It had been some time since the town of “Treeville” had faded away in the distance. Since then, there hadn’t been much to see—just the dark night sky and the stars that filled it. Oh, and the few distant farm houses that Oliver and I whizzed past as we sped along the highway.

I had already called Felix
and let him know Oliver and I had skipped town. I made sure to inform him that leaving had been my idea. He argued, as I expected he would, but in the end, there was nothing he could do. He accepted the fact that he had no right to tell me what I could or could not do with my life, or at least he acted like he accepted this fact.

At that moment, I really didn’t care what he thought. I just wanted to make sure Oliver would
n’t get into trouble.

After my call to Felix, Oliver and I agreed to turn off our phones. No interruptions, for at least the rest of our drive, would be a welcomed change.

Oliver encouraged me to get some sleep, but I was too excited to sleep! Could you blame me? Oliver and I were finally getting away! Together. Alone. We were finally getting the much needed alone time that we seriously deserved.

I planned to make our bonding happen, and I planned to make it happen as soon as possible. There was no part of me that doubted this plan, or how I felt about Oliver. There was also no part of me that wanted anything to do with Zane.

With my fingers intertwined with Oliver’s, I enjoyed the quiet while I gazed out my window and watched the dark road and all that surrounded it rush by.

“Why didn’t you tell me about him?” I asked, breaking the
long stretch of silence that we were both enjoying.

“What could I say?” Oliver responded. He glanced at me for a moment before returning his focus to the highway in front of us. “I mean, I thought about telling you, but I couldn’t think of how to word the fact your guardian angel was here to save you.” He paused for a moment. “I thought he was here to protect you from me.” He glanced over at me again. I caught the uneasiness in his expression. I also saw his chest rise and fall before he continued. “Once I was
placed in solitary, I thought you were safe.” His eyes flicked to mine for a quick second while I processed this information. “Laney,” he said, giving my fingers a gentle squeeze, “was I wrong to keep this from you?”

I watched him for a moment, the lights from the dash giving off enough glow that I was able to see his expression.

“I really don’t know,” I began. I saw his jaw tighten and felt his fingers squeeze mine. “Maybe I would have been more cautious,” I said slowly. “You know, had I known I was in such danger that it warranted an angel falling from the sky to protect me.” I squeezed his fingers in return. “I do know that I never would have believed that you were the danger he was supposed to protect me from.”

I leaned over our hands resting on the console, and I stole a quick kiss as he glanced over to see what I was doing. He relaxed,
and a smile started at the corner of his mouth.

“I love you, Oliver.”

He told me the same, and then he lifted my hand and kissed the backs of my fingers with his cool and very kissable lips. An amazing sensation ran through me.

A moment later I settled back in my seat
, but the wonderful sensation Oliver caused in me began fading as I tried to piece some things together.

“I thought angels were supposed to be saviors or something,” I said, voicing the thoughts rolling around in my head. “My situation doesn’t seem to fit. He would be ruining my life by taking me from you, not saving me.”

“To some, they are saviors. They are warriors of their god, their leader. They are not all bad, but when they turn, they do so quickly,” Oliver replied.

I tried to wrap my head around the meaning of Oliver’s words. I mean, I had read that angels turned into demons if they failed their tasks, but I didn’t know much more than that. It made me wonder if Zane was
now a demon because he wasn’t the one who had saved me from Oscar, and if he wasn’t a demon… Did this mean I was still in danger and Oscar hadn’t been my true threat?

As I tried to come to some sort of reasonable conclusion
about why Zane would still be an angel, and what kind of danger I might still be in, the image of a bumper sticker I’d once seen popped into my head. I remembered it saying something about not driving faster than their guardian angel could fly. Mine couldn’t fly. Could he?

“He can’t fly, can he?” I asked.

Apparently my question warranted a small chuckle. “No, he cannot,” Oliver replied, which was a relief. “Their wings are removed before they fall. From my understanding, this is done so they aren’t easily identified in our world,” Oliver told me.

I remembered Cyrus saying something about this
when we were at the Pancake House. He told us something about angels’ wings being removed. I relayed what I remembered to Oliver. He confirmed what Cyrus had told us was true.

