Empyreal: Awaken - Book One (25 page)

Court had let his mind wander. Had he
let it wander too far? Had he almost lost track of why he was there
in the first place?

No. Never.

He could never let her out of his
sights. She meant too much to him. Though she had a Protector, no
one could assure Coralie's safety, as far as Court was concerned,
but himself.

Then almost as if he had heard the
challenge, Alex turned his head, looked out of the window into the
eyes of a familiar foe. Someone he had known most, if not all of
his life.
I know you can hear my thoughts,
Court heard.
Now, back-off friend.

Court nodded with a continuance of his
challenging eyes and Alex nodded back acceptingly with a
glare.

Coralie started to turn in the
direction of Alex's line of sight. But when she did, her eyes saw
nothing but the darkness of night. Darkness only slightly
illuminated by Tino's red glowing sign, strategically placed
outside of the restaurant’s window. Court had slipped quickly into
the shadows, knowing that Alex, though loathing him all the time,
wouldn't give him away.

“What were you looking at just now?”
Coralie asked, suspiciously. She knew that she had looked out into
night and saw only darkness. But she also felt someone's presence.
Someone was out there.

“What?”

“I saw you look out of the window,
just now. You nodded, as if you were acknowledging
someone.”

Alex shrugged the notion off as if it
were nothing.

“Was someone out there? Watching
us?”

Alex grinned. “I've told you before,
you never know who may be out there watching you. But for now, I
wouldn't worry too much about that.”

“
It just seems a little
creepy out there, you know … I just can’t shake the feeling that
someone’s out there.”

“Trust me. You're safe with me. I
promise...”

Coralie allowed a grin to sweep across
her lips. She allowed this, knowing that Alex was right. That he
spoke of nothing other than truth. Somehow she knew that she was
safe with him. Somehow she knew was able to forget about
everything
around her.

Alex stared at her with charmed eyes.
This gave Coralie a sense of familiarity and comfort.

Coralie watched as the corners of his
mouth drew upward as he spoke of something familiar. His eyes
gleamed as he laughed at her jokes. She noticed that nonchalantly
taped the side of his glass, half-filled with iced tea, almost
harmonious with her nervous finger tapping of the tiled
table.

He smiled as he caught her studying
him. “What?”

Coralie's cheeks filled with red,
knowing she had been caught. She shrugged nervously. She didn't
want to tell him that her thoughts were consumed with his every
characteristic, his every feature in detail. For whatever reason,
she didn't want to lie to him, either. “Sorry...”

“For what?”

“Just studying you now ... it's just
that you are so, I don't know, familiar to me.”

“Familiar, huh?”

“Yeah, it's like I know you from
somewhere in my past or something.”

“Well, you know, we did just meet a
few hours ago ... maybe the short time lapse, mixed with your
escape to Crazyville, is just too much for you to
handle.”

Smiling, Coralie said, “Yeah, that's
probably it...” Then she paused for a moment to change the subject.
“So, where are you from, anyway? I mean, I know that you said that
you were travelling, and that you were here visiting your
grandparents. But where are your parents? Do they get visits too?”
She paused, giving Alex a chance to answer. When he didn't, she
added, “I mean, I’m just wondering where you grew up?”

“Funny, not too far from here. My
parents have been gone a long time, a very long time...” Alex
hesitated in his words, but Coralie didn't dare interrupt with
another question for fear he'd stop without detail. “A family
friend took me in for a while, they were really great. They took
really good care of me.” Coralie's confused look prompted Alex to
add, “I would visit with my grandparents quite frequently then,
too. They traveled a lot - that's one of the reasons why I couldn't
live with them.”

Seemingly, by the look on her face, he
had answered a question, so he continued. “Now, don’t get me wrong
… they always took time with me when they were in town. So, maybe
it runs in the blood, this love for travel. As I got a little bit
older, I began to catch the travel bug, myself. So, now that my
grandparents have slowed their pace a bit, I try to repay them with
as frequent a visit as I can.”

“That's nice of you...” Coralie said,
allowing her thoughts to become words.

Not giving her a chance to regret
speaking aloud, Alex jumped back in, with a smile. “Yeah … well,
you know, I'm just that kind of guy...”

She returned his smile, then allowed
it to fade, as she moved into what she thought may be a sketchy
sort of territory. She began to gather her words, choosing very
carefully, as she did not know what Alex's reaction may be to her
next question. Stumbling to find the right words, she finally
managed to say, “Alex, I'm sorry, about your parents, I mean
–”

“It’s okay,” Alex said, shrugging
nonchalantly.

“But Alex –”

“Really … I know where they
are...”

Coralie looked at him again with
confused eyes. Alex smirked, and with a glimmer in his
eyes.

“So, you used to live around here? I
have lived here most all of my life and I can't remember –” she cut
herself off, trying to find words. “I mean, I would have thought
that I would remember you.”

“Yeah, well, let's just say, that I
tend to blend well into the background.”

“What does that mean?”

“Just that I have quite a way with
making myself invisible to those around me.”

Something in his words made her
question further.
Was he like her? Did he know about her? About
this life?
“I don't see how … I mean, you say that you can make
yourself
invisible
… what does that mean?” she paused,
trying to downplay the questioning motives in her voice, then
asked, “What? Do you have some sort of special powers or
something?”

“Your check –” said the waitress,
interrupting them by sitting the ticket in between the two of
them.

Alex smiled. “Nothing special, I
guess, just the ability to fuse into the backdrop.”

