Sun Kissed (The Guardian Angel Series Book 2) (24 page)

“Blaming you is pointless. It won’t change
anything. So our plan was compromised, big deal. We’ll find a new way to handle
the situation.” His voice was strange, like he was annoyed and holding back
what he really wanted to say.

“That’s not what I want to hear,”

“What do you want to hear, then, Ruby?”

I glanced at him. His expression seemed
indifferent but his voice gave him away. He was frustrated.

“You don’t have to tip-toe around my
feelings. I’m not going to get mad and absorb too much sun and explode. I’m
half Heelian, so I probably couldn’t even if I wanted to. Besides, I can
control it. So tell me, yell at me, chastise me … do something, because this
whole cool and calm demeanor you’re putting on is worse than anything you could
possibly say to me.”

He scratched the shadow of stubble on his
face and exhaled.

“I’m just —” He paused and exhaled again. “I’m
disappointed that you took something I told you in confidence and told another
guy, who happens to be a vampire, and sides with our enemies. I knew you cared
for Hunter, I did. I just didn’t know you cared about him more than me, more
than our lives.”

“Eli.” I placed my hand on his shoulder and
squeezed slightly. “I care about you more than I’ve cared about anyone in my
entire life. It has always been you, it will always be you.”

“Sometimes it takes a little more than
words to prove it.”

I crossed my arms across my chest. “I gave
you more than words yesterday.”

A slight smile hinted at his lips. Then he
ran his index finger over his bottom lip.

He didn’t comment any further on the
subject and neither did I. I understood his feelings about me betraying his
trust and telling Hunter. What I didn’t understand was the whole ‘more than
words’ thing. I was willing to give him all of me … Wasn’t that enough?

“When all of this is over and before we go
any further, I want to make sure we’re both on the same page.”

“And what does that mean?” I spat with
attitude.

“It means we should make sure our wants,
needs, feelings, etcetera, are on the same level.”

I turned my stare back onto the dull trees.
Was I the only one that thought our feelings were on the same page? I recalled
telling Eli I loved him yesterday. He didn’t say it back and I didn’t expect
him to, but now I was starting to think that was because he didn’t love me.

A bright red, orange, and green service
station became visible about fifty meters down the road.  I exited the car after
we parked and pulled my address book out of my bag. I scrolled through the
pages, trying to locate Mila’s name sprawled somewhere amongst the bad
handwriting. It was only Mr Aleksandrov’s home number, but if someone answered,
then maybe they could forward us to his cell phone.

There, written in blue, was Mila’s name. I
tore the page from my book and handed it to Eli.

“Here.”
Damn.
I thought I’d be able
to keep the attitude from my voice. He took the paper from my hand.

“You’re mad? You were the one who wanted to
know what I was holding back.”

“I know, but I thought that it would be
about being impulsive and stupid. I didn’t think it was because you don’t have
the same feelings for me as I do for you.”

“What? How did you get that out of what I said?”

I looked down at my feet. “You didn’t say I
love you back yesterday, which, by the way, I’m totally fine with. But then you
said you wanted to make sure we’re on the same page … I assumed you meant —”

My words were cut off as Eli grasped the
sides of my face, pushing his warm, full lips onto mine.

“I love you, too,” he whispered as our lips
parted.

I stood there in shock for a moment, his
statement catching me off guard. A smile that felt too wide for my face spread
across it. “You’re going to need more than words to prove it,” I said frankly, trying
to play it cool.

His strong arms wrapped themselves around
me, holding me as close as possible while he bent his face toward mine, kissing
me gently.

“This,” he began, planting a small kiss on
the tip of my nose. “Doesn’t change what I said about Hunter. You need to
decide where your loyalties lie.”

“I know. I just feel responsible for what
happened to him.”

“You didn’t force him to fall in love with
you nor did you make him come after you the night we were leaving. These were
all his decisions. It was also his decision to tell Lucian about our plans. He chose
to betray your trust. Not to mention that he almost bit you, he isn’t the same
anymore.”

Unable to find a response, I nodded.

“Think things through. When this is all
over, we’ll talk. I’m going to make the call.”

I sat in the car, twirling a dark lock of
hair around my fingers. If I made it out of this alive, the first thing I was going
to do was get my hair trimmed. I’ve got so many split ends. I jumped slightly
as the driver door opened and Eli climbed in.

“Here, I got you some breakfast.”

He handed me a bacon and egg roll and an
orange juice. I was too nauseous to eat but I took it anyway. I didn’t want to
come off as rude.

“Did you get a hold of Mr Aleksandrov?”

He nodded as he took a bite of his
breakfast roll. He swallowed. “They’re still coming.”

My stomach dropped into my shoes. “What?
No, they can’t. Are they insane?”

“They’re confident they can take all of the
vampires.”

‘But Lucian is coming with twenty vampires
and we don’t know how many vampires the leader of the Gerald Harbor sector has …”

“Mr Aleksandrov is coming, Ruby. I tried to
change his mind, but he won’t budge. The plan is going forward. There’s nothing
we can do.”

I slumped further into my chair. If
anything bad happened to Mr Aleksandrov, then I’d lose Mila. She’d blame me for
it.

“Do you know what you have to do?” Eli
asked, interrupting my stream of consciousness.

“Yes.”

“Tell me. I need to know that you
understand exactly what to do.”

Eli was worried about me. If I messed up,
what I was supposed to do then? There was no doubt the Gerald Harbor vampires would
kill me. “I’ll enter the warehouse and use my powers to kill as many of the
vampires as I can. Sounds simple.”

“Let’s just hope it works out.”

