Taking Angels (The Angel Crusades) (12 page)

We stepped onto the front porch when the
Wrangler pulled up. Trish brought the Jeep screeching to
a halt, pulling the parking brake while Elisa and Cassie
jumped out before the vehicle completely stopped.

They raced up the walk, leapt up the steps and
stood before us, their hands on their hips, anger sizzling
in their eyes. In all the years we’d been friends, they
never scared me like they did right then.

“You owe us an explanation,” Trish ordered.
“I can’t,” I started, but Allister’s hand on my
shoulder stopped me and I turned to look up at him.
“They’re already in this too deep. The truth may

I nodded, turning back to the girls. I spotted the
porch swing and some chairs off to the side and motioned
for them to take a seat.

They looked warily at us, moving over to sit as
Allister and I walked over and leaned against the railing
facing them. Glancing at Allister, he motioned for me to
go ahead.

“Humph.” I cleared my throat. “I’m sorry we ran
out. I’m sorry I lied to you. I’m sorry I’ve gotten you
involved in something dangerous. I’m so sorry.” I stared
at their questioning faces, guilt pouring over me as I tried
to explain they may have a death sentence imposed on
them by being my friend.

“Remember the story I told you about the canoe
trip?” I asked.
They nodded.
“It’s true. Allister saved me.” They waited
expectantly for me to continue. “When he saved me, he
changed me into something other than human.”
“A vampire, I knew it. Allister is a vampire and he
bit you; he changed you into an immortal,” Elisa said
wide eyed.
“No, no, Allister is not a vampire and he didn’t
bite me. You’ve been watching too many movies.” I
laughed, raising my hand to calm her.
Elisa blushed, glancing from Cassie to Trish with
a shrug. “It could happen.”
The girls rolled their eyes and then turned back to
us.
“I’m an Eternal,” Allister said, helping me.
Observing the girl’s lack of comprehension, he continued.
“A very small number of people are born without souls so
they live forever. I’m one of those people, as are my
parents and Angelina…and now Britt.”
The girls looked at each other, mouths hanging
open and eyes wide.
“If you don’t want to tell us the truth, just say so.”
Trish stood in a huff. “Don’t feed us bullshit and expect
us to say, yum, can we have some more.”
“No, he’s telling the truth,” I assured. “How do
you think we got out of Cassie’s so quickly?”
Trish softened her stance as she thought. “There
wasn’t any way you could have done that,” she admitted.
“But we did,” Allister said and shimmered into
nothingness before their eyes.
“We have powers that allow us to do many things
that are beyond your comprehension,” he continued as he
shimmered next to a tree in the yard.
Elisa nearly fell to the wooden floor and Cassie
jumped. Trish spun as she stood in front of me, staring at
Allister in disbelief.
Allister vanished again and reappeared next to me
once more.
The girls stared at him in shock, speechless.
“So what does the fact you and Allister are …
Eternals, have to do with putting us in danger?” Cassie
finally asked, frowning.
“You remember the guy I chased at your house?”
Allister asked.
“Yeah, I never saw him before,” Cassie nodded.
“He’s an Eternal too?” Elisa gasped.
“Yes, he’s an Eternal.” Allister confirmed. “He’s
the same Eternal who tried to take Britt’s guardian angel
when Angelina and I interrupted him. He is somehow tied
to her and she now sees him take other angels from
people.”
“Your dreams are actually what that freak is doing
in real life?” Trish looked at me. “What does he mean
angels?”
“Yeah,” I grimaced, waiting for them to throw up
their hands and run. “We have guardian angels inside us.”
“Like a soul?”
I shook my head. “
And
a soul.” Surprisingly, Trish
said nothing, only appearing distinctly uncomfortable and
blinking a few times before giving a quick nod.
“Okay. Weird, but okay.”
“We shouldn’t divulge any more right now, for
your own safety,” Allister interrupted. “We need you to
promise not to say a word of this to anyone. You
shouldn’t even discuss this with each other for fear of
being overheard.”
“Why?” Elisa asked.
“If the wrong person hears you speak of this, it
would be dangerous for you,” Allister told her.
“You mean if the person happens to be another
Eternal,” Trish stated.
“Yes, touching Britt and bringing her back to life
is forbidden in our world. She and my family are in
danger because of my actions and now, unfortunately, so
are you.”
Elisa and Cassie stood up next to Trish, all three
sharing the same shell-shocked expression from the
information they struggled to process. They walked down
the steps, entranced, as they moved to the Jeep.
Cassie turned back to where we stood on the
porch and then took a few steps closer. “Does being an
Eternal mean you don’t age?” she asked. Trish and Elisa
walked back to hear our answer.
