Angels of Moirai (Book One) (11 page)

“You’ll tell me,” I assured him, “one day you’ll tell me.”

I could feel the mood shift in the room, as the smile on his face became firm and his eyes narrowed in on me. I looked away from his gaze, watching as my chest breathed hard and heavy.

The way he looked at me… It did something. Something to me mentally, emotionally, and physically. He unravelled me.

“What stories can you tell me then? Stories I’m allowed to know,” I mumbled, trying to deviate from the tension in the room.

“Well, there was this one time, I was talking to this guy called Einstein, don’t know if you’ve heard of him,” James smirked. “We were playing around with these two tiny structures…”

I smiled as I listened to him tell one story after another well into the night. I took some of them in with a grain of salt; his storytelling was to be admired, and to be questioned. I raised my eyebrows at some of the things he claimed to be the person who invented it, and laughed my head off at some of the ridiculous scenarios he played out.

“You? In floral flared pants?!” I held my hand on my stomach as I couldn’t help imagine him bopping along to some sixties tune.

“It was the sixties!”

I laughed some more as he tried to defend his actions. I couldn’t help but feel jealous of all the things he’d seen and been a part of. Although an angel, he lived and breathed the history and the amazing achievements and events that changed our lives. With beauty, there would always be pain, and I could feel his pain in some of his stories. He was an angel, an angel that wasn’t meant to feel as a human would feel and get involved, but he did…

The hard exterior I’d once come to know slowly peeled away the more we talked, and I couldn’t help but feel, however crazy it must have been, that James was more human than angel, and maybe we weren’t so different after all.

7… TORMENT

I pushed against the roof of my car, shards of glass digging into my exposed skin. I watched as the dark figure closed in on me. There was barely any air left in my lungs, my breath searching desperately for more as I pushed through the window onto the road.

I looked up for James. He should be here by now- he should be saving me. He said he would protect me.

In one long stride, the shadowed figure was in front of me.  I looked up towards it.  From afar, it had looked like he had the body of a human wearing a black cape to hide his face, but as he bent down to look at me, I saw his face. Like a demon of pure evil, his face appeared, or what was left of a face. Pieces of flesh hung from his muscle in his cheek and jaw. His bones protruded through his grey coloured skin. The eyes of a bloodshot man with a deep gouge travelling down on the side of his face stared at me.

My hands trembled as I tried to back away.

The creature’s high pitched cry pierced my ears as he reached out, burning my air like a hot Iron. I cried out in a vivid pain and sickening fear.

I woke still screaming. James pulled me into his arms instantly.

“Shhh, it’s okay, Lila. I’m here,” James breathed into my hair, consoling me.

We were both sitting up on my bed, his back resting against my headboard. I held onto his waist, my head buried into his chest.

“It was a demon,” I whispered. “The car accident, the demon was there… but this time, you didn’t come. You didn’t save me.”

“It was just a dream.”

I pulled my head from his chest and looked up at him. “But what if next time it’s not a dream. What if they come for me again and you’re not there to save me?”

James reached down and touched my cheek. “No harm will come to you as long as you’re with me. I promise you that.”

“When I’m not with you, what will happen then?”

“You are protected, Lila. Even when I’m not with you, you will be protected. I can sense when you are in danger.”

“What if you don’t get to me in time? What if they kill me before you have to chance to fly to me, or whatever you do?”

“There are others like me. There will always be one of us close by to protect you. They know what you mean to me. They will come to your aid if anything happens.”

I looked back and forth between his eyes; those eyes that looked right into my soul. His hand moved gently across my cheek making me glow inside.

They know what you mean to me,
I repeated his words in my head.

Had he meant that I was just someone he’d been able to tell his secret too, and now he wanted to keep me safe? Or had it meant more than that?
He couldn’t mean more than that. He was an angel
.
An angel.
I was a human, and it didn’t take a genius to figure out that the two were never meant to be anything more than that.

I looked down and shook my head, pulling my hands from his waist, and jumping off the bed. I walked out onto the balcony, the breeze hitting my flushed face as I closed my eyes thinking how stupid I was.

“Lila.”

I turned to see James standing at the doorway.