I was quiet for a while
as I thought about the events leading up to this very point. I wondered about my dad, then my mom. Then I realized that I didn’t actually know how my mother had died. Lilly had told me that my mom had gotten sick, which scared the hell out of me as a child. Every time I sneezed, I thought I was going to die. Eventually, I outgrew this fear, thank goodness, but I still had no clue if it was actually an illness that had taken my mother from me, or if it had been something more…

I went back to thoughts of my dad, wondering if he would tell me what had really happened to my mom. Then, for some odd reason, the dream I
’d had about the gargoyles flashed through my mind. I squeezed Oliver’s hand as I remembered the silent screams and the gargoyle taking his heart. Chills covered my body at the memory.

“You okay?” Oliver asked.

I nodded, realizing he could feel my distress. I steadied my breathing and tried to calm myself. It wasn’t really working.

“What are you thinking about?” he asked.

I took a deep breath and exhaled loudly before speaking. “Are gargoyles real?”

“Yeah, they are members of the dragon family.” I could hear the concern beginning to form in his voice.

“Are there any at Brookehaven?”

“Yeah…” he said slowly. He eyed me for a moment. “Why do you ask?”

I took another deep breath and closed my eyes before I responded. I exhaled, leaned my head back against my seat, and then turned to look at him as I gave the details of my creepy and silent dream.

“That’s really disturbing, Laney,” Oliver said, the concern now very evident in his tone.

“I know.” I returned my attention to the dark stretch of highway before us. “Are there wolves there?” I asked.

“No, why?”

“Had a dream about wolves a while back. That same fortress was there. My dad killed one of them.”

“Oh, yeah?” he questioned, the hint of
laughter in his tone.

“Yeah, and he was a vampire,” I finished.

Oliver’s fingers tightened on mine, but he said nothing.

Right then I wished I had some sort of special ability like his or Felix’s. Adding that last part about my dad being a vamp, that had been more of a test than just a fact about my dream. I wanted to know how Oliver would react if I mentioned my father being a vampire. Oliver’s lack of response really had not helped me decide, but the squeeze he gave my hand had me wondering if my suspicions were correct.

I recalled what I could of the fleeting dreams I’d had while I was, well, crazy and thought the toaster was a talking rabbit.
Seriously?
Anyway, while recovering from my delusional state, I had dreams about many things. I remembered only parts of them, as if they were suppressed memories trying to surface. What stood out most of all were the vague dreams I recalled of my father. It was weird, because in those dreams, my dad had Phen’s eyes: one blue and one brown. But this wasn’t how I remembered him—at least the pictures of him.

I racked my brain, trying to remember if I had ever truly seen a picture of my dad where he was actually looking at the camera. I
couldn’t.

“Hey,” Oliver said in a soft tone, giving my hand another gentle squeeze, “your emotions are bouncing all over the place. What are you thinking about now?”

“My dad.” I flashed him a halfhearted smile.

“Oh? Anything you want to talk about?”

I shrugged. “I don’t think so.”

He lifted my hand and kissed the back of it. I felt myself relaxing once more.

To avoid my mind digging deeper into thoughts of my dad, or thoughts of my mother’s death, I chose to ask something possibly even more unsettling. Granted, I hadn’t realized how heartbreaking it would be until I asked.

“How well did you know Gwen and Vance?”

He sighed. “Actually, I knew them fairly well. They were both part of the team Felix and I lead. Vance was a good soldier. He mostly kept to himself and was usually pretty quiet. He was a good guy. But…” he trailed off, emotion catching in his tone. That’s when I realized these people had been more than just coworkers to Oliver. I gave his fingers a gentle squeeze and placed my other hand over our joined hands resting on the console. He continued, “Gwen and I were in the same support group. We were turned around the same time, and we both had some issues to deal with back then.”

“Support group?” I questioned.

After a quick smirk, he said, “Yeah, it’s a required part of our training, or of our release process. Whichever we choose. Either way, it’s required. Gwen and I worked through some issues together. We stayed close all of these years. She was a good friend, and I will miss her.” He fell silent, and I felt bad for asking about them, but mostly I felt bad for Oliver because he lost another person he cared about. “She was my original field partner,” he added, and then he snickered.

BOOK: Cursed (The Brookehaven Vampires #4)

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