Angel Evolution (15 page)

Remembering why they were there, Taylor looked at Gabriel expectantly.

Gabriel’s mind was racing as he decided how much to tell her. He opted to continue to lie on the biggest issues, but to be as truthful as possible everywhere else. The tactic had served him well thus far, but he was worried that it would catch up with him soon.

Gabriel said, “I have tried to tell you as much as I could from the very start, but for your protection I’ve left out certain details that I didn’t think you would ever need to know.” Gabriel realized then that he hated having to lie to her. It used to come so easily for him. Now, it felt contrary to every instinct in his body. This disturbed him, as he had always prided himself on being a smooth and cunning liar when the need arose.

Taylor frowned. “Continue,” she instructed.

“I have told you and shown you how powerful a weapon you are if used by my people…”

“Because of my strong aura,” she interrupted.

“That’s correct,” Gabriel confirmed. “And then you asked what that meant.”

“Yes,” Taylor said, remembering back to the many conversations they had while in the Bird’s Nest, or lounging out in the sun.

“I told you that all it meant was that if the need ever arose, that the angels—my people—might come to you to ask for your help.”

“That wasn’t true?” Taylor asked.

“Not exactly. At the time I told you that, the angels actually already wanted and needed your help.”

“Then why didn’t you just ask for it?”

Gabriel lied again, masterfully mixing deceit with a bit of the truth. “Because I wanted you to be able to enjoy your first semester at college and not be burdened by the problems of my world. I was able to convince the Archangel Council to wait until the holiday break at the end of the semester to ask you.” Taylor took a deep breath.

“You should have just told me,” Taylor said, frowning. “I would have understood and we could have talked it through together. I don’t want to keep secrets from each other.” Taylor was getting upset now. She had been so trusting, so believing of everything Gabriel had told her; in short, she had been blinded by her love for him. Now she saw that he was capable of deceiving her and no matter how he justified it—he said it was for her own good—she still needed to be able to trust him one hundred percent. Her feeling of dread rushed back, momentarily paralyzing her. Her sixth sense! It had been trying to tell her that something bad was going to happen. It didn’t make sense at the time because Gabriel hadn’t shared all of the information with her.

Gabriel said, “I don’t know. I guess I should have. I just didn’t want you to be stressed out about what would happen at the end of the semester while you were trying to have fun and do well in school. You’re right though, I should have told you. I’m sorry.”

She wasn’t about to let him off the hook that easily. “So now I am stressed about what will happen at the end of the semester anyway
and
I’m stressed about the fact that my boyfriend, who claims to love me, has been lying to me all along.”

“I am so sorry, Taylor. I’ll do anything to make it up to you.”

“You can start but never lying to me again.”

“Deal,” Gabriel said much too quickly. “No more lies.”

Pretending not to notice the business-like manner in which Gabriel had conducted himself, Taylor said, “Back to the other problem: you needing my help. You told me about your lie, but what has changed? We are only halfway through the semester, so we still have time before you need my help, right? And what does all of this have to do with those behemoth demons in the pool hall tonight?”

“It’s all related,” Gabriel explained. “We need your help in defeating the demons and, while the angels
are
willing to wait until the end of the semester, the demons are now fully aware of your presence here at UT; Chris has been holding them off until now, but there’s nothing else he can do. The demon leadership sent those goons here to threaten me into leaving you alone. They said that if I was still hanging out with you in two weeks, they would come to take you away. They have realized how powerful you are in the hands of the angel army and are worried we are going to use your powers to destroy them.”

Taylor’s head was throbbing with anger, her facing turning red. “Take me away? Who the hell do they think they are? They can’t do that. I won’t let them.”

“And I damn well won’t let it happen either, Taylor. If you agree to help the Archangel Council, you will have the full protection of the angel army.”

Taylor’s eyes narrowed. “And if I don’t agree to help the angels?”

“Then you will only have my protection, but that will be more than enough. I could whip those pathetic demons with two wings tied behind my back.”

Taylor wasn’t comforted. “What exactly is it that the angels’ want me to do in exchange for their protection?”

Gabriel became serious now. “Easy. All you have to do is appear on the battlefield with us in the next battle. We will protect you behind the strength of the entire angel army and I will personally connect with your aura to attack the demons. We will finally wipe their evil from the face of this planet forever.”

Taylor said, “Look, man, I don’t know if I am up for being used to hurt people.”

“Not people,” Gabriel corrected, “demons.”

A look of sudden realization appeared on Taylor’s face. “What about Christopher? How does he fit into all of this? He’s a demon, will I be responsible for destroying him, too?”

“I’m sorry, Taylor, but yes. I know you think he is nice and cool and that he is your friend, but who do you think told the demons that you were here?”

“Not Chris,” Taylor refuted, “he would never do anything like that to me.”

“He could and he did,” Gabriel said. “He admitted it to me when we went outside, although after he told the demons, he did try to keep them away from you. He may be a nice guy, but he is still a demon at heart, and loyal to his own kind.”

