides, he’d left her with no vehicle. But he knew the other Immortals would take care of her. And it’s not like used Camrys were hard to find.

Colin presented his ticket at the counter then waited through the long security line. He’d left his daggers and knife in the car. He wouldn’t be needing them anymore. He got through security fairly easily considering he had so little on him. By the time he found his gate, he only had an hour to kill before his flight would start boarding. He found an empty seat and opened the book he’d bought at the store.

It was a book Anna had read years ago and had told him he would like. He’d promised her he would read it when he had time, and he’d never gotten around to it. By the time they announced his flight was boarding, he’d read almost one-third of the book. He wasn’t surprised the book was entertaining; Anna knew everything about him.

He had a two-hour layover in London, which was one of the last cities in the world he wanted to be in. Even Heathrow Airport only reminded him of his wife and the life they used to have together. He’d finished the novel somewhere over the Atlantic so he had to find a newsstand where he could buy something else to read on the rest of his flight.

He was waffling between a National Geographic magazine and a paperback novel when a young woman with strawberry blonde hair bumped into him. Colin dropped the novel he’d been flipping through and she smiled up at him and offered to get it.

Colin decided to just get them both. He didn’t know where he was going after Glasgow anyway. She handed the novel to him and Colin reached for it, but she didn’t let go.

“Where are you heading?” she asked, a distinct American Midwest accent lingering in her speech.

Colin sighed. She looked faintly familiar and had probably been on the flight from L.A. She may be waiting on the same plane, so there was no point in lying. “Glasgow.”

“Oh, me too! Well, technically, I’m going to Edinburgh, but the plane is landing in Glasgow.” She let go of the book and Colin tossed it on the counter, but she didn’t seem to get the hint he wasn’t interested in talking to her. “Are you from Scotland?”

Colin tried not to roll his eyes. He probably did though.

“No,” he said.

The guy behind the counter who rang up his books was trying not to laugh. Colin thought the cashier was probably doing a better job not laughing than he was doing of indicating he wasn’t interested in Miss Congeniality. She was still chatting as the cashier handed Colin his purchases.

“This is my first time in Europe. I just graduated from Notre Dame over the summer, so this is my graduation present.”

Colin was going to walk away but he stared back at the girl who hadn’t stopped talking since picking up his book. “Wait, you just graduated from college and you’re traveling the world alone?”

The girl’s smile shifted and she tilted her head at him. “Well, I don’t
have
to be alone.”

Colin was sure he rolled his eyes this time. “Stop hitting on men in airports. Or anywhere. Stay with tour groups and get back home in one piece.”

He turned to walk away, but she grabbed his arm. “We’re going to the same city. Sort of. If you’re so worried about my safety, you could join me in Edinburgh and be my tour guide. You look like you can handle yourself.” She hadn’t let go of his arm. Colin pulled it away from her.

“I’m
married
,” he told her.

She raised an eyebrow at him and glanced down at his left hand. “No ring?”

Colin looked down at his own hand as if he were surprised by the absence of a ring on his finger. But he knew there was no ring there, of course. He and Anna had always taken their rings off to hunt, and it had been over two hundred years since they had both left them in a small room they were renting in Munich to chase the demons that were following Napoleon’s army back to France. When they returned to the building where they had rented a room, they found it destroyed and burned to the ground by the troops as they passed through the city.

They’d gone back the next day after the embers had cooled to dig through the rubble, hoping for some miracle, but their rings were gone. They never replaced them. They were simple gold bands, but their value had nothing to do with the material they were made from. They had exchanged their vows with those rings. Anna had become his wife the day he slipped that ring on her finger. And there wasn’t a diamond or metal in this world that could replace the value in that.

He’d been quiet too long and this girl picked up on it.

“Separated?” she asked.

Colin didn’t know how to answer her.

“What’s your name?” he asked instead.

She smiled broadly at him. “Olivia.”

“I’ll help you get to your hotel in Edinburgh, but that’s it. I’m not even staying there. And you’ve got to be smarter about interacting with strangers, because you don’t seem to understand how dangerous this world is.”

“Well, fortunately for me, there are knights in shining armor running around to keep me out of trouble,” she cooed.

Colin shook his head and gave up. He was done fighting evil. But some people seemed hell bent on looking for it anyway. Tahel had been right all along. People had to be responsible for their own choices.

As they walked away from the newsstand, Olivia let her arm brush against Colin’s as she lifted the magazine he was holding.

