Chameleon (Supernaturals) (41 page)

“That is correct,” Gabriel said. “That is the difference between a seer and an oracle. Aside from the quick glimpses I get of people’s futures, when I look into their soul, I cannot prophesy of things yet to come. I only see outcomes of events already set in motion.”

“But before your vision of me, the council had no idea that I even existed. No one did. Just Alex and Russ. There were no other supernaturals in our town. There was no one to set the plan of sacrificing me in motion.”

“I too wondered about that Danielle. I believe the answer visited us tonight.”

“The resistance? How would they have known about me?”

“Through Simone.”

“Hang on now,” Alex said. “I never breathed a word of Dani to Simone. I never told anyone about her. Not even Russ. I knew Danielle was pure and would be in danger if anyone discovered her. Simone couldn’t be trusted completely with a small secret, much less with something so potentially powerful.”

“Then why…?” I started to ask.

Now Alex was embarrassed. “She had…other advantages.”

“Gross, Alex. That’s as bad as thinking about my parents…Ugh.”

Alex laughed but quickly became serious again. “I swear Simone never knew about Dani.”

“Did you tell her you owned the house she found us in tonight?”

“No,” Alex admitted hesitantly.

“Simone seemed very fond of you,” Gabriel said. “I believe she also coveted your power.”

“Can’t argue with that. She was attracted to me enough to fight against the blood feud between witches and warlocks.” Alex grinned at me in the rear view mirror just like his son would have in that moment. “It’s a Devereaux thing.”

“So is cockiness,” I muttered.

Alex laughed again but Gabriel refused to lose focus. “Simone knew that you parted with the council on bad terms. I am sure that the moment she joined the resistance she would immediately have thought of recruiting you. She would have come searching for you.”

“She didn’t have to search. She had my home address in her company files. I had all my skin care products shipped to the house in Carmine for years.”

“What are the chances that if she came to find you she would have seen Danielle?”

Alex snorted. “One hundred percent. Dani and Russ were completely inseparable and I know Simone. If she were scoping me out for the resistance, she would have been just as curious about my powerful teenage son.”

“So Simone comes for you,” I said, “learns about me, recognizes me as a pure, and runs back to tell the leader of the resistance. He then decides to use me to raise the Angel of Death in order to start a war with humans. But if the leader of the resistance is Robert Mason, wouldn’t he have known that Gabriel would see his plan?”

“That’s why he had to act fast,” Russ said, and then coughed. “Don’t you remember, Dani? The resistance beat the council in the race for you when they sent that werewolf. They just underestimated your supernatural awesomeness.”

“Russ!” I squealed. I was so relieved to see him awake that I pulled him up from my lap, squeezing as tight as I could, and kissed the top of his head. “You’re awake!”

“I’ve been awake for a while now,” he mumbled. “I was enjoying my position too much to say anything, but this is actually better.”

I realized that I was hugging his face to my chest and threw him away from me with a gasp.

Russ groaned like every muscle in his body hurt as he pulled himself to a sitting position next to me, but he was laughing through his groans so I still punched him in the arm. “Jerk!” Then I took a good look at him and felt guilty for being so rough. “How are you feeling?”

“Like I was impaled with a bed post,” he said with a grunt. He leaned against the window panting for breath and smirked. “I think you need to hold me again until I’m fully recovered.”

He was joking, but he was also still in a good deal of pain and trying to hide it, so I scooted into the middle seat and let him put his arm around me. Not that I could really use any magic to heal him—I was already exhausted from earlier and it was close to three in the morning now—but my energy seemed to be enough because he immediately melted against me and sighed.

After a minute his breathing evened out and I thought he’d fallen back to sleep, but when I tired to scoot back over to my seat he snagged me back into his arms. “I’m not fully recovered yet,” he said without opening his eyes.

I was forced to get comfortable in the tiny middle seat and once I was safely buckled in place he sighed and said, “Thank you for saving me.”

I shrugged in his grip. “Watching you die was something I couldn’t do.”

Alex interrupted us. “How’d you do it anyway? You were a seer.”

I looked up to see Alex watching Russ and me in the rear view mirror with so much affection that his face was positively glowing. It was so obvious that he liked seeing us together and I realized my marriage to Gabriel was difficult for him too, even though he would never admit it.

He was waiting for an answer to his question but I had no idea what to tell him. “I don’t know. I was desperate. I knew the magic was in me somewhere. I just had to get it to come to the surface. I don’t know if I could do it again though.”

“You’ll figure it out with practice,” Russ assured me. He studied me a moment then shook his head, incredulous. “You’d think I’d be jealous that you’re so much more powerful than me, but I just think it’s sexy.”

He turned his attention to the front seat. “What do you think, Gabe?” he called. “Is my girl sexy or what?”

“Russ can we please not ruin this drive with you being a jerk to my husband?”

“I believe I am going to be sick,” Gabriel mumbled.

Alex laughed thinking Gabriel was joking, but Russ and I knew better. “Uh, Alex, Gabriel gets carsick,” I warned while Russ yelled, “Dad pull it over. He’s seriously gonna blow chunks.”

Alex glanced sideways and then did a double take. Gabriel was hunched forward and leaning against the car window. He really didn’t have much time left.

Alex pulled off at the next exit and into the first parking lot he could find, which happened to be a twenty-four hour Waffle House. The minute he stopped Gabriel jumped out of the car and ran to the nearest trashcan. The poor guy. Throwing up sucks.