Taylor’s head was spinning. How could the best days of her life turn into such a mess so quickly? Her thoughts were scattered, but she managed to ask, “What do we do?”

Gabriel put his arm around her and said, “I am willing to do whatever it takes to protect you, but I can’t guarantee I can do it on my own. If the demons bring a small army here, I will inevitably lose. If we try to hide, they will eventually find us. You have a very special gift that we could use to win the most important war this world has ever seen. I would ask you to consider helping us.”

Taylor maneuvered out from under Gabriel’s arm. “I need to think,” she said. Closing her eyes, she tried to think through it logically. The demons were trying to get to her. Gabriel could protect her for a while on his own, but not forever. Demons are evil. Angels are good. She would be helping a noble cause. The angel cause. On paper, it sounded like the right decision, but something about it didn’t feel right. Anytime she thought about helping the angels, she was filled with dread.

Taylor tried to avoid thinking about Christopher or Sam, as she knew these would be emotional, rather than logical thoughts. The more she tried to forget them, the more her memories about them flooded her mind.
Dammit!
They were her friends, she couldn’t just exclude them from the picture. There had to be another solution.

“Damn you for putting me in this position, Gabe,” Taylor said. “I can’t help the angels. I can’t hurt Chris and Sam, even if it gives me the best chance of survival. We have to come up with another plan.”

Gabriel’s face fell, but only for a moment. “What do you propose?” he said.

T
aylor and Gabriel had planned meticulously for a week. They had done it in complete secrecy, usually from the Bird’s Nest or deep in the library. They had continued to act as normal as possible around their friends, being careful not to miss lunch or dinner. Changes to routines led to questions and they wanted as few questions as possible.

Of course, the demon was asking questions anyway. He knew that time was running out and that a solution had to be reached. Thankfully, he wasn’t aware that Taylor knew about the situation, so he didn’t interrogate her.

However, Chris pulled Gabriel aside on an almost daily basis to ask, “Have you come up with anything yet?”

Gabriel lied each time, saying, “No, not yet, but I think I am close.”

Finally, on this Friday night, exactly a week from when the deadline was mandated and a week before it expired, Gabriel was ready for the first phase of the plan: deceit.

Gabriel was ready for Chris when he said, “We’ve only got a week to go, man, we seriously need to come up with a plan now!”

Gabriel smiled and said, “I’ve figured it out.”

Chris replied, “You have? That’s great, tell me.”

“Okay, it’s simple really. We tell your little friends that we’ve got a plan that will satisfy all parties, but that we just have to get it cleared by the Archangel Council before we give it to them to propose to the demon Elders. We set up a time on the last day of the deadline, Friday, to meet them.

“Except we are not going to meet them on Friday, we will be long gone by that point. You and I will take Taylor away the day before, Thursday, to a secret place. I know for a fact that neither the angels nor the demons are aware of this place. We hide her there together until we can come up with a long-term solution.”

Chris’s face fell. “But that’s only a quick fix and they will surely find us at some point, and then we will all be screwed.”

“Look, man, I can’t think with the clock ticking like a bomb that’s about to blow up in my face. It will buy us some time and then we can come up with a better plan
together
.” Gabriel continued to emphasize the word
together
, hoping Chris would buy the lie. “Unless you have a better plan?”

“Okay, okay, I guess it’s the only choice we have, but how will we escape with her unnoticed? Those thugs have been watching you and Taylor everywhere you go.”

“To be honest, I could probably just fly away with her under my arm; there’s no way they could easily follow me from the ground. However, to play it safe, I think we should create a diversion. We will get Samantha to dress up like Taylor and wear something that hides her face and then I will walk out towards the stadium with her. They will follow me as they always do. You then take Taylor to a predetermined location and drop her off. I will come back with Sam, leave her at the dorms, and then go and get Taylor. Your little punk friends will think I am leaving the dorms alone, without Taylor, and so they’ll leave me alone. I pick up Taylor and fly her to a safe-house. Easy.”

Chris thought for a minute and then asked two questions: “First, how do I know where you go, and second, why do you trust me with Taylor, I
am
a demon?”

“I’ve got the coordinates for the location we will be at, give me your phone.” Chris handed his cell over and Gabriel punched in a longitude and latitude. He had no intention of telling Christopher where they were going so he just made up the coordinates.

“There, now you can find us. Why do I trust you? Because you haven’t done anything to betray my trust. You could have called in a small gang of demons to come and take her away at any time, but you didn’t. So I know that you’re looking out for her best interests like I am.”

Chris seemed satisfied by the response. He said, “Thanks.”

“Any other questions on the plan?” Gabriel asked.

“No, I will schedule a meet with Jonas today so we can set up a time to meet them on Friday. When we don’t show up to the meeting they will start hunting us, but by then we will be long gone.”

Gabriel smiled. “Exactly.”