Death Angel (Death Angel Series Book 1) (13 page)

Finally, all the guests had passed by him and gone through into his home. He was left alone with Edgar in the gardens and he pulled the envelope from his pocket. Edgar had served his family since before Sebastian was born, and he was the one person in the Death Angel Society who knew exactly what Gabrielle meant to him and why.

“I will leave you alone sir, and tend to the guests,” Edgar said, knowing his master so well and knowing that he would like a moment alone to read the letter that he was staring so pensively at.

“Thank you,” Sebastian said, leaving his voice unmasked to show the torrent of emotion that he was feeling. Once Edgar had gone into the house, Sebastian tore through the glued lip of the envelope and pulled out the single sheet of paper that was contained inside.

###

Aracella leaned against the wall as she watched the room full of high ranking dark fighters that filled her brother’s home. Everyone else was in a festive mood, laughing and enjoying the rare time off, but Aracella wasn’t feeling it. She could still feel the puffiness that crying all day had caused to her eyes. She saw Gabrielle across the room, looking like a frightened mouse in a room full of cats. She knew she should go over to her and keep her company, but she just couldn’t force herself to cheer up enough to do it. She was doing her best not to draw too much attention to herself. The last thing she wanted was to cause a stir at her brother’s party. He wouldn’t appreciate that very much. She sipped on the glass of wine in her hand. It went down smooth with almost no bite. It was sweet and fruity, and it was strong. Her brother was known for having one of the best wine cellars in the whole Death Angel Society, and she intended to drink a lot of it tonight.

Her eyes went down to her feet. She had chosen an off white outfit to wear tonight, and her shoes matched. She hadn’t really felt very colorful today. To most people, this day was looked forward to and planned all year. But Aracella enjoyed wearing the color black. It was her favorite color, and she thought it looked good on her. The chance to wear other colors for one night wasn’t a big draw for her, but she had to go with the flow and wear something other than black. When she glanced back up from her shoes, Eliot was standing in front of her. He had chosen to wear a dark blue shirt with pants that were the same color and a white tie that popped and made him stand out, as if he needed an article of clothing to do that. Aracella immediately felt embarrassed as he looked back at her. She had expected to see him tonight, but with the way they had left things, she hadn’t expected to speak with him. And now as she looked up at him, she couldn’t think of words to say. She knew that she needed to say she was sorry, but she still wasn’t quite ready to say it. To her surprise, Eliot smiled at her. A small, sweet, sexy smile that made her knees weak. His hair was gelled back and showed off his handsomely carved face. He held his hand out to her. She looked back at him with confusion as her gaze skipped quickly to the other guests that were standing next to them. What the hell was he doing? Holding hands was definitely not in the realm of appropriate behavior between a commander and his subordinate.

“Take my hand, Ara,” he said her name softly and with such affection that it let everyone near them know exactly what had been going on between them.

“El?” she said, still afraid to let her heart hope.

“You’re right,” he said simply, still extending his hand to her. “And I want everyone to know it.”

Aracella took his hand as the butterflies in her stomach began to flutter. She had faced down hundreds of Darklings in her time as a dark fighter, but nothing frightened her more than this. It both frightened and excited her. No more hiding their love, no more running around behind everyone’s back. Finally, they were making their relationship known.

As Eliot led her through the crowd towards Sebastian, she could see his eyes lock onto them. They were cold and emotionless as always. Even Aracella couldn’t read her brother’s emotions. He had always been like that, for as long as she could remember. She couldn’t imagine he was going to be happy about this. She had wanted to tell him from the very beginning, but the last thing she wanted to do was make such a spectacle at his festival party. But things had played out the way they had and there wasn’t much she could do about it now but go with it.

She could hear the whispers and gasps as they passed through all the guests on their way to her brother. Aracella gripped Eliot’s hand and he pulled her a little closer.