“What did you mean, when you said ‘they know what you mean to me’?”

“Isn’t it obvious?”

I didn’t reply.

He let out a breath, and in two strides, he was standing in front of me, his alluring wings stretching out from his back with each step.

“I have lived, I am life, and I am death. I have seen the suffering, the sickness, the torment in life’s pain, but I have also seen the selflessness, enjoyment, and devotion in love. I have experienced pain, and I have loved before. I thought I knew what pain and love was. I thought I had experienced the very depth of that emotion, that was, until I met you.”

He held his hands in my face, his eyes swallowing me whole.

“I am angel, Lila. An angel who has spent over a thousand years watching from a distance what love can do to a man and a woman, a true form of life itself. I was at peace with what I did, my role that I play in this world. I was never to experience the emotions of a human again after my death; we are not designed that way. The moment I saw you in the forest that day… it was like everything I had ever known to be true, suddenly changed, and I began to question everything. I tried endlessly to stay away, to keep my distance, but the more I stayed away, the more I wanted…
I needed
to be near you. I don’t know what will happen next, but I won’t deny my feelings for you any longer.”

There wasn’t any doubt in my mind what I felt for James. Even after he revealed his true identity to me, my feelings for him had not changed. If anything, in that moment, they had grown even more. I yearned to be with him, to see him in every waking moment. I was calmed by his presence, and lost by his absence.

Was it even possible to feel that for someone I’d just met? Was it even possible to love an angel?

My brain urged me to see sense; to see reason, but I couldn’t. So I kissed him, defying all sense of logic and common sense.  A life with James couldn’t be possible, it couldn’t be real.  Yet, my heart and soul ignored it. I wanted to be with James.

A fire burned within me as I breathed his perfect scent in. My lips chased his as a sense of urgency beckoned me.

My body gave way when I felt one of his hands wrap around my waist tightly, while his other hand brushed his fingers through my hair.

James didn’t surrender to my kiss. Instead, he kissed me with an unyielding force; a kiss that literally swept me off my feet. He kissed me as if he would never kiss me again, as if he would never breathe another second of this life on earth. I could feel the urgency within him. Yet, his lips remained soft and smooth against mine.

I thought I had kissed before, but how wrong I was. Nothing in my life could ever compare to the way I felt in that moment. I knew right then and there that I, Lila Sophia Kingston, would never kiss another soul again. James had taken my heart, and I had given it to him willingly. I heard of great love before, a love that consumes every part of you, but I never thought I’d ever feel it, until I kissed James, and that kiss changed everything.

As our lips parted, he pressed his forehead against mine and breathed, “You will be my undoing.”

And you will be mine,
I said in my head, not brave enough to say the words out loud.

Although my fear of the demons still dominated my thoughts, the fear of losing James seemed now to outweigh any other fear, and the fear of the unknown. Could a human and angel ever love without consequences?

***

I woke to the smell of bacon and eggs drifting upstairs from the kitchen. I jumped up from the bed and changed into a long baby blue coloured maxi dress, running my hands through my hair as I skipped down the stairs.
Yes, skipped.
I was losing my mind.

“That smells amazin…” I stopped short of my sentence as I rounded the corner and spotted Hayley sitting on a stool watching James cook. Their eyes met mine and all words were lost. I had no idea how I was going to explain this to Hayley.

“Morning, Lila,” Hayley smirked. “It’s a lovely morning, now isn’t it?”

“Uh, yeah,” I said not even looking at Hayley, but at James.

“James, here,” Hayley said nodding towards James, “was just making some breakfast for you when I came home early.”

James made eye contact with me, shrugging his shoulders and smiling.

I’m glad you think this is amusing
, I thought.

“He did scare the living shit out of me though. I thought someone had broken in, but when I saw it was James, I knew it was fine. Although I’d love to know when you two started hanging out? I do hope the guest bedroom was okay. We haven’t had anyone stay in it for a while.”

Hayley held back a giggle as I quickly went and grabbed her by the arm.

“Why don’t we eat outside? Can you help me setup?” I didn’t wait for her reply, as it wasn’t really a question.

