Inception (The Reaping Chronicles, 1) (36 page)

Chapter Fifty-six

Gabrielle ~ A Bruised Ego

“
You know,” Lucas whispered in Gabrielle’s ear as they sat on his sofa. The TV was on, but neither was paying attention to anything but the warm body next to them, “I knew when you were coming tonight. I can’t explain it, but I
felt
you approaching. That’s why I was outside waiting on you. The closer you got, the stronger the sensation. It’s happened a lot with you and sometimes with others … like Gran and Mara. Does that make any sense to you?”

Gabrielle laughed quietly, trying not to disturb Emma as she slept in the next room. “I know what you’re talking about. It’s something those with Divine blood can do. We can sense when another of our kind is near, even recognize if it’s someone we know. It even works with the Fallen. That’s why you could sometimes sense Mara. We all have our own vibration
,
our own signature. Kind of like the way I described to you that the Qalal give off a distinct energy.” She waited to see if he followed what she was saying. He nodded. “It doesn’t surprise me that you have that ability. It’s not stronger because you’re mostly human. You’ll possibly get better at discerning now that you’re becoming aware of what you’re feeling. You may even have other abilities that are hidden because they’re so light in you and have never been developed.”

Lucas shifted his body to face her. “Like what kind of things?”

“Well, you may have precognitive abilities or some telepathic talent. You may have already discovered you’re faster, and stronger, than a human should be.”

A slight smile played around the corners of his mouth.

“You may heal much quicker than normal, and you may have retained a greater capacity for compassion, love, and general kindness than most humans.”

Lucas seemed to be pondering what Gabrielle told him, searching his memory for things he’d done that would corroborate what she said. If he found anything, he didn’t share them with her. He kissed her hand and looked back at the TV, drifting deeper into thought. Gabrielle wondered what he was thinking about though she didn’t want to pry. But after several more minutes of silence, she had to ask.

“Lucas,” she put her hand lightly under his chin and guided his face to look at hers, “what’s on your mind?”

Lucas smiled apprehensively and shrugged his shoulders, diverting his eyes and head away from hers. She turned him toward her again.

“Lucas, you can talk to me about
anything
. You know that, don’t you?”

He rested his hand on her cheek, stroking her skin with only his thumb. He seemed to be searching her thoughts with his eyes as though he was willing them to tell him the information he was after without having to ask. After several long moments, he leaned in and kissed her forehead, speaking quietly when he pulled away.

“I know I can talk to you about anything.” He sighed heavily. “I just don’t know if I really want to know the answer to my question.”

Gabrielle wasn’t sure where this conversation was going, but she was beginning to feel like she didn’t want him to ask the question any more than he wanted to let it pass his lips.

“What I want to know, I also
don’t
want to know.” He sighed again, then let his thoughts spill out like a freight train. “I want to know how many vampires you found tonight. How many creatures live, basically, right in my backyard that could come after me and my family? But at the same time, I don’t want to know, because—well—up until four days ago, ignorance was bliss. Now I’m afraid I know too much to
ever
be blissful again.
And
now that I know what I know, I really
have
to know everything because ignorance will cost me my life. To make matters
worse
—as if
that’s
possible—my girlfriend’s my bodyguard.” He finally paused to look deep into her eyes again, his brow furrowed from the intensity of his stress. “Do you have any idea how shitty that makes me feel?
I
should be protecting
you.
”

Gabrielle was quiet after he finished, her eyes wide at his fervor. It was theatrical, and she was having a difficult time not laughing. She didn’t want to make things worse for him, but regardless of how it pained her to let her amusement escape, she felt the corners of her mouth begin to curve. The more she tried to stop it, the more insistent it became. Before it escaped, she managed to get two words to sprint ahead of the laughter.

“I’m sorry
…”
Then the uncontrollable laughing began.

For the first several seconds, Lucas stared at her, stunned, not understanding how she could find humor in what he’d said. He must have played over the prior spilling of his guts in his head and realized how he must have sounded because he seemed to begin to find the humor in it, as well.

When Gabrielle began to regain her composure, wiping the tears that had run down her face and catching her breath, she managed to get more words out of her mouth.

“Oh, Lucas. I’m not laughing because you’re concerned, but when you have all these issues and fears about the Damned coming after you, and then you throw in your ego being bruised because I can protect you—at least to some extent—well …”

She took a breath to make sure she could continue without letting straggling giggles creep out—waiting for their opportunity to flee her body. “In Heaven, we all protect each other. It doesn’t matter who is masculine or feminine, older or younger, lower or higher rank. We take care of each other because we love each other. Try not to waste your time and energy concerning yourself over something you’re fortunate to have. Let’s look at the alternative. What if I were merely human with no powers or extraordinary abilities and you found yourself in the same predicament? What chance of survival would you have? Would you trade my protection to feel better?”