“Cool. They have a story about the terra cotta soldiers. I did a research paper on the Qin for a history class.”

Colin slowed down to glance at her, surprised that she’d said something… well,
interesting
.

“I’ve been there,” he said as he handed her the magazine. He had visited the site the second time he and Anna went to Xi’an.

“Seriously? Quite the world traveler.”

Colin finally smiled back at her. “You have no idea.”

Chapter 15

Anna disconnected with the credit card company and resisted the urge to throw her phone out of Amanda’s car window. They were driving down Highway 36 on their way to the Denver airport, and Anna didn’t think a cellphone could survive that sort of collision. And right now, it was the only way Colin could reach her.

“Let me guess,” Amanda said. “He hasn’t been using a credit card since he bought the ticket to Glasgow.”

“No. And that flight landed hours ago. What the hell is he doing? Just walking around Scotland?” Anna pulled up their bank account on her phone, but he hadn’t accessed the money there either.

Amanda shrugged. “Maybe. Or maybe he’s just sitting in the airport trying to decide where to go next. Or waiting for an available flight. Keep checking recent transactions. Something has
to turn up.”

Anna didn’t think she needed a psychic along to tell her
that
. But she was also glad Amanda was with her if for no other reason than she was worried about Colin and didn’t want to be alone right now. Besides, The Angel had sent her. There had to be a reason.

Anna tapped the side of her phone case nervously as the white peaks of the Denver International Airport finally appeared in the distance. She checked the flight tracker on her phone again but it hadn’t changed in the past three minutes. She just needed something to do.

“Is Jas here?” Anna asked.

Amanda cast a surprised glance in Anna’s direction. “I guess. There’s some kind of positive force around you, and you told me before it was Jas, so I’m going with yes.”

“And what about the demonic presence?”

Amanda kept her eyes on the road this time. “Yes, it’s always there, too.”

It didn’t scare Anna the way it used to, but that was probably only because Colin had disappeared. He had
left
her. How could anything frighten her after this?

“Alright, Jas, I’m sober. Got anything else for me?” Anna muttered.

Amanda was silent for a minute then she smiled. “No, but she said you’re still being obnoxious.”

Anna smirked. “Max should know something. Can’t she talk to Max?”

Amanda glanced at her again and Anna wished she’d stop doing that. Amanda wasn’t immortal, and getting in a car accident wasn’t going to help
anyone
. “She can still hear you, Anna. You don’t have to ask me.”

Anna bit her lip to keep the smartass comments from leaking out. She didn’t care about supernatural technicalities right now. She just wanted to find her husband.

“And she hasn’t heard anything from Max,” Amanda continued. “You and Colin have never been this far apart. She’s not sure if that has something to do with it.”

“Great, so even ghosts’ telepathy doesn’t work across an ocean?”

Amanda slowed down as they neared the airport. “I don’t know how ghosts communicate either. Just because I can hear them doesn’t mean I know everything about them. I don’t expect you to know everything about demons.”

Amanda sighed as she followed the line of cars into the parking garage. “Sorry. I know you’re really worried. And I’ve been on edge ever since you all showed up at my table and I had a nightmare about becoming possessed. Part of me keeps waiting to turn into a demon like your friend.”

Anna wanted to assure her that wouldn’t happen, but there were three fallen angels who had singled out this group of Immortals, who had singled her and Colin out, specifically. She no longer knew what to expect. She sure as hell never thought she’d be chasing her husband halfway across the world because he’d decided to quit hunting then
left
her.

As Amanda circled the garage looking for a place to park, Anna checked their credit card account again. No recent purchases had been made. She tossed her phone in her purse and cursed again.

“His plane landed almost four hours ago! What is he
doing
?” Anna complained.

Amanda found an empty spot and parked her car then turned off the ignition. “Jas wants to know how much cash he could have on him. Maybe that’s why you can’t track him now?”

Anna shook her head. “Not that much. If he were withdrawing money, it would show up on our online statement.”

She had a ghost
and
a psychic with her, and this was all the help they could offer?

“Maybe we’ll pick something up over the Atlantic then. You know, when the ghosts aren’t separated by an entire ocean,” Amanda smiled.

Despite herself, Anna smiled back.

They had just gotten through security when Anna’s phone rang, but her heart dropped when she saw the number. It was Dylan. Luca and Andrew were being just as stubborn as ever, he insisted, and he really didn’t know what to do with them. Right now, he’d given up on trying to convince them of anything and had just turned on college football. It was at least keeping them quiet. Anna hadn’t even realized it was a Saturday.