I started to go after him and Russ stopped me. “He doesn’t need you to hold his hair back.”

“But—”

“Let the guy puke in peace.”

Russ pulled me back against him and Alex turned back to look at us. I didn’t understand the expression on his face or why he cocked his brow in a way that made me blush and said, “I guess I’ll be inside getting a cup of coffee.”

I was shocked by Alex’s hasty retreat. “What was that about?”

“I have no idea,” Russ said.

The look on his face was suspicious. When I asked what he was up to he grinned and tried to kiss me.

I scrambled quickly out of his reach and sighed. “Russ.”

“You’re kidding me with this, right?”

He was glaring at me and I glared right back. “You’re sitting shotgun when we get on the road again.”

I went in search of Gabriel, slamming the door behind me when I got out of the car. I found Gabriel sitting on the curb next to the trashcan with his head buried in his knees. “Feeling better?”

Gabriel looked up at me and said, “I am sorry for the inconvenience, Danielle.”

I helped him to his feet. “It’s no inconvenience, I promise. I needed the break as much as you did.”

As if to prove my point Russ stomped past us right then and slammed the restaurant door as he disappeared inside.

“Russ is still mad at me for accepting you,” I explained when Gabriel turned to me, bewildered.

If it was possible Gabriel became more confused after my explanation, not less. “You mean you have not changed your mind?”

“Of course not.”

Gabriel didn’t look like he believed me. “Because you seemed very.…” He stopped when he couldn’t find the right word and said, “You love him very much.”

“Gabriel, he almost died! And besides, I know I get a little crazy where Russ is concerned. My feelings for him aren’t something I can just get rid of. I’m sorry about that. But I made my choice and I don’t regret it.”

Gabriel studied me warily and finally sighed. “If that is true, Danielle, then I must suggest that we leave this place together.”

I nodded my head. “Leave Russ.” The idea was paralyzing. “I know, and I understand why, but I’m not sure I can do it. I don’t think I can cut him out of my life.”

“It is not Russ who worries me.”

Gabriel glanced inside the restaurant. “Russ’s father wants to take us somewhere deep into hiding, but I do not believe that is the wisest choice and—” Gabriel glanced toward Alex and Russ again and lowered his voice. “I do not trust him, Danielle.”

I plopped down on the curb that I’d just helped Gabriel up from. “I agree we can’t just sit around hiding, but obviously Alex isn’t the leader of the resistance if they’re trying to recruit him. They almost killed his son tonight, Gabriel. The Councilor was wrong about him.”

“But he has been so untruthful to you and Russ. Even now he keeps secrets from us. I also do not like the way he is encouraging you to restore your bond with his son.”

“He’s just hurting. He loves Russ and me so much. It’s hard for him to see us have to be separated.”

Gabriel shook his head. “He has other intentions Danielle. I am certain of it.”

“But Alex would never hurt us. What reason could he possibly have?”

“He opposes the council.”

“But he opposes the resistance too. He just wants to live his own life and keep his family safe. That’s all he’s ever done. He’s a good man.”

“Then why lie? Why keep secrets from you that could keep you safe or help you fulfill your destiny?”

I had no answer for that.

Gabriel let out a breath and sat down next to me. “I understand you do not trust the Councilor and will not return to the consulate, but would you at least consider treating Alexander Devereaux with the same wariness for now?”

When I didn’t say anything, Gabriel pulled my hand into his. “Leave with me,” he said. “We are powerful Danielle, and can see things no one else can. We can solve this ourselves, and if no one knows where we are, then everyone will be safer. Russ was hurt tonight because of us. We are a danger to them both so long as we are with them.”

Gabriel had me with that one. I sat in silence for a long time, and he patiently waited for me to think it all through. “All right,” I finally relented. “But I won’t leave without saying goodbye.”

Gabriel pulled me to my feet and gave me a hug. “I would not ask you to.”

By the time Gabriel and I
joined Alex and Russ at their booth they were almost finished with breakfast. It looked like Russ had even finished off a plate of pancakes or French toast. Alex held up his mug. “Don’t worry, I ordered you both a cup to go.”

“Thanks.” Even in that one single word, my voice shook. I was so not looking forward to what I was about to do.

Russ glared at me over the cup of coffee he was nursing but couldn’t help asking, “What’s wrong with you?”

I felt the blood drain from my face and turned to Gabriel in a panic. I couldn’t say it. I couldn’t be the one to tell Russ I was leaving. Gabriel understood my dilemma and looked steadily at Alex when he said, “Danielle and I will not be going with you.”

“What do you mean?” Alex asked, while at the same time Russ said, “Of course you’re coming with us.”

“We have decided it would be safer for all of us if we left and no one knew where we were.”

“Yes exactly,” Alex said. “And I have a place where neither the council nor the resistance will find you.”

“I beg your pardon, sir,” Gabriel said calmly. “But it is not the resistance or the council we wish to separate ourselves from this time.”

Russ figured it out first. He just couldn’t believe it was happening.
“What?”

I finally found my will to speak. “I’m sorry, Russ. You know it’s going to kill me to leave you, but it will be better for both of us. I’ve accepted my marriage to Gabriel. I’m
with
Gabriel now. I can’t stay and watch it hurt you.”