Lucas chuckled.

“You know—you’re breathtakingly beautiful,
deliciously
sexy, fast, strong, kind, loving,
and
powerful beyond my wildest imagination. Do you have to be so damn logical, too?”

A smile moved easily across his face, and he leaned in to give her a long kiss. Gabrielle could tell it came from a sincere, grateful, overwhelmed place deep inside him, not purely passionate. Her eyes filled with tears from her own feelings of love. When he pulled away and looked into her eyes, she was sure his were shinier than usual, too.

“And,” he continued, “
how
did I get so astonishingly lucky?”

Gabrielle smiled at him and whispered back, “I was just wondering the same thing about me.”

They held each other for a while longer before she spoke again. “So, do you want to know or not?”

He kissed her on the top of her head. “Yeah. Go ahead. It’d probably drive me even crazier
not
to know than
to
know.”

“I found two hundred and forty-two here in Tennessee, but it’s the only state I covered. I’ll go to the others individually, devoting a night to each of them in the coming days.”

“Wow. Two hundred and forty-two, huh?” He was staring past her, letting the number sink in. “Did you expect more, or less?”

“It was more than I’d anticipated. But it doesn’t really matter. You’ll have to take the same precautions regardless of how many I find.” She didn’t want to tell him that when word got out about him being fair game, the local Qalal population would likely inflate to truly menacing numbers.

He seemed to be handling the information fairly well, at least from what he was showing outwardly. She wouldn’t know for sure until she got through a few days with him.

Gabrielle looked at the clock on the mantle; it showed a quarter to eleven.

“Hey, we’ve had a
really
long couple of days. I think we both could use some rest, especially you.”

She left out the fact that she was going to have to leave him to speak with Amaziah. He would think she was sleeping soundly next to him, and that was all he needed to know. Maybe with her here, he would be able to rest. The stress and lack of sleep showed with dark circles under his eyes, and Gabrielle didn’t want him to feel even worse tomorrow.

He nodded his head in agreement and led her to his room.

Neither Gabrielle nor Lucas did more to get ready for bed than brush their teeth, take off their shoes, and fall into each other’s arms on top of the covers. And both, as far as Lucas would be able to tell, fell swiftly to sleep.

Chapter Fifty-seven

Javan ~ An Unexpected Partner

Javan and Cecily remained silent long after Mara left. Cecily seemed to understand that she shouldn’t push him too hard after he learned that he failed in killing off the Watkins’ bloodline. He was reeling from the information, enraged with himself for being so reckless years ago. Now he would have to eliminate Lucas just when he needed to be concentrating solely on finding the Book. It would mean precious time wasted. He’d have to go around, or through, Gabrielle to get to him—and that would be difficult. He was headed to the kitchen when Cecily spoke; her tone conveyed her boredom and agitation.

“Would you like to talk about our arrangement this evening, or would you rather I come back another time? Quite honestly, there are other things I can be doing. And they don’t include watching you brood. Besides, I’m in no real hurry. It’s not like I’m getting any older—well … not in
mortal
terms, anyway. Your call.”

Javan gazed at the auburn beauty sitting on his couch, one long leg crossed over the other. Her already short dress was pulled high on her thighs, exposing almost every amazing inch of her legs—legs that had been wrapped around his body just a couple of hours ago—legs he would have wrapped around him again right now if he didn’t need to focus on getting the Book.

He didn’t want to think about how a confrontation with Gabrielle could end, and he was glad to have a conversation for distraction. It would be difficult to kill Gabrielle, but he’d do it if he had to.

Would she struggle with the thought of killing me?

He took a sip of bourbon, sucking his lips to his teeth after he swallowed.

“Let’s get down to business.” He walked to Cecily and sat on the opposite end of the couch. With only a few feet between them, he found his desire prodding his mind and body again. He took a sip of his drink and placed it on the coffee table. Breaking her gaze seemed to help, so he decided to keep his eyes closed, squeezing the top of his nose between his middle finger and his thumb.

“I’ll make this easy, Cecily. If you can get the Book
into
my hands, and I can keep it in my control long enough to do what I need to do, I’ll honor my end of the deal and place you in the position of power you want. But that means you need to do what you can to help me maintain my possession of it. You’ll need to help me do unpleasant things, and you’ll need to spend a significant amount of time in my company. If you can do all of that, then I’ll make you one hell of a powerful woman.”

