Occult Suspense for Mothers Boxset: The Nostalgia Effect by EJ Valson and Mother's by Michelle Read (2 ebooks for one price) (17 page)

The room was much darker than the hallways, lit only by a smaller version of the green lights in the rest of the place and a single candle on the desk.  After my eyes adjusted to the poor lighting, I gasped.  Charlotte did the same.  The room, with its giant, opulent desk and quirky artifacts, was a near exact replica of Azura’s office.

“Nice mood lighting.”  Azura cut through the thick silence with deep sarcasm.

Behind the enormous desk sat a slender, war-worn, rough-looking man.  He was leaning back in his ridiculous chair with his arms folded in front of him, strumming his fingers together.

“Azura,” he crooned.

“Gabriel,” she sneered in return.

“It’s a special occasion,” he gestured toward the candle on his desk with one hand, then returned to his strumming.  “I thought it only fitting.”

“Oh really?  What’s the occasion, may I ask?”

Gabriel laughed.  No.  He bellowed, throwing his head back.  The thunderous cackle filled the tiny, dark room and made the hairs on my arm stand up.

“Your demise, of course.”  His face, colored with amusement, immediately fell bleak.  His eyes became penetrating and frightening.  “And all that you’ve created.”

Azura remained silent.  As did Manny.  And Charlotte and I weren’t
about
to add anything to the conversation.  So we waited.

Gabriel just stared at us, waiting for someone to speak.  I felt bile rising in my throat, so I closed my eyes and fought to keep myself from being sick.  I breathed deeply and deliberately through my nose and tried not to think about anything.

At first, I could only hear my own heart beating.  But the more I tried to relax, the more I was
able
to relax.  After only a few seconds, my shoulders dropped and I began breathing evenly.  When I did, I heard Charlotte’s breathing.  It was frantic, and I was afraid she might pass out if she kept it up.  I wanted to reach out and take her hand to try and calm her, but I didn’t want to move.

On my other side, I noticed Manny’s breathing.  Smooth and calm.  I also saw that Azura had put her arms behind her back and laced her fingers together.  She was rubbing her thumbs together very lightly and, to my amazement, I could
hear
it.  I was certain that it was a movement that I should not be able to hear.  She was touching them together so lightly.

My eyes widened.

She turned her head and looked at me.  I closed my mouth, which had fallen open, and met her eyes.  She raised an eyebrow at me.

I pulled my own brows together inquisitively.  She nodded once, and unlaced her fingers, then turned back to Gabriel.  I glanced at him, unsure what to make of myself.  The moment I looked at his face, I noticed that his nostrils were beginning to flare.  I tried to pay attention to his breathing, noticing that it was slow, but was definitely growing quicker.  And more agitated.

“You didn’t think,” he finally accused, “that I would let you get away with it.  Did you?”  He laughed; a very cold, maniacal laugh.  “That I would let you get
away
?”  Apparently I had missed some of the conversation.

“I thought you might be happy with what you have.  But that wouldn’t be very characteristic of you, would it?”  Azura’s audacity amazed me.  Gabriel’s nose flared again.  The force of his building anger frightened me, so I tried focusing on something again.  I chose his face, pitted with scars and furious, then immediately set to listening to his breathing once more.  It was fascinating how clearly I could hear it.

At once, my fear was replaced with curiosity of my newfound talent. 
Of course
.  My talent.  Azura had chosen to give me excellent hearing?  How strange.  I would have thought that for such a perilous quest I would have been of better assistance with laser beam eyes or something.

Maybe that was just it.  This was, indeed, a perilous journey.  As in the kind where you don’t come back.  So she gave me something stupid that would make me feel special, but in the end it wouldn’t really matter.  It would
end
in death.  For all of us.  I just hoped that whoever else she talked into coming had decided against it and stayed home.

I looked to the guards, one standing on each side of the desk.  Their arms were behind their backs and their expressions were blank.  I could hear their breathing as well.  Even and composed, as if this sort of confrontation happened all the time.

I looked, then to the candle on the desk and tried to focus on it.  After only a second, I could hear the small flame lapping at what little oxygen was in the room. 
Amazing
.

Gabriel cleared his throat and changed the subject.

“Do your friends, here, know what you’ve gotten them into?”  He nodded toward Charlotte and I without looking at us.

“They know they are here to help me.”

He laughed boldly again.  “To help you what, exactly?”

“Destroy you.  And this place.”

Charlotte whimpered, which made Gabriel turn to her.  When he did, the fear on her face made the corner of his mouth pull up in a satisfied grin.

“Azura,” he scolded, clicking his tongue.  “These girls are not
fighters
.  What gifts have you been handing out?  The power to cook and clean?  Honestly.  What a waste.”  He looked Charlotte over and cocked his head to one side.

“What’s your name, child?”

“Her name is Charlotte—” Azura interrupted.  “And what does it matter how I choose to pass these things out?”

“Because, Miss
Dane
,” Gabriel looked fiercely at her, “you could have been so much better than this.  You
were
great.  Once.  Did she ever tell you, ladies, that she used to work for me?”