“But when I use a lot of my sun power I get
weak. I’m not strong enough yet.”

“It’s okay, you just need to kill as many
vampires as you can. Every dead vamp increases our odds of survival. As soon as
you use your sun power, we’ll come in to protect you, killing as many vampires
as we can on our way in. When you and I get a chance, we head for the car and
we drive until daylight. Sage Sanctum is twelve hours away from Gerald Harbor.”

I took a bite of my roll to ease my nerves.
I couldn’t taste it. There was too much on my mind, so much that my brain
couldn’t register the taste of the egg or bacon.

“Will we make it?”

“We should be able to. I don’t think a
vampire can speed-run faster than one hundred kilometers but I guess we’ll find
out.”

The conversation ended. We were both too
busy thinking about the night ahead. Thoughts about losing Eli consumed me. He
would die for me, he’d already proven that.

Gerald Harbor

As the car rolled to a stop outside the
dilapidated warehouse about one hundred meters from the neglected harbor, a
shudder rolled down my spine. The sun had almost set, the last of its rays were
warming the land before the cool air of night began to blow. No one else was
here. The vampires wouldn’t appear until the sun had fully set. As for Mr
Aleksandrov and the others … I didn’t know where they were.

“Where’s —”

Eli cut my words off by covering my mouth
with his hand. He pointed to his ear. It was a gesture letting me know we were
in the ear range of vampires.

“Don’t talk about it and get ready. We have
approximately six minutes before the sun sets.”

I nodded and opened my door. In the
backseat was my bag. I had stashed two stakes at the base of it. I poured a few
items of clothing onto the floor of the car as well as the photo of my mother
and I. Adrenaline and nervousness pulsed through me. I grasped the two stakes
and tucked them nicely into the back waistband of my tracksuit.

“Two minutes,” Eli called.

I closed my eyes and slowed my rapid
heartbeat, focusing on the sun. I needed to absorb as much energy as I could. I
didn’t know if it would do any good, but it was worth a try.

When the warmth that usually filled my
chest from the sun faded away, I knew it was time.

I rose to my feet and joined Eli, who was
leaning on the front his car.

“Are you nervous?” I asked.

He shrugged. “I’ve been doing this for a
long time. Nerves don’t tend to pop up anymore.”

“Oh.”

We watched the warehouse, waiting for
movements or noise. For several minutes nothing happened. Then, Lucian stepped
out from behind the warehouse. Hunter and Liam followed closely behind. I was
confused. Why had Lucian showed up with only two extras? Where were the other
eighteen? Lucian wasn’t dumb, I suppose. He probably had them surrounding the
place, watching his back. I wasn’t going to be able to kill them all. I needed
them to be inside the warehouse with me.

“Let’s go,” Lucian called.

Eli and I walked over to him and he pushed
us forward, so they were walking closely behind us. I wanted to kill them now,
but if I did, I’d miss any vampires that were inside the factory I would have
wasted my power. There was no way Mr Aleksandrov and his guardians could take
on forty-plus vampires.

We stepped onto the cracked concrete of the
rundown warehouse. The distinctive odor of rusty nails and mold filled my
nostrils as they urged us over to the other side of the room.

I stopped in my tracks. “Perhaps Eli should
wait outside?”

Lucian chuckled. “No.” He pushed my arm,
hinting for me to keep walking.

“I just want this to go as smoothly as
possible. If the Gerald Harbor vampires get frustrated over something and get
lippy or physical with me, Eli might try and intervene. You have at least
eighteen vampires surrounding the warehouse. Eli won’t be able to do much and I
doubt he’d leave without me.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Eli
said, playing along. He knew I could never use my full powers if he was in the
room, it’d hurt him and I wouldn’t risk that.”

“Fine. Liam, take Mr De Luca outside
please. The last thing I need is for puppy love to spoil my plans.”

Eli and Liam headed back toward the small
opening in the wall. Lucian prodded my shoulder, forcing me to the other end of
the factory floor, where we stopped in front of an elevator. Lucian pressed the
barely intact button to call for the elevator. With loud clanks and screeches, the
old elevator responded.

“You’re not serious?”

“Get in,” he ordered.

I stepped inside the elevator and it
wobbled unsteadily. I clasped the wall desperately to keep myself balanced.
Hunter clicked the button that had number three carved into it. With a large
clank and a frightened gasp from me, the lift rose. It swayed slightly, causing
me to grip the wall harder.
Please don’t let me die, please don’t let me die,
I chanted silently.

Lucian and Hunter watched me in amusement.
Of course they didn’t care if the lift was dodgy, if it broke, it’s not like
they’d die.

With an abrupt yank, the elevator came to a
stop. My legs were weak and wobbly, I needed to get out of this lift. Hunter
pulled the door open and we stepped out onto a mostly empty floor. A few chairs
and desks littered the room but that was it. The windows were boarded up with
thick sheets of plywood. The only light came from the barrel to the left of the
room. Inside it was a small fire, that cast freaky shadows on the walls and
floors. The floor was concrete mostly, but a layer of cracked linoleum covered
the floor sporadically. All those things combined weren’t the creepiest thing
in the room, believe it or not. The black eyes that watched us approach were
creepier. I counted ten vampires, including the big bad one that sat all high
and mighty in his chair behind them.

One by one I saw the vampires inhale my
scent. They knew what I was. Immediately a few of them scattered, putting out
the fire and tearing the boards from the window for moonlight instead.
Surprisingly, the moon lit up the warehouse better than the fire did.

“You bought me a gift, Lucian? How kind of
you.” The leader’s voice was deep and husky.

“Not this time, brother,” Lucian replied
dryly.