Cecily didn’t respond right away, and Javan finally opened his eyes to read her expression. He saw her stunning face with a mischievous smile staring back at him. He knew she didn’t really need to spend so much time with him, but he figured he may as well get any perk he could.

“I can
absolutely
get the Book into your hands, and I’m willing to do whatever I need to do to
keep
it there regardless of how unsavory
you think it might be. You never know … I might think it quite savory. And as far as spending time with you,” Cecily’s smile and expression became more flirtatious, “I think I can keep you from feeling like it’s complete drudgery. As a matter of fact, I happen to know the loft below you is about to become available, and that would make being here when you
need
me all that much easier. At least in the daytime.”

Javan felt a devilish smile take over his expression. “And how exactly do you know it’s coming available?”

“Well, it seems the young man who lives there will meet someone he can’t, well …
resist,
I guess you can say. This woman will be moving in with him right away. He won’t want to be without her; she’ll make sure of that. Then, he’ll be called away to work in another country a couple of weeks later, leaving the woman to take care of his loft and affairs while he’s gone. The job will be extended, repeatedly, until it becomes a permanent move.” Her smile grew. “Leaving the woman free to live there as long as is needed.”

“It would seem that this is something the woman has done before,” Javan responded, amused again by how similar they were.

“Yes, she’s accustomed to getting exactly what she wants. So far, without fail. She’s resourceful.”

“Sounds like it.”

They looked at each other, smiling wicked smiles. Cecily was drawing closer to what she said she wanted, and Javan was getting what he needed with an unexpected and pleasurable partner. He made himself break their gaze again, not wanting to be distracted by her body just yet.

“Tell me, Cecily. How is it you came to know where the Book is?”

“It was my great, great—hundreds of years ago—great grandfather, Elijah Privett, who Ramai had commissioned, through threat of his family’s death, to create a copy of the Book. He discovered that Elijah wasn’t only a Seer of occurrences in time; he also had a remarkable gift to see into the mind of anyone he chose.

“Ramai used Elijah to find his memory of what the words on the pages of the Book were to make a new one. Even though Ramai promised to spare Elijah’s family’s life if he created the Book, Ramai killed them anyway. Elijah’s sister, who was away at the time, was his only family member to survive. There was no reason Ramai killed them aside from being evil. It was purely for amusement.”

Cecily paused, seeming to lose herself in thoughts. A strained expression rearranged her face for a moment. Then, she abruptly continued as if something had startled her back into reality.

“Anyway, Elijah swore revenge, but he knew it would be impossible for him to kill Ramai, so he came up with another plan. One he felt would be even better than killing him. He decided to steal the copy of the Book.

“He made some sort of pact with a demon, newly fallen, who regretted what he’d done to be cast from Heaven. Elijah convinced him that he could help him get back if the demon helped him obtain the Book of Barabbadon. The fallen angel helped him obtain the Book, and Elijah immediately hid it. He was able to tell his sister what he’d done, why he’d done it, and where it was hidden. He also told her what he’d been shown after he created the book—a prophecy about the Destroyer and the role of the Book in that prophecy. He asked her to keep it secret, to tell only those in our family she knew could be trusted. They were to pass the knowledge down through the generations but to leave the Book where he hid it until the day came when the prophecy was close to coming to pass. He was able to do all this before the demon realized Elijah wouldn’t be able to help him get back to Heaven—before he was murdered.” Cecily’s eyes became distant. “All because he was a Seer.” The same strained expression passed over her face. Only this time, it lingered longer and held sadness. Seeming to realize she was revealing more than she wanted, Cecily wiped her expression clean. “The time he spoke of is now, and it’s a good thing because I’m the last of my family. And even though I’m basically immortal, we both know there are a couple of ways my existence can end.”

“So, you’re telling me you know where the Book is …
right now
.”

She smiled, but it grew sinister.

“That’s exactly what I’m saying, Javan.”

Javan’s mind ran full tilt, imagining all that he was about to accomplish when the Book was his. “Well, then. Why are we still here talking? I say we get it now.”

Cecily walked to the terrace and stepped outside into the cool night air. Javan followed her, feeling his mood lift at the possibility of getting his hands on what he was cast from Heaven for—
finally
.

“So,” he said, speaking softly in her ear, caressing her arms, “are you ready to go?”

“I wish it were that easy, Javan.”

Javan’s mood began to wane again, and he turned her to face him.

“What does that mean?”

“It means it’ll take a little time and planning, sweetie. But don’t worry. It’ll be yours.”

“
Fuck
.” He just wanted the damn Book in his hands. “Where is it …
exactly
?” His eyes narrowed, deepening a hard scowl.

“Where no demon would ever look—buried near one of the Gates of Hell.”