“We do age.” Allister nodded. “But we age much
more slowly.”
“How much slower?” Trish asked.
“About ten times slower, give or take,” Allister
replied.
“So if you say you’re eighteen, then you’re …a
hundred and eighty?” Elisa calculated, her eyes opening
wide.
“Around there,” Allister agreed with a brief head
nod.
“Wow,” Cassie gasped.
“Remember to come over and study with me for
history.” Trish gave a feeble smirk.
“We’d better go.” Allister took my hand.
I looked blankly down at our hands and then back
to him. He let go as his eyes dropped from my gaze. I
hadn’t forgiven him for changing me and putting all of us
in danger, not just yet.
We walked to the car as the girls drove off in the
Jeep. Allister opened my door and I slid inside. He
climbed in and started the engine, looking at me, the
shame visible in his expression as well as his posture. We
drove to my house without a word, each lost in thought,
or at least I was. I got out, not giving him a chance to
open my door and he stood, looking awkward as I shut
the door behind me.
“I’ll check on you later,” he said.
“Call before you do and I’ll meet you in the
shed.”
He nodded and I walked to the house, feeling his
eyes on my back as I closed the door behind me. I leaned
against the closed door, exhaling heavily. What do I do
now?
I excused myself from supper, which they held
even though I asked them not to, telling my parents I ate
too much at the party and wanted to go to bed early. I
didn’t tell a total lie, I did want to go to bed early, feeling
the strangest urge to try and dream of Kendal hoping to
find him and end this quickly.
I got to my room and closed the door, sitting
down heavily on my bed. My hand dropped between my
legs and brushed the edge of the mattress and box spring,
hitting the notebook I kept there with the names and
descriptions of the people I needed to heal. I opened the
book and looked at the last name I penciled in at the top
that no longer needed my powers. Mr. Kingsley. He
should have been my next happy ending, instead, he was
the latest victim of the psycho I now took walks with in
my dreams. My phone buzzed and I looked to see
Allister’s name flashed on the screen.
“Hello?”
“Britt, can you meet me in the shed?” Allister’s
tone was wary.
“Yeah, fine,” I said, too harsh.
I slipped down the stairs, past the living room
where Mom and Dad sat reading and watching TV, and
hurried across the dark backyard to the shed, shutting the
door softly behind me. I didn’t bother to turn on the light.
Only then did I realize I still held the notebook in my
hands.
“What’s that?” Allister asked pointing to the
notebook.
“Nothing, just a list of people I was going to heal
someday.” I shrugged with indifference.
“We spoke of this. Your powers are so new and
underdeveloped; you might kill them or injure yourself.”
He took the notebook from my hand and stepped to the
light flowing in through the window from the streetlight.
He paused at the first page and then paged through page
after filled page. He glanced at me after a few pages in
disbelief and then turned a few more pages before tossing
the notebook onto the chair. “You need to be careful you
don’t push yourself too far. It takes years to master,” he
said condescendingly.
“I’ve got it under control,” I said, a little insulted.
“I healed three people with cancer a few weeks ago,” I
reminded him and then pulled away.
“Three? No wonder people were starting to get
suspicious,” he fumed. “Why didn’t you just send up a
flare or put up a sign?” Allister shouted.
“You weren’t very quick at contacting me to tell
me I shouldn’t,” I shot back.
“Okay, okay, you’re right,” he said raising a
calming hand and turning away to look out the window.
He stared out the window in thought for a moment and
then turned back, nodding. “It should be fine. We can’t
heal cancer.”
“You healed mine,” I reminded him.
“Yes, but I changed you. Permanently healing
cancer is impossible. If I hadn’t changed you into an
Eternal...” Allister attempted to reason.
“But I
did
heal them.”
Allister stared at me hard for a moment then
sighed, shaking his head. “If you say you did it, then you
did, but that is amazing. I’m pretty advanced at healing,
but I can’t heal cancer…not completely.”
“I only healed those three that day. I tried to heal
four,” I said, sadly recalling my failed attempt to heal the
woman with the beaten and battered body.
“You did three in one day?” Allister exclaimed,
shocked. “I knew about the one,” he mumbled under his
breath.
“Yes,” I ignored his muttering, wanting to finish
explaining, “but I couldn’t heal the fourth one and then I
passed out. When I woke up, this came back.” I lifted my
arm into the light and showed him the scar that returned
after that failed attempt.
“You mustn’t do that again,” Allister cautioned,
his eyes troubled.
“I understand I need to be more discreet,” I said
with a nod. “I stopped healing people after you warned
