Catch Me When I Fall (13 page)

“Daniel, man, wake up. You gotta come with me to Rome,” Seth said.

Opening one eye, I looked up at him. Seth frowned, and he stared at me with sad eyes.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

He shook his head. “Sorry, man. I can’t say anything more.”

Dread washed over me, my stomach churning like I’d eaten too much food. When I pushed myself up, pain streaked through my spine, and I took a deep breath before swinging my legs off the bed. I ran my hands through my hair and adjusted my shirt, still wearing the same clothes I’d worn to see Kayla. “All right. Lead the way.”

Seth evaporated us to Giovanni’s office where Tabbi and Samantha both stood, their eyes cast to the floor. Giovanni sat behind his desk, puffing hard on his cigar, and behind him stood Bartholomew. His expression was as upset as the girls’.

I walked toward the desk as stoically as I could. The nervousness running through me made me nauseous. “You called for me, sir?”

“Sit down, Daniel.” He didn’t look at me.

Obeying, I sat in the chair opposite his desk. Giovanni drew in a deep breath of smoke before pressing the lit end of his cigar into his ashtray, putting it out. He put his hands together on his desk in front of him. “How do you think I keep such close tabs on my Protectors?”

Oh crap.
“I don’t know, sir.”

“I have spies, Daniel. Some Protectors, some humans. And I got the most interesting call from one of them earlier. Do you have any idea what it may have been about?”

I swallowed. “No, sir.”

Giovanni smacked his hand on his desk. “Don’t lie to me! I’ve been around for a long time. You think you are the first Catcher to be infatuated with a human?”

“Sir, I can explain—”

“You broke the first code, Daniel. You revealed yourself to her! You know it’s absolutely essential the living world not know we exist.”

My heart beat fast in my chest, like someone’s fist hitting me again and again. Why had I been so naïve to think I could get away with this? Now my existence would be over, and all because I couldn’t control myself. I forced myself to appear calm. “Sir, please, if you’d let me explain.”

“No need to. I have no choice. Daniel, please follow Seth to your holding cell. You have been relieved of your position as a Protector of the Night.”

“No!” Samantha and Tabbi yelled simultaneously. They leapt at me before Seth put his arms out, stopping them. Even with his dark skin, his face was pale. He knew what being relieved of your position meant—tomorrow, I’d be executed.

I gripped the armrests. My heart felt seconds from exploding. A week ago, I wouldn’t have cared less about dying. But now…

No. I couldn’t just cease to exist. But what could I say? Pleading for my life like a coward was out of the question.

My grip loosened on the chair. Giovanni might be taking my eternity, but I wouldn’t take back what I did. I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of seeing me squirm.

As I was about to stand, Bartholomew stepped forward and held up a hand. “Giovanni, if I may, with the number of Nightmares we’ve seen with his charge, do you think it’s wise to take one of your best Catchers off her case? I think it might be wiser to forgive his sentence.”

“If I give him a pass, I will have to give everyone a pass. How do you think that makes me look?”

“
You’re
not giving him a pass. I am.”

Giovanni jumped up from his seat and stood inches from Bartholomew’s face. “Who do you think you are? This is
my
call.
I’m
Daniel’s superior.
I
make the call.”

“And I’m technically your superior. If I’m giving Daniel a pass, so are you.”

Bartholomew stared right at me then. As Keeper, he was the only Protector with authority over Giovanni. And he was saving my afterlife.

Giovanni flung his hands into the air. “Fine! Do whatever you want, Bartholomew. In fact, why don’t you run the whole goddamn place?”

My eyes widened. Giovanni had a temper problem, but I didn’t think he’d speak to the Keeper that way. My eyes widened even further when Bartholomew just rolled his eyes and stepped around the desk. “I feel there is more brewing than we’re aware of yet, Daniel. The Angels are talking, though their words are not always open for me to hear. We cannot afford to lose you yet. Get close to Kayla and follow up with me on what you learn.”

“Wait. You
want
me to break the code?”

“You’ve already broken the code. I’m trying to make something good come of it. Kayla’s been receiving an abnormally large number of Nightmares in one night. I need you to figure out why they’re so interested in her. Can you do this for me?”

Part of me felt like this was blackmail, but at the same time, Bartholomew was right. Nightmares didn’t usually come out in such high numbers. And he was giving me a chance not only to get close to Kayla but to also figure out how to best protect her. This was an offer I couldn’t refuse. “Yes, sir.”

Bartholomew smiled. “Good. Then keep me updated.” He smacked me on my shoulder—
ouch—
and leaned in to whisper as he walked around me. “Besides, I can’t help but enjoy a good love story.”

At 8:50 p.m., I evaporated to Kayla’s room. Unable to remember the last time I really slept, I prayed it would be an easy night. I was going to be terrible in a fight.

Kayla’s nurse flipped off the lights and left Kayla to crawl under her blankets. All four of us—me, Seth, Samantha and Tabbi—were very quiet as we waited for Kayla to fall asleep. After what happened in Giovanni’s office, Samantha had wasted no time ripping into me about my “big mistake.” Which led to Seth arguing with her about how they all would’ve done the same thing in my shoes. I’d tried to fall asleep on the sofa, but their yelling was incessant. Eventually, I’d given up and resorted to chugging a few energy drinks.

