A Touch of Souls (Immortal Souls) (13 page)

"What are you staring at?" he chuckled as I crawled into bed beside him.

"Oh, nothing," I answered as nonchalantly as I could. I may have been able to control my voice, but I couldn't control my heart beating fast in my chest

"Uh-huh," he muttered as he pulled me under his arms. I closed my eyes and smiled before hearing a rustling and then I could feel Dimitri wrapping his wings around me protectively and I snuggled closer. His feathers felt soft, but I knew no matter how delicate they looked, that just one of his magnificent wings was stronger than my whole body. I shivered at the thought. Opening my eyes, I found Dimitri staring at me.

"What are you staring at?" I half whispered, half giggled.

"Oh, nothing," he laughed.

"Uh-huh," I mocked. I closed my eyes again and breathed in the scent that I had come to know as Dimitri and for the first time in what seemed like forever, I went to sleep with a smile on my face.

♂

She was so beautiful as she slept. I knew I shouldn't have been doing this, but I couldn't stop myself. I couldn't protect her if I wasn't strong enough to fight the Cecidit. Slipping my arms out from under her, I quickly strode through the house to do the one thing I despised most about being sent to this earth.

A curse from Satan, upon any being of God who came to Earth.
We were forced to feed from humans, God's creation. If we ever killed one from feeding, we were claimed to be Satan's, we became a Cecidit.

Landing on the roof of the local bar, I stood tall and still, listening. I heard a woman cry out and I flew in the direction of which I had heard her voice. In the same alley, in which I had saved Gwen, was a young girl, cowering under the stare of a large man. I landed at the beginning of the alleyway and folded my wings into my back.

"You'd do good to leave her alone," I called out to the grungy man hovering over the poor girl.

"And you would do good to just leave," he spat over his shoulder. I appeared behind him and tapped him on the shoulder. He whirled around, surprise etching across his face as he tried to figure out how I was there so fast. I slammed my hands down on his shoulders and looked him in the eyes.

"Go!" I screamed at the girl, still low on the wall. She scrambled up to her feet and ran to the light of the town shining through the entrance to the alley. I turned back toward the man who was staring at me in fear.I absolutely could not kill him, but that didn't mean I was going to make it easy for this monster.

♀

"Well, good morning, angel," Dimitri smiled, brushing his fingertips over my face. I groaned and snuggled closer to him. I did not want to get up just yet. "Come on, we have to go to school," Dimitri said nudging me.

"I don't
wanna," I whined, closing my eyes, but rolling off the bed nonetheless. I made my way to the bathroom and smiled when I saw my reflection in the mirror. I had red lines from sleeping on Dimitri, but what made me smile was that there I was, standing in Dimitri's bathroom, in nothing but my panties and Dimitri's shirt. I could hardly believe it.

After I was dressed in the clothes Dimitri bought for me and my makeup was done, I walked into the living room and found Dimitri arguing with Adrian,
again.

"I'll have her back!" Adrian yelled stepping up to Dimitri.

"You lost your chance, Adrian. You blew it. Leave her alone," Dimitri countered, matching Adrian's step.

"And you will soon lose yours, you know what you're doing is wrong, Dimitri. If you like her so much, why are you putting her in such danger?" Dimitri closed his mouth and turned to find me standing in the doorway.

"Is it true?" I whispered. If he was putting me in danger, I knew he was putting himself in danger and that was something I couldn't handle. Dimitri turned away without answering, but it was good enough for me. "I can't do it. I can't put you in danger. I don't care about myself, but knowing that us being together will put you a danger, I just can't do it, Dimitri. I'm sorry," I said before hurrying out the door.

"Angel, wait!" Dimitri called after me once I made it outside and was climbing in my car. "I can protect myself, Gwen. You are the one in danger and yes, us being together draws more attention than you being with an angel of a lower stature, but that's a chance I'm willing to take, please. I'll protect you, I promise!"