“See what you can come up with about this fallen angel from Revelations. We suspect Jeremy’s boss is Abaddon now so that may help us figure out how to save him somehow,” Anna instructed.

Dylan was quiet on the other end and Anna expected him to argue with her – he had wanted to kill the demon that used to be Jeremy, none of this had been his idea – but Anna heard him set something down then his voice came back on the other end.

“Ok, I looked up a theology professor at CU. I’m going to see if he’ll meet with me if you think I can trust Twiddle Dee and Twiddle Dum on their own.”

Anna snickered and told Dylan they’d just have to hope between football and beer, neither of them would even leave the apartment.

“I’ll have a couple of pizzas delivered. That should buy me a few hours,” Dylan said. “Anna…”

She had reached their gate and needed to get off the phone. The plane had just started boarding. “Yeah?”

“I’m sorry.”

Anna froze and Amanda bumped into her.

“For what?” Anna couldn’t imagine what Dylan had to apologize for.

Dylan exhaled slowly and told her, “It seems like everyone I care about is being taken away from me lately. So just get your husband’s dumbass back here, ok?”

Anna swallowed; her throat felt tight and raw. “Jas is right about you, Dylan.”

Then she hung up before he could argue with her, and she hurried to the gate to get onto their flight to London.

Amanda sat by the window so she could try to whisper discreetly to Anna if she started picking up anything she needed to share. They both figured having passengers overhearing them talk about ghosts and demons and angels probably wouldn’t end well for them. It was probably written into a TSA handbook somewhere to detain passengers who claimed they could hear ghosts or see demons.

As soon as she was able to turn on her cellphone again, Anna dug it out of her jacket pocket and started scrolling through their bank account transactions and credit card transactions, but he still hadn’t made any purchases or withdrawals. Whatever he was doing in Glasgow, he was doing for free.

Her email app dinged to alert her of a new email and she opened it quickly with trembling fingers, praying it was Colin who had
finally
reached out to her, but it was Dylan again. He had gotten the University of Colorado theology professor to agree to meet with him that day.

Anna typed out a response asking him to keep her informed on what the professor could offer. She had no idea how Dylan was going to approach this guy to find out how to save the body of a human that had been taken over by a demon. Because sane people asked questions like that all the time.

Their plane had just reached the Atlantic Ocean when Amanda touched Anna’s hand and she leaned closer to her to whisper in her ear. “Jas isn’t really clear what’s going on with Max either. She seems to think he’s not with Colin anymore.”

Anna’s hand reflexively jerked away from Amanda’s. “No, Max is
tied
to Colin. He can’t just abandon him.”

Amanda’s pale ice-blue eyes studied Anna for a few moments, and Anna suspected she was listening to Jas again. She was right.

“Max doesn’t know where Colin is.”

Anna shook her head. “That’s impossible. Why the hell did he leave him in the first place?”

This time, Amanda was quiet far longer and she averted her eyes, staring at the back of the seat in front of her. “He didn’t want to be with him anymore.”

“Max
has
to know Colin will come back. He’ll be a hunter again. I don’t know what Adriel did, but he can’t just desert him because he’s doubting his faith! He
knows
Colin!”

Anna couldn’t whisper anymore. She was far too hurt by Max’s forsaking her husband when he needed him the most.

But Amanda lowered her eyes and focused on the backs of her own hands, folded in her lap now, and just shook her head. In a small voice, so quiet and full of the sorrow Jas was carrying, she told Anna, “Max didn’t leave because Colin thinks Heaven has been manipulating him. He left because Colin didn’t arrive in Glasgow alone, and he didn’t stay there. He went to Edinburgh and he didn’t go into the hotel alone either.”

Anna repeated Amanda’s words but they may as well have been in Latin. None of them made any sense to her. “I don’t understand. Who is he with? Another Immortal?”

Amanda finally lifted her gaze and forced herself to meet Anna’s dark brown eyes, so full of confusion, desperation, hopelessness. Amanda blinked away the tears that had formed and they rolled down her cheeks.

“No,” she whispered, “he’s with a pretty young woman.”

Anna still couldn’t register Amanda’s words at first, and she was about to ask her
who
this woman was and why she was important, but the realization of what Max and Jas were telling her slowly settled on her like a crushing weight, an agony of the worst kind of betrayal. She slumped down into her seat and closed her eyes. If Adriel was trying to create Hell on Earth for the O’Conners, he had succeeded.