“It’ll be alright,” he said, his voice soft enough for only her to hear as he turned to her for just a second. Aracella knew that there was a good possibility that it would not be alright. The Head General was most certainly not going to take this news very well. But if Sebastian were on board with it, they would most likely have a better chance of Eliot not losing his position as a General.

By the time they made it to her brother, Aracella’s heart was beating so heavily, she was sure it was going to give out. When she finally worked up her nerve to look him in the eyes, there was no emotion there, no hint as to what was going on behind those dark eyes that pierced through her.

“Brother,” she said, her voice cracking with her nerves. The entire room was silent and watching. His eyes slid calmly from hers to Eliot’s. They knew each other well. They were both Dark Generals in the Death Angel Society. There was supposed to be camaraderie and cooperation between the two of them. But it was now obvious that Eliot had been betraying the trust of Sebastian by dating his younger sister, without his knowledge and without his consent. The fact that Aracella was Eliot’s subordinate only made it juicier gossip material.

“So,” Sebastian said, his shoulders relaxed as he addressed Eliot, “you finally decided to tell me about your relationship with my sister?”

“You knew?” Eliot asked, not able to hide his surprise. He looked quickly down at Aracella, then back at Sebastian.

“Of course I knew,” Sebastian said, his voice calm and even. “I’ve known since the very first day. My sister doesn’t hide things very well.”

“Why didn’t you say anything?” Aracella asked, completely shocked that her brother had not been fooled. She knew she really shouldn’t be surprised. He always knew everything. And he was absolutely right. She had never been able to hide anything from him.

“I was waiting for you to tell me,” Sebastian said. And as he spoke, Aracella could finally hear a hint of emotion in his voice. It wasn’t anger. It was so much worse. It was disappointment.

“I’m sorry,” Aracella said, unable to look at him anymore. She hated to disappoint her brother. He was the only person she looked to for approval, and knowing that she had somehow let him down really hurt her. It was the worst punishment that she could have gotten. She still didn’t know if he would approve of their relationship. Just because he hadn’t said anything didn’t mean that he would support it.

“I suppose you would like me to speak with the Head General after the Death Festival,” he said, his eyes focused on Eliot. Aracella looked up at her brother, trying in vain to read his emotions.

“I would appreciate it,” Eliot said, looking at Sebastian with a small nod.

“I’m sure there will be repercussions for breaking the rules, but perhaps we can mitigate those,” Sebastian said. He looked over at Aracella and was silent for just a moment before he spoke to her, his voice lower and softer. “I just want you to be happy, Ara. Now go, enjoy yourselves. Once the holiday is over we’ll have to face the reality of what you two have done.”

Aracella couldn’t hide the smile from her face. He had made her so happy, and finally she saw another emotion behind her brother’s mask of indifference. For just a moment, he showed her how he really felt at that moment. He showed her that he was happy.

###

Gabrielle had watched the scene playing out before her, not entirely sure what was going on. She was close enough to hear the conversation and pick up a little of what was going on. Aracella had never mentioned anything about dating someone, but she was glad that it seemed to work out for her. Seeing the scene play out made her think about Matthew. She missed him and wondered why he hadn’t been able to answer any of her messages. She assumed that it likely had something to do with the holiday, but it still worried her.

As the evening went on, the guests around her became drunker and drunker. Gabrielle had made a little game of watching them, counting the number of drinks they were consuming and guessing which one would be calling for a fresh drink first. It was all she could do to entertain herself. No one was speaking to her and she was not at all comfortable enough to approach any of them.