me.”
“Not only that,” he added, “if you overexert
yourself, it appears you bring back your mortal injuries.
We don’t want you to bring back the injuries you suffered
when you went over the falls.”
“But I wasn’t injured when I went over the falls,”
I pointed out.
“Britt, you died. Your body suffered broken
bones, head trauma, and internal injuries. You could not
have survived those injuries even as an Eternal.”
“You said you couldn’t die unless your heart was
torn out by an Eternal.”
“Not unless you exceed your capacity for damage
trying to heal someone and then suffering mortal damage
on top of it. Even we have our limits,” he paused.
“And what? There’s more?”
“An angel can rip out your heart and kill you too.”
Allister held my stare for a minute as frustration and
disbelief percolated to the surface and he turned away
from my accusing eyes.
“Is there anything else you conveniently forgot to
tell me?” I moved closer to him as he stood with his back
to me.
“You’ve just progressed so fast with your powers
and now everything is collapsing in on us. I thought I had
more time. I don’t know what to do next.”
“I don’t know what to believe anymore,” I said as
my determination to be mad at him wavered. Standing
this close to him, seeing him so upset I faltered. “You
made this choice for me and now I need to decide if I can
live with it. The way it looks right now, I don’t think I
can.”
Allister turned to me and I spun away from his
hurt look.
“We need to get past this.” Allister spoke gently to
my back.
I looked over my shoulder, the dim light from the
streetlight shining on his face. “That’s pretty easy for you
since you made all the decisions.”
“Britt, don’t you see what I did actually
saved
your soul?”
“But you didn’t know that would happen when
you touched me.” Facing him, I pressed forward, making
him take a step back. “You made the decision knowing I
might have ended up a soulless monster. Now you put me
in a position where my family and friends are in danger
because I’m alive. I don’t know if I can forgive you for
that.”
“I understand, but the thought of losing you
wasn’t an option then and isn’t an option now.” I felt the
intensity of his stare even in the darkness.
“I just don’t know what I should feel.”
“I know I don’t want to live without you,” he said,
turning to look out the window at the night.
My feelings for Allister were undeniable, yet my
guilt over the danger to my loved ones overshadowed
those feelings right now. If he let me die on that
riverbank, none of this would be happening. Then again,
three more people might be dead or dying of cancer if I
didn’t have the power and opportunity to heal them. How
could something this wonderful turn into something so
terrible?
I looked at Allister, tears blurred my vision as the
stress and frustration became unbearable.
In a heartbeat, Allister had me in his arms, my
head on his shoulder, my tears wetting his shirt.
“I have to stop doing this,” I cried.
“It’s fine, my shirts dry,” Allister soothed.
I groaned a chuckle and lifted my head to look at
him. “I mean, I need to accept my lot in life and keep my
family and friends safe, not sit here and cry about it.” I
wiped my cheeks and eyes.
“I’ll be by your side as will my parents and
Angelina,” Allister assured me.
“Angelina?” I raised an eyebrow.
“She’ll come around. Give her time.”
“I doubt that very much.” I shook my head, and
then paused, looking at him. “Did you say you don’t want
to live without me?”
“Yes,” he said, becoming still, holding his breath.
“Wow.” I leaned in and wrapped my arms around
him as he exhaled. His strong arms encircled me and I
sighed within their comfort.
“So are we okay?” He pulled back to look down
at me as I turned my face up to his.
“I guess, but it’s time for me to start deciding
things for myself.”
“Sure, no problem.”
“I mean, I fought cancer head on and will fight
this too.” I frowned at the reference finding it hard to
believe such a short time ago, I was going to die and
now…
“What’s wrong?”
“I guess I didn’t actually beat cancer, but I’m
going to protect my friends. I won’t let anything happen
to them.”
“I know you won’t.” Allister smiled down at me.
He lowered his lips to mine and my emotions surged,
getting away from me. He pulled away but I leaned into
him, keeping our lips together for as long as possible. Our
lips separated at last, leaving me yearning for more.
“What?” I groaned in exasperation, looking at his
confused expression.
“Nothing, I just remembered I should check on
Angelina since Kendal was watching our house last
night.”
“Yeah, you should go.” I was focused on
breathing.
“Call me if you dream of him again tonight.”
“Sure, now get going.” I gave him a playful shove
away from me, my foul mood gone.
He shimmered out of the shed, his white smile the
last thing I saw.
I snuck back to my room just as my phone buzzed
in my pocket as a text message came in from Allister.