"Dimitri," I could feel tears pooling in my eyes and I had to turn my head so he couldn't see, "I can't do this. I don't need your protection. I'll train myself, I promise you. I'll try my hardest to help you in your war so that you can return to Heaven, I promise I will help you, but I can't see you anymore."

Driving to school, I couldn't help but see Dimitri's face watching me leave. He stood by where my car was parked until I couldn't see him anymore. I let the tears I had held back in front of him fall as I drove. I couldn't let him see how bad it hurt me to leave him, I may have let him pull me into his arms and I know I wouldn't have been able to leave after that.

As I pulled into the student lot at school, the first thing I noticed was Jayne and Hunter arguing by his car. By the way Jayne was throwing her arms around it looked like the argument
was pretty serious and heating up. When I turned away from them, I saw Candy walking with the cheer squad. All of my friends had moved on while I was stuck here in a tornado of a life. I didn't have anyone to talk to anymore, only Dimitri and Adrian and I didn't want to talk to either one of them more than I had to.

I walked to my first class trying to ignore the stares and whispers I got along the way, but I felt my fury rising. Holding back the urge to just leave the school all together and not come back, I continued on my way to class. Walking into the classroom, I noticed almost immediately that Dimitri wasn't in his seat behind mine, but Adrian was in his talking to...
Venus??
I could not handle her being in all of my classes along with Dimitri and Adrian. No fucking way.

I sat in my seat watching the door. Part of me never wanted to see Dimitri again. It was easy to make myself hate him with everything that had been going on. It all went to hell when he stepped into my life. But the part that was being honest, well, part needed to see Dimitri walk through that door with an arrogant grin on his face, as he had the first day of school.

The door opened and my heart raced in anticipation of Dimitri, but instead of Dimitri, Hunter walked in and sat next to me. "Hey," he said lying his hand on my desk.

"Don't start," I said, turning to him and rolling my eyes when he pretended to look wounded.

"Ouch, that hurt," he said, chuckling. "I just want to be friends again, Gwen. Don't we owe each other that much after being together for three years?"

"Nope."

Just as Hunter opened his mouth to answer, the door opened and Dimitri walked in. My breath hitched as I saw he was wearing the shirt I wore just last night. Why did he have to do this to me? His violet eyes immediately found me talking to Hunter and his eyes darkened. I felt the sudden urge to turn to Hunter and start talking again, just to make him jealous, but I didn't see that ending well, so I refrained.

"Hey," Dimitri whispered into my ear from behind me. "Can we talk?" he asked when I didn't turn to talk to him.

"I have no interest in talking to you, Dimitri, please just leave me alone. I already told you I would help you, isn't that what you came here for in the first place?"

"Well, yeah but-"

"Then you got what you wanted, now just leave me alone, please?" I asked. My heart hurt from the confrontation, but I knew it was for the best. I couldn't put him in danger no matter what he said. I would learn to protect myself, but I knew I wouldn't be able to forgive myself if I couldn't also protect Dimitri.

Walking into lunch, I saw Dimitri already sitting alone at a table, most likely waiting on me to join him as I normally would, but not today. I made my way to the only open table, and just my luck, Candy was sitting with my old group of 'friends' at a table right across from me.

"Hi, uh, do you mind if I sit with you?" I turned around and froze as my gaze roamed over the gorgeous guy in front of me. I know I had seen him before, I just couldn't remember where.

"Sure," I answered, moving over to make room. "Where do I know you from?"

"Oh, I'm Josh. I'm a senior here. You may have seen me at the art shows we have. I know I've seen you there," he said with a wink.

"You know who I am?" I giggled.

"Of course!
You're Gwen. I'm surprised I'm even getting a chance to talk to you without your friends hanging around," he smiled.

"Well, apparently, you haven't heard the rumors then..." I trailed off looking away from him. Finally talking to a normal, cute guy and here I was about to run him off with the freak show I called my life.
Just great.