Coralie eyed him strangely. “So, this
family friend, do you still keep in touch?”

With a humored sigh, Alex replied,
“Yeah, a lot more now, it seems, than we used to...” then trying to
change the subject, Alex looked down at his watch and said, “Wow,
would you look at the time...”

“What about it?”

“11:30, almost midnight...”

Coralie tried to soften her
questioning glower, but she had a feeling that attempt was
unsuccessful. Instead of questioning him agreeably, like she knew
that she wanted to, she let out words that had
defensive
written all over them. “What? Are you going to turn into a pumpkin,
or something?”

Alex leaned in across the table,
sensing her defense rising. “I like you, Coralie ... that is, I
enjoy your company and I like spending time with you.”

Coralie was caught by
surprise.

“I would like to hang out with you
again ... soon. There may be reasons why this feels so familiar, so
comfortable … so natural.”

“What are you talking
about?”

“I know that you don't understand, but
it's complicated...”

“Complicated...”

Alex leaned in closer, attempting to
quiet her. Though she hadn't yet, Alex had noticed. Others were
beginning to catch glimpse of their table. He didn't want to bring
more attention their direction. Especially, since to others that
surrounded them
,
their setting looked very different from
the one of which Coralie thought they could see.

“Yes, complicated. I can explain
later, but right now, I should probably get you home.”

Coralie answered with
silence.

“I could walk you home, keep you safe.
You know, you can never be too careful. You never know when some
crazed stalker could be following you.”

Allowing herself to soften, Coralie
rejoined, “Just to be reassured, you're not speaking from recent
experience, are you?”

Alex shook his head with a grin. “Any
takers?” he prompted, motioning towards the door.

“You know, I can take care of
myself...” Coralie spouted, over-sensitively.

“Oh, I'm sure that you can,” Alex
said, trying to not sound condescending, “but it would make
me
feel much better if you would just oblige by saying
okay.”

“I don’t need your assistance. I can
take care of myself.”

“So, you have informed me … twice,
now.”

“Well, I just wanted to make certain
that you heard me the first time.”

“Okay, so maybe you'd consider
half-way.”

“You are not going to let me leave
here alone, are you?”

“Not a chance...”

Giving in, Coralie sighed. “Okay, fine
... if you must...” then she stood, abruptly. “Well, come on ...
let's go...”

Smirking, Alex said in a playfully
patronizing tone, “I thought you would see it my way...”

Coralie shrugged, making her way to
the door, rolling her eyes a bit as she slid passed him. “Ugh!
Don't push it, superman...”

He smiled, rising gracefully to his
feet, and moved quickly. Coralie didn't know how, but he'd made it
passed her, and was standing at the front entrance of the
restaurant, holding the door open for her.

“My lady...” he said, motioning for
her to pass through.

Suddenly, his words - something in his
tone - struck a chord and rang through Coralie’s brain. This caused
a single thought passed through her mind.

Courtland.

Buzz. Buzz.

Taking his phone from his jacket
pocket, Court answered, “Hey, Cris.”

“Hey Brother, listen –”

Court had just arrived in his
driveway, beginning to dismount his motorcycle. His mind was not on
talking with his sister. His mind was far from where he stood. It
was with
her.
Of course, nowhere else other than with
Coralie. “Look, Sis, I really don't have time to chat.” Court
started, looking around his family's homestead place.

“For this, you do...” Criston
interrupted her brother’s words with assertion.

Her tone caught Court by surprise.
Giving his sister the floor to talk, he said, “Okay, I'm
listening...”

Whether or not he would find this
information important or not was of no matter. Allowing her to
speak was respectable of not only his sister, but another Empyreal
Warrior. No matter what his mind was stuck on, he would respect
that of her.

“Court, you know where I'm at and what
I'm doing here, right?”

“Yes – now, get to the point!” Court
said, in agitation.

“Have you seen it?”

“Seen it? Seen What?” Court grilled
with intensity. Criston had always had a flare for the dramatics.
If this was her motive for contact, this was not the time. “Criston
–”

“I've just heard – I swear, or you
know I would have called sooner.” Criston confessed this painfully
to her older brother, knowing that the knowledge of what she knew
would only hurt him. That was the thing about siblings. When one
hurts, the other does just the same. A moment of silence was
exchanged between the hushes on the line.

“Oh no –” Court allowed the words to
slip from his lips. He saw what his sister was talking about. He
saw them. All of them.

First to come
, a vision swept
in front of his eyes,
black on black
.

He saw
her
coming
.

“You see it, don't you?”

“Yes,” he admitted,
reluctantly.

“They know. They all know. They’ve
gotten word, and they are coming after her, Court -”

She waited for Court to say something,
say anything, but there was nothing but silence that answered
her.

“
Court?” Criston called
out to her brother.
Nothing. “
Court –”She cried out, again,
toward the other end of the line.
Still nothing
.

Court was already gone.

* * * * *

Courtland,
Coralie
thought.

Just the passing of his name through
her mind made everything around her seem so distant. Coralie
realized that this had been the first time, since she had run into
Alex earlier in the night, that she had traced Court's name across
her mind. A rarity in itself. Since the moment she had met Court,
he was all that she could think about. And now, she couldn't recall
one Court-related thought passing through her mind in the last
three hours. She suddenly felt the weight of guilt push down on
her. “You know, maybe I should make my
own
way back home,
you know, by myself...”