When she felt like she just couldn’t tolerate the crowd anymore, she slipped back out into the garden. It was so beautiful out here, with the lights softly twinkling around her, the scents of the flowers drifting around her. She decided she would stay here for just a little while longer and then she would slip out, go home, and get some much needed sleep. She would try to contact Matthew in the morning. She walked along one of the little paths that had been groomed into the artificially replanted grass, enjoying the randomly placed sculptures and fixtures that dotted the expansive garden. It was quiet out here, and she liked it. She sipped on the drink that was in her hand. It was her third of the night and she was trying to take it slowly. It was just so delicious that she couldn’t stop herself from drinking it. At first she hadn’t even thought there was any alcohol in it. But as the night went on, and she continued to empty the drinks she was given, her head became lighter and her coordination began to disappear. Much to her pleasure, she found that her inhibitions were also disappearing. She didn’t care so much about her mistakes of wardrobe and gift. She was sure she wouldn’t feel the same in the morning, but at least right now she felt like she could enjoy her alone time in the garden.

As she turned down one bend in the path, she heard something rustling in the bushes just ahead of her. She was immediately curious. She hadn’t seen an animal of any kind since she had been here and she wondered if they existed. As she moved closer, the rustling stopped. She lowered her face almost into the bushes, straining her eyes to see through the clusters of leaves. There was something there. She could see it moving beneath the bush. Just as the dark, shadowy body registered in her mind, and she knew what it was, the tiny little Darkling leapt out of the bush at her, it’s tiny but razor sharp teeth barred and aiming straight for her face. She yelped and jumped away, but her back ran into something very hard that hadn’t been there a moment before. By the time she realized what had happened, Mr. Black was standing behind her, his hand wrapped tightly around the throat of the small, cat sized Darkling that was just inches away from her face.

“These are troublesome little things,” he said, his voice so calm and casual, as if he exterminated these things on a daily basis, which he obviously did. “But if you let them get too close, they can do a lot of harm.”

Gabrielle’s heart was racing. Mr. Black snapped his wrist quickly and the little Darkling in his hand went still with a loud cracking sound. The body disintegrated into dust. Gabrielle whirled around, her head spinning as she tried to register what had just happened. It was the second time he had saved her life. Suddenly she felt her head get really light, and her knees get really weak. Everything was spinning. She tried to breath but she just couldn’t get enough air into her lungs. She felt her body falling and she prepared to hit the ground, but she didn’t. A strong arm wrapped around her waist and held her up next to a firm chest.

“Gabrielle,” he said her name with such concern as his other hand wrapped around her back and held her up. “Are you alright?”

“I…uh…” everything was still spinning. Mr. Black was so close. She could feel the rigid muscles of his torso pressed against her. She could smell his masculine, heady scent. His grip tightened around her. His voice dipped even lower.

“I’ve got you,” he said softly. His hand came around to brush an errant lock of hair out of her face.

“I’m so sorry,” she said, shaking her head and finally regaining her composure. She strengthened her knees and was able to finally stand on her own. She thought he would release his grip on her but he didn’t. His hands lingered on her body.

“I guess I just had more to drink than I thought,” she said, shaking her head and wiping at her forehead. She looked up at Mr. Black. He had that look in his eyes again. That look that she just couldn’t place. His eyes turned onto her lips as she bit at the bottom one. She thought she felt his hands pull her a little closer, but she couldn’t be sure. With all the alcohol flowing through her system, she couldn’t trust anything she felt. She swallowed heavily as his face was suddenly so much closer to hers. His hand caressed her cheek and this time Gabrielle was certain that he was pulling her tighter to him. Was he about to kiss her?

As soon as the thought went through her mind, he pulled away. His hands unwrapped themselves from around her body, but he held her at her elbows, ensuring that she was steady on her feet before he let her go.

“I’ll walk you home,” he said, stepping back from her. His voice had turned a bit harder, though it wasn’t unkind. It simply left no room for her to argue. Her mind was still fuzzy and frankly, not having to walk home alone sounded pretty good. He turned slowly, his eyes reluctant to leave her. He began to walk through the garden, towards the front door of his home, not looking back to see if Gabrielle was following. She was. Her mind wasn’t clear enough to think on its own, so following him seemed like the best thing to do. They walked most of the way in silence, until finally, Gabrielle couldn’t take it anymore.