"Actually, I have. I've just never been one to judge just because of something I hear. I like to get to know someone before I listen to what anyone tells me. I know you used to be captain of the cheer team, and you dated Hunter. I also know you two broke up when the new guys Adrian and Dimitri came to town and you started hanging out with them. That's pretty much all I know. Ha. I just don't understand why you're here alone if you have their attention. It seems most girls can't get enough of it," he said rolling his eyes.

"I just, I don't know. I guess I wasn't ready for it just yet," I lied.

"Oh, I didn't even think about that! I'm so sorry, if you want me to leave, I can," he said, already starting to stand up and leave. I reached out and grabbed his hand.

"No, it's okay. You can stay, this is, uh, is actually nice," I smiled. Maybe I could just put all the crazy away, and live my life normally. It sounded like a good plan, but I'm sure the saying "easier said than done" replied a ridiculously large amount in this situation.

"Oh, okay," he smiled and his eyes lit up as he did. Josh may not have been superman gorgeous like Dimitri or Adrian, but he was really nice and he wasn't exactly bad looking. "So, I was wondering if you would maybe like to go to prom with
me?" He asked, his blue eyes sparkling with the question.

"I actually already said yes to someone else, but I don't really know how things are between us at the moment, so can I just get back to you?" I glanced in Dimitri's direction and caught him staring at me with a frustrated look while girls pawed all over him.

"You mean the guy over there staring at you?" I blushed at his acknowledgment. "Sorry, I didn't mean to embarrass you," he chuckled. I froze as he ran his hand across my cheek where I could still feel heat.

"I need to go," I said abruptly, standing up. Making my way to my car, I shook my head, trying to get the feeling of his hand on my face away. When he touched me, I felt as though something were different with him. My skin burned underneath his touch, just as it had when Dimitri or Adrian touched me. I could not deal with another potential romantic interest at the moment. Within a matter of months I had went through three different boyfriends, well Dimitri hadn't really ever been official but he may as well have been, and now here I was about to get tied up in another relationship. I didn't think I could do it.

"Guinevere!" I heard a familiar voice well behind me and I turned to see Dimitri running through the parking lot toward me. I stopped and turned around, waiting on his to catch up. "Hey, I'm sorry if I scared that guy off. It just really pissed me off to see you talking to another guy. I didn't mean to ruin anything for you. It's okay if you want to go with him to prom. I won't think any less of you," he said once he finally caught up.
Think any less of me?
I took a deep breath, and gave him my coldest sneer.

"Dimitri, don't you get it? I don't give a damn what you think of me. I left you because I obviously didn't want you. I had you and honestly it wasn't that great. So just leave me alone from now on, okay?" I said turning to go, but Dimitri grabbed me by the arm and pulled me back, I immediately put up a mental wall around my thoughts so he wouldn't know what I was thinking. That I was lying about everything I just said.

"You don't mean that, Angel. I know you don't!" he yelled, tears pooling in his eyes.

"Yes, I do!" I yanked my hand from his and climbed in my car, slamming the door. I couldn't believe I had just done that, but I didn't really know what else to do to make him let go
of me. From now on, I had to be as cold and uncaring as I could manage if I wanted to keep him safe. Everyone I had ever loved was gone and I couldn't bear the thought of losing Dimitri, especially if I was the reason.

"Are you sure you're ready to come back?" Blaze asked when I walked in the bar to get a new uniform since mine burned in the fire.

"Yes, I'm sure. I'm
tried of not being here, of not working. I'm ready, I promise," I assured him flashing my biggest smile, a smile that had won many arguments before.

"Fine," he sighed, handing the uniform to me over the counter. Thanking him, I walked upstairs to the bathroom to change. Standing in front of the mirror, I stared at myself. My blonde roots were showing and were in bad need of a touch up. I didn't have on any makeup and there were dark circles under my eyes from the stress I had been undergoing here recently.
Since Dimitri came into your life,
a voice whispered inside my head. No! That wasn't true, I fought the voice in my head. I didn't know where it came from, but I didn't want to listen. I loved Dimitri and no matter what happened, I always would. I slipped into my uniform and walked briskly out of the bathroom, only to run smack into Josh.