Kayla sat up in bed and looked around the room. “Daniel?”

Seth, Samantha and Tabbi all snapped their heads at me. Did they really not know what I was going to do?

Kayla startled when I went corporeal. “So, you actually do watch me sleep. Creep,” she said.

A chill ran down my spine. “Yes—no—well, not exactly. I protect you
while
you sleep. I don’t just stand there and stare.”

Tabbi laughed from behind me. “Calm down, Daniel. She’s just giving you a hard time.”

I glared at Tabbi, who continued to wear a giddy smile.

“What are you looking at?” Kayla asked, unable to see the others.

“My team. They’re… here.”

“Oh.” She gripped her comforter as her eyes flicked around the room.

I wanted to ease her nervousness, but I wasn’t sure how. So, I did the only thing I could think of and prayed she wouldn’t freak out. “Guys, you can stop hiding.”

Tabbi and Seth went corporeal in seconds. Kayla gripped her comforter tighter. When I stared at Samantha, she rolled her eyes then obliged.

“Okay. This is not creepy at all,” Kayla said.

“We’re not that creepy,” Tabbi replied. “We don’t drink blood or eat people or anything.”

Kayla’s eyes grew baseball-sized.

“Really, Tabbi?” I said.

She shrugged as Seth chuckled. I shook my head.

“Trust me. They’re just protecting you, that’s all,” I told Kayla, my hands outstretched in front of me.

Kayla’s face paled, and she pointed at something behind me. “You mean from things like that?”

Spinning around and pulling my daggers into my hands, I swore as a Nightmare slithered through the wall behind Seth, reaching out to grab him. Seth turned and sliced through the Nightmare’s neck. Behind me, Kayla screamed when black blood poured down the Nightmare’s chest, and the beast fell back into the wall with a loud screech.

I glanced behind me. Kayla was pressed against her headboard, her knees up to her chin. Her hands trembled. Then it dawned on me—“You can see them?”

“What are they?” Kayla’s voice shook.

Before I had the chance to answer, five more crawled through the walls.
Shit
.

“Oh my god, oh my god,” Kayla repeated.

“Tabbi, get on the bed. Kayla, close your eyes.”

I ran at the Nightmare nearest me and dodged as it slashed at me with long, black claws. It swung so hard that when I moved, the monster fell forward, unable to stop its momentum. The Nightmare squealed when I elbowed the back of its head. Using its stunned reaction to my advantage, I dug my blades into the beast’s back, severing its spinal column. With an earsplitting scream, the Nightmare fell. It was silent by the time it hit the floor.

Samantha and Seth had each taken one down and now stood back-to-back, fighting the other two remaining nightmares. I threw a dagger into the skull of the Nightmare closest to me, then Seth and Samantha double-teamed the other and took it down in seconds. The three of us stood there, chests rising and falling, staring at each other.

Those Nightmares had not made a single move for Kayla. They’d come for us.

A Nightmare attacking a Protector unprovoked never happened. Usually, they were attracted to humans like moths to a street lamp, only fighting us when we got in the way. Tabbi sat on the bed, rubbing Kayla’s back. Kayla’s face was in her hands.

“She looked,” Tabbi explained, frowning.

Grabbing my handkerchief out of my back pocket, I wiped my blades then stuck them back in their sheathes. Seth and Samantha evaporated from the room with the Nightmares in their arms. Burning the bodies in here was out of the question. Kayla was already freaked out enough.

“Tabbi, could you run and grab some bleach? We’re going to need to clean the floor,” I asked.

Tabbi nodded and disappeared. I sat on the bed next to Kayla and touched her arm. “Kayla—”

She jerked away and glared at me. “Don’t touch me.” Tears streaked her cheeks.

Frowning, I moved my hand away. “Are you all right?”

“No, I’m not all right! I just watched you three kill… whatever those things were.”

“How can you see them?”

“I don’t know! I don’t even know what they are! What were those things?”

I paused, unsure if I wanted to tell her the truth. But I had no choice. “Nightmares.”

“You mean
those
are the things that touch people—touch me—to give me bad dreams?”

There was no point in sugarcoating anything. She was much too smart for that. “Yes.”

“Oh my god.” She ran her hands through her hair. “What’s happening to me?” Two more tears rolled down her cheek.

“Look at me.” I touched her arm again. This time she didn’t shrug me off. She looked into my eyes. “I’ve been fighting those things for two hundred years. As long as I’m here, you’ll be safe. I won’t let anything happen to you.”

She wiped the tears from her cheeks and flicked her eyes over my face. I kept my gaze locked with hers, trying to show I was being sincere. She nodded, and I let out a sigh of relief. Then to my surprise, she leaned against me, resting her head on my shoulder. When I slipped my arm around her back, pulling her closer, she didn’t object.

My heart raced. I liked the feeling of her in my arms, of her leaning on me for support. Now, knowing how it felt to hold her, keeping her out of my head would truly be impossible.

“Thank you,” she whispered.

Leaning my head against the wall, I closed my eyes. Soon her breathing slowed, and I knew she had fallen asleep. I let myself do the same.