“Of course I told them, you old fool.”  Azura’s cheek was exasperating to Gabriel, whose breathing instantaneously heightened.  He closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose with his worn thumb and first finger.  Each breath he took, trying to calm himself down from the anger that was bubbling to the surface, was pounding in my ears.  I could hear it as clearly as if he were standing next to me.  He inhaled and exhaled quickly; short bursts that gradually began to slow.  Once he regained composure, he dropped his hand to his desk and lifted his head.  A smile that made me shiver spread across his face.

“She helped me begin something beautiful, years ago,” he continued, as if he were never interrupted.  “An army of fighters that would be, undoubtedly, the best in the world.  Untouchable.”  He held up both hands in a grand gesture.  “Capable of
great
things.”  He turned back to us, amused with his own storytelling, and gestured toward Azura.

“She came to me at a very young age, with her ability to enhance other people’s natural gifts—”

“Like your natural ability to be cruel,” Azura retorted.

“Indeed,” he said with a nod and a grin, without looking at her.  “Now don’t interrupt.”  Azura gasped, and her mouth closed so hard I heard it pop.  She lurched forward a little on her toes and her eyes widened.

Gabriel smiled and added, “It’s not polite.
”

His hands drew together on his desk and he pressed his mangled fingertips together. 

“As I was saying, once I learned what sort of persuasion Azura best responded to, it was quite easy to . . . direct her efforts.  You see, Azura was never very good at seeing the greater picture.”  He looked toward the ceiling and made a wide arc with his hands.

Gabriel turned back to Azura, who was holding perfectly still, but appeared to be gasping for air through her nose.  Her eyes were not as wide now, so I assumed she wasn’t surprised or afraid, as she had been a moment ago.  Her brow was now set in a hard frown, which seemed to please him.

“Which brings us back to my comment earlier:  What on earth were you trying to do in Oklahoma, of all places?  I hear that you have gifted a great number of women.  But
why
?  Excluding yourself, I can’t imagine a gaggle of women being a real threat to
any
one, let alone
me
.”

Azura struggled against her invisible restraint, and her nostrils flared wildly.

“My apologies,” Gabriel said softly.  “Speak.”  He waved his hand nonchalantly in an annoyed gesture and Azura relaxed.  She straightened her shirt forcefully.

“We aren’t
trying
to be a threat to anyone.  Not everyone’s mind is as nasty and one-tracked as yours.”  She took a step forward, catching the guards by surprise.  They stepped forward quickly, but Gabriel held his hand up to stop them.

“I’ve created a small group of heroes here, Gabriel.  These women,” she motioned to us, “are extraordinary.  They are beautiful, common,
good
women.  They have families and jobs and silly little lives and know nothing of the hate that you cultivate here.

I didn’t leave to create a force to destroy you . . . originally.  I just didn’t want any part of your grand plan any longer.  I just wanted
out
.”

“You could—”

“Don’t interrupt,” she countered.  “It’s rude.”  Gabriel was not lashing about as if he couldn’t speak or breathe or move.  He simply smiled.

“Touché,” he said, nodding.

“So I left…quietly.  Thinking I wouldn’t be missed.  Obviously that proved not to be the case.”

“Obviously,” he agreed.

“You already have what you wanted, Gabriel.  You have a small legion of strong, focused men at your disposal with no will power left and no means of escape.  Why destroy a group of women who are content to mind their own business?”

“Am I allowed to speak now?” he asked mockingly.

Azura nodded.  Her brows were pulled together a bit and again, she didn’t look fearful.  Just inquisitive.  Like she really
wanted
to know his answer.

What did it matter, though?  Did it matter
why
we were here, if he was just going to kill us?

Of course it matters
, Azura thought.

I blinked stupidly.  I had been staring at Azura’s face at the same moment I heard her voice, but her lips never moved.  Maybe I was going crazy from all this talk about death and our impossible situation.  But I was certain I had heard her.

Was it possible . . . ?

Yes
.

It was her voice again, and again, her lips never opened.

Close your mouth.  And don’t stare at me or he will know what you can do.  You mustn’t let him know.

Ummm . . . I wasn’t really sure what to think.

Pay attention, Erin,
she instructed.  I blinked again and turned my eyes back toward the desk.

“Well,” Gabriel was saying, unaware of the silent exchange that had just taken place
.  “You said you had a group of heroes on your hands . . . Why would you need heroes if you have no one to fight?”  He laughed.  “Or are they the types of heroes that rescue kittens from tree limbs?”

“They
are
heroes, Gabriel.  They are simply content to serve on a smaller level.”  Azura’s face softened.  “They hold their children’s hands when they are hurting.  They dry their tears when they are sad.  They create beautiful homes for their husbands--”

Gabriel bellowed again, shaking the walls with his deafening laughter.  He slapped his hands down on his desk so hard that it knocked over the candle.

“That’s enough!”  He couldn’t control his laughter.  “That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard!  To
waste
talent like yours on . . . on, on nothing!”  He stood quickly, sending his enormous chair tumbling backward and leaning heavily on his desk, where the fallen candle was beginning to spread.  He frowned.  “It’s infuriating!”