I pulled some plates and utensils from the drawers quickly, and lead Hayley out onto the back patio.

“Oh. My. God.” Hayley quietly squealed. “Are you and James a thing?”

“Look, Hayley,” I said seriously, “I didn’t mean for you to see that.”

“Clearly,” Hayley chuckled.

I rolled my eyes. “I don’t know what we are, if we are even a ‘thing’.”

“He stayed over, slept in your room, and I’m guessing on the bed, not the floor? You must really like this guy!”

“Maybe,” I said shaking my head, a smile creeping up onto my lips. James was the first guy to sleep over, and although he did sleep in my bed, that was all that happened. After what happened with the demon, I didn’t feel safe by myself.

“Awww!” Hayley swung her arms around me, hugging me tightly. “I’m so happy for you, Lila, and who would have thought? James freakin’ Taylor! How did this even happen? I had no idea you were into him!”

“Righto, Hayls. Time to be cool now,” I said pulling myself from her embrace. “I’ll tell you all about it later, but right now, he’s standing in there making breakfast, so I don’t want to make this awkward.”

“Okay,” she smiled, “but don’t you dare leave out anything! I want every single detail, okay?”

“Okay,” I agreed.

I had no idea what I was going to tell her. I knew I couldn’t tell her anything about who he really was. Thank God, I had time to think about what exactly I was going to say to her.

James had continued to surprise me with breakfast, and I was quickly convinced he must have been a chef for royalty in his past life.

We all sat under the morning sun eating breakfast; conversations flowing freely.

Centuries of practice had made James very good at disguising the fact he didn’t eat. If I hadn’t known the truth, I doubt I would have picked up on the way he shifted food on his plate, always saying something just as his fork hit his mouth so he didn’t have to eat and pretending to drink.

Although Hayley continued to open up conversations about James and me, James was able to steer her in another direction easily, herself and her friends becoming the topic of conversation instead.

I found myself unable to stop smiling and laughing. I felt so utterly content being around James and Hayley. It felt so right. James didn’t have to try to fit in, because he just did, and so easily.

I stole a glance at James and he smiled in return.

“Anyway,” Hayley said, “I’ve got a ton of homework to do.”

Subtlety was never Hayley’s strong suit, and neither was her ability to lie.

“Homework, hey?”

“Yeah, loads. Better get to it,” she said standing up from the table. “It was good chatting, James. See you again soon.”

“I hope so, Hayley,” James replied.

When Hayley was out of earshot and back inside the house, I turned to James. “Well…”

“What are your plans today?”

I raised my eyebrows. “Plans? Pretty sure all my plans went out the window when you entered my life,” I laughed.

James smiled, “I want to take you somewhere.”

“Okay?”

He stood up and put his hand out to me.

“What? Now?” I said looking around.

He nodded.

“What about all this?” I said pointing at all the plates.

James quickly piled up all the dishes and took them inside, putting them all in the dishwasher quickly and effortlessly.

“Now, would you like to go?”

I waved my hands and laughed, “I guess.”

“Perfect. Come with me,” he said, entwining his hand in mine.

He gathered my keys from the hallway table and we walked outside. I was taken aback when he opened the car door and ushered me in the passenger side.

“So where are we going?”

“You’ll see.”

I loved our summers. There was so much life around. Everywhere you looked people were laughing and having fun. Although there was still a lot of rainfall at summer time, it made the trees look luscious and green.

It was a decent drive, and I was unfamiliar with the area when we turned off the motorway and onto some back roads.

“I was thinking…” I said slowly.

“Yes…”

“There are a few things that happened that you still haven’t explained, like when we first met, when I touched you, our hands glowed.”

James nodded in thought. “I have no explanation as to why that happened.”

I frowned. “What about the pool then. The way I saw all the colours around me, was that you?”

James sighed. “I can’t explain that either. I saw the colours as well, but nobody else could. As much as I would like to say I have the answer to everything, I cannot explain why those events happened. I’ve never witnessed anything like it before. The moment you hit the end of the pool and went unconscious, the colours disappeared. I was able to pull you out and heal you quickly, but when I went back to the pool, the colours were well and truly gone.”