Steal Me From Heaven (17 page)

When I finish recalling this tragic event, I realize that I have been holding my breath. I let out a sigh. Looking into his eyes now, I know that Malachi was the flash of light that I saw and the one who was blocking my view. He told me that he got there too late. My mind sees other images from the past. I still feel Malachi’s hand on my head, and I know that he is healing me. I cry and cry. I do not stop. My memories are flooding back to me. I see glimpses of Malachi here and there. He has never left my side. I just did not know that he was there. Several hours pass and we are still in the process of coupling. I am feeling completely connected to him. I do not know where he ends and I begin. Our bodies, minds, and souls are one. We are coupled. I am now his at last.

He lowers back down on top of me. I did not know that you could couple without even touching each other. From day one, he has been working up for this night. The night he was going to have sex with me, yet there was no sex. We lay there in silence for the longest time. He tells me to go look into the mirror. I am almost too weak to stand. I go and look in the mirror and I too have crystal blue eyes.

“Will they glow?” I ask.

“I do not know for sure, but I believe they can once you energize. I think that they will be brown at night.”

“Can we try in the morning?” I ask. There is no point putting it off.

“Yes. Come lie down.”

I climb back into bed with him and we snuggle in close together under the covers. “Since this worked, you will not have to worry about betraying Jacob. I do not have to touch you anymore. I will not please you again.” I am hurt by his words. I start to cry.

“What’s the matter? I didn’t mean to bring him up, but I thought you would be happy,” he tells me.

“Maybe I don’t want to stop. I love you. I don’t know if I am ready to have sex, but you better not stop before I am finished the next time you touch me.”

He laughs. “You are asking for it. No mercy.”

“None,” I demand.

He dips his head under the covers, and I feel my nightgown rising. I am in trouble now. We do not have sex but he brings me to orgasm again and again. He doesn’t stop. He was worth the wait.

The sun appears, and I am ready for bed. I protest when he reminds me that I wanted to take a lovely stroll about to see if I would fry in the light. I take off my nightgown and go out onto the porch naked. There is no point burning my clothes to a crisp. He comes up beside me and holds my hand.

“What are you doing?” I ask.

“I’m not going to let you go out there alone.”

He calls forth his wings, and I start to transform as well. My own wings spread forth and flap behind me. They seem bigger to me somehow than before. I jump off the porch and fly low in the shadows of the trees. Malachi closes in on me quickly. He warns me to move slowly. He comes in front of me and stops me in flight. Straight up we go into the sun, his back protecting me. He takes me to the top of the trees and spins me towards the sun. Opening his wings, I feel the rays on my back. For a brief moment, I do not feel anything but the heat. Then I hear the crackling of my flesh. I scream as I am burning.

“Control it. Call it into your body, past your flesh.”

All I feel is the pain. It is killing me. I feel his lips press to mine, and he exhales his cool sea breath into my body. I start to relax. My skin feels better. I feel radiant. I feel the sun for the first time in several weeks. My skin will fry, but my body welcomes it.
I just have to draw it into my center and away from my flesh. Malachi is all smiles as he spins me in the air. He releases me, and I fly out to the ocean. He tells me to head over to that rock ledge. I shake my head no. I do not want to be fondled up against the cliff again. He goes in that direction anyway. I will tell him no when I get there. After he lands, I see him pressing on a rock. A small cave door opens and he goes inside. I land on the ledge uneventfully.

He closes the door. The tunnel is dark. He tells me to try to glow. I do not know how to begin.

“Think of love,” he tells me. At first I think of Jacob—I couldn’t help it—but I did not glow. Next, I think of Malachi, but I still did not glow. And then I see the faces of my boys. I light up immediately. “Now you know what does it for you. That knowledge is yours alone. I do not need to know and do not ask me how I do it.” He pauses. “This tunnel leads back to the house. The door is under the area rug in the living space. Use this to escape if we are surrounded. Otherwise, just do not leave the house.”

“How am I to win this war when I do not know everything there is to know? I feel I am weaker than you and Jacob put together.”

“My dear, you should not doubt yourself. Why do you think a hybrid is so taboo and unheard of? No one knows what you can do. Some among the races believe that you are unstoppable, that you cannot die. An Angel cannot be killed by anything alive or dead. Your Vampire side makes you strong at night, yet you have no aversion to sunlight, silver, or wood. You have control over sun, night, air, earth, water, and fire. The combinations are deadly. We have much time to learn everything that I know. We will step up our training now that we are coupled.”

We make our way back up the stairs and into the living space. He spends the next several months teaching me. My stamina has been tested time and time again both outside and in the bedroom. My knowledge of Demons and Angels has vastly expanded. I think less and less of Jacob. I do not know when or if I will see him again. He is my first love, but I feel that Malachi is my greatest. My choice is getting more and more blurred as time goes on.

One evening when we come home, there is a note nailed to the front door. It is from the committee. There is a hearing. The time is for tonight at three in the morning. We cannot make the time. Malachi pulls me into his arms and starts his inner glow. He tells me to do the same. I light up quickly. Once we are fully charged, he hugs me tightly and tells me not to fear. I feel disconnected from my body as I see particles of light flying around us. We disappear. Materializing again, we are standing in front of the committee building. It is raining outside. Malachi holds his jacket over me so that I do not get very wet. We make it to the top of the steps before we are pulled apart by the guards.

We are put in separate rooms. I am nervous about seeing Jacob for the first time. I have practiced lying so much that the word no should roll easily off my tongue. I pace back and forth as I wait for my appointment with the committee. I think they are going to talk to us one by one. I hear someone talking to the guards, and then the door squeaks open. I turn and see Jacob standing there. He is wearing all black, the color of his eyes. My heart skips a beat and I gasp in his presence. His hair is longer and touches his shoulders. He looks good, but his face is hardened.

“We do not have much time. Take off your clothes.”

After all these months apart this is the first thing he says to me. I blink at him. “Get undressed or I’ll do it for you.” He closes the door and turns the locks. I remove my shoes and slide my pants onto the floor. He watches me. After unbuttoning my shirt, I slowly draw my arms from the sleeves. I stop and look him in the eyes. “All of it,” he says. He wants me naked.

“Jacob, I don’t know…”

“All of it.” His voice grows louder.

I take off my bra and panties. He stares at me. I look away. Walking over behind me, he pulls my hair through his fingers until it all lies upon my back. He runs his nose up my neck and into my hair. I feel the air being pulled away from my skin as he inhales. Still behind me, he strokes his palms up and down my arms before lifting my hair and tenderly touching my shoulder blades.

“Can you fly?” he asks me. I do not know if I should lie to him. I do not.

“Yes.”

“When did you learn?”

“After the last committee meeting, Malachi let me go from the sky. It didn’t work the first time, but when I told him that my spine felt like it was twisting, he took me higher and dropped me again.”

He laughs. “And here I was trying to get you to transform from jumping out a window. Do you know what you are?”

“Yes, Malachi told me”

“Has anyone else seen your wings?”

“No.”

“Have you coupled with him?”

“Yes.” I close my eyes. Jacob kneels before me and smells my scent. I open my eyes when I realize what he is doing. He lifts my leg and drapes it onto his shoulder. He steadies me as I balance on one foot. His face gets closer to my center, and I hear him draw in a deep inhale. I think he is going to stand back up but he takes his tongue and runs it along my opening. I hold onto his shoulders, getting ready for him to make love to me. He only licks me once more before standing up. My hands are still on him.

“How is it possible to couple without having sex with him? Did you find a way?” I do not know how he can tell.

“Malachi told me that there are other ways and that we could try those first,” I inform him.

“He is a fool, but an honorable and noble one. I may just start to like him. I wish that I could touch you more than this. The other committee members will know. Do not say that you have wings. Do not mention what you are.”

“I know what I must do,” I tell him. “Do you think that we will be together? Will they rule in our favor?”

“No.” He does not offer any other words than that. I do not know why we are here then. “Have you drunk from Malachi recently?”

“Yes, last night,” I answer.

“He will not say anything to endanger you, but if they ask him directly, he must speak the truth. I will do my best to intervene if need be.”

“How is it possible that I am an Angel?” I ask him, not knowing if he will tell me.

“You were not sleeping like I told you, at least not entirely. They killed you over two hundred years ago. I lost you. I was so struck with grief that I was listening to my Demon side more and more. Deborah got worried. She offered me a choice. She would bring you back if I made her my Vampire bride. I did not think my actions through because I was blinded by my love for you. I
would have done anything. That very night, I started the transformation process with her. She had always wanted me. She believed that once turned she would become the hybrid. When she refused to bring you back to me, I never touched her again. She went back to her Demon lover, and they planned my death. When I learned of the news, I threatened to kill her mate. She offered me the choice once more. I told her that it couldn’t be done. She told me that she did not have a special flower petal that was needed for the ritual. I told her that I did not believe her, but Angels cannot lie, not even the Fallen.”

“Rebecca was able to cast the spell to help Deborah get into Heaven and bring you back, but it didn’t work as it was intended. Rebecca protected your body by magic but you were not inside. I banished her Demon lover out of my anguish but let her live in exile. When Deborah came back to bed me again, she tried to kill you. I stabbed her. I just didn’t know at the time that Vampires could not kill their Guardians. As soon as she vanished, your body became more alive, yet you still slept. About a decade later, Jessica advised me to start giving you my blood. I put an IV catheter in your arm and gave you a small dose each night. The rest you already know.”

“I thought that no one could travel between realms.”

“Adam and Lilith can easily. Deborah had a spell that only halfway worked.”

“Can you?” I ask, thinking that he is on the panel also.

He pauses before speaking. “I have never tried.” He steps up to me. “Bite me. I want my blood in you once more.” I struggle with my choice. He will be in my mind again. As I near his neck, I feel my heart wanting to explode. I have longed for him. Seeing him standing in front of me within reach is more than I can handle. I sink my teeth into his flesh. I drink his blood too quickly for my liking, but we have little time left together. It is almost three.

“I’m sorry that I have caused all of this. I just couldn’t live without you, and I cannot live without you now. This time apart has been torture for me, knowing that you were in his arms and not in mine.” Vampires are jealous creatures, and territorial. I know he must be in pain. I take hold of his hand and run the backside along my cheek. He sighs.

“I have to go. You and I each need to shower. We have touched each other too much. They cannot know that we have
spoken. There is so much more that I would love to do with you if we only had the time.” He pauses. “I love you. Whatever happens out there today, do not fear. I will hold you once more.”

“Alexander.” I call him by his given name. He steps away from me.

“I haven’t been called by that name in a very long time. Do you remember?”

“Malachi is healing me. Soon I will know everything.” I do not tell him that I know everything already or that I was pregnant when I was kidnapped. Our children are long gone anyway. I kiss him once more before he lets go of my body. I reach for his hand but his fingers slip through mine. He does not look back as he leaves through the door. Standing there all alone, I look around for a bathroom. I pick up my clothes and try a couple of doors before finding the one I need. I take a quick shower and dress. I do not have a hair dryer so I pull my hair tightly into a bun upon my head. I hear the knock on the door and get back into the room before